S^.'U^H e 
 
 Stom t^e £tfirari? of 
 
 (profefiBor n^iffiam (giiffer (pa^ton, ©.©., &£.©. 
 
 (Jjresenfe^ 6l? (^te. (parton 
 
 to f^e feiBrarg of 
 
 (J)rtnceton S^^eofo^icdf ^eminarg 
 
 BV 1725 .S54 1874 
 
 Tribute to the memory of 
 John B. Skinner 
 
t 
 
1 
 
 r-:^ - cr'^0 K Ferine H York 
 
 y^ c5^o^^.^.^_^..^_ 
 
TRIBUTE 
 
 TO 
 OF 
 
 JOHN B.SKINNER 
 
 CONTAININ'G A 
 
 BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS LAST ILLNESS, DEATH, 
 AND FUNERAL OBSEQUIES, 
 
 A SERMON BY REV. ALEX. McLEAN. 
 
 ACTION OF THE SESSION OF CALVARY CHURCH, MEETINC; 
 
 OF THE BAR OF ERIE COUNTY, RESOLUTIONS AND 
 
 MEMORIALS, OBITUARY NOTICES OF 
 
 THE PRESS, ETC. ; 
 
 A MEMORIAL PAPER PREPARED FOR THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 BY THE HON. JAMES O. PUTNAM. 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 PRINTING HOUSE OF MATTHEWS & WARREN, 
 
 Office of the "Buffalo Commercial Advertiser" 
 
 1874. 
 
 ^ 
 
If 
 
 Father, I will that they also, tuhom thou hast given me, be with me 
 where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given 
 me. — St. John xvii. 24. 
 
 If 7i<e believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also ivhich 
 sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. — i Thess. iv. 14. 
 
 // shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. — 
 Zech. xiv. 7. 
 
OBITUARY. 
 
 John B. Skinner was born at Williamstown, Mass., July 
 23, 1799, and died at his residence in Bufifalo, June 6, 1871. 
 
 Although he had lived more than three-score and ten 
 years, he felt none of the infirmities of age until within a few 
 months of his last illness. 
 
 Early in the Spring of 1871 he seemed conscious of in- 
 creasing debility. His step was less quick and elastic, and 
 the long walks to which he had ever been accustomed were 
 gradually shortened. 
 
 The last Sabbath in April he attended church as usual, and 
 on Wednesday dined with his family, at the house of his 
 brother-in-law; but the next morning was unable to rise. Drs. 
 Rochester and White were called at once to his bedside, but 
 found symptoms of prostration so alarming that they enter- 
 tained little hope of his recovery. At times he seemed better, 
 and during the latter part of May was able to drive out 
 nearly every day for a week. 
 
 On P'riday, June 2, he was much worse, and from that 
 time declined rapidly. Monday night his sleep was quiet 
 and restful, and so continued the following day until evening, 
 when he gently breathed his life away. 
 
 On Friday following, at 3 P. M., appropriate funeral ser- 
 vices were held at his late residence, and largely attended, 
 many of his old friends, members of the Bar and others, from 
 
adjoining counties, being present. The Rev. Alex. McLean, 
 his pastor, conducted the services, assisted by Rev. A. T. 
 Chester, D. D., Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, D. D., and Rev. 
 Erskine X. White. 
 
 The following gentlemen were in attendance as pall- 
 bearers : 
 
 Hon. N. K. Hall, 
 " I. A. Verplanck, 
 " J. S. Ganson, 
 
 Hon. milliard Fillmore, 
 " Geo. W. Clinton, 
 " R. P. :\Iarvin, 
 " W. H. Greene, 
 The remains were placed temporarily in the cr}'pt of St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, and subsequently removed to the family 
 Mausoleum, at Forest Lawn. 
 
 S. S. Rogers. 
 
 "FATHER." 
 
 AT "FOREST LAWX." 
 
 Let sculptured wreath of laurel twine the name 
 We hold more precious as the years go by ; 
 This much we give the world, his meed of fame, 
 Whose royal nature trembled at a sigh ; 
 Tender, compassionate, just, wise and good, 
 He filled the measure -of his earthly days ; 
 Heroic in his purpose, firm he stood. 
 And State and Church unite to speak his praise. 
 Yet dearer far to us the cherished name 
 Which made the Home the centre of our bliss. 
 How fondly spoken as we bent to claim 
 The morning welcome and the evening kiss. 
 We know not what new name to him is given, 
 But " Father" we would call our loved in Heaven. 
 
 E. M. Olmsted. 
 r.E Roy, Nov. 19, 1S73. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH 
 
 WHOLE-HEARTED DEVOTION TO THE 
 
 SERVICE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Not slothful in business j fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord. 
 
 — Roinans xii. ii. 
 
 Life is a problem, its true solution an absolute impossi- 
 bility only as we are assisted by the teachings of Revelation. 
 We have manifestly interests of an earthly character which 
 cannot be disregarded, and just as manifestly other interests 
 which are spiritual and eternal; to neglect which must be in 
 the highest degree culpable. To live in this world at all, we 
 must of necessity devote much of our time to its pursuits. 
 This, indeed, is one of the conditions of the present, from 
 which there is no escape. The law of labor is imperative. 
 The body has its wants which cannot be disregarded, and 
 the provision for these wants is the reward of indefatigable 
 labor. Business therefore becomes a necessity. But since we 
 are also immortal beings, endowed with a spiritual nature, 
 man cannot live by bread alone, no more than he can live 
 without bread. We cannot, therefore, devote ourselves exclu- 
 sively to either the one part of our complex nature or the 
 other, and either be happy or fulfil life's great end. 
 
6 
 
 He is a fool, — and is so characterized by the Great Teacher 
 Himself, — who, devoting all his time and efforts merely to the 
 body, and having at last gained the wherewithal to satisfy 
 its wants, says, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
 years; take thine ease; eat, drink and be merry:" as if, by 
 any possibility, the soul could be satisfied with these things. 
 He is a coward who, in view of the strong temptation to neg- 
 lect the soul's interests for those of the body, cuts himself 
 loose from society, ignoring all its claims and responsibilities, 
 and fleeing into solitude, devotes himself exclusively to his 
 eternal interests. 
 
 The very sublimity of the present life consists in its com- 
 plex relations, and in so keeping the mastery over them that 
 apparently conflicting interests are harmonized and each kept 
 in its own place; the work allotted to us here prosecuted 
 with becoming diligence, while the soul is kept as a sacred altar 
 upon which the fire of fervent devotion is ever burning. 
 
 We know of no other order of intelligences, circumstanced 
 as we are, who have to hold the balance of temporal and eter- 
 nal interests with an even hand, and carry the clue of recti- 
 tude through all the labyrinth of conflicting interests. The 
 nice adjustment of these interests has been made a subject of 
 special revelation. Our earthly duties are unfolded, our 
 eternal relations disclosed, and the important issues which 
 depend upon the manner in which we discharge the trust 
 committed to us, are clearly set forth. Our text is a complete 
 summary of the duties required of us : " Not slothful in busi- 
 ness; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." The first clause, 
 " Not slothful in business," is very comprehensive, including 
 not merely what we designate by the word business, but every 
 duty which presents itself It is the exhortation of the wise 
 man condensed into a single expression, — " Whatsoever thy 
 hands find to do, do it with thy might." The second 
 clause of our text sets forth the spirit which is to animate this 
 
activity— whole-hearted devotion to the work committed to 
 us; while the last clause reveals the true inspiration to such 
 a life — "Serve the Lord." The active labor, of whatever 
 kind it may be, the toil of our hands or the labor of our 
 minds, is to be service rendered to the Lord; while the fer- 
 vent spirit of devotion is to be continually ascending like sweet 
 smelling incense to His throne. The whole life is thus to be 
 made a sacrifice and a service, "holy and acceptable to God." 
 
 We all admit that this is a very difficult requirement. It 
 is the ideal of a perfect life. Li Christ alone have we its per- 
 fect realization. Those who approximate nearest to it are 
 most like Him. To copy His example perfectly would be 
 to obey perfectly the exhortation of the text. He neglected 
 no duty for the sake of devoting Himself more exclusively to 
 other, and what might have been regarded as higher, duties. 
 It mattered not whether He was occupied in the carpenter's 
 shop at Nazareth, or was preaching upon the mountain's side 
 to a great multitude. In the one place as well as in the 
 other He was "about His Father's business." 
 
 It is no uncommon thing to see the first part of this injunc- 
 tion carried out to the very letter; especially in the restricted 
 sense in which it is commonly regarded, as referring exclusively 
 to earthly pursuits. There is but little need in this day to 
 give from the pulpit any exhortations to incite to diligence in 
 business. The pressure is all in this direction. Yea, so great 
 has this become, that every year many give way under the 
 mighty strain to which their powers are subjected, and fall as 
 victims to undue devotion to business. They even make this 
 an excuse for neglecting higher interests. They say, "Let us 
 attend to one thing at a time. We will be diligent in busi- 
 ness till we have secured a fortune; after that we will be fer- 
 vent in spirit, devoting the remainder of our lives to the service 
 of the Lord." You know how worthless all such promises are, 
 how delusive are such hopes. The man who devotes the best 
 
8 
 
 years of his life to purely business pursuits, dwarfs his whole 
 nature and unfits himself for liigher walks of usefulness. 
 
 It is very rarely, indeed, that we can point to any man as 
 an example of a higher and nobler life, and by his marked 
 success, even in a worldly point of view, show that the service 
 of God is not incompatible with at least a satisfactory degree 
 of temporal prosperity. In some cases the Christian charac- 
 ter is not so decided as to leave no room for doubt, while in 
 others the measure of success attained is so meagre as to fur- 
 nish no very strong incentive to induce others to copy the 
 example. So that we have mainly to rely upon the abstract 
 truth when we would show that it is possible to be "not 
 slothful in business," and yet "fervent in spirit; serving the 
 Lord." 
 
 But to-day I can present the truth, not merely by precept but 
 also by example. A life has just closed, so far as respects 
 this world, which is well calculated to teach us that success in 
 a laborious, fascinating and absorbing profession is not in- 
 compatible with whole-hearted devotion to the service of 
 Christ. Before its lustre fades away, I would impress its 
 lessons, and, if possible, induce some of you to copy this 
 example. 
 
 This sacred hour should not be spent in empty eulogy upon 
 a fallible mortal like ourselves. The Holy Spirit in the in- 
 spired word teaches us by example. Yet carefully refraining 
 from everything like this, I would magnify not the man but 
 the grace of God which made him what he was. None was 
 more conscious than our departed friend whose loss we mourn, 
 that he was a debtor to Divine grace for all that he was and 
 for all that he accomplished during a life which just passed 
 beyond the common limit of three-score years and ten. He 
 arrogated nothing to himself. He was like a child in his un- 
 assuming modesty, and like a child in his tenderly sympathetic 
 nature. A more sensitive and loving heart I never knew. 
 
This was a natural gift, inherited no doubt from his ancestors. 
 His emotional nature was just the counterpart of his delicate 
 and highly organized physical constitution. 
 
 With the same tenderness as if he were present, would I 
 speak of him to-day, and therefore my endeavor will be not 
 to say a single word that would have wounded his modesty. 
 Yea, may he not be here with his sainted daughter and others 
 who have gone from this communion to the higher fellowship 
 of the glorified, although we shall see their faces no more. I 
 feel as if even now he were looking upon me from his accus- 
 tomed place, with those eyes which were always dimmed with 
 tears whenever a Saviour's love was presented, and by his 
 earnest looks was saying, " Not me, but Christ." 
 
 Not thee, but Christ, my brother, shall be the subject of 
 this discourse. But surely, since now thou art zvith Christ, 
 we who are still left may show what Christ did/(?r thee and by 
 thee. No wreath would we entwine for thy brow, since already 
 thy Master has placed there the "crown of life." But we 
 would show how He made thee a jewel fit for His own glori- 
 ous crown. We would speak of thee only as the Holy Spirit 
 has spoken of those who "through faith and patience inherited 
 the promises;" to show that the same grace has still the same 
 power over those who yield themselves to its influence. It 
 was this which enabled thee to approximate so nearly ^to the 
 ideal of a perfect life as described in our text, "Not slothful 
 in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." 
 
 Let us, brethren and friends, glance at his life, that we 
 may learn what appears to me to be its chief lesson, viz: that 
 it is possible to be diligent and successful in a professional 
 career, and yet "fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." 
 
 The Hon. John B. Skinner was a grandson of the R-ev. 
 Thomas Skinner, a graduate of Harvard College, whose 
 whole ministerial life was spent in Westchester, Conn., as 
 pastor of the Congregational church in that place. His father. 
 
lO 
 
 Benj. Skinner, removed to WilHamstown, Mass., and took a 
 very active part in the organization and building of Williams 
 College, which has for years occupied such a commanding 
 position among our New England literary institutions. It 
 was in this place that the subject of this sketch was born. 
 He enjoyed the highest literary advantages this country then 
 afforded, and so diligently improved them that he was admit- 
 ted to college when only fifteen years of age, graduating with 
 honor and high promise of future usefulness when a mere 
 youth of nineteen. The following three years were devoted 
 by him to the study of his chosen profession. With such zeal 
 did he apply himself, aided by the most famous instructors, 
 both public and private, that at the age of twenty-two he was 
 admitted to the Supreme Court of the State of New York. 
 
 Frequently have I heard him speak of the thorough pre- 
 paration required in those days, in comparison with the mea- 
 gre attainments which are sometimes regarded as sufficient 
 now, for admission into this honorable and important profes- 
 sion. His whole future success, with his accustomed modesty, 
 he attributed to his thorough preparation and not to his own 
 native abilities. 
 
 There was a sad scene through which he passed about this 
 time, which made a deep and permanent impression upon his 
 youn^ mind. His father, feeling that death was at hand, like 
 good old Jacob, called his sons around his dying bed and 
 prayed for them, one after another, by name, earnestly plead- 
 ing for those who had not yet given evidence that they were 
 truly converted, that they might be included in the covenant 
 of grace. But when he came to John, he prayed for him as 
 if he were already a child of God. The godly father doubtless 
 detected in his blameless life and tender regard for sacred 
 things, the commencement of that work of grace which was to 
 become deeper and deeper, till it resulted in that high Chris- 
 tian character with which we are familiar. 
 
II 
 
 Soon after his admission to the bar, he sought a field of la- 
 bor in what was then the far West, and settled in an adjoining 
 county. Although only a boy, he was at once engaged in 
 some of the most important cases then before the courts. 
 Responsibility was forced upon him rather than courted. I 
 remember well how graphically he described his feelings when 
 called upon, I think by the appointment of the Court, to de- 
 fend a man who was upon trial for his life. Never did a 
 young physician, in treating a critical case, have greater anxi- 
 ety for the life of his patient than this young barrister had 
 for the life of his cHent. He felt that he held the poor man's 
 destiny in his hand, and was almost overwhelmed with the 
 responsibility. His pathetic eloquence prevailed, and his 
 client was acquitted. This at once established his reputation. 
 Business rolled in upon him, till in a few years, if a dispute 
 arose among neighbors in any of the counties in which he 
 practiced, the effort was who should first reach Squire Skin- 
 ner's office and secure his services. The one who was success- 
 ful in this felt that his case was already won. 
 
 The labor which he performed during the first ten or fifteen 
 years of his professional career was truly astounding. At the 
 present rates for legal services, his income would have been 
 at least a competence, if not a modest fortune. 
 
 But his efforts were not confined to the mere routine of 
 professional duties. He took a deep interest in the political 
 issues of the day, and had he been ambitious for political 
 distinction, he might have aspired successfully to far higher 
 offices than any which he filled with such honor and distinc- 
 tion ; for he honored the position, rather than deriving honor 
 from the position. His effort was rather to keep out of office 
 than to secure it. This feature of his public life inspired the 
 confidence which he enjoyed, not merely among his political 
 friends, but also opponents. Although devotedly attached 
 to the political party which he espoused at the very beginning 
 
12 
 
 of his public life, and whose ranks he never deserted, yet he 
 was not a party man for the emoluments of office, but from 
 the honest conviction that its principles, if carried out, would 
 secure the highest good for the whole country. 
 
 I never heard of but one charge brought against him, when 
 a candidate for office, by the opposing party, and that he 
 related to me himself. He was charged with having pur- 
 chased a mortgage against a poor widow, turning her out of 
 house and home. It was either the wilful or ignorant misrep- 
 resentation of an act of charity on his part. The wddow 
 consulted with him, and as the only way of securing her little 
 property free from encumbrance, he had the mortgage fore- 
 closed, that the property might be bought in for the widow 
 herself, although I believe he was ostensibly the purchaser. 
 This he related merely as an illustration of the misrepresen- 
 tation to which the character of public men is exposed, in 
 the excitement of a political campaign. 
 
 The habits of industry which he acquired continued through 
 his whole life. While a member of Assembly for three succes- 
 sive terms, the last two being elected by both parties, his time 
 was fully occupied. Being so universally known in this part 
 of the State, if any important bill relative to local interests 
 w^as to be presented, the labor of drafting it was always com- 
 mitted to him. And yet he found time to attend to other and 
 higher interests for the good of the people. Intemperance 
 then, as now, was the curse of the country; but the habit of 
 moderate drink was then so general that few could be found 
 to raise their voice against the consequent evil. While attend- 
 ing the Assembly, at Albany, w^ith Chancellor Walworth he 
 originated the first temperance meeting held in this State, 
 and had the honor of being its presiding officer. I think 
 that meeting was addressed by Rev. Dr. Hewit, the American 
 apostle of temperance. Shortly after returning to his home, 
 he visited every town in his own county, advocating this then 
 
13 
 
 unpopular cause, with so much success that an almost com- 
 plete reformation was effected, the blessed fruits of which the 
 County of Wyoming still enjoys. 
 
 When called to the bench as Judge, he was strict and im- 
 partial in his decisions, yet allowing the counsel who appeared 
 before him great latitude in the management of their cases. 
 This resulted from the discomfiture of a Judge of his ac- 
 quaintance, who adopted just the opposite extreme. He had 
 interrupted an advocate in his examination of a witness re- 
 peatedly, and at last, when the question was asked, "Was it 
 moonlight the night when this event occurred .'*" the Judge 
 wholly lost his patience, and said, "The time of the Court can- 
 not be wasted by such irrelevant questions. What difference 
 can it make in this case whether it was moonlight or not ? " 
 Soon the counsel showed that the whole case turned upon 
 that very point. "This," said our friend, 'T always remem- 
 bered whenever inclined to lose my patience upon the bench, 
 presuming that the counsel who had investigated the whole 
 case knew better than I did the bearing of their questions." 
 
 I need not speak of the honor and distinction which he 
 gained in his profession. His name is a household word in 
 the county where his active professional life was passed. No 
 man will be missed more, and no man mourned with 
 greater sincerity. Few have had a more successful career. 
 Had he coveted higher honors, they were easily within his 
 reach. But instead of this he retired from active business 
 when his powers were in full vigor; not, however, merely to 
 enjoy the elegant leisure which he had earned by years of 
 unremitting industry. His usefulness continued to the close 
 of his life. Every important public charity in this and adjoin- 
 ing counties coveted his services. Nor did he accept these 
 appointments as merely honorary. With as much fidelity as 
 if they were his own personal interests did he serve these in- 
 stitutions. 
 
14 
 
 It is only a very few months ago that he was sent for to 
 Warsaw, to advocate the claims of a Reformatory upon a new 
 plan, for those who had just entered upon a career of crime. 
 His health was even then giving way. Those who heard him 
 upon that occasion, and who had listened to his eloquence in 
 times past, acknowledged that he surpassed his own happiest 
 efforts. He related his experience as a lawyer, and said, "I 
 throw my forty years of experience in the Courts of this State 
 in favor of this movement. I know the corrupting influence 
 of association with hardened criminals, upon those who have 
 only taken the first steps in wrong doing. Provide for them 
 such an asylum as this, and they may yet retrieve their char- 
 acters and become useful members of society. Send them 
 to our State prisons, and most of them are ruined forever. 
 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.' " 
 
 Truly he was "not slothful in business." "Whatsoever his 
 hands found to do, he did it with all his might." 
 
 But were this all that could be said of him, although his 
 was a successful life, acccording to a worldly standard, for he se- 
 cured both fame and fortune, and yet maintained his character 
 without a blot, so that a distinguished Judge of our own city 
 in a single sentence pronounced the highest possible eulogy 
 upon him, while we were together in the house of mourning, 
 in these words : " He lies there just as pure as he was in 
 his cradle;" yet, according to a higher standard, his life 
 would have been divested of its chief glory ; for all these 
 things he might have done for profit or renown, merely for 
 that honor which cometh from men. But he had higher 
 views of life. His devotion to his profession and to public 
 interests did not prevent him from devoting himself to the 
 service of Christ. Nor did his devotion to the service of 
 Christ prove the slightest obstacle to his professional suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Although, as we have already seen, his pious father de- 
 
15 
 
 tected in him the incipient manifestations of a work of grace 
 even in youth, yet it was not till he had reached full maturity 
 that he made a public profession of his faith in Christ. This 
 delay was doubtless because of his characteristic distrust of 
 himself; for he was always a regular attendant upon the 
 means of grace, and a liberal supporter of the institutions 
 of religion. With the same zeal and whole-heartedness he 
 devoted himself to his religious duties that he did to his tem- 
 poral pursuits. He mastered that most difficult of all lessons 
 in practical Christianity, to " use the world as not abusing it," 
 — to keep it in its proper place of subordination. He made 
 his daily life a service to the Lord. No offer, however tempt- 
 ing, could induce him to undertake a cause that had not 
 justice upon its side. He had not a professional and a Chris- 
 tian conscience, the one to regulate his conduct at the bar, 
 and the other in the Church of God. What he was upon the 
 Sabbath, that he was during the whole week. The Word of 
 God was the rule of his life. Christ was his Master, and in 
 all things he endeavored to serve Him. This was doubtless 
 the grand reason of his success. 
 
 He would have been a very poor advocate where his feel- 
 ings were not enlisted, and poorer still if he had to argue 
 against his own convictions. It was an easy matter when he 
 was convinced that he was right, to convince others of the jus- 
 tice of his cause. But his character was so transparent that 
 it would have been impossible for him to have concealed a 
 fraud. He spoke from the heart, and his heart was over- 
 flowing with love for the wretched and sinful, because it 
 had been penetrated by the love of Him who, when upon 
 earth, was known as " the friend of publicans and sinners." 
 Thus he succeeded in carrying into his professional life his 
 Christian profession, keeping it pure and unsullied, and at the 
 same time maintained, even to the last, his confidence in hu- 
 man nature, although he had, in the discharge of his duty, to 
 
i6 
 
 become so conversant with the darkest phases of our poor, 
 fallen, sinful humanity. 
 
 Very soon after connecting himself with the Presbyterian 
 Church of Wyoming, where he first took the vows of God 
 upon him, he was elected to its eldership. In a great meas- 
 ure the past and present prosperity of that church was due 
 to his untiring efibrts. When his residence was transferred 
 to this city, some twelve years ago, although he would have 
 received a warm welcome to any of our churches, he looked 
 around, not to see where he would be most honored, and find 
 the most congenial society, but where he could be most use- 
 ful, and identified himself with Calvary Church, which was 
 then, amid many discouragements, striving to maintain an 
 existence. This inspired the little band of brethren here 
 with confidence and courage. He was invited to his place in 
 the eldership, and with untiring energy, devoting not only 
 his time but also his means, he labored for its prosperity. If 
 he was ever discouraged, he always succeeded in concealing 
 his feelings. Always hopeful, always confident, he saw only 
 the bright side. Nothing was ever permitted to interfere 
 with his religious duties. It was a delight to him to lay aside 
 his business cares and come to the house of prayer. His dili- 
 gence in business did not abate the fervency of his spirit. 
 
 How often have we heard him plead with God, his voice 
 tremulous with deepest emotion, for blessings upon this church 
 and this city. He knew how to draw near to God. How 
 earnest were his exhortations welling up from the very depths 
 of his heart. This was very marked since his return from 
 Europe, a little more than two years ago. The months which 
 he spent there was the only season of relaxation he had given 
 himself during his whole life. He was joyous as a child, 
 while passing through the varied scenes of interest in the 
 great theatre of the past. His was a nature to more than 
 realize its anticipations. His sojourn in the old world was to 
 
17 
 
 him a long and delightful holiday ; but we know its sad ter- 
 mination. 
 
 With his beloved wife he joined their only daughter and 
 her husband in Europe, that together they might behold the 
 things which were so familiar to them from extensive reading. 
 The whole family were together, and their cup of happiness 
 was full. But they were to learn how closely sorrow treads 
 upon our present joys. Surrounded by the sublime and beau- 
 tiful in nature, where they had selected a residence for some 
 months, an infant grandson was placed in his aged arms. To 
 one who had such great love for children this was happiness 
 indeed. But the bud of promise drooped and died. Just 
 before its departure, with his own hand he sprinkled upon it 
 the symbolical water in the name of the sacred Three. Love 
 and sorrow had alike consecrated him for this holy office. 
 
 But this was only the first step in a deeper baptism of sor- 
 row. The young mother, the only child and daughter upon 
 whom the wealth of affection of three loving hearts was lav- 
 ished, had to follow her little one into the far-off country. 
 At the moment of her departure he was with her and seemed 
 to enter also within the gate. But she passed on alone. The 
 glory for him faded away for a little. He only knew how 
 near he had been to heaven by looking upon the face of his 
 beloved dead, which continued illuminated by the rapture of 
 the departing spirit. The influence of this scene he carried 
 with him to the close of his life. 
 
 When he spoke of the vanity of earth and of the glory 
 to be revealed, it was as Paul the aged spake after he had 
 been transported to the third heavens. Eternal things were 
 to him such realities. We expected to meet him a crushed and 
 broken-hearted old man. But instead of this there was a 
 saintly sweetness of patient resignation surrounding him, 
 which increased as he ripened for heaven. The one great link 
 which bound him to the future — for it is true that in old age 
 
parents live for their children rather than for themselves — sev- 
 ered, he did not cease from his labors, but abounded in them 
 more and more, as if in haste to have his work done, that he 
 might go home. The interests of the Church absorbed him 
 more and more. His heart's desire and prayer to God was 
 that the dissevered branches of our beloved Presbyterian 
 Church might be reunited. P"or this he labored as well as 
 prayed. I saw the tears of joy in his eyes when this union 
 was at last consummated, and the two Assemblies brought 
 together to ratify it. 
 
 But while he loved the whole Church and Christains of every 
 name, it was upon this Church, which he served so faithfully 
 as a ruling elder, that his heart's best affections were su- 
 premely fixed. Nothing could keep him from her solemn 
 assemblies, not even the waning vigor of his powers. 
 
 Many of you will remember how, with tottering steps, he 
 passed up the aisle, when for the last time he distributed the 
 sacramental emblems. A less devoted man would have ex- 
 cused himself from duty. But the fervency of his spirit sup- 
 plied the lack of physical vigor. 
 
 Well do I remember his last appearance in yonder pew. 
 The text of the discourse was, "I am not alone, for the Father 
 is with me." This was the promise upon which he was to 
 lean ; the truth of which he was soon to test, and have ful- 
 filled in his own experience. Little did we think as we saw 
 him with slow and hesitating step, as if he would linger a 
 little longer, leaving the house of God, and watched him be- 
 yond its sacred portals, that he was to pass them no more. 
 But this was the will of God and we must bow in submission, 
 although our loss is so great. " The Lord gave and the Lord 
 hath taken away ; " we bless and magnify His holy name for 
 all that He made him by His grace, and for all that He en- 
 abled him to accomplish here. LTpon that Sabbath his work 
 was really finished, although the Lord spared him to his famiK' 
 
19 
 
 for a few weeks longer, that they might lavish upon him the 
 tender ministrations of love. 
 
 We have to record the loving kindness and tender mercy 
 of our God to His servant. Goodness and mercy followed 
 him all the days of his life. He had served God in his gen- 
 eration, and by his life of active usefulness had testified to 
 the purifying and elevating power of divine grace. Nothing 
 could have added to the lustre of this testimony. It needed 
 not for its completion the raptures which God sometimes 
 vouchsafes to His servants in the hour of death. We needed 
 not the assurance from his lips that all was well with him. 
 And so we sought it not. Just as the sun, when it has run its 
 circuit through the heavens, gently sinks to rest behind the 
 gates of the west, and is lost to our sight, so did he pass 
 away. He had finished his course, and the Lord let fall upon 
 His departing servant the mantle of unconsciousness. There 
 was no pain, no fainting, no sickness, no languor. He "fell 
 on sleep " like the aged king of Israel who was the man after 
 God's own heart. When his work was done, the Master 
 sweetly whispered in his ear, " Rest from thy labor," and gave 
 " his beloved sleep." 
 
 The dear ones who watched so tenderly over him in his 
 last hours felt that he might awake at any moment. And he 
 did. Jesus came and awoke him out of his sleep. But who 
 can describe that awaking ? Oh ! did we know more of what 
 transpires between the dying saint and his Saviour, what a 
 scene could we present. He was ALONE, though his loving 
 wife and friends were ever near him. The hand of affection 
 which clasped his could feel no returning pressure. But think 
 you he was alone? Think you that the soul was wrap- 
 ped in the same unconsciousness as the body .-* I looked at 
 the lips from which words of mortal language would never 
 more pass, and I thought if it were lawful for him to 
 speak to us again, what wonders he could now reveal. And 
 
20 
 
 yet I knew that from the depths of the dark valley where he 
 then was, his soul was saying in rapture, " I fear no evil, for 
 Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." 
 
 The night was growing dark and tempestuous as for the 
 last time I left his sacred chamber — sacred because it was the 
 gate of heaven to an immortal soul. The midnight hour 
 drew near. Sleep had forsaken my couch. A strange pres- 
 ence seemed to enter my chamber. No form did I see. No 
 words did I hear. And yet it seemed as if he had tarried a 
 moment on his ascending way, to say farewell, and leave the 
 parting message he could not speak. It was as if I heard his 
 familiar voice saying, " Farewell earth, with its dark, tempestu- 
 ous nights. There is now no night for me. The light of un- 
 ending day dawns upon me. I am rising above the clouds. 
 Already do I realize the presence of my God and Saviour. 
 Already do I see the loved ones for whom I mourned coming 
 to meet me. FareweU ! for I must away. Tell the dear ones 
 whom my departure has left so desolate not to mourn. A 
 little while, and our family divided in that foreign land shall 
 be reunited in the Fatherland which I am now entering. 
 Farewell ! Farewell ! " 
 
 I only speak for him. Comfort ye then one another with 
 these his last words. 
 
 But, dear brethren and friends, let us lay to heart the great 
 lesson of his life. We too can be "diligent in business; fer- 
 vent in spirit ; serving the Lord." Let us follow him so 
 far as he followed Christ. Then life's duties done, death will 
 be to us just what it has been to him — falling asleep in the 
 arms of Jesus, to awake in His likeness, amid all the joys and 
 blessed companionship of Heaven. 
 
MEMORIALS AND RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE SESSION OF CALVARY 
 CHURCH. 
 
 A joint meeting of the Session, Deacons and Trustees 
 of Calvary Church was held in the Chapel, Wednesday 
 evening, June 7, 1871, for the purpose of giving expression 
 to the feelings of the officers of this Church and congregation, 
 in view of the great loss they have sustained in the death of 
 Hon. John B. Skinner, who for several years was an Elder 
 and Trustee of this Church and Society. 
 
 Rev. A. McLean was called to the chair. Geo. P. Putnam, 
 Esq., was appointed secretary. 
 
 The following memorial was unanimously adopted : 
 
 On the sixth day of June, 187 1, at eleven o'clock and twenty min- 
 utes P. M., our dear and venerated friend, Hon. John B. Skinner, 
 parted from this mortal life, and entered, as we devoutly trust, upon 
 the blessedness of the life eternal. 
 
 His relations to this Church from its organization, as an Elder, as 
 President of its Board of Trustees, and as one of its most earnest 
 and devoted members, have been so intimate, so pleasant, and to us 
 so fraught with highest profit, that words can but feebly express our 
 sense of bereavement. 
 
When we remember, however, the long hfe which he was permit- 
 ted to spend in that service which he loved, the ripeness of his 
 Christian experience, and the gentle hand that has led him in perfect 
 trust and peace to the " silent shore," our gratitude almost exceeds 
 our grief, and we bow in humble submission and thanksgiving. 
 
 Resolved, That this memorial be entered by the Clerk of Session 
 and by the Clerk of the Board of Trustees in their respective 
 minutes. 
 
 ACTION OF THE BAR OF ERIE COUNTY. 
 
 Pursuant to call, a meeting of the Bar of Erie County was 
 held at the Old Court House, yesterday afternoon, at five 
 o'clock. The attendance was quite large and a number of 
 distinguished jurists were among those present. The Hon. 
 Judge Verplanck called the assemblage to order and stated 
 the object of the meeting to be to take action in reference 
 to the death of the Hon. John B. Skinner. Upon his 
 motion, Hon. Millard Fillmore was called to preside, and 
 upon taking his chair asked the pleasure of the meeting. 
 
 On motion of Wm. H. Greene, Esq., Judge D. H. Bull, 
 of Cattaraugus county, and Hon. H. S. Cutting, were ap- 
 pointed secretaries. The organization being complete, the 
 following remarks were made from the chair : 
 
 REM.-VRKS BY THE HON. MR. FH.LM(3RE. 
 
 I am not in the habit of apologizing, but it has been so long 
 since I have attempted to speak in public that I fancy that I 
 feel somewhat like lhe aged prisoner released from the Bastile. 
 He had been confined so long that he had lost the use of his 
 limbs, and consequently his steps were hesitating and unsteady. 
 But feeble and unsatisfactory as my effort to speak may be, yet 
 I can not withhold my tribute of respect to the man whose death 
 we deplore to-dny. T am not prepared to pronounce any eulogy 
 
23 
 
 upon the character of Judge Skinner. Whoever shall assume that 
 responsible duty will require time for reflection and preparation. 
 But since I consented to-day to attend this meeting I have been 
 too much occupied by previous engagements to find time even 
 to read the brief obituary of the deceased published in the papers 
 this morning. I shall therefore content myself by speaking of the 
 Judge as I knew him. Doubtless there are many in this intelli- 
 gent audience who knew him more intimately, if not so long as I 
 have. My acquaintance commenced with him in 1S29, when he 
 and I were both members of the Assembly. That was my first 
 year, but I think it was his third year, and he had then an en- 
 viable reputation for so young a man in that distinguished body, 
 as yet free from the suspicion of bribery, and adorned by the 
 talents of such men as John C. Spencer, Erastus Root, Benjamin 
 F. Butler, Frank Granger, and a host of others. The revision of 
 our statutes — the great work which did so much to methodize 
 our laws and relieve them from the cumbrous language and ac- 
 cumulated contradictions and inconsistencies of years — was then 
 just completed, and in that great work Judge Skinner bore a 
 conspicuous part. I know that he was listened to with confidence 
 and respect, and no member of the House seemed to exert a more 
 salutary influence. But that, I believe, was his last year in the State 
 Legislature, and party politics — not want of talent or integrity — 
 prevented him from being elected to any popular office ; and, 
 indeed, so long as I took part in party politics, we belonged to 
 different parties, consequently my subsequent acquaintance was 
 mainly at the bar. But here he was distinguished for his legal ac- 
 quirements and forensic eloquence. I have often felt a tremor 
 of anxiety when I had to meet him. He was a man religiously 
 devoted to the interest of his client without ever compromising his 
 own conscience or dignity. He prepared his case with great labor 
 and assiduity, and whatever could be honorably said in favor of his 
 client's interest he presented with great clearness and force, and when 
 that was done he conceived he had discharged his professional duty, 
 and he patiently awaited the result. But professional labors, how- 
 ever great and however successful, give but a limited reputation 
 compared with official services. The reputation of the lawyer is 
 confined mostly to the bench and bar, while that of the statesman or 
 military hero fills the nation — and is often reflected from foreign 
 
24 
 
 countries. But the highest encomium which can ever be passed 
 
 upon a man of his profession may with great propriety be passed 
 
 upon him, and that is, he was a learned, conscientious lawyer. 
 
 "A wit 's a feather, and a chief 's a rod, 
 But an honest man is the noblest work of God." 
 
 As a citizen, his character stands without blemish. Foremost in 
 all efforts to relieve the wants and improve the morals of society, 
 he taught temperance rather by practice than by lectures; he adorned 
 the Christian character by an humble, pious devotion, and was con- 
 tent to worship his Creator in his own way, without bigotry and free 
 from all intolerance. Death is the common lot of humanity. It 
 must come to us all sooner or later, and it can never touch a near 
 and dear friend without our feeling it most sensibly. But yet there is 
 some consolation in the thought that he was taken from us after his 
 work was fully done. Had he died earlier, we should have felt that 
 he and society had lost much. Had he survived the loss of health 
 and faculties, we should have felt that his life was but prolonged 
 misery, with no adequate compensation to himself or others. Our 
 Creator knows best when it is time for us to die, and while we can- 
 not avoid the pang which the death of a friend inflicts, yet it is our 
 duty humbly to submit to the will of God and be resigned — and I 
 feel that we but honor ourselves in honoring his memory. 
 
 S. S. Rogers, Esq., moved that a committee of five be ap- 
 pointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the 
 meeting ; and the motion being adopted, the chair appointed 
 as such committee the following gentlemen : S. S. Rogers, 
 Esq., Judge Hall, Judge Daniels, E. G. Lapham, Esq., of 
 Ontario, and George F. Danforth, Esq., of Monroe. 
 
 In the absence of the committee, the Hon. Judge Corn- 
 stock, of Canandaigua, arose and paid a beautiful tribute to 
 the memory of the deceased. He had known Judge Skinner 
 in Wyoming county for fifteen years ; and where he was besj; 
 known as a lawyer, a Christian and a citizen, he stood pre- 
 eminent. "As a lawyer," he said, "we all knew him ; as an 
 advocate he had few equals and no superior, and carried with 
 him a force and fire which I never knew in any other man." 
 He said that he made his client's case his own and threw the 
 
25 
 
 whole force of his strong nature into his cause. As a citizen 
 he was without a stain upon his character. He was a man of 
 fine culture, of excellent taste ; a genial, warm-hearted, sym- 
 pathetic man, beloved by all, rich and poor alike. He had 
 met him often at the Bar, and never had met his equal before 
 a jury — never one who had exhibited more electrical power 
 or displayed more convincing eloquence. He was a gentle- 
 man as well as a lawyer ; and while he never lowered his dig- 
 nity, he never asserted any superiority to the discomfort or 
 humiliation of others. Always kind to the younger members 
 of the Bar, he was regarded by them in return with the 
 warmest favor. For himself, he had always regarded Judge 
 Skinner with feelings of admiration and love. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, from the committee on resolutions, submitted 
 the following : 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. John B. Skinner, the Bar 
 of Western New York has lost one of its most honored and distin- 
 guished members, and the State a citizen of the highest character, 
 purest morals and the most illustrious example. 
 
 For more than a generation he was a leader at our Bar worthy of 
 the name. Able, eloquent, courageous, earnest, incorruptible, he 
 adorned the profession which honored him. He loved that profes- 
 sion with no ignoble or mercenary passion. To him its members 
 were ministers of justice, holding their offices and discharging their 
 duties under the immediate supervision of the Great Judge ; and 
 through an active and successful professional career, as well as 
 through the years of a serene and peaceful age, he was known by 
 all as a Christian gentleman. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented at the 
 General Term of the Supreme Court, now in session for the Fourth 
 Judicial Department, and that the Secretary also furnish a copy 
 thereof to the family of our venerated friend and brother, and that 
 we will attend the funeral in a body. 
 
 Mr. Greene moved the adoption of the resolutions, and the 
 motion was seconded. 
 
26 
 
 T. B. Corlett, Esq., addressed the meeting briefly, in a 
 strain of tender regard for the memory of the deceased. 
 
 Hon. R. P. Marvin, Judge of the Supreme Court, was the 
 next gentleman to address the meeting. He said his ac- 
 quaintance with Judge Skinner was of long standing, dating 
 back thirty-nine or forty years in October. He first met him 
 in the Court of Common Pleas, in Cattaraugus county ; a 
 Court which transacted most of the business that arose. He 
 had at that time an established reputation as a lawyer. He 
 had met him when the county was new — -before the primeval 
 forest had been disturbed — and the friendship he had formed 
 with him then had continued without interruption down to 
 the day of his death. He dated his first intimate acquaint- 
 ance with Judge Skinner to the time when litigation arose in 
 the county of an extraordinary character, and which extended 
 into Pennsylvania. In this Judge Skinner took an active and 
 important part. He complimented Judge Comstock's charac- 
 terization of the man, and added that when he (the speaker) 
 was placed upon the bench, Judge Skinner was in full practice. 
 He said he was known for his intimate acquaintance with the 
 nature of actions. He had never met a man who displayed 
 such wonderful discrimination in regard to his actions. He 
 knew when his action was complete and when his adversary's 
 was faulty ; and when he resisted a motion for a nonsuit it 
 was because he was not to be nonsuited, while his demand for 
 a nonsuit was invariably damaging to his adversary. The 
 speaker said he was the most cautious man he ever knew in 
 his preparation of a case, and informed himself of all its bear- 
 ings ; he was the most cautious man he ever knew in the trial 
 of a cause ; he followed his evidence step by step, and if the 
 statement of an opposing witness crossed his theory, on the 
 cross-examination he fairly exhausted his ingenuity to destroy 
 or qualify it. He disposed summarily of a witness who did 
 not affect him seriously. Few men were better in repartee ; 
 
27 
 
 but when the case went to the jury his highest powers were 
 called into play. At that time, cases taken up on exceptions 
 were rarely heard of, and the great merit was to get the cause 
 before a jury. He said he thought he had never heard a man 
 so powerful before a jury, and he confessed that after listening 
 to one of his arguments he could not well see how a jury 
 could do otherwise than render in his favor. Of all his earn- 
 estness, his severity, his playfulness, his power to command 
 the sympathies of those w^hom he addressed — in a word, of his 
 abilities as a true, great advocate, Judge Marvin spoke with 
 eloquent simplicity and force. In denunciation and anathema 
 he was terrible, but he was even more powerful when he ap- 
 pealed to a jury. At such time, his voice would sink down 
 into a whisper, and would continue so for several minutes till 
 his listeners were fairly enthralled. He had no quality of 
 envy in his composition, and upon this point Judge Marvin 
 dwelt with nicest delicacy. He concluded a beautiful tribute, 
 which we have but merely outlined, by holding up the life of 
 Judge Skinner as one worthy the emulation of the younger 
 gentlemen of the Bar, and as a noble example for all. 
 
 Sherman S. Rogers, Esq., spoke from the standpoint of a 
 ten years' friendship, formed after Judge Skinner's removal to 
 Buffalo, since which time he had been substantially with- 
 drawn from active professional life. He was not, therefore, to 
 the speaker the eloquent advocate, the dis.tinguished lawyer, 
 but a friend who, though many years his senior, was as near, 
 and dear to him as if he were a kinsman of no remote degree. 
 
 He had nothing, of assumption in his character; nothing to 
 proclaim his greatness but the unmistakable qualities that 
 belong to greatness. He was simple as a child, and readily 
 formed attachments to young men. Upon coming to Buffalo 
 he entered into our social life with activity and zest, and was 
 esteemed and beloved by all. Age is winter to most men — 
 a dark and cold and dreary season; but it was not so to 
 
28 
 
 Judge Skinner. He trod the descending years of life in sum- 
 mer only. 
 
 Although so many years engaged in the practice of a pro- 
 fession which brought him into intimate acquaintance with 
 the weakness and wickedness of men, he never lost his con- 
 fidence in mankind, and never judged harshly or uncharitably. 
 
 He did not at any time forecast the future in gloom, but in 
 serene and cheerful hope ; a hope founded in that unwavering 
 Christain faith which animated and enriched his whole life. It 
 is only six months since he expressed to the speaker his con- 
 viction that he was becoming an old man. Before that he. 
 seemed as young in his feelings as any of us. Up to the 
 time of his last illness he attended the meetings of all the 
 societies of which he was a member; and through his illness 
 there was always a cheerfulness in his manner and speech, 
 and never a suggestion of gloom or discomfort. 
 
 He devoted his later years, after a brilliant professional 
 career, to works of charity and philanthropy, — a beautiful close 
 to a noble life. 
 
 Judge Hall very briefly addressed the meeting, and ex- 
 pressed his hearty concurrence in the words of eulogy which 
 had fallen from the gentleman who had spoken. He said it 
 was nearly, if not quite, forty years since, and in the same 
 room, that he first met Judge Skinner; and that he well re- 
 membered that his distinguished learning, eloquence and 
 ability was, even then, cheerfully acknowledged by those who 
 were familiar with Judge Skinner's forensic efforts ; that from 
 that time he had been no stranger to Judge Skinner's high 
 character and enviable reputation, and had since been asso- 
 ciated with him in different relations ; and that his more inti- 
 mate personal intercourse with Judge Skinner enabled him to 
 bear willing testimony to the purity of his life and the excel- 
 lence of his example. That he was perfectly honest and 
 upright, was active and earnest in all benevolent and useful 
 
29 
 
 enterprises, and generous and noble in his sympathies, pur- 
 poses and conduct : that he was an honor to our common hu- 
 manity and to the legal profession ; and that the profession 
 most honored themselves in rendering the highest honors to 
 his memory. 
 
 Hon. James O. Putnam paid his tribute of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased in appropriate terms. He stated 
 that his earliest associations were connected with Judge Skin- 
 ner. He felt that he had sustained a personal loss in his 
 death. The deceased was a man of most tender sensibilities 
 and generous appreciation. He hated wrong and tyranny. 
 For forty years he devoted himself to the most arduous du- 
 ties of his profession, and in the closing years of his life he 
 identified himself with public institutions directed to great 
 good. He gave the last ten years of his life to the public. 
 His character was truly worthy of imitation, as had been re- 
 marked. The latter portion of his life among us was a fitting 
 close of a beautiful career. 
 
 After a few remarks by Mr. O. Olney, of Nunda, the reso- 
 lutions were unanimously adopted, and the meeting" adjourned. 
 
 THE BUFFALO GENERAL HOSPITAL. 
 
 At a recent meeting of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Buffalo General Hospital, the following resolutions were 
 passed : 
 
 Resolved^ That in the death of the Hon. John B. Skinner, the 
 Board of Trustees of the Buffalo General Hospital has lost a 
 faithful and efficient presiding officer ; the Hospital — an active, 
 earnest and generous friend ; and that this Board unites with the 
 community, at large, in- mourning the loss of a man whose life 
 was devoted, for many years, to the discharge of the duties and 
 occupations of the noble philanthropist and Christian gentleman. 
 
Resolved^ That this Board would respectfully tender to the widow 
 of Mr. Skinner, its heartfelt sympathies in her bereavement, and 
 would hereby direct the Secretary to enter these resolutions in 
 the minutes of the proceedings of the Board and send a copy to 
 Mrs. Skinner. 
 
 WM. F. MILLER, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 At a meeting of the Buffalo and Erie County Bible 
 Society, held June 20th, 1871, the following resolutions 
 were submitted and, on motion, unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas^ It has pleased God to remove from his sphere of 
 usefulness in this world, to a sure reward in heaven, our lamented 
 President, the Hon. John B. Skinner; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we hereby extend our condolence and sympathy 
 to his afflicted widow and the relatives. Our Board feel that we 
 have parted with a zealous friend and a wise counsellor in the 
 cause of Bible distribution in this city and county. We sincerely 
 deplore his loss as a public and private calamity, and for his 
 many Christian virtues he will be cherishe<l by us as a model 
 worthy of emulation. 
 
 Resolved, That this memorial be recorded in our minutes, and 
 that a copy be furnished to the widow of our deceased brother, 
 and also for publication in our daily papers. 
 
 SILAS KINGSLEY, 
 
 Chairman. 
 JULIUS WALKER, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 {Extract from Secretary s Report at the Annual Meeting.'\ 
 
 secretary's report. 
 Mr. President :— The last annual meeting of our society was 
 held on the 19th of June, 1870, and the business meeting on the 
 Monday following, when the i)resent board of officers were chosen. 
 
31 
 
 I say present, but we have to make the exception of our lamented 
 President, the Hon. John B. Skinner, who departed this Hfe in 
 the spring of 187 1. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board held soon after, suitable resolutions 
 of respect were passed and recorded in our minutes. It is due 
 to the memory of the deceased, in this connection, that we should 
 accord to him the tribute of having been a faithful servant. His 
 relations to our Board were pleasant, and he won our confidence 
 by his uniform Christian courtesy. We have felt the loss of his 
 presence and counsel in giving direction and efficiency to the work 
 of our society. 
 
 The memory of such a life and example will continue to exert 
 a salutary Christian influence on the living, and is worthy of our 
 emulation. 
 
 BUFFALO SAVINGS BANK. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Trustees of the Bufifalo 
 Savings Bank, held yesterday, the following resolutions 
 were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That this Board has learned, with deep regret and un- 
 feigned sorrow, the decease of their late associate, the Hon. John 
 B. Skinner. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Judge Skinner, this Board has lost 
 an able adviser, a Trustee of large experience and sound judgment, 
 conscientiously attentive to his duties, and ever ready to devote his 
 time and talents to the promotion of the best interests of this 
 institution. 
 
 Resolved, That, as individuals, we are deeply sensible of the loss 
 we have sustained. We shall miss our venerable colleague, not only 
 in our councils, but in social and personal intercourse, where his 
 genial and kindly nature shone conspicuous, and where he exhibited 
 those rare qualities and Christian graces, which not only won our 
 admiration, but warmly attached us to his manly and noble character. 
 
32 
 
 Resolved, That we tender to the family of the deceased our heart- 
 felt sympathy and condolence for the loss they have sustained, and 
 that we will, as a body, attend the funeral ceremonies. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary transmit a copy of these resolutions 
 to the family of the deceased. 
 
 BUFFALO FEMALE ACADEMY. 
 
 Resolutions passed by the Board of Trustees of Bufifalo 
 Female Academy, June 15th, 1871 : 
 
 Resolved, That in the recent decease of Hon. John B. Skinner 
 this Board has lost one of its most esteemed and useful members ; 
 the friends of science and education, a most earnest and efficient 
 co-worker; and society a most useful citizen, who illustrated and 
 honored his Christian profession by the purity of his life and the 
 excellence of his example. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of the above resolution be certified by the 
 Secretary, and transmitted to the family of the deceased. 
 
 (A true copy from the records of the Board of Trustees of Buffalo 
 Female Academy.) 
 
 A. T. CHESTER, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 INGHAM UNIVERSITY, LE ROY. 
 
 The Committee appointed to draft a suitable memorial 
 on the death of Hon. John B. Skinner reported as follows : 
 
 It having pleased our Heavenly Father to remove by death from 
 his earthly labors our late highly esteemed associate, Hon. John B. 
 Skinner, of Buffalo, we deem it fitting to make the following minute 
 of the sense of the Council in relation to this sad bereavement. 
 
 Resolved, i. That we are hereby solemnly impressed with the 
 brevity and uncertainty of life, and reminded that we live even in 
 the shadow of the tomb. 
 
33 
 
 2. That we gratefully recognise and cherish the memory of the 
 personal worth of our departed fellow-laborer and the great value of 
 his services in the cause of Christian education. 
 
 3. That while we address ourselves to the part assigned us in the 
 work of life, we accept the lesson conveyed by this dispensation, to 
 do with renewed diligence and zeal what our hands find to do for 
 Christ and His Church, and the rising generation. 
 
 4. That this minute go on the records of Ingham University, and 
 a copy of the same be transmitted to the family of the deceased. 
 
 C. H. TAYLOR, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 NEW YORK STATE INSTITUTION FOR THE 
 BLIND, AT BATAVIA. 
 
 Batavia, June 14th, 187 1. 
 At a meeting of the Board of the Trustees of this Institu- 
 tion, held as above, the death of the Hon. John B. Skinner, our 
 late President, having been announced, the following reso- 
 lutions were adopted : 
 
 Resolved., That by the decease of the Hon. John B. Skinner, late 
 President of this Board, the Trustees have lost a valued associate 
 and able counsellor ; the Listitution a warm and devoted friend, and 
 the cause of virtue and education, one of its most efficient advocates 
 and promoters. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of this Board transmit a copy of 
 these resolutions to the family of the deceased. 
 
 R. BALLARD, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 AT WYOMING, NEW YORK. 
 
 The Session of the Presbyterian Church of Wyoming, 
 N. Y., at its first meeting after the death of Hon. John B. 
 Skinner, of Buffalo, adopted the following memorial : 
 
34 
 
 In this place Judge Skinner spent the greater part of his active 
 Hfe. Here he professed the Christian faith and became one of the 
 active, efficient and devoted members of this Church. For many 
 years he was a member of this Session, and we bear loving and will- 
 ing testimony to the faithfulness with which he discharged his private 
 and his official duties. 
 
 Where two or three were gathered for prayer he was one, and the 
 tenderness and warmth of his devotions were an inspiration to others 
 — now they are a pleasing and blessed memory. 
 
 When difficulties were to be removed, he was wise in council and 
 efficient in action. Liberal in his contributions, he ministered to the 
 wants of the Church of which he was an overseer, and was deeply 
 interested in the various iields of Christian benevolence, and although 
 more than ten years have passed since his immediate connection 
 with this Church terminated by his removal to another field of labor, 
 he continued to manifest a deep interest in our welfare while he 
 lived. 
 
 Having known Judge Skinner long and well, it is our duty and 
 pleasure to bear testimony to the excellence of his Christian char- 
 acter and example. Dignified, yet courteous and affable, his presence 
 was always a restraint upon immorality and vice, thus exerting a 
 most salutary influence upon his associates in business and society. 
 
 His early, laborious and persistent efforts in behalf of temperance 
 deserve to be distinctly and gratefully acknowledged. 
 
 As a Session and as a Church we deeply sympathize with his 
 bereaved family in our common loss. 
 
 We trust that this Providence may lead us all to consecrate our- 
 selves more fully to the service of Him who " doeth all things well," 
 and to whom we should look for support in all our weakness and 
 
 woe. 
 
 HUGH T. BROOKS, 
 
 O. G. KEITH, 
 
 At a meeting of the Session of the Presbyterian Church of 
 Wyoming, held Feb. 26, 1862 (soon after Mr. S. removed to 
 Bufifalo), the following minute was unanimously adopted : 
 
35 
 
 The Session of the Presbyterian Church of Wyoming in parting 
 from the Hon. J. B. Skinner, with whom for many years they have 
 been so pleasantly associated, feel constrained to express the deep 
 regret with which they comply with his request for a letter of dis- 
 mission. 
 
 They delight to bear testimony to the readiness with which, at all 
 times, he gave to the service of the Church his eminent abilities, his 
 means and his influence. They rejoice that the good providence of 
 God yet spares him to continue his usefulness elsewhere, and would 
 assure him that their affection and high regard shall be in no wise 
 diminished by this painful separation of a relation so intimate and 
 so long enduring. 
 
 By order of Session, 
 
 J. JONES, 
 
 Moderator. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM THE PAPERS. 
 
 OBITUARY— HON. JOHN B. SKINNER. 
 
 Another of our venerable citizens has gone to his final 
 home. Although the sad event has been expected for some 
 time, the announcement that our venerable fellow-townsman, 
 Judge Skinner, is no more, will be received with sharp 
 sorrow by a vast number of the people of Buffalo and 
 Western New York, and, indeed, by people throughout the 
 State and nation. 
 
 John B. Skinner, son of Benjamin Skinner, of Williams- 
 town, Berkshire county, Mass., was born July 23d, 1799, 
 in a house erected by Col. Simonds, his maternal grand- 
 father, on the bank of the Hoosack river. His paternal 
 grandfather was the Rev. Thomas Skinner, a graduate of 
 Harvard University, and during his whole ministerial life, 
 pastor of the Congregational church at Westchester, Conn. 
 His father was one of the first settlers of Williamstown ; 
 assisted in the erection of Williams College, and was ever 
 liberal and efficient in support of the interests of the Church 
 and every Christian and benevolent enterprise. John B. 
 graduated from Williams in 1818; read law with the Hon. 
 David Buel, of Troy, and after attending a course of lectures 
 at the law school of Judges Reeves and Gould, at Litchfield, 
 
37 
 
 Conn., we understand that he spent some time in Gov. 
 Marcy's office, but whether before or after his admission to 
 the Bar, we do not learn. Between young Skinner and the 
 Governor there existed a warm friendship which only ter- 
 minated with the death of the latter. He was admitted to 
 the Supreme Court of the State of New York in August, 
 1821. His advantages were of the highest order; the young 
 student knew how to use them for what they were worth; 
 and with a thorough knowledge of his profession, high aspir- 
 ations and a determination to succeed, he entered upon his 
 career as a lawyer. He commenced practice in the town of 
 Middlebury, near the centre of the old county of Genesee, at 
 present known as the village of Wyoming, in the county of 
 the same name — both named by him. 
 
 His thorough knowledge of the law, his indefatigable in- 
 dustry, his enthusiasm and eloquence, and genial manners 
 soon attracted attention, and business flowed in upon him 
 from the neighboring counties, which continued and increased 
 until he retired from the practice. In the year [826, when 
 the two political parties were under the great leaders De Witt 
 Clinton and Martin Van Buren, without his solicitation he 
 was nominated for the Assembly, and although the opposing 
 party had been in the ascendancy for years, he was elected by 
 an overwhelming majority. He was re-elected the two suc- 
 ceeding years, without opposition, a compliment which had 
 never before, and has never since, been paid to any individual 
 in the district. As a member of the Legislature, he was 
 among the most prominent. He was Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee upon Literature and of many important select commit- 
 tees ; and the Journals of the House and the political history 
 of the period supply ample evidence as to how admirably he 
 discharged his duties. In the year 1838, he was, at the solici- 
 tation of the Bar, nominated by Gov. Marcy and unanimously 
 confirmed by the Senate, Circuit Judge and Vice Chancellor 
 
38 
 
 of the Eighth District. In 1846, he was appointed District 
 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held 
 until the change of the Constitution abolished the office. In 
 
 1852, he was, with the Hon. Horatio Seymour, appointed 
 State delegate to the Baltimore Convention, which nominated 
 Gen. Pierce for President; and the next year one of the Presi- 
 dential Electors to cast for him the vote of the State. In 
 
 1853, he was appointed Attorney of the United States for the 
 Northern District of New York, an office of much responsi- 
 bility and greatly sought for, but which, owing to his business 
 in the State Courts, he respectfully declined. 
 
 In 1830, Mr. Skinner was married to Catharine, only 
 daughter of Richard M. Stoddard, one of the most prominent 
 of the early settlers of Western New York. This amiable 
 and accomplished lady died in 1833. He was again married 
 in 1837 to Sarah A., daughter of Henry G. Walker, of Wy- 
 oming, who bore him one daughter, his only child, the late 
 Mrs. Josiah Letchworth. 
 
 At an early period of his residence at Wyoming, Judge 
 Skinner united with the Presbyterian Church, of which he 
 was soon appointed an elder, and his liberal and active eflbrts 
 contributed much to raise this Church from a feeble begin- 
 ning to a position of influence in that community. He iden- 
 tified himself with the moral and religious progress of an 
 active and earnest people, and at the time of his removal 
 from the county was President of the Bible, Temperance and 
 Colonization Societies ; and it may be truly said of him that 
 few men have been more widely known or have exerted a 
 more salutary influence. 
 
 In the year i860, he removed to this city, having previously 
 secured one of the finest locations here ; and since that time 
 he has enjoyed, in comparative retiracy, the fruits of an active 
 and laborious life. At the time of his death he was a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church ; 
 
39 
 
 President of the Board of Trustees of the New York State 
 Asylum for the BHnd, an institution recently established at 
 Batavia, and one of the noblest charities of the age ; President 
 of the State Normal School, in this city ; Vice-President of 
 the Reformatory at Warsaw ; a member of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Buffalo Female Academy, and also a member 
 of the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo City Savings Bank. 
 
 His broad and active benevolence invited the manifold 
 responsibilities of a charitable and humane order which 
 pressed upon him ; and in the discharge of the duties incident 
 to them he was gratifying his very highest ambition. 
 
 As an adv^ocate, few men in the State enjoyed a higher 
 reputation than Judge Skinner. The known purity and up- 
 rightness of his character, his comprehensive knowledge of 
 men, his great readiness and self-command, combined with an 
 earnest and impressive manner, enchained the attention while 
 it enlisted the sympathies of a jury, and he very rarely failed 
 to carry them with him. As a judge he was clear, quick in 
 apprehension, and prompt in decision, and tliese characteris- 
 tics rendered him useful, reliable and popular on the bench. 
 Indeed, there were no qualities wanting in Judge Skinner to 
 make him the consummate lawyer and the able jurist. His 
 mind eminently fitted him for statesmanship, but he fairly 
 shrank from public life, and whatever of political prominence 
 he had, he owed first to an ardent devotion to the principles 
 of the Democratic party, and secondly to an intense desire on 
 the part of those who knew him to compel him to act in 
 public life. Undoubtedly the most reasonable explanation 
 of his avoidance of everything that could be interpreted to 
 mean political ambition, was his great love for his profession 
 and his undying attachment to persons, places and things. 
 It is said of him, that if he owned an old horse it was to him 
 the best horse in the world and worthy of his kindest and 
 most thoughtful attentions, and he never wished to part with it. 
 
40 
 
 The same constancy was expressed toward everything he 
 loved, and such men out of their habitat are never truly them- 
 selves. He was a man of the very strongest convictions ; and 
 as a Democrat of the old school and a communicant in the 
 Presbyterian Church, his faith was unqualified and unwaver- 
 ing. The religious element of his character was largely un- 
 folded, and with an active and profound benevolence he was 
 a thoroughly Christian gentleman. He was catholic and lib- 
 eral in his views ; was decidedly an optimist, and viewed 
 human nature, with all its shortcomings, with- the kindliest 
 eyes ; and his masculine will and power were so blended with 
 exquisite tenderness as to present him as the incarnation of 
 strength and delicacy. He has always been known for his 
 fine sensibilities, and equally well for the irresistible power he 
 exerted when arrayed against a bad man or a great wrong. 
 Whenever he was compelled to apply the lash, he threw the 
 whole strength of his nature into the business and was mer- 
 ciless ; but no appeal to his heart was ever made in vain. 
 Through the iron of his character ran a vein of silver, and he 
 was known of men to be as truly good as he was nobly strong. 
 In his later years he filled the' term "venerable" to perfec- 
 tion, and the radiance of his pure and lofty life, his fidelity to 
 principle, his genuine manliness, his large benevolence, and 
 his loving and lovable nature, should keep his memory green 
 ioxtvQx. — Buffalo Courier, June 8, iSyi. 
 
 OBITUARY— DEATH OF HON. JOHN B. SKINNER. 
 
 Another of our aged and best known citizens has made 
 answer to the death summons. Tuesday evening, after a some- 
 what protracted illness, the Hon. John B. Skinner expired at 
 his residence. No. 155 North street, closing an unusually busy 
 
41 
 
 and useful life of nearly seventy-two years. His career is 
 honorably and prominently associated with the legal profes- 
 sion in Western New York. Offices of high respectability 
 were entrusted to him, and he performed the duties pertaining 
 to them with spotless integrity and marked ability. He was 
 identified with almost every benevolent and educational pub- 
 lic enterprise in this section of the State, devoting, in obe- 
 dience to the sympathies of a generous heart, his time and 
 money freely in aid of anything designed for the extension 
 of charity to the poor and enlightenment to the masses. 
 During the years of his life in Buffalo he held the respect 
 and confidence of our people in the fullest degree, not Avealth 
 alone but excellences of character securing him high profes- 
 sional and social standing. — Buffalo Express, June 8, iSyi. 
 
 OBITUARY— HON. JOHN B. SKINNER. 
 
 We, yesterday afternoon, in a brief article, gave publicity 
 to the deeply-regretted fact of the death of the venerable 
 Judge John B. Skinner, of this city. The demise of one so 
 well known and highly esteemed in this community, and 
 throughout the State, calls for more than a passing notice at 
 our hands. 
 
 The deceased was born at the old homestead in Williams- 
 town, Mass., July 23d, 1799, and was the .son of Benjamin 
 Skinner, Esq. His father was one of the earliest settlers of 
 Williamstown and prominently identified with the foundation 
 of Williams College. The late Judge was a graduate of 
 Williams College, in the class of 1818. After graduating, he 
 commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. David Buel, 
 of Troy, and subsequently attended a course of lectures at 
 Litchfield, Conn., where he had the sound teachings of Judges 
 
42 
 
 Gould and Reeves. For some time he also studied in Gov. 
 William L. Marcy's office, and the friendship engendered at 
 that time was lasting and sincere. In the year 1821 the sub- 
 ject of this sketch was admitted to the Supreme Court of this 
 State. He first entered upon practice in Middlebury, Gen- 
 esee county, now known as Wyoming. His early career as a 
 lawyer was attended with success, and his untiring industry 
 and urbanity of disposition gave satisfaction to his clients and 
 won the love of all who came in contact with him. 
 
 In 1826, he was nominated by Democratic constituents for 
 the Assembly, and was elected by a large majority. This 
 was at the time when the Clinton and Van Buren factions 
 were earnestly opposing each other in this State. He was 
 elected for the two succeeding terms, a deserved compliment 
 and of which he justly felt proud. When in the Legislature 
 he was Chairman of the Committee on Literature and other 
 important select committees. In 1838, he was nominated by 
 Gov. Marcy, at the solicitation of the Bar, as Circuit Judge 
 and Vice-Chancellor of the Eighth District. His nomination 
 was confirmed by the Senate. In 1846, he was appointed 
 District Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office 
 he held until the change of the Constitution abolished the 
 office. In 1852, he was, with the Hon. Horatio Seymour, ap- 
 pointed State delegate to the Baltimore Convention, which 
 nominated Franklin Pierce for President ; and the next year 
 one of the Presidential Electors to cast for him the vote of 
 the State. In 1853, he was appointed Attorney of the United 
 States for the Northern District of New York, an office of 
 much responsibility, which, owing to his business in the State 
 Courts, he declined to accept. 
 
 In 1830, Judge Skinner was married to Catharine, only 
 daughter of Richard M. Stoddard, one of the early settlers 
 of Western New York. This esteemed lady died in 1833. 
 He was again married in 1837 ^o Sarah A., daughter of Henry 
 
43 
 
 G. Walker, of Wyoming. Their only offspring was the late 
 Mrs. Josiah Letch worth. 
 
 As a member of the Presbyterian Church, with which he 
 identified himself as an earnest and able worker, his influence 
 for good was great, and his loss is irreparable. 
 
 He came to Buffalo to live in i860, and since that time had 
 resided at the fine place on North street, well known as one 
 of the most desirable locations in the city. At the time of 
 his death he was a member of the Board of Education of the 
 Presbyterian Church ; President of the Board of Trustees of 
 the New York State Asylum for the Blind, an institution 
 recently established at Batavia ; President of the State Nor- 
 mal School, in this city ; Vice-President of the Reformatory 
 at Warsaw ; a member of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Buffalo Female Academy, and also a member of the Board 
 of Trustees of the Buffalo City Savings Bank. He was 
 prominently identified with the Erie County Bible Associa- 
 tion ; and in the positions of President of the Buffalo General 
 Hospital, and one of the Board of Tru.stees of that institution, 
 he exerted a great influence. He was faithful and efficient in 
 the discharge of his duties in connection with this noble insti- 
 tution, and labored as long as he had strength. The Board 
 of Trustees feel that his place cannot be filled. No one of 
 our citizens has done more to increase the efficiency of the 
 Hospital. 
 
 To properly eulogize a character so estimable as the lament- 
 ed deceased would be a difficult task. Natures like his are 
 like the sun, which sheds its radiance on all around. Such a 
 life is of itself an example. Pure in his public and social inter- 
 course, broad and liberal in his views of humanity, his daily 
 walks were in the direction of the greatest good ; nor time 
 nor occasion prevented him from using his influence where it 
 was most needed. His mental acquirements were great, and 
 despite the engrossing cares of duty, and the demand upon 
 
44 
 
 his time, his heart was always kind, and his sympathy gushed 
 forth like a well spring when any direct appeal to his human- 
 ity was made. The young loved Judge Skinner, for he ever 
 took a kindly interest in their welfare. Little deeds of good- 
 ness and expressions of solicitude from the aged to those of 
 youthful years, take their place in memory's tenderest recol- 
 lections, and endure with perennial freshness. So that not 
 only those more nearly of the age of the late Judge revere 
 and love his memory, but many of our city's youth deeply 
 feel the loss of so good a man. He has gone to rest in the 
 ripeness of age. Few die more worthy of the crown of the 
 blessed. A pure spirit has ascended to meet the reward 
 of a life well spent, full of good deeds and faithful to the end. 
 There will be a meeting of the members of the Bar of 
 Erie County, at the General Term rooms, old Court House, 
 this afternoon at five o'clock, to take action in reference to 
 the decease of Hon. Jno. B. Skinner. — Buffalo Commercial 
 Advertiser, June 8, iSyi. 
 
 HON. J. B. SKINNER. 
 
 Messrs. Editors,— Your last issue contains a brief but 
 fitting notice of this eminent jurist and useful church officer. 
 The writer well says that " he deserves more than a passing 
 notice," and we anticipate the appearance of an " in memoriam 
 discourse " from his pastor. Rev. Alexander McLean. His 
 public life covered a period of great historic interest in 
 Western New York, with the events of which he had much 
 to do. A gentleman of cultivated mind, studious habits, 
 legal acumen, courtesy of manner, flexibility of voice, and 
 power to awaken emotion at his pleasure, his services were 
 often secured in cases where the heart was to be moved as 
 
45 
 
 well as the intellect informed. While these qualities made 
 him a man of power in the court room, they also contributed 
 to the commanding place he held in the religious meeting 
 and our ecclesiastical courts. My acquaintance with the 
 deceased went back a score of years, while my respect and 
 affection increased to the last, in common with multitudes 
 throughout this region. 
 
 The writer in the Observer speaks of Judge Skinner as 
 " holding several important positions at the time of his death 
 — as President, Trustee, Director, &c. ; " but there is another 
 which was to the deceased one of the most endearing of his 
 life — Trustee of Geneseo Academy. So soon as he learned 
 the religious character of this institution, the conversions 
 constantly occurring within its walls, the additions made 
 from its alumni to the ministry (home and foreign), the happi- 
 ness it was sending to hearts and homes, he became a munifi- 
 cent donor to its treasury, a judicious counsellor and warm- 
 hearted advocate, wherever he could present its merits and 
 plead its claims. For all this, we of Western New York 
 remember him with grateful affection. W. 
 
 — Neiv York Observer, June, iSji. 
 
 THE LATE JUDGE SKINNER. 
 
 New York, June 19, 1871. 
 Editor Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, — An inti- 
 mate acquaintance and friend of the late Hon. John B. 
 Skinner, I heard of his death a few days since with the most 
 painful emotions. I became acquainted with him in the year 
 1839, and have seen much of him, at times, since that period, 
 under circumstances of the most unreserved private friendship. 
 
46 
 
 There are sentiments and feelings in this world too deep and 
 too sacred for pubhc utterance. Those that I entertain for 
 my departed friend are of this character, and I shall not, 
 therefore, attempt to express them, were it even otherwise 
 proper to do so. 
 
 With regard to his public character the same reticence is 
 not required, nor, in his case, whose character was in so many 
 respects an exalted model for others, is it either expedient or 
 desirable. His professional morality was of the most elevated 
 as well as discriminating character. While this fact is con- 
 spicuously recognized by the several speakers at the recent 
 meeting of the members of the Bar of Erie County, and also 
 in the obituary notices that have been taken of him, there are 
 some special exemplifications of this trait of his character 
 which deserve special mention, not merely because they are 
 creditable to him, but also because of the beneficial influence 
 they will exert upon others, especially the younger members 
 of the profession. It is well known to all his friends and 
 acquaintances in Wyoming and adjoining counties, where his 
 ordinary professional services were chiefly called into requisi- 
 tion, that it was his habitual custom, whenever called upon 
 for advice and counsel, in all civil cases, to make a serious 
 effort to bring about an amicable settlement, and this wholly 
 without reference to any real or supposed advantages to accrue 
 to himself by an opposite course. Especially was this true of 
 his immediate neighbors. He was the true and unselfish 
 friend of them all ; preventing by his manly, Christian course 
 much of that petty litigation which is so rife in some com- 
 munities — many of those heartburnings and neighborhood 
 jealousies which are too often, under similar circumstances, 
 fostered and encouraged. 
 
 Early in his professional career he prescribed to himself the 
 rule never to undertake a case as counsel for plaintiff unless 
 his client had, in his estimation, after a full understanding of 
 
47 
 
 the matter, either law or equity on his side. It is doubtful 
 whether he ever consciously departed in a single instance from 
 this rule. The intensity of his personal attachments may at 
 times have overpowered his judgment, but, if so, they were 
 exceptional cases ; so rare indeed that they proved the truth 
 of the rule he laid down for himself That he adhered scrupu- 
 lously and religiously to the rule is well known, and that too 
 under many circumstances immediately disadvantageous, 
 pecuniarily, to himself. Such a course as this could not fail 
 in the end to give him both influence and power in the com- 
 munity where he lived, and co-extensive with his professional 
 engagements. His great influence with both court and jury 
 was due primarily perhaps to his admitted legal abilities and 
 acquirements ; but secondarily certainly to the fact of his 
 rigid adherence to the rule above indicated. His example in 
 this respect is too valuable not to be considered, and it may 
 safely be commended to universal imitation. Its public im- 
 portance will, I trust, prove to the immediate relatives of the 
 deceased a sufficient apology for this intrusion of an attached 
 friend. W. L. B. 
 
 FROM A LETTER OF THE REV. R. H. NASSAU, 
 MISSIONARY IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
 
 Of Judge Skinner's public life I know only as a stranger 
 reads or hears. I do not think of him thus. I see him as he 
 was in his home life. 
 
 Looking across the years and trying to bridge the miles of 
 ocean between Africa and America, I have often rested, as on 
 a beautiful picture, in the memory of a cherished acquaint- 
 ance with Judge Skinner at home. 
 
 I remember that in the Spring and Summer of 1859, while 
 on a visit to my brother, Rev. J. E. Nassau, at Warsaw, Judge 
 
48 
 
 Skinner came from Wyoming as committee of the Church 
 Session, to invite me to the Wyoming pulpit. The roads 
 were very heavy with mud and the late Spring rain was cold. 
 I recall his paternal care of me in the wrappings of the car- 
 riage he was driving. And not more warmly than this 
 thoughtful care glowed the warm wood fire on the hospitable 
 hearth of his pleasant home, when, during the few weeks in 
 which I supplied the pulpit, I was admitted within the 
 charmed precincts of his family circle. 
 
 His well-stored mind made association with him not simply 
 a privilege but a positive pleasure. His books were his 
 friends, and his conversation was not labored, or pedantic, 
 or an offensive exhibition of acquisitions. 
 
 I was a young man, just graduate of the Theological Sem- 
 inary ; but he, covering by his courtesy the difference in our 
 years, made me feel during those talks in his carriage, or in 
 the parlor, on the veranda, or under the trees, as if both were 
 recalling reminiscences of travel, or history, or character, or 
 art, which we had each seen, known, or had a part in. 
 
 His taste gratified itself and those around him in his rural 
 home, by gathering to it whatever was best and truly beauti- 
 ful, not what was simply expensive or gaudy. While still a 
 student at Princeton, riding one vacation through Wyoming, 
 I had noticed the simple beauty and delicate taste of the 
 grounds enclosing the house and office (both literally embow- 
 ered in foliage), which, two years later, I learned to know as 
 Judge Skinner's residence. He took almost a child's pleas- 
 ure in watching the growth of his young trees, and in point- 
 ing out the arrangement of plants with reference to harmon}' 
 of colors in the flower gardens. 
 
 I remember so distinctly his trying to straighten a bruised 
 daisy among others planted on the border of a sunny slope, 
 a favorite spot of his tenderly loved and accomplished 
 daughter Mary, afterwards Mrs. J. Letchworth. 
 
49 
 
 Now that they are both " under the daisies," I write these 
 few hnes at the promptings of an attached and grateful 
 memory. 
 
 A i'ew months ago, on revisiting Wyoming after twelve 
 years' absence, I sought Judge Skinner's former residence. 
 The spot of course I could not forget, but I hesitated for a 
 moment as to the house. The Autumn winds had laid bare 
 the trees — no little winding paths — no daisy borders. I 
 knocked at the door, intending to ask if I might again enter 
 the parlor that had once been so genial. There was no re- 
 sponse, and I did not regret it, for the contrast would have 
 left a painful memory. Passing down the gravelled walk and 
 out the gate, I remembered that one beautiful summer night 
 I had stood there with him, our thoughts led up to God and 
 back again to earth. He was always sympathetic — I had 
 never seen him sad : but now, in a voice tremulous with emo- 
 tion, he asked why the beautiful on earth was so often sad. I 
 rejoice for him that he has gone where all is beauty in perfec- 
 tion, and where sadness never comes. 
 
 R. H. NASSAU. 
 
MEMORIAL PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 FEBRUARY 24, 1873, BY HON. JAMES O. PUTNAM. 
 
 Lawyers are said to have brief histories. So many early 
 struggles, so many contests before courts and juries over ques- 
 tions of a narrow interest, and then an end. Unless called to 
 important public positions, and thus his life becomes identified 
 with large public interests, it is certainly true, the lawyer of 
 the highest professional reputation leaves little material for 
 the biographer. The life of Judge Skinner, eminent as it was 
 in his chosen profession, offers no exception to this rule. His 
 whole career, with the exception of a short experience in the 
 State Legislature, while he was yet a young man, was of un- 
 surpassed constancy to his profession. This devotion, how- 
 ever, was not at the expense of much public service, through 
 his connection with religious, educational and charitable insti- 
 tutions, while his personal character for nearly half a century 
 was a recognized power in the State. But because he was so 
 eminent in his profession, I regret that the office of preparing 
 the memorial paper for the Historical Society was not de- 
 volved upon some one who was intimately associated with his 
 professional life, for I can speak only of his professional 
 reputation. My embarrassment is somewhat relieved by the 
 
51 
 
 suggestion of the committee that I supplement my sketch 
 from other intelhgent and appreciative sources. 
 
 John B. Skinner was born in WiUiamstown, Massachusetts, 
 July 23, 1799. His family represented the highest charac- 
 ter and culture of New England. Col. Simonds, his maternal 
 grandfather, was distinguished for his patriotic services in the 
 war of the Revolution, and his honorable fame is one of the 
 cherished local traditions of Berkshire. His paternal grand- 
 father was the Reverend Thomas Skinner, who was educated 
 at Harvard University, studied for the ministry, and was 
 settled for life over the Congregational Church of Middleton, 
 Connecticut. His father. Deacon Benjamin Skinner, was 
 distinguished in his time for his devotion to religious and 
 educational interests. He was one of the early friends of 
 Williams College, where his sons were educated. His son, 
 John B., graduated in 181 8. After graduation he entered the 
 law office of Hon. Daniel Ball, of Troy, N. Y., where he 
 formed a life-long friendship with his fellow student, the late 
 Governor Marcy. He completed his preparatory legal studies 
 at the then celebrated law school of Judges Gould and 
 Reeves, at Litchfield, Conn. He was admitted to the Supreme 
 Court of the State, in August, 1821. 
 
 In about the year 1821 he sought the then land of promise, 
 for New England enterprise and adventure. Western New 
 York. Wyoming, in the town of Middlebury, county of 
 Genesee, which he made his residence, was but a hamlet, with 
 little promise, we should say, for a brilliant professional 
 career. Yet, although large inducements were often presented 
 him to remove to more ambitious social and business centres, 
 he resisted every importunity to change his residence until 
 his retirement from the practice of his profession. His 
 success, solid and brilliant, was assured from the first. His 
 industry, his fidelity to professional trusts, his learning and 
 his marvelous power before juries, gave him a leadership at 
 
52 
 
 the circuits which he never lost. The jury trial was the 
 favorite theatre of his professional contests, and it was as the 
 advocate that he was without a peer. The methods of con- 
 ducting litigation in his time differed from the present. Then 
 the great object was to secure a verdict from the twelve men. 
 On their decision hung the issues of life and death and fortune. 
 This made the counsel who could carry the jury, whether by 
 magic or storm, an indispensable ally. Appeals were compara- 
 tively rare. Now-a-days when the jury in so many trials is 
 but an incident, and law, as has been said with much humor 
 and some wisdom, is the power of decision by the last judge 
 that can hear the case, the eloquent advocate holds a position 
 less relatively important in the trial of causes. But Judge 
 Skinner was learned as a lawyer, as well as eloquent as an 
 advocate, and it was this rare combination that gave him a 
 position so distinguished before the courts. This sketch would 
 fail of a proper presentation of his professional character, if, 
 as I have already suggested, I was unable to present the fair 
 estimate of him by some of his professional cotemporaries 
 and associates. At a meeting of the Bar of Erie County, 
 convened to give some expression to its sentiment on the 
 occasion of his death, were several appreciative addresses. 
 
 Ex-President Fillmore, in the course of his opening remarks 
 as chairman of the meeting, said : 
 
 " My acquaintance commenced with Mr. Skinner in 1829, when 
 he and I were both members of the Assembly, That was my first 
 year, but I think it was his third year, and he had then an enviable 
 reputation for so young a man in that distinguished body as yet free 
 from the suspicion of bribery, and a,dorned by the talents of such 
 men as John C. Spencer, Erastus Root, Benjamin F. Butler, Frank 
 Granger, and of others. The revision of our statutes, the great work 
 v/hich did so much to methodise and relieve them from the cumbrous 
 language and accumulated contradictions and inconsistencies of 
 years, was then just completed, and in that great work Judge Skin- 
 ner bore a conspicuous part. I know that he was listened to with 
 
53 
 
 confidence and respect, and no meliiber of the House seemed to 
 exert a more salutary influence. My subsequent acquaintance with 
 him was mainly at the Bar. Here he was distinguished for his legal 
 arguments and forensic eloquence. I have often felt a tremor of 
 anxiety when I have had to meet him. He was a man religiously 
 devoted to the interest of his client, without even compromising his 
 own conscience or dignity. He prepared his case with great labor 
 and assiduity, and whatever could be said in favor of his client's 
 interest he presented with great clearness and force, and when that 
 was done he conceived he had discharged his professional duty, and 
 he patiently waited the result. The highest encomium that can ever 
 be passed upon a man of his profession may with great propriety 
 be passed upon him, and that is, he was a learned, conscientious 
 lawyer." 
 
 From Hon. James R. Doolittle, late U. S. Senator, of Wis- 
 consin, I have received the following note : 
 
 Mr. Putnam, — Dear Sir : The late John B. Skinner, as a lawyer 
 and advocate, had few equals, and no superior for many years in 
 Western New York. To uniform courtesy, untiring industry, un- 
 flinching and incorruptible fidelity to his clients, you must add great 
 tact and knowledge of human nature, as well as great legal learning, 
 and oftentimes the highest order of eloquence, to make a just esti- 
 mate of his character. It was before a ju^-y that in some respects 
 he was unequalled. His efforts there were entirely extemporaneous. 
 Those who have had great opportunity to hear the most eloquent of 
 American orators, say there were occasions when these extempo- 
 raneous efforts of Mr. Skinner, in true eloquence and power, sur- 
 passed all his contemporaries. When fully roused his language was 
 pure English, chaste, elegant and concise. He spoke without appar- 
 ent effort, with a directness, earnestness and naturalness that seemed 
 almost inspired. His mind, like his person, was high wrought and 
 of the finest mould. All his appeals and all his conversations were 
 addressed to the better part of our nature. With truth it may be 
 said, no one ever heard him at the Bar, or held private conversation 
 with him, who did not feel his nobler sentiments strengthened and 
 elevated by his influence. 
 
 JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 
 
 February 7, 1873. 
 
54 
 
 The Hon. Martin Grover, Judge of the Court of Appeals, 
 probably knew him more intimately in his professional char- 
 acter during the last twenty years of Mr. Skinner's practice 
 at the Bar, than any other man now living. He has very 
 kindly furnished a sketch which I have great pleasure in 
 embodying in this paper : 
 
 In compliance with your request in behalf of the Buffalo Historical 
 Society, that I should furnish some information in regard to the pro- 
 fessional career of the late Judge Skinner, I will briefly do so. 
 
 I became acquainted with him in 1836. He then resided in Mid- 
 dlebury, Wyoming county, and had acquired a very large practice in 
 his profession, his attention being principally devoted to the trial of 
 cases at circuit. He attended all the circuits in Livingston, Alle- 
 gany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Genesee counties, and his 
 presence was regarded almost as essential as that of the judge. 
 There were then no railroads in any part of the district, and Judge 
 Skinner traveled from one county town to another, in company with 
 the judge, each with his own horse and sulky. 
 
 Extensive study and large experience had made Mr. Skinner 
 perfecdy familiar with and master of nearly every legal question pre- 
 sented, and he was therefore able to take a leading part in nearly 
 every case tried. His clear intellect and capacity for quick compre- 
 hension enabled him to try a cause with great ability, without any 
 previous preparation, and with but litde consultation with his client 
 or the other counsel. He would grasp the entire case at once and 
 adopt the correct mode of conducting the trial. He was very saga- 
 cious in the examination of witnesses. An adverse witness rarely 
 succeeded in baffling him, and as a general rule he would derive an 
 advantage for his client from the reluctance of such a witness to dis- 
 close the whole truth. But his great power was in summing up to 
 the jury. In this I have never seen one superior and scarcely ever 
 his equal. His clear statements and close logical arguments usually 
 convinced the understanding of his hearers, and when to these were 
 added his powers of persuasion, the effect was overwhelming. He 
 possessed in an eminent degree the highest powers of an orator. In 
 listening to him no one could doubt his entire sincerity, and when 
 he appealed to the highest and noblest principles of humanity it was 
 the outpouring from the heart. His words went directly to the 
 
55 
 
 hearts of the audience. His control of their emotions was for the 
 time complete. Nothing seemed to give him greater pleasure than 
 the exertion of these high faculties in the cause of justice. He was 
 a gentleman of the old school, and exhibited these traits in all his 
 conduct during a trial. Always courteous to the Bench, though firm 
 and earnest in insisting upon the rights of his client. His uniform 
 politeness to the adverse party, counsel and witnesses, had a strong 
 tendency to restrain undue exhibitions of passion, too frequently 
 witnessed upon exciting trials. 
 
 The elegance of his style proved his correct literary taste and thor- 
 ough scholarship. It is possible that my views of the quahties and 
 powers of Judge Skinner may have been somewhat biased by my 
 want of experience when I first became acquainted with him. That 
 was at the commencement of my practice. I had then attended the 
 trial of but few causes. Since then I have had the pleasure of hear- 
 ing many of those most eminent in the different sections of the 
 State, and while listening, have often mentally compared them with 
 Judge Skinner. 
 
 I believe I am correct in saying that he was excelled by none in 
 the highest quaUties of oratory. His known high sense of honor 
 and strict integrity added to the confidence reposed in him by 
 jurors. They knew that he would scorn to misstate the law, or mis- 
 represent the facts. His knowledge of poetry and the best English 
 classics not only gave him polish of diction, but furnished facilities 
 for happy illustration. 
 
 Owing to his residence being remote from the places where the 
 appellate courts were held, he rarely appeared before these tribunals. 
 Hence he has left in the reports no monuments of his forensic learn- 
 ing and skill. That he was regarded as a sound and able lawyer by 
 those best qualified to judge, was evinced by his appointment as 
 Circuit Judge, and ex-officio Vice-Chancellor in 1838, by that able 
 jurist and eminent statesman, William L. Marcy, at that time Gov- 
 ernor. This offer he declined, as he did others, preferring the prac- 
 tice of the profession. This he industriously pursued until admon- 
 ished by the infirmity of age that he required rest. He then retired, 
 having acquired a competency by legitimate earnings in the profes- 
 sion, and the last years of his life were solaced by literary pursuits 
 and social intercourse with his early friends. His attachment to 
 these was strong. His love for the law, as a science, continued 
 
56 
 
 after he retired from practice. Whenever I had the pleasure of pass- 
 ing much time in his company, that, with him, was a favorite subject 
 of conversation. 
 
 He was a sound lawyer, a great orator, an accomplished gentleman 
 and a devoted Christian. No one in Western New York has added 
 more to the honor and dignity of its Bar. He has completed his 
 works and passed away, leaving a noble example for his surviving 
 associates. 
 
 M. GROVER. 
 
 Albany, February 7th, 1873. 
 
 The expressions of these distinguished gentlemen, who had 
 the advantage of long personal and professional intimacy with 
 Mr. Skinner, are doubtless a just estimate of him as a lawyer 
 and advocate. 
 
 What might have been his success in the highest range of 
 discussion, we can only imagine. He never had the oppor- 
 tunity which a great public cause and a great occasion afford 
 to the orator. But when we remember the integrity of his 
 mind, his keen sense of right and wrong, his intense convic- 
 tions, and that sensibility and fervor which charged his utter- 
 ance with a magnetism that was electric, we cannot doubt he 
 would have taken high rank in any deliberative body. There 
 can be no question as to the rank Judge Skinner held, not 
 only in point of professional ability, but of professional char- 
 acter. He was of that class of lawyers who, in the best days 
 of all civilized states, have made the legal profession the ally 
 of religion and virtue in advancing the social and civic inter- 
 ests of mankind. His profession he accepted as a sacred trust. 
 That trust was administered with a conscientiousness that 
 reflects honor upon human nature. 
 
 Said a friend, speaking to me of the Judge^ — one who knew 
 him well as a lawyer and as a man : " His true greatness was 
 his character ; " and he was right. That was solid granite. 
 It stood for a half a century before the public, simple, grand, 
 invulnerable. It was a felt power in the jury box, in public 
 
57 
 
 assemblies, in the church, in the street, in social and domestic 
 life. It put on no airs, was heralded by no trumpet. It 
 stood before the world a human fact, accepted and trusted of 
 all men. His opinions were sometimes minority opinions, 
 but he was always majority. The man was never defeated, 
 for no voting force could overthrow his moral supremacy. 
 
 In the year 1838, Mr. Skinner was appointed, by his early 
 friend. Governor Marcy, to the office of Judge of the Eighth 
 Circuit, who, at that time, had equity jurisdiction as Vice- 
 Chancellor. There was an universal desire on the part of the 
 Bar of the district that he would accept the position, but he 
 declined it. President Pierce appointed him United States 
 District Attorney for the Northern District of New York, 
 which he also declined. 
 
 In 1846, he was appointed Judge of the County Court of 
 Wyoming by the Governor, under the new Constitution, an 
 office which he held a few months until the election. He was 
 one of the first victims of the elective judiciary system. He 
 continued the practice of his profession • until about 1 860, 
 when he removed to Buffalo. 
 
 The political side of the life of Judge Skinner is not with- 
 out interest. The address of Mr. Fillmore, from which I have 
 quoted, show^s how highly he was valued as a legislator. He 
 was elected to the New York Assembly for the sessions of 
 1827, 1828 and 1829. This was his last position in an elective 
 office of a political character. The question is naturally 
 asked, why he, with his gift of popular eloquence, and his 
 adaptation to legislative and executive trusts, remained in 
 private life through almost half a century of stormy contro- 
 versy and struggle over constitutional, social and domestic 
 questions, some of which were settled at last before the highest, 
 the grandest tribunal ever invoked to vindicate the rights of 
 man or the honor of nations. Did he retire voluntarily, a 
 dreamy philosopher, or a morbid cynic, with no spirit for the 
 
58 
 
 fray, and with no tastes or ambition for statesmanship ? On 
 the contrary, he took a deep interest in all the politics of his 
 time. He entertained most positive opinions upon all national 
 questions, maintained them in all national canvasses, and was 
 not without ambition. Indeed, I think that while he realized 
 how much he had won by his constancy to his profession, he 
 had a somewhat regretful feeling that, while in his prime, and 
 when politics were specially attractive to men of his character 
 and ability, he had no broad public career. It was not the 
 eclat which may follow such a career, which he valued at its 
 worth, no more, that attracted him, ^but the opportunity of 
 public service. That opportunity he valued, and while no 
 man with so much deserving and capability could be more 
 unassuming, he had not been without an honorable ambition 
 to impress his thought and character upon the law and policy 
 of the country. If this be a weakness, it is the weakness of 
 most able men at some period of their lives, who live in the 
 stimulating atmosphere of democratic institutions. Why, 
 then, was not this ambition gratified } 
 
 During the period of Mr. Skinner's service in the Legisla- 
 ture, a new element appeared in Western New York politics, 
 a sort of Nile inundation, breaking up and sweeping away all 
 old political organizations. I refer to Anti-Masonry. It 
 took the form of a political party, and from the start was at 
 the white heat of popular passion. The tide kept rapidly 
 rising, and floated out on the sea of popular favor all the 
 successful men of that generation in the career of politics in 
 Western New York. To be an Anti-Mason was to be in the 
 realm of possibilities for any position within the gift of the 
 local constituency. To be of the opposition was to be whelmed 
 under a flood of majorities which made hopeless, almost down 
 to the present day, all its political aspirations through popular 
 election. 
 
 It is not surprising that a party which came out as a whirl- 
 
59 
 
 wind should aspire even to national ascendancy. But as it 
 was local in its origin, and was the child of outraged feeling, 
 rather than of a political idea, it shared the fate of every 
 political organization in this country which is not based upon 
 party traditions, or does not involve a national policy. It 
 lasted long enough, in localities, to place several men in public 
 relations who continued to occupy and honor them, long after 
 the organization had been absorbed in the national opposition 
 to the Democratic party. 
 
 It is a noticeable fact, both in the history of England and 
 this country, that every attempt to found a new and permanent 
 political party upon a sentiment, or upon a question of morals 
 or of religion, has failed. There have been temporary depart- 
 ures from traditional organizations upon some new question, 
 as in the case of the repeal of the corn laws in England, but 
 with the attainment of the end, the new combination has 
 dissolved and sought afresh its old associations. 
 
 In the United States, a country of few traditions, and no 
 aristocratic institutions, and where so many constitutional 
 questions have been settled by the courts, or by war, the law 
 of the future development of parties does not appear on the 
 surface. The democratic tendency of the age is so strong, 
 that a reactionary party powerful enough to contest with the 
 dominant idea for supremacy, seems a long way off. The 
 time is not favorable for purely personal parties, and the 
 country is too full of talent and aspirations, to have public 
 interest monopolized by one or two men, as in the times of 
 Jackson and Clay. I suspect that that law of party develop- 
 ment will be found to exist here, in a large degree, as it long 
 has existed in England, in the inheritable character of politi- 
 cal associations, and upon the principle of systematic opposi- 
 tion. I should certainly regard a strong proof of the sound 
 political condition of the country, the fact that opposition to 
 any existing administration rested, in the main, upon the 
 
6o 
 
 principle of such systematic opposition, so perpetuating a 
 party, vigilant, ever ready to take advantage of the mistakes 
 of its rival, and ever eager to supplant it and abide the same 
 test of hostile scrutiny. But to return from this episode into 
 which I have been led. 
 
 Mr. Skinner, as we shall see hereafter, was an intense con- 
 servative. His father was a Mason, and that fact powerfully 
 influenced him. He could not be floated off on any impulsive 
 tide, and he would not hold an organization responsible for a 
 crime, atrocious as it was, of a few individual members. He 
 united with the opposition to the Anti-Masonic party, and when 
 the Anti-Masonic was merged in the Whig party, his attitude 
 remained unchanged in the Democratic organization. The 
 result was that the standard 3,000 majority in " Old Genesee," 
 Anti-Masonic and Whig for forty years, was as Ossa on Pelion, 
 and both on Atlas, over the hopes and candidacy of every 
 man of the minority for political promotion, 
 
 Mr. Skinner was often the candidate of his party for high 
 honors, but the contest was always a forlorn hope ; and he 
 led it with characteristic courage and devotion. 
 
 Mr. Skinner constitutionally was a conservative. This 
 temperament, which led him to sympathize little with revolu- 
 tionary movements in Church or State, gave the tone to all his 
 public action. To stand in the ancient ways, to adhere to old 
 compacts, to maintain the ancient reverences, and to heave 
 the lead every inch of the way before venturing on an un- 
 known deep, was the law of his nature. During all the revo- 
 lutionary movement in his own Church, in 1837, and on all the 
 exciting questions which occupied the public thought during 
 the quarter of a century previous to the war, he was a conserv- 
 ative every day and every minute of that long controversy. 
 And, when that is said, we have simply stated that his action 
 was in obedience to that centripetal principle which is an ele- 
 ment as essential for the safety of the Church and the State, 
 
6i 
 
 as it is for the harmony of the planetary system. I suppose 
 it is vain to expect that the radical element, without which 
 there would be little social progress, and stagnation would be 
 the reigning law, will ever be at one with its balancing con- 
 servative force, or that either will ever recognize the other but 
 as a foe. Both are right in themselves, both are wrong in 
 their estimate of each other. Each obeys the law of its na- 
 ture divinely implanted, and between the two society finds 
 the middle path of Safety. 
 
 While Judge Skinner was of this type of character, his 
 conservatism was rational and practical. He always ac- 
 quiesced in the final result of the controversy of opinions, 
 and was among the earliest to seek to adjust institutions to 
 the new idea. I have referred to the revolutionary move- 
 ment in the Presbyterian Church in 1837, one of the results of 
 that " irrepressible conflict " between the spirit of the past 
 and the spirit of the present, of which our restless century 
 has been so fruitful. He was a Presbyterian of the old 
 school. He could be nothing else during the controversy. 
 But when time and events indicated that the largest good 
 would result from the reunion of the two bodies, he was of 
 the foremost in preparing the way for it, and no voice in the 
 ecclesiastical assemblies was more positive than his in urging 
 that consummation. I well remember his enthusiasm over the 
 reunion after his return from the General Assembly, when the 
 final action was taken. He told me the story with deep emo- 
 tion. He dramatized before my mind the scene in the As- 
 sembly, its glowing oratory, its rapture and enthusiasm, its spirit 
 of Christian sacrifice and devotion. The occasion was to him 
 a Mount of Vision from which he saw the future conquests over 
 sin and evil, through the united power of the Church he loved. 
 While there was great firmness, there was no pride of opinion 
 in his nature. What might have appeared obstinacy to those 
 who did not know him well, was but the force of conviction. 
 
62 
 
 I was desirous of embodying in this paper a sketch of Mr. 
 Skinner's social and private Hfe as it unfolded and was re- 
 vealed to friendship during his residence in Wyoming. The 
 Reverend J. E. Nassau, of Warsaw, long his intimate friend, 
 has kindly furnished me his recollections in the following 
 letter : 
 Hon. James O. Putnam : 
 
 Z)ear Si?', — In contributing a few recollections to your historical 
 sketch of the late Hon. John B. Skinner, I have no need to linger 
 upon his standing as a lawyer at the Bar, or say how highly his pro- 
 fessional skill as an advocate was prized and sought after. This 
 service others will render. 
 
 In Wyoming county, where he resided until his removal to Buffalo, 
 his name and influence were prominent, his abilities cheerfully 
 recognized, and his reputation stainless. He was as useful as he was 
 capable, for his influence, which was great and widespread, was 
 judiciously and happily directed. He was thoroughly identified with 
 the civil, religious and educational interests of this thriving section 
 of Western New York. 
 
 He was long an active officer in the Presbyterian Church of 
 Wyoming, and often sat as ruling elder in Presbytery, Synod and 
 General Assembly, serving in responsible positions and on important 
 committees in church, courts and literary institutions/ and for twenty 
 years, until he left the county, he was the efficient President of the 
 Wyoming County Bible Society. In all these and similar relations, 
 his time, counsels, gifts and advocacy Avere constantly sought and 
 freely given. The services of none were more useful or acceptable. 
 An earnest friend of temperance and African colonization, he did 
 much by example and generous effort to advance these and kindred 
 causes of benevolence. 
 
 He was a man of decided convictions and settled Judgments, sure 
 to be a leading spirit, a positive factor, in whatever associations he 
 held a place. Everybody that knew him at all, knew where Judge 
 Skinner stood on great questions of the hour. And yet, though his 
 views were well matured and firmly adhered to, and he far from 
 vacillating, he was courteous in their expression. In his religious 
 beliefs and preferences, a decided Presbyterian, he had a large heart 
 and exhibited an eminently catholic spirit. 
 
63 
 
 He was not only a man of ability and culture, but a Christian 
 gentleman in all his impulses, speech and bearing towards others. 
 He delighted to exercise hospitality, and have his friends gather 
 around him. Associates were not kept at arm's length, but were 
 admitted to his generous confidence. He possessed traits of character, 
 qualities of mind and heart, and cultivated attainments that greatly 
 endeared him to friends and acquaintances. Approachable, easy of 
 access, he was capable of greatly attaching others to himself And 
 how heartily he cherished the friendships with which God had enriched 
 him, well all we remember. His social intimacies were very pleasant, 
 and embraced all ages and various classes. He was a man for others 
 to lean on — true, sympathetic and strong. He drew others to him 
 by his unaffected cordiality, earnest sympathies and affable manners. 
 As to his domestic life and relations, I need hardly say that they 
 were singularly attractive. He knew what the joys, sympathies and 
 refinements of a Christian home were ; and to swell the fund of 
 domestic happiness brought his own afl:iuent contributions of piety, 
 culture, fidelity and love. 
 
 He was a person of the finest sensibilities, that manifested them- 
 selves continually in his domestic. Christian, and professional life 
 and intercourse. I have often see him profoundly affected and 
 moved even to tears in religious meetings and public addresses, and 
 even in common conversation upon topics that greatly interested 
 him. And nothing took deeper hold of his emotion than the 
 grand elemental truths of the Bible, the permanent interests of the 
 Church, the sorrows and joys of friends, or the vital issues of the 
 country. 
 
 He was a good, guileless man, whose works follow him — a man of 
 pure motives, thoroughly conscientious and honest in all his dealings, 
 of blameless exemplary life, a pattern of integrity. 
 
 His name will long be held in honor, and his memory warmly 
 cherished in this and adjacent counties, where his presence was ever 
 welcome, and where so large a part of his active life was passed, 
 and his influence was so beneficent. 
 
 Very truly yours, J. E. NASSAU. 
 
 Warsaw, N. Y., February 12, 1873. 
 
 Mr. Nassau has spoken of the broadness of Mr. Skinner's 
 religious nature. It was one of the most beautiful of his 
 
64 
 
 characteristics. Devoted as he was to the faith and interests 
 of his own branch of the Church, he was wdthout sectarian 
 narrowness, and wherever he found the act and spirit of di- 
 vine worship, he gave it his Christian sympathy. As an illus- 
 tration, I will relate an incident which I am sure will not be 
 misunderstood, and I think we may profitably dwell a mo- 
 ment on this element of a deeply religious nature. Soon 
 after his return from his visit abroad, in a religious meeting of 
 a social character, he was lamenting that so few in Protest- 
 ant countries were in the habit of attendance upon public 
 worship, and contrasted the fact with what he had observed 
 in some of the Catholic countries of Europe. He then rela- 
 ted a scene he witnessed in a. Roman Catholic Church .in the 
 Tyrol. It was the Church of St. Gilgen, which forms so 
 pleasing a picture in Longfellow's " Hyperion." The scene 
 was on just such a Sabbath morning as is described in that ro- 
 mance, "when the woods, and the clouds, and the whole vil- 
 lage, and the very air itself seemed to pray — so silent was it 
 everywhere." The local peasantry were all assembled in the 
 old church, and all engaged in acts of worship and praise 
 after the methods which many centuries have made sacred to 
 the Tyrolese. He drew before our fancies a picture of the 
 deep reverence and solemnity of the worshipers, and we 
 were not left to conjecture the impression made on his own 
 mind by this universal Sabbath religious observance. No 
 one who listened to his words could doubt that he too was a 
 worshiper with that humble congregation, feeling with them 
 the common want of our humanity — rest for the soul, and 
 communion with the Infinite Father. Their methods of 
 worship were not his, but he looked through and beyond the 
 externals, to the spirit they typify. 
 
 Those few words of charity and feeling, so appreciative of 
 the greatness of the heart of God, who is not worshiped in 
 the temple or on the mountain, but everywhere in spirit and 
 
6^ 
 
 in truth, were more eloquent words and more self-revealing, 
 than I had ever before heard from his lips. There may be 
 those, religious as he, who would not have been so moved, in 
 a Roman Catholic Church, to devotional sympathy. But, 
 surely, he is a gainer who has the wisdom that distils " the 
 soul of goodness out of things evil," and that knows to rise 
 from the poverty of the symbol to the wealth of the thing 
 symbolized. Human sentiments and human sensibilities are 
 the choral harmonies of the temple of Humanity. He who 
 hears only discord in their commingled tones, is as one who 
 may catch the melody of a solitary note, but has no ear for 
 the myriad-voiced creations of Beethoven. 
 
 I have met few men in intimate relations in whom the 
 religious element was so marked as in our friend. It seemed 
 a part of his being. He was orthodox of the orthodox, and 
 accepted absolutely the Evangelical type of Christianity. 
 But his religious element, as appeared to me, upon which this 
 superstructure of faith was builded, lay beneath all formulas, 
 indeed all systems. He would have been religious in any age, 
 and under any system ever formulated by devout souls. A 
 system failing him, he would have erected the Athenian 
 altar before which Paul stood reverently, and worshiped " the 
 unknown God, if haply he might find him." It will be easily 
 believed that such a nature had a ready answer to all the 
 materialistic arguments of our time. The primal truths of 
 religion with him, rested not upon reason, nor upon logic, nor 
 upon any of the methods of the human understanding, but 
 upon the instincts of the soul, its moral consciousness, and its 
 need of God : a method of demonstration which shivers at 
 a blow the whole fabric of materialistic negations, and is the 
 basis on which the ultimate argument for religion must rest. 
 
 For man is "an infant crying in the night," and his hungry 
 soul can no more find Deity by logic than the child of yester- 
 day can by logic find the maternal fountain of its earthly life. 
 
66 
 
 Wordsworth's Ode is our century's noblest interpretation 
 of man's instinct of divinity : 
 
 Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting : 
 The soul that rises with us, our life's Star 
 
 Hath had elsewhere its setting 
 
 And Cometh from afar : 
 
 Not in entire forgetfulness 
 
 And not in utter nakedness, 
 But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
 From God who is our home. 
 
 Mr. Skinner was active as a reformer, ever recognizina; 
 the principle that innovation is not reform. He had no sym- 
 pathy with slaivery, and, as did many other good men, he at 
 first hoped for a solution of the long unsolved American 
 problem, in the African Colonization Society. But the time 
 had not arrived for an historic exception to the law of the 
 past, that social regenerations come through the shock of 
 revolution. He was active in promoting that cause. He was 
 an ardent friend of the temperance reform, yet never adopt- 
 ing extreme opinions, or favoring extreme action. While he 
 was judge, I well remember he was a terror to violators of 
 the license laws. There was no form of social evil that he 
 did not oppose with the whole weight of his influence and 
 character. 
 
 He was identified with the new State Reformatory at 
 Warsaw. He held society responsible for its neglect of the 
 classes who, for want of proper culture, grow up vicious, as 
 well as neglected. He hoped little from legislation, but 
 much from voluntary and associated action, for the elevation 
 and reformation of the unfortunate and criminal. 
 
 .When discussing the duties of society to neglected youth, 
 he sometimes narrated an incident in his professional experi- 
 ence. He once volunteered to defend a lad charged with a 
 felony clearly proved. He was born and reared amid debas- 
 ing associations. Vice was his schoolmaster, his character the 
 
67 
 
 legitimate product of his education. He urged his acquittal 
 upon the ground that society had failed of its duty to the 
 accused, having never sought to raise him to a virtuous life. 
 The defense appears sentimental, but it was successful. If 
 the twelve did wrong as jurors, were they wholly wrong as 
 men } This incident reveals the principle of Mr. Skinner's 
 identification of himself rather with measures of reform of 
 criminal youth, than with those which seek the repression of 
 crime by vigorous punishment. Was he not rigli^.-' Can 
 there be any doubt that the Children's Aid Society of New 
 York, which annually transfers thousands of youths, matur- 
 ing in the gutters and hells of that city, for lives of crime, to 
 homes of industry and virtue in the West, has been worth to 
 society, as an educator, more than a thousand prisons .'' 
 
 When we remember the barbarism of the criminal code of 
 fifty years ago, and the inhumanity of public sentiment in 
 relation to poor and neglected children, let us not doubt the 
 progress of the spirit of Christianity. " Neither do I con- 
 demn thee, go and sin no more," is the ideal of that enthusiasm 
 of humanity which seeks the repression of youthful crime 
 through moral instrumentalities, rather than by the pillory, 
 the whipping post, and the chain gang. It would not abolish 
 the criminal code, but it would humanize it, and render less 
 necessary its execution. 
 
 Mr. Skinner was as widely identified with educational 
 interests as any man in Western New York. He was for 
 many years a Trustee of the Geneseo Academy, and during 
 nearly his entire residence in Wyoming a Trustee of Middle- 
 bury Academy. He was also a Trustee of the Ingham 
 Institute at Le Roy. 
 
 It may be a surprise to some to learn that Mr. Skinner, 
 many years before his residence in Buffalo, actively interested 
 himself in the enterprise to establish here a university of high 
 rank. He made repeated journeys for consultation on the 
 
68 
 
 subject, and was much disappointed when Rochester took the 
 lead of us, and founded its now flourishing college. He never 
 abandoned his idea. Among the last conversations I had 
 with him, he spoke of our State Normal School as the nucleus 
 of a future university. When I called his attention to the 
 fact that commercial towns had not generally proved favor- 
 able to the growth of universities, he abated nothing from 
 his confidence, but found, as he thought, in the reciprocal 
 influenc-€ of commerce and learning, an argument for so asso- 
 ciating them. 
 
 This enumeration of his official relations will realize to us 
 that his activity here, in connection with public institutions, 
 was no new-born zeal, but the habit and principle of the most 
 active part of his career. 
 
 In i860, Mr. Skinner removed from Wyoming to Buffalo. 
 We can hardly realize what a struggle this break up of old 
 associations cost him. The quiet and repose of his beautiful 
 country home and its surroundings, identified with his tastes 
 and aff*ections as they were, had become a part of his being. 
 His local attachments were very strong. The very trees he 
 planted grew up as friends to him. It was several years after 
 he purchased his Buffalo property, before he could bring him- 
 self to the point of changing his residence. Once he sold his 
 Wyoming home preparatory to the removal, but he was so 
 unhappy at seeing it pass to other hands, that he repurchased 
 it, and deferred for a considerable period his final coming to 
 Buffalo. But after his retirement from the active duties of 
 his profession, he made our city his residence. 
 
 What he was among us, from that time to his death, is a 
 part of the history of our charitable, religious and educational 
 institutions. He united himself with the Calvary Church, 
 of which he was a ruling officer. At the time of his death 
 he was President of the Buffalo General Hospital, a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church, 
 
69 
 
 President of the New York State Asylum for the BHnd 
 at Batavia, President of the Buffalo State Normal School, 
 Vice-President of the Reformatory in Warsaw, President of 
 the Erie County Bible Society, a Trustee of the Buffalo 
 F"emale Academy, and a Trustee of the Buffalo City Sav- 
 ings Bank. 
 
 His was not an idle old age. His life and talents he held 
 to be sacred trusts, and for the ten years of his Buffalo 
 residence, except an interlude of eighteen months abroad, he 
 devoted his leisure to the duties of a useful citizenship. 
 
 It is fresh to our recollection that he occupied himself for 
 weeks, not very long before his decease, in endeavoring to 
 persuade us to do ourselves good by providing for the pay- 
 ment of a paltry debt of a few thousand dollars — a dead 
 weight on the neck of our hospital. His success, though not 
 complete, was as near to completeness as any charity enter- 
 prise can be with us, which is not under the auspices of woman. 
 She alone can work financial miracles for charity, and in her 
 hopeful vocabulary there is no such word as fail. Happily 
 the hospital is now her ward. 
 
 In 1867 he made a visit to Europe with his family. I doubt 
 if it ever falls to the lot of an American traveler abroad to 
 enjoy more than he did. Europe with its art, its culture, its 
 incarnation of that past with which America, so fresh, so self- 
 asserting, so purely the creation of the hopeful, restless, 
 revolutionary present, has so little sympathy, kept all his 
 enthusiasm in constant glow. Almost every day was to him 
 as a new creation bringing with it the gladness of a fresh 
 inspiration. 
 
 It was while abroad that a great sorrow cast its shadow 
 over the heart and home of our friend. His only daughter 
 and child, and only grand-child, died while the family were in 
 Switzerland. It is not for us to lift the veil of that sorrow, 
 and I leave its heavy folds untouched. 
 
He returned with the other members of his family in 
 December, 1868, to resume his labors in the many spheres of 
 beneficent action to which the pubhc had called him, labors 
 never suspended except by his last sickness and death. 
 
 Of the personal characteristics of Mr. Skinner, one of the 
 most marked was his habit of incarnating, so to speak, in 
 himself every interest that commanded his sympathy. What- 
 ever represented his opinions was invested with an almost 
 sacred character. This was true of his Church, ever an object 
 of interest and affection. It w^as true of his party, which to 
 him became personified in its leaders who had his confidence. 
 To attack it was to attack them and to challenge their wisdom, 
 their integrity, or their patriotism. Their honor he made his 
 own. He was an enthusiast. A speech that much interested 
 him was always " eloquent." A sermon, which on a different 
 temperament would make little impression, often profoundly 
 impressed him. Sympathy was the touchstone that trans- 
 muted everything into gold. This temperament gave a warm 
 coloring to many a sky which had been leaden to other natures. 
 I speak of his later years, for during his middle life he was a 
 great sufferer from nervous depression, but this had all passed 
 away before he came among us, and we were accustomed to 
 look at his face as the sign of cheer and hope, so beaming 
 was it with kindliness and joy. 
 
 Great simplicity and dignity of character were combined in 
 him. He was proud in the sense in which honor and consci- 
 ous integrity have a right to be proud, but his was a latent 
 pride, a covert fortress for the defence of character and self- 
 respect. There was something of the old chivalry in his 
 nature. He paid reverence wdiere it was due. There was 
 ever in his bearing that courtesy and regard for the sensibility 
 of others which constitute the highest charm of social man- 
 ners. His ordinary method of speech was subdued and 
 gentle. Baseness would rouse him from his usual calm, and 
 
71 
 
 then it was made to feel the force of his indignation. He 
 was faithful to the obligations of friendship, and to old 
 friends he clung with romantic attachment. 
 
 He was twice married. In 1830, to Catharine, only 
 daughter of Mr. Richard M. Stoddard, of Le Roy. She 
 died in 1832, leaving no children. He was again married in 
 1837 to Sarah A., daughter of Mr. Henry G. Walker, of 
 Wyoming. Their only child was the late Mrs. Josiah Letch- 
 worth. He died June 6, 1871, after a few weeks illness. 
 
 His last years, with the exception of the single sorrow to 
 which I have alluded, were serene and happy. He had won 
 all which professional eminence and purity of character could 
 secure to him — reputation, ample fortune, private esteem, and 
 public respect. His life had been widely useful, his example 
 pure. 
 
 Death found him amid the sweets of friendship and the 
 ministrations of love, his pathway to eternity luminous with 
 the light of religion. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The great importance Judge Skinner attached to Bible 
 distribution, and the interest he felt in it, may be seen in the 
 following extracts from an address made by him at an Anni- 
 versary Meeting of the American Bible Society, held at the 
 Bible House in New York : 
 
 (From piiblislud Reports of the American Bible Society. ) 
 
 On motion of Hon. John B. Skinner, of Wyoming County, N. Y., 
 
 Resolved., — That our free institutions, and those moral enterprises 
 designed to improve the condition of the race, sprang from the 
 Bible, and without its influence they cannot be sustained. 
 
 The influence of the Bible, observed Judge S., upon the destiny 
 of man as a social being — the tendency of its teachings to develop a 
 knowledge of his rights and duties, and to prepare him to under- 
 stand and to sustain the responsibilities of a citizen in the govern- 
 ment of the people — is a topic not unworthy of consideration upon 
 an occasion like this. 
 
 In this view it may not be uninteresting or unprofitable to trace 
 the history of our free institutions, and to examine the causes which 
 have produced and thus far sustained them. I refer not now to that 
 noble vindication of the rights of man, to which our fathers pledged 
 their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor; nor to that 
 revolutionary struggle which gave us a name as one of the nations of 
 the earth ; for these, and the blood and treasure which they cost, 
 would have been as unavailing as other more recent struggles for 
 liberty, but for that regard for the Bible and its sanctions which 
 
73 
 
 characterized these movements. The deep convictions, the uncom- 
 promising principles, which had induced the Puritans, more than a 
 century and a half before, to encounter persecution and banishment, 
 and every peril, for the rights of conscience and the freedom of 
 religious opinion, had produced a spirit of inquiry into the nature of 
 civil government and the principles of popular liberty, which pre- 
 pared them to comprehend and to assert the new and startling truth 
 — that the will of the people is the only just foundation of civil 
 government. 
 
 The early settlers of this country, who had fled from religious 
 despotism, had been thorough students of the Bible, and were deeply 
 imbued with the doctrines of the Gospel. Before the settlement at 
 Jamestown or at Plymouth our present translation had been finished 
 and was generally circulated, and all its teachings were familiar 
 to those Puritans who would admit no authority but the Bible, 
 and allow no priest, nor parliament, nor king, nor hierarchy to in- 
 terpret it. 
 
 The venerable Robinson, in his parting words to the embarking 
 Pilgrims, as if animated with a prophetic view of the future destiny 
 of his flock, with the deep earnestness and emotion of a spiritual 
 father, pronounced the solemn and authoritative injunction, so well 
 remembered : " I charge you, before God and his blessed angels, 
 . . . that you be ready to receive whatever of truth shall be made 
 known to you from the written word of God." 
 
 It was in the cabin of the Mayflower, on the desolate coast of 
 New England, and before a foot-print had been made upon the shore, 
 that the memorable instrument of government was signed by every 
 adult male person, which event a distinguished historian has pro- 
 nounced " the birth of popular constitutional liberty, where hu- 
 manity recovered its rights and instituted government on the basis 
 of equal laws for the general good." 
 
 The mass of mankind knew no liberties except such as were 
 wrung from the grasp of hereditary power; they looked to royal 
 charters for the measure of their rights and the rule of their duty ; 
 but these Puritans, nurtured in the sentiments of Luther and Calvin, 
 and in the school of intolerance, had searched the oracles of God 
 as the only admitted standard of authority, the only acknowledged 
 arbiter of their rights. 
 
 We must look back to the commencement of the Christian era — 
 
74 
 
 to the doctrines which the Son of (jod proclaimed on the plains of 
 Palestine — for the first dawn of light upon the rights of man. " The 
 blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, and to the poor the Gospel 
 is preached," were the evidences which He put forth of His mission, 
 and of His divinity. Philosophers and sages have studied, and 
 labored and taught, but all their theories had respect to the privi- 
 ledged, the high-born, and the prosperous. It was Jesus of Nazareth 
 who first put forth the claims of a common brotherhood, and enforced 
 the duties of a common humanity. Disregarding the artificial distinc- 
 tions which the world reverenced. He lifted up the poor, the neglected 
 and the friendless, and laid the foundation of those principles of 
 reciprocal justice and popular liberty so distinctly visible in the 
 democracy of the Pilgrims, and the Declaration of Independence 
 adopted by the Revolutionary fathers. 
 
 Regard for the Bible, and reverence for its precepts, have marked 
 every period of our early history. It was in the darkest hour of our 
 Revolution, amidst the cares and the anxieties and the dangers of the 
 fearful conflict, and a few days before Congress were driven from 
 Philadelphia, that a proposition was considered to supply the country 
 with Bibles, and a resolution passed to import twenty thousand copies 
 at the public expense. 
 
 Thus, while the French Revolution rejected the Bible and its 
 Author, abolished the Sabbath, and Avrote over the gateway to the 
 grave, "Death is an eternal sleep;"' our fathers raised this Book 
 above every other standard, and inscribed upon it those words 
 which the Christian emperor is said to have seen written upon the 
 cross hung out from the skies, "/;/ hoc viiicc." 
 
 At a later period, after the struggle was over and peace was 
 restored, when the Convention assembled to form a Constitution, 
 to secure the fruits of that contest to us and those who should 
 come after us, such was the diversity of interest and conflict of 
 opinion, so numerous were the theories advanced, that the moment- 
 ous objects of the meeting hung in doubt and uncertainty, when the 
 venerable Franklin — a name not associated with the strictest Puri- 
 tans, representing a constituency far removed from the rock on 
 which they landed, and the spot consecrated by their toil and suffer- 
 ings, — arose and addressed that body in a speech which has been 
 preserved, and which I beg leave to read as a happy illustration of 
 the sentiment of this resolution. 
 
75 
 
 '^Sir: In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were 
 sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine 
 protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously 
 answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have 
 observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our 
 favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of 
 consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national 
 felicity ; and have w'e now forgotten that powerful Friend ? or do we 
 imagine that we no longer need His assistance ? I have lived, sir, a 
 long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of 
 this truth — that (xod governs the affairs of men ; and if a sparrow 
 cannot foil without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise 
 without His aid ? We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writ- 
 ings that ' Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that 
 build it ; ' and I firmly believe this, and I also believe, that without 
 His concurring aid we shall succeed no better than the builders of 
 the tower of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial, local 
 interests ; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall 
 become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages ; and what 
 is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, 
 despair of establishing go\'ernments by human wisdom, and leave it 
 to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that 
 henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven and its bless- 
 ings upon our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morn- 
 ing, before we proceed to business." 
 
 These were the sentiments of the founders of our republic ; upon 
 this rock was our fabric erected ; and if w^e are true to the faith they 
 have delivered to us, and follow in the paths they have marked, our 
 liberties are safe. , 
 
 If our civil liberties can thus be traced to the teachings of the 
 Gospel, as illustrated and exemplified in the character and policy of 
 our Puritan fathers, — if we must look to their principles for the germ 
 of our civil privileges and the elements of our greatness, — who can 
 estimate the value of the Bible, and the importance of the work in 
 which we are engaged, as a means of perpetuating these blessings ? 
 
 Let this volume be circulated — let it be carried to every house — 
 let its truths and precepts find place in the hearts of our wide-spread 
 population — every patriotic sentiment will be awakened, every noble 
 aspiration strengthened, and every social virtue cherished ; it will 
 disarm prejudice, dispel superstition, subdue the passions and link 
 together a mighty people from every nation, and kindred and tongue, 
 in the bonds of peace, in the love of man and in the fear of God. 
 
 But I have touched only a single point — such a view of this sub- 
 
76 
 
 ject would be like that relief which should take the helpless, drown- 
 ing man from the fatal wreck, and carry him within view of the 
 cheering light, and within sound of the glad voices of sympathy and 
 kindred, and leave him there to die unblest. I have not referred 
 to the power of the Gospel to break the fetters in which pride, and 
 avarice and selfishness have bound up the charities of the soul ; nor 
 to those fountains of benevolence which this week commemorates, 
 and which, springing from this source, have sent forth their gushing 
 waters over the dry earth, producing moral beauty and verdure and 
 loveliness. I have not alluded to that noble institution in the 
 father-land, whose jubilee has just been celebrated, and which has 
 shed its radiance over every clime, and whose light, mingling with 
 ours, beams from those bright spots indicated on your missionary 
 map, which a kindred institution has rescued from the desert. I 
 have not spoken of that boon of sympathy and brotherhood which 
 has reclaimed the drunkard, and sought out the abandoned, and 
 carried the hopes of life to the lost. These are fruits of that Tree 
 of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. 
 
 Nay, this influence is the voice of the Son of God in the sepulchre 
 of Lazarus. It penetrates the grave, and rescues its tenants from 
 corruption and the worm ; it Clothes them with a robe of spotless 
 righteousness ; it furnishes them with a passport to that city which 
 hath foundation, to those joys which "eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive.'' 
 

Princeton Theological S. 
 
 1012 01041 9150 
 
 ; I , I ) l|llli;illl!l!H.,, 
 •I •'rilDIIIOlIIIKllllllllfr 
 
 •'''{''IJ'mjJi;: mi nl'iililijf^ 
 
 I '""i'lIiIJiiii.HiniiilJllinjtii/d'iir 
 
 '■■nii'H!!!!! f 'lii'llnKfiM. 
 
 ipiiijduirriiii iji lii if 
 
 lll'i jjj!«iiiu|iiiii!:i!ii f 
 IP fiinidin uiiiiiiiiiirf 
 1 .1 iii!in.ii;ili(( 111 ■,„,„:„„ 
 • ; li; iilil!!!',""!"!'' 1' i 
 
 ■ ■'■ ' "liiniMiiiiiiiiiun ( ]. ' 
 '■' , :-i!ii;i.iiiini(iJiiOij ir 
 I" li ■ iiliilKH""""' I f 
 : i iuliiijl ifilil^ ! illjjjIJHl (|£ 
 :i:: t;i; innijriiifiiiiiijii!---'- 
 
 iji'lfi^liiSffiH!!!!! i i 
 
 ■'; J! jl lllilllllll.'irM f- [ 
 
 ;;-i:Hl;li;liK,llirfJr 
 .1 i;,!irillllliUi!i I! 
 :iii/;iliii;iliil(!iiriF 
 '!' 'iiKifiniiii f(i- 
 
 ; 1 i.iaiUiiii.K, 
 
 ii;;. laiiiiaiiij 
 Hi' niliiiauir 
 111) laiiiifujiii 
 
 -iiiii^jini I1F1III 
 
 ;i aiii;iiii(ifiiiji (rl, |}}ij' 
 il ii/iiiiiiiriiii rj ■"' ^ 
 
 aiiii.'ifiiiidijij! r I 
 
 a ilKfilli (fi* 
 
 i ;iii|!aurii!rS 
 " laiiiiirM.-iiim 
 
 a aiiillliijiiiirii, 
 aiaaiiairiiiiirrfij 
 Jl i'liiiuriii (Iff ii„„ 
 iiifjrriiiirriuiidniii Ml 
 
 III '!!!!!!{"''"•' 
 aijfiiii aiiiiifiiiKii 
 
 '(liiiliiiimiaij I „M 
 
 ' I!'!"!"""""' I 
 
 ;aj ItlJII|,|y;i|.f„J ( { 
 
 ■I a I'ainiliriialia 1 1. 
 : ijniiiaaaif I ! j 11