NEW ENGLAND. ORDINATION AT NEW HAVEN.
In Nevins' Presbyterian Encyclopedia, which contains a brief sketch
of the career of John Chambers and a wood-cut portrait of him in his
prime, it is stated, that "When Mr. Duncan about this time renounced
the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church into which the Associate
Reformed, with Dr. Mason and others had been merged, Dr. Chambers
followed his example, from sympathy with his teacher". Was the pupil's
"sympathy" stronger than were the preacher's convictions?
Meanwhile the young minister, then twenty-seven years old, returned
to Baltimore to meet the Presbytery and seek ordination. Here again
another obstacle arose. The theologians on the Patapsco declared that
Mr. Chambers was no longer a licentiate under their care, and handed
him back his papers. Again was John Chambers preacher of the gospel
rejected of men. Was ecclesiasticism good order in this case? Did the
true cause of this rather rough treatment lie in this, that he had
been a pupil of John Mason Duncan, the independent?
What should the young man do? Disowned of presbyteries and looked at
suspiciously by the fathers and lords in the church, where should he
go? As he himself wrote on his fiftieth anniversary, May 9th, 1875:
"The prospect, therefore, was rather chilly. I had left my home
of many years in the city of Baltimore, where I received all the
education that ever was bestowed upon me, and where I sat at the
feet of that Gamaliel, the Reverend John Mason Duncan, to whom under
God, I am indebted, entirely by His grace, for the position I occupy
to-day. My heart had been much interested in religious matters for
two or three years before I left Baltimore. There were five or six of
us young men, as students of Mr. Duncan, and we had organized some
meetings through the city of Baltimore, and God was with us; and
the warm heart--if I had any warm heart at all--that I brought to
Philadelphia, was kindled at the altar of those dear young brethren.
How much we are indebted to God for young men! How much, my brethren,
are the eldership, are you, am I, indebted to young men!" Dr.
Chambers's last words in this paragraph are especially appropriate,
because it is the tendency of most theologians and elderly men to
teach that God _was_, not that he is. With young men, God's existence
is more likely to be in the present tense.
The ecclesiastical orphan, thus cast fatherless and friendless
upon the wide world, began to inquire whither he should go to seek
ordination. Happily there were other bodies of Christians and a
living church of Christ, besides the one which had withheld its
blessing. Happily too, there were men in the Presbyterian Churches
of Philadelphia, warm friends, who were able to direct him wisely,
one of them being the large-hearted scholar, James Patriot Wilson,
D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, predecessor of Albert
Barnes, and then fifty-six years old. The other was Rev. Thomas
Harvey Skinner, D.D., pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church in
Locust street, and who, twenty-six years afterwards, became the
famous professor in Union Theological Seminary of New York City.
Both of these men were in hearty sympathy with those views of truth
afterwards called the "New School". These brethren with Dr. Duncan,
advised Mr. Chambers to go into Yankee land and there be ordained
by Congregational clergymen. They gave him letters of introduction
to the Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor, the famous exponent of "the new
divinity" and then of the theological department of Yale College.
It was not Presbyterianism only that was at this era being rocked on
the waves of progress by the gales of the Spirit. About this time, or
shortly afterwards, Connecticut Congregationalism was being excited
and lifted out of torpor and routine by the breezy discussions of
"Taylorism" and "Tylerism". The former expressed the views of Dr.
Nathaniel William Taylor, the successor of Moses Stuart, and then
holding the Dwight professorship in the Theological Department of
Yale College. The young seminary opened in 1822 was therefore but
three years old when Mr. Chambers appeared to be ordained. Whatever
may be the true label we put upon Dr. N. W. Taylor, he was one of the
greatest of America's theologians when the appeal was being taken from
Calvin to Christ. He taught a modification of Hopkinsism which many
Presbyterians regarded as hostile to Calvinism and many New Englanders
as "unsound". As Mr. Chambers had already done, Dr. Taylor repudiated
the words "predestinate" and "decreed" and used the word "purposed"
concerning God's desire to save men. Before he died, in 1858, he had
trained over seven hundred ministers. Ex-President Dwight, in his
recent book on Men and Memories of Yale, presents him felicitously in
word and picture.
About the time also of rising "Taylorism" the new methods of preaching
and revival used by Rev. C. G. Finney, afterwards president of
Oberlin College, excited much alarm among the men of the old school.
How strange are the variations and how curious is the progress
of orthodoxy! Most of the great revivalists of this country were
nourished in the Congregational churches; and, from Finney to Moody,
they were at first looked upon with suspicion. Later they were
welcomed and lauded as the saviors of orthodoxy. Verily the "earthen
vessel" is sometimes more in evidence than the "heavenly treasure".
To combat the views of Dr. Taylor, Dr. Bennett Tyler, ex-president of
Dartmouth College, and then pastor at Portland, Me., was hailed as the
champion by all the leading spirits among the "conservatives", though
both of these great teachers had modified the original Calvinism. Of
Dr. Tyler it has been well said that "In forming his system he began
not with mind, but with the Bible, and he looked for no advances in
theology except such as come from a richer Christian experience". Dr.
Tyler founded a theological institute at East Windsor, Conn., in 1834,
so long and ably presided over by the cultured Philadelphian, Chester
D. Hartranft, D.D., brother of Pennsylvania's soldier and governor.
The monuments of these controversies between "Taylorism" and
"Tylerism", now forgotten, are seen in the superb theological
seminaries of New Haven and Hartford, but the points of difference,
as now discoverable only under the microscope of research, are of
no practical importance. Hardly any one except the hair-splitting
philosophers can state them. They have been forgotten in the larger
vision of advancing Christianity. So will it be with most of the
controversies of to-day, especially those centering in the "higher
criticism".
It was to Dr. N. W. Taylor, that Mr. Chambers had letters, as well as
to Dr. Leonard Bacon, afterwards the famous opponent of slavery, and
author, in 1833 of the hymn,
"O God beneath thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea,
And when they trod the wintry strand
With prayer and psalm they worshipped thee."
For over twenty years Dr. Bacon was pastor of the First Congregational
Church in New Haven, one of the professors in Yale Divinity School,
and the progenitor of a remarkably intellectual family. Until his
death, the day before Christmas of 1881, he was a commanding figure in
American history. Of the council which ordained Mr. Chambers he was
the scribe. It will be seen at a glance that the ecclesiastical exile
from Philadelphia and Baltimore was to stand before giants. If these
mighty men of God could give him ordination, why need he mourn the
loss of clerical favor nearer home?
Thus armed with letters of commendation, the young Irish-American
proceeded to the City of Elms, in the opening week of December, 1825.
It was the first year of John Quincy Adams's administration, and the
Erie Canal had joined the waters of the great lakes with the Atlantic.
It was an era of mighty conquests over nature, and the heart of the
young man who was thrilling with the spirit of the age and of the
ages, beat high with hope. He, too, wanted to do great things for God
and help in making the world better. He sought out those addressed,
and handed to them his letters. Two days afterwards, the Association
of Congregational ministers of the Western District of New Haven
County was called together by the Moderator, and eight ministers were
present in the assembly which was held in the Centre Church.
Of the meeting, the following official record was copied out for the
biographer, at the request of Rev. Dr. T. T. Munger, author of The
Freedom of Faith, and through the courtesy of Rev. Franklin Dexter,
librarian of Yale University.
"At a Special Meeting of the Association of the Western District of
New Haven County, convened by letters from the Moderator and holden in
New Haven, December 7th, 1825.
Present--Messrs. S. W. Stebbins, J. Day, D.D., E. Scranton, S. Merwin,
J. Allen, E. T. Fitch and L. Bacon.
Mr. Stebbins was chosen Moderator, and Mr. Bacon, Scribe. The session
was opened with prayer.
Mr. John Chambers, a licentiate of the late second Presbytery of
Philadelphia, now dissolved, being introduced to the Association by
Mr. Merwin, requested to be ordained to the ministry of the Gospel,
and producing proper testimonials of his standing as a member of
the church of Christ; of his regular license to preach the Gospel,
and of his having passed through a period of probation, with proper
acceptance, the Association, after examining him as to his belief
in the doctrines of the Gospel, his experimental acquaintance with
religion, and his motives in desiring the work of the ministry,
_Voted_ to proceed to his ordination this evening at half-past six
o'clock.
_Voted_ that the parts be performed as follows: The introductory
prayer to be offered by Mr. Scranton; the sermon to be preached by
Professor Fitch; the ordaining prayer to be offered by Mr. Merwin,
during which Messrs. Stebbins, Fitch and Merwin to impose hands; the
charge to be given by Mr. Stebbins; the right hand of fellowship by
Mr. Bacon; the concluding prayer to be offered by Mr. Allen. Adjourned
to meet in the Centre Meeting-house at half-past six o'clock.
Met according to adjournment. The ordination took place according to
the preceding votes.
Mr. Chambers, at his request, was admitted a member of the Association.
The minutes were read and accepted.
[TEST] LEONARD BACON, Scribe."
The ordination sermon was duly preached in the evening by the Rev.
Professor Eleazer T. Fitch, D.D., Livingstone Professor of Divinity
in Yale College, and then Mr. Chambers was ordained by the laying on
of hands of the three appointed ministers of the Association.
According to Congregational usage an Association of ministers does
not ordain to the ministry, but a Council does. The Association may
transform itself into a Council for the time being. In Connecticut
the Consociation, or standing council, performed this function. In
any event, John Chambers was properly ordained to the Gospel ministry
according to due Congregational call, form, and precedent.
Furthermore, by his own request, he became a member of the
Association. This did not make him a "Congregationalist", but it
showed his hearty sympathy with the principles and ideas of his
fellow members. For forty-eight years, his only ministerial standing
and connection was in the Congregational body as an independent
minister, though his church was governed according to Presbyterian
form and usage. So strong and deep was his faith in the validity of
non-Episcopal and non-Presbyterian ordination that he showed it all
his life by his works. He ordained during the course of his ministry
several young men to the work of the gospel. One of these impressive
ceremonies I myself witnessed, probably about 1859. After preaching a
sermon and reading the papers or certificates of the candidate, Mr.
Chambers called his elders, those grand men of God, Burtis, Luther,
Steinmetz, and Walton around him. Then upon the head of the kneeling
young man he and they laid their hands, solemnly ordaining him to the
gospel in true apostolic style.
Years afterwards, in 1892, one of his own boys, even the biographer,
delivered the Dudleian lecture at Harvard University in Appleton
Chapel on "The Validity of non-Episcopal Ordination", or, more
exactly, the validity of ordination by the congregation, according
to the method of the primitive Christian Churches[5]. By a strange
coincidence, it was on the same night, Dec. 7, on which Mr. Chambers
was ordained, and thus the sixty-seventh anniversary of his ordination.
[Footnote 5: See the Bibliotheca Sacra, for October, 1893.]
Mr. Chambers left New Haven the next morning, Dec. 8th, 1825. The
elms were leafless, but his heart was happy and his face radiant
with joy. Coming back to minister to his constantly increasing
flock, he baptized on the first Sunday in January, 1826, several new
communicants and administered for the first time the memorial supper
of Jesus. It was a day long to be remembered, for between seventy and
eighty souls were on this occasion added to the church, and the young
pastor, in the joy of his initial service, baptized the first child
that ever received the dedicating waters from his hands, John Chambers
Arrison, the first of a mighty host.
In 1875, the white-haired pastor who had welcomed 3,585 members into
his church, said: "Thus it seemed that the tide of God's favor was
taken at the flood, and it has brought us to where we are to-day".