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 ^UNITED IUCA.J 
 
MEMOKIAL. 
 
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MEMORIAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND SERVICES . 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 REV. HENRY A. ROWLAND, D.D., 
 
 PASTOR OF THE 
 
 PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 NEWAEK, NEW JERSEY. 
 
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 BY 
 
 Ef Rf FAIRCHILD, D. D 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 
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 DODD, 506 BROADWAY. 
 
 
 
 1860. 
 
 
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 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1860, by 
 M. W. DODD, 
 In tbo Clerk's Office of tbe District Court of tbe United States for tbe South- 
 ern District of New York. 
 
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 r2= 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 We have been requested to give a sketch of 
 the Life of the late Eev. Henry A. Kowland, 
 D. D., late Pastor of the Park Church in New- 
 ark, New Jersey. We have hesitated to com- 
 ply with this request, lest we should do justice 
 neither to him nor to ourself ; for, to describe 
 him as he was, to portray him under the dif- 
 ferent aspects in which he appeared as the 
 shifting light fell upon him, requires a firm and 
 skilful hand. Others too may be more com- 
 petent than ourself to speak of his ministe- 
 rial character and labors.. But we have known 
 and loved him long, we have seen him at all 
 
 hours and in many scenes, we have followed 
 1* 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 his course from youthful to riper years, and 
 our heart has pleaded with the wishes of his 
 friends that we should pay this tribute to his 
 memory. We cannot hope that it will be a last- 
 ing record of his useful life and services, but it 
 may recall some things which those who knew 
 him will wish to remember, and it will present, 
 however imperfectly, the example of a warm- 
 hearted, upright and generous man, frank, 
 bold, decided, and independent, yet cordial, 
 sympathizing, and true, fond of society, full of 
 activity and good humor, the sincere Christian, 
 the acceptable writer, the faithful and success- 
 ful minister of the gospel. We shall be able, 
 in the space allowed us, and under the circum- 
 stances in which we write, only to trace some 
 of the influences which formed his character, 
 and to give a mere outline of his labors. The 
 true record of his life is in its results, not yet 
 nor soon to be complete, and is to be found, not 
 
MEMOEIAL. 7 
 
 in these fleeting words, but in the communi- 
 ties in which he lived, and in the many hearts 
 there and elsewhere which he drew to himself 
 and led to piety and virtue. 
 
 Henry Augustus Eowland was born of 
 pure New England stock and pious ancestry, at 
 Windsor, in the State of Connecticut, on the 
 nineteenth day of September, eighteen hun- 
 dred and four. He was the eldest son of the 
 late Henry A. Eowland, long a useful minis- 
 ter of the First Congregational church of that 
 town* and was a grandson of the Eev. David 
 S. Eowland, the previous minister of that 
 church. By his mother's side he was con- 
 nected with the celebrated divine and meta- 
 physician, Jonathan Edwards — one of the truly 
 great men of New England and America, and 
 for a short time the President of Nassau Hall : — 
 
8 MEMORIAL. 
 
 and he was also a descendant of the Rev. John 
 Warham, the first minister of Windsor, who 
 had been "a famous minister in Exeter, the 
 capital of the County of Devon " in England, 
 and was " one of the principal fathers and 
 pillars of the churches of Connecticut."* 
 
 Dr. Bowland admired the noble band of 
 exiles for religious liberty who planted New 
 England, and was fond of tracing his lineage 
 to the first settlement of his native town, where 
 his ancestors filled the sacred office for periods, 
 amounting together to nearly a hundred 
 years. Windsor, as is well known, is the old- 
 est town in the State of Connecticut, ana! was 
 settled in the years 1635-6, from Dorchester in 
 Massachusetts, the name of which town for a 
 short time and until 1637, it assumed. As 
 early as 1633 the Plymouth people came up 
 
 Q Trumbull's Hist, of Connecticut, vol. 1, pp. 23, 467. 
 
MEMORIAL. y 
 
 the river and established here a trading-house 
 or factory. Eeports of the fertility of the soil 
 on the Connecticut river and the adaptation of 
 the country to plantation and trade, attracted 
 settlers across the wilderness. In September, 
 1636, the Eev. John Warham, who had been 
 pastor of the church of Dorchester for six 
 years, settled at "Windsor. His church and 
 congregation, the whole of whom are said to 
 have removed to this new place of abode, had 
 generally preceded him. Mr. Warham had 
 come over from England in 1630, in a vessel of 
 four hundred tons, with an " honorable com- 
 pany " drawn from three English counties, 
 who, having been formed into a church just 
 prior to their embarkation at Plymouth, 
 brought with their pastor the ordinances of 
 religion to a place in the wilderness, which 
 they named Dorchester, whence, as we have 
 stated, they removed a few years later to the 
 
10 MEMORIAL. 
 
 fertile, but then savage valley of the Connec- 
 ticut. Rev. Mr. Warham was pastor of the 
 church at AVindsor for thirty -four years. The 
 historian of Connecticut speaks of him and the 
 Rev. John Davenport, one of the founders of 
 the colony of New Haven, together as " those 
 venerable fathers who had been singularly in- 
 strumental in planting, and had long illumi- 
 nated, the churches of Connecticut and New 
 England."* 
 
 Dr. Rowland often referred with respect 
 and patriotic pride to his grandfather, the Rev. 
 David S. Rowland, who was a graduate of 
 Yale College, and preached for thirteen years 
 at Plainfield, Connecticut, then at Providence, 
 Rhode Island, and afterwards for eighteen 
 years at Windsor, where he was settled March 
 
 » Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., vol. 1, pp. 465, 46?— Pal- 
 frey's Hist, of New England, vol. 1, pp. 339, 340, 369, 450, 
 453, 454. 
 
MEMOEIAL. 11 
 
 •27th, 1776, and where in January, 1794, he 
 closed his ministry in its forty-fifth year, and 
 in the seventy-fifth of his age. While pastor 
 of a church at Providence he preached "at 
 Wrentham in the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, in New England, on the 14th day of 
 July, 1774, on a day of fasting and prayer, 
 occasioned by the distressed situation of public 
 affairs," a sermon which is said to have made a 
 great sensation, and is certainly remarkable for 
 its ability, and for its fearless and emphatic an 
 nouncement at that early period, nearly two 
 years before the declaration of the inde- 
 pendence of the colonies was signed, of the 
 American doctrines of civil liberty. The text 
 was, " My little finger shall be thicker than my 
 father's loins." He breaks forth at times into 
 a rude energy of expression, and assails the 
 doctrine of passive obedience with contemptu- 
 ous logic. His liberty-loving grandson keenly 
 
12 MEMORIAL. 
 
 relished the argument, and caused the serm on- 
 to be published in one of the public prints as 
 au example of the freedom and independence 
 of the pulpit in our revolutionarj- period. 
 
 He thus speaks of his grandfather in con- 
 nection with it : " The lion. Judge Daggett, 
 of New Haven, informed me that he was 
 present when the discourse was delivered, and 
 that it produced a very great excitement. I 
 have been told by my father that my grand- 
 father was a powerful and eloquent preacher, 
 of commanding presence in the pulpit, and of 
 fine elocution. It was not my happiness to 
 know him, he having died long before I was 
 born. He was ever a firm and zealous de- 
 fender of the liberties of our country against 
 foreign aggression. He was pastor of the 
 Presbyterian or Congregational church in 
 Providence, Ehode Island, at the time when 
 the war of the Eevolution commenced. So , 
 
MEMOKIAL. 13 
 
 obnoxious had he made himself to the enemies 
 of the country by his bold and patriotic 
 defence of our liberties from the pulpit, that 
 when the town of Providence was invested he 
 fled with his family in a sloop ; and during the 
 darkness of the night he escaped through the 
 enemy's fleet and went up the Connecticut 
 river. He afterwards settled in Windsor, 
 where he died. He not only impaired his 
 fortune in the cause of our country, but he 
 equipped a son and sent him into the field, 
 who continued in the service seven years and 
 to the close of the war." Two of his sons 
 were clergymen, — the late Eev. William F. 
 Eowland, of Exeter, New Hampshire, an 
 amiable and excellent man, and the Eev, 
 Henry A. Eowland, of Windsor. 
 
 Eev. Henry A. Eowland, who was a grad- 
 uate of Dartmouth College, was settled at 
 Windsor in 1790, as the colleague of his father, 
 
14 MEMORIAL. 
 
 and remained as such colleague until his 
 father's death, or for about four years, when 
 he became the sole pastor of the First Congre- 
 gational church of that town, where he died 
 November 28th, 1835, in the seventy-first year 
 of his age. He was a man of sense and 
 worth, who did not hesitate to speak what he 
 regarded as the truth with freedom and plain- 
 ness. He was of unspotted character, and was 
 esteemed as a sound preacher, and as " in doc- 
 trine incorrupt." He was much interested in 
 the religious intelligence of the day, and from 
 the first in those benevolent religious enter- 
 prises of New England, then in their infancy, 
 which have since grown to majestic propor- 
 tions. In his parlor, the Constitution of the 
 Connecticut Bible Society, one of the earliest 
 Bible societies of the country, was drawn up. 
 The interest in benevolent objects which he 
 felt he inspired from their earliest years in his 
 
MEMOEIAL. 15 
 
 children. His parish, in all parts of which he 
 constantly labored, was very extensive, run- 
 ning no less than eleven miles along the river, 
 and being upon an average perhaps three 
 miles in breadth. His first wife was Elizabeth 
 Newbery, by whom he had one child, who 
 died in infancy. 
 
 On the 14th of April, 1800, he 'married 
 Frances Bliss, a daughter of the late Moses 
 Bliss, of Springfield, Massachusetts, a woman 
 of great loveliness and excellence of character, 
 of unusual sweetness and modesty of disposi- 
 tion, refined feeling, gentle manners, strong 
 and steady affections, and warm and cheerful 
 piety. To her might well be applied the 
 beautiful lines of Pope — 
 
 " Oh ! blest with temper whose unclouded ray, 
 Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day.' ' 
 
 Her son Henry had great love and just ad- 
 miration for his mother. 
 
16 MEMORIAL. 
 
 Her father was one of the five members of 
 the bar of the county of Hampshire, in the 
 State of Massachusetts, who before the Revo- 
 lution had reached the rank of barrister, and 
 he was one of the principal advocates and 
 counsellors in that county. His son, the late 
 Hon. George Bliss, himself an eminent lawyer, 
 in an address to the bar of the counties of 
 Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin, in 1826, 
 says of him: "I believe he was generally 
 esteemed a sound lawyer and skilful special 
 pleader. He graduated at Yale College in 
 1775, studied divinity, and preached for some 
 time ; after which he read law a year with Col. 
 "Worthington, and was admitted to the bar at 
 November Term, 1761, and left practice in the 
 year 1798." He married Abigail Metcalf, a 
 niece of President Edwards, by whom he had 
 a numerous family of children, of whom the 
 mother of Dr. Rowland was one. For several of 
 
MEMOEIAL. 17 
 
 the -later years of his life he was a judge of the 
 
 Court of Common Pleas for the County of 
 
 Hampshire. "We are unable at this distance 
 
 of time to state for what reason he changed his 
 
 profession, but he was a man of character and 
 
 piety, and for a long time and until his death 
 
 was a deacon of the First Congregational church 
 
 in Springfield. He died July 3d, 1814. 
 
 Of the happy marriage of the parents of 
 
 Dr. Eowland, there were five sons and two 
 
 daughters, all of whom lived to mature life. 
 
 Of these only one son and one daughter are 
 
 now living. Their parents were anxious and 
 
 careful to give their children a good education ; 
 
 and, although the father had a very moderate 
 
 salary, by great frugality and economy they 
 
 accomplished the object. Three of the sons 
 
 received a liberal education, and four of them 
 
 entered the different learned professions. Two 
 
 of them became ministers of the gospel — two 
 2* 
 
18 MEMORIAL. 
 
 brothers thus following in the footsteps of two 
 brothers of a preceding generation. One of 
 the brothers of Dr. Rowland was the Rev. 
 James Rowland, who, after having been en- 
 gaged for some years in the practice of medi- 
 cine, abandoned it for the sacred ministry, 
 and became the pastor of the Presbyterian 
 church at Circleville, Ohio. He is said to 
 have been " a marked and beloved member" 
 of his Presbytery, and was an earnest and in- 
 teresting preacher. When the cholera pre- 
 vailed in the place of his residence, he per- 
 formed the double duty of minister and 
 physician. He died at Circleville of con- 
 sumption, brought on by his incessant labors, 
 manfully contending with disease to the last, 
 preaching as long as it was possible to preach 
 and until within three months of his death, 
 continuing to use his pen when he could no 
 longer occupy the pulpit, and calmly watch- 
 
MEMOEIAL. 19 
 
 ing his own ebbing life, until his physician 
 announced, in reply to an inquiry, that his 
 pulse could be no longer felt. 
 
 At Windsor, in the comfortable home, and 
 amid the numerous family of his father, who, 
 to supply the deficiency of his salary, culti- 
 vated some farming-lands, and had some farm- 
 ing-stock, and orchards of fine fruit, Henry 
 spent a large part of his active and happy 
 boyhood. He was from very early years fa- 
 miliar with the gun and the fishing-rod, and 
 all kinds of wood-craft and country sports, 
 and to a certain extent such rural labors as 
 were appropriate to his age. Thence in a great 
 measure the excellent health so long preserved 
 by him, that remarkable flow of spirits which 
 was so characteristic of him through life, and 
 that taste for the brook and woods, which 
 never deserted him. His native place was 
 favorable to such tastes and habits,- — an old, 
 
20 MEMORIAL. 
 
 quiet farming town, with broad streets and 
 venerable elms, on its eastern side swept for 
 its whole length by the Connecticut, and con- 
 sisting of a zone of fertile meadow along the 
 river, and of level upland with fields and 
 woodland behind. Through the centre of the 
 town, past the church which crowned its bank, 
 flowed the Farmington river, a considerable 
 stream, which, rising in the mountains of 
 western Massachusetts, first crosses its south- 
 ern border and hurries towards the ocean, but 
 suddenly turning northward at Farmington 
 with reverted steps, as if loth to leave the 
 pleasant country from which it comes, here 
 runs easterly and separates the town into 
 nearly equal parts. The town originally com- 
 prehended large tracts of land on both sides of 
 the Connecticut river, and in the part of Wind- 
 sor, on the eastern side, now East Windsor, 
 in 1703, Jonathan Edwards was t3orn. Like 
 
MEMOEIAL. 21 
 
 Dr. Eowland, lie died at the age of fifty-five 
 years. 
 
 "^ETATIS LV. HEU NIMIS BREVIS,"* 
 
 and his ashes also rest away from his native 
 place in the soil of New Jersey. Windsor has 
 another title to distinction, which in this con- 
 nection we may perhaps be pardoned for men- 
 tioning. It was the place of residence of Oli- 
 ver Ellsworth, the second Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, to 
 whom among other public services is attribu- 
 ted the drawing of that famous act of Congress, 
 the judiciary act, under which the Courts of 
 the United States were organized, and their 
 business has ever since been conducted. He 
 was the parishioner at Windsor of the Eev. 
 Mr. Eowland, who, on the death of Chief Jus- 
 tice Ellsworth in the year 1807, preached his 
 funeral sermon. 
 
 * Epitaph of Pres. Edwards at Princeton. 
 
22 MEMORIAL. 
 
 In this place, among such traditions and 
 scenes, and under the instructions of such par- 
 ents, in the freedom and affection of his own 
 home, with the wide range of his father's par- 
 ish, and a free welcome at the houses of rela- 
 tives and friends, Henry spent a light and joy- 
 ous youth, full of life, action, and excess of spir- 
 its. Here he attended school until, we believe, 
 his thirteenth year. For about six months he 
 then went to the grammar-school in Hartford, 
 but completed his preparation for college at 
 the Academy in Springfield, the native place 
 of his mother, where for that purpose he re- 
 sided at the house of an uncle for two years or 
 more. He pursued his studies at this school 
 with considerable diligence. His mind was 
 gaining general strength and expansion, if not 
 much accurate learning. He was now the ar- 
 dent, resolute, almost impetuous boy, a leader 
 of sports on land and on water, his irrepressi- 
 
MEMORIAL. 23 
 
 ble spirits breaking out in his intercourse with 
 his friends and companions on all occasions, 
 and in spite of every restraint, in laughter and 
 frolic. In the circle of his numerous relatives 
 at Springfield, who were so closely connected 
 with his father's family, by ties of relationship 
 curiously intertwined,* that all might be con- 
 sidered as one larger family, he had freedom and 
 indulgence, and his social nature was warmed 
 and developed. 
 
 But he was soon to enter on a different 
 scene. In September, 1819, at the age of fif- 
 teen, he entered Yale College. If not the 
 youngest, as he believed, he was among the 
 youngest of a class, which at the time of its 
 graduation in 1823 consisted of seventy-two 
 members. Of the four years spent by him 
 
 * Two of the brothers of Mrs. Rowland, his mother, mar- 
 ried, the one (Hon. George Bliss) the sister, and the other 
 (Mr. Moses Bliss) the niece of his father. 
 
24 MEMORIAL. 
 
 in college lie always retained a pleasant and 
 grateful recollection. He was ever warmly 
 attached to the venerable institution at which 
 he was educated, which for more than one 
 hundred and fifty years has pursued its career 
 of honor and usefulness, and which has, at the 
 present time, more than three thousand living 
 graduates. His youth, and want of due and 
 thorough preparation for college, prevented his 
 taking that position in his class as a scholar 
 which he might have otherwise reached, but 
 he always considered the instructions and the 
 discipline which he obtained there as of great 
 and lasting value. 
 
 He had reason to remember his connection 
 with Yale College with pleasure and gratitude, 
 for a more important reason : he experienced 
 there that change of character, compared with 
 which all others are trivial and unimportant. 
 During his freshman year there was a revival 
 
MEMORIAL. 25 
 
 of religion in New Haven, which extended to 
 
 Yale College. His attention was arrested. 
 
 Under the preaching and familiar instructions 
 
 of the Eev. Mr. Nettleton, who was active in 
 
 those scenes, he was deeply penetrated with a 
 
 sense of his own guilt as a sinner, and of his 
 
 need of that absolute and complete renovation 
 
 which the Scriptures emphatically call a new 
 
 birth. His convictions on the subject were 
 
 deep and permanent. No one who has read 
 
 his works, and knows how competent he was 
 
 to guide troubled souls in the terrible conflict 
 
 between nature and grace, between the powers 
 
 of darkness and those of light, can doubt for 
 
 a moment that he knew much of that conflict, 
 
 and something of the victory too. He had 
 
 led hitherto, not a vicious, but a thoughtless, 
 
 careless, heedless life. He had been too well 
 
 instructed not to know that a life without God 
 
 in the world is not innocent because it does 
 2 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 not break out into bold and startling trans- 
 gressions, and not to feel the claims of the 
 law of God, in their strictness and extent, 
 when pressed upon his awakened conscience. 
 The lessons of his youth, and his familiar ac- 
 quaintance with the Scriptures could not have 
 left him much in doubt as to the plan of sal- 
 vation, and he soon found peace in believing. 
 The change in his character and course of life 
 was marked and decided. Early in his Sopho- 
 more year he began to think of making a 
 public profession of religion. In a letter to a 
 friend, dated 17th December, 1820, after say- 
 ing that his time is very much taken up with 
 his studies, and expressing his earnest desire 
 that the^ord would pour out his Spirit on 
 Springfield and Windsor, and his anxiety for 
 the salvation of some of his young friends, he 
 says: "I have lately thought a great deal 
 about making a profession of religion. It is a 
 
MEMORIAL. 27 
 
 very important 'duty, and cannot be entered 
 into with too much prayer and self-examina- 
 tion. It is a great thing to become a hum- 
 ble, pious follower of our Saviour. I have 
 thought, if I made a profession and did not 
 according to it, it would be a greater dis- 
 honors to the cause of Christ than if I never 
 made a profession ; but God is able to keep 
 me from dishonoring his cause, and if I trust 
 in him he will do it. Some of my companions 
 will come forward next communion. I think 
 that I shall join with them. ... A great 
 number are to be united to the church in 
 town. The revival in college has ceased; 
 who would have believed it ?" 
 
 On the 7th of January, 1821, in his Sopho- 
 more year, he made a public profession of his 
 faith, and joined the College-church. "With 
 his usual decision, he at once fixed upon his 
 future profession, and determined to preach 
 
30 MEMORIAL. 
 
 himself, the strong or hyperbolical expression 
 by which he might give emphasis to his 
 opinions, in his familiar conversation and his 
 
 lighter writings which were generally the 
 inspiration of the moment, lie did not try to 
 suppress. Those who only saw the foam 
 which sparkled on the surface, without know- 
 ing the depth of his character, sometimes mis- 
 apprehended him. 
 
 It would be an error to suppose, however, 
 that his simplicity and openness arose merely 
 from native disposition— the natural sunshine 
 of his heart. Much was no doubt due to this 
 cause. But, at least in his mature life, we 
 think that they sprang also from his convic- 
 tion of what was right and proper, and be- 
 longed to true Christian sincerity. 
 
 And when we reflect on the impression he 
 made on others by these qualities, united with 
 his disinterested courage and large heart, 
 
MEMORIAL. 31 
 
 when we remember the strong attachments 
 which the j inspired, and the influence they 
 gave him, we may well doubt whether the 
 mistake is not often on the side of prudence, 
 whether indeed timidity is always prudence, 
 and whether a cold, artificial character, faultless 
 in external demeanor but wanting in free 
 expression, is not destitute of some of the 
 strongest elements of attraction and nobleness. 
 At that youthful period of life of which we 
 were last speaking, he was overflowing with 
 animation, with quick impulses. He uttered 
 the rising thoughts of the moment. He often 
 startled — perhaps he liked to startle — those of 
 graver habits, by his disregard of mere con- 
 ventional forms, or what were deemed the 
 regular proprieties of time and place. Of an 
 affectionate disposition, the presence of friends 
 and kindred always exhilarated him, and in 
 their society he gave the freest range to the 
 
32 MEMORIAL. 
 
 expression of his feelings. He had a vein of 
 humor, afterwards more fully developed, and 
 liked to indulge it. His active mind ran 
 rapidly from grave to gay, too rapidly often 
 for others to follow, or detect the subtle thread 
 of association by which he had been led from 
 the one to the other. 
 
 But in the discharge of his religious duties 
 he was always serious and thoughtful, and in 
 his religious principles firm and consistent. 
 In all the methods adopted for the advance- 
 ment of religion in college he took an inter- 
 ested part, and he did not fail to admonish 
 earnestly his young friends of the great im- 
 portance of entering upon a religious life. 
 His practical turn of mind was also at this 
 period clearly manifested. But he was yet in 
 the immaturity of youth, with mind and char- 
 acter forming, but in a great measure un- 
 formed. 
 
MEMORIAL. 33 
 
 He maintained a fair character and standing 
 through his college course, and had and after- 
 wards retained the respect and regard of the 
 officers of the college, as well as of his class. 
 He was graduated at Yale College in Septem- 
 ber, 1823, at the early age of nineteen years. 
 
 For most of the following year he taught 
 school, first a " small but pleasant" school of 
 both sexes at Glastenbury, Connecticut, for 
 four months, and then for six months " a large 
 and wearisome" school at the Academy in his 
 native town. That the charge of this Acade- 
 my was entrusted to him by those who had 
 known him in his thoughtless, boyish days, 
 shows that his sterling qualities had not been 
 overlooked. He found no difficulty in these 
 early trials of his skill. 
 
 In the meantime he was reading works of 
 standard writers, with evident reference to the 
 
 profession which he had chosen. In the autumn 
 
 2* 
 
34 MEMORIAL. 
 
 of the next year, 1824, lie entered the Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. 
 Here he was very studious and diligent, and 
 labored with earnestness and success in the 
 several departments of sacred study. His 
 class was a fine one, and contained several who 
 had taken the highest honors of college. Un- 
 der the instruction of Woods, Stuart, and 
 Robinson, he laid broadly and deeply the 
 foundations of his professional education. In 
 the summer of his second year, he was obliged 
 by ill health to leave the Seminary for a short 
 time and to go home, but he soon returned. 
 We learn from one of his letters, that up to 
 this year he had never been confined by sick- 
 ness. In the winter he had some cold, but he 
 says that he " took some warm tea and put a 
 steam-engine to his feet" and was better. The 
 letters written by him while he was at Ando- 
 ver testify to his studious habits, and break 
 
MEMORIAL. 35 
 
 out at times into characteristic humor. Hav- 
 ing remained at the Theological Seminary for 
 the usual term of three years, he left that in- 
 stitution in the autumn of 1827. 
 
 In June of that year, while yet a student at 
 the Seminary, he was licensed to preach the 
 gospel, by the Hampden Association, an asso- 
 ciation of Congregational clergymen of the 
 County of Hampden, Massachusetts. 
 
 He went to New York in the autumn of 
 that year, and undertook an agency for the 
 American Bible Society. He is described by the 
 Secretary of the Society as at this time " young, 
 ardent, active, full of cheerful and at times 
 mirthful conversation, yet so blended with 
 frankness and good-nature, and all so obvious- 
 ly devoted to the interests of religion, as to 
 render him an agreeable companion and a 
 promising minister." He was first employed 
 in the State of New York in the counties of 
 
36 MEMORIAL. 
 
 Columbia, Kensellaer, and Albany. In the 
 spring of the following year he passed over 
 to Maine, and went through that State. Re- 
 turning he proceeded through the lower coun- 
 ties of the State of Connecticut, the State So- 
 ciety having just contracted its labors to the 
 four Northern counties. He continued in his 
 agency until the end of the summer of 1829. 
 In this service he formed in these three States 
 auxiliary societies, in direct connection with 
 the parent society, with branches in the towns, 
 connected with the county auxiliaries. This 
 was an important work, in this early and what 
 may perhaps be called transition period of 
 the national society, when it was extending 
 itself systematically over the older States. 
 He then went to New York, and took the 
 place, or discharged the duties of the Secretary 
 of the Society, during his absence, and pre- 
 pared, under the supervision of a committee, 
 
MEMOEIAL. 37 
 
 certain publications for the Society. One of 
 these was a pamphlet of about fifty pages, con- 
 taining an exact and detailed account of the 
 principles and operations of the American 
 Bible Society, and of the manner of organiz- 
 ing and conducting auxiliary and branch so- 
 cieties, with numerous precise and practical 
 suggestions. He was thus employed until the 
 spring of 1830. We have reason to believe* 
 that, in his connection with the American 
 Bible Society, he showed much executive abil- 
 ity, and we are assured that his whole course, 
 while he was connected with it, was such as 
 to create a cordial attachment, which lasted 
 through life, between him and its board and 
 officers. 
 
 He was next invited to supply the pulpit of 
 the Eev. Dr. Thomas H. Skinner in Philadel- 
 phia, during his absence, and spent the sum- 
 mer of the year last mentioned in the dis- 
 
38 ' MEMORIAL. 
 
 charge of this duty. In these various employ- 
 ments he had been gaining what he needed- 
 experience, maturity, and knowledge of man- 
 kind. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, he was in- 
 vited to the Presbyterian church of Fayette- 
 ville, in the State of South Carolina, and ac- 
 <iepted the invitation. Before entering upon 
 this new field of labor, he was ordained as a 
 Presbyterian minister, by the Presbytery of 
 New York, on the 24th day of November, 
 1830, at the church of which the Rev. Mr. 
 Carroll was pastor, in Brooklyn. The sermon 
 on this occasion was preached by the Rev. Dr. 
 Samuel H. Cos. Mr. Rowland immediately 
 entered upon his ministerial duties at Fayette- 
 ville, where he remained for about three years 
 and a half, preaching with acceptance and suc- 
 cess, and being greatly respected and beloved. 
 
MEMORIAL. 89 
 
 In May, 1831, the disastrous, fire occurred 
 which laid that whole city in ruins. This was 
 an event which called forth the whole activ- 
 ity and energy of Mr. Eowland's nature. In 
 the conflagration itself, he was among the 
 foremost and most intelligent in efforts to ar- 
 rest the fiery deluge, blowing up buildings 
 which lay in its path with his own hands. 
 By his letters to the New York Journal of 
 Commerce, and to the National Gazette, under 
 his own signature, he was the first to give to 
 the North tidings of this dire calamity. In 
 his letter, under date of May 29th, 1831, to 
 the editor of the latter newspaper, he gave the 
 following vivid and affecting picture of the 
 appalling devastation. 
 
 " Sir — Fayetteville is no more ! This morn- 
 ing the sun rose upon us in its beauty, and 
 with gladdened' hearts we flocked to the 
 churches of our God — now we are in ruins ! 
 
40 MEMORIAL. 
 
 But two stores of all that this place contained 
 are standing. The rest are entirely consumed. 
 Nothing but stacks of tottering chimneys re- 
 mains to tell what we once were. 
 
 " Except in the outskirts of the town, and 
 in those streets which are a little off from the 
 centre of our town, not a dwelling-house re- 
 mains. All the churches, with the exception 
 of the Methodist, which is distant from the 
 centre of the town, are destroyed. The 
 academy, the two splendid hotels, our printing- 
 offices, the two banks, the old state-house, 
 every apothecary's shop, and some of our mills, 
 are in ashes. 
 
 "The fire communicated (it is supposed) 
 from a chimney, precisely in the centre of the 
 town, and spread with inconceivable rapidity 
 through every street. It was just after the 
 congregation had been dismissed, about half- 
 past 12 o'clock, when the fire was first dis- 
 
MEMORIAL. 41 
 
 covered, and in less than one hour and a half, 
 our village was literally a "sea of flame." 
 The goods were consumed in the streets, the 
 engines were burnt at their stands. Some who 
 had property removed to a distance in ex- 
 pectation of safety, were disappointed ; too 
 soon the devouring element reached them. 
 The churches, though at a distance from each 
 other, were soon in flames. The tall steeple 
 of the Presbyterian church seemed a pyramid 
 of fire ; for a while it stood firm — soon the bell 
 descended with a crash — the steeple trembled, 
 tottered, and fell. The Episcopal church, 
 which apparently caught at the same time, was 
 soon in ashes. 
 
 " As I wandered through the outskirts of the 
 place to administer relief, so far as possible, to 
 the distressed, my heart sunk within me. The 
 sick were borne out of their houses, and were 
 lying on pallets in the street. Others, faint 
 
42 MEMORIAL. 
 
 and exhausted, were reclining on the beds 
 which had been thrown out. Every moment 
 our ears were stunned with the explosion of 
 powder, to demolish the buildings, which 
 might stay the flames. But although many 
 were thus levelled, there was not strength to 
 pull the timbers from the reach of the con- 
 flagration. 
 
 " It is impossible to paint the heart-rending 
 scenes which everywhere occurred. Parents 
 were inquiring for their children, and children 
 for their parents, and in every countenance 
 reigned despair. 
 
 " I have been round the fire in every direc- 
 tion, and the above statements are the result 
 of my own observation. From where I now 
 write I can perceive, for the extent of nearly 
 half a mile, the light which flashes up from 
 the smouldering ruins. A very small portion 
 of the property was insured. Most of the 
 
MEMORIAL. 43 
 
 people lost their all ! Our distress may be par- 
 tially imagined, but cannot be justly conceived 
 of. Much bodily inj ury was experienced, but, 
 so far as is at present known, no lives were 
 lost. What results may be ascertained when 
 our friends are collected, it is impossible to 
 say." 
 
 His letter to the New York Journal of 
 Commerce, written on the next day after the 
 fire, was still fuller and more affecting. Not 
 only three churches and the other public build- 
 ings already mentioned, but as nearly as could 
 be estimated, one hundred and five stores, 
 (being all but three in the town,) inde- 
 pendently of warehouses, dwelling-houses, and 
 out-houses of every description, and mills, 
 occupying an area of about half a square mile, 
 were burnt up, in all about six hundred build- 
 ings, being consumed. The pecuniary loss 
 was estimated at a million or a million and a 
 
44 MEMORIAL. 
 
 half of dollars. " We are crowded together in 
 the outskirts of the town," he says, " and many 
 last night slept in the open air. The suffer- 
 ings of our people must be immense; some of 
 our wealthy citizens are stript of all their 
 property, and have not where to lay their 
 heads. Not even their clothes were saved. 
 Though so far as can be ascertained, no lives 
 were lost; yet so exhausted and faint were 
 many that they threw themselves down upon 
 whatever chanced to be near them, and others 
 fell in the street and were obliged to be carried 
 home. "We learn that numbers are sick ; and 
 to complete our misfortunes, all our medicine 
 
 shops and medicine are destroyed It 
 
 is our hope, that by the blessing of Providence, 
 before the season for the fall business is over, 
 such provision may be made by our merchants 
 for the carrying on of business, that our lives 
 may be sustained, so that to the evils of beg- 
 
MEMORIAL. 45 
 
 gary may not be added those of starvation." 
 The whole country was roused to sympathy by 
 this sad event and these touching appeals. 
 Other accounts followed, or were published in 
 other quarters. Mr. Eowland was soon at the 
 North, by his conversation and addresses from 
 the pulpit, making a deep impression in regard 
 to this painful catastrophe ; and although his 
 appeals were directly for aid to rebuild his 
 own church, they necessarily led him to de- 
 scribe the whole scene and to tell the whole 
 moving story. Contributions flowed in from 
 all parts of the country. Prompt measures 
 were taken in Ealeigh and Wilmington to re- 
 lieve the necessities of the sufferers. The 
 merchants of Fayetteville were received with 
 the greatest kindness by the merchants of New 
 York, who notwithstanding their own severe 
 losses by the fire, contributed liberally to the 
 town, and assisted by the credit which they 
 
46 MEMORIAL. 
 
 extended to the merchants of that place, to re- 
 establish its business. The amount contrib- 
 uted to the relief of the town was not far from 
 a hundred thousand dollars, the larger portion 
 of which, we presume, was from the North. 
 The country, it must be remembered, was far 
 less rich then than it is now. Some idea may 
 be had of the difference by comparing the 
 revenue and expenditures of the General Gov- 
 ernment at that time with what they are at the 
 present time. We can hardly be mistaken in 
 attributing to Mr. Rowland a large part in the 
 result shown in this generous bounty. 
 
 Before a week from the day of the fire had 
 expired, by a vote of the session of the Pres- 
 byterian church, he was authorized and re- 
 quested to solicit funds for rebuilding the 
 church. They say with pathos : " Our world- 
 ly substance is gone; and we desire more 
 than ever to seek an enduring substance— a 
 
MEMORIAL. 47 
 
 heavenly inheritance. But alas, we have no 
 shelter but the "broad canopy of heaven, under 
 which to meet and render praise and homage 
 to the Most High." No part of the funds con- 
 tributed for the relief of the town could, 
 of course, be applied to that object, and 
 the necessity of aid was more urgent that 
 just before the fire a special and successful 
 effort had been made to free the church from 
 debt, so that the loss by the destruction of the 
 edifice was absolute. Mr. Eowland at once 
 came on to the North and visited Baltimore, 
 New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, to- 
 gether with different towns in New England 
 and its vicinity, and from the pulpit and by 
 personal solicitation, presented the case and 
 appeal of his church and congregation ; and as 
 every town where it was desirable to solicit aid 
 could not be reached in this way, he prepared 
 and sent to many churches a circular letter, 
 
48 MEMORIAL. 
 
 with the appropriate text prefixed: « Our holy 
 and our beautiful house where our fathers praised 
 thee, is burned up with fire ; and all our pleasant 
 things are laid waste." The appeal was suc- 
 cessful. Liberal contributions for this object 
 were made in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
 York, Brooklyn, Hartford, Springfield, Troy, 
 Boston, Newark, and many other places. The 
 amount raised by Mr. Rowland for rebuilding 
 the church was not less than from seven to 
 nine thousand dollars. The funds collected 
 were almost sufficient to rebuild both the 
 church, which had originally cost about twenty- 
 five thousand dollars, but of which the walls 
 had been left standing by the fire, and the ses- 
 sion-house, and on the 12th of August, 1831, 
 the former reconstructed, was joyfully dedi- 
 cated to the worship of Almighty God. Mr. 
 Rowland, in his discourse delivered on that 
 occasion and afterwards published, of which 
 
MEMORIAL. 49 
 
 the theme was " The real glory of a church," 
 from the text, " The glory of the latter house 
 shall be greater than the glory of the former, 
 saith the Lord of Hosts," pronounced the new 
 edifice to be a monument of Christian benevo- 
 lence, and a new evidence of God's goodness, 
 and rendered the thanks of a grateful people 
 to their benefactors. 
 
 Although it fills some space, we could not 
 resist giving this beautiful picture of sympathy 
 and gratitude. The misfortune was almost 
 unexampled, the liberality happily not so. 
 The instances of Fayetteville and Norfolk 
 show how the great heart of the nation really 
 beats, and how it pours its blood to repair the 
 wounded part, however diverse may be the 
 circumstances and convictions of duty in dif- 
 ferent parts of the country. 
 
 Mr. Eowland continued his labors at Fayette- 
 ville with great pleasure to himself, and as he 
 3 
 
50 MEMORIAL. 
 
 hoped not without profit to his people, and 
 with strong mutual affection between them 
 and himself, until the spring of 1834. Nothing 
 ever occurred to disturb their harmony. His 
 frankness and freedom and warmth of feeling 
 were congenial with the Southern character. 
 In 1833, through his efforts the Donaldson 
 Academy was established at that place. On 
 the fifteenth day of August of that } T ear he was 
 married, at the city of New York, to Harriet 
 Heyer, with whom he had become acquainted 
 during his visit there in eighteen hundred and 
 thirty-one. Her modesty will forbid me to 
 say more than that she is the daughter of the 
 late Isaac Heyer, a merchant of that city, and 
 was the beloved and faithful wife of the hus- 
 band whom she survives. Sorrow trod closely 
 on the heels of gladness. Only three days af- 
 ter his marriage his mother died at "Windsor, 
 and he reached his father's house just in season 
 
MEMORIAL. 51 
 
 to hear her last words, which were "my son," 
 as he bent over and told her that he had come. 
 
 Finding the doctrines of the Presbyterian 
 church much misunderstood and misrepresent- 
 ed, he preached and published this year a 
 sermon entitled "The elect saved by faith," 
 and in the following year he published "A 
 conversation on decrees and free-agency," in 
 the form of a familiar dialogue between James 
 and John, a plain and forcible exposition of 
 the doctrines of the Presbyterian confession 
 of faith on these topics. Both of these publi- 
 cations show much logical ability and discrimi- 
 nation for his age. 
 
 The North Carolina Presbyterian, a religious 
 newspaper printed at Fayetteville, thus speaks 
 of his ministry there : " Though twenty-five 
 years have elapsed since he left Fayetteville^ 
 his memory is tenderly cherished by many of 
 our citizens, and sincere sorrow is expressed 
 
52 MEMORIAL. 
 
 at his death. Here he began his regular min- 
 istry, and his early labors were greatly blessed 
 to the conversion of souls and the edification 
 of the church. It was during his pastorate 
 that the great fire of 1831 occurred, in which 
 the Presbyterian house of worship was reduced 
 to ashes. "We have learned that Mr. Kowland 
 had intended resigning his charge about that 
 time, but the calamitous event which deprived 
 his people of their sanctuary changed his pur- 
 pose, and he determined to remain and con- 
 tinue his labors until the church was rebuilt. 
 His ardor and enthusiastic energy were conta- 
 gious, and his congregation entered with zeal 
 upon the work of replacing the edifice. 
 Through his influence, large contributions 
 were obtained from abroad, and in a few 
 months the house was erected, which remains 
 to this day. 
 
 " Three years after the building was erected, 
 
MEMORIAL. 53 
 
 and chiefly through his agency, Mr. Eowland 
 resigned the charge and accepted the call of 
 the Pearl Street Church in New York. Truly 
 the Presbyterians of Fayetteville owe him a 
 heavy debt of gratitude, and not without rea- 
 son have we heard the frequent expressions 
 of unaffected grief from several of our older 
 citizens duriDg the past week in view of his 
 
 recent death 
 
 " There are few churches in the Union, and 
 in fact we cannot name one, which can point 
 with honest^pride to. such a succession of able, 
 faithful and godly ministers as the pastors of 
 the Fayetteville church. Kerr, Eobinson, 
 Flinn, the three Turners, Morrison, Snodgrass. 
 Hanmer, Kirkpatrick, Eowland, and Gilchrist 
 — this is the honored list whose names have 
 graced her annals, and to whose virtues she re- 
 fers with grateful affection." 
 
54 MEMORIAL. 
 
 While he was at Fayetteville, and during 
 the winter of 1833, he received two calls to 
 churches in the city of New York; one of 
 them was to be the colleague of the Rev. Dr. 
 Mathews, pastor of the South Dutch Church, 
 and the other to be the sole pastor of the Pearl 
 Street Church in that city. The former he 
 rejected, and the latter accepted. 
 
 He was installed as pastor of the Pearl 
 Street Church, April 17th, 1834. He labored 
 here with great diligence and fidelity for about 
 nine years. His life during that period was 
 that of a faithful pastor, and for the most part 
 unmarked with striking incidents. He was 
 punctual, conscientious, and systematic. His 
 sermons were clear and forcible, and generally 
 expository* and argumentative, and were of a 
 very uniform degree of excellence. He aimed 
 not to amuse his hearers, but thoroughly to 
 instruct them in the great principles of Chris- 
 
MEMORIAL. 55 
 
 tianitj, and to lead them to accept and obey 
 the truth. He dwelt a good deal on the 
 responsibility and sinfulness of man, on the 
 extent and perfection of the divine law, on the 
 nature of the moral government of God and of 
 his character, and on the necessity, sufficiency, 
 and amplitude of the provisions of the gospel, 
 while he did not omit to enforce constantly 
 the practical duties of life. He patiently 
 sought to remove difficulties by kindness, ex- 
 planation and argument, and not by denuncia- 
 tion ; and as by mixing freely with mankind 
 he saw that there was a great deal of unsus- 
 pected scepticism afloat in the current conver- 
 sation of worldly men, so that the truths of 
 the Bible glance off from many minds, because, 
 while the authority of the Bible is not expressly 
 denied, its truths, from a lurking, unexamin- 
 ing scepticism, are doubted, or not admitted to 
 be true, or perhaps wholly disbelieved, he en- 
 
56 MEMORIAL. 
 
 deavored in the later years of his ministry in 
 New York, by carefully tracing back to infidel 
 writers the sayings of such men, to expose 
 them in all their real deformity, 
 
 " For no falsehood can endure 
 Touch of celestial temper, but returns 
 Of force to its own likeness," 
 
 and bring them to the test of reason and good 
 sense. 
 
 His sermon-books, or records of sermons 
 preached, which were neatly and regularly 
 kept, show his great interest, an interest 
 always- felt, in the attendance of his con- 
 gregation at church, and here, as well as at 
 Honesdale and Newark,- contain notices from 
 Sabbath to Sabbath of such attendance and 
 of the state of the weather or other circum- 
 stances, and the earlier ones even occasionally 
 of the absence of prominent men. Sometimes 
 
MEMORIAL. 57 
 
 other memoranda were made in them, usually 
 of the briefest possible character. At the 
 close of 1837 this one occurs : 
 
 " In the beginning of the year 1837, a 
 protracted meeting was held every evening 
 for two weeks. It resulted in the hopeful 
 conversion of about fifteen or sixteen souls, 
 chiefly of the young. The Lord be praised ! 
 When I came to Pearl street church, there 
 were only four individuals who were heads of 
 families, who were unconverted, the building 
 old, dark, and tomb-like. Providentially, it 
 was burned in April [May], and we are 
 about erecting a better in its place. My min- 
 istry for three years and eight months up to 
 this time has been pleasant, and I hope not 
 without profit. Some left the church and 
 joined the new church, corner of Crosby street 
 and Grand. Some went to Duane street. 
 
 But their places have been supplied by others 
 3* 
 
58 MEMORIAL. 
 
 who came in, so that the church remains in 
 numbers about the same. Dec. 20, 1837." 
 
 The destruction of the old edifice, which 
 was by a fire caught from an adjacent build- 
 ing, Mr. Eowland did not regret, as will 
 appear by the following entry made at the 
 time : " May 2nd, Old Pearl street burnt at 
 five o'clock this morning, whereat we re- 
 joice." 
 
 He knew that the society would never 
 flourish within its uninviting walls. This 
 deprivation of a place of worship was, how- 
 ever, a new call for energy, and it was well 
 and cheerfully met. He had his people to 
 keep together as far as possible, under new 
 and difficult circumstances, and he had to 
 assume new responsibilities. His congrega- 
 tion were invited to meet in the Bowery 
 church, at the corner of the Bowery and 
 Walker street, about three quarters of a mile 
 
MEMORIAL. 50 
 
 distant from the site of the Pearl street church, 
 and the Bowery church having no pastor, 
 both congregations met together as one. He 
 ministered to the joint congregation from 
 June 4th, 1837, to October 7th, 1838, or for 
 about sixteen months, when the Bowery 
 church having been occupied by a new Con- 
 gregational church, his own congregation were 
 " doomed to wander for three Sabbaths," and 
 then met in the lecture-room in the basement 
 of the new' church. On the 14th of April, 
 1839, nearly two years after the old building 
 had been destroyed, the new edifice, a large 
 and commodious but neat and plain structure 
 of brick, was dedicated to divine worship. 
 The old building was insured at the time of 
 the fire, but the new one was unfortunately 
 left under a heavy debt. The locality, although 
 hardly a block east from Broadway, bordered 
 on the worst part of the city, and was particu- 
 
60 MEMORIAL. 
 
 larly unattractive, and it was almost under the 
 shadow of the spacious Broadway Tabernacle, 
 which threw its doors open freely to all. The 
 church, though virtually Presbyterian, was 
 nominally and perhaps legally an Associate Re- 
 formed church, in connection with the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian church, and its 
 name as an Associate Reformed church, which 
 could be only attractive to the members of 
 a small denomination, if, under the circum- 
 stances, to any, was conspicuously inscribed 
 on the new edifice. The prospect was not 
 very auspicious, therefore, for the external 
 prosperity of the church. But Mr. Rowland 
 met bravely, and with his usual good spirits 
 and generosity, all difficulties. At his settle- 
 ment, he received the bond of responsible 
 trustees, for his annual salary of two thousand 
 dollars, but having some other means for the 
 support of his family, he subscribed every 
 
MEMORIAL. 61 
 
 year largely towards the expenditures of the 
 society, and in one instance at least the 
 sum of five hundred dollars. Wherever he 
 was, he always endeavored by precept and 
 example to educate his people to liberality to 
 benevolent objects. Daring his residence in 
 New York, the centre of so many benevolent 
 operations, he took a warm and active interest 
 in such operations. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1841, the Broadway 
 Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, its pastor, 
 Dr. Joel Parker, having accepted the Presi- 
 dency of the Union Theological Seminary in 
 the city of New York, united with the Pearl 
 street church. Of that seminary, Mr. Eowland 
 was one of the original and earnest promoters. 
 
 In this year his heart was gladdened by the 
 union of about seventy with his church, thir- 
 ty-four on the profession of their faith and the 
 rest on letter or certificate from other churches. 
 
62 MEMORIAL. 
 
 Of these, thirty-five were admitted on a single 
 Sabbath in March, twenty-five of them on the 
 profession of their faith. His labors in other 
 years of his ministry in New York were not 
 unrewarded, but not to the same degree or as 
 he wished. We cannot enter into details. He 
 labored hard to induce those to become relig- 
 ious who were not so, and anxiously watched 
 each sign of awakened interest. He warned 
 and instructed with fidelity and constancy, re- 
 lying not upon arts or eloquence, but upon 
 God himself, to give efficacy to his truth, when 
 clearly expounded and faithfully taught. 
 
 He went everywhere and was familiarly ac- 
 quainted with all his congregation and their cir- 
 cumstances, and met the poorest with heartfelt 
 and unpretending sympath}-, and readiness for 
 their relief. His active habits continued to 
 him in vigor what clergymen are apt to lose, 
 health ; and in his annual visits to his native 
 
MEMORIAL. 63 
 
 place, or on two or three warm days of mid- 
 autumn, he would steal away with his rod and 
 line and a pleasant companion, to enjoy the 
 open air, the beautiful face of Nature, and to 
 take the finny prey. He regarded himself as 
 in this respect of true Apostolical descent, and 
 had a seal which he sometimes used, with ap- 
 propriate emblematic device and the words 
 " piscatores hominum" fishers of men. In 
 May, 1842, he notes that he was sick-a-bed, 
 the first time he believes he was ever pre- 
 vented from being in the pulpit by ill health. 
 
 The city could not make him artificial, or 
 otherwise than guileless, though 'it gave him 
 that knowledge of the world, which few cler- 
 gymen possess, and made it. not easy to deceive 
 him by shallow pretension. 
 
 His frank and good-humored manners, and 
 his steady, upright course, made him many 
 friends, and gave him a wide influence in the 
 
64 MEMORIAL. 
 
 city out of his own congregation. His breth- 
 ren in the ministry will tell what confidence 
 they had in him, and what respect and affection 
 for him. 
 
 For many years while he resided in New 
 York, he was the recording clerk of the Synod 
 of New York and New Jersey. He was strong- 
 ly opposed to the exscinding act, by which 
 four Synods were cut off from the Presbyte- 
 rian church, and by which the denomination 
 was cleft in twain ; and in the separation, which, 
 attended with much bitterness at the time, has 
 resulted perhaps in the unexpected growth and 
 prosperity of both branches of the church, he 
 adhered with his own church to what was 
 called the New School or Constitutional As- 
 sembly. 
 
 In November, 1835, about two years and a 
 half after his mother, his father died. But in 
 his own hospitable home, in pleasant inter- 
 
MEMORIAL. 65 
 
 course with two brothers residing in the city, 
 and with the family of his mother-in-law, 
 daughters of whom the Rev. Dr. John Forsyth 
 and the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Polhemus also 
 married, in the circles of friendship and in the 
 pursuit of the great objects of his calling, his 
 heart found room to expand and was gratified. 
 Pecuniary difficulties, however, continued to 
 press upon his congregation. The tide of pop- 
 ulation, which has now almost left bare of 
 church-going people the lower part of the city 
 and swept along with it nearly all the churches, 
 had begun to roll strongly up town. Under 
 the circumstances which were found to exist, 
 Mr. Rowland thought he might be more use- 
 ful elsewhere, and instead of contending with 
 those circumstances as he might, unexpectedly 
 called a meeting of the congregation, and on 
 the seventh day of January, 1843, laid before 
 them his resignation of the charge of Pearl street 
 
66 MEMORIAL. 
 
 church. The congregation by a lage vote ex- 
 pressed their confidence in him, their attachment 
 to him, their belief in the soundness of his doc- 
 trines, and their regret at parting with him, but 
 as he desired acquiesced in his determination. 
 
 He commenced his ministry in Honcsdale, 
 in the State of Pennsylvania, on the 7th of 
 May, 1843. 
 
 This is a fine village, or borough, in the 
 county of Wayne, in that State, then of per- 
 haps two or three thousand, now of five or 
 six thousand inhabitants, lying on the Lacka- 
 waxen, a branch of the Delaware river, not 
 far from the great coal region, and at the head 
 of the Delaware and Hudson canal. It is en- 
 circled and nearly enclosed by hills, and has a 
 thriving population of which a considerable 
 part, at least of the earlier inhabitants and 
 their descendants, is of New England origin. 
 
 This was the scene of Mr. Rowland's ardent 
 
MEMORIAL. 67 
 
 and earnest labors for more than twelve years 
 and a half. While he lived here, his principal 
 works were prepared for the press and pub- 
 lished. He spent here many happy days of 
 widening influence and usefulness. 
 
 After an absence for a short time at Phila- 
 delphia, in attendance on the General Assem- 
 bly, and its Committee ad interim, of which he 
 was clerk, he was installed as the pastor of the 
 Presbyterian church at Honesdale, on the 14th 
 of June, 1843. At the time of his settlement 
 the church was in a depressed and distracted 
 condition. But it had given him a unanimous 
 call, which he had deemed it as his duty to 
 accept, and under his bold and faithful minis- 
 try it became strong and flourishing. 
 
 While he was its pastor it was blessed with 
 three or four revivals of religion, during which, 
 some of his own children were hopefully con- 
 verted and brought into the church. One 
 
.MEMORIAL. 
 
 of these was in the winter of 1844. A series 
 of special meetings was held, commencing in 
 January of that year. Mr. Rowland's labors 
 during this winter were very arduous. Up to the 
 25th of February of that year he had preached 
 almost every day at Honesdale, or at Carbon- 
 dale, and Prompton. On the 3d of the follow- 
 ing March, thirty-seven were added to the 
 church at Honesdale, thirty -four of .them on 
 the profession of their faith. At the close of 
 the year he thus records the result. "A 
 blessed year, fifty admitted to the church, forty- 
 one on profession. God, I bless thee for the 
 fruit of my ministry the past year. Oh, may the 
 coming year be more abundant in the harvest of 
 souls, and thine shall be the glory." We do 
 not hesitate to let the perfume of these pious 
 breathings float over our pages, for we know 
 
 that Mr. Rowland was too honest and sincere 
 
 » 
 
 a man to express in these private memoranda 
 
MEMORIAL. 69 
 
 anything but what he felt. He was not accus- 
 tomed to speak of his own personal experi- 
 ence or feelings on the subject of religion. 
 
 In 1847 there was some special interest in 
 his congregation on that subject, and about 
 twenty were admitted to the church during 
 that year. He says of it : "A pleasant minis- 
 terial year, not unprofitable, I hope. Every- 
 thing quiet and peaceful." In the year 1848, 
 the church having become too small for his 
 congregation, a subscription of nearly three 
 thousand dollars was made to repair and en- 
 large it, and to pay off the debt. The edifice 
 in its increased dimensions was enclosed in the 
 autumn of this year, and " enlarged and beau- 
 tified," was opened in July of the following 
 year, and all the pews taken. But Mr. Eow- 
 land mourned over the want of the like spirit- 
 ual prosperity. During this year he had re- 
 peated applications from the Central Presbyte- 
 
70 ItBMORlAI* 
 
 rian church of Philadelphia for leave to give 
 him a call, but he declined 
 
 He began hia record of sermona for the fol- 
 lowing year with the invocation, "0 let thy 
 Holy Spirit descend upon us, Lord! God, 
 granl thy grace to thy ; thee, 
 
 that this year may I spiritual I 
 
 iiig.'' So it proved. Th< revival of 
 
 religion in the winter and spring. Thirty-four 
 joined the church during the year; twenty- 
 eight of them on the profession of their faith. 
 He calls it* " a blessed and peaceful y< 
 As lie records the progress of the revival 
 from time to time, his feelings of gratitude to 
 God break out in the simple and terse expres- 
 sion of praise to God. 
 
 There was also a revival of religion in his 
 congregation in the year 1853. We venture 
 to give some of his brief memoranda of it, not 
 so much because they contain anything new, 
 
MEMORIAL. 71 
 
 as because they are characteristic of the man 
 and bring the scene vividly before us. " Jan. 
 9. Yery full — a work of grace begun." " Jan. 
 
 16. Many at inquiry meeting, and P and 
 
 others rejoicing in hope." "Jan. 28. Full. 
 Lecture and inquiry meeting, Saturday even- 
 ing. 35 inquirers, many converts." "Jan. 
 31. Lecture-room full. The work of grace 
 advancing." "Feb. 11. As full as can be. 
 Over thirty are indulging hope. And the 
 work is advancing with power." "Feb. 18. 
 There are about fifty hoping — a blessed time." 
 " Feb. 25. Meetings every P. M. at 4, and 
 every evening at 7 — forty-five or more hoping. 
 Laus Deo." "March 6. Meetings at 4 \ P. M., 
 which have been held for two months, sus- 
 pended. . . . Between 50 and 60 hoping ; 
 several converted last week. Laus Deo." 
 "May 1. Yery full. A very pleasant com- 
 munion. 23 admitted — 20 on profession, 2 on 
 
72 MEMORIAL. 
 
 certificate." At the close of the year he sums 
 it up thus: "A blessed and peaceful year. 
 Forty-nine received to the church — thirty-nine 
 on profession of their faith." We intend to 
 give only salient points in this sketch, but we 
 think that it would be incomplete unless we 
 laid bare to some degree his inner life. 
 
 Mr. Rowland's style of preaching changed 
 somewhat while he was at Honesdale. His 
 discourses alwa} r s eminently appealed to the 
 reason, but the style of his sermons grew less 
 formal and more simple, bolder, more forcible 
 and impressive. It was not fastidious, and 
 sometimes perhaps in the haste of preparation 
 the minor graces of style were sacrificed to 
 energy of expression or the supposed aptness 
 of an illustration, but it was that of a man of 
 earnestness and reflection, who would instruct, 
 convince and persuade in regard to truths of 
 unspeakable importance. 
 
MEMORIAL. 73 
 
 He assumed at once at Honesdale a position 
 correspondent with the courage and decision 
 of his character, and his recognized ability. A 
 man of his decided opinions, who held them so 
 fearlessly and expressed them so freely, could 
 not be expected to live entirely without con- 
 flict. Whatever might be the hazard to him- 
 self, he was always determined to remove 
 everything which was an obstacle or which 
 appeared to him to be an obstacle to the great 
 object of his life. He usually considered this 
 duty as urgent, and the time and place of per- 
 forming it as the present. He did not there- 
 fore hesitate nor delay, but bravely met the 
 demand as it arose, with -the whole force of his 
 nature. 
 
 With all his great kindness of heart and his 
 conciliatory spirit, Mr. Eowland did not shrink 
 from controversy. His discourses were almost 
 uniformly on the great, leading truths of Chris- 
 
74 MEMORIAL. 
 
 tianity, and though expounding these truths, 
 and defending and enforcing them by vigorous 
 arguments drawn from reason and revelation 
 brought home to the heart and the life, were 
 rarely what would be commonly called con- 
 troversial. But while teaching and strenuous- 
 ly advocating the vital principles of his faith, 
 he was ever ready to defend, and lie did de- 
 fend, with ability and spirit, his standing and 
 rights as a minister of the gospel against what 
 he regarded as exclusive claims, the system of 
 doctrines and the polity of the Presbyterian 
 church, and his own freedom of thought and 
 action ; and he sought also to expose the 
 subtle forms of infidel error, which he thought 
 he saw gliding under the innocent flowers of 
 popular instruction. The deification of hu- 
 manity is indeed but a monstrous form of self- 
 idolatry. 
 
 A gentleman, -whom we are happy to call a 
 
MEMORIAL. 75 
 
 friend — one whose position and character give 
 weight to his opinions — thus speaks more 
 fully of the occasion to which we particularly 
 allude : " When Infidelity made its appearance 
 in Honesdale in the garb of a minister of 
 Christ, widely renowned for his genius, his 
 learning, his wit, and his eloquence, all who 
 knew and loved the Truth must have rejoiced 
 to see one so ready to meet the foe, and so 
 able to resist him. 
 
 " We refer here to the visit which Mr. Theo- 
 dore Parker made to Honesdale. He went 
 there ostensibly as a lecturer, but his lecture 
 was very adroitly filled even to repletion with 
 'Parkerism.' Whether Mr. Parker violated 
 the proprieties of the time and place, it is not 
 necessary for us to decide. It is enough to 
 know that he brought out some of his peculiar 
 views, and in a way well-fitted to captivate 
 those who were not ' grounded and settled in 
 
76 MEMORIAL. 
 
 the faith of the gospel.' Dr. Rowland deemed 
 this an occasion in which he was specially 
 called upon to ' stand up for Jesus,' and for his 
 gospel, and he accordingly preached, as we 
 have been assured, with marked ability and 
 success, a series of sermons, in which he show- 
 ed the real nature and influence of the princi- 
 ples which Mr. Parker has so boldly avowed." 
 
 Mr. Rowland's efforts were not confined to 
 the pulpit. He unfolded and vindicated his 
 opinions through the public prints and by 
 more formal publications. By these means 
 he made a strong impress of his character and 
 sentiments upon the community. 
 
 We could not omit this feature of his life 
 at Honesdale without failing to give a just 
 representation of the period of his ministry 
 there. "We intend, however, to take only a 
 single glance in that direction, and not to enter 
 upon the particular points in question, nor to 
 
MEMORIAL. 77 
 
 awaken any feelings springing out of any of 
 these controversies which may better sleep. 
 In the heat of discussion, useful as it often is, 
 and necessary as it may be to the cause of 
 truth, some things are almost always said on 
 both sides which might better have been un- 
 said. Mr. Eowland wielded a vigorous pen, 
 and entered with his whole heart into whatever 
 he undertook. 
 
 His liberality of feeling may be inferred 
 from his readiness to unite on equal terms 
 with members of other denominations in plans 
 for doing good, from clergymen of other de- 
 nominations being invited to preach for him 
 and preaching for him on his invitation, and 
 from the circumstance that for three months 
 in the year 1849 the pulpit of his church was 
 occupied alternately by himself and the pastor 
 of the Methodist church in Honesdale, while 
 the edifice of that church was being enlarged. 
 
78 MEMORIAL. 
 
 His personal charities not small, and often un- 
 known even to his own family at the time and 
 until after his death, were not confined to those 
 of his own denomination, but flowed freely 
 beyond it. 
 
 We may mention also as an evidence of 
 both the prosperity and the liberal spirit of the 
 society of which he was pastor, that in the 
 year 1852, besides its contributions to the 
 Bible Society, it contributed over one thousand 
 dollars to benevolent objects, of which three 
 hundred and twenty-five dollars were to Home 
 Missions, and three hundred dollars to Foreign 
 Missions ; and in the year 1854, similar, though, 
 somewhat larger sums, for Home and Foreign 
 Missions, besides tlie sums contributed for 
 other objects. 
 
 His labors and influence extended far be- 
 yond his own congregation. He preached not 
 only in his own church, but in numerous places 
 
MEMORIAL. 79 
 
 in the vicinity of Honesdale, often preaching 
 in his own church in the morning and evening 
 of the Sabbath, and in one of these neighboring 
 places in the afternoon. He advised, sustained 
 and encouraged the Home Missionary, employ- 
 ed by the Presbytery within its bounds. 
 When others fainted, he persevered; when 
 others were tired, he was not exhausted. His 
 hopeful, unflinching nature rose above dis- 
 couragements. Buoyant, good-humored and 
 active, in the fulness of health and energy, 
 with a warm sympathetic heart, always zealous 
 for the extension of the kingdom of Christ, he 
 made himself felt in all the surrounding region. 
 He was successful in building up ten or twelve 
 churches, besides his own, within the bounds 
 of his Presbytery ; we mean, by his efforts di- 
 rect and indirect, with the concurrence and 
 assistance of others. 
 
 An incident may be mentioned connected 
 
80 MEMORIAL. 
 
 with these labors, which indicates their effi- 
 ciency, and illustrates a trait of Mr. Eowland's 
 character. Although frank and open in 
 speech, decided in his opinions, and ener- 
 getic in conduct, Mr. Eowland was wise 
 and moderate in his course of action, a 
 safe adviser and efficient aid. He was once 
 informed by the Home Missionary, who 
 was accustomed to preach at different places 
 within the boundaries of the Presbytery, that 
 he was in trouble, that his ajDpointments were 
 interfered with ; that he had given notice of 
 an appointment to preach on Sabbath after- 
 noon at a particular time and place, and that 
 afterwards the Universalists had " put an ap- 
 pointment on the back of it" for the same 
 hour and place. He said that Mr. Eowland 
 must preach for him; that he was just the man 
 for the occasion. Mr. Eowland assented, and, 
 after preaching at some other place in the 
 
MEMORIAL. 81 
 
 morning, arrived at the designated spot at the 
 time of the afternoon service. He found the 
 Universalist clergyman in the pulpit, and an 
 audience of Universalists and others already 
 assembled. Proceeding to the pulpit, Mr. 
 Eowland said, that he believed the Presby- 
 terians had an appointment there that after- 
 noon. The Universalist clergyman said, No. 
 The Universalists held a meeting there. Mr. 
 Eowland replied, that the Presbyterians 
 certainly had such an appointment, but the 
 other persisting, quietly remarked : Then you 
 can preach, and I will sit down and listen to 
 you, and I will afterwards deliver my sermon. 
 He accordingly took his seat and heard the 
 Universalist clergyman's sermon ; then imme- 
 diately ascending into the pulpit, he announced 
 that a sermon had been appointed by the Pres- 
 byterians there for that afternoon, which he 
 
 would now deliver. He requested those who 
 4* 
 
82 MEMORIAL. 
 
 did not wish to remain during the delivery of 
 the sermon to retire at that time, that there 
 might bo no interruption. Two or three 
 only went out. 
 
 He then preached a discourse from the text : 
 "For our God is a consuming fire." He showed 
 that the punishment of the wicked was not 
 necessarily physical, though represented by 
 physical images, depicted the horrors of an 
 awakened and sleepless conscience, and showed 
 how the conscience itself might be the instru- 
 ment of unspeakable torture, and powerfully 
 urged the scriptural argument for the eternal 
 duration of the punishment of the obstinately 
 wicked. When the sermon was finished, he 
 closed the services. The Universalist clergy- 
 man, who had returned Mr. Rowland's courtesy 
 by remaining while he preached, offered him 
 his hand with apparent agitation, and said 
 that that sermon must have been prepared for 
 
MEMORIAL. 83 
 
 the occasion. Mr. Eowland informed him 
 that it had been written some years before. 
 The audience retired, commenting on the two 
 discourses. Mr. Eowland's made so deep an 
 impression as to annihilate Universalism or 
 its influence in the place, and the Home Mis- 
 sionary had no further trouble in that quarter. 
 • Mr. Eowland's solidity of judgment, and 
 his capacity for business and knowledge of the 
 modes of doing it, as well as his energy, 
 activity, decision, determination and steady 
 perseverance made his services valuable in all 
 enterprises of this nature. His uprightness 
 and fairness, his pleasant and amusing conversa- 
 tion, must have often disarmed prejudice and 
 opposition, while his clear and forcible argu- 
 ments produced conviction. 
 
 Honesdale was the scene, not only of the 
 active, but most of the literary labors of Mr. 
 Eowland. In 1850 he published an octavo 
 
8± MEMORIAL. 
 
 volume of about three hundred pages, " On 
 the common maxims of Infidelity." The title 
 is not an attractive one, but the work itself is 
 of much merit, and has been highly approved 
 by competent judges. The late Dr. Leonard 
 Woods of Andover said of it: " There is no 
 work, so far as I know, which is written on a 
 similar plan, or which does so briefly and effec- 
 tually undermine and demolish the super- 
 structure of modern infidelity. The author 
 deserves the thanks of the public for the 
 labor he has bestowed on so difficult a subject, 
 and for writing a book containing in three hun- 
 dred pages so much pertinent thought, and so 
 much conclusive argument, which is all the 
 better for being so condensed." The contents of 
 the book had been the subject of meditation and 
 stud}- to Mr. Rowland for many years. It dis- 
 cusses the common maxims of worldly men, 
 lays bare their infidel character, and refutes 
 
MEMORIAL. 85 
 
 them with much practical sense and vigor of 
 argument. 
 
 In 1851 he published that well-known little 
 work, a duodecimo volume of one hundred 
 and eighty pages, bearing the title of " The 
 Path of Life." It grew out of his own pastoral 
 experience, and was especially intended to lead 
 awakened souls, inquiring after truth, to the 
 Saviour and into the path of Life. Its great 
 simplicity, its earnest, friendly expostulations, 
 its weighty and appropriate truths, its direct, 
 plain and scriptural reasonings, and its practical 
 wisdom and good sense, have given it wide 
 circulation and great usefulness. A second 
 and revised edition of this little volume, with 
 some illustrative facts from his own experience 
 as a pastor, was soon published. Mr. Eowland, 
 with great candor and good-humor, and a 
 remarkable freedom from sensitiveness and 
 pride, sought and accepted the aid of friendly 
 
86 MEMORIAL. 
 
 criticism in respect to his books, both before 
 and after they passed through the press. In- 
 telligence has been constantly coming from 
 every quarter of the country, of the useful- 
 ness of this volume, and of the blessing of 
 God that has attended the perusal of its pages. 
 The opening chapter, " A Call to the Wanderer," 
 is one of the most impressive and striking 
 appeals in the language. 
 
 In 1851 he published another small duo- 
 decimo work, with the rather quaint title of 
 " Light in a Dark Alley." It is designed to 
 remove special difficulties on the subject of 
 religion, and the argument is conducted with 
 much simplicity and force. 
 
 In 1854 he published a larger work, entitled 
 " The Way of Peace." It contains instructions 
 for the Christian course, and is a plain, sensible 
 and judicious treatise on the Christian life and 
 duties. " The Path of Life" leads the sinner 
 
MEMORIAL. 87 
 
 to the Saviour ; " The Way of Peace" conducts 
 the Christian to heaven. 
 
 Many letters were received by Dr. Eowland, 
 from different parts of the country, which bore 
 testimony to the good these works had done 
 and were doing. While he was lying on the 
 bed of death at Boston, his heart was glad- 
 dened by the intelligence sent to him from 
 central New York, of the happy influence 
 exerted by the " Path of Life" upon one of 
 the Presbyterian churches of that region. A 
 gentleman who resided in Wilmington, in the 
 state of Delaware, wrote to him : 
 
 "I have just finished the perusal of the 
 Way of Peace, and I wish I could convey in 
 language the emotions of gratitude I feel to- 
 wards you for writing such a book. I have 
 been a member of the Presbyterian church 
 four years, and while I can testify by a happy 
 experience that His service is a rich reward, 
 
88 MEMORIAL. 
 
 yet I often mourn on account of the clouds 
 and darkness that overshadow my way ; and, 
 indeed, I have had little of that peace of 
 which you speak. I really feel that your book 
 was written for mc, and in reading it have 
 often asked myself the question — ' How could 
 he know my heart so well '!' J pray that I may 
 be led to act upon the truth so ight, 
 
 and would fondly hope that those who, like 
 myself, are halting in the way, seeking, desir- 
 ing to know more, yet enjoying little, could 
 meet with your directions, and be led by the 
 Spirit of all grace into that perfect way." 
 
 Another gentleman wrote to him from Bos- 
 ton: — " Most happily, a few days since I met a 
 little work, written by you, called Light in a 
 Dark Alley. This little volume has, of a 
 truth, closely met my state, aDd touched me 
 very nearly ; and I cannot but desire to ex- 
 press to you my grateful sense and appreciation 
 
MEMORIAL. 89 
 
 of its work. In my youth. I was brought up 
 under the doctrines of ' the Trinity.' But in 
 after years I passed from them, to repose 
 under the intellectual glare of Unitarianism. 
 Here, with my heart, conscience, and spiritual 
 life pushed aside, thinking that in the dis- 
 charge of moral duties I was performing all 
 duties, I lulled myself into a perfect security, 
 from which at last I was startled. Unitarianism 
 starved me; and although I heard its most 
 eloquent teachers, yet daily I found my spirit- 
 ual life shrivelling up within me ; for though 
 hungry for bread, they gave me only stones. At 
 a more mature period of my life, I felt that my 
 salvation depended on my escape from these 
 deadening doctrines. With my wife I attached 
 myself to the "New Church," or Swedenbor- 
 gian society in this city (Boston). They spoke 
 to me of the ' Divinity of Christ,' — 'that He was 
 the 'Lord in Divine Humanity,' — that true 
 
90 MEMORIAL. 
 
 life depended on 'Loving our neighbor as 
 ourselves,' and 'Putting away Evils as Sins.' 
 I gathered all books bearing on their doctrines 
 which were obtainable, and for some three years 
 
 have been a serious, and I humbly trust, an 
 improved reader. But the : New Church' is 
 dead, and therefore its teachings cannot infuse 
 
 life. When the Saviour was on earth, lie 
 taught men to do something; if to be healed, 
 they were to ' stretch out their hand,' — to ' go 
 wash.' The Unitarians fed my intellect, but 
 hungered my soul. The Swedenborgians fill 
 me to repletion with doctrines, but give me no 
 guidance to life ; they do not give what my 
 spirit restlessly cries for. As I before said, 
 your little book touched we very nearly ; so 
 that it warmed my heart, and of a truth Light 
 streamed into a Dark Alley.*' Both of these 
 writers were strangers to Dr. Rowland, and 
 evidently wrote from the fulness of their 
 
MEMORIAL. 91 
 
 hearts, and from a deep sense of the benefits 
 which they had received from the perusal of 
 these works. 
 
 Besides these works, he published a small 
 tract on Christian baptism, and several ser- 
 mons in pamphlet form,* in addition to those 
 
 * Only two of Mr. Rowland's sermons were published, 
 we believe, while he resided in New York, — one delivered in 
 1840, on the anniversary of our national independence, and 
 another, a funeral sermon on the death of Rev. David R. 
 Downer, 1841. While he was at Honesdale, sermons by 
 him on the following subjects were published, in pamphlet 
 form: "The distinctive Features of Presbyterianism as ex- 
 hibited in the Confession of Faith," in 1844 ; " The Char- 
 acteristics of a Pious Woman's Heart : a sermon preached 
 at the dedication of the lecture-room of the Presbyterian 
 church, Honesdale, Pa.," in 1848 ; "The Murderer and his 
 Fate" in the same year ; " Christian Liberty, or the elements 
 of civil and religious liberty, growing out of the doctrine of 
 justification by faith in contrast with civil and religious des- 
 potism, originating in the high pretensions of prelacy," in 
 1850 ; "The True Principle of Christian Unity" in the same 
 year. ' ' The Excellency of our Christian Polity, a discourse 
 delivered before the Synod of New York and New Jersey, in 
 Bloomfield, New Jersey," and published by direction of the 
 Synod, in 1851. In 1854 he also published an essay which 
 
92 MEMORIAL. 
 
 published in the newspapers. Be wrote also 
 frequently for the public prims. He m 
 opinion that I 
 powerful an Instrument of influence an 
 
 doing good to i • 
 
 means of it to enlarge the circle of I 
 and to Bpread around him an atmosphere 
 
 genial with his own feelings and opin 
 
 None of these labors quelled his spirits or 
 diminished the frankness and cheei 
 his disposition. His success rather inspirited 
 and emboldened him. Study never made him 
 less companionable. The country around 
 Honesdale was tempting for his favorite sport, 
 and for relief he would occasionally wa 
 with his hook ami fly through "the valleys 
 
 originally appeared in tin i :i " The Church and 
 
 Slavery, or the relations of the churches to slavery under the 
 Constitution ; considered in reference to the constitutionality 
 of the action of the General Assembly at Buffalo, A. D. 
 1853." 
 
MEMORIAL. 93 
 
 that run among the hills," along the mountain 
 stream, or the ponds that gather the crystal 
 bounty of heaven to reflect its image. He 
 entered with enthusiasm into the amusement, 
 and counted up his prizes on a good day with 
 true fisherman's pride. 
 
 We wish that we could give a correct im- 
 pression of this eventful period of his life. 
 The following extract will show how the gene- 
 ral aspect of things around him, struck a 
 gentleman of the same profession and of high 
 standing in it. "At one time, when I was at 
 Honesdale, I visited him at his residence, and 
 could not but admire the many marks of his ac- 
 tivity and usefulness, both in his congregation, 
 and among the people generally. He seemed 
 to be acquainted with every body, rich and poor, 
 old and young, on terms of cordial friendship 
 with all, and ready to promote their best 
 interests in every way." His favorite horse 
 
94 MEMORIAL, 
 
 Kate, when not in use by himself, stood all 
 day at the door ready for service. During his 
 residence at Honesd lef of 
 
 thewholefa.mil] After trying 
 
 in vain the usual methods, he took a novel »>ne 
 to recover her. Ee wrote under bis own 
 nature to the editor of on 
 
 spapers a humorous Letter, 
 count of his Loss, and an amusing and - 
 
 iption of Kate, and her qualities and 
 habits. The letter was republished, and circu- 
 lated far and wide in the public prints, and 
 gave its author a new celebrity. 
 
 This humorous letter was the means of re- 
 covering the cherished companion of his labors. 
 It met the eye of the purchaser, livii 
 distant place in New Jersey, who recog: 
 the stolen animal in his own barn from the 
 graphic and amusing description given of her. 
 He wrote to Mr. Rowland, and Kate soon re- 
 
MEMORIAL. , 95 
 
 turned, to resume her round of ministerial 
 duty. 
 
 In July, 1854, he received a unanimous call 
 to the Green Hill Presbyterian Church in 
 Philadelphia, and he soon after declined it. 
 In the same year Union College conferred on 
 him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. On the 
 twenty-first of October, 1855, at the close of 
 the session of the Synod of New York and 
 New Jersey, which met at the city of New 
 York, he preached at Park Church, Newark, 
 and on the second of November in that 
 year the society of that church voted unani- 
 mously to give him a call. This call he 
 thought it his duty to accept. His congrega- 
 tion in Honesdale by a unanimous vote re- 
 quested him to reconsider his determination. 
 But further reflection not changing his pur- 
 pose, he closed his ministry at Honesdale on 
 the sixteenth of December, 1855. With strong 
 
96 MEMORIAL. 
 
 expressions on the part of his church of un- 
 feigned gratitude to God for the experience of 
 the last twelve years and of undiminished con- 
 fidence in him, and with many tokens of 
 affection and regard to himself and family, he 
 says, " in the fear and blessing of God we left " 
 Honesdale. 
 
 "VYe now approach the scene of his last la- 
 bors. The thought saddens us, and we must 
 be brief. He was strongly attached to the 
 place and the people of Honesdale, and remain- 
 ed so during his life. He revisited that place 
 with great pleasure. Thus in the summer of 
 1857 he notes that with some members of his 
 family he 'had spent three Sabbaths there, 
 " days long to be remembered." His attach- 
 ment was warmly returned by his people, and 
 when the call to Xewark was taken by him 
 into serious and favorable consideration, his 
 heart was +' oppressed " with the thought of 
 
MEMORIAL. 97 
 
 leaving those whom he loved. And when, as. 
 the danger of his doing so became known, 
 solicitations and expressions of affection poured 
 in upon him from his congregation, it was al- 
 most too much for a man of his warm heart to 
 resist. But the deep sense of duty sustained 
 him in the struggle, and finally triumphed. 
 "I see," he said, " what I think is a field ap- 
 propriate for me, and where I may be useful." 
 Dr. Eowland began his regular labors at 
 Park Church, -Newark, on the twenty-third 
 day of December, 1855, and was installed as 
 the minister of that church on the twenty -third 
 day of January, 1856. His ministry of more 
 than three years and a half at that place was 
 not marked by striking events, but we believe 
 that all who know the facts and are competent 
 to judge of them, think that he did a great work 
 there. At the time of his settlement the church 
 
 was small, and before his call its elements, 
 5 
 
9£ MEMORIAL. 
 
 happily united in himself and harmonized by 
 his judicious course of action, had been dis- 
 united, and to some extent in conflict. The 
 society itself was "laboring under difficulties 
 which, unless speedily remedied, threatened 
 as some thought to issue in serious embarrass- 
 ments. But Dr. Rowland saw here an impor- 
 tant point to be maintained, and a church to be 
 built up. The aspect of things would have 
 appeared discouraging to one of less resolute 
 spirit than himself, or less assured by expe- 
 rience of his own powers and resources, or less 
 confiding in the efficacy of the divine word, 
 accompanied by the influences of the divine 
 Spirit. He sought not repose, he pleaded not 
 weariness from past labors, he despised inac- 
 tion. He held himself " at the service of the 
 church," and like a good and tried soldier con- 
 sidered the place where the heaviest blows 
 were needed as appropriate for him. 
 
MEMORIAL. 99 
 
 At Honesdale he was pleasantly situated, 
 and lie had a wide and commanding influence. 
 But in the successive revivals there a large 
 part of the youth and other members of his 
 congregation had been brought into the church ; 
 and in a new and untried field he hoped that 
 he might do more good in his Master's service 
 than he could in one which he had already 
 reaped. 
 
 We are indebted to a member of his church 
 at Newark for the following account of his 
 ministerial labors while he was pastor of that 
 church : 
 
 "When Dr. Eowland came to Park Church, 
 Newark, the congregation was small, and the 
 general condition of the church such as to 
 create distrust and doubt rather than the cer- 
 tainty of success. There was much to dis- 
 courage any one who was not fully prepared 
 to meet difficulties. At the same time the 
 
100 MEMORIAL. 
 
 point was an important one, and the location 
 and the increasing demand for accommodation 
 in the Presbyterian churches in Newark pre- 
 sented inducements to one who was willing to 
 make the sacrifice necessary to place the 
 church in a firm and substantial position. 
 
 "Dr. Rowland had received a unanimous 
 call. The point of duty had been fully set- 
 tled by him, the importance of the work to 
 be accomplished being the main reason of his 
 accepting the call. He possessed all the fire 
 and energy of youth, with the experience of 
 age, and a trustful reliance upon the great 
 Head of the church for that blessing, without 
 which human instrumentalities must fail. The 
 work to be performed was similar to that 
 attending a new enterprise; its elements re- 
 quired harmonizing and strengthening. He 
 turned his earnest efforts to this work ; infused 
 his own spirit into those with whom he came 
 
MEMORIAL. 101 
 
 in contact, and new vigor was imparted to 
 every department of the church. The congre- 
 gation increased, and many members were 
 added to the church both by profession and by 
 certificate from other churches. 
 
 " He felt the need of a suitable place for the 
 ordinary weekly meetings, and as no lecture- 
 room had been provided, a room was procured 
 for this purpose, and plans devised to secure 
 the necessary funds for building a lecture- 
 room. The people responded to the call for 
 that object. The funds were raised and a neat 
 building erected adjoining the church. The 
 church was at the same time beautifully 
 frescoed. 
 
 " These evidences of progress and enterprise 
 were pleasing to Dr. Eowland ; but while he 
 valued these evidences of prosperity and in- 
 creased facilities for usefulness, they seemed 
 only to increase his efforts and anxieties for 
 
102 MEMORIAL. 
 
 that higher and truer development in his 
 people of spiritual growth. He visited his 
 people, calling upon them at their homes and 
 at their places of business, and embracing 
 every opportunity to impress upon men the 
 one great and important duty of attending to 
 their spiritual interests. With him religion 
 was the one great duty of daily life, and as 
 properly introduced into the workshop or 
 counting-room as into the parlor or the pulpit. 
 He clothed religion in no austere or formal 
 garb, but made it rather the one great source 
 of joy and cheerful hope. 
 
 "As an admirer of the mechanic arts he 
 visited the factories, taking the opportunity to 
 turn the attention of men to their spiritual 
 welfare. Few men possess the power which 
 he exhibited of gaining the confidence of 
 others. Many who formed their acquaintance 
 with him in the workshops were drawn to hear 
 
MEMOEIAL. 103 
 
 him preach. Some, who had not attended 
 divine service for years, were induced to attend 
 it regularly with their families. He not only 
 became acquainted with the people himself, 
 but he used every means to bring them to- 
 gether socially that they might become ac- 
 quainted with each other, removing the dis- 
 tance which so often exists among the members 
 of our churches, and establishing those strong 
 bonds of union and friendship which give 
 power and vigor to a people. 
 
 " While he attended with care to these duties, 
 he did not neglect his preparation for the pul- 
 pit. He aimed not at the gilding or trappings 
 of oratory. It was not the ear, but the un- 
 derstanding and heart of his hearers that he 
 wished to reach, and the seed sown by his hand 
 was blessed to the conversion of men. A 
 large number of members was added to the 
 church, by profession of faith and by certificate, 
 
104 MEMORIAL. 
 
 during his ministry of little more than three 
 years. 
 
 " Lie attached great importance to the Sab- 
 bath-school, believing it to be the main source 
 
 of strength to the church — that here 
 foundation was laid — that here the church 
 to look for its growth, and that this institution 
 should receive the earnest support of the pas- 
 tor. No teacher was more regular in attend- 
 ance upon the Sabbath -school than he, except 
 when he was supplying some pulpit beside his 
 own, or was called away by pastoral du1 
 For teachers and for scholars he had some kind 
 word of encouragement, and the attachments 
 here formed for him by the children of his 
 charge, caused tears and sorrow for his loss. 
 The school increased rapidly, and in two years 
 it had more than quadrupled in numbers. In 
 the midst of his labors, when the hearts of his 
 people were fixed upon him, when evidences 
 
MEMORIAL. 105 
 
 of his usefulness were seen on every hand, he 
 has been stricken down by disease, and death 
 has severed the bond of union between him 
 and his people. Long will his name and 
 memory be cherished." 
 
 Few particulars need to be added. His 
 labors were unwearied, and, what at the time 
 was wholly unsuspected, beyond his strength. 
 He was present with an active and inspiring 
 interest in every movement connected with the 
 prosperity of his church and society. He 
 preached almost uniformly twice on the Sab- 
 bath, rarely exchanged, and had little aid in 
 the pulpit. He liked to preach. If it was a 
 toil, it was yet a pleasure to him to unfold the 
 truths of the Bible, and recommend them to 
 the reason, the conscience, and the hearts of 
 intelligent hearers. Here, as well as at Hones- 
 dale, without descending from the high ground 
 
 of a spiritual religion, he readily seized upon 
 5* 
 
106 MEMORIAL. 
 
 local or parsing topics and turned them to a 
 religious use. Be not only preached in the 
 morning and evening of the Sabbath, 
 the Sabbath-eohool regularly on the Sabbath 
 
 afternoon, and the weekly lecture and pn 
 meetings, but even i' choir, 
 
 and took ft constant and effective interest, in 
 
 which zeal was happily mingled with candor 
 and good-humor, in the temporal as well as 
 spiritual affairs of the society. 
 
 A great and permanent change ensued, 
 and a steady growth of both the church and 
 congregation. In the first year of his minis- 
 try, or 1856, thirty-five members were ■ 
 to the church, and before the close of the third 
 year, a large number of new members had joined 
 it, composed of nearly equal numbers received 
 on letter or certificate from other churches, and 
 on the profession of their faith. In the second 
 year of his ministry the congregation, the 
 
MEMORIAL. 107 
 
 growth of which, was in a still greater proportion 
 than that of the church, had become sufficiently 
 strong and united to build a conference house or 
 lecture-room, and to repair and fresco their fine 
 large church, as already stated, at an expense of 
 several thousand dollars. It was pleasant and 
 almost amusing to see the daily, earnest interest 
 with which he watched the progress of the im- 
 provement of the church, and urged it towards 
 completion. 
 
 At the close of that year he notes in his 
 sermon-book, that he stops a course of sermons, 
 which he had been preaching, " to introduce 
 more practical and experimental preaching in 
 consequence of a general seriousness," and then, 
 after mentioning these marks of outward pros- 
 perity", that " the church has been painted, a 
 lecture-room built, and the congregation greatly 
 increased during the last year," he glances up- 
 
10 S MEMOBrAL. 
 
 ward and drops the ejaculation, " Come, Holy 
 
 Spirit, Heavenly Dove." 
 
 We cannot doubt that this petition arose 
 
 from the depths of a softened and longing 
 
 heart, more solemn from recent afflictions, and 
 
 that a record of it was made in heaven as well 
 
 as on earth. 
 
 In the following year there was a great and 
 
 general attention to the subject of religion in 
 his congregation, as there was in a very large 
 number of the churches throughout the coun- 
 try. This was to Dr. Eowland an arduous, 
 and to him and many of those under his charge, 
 a memorable year. On the fourteenth of March, 
 1858, twenty-nine were admitted to the church, 
 twenty-two of them on the profession of their 
 faith; on the second of May, thirteen were 
 admitted, twelve of them on the profession of 
 their faith, and during that year in all fifty-five, 
 eleven of them on certificate from other church- 
 
MEMORIAL. 109 
 
 es, and forty-four on the profession of their faith. 
 These details may not be necessary, but they 
 verify and enforce the general statements which 
 have been made. If to win souls be the prime 
 object of the Christian ministry, it can hardly 
 be inappropriate in a memorial of a minister of 
 the gospel that the issue of his labors in that 
 respect should be recorded. 
 
 Near the close of the previous year an event 
 occurred which made a deep impression on the 
 mind of Dr. Eowlancl. This was the death of 
 his brother-in-law, the Eev. Abraham Polhe- 
 mus, D. D., pastor of the North Dutch Church 
 in Newark, " who," to use Dr. Eowland's terse 
 language, "died 28th October, 1857, at Dr. 
 Forsyth's, Newburgh, in triumph." Taken 
 away as he was in the fulness of vigorous 
 manhood, when long years of earthly happi- 
 ness and usefulness appeared to be in store for 
 him, when he had but lately entered upon hij3 
 
110 MEMORIAL. 
 
 duties as pastor of a neighboring church, and 
 had come to reside at Newark, his death spoke 
 powerfully to Dr. Bowland's heart. He seemed 
 to have a new sense of the vanity of life and 
 of the trivial nature of its ordinary pursuits, 
 and to him who pens these lines then pre- 
 dicted that his own wife would be a widow, as 
 if he already felt the solemn shadow of that 
 coming and near event. 
 
 But his energy and capacity for labor, and 
 cheerful alacrity in the performance of duty 
 still continued. And he was cheered and 
 gladdened by seeing the abundant fruits of his 
 labors, and by the proofs of attachment re- 
 ceived from the members of his congregation 
 by himself and his family. A pleasing evi- 
 dence of this attachment was given in the 
 year previous to his death. Sunday, the loth 
 of August in that year, was the anniversary of 
 his marriage. On the following evening his 
 
MEMORIAL. Ill 
 
 congregation met in a surprise-party at his 
 house, and celebrated with himself and his 
 wife their silver wedding. An address was 
 made to Dr. Rowland, to which he replied, a 
 purse of five hundred and fifty dollars was 
 presented to him, and an appropriate original 
 poem, written for the occasion, was read. An 
 entertainment was also provided, and a scene of 
 enjoyment displayed, not soon to be forgotten. 
 The assurance given by this manifestation of 
 affectionate regard, was particularly grateful to 
 Dr. Rowland's heart and memory. The occa- 
 sion was indeed one in itself to inspire unusu- 
 al pleasure and gratitude. Since he had been 
 married, years had rolled away, children had 
 gathered around his table and hearth to add 
 to his happiness, and of the silver-chain 
 which was how clasped, not a link had ever 
 been broken. The dear family circle, of which 
 himself and his wife were the beloved centre, 
 
112 MEMORIAL. 
 
 had never been invaded by death, hardly by 
 sickness, and he had had large experience, as 
 those familiar with his well regulated home well 
 know, of the sacred joys of domestic life. 
 
 We think that we should not give a just 
 idea of the services of Dr. Rowland, if we 
 represented them as confined to his own par- 
 ticular congregation or to the community in 
 which he lived, or even in addition to the val- 
 uable contributions made by him to our relig- 
 ious literature. His church was an integral 
 part of a wide-spread and powerful denomina- 
 tion, in whose councils and affairs and among 
 whose ministers and members we believe he 
 had no insignificant weight and influence. He 
 was often a member of the General Assembly 
 of the Presbyterian church, and in May, 1858, 
 at the meeting of that body at Chicago, he was 
 the chairman of its judiciary committee, — a 
 fact which shows his high standing among 
 
MEMORIAL. 113 
 
 his brethren, and the confidence which was 
 placed in his ability and judgment. He had 
 indeed made the constitution, discipline, sys- 
 tem of doctrine and general organization of 
 the Presbyterian church a subject of particular 
 attention and study, and he thought that he 
 understood them. If we may venture such an 
 opinion, his success in his pastoral relations 
 was promoted in no slight degree by his accu- 
 rate knowledge of the proper working of this 
 system, and its limitations of power and of 
 duty. In the Presbytery to which he be- 
 longed, he was distinguished, if we are not 
 misinformed, by the ardor of his zeal for the 
 extension of the privileges of the gospel and 
 the kingdom of Christ among men. That 
 seemed to be the burden of his heart. lie was 
 not only zealous, he was also practical and effi- 
 cient in both devising and executing; and in 
 
114 MEMORIAL. 
 
 carrying out the plans adopted, he took a de- 
 voted and active part. 
 
 During his short residence in the city of 
 Newark, he gained greatly upon the feelings 
 and affections of the community. As his 
 character became known and understood, it 
 was appreciated. His manliness and energy, 
 his plainness and directness, might be expected 
 to suit a, people so prominent for the successful 
 prosecution of the ingenious arts of mechan- 
 ical industry. He soon became widely known. 
 His social, genial spirit, his kindness of heart 
 even to the humblest and youngest — he had a 
 pleasant word for everybody, — his unhesitating 
 frankness and contagious good-humor, his in- 
 terest in all the affairs of life, all the forms of 
 industry and movements of society, his forget- 
 fulness of adventitious advantages and readi- 
 ness to meet all cordially on the common 
 ground of thought and feeling, his evident 
 
MEMORIAL. 115 
 
 simplicity and sincerity, won for him many 
 friends, and with, his uprightness, activity, con- 
 stancy, and earnestness of purpose, his solid in- 
 tellectual qualities and Christian worth made a 
 deep, wide and increasing impression. We 
 shall not attempt to notice all the directions in 
 which the rays of his influence were benignly 
 felt. Those upon whom they immediately fell, 
 and who rejoiced in their light, can best speak, 
 not only of their warmth and brightness, but 
 of the many ways in which they reached the 
 heart. 
 
 He preached sermons on special occasions, 
 and series of sermons on special topics to large 
 audiences. He wrote much for the Newark 
 newspapers. " He was fond of writing, and 
 few men handled the pen with more ease, 
 whether in the composition of a sermon or in 
 the lighter articles in which he described some 
 humorous story, or depicted — never in an un* 
 
116 MEMORIAL. 
 
 kindly spirit — some of the social foibles of the 
 da}^. His contributions to the Newark papers 
 of various kinds and on various topics, if col- 
 lected, would make a considerable volume." 
 Some of these contributions were on the moral 
 questions of the day, on which he held decided 
 though not extreme opinions, expressed with- 
 out hesitation or reserve. The pressure of his 
 engagements left him little leisure for the com- 
 position or publication of new books. But 
 amid his numerous occupations, he made con- 
 siderable progress in the preparation of a new 
 edition of one of his works, with special refer- 
 ence to the recent forms assumed by infidel- 
 ity in this country. If we are not mis- 
 taken he also projected a new work, shadowed 
 forth and to a considerable extent embodied in 
 a series of sermons delivered by him, on a sub- 
 ject deeply interesting to the Christian heart. 
 Death, however, that solemn event which so 
 
MEMORIAL. 117 
 
 frequently defeats the purposes and hopes of 
 man, however wisely formed or apparently 
 sure of fulfilment, prevented the realization of 
 his. 
 
 His constant and anxious labors, especially 
 to build up his church and. to fill and enlarge 
 his sphere of usefulness, began to make a visi- 
 ble impression on his excellent health and con- 
 stitution, whose powers of resistance may well 
 be supposed to have been already weakened 
 by a laborious and earnest life. In looking 
 back, his most intimate friends, at least the one 
 who had the best opportunity to know, think 
 that about two years before bis death his 
 health showed signs of faltering, though they 
 were not fully appreciated or much regarded 
 at the time. But in January, 1859, he had a 
 sudden attack of illness which for a week or 
 two prostrated him on his bed; and although 
 he was soon around and continued to preach 
 
1 18 MEMORIAL. 
 
 until the following May, he was never well 
 again. Months later and in the summer, Dr. 
 Kowland traced the sickness, which was after- 
 wards fatal to him, to this period or the one 
 immediately previous, but its hidden internal 
 causes were undoubtedly of a more remote and 
 then unsuspected date, and, after unseen prog- 
 ress, were only receiving in this sickness their 
 full development. As the winter closed and 
 the spring drew on in its promise and beauty, 
 which so strongly contrast with sickness and 
 decay, his friends became alarmed lest his vig- 
 orous constitution, which had so long enabled 
 a willing heart to do manful service for his 
 master, should give way. They hoped, and 
 there seemed to be reason, that his complaints 
 were merely dyspeptic, but the severe pain in 
 the region of his heart, his difficulty at times 
 of breathing, and his want of sleep, pointed to 
 something more serious. His friends urged 
 
MEMORIAL. 119 
 
 upon him that he must take some relaxation. 
 In the early part of May he accordingly went 
 to Newburgh, and spent about ten days or a 
 fortnight there, making then, or in a subse- 
 quent visit to the same place in June, "■ little 
 trips to West Point, Greenwood Lake, and 
 other places in the vicinity." He returned to 
 Newark so much better as he thought, that he 
 ventured to preach, and on the 29th day of 
 May, delivered his last sermon in his own pul- 
 pit. He preached in the morning of that day 
 from John xii. 46, and in the afternoon from 
 Mathew vii. 26, 27. But he found that he 
 had mistaken the degree of the improvement 
 in his health, and estimated much too highly 
 his strength. His congregation " with consid- 
 erate kindness" gave him a respite of four 
 months from his labors. He spent some time 
 with his old and valued friends at Honesdale, 
 and with one of them went to Saratoga, in the 
 
120 MEMORIAL. 
 
 hope, which proved delusive, of some benefit 
 from its mineral waters. There he was very 
 ill, and he was hardly able to reach his home. 
 Under an erroneous impression of the nature 
 of his disease, he had sought physical exercise 
 and excitement, when he needed rest. His 
 body had wasted away, and his nervous sys- 
 tem had become very much affected by the 
 fearful inroads of his disease. He sought his 
 bed at once. But he rallied soon again, and 
 in pursuance of an arrangement previously 
 made with some of his Honesdale friends, 
 which he could not be persuaded from fulfil- 
 ling, he started about the first of August, with 
 his wife and one of his daughters, on a trip to 
 Gloucester, Massachusetts, for the benefit of 
 sea-air and sea-bathing, and the enjoyment of 
 his favorite sport of fishing. On board of the 
 steamer on his way to Fall River, he became 
 seriously ill, and reached Boston only "to lie 
 
MEMOKIAL. 121 
 
 down on what proved his bed of death." An 
 abler pen than ours, of one who was sum- 
 moned to his side, shall describe the closing 
 scene of his last sickness. 
 
 "Dr. Eowland reached Boston with dif- 
 ficulty, and was obliged immediately to be- 
 take himself to his bed, and to send for Dr. 
 Jeffries. In his skill as a physician lie felt 
 and testified the utmost confidence, while his 
 kind Christian sympathy and conversation 
 were refreshing to his soul. Though his pros- 
 tration was extreme, and his nervous derange- 
 ment so great as to prevent his sleeping during 
 the night or day, Dr. Jeffries did not for some 
 time consider that there was serious danger of 
 a fatal termination. ' I am more afraid of his 
 mind than of his life,' said he on one occasion, 
 to a relative who had gone to Boston to visit 
 Dr. Eowland. The medicines that he seemed 
 especially to need, were rest and sleep. Hence 
 
122 MKMOKIAL. 
 
 for several weeks none were admitted to his 
 room except those who were in attendance 
 upon him, as the unexpected presence even of 
 an old friend agitated him exceedingly. As 
 the extreme nervous excitability was, on one 
 or two occasions in the course of his illness, 
 somewhat allayed, hopes were entertained of 
 his ultimate recovery. But his constantly 
 wasting strength plainly enough showed that 
 his days were drawing to a close. 
 
 " His friend and classmate at Yale and Ando- 
 ver, the Rev. Dr. Blagden, of the Old South, 
 visited him daily and prayed at his bedside, 
 but the nature of his disease, as well as the in- 
 junctions of his physician, did not allow of 
 lengthened conversation with him. From an 
 early period, Dr. Eowland himself seems to 
 have been strongly impressed with the convic- 
 tion that this sickness would be unto death, 
 but the prospect did not dismay him; he 
 
MEMORIAL. 123 
 
 trusted in the Lord, and according to the 
 promise he was ' kept in perfect peace.' There 
 were, indeed, moments when the thought that 
 his recovery was possible occurred to him, and 
 he then said that he should like to get well 
 that he might labor for Christ, as he felt that 
 he might be more useful than he had ever 
 been — that he had been brought to make a 
 more complete surrender of himself to the 
 Lord than ever before ; still if the Saviour had 
 nothing more for him to do, he was ready to 
 go. His wife and his sister were constantly 
 with him by night and by day, and the latter 
 writes, 'Through his entire sickness I never 
 heard him express a doubt of his own accept- 
 ance, but all his expressions were those of 
 faith, trust, and entire submission to the will 
 of God.' He very frequently spoke of his 
 trust in Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour, and 
 said, ' I wish to speak for Christ, but I have 
 
124 MEMORIAL. 
 
 not strength to do so.' Besides his feebleness, 
 the soreness of his mouth and throat rendered 
 speaking difficult and painful. 
 
 " A letter which had just arrived from West- 
 ern New York, containing an account of the 
 great good resulting from the circulation of 
 the Path of Life in the place where the writer 
 was visiting, afforded him great satisfaction. 
 He remained silent for a long time after the 
 letter had been read to him ; but at length said 
 that he had had 'wonderful views of the exten- 
 sion of the Kedeemer's kingdom.' The subject 
 was evidently one especially attractive to him, 
 and which very much occupied his thoughts. He 
 at one time asked his sister if there were any 
 tidings of revivals, and when she mentioned to 
 him the great work of God in Ireland and 
 other parts of the British isles, he exclaimed, 
 ' Glorious ! glorious !' This was the burden of 
 his prayers — ' Send forth thy light and truth.' 
 
MEMORIAL. 125 
 
 " As the conviction became more and more 
 settled in his own mind that his ministry on 
 earth was near its termination, his thoughts 
 naturally turned to his congregation at New- 
 ark, and his tender interest in their welfare 
 came out in various ways. On one occasion 
 his sister, who was watching at his bed, no- 
 ticed that his countenance indicated that he 
 was in great distress, and she proposed to 
 change his position, hoping thus to relieve 
 him ; but he raised his head and made a dep- 
 recatory gesture, saying, 'Hush, hush.' As 
 the distress appeared to continue, and the big 
 drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, 
 she again spoke to him, but the same signifi- 
 cant gesture and words were repeated. After 
 a while he looked up calmly and said, ' I was 
 bidding my people farewell.' During the last 
 week of his life a number of his parishioners 
 came on to see him. They could remain near 
 
126 MEMORIAL. 
 
 his bed only for a few moments, and he was 
 able to address only a few words to them ; but 
 these words told how warmly he loved them 
 and yearned for their salvation. To one of 
 them, a valued friend who stayed in Boston 
 until his decease, he said, 'The only thing 
 worth living for — ' his speech here failed him, 
 but he made his meaning plain enough by 
 raising his hand, pointing towards heaven. 
 
 "One night he desired that his sister, who had 
 retired to get some rest, might be called. Mrs. 
 Eowland having awakened her, he said to 
 them, ' I am going to dedicate myself renew- 
 edly to God, and I wish you to join with me 
 in making a perfect and entire surrender of 
 ourselves to God for time and eternity.' He 
 then offered a very affecting prayer, in which 
 this purpose of his heart found most appro- 
 priate utterance. After he concluded he turn- 
 ed to his wife and sister, and said to them, 
 
MEMOKIAL. 127 
 
 ' Kemember now that you are henceforth the 
 Lord's wholly.' 
 
 ''During the Friday before his death, lie was 
 for a good while apparently engaged in medi- 
 tation, in the course of which his face was so 
 irradiated with the light of joy, that the changed 
 expression, usually one of pain, was so striking 
 as to attract the attention of those around his 
 bed. His wife said to him, 'You see the 
 heavenly city V 'Yes,' he replied. Mrs. F., 
 another relative, added, ' And you will soon 
 be there.' He made a gesture of assent. 
 'And you will meet,' she rejoined, 'many 
 dear friends who have gone before you there." 
 ' More, more,' he exclaimed. ' You will see 
 the Saviour,' she added. ' Yes,' he said ; 
 ' the Lamb, the Lamb.' Dr. Blagden came 
 in soon after, and asked him if he could put 
 all his trust in Christ. ' Yes, yes,' was his 
 instant response. 
 
128 MEMORIAL. 
 
 " During the greater part of the last week of 
 his life, his physician thought from day to day 
 that each one would be his last. But during 
 this whole period, though his sufferings at- 
 times were very great, he was perfectly con- 
 scious, recognizing and in brief sentences con- 
 versing with the friends around him. The 
 last night he spent on earth was one of pro- 
 tracted and often exquisite pain ; but it ceased 
 an hour or two before his departure, and at 
 length he fell asleep so gently that it was im- 
 possible to fix the moment when his soul was 
 released for ever from the sins and sorrows of 
 earth, and entered the pavilion of peace in the 
 bosom of his God and Saviour." 
 
 Thus died this servant of God— away from 
 his earthly home, but near enough to that in 
 heaven, nor yet among strangers, for some of 
 those dear to him were at his side, relieving his 
 sufferings by their kindness and sympathy 
 
MEMORIAL. 129 
 
 and sharing his faith — in a city, where he 
 could avail himself of the advice and skill of 
 eminent physicians, an advantage to which he 
 was not insensible — in the State of his mater- 
 nal ancestors, and near the spot where some of 
 them, exiles for religion, driven to a strange 
 land, had landed about two centuries and a 
 quarter before. 
 
 Dr. Eowland died at Boston, on Sunday, 
 the fourth day of September, 1859, in the fifty- 
 fifth year of his age. No cloubt remained after 
 his death as to the character of the disease 
 under which he had been laboring. It was 
 found to be of a complicated nature, the prin 
 cipal feature of which was an enlargement of 
 the heart. Other important organs were im- 
 plicated or disastrously affected, so that had he 
 survived this attack, and escaped danger from 
 that quarter, his life would probably not have 
 been for a great while prolonged. 
 
180 MEMORIAL. 
 
 The mournful train of his friends left Boston, 
 on the next Monday morning, with all that 
 was mortal of Dr. Rowland, and arrived at 
 Newark on the following evening. 
 
 The daily newspapers of that city had from 
 day to day made known his condition, as for 
 some time past " 'twixt night and morn" his 
 life had hovered "on the horizon's verge," and 
 a deep and general interest in him, and the 
 event of his sickness had been felt. The in- 
 telligence of his death, though not unexpected, 
 made a deep impression upon the whole com- 
 munity, and called forth expressions of sorrow 
 and sympathy from all classes of the citizens. 
 The strong hold which Dr. Rowland had gained 
 on their affections, within the short period of his 
 ministry among them, was now seen and recog- 
 nized. The members of his congregation were 
 prompt, assiduous, and generous in manifesting 
 their attachment to him, and in rendering their 
 
MEMORIAL. 131 
 
 services to Lis family, and in the last sad rites. 
 The sorrowful company of friends on their ar- 
 rival from Boston at New York, were received 
 by members of the congregation, and conduct- 
 ed to Newark, and by others still at Dr. Eow- 
 land's house. How changed the scene from 
 that which had gathered them there a year 
 ago! 
 
 The shadow of death so long delayed had at 
 last fallen upon this pleasant home, and the 
 honored head of the then unbroken family had 
 been laid low. Into the sacred sorrows of that 
 hour we will not intrude ; but if the angel of 
 death was there, we believe that the angels of 
 consolation and faith were also there. 
 
 The last mournful ceremonies were celebrated 
 on the Thursday following. After a prayer 
 had been offered at the house by the Eev. Dr. 
 Wilson, the remains of the deceased were 
 accompanied by his relatives and immediate 
 
132 MEMORIAL. 
 
 friends to Park Church, where the funeral ser- 
 vices were conducted by clergymen of the city. 
 The large church, draped in black, was crowd- 
 ed to excess. The funeral sermon, an impres- 
 sive discourse, was preached by the Eev. Dr. E. 
 E. Fairchild, from Matt xxv. 21 : " Well done, 
 good and faithful servant. Thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
 ruler over many things. Enter thou into the 
 joy of thy Lord." After explaining the para- 
 ble, from which the text was taken, he referred 
 to the character of the deceased, and spoke, 
 strongly of his fidelity, piety, virtues, and tal- 
 ents, of his qualities as a man and a Christian, 
 of his abilities as a preacher and excellence as 
 a pastor, and gave a brief notice of the princi- 
 pal events of his life. At the close of the 
 solemn services the procession proceeded to 
 Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where a touching 
 address was made by the -Rev. Dr. Stearns ; and 
 
MEMORIAL. 133 
 
 there, on the bank of the Passaic, by the side 
 of the Eev. Dr. Polhemus, were laid the re- 
 mains of our departed friend, to rest until he 
 shall " rise again in the resurrection at the last 
 day," when " this corruptible must put on 
 incorruption, and this mortal must put on im- 
 mortality." 
 
 The death of Dr. Eowland was profoundly 
 felt, — the more profoundly in the city 6*f his 
 residence, that already, within the two years 
 immediately previous, two pastors of distinction 
 connected with churches in that city, the Eev. 
 Dr. Scott and the Eev. Dr. Polhemus, had 
 been removed from their posts by similar acts 
 of Divine Providence. The society of which 
 Dr. Eowland was pastor, beyond its participa- 
 tion in the general grief, had its own peculiar 
 cause of sorrow. It had lost a beloved teacher 
 and guide just as it had learned to appreciate 
 his worth, and as it had entered on a new career 
 
134 MEMORIAL. 
 
 of strength and prosperity. It was a source 
 of great satisfaction to Dr. Rowland in his 
 sickness, that, as he believed, the church for 
 which he had labored so earnestly was now 
 firmly established. Resolutions were adopted 
 to express the profound sense of their loss by 
 his death, their warm attachment to him, and 
 high appreciation of his character and labors ; 
 his salary was generously continued to the end 
 of the year for the benefit of his family, and 
 many other substantial and generous proofs were 
 given of their regard for him and his family. 
 
 On the Sabbath succeeding the burial of Dr. 
 Rowland, the Rev. Dr. John Forsyth, of New- 
 burgh, preached a sermon in the vacant pulpit 
 of Park Church, with reference to the event 
 which had deprived it of its pastor, on the appro- 
 priate theme of abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, from the text 1 Cor. xv. 58 : " Therefore, 
 my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, 
 
MEMORIAL. 135 
 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord." 
 He showed that it was the duty of all Chris- 
 tians (explaining in what manner) to abound 
 in the work of the Lord, and to be immovably 
 steadfast in the doctrine of the resurrection of 
 the dead, inculcated in the glowing passage of 
 which his text was part, and he said that the text 
 intimated that there was a close connection be- 
 tween such steadfastness and abounding in the 
 Lord's work ; and then, after having spoken of 
 the fundamental verities of Christ dead and 
 Christ risen, he made a solemn and affecting ad- 
 dress to his audience on the event of Dr. Eow- 
 land's death. 
 
 On the following Sabbath, the Eev. Dr. 
 McKee, of the Reformed Dutch Church, who 
 had supplied Dr. Eowland's pulpit in his ab- 
 sence, preached a sermon at Park Church, with 
 reference to the same event, and this sermon 
 closed what may be considered as the series of 
 funereal services. 
 
136 MKMORIAL. 
 
 Thus died and was buried, the Rev. Henry 
 Augustus Rowland, honored and beloved: We 
 have entirely failed in the imperfect outline 
 which we have sketched, if it be necessary 
 to speak particularly here of his character. 
 His life speaks. We have tried to give a sim- 
 ple picture of it. 
 
 He was a sincere Christian, unwavering in 
 his faith. From the time when he entered the 
 Christian ministry, his life was full of proofs 
 of devotion to his divine Master. His piety 
 was not formal or ostentatious, but it lay at the 
 foundation of his whole course of action. It 
 was more a principle than a sentiment, though 
 it partook of both. It was the animating mo- 
 tive, the impelling spring of all his exertions. 
 As a preacher, he was able, forcible, and in- 
 structive, clearly explaining and boldly de- 
 fending" the doctrines of the gospel, and en- 
 forcing them with solid argument and earnest 
 
MEMORIAL. 137 
 
 exhortation. His sermons were diligently 
 prepared, and usually sedulously corrected, 
 though less with reference to the niceties of 
 verbal criticism than to force of argument and 
 effectiveness of expression. As a pastor, he 
 was active and faithful, sympathizing with all 
 classes of his people, familiar with them all, vis- 
 iting them freely in their homes and places of 
 business, meeting them without formality and re- 
 straint, and winning their confidence and their 
 hearts, mindful of the poor and contributing 
 generously to their relief, assiduously caring for 
 the instruction of the young, and wisely and pa- 
 tiently leading the inquiring into the path of 
 life. He was one of those practical, earnest, en- 
 ergetic men, who build up the institutions of our 
 Christian civilization, and to whom society owes 
 a debt of gratitude which, after they are gone, 
 she is not always prompt to repay. As an author, 
 he has made valuable contributions to our sacred 
 
138 MEMORIAL. 
 
 literature, which will prolong his usefulness 
 and perpetuate the fragrance of his name. 
 
 He was a noble-hearted man, of great moral 
 courage, of genial temper, social inclination* 
 and habits, frank, open, transparent as the 
 day, with cheerful manners and an illumina- 
 ting smile. lie was true and constant in his 
 friendships, upright, forgiving, and sincere, with 
 a large, generous heart. In his family he was 
 the loving and beloved husband and father, 
 the centre of its affections and hopes. 
 
 He did not pretend to be without faults. It 
 was a part of his religion that we do daily err 
 in thought, word and deed, and he neither ac- 
 knowledged perfection in others, nor laid claim 
 to it himself. He knew his own integrity and 
 the honesty with which he uttered his convic- 
 tions. His faults, such as the)' were, lay on 
 the surface, and grew out of the simplicity, 
 frankness, earnestness, and energy of his char- 
 
MEMORIAL. 139 
 
 acter. They did not affect its solid basis or 
 substantial worth. 
 
 Those, for whom it is appropriate, have re- 
 hearsed the lessons of his life and his death. 
 We would silently meditate upon them. 
 
 "We have been permitted to copy from Dr. 
 Forsyth's sermon, to which we have already 
 referred,* his closing address, in these words: 
 
 The subject to which your attention has 
 been directed, seems to me to be a not inap- 
 propriate theme of meditation, in the circum- 
 stances in which we meet in this sanctuary, 
 and in which, unexpectedly, I have been asked 
 to occupy this vacant pulpit. To myself, per- 
 sonally, as well as you, these circumstances 
 are very solemn and affecting. Only two 
 * See page 134. 
 
140 MEMORIAL. 
 
 years ago, among the pastors of this city, there 
 were two, both of whom were my brothers in 
 a double sense; both of whom were in the 
 meridian of their days ; and concerning both 
 of whom it might then have been said that, 
 among all their colleagues, none had fairer pros- 
 pects of being spared for active and effec- 
 tive labor for Christ, during many years. To- 
 day they are both numbered with the dead 
 who have died in the Lord, and in yonder 
 beautiful cemetery on the banks of the Passaic, 
 they repose side by side. They have gone to 
 swell the myriads who sleep in Jesus. They have 
 finished their course, and having kept the faith 
 they have joined the great multitude of disem- 
 bodied saints who are present with the Lord. 
 Nor are they the only ones who have been 
 called within the short period, from your good- 
 ly brotherhood of pastors, to rest from their 
 labors. Another is there whose memory is 
 
MEMORIAL. 141 
 
 precious to many in this city. "Within the 
 brief space of two years, three sister churches 
 standing almost side by side have been com- 
 pelled to array themselves in the dark drapery 
 of mourning. Polhemus, Scott, Kowland, — 
 shall be seen no more forever in the pulpits, 
 nor in the streets where they were so well 
 known. 
 
 Surely these repeated strokes, coming as they 
 do from the hand of (rod, are not without a 
 meaning! Yes. "The Lord's voice crieth 
 unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see 
 thy name ; hear ye the rod and him who 
 hath appointed it." These successive bereave- 
 ments are indeed the impressive utterance of 
 him who walketh in the the midst of the gold- 
 en candlesticks, addressed to ministers and to 
 people, — saying to one and all, "Be watchful 
 and strengthen the things that remain ; have 
 patience, and for my name's sake labor and 
 
142 MEMORIAL. 
 
 faint riot; be steadfast, immovable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, for the 
 night cometh in which no man can work." 
 
 I do not appear before you this morning, my 
 dear friends, for the purpose of painting the 
 character, or of describing the career of the 
 pastor whom God hath taken from you. That 
 service has been already well performed by 
 one who had known him long — a beloved 
 friend and brother in the ministry every way 
 competent to the task. But indeed, those 
 among whom Dr. Rowland has gone out and 
 in, discharging the various functions of his 
 office, hardly require any other portraiture of 
 him than that which is written on their own 
 memories. For if ever there was a man who 
 walked among his fellows with a window in 
 his breast, it was he. Long and intimate as- 
 sociation with some men is necessary in order 
 to understand them thoroughly, and rightly to 
 
MEMORIAL. 143 
 
 appreciate them. Not so with your departed 
 Pastor. His distinctive traits were so legible 
 that all who were brought into contact with 
 him could read them. But, as I have said, I 
 do not come here to portray or to eulogize the 
 dead. Let me rather enforce the exhortation 
 of the text by arguments suggested by his life 
 and death. And if he could have been conveyed 
 from the chamber where he breathed his last, 
 into this pulpit, to utter in your hearing the 
 farewell to his people which he tried to ex- 
 cogitate, even amid the pain and languor of 
 disease, oh ! with what intense earnestness 
 and emphasis would he have cried out to you, 
 "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding 
 in the work of the Lord." 
 
 If, dear friends, you could have been with 
 your dying pastor during the last week of his 
 life ; if you could have been admitted to see 
 him as he lay upon the bed from which he was 
 
144 MEMORIAL. 
 
 never to rise ; if you could have seen him wan 
 and wasted by disease, sleepless, tossing his 
 head upon his pillow, while often his whole 
 frame was racked by sharpest pain, and if you 
 had been forced as you would have been if 
 there, just to sit and look upon his sufferings, 
 conscious that neither friend nor physician 
 could alleviate them, you might have been 
 tempted to say, How pitiable his case, how in- 
 tensely wretched his condition. And yet, if 
 by the turning of a straw he could have been 
 raised from that bed of languishing to instant 
 and perfect health — unless for your sake, and 
 for those dear to him by the ties of nature — I 
 am persuaded that he would not have turned 
 it. He knew whom he had believed, and was 
 confident that for him " to die is gain." 
 
 Do you ask me what sustained him ? It 
 was the sight of the Lamb of God, once slain 
 for sinners ; it was the felt presence of Christ, 
 
MEMOKIAL. 145 
 
 who died and rose again. This was the truth 
 which he found more precious than gold or 
 silver, — the truth which filled him with a di- 
 vine peace even then when heart and flesh were 
 failing, and when he himself was conscious that 
 the earthly house of his tabernacle was dissolv- 
 ing. Yes, it was the simple truth " how that 
 Christ died and rose again." 
 
 And during all those wearisome weeks which 
 were appointed him ; and especially as he saw 
 their end approaching, what, think you, were 
 the recollections he most fondly cherished, the 
 memories which, like gentle breezes laden with 
 balmy fragrance, refreshed his wearied heart ? 
 It was the remembrance of the service he had 
 been enabled to render to the cause of his 
 divine Master — of the good accomplished 
 through his instrumentality — of the time spent, 
 the efforts made, to advance the Lord's work. 
 
 These were the recollections that came over him 
 
 7 
 
146 MEMORIAL. 
 
 with an influence like that of the descending 
 dew upon the mountains of Zion. Ilis only 
 regret was that he hud not " abounded" more 
 in the blessed work. As he said to a friend 
 who had come from a distance to see him, — 
 " The only thing worth living for"— he could 
 not complete the sentence in words, but he 
 made his meaning plain enough, as he feebly 
 lifted his hand and turned his dying eyes 
 towards heaven. From that bed of death, 
 from his new-made grave, he speaks to you, 
 saying, " My beloved brethren, be ye steadfast 
 — always abounding in the icork of the Lord." 
 
 Oh ! my dear friends, let me entreat you to 
 " remember him who hath spoken to you the 
 words of God," not merely by cherishing the 
 memory of him as a pastor, and a friend, but 
 by " considering the end of his conversation," 
 Jesus Christ, and by following his faith. He 
 has spoken to you from the pulpit ; he has spo- 
 
MEMORIAL. 147 
 
 ken to you in your own homes ; lie has pressed 
 upon you the claims of the Eedeemer, the per* 
 ils of your souls, the momentous realities of 
 eternity. Some of you have been, it may be, 
 not unmoved by these faithful dealings of a 
 pastor whose face you shall never see again, 
 whose voice you shall no more hear ; and yet 
 you have not taken the decisive step— you have 
 not yet brought yourselves to form the grand 
 resolve, You are still lingering, still- hesitating 
 between the world and Christ, you are sensible 
 that your condition is neither right nor safe ; 
 you are, in a word, strangers to peace and joy, 
 because strangers to Jesus who died and rose 
 again. Listen, I beseech you, to the voice of 
 this bereavement, to the solemn voice that 
 comes to you from this now vacant pulpit. 
 And may your Pastor's death be the means of 
 bringing you to the instant and blessed deci- 
 sion to yield yourselves to that Saviour whom 
 it was his greatest joy to preach, 
 
SERMON 
 
 REV. E. R. FAIRCHILD, D.D. 
 
 Preached at the Funeral of Eev. Henry A. Rowland, D. D. Thurs- 
 day Morning, September 8th, 1S59, and repeated by request, Sun- 
 day Evening, the 23d of October following, to his former 
 charge in Honesdale, Pa. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 
 fellings : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 
 
 — Matt. xxv. 21. 
 
 These words constitute a part of our Sav- 
 iour's memorable "parable of the talents." 
 The main design of that parable was, to unfold, 
 in a true and impressive form, the relations of 
 men to Grod — their accountability to him for 
 things entrusted to them, for use or enjoy- 
 ment — and the future condition which awaited 
 them for their respective courses, in practical 
 life. 
 
 It was doubtless the intention of the Saviour, 
 that these truths, thus set forth, should also 
 furnish to all who should hear his gospel 
 
152 SERMON. 
 
 worthy and weighty motives to diligence and 
 fidelity, in the discharge of the duties which 
 were divinely imposed upon them. That in- 
 tention the parable most happily carries out. 
 The imagery employed, though simple, and 
 drawn from familiar scenes, appeals strongly 
 to principles of human nature which, to a very 
 large extent, control the lives of men. A 
 most striking part of that imagery is comprised 
 in the words of the text, which no one can 
 deliberately contemplate without admiring its 
 moral beauty and feeling its power. 
 
 In the former part of the parable the Master 
 is represented as having distributed his goods 
 among his servants, and also as having gone 
 into a far country, and tarried there a long 
 time. He is here represented as having re- 
 turned and engaged in taking an account of 
 his servants' stewardship. He has just finish- 
 ed his reckoning with one to whom he had 
 
SERMON. • 153 
 
 entrusted the largest amount of his goods. 
 That servant was found to have been most con- 
 scientiously and scrupulously faithful to the 
 interests committed to his care ; and as evidence 
 of his fidelity, industry, and attention to his 
 various duties, he presented the goods he had 
 originally received, and the increase which his 
 efforts had secured : 
 
 " And so he that had received five talents, 
 came and brought other five talents, saying, 
 Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents : 
 behold I have gained besides them five talents 
 more." 
 
 The gratification of the Master at the dis- 
 covery of this faithfulness and its results is 
 intense, if not unbounded, and in the text his 
 feelings and gracious purposes are earnestly 
 and emphatically expressed. He therein pro- 
 claims his unqualified approbation of both the 
 
 character and work of the servant; and oifi- 
 7* 
 
154 SERMON. 
 
 cially announces to him the honorable treat- 
 ment he shall consequently receive — the high 
 and glorious rewards to which he shall succeed 
 and enjoy forever. 
 
 " Well done ! thou good and faithful ser- 
 vant ! . . . . I will make thee ruler over 
 many things: enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." 
 
 It is to be observed that the recipient is 
 a servant, and has lived in association with 
 servants and the things connected with a 
 humble condition of life ; but now there is to 
 be a happy and a great change — a transition 
 from servitude, obscurity, poverty, to that of 
 freedom, rank, wealth, influence, princely 
 honors, the rich and varied enjoyments of a 
 glorious and imperishable kingdom. That 
 life which has hitherto been led, remote from 
 the celestial dwelling-place of the Master, is no 
 longer to be drawn out in a far-distant and 
 
SERMON". 155 
 
 trying abode of care and toil, of sin and sor- 
 row; but exchanged for a life to be led in the 
 heavenly world, in the immediate presence of 
 the Saviour — and whose excellence and happi- 
 ness by way of distinction and of eminence is 
 called " the joy of his Lord." 
 
 If the parable refers exclusively, as some 
 suppose, to ministers of the gospel, who in 
 the Scriptures are called servants of Christ, 
 (though I see no necessity for restricting it to 
 them,) then the scenes of the text, which rep- 
 resent the great events connected with the 
 death of an eminent one of them, are pecu- 
 liarly appropriate for contemplation on this sad 
 and mournful occasion. But I cannot thus 
 limit it. It has a wider range, and while it 
 refers, it may be, in some special sense, to 
 those who have been invested with the office 
 of the ministry, it also has reference to all 
 the servants of the Saviour, everywhere and in 
 
156 SERMON. 
 
 every station in society. It brings oat to view 
 the great and joyous truth that every one 
 who loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity — 
 who takes the will of God as the rule of his 
 life — and the divine glory as the end of all his 
 efforts, and in this manner fills up, well and 
 property, the sphere divinely allotted to him, 
 will at death be admitted into the heavenly 
 world, and be made ineffably happy through 
 eternity. This in few words is the character 
 of a "good and faithful servant ; ' of the Lord, 
 and the blessed reward to which he succeeds 
 when he has finished his earthly course. 
 
 A formal and full development of the charac- 
 teristics of a " good and faithful servant " — and 
 of the nature and grounds of the rewards be- 
 stowed upon him at death seems called for by 
 the text, and would comprise a rich and profit- 
 able variety of thought ; but the circumstances 
 of the occasion admonish me of the fitness 
 
SERMON. 157 
 
 of brevity, and I shall therefore notice these 
 things but incidentally, and as illustrated in the 
 person and life of that excellent man, and 
 brother in Christ, whose comparatively sudden 
 and unexpected decease has now convened ns. 
 
 And what gloom, what sorrow, what tender 
 associations, what solemn and painful interest, 
 gather around and attach to the event that 
 has assembled ns in the sanctuary to-day ! 
 
 In the death of any person there is some- 
 thing that awakens a feeling which nothing 
 else inspires, — a feeling which words are wholly 
 inadequate to describe. 
 
 That mysterious change which we see come 
 over the form which was previously blooming 
 in health, joyous in its activity, exquisitely 
 sensitive, and diffusing pleasure on all around 
 — which reduces it to insensibility, and clothes 
 it with repulsive attributes — which dissolves 
 all its earthly relations, and sunders all its ties, 
 
155 SERMON. 
 
 however tender and dear, so that they can no 
 more be formed, or united, — and then that dense 
 darkness that overshadows, as to us, the 
 nature of the futurity on which the departed 
 spirit has entered, places the death of any indi- 
 vidual among the most painful and appalling 
 of events. We cannot contemplate death, 
 even when occurring among strangers, doing 
 its work upon the commonest citizens, though 
 it has been ravaging the earth for many long 
 centuries, without a severe and painful shock 
 to all our sensibilities. But when viewed in 
 closer proximity, — when its victim is taken 
 from the circles of our acquaintance, or is one 
 who has occupied places of influence or trust, 
 and has been distinguished by excellence of 
 character and usefulness of life, our emotions 
 are more painful, the awe is more solemn 
 and oppressive. 
 
 But when it intrudes into our domestic 
 
SERMON. 159 
 
 circle, and strikes down a venerable parent, a 
 brother or sister, an affectionate child, or a 
 beloved companion, — a husband, or wife, — the 
 shock is almost overpowering, and emotions 
 are awakened which we cannot describe, and 
 which can find expression only in sighs and 
 tears, and from the burden of which the soul 
 can find adequate and permanent relief only in 
 God, and in the grace of the gospel. 
 
 Such to-day is our sad and painful position. 
 Death has made a terrible breach upon us. 
 He has made his mark high. An affectionate 
 husband, a kind and indulgent father, a sym- 
 pathizing and generous brother, a pleasant 
 companion, a valuable citizen, an able " minis- 
 ter of the New Testament," a most faithful 
 and useful pastor, has fallen by his invisible, 
 yet sure and fatal shaft. And what aggravates 
 the woe is its sudden and unexpected visita- 
 tion, and also the fact that, led by an over- 
 
160 SERMON. 
 
 ruling, mysterious Providence to a distant city, 
 when going in quest of health far beyond it, 
 he fell, as it were exiled from the bosom of Lis 
 family and. church, and where but few of 
 either could be with him. But some of them 
 were present, and witnessed the last scenes of 
 his earthly existence, and ministered to all his 
 wants. 
 
 And strangers gathered round him there, 
 and manifested, their sympathy, and extended 
 their aid. Thanks to those kind and generous 
 persons in that city, who, moved by Christian 
 sympathy, cheerfully and promptly performed 
 many offices of love and kindness to him, and 
 those of his friends who were permitted to 
 visit and temporarily to remain with him. 
 
 But though the death we mourn is trying in 
 the extreme, we will bow in humble submis- 
 sion to the will of him who has inflicted it, not 
 doubting that it has been ordered in infinite 
 
SERMON. 161 
 
 wisdom, and for the promotion of great and 
 glorious ends. Devoutly, we therefore say, in 
 the midst of our sorrow, " Not our will, O 
 God, but thine be done." 
 
 "We come then, with subdued feelings, to the 
 discharge of a painful duty, — the celebration of 
 the funeral solemnities of the Eev. Henry Au- 
 gustus Eowland, D. D. 
 
 While to surviving relatives and friends the 
 event we mourn is deeply afflictive, by reason 
 of relations dissolved, ties sundered, friend- 
 ships disturbed, and an awful, unalterable in- 
 terdict which it has placed on all communica- 
 tion with him on earth, " till the heavens be 
 no more," still the scenes connected with it are 
 not wholly dark. Light is mingled with them. 
 There was much to console the living, to sus- 
 tain the dying — and for many reasons, we 
 think that death to him who has been taken 
 from us is unspeakable gain. He sustained 
 
162 SERMON. 
 
 in an eminent degree the character of the ser- 
 vant whom the Master in the parable pro- 
 moted, and, like him, he has entered, we doubt 
 not, into the "joy of his Lord." We have, 
 therefore, strong reasons on his account, at 
 least, to mingle expressions of joy and thank* 
 fulness, in our service, and greatly to moderate 
 our griefs. Believing that he is now in the 
 immediate presence of the Great Master — and 
 in the unrestricted enjoyment of the blessed- 
 ness of the heavenly world, into which none 
 but " good and faithful servants " are admit- 
 ted, we may compose our feelings, and think 
 and speak of him freely, and derive the lessons 
 which his active life and triumphant Christian 
 death suggest and impressively enforce. 
 
 The Eev. Henry Augustus Eowland, D. D., 
 was the eldest son of the Rev. Henry A. Eow- 
 land, who for many years was pastor of the first 
 Congregational church of Windsor, in the State 
 
SERMON. 163 
 
 of Connecticut. His mother was the daughter 
 of the Hon. Moses Bliss, of Springfield, Massa- 
 chusetts. He was born on the 19th of Sep- 
 tember, 1804. The family consisted of five 
 sons and two daughters, seven in all — two on- 
 ly of whom — a brother and a sister — survive 
 him. 
 
 His early training was religious. In this 
 regard he enjoyed the privileges usually con- 
 nected with the families of evangelical and 
 pious ministers of New England, and the 
 salutary influence upon him was felt through 
 all his life. His childhood was not particu- 
 larly marked, but was spent chiefly at home, 
 amid the scenes of his native place and the 
 immediate vicinity. There he attended the 
 common school, and, exhibiting a taste for the 
 higher branches of education, and also the 
 possession of talents which seemed to promise 
 much usefulness, if cultivated, he was put up- 
 
164 
 
 SERMON-. 
 
 on a course of study preparatory to entering 
 college. At the early age of fifteen he entered 
 Yale College, and graduated in 1823. 
 
 His hopeful conversion to Christ occurred 
 soon after he had entered upon college life, 
 and before he had attained his sixteenth year. 
 Thus from his youth he was the servant of the 
 Lord. Though young, his religious exercises, 
 prior and subsequent to his conversion, were 
 very distinctly marked, and the change 
 wrought was so decisive as to be very satisfac- 
 tory to his Christian friends, as well as to 
 inspire himself with strong hope of his per- 
 sonal acceptance of God, and of eternal life 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 From this date he became deeply interested 
 for the salvation of his fellow-men. With his 
 years this interest increased in strength. Hav- 
 ing an intense desire to be engaged in the 
 work of the gospel ministry, in order to pre- 
 
SERMOtf. 165 
 
 pare himself for it, in 1824 lie entered the The- 
 ological Seminary at Andover, in the State of 
 Massachusetts, and for three years pursued 
 with diligence the course of study prescribed in 
 that institution. In the autumn of 1827, he 
 was licensed to preach by the Hampden Con- 
 gregational Association of Massachusetts. He 
 now had attained the object which he had so 
 long desired, and he addressed himself with 
 energy to the work of the ministry as doors 
 of labor were opened before him. 
 
 His peculiar qualifications for enlisting the 
 sympathies of people in objects in which 
 he was himself interested —his industry and 
 executive ability, soon brought him to . the 
 notice of the officers and friends of the Amer- 
 ican Bible Society, who sought and obtained 
 his services in its behalf. He labored for that 
 Society, discharging important duties, promot- 
 ing its influence and usefulness, till the spring 
 
166 SERMON. 
 
 of 1830, — a period of a little more than two 
 years. 
 
 During the summer of 1830 he labored in 
 the city of Philadelphia, supplying the place 
 of the pastor of the Arch street Presbyterian 
 church (now the Rev. Dr. Skinner), who was 
 temporarily absent. His ministry there was 
 highly acceptable and useful, and many of the 
 people of that congregation remember him 
 still with much affection. On the 24th of 
 November of the same year, he was ordained 
 an Evangelist by the Presbytery of New York. 
 
 Soon after his ordination, the Presbyterian 
 church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, sought 
 his labors as a pastor, and he removed thither 
 and devoted himself to its service, though he 
 declined to enter into the pastoral relation. He 
 remained in Fayetteville and labored with 
 very great acceptance, and with marked use- 
 fulness, till the early part of 1834, when under 
 
SERMON. 167 
 
 a strong sense of duty, though greatly regret- 
 ted by the church and congregation, he re- 
 turned to the North with a view to remain 
 there. 
 
 About that time the South Reformed Dutch 
 church, in the city of New York, extended a 
 call to him to become their pastor, in connec- 
 tion with the Eev. Dr. Matthews, who then, 
 and for a number of years previously, had held 
 the pastoral office in that church without a 
 colleague. Simultaneously with that movement 
 in the South Dutch Church, the Pearl street 
 Presbyterian church, in the same city, called 
 him to its pastorate. He accepted the latter 
 call, and was installed over the Pearl street 
 church on the 13th of April, 1834, where he 
 remained about nine years, and labored with 
 great earnestness and encouraging success, not- 
 withstanding the peculiar infelicities connected 
 with its location, 
 
168 SERMON. 
 
 -Having resigned the pastoral office in that 
 church, and subsequently been called to take 
 charge of the Presbyterian church in Hones- 
 dale, in the State of Pennsylvania, on the 14th 
 of June, 1843, he was installed over that peo- 
 ple. On his settlement in nonesdale, he found 
 the church and congregation very much affect- 
 ed by unhappy differences, which were con- 
 nected with the history of his immediate pre- 
 decessor in the pastoral office, who eventually 
 was deposed from the gospel ministry. By 
 the blessing of God upon his instrumentality, 
 those differences soon were harmonized, confi- 
 dence and affection were restored, and the 
 congregation increased in numbers and 
 strength, and was marked by general prosper- 
 ity. Besides its growth in numbers and 
 material resources, many of its members were 
 hopefully converted to God, and added to the 
 communion, and it soon became one of the 
 
seemojst. 169 
 
 most interesting, important and useful church- 
 es in the Presbyterian connection. 
 
 From Honesdale he removed to this city 
 (Newark), to take charge of this church (the 
 Park Presbyterian), to which he had been pre- 
 viously called, and over which he was duly 
 installed by the Presbytery of Newark, on the 
 23d of January, 1856. With what assiduity, 
 fidelity, zeal, and success he has labored here, 
 perhaps most who hear me know. Suffice it 
 to say, that the membership of the church and 
 congregation has been very considerably aug- 
 mented, — the interior of the church edifice has 
 been refitted and handsomely improved, a 
 much needed and convenient lecture-room has 
 been erected, and the general interests of the 
 congregation have been most encouragingly 
 advanced, in connection with his ministry. 
 Thus here, in this sacred temple where we 
 are assembled, we have evidences clustering 
 
170 SERMON. 
 
 around us, not only of his acceptableness, but 
 of his usefulness, and possession of many rare 
 traits of character, admirably fitting him for 
 his work. But lie has fallen in the midst of 
 his labors, — in the strength of his manhood, — 
 and when bright visions as to the future, in 
 the history of his charge, were calling him to 
 increased exertions, which he earnestly longed 
 to put forth. He has finished his course 
 among the churches ; and here I may close my 
 remarks upon this part of his history, and 
 speak of other things. 
 
 As a man, he was interesting and attractive. 
 In person, he was above the ordinary stature, 
 well proportioned, having a finely formed and 
 intelligent face, and a kind expression of fea- 
 tures. His appearance was manly, and adapt- 
 ed to inspire respect, confidence and love. He 
 had a strong sense of honor, integrity, and 
 justice, which discovered itself in all the de- 
 
SERMON. 171 
 
 partments of life. He was benevolent and 
 truthful. He cherished a strong sympathy for 
 his kind, which always rendered him an agree- 
 able companion in those circles in which he 
 had occasion to be. He was true to all his 
 friendships. His natural temperament was 
 ardent, cheerful, and confiding, and like others 
 of that peculiar cast, he was subject to seasons 
 of depression. 
 
 He was a sincere man. He was undisguised, 
 open, frank in spirit and in action. There 
 was with him no concealment, no harboring 
 in his bosom, hidden from view, the feelings 
 and opinions he had formed concerning men, 
 or their procedure, or anything else, about 
 which his position or his duty required him to 
 speak. He frankly uttered his convictions, 
 purposes, or plans, his griefs or joys, to such 
 an extent as to seem almost to ignore what the 
 world calls prudence. He preferred to be 
 
172 SERMON. 
 
 betrayed at times, and wounded, too, by the 
 designing, if it must be so, than to suppress 
 the kind and generous feelings of the soul, the 
 exercise of undisguised simplicity, or the utter- 
 ance of what he regarded truth. In this re- 
 spect, his was a character of great transpar- 
 ency. 
 
 He was eminently a good man. Of his 
 conversion to Christ, and genuine attachment 
 to the religion of the gospel, even a casual 
 observer would scarcely fail to receive a deep 
 impression, while those who knew him intimate- 
 ly, in the various positions incident to his ac- 
 tive ministerial life, received it still more deeply. 
 He uniformly, though unconsciously, imparted 
 the conviction to beholders, that he loved the 
 Saviour and his cause. His cheerfulness and 
 mirth, his sorrows and his sighs, every feeling 
 and principle of his nature, were chastened, 
 modified, and governed by the laws of Chris- 
 
SEEMON. 173 
 
 tian obligation; and if by any impulses he 
 was led to strong expressions, or decided ac- 
 tion in a wrong direction, he would soon re- 
 turn, and find his proper place, as a conscien- 
 tious, faithful disciple of the " Son of man." 
 
 He had no long-cherished hatred to gratify 
 — no old grudges to revenge. If maligned, 
 or ill-treated, his sanguine temperament might 
 produce prompt and strong remonstrance, or 
 sudden effort at adjustment, as he conceived 
 the cause of truth and righteousness required ; 
 but he soon forgave the wrong, and acted as 
 though it had been done in ignorance, or per- 
 haps not done at all. 
 
 Governed by the law of Christian love, he 
 cheerfully took part in measures designed for 
 individual and public welfare. He sympa- 
 thized with the poor, the destitute and the 
 oppressed, even as an elder brother, or a fa- 
 ther; and many a suffering individual, and 
 
174 SERMON. 
 
 family, too. have enjoyed the advantage of 
 his counsels, his words of consolation, or other 
 forms of aid, which few besides the recipients 
 have ever known. 
 
 lie was a man of unusual ability. His in- 
 tellectual capacity was much above that of 
 most men. His studies had well developed 
 the intellectual powers with which he was en- 
 dowed by nature, and qualified him to occupy 
 and hold with honor to himself and friends, 
 not only a respectable, but a distinguished 
 place- among the more eminent ministers of the 
 gospel. Of the elevated, or superior rank of 
 his mind, his work, entitled "The Path of Life," 
 is abundant testimony. Had he published noth- 
 ing else, that is sufficient, not only to give him 
 rank among the ablest ministers in this coun- 
 try, and abroad, but to perpetuate a remem- 
 brance of him as a benefactor and a verv 
 strong man in the religious world. Already 
 
SERMON. 175 
 
 his name is fragrant with the blessings of 
 many inquirers for salvation, who by that pro- 
 duction of his pen have been led, instrumen- 
 tally, into the light and joys of evangelical 
 religion. 
 
 His work entitled the " Common Maxims of 
 Infidelity" discovers the same qualities of 
 mind. In that volume he grappled with 
 the " strong man armed," and fairly overcame 
 him in his palace, and despoiled him of his 
 vaunted power and glory. His other works, 
 " The Path of Peace" and " Light in a Dark 
 Alley" exhibit the same traits — the existence 
 and working of a vigorous intellect. 
 
 But strength was not the only quality of 
 his mind. He had other attributes which 
 fitted him for compositions of quite another 
 type than those to which reference has been 
 made — qualities which rendered his contribu- 
 tions to the public press quite acceptable to 
 
176 SERMON. 
 
 the lovers of " light literature." His writings, 
 prompted by passing events in domestic, social, 
 or civil life, or by other causes, are various as 
 to their topics and style of execution, but all 
 bear the impress of one intent upon some good 
 end. If they contain occasionally a phrase or 
 paragraph, which a rigid censorship might 
 desire expunged, none who read them without 
 prejudice would put down aught to malice in 
 the author. They bear upon their face the 
 evidence rather of a kind and genial spirit, 
 which would shrink from inflicting a wound, 
 even on those whose foibles, or errors, it might 
 mirthfully expose, with a view to secure their 
 reform. 
 
 But I am anxious to say, what I feel assured 
 his people, and all who knew him, will con- 
 firm : He was an excellent Pastor. 
 
 I do not mean to say that in this relation he 
 was perfect. Perfection belongs only to the 
 
SERMON. ] 177 
 
 great Head of the dmrch. But I do mean to 
 say, that he was remarkably endowed with 
 qualities adapted to that sacred and important 
 office, and fitted to render him useful, success- 
 ful, and happy in it, whatever want of perfec- 
 tion might have been attached to him. 
 
 He appreciated the office and its relations, 
 and cherished a deep and an abiding sense of 
 its responsibilities. 
 
 He sincerely loved the duties of a pas- 
 tor, and devoted himself without reserve to 
 the performance of them. His whole heart 
 went into the work to which he had been 
 called, and his ministry was consequently not 
 marked as a divided service. 
 
 As a preacher he had more than ordinary 
 ability. In his sermons he studied clearness 
 of method, comprehensiveness of thought and 
 expression, and directness in application to 
 the condition and wants of his hearers. His 
 
178 SERMON. 
 
 preaching partook more of a didactic and ar- 
 gumentative, than of a discursive and horta- 
 tory form. Doctrinal discussion held a prom- 
 inent place in his pulpit exercises. Though 
 not insensible to the beauties of rhetoric, and 
 competent to a highly finished order of com- 
 position, he aimed rather to instruct and to 
 persuade to a life of godliness, than to attract 
 admiration by a display of mere genius, or 
 any of the ornaments of style. In manner he 
 was plain, yet uniformly earnest and impas- 
 sioned. 
 
 Prompted by industry, which was natural 
 to him, as well as by the force of religious 
 principle, he visited the members of his con- 
 gregation frequently, and kept himself apprised 
 of their moral and religious state, and of their 
 various wants. He visited the dwellers in the 
 lanes and alleys of the city ; he entered the 
 stores of the merchants, the shops of the me- 
 
SEEMON. 179 
 
 chanics, the business places of the workmen 
 of different trades, manifestly with as much 
 interest as he visited others in other parts of 
 the citj, and in what is regarded by some as 
 the more elevated walks of life. His errand 
 to those places was to seek for opportunities of 
 doing good, as a minister of the gospel. He 
 desired to convey to those he visited the word 
 of life — to gather them into the fold of Christ ; 
 or, if they were already members of the di- 
 vine family, to promote in them the growth 
 of grace. He knew how to be condescending, 
 and also how to be firm. He knew how to en- 
 courage, and also how to rebuke, for the wel- 
 fare of the soul, and the honor of the Saviour 
 and his cause ; and in these things, and this 
 course of procedure, doubtless lay the secret 
 of much of his success in the pastoral offi.Ge. 
 He was deeply interested in the children 
 and youth of his church. Apparently he was 
 
180 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 never better pleased, or happy, than when 
 with them,— taking part in their affairs, com- 
 municating some instructions, and seeking to 
 interest them in moral and religious things. 
 With remarkable facility he could enter into 
 their conceptions, and identify himself with 
 them, and when he had imparted the les- 
 sons which he designed, resume his former 
 position, and engage again in the duties of his 
 office among the older members of his charge. 
 But while he faithfully labored for the wel- 
 fare of his congregation, and longed for its 
 advancement with a strong and consuming 
 desire, his feelings were deeply enlisted in the 
 prosperity of the denomination to which he 
 belonged. He identified himself at an early 
 day with the policy and plans of the leading 
 members of the body, and enjoyed to a laro-e 
 extent the confidence and respect of those who 
 knew him, and was allowed, in the ecclesiasti- 
 
SERMON. 181 
 
 cal assemblies, local and general, of which he 
 was at any time a member, an honorable 
 share of influence. 
 
 It would add strength to the convictions we 
 now have of the loveliness and excellence of 
 his character, if I might speak of him as 
 known in his domestic circle, and fulfilling the 
 duties of- his various relations within it. But 
 I may not intrude upon the scenes of private 
 and domestic life. I may say, however, that 
 he was a kind, affectionate, and good father, a 
 tender and devoted husband, a sympathizing 
 and generous brother. He was to his family a 
 happy exemplification of what the names of 
 the relations he bore in it signify. But he is 
 taken from it, from his church, and the 
 wo^d, to the enjoyment of the reward of the 
 " good and faithful servant." 
 
 As we can see him no more in the midst of 
 us, discharging the duties, or exercising the 
 
182 BBBMOW. 
 
 functions, of the sacred office which he held, 
 let us convey, ourselves in imagination at least 
 to the place where his last days were spent. 
 Let us with reverence, becoming stillness and 
 solemnity enter the sick chamber, and view 
 him amid the scenes of approaching and ac- 
 tual dissolution. Let us remember, that not 
 till recently did he entertain a conviction tha t 
 his earthly work was nearly done, — that he 
 was about to be called from time to eternity. 
 At his departure from this city, in July 
 last, to visit the eastern part of Massachu- 
 setts, and indeed for some days after his ar- 
 rival in Boston, where he was detained by 
 increasing illness, and where he eventually 
 died, he entertained the confident expectation 
 of speedily recovering his health, and then of 
 resuming his ministerial labors. It was but a 
 very short period previous to his decease that 
 he abandoned that expectation, and became 
 
SERMON. 183 
 
 convinced that he was near his end. The 
 scenes of* that moment when he gave up the 
 hope of recovery were scenes which language 
 is incompetent fully to portray ; but they were* 
 all honorable to himself, in all the relations 
 he sustained, to the religion he professed, 
 and of which he was a minister. He received 
 the intimations of his friends on the subject, 
 and the convictions of his own mind, not 
 merely with composure, but as a Christian far 
 advanced in the divine life, and ripe for the 
 anticipated change. 
 
 The nature of the malady by which he was 
 affected, was such that his physician* had di 
 rected that he should be kept entirely quiet 
 Owing to the state of his throat, he could con 
 verse but little, and only with great effort. 
 When he spoke, it was with such indistinct 
 ness, that it was extremely difficult to under 
 
 * Dr. Jeffreys. 
 
184 SERMON. 
 
 stand his words. But it was satisfactory to 
 know, as it was known by various means, that 
 his mind was clear, that he apprehended his 
 condition, and that he retained his conscious- 
 ness to the last. 
 
 On one occasion a little before his death, he 
 clearly manifested the strong affection which 
 he still entertained for his family, his friends, 
 his church, and all the interests which had been 
 committed to his care. His thoughts became 
 too intense to be pent up in his bosom, and 
 under the excitement, he tried to speak. He 
 spoke with the relatives who attended upon 
 him, and took an affectionate farewell of them, 
 and sent farewell messages to those members of 
 his family who were absent. He remembered, 
 too, the people of his charge, and wished to leave 
 for them his dying counsels. He began to 
 speak, pronounced a word or two, but his ut- 
 terance was unequal to his wishes ; a pause en- 
 
SERMON. 185 
 
 sued, his strength, was gone, and he could 
 not complete what he had commenced and de- 
 sired to say. 
 
 Subsequently there were moments when he 
 could and did speak at least a few words. And 
 when he could be understood, it was strikingly 
 manifest that he enjoyed a most happy frame 
 of mind. Illustrative of this is the following 
 fact. When the Eev. Dr. Blagden, one of the 
 pastors in Boston, in one of the last interviews 
 which he held with him and his attendants, 
 quoted a passage of Scripture, adapted to the 
 occasion, Dr. Eowland- exclaimed with much 
 and manifestly joyous emotion: " The Lord is 
 good ! The Lord is good ! The Lord is wise ! 
 Praise the Lord." 
 
 When asked, a few days before his death, 
 whether he could still place his confidence in 
 Jesus, — he replied : " Yes, I rejoice ! I rejoice!" 
 
 On one occasion, after having laid quiet 
 
186 SERMON^ 
 
 for a considerable time, he raised his arm, and 
 pointed towards heaven : Ilis wife noticing 
 the attitude said to him : 
 
 " You see the beautiful land ?" 
 
 II' nodded assent twice. 
 
 Another friend then said to him : 
 
 "You will soon be there, and your trials 
 will be over." 
 
 He again nodded assent, and said : " Home !" 
 
 The friend rejoined : 
 
 " There you will meet many loved ones, who 
 have gone before." 
 
 He said : " More ! more !" 
 
 " Yon mean," said the friend, " yon will 
 see Jesus, whom yon love more than all the 
 rest ?" 
 
 He nodded three times, as if he wished to 
 give emphasis to the thought, and said: 
 
 "The Lamb! The Lamb !" 
 
 Christian friends, and members of this be- 
 
SERMON. 187 
 
 loved church, these utterances and these scenes 
 of the dying chamber which have now held 
 your attention a brief moment, reveal the frame 
 of mind in which your pastor died. You may 
 now return from the sacred spot where he 
 closed his useful life, and where you have now 
 seen the triumphs of Christian faith, over death 
 and all its associations to this sanctuary. For 
 the last words of your beloved Pastor, you 
 have now heard. The last moment of his 
 earthly life, you have now seen. You left him 
 in an ecstacy of joy, ravished with a view of 
 the "Lamb," the great and glorious Saviour of 
 sinners. You saw him then going rapidly to 
 the embrace of that Saviour, and to a trium- 
 phant and most welcome entrance into the celes- 
 tial city — the paradise of God, where no sin 
 nor sorrow enters, and where he must be in- 
 creasingly happy forevermore. Under the 
 guidance and protection of " The Lamb," he 
 
188 SERMON. 
 
 is safe. And I am persuaded, that you, even 
 in the midst of your sorrows because of your 
 bereavement, can rejoice to leave him in the 
 heavenly world to "follow the Lamb whither- 
 soever he goeth." Cease, then, your sorrow- 
 ing and your tears, and rejoice that your Pas- 
 tor has entered into life eternal. 
 
 Eelatives and friends of the deceased — can 
 you not heartily unite in this sentiment ? We 
 know, indeed, that your hearts bleed— that 
 your sorrow is deep — your affliction over- 
 whelming, especially when you think of the 
 bereavementyou have suffered. But think of the 
 scenes of which I have spoken, — of the rewards 
 to which your beloved has gone ! What 
 higher honors, what greater and more enduring 
 good, could you ask for him ! With him all 
 evils are at an end, and pure and perfect hap- 
 piness is enjoyed. And it is to be continued 
 for ever. 
 
SERMON. 189 
 
 " Lo ! the prisoner is released, 
 Lightened of his fleshly load ; 
 "Where the weary are at rest, 
 He is gathered unto God I 
 Lo I the pain of life is past, 
 All his warfare now is o'er ; 
 Death and hell behind are cast, 
 Grief and suffering are no more. 
 Yes, the Christian's course is run, 
 Ended is the glorious strife ; 
 Fought the fight, the work is done, 
 Death is swallowed up of life I 
 Borne by angels on their wings, 
 Far from earth the spirit flies, 
 Finds his God, and sits and sings, 
 Triumphing in Paradise." 
 
 From this delightful view of the state of the 
 believers in Christ after death — and we confi- 
 dently believe that he whom you now mourn is 
 in the enjoyment of it — you may derive much 
 consolation. But let me remind you that there is 
 a sure and unfailing source of support to which 
 you may always repair, and have all your 
 
190 SERMON. 
 
 griefs assuaged. The Saviour has been mani- 
 fested in the flesh, that he might sympathize 
 with his people. Go, therefore, to him, cast all 
 your burdens on him, for he careth for you. 
 Trust in him, and he will not only sustain and 
 comfort you, but this dark, perplexing and 
 crushing dispensation, which baffles all your 
 attempts now to understand, he will most cer- 
 tainly enable you to comprehend hereafter. 
 To him, and to the word of his grace, I com- 
 mend you ; praying that he will, through this 
 life, support and comfort you, and when it 
 shall be ended, an entrance may be ministered 
 to you abundantly, into his everlasting king- 
 dom with exceeding joy. 
 
 Brethren of the ministry ! How loud the 
 appeal, how solemn the language of this be- 
 reavement to us! With what urgency and 
 power does it admonish us to be active, ear- 
 nest, and diligent in our work ! We may be 
 
SERMON. 191 
 
 near the close of our earthly service ! But a 
 few weeks since, our lamented brother trod the 
 streets of this city with a firm and vigorous 
 step, proclaimed with strong and healthful 
 voice the truths of the gospel in this desk, and 
 took part in all the activities of life, as we do 
 this day. But he has ended his course. It 
 has pleased the Master suddenly to withdraw 
 him — to call him to his reward. Let us, 
 therefore, be vigilant. Let us do with our 
 might whatsoever our hands find to do, that 
 when called to render the account of our stew- 
 ardship, it may be said to us individually by 
 our divine Lord and Master, — 
 
 " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; 
 thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things : enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 3 1880. 
 
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