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A DISCOURSE 
 
 IN >iL 
 
 iHcmcvi) of 
 
 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER, D.D., LL.D, 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE L. PRENTISS, 
 
 PASTOR OP TUE CHUKCH OF THE COVENANT. 
 
 on ^v dv7]p dyadbg kol TTA?/p7/f Uvevj-iarog dyiov koI niareug, 
 
 —Acts, XI. SM. 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 
 
 770 Broadway, cor. gth Street. 
 NEW YORK: 
 
TJiis Discourse was delivered in the Madison 
 Square Presbyteriatt Church, New York, on Sabbath 
 Evening, May 7, 1871, and is now published, by re- 
 quest of the Board of Directors and Faculty of 
 the Union- Theological Seminary. It was also re- 
 peated at Chicago, on the eveiiing of May 2^th, before 
 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Chtcrch, 
 by the unanimoiis request of that venerable body. An 
 Appendix has been added, in which will be found 
 some account of the Funeral, the Addresses made on 
 that occasion, and other matter illustrative of the life 
 
 and character of Dr. Skinner. 
 
 G. L. p. 
 
THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 I ESTEEM it a rare privilege to speak to you to-night 
 in memory of the eminent servant of God, who, on 
 the first day of February last, beloved and Venerated 
 by us all, departed to be with Christ. His life covered 
 the wide space of almost fourscore years, nearly sixty 
 of which were spent in the public service of his Mas- 
 ter. Whether considered by itself as an example of the 
 beauty of Christian holiness, or in its relations with one 
 of the most remarkable periods in the history of the 
 American Church, it is full of interest and instruction. 
 I shall lose no time, therefore, in the way of introduc- 
 tion, but proceed at once to the weighty and grate- 
 ful task assigned me. 
 
 HIS BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 Thomas Harvey Skinner, son of Joshua and 
 Martha Ann Skinner, was born at Harvey's Neck, 
 Perquimons Co., N. C, March 7, 1791. He was the 
 seventh of thirteen children. The plain dwelling, in 
 which he first saw the light, was long since re- 
 moved by the ever-encroaching waves of Albe- 
 marle Sound. The Neck had been the seat of Gov- 
 >^ ernor Harvey, whose descendants were now its chief 
 
 Is 
 
6 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER- 
 
 occupants ; its society was gay and cultivated, and it 
 had natural attractions fitted to make a lasting impres- 
 sion upon the mind of a sensitive boy. The neigh- 
 boring woods still abbunded with deer and other 
 game, and immense flocks of swans and wild geese 
 swam on the waters both of the sound and of the 
 beautiful Perquimons river, feeding on a sweet grass 
 which then grew on the bottom. When an old man, 
 Dr. Skinner still paid an annual visit to this home of 
 his childhood, and fondly cherished its pleasant me- 
 mories. The domestic influences in the midst of which 
 he was trained were of the best sort. His parents he 
 described as simple and plain in their mode of life, 
 dij?''pguished for their probity, hospitality and kind- 
 ness to the poor, beloved and honored by the commu- 
 nity, pious and strict in the training and education of 
 their children. His father was by birth a Quaker; 
 his mother was an Episcopalian. After their mar- 
 riage they became members of the Baptist Church, 
 under the faithful ministry of the Rev. M. Ross. They 
 were both bright examples of spiritual religion, and 
 died in faith and in peace. Their house was much 
 frequented by religious persons, and especially by 
 preachers. It had been furnished as a church, and 
 three Sabbaths out of four the father himself conducted 
 public worship in it ; the fourth Sabbath he and his 
 family attended a monthly service in the church, twelve 
 miles distant. He did not preach ; he prayed with 
 the people, read the Scriptures to them, and read also 
 
AT SCHOOL. 7 
 
 a sermon, generally one of the village sermons or one 
 of President Davies' ; he united exhortation with the 
 reading; his children conducted the music. It is not 
 strange that God blessed his family greatly, and^ made 
 him a blessing to his neighbors. Of his thirteen chil- 
 dren, twelve reached full age, married and were pros- 
 perous. Two of them, a brother and a sister, still 
 survive at a veiy advanced age. 
 
 AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Mr. Skinner employed a school-master, of the name 
 of Bailey, in his own house, the neighbors being al- 
 lowed to send their children also. Under this tutor 
 Thomas was placed at a very early age. Master B 'ey 
 was proud of him as a pupil, and boasted of him after 
 he had left the school as a great proficient under his 
 teaching. After having attended awhile two other 
 schools, he was sent to Edenton Academy, then under 
 the care of Mr. Metcalf, an excellent teacher, to whom 
 he at once became affectionately attached, and whose 
 death soon after greatly afflicted and perplexed him. 
 " When I saw his grave, I still had the thought that 
 he must come out of it and be again with us at the 
 academy." Upon the death of Master Metcalf, he 
 passed under the care of Dr. Freeman, who taught 
 him Latin and Greek. He made such rapid progress 
 in his studies, that his eldest brother, Joseph, who was 
 practicing law at Edenton, resolved to take his future 
 training under his own direction ; Dr. Freeman was 
 
8 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 to qualify him for Princeton, and Princeton was to 
 qualify him to be a student of law. This was late 
 in 1804, when he was thirteen years old. He had 
 been Hving in the family of his uncle John, but was 
 now adopted into that of his brother, under whose 
 roof he remained three years. " I became " — so he 
 wrote more than sixty years later — " as his son. 
 Though himself a young man, he had no equal at the 
 bar ; and for intelligence, and talents, and general in- 
 fluence, scarcely any one in the community was his 
 equal. He had married in a family of the highest 
 position a lady of culture and refinement. Her 
 mother, Mrs. Lowther, was a descendant of Governor 
 Eden, the loveliest, most beautiful, most interesting 
 of women. In this family I was a favorite. I re- 
 mained in it, loved and loving, till I completed my 
 course at the Academy. Greater advantages for the 
 culture of mind and manners I could hardly have 
 desired." 
 
 AT COLLEGE. 
 
 Let us follow him now to Princeton. He entered 
 Nassau Hall in September, 1807, joining the junior 
 class. This he regarded in later years as a serious mis- 
 take. He had been taught Greek very superficially, 
 and had to make up a deficiency in this language. He 
 should, he said, have joined the sophomore class. In 
 his second term, under the tuition of Dr. Maclean, he 
 began to be conscious of having a gift for mathemat- 
 ics — a consciousness he found " unspeakably agreeable," 
 
A STUDENT OF LAW. 9 
 
 and which seems to have aroused his whole intellectual 
 beino- to a new life. He conducted himself as a stud- 
 ent in the most exemplary manner, being almost nev- 
 er absent from prayers, recitation, or any college ex- 
 ercise, during his entire course. He was supremely 
 desirous of reciting w^ell, and ambitious of a high posi- 
 tion in the class, as also of the approbation and favor 
 of the faculty. At the graduation he shared with 
 several others the second honor— a high distinction in 
 one so young, and so imperfectly qualified at the be- 
 ginning. 
 
 A STUDENT OF LAW AT EDENTON. 
 
 On his return to Edenton he was welcomed with 
 
 open arms by the happy family, which had parted with 
 
 him two years before. "My dear brothers pleasure 
 
 was at its utmost height and unbounded ; I never saw 
 
 a more delighted person. His love to me seemed to 
 
 the last degree inventive of means of expression. Had 
 
 I been his only son, his complacency in me could not 
 
 have been more demonstrative. Never can I forget 
 
 his noble, generous, irrepressible sympathy. It was 
 
 not from the impulse of the moment ; it was no less solid 
 
 and lasting, and full of expedients for my highest 
 
 w^orldly advancement, than lively and exuberant. 
 
 After a thrfce happy visit to my parents, and brothers, 
 
 and sisters at Harvey's Point, I returned to Edenton 
 
 to commence a law-student, under his training." He 
 
 continued in his brother's office until the spring of 
 
10 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 iSii — a space of about eighteen months. This was 
 an exceedingly interesting period of his life. His own 
 reminiscences of it were full of delight. The stimulus 
 to intellectual activity was intense. He not only pur- 
 sued with diligence his legal studies, and performed 
 faithfully the duties of Clerk of the Superior Court — 
 a place early obtained for him by his brother — but he 
 was ambitious to excel in other directions ; he even 
 wrote and published verses. The social influences that 
 surrounded him were fascinating and potent in the 
 highest degree. Some of the most charming and 
 cultivated families of the old North State had their 
 homes in Edenton. The pleasures of its social life, 
 indeed, according to his own account, were very ex- 
 cessive and hindered him not a little in his professional 
 studies. 
 
 HIS CONVERSION. 
 
 But the hour now approached when social pleasures 
 and the honors of his chosen profession were alike to 
 lose their power over him. God was about to call him 
 to a higher life. His parents, as we have seen, were de- 
 voted Christians ; and at times the pious atmosphere 
 and customs of the family seem to have excited in him 
 serious thoughts; but it was only for the moment. 
 He describes himself as growing in alienation from 
 God as he grew in years. Neither at the Academy nor 
 at Princeton did he remember to have been under any 
 religious impressions. The whole spirit of college 
 
HIS CONVERSION. II 
 
 society and sentiment was intensely sensuous and 
 worldly; while few of the students were avowed 
 sceptics, almost every one was a practical atheist. " I 
 left college full to overflow of animal, intellectual, 
 social life, but alienated wholly and fearfully from the 
 life of God, through heart ignorance and blindness.' 
 And in this state he continued until the spring of i8i i, 
 when he was on the eve of admission to the bar. It 
 w^ould be wrong to depict the change which now came 
 over him, and over his whole plan of life, in any other 
 than his own exact words : 
 
 " A missionary had come to Edenton ; he lodged with 
 a friend whom I called to see on Saturday. The mission- 
 ary, (the Rev. B. H. Rice,) was with us in the parlor. 
 Repulsed by his conversation, and wished him anywhere 
 else than there. The next day he was to preach in the 
 Episcopal church. I heard him with interest greater 
 than I had ever felt in church. In the evening heard him 
 ao-ain at the Methodist church, (' ^Vhat shall it profit a 
 
 O 
 
 mail, etc:) Almost overwhelmed vvith emotion; said to 
 myself, ' Almost thou'persuadest me to be a Christian.' I 
 could not sleep till I had done, what I kno^v not that I 
 had done before : knelt in solemn prayer to God. In the 
 morning, before I was out of bed, the servant who at- 
 tended to my room, announced to me the tidings which 
 had just reached the town, that my brother John had 
 perished by shipwreck! Next to my eldest brother, 
 there was not one of my father's sons more loved and de- 
 lighted in as a youth of rare promise than he ; in mind he 
 was scarcely my eldest brother's inferior. Inexpressibly 
 strong and affectionate was my attachment to him. My 
 
12 THOMAS HARVEY SKIXNER. 
 
 brother, my incomparable brother John drowned ! Ter- 
 rible, astounding fact ! It shook me to the very centre of 
 my life; coming so close upon nightly ' impressions 
 received from preaching, it enforced those impressions. 
 Religion became at once my only concern. My brother 
 (J. B. S.) was from home attending court. A week or 
 more elapsed before he returned. It was to me a week 
 of absorption in religious anxiet}^ ; night and day, I was 
 praying, reading the Bible, etc.; with constant increase of 
 religious concern. I could attend earnestly to nothing 
 but the salvation of my soul. . . . Near the end of 
 the week there was a transition in my feeling, which I 
 took as hopeful ; Scripture had a new face, one passage 
 (Is. 43 : 2.) wa's inexpressibly consoling to me, the face of 
 the world was new to me ; a mild glory was diffused over 
 all nature. I had no distinctness of spiritual perception ; 
 no vivid apprehension of Christ as a Saviour ; no per- 
 suasion that I was converted ; but in a vague sense, at 
 least, old things had passed away, and all things had be- 
 come new. Was full of peace without clear views of 
 evangelical truth, until a minister of the Gospel (the Rev. 
 Mr. Woodbery) who had heard something of what had 
 happened to me, called to see me, and after some conver- 
 sation with me, told me that he thought I was a Christian. 
 I became unhappy ; the question of my conversion had 
 not been in my thought ; I now began to consider it, and 
 was filled with misgiving ; I could not think the signs of 
 true conversion were with me; I did not know what were 
 such signs ; I was full of anxiety about myself, anxiety 
 which did not soon leave me. I attended all the religious 
 meetings ; I thought of nothing but religion ; I had plea- 
 sure in them. A hymn was sweetly sung at one of them. 
 
INTERVIEW WITH HIS BROTHER. 1 3 
 
 (" Hark, m}' soul, it is the Lord,") which I heard with 
 singular interest. I was open and fearless in professing 
 myself exercised with religious concern ; did not ask 
 what my friends would think of me ; was aggressive toward 
 them rather than defensive of myself. But generally I 
 was»not at rest in myself; could not assure myself that I 
 had become a Christian." 
 
 He then describes his interview with his brother : 
 
 " It was a trial severe beyond example in my life. 
 Wished to anticipate reports from others, by informing 
 him myself of the change which had passed over me. He 
 was afflicted by brother John's death, as deepl}^, perhaps, 
 as myself, but in no degree religiously. He heard my 
 recital with astonishment ; I wonder even at this day that 
 
 I was able to give it to him I said to him, 
 
 ' Don't suppose that, as a matter of course, I am to aban- 
 don the study of the Law ; I see no inconsistency between 
 the practice of the Law and a religious life.' He made 
 no answer; but seemed profoundly sad, prospecting, 
 doubtless, the end which came. He would talk with me 
 no longer. There was henceforth much diversity in his 
 manner toward me. Sometimes he was severe ; I was to 
 be 'a Methodist circuit-rider, going about the country 
 Avith horse and saddle-bags.' Sometimes he was the ideal 
 of kindness and gentleness : ' Divinity and Law were 
 allies; study Divinity if you will ; Hooker's Ecclesiastical 
 Polity was a noble Law-book ; go abroad if you will, and 
 perfect yourself in a Divinity School, then return and 
 complete your Law course ; you will be all the better ac- 
 complished f6r the bar.' Dearest brother, what was it in 
 me that made my actual course a possibiHty? All men 
 
14 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 collectively were as nothing to me compared with this 
 man. What a mystery to me that I could set myself as I 
 did against comphance with his disinterested views and 
 wishes and proposals, for my advancement in the world ! 
 If my determination was from aught else than the sover- 
 eignty of the Divine Will, the operation of the Holy 
 Spirit within me, it was but proof of perverseness and the 
 basest ingratitude ! Infinitely far from this was it in- 
 tentionally or consciously. Rather would I have dis- 
 pleased all mankind than this one man. 
 
 " Five or six weeks passed before I left him. I was not 
 fully satisfied that I had become a Christian. Religious 
 concern was exclusive of every rival feeling. I assumed 
 that all my intimate acquaintances and associates sympa- 
 thized with me ; or that if they did not, it was to their 
 disadvantage. As well as I can remember I had not a 
 single thought of what I might lose of worldly good ; 
 all loss from leading a rehgious life was gain ; all good 
 was comprehended in religion. But the question, notwith- 
 standing, was not settled. Was I a Christian ? I began 
 to search into the signs of conversion ; I read Whitefield's 
 Sermons; I read Edwards on the Affections; I prayed 
 for light from above ; at one time I almost thought my- 
 self assured, but my doubts returned, and I think I was 
 never absolutely without them when I put the question 
 closely to myself. I made it an objection to my piety, 
 that I had not been vividly and definitely enlightened as 
 to the way of salvation. A passage in Edwards consoled 
 me with the hope that my views on this subject would 
 gradually become more satisfactory ; but though general- 
 ly happy, and immovable in my purpose, I was not cer- 
 tain as to the genuineness of my change." 
 
DECIDES TO STUDY DIVINITY. 1 5 
 
 He then gives an interesting account of his diffi- 
 culties on the subject of pedo-baptism : 
 
 " I became too much agitated internally to weigh evi- 
 dence ; I could not decide absolutely, pro or con, about 
 it. There was to be a public baptism in Edenton, by 
 Uncle Ross, as we called him. About the time of my 
 conversion there was an awakening in the place ; seven- 
 teen persons, the fruit of it, were to be immersed. The 
 day arrived, a mild and sweet Sabbath day ; I heard the 
 preliminary sermon ; and went with the solemn procession 
 to the water ; they sang hymns as they went ; I felt the 
 sanctity and holy beauty of the service; with unutterable 
 emotion I saw the baptism performed; the scene was 
 heavenly, ' Was not this Baptism indeed ; the true primi- 
 tive Baptism ?' Had I felt assured that it was so exclusive- 
 ly, how gladly should I have been immersed that day ! 
 But I did not feel this assurance. From the place I re- 
 tired into a wood in the neighborhood, and there under 
 the trees, I prayed for divine illumination. Arose from 
 prayer with profound tranquillity of spirit ; neither assured 
 nor unassured, but in a frame of soul to which calm re- 
 flection was practicable. My scrupulosity was in abey- 
 ance ; I reviewed the subject, and was at rest as to my 
 personal baptism. Had I not been baptized I might have 
 become a candidate for immersion ; but re-baptism was 
 unnecessary, and therefore inexpedient and improper. 
 Thus ended my scruples." 
 
 A STUDENT OF DIVINITY. 
 
 The next question was, " Shall I change my calling ?" 
 He soon solved it by making up his mind to acquire, 
 
1 6 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 by the will of God, a theological education, and be- 
 come a Presbyterian minister of the Gospel. In pur- 
 suance of this design, he came to Philadelphia late in 
 the spring of 1 8 1 1 , with the view of putting himself 
 under the care of the celebrated Dr. Ashbel Green ; 
 but Dr. Green, on account of the multitude of his 
 labors, declined the request of the youthful applicant, 
 advising him to go to Andover, or else to Princeton, 
 where President Smith was teaching a theological 
 class. He decided in favor of Princeton, and soon 
 after going there joined the Presbyterian church of the 
 place. Among his friends at Princeton was Mr. 
 Scudder, afterwards the distinguished missionary, with 
 whom he had much sweet Christian fellowship. In the 
 autumn of the same year, he was induced to go to 
 Savannah, Ga., where he passed the winter in studying 
 under the eloquent Dr. Henry Kollock. Wm. A. 
 (afterwards Dr.) McDowell, one of his theological 
 classmates at Princeton, was with him also at Savan- 
 nah. Dr. Kollock's instruction was not of much ad- 
 vantage to him. In the spring of 1812, he came to 
 Elizabethtown, N. J., having accepted the friendly in- 
 vitation of Rev. (afterwards Dr.) John McDowell to 
 become a member of his family and his theological 
 pupil. He remained under the roof of this admirable 
 man for seven months ; and in after years, even to old 
 age, he recurred to this period of his life with the ut- 
 most satisfaction and thankfulness. Probably there 
 was at that time no Presbyterian minister in the whole 
 
AT ELIZABETIITOWN. I 7 
 
 country, with whom he could have studied to more 
 advantage. Besides being one of the best preachers 
 of his day, Dr. McDowell was a model of pastoral care 
 and faithfulness ; his piety was as wise and tender as it 
 was earnest ; rare domestic virtues rendered his home 
 a sweet and hallowed place. In the bosom of this 
 lovely Christian family, he was not merely the student 
 of divinity ; here he learned also how a good man can 
 bear affliction, and illustrate the cheerful submission, 
 patience, and gentleness of the Gospel. 
 
 While pursuing his studies at Elizabethtown, he 
 took an active part in the religious meetings of the 
 place. The Rev. Dr. Hatfield has kindly furnished me 
 with extracts from an old diary kept by an officer of 
 Dr. McDowell's church, which bear witness on this 
 point. Let me read some passages : 
 
 Aug. 9, 1 812. — " In evening at Adelphian Society. The 
 assembly was so great, although I was in pretty good 
 season, I could get only in the entry. Mr. Skinner read 
 Edwards' sermon on the punishment of the wicked." 
 Aug. 16. — "In evening at Adelphian Academy; a full 
 house. Mr. Skinner read Davies' sermon on lukewarm- 
 ness in religion." Sept. 6. — "In evening, Mr. Skinner 
 read ^Nlr. Whitefield's sermon. Lord, Lord, open to iisy 
 Sept. 13. — "In forenoon, heard Mr. Skinner read Mr. Ed- 
 wards' sermon from ' Their feet shall slide in due time.' 
 p. M. Heard Mr. Skinner read a sermon from ' Rejoice not 
 that the devils are subject to you,' " etc., etc. 
 
 Tuesday evening, Oct. 13. — "At society at R. Price's. 
 Rev. Wm. A. McDowell, Mr. Skinner, and EHhu Price 
 2 
 
1 8 THOMAS HARVEY SKIXXER. 
 
 spoke. A solemn meeting." Sab., Oct. 25. — " In even- 
 ing went with Mr. Skinner to the black societ}- in African 
 street. I spoke after him from the 55th chapter of 
 Isaiah." Sab., Dec. 13. — " In evening, at Society Adel- 
 phian Academy. Mr. Skinner read Davies' sermon. Mr. 
 McDowell spoke; afterward Mr. Skinner, from ' What 
 think ye of Christ?' applied to all." 
 
 IS LICENSED AND BEGINS TO PREACH. 
 
 On the following Wednesday, December 16, 181 2, 
 he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presby- 
 tery at Morristown. He came to Newark with 
 Rev. (afterwards Dr.) Richards on the afternoon of 
 the same day, and in the evening preached his first 
 sermon, in the First Presbyterian Church, from the 
 text, Luke 12: 32. Fear not, little flock, etc., etc. 
 The ride from Morristown to Newark on this winter 
 afternoon almost cost him his life. He contracted a 
 cold, which settled upon his lungs, and before the close 
 of another year brought him to the verge of the grave. 
 But nothing, at that time, could dampen the ardor of 
 his spirit. 
 
 Friday, Dec. 18 (I quote again the old diary). — "At 
 Academ3^ Mr. Skinner spoke for the first time on the 
 jailor. A crowded house." Sab., Dec. 20, A. M. — Mr. 
 Skinner, from Matthew 27 : <S-j. ' Who also himself was 
 Jesus' disciple.' He described the character of a Chris- 
 tian: I. He is born again. 2. Repenteth of his sins. 3. 
 Belie vcth in Christ. 4. Lovcth God supremely. 5. Lov- 
 eth his neighbor. 6. Has the same mind in him, viz., 
 
TREACIIES IN WASHINGTON. 1 9 
 
 humble, obedient, etc., etc. 7. Is not conformed to the 
 world ; hateth sin." Tuesday, Dec. 22. — At R. Price's. 
 Mr. Condit preached. Mr. Skinner and Mr. McDow- 
 ell spoke afterwards. Meeting solemn." 
 
 He now set out on his return to the South. The 
 last Sabbath in December he passed in Philadelphia, 
 preaching in the Tabernacle, Ranstead's Court, for the 
 Rev. Mr. Joyce. It was an obscure place, but his 
 name had already become known ; and after the ser- 
 mon he was waited upon by representatives of the 
 powerful Second Church, Arch street corner of Third, 
 who urged him to preach for them on the next Sun- 
 day, January 2, 1813. He consented to do so, and 
 this was his first introduction to the congregation of 
 which he was soon to become a pastor. After preach- 
 ing here several weeks, he resumed his journey home- 
 ward. The first Sabbath in Februaiy he spent in 
 Washington ; and an extract from the memoir of Dr. 
 James Milnor, the reVered rector of St. George's 
 Church in this city, who w^as then a member of Con- 
 gress, wnll show how he spent it : 
 
 " His next letter contains an account of a visit to AVash- 
 ington, on his way from Philadelphia southward, of a 
 young Presbyterian preacher, the Rev. JNIr. Skinner, who 
 brought him a letter of introduction from Mr. Bradford, 
 and whose eloquent and faithful preaching at the capital 
 left a deep and most salutary impression. Mr. Milnor 
 thus narrates two incidents connected with this visit : 
 'Feb. 8, 1813. — An amiable friend of mine' — apparently a 
 
20 THOMAS HARVEY SKINXER. 
 
 fellow-member of Congress — ' who would have been much 
 offended to be told he was not a believer, was frank enough 
 to acknowledge to me that he went home after morning 
 service, retired to his chamber, and wept bitterly at the re- 
 flection that, at the age of fifty, this young stripling should 
 have so laid open his deformities, and set before him truths 
 to which he had so long been experimentall}^ a stranger. 
 A conversation held with him to-day induces me to be- 
 lieve that an abiding impression has been made upon his 
 mind. On Sunda}^ afternoon, at the close of service, a 
 lady who had been much affected went to speak to Mr. 
 Skinner ; but her teai^s choked her utterance, and she 
 withdrew.' "* 
 
 I think you will agree with me that this record not 
 only shows his early zeal and pungency as a preacher, 
 but betokens also the depth and power of his early 
 religious experience. He was still in his twenty- 
 second year, and had been converted less than two 
 years, when his preaching arrested such attention in 
 the gay and thoughtless capita] of the nation. 
 
 IS ORDAINED PASTOR OF THE SECOND CHURCH IN 
 THILADELPHIA. 
 
 After visiting his friends in North Carolina, he re- 
 turned to Philadelphia, and on the loth of June, 1813, 
 was ordained co-pastor with Dr. Janeway of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church, Arch street. In this position 
 he remained three years and four months. It was the 
 most trying period of his ministerial life. The religious 
 
 * Memoir of Dr. Milnor, pp. 142-3, 
 
THEOLOGICAL CONTENTIONS. 21 
 
 atmosphere was charged with suspicion and strife. 
 DitTerences of opinion about abiHty, about the use of 
 means and measures, about the question whether men 
 ought to be addressed as saints, sinners and seekers, or 
 only as saints and sinners, about unregenerate praying, 
 lay-exertion, or " lay-preaching," as it was called, and 
 other points, began to agitate the community and to 
 array the Presbyterian ministers and churches on op- 
 posite sides. This is not the place to go into the his- 
 toiy of these sharp contentions. They raged for several 
 years with a violence which seems to us now scarcely 
 credible. The most eminent clergymen and laymen of 
 the Church took part in them, they were talked about 
 at the corners of the streets, and the meetings of Pres- 
 bytery and Synod were sometimes wrought up by 
 them to a high pitch of excitement. It was not in the 
 ardent nature of the junior pastor of the Second Church 
 to act the part of a neutral at such a moment. Indeed, 
 a change in his own views seems to have been, in part, 
 the occasion of the conflict. He accordingly threw 
 himself into it v/ith his whole heart. He became one 
 of its leaders and fouo-ht the battle with the dashinc: 
 energy and courage of a youthful hero. Dr. Green, 
 now President of Nassau Hall, Dr. Janeway, and many 
 of the most influential members of his church were 
 against him ; Rev. James Patterson, the fervid evange- 
 list. Dr. James P.Wilson, a master in the Presbyterian 
 Israel, and another portion of the Church were for him. 
 But he was not happy ; he felt himself in the wrong 
 
22 THO-Mx^.S HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 place ; the ruling influences were not friendly to him ; 
 and in November, 1816, the Presbytery dissolved his 
 co-pastoral relation with the Second Church. I have 
 alluded to a change in his theological views. 
 
 " I became (he says) an Edwardean, though not, as was 
 charged on me, a Hopkinsiaii, in doctrine. Not opposition 
 to Edwards, but vagueness and indistinctness about the 
 nature of virtue and the freedom of the will, had appeared 
 in my preaching. ]My theological training was defective. 
 I preached confusedly and incoherently on the means of 
 grace. I encouraged and urged unregenerate praying, 
 or waiting for the Spirit. I did not understand, that 
 though the simple movements of nature are to be stimu- 
 lated, no delay of repentance should be admitted ; that 
 holy affections and actions should instantaneously follow 
 thought on their objects ; that impenitence after this 
 thought is aggravated rebellion. Through acquaintance 
 and conversation with such men as Dr. Richards, Dr. 
 Griffin, Dr. Payson, and especially with Dr. S. H. Cox, 
 (now a student in Philadelphia, full of intelligence, bright- 
 ness, and zeal,) I became reflectiv^e on myself as a preach- _ 
 er, and saw, as in a sunbeam, the error of my way. My 
 preaching on the doings of unregeneracy was revolution- 
 ized; my 'new light' filled it. It was not yet pure or 
 complete in its radiance ; had it been, perhaps the conse- 
 quences which followed, might not have had place ; but 
 such as it was, I imparted it without restraint ; I could 
 not forbear ; to make any allowance to impenitence after 
 the hearing of the gospel, was to be myself dislo3^al to 
 truth and grace. I protested against it with the utmost 
 of my strength. * - * I wrote a piece on the subject 
 
FIRST TASTORATE IN nilLADELPIIIA. 25 
 
 which made my preaching so troublesome ; and on its 
 appearance in one of the papers, Dr. Alexander, of Prince- 
 ton, not knowing its author, pronounced it just. And at 
 the request of Professor Hodge, I ampHfied it for pubHca- 
 tion in the Princeton Repertory, where it may be seen. 
 But my thoughts on it, at first, were not perfect, though 
 on the way to perfection ; I was right in condemning the 
 doings of the unregenerate ; I was defective in not dis- 
 criminating between them, and the exercises of simple 
 nature which are generally in order to those of personal 
 holiness." 
 
 Nearly fifty years later he passed his own judgment 
 upon his first pastorate in Philadelphia. It is a gem 
 of Christian humility, candor, and magnanimity. Let 
 me quote a few sentences : 
 
 " A retrospect of my ministry in the Second Presby- 
 terian Church from my present standpoint in time con- 
 vinces me of uncommon imperfection in it, from first to 
 last. I fear I was in ' rash haste ' to undertake it. But 
 two years and four months had passed, from the date ot 
 my conversion ; I was in the early part of my twenty- 
 second year ; the church was among the first, if not the 
 first of all, of the Presbyterian order; m}'- predecessor 
 was a patriarch and ruler in it, of high distinction. I had 
 indeed a coadjutor, and this was urged as a reason which 
 might well be decisive. But, nevertheless, my accepting 
 the call was a great venture; and that the result was not 
 my ruin, was of the amazing grace of God. How ought 
 I to praise Him that I escaped from the severe ordeal to 
 serve Him, in the ministry, for nearly half a century after- 
 Avards ! " 
 
24 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 If he had been the only pastor, and had not been 
 interfered with from without, the change in his preach- 
 ing would not, he thinks, have displaced him ; but the 
 unfriendly influences he had to work under, made him 
 too " erect and indignant." 
 
 " My preaching was positive, unpliablc, authoritative, 
 heedless of its bearing on my position ; there was too 
 much of severity and terror in it, too much of rough deal- 
 ing with the old doctrine about unregenerate prayers, 
 waiting, etc. ; too little consideration of my youth and ex- 
 perience ; too little unction and gentleness." 
 
 HIS PASTORATE IN LOCUST STREET. 
 
 Soon after his dismission from the Second Church 
 he accepted a call to the Fifth Presbyterian Church, 
 in Locust street ; its pastor, the Rev. J. K. Burch, hav- 
 ing just resigned. He was installed December i, 1816. 
 And now began the second period of his ministry in 
 Philadelphia ; a period in extreme contrast with the 
 first. The church in Arch street ranked among the 
 foremost in all the land for intelligence, character, 
 wealth, orthodoxy, and influence ; its voice was poten- 
 tial in ecclesiastical affairs. The church in Locust 
 street was hardly known, even in its own city ; its 
 membership was small, poor, and without the slightest 
 pretension to culture of any sort ; its meeting-house, 
 a wretched, unsightly building, liable to be blown 
 down by the first storm, in an obscure out-of-the-way 
 place, and burdened with a debt exceeding its value. 
 
HIS PASTORATE IX LOCUST STREET. 25 
 
 Into this valley of humiliation the successor of Dr. 
 Green, in the Second Church, went down in company 
 with about seventy of his old flock, who refused to 
 part from him. They expected to stay in Locust 
 street only a short time ; but they stayed there in fact 
 more than six years. They fell into the error which 
 has often been committed. They tried to unite uncon- 
 genial elements, and build up a vigorous church out 
 of an old, enfeebled organization. It would have been 
 much better had they formed a new church out of the 
 new homogeneous materials. The consequence of this 
 mistake was that the Locust street people, very different- 
 ly trained, and belonging to another sphere in life, did 
 not coalesce with those who came from Arch street. 
 Numbers of them left and joined themselves to their 
 former pastor, who had meanwhile returned to the 
 city. The disadvantages and trials of the situation 
 were insuperable, and they increased from month to 
 month. For some years almost no salary was paid ; 
 people who liked the preaching did not like it well 
 enough to identify themselves with such a sinking, 
 hopeless cause. The whole movement seemed from 
 first to last to be only a dead failure. The crisis at 
 length approached, when it would be necessary to sell 
 the building in order to pay arrears for ground-rent. 
 
 About this time the Presbyterian church in New 
 Orleans, whose pulpit had been made vacant by the 
 death of the youthful and eloquent Sylvester Larned, 
 called the pastor of the Locust street church to take 
 
26 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 his place. He declined the call on condition that 
 another edifice should be built for him in a better 
 locality. This was agreed to. Providence signally 
 favored the undertaking; and on June 8, 1823, the 
 new house of worship on Arch street, near Tenth, 
 was dedicated, Dr. Miller, of Princeton, preaching the 
 sermon. 
 
 And now let me give you some of Dr. Skinner's 
 own reflections on this portion of his ministerial life : 
 
 " I was far happier and of better courage than I had 
 been ; and, on the whole, my mistake, if I made one, 
 turned out to my unspeakable advantage. I had ac- 
 quired, through the influence of m}^ new theological 
 views, an independence and energy of thinking, and an 
 ability and delight in preaching, to which I was profound- 
 ly a stranger before. M}^ preaching had been meagre, 
 commonplace, superficial ; it had troubled no one ; it was 
 genera'.ly acceptable, but it required on my part little vig- 
 or of thought, and neither presupposed nor promised im- 
 provement ; it was becoming irksome ; it made no use of 
 the infinite affluence of theology ; it had little to do with 
 the mines of the Inspired Word ; its material was what 
 lay on the surface, it had been used again and again ; 
 and it almost seemed that nothing new was left ; that I 
 had nearly exhausted the substantive matter of preach- 
 ing. New topics there were, but I had Httlc really new 
 to say about them. I fear my ministry would have cul- 
 minated in commonplace, but for the impulse it received 
 from the theological novelt}-, which cost mc my loss of 
 position. AU, however, was henceforth new in my work. 
 I became a thinker ; I threw off the incubus of servility 
 
HIS WORK IN ARCH STREET. 2/ 
 
 to tradition and ecclesiastical authority ; I revelled in the 
 consciousness of being m3'self ; I saw myself amidst infi- 
 nite treasures of divine knowledge and wisdom, wliich a 
 thousand lives would be too short to begin to appropriate. 
 My mind was aglow with interest ; its life and activity 
 could not be suppressed ; intense application became its 
 law, its habit, its unspeakable pleasure. Thus changed in 
 the inner man, I began my Locust street labors. My min- 
 istry there was the seed-time of that harvest which, by the 
 grace of God, I have been garnering up to the present 
 day. It was well attended by persons who did not join 
 the church — persons of intelligence and influence. It was 
 fruitful in the religious community. It prepared the way 
 for great success in the sequel of my Philadelphia course. 
 Having a small parish, I had time for study and writing. 
 I have made few discourses better than those which I 
 preached in this poor place." 
 
 HIS ARCH STREET LABORS. 
 
 We come now to the third and longest period of 
 his ministry in Philadelphia. He had fairly won his 
 way to a position of the highest personal and theolog- 
 ical influence. The day of his humiliation was past. 
 He was once more in Arch street, the sole pastor of 
 a strong and united church. His people w^ere devot- 
 edly attached to him, and the whole Christian commu- 
 nity held him in honor. A day of uncommon success 
 and spiritual prosperity had dav/ned. Soon after en- 
 tering the new sanctuary, he began a series of Sabbath 
 evening discourses upon the Sermon on the Mount. 
 Large crowds flocked to hear them. The course ran 
 
28 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 through a whole year, but the house was filled to the 
 last, and the interest rather increased than abated. No 
 sooner was this course finished, than he announced a 
 doctrinal series, with the design of acquainting the peo- 
 ple of Philadelphia, as far as he might be able to do so 
 in this way, with the dogmatic differences between 
 himself and those who had charged him with unsound- 
 ness in the faith. He took this step, not without mis- 
 giving, both in his own mind, and on the part of some 
 of his friends. There would be no more crowded as- 
 semblies to hear him, it was said. Sermons on doc- 
 trines ! Alas ! for such imprudence. But he was fixed 
 in his purpose. " Prejudice against doctrinal preach- 
 ing," was the subject of his first discourse. The house 
 was, if possible, fuller than ever. The next evening it 
 was crowded as before. The third evening it was still 
 filled to overflowing. And so on to the seventh, when 
 the subject was, " Original Sin." This sermon caused 
 some theological commotion, and led even to talk 
 about a trial for heresy ; but he was not molested. 
 " From this time and onward to the end of the 
 course, I doubt not the house would have been over- 
 full, if its capacity had been threefold larger. Such 
 ^eagerness to hear doctrinal preaching ! The course 
 was extended through six months. Its eff"ect was very 
 great, both upon the Presbyterian sentiment of the 
 city, and upon the Christian public at large. " The 
 doctrine I had preached was, for substance, reproduced 
 in the ministry of Mr. Patterson, a mighty revivalist, 
 
REVIVAL SCENES. 29 
 
 and a mighty man of God. Its reproach had rapidly 
 passed away, and my reproach with it. Testimonies 
 of confidence came to me from almost eveiy quarter. 
 The ministers of Newark, Dr. Richards, Dr. Griffm, 
 Dr. Spring, of New York, eminent ministers in New 
 England, in the West, near and remote, gave me warm 
 expressions of sympathy. I stood well with the Prince- 
 ton professors. I was made one of the Directors of the 
 seminary, Dr. Green nominating me to the Assembly for 
 the place. I had become popular. .... My preach- 
 ing was blest. It was the means of establishing and 
 extending what there was of peculiarity in my views. 
 It laid the foundation for large success in the eight 
 following years of my ministry in Philadelphia." 
 
 His labors during these eight years would afford 
 ample material for an entire volume. Should a full 
 account of them ever be published, it will be regarded, 
 I do not doubt, as one of the most striking chapters 
 in the annals of the American pulpit and pastoral ex- 
 perience. Richard Baxter, in the palmy days of his 
 Kidderminster ministry, could hardly have surpassed 
 him in abundance of preaching, or in intensity of zeal 
 and devotion to the work of saving souls. The period 
 was marked by scenes of spiritual refreshment and 
 power truly pentecostal. PI is own reminiscences of it 
 a third of a century later, were extremely vivid. How 
 his face shone, and how his eye beamed with the old 
 joy, as he recalled the years 1827, 1S30-1-2, and re- 
 hearsed the w^onderful works and manifestations of the 
 
30 THOMAS HARVEY SKIXNER. 
 
 Spirit of God, which rendered those years forever me- 
 morable. It was a time of ijreat revivals of relio-lon 
 all over the land. That of 183 1-2 was especially 
 powerful and wide-spread. How many of its converts 
 are still busy in the vineyard of the Lord ! • Dr. Skin- 
 ner threw his whole soul into the movement. He 
 held " protracted meetings," as they were termed, in his 
 own church, and even adopted two of the so-called 
 "new measures," although he was not, technically 
 speaking, " a new measure " man. One of the meas- 
 ures was to detain persons exercised under preaching, 
 after service, for further action with them ; the other, 
 a meeting for private inquiry on a future occasion. 
 His course, as to the former, comprised generally a 
 pointed address to the persons before him, a prayer in 
 which they were requested to indicate determination, 
 if they had formed it, by standing up ; and afterwards, 
 conversation with them individually. At the inquiry 
 meeting, he usually made an address to all present, 
 after which he conversed with them one by one, pass- 
 ing from place to place. He speaks of having seen 
 "wondrous results" from both these expedients, and 
 gives several instances. Flere is the first of them : 
 " One evening, after sermon, I invited those who re- 
 mained to come up to the desk before the pulpit. 
 A young man was in the galler}^ to whom a relig- 
 ious friend near him said, after the invitation had been 
 
 given, ' Now, T , is your time.' The young man 
 
 came from a distant seat, walked the whole length 
 
A REMARKABLE CONVERSION. 3I 
 
 of the middle aisle, under the intensely interested 
 notice of every eye ; and, behold, when he arrived at the 
 desk, his mother, coming from a neighboring pew, 
 took her stand by his side. The mother and son 
 joined the church. The son has been, for many years, 
 an eminent minister of the Gospel." 
 
 REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS. 
 
 During the revivals of 1827 and 1830-2, some very 
 striking conversions took place under his preaching. 
 One of them — that of the distinguished pastor of the 
 Broadway Tabernacle, in this city — has just been men- 
 tioned. Another was that of the late Wm. T. Dwight, 
 D. D., for many years pastor of the Third Congrega- 
 tional Church, in Portland, Me. — a man worthy of his 
 descent from the two most illustrious Presidents of 
 Yale and Nassau Hall, and, in his day, one of the 
 leading ministers of New England. Mr. Dwight was, 
 at the time, a lawyer in Philadelphia. He had already 
 won distinction at the bar and in the literary world. 
 Dr. Skinner has left on record a deeply interesting 
 account of his conversion."^ 
 
 " He was my hearer more than eleven years ; and the 
 anticipation of his presence in my audience vras always 
 to me a special stimulant and a regulative power in my 
 
 preparations for pulpit work. I think my 
 
 ministry was not spiritually profitable to him until the 
 
 * See Prof. Smyth's Sketch of the Life and Ministry of Dr. Dwight, 
 PP- 9-13- 
 
32 THOMAS HARVEY SKINXER. 
 
 spring- of 1 83 1. He was, so far as I know, more tender 
 to the personal bearing of divine truth, when he first 
 came to the city, than he was afterwards, until then. At 
 my interview with him, immediately after his arrival, he 
 desired me, with tears, to be faithful to him in pastoral 
 attentions; but when some years afterwards, at a season 
 of special awakening in the church, I conversed with him 
 intimately on the state of his soul, I thought some of my 
 remarks were scarcely welcome to him. He was re- 
 served and distant, and I soon withdrew. Perhaps my 
 manner was not altogether right, but I was quite dis- 
 couraged, and did not soon repeat this kind of conference 
 with him, and, probably, should never have done so, had 
 he not taken the initiative at his conversion. There was 
 a powerful revival of religion in the church when this oc- 
 curred. He had become engaged to be married to a 
 member of our communion, an eminently pious and esti- 
 mable young lady ; she became intensely anxious for him, 
 and not less so for herself, as espoused to a man whom 
 she regarded as unregenerate. She called on me to con- 
 fer with me about him, and about her duty in respect to 
 him. We had a Wednesday evening gathering, at which 
 there had been very remarkable manifestations of the 
 Holy Spirit's presence. Though I knew he was not in- 
 terested in night-meetings, and did not like such extem- 
 poraneous addresses as I was wont to make at them, I ad- 
 vised her to induce him, if possible, to attend this service, 
 and to keep a fast with reference to his conversion at it. 
 She followed my advice. At the next occasion of it, if I 
 remember well, Mr. Dwight was among the attendants , 
 he sat remotely from the desk, in the shade ; and I did 
 not see him until the preliminary devotions were finished ; 
 
EFFECT OF A WEEKLY LECTURE, 33 
 
 and I should, perhaps, not have noticed him, but for the 
 green spectacles which he wore to soften to his delicate 
 sight the brilliancy of the chandeliers by which the room 
 was lighted. I was startled with surprise, having forgot- 
 ten that I had given the advice to my young friend, of 
 which I have spoken, and never having seen him before, 
 I think, at a night-meeting ; but now it occurred to me, 
 v\-ith great force, as a motive and as implying an obliga- 
 tion to carry out, if possible, by the grace of God, the ob- 
 ject of it. It was on arising to speak that I first saw Mr. 
 Dw^ight. Instantly I determined, agitated as I wms with 
 concern, to make my remarks bear directly on the single 
 point of his being, through the power of the Spirit, here 
 and now brought to Christ. I believe God enabled me 
 to form the determination, and assisted me in fulfilling it. 
 INIy impromptu address was short ; but, though I knew 
 not this till the third day afterwards, it was eflectual. 
 We had a meeting the ensuing Friday evening, when I 
 was to preach our w^eekly lecture. I had no thought of 
 seeing Mr. Dwight among my hearers ; but on entering 
 the house I was again troubled by seeing him, not as be- 
 fore, sittijig at a distance in the shade, but close to the 
 pulpit, directly under the blaze of a chandeher. His ap- 
 pearance indicated, palpably, that he was deeply excited ; 
 and I, too, was excited, as I have not often been, with a 
 sense of my responsibility, and with fear that I was not 
 prepared to meet it. I had premeditated a discourse on 
 Acts xiii. 41 : * Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and per- 
 ish ; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye 
 shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto 
 you.' My purpose was to alarm, if possible, persons who, 
 at such a season of grace as God had granted to our 
 
 3 
 
34 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 Church, were without concern for their salvation. As 
 respected what I assumed was Mr. D wight's case, I 
 thought this a very unseasonable design ; but I was shut 
 up to it ; I could treat no other theme. The perturbation 
 of my mind disqualified me from treating this aright, and 
 I was greatly discontented with my lecture. My manner 
 seemed to myself harsh and severe, and to the last degree 
 unsuitable to persons in the state of feeling of which I 
 was sure Mr. D wight was the subject. In accents of 
 unusual alarm and terror, I thundered the divine indig- 
 nation against the indifferent ; but my principal endeavor 
 in the discourse was to set forth the surpassing glory of 
 the work of God, then going on amongst us ; whence, to 
 its practical despisers, the infinite peril denounced in the 
 text ; and, as appeared the day following, I was in this 
 part of my labor speaking a word not out of season to 
 him who that night engrossed my anxiet3^ I dismissed 
 the assembly with the liveliest self-dissatisfaction, thinking 
 I had abused one of the best opportunities of doing good 
 ever afforded me. The next morning, at about eight 
 o'clock, Mr. D wight called at my house, and told the 
 servant to ask me if I could see him during the day ; and, 
 if I could, to say at what hour he should call again. I 
 requested him to come to me at eleven o'clock. He was 
 in my study punctually at that hour; but he sat several 
 minutes in silence, weeping profusely, his face swollen 
 with previous emotion, and his whole frame indicating 
 sorrow such as I have hardly seen in my whole experi- 
 ence in the ministry. At length, with a suffused coun- 
 tenance, and with a low, hesitating voice, he said : " I 
 have scarcely slept since Wednesday night; I was in- 
 duced to attend the meeting by my friend ; till that even- 
 
A MEMORABLE YEAR. 35 
 
 ing, I had, it seems to me, never heard the Gospel; my 
 fcclini^^s have been strange and wonderful ; I know not 
 how it is with me, but your sermon last night was a per- 
 fect balm to my soul.* I was astonished, but he went on 
 to say that it was the transcendent glory of the work of 
 the Spirit, as depicted in the discourse, that gave him 
 consolation ; and I thought that a spiritual apprehension 
 of this, even under my imperfect representation of it, 
 might sufficiently explain his new experience. I could 
 have no doubt that he had been born of the Holy Spirit. 
 Our conversation continued for sometime. He at length 
 left me, happier than I can tell, to go on with my prepara- 
 tions for the pulpit on the morrow. Truly, I was * like 
 them that dream.' " 
 
 There were other cases, hardly less striking ; but I 
 have no time to dwell upon them. 
 
 THE YEAR 1 82 7. 
 
 I must, however, refer again to the year 182 7, which 
 Dr. Skinner regarded as the most deeply spiritual of 
 his ministr)^ His own record of some of the scenes ; 
 which he witnessed during this year, is singularly inter- 
 esting. The work began in his study : 
 
 " Spiritual decline in the parish had become insupporta- 
 bly deep and predominant. In February, or early in 
 March, two brethren, with whom I had conversed on the 
 state of religion, met with me in my study at about six 
 o'clock, A. M., for prayer. We passed an entire hour on 
 our knees, one following another in confession and suppli- 
 cation. We arose under a strange impression : think we 
 
36 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 were filled with the conflicting and humbling influences 
 of the Spirit : talked together for a few moments, and 
 parted with the expressed purpose and agreement that 
 we would see others of the church, speak to them of the 
 necessity of a change in our spiritual condition, and, if 
 they sympathized with us about this, inquire whether they 
 would like to attend an early meeting for prayer with a 
 few others ; and if they were quite in earnest, to invite 
 them to be with us the following morning. Seventeen 
 assembled, every one like-minded with the rest, all of us 
 on our knees one hour, praying one after another as self- 
 prompted to do so, without rising. Agreed together to 
 extend our application to others, after the same manner 
 as at the first meeting:, and to meet ag^ain the next morn- 
 ing. Not less than sixty were present ; every one, so far 
 as we can judge, in the same state of feeling. The con- 
 cern was to the last degree lively and deep. The place 
 (my study) was too strait. Privacy was no longer practi- 
 cable; a morning meeting for prayer at six o'clock was 
 announced ; the place, a room in the church. The con- 
 cern became notorious ; and its character was in keeping 
 with the spirit of the study meetings. A fast-day was 
 agreed upon. The room in the church was filled at nine 
 o'clock. I have never been at a meeting of equal interest. 
 It v/as stated at the beginning that there had been no pre- 
 determination as to the duration of the meeting. .It might 
 be continued longer than usual. If for domestic or other 
 reasons persons needed to vvithdraw, they could do so, 
 and, if they pleased, return. For a much longer time than 
 common, the services were exclusively singing, prayer 
 and reading the Scriptures. They were strangely inter- 
 esting ; the Spirit, apparently, was in them ; they were as 
 
A REMARKABLE MEETING. ;},'] 
 
 powerful prcacliinc^. The Word was luminous with its 
 inherent light ; the worship, in every part, was wonder, 
 ful ; the susceptibiHty of the people, the impression of 
 divine things upon them, was wholly unexampled in all 
 my experience, before and since. The truth in bare texts 
 of Scripture, in verses of hymns, in utterances in prayer, 
 was quick, powerful and as a two-edged sword. An as- 
 sembly so moved I have never seen. There was no 
 noise, no visible agitation, but an emotional stillness like 
 that of grief at its lowest depth. No outward, audible 
 expression could equal the feeling or have any place as 
 revealing it. 
 
 " At length 1 began to preach. The chief of my points 
 was: The means of actualizing a work of the Spirit in the 
 church. When I was speaking, not before, I think, a 
 renewal of our covenant as a church occurred to me as 
 an appropriate means. I resolved to propose it, and sent 
 the sexton to bring the book containing the covenant. 
 After preparing the way carefull}-, the solemn act was to 
 be performed. Two of the brethren arose, one after the 
 other, and with flowing tears said they could not join 
 with us in it. They had broken this covenant ; the guilt 
 of doing it was upon them ; they trembled at the propo- 
 sal which had been made ; so they declared in tearful, 
 thrilling accents ! How was the meeting moved ! A 
 brother, greatly esteemed, and, as I am persuaded, now 
 filled with the Spirit, arose and, in the name of the whole 
 meeting, offered a prayer for the two who had dissented. 
 I have that singular prayer still in remembrance, almost 
 as if I had just now heard it. What a soft, subdued, 
 melting, just audible voice, full of love, like the dew of 
 Hermon ! He said to the Lord : Let these brethren un- 
 
38 * THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 derstand that they cannot release themselves from their 
 covenant bonds ; that, renew them or not, they were irre- 
 vocably under them ; that their having broken them de- 
 manded repentance, but could not justify disowning them. 
 Then he most touchingly implored that they might be in- 
 duced to change their purpose and unite with us in the 
 holy transaction. I proceeded ; the covenant was read ; 
 the meeting promptly entered into it anew ; the two breth- 
 ren still declining. I will not attempt to describe the 
 emotion with which we were all filled. My sermon — not 
 shorter than two hours, I am quite sure, longer, I think, 
 rather than shorter — was finished; at four o'clock the 
 meeting was dissolved." 
 
 The interest continued almost unabated to the end 
 of the year. The number of conversions was not, in- 
 deed, as large as in subsequent revivals ; but the spir- 
 itual life of the church, as manifested in brotherly 
 love, unity, fellowship, delight in Christian ordinances 
 and co-operation in Christian work, developed itself in 
 marvellous power. 
 
 CALL TO BOSTON. 
 
 Early in 1828 Dr. Skinner was called to the Pine 
 street church in Boston. The contest with Unitari- 
 anism in the old Puritan capital was then at its 
 height. Dr. Beccher, who had come from Litchfield 
 for that very purpose, was waging it with all the en- 
 ergies of his great soul, and he entreated Dr. Skinner 
 to come and assist him in the stru2:G:lc. The Rev. 
 Dr. Wisner, one of the weightiest men in New Eng- 
 
GOES TO BOSTON. 39 
 
 land, was sent to Philadelphia to plead the cause of 
 the Pine street church and of orthodoxy in Boston. 
 Dr. Ashbel Green seconded his appeal to the Presby- 
 tery ; and in spite of the protest and lamentations of the 
 Arch street church, the call was put into the hands of 
 Dr. Skinner and accepted. It is a curious circumstance 
 that he had scarcely been installed in Boston, when 
 Dr. Beccher was called to the vacant pulpit in Phila- 
 delphia. " I got Skinner a call to Boston, and he 
 came. His congregation, to be up with me, gave me 
 a call to his place, and got several persons to write 
 urgently. Among others. Dr. Miller, of Princeton, 
 wrote an argument, very strong, and when it was read 
 on my trial at Cincinnati it made a sensation."'"" 
 
 Dr. Skinner remained in Boston a few months only. 
 The climate proved unfriendly. He had accepted the 
 call, in part, for the sake of his health, now seriously im- 
 paired ; but his health grew worse instead of better ; he 
 
 * Dr. Beecher's Life. Vol. II., p. 133. 
 
 Dr. Beecher's account of the visit made to liim by a committee of the 
 Arch street church is highly characteristic, and throws light upon the re- 
 ligious and theological temper of the times. "When the two gentlemen 
 came on to see me about the call, I took them into my inquiry meeting. 
 There was great variety of cases. Language of simplicity came along, and 
 they'd see me talking 'way down in language fit for children, and then, the 
 next moment, rise up into clear, strong, philosophical language. And then 
 the language of free agency and ability came along, and then, they told me 
 aftcr^vard, they thought I was going to be a — what d'ye call it? — Arminian, 
 and they'd stick up their ears. I made something of free agenc)' — more 
 than a Calvinist would do usually — and brought folks up to do what thc)' 
 were able to do. But next minute came along the plea of morality and 
 self-dependence, and I took them by the nape of the neck and twisted their 
 neck off. So they saw that I had my replies according to the subject, and 
 in the course of the evening heard me touch on seven or eight or more dif- 
 ferent states of mind." 
 
40 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 sighed after his old friends in Arch street, \vhile they 
 were still mourning over his absence from them ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, at their earnest entreaty and under the prom- 
 ise of an assistant, in the autumn of 1828 he returned to 
 Philadelphia and resumed his pastorate among them. 
 
 "My 'deportation to Boston,' as Mr. Barnes has called 
 my transference thither, (so he wrote a third of a century 
 later,) was no disadvantage, as far as I know, in any re- 
 spect. It was, in effect, a blessing to Pine street ; and it 
 was an advantage to myself It was the means of ac- 
 quainting me better with men ; it brought me into more 
 intimate relations with- Dr. Beecher, one of the first of 
 American ministers, and an eminent man of God whom it 
 was a privilege to know well ; it was an admirable disci- 
 pline to my spirit; it taught me to estimate more justly 
 my dear Arch street church. It was to them, too, a 
 benefit. It prepared them to receive me, on my return 
 to them, with a lively renewal of interest in me and in 
 m)'- pastorate. I did not delay my return. With a heart 
 overfull of joy and thankfulness, I resumed my ministry 
 among them. There was great joy in the whole church 
 and congregation. What a happy people ! what a happy 
 pastor!" 
 
 For a while after his return he was assisted by the 
 Rev. Samuel Stearns, an admirable man, whose early 
 death was a severe loss to the American church. Dur- 
 ing the memorable years 183 1-2, he was greatly aided 
 at diflferent times by the Rev. Joel Parker, then in the 
 full glow of his evangelistic zeal and power; and also 
 by the Rev. Edward Beecher, in conjunction with 
 
IS CALLED TO ANDOVER. 4^ 
 
 whom he prepared the excellent little work entitled, 
 " Hints desio-ned to aid Christians in their Efforts to 
 convert Men to God." 
 
 AT ANDOVER. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832 he was invited to take the 
 chair of Sacred Rhetoric in the Theological Seminary 
 at Andover. For some time he had been thought 
 of for this important post. He was already widely 
 known and greatly admired in New England. He 
 had received his doctorate of divinity from Williams 
 College in 1826. Many of his summer vacations had 
 been spent in New Haven, where he was on terms of 
 affectionate intimacy with Drs. Taylor, Fitch, Good- 
 rich, and Bacon, and where he often preached with ex- 
 traordinary power ; while his recent pastorate in Bos- 
 ton, brief though it was, had left a strong impression 
 in that region. He had just delivered the annual ad- 
 dress before the Porter Rhetorical Society— one of his 
 most eloquent productions. It was not strange, there- 
 fore, that soon after his return to Philadelphia a call 
 reached him from Andover, accompanied with very 
 urgent persuasions from the professors and the stu- 
 dents. After a good deal of hesitation he declined it. 
 
 " A very remarkable letter from Prof. Stuart, full of the 
 noblest feehng and surpassingly eloquent, and one also 
 from the students, urged me to review my decision. A 
 review of it, but for one cause, probably, would not have 
 changed it. My labors, the happiest of my life, had im- 
 paired my health." 
 
42 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 He was suffering, in fact, from a serious disease, and 
 his physician. Dr. Physic, advised him strongly to 
 make the change, warning him that he could not long 
 continue his labors in Philadelphia. Under the press- 
 ure of this consideration, he decided to go to Ando- 
 ver. But to the close of his days it remained with 
 him a question whether he had decided wisely ; in- 
 deed, he inclined to think it would have been better 
 for him to have stayed among his own people. In a 
 review of his Philadelphia ministry, written in 1865, 
 he assio-ns stronor reasons in favor of this view. But 
 I venture to think he was quite mistaken ; and that 
 even had his health allowed him to remain, it was bet- 
 ter for him to leave. It seems to me clear that God 
 had a special work for him to do, which could have 
 been done nowhere else than in New York. But the 
 truth is, his whole heart clave to Philadelphia. His 
 work there was to him, he says, as heaven upon earth ; 
 his people almost idolized him ; he and they were 
 one ; and what scenes of refreshing from the presence 
 of the Lord they had passed through together! No 
 wonder he ever after looked back to those halcyon 
 days with such yearning and delight ; or that, when- 
 ever he walked again the streets of Philadelphia, an 
 unusual buoyancy marked his steps.* 
 
 He entered upon his work at Andovcr with charac- 
 
 * While this discourse is passing through the press, I have received a 
 graphic account of Dr. Skinner's ministry in Philadelphia from one of his 
 oldest and most esteemed friends in that city, Mr. Joseph H. Dulles. It 
 will be found in Appendix B. 
 
AT ANDOVER. 43 
 
 teristic zeal and singleness of mind ; but soon found 
 out that it was very different work from preaching the 
 gospel. 
 
 " What a novice in teaching Sacred Rhetoric ! It is 
 a harder business, in comparison, than teaching in eith- 
 er of the other departments. Dr. Griffin returned from 
 it to preaching again after a short trial. Dr. Porter did 
 M-ell in it, in some respects ; but it was to him very oner- 
 ous ; he died before his time. I think it was he who said, 
 that it was easier to find a hundred men to fill the theo- 
 logical chair, than one for that of Homiletics. It was a 
 new business in the American church. Theology had 
 been nearly all in all in sacred education. Homiletics 
 had no place in it." 
 
 Dr. Skinner labored hard, at Andover and, after- 
 wards, in our own Seminary, to raise this study to its 
 proper place. Drawing from the rich stores of his 
 own experience, he applied the art of preaching to 
 sermons on the chief topics of theology, and showed 
 how they should be treated in the pulpit. In this way 
 he himself taught theology as well as Homiletics, and 
 asserted his right to do so with earnestness and decis- 
 ion. He magnified his office as one of unsurpassed 
 dignity and importance in the training of effective 
 ministers of the gospel. 
 
 But lecturing at the Seminary was not his only oc- 
 cupation at Andover. Besides preaching in his turn 
 in the chapel, he preached frequently on Sabbath-eve- 
 ning to the two academies, in which were some four 
 
44 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 hundred young persons, of both sexes. In the pulpit 
 of the North parish, in those of Boston, Newburyport, 
 and other places, his voice was often heard. Preach- 
 ing was still his greatest delight ; and wherever he 
 went crowds came together to hear him. He took 
 especial pleasure in assisting at " protracted meetings," 
 and his sermons on such occasions were pungent and 
 effective in the highest degree. 
 
 A PROTRACTED MEETING. 
 
 Let me give his own account of one of these meet- 
 ings. It was at Newburyport. The Presbyterian and 
 Orthodox Congregational churches were united in it. 
 
 " A work of God so powerful and so extensive through 
 a whole population, I have seen in no place. The Unita- 
 rians and Episcopalians did not oppose it. Its subject 
 was the town ; revival was the rule, indifference was ex- 
 ceptional, and the exception was unnoticed. Every in- 
 terest was displaced, or subordinated, by interest in relig- 
 ion. . . . Newburyport (Whitefield's monument was here) 
 was full of God's special presence. How awful was this 
 place! The meeting ended on a Sabbath -evening. I 
 have not seen a parallel occasion. There was a general 
 convocation in the Rev. JNIr. Milton's church, the largest 
 in the tovv^n. A special arrangement was made to ac- 
 commodate male attendants. They occupied the pews 
 below ; females sat in the gallery. I never saw so inter- 
 esting a mass of men. They were of middle age, very 
 vigorous, healthful, masculine, intelligent ; as closely 
 packed as possible ; not less in number, it was supposed, 
 
A PROTRACTED MEETING. 45 
 
 than a thousand. The large gallery contained nearly as 
 many women. All the ministers were present. After 
 sermon, Dr. Dimmick said to mc : ' I wish you would re- 
 peat here what was done at the Andover protracted 
 meeting.' ' I am ready but cannot proceed without the 
 consent of the other ministers (the venerable Dr. Dana 
 was one of them).' * They cannot refuse in the circum- 
 stances.' He consulted them ; they promptly concurred. 
 I then made, for substance, the following address to the 
 solemn assembly : 
 
 " ' We have been, for several days considering with un- 
 usual seriousness and care, the great concern of our etern- 
 it}'. The subject is now in our thoughts more distinctly 
 and completely, than it was ; and, probably, than it will 
 ever be in this world. This very evening Ave have been 
 weighing it in the balance of judgment very particularly 
 and carefully (JJoiinting the cost. Luke xiv. 28-32, was 
 my theme). It is probable that very many of you have 
 impressions of it juster and deeper than you have hereto- 
 fore felt. Would it not be well if you should to-night, ere 
 you return to your homes, determinedly decide in accord- 
 ance with these impressions ? If you should depart without 
 deciding, will you be likely to decide at all, or, if you 
 do, to decide as truly, as you will, if you decide here and 
 now ? Will you have, at any other moment, equal advan- 
 tages for deciding aright? You are greatly moved, it 
 may be ; but you must be so moved when the decision is 
 made, if it be a right one. The opposing influences of 
 sin, the Avorld, and Satan, cannot be overcome, but by the 
 strongest counter influences. It is not these latter influ- 
 ences, but the others, that are likely to be too strong. 
 Get av.-ay from the holy, heavenly influences under which 
 
46 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 we are now sitting, and think ye, that ye will have better 
 advantages for exercising judgment and discretion in ref- 
 erence to the infinite interests of your immortality. Will 
 worldly business or society, will your families, will your 
 closets, even, offer you a better chance for right action in 
 this case, than this holy place, filled as it is with the gra- 
 cious presence of God ? It is, therefore, proposed to you> 
 that you make the prayer about to be offered, an expres- 
 sion of a deliberate in-wrought determination to be hence- 
 forth, by the grace of God, followers of Christ. And if 
 you accept this proposal, to indicate that you do, by 
 standing up, by yourselves, when the prayer is offered. 
 Those of you, who have already made a religious profes- 
 sion, or who do not accept the proposal, not being will- 
 ing to commit yourselves to-night to the obligations and 
 relations of a Christian life, are requested to remain sit- 
 ting ; that the others may be distinguished from 3'ou.' 
 
 " When the usual. Let us pray, was spoken, the scene 
 was a more imposing one than any other assembly I ever 
 saw presented. Hardly less than five hundred large men, 
 and nearly, or quite, as many women, were instantly 
 on their feet. I have never heard that ' the measure,' 
 in this instance, was objected to by any one. The cir- 
 cumstances and the result were its justification. It has 
 been reported that, as the fruit of this protracted meeting, 
 about one thousand persons were received into the churches 
 of Newburyport and that neighborhood ; and that very 
 few of them have failed to maintain a Christian character." 
 
 PASTOR OF THE MERCER STREET PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH, NEW YORK. 
 
 In the year 1835, a number of Christian people, 
 
COMES TO NEW YORK. 47 
 
 connected with the Laight street, the Bleccker street, 
 and other Presbyterian congregations in this city, de- 
 termined to form a new church and erect a new edi- 
 fice iip-tow^i. They appHed to Dr. Skinner to take 
 charge of the movement. He consented to do so. 
 The church was organized October 25, 1835, ^^'^^ on 
 the Sth of November he was installed as its pastor. 
 For six months divine ser\'ice was held in the chapel 
 of the University. In the spring of 1836, the pleasant 
 .house of worship in Mercer street was finished and 
 dedicated to God. And here commenced Dr. Skin- 
 ner's last, and, in some respects, most important pas- 
 torate. He was not unwilling to leave Andover. The 
 duties of his professorship he had discharged with emi- 
 nent fidelity and success ; but they were somewhat 
 irksome to him. He was in the full vigor of intellec- 
 tual manhood ; his health was restored ; and the pul- 
 pit was still his throne. He loved to preach as he 
 loved no other w^ork. The call to New York was 
 very strong and attractive. Some of the leading mem- 
 bers of the Presbyterian church in the city, were en- 
 listed in the new movement. If he was £ver to return 
 to the pastoral life, now was his opportunity. He 
 never regretted the change. And as we look back to 
 it, and consider what interests were involved, we can- 
 not doubt that, in making it, he acted most wisely 
 and in full accordance with the will of God. What 
 other man, then living, could have taken his place and 
 done his work in this city ? The great schism in the 
 
48 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 Presbyterian church was soon to occur. The Union 
 Theological Seminary was about to be founded. Dr. 
 Skinner's histor}^.his uncommon weight of personal 
 and ministerial character, his wide acquaintance and 
 intimacy with leading men in New England and 
 the Middle States, and his position as the pastor of 
 one of the strongest metropolitan churches, gave him 
 an influence in the New School body, and in sus- 
 taining as well as shaping the course of the Union 
 Seminary, which nobody else could have wielded. 
 
 I have time barely to touch upon his thirteen years 
 in the Mercer street church. They w^ere years of 
 most faithful, unwearied and successful labor. Some- 
 thing of his youthful fire in the pulpit, something of 
 his old popularity, was, no doubt, wanting. But what 
 ripeness of Christian experience, what clear insight 
 into divine things, what scriptural and theological 
 power, what rousing appeals to both the natural and 
 the regenerate man, what holy unction, particularly 
 in seasons of special interest and revival marked his 
 preaching ! With what almost inspired fervors of 
 soul he led the devotions of the sanctuary ! How 
 he fed the people of God with the finest of the wheat ! 
 The characteristic features of his own religious life 
 and temper — deep spirituality, reverence for God and 
 sympathy with God in His demands upon man, a 
 profound feeling of the reality and infinite evil of sin, 
 passionate desire of holiness ; an adoring sense of the 
 glory of Christ, of the saving virtue of His sacrifice of 
 
HIS PASTORATE IX MERCER STREET. 49 
 
 Himself upon the cross, and of the blessedness of vital 
 union with Him by faith ; high views respecting the 
 entire consecration of person, time, talent, property, 
 everything, to the service of the Master, by every one 
 of His disciples ; a conviction that the man, who has 
 made up his mind to take right views of sin, has made 
 up his mind to go through this world very much 
 alone ; joy in the Lord, and exulting assurance of the 
 coming triumphs of His kingdom ; — these all were 
 equally marked characteristics of his ministry in the 
 Mercer street church. 
 
 He was aided in his work by a noble band of elders 
 and brethren. Few churches in the land combined so 
 much intelligence, maturity and weight of character, 
 earnest piety, public spirit, catholicity, and large-hearted 
 pecuniary liberality, with so much attractive social and 
 domestic culture, as the Mercer street Presbyterian 
 church, during the first thirteen years of its existence. 
 What honored names — Markoe, Mason, Shipman, 
 Phelps, father and son, Bull, Boorman, Butler, Wilder, 
 De Forest, Wainwright, Lockwood, Noyes, Haines, 
 Blatchford, Coit, and others like them — not to speak 
 of the living — adorn its history. 
 
 " It was a people (to use his own language) as worthy 
 of the best type of pastoral labor as any one I have 
 known. I felt it to be so. The sense of my responsibility 
 was more than I could endure. My health failed under 
 the severe pressure of my duties. Another sphere awaited 
 me. I was again professor in a theological school." 
 4 
 
50 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 PROFESSOR IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 We come now to the closing period of his pubHc 
 hfe. He resigned his pastoral charge February 1 7, 
 1848 ; and in March of the same year, was inaugurated 
 Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, Pastoral Theology and 
 Church Government, in the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary in this city. Here he labored without interrup- 
 tion for w^ell-nigh a quarter of a century. He was 
 fifty-seven years old on taking the chair ; he was al- 
 most eighty years old when he left it for his seat in 
 glory. His appointment was one of singular fitness. 
 As a Director of the Institution, he had from the first 
 been identified with its history, and felt the deepest 
 interest in its prosperity. But for his powerful aid 
 and that of his church, it would probably either have 
 had no existence, or would have perished in its in- 
 fancy. The position to wiiich he was called required 
 the highest type of personal and Christian character, 
 large pastoral experience, a thorough acquaintance 
 with the art of preaching and the care of souls, the 
 best literary and theological culture, in union with 
 generous sympathies and an unfailing spirit of broth- 
 erly kindness and charity in dealing with the doubts, 
 the trials, and the imperfections, of young men preparing 
 for the sacred office. Dr. Skinner possessed all these 
 qualifications in a very unusual degree. For a third 
 of a century he had been one of the first preachers 
 and sacred orators in the land ; as a pastor and guide 
 
HIS SERVICE IN UNION SEMINARY. 5 1 
 
 of souls he had few equals ; he was an accomplished 
 scholar, enthusiastic in the pursuit and discussion of 
 theological truth, and able to excite similar enthusi- 
 asm in others ; his piety was full of spiritual depth 
 and unction ; and he was a model of the Christian 
 gentleman. He had, moreover, discharged the duties 
 of this very chair, for several years, in the leading 
 seminary of New England, besides having written 
 and published a number of admirable essays on sub- 
 jects connected with it. 
 
 I will not attempt now a review of his labors, or a 
 full estimate of what he accomplished, in the ser- 
 vice of the Union Theological Seminar}'-. That will be 
 done, in due time, I trust, by one of his colleagues, or 
 by one of his old pupils. He brought to his new task, 
 as we have seen, rare gifts ; and he devoted all of 
 them to it without stint. He was as faithful, diligent, 
 and totus in iilis, in the theological chair, as he had 
 ever been in the pulpit. He began at once a thorough 
 course of study on the different branches of his profes- 
 sorship. The fruit of his industry soon appeared in 
 Vinet's " Pastoral Theology," and " Homiletics," trans- 
 lated and edited by him with excellent taste and skill. 
 Had he done nothing else than to give these two 
 precious works to the Christian public, he would have 
 rendered his department an invaluable service. He 
 prepared his lectures with the utmost care, and con- 
 tinued to re-write and improve them to the last. His 
 intercourse with his pupils, both in and out of the 
 
52 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 class-room, was not merely that of a teacher ; it was 
 also the fellowship of a friend and brother in Christ. 
 He invited them, one by one, to visit him at his home ; 
 he manifested an affectionate personal interest in their 
 fortunes ; he sympathized tenderly with them in their 
 mental struggles, cheered them in their despondency, 
 was very patient and considerate towards their faults, 
 and helped them by his prayers and with the lessons 
 of his own experience, to get the victory over their 
 religious doubts and perplexities. For this how 
 many of them, now scattered far and wide through 
 the earth, bless God at every remembrance of him !'^" 
 And in years to come, w^hen the Union Theological 
 Seminary, transplanted to the neighboring height, now 
 waiting to be adorned by it, and thence shedding 
 light and blessing over all lands, shall recount God's 
 favors to it, this will be reckoned, I do not doubt, 
 one of the most signal — that, for nearly a quarter of a 
 century, it enjoyed the instructions, the friendship, and 
 the prayers, of ThO'mas H. Skinner as one of its pro- 
 fessors ! 
 
 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 
 
 Dr. Skinner's life was passed chiefly in his study 
 and in absorbing devotion to the practical duties of 
 his calling. He had little fondness for travel, or for 
 any business that took him away from home. His 
 journeying was confined mostly to an annual visit to 
 
 * In Appendix C will be found two striking testimonies on this point 
 from old pupils of Dr. Skinner. 
 
VISITS TO THE OLD WORLD. 53 
 
 the scenes of his boyhood in North CaroHna, to an 
 occasional attendance upon the sessions of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, and to two visits to the Old World. 
 He first crossed the Atlantic in 1839. It was next to 
 martyrdom for him to go ; but ill-health and the en- 
 treaty of friends at length prevailed, and he took pas- 
 sage in the Great Western. His first Sabbath in Eng- 
 land was spent at Bristol. At the close of w^orship, 
 he relates that he w^as accosted by a person of gen- 
 tlemanly appearance, who, hearing that he had just 
 arrived from America, inquired of him, if he was 
 acquainted with "the great Dr. Channing .?" The 
 conversation led him to refer to another, and, as he 
 thought, still greater man, then living near Bristol. 
 " Who ?" " Mr. John Foster, of Stapleton." The gen- 
 tleman had never heard of such a man ! Dr. Skinner 
 shortly after visited Mr. Foster, was very kindly re- 
 ceived, and left him with a deepened impression of 
 his worth and greatness. From Bristol he proceeded 
 to London, thence across the channel to Germany, 
 then back to London through Belgium, and from 
 London to Edinburgh, where he had the pleasure of 
 meeting Dr. Chalmers. 
 
 " Received by him with the utmost cordiality and sweet- 
 ness of manner. Was as free in the company of this great 
 man as if I had been an equal. Walked with him through 
 the Botanical Gardens. He wanted me to admire a fine 
 panorama of the city and its environs ; but my admira- 
 tion was so absorbed in the man, that I could hardly no- 
 
54 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 tice anything else. An inexpressible beauty in the char- 
 acter of Dr. Chalmers Dr. C, ver}^ unlike Foster, 
 
 but quite as simple in manner. How happy to have ' laid 
 eyes' on two such men ! Cathedrals, scenery, all sights 
 and spectacles — how vapid, compared with these speci- 
 mens of intellectual and spiritual excellence ! In all Eng- 
 land and Scotland there is not, me Judicc, the like of 
 them." 
 
 He returned home in the autumn in the British 
 Queen, narrowly escaping shipwreck on the passage. 
 In 1846, I believe, he crossed the sea again, and as- 
 sisted at the formation of the Evangelical Alliance 
 in London. 
 
 For many years before his death he was accustomed 
 to pass his summers at Newport, R. I. The spot be- 
 came so much endeared to him that, on resigning his 
 chair in the seminary — as he had intended to do 
 this spring — he meditated making it a home for the 
 rest of his days. Dr. Channing, though born and 
 brought up there, can hardly have loved Newport 
 more. He passed much of his time in reading and 
 study, enlivened by intercourse with old friends, and, oc- 
 casionally, by a fishing excursion, which revived the 
 memories of his boyhood on the pleasant shores of 
 Albemarle Sound. He also took a lively interest in 
 the church, whose services he attended, and at whose 
 weekly evening-meeting his voice was often heard in 
 prayer and exhortation.'"* 
 
 * See in Appendix A, an extract from a sermon by its pastor, the Rev. 
 Dr. Thayer, preached shortly after his death. 
 
HIS TIMES. 55 
 
 THE TIMES HE LIVED IN. 
 
 In reviewing the character of Dr. Skinner, a glance 
 at the times in which his lot was cast, will aid us 
 greatly. The nearly three score-years, covered by his 
 ministry and teaching, form one of the most wonder- 
 ful periods in secular history, and one no less remarka- 
 ble in the history of the Church. In some of its as- 
 pects there is nothing else like it in the annals of the 
 race. It was marked by extraordinary revivals of 
 religion. It was a new era of missionary zeal and 
 evangelism at home and abroad. Our theological 
 seminary — now one of the grand educational institu- 
 tions of American Christianity — belongs to this pe- 
 riod. More Bibles have been circulated during these 
 sixty years, many times over, than in all previous ages. 
 Nearly the whole globe has been opened, for the first 
 time, to the preaching of the Gospel. What amazing 
 events and changes in the social and secular spheres 
 have come to pass since 1812, I need not stop to tell 
 you. And if there were any three points 01^ the con- 
 tinent where the best and strongest religious forces 
 of this marvelous epoch were concentrated, they were 
 Philadelphia, that old haunt of Presbyterianism, An- 
 dover, which may be taken as representing New Eng- 
 land, and this cosmopolitan city of New York. At 
 these three central points Dr. Skinner spent the whole 
 of his public life. Nor did he merely feel the full 
 influence of the dominant religious forces; he was 
 
56 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 himself one of them. He took part in the new move- 
 ments with his whole mind and soul and strength. 
 And thus the spirit of the age and his own spirit were 
 continually acting and reacting upon each other. Al- 
 though a man of strong individuality, full of fresh, 
 original traits, he was also a man of singular intellec- 
 tual susceptibility and power to absorb the good with 
 which he came in contact, whether in books or in real 
 life. The ruling sentiments, the benevolent aims, and 
 the bright hopes of the new era, that so many thought 
 was to usher in the millennial glory, were wrought into 
 his spiritual consciousness and inspired his whole ca- 
 reer. One of his old friends and parishioners, the late 
 Hon. Benjamin F. Butler — an admirable judge — said 
 to me once, that Dr. Skinner reminded him of the 
 canonized saints and fathers of the Church ; and for fer- 
 vent piety, devotion, and knowledge of divine things, he 
 deserved well to be ranked among that illustrious and 
 goodly company ; but still he was a true representative 
 of his own age — a child not of the third, or the twelfth, 
 or the sixteenth, but of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Among his most intimate friends and co-laborers, at 
 different periods of his ministry, were such men as Dr. 
 James P. Wilson, Rev. James Patterson, Dr. Lyman 
 Beecher, Moses Stuart, and Albert Barnes, — men who 
 made a profound impression upon him, as they did 
 upon their generation. He tenderly cherished their 
 memories and always spoke of them in terms of affec- 
 tionate and grateful admiration. 
 
FAVORITE AUTHORS. 57 
 
 HIS FAVORITE AUTHORS. 
 
 And this suggests a word about his favorite authors. 
 They were the old Puritan divines of the seventeenth 
 century— Owen, Baxter, Flavel, John Howe— Thomas 
 h Kempis and Archbishop Leighton,-^=- Pascal, and 
 President Edwards; and among recent writers, above 
 all others, John Foster, Isaac Taylor, and Vinet. He 
 regarded Howe as a very prince of divines. Of the 
 treatise on the Trinity by that great nonconformist, he 
 not long since spoke to me as, in his view, unequaled. 
 But hi^ reading was by no means confined to these 
 authors. His library contained not only the great 
 masters of English and American religious thought, 
 but the gr^it masters in philosophy, poetry and gen- 
 eral literature as well. In a conversation with him 
 not long before his death, he spoke of the lively pleas- 
 ure he had received from reading some portions of 
 Mr. Emerson's " Society and Solitude." He had a cath- 
 olic taste and delighted himself exceedingly in all 
 good books, whether old or new. Indeed, his mind 
 
 * The following passage occurs in his note-book, under the date July 9, 
 
 ''"The eye of a godly man is not fixed on the false sparkling of the world's 
 pomp, honor and wealth; it is dead to them, being quUe ^^ ^d ^^ ^ 
 Leater beauty The grass looks fine in the morning, when U is set with 
 Sli'uTd earls, the drops of dew that shine upon it, but if you can 00k 
 but a little while on the body of the Sun. and then look down aga n, he e) e 
 is L it were dead ; it sees not this faint shining on the earth that , thought 
 so gay before ; and as the eye is blinded and dies to .t, so wuh.n a f w 
 hours, that gaiety quite evanishes and dies of itself."-LEiGUTON, i Pet. n. -4- 
 
 Ne;t to the inspired books, I must place this work of Le.ghton s ; and 
 think that in his remarks on this a4th verse of Chapter II. he transcend, 
 himself. 
 
58 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 was SO open and hospitable to new thoughts, that he 
 was quite incHned to esteem them the best it had ever 
 known or entertained. 
 
 HIS THEOLOGY. 
 
 Of his theological position and views, I need add 
 but little to what has been said already. He com- 
 menced his ministry at a time when religious life and 
 opinion were about to assume new types and to de- 
 velop themselves with vehement force ; and such times 
 are apt to be marked by more or less of misunder- 
 standing, strife and division. Dr. Skinner belonged to 
 what became known as New School ; he was in full 
 sympathy with that side ; and he avowed his convic- 
 tions without fear or favor. But no candid person can 
 read his writings, as none could have heard him preach, 
 without perceiving that he w^as a sound, earnest, highly 
 evangelical and orthodox divine of the Calvinistic 
 type. He himself was veiy far from feeling that the 
 New School were all right or the Old School all 
 wrong. His mature judgment was — not to speak now 
 of mere questions of ecclesiastical policy — that while 
 both schools agreed in being truly Calvinistic, and 
 both alike sincerely adopted the Westminster Confes- 
 sion of Faith as containing the system of doctrine 
 taught in the Holy Scriptures, the points in which 
 they really differed were of minor consequence, and 
 concerned not the vital substance of the Gospel, but 
 only the best modes of viewing, stating and explain- 
 
HIS THEORY OF PREACHING. 59 
 
 ing certain of its dogmatic truths. He believed in 
 progress of religious thought, and loved to quote th* 
 pithy saying of Dr. Owen : " Let new light be derided 
 whilst men please ; he will never serve the will of God 
 in his generation, who sees not beyond the line of 
 foregoing ages." But believing also in the divine au- 
 thority and fullness of " the faith once delivered to 
 the saints," he had no notion that it needed to be 
 completed or could be improved by modern thought. 
 Theological science would, no doubt, continue to ad- 
 vance with the advancing knowledge and experience 
 of the Church ; but Christianity itself, as a revelation 
 of God's will and a way of salvation, was and had been 
 from the beginning perfect and entire, wanting noth- 
 ing. He was, therefore, both conservative and liberal ; 
 conservative in holding fast to the old apostolic doc- 
 trine, as taught in the Holy Scriptures ; liberal in 
 striving and in bidding others strive to attain a more 
 complete and practical understanding of it." 
 
 HIS THEORY OF PREACHING. 
 
 His theory of preaching was very high and was in 
 harmony with his theory of Christian truth. It was 
 all summed up in the address on " Preaching Christ," 
 delivered from this pulpit to the graduating class of 
 the Seminary three years ago. Who that was present can 
 have forgotten the opening sentence of that address } 
 
 * Some excellent remarks on this subject may be found in his discourse 
 entitled "The Old in the New," delivered by him as the retiring Modera- 
 tor of the General Assembly, in St. Louis, May 17, 1S55. 
 
6o THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 " I feci that it becomes me to be considerate as to what 
 i should say to you now, probably the last time I shall 
 speak on an occasion like the present. Aware of my close 
 proximity to the end of my course, I would fain place 
 myself there, and speak as I shall wish I had done if the 
 ear were never to hear my voice again. How unsuitable 
 to my position and age were an utterance from my lips 
 now such as man's vanity or ' man's wisdom ' teacheth !" 
 
 Preach Christ; preach of the ability which the 
 Holy Spirit giveth ; preach thus to the utmost of 
 your strength. 
 
 ■ These maxims, or precepts, contain the vital essence 
 of his homiletics ; and he unfolds and enforces them, 
 in this address, in a manner truly apostolic. He laid 
 the utmost stress upon making Christ's sacrifice of 
 Himself the chief element in preaching Him. 
 
 " The immediate intendment of this preaching is a re- 
 production of Christ as an atoning Saviour in the conscious- 
 ness of the hearers ; to effect which it strives to 'set Him 
 forth' as ' before their eyes,' ' crucified,' hanging on the 
 accursed tree, bearing there our sins in His own immacu- 
 late body. Preaching Christ is successful with reference 
 to its proximate purpose, in proportion as it succeeds in 
 this endeavor. Paul tells the Galatians, (iii. i,) that such 
 was his success as a preacher to them in this respect, that 
 the scene of the crucifixion was, in effect, vividly re-en- 
 acted in their very presence. This is what the preaching 
 of Christ aspires to, and what it achieves when it gains 
 its direct end, as a suasory or rhetorical effort. Evangel- 
 ical preaching, in its just idea, is a divine ordinance for 
 
HOW TO PREACH CHRIST. 6 1 
 
 giving, as perfectly as possible, a life-presence to the 
 transaction of Christ's immolation, under Pontius Pilate, 
 'at the place of a skull,' outside of the city of Jerusalem; 
 for giving this tragical transaction universality ; for mak- 
 ing it, in effect, to all mankind, everywhere, and to the 
 end of the world, a living reality, as taking place in their 
 presence-a reaUty the greatest that ever came or ever 
 will come to pass. 
 
 '' Such, then, my dear brethren, must be the manner of 
 your preaching, if you would have it true to the purpose 
 of its institution. It implies no restriction as to particular 
 subjects. It only demands that whatever subject you 
 treat, your sermon on it be filled, as completely as pos- 
 sible,' with Christ as suffering the death of the cross to 
 atone for the sins of the world ; that you make Christ, in 
 this view of His passion, the essence and life, the ^ succus et 
 sanguis of your entire ministry; that you make the great 
 atonement pulsate through the whole and each particular 
 instance of your preaching, as the heart of a vigorous 
 body pulsates through all its members and fibres." 
 
 In applying the second maxim, he uses this im- 
 pressive language : 
 
 " Be out of communion with the Holy Spirit in preach- 
 ing; be without his cooperation in it, and what will be its 
 ch'Iracter before Him who understands it, and whom 
 alone it supremely concerns you to please ? Think of the 
 peculiarity of the business of preaching: were it but a 
 common operation of spiritual life, you could perform it 
 only as aided by the Holy Spirit. No man can say that 
 Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. But this sing- 
 ular work of pubhc preaching:— What is done on earth, 
 
62 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 might I not say, in heaven, of higher spirituality ? It is 
 not merely human, it is strictly divine-human work ; work 
 impossible even to the apostles before they received the 
 illapse of the Holy Ghost ! Nay, we are told expressly 
 that our Lord himself received the Holy Ghost to qualify 
 him for preaching the Gospel. Preaching, speaking as 
 God's mouth, the infinite things of the Spirit ; so speak- 
 ing, with discernment, with feeling, with words, and with 
 delivery, suited to the nature and purpose of the busi- 
 ness ; can you wonder that the mightiest of the reform- 
 ers, even when near the end of his course, never ascended 
 the pulpit '■sine trcuiorcf Nay, can you be surprised that 
 even Paul confessed himself to hav^e been agitated ' with 
 fear, and much trembling,' in his ministry among the Co- 
 rinthians ? (i Cor. ii. 3.) But, if you would fulfill the for- 
 mer precept, take heed to the present one, and you will, 
 3'ou cannot but attain your end. You will, of necessity, 
 preach Christ, if you preach with the Spirit's help. He 
 gives no aid, no countenance, in preaching aught else. 
 Christ is the Holy Spirit's only theme, To shov/ Christ, 
 to glorify Christ, is his mission in the world. In preach- 
 ing, especially, the chief part of which belongs to him, this 
 is his only aim. Preach, then, without preaching Christ, 
 and what is it that you do? You are about some busi- 
 ness of your own, not what the Spirit is intent upon. If 
 he is in any manner with you, it is not to produce through 
 you a specimen of true preaching; you make discourse 
 simply natural, not spiritual; it is only a huinan, not a 
 divine-human production. He may be very intellectual, 
 very eloquent, very admirable ; the Spirit may in some 
 way serve himself of it. His doing so does not change 
 its character, or imply his approbation of it. He is not 
 
TREACII WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT. 63 
 
 pleased with it ; he certainly is not pleased with you ; he 
 does not bless you — your praise is of men, not of him : 
 you have your reward." 
 
 In enforcing his third maxim, he says: • 
 
 " The main reason for this precept is that it is only by 
 observing it that you can carry out to completion the two 
 former ones. Only by such diligence applied to preach- 
 ing Christ through divine aid, can you make full proof 
 of your ministry. And this reason will prevail with you, 
 so far as the force of consistency or congruity prevails. 
 In the first place you cannot but observe it, if you obey 
 the precept I have been just enforcing — if you are led by 
 the Holy Spirit in your ministr}^ — for the earnestness of 
 the Spirit in this business is unmitigated. What must be 
 the intensity of your working if it coincides with that of 
 the Spirit of God ? His zeal in the work is like the zeal of 
 Christ, of which it is written that it consumed him, 'ate 
 him up.' And it never abates ; it is as an ever-burning 
 flame of fire. It varies in its applications ; it is sometimes 
 seemingly latent and even regressive ; it has apparent 
 rests and cessations, but even in these its energy is unre- 
 strained, its proper temper is still as ' the melting fire 
 when it burneth.' Correspondently, your preaching must 
 needs vary in its particular instances and seasons, but it 
 will not vary in its inherent temper if it continue in keep- 
 ing with the temper of the Holy Spirit's activity, and it 
 ought, as far as possible, to do so. ' Whereunto I also 
 labor,' says Paul, 'striving according to his working 
 which worketh in me mightily.' Keep yourself, then, 
 according to your measure, in cooperation with the Holy 
 Spirit in preaching. Take him as your antecedent and 
 
64 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 prompter in the business, and think what must be the 
 general type of your ministry? Among ministers, to 
 whom will you willingly give precedence in energy of 
 determination, in necessity and urgency of action? To 
 Edwards or Brainerd, or Whitfield or Baxter, or any 
 other model preacher ? Will your mark of aspiration be 
 lower than that of St. Paul ? 
 
 " But, again, the Spirit's tone of working apart, will the 
 proper preaching ijnpu/ses, the motive forces which have 
 play in the work, permit any voluntary short-coming or 
 slackness in your ministry? What arc these motives? 
 One of them is love for the perishing souls of men, preach- 
 ing being the chief means of their salvation. How impos- 
 sible to be really actuated by this love, without being, 
 for the time, absorbed by it? The whole world is with- 
 out value compared with the value of a human soul. 
 Consider that the actual salvation of the meanest soul of 
 man gives cause for new joy to the angels of God ; con- 
 sider that there was no ransom for such a soul less costly 
 than the Great Redeemer's precious blood. How incon- 
 ceivable, that one should be intelligently in earnest in 
 seeking to save immortal souls, without putting himself 
 into his effort wholly and absolutel3^ And 3'our life-work, 
 remember, is as one such effort prolonged to the end of 
 your course. You are consecrated to saving men by your 
 vocation and ordination as preachers. Were this the only 
 impulse to diligence, might it not be well asked : * What 
 man on earth is so pernicious a drone as an idle clerg}^- 
 man ?' But there is a mightier impulse; not your love 
 of souls, but a sense in you of the innncasurable love wJiich 
 Christ had for them. This motive had such force in the 
 ministry of Paul — a model to you, my brethren — that it 
 
HIS CATHOLIC SPIRIT. 65 
 
 caused him to be thought beside himself, (2 Cor. v. 13.) 
 Was it excessive in this great example ? There remains 
 a motive greater yet than this, one inchiding the two for- 
 mer, but of far wider scope than either of these, namcl}-, a 
 sc/isc of the surpassing glory of the redemptive scheme, or of 
 the glory of God as thereby displayed , glory transcend- 
 inof that of all other Divine works, whether of creation or 
 providence. Be but touched, my young brethren, with a 
 sense of this glory, (and why should you not, like Paul, 
 like Whitfield, live continually in its blaze?) and what will 
 be able to restrain or impair your energy as preachers?" 
 I have quoted these passages for a twofold reason, 
 because they contain the result of Dr. Skinner's life- 
 long thought and study on the great subject of preach- 
 ing, and because they afford, also, a much more faith- 
 ful picture than any words of mine could give of his 
 own ideal and practice, as a minister of the gospel. 
 
 HIS CATHOLIC SPIRIT AND DELIGHT IN REUNION. 
 
 I have spoken of his views of Christian truth and 
 of the right way to preach it. His theory of Christian 
 life and fellowship was in keeping with both. He ab- 
 horred all narrovv^ness, bigotry and mere sectarian zeal. 
 His whole course as a minister and theological teach- 
 er, and not less his early religious associations, led him 
 to cherish the warmest sentiments of fraternal sympa- 
 thy and affection for all who love our Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity. Episcopalians, Methodists, Bap- 
 tists, and Dutch Reformed, were among his dearest 
 friends. With Congregationalists his relations were 
 especially close and cordial ; indeed, for several years 
 5 
 
66 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 he had Hved among them and been himself one of 
 them. And although loyal and earnest in devotion to 
 his own branch of the Presbyterian Church, some of 
 his most cherished intimacies were with members of 
 the other branch. I may mention the venerable Dr. 
 Hodge, of Princeton, for whose expositions of the In- 
 spired Word he often expressed his admiration, and 
 between whom and himself there subsisted, for more 
 than half a century, a most tender and devoted friend- 
 ship.* He deemed it a matter of vital importance to 
 the rapid progress and triumph of the Gospel, that all 
 the true disciples of Christ, of whatever name, should 
 be brought nearer together. When the movement 
 toward Reunion commenced, he watched it with deep 
 interest, gave it his approval, his counsels and his pray- 
 ers, advocated it on the floor of the General Assembly, 
 at Harrisburg, in a most impressive speech, and hailed 
 its consummation with intense joy and thankfulness, 
 as an event full of promise to the whole American 
 church. 
 
 HIS PATRIOTISM. 
 
 It was the habit of his mind to take a large and lib- 
 eral view of public events, both in the religious and 
 the political sphere. Let any one read his sermon on 
 "Love of Country," preached in December, 1850, a 
 time of great party excitement ; or his sermon on 
 " Education and Evangelism," preached in October of 
 
 * Sec in Appendix A, a letter of Dr. Ilodgc to the Faculty of the Union 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
IIIS VIEWS OF SLAVERY. 6/ 
 
 the same year, and he will be impressed with this fact. 
 In the first-mentioned sermon he expresses himself on 
 the subject of Slavery in the following manner: 
 
 " This is becoming a subject of extreme interest in this 
 countr}'. It is moving deeply our religious bodies, enter- 
 ing with great earnestness and with decisive effect into 
 our political contests, and profoundly agitating our na- 
 tional councils. As Christian patriots, we cannot be jus- 
 tified in holding toward it the position of neutrality or in- 
 difference. It is not probable that the excitement which 
 has been created will subside without some result of im- 
 portance to the nation. What course does true patriot- 
 ism require us to take in regard to it ? Let no man con- 
 tent himself with denouncing the excitement as the fruit 
 of fanatical zeal. That cannot be done indiscriminately 
 w'ithout casting reproach on not a few of the most excel- 
 lent and honored of our citizens, and also without disre- 
 gard to historic truth. This movement in our nation, un- 
 happily as it has proceeded in too many instances, is re- 
 ferable to a spirit in the age — an invincible spirit, we trust 
 it will prove to be found — which seeks the universal 
 emancipation of man, w^hich should be resolved into the 
 triumph g{ Christian truth as its remote cause, and which 
 republican America, as having proclaimed to the world 
 the natural equality of mankind from the beginning of her 
 independence, cannot, without palpable inconsistency, 
 resist. Slavery, as a system, should find advocates every- 
 where throughout the earth sooner than in this land of 
 freedom. It should, and we hope soon will be, the uni- 
 versal desire that the institution utterly cease." 
 
68 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 When, ten years later, the crisis arrived and the war 
 of Secession burst upon our country, Dr. Skinner 
 showed himself a Christia-n patriot of the highest or- 
 der. Though himself a native of the South, and still 
 bound to it by the tenderest ties, he did not hold back, 
 or waver, for a moment ; he spoke out, with a loud 
 and clear voice, for the cause of the Union ; he prayed 
 for its success, as only he could pray ; he hailed the 
 Proclamation of Emancipation with w^arm approval ; 
 and when the mighty struggle ended in the triumph 
 of the nation, and the overthrow of Slavery, he blessed 
 God that he had lived to see the day ! 
 
 Almost to the last hour of his life he read eagerly 
 the public journals, and watched the course of events 
 with as much interest as if he were just entering upon, 
 instead of just leaving, the stage of earthly affairs. He 
 fully sympathized with Germany in the late gigantic 
 contest, and anticipated grand results to the cause of 
 humanity and Christian truth from her splendid tri- 
 umph. The results of the Vatican Council, whose 
 proceedings he carefully followed, would also, he be- 
 lieved, though in a different way, turn out for the fur- 
 therance of truth and righteousness. 
 
 HIS DOMESTIC CHARACTER. 
 
 Of his domestic and social virtues, I would gladly 
 speak at length. As son, brother, husband, father and 
 friend, his life was crowned wnth beauty. Nobody 
 knew him as he reallv was, who did not know him at 
 
niS RELATION TO HIS BROTHER JOSEPH. 69 
 
 the fireside. The relation which subsisted between 
 his eldest brother and himself, as depicted by his own 
 pen, is full of the very poetry of friendship.'"' He had 
 an exquisite sense of character, and could portray it 
 with the skill of a master. His portrait of Mrs. Low- 
 ther, " the loveliest, most beautiful, most interesting of 
 women," as he calls her, is one of the finest things I 
 know of in the language.f The genial glow and en- 
 thusiasm of his nature, which rose so high in his relig- 
 ious life, gave an exceedingly rich flavor also to his 
 
 * Sec "A Sketch of the Life and Character of the late Joseph B. Skinner. 
 B}- his Brother, Thomas H. Skinner." For the account of Dr. Skinner's pa- 
 rents, birth-place, ami other incidents, I am indebted to this interesting 
 little volume. It should be here stated that, although his brother Joseph 
 sharply opposed his giving up the bar for the pulpit, the alienation was of 
 short continuance. It is due alike to the elder and the younger brother to 
 quote the following passage from the Memoir : " But for his kindness I 
 should not have been sent to college. Under his direction and at his ex- 
 pense, I prosecuted a course of preparation for the bar until near the time 
 of my admission to it, when I tried his affection to the uttermost by what he 
 could not but regard as a very sudden and rash refusal of his choice of a 
 profession for me. Tempted strongly, hy mj' disappointing thus his fondest 
 and long-cherished hopes respecting me, to leave me to myself, after a 
 season of intense displeasure from him, his former munificence returned to 
 me, to forsake me no more till we were separated b}^ his death. Wherever 
 I have been, there have ever been with me decisive proofs of his thoughtful 
 and constant affection. In my seasons of severe trial, I have always had 
 \he aid of his wise counsel and his effectual sympathy; and when my use- 
 fulness has been restricted by want of opportunit}^ his hands have been 
 opened to provide the means of supply. For my favorable position in Phil- 
 adelphia, the latter half of my course there, the seed-time of my ministry, 
 I was mainly indebted, under the divine blessing, to his influence, his sug- 
 gestive wisdom, and his purse. When in another city I was exhausted and 
 faint from labor, he urged me to travel in Europe for my restoration to 
 health, and put at my disposal the means of compliance with his plan. He 
 has always been afflicted in my affliction, and happy in making me and my 
 household happy. And this tribute from me maybe taken as an indication 
 of what he was substantially to his other relations." — pp. 49, 50. 
 
 f See Appendix D. 
 
70 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 earthly affections. You could not sit at his table, talk 
 with him at his fireside or on his doorsteps, or meet 
 him casually at the corner of the street, without feeling 
 its sweet attraction. I have passed many, many happy 
 hours with him ; but none happier, or whose memory 
 is more fragrant, than those spent in his own house, 
 with his wife and children and grandchildren about 
 him. Outside of his own immediate family, he had a 
 wide circle of friends, both old and young, in New 
 York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, with whom, as time 
 and opportunity permitted, he kept up to the last an 
 affectionate intercourse. How they will henceforth 
 miss his wonted visits ! A young lady, to whom he 
 had greatly endeared himself by his spiritual counsels 
 and kind sympathy, wrote to me shortly after his 
 death : " I miss him so terribly ! I try not to dwell 
 on him, yet sometimes in the night I awake with a 
 burst of tears, as he comes visibly before me even 
 in sleep." On last New- Year's day he started early 
 and called upon an unusual number of his old friends. 
 If the households, that were blessed on that day with 
 his presence and godly conversation, had foreseen that 
 in a single month he would be in heaven, they could 
 hardly have been more vividly conscious of the privi- 
 lege they were enjoying. He had just come from 
 a union morning prayer-meeting, and his face still 
 shone, while his heart seemed to be running over with 
 devout, grateful and tender emotions. His closing 
 years were, indeed, the ideal of a Christian old age ; 
 
HIS TRAITS OF CHARACTER. 7 1 
 
 full of patriarchal benignity, gentleness, sympathy and 
 love. 
 
 HIS MENTAL AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 
 
 The leading features of his menial character have, 
 perhaps, appeared sufficiently in the preceding narra- 
 tive. The natural bent of his mind was reflective and 
 logical, rather than imaginative. He speaks of having 
 become conscious, early in his college course, that he 
 had a gift for mathematics and for the investigation of 
 abstract truth ; and to the end of life he delighted in 
 books and studies which required the most strenuous 
 exercise of pure intellect. If this tendency had not 
 been modified and counterbalanced by the depth and 
 fervor of his convictions, he would never have been 
 the powerful preacher that he was ; indeed, in the later 
 years of his ministry his sermons suffered, perhaps, 
 some disadvantage from a too predominant intellect- 
 ual tone. The profound and discriminating analysis, 
 which renders them so instructive in the reading, de- 
 tracted somewhat, doubtless, from their popular effect 
 in the hearing. But in the earlier periods of his min- 
 istr}^ this was far from being the case. If his preach- 
 ing even in those days was unmarked by any special 
 power of illustration or play of fancy, it glowed with 
 a spiritual fire and energy of soul, which fused into 
 one his most elaborate expositions of Christian doc- 
 trine, with all his high-wrought arguments and appeals, 
 bringing them home to the conscience and heart of 
 
72 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 his hearers as a veritable message from God ! For 
 intellectual vigor and discrimination, combined with 
 impassioned spiritual convictions, and the best results 
 of scriptural and theological study and reflection, I 
 suppose very few preachers of his generation could 
 compare with Dr. Skinner. 
 
 Let me now speak of his more private and personal 
 traits. In his character nature and grace were united 
 in the finest proportions. The same bright and lovely 
 qualities which in boyhood and youth so endeared him 
 to his elder brother and to the wiiole circle of his 
 friends, rendered him so dear to us also, who knew him 
 two or three-score years later. 
 
 " The child was father of the man." 
 
 Old age often borders upon second childhood ; in 
 his case it bordered close upon first childhood ; the 
 fresh, sweet dawn of the morning of his existence min- 
 gling with and beautifying its sober evening. He was 
 simplicity itself; it was his nature. He seemed as un- 
 conscious of his own virtues, as if it had never crossed 
 his mind that he could possess them. A more trans- 
 parent, unsophisticated, guileless, single-eyed, naive 
 human being I never saw. He shrank from things" 
 false, artful or double-minded, as a delicate girl shrinks 
 from what is coarse and impure. The foundations of 
 his character were laid deep in truth and uprightness. 
 How unsuspicious, how frank and trustful and mag- 
 nanimous he was ! How untainted by the vanities 
 and ambitions of the world ! How absorbed in good 
 
HIS ARTLESS SIMPLICITY. 73 
 
 thoughts and high endeavors ! What Professor Tyn- 
 dall says of Farraday, might be appHed, ahiiost word 
 for word, to him : 
 
 " The Hfe of his spirit and of his intellect was so full, 
 that the things which most men strive after were abso- 
 lutely indifferent to him. A favorite experiment of his 
 own was representative of himself He loved to show 
 that water in crystalizing, excluded all foreign ingredi- 
 ents, however intimately they might be mixed with it. 
 Out of acids, alkalies, or saline solutions, the crystal came 
 sweet and pure. By some such natural process in the 
 formation of the man, beauty and nobleness coalesced, to 
 the exclusion of ever^'thing vulgar and low. He did not 
 learn his gentleness in the world, for he withdrew himself 
 from its culture, and still the land of England contained 
 no truer gentleman than he. Not half his greatness was 
 incorporate in his science, for science could not reveal the 
 bravery and delicacy of his heart." 
 
 I have spoken of his artless simplicity and self- 
 unconsciousness. Let me give an illustration of it. 
 He called, two or three years ago, upon an old friend, 
 who said tq him : " Just as you came in my wife was 
 reading something which, I think, would interest you. 
 Shall she read it again 7' " Certainly. I shall be glad 
 to hear it." It v/as a most eloquent and pathetic ap- 
 peal for wrestling prayer, that God would give the 
 Church more and better ministers. He listened in- 
 tently, and when she had finished, expressed in the 
 strongest terms his delight and approval. " Who is 
 the author.'^" he asked. "It is from John Angell 
 
74 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 James's 'Earnest Ministry.'" Whereupon he uttered 
 a fervid eulogy upon that excellent man, and said the 
 passage was v/ell worthy of him. " But it is not by 
 Mr. James ; it is quoted." " From whom .?" " From 
 a book entitled, ' Religion of the Bible. Select Dis- 
 courses, by Dr. Skinner, of New York.'""' 
 
 In his relations with his ministerial brethren, as in all 
 the intercourse of life, he was the impersonation of gen- 
 erous and admiring sympathy. To his inbred courtesy, 
 which showed him as one of nature's noblemen, grace 
 superadded a holy sweetness and benignity that told 
 of long and closest intimacy with the King of Glory. 
 When in his higher moods, the smile upon his face, 
 his friendly greeting, and the cordial grasp of his hand, 
 wrought upon you with a kind of magnetic force ; for 
 hours afterwards you felt the happy influence, as if you 
 had met an angel unawares. What shall I say of his 
 freedom from envy, jealousy and like passions, which 
 alas ! sometimes steal even into the hearts of ministers 
 of the Gospel. He seemed to take far more delight in 
 the gifts and success of his ministerial brethren than 
 his own. Mrs. Gillman once told me, that, during the 
 nearly twenty years which Coleridge passed under her 
 husband's roof at Highgate, she never heard him ut- 
 ter an angry word against the literary enemies who 
 wrote malicious, bitter things about him ; and such 
 was his happy faculty of not seeing the faults and of 
 
 * I give the passa,s,^c in Appendix E, not only for tlie siikc of the anec- 
 dote, but as eminently adapted to the wants of the Cliurch in our own day. 
 
A MODEL HEARER. 75 
 
 magnifying^ the virtues of his friends, that anybody he 
 really loved was sure of his unbounded admiration. 
 Something of the same characteristic belonged to Dr. 
 Skinner. I know not that he had even a theolojrical 
 enemy ; I never heard him speak of one ; but how he 
 loved to praise and magnify his friends. If one of 
 them wrote an article, or a book, or preached a sermon 
 that pleased him, in what admiring words he delighted 
 to express his pleasure ! There may have been at 
 times a touch of weakness in it ; but eminently great 
 and good men are apt to have just such weaknesses. 
 
 HIS CHARACTER AS A HEARER. 
 
 The meek, childlike docility with which he received 
 the word of life at the lips of his brethren, was most 
 beautiful. I never had such a hearer, so punctual, at- 
 tentive and considerate, so loving and devout. I never 
 saw another quite like him. He drank in the simplest 
 Christian truths, no matter how feebly uttered, almost 
 as if they had been uttered by a man inspired. When, 
 twenty years ago, I became the pastor of his old church 
 in Mercer street, I was afraid of him among my hear- 
 ers. There was not a man, woman or child in the 
 congregation of whom I might not as well have been 
 afraid. Never once during my seven years in his old 
 church in Mercer street; never once during the ten 
 years of my second pastoral relation to him, by word 
 or look or action, did he cause me to feel that his sym- 
 pathy was beginning to falter, or that he was not edi- 
 
76 THOMAS HARVEY SKINXER. ' 
 
 fied by my poor services. Nor did he fail to manifest 
 his friendly interest. Some persons appear to think 
 their minister scarcely more in need of expressions of 
 their love and good will, while he is trying to lead them 
 to heaven, than the locomotive that draws them over 
 the iron track ; and they give about the same to the one 
 as to the other. There are others who think that their 
 minister stands in need of such expressions, in his place 
 and degree, quite as truly as the husband needs them 
 from the wife, or the parent from the child ; and they 
 bestow them vs^ithout stint. Dr. Skinner belonged to 
 the latter class. He cherished a profound sense of the 
 greatness, difficulties and peculiar trials of the minis- 
 ter's work, as also of the blessed privilege of hearing 
 the word of life at his lips ; and he showed it by giv- 
 ing to his own pastor the aid and comfort of his con- 
 stant, affectionate and grateful sympathy. But, after 
 all, the most cheering help and support came from just 
 seeing him in the sanctuary. His listening posture, 
 his thoughtful, reverential aspect, the animated glance, 
 the unconscious smile and nods of approval, when edi- 
 fied by the word preached, his closed eye and the rapt 
 expression of his upturned face, as he stood and joined 
 in singing the praises of his God and Saviour, — these 
 made his very presence in church at once an open tes- 
 timony for Christ, and a spiritual benediction alike to 
 his minister and to the whole congregation. 
 
A MODEL DISCIPLE. 1"] 
 
 HIS CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 
 
 As a disciple of Jesus, Dr. Skinner attained heights 
 seldon-i trodden in our day. Grace had penetrated 
 every part and to the lowest depths of his being. The 
 Christian life was to him an infinite reality. I have 
 seen no truer type of its strength and beauty. His 
 character was fashioned by no mere human power ; it 
 was, surely, the transcendent work of the Holy Ghost. 
 He himself seemed not to have the faintest concep- 
 tion of its unearthly loveliness. His face, that shone 
 so bright to others, was hidden from his own eye. By 
 the grace of God I am what I am ! That was the 
 one thought which swallowed up and consecrated all 
 others. Never did he appear so humble and tender 
 and contrite in heart— so to hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, or to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 
 unto salvation with such absolute self-abandonment— 
 as at the very time when the portals of glory everlast- 
 ing were about to fly open for his ransomed spirit to 
 pass through. He had made the long circuit of the 
 Christian life, and was thus brought back again, en- 
 ' riched with the treasures of a great experience, to the 
 unquestioning tmst and childlike simplicity of its 
 lowly beginning. One of his old and most intimate 
 friends testified, on hearing of his death, " I thank God, 
 on every remembrance of him, as the holiest man I 
 have ever known." Certainly we may say, without any 
 question, he was one of the holiest men of his genera- 
 tion. To use his own language respecting his bosom- 
 
78 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 friend Albert Barnes, we are " indebted to him, as a 
 model minister, and preeminently as a model disciple 
 of Christ." The doctrines which, for almost sixty 
 years, he had so faithfully taught and preached to oth- 
 ers, for sixty years wrought mightily in his own soul 
 and reappeared at length, full-orbed, in his daily walk 
 and conversation. His vigorous intellect, his resolute 
 will, his ardent affections, with all the other powers of 
 his strong and gifted nature, were fused and transfig- 
 ured by their quickening influence. He was, in a 
 word, a rare example of spiritual manhood, sound to 
 the core, clear as a crystal, and reflecting in every line- 
 ament the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
 shining in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But let no one imagine that he attained such heights 
 of holiness without most laborious and devout culture ; 
 or that he was exempt from the struggles and trials of 
 the Christian life. The grosser forms of temptation 
 seemed hardly to touch him ; but his intellectual and 
 moral temperament rendered him, I think, peculiarly 
 sensitive to those of a more refined, spiritual sort. Al- 
 though a man of great faith, he had been subject at 
 times to severe assaults of doubt ; he knew what is 
 meant by the " fiery darts of the adversary ;" even to 
 the last he had his dark, despondent moods. And this 
 feature of his own experience qualified him to be such 
 a tender and considerate counsellor of the young men 
 who came to him with their religious difficulties and 
 troubles of mind. The last Sabbath but one that he 
 
A PASSAGE FROM CECIL. 79 
 
 was ever at church, I preached a sermon on Faith as 
 a gift of God. In the course of the sermon I quoted 
 a striking passage from Richard Cecil's " Remains," in 
 which he speaks of waking in pain at two o'clock in 
 the morning and passing through a terrible conflict of 
 soul. The passage seemed to make a strong impres- 
 sion upon Dr. Skinner. At the close of the service he 
 met me on the pulpit stairs, took me by the hand, 
 thanked me for my sermon, and, with deep feeling, 
 said, " I fight my battles at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing !" Several days afterwards he called and desired 
 me to tell him where he could find the passage from 
 Cecil. Let not those who are afflicted with fearful 
 and skeptical thoughts, suppose that any strange thing 
 has befallen them ; some of the greatest and holiest 
 serv^ants of God, whose names- adorn the annals of 
 piety, have endured similar temptations.'^* 
 
 * The following is the passage referred to. Cecil is speaking of Bel- 
 sham's answer to Wilberforce's " Practical Christianity :" 
 
 " I read it over while at Bath in the autumn of 179S. I waked in pain 
 about two o'clock in the morning. I tried to cheer mj-self by an exercise 
 of faith on Jesus Christ. I lifted up my heart to Him as sympathizing with 
 me and engaged to support me. Many times have I thus obtained quiet 
 and repose; but now I could lay no hold on Him ; I had given the enemy 
 an advantage over me ; my habit had imbibed poison ; my nerves trem- 
 bled ; my strength was gone : ' Jesus Christ sympathize with you and re- 
 lieve you ! It is all enthusiasm ! It is idolatry ! Jesus Christ has preached 
 His sermons and done His duty and is gone to heaven ; and there He is, as 
 other good men are ! Address your prayers to the Supreme Being.' I ob- 
 tain relief in such cases by dismissing from my thoughts all that enemies, 
 or friends, can say. I will have nothing to do with Belsham, or Wilberforce. 
 I come to Christ Himself — I hear what He says — I turn over the Gospels — 
 I need His conversations — I dwell especially on His farewell discourse 
 with His disciples in St. John's Gospel. If there is meaning in words, and 
 if Christ was not a deceiver, or deceived, the reality of the Christian life, in 
 Him and from Him by faith, is written there as with a sunbeam." 
 
8o THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 HIS GIFT IN PRAYER. 
 
 He had an extraordinary gift in prayer. I have 
 heard him in the pulpit and on great public occasions, 
 when his devotional fervor, the energy and grasp of his 
 petitions, and the soaring of his spirit, were truly won- 
 derful. But it was in the little company gathered at 
 the weekly evening service, or at the table of the 
 Lord, that I have been most awe-struck by the power 
 and unction of his prayers. Then I have heard him, 
 as I never heard another mortal, plead and wrestle 
 with the Most High, or pour, out his soul in penitent 
 confession, praise, thanksgivings, and adoring wonder, 
 and thus soar aloft " with his singing robes about him," 
 until it seemed as if he was just going to quit these 
 lower regions forever ! 
 
 For the following reminiscence I am indebted to 
 my beloved brother, the Rev. Dn Paxton, of this city : 
 
 " Being present last summer at the administration of 
 the Lord's Supper in the church of the Rev. Dr. Thayer, 
 in Newport, Dr. Skinner was called upon to make the 
 opening prayer at the Communion Table. It was one of 
 his favored moments, when, under an ' unction from the 
 Holy One,' his mind was opened to a vivid apprehension 
 of divine things, and his emotions were so stinxd that he 
 poured forth a strain of fervent devotion, such as made 
 every one feel ' this is none other than the house of God 
 and the gate of heaven.' 
 
 " He commenced with a personal address to the Sa- 
 viour: 'O thou blessed Son of God, thou who art the 
 
A REMARKAIJLE PRAYER. 8 1 
 
 Only Begotten of the Father.' With these words his 
 mind began to fire, and his heart to glow, and then fol- 
 lowed a strain of adoring description, in which he gather- 
 ed all the scriptural appellations and titles of our Lord 
 into a resplendent diadem with which he crowned Him 
 ' Lord of All.' The utterance of all this was in a pecu- 
 liarly tender, but exultant tone, which wrought the audi- 
 ence into complete sympathy with himself, whilst he set 
 before them such an attractive picture of the personal ex- 
 cellence and glory of our Lord, as made every one bow 
 and adore. 
 
 " From this he passed to the crucifixion scene, upon 
 which he dwelt in a most vivid detail, and thence to our 
 Lord's exaltation. It was at this point he began to rise 
 upon eagle pinions. Absorbed with the fresh apprehen- 
 sion which he seemed just then to receive of the Saviour's 
 exaltation and preeminence in the heavenly kingdom, he 
 dwelt upon the thought with exultation, rising higher and 
 higher, both in his thought and utterance, until he seemed 
 to forget himself in a transporting apprehension of things 
 unseen and eternal. 
 
 '* But the touching and melting part of the prayer was 
 the conclusion, in which he set forth the benefits of the 
 Saviour's death as they are represented in the Supper ; 
 and then, blending the Sacramental Supper with the mar- 
 riage supper of the Lamb, he seemed to lift the whole 
 scene, table, audience and all, to the Third Heavens, 
 where he encircled it Avith glory and canopied it with 
 light; seated the Master at the Table, and, gathering in 
 the Angels and the Spirits of the Just made perfect, he 
 made the whole scene pass in such vivid array, that when 
 he suddenly concluded, I felt myself breathing a sigh of 
 
 6 
 
82 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 regret that I had so soon exchanged heaven for earth. 
 The vivid impression of that prayer follows me to the 
 present hour, and I never after met Dr. Skinner without 
 feeling a sacred awe of one who had already been in 
 heaven, in faith and prayer, and who was now standing 
 all ready, with his spirit plumed for everlasting flight."'^ 
 
 His power in prayer was not more remarkable than 
 his faith and delight in prayer. He not only went 
 often and stayed long at the throne of grace himself, 
 but he sought eagerly the intercession of his friends ; 
 entering into covenant with some of them that they 
 should pray for each other daily. 
 
 " I began to love dear Dr. Skinner," (writes, after his 
 death, an old friend in Boston, a layman well known for 
 his Christian zeal and culture,) " when I began to know 
 him — as a mere youth might know and love such a man — 
 when he was my father's guest and honored pastor, for a 
 
 * I find the following allusion to Dr. Skinner at the close of Dr. Bush- 
 nell's striking article on " Pra3'er as related to God's Will," in The Advance, 
 of June 2g : 
 
 " I remember at this point with reverence, how fresh and refreshing were 
 the prayers of our venerated friend and saintly brother, T. H. Skinner, just 
 now taken from us. He was never satisfied with the rotundities of mere self- 
 magnetizing worship. He was sinner enough and poor enough to want 
 something and be making suit for it. And he was dealing visibly always 
 with the will of God, making his confessions not as for tribute, and to pay 
 the revcrentials, but as for help. The scheme of his prayer, if I may use 
 that term, was right, the taste of it was Christian. The very tones of it were 
 in fact a prayer in themselves, and hearing them through an open window, 
 not distinguishing the words, or knowing the man, almost any one would 
 say, ' there is a man far in among God's purposes, not worshiping God as a 
 wall, but as a Helper in the past and a Saviour in what is to come.' Indeed 
 almost any one would get a better impression of Christ and deeper, from 
 simply hearing one of this dear father's prayers, than from hearing any 
 grandest sermon of salvation, or hosanna of praise." 
 
WHAT HE WAS TO A CHRISTIAN FRIEND. S3 
 
 brief time, at Pine street church. The opportunity to 
 know and love him more was opened to me at And over, 
 in 1834. From that time until now he has been to me 
 what no other man has ever been, or could be. When his 
 last letter came — only a short week since— it prompted 
 the thought of what it would be to be left in the world 
 without his prayers. You may perhaps know, that, eleven 
 years ago last August, he kindly asked me to enter into a 
 covenant of mutual daily remembrance in prayer. From 
 that day I have never failed to remember him at least 
 twice daily ; and in this last letter he speaks of his fulfill- 
 ment of his part of the covenant."-"' 
 
 At the time of his conversion he was much aided 
 
 * The same friend writes a few days later: 
 
 "The last time I saw him, he repeated to me the beautiful and most Chris- 
 tian hymn beginning, 
 
 ' My Jesus, as thou wilt,' 
 
 as expressive of his constant feeling. I have never seen, doubtless I never 
 shall see, (to know him as being such,) so holy a man. I can never express 
 my debt of gratitude to Him who gave me this friend of more than thirty- 
 five years. Nor do I think I ever heard any preaching that had in it so 
 much for me. This experience with him confirms me in the long-indulged 
 conviction, that a friend can give us only what he is— not more. I once 
 heard a clergyman asked, if he ever preached or prayed beyond his own 
 experience ? His reply was, ' If I did not, you would have very poor preach- 
 ing." I could not forbear saying, If you do preach beyond your own expe- 
 rience—and I would have added /ra/, as well, but that I think he waived 
 that— we cannot fail to have poor preaching. Dr. Skinner certainly preach- 
 ed according to his aim and his unwearied endeavor, to be filled with all 
 the fullness of the blessed God. I am sure his actual experience was 
 much higher, broader, deeper, than his realized experience. I wish— with- 
 out prejudice to the claims of any other— that his mantle might fall on me. 
 Certainly he was clothed with the beauty of holiness. His sermons on 
 Spiritual Religion, which have been more frequently appropriated without 
 acknowledgment than probably any modern sermons, ought to* be re-print- 
 ed. There is nothing better in the language. And a host of sermons of 
 his— especially those on the Beatitudes, ought to be added- not to that vol- 
 ume, but in other volumes, giving the religious public the advantage of his 
 experience." 
 
84 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 by the counsels of a pious negi'o. The name of this 
 neofro was Eden. He was a slave. He had been 
 offered his freedom, but refused to accept it. He died 
 in 1859. Dr. Skinner's tribute to this " sainted friend," 
 as he called Eden, is touchingly beautiful. After de- 
 scribing his remarkable conversion and his eminently 
 pious life, he proceeds thus : 
 
 " I was happy in my friendship with this humble man. 
 It began early and was never suspended. At the time of 
 his conv^ersion he attended me as a servant ; after it, I 
 was accustomed to hear his voice in solitary prayer ; and 
 he was almost the only person to whom I could express 
 my new feelings, when religion became my own supreme 
 interest. Distance afterwards separated us, but did not 
 diminish our friendship. We took pains to cherish and 
 confirm it. By agreement, wc daily (twice a day on the 
 part of one of us, and, I doubt not, of the other, also, at 
 least as often) remembered each other particularly in 
 prayer. Twice he traveled* several hundred miles by sea 
 to visit me, and the anticipated pleasure of seeing him 
 was always among the motives of my annual journeys to 
 the South. We had short religious interviews when we 
 met. Such were some of the means by which we kept 
 our friendship advancing. Very pleasant to me, now that 
 he is gone, is the reminiscence of them. Rather to be 
 chosen than great riches, or great distinction in the world, 
 was the interest 1 had in my friend Eden's prayers, of low 
 estate though he was. The thousands of prayers, which 
 I am sure he offered for me, with no feigned lips or un- 
 feeling heart — how had I despised my mercies if his hum- 
 
NOT LONG FOR EARTH. 85 
 
 ble condition or aught else had made mc lightly esteem 
 these precioiis indications of his holy love."* 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 But it is time to close ; and yet I am loath to do 
 so. To adopt his own words, in his delightful dis- 
 course on the death of his dear friend, Francis Markoe : 
 " It gives a taste of heaven to hold communion with 
 the idea of this most peculiar, Christ-like character. I 
 am unwilling to let it be long out of my thought ; it 
 has not been long away from it, by day or night. J 
 have found it very refreshing and sweet to mc, to make 
 this discourse upon it. My heart exults with great 
 joy, in the hope of being united to this blest saint 
 in the everlasting relations and employments of 
 heaven." 
 
 For months before his departure, his friends began 
 to feel that he was not long to remain on earth ; there 
 was a light in his face — a something in his whole tone 
 and spirit — which told them so. He felt it himself, 
 though, of course, for a very different reason. He had 
 it in mind, again and again, to communicate to one of 
 the directors of the Seminary his purpose to resign this 
 spring ; but did not " because (as he said to his family) 
 it was some time till spring and he might still die at 
 
 * Soon after Eden's death, Dr, Skinner went South and preached a me- 
 morial discourse upqn him to an overflowing house, composed largely of 
 slaves. His text was Rev. i. 6, "Who hath made us kings and priests unto 
 God." Subject — "The honor which Christianitj' puts upon man." 
 
 The tribute to Eden appeared in the Neio York Obsci~vcr of July 23, 1859. 
 
86 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 his post." He wrote many letters to old friends ; as if 
 to bid them good-bye. 
 
 HIS VIEWS OF LIFE AT FOUR-SCORE. 
 
 His State of mind and his views of life at four-score 
 will appear from two of these letters. The first was 
 addressed to the Rev. E. H. Cumpston, of Virginia : 
 
 " My Dear Brother, — I thank you for sending me 
 your newspaper article ; and the affectionate letter which 
 contained it I sent you by mail a pamphlet con- 
 taining a ' Seminary Address' of mine, and a small volume 
 of * Discussions in Theology,' which I published about two 
 3-ears ago. The * Discussions' show with precision the 
 essentials of my religious creed ; and the ' Address' gives 
 my. view of the great business of the ministry, and the 
 condition of success in it. I feel that in trying to teach 
 others, I, at best, do little more than try to perform the 
 whetstone's office, {fungar vice cot is;) 'sharpen without 
 being myself sharp.' Too often, I fear, I have to tremble 
 at the Lord's denunciation of the lawyers, who laid heavy 
 burdens on men's shoulders, which they themselves would 
 not touch with one of their fingers. Pray for me, that I 
 may not be judged out of my own mouth. You say, 3'ou 
 have seen of late no mention of my name in the papers. 
 What right has it to be there ? What have I done, what 
 have I been, that I should be spoken of in public ? Look- 
 ing at my life, as I am in the habit of doing now, under 
 the instructions of death and the judgment, I feel that, a 
 parte Dei, silence in regard to me is infinitely more than 
 my desert ! Not a negative treatment, not bare neglect, 
 is the due measure of my recompense from God. More- 
 
LETTER TO AN OLD FRIEND. 87 
 
 over, I have had my day. It is but in the order of nature 
 that I should decrease, while others are increasing. Bless- 
 ed be God, it might have been worse with me than it has 
 been ! Had He left me to m3-self, what and where would 
 I have been to-day ! 
 
 " I have not recalled the prayer to which you refer : I 
 desire to depart in mcdiis rebus ; with the harness on, as 
 you say.* My health is very good ; in my eightieth 3'car, 
 m}' locomotive faculties are almost as vigorous as they 
 were when I was young. I am punctual at my Seminary 
 labors. Except preaching and writing, I do as much 
 work as I have been accustomed to do. Writing has be- 
 come more difficult, not from a failure of my intellectual 
 powers, but from an enlarged comprehension of the topics 
 which I treat. In that I am still at my work, and I hope 
 my prayer will be answered. Let me be harnessed for 
 labor ! '' Affectionately yours, 
 
 "T. H. Skinner." 
 
 The other letter was addressed to an old friend and 
 ministerial associate, the Rev. Dr. Helfenstein, of Ger- 
 mantown, Pennsylvania. 
 
 " New York, January 9, iSyr, 
 
 160 West Twenty-third street. 
 
 " Reverend and Dear Brother, — A few days since 
 I .was informed by the Rev. Dr. Ganse, of this city, that 
 in your" retirement from pastoral work you are not in 
 good health ; and my regard for you as, for nearly half a 
 
 * "The prayer referred to, and which he could not recall, was one which 
 our beloved brother Dr. Stiles heard him offer some ten years ago, and 
 which he told me determined him, also, to die with his harness on, and 
 which led him to undertake the arduous work to which his old age is so 
 successfully devoted."— E. H. C. 
 
88 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 century, a faithful minister and disciple of our Divine 
 Master and Saviour, and a reminiscence of you as accom- 
 panying me to a death-bed scene not far from my dwell- 
 ing, when I resided on Race street ; and also your kind- 
 ness in sending me a volume of your sermons, incline me, 
 as I cannot ' see you and speak face to face,' * with ink and 
 pen to write unto 3-ou.' 
 
 " You and I are very near the end of our course. I am, 
 I think, a little in advance of you — near, very near, the 
 brink of the river ; nay, I often say to my friends, I have 
 one foot in the river ; and little is left to me but to look 
 about ijie and cross it ! How I should like to be Avith 
 you and talk with you about our life-experiences, and our 
 prospects as to the eternal future, on which we shall so 
 soon enter! Concerning one thing I am sure we should 
 find ourselves of the same mind, namely, that none among 
 all mankind have been more favored than ourselves as to 
 //le life-work which was assigned us by the singular grace 
 of God. Could any angel have coveted a greater calling 
 than that in which we have spent pur days ? Preaching 
 to poor, perishing men the unsearchable riches of Christ ! 
 Blessed be God that this — not heaping up treasures on 
 earth, not making ourselves a name among scholars, and 
 the worldly wise, and great politicians, and place-seekers 
 — has been our occupation. I am constantly lamenting 
 over my shortcomings, my little profiting by all my ad- 
 vantages and opportunities of serving the Lord, -and my 
 countless infirmities and sins ; and I sometimes wish, in 
 view of my mistakes and failures, that I could begin my 
 course again ; but notwithstanding all my drawbacks, I 
 cannot but call on my soul and all that is within me to 
 bless the Lord that I have been, here on earth, not a 
 
THE CLOSING HOUR- 89 
 
 banker, or lawyer, or statesman, or prince, out a poor 
 preacher of the everlasting Gospel. And I am sure that 
 in this you are like me ; and how should we rejoice to- 
 gether in the wonderful grace of God toward us in this 
 respect, if we could talk with each other of the ministry 
 we have almost completed ! 
 
 " You, doubtless-, know that I was at the funeral of 
 Albert Barnes. Brother, I was never present at such 
 obsequies. I never took part in carrying a man like 
 brother Barnes to his burial. He has not left his equal 
 among us. He is the object of my profound admiration. 
 What a model of industry, of meekness, of patience, of 
 Christian simplicity and dignity was this very extraordi- 
 nar}- man ! Well, brother, we hope soon to see him 
 again ; and also to see brother Patterson, and others 
 whom we have loved and admired as ministers of Christ ; 
 and to see Whitefield, and Edwards, and Baxter, and 
 Howe ; and to see Paul, and John, and Peter, and all the 
 holy apostles and martyrs ; and oh ! infinitely more than 
 all, to see, face to face, our blessed and adorable Lord 
 and Saviour Himself! 
 
 " Farewell ! In the bonds of the everlasting covenant, 
 
 "Yours, ' Thomas H. Skinner." 
 
 He continued to perform his usual duties in the 
 Seminary until the 24th of Januar)^ when he was con- 
 fined to his house by a severe cold. It was not, how- 
 ever, until Tuesday the 31st, that very serious alarm 
 was felt by his friends ; he himself felt no alarm what- 
 ever; but on Wednesday forenoon, February ist, a 
 
90 THOMAS HARVEY SKIXXER. 
 
 little before eleven o'clock, the Son of Man came 
 quickly and took him home to Himself* 
 
 It is wonderful to think what astonishment and joy 
 must have been his, on finding himself so suddenly in 
 the presence of his Saviour. Truly, the day of such a 
 man's death is the natal day of eternity. But un- 
 speakable as was the gain to him, how heavy the loss 
 to us ! Never again shall we here look upon his 
 benignant, apostolic face, or meet him walking, with 
 quick, nervous step, these earthly streets ; never again 
 will he sit where our eyes so delighted to see him sit- 
 ting, in the chapel, or in the sanctuary, which he 
 loved ; no more will he join his voice Vv'ith ours in 
 singing, " Nearer, my God, to Thee ! Nearer to Thee," 
 " Jesus, lover of my soul," " Rock of ages, cleft for 
 me," " My Jesus, as thou wilt." We have felt for the 
 last time that cordial grasp of his hand, which we used 
 to wait for as for a closing benediction ; henceforth 
 his Christian brethren and we all shall miss his high, 
 spiritual converse. Precious privileges were these, but 
 they are gone. That dear, benignant face is gazing in 
 rapture upon the Beatific Vision ; he who but yester- 
 day was sitting here with us, is seated now with the 
 jisen Son of God, in His throne ; that voice is join- 
 ins: in the eternal new sonc: ; that lovinsr hand has 
 touched adoringly the Hand once nailed, for his and 
 our salvation, to the bitter cross ; our old friend has 
 
 * A few details respecting his last hours, as also some account of the fu- 
 neral, will be found in Appendix A. 
 
PASSING AWAY ! 9 1 
 
 walked and will walk for aye the golden streets of the 
 city of Immanuel. 
 
 "Oh what sweet company 
 He there doth hear and see ! 
 What harmony doth there abound ! , 
 
 While souls unnumbered sing 
 
 The praise of Zion's King, 
 Nor one dissenting voice is found!" 
 
 Thanks be to God, who early called him to be a 
 saint, crowned his long life with such sacred beauty, 
 enabled him to bring forth so much fruit, and then 
 gave him the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 How fast the aged ministers, who wxre his contem- 
 poraries and fellow-laborers in the Gospel, are passing 
 away ! Only one here and there is 'any longer to be 
 seen among us. The great majority are at rest in God. 
 And the few, that remain, must often feel like ex- 
 
 claiming 
 
 " They are all gone into the world of light, 
 And I alone sit lingering here '" 
 
 But for his aged brethren, w^ho still survive, and for 
 us all, a precious solace is left : 
 
 "Their very memory is fair and bright, 
 And my sad thoughts doth clear. 
 
 " It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast, 
 Like stars upon some gloomy grove. 
 Or those faint beams in which the hill is drest, 
 After the sun's remove. 
 
 I see them walking in an air of glory, 
 Whose light doth trample on my days; 
 My days, which arc at best both dull and hoary. 
 Mere glimmering and decays. 
 
92 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 O holy hope ! and high humility ! 
 
 High as the heavens above ! 
 
 These are your walks, and 3-0 have show'd them me, 
 
 To kindle my cold love." • 
 
 He has gone to be with his Lord ; but we have not 
 lost him. There is no parting friends in Christ. He 
 is nearer than ever now. " Heaven is not long to wait, 
 nor far to go." Saints on earth and saints in glory, if 
 not on one floor, are yet under one roof and form 
 one family. Death has taken our venerated friend and 
 brother from our sight, but not from our hearts. We 
 never loved him as we love him now ; never was his 
 power over us greater ; never his image so fair and 
 Christ-like. His immense faith w^ill still quicken ours ; 
 his godly virtues will still impregnate the air we 
 breathe ; the prayers he used to offer are yet potent 
 for our advantage ; we shall often be thinking of him, 
 and whenever we think of him, it will be a new stimu- 
 lus to holy living ; earth will always be pleasanter be- 
 cause he has been here, and heaven more real and at- 
 tractive because he has gone there. Wherefore, we 
 praise and bless thee, O God, for his most useful life, 
 for his good example, for his precious love and fellow- 
 ship ; we praise and bless Thee, also, that in a ripe old 
 age, with faculties unbroken, standing firmly at his 
 post, radiant in spiritual beauty, full of the Holy Ghost 
 and of faith. Thou hast taken him home to Thyself- 
 Prepare us, we beseech Thee, when our appointed 
 hour shall strike, to follow him into the unseen world. 
 
CONCLUSION. 93 
 
 and there have our rest and portion with him in the 
 life everlasting ! 
 
 Now UNTO Him that is able to do exceed- 
 ing ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR 
 THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH 
 
 IN US, UNTO Him be glory in the church by 
 Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world with- 
 out end. Amen. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A, PAGE 90. 
 
 The funeral of Dr. Skinner took place on Saturda}^ 
 February 4th, at the Church of the Covenant. It was a 
 most impressive scene, and will never be forgotten by 
 those who witnessed it. The services in the church were 
 conducted b}^ the Rev. Dr. Prentiss, the Pastor ; Prof 
 Henry B. Smith, of the Union Theological Seminary, and 
 Rev. William Adams, D. D., Pastor of the Madison square 
 Presbyterian church ; the singing was by a choir of stu- 
 dents. After reading a portion of the 17th chapter of 
 the Gospel of John, Dr. Prentiss gave a sketch of the life 
 and character of the deceased, with some account of his 
 last hours. The following passages are taken from this 
 address : 
 
 " Whether regarded as a preacher of the gospel, as a 
 theologian, or as a disciple of Jesus, he was ahke admira- 
 ble and pre-eminent. For almost three-scoi-e years he 
 has been identified with the religious interests of the 
 country — especially with the history and piety of the 
 Presbyterian Church. His name has long been a house- 
 hold word among Christian people all over the land ; and 
 henceforth it will be embalmed with those of Miller and 
 Richards and Alexander and Beechcr and Albert Barnes, 
 and others like them. He came upon the stage at a mo- 
 ment when the theological and ecclesiastical atmosphere 
 7 (97) 
 
98 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 foreboded strife and trouble ; and, when the storm burst, 
 nobod}^ took a manlier part, nobody was more faithful to 
 his honest convictions, avowed them with greater bold- 
 ness, or maintained them with more ability, than he. But 
 I shall not dwell upon these things now. Dr. Skinner re- 
 garded it as a special favor of Providence, and one of his 
 greatest felicities on earth, that he was permitted, during 
 the closing hours of life, to breathe an atmosphere no lon- 
 ger embittered either by theological or ecclesiastical ani- 
 mosity and discord. One of the last things I saw him do 
 was to grasp the hand of a friend, and exclaim : ' Yes, 
 brother, I believe with you, that the oduini tJicologicuvi is 
 dying out !' From the first, he earnestly desired and 
 prayed for the Reunion of the Pi"esbyterian Church, both 
 for its own sake, and as the harbinger of a larger and still 
 more blessed union of all Christ's disciples ; and when the 
 momentous act w\as at length consummated, his joy was 
 unbounded. Some present will remember how he poured 
 out that joy in this very place, as at the request of the 
 Moderator, although himself not a mem.ber of the Gen- 
 eral Assembl}', he offered up thanks to Almighty God 
 immediately after the unanimous vote in favor of Re- 
 union. His whole soul was filled with the spirit of our 
 Lord's high-priestly prayer, that His followers might all 
 be one ; as Thou, Father, art in vie, and I in Thee, that they 
 also may be one in us ; that the zvorld may believe that Thou 
 hast sent me. The 17th chapter of the Gospel of John 
 seemed, indeed, to have become part of his spiritual hfe- 
 blood. To hear him talk and pray about union with 
 Christ, and the union of Christ's people in Him, was al- 
 most like reading, on one's knees, that wonderful chapter. 
 " Of Dr. Skinner's career and character as preacher 
 and theologian, my brethren, who follow me, will speak. 
 In the earlier and palmy days of his ministry, his power 
 in the pulpit must have been extraordinar3^ He was lit- 
 tle more than a stripling when he began to declare the 
 way of salvation ; but even then some of the greatest 
 
APPENDIX. 99 
 
 preachers and divines of the age listened to him with 
 delight, and bore witness to his remarkable gifts. It is 
 related, that on one occasion, he was to preach at Ger- 
 mantown ; and, upon entering the pulpit, saw among his 
 hearers, that prince of sacred orators, the renowned Dr. 
 John M. Mason, who happened to be sojourning in the 
 place. At first, he was filled with dismay ; but by a 
 special effort of mind, threw himself upon the help of 
 his Master, and was enabled to proceed in his discourse 
 with entire freedom. When the service was over. Dr. 
 JNIason came forward, seized him by the hand, and with 
 tears in his eyes, said : ' God bless you ! And He will bless 
 you !' The latter half of his course in Philadelphia, in 
 the Arch street church. Dr. Skinner called " the seed- 
 time of his ministry ;" but every part of his ministry, in 
 Philadelphia, in New England, and in New York, was a 
 seed-time, out of which most precious harvests of souls 
 have been gathered. 
 
 " Of his personal and Christian character it is difficult 
 to speak in measured terms. He was a man of the rarest 
 courtesy, grace and sweetness of manners. He had a 
 most winning smile, and when in his high and radiant 
 moods, the charm of his presence and conversation was 
 something indescribable. At such times his face was as 
 it had been the face of an angel. Only two weeks ago 
 to-night, a large number of his brethren saw him in such 
 a mood at his own house ; and never will the hallowed 
 scene, or« the sweet hymn, ' My Jesus, as Thou wilt,' 
 which he repeated to them at its close, be effaced from 
 their memory.- 
 
 * " Now that he is taken, we can see how he has been long preparing for 
 the change. Often as we walked home together from our Saturday night 
 meetings, we have asked how it seemed to be approaching the end of life, 
 and found that his mind was in perfect peace. Only a few days before his 
 death, the Chi Alpha, an association of the ministers of this city, which he 
 greatly loved, met at his house. At the close, as we were about to unite in 
 prayer, he wisherd that we might join him in singing a particular hymn, 
 and as he could not lay his hand upon the book, he repeated the three 
 
lOO THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 " I never knew a human being- of whom it could be said 
 with more truth : Behold an Israelite indeed, in zuhom there 
 is no guile / His artless simplicity was as uncommon as 
 the vigor of his intellect, the beauty of his affections and 
 the sanctity of his hfe. What he said of his venerated 
 and faithful friend, Dr. James P. Wilson, applied, word 
 for word, to himself: 'What a charm is there in gifts, 
 when simplicity exercises them ; and how venerable is 
 simplicity when it invests illustrious gifts ! Never have 
 we seen the person in whom simplicity dwelt in a higher 
 degree. Whether in his public ministrations, or in pri- 
 vate life, this eminent man was unassuming as a little 
 child, claiming no distinctions above the plainest indi- 
 
 verses. We see him now, standing before the fire-place, with his back to 
 the fire, with his hands crossed, and repeating fervently these words : 
 
 " ' My Jesus, as Thou wilt ! 
 
 may Thy will be mine ; 
 Into Thy hand of love, 
 
 1 would my all resign ; 
 Through sorrow or through joy, 
 Conduct me as Thine own, 
 And help me still to say, 
 
 My Lord, Thy will be done. 
 
 " ' My Jesus, as Thou wilt ! 
 
 Though seen through many a tear, 
 
 Let not my star of hope 
 
 Grow dim, or disappear ; 
 
 Since Thou on earth hast wept, 
 
 And sorrowed oft alone, 
 
 If I must weep with Thee, 
 
 My Lord, Thy will be done ! 
 
 " ' My Jesus, as thou wilt ! 
 All shall be well for me ; 
 Each changing future scene, 
 I gladly trust with Thee ; 
 Straight to my home above 
 I travel calmly on, 
 And sing, in life, or death. 
 My Lord, Thy will be done !' " 
 
 — I'/ic Evangelist, February 9th. 
 
APPENDIX. lOI 
 
 vidua!, and appearing- to be conscious of no superiority 
 to him in any kind of excellence.' To this lovely trait 
 was joined a humility equally remarkable. One of the 
 church fathers, on beino[ asked what is the first thing- in 
 religion, replied. Humility — and what the second, replied, 
 Humility — and what the third, replied still. Humility. It 
 was so in an eminent degree with our departed friend. 
 He loved to lie low — ^ injinitclylow,' as his favorite. Presi- 
 dent Edwards, expresses it, before God. He was very 
 modest and humble in reference to his intellectual and 
 theological gifts and attainments ; while the sense of his 
 own unworthiness, littleness, and imperfections as a min- 
 ister and disciple of Jesus, was overpowering, and would 
 have been intolerable, had it not been relieved and swal- 
 lowed up by impassioned love to his Saviour, and an im- 
 mense faith in Him. The depth and intensity of both senti- 
 ments were strikingly illustrated by an incident, which 
 occuri'ed only a few days before his last illness. He 
 called at my house for the purpose of spiritual conference 
 with a Christian friend. Before leaving, he said : * I have 
 brought something which I want to read to you,' intimat- 
 ing that it expressed exactly his own feeling. He then 
 read, with infinite animation and emphasis, and with holy 
 unction beaming in his e3'e and face, a letter of Rev. Wil- 
 liam Romaine, author " Life, Walk and Triumph of Faith." 
 The letter is so striking, and throws such light upon the 
 state of his own soul, that I give a large portion of it : 
 
 " ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who hath blessed you with so many blessings al- 
 ready, and who, having begun, will not cease to bless you 
 in life and death, and forever more ! Your letter of May 
 2d puts me- in mind of His goodness, as I wish all things 
 may. It rejoices my ver}^ heart to see Him displaying 
 the glories of His grace far and wide. From London 
 through Europe, from Europe to America, yea, as far as 
 the sun travels, His fame is spread. And does He not 
 deserve it ? Oh, my friend, what have we to tell of but 
 
I02 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER, 
 
 the loving-kindness of Jesus ; and what to praise but His 
 wonders in saving such as we are, and in saving so many 
 of us ? Blessings forever on the Lamb ! May we glorify 
 Him by resting on Him for righteousness and strength, 
 and by living wholly upon Him for grace and glory. 
 Then all goes well, when 
 
 " ' On all besides his precious blood, 
 On all besides the Son of God, 
 We trample boldl3^ and disclaim 
 All other saviours but the Lamb. 
 
 " ' As to what you write about, I know not what to say. 
 It is in the best hands. He knows w^hat to do. Let Him 
 alone. Remember He is the head of the Church, and He 
 will look after His own matters, and well, too. At pres- 
 ent, I see not my way clearly from London. Here my 
 Master fixes me, and here I must stay till He calls me to 
 some other place. When He would have me to move, 
 He will let me know His will. Besides, what am I ? 
 What does it signify where I am ? A poor, dumb dog, 
 the vilest, the basest of all the servants of my Lord. If 
 you could see what is passing for any one hour in my 
 heart, you would not think anything of me ; you would 
 only admire and extol the riches of Jesus' love. Wonder- 
 ful it is that He should send such an one to preach His 
 gospel, and bless it, to many, many souls (while every 
 sermon covers me with shame and confusion) — oh, this is 
 wonderful, wonderful, eternally to be admired, grace ! 
 What cannot He do ? who can form a preacher out of 
 such a dry, rotten stick, fit for nothing but the fire of 
 hell ? Glory, glory be to Him alone, and forever and 
 forever more. All the tongues in heaven and in earth, 
 men and angels, throughout eternity, cannot praise Him 
 enough for what He has already done for my soul, and, 
 therefore, I am content to be a poor, broken, bankrupt 
 debtor forever. Hereb}^ I shall be enabled forever to 
 exalt Him, and to put the crown upon His head, and 
 
APPENDIX. 103 
 
 that is all I want. It will be heaven enough to join that 
 blessed company, who are crying, IVort/iy is the Lamb 
 (but none else) to receive poiucr and riches and ivisdom and 
 strength and honor and glory and blessing." " 
 
 " Of many other things— of his devotional habits and 
 his marvelous gift in prayer— of his noble virtues as a 
 Christian citizen and patriot— of his relations to his old 
 church in Mercer street, to this bereaved church of the 
 Covenant, and to myself as his pastor in both, I would 
 gladly speak ; but time forbids' that I should do so now. 
 I hasten to the closing hours. 
 
 •' The death of his old and greatly beloved friend, iNIr. 
 Barnes, made a profound impression upon him ; and after 
 his return from Philadelphia, I felt that he might slip 
 away from us at any moment. His heart and his thoughts 
 were, plainly, all above, where Christ sitteth at the right 
 hand of God. In a letter to an old friend in Boston, 
 dated January 24th, only a week before his departure, 
 he writes : ' What a glorious death was that of Albert 
 Barnes ! It holds me wondering and praising God for 
 His singular grace to that very remarkable man. Is it 
 possible that such a death is to be mine ? I wish to die, if 
 God's will be so, in mcdiis rebus; but to die m good health 
 2ind without pain ! Is such a mercy in reserve for me? 
 Pray for me, my dear friend, that die, w^hen, where, or 
 how I may, I may glorify God in dying.' 
 
 " But, although suffering from a cold, he continued his 
 lectures, as usual, until Wednesday of last week. On 
 Thursday, a physician was called in ; but it w^as not until 
 Tuesday morning of this week, that his friends became 
 very seriously alarmed at his condition.* His prostra- 
 tion was at that time exceedingly great. He lay dozmg 
 
 * On Monday evening, as the night wore on, he said to the members of 
 his family about him : " You can leave me now and I will compose myself 
 to sleep." One of them, however, unobserved by him, remained in the 
 darkened room. He immediately, with the simplicity of a child, repeated 
 to himself a portion of Scripture, recited the whole of his favorite hymn. 
 "My Jesus, as Thou wilt," and then olTcrcd aloud his evening prayer. 
 
I04 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 at intervals throughout the day, rarely speaking, save in 
 reply to questions, and evidently disinclined to mental 
 exertion of any sort. Towards evening he was much 
 agitated and disturbed by an effort to take nourishment. 
 An attempt was therefore made to divert his mind from 
 painful thoughts by speaking of Christ. He instantly 
 caught at the allusion, and though he had hitherto spoken 
 little, and that with great difficulty, his whole soul roused 
 itself, and he broke forth into the most wonderful expres- 
 sions of love to his Saviour, closing with the following 
 stanzas from a hymn of Watts, which he repeated with 
 such unction and energy of feeling, that, at the time, the 
 language was not recognized as verse, but was supposed 
 to be his own. That it was the language of his inmost 
 heart at that very moment, no one who had heard the 
 tones, and seen the worn, yet illumined face, could for an 
 instant doubt : 
 
 " ' Lord, when I quit this earthly stage, 
 
 Where shall I fl\-, but to Thy breast ? 
 For I have sought no other home : 
 For I have learned no other rest. 
 
 " ' I cannot live contented here 
 
 Without some glimpses of Thy face ; 
 And heaven, without Thy presence there, 
 Will be a dark and tiresome place. 
 
 " ' When earthly cares engross the day, 
 
 And hold my thoughts aside from Thee, 
 The shining hours of cheerful light 
 Are long and tedious years to me. 
 
 " ' And if no evening visit's paid 
 
 Between my Saviour and my soul, 
 How dull the night ! how sad the shade ! 
 How mournfully the minutes roll ! 
 
 " ' This flesh of mine might learn as soon 
 To live, yet part with all my blood ; 
 To breathe, when vital air is gone, 
 
 Or thrive and grow without my food. 
 
APPENDIX. 105 
 
 " ' The strings that twine about my heart, 
 Tortures and raci<s may tear them off ; 
 But they can never, never part 
 With their dear hold of Christ, my Love. 
 
 " ' My God ! and can an humble child, 
 
 Who loves Thee with a flame so high. 
 Be ever from Thy face exiled, 
 Without the pity of Thine eye ? 
 
 " ' Impossible ! For Thine own hands 
 
 Have tied my heart so fast to Thee ; 
 And in Thy book the promise stands, 
 
 That where Thou art. Thy friends must be.' 
 
 " His physicians saw him early on Wednesda}'" morning-, 
 and thought he might perhaps live through the day. 
 But he sank rapidly, and his mind was more or less bewil- 
 dered through his physical exhaustion. There was now 
 and then a whispered word, ' more faith,' ' blessed Sav- 
 iour,' ' a poor sinner,' but most of what he said was unin- 
 telligible. At about a quarter before eleven, he said, with 
 almost a smile : ' I feel a great deal better, and am going- 
 to get up.' Yielding to the solicitation to remain in bed, 
 he lay quietly for a moment, then rose and sat upright 
 for a single instant. A sudden pallor spread over his 
 face, and he was tenderly replaced upon his pillow, where 
 he drew his breath gently at intervals, but so gently 
 that those who watched about him hardly knew at what 
 moment the ardent soul took flight from the exhausted 
 body." 
 
 Professor Smith then spoke as follows : 
 
 " Our revered father and brother in the Christian minis- 
 try was connected with the Union Theological Seminary 
 of this city, as a Director from its beginning in 1836, and 
 as its Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, Pastoral Theology, 
 and Church Government for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
 tury. Of those who were with him in its foundation, only 
 three survive — Dr. Adams, Mr. Charles Butler, (now Pres- 
 
I06 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 ident of the Board of Directors,) and Mr. Fishej- Howe, 
 of Brooklyn. Our Seminary owes as much to Dr. Skin- 
 ner as to any other man ; in some respects, especially in 
 its spiritual power and history, it owes more to him than 
 to any other man. I am to say a few words on what he 
 was to us, and of our special loss. This is not the time to 
 speak of him in the details of his life's work. 
 
 "A theological seminary needs to be poised upon a 
 spiritual centre; not only to be rooted in Christ the Head, 
 but also to centre in some visible impersonation of the 
 spiritual power of a living Christian faith, animating its 
 members by example and by word. That was the posi- 
 tion which our venerable senior Professor held (all uncon- 
 sciously to himself) to both the Faculty and the students 
 of this Institution. Such spiritual force is silent, it is not 
 much spoken of; but its loss is felt as we feel the setting 
 of the sun. It comes — it can come — only from a life in- 
 stinct with the powers of the world to come ; it cannot 
 be born of the will of man ; it cannot be bought — the 
 price of it is above rubies ; it is fashioned by divine grace, 
 and its presence is felt rather than defined. 
 
 " Dr. Skinner came to us in the full vigor of his intellect, 
 and gave to our students the wisest and maturest labors 
 of his lengthened life. The brilliant enthusiasm of his 
 earliest ministry in Philadelphia, heightened by its con- 
 flicts ; the ardent and pungent evangelism, the flaming 
 logic, of his memorable service in the Mercer street 
 church, built by and for him ; his varied and earnest stud- 
 ies ; his catholic spirit, and his settled Presbyterian con- 
 victions — all worked in and enabled him, at an age when 
 most men think of retiring from their labors, to achieve 
 high repute in a new work. He was nearly three-score 
 years of age when he began his instructions to our classes : 
 but very few men have such tenacity and elasticity of both 
 body and mind. One reason of his endurance and suc- 
 cess is, that he wisely stuck to his proper work. 
 
 *•' His old age, the period commonly so called, was in- 
 
APPENDIX. 107 
 
 deed remarkable. Few men whose lives are so long spared 
 are what be was. He never outlived his enthusiasm for 
 anything good and true, even though it might be new. 
 On the themes that interested him he would light up to 
 the last with the fervor of youth. In his higher mental 
 powers he did not seem to grow old. Now and then the 
 brightness of his eye was dimmed, his hearing became a 
 shade less acute, his abstraction from external things was 
 somewhat more noticeable; but his intellect remained 
 clear and intent ; his soul grew larger with his growing 
 years, and the scope of his spiritual vision was widened 
 as he mounted higher and higher. How easily he sur- 
 passed us all in spiritual discernment, 
 
 " And this was what distinguished him : while living in 
 the world he lived above the world. I have never known 
 a more unwordly character. He was absorbed by a 
 hio-her life. The so-called fascinations and distractions of 
 this teeming metropolis were no temptations to him ; he 
 was among them but not of them ; they just glanced off 
 from his untarnished shield. xA-nd even in the Church he 
 could never understand manoeuvring and ecclesiastical 
 politics ; he knew so little about such by-means that he 
 was really amazed at them. He just thought and said 
 what seemed true, and did what seemed right, and all the 
 rest was no concern of his, somebody would take care of 
 it. And he was so single-minded that, had the necessity 
 come, he would, I doubt not, have marched to the stake 
 singing the song of victory. He believed in another life. 
 
 " In Plato's immortal description of the cave and the 
 light, he tells us that the dwellers in the cave when they 
 come to the hght seem to others to be dazed. There is 
 always a kind of abstraction about great thinkers, poets, 
 and divines. Common people cannot quite see through 
 them. They speak from a larger view and to a greater 
 audience than that of their own generation. Mutely they 
 appeal to a coming tribunal. And so our departed friend 
 was at times engrossed and absorbed in the high subjects 
 
I08 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 of Christian thought. He pondered them by day and by 
 night. He saw them from the INIount of Visioiv He de- 
 scribed them in glowing periods. His fellowship was 
 with the Father and the Son. If he thought and spake 
 less of the things of time, it was because like Paul he was 
 rapt in a higher sphere — where God's ' glory smote him 
 in the face.' 
 
 " He was to the last a reader, a student, and a thinker. 
 No student in the Seminar}^ had a keener relish for hard 
 work than he, or found more to learn. Until within two 
 or three years he was always re-writing his lectures and 
 even his sermons. His most carefully prepared work, his 
 * Discussions in Theology,' an admirable book, was pub- 
 lished only three years ago. Some of the essays in it are 
 not only complete in their anatomy, but are finished with 
 the refined art of a sculptor. 
 
 " And the same volume also defines his theological po- 
 sition. In seeking for truth he never seemed to ask, what 
 is the view of my side, but what is the truth itself? He 
 did not take his definitions from any man. Cordially at- 
 tached to the theology of the Reformed churches, he was 
 always willing to merge lesser differences for the sake of 
 the unity and prosperity of the Church. 
 
 " His seminary duties were not official tasks ; he loved 
 his work, and it grew upon him. His lectures on Church 
 Government, and Sacred Rhetoric, and the Pastoral 
 Office, were wrought out with comprehensive thought 
 and care. To the very last he read all new works on 
 these subjects, though he did not find in them much that 
 was new to him. But he praised many a book, and many 
 a sermon, rather from the fulness of his own vision than 
 from what others could find in them. 
 
 "All true human greatness is also humble; it docs not 
 seem to seek its own. With his acknowledged superior- 
 ity, how deferential was our brother to others, even to 
 men of low estate! It was sometimes embarrassing to us 
 to find that he was not aware of his own superior posi- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 109 
 
 tion. He was among us as one that serveth. There was 
 about him a certain grace of manner, an old-time chivalry 
 of tone (now almost a tradition) towards those less and 
 younger and weaker than himself, which showed the true 
 nobility of his soul. It came from his high sense of per- 
 sonal honor, which made him honor all men. He was 
 magnanimous, because he was humble. 
 
 " And what a helper and friend he was ! His personal 
 affections were unswerving. When I came here, he took 
 me by the hand, and its cordial pressure was never re- 
 laxed. ^ When the pastor of this church succeeded him in 
 the ministry, no one greeted him, and no one has clung 
 to him, as did he. He was never weary of talking of his 
 old friends at home in North Carolina, of Dr. Wilson, and 
 brother Patterson, and Albert Barnes— with whom he was 
 united in life, and by death not long divided,— of his 
 teachers and class-mates in Nassau Hall. What he was 
 as a husband and a father— dearest of all earthly names— 
 they only fully know who to-day mourn most deeply and 
 are most deeply comforted. 
 
 " A thousand of his pupils, all over our country and in 
 many a distant land, mourn w^ith us his loss ; and many 
 thousands to whom he preached the Gospel, will sorrow 
 for him who led them to Christ, and by his own life 
 showed the way 
 
 " As a teacher in the Presbyterian Church he was cor- 
 dially attached to its doctrine and government. But this 
 did not exclude, it rather favored, his love for the whole 
 body of Christ. It not only gave him zeal for our auspi- 
 cious reunion, but enlarged his love for all who profess 
 and call themselves Christians. His charity could not be 
 bounded by the confines of any sect. He believed more 
 fully in the invisible than in the visible Church. He loved 
 all the brethren, and labored for all men. 
 
 " His power and influence as a theological teacher were 
 also increased by his keen sense of the honor and dignity 
 of his own profession. In this he was not humble, for he 
 
no THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 Spake from a high calling. Necessity was laid upon him. 
 No student could doubt that he really felt, Woe is unto 
 me and to you, if we do not preach the Gospel, for eter- 
 nity is here at stake. No one could doubt that he truly 
 beheved the ministry of the Gospel to be the highest and 
 the most serviceable office which man can fill, that of an 
 ambassador for Christ, at the service of all men for their 
 spiritual welfare. 
 
 " His personal power was also enhanced, year by year, 
 with the increase of his spiritual life ; while the outward 
 man was perishing, the inward m'an was renewed day by 
 day. He became more and more a hving Epistle, a Gos- 
 pel of God's grace, known and read of all men. Vexed 
 and perplexing questions -were merged in a higher life. 
 Revealed facts took the place of disputed propositions. 
 The living Christ took the place of the doctors of the 
 schools, and with advantage. 
 
 " Thus he lived and grew^ day by day, in his serene and 
 hallowed old age, towards the measure of the stature of a 
 perfect man in Christ Jesus. Was he, then, a saint on 
 earth? He was called to be a saint, and he was always 
 fulfiUing his caUing, not counting himself to have attained, 
 but ever pressing onward. Upon the whole I think he 
 was as saint-like a man as any of us have ever seen. 
 
 " So he lived on, with his wiry and flexible frame, mind 
 and body active to the last. Every succeeding winter 
 we have thought might be too much for him. But he 
 bore up bravely — till he touched the verge of four-score 
 years. The shadows of his life lengthened, but he saw 
 not the shadows, for his face was turned to the light. Ten 
 days ago I met him at the Seminary for the last time ; and 
 his grasp was as firm and his look as warm as ever ; though 
 even then he said : " I cannot long be Avith you." He 
 went out into the piercing cold — its rigor seized upon 
 him, its fatal grasp could not be loosened ; his time had 
 come ; his Master called, and Ire was always ready. Of 
 death he had no fear, though he sometimes said that he 
 
APPENDIX. I I I 
 
 shrank from dying. But at last even this natural fear 
 passed away, and he could say with a full heart: 
 
 "Welcome the liour of full discharge, 
 Which sets my longing soul at large, 
 Unbinds my chains, breaks up my cell, 
 And gives me with my God to dwell." 
 
 " To him ' dying was but going home.' Peacefully he 
 passed away as a child to its rest. He has gone where 
 there is no more Winter : there everlasting Spring abides. 
 He is with the patriarchs and apostles and saints and 
 brethren he loved so well ; and yet he hardly sees them 
 in his impassioned vision of One whose name is above 
 every name, and whose image was upon his soul. He 
 has heard the welcome, * Well done, good and faithful 
 servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' And over 
 his grave we can only say — mastering our grief — Blessed 
 are the dead who die in the Lord." 
 
 The following is the substance of Dr. Adams's remarks : 
 
 " The world will seem much more lonely to very many, 
 because this eminent servant of God has gone out of it ; 
 but how much better for the world, because he has lived 
 in it! 
 
 " To utter his eulogy is to be rebuked by the remem- 
 brance of his modesty. Why did he hold so high a place 
 in the esteem of all? Because he was so lowly in his own. 
 Why were all disposed to defer to him and to honor him ? 
 Because he never obtruded himself upon any. So exqui- 
 site was his taste, so highly cultivated his religious sensi- 
 bility, that he was accustomed to shrink from any refer- 
 ence to himself While, at proper times, in proper places, 
 for high uses he displayed the thoroughness of his self- 
 knowledge, the profound skill and honesty of his self-anal- 
 )^sis, he did not' abound in profuse allusions to his own 
 spiritual experience, for that was too deep and sacred to 
 be evaporated in flippant speech. There is a- lesson in 
 
112 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 this which is good for all. One should never make a turn- 
 pike of his heart for promiscuous travel. There is an ex- 
 posure of one's own mind scarcely less indecorous than 
 that of the person. The memory of what Dr. Skinner 
 truly was, makes one to weigh every word concerning 
 him with a most cautious regard to his refined, sensitive, 
 and delicate sense of propriety. 
 
 " His career as a Christian preacher began in times of 
 sharp theological controversy. His mind was too eager 
 and active, and his logical habits of thought were too ex- 
 act to allow him to be indifferent to the questions then in 
 debate; but never did he suffer himself to be diverted 
 from his one great work as a preacher of the ' glorious 
 Gospel of the blessed God.' His nicest metaphysical dis- 
 tinctions all came into play, not as arid learning, but as 
 practical helps, when in the pulpit he commended the 
 truth to the human conscience in the sight of God. 
 
 " The period, in which the best part of his ministerial 
 life was spent, was distinguished by those extraordinary 
 effusions of the Holy Spirit, which were hardly less re- 
 markable than ' the great awakening' in the last century, 
 as associated with the pen and preaching of Jonathan Ed- 
 wards. With the quickest instinct he interpreted, and 
 with the warmest sympathy he entered into that great 
 work of God. It gave a peculiar point and character to 
 all his preaching through life. So thorough was his self- 
 conviction as to the truth, that he seemed always to ex- 
 pect that others would be convinced also. He unfolded 
 and enforced the truth as with the utmost confidence of 
 success. He cherished an attachment for his profession 
 which amounted to a noble and fervent enthusiam. Like 
 George Herbert, whom, in many points he resembled, he 
 regarded his pulpit as his 'joy and throne.' So earnest 
 was his manner, and glowing his discourse, that he always 
 made the impression on his hearers that he expected, and 
 with good reason, an immediate verdict, and was disap- 
 pointed if it was not given. Those memorable scenes in 
 
ATPENDIX. 113 
 
 Philadelphia, in New Haven, in New York, when preach- 
 ing with such demonstrations of the Spirit and of power, 
 inquirers and converts were computed by hundreds and 
 thousands, and a whole audience bent toward him like a 
 field of grain ! Then was it that he plied his sickle well, 
 and filled his bosom with many sheaves. How many are 
 already garnered in the kingdom of heaven, how many 
 still living in these churches and pulpits, who will always 
 hail him as the chosen means of mercy to their souls ! 
 
 " Dr. Skinner was, to use an expression, which in old 
 English bore a peculiar sense, a perfect Christian gentle- 
 man. He was a specimen of spiritual beauty. How pure, 
 how gentle, how guileless, how kind, how courteous, how 
 free from all suspicion of worldly ambition ! How sweet 
 his latest experience ! How often has it been said of him 
 by his friends, ' He is fast ripening for heaven.' Like ripe 
 fruit has he fallen, in its time, detached by no violence. 
 Age had impaired none of his faculties, only imparted ad- 
 ditional serenity to his countenance, sweetness to his 
 manners, and beauty to his character, as the disc of the 
 setting sun seems to be larger, and its lustre to be softer 
 than when in its meridian. How calmly has he been sit- 
 ting in his stall in the cathedral of hfe, with the banner of 
 Christ's love over his head, waiting for the service to be 
 over, that he might say with all his heart. Amen. That 
 word he has pronounced ; and he has received the end of 
 his faith the salvation of his soul. 
 
 " How nigh heaven is brought to us by such translations ! 
 How fast heaven is enriching itself with the spoils gath- 
 ered from our friendships, our homes, churches and pul- 
 pits !" 
 
 At the close of the services in the church, the remains 
 were taken to the Marble Cemetery on Second street. 
 They were borne by the students of Union Theological 
 Seminary, the following clergymen acting as pall-bearers: 
 Rev. Dr. De Witt, Reformed ; Rev. Dr. Anderson, Bap- 
 8 
 
114 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 tist; Bishop Janes, Methodist; Rev. Samuel H. Cox, 
 D.D., Presbyterian ; Rev. Dr. Tyng, Episcopal ; Rev. Dr. 
 Hutton, Reformed ; Rev. Dr. Paxton, Presbyterian ; Rev. 
 Dr. Cheever, Congregationalist. The closing benediction, 
 at the grave, was pronounced by the venerable Bishop 
 Janes. 
 
 At one o'clock, an hour before the public obsequies, a 
 meeting of clergymen of different denominations, belong- 
 ing to New York and its vicinity, was held in the chapel 
 of the Church of the Covenant, at which the Rev. Dr. 
 Murray, Pastor of the Brick Church, presided. It was 
 thus referred to in the Observer of the following week : 
 
 " How beautiful the last scenes in the earthly history 
 of the beloved and honored Dr. Skinner. His brethren 
 in the ministry, of all names, came together, crowding 
 the chapel till no more could enter, and then they spake 
 one to another of his graces and his gifts, how the spirit 
 of the Master shone in his face and words and ways ; how 
 pure and simple and childlike he was ; how wise, and 
 great and good ! And old men told of their debts to him 
 for impressions made on them for life when they were 
 young, and others said the world to come could alone 
 reveal the extent and fullness of his power. And they 
 asked to have the coffin with his remains brought in 
 among them, that they might once more look upon the 
 sweet face they had so long admired and loved. His 
 loving students took him up with tender hands, and 
 brought him in and laid him down in the midst of the sor- 
 rowing company. And the old men — Dr. Spring, older 
 by six years than the departed. Dr. Cox and Dr. De Witt, 
 very nearly the same age — came to the side of the coffin 
 and dropped tears of affection there ; and then the young- 
 er, but not young men, many of them with white locks 
 and bending with years, passed by ; and then the strong 
 men and those in early life, came and looked upon the 
 
APPENDIX. 115 
 
 quiet countenance of him whose soul was even then in 
 the joy of his Lord. 
 
 " And when all had taken a last look of their father and 
 friend, the young men carried him out to the church, 
 where the great congregation had met for his funeral. 
 
 '' It is rare, in the life-time of any of us, that such a fu- 
 neral sarvice is rendered." 
 
 At this meeting in the chapel, very interesting ad- 
 dresses were made by Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox, one of Dr. Skin- 
 ner's oldest and dearest friends ; Rev. Dr. Roche, of the 
 Methodist; Rev. Dr. Rogers, of the Reformed; Rev. Dr. 
 J. P. Thompson, of the Congregational, and Rev. Drs. 
 Tyng and John Cotton Smith, of the Episcopal church. 
 The following minute, prepared and presented by Rev. 
 Dr. Thompson, and seconded by Dr. Tyng, was unani- 
 mously adopted : 
 
 " We, the clergy of New York and vicinity, assembled 
 to render the last offices of respect and affection to the 
 Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, D.D., so widely venerated and 
 beloved as pastor, teacher, counsellor and friend, remind- 
 ing ourselves of his own devout and adoring sentiment — 
 that ' it is the chief glory of the divine attributes, that 
 they are all in the service of Love' — would humbly ac- 
 knowledge the dispensation of Providence which has re- 
 moved him from among us, as but another expression 
 of that Love which qualified him for such usefulness in 
 the Church, and continued him so long, with powers un- 
 dimmed and with graces ever brightening, in his sphere 
 of honorable and beneficent service. Having accom- 
 plished the four-score years of life, and almost three-score 
 years of unabated work in the ministry, having gathered 
 the largest fruits of honor, blessedness and reward in his 
 ^Lister's kingdom upon earth, and having outlived the 
 major part of the co-laborers of his youth and prime, there 
 
Il6 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 remained nothing to crown his age and fulfill his joy, but 
 that he should ' depart and be with Christ.' 
 
 " Above ail would we magnify in his death that grace 
 which rendered him in life so conspicuous, in the rare 
 combination of a noble and disciplined intellect conse- 
 crated to truth, a childlike simplicity of faith, and a ser- 
 aphic fervor of devotion. 
 
 "For singleness of aim in personal sanctification, tes- 
 tifying with Paul, ' this one thing I do, reaching forth 
 to those things which are before ;' for singleness of pur- 
 pose in his ministry, as determined with Paul, ' not to 
 know anything save Jesus Christ, and him crucified ;' for 
 singleness of devotion, that re-produced in his conscious- 
 ness the experience of Paul, ' for me to live is Christ ;' for 
 loftiness of ideal, that set the Christian character above 
 all earthly standards, and the kingdom of God above all 
 earthly good ; for guilelessness of spirit, that exemplified 
 the meekness and gentleness of the children of God ; for 
 a courtesy and kindliness that beautified the dail}^ inter- 
 course of life, and adorned his public teaching ; for an 
 unction of speech and a saintliness of conversation, that 
 were the open testimony of the Father to his communings 
 with God in secret ; for a zeal for God, which ofttimes 
 ' had eaten him up,' had not the doing of the will of God 
 been * meat and drink' to body and soul ; for boldness in 
 declaring the truth and contending for the faith ; for a 
 breadth of charity that embraced all that love our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and a sympathetic yearning for souls that 
 caused him to keep vigils for their salvation ; for a gran- 
 deur of hope, that kept ever before him the millennial glo- 
 ries as palpable realities, and an exaltation of faith, that 
 held him serene and steadfast above all assaults of the ad- 
 versary upon his own peace or the peace of the Church, 
 and that seemed at times to lift him out of the body, in 
 his rapturous discourse of the government of God and 
 the glories of redemption ; for these manifold and illustri- 
 ous graces of the Spirit, his memory shall be cherished 
 
APTEXDIX. 117 
 
 among us, and be transmitted in the schools of the proph- 
 ets, as a motive to the highest attainments in excellence 
 and usefulness, and especially to that elevated and cultured 
 piety which is the true strength of the Christian ministry. 
 
 "Remembering also how in him metaphysical acumen 
 and logical vigor, profound meditation and persistent 
 study, were appHed to the deep things of God, without 
 abating the freshness of his faith, the fervor of his devo- 
 tion, the enthusiasm of his love, in respect to.the simplest 
 doctrines of salvation ; how the nicest discrimination and 
 the choicest diction of the Christian scholar were brought 
 to the elucidation of Bible truth ; we would make grateful 
 record of such an example of consecrated intellect in this 
 speculative and rationalizing age ; and would encourage 
 ourselves and the ministry at large to assert the supreme 
 claim of the Gospel upon all the powers of the human soul. 
 
 " In sympathy with the whole Church bereaved of such 
 a leader, we would humbly commend the cause of sacred 
 learning, the pastoral office, the training of the ministry, 
 our several departments of labor in the Christian house- 
 hold, and the personal household of our departed brother 
 with which we share the sorrows, the memories, and the 
 hopes of this hour— to the Great Head of the Church, 
 our sjHTjpathizing and comforting Redeemer, who ' con- 
 tinueth ever.' " 
 
 The Rev. J. A. Roche, D.D., has kindly furnished the 
 substance of his glowing tribute, which was as follows: 
 
 "A distinguished writer has remarked of one whose 
 biography he w'rote, that so great were the advantages 
 he w-as conscious of having received from the wise and 
 weighty teacher of his former yeai's, that he asserted, in his 
 later life, he passed no day without experiencing some bene- 
 fit from the lessons and example of his honored instructor. 
 
 " Such are the obligations I acknowledge in speaking 
 of Dr. Skinner. I had often heard of his remarkable min- 
 istry in Philadelphia, where, at a subsequent period, I w^as 
 
Il8 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 a pastor. After my removal to New York, I availed my- 
 self of the opportunity of attending his lectures on ' Sa- 
 cred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology,' in the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary. I had been in the ministry more than 
 twenty years. I was not without apprehension that theo- 
 logical seminaries are too nearly, as Rowland Hill ex- 
 presses it, ' Manufactories to turn out preachers.' With 
 John Newton, I said : ' Only God can make the minister.' 
 But when I heard Dr. Skinner on the call and the devo- 
 tion to the ministry, the sacrifices to be made, the ser- 
 vices to be performed, the sufferings to be accepted, the 
 spirit to be cherished, exhibited, maintained ; when I 
 heard him assert the authority, declare the themes, and 
 urge the qualifications — the Divine qualifications of the 
 preacher of righteousness ; when I saw the breadth of 
 the lecturer's culture, and the nearness of his walk with 
 God ; when I witnessed the sweetness and urbanity of 
 his temper, the purity and elevation of his character ; 
 when I beheld the stores of his knowledge, and felt the 
 force of his logic, and the power of an elocution that did 
 even transcend his clear, pure, vigorous style ; when in 
 his discourse he so ' projected himself,' that the man ap- 
 peared in the full play and direction of all the faculties 
 and forces of his intellectual and moral being — in the in- 
 tense earnestness that uniformly distinguished his efforts 
 — when there was felt the influence of his matchless man- 
 ner, as he urged those before him, not only to preach 
 Christ, but to preach Christ crucified, not simply Christ 
 as an example, but in His death as an atonement ; when 
 I saw from week to week, from month to month, how he 
 huml)led man and exalted God, and what an unction rested 
 on him in his lectures ; -I was so impressed with the ad- 
 vantages that the young men had in such training, that I 
 went from the seminar}^ time after time, saying : ' Happy 
 arc thy men — happy are these — which stand continually 
 before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.' The language 
 of Rowland Hill dropped from my thoughts when I heard 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 Dr. Skinner. Not the ' manufactory to turn out preach- 
 ers,' but the * school of the prophets,' became my idea of 
 the Theological Seminary. 
 
 " For 3'ears I have deemed it one of the greatest privi- 
 leges and richest blessings of my life, that I was permitted 
 to hear and see and feel so much of the instruction and 
 example and spirit of this great and good man, from whom 
 death has now separated us. 
 
 " Such was m}' delight in his lectures, that I twice took 
 the same course. They were to me, at once, an intellec- 
 tual feast and a means of grace. I am very culpable, if I 
 am not a better thinker, purer Christian, and a more suc- 
 cessful preacher, for having so well known Dr. Skinner. 
 Nay, there is cause for self-condemnation, if to-day I am 
 not a better specimen of a man from having enjoyed such 
 intercourse with this one of Nature's noblemen, this one 
 of the 'princes of God's people.' 
 
 " To say that I admired him, loved him, is to say too 
 little. How near he was to my ideal man, minister. Chris- 
 tian ! 
 
 " I never knew so well, how great a sermon can be as a 
 composition, or as a moral power, till I heard him tell it. 
 Truth never seemed Hke such a projectile as when I saw 
 him launch it. God's ministers never seemed so exalted 
 and the themes of the pulpit so sublime, as when he de- 
 scribed the one and declared the other. 
 
 " He regarded Jonathan Edwards as equally distin- 
 guished as a metaphysician and preacher, and he de- 
 lighted to show the great power of Edwards in such 
 sermons as ' Sinners in the hands of an angry God,' and 
 when on one occasion, a member of the class asked if 
 ' Such preaching would do in the present day.' He re- 
 plied, with great animation, ' I would walk fifty miles to 
 hear that sermon.' Twice Dr. S. preached for me in my 
 pulpit, once on ' The Necessity of the New Birth,' once 
 on ' Past Feeling.' The latter sermon I importuned him 
 to publish. 
 
120 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 " There was in the movement of his mind, the magni- 
 tude of his matter, the weight of his sentences, the force 
 of his arguments, the depth of his feeling, and the afflatus 
 that rested upon him, that which made him seem majes- 
 tic. He awed me. A distinguished ph3-sician and pro- 
 fessor of medical science in Philadelphia, once told me, 
 ' He never saw God till Dr. Skinner showed Him.' Then 
 he ' abhorred himself.' I have known no ministry, that 
 in my estimate, more nearly assimilated to Edwards than 
 that of Skinner. 
 
 " He was a Presbyterian, I a Methodist ; but as he 
 stated the doctrines he believed and taught, there was in 
 me no heart for controversy. It is an humble tribute 
 that I can pay to so good and great a man, but I can 
 show my heart. 
 
 " In my preparations for the pulpit, in my labors of the 
 pastorate, in my cheerful acceptance of the privations of 
 the sacred calling, in my enthusiasm for the work, and in 
 my superiority of mind and heart to all the discourage- 
 ments of the gospel ministr}^ I pass no day without some 
 advantage derived from this master in Israel, whose mem- 
 ory I so cherish. How much earth loses when such a 
 man is taken. How much heaven gains when such a 
 saint enters its portals. It is my joy to anticipate a meet- 
 ing, when with a greater warmth than ever, I will grasp 
 his hand, and tell him, if I can, how much good he did in 
 helping me to honor that Christ at whose feet he ' casts 
 his crown.' " 
 
 The following letter of Rev. Charles Hodge, D. D., ad- 
 dressed to the Faculty of the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary, will be here in place : 
 
 "Princeton, February 15, 1871. 
 " Dear Brethren, — When your beloved and revered 
 colleague. Dr. Thomas H. vSkinncr, was called awa}^ I 
 was ill in bed. I was not informed of his death for more 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 than a week after its occurrence. I wish these facts to 
 be known ; because few persons were under stronger ob- 
 ligations to stand at the grave of Thomas H. Skinner 
 than myself; and few had a better right to appear there 
 as a mourner. 
 
 " For more than fifty-five years I knew, loved and hon- 
 ored him, and was loved and trusted by him. Of this he 
 often assured me, and no man ever doubted his sincerity. 
 
 " You must excuse the personal character of this com- 
 munication. I cannot forbear entering my claim to be 
 counted among the oldest and most devoted of his 
 friends. 
 
 " He was a man by himself. The union of high gifts, 
 with the most transparent, child-like simplicity of charac- 
 ter, gave him a peculiar position in the love and admira- 
 tion of his friends. 
 
 " With great respect, yours in Christian bonds, 
 
 " Charles Hodge." 
 
 The following is an extract from Dr. Thayer's sermon, 
 referred to in the discourse : 
 
 ^^Hcnccfortli there is laid up for me a croivn of righteous- 
 ness, ivhich the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give vie at 
 that day, and not to vie only, but unto all them also that love 
 His appearing. Yes, that was the end of Paul's conflicts 
 on earth. In a moment's time he would be with that be- 
 loved and glorious Lord ; and when Christ should ap- 
 pear, Paul should also appear with Him in glory. Nor 
 is this true of Paul only. We thank God it is just as 
 true of all who fight the good fight and keep the faith. 
 So, to-day, we think of one more noble spirit who, after a 
 long life of loving service, has entered into the joy of his 
 Lord. We sorrow that we shall see his face no more in 
 this church he loved to frequent, nor hear his voice in 
 the prayer-meeting, from which he was so rarely absent. 
 
122 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 Hardly among his own people in New York will Chris- 
 tians mourn for him more than will those of this church, 
 who have enjo3"ed the benefit of his example, and to 
 whom his words of instruction and his prayers were at 
 times almost inexpressibly quickenin^^ and elevating-. 
 
 " I can hardly trust myself to speak of Dr. Skinner, so 
 highly do I revere his piety, and so much shall I miss 
 his sympathy and help in the work here. But in this 
 world of varnish and shams, and where the imperfections 
 of even good men make anything like eulogy dangerous, 
 it is delightful to speak out fearlessly one's joy in a Chris- 
 tian character universally esteemed. Elsewhere they will 
 dwell upon the different passages of his life, his early con- 
 version when at the South he gave up riches and bril- 
 liant prospects in the law for Christ and His ministry. 
 Two pastorates in Philadelphia and New York will afford 
 ample material for observations. His work as teacher of 
 Sacred Rhetoric, will invite attention, while his preach- 
 ing in the days of his power, and his writings, will be in- 
 teresting themes. To most of those who knew him here, 
 he appeared chiefly as a vigorous and chastened old age 
 presented him. Seeminglv unbroken in powers of mind — 
 as close a student as ever — keeping up fully with modern' 
 thought in philosophy and theology and interpretation 
 and sacred rhetoric, he appeared as discriminating as 
 ever. But there was evident in him a wider range — an 
 increasing appreciation of thinkers aside from his own 
 school, and a greater disposition to qualify the statements 
 of opinion. He looked out on society and its relations 
 to Christianity more and more with the largc-mindedness 
 of a Christian philosopher. With his memory stored, with 
 his intellectual appetite unabated, with unfeigned pleas- 
 ure in intelligent discussion, he was a most interesting 
 companion. Pleasant as it is, and not unprofitable, to re- 
 call this in one whom I wish to honor before my people, 
 his Christian character was his chief attraction. The fire 
 of his early years was tempered — a certain hardness in his 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 manner, which was rendered more noticeable b}'' the pe- 
 culiar absence of fancy, and even the emotional, in a re- 
 stricted sense — was softened down. He was scrupulously 
 free from guile. No man ever suspected him of ulterior 
 design. He was distinguished in his palmy days for 
 plans in his sermons ; but aside from them, he followed 
 principles and not plans. It was not the least of his 
 merits that he was too transparent to outwit anybody, 
 and so he never was accused of trying. In lesser things 
 he was not persistent ; but in matters of right, Dr. Skin- 
 ner was the stuff of which real martyrs are made. He 
 proved his superiority to considerations of money too un- 
 mistakably to need comment. But after all, we love most 
 to think of his inmost life. His conception of Christianity 
 had no morbid taint in it. To him the law of God was 
 marvelously clear, and awful in its extent and purity, 
 lovely in its moral excellence. So, while full of hope, 
 few men were so sensible of their sins. His views of God 
 were comprehensive and vivid. Hence, it is not often 
 now that you hear such exhibitions of the Divine govern- 
 ment. But the soul of his piety was his child-hke, cling- 
 ing faith in Christ ; it is in this that he showed most the 
 work of God in his soul. As might be expected, his con- 
 trolling desire was to please Christ. Can we ever forget 
 his prayers for the Spirit of God ? He lived in daily ex- 
 pectation of heaven. He often spoke of it. And now he 
 is there, with the great and good of Christ ; and oh, with 
 Christ Himself! I know this is strong language, but I 
 have weighed my words. Do you, my church, estimate 
 the privilege of having had this man of God among 3^ou } 
 It is a great loss for us ; but oh, it is so great a mercy 
 that he is taken before any weakness came over him — 
 taken in a beautiful old age — as when the sun sets in gol- 
 den light. Then, to-day, we lift the conqueror's strain 
 for him. ' He has fought a good fight ; he has finished 
 his course ; he has kept the faith.' ' Henceforth he hath a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 
124 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNEI-L 
 
 Judge, has given him.' Oh, let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his !" 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Dr. Skinner, the Board 
 of Directors and Faculty of the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary were called together, and appropriate arrangements 
 made for the funeral, Mr. Charles Butler, the President 
 of the Board, and one of the oldest friends of the deceased 
 in New York, offered some very touching remarks ; and 
 he was followed by others in the same strain. After the 
 funeral an adjourned meeting took place, when the sub- 
 joined Minute, expressive of the sentiment of the Board, 
 was adopted : 
 
 " It becomes the painful duty of the Board, for the 
 third time within a year, to record the ravages of death 
 amono- their beloved co-laborers in the conduct of this 
 Seminary. On two other occasions only, since the found- 
 ing of the Institution, has a member of the Faculty been 
 removed by death. 
 
 " To the honored names of White and Robinson, the 
 no less honored name of Skinner must now be added — 
 patriarchal names, to be had in grateful remembrance, in 
 all coming time, by the friends of Union Seminary. 
 
 " The Rev. Thomas Harvey Skinner, D. D., LL. D., 
 the first and only occupant of the Davenport chair of Sa- 
 cred Rhetoric, Pastoral Theology and Church Govern- 
 ment, departed this life, in the full enjoyment of a blissful 
 hope of immortahty, on Wednesday, February i, 1871, 
 having almost completed the eightieth year of his age, 
 and the fifty-eighth year of his continuous active service 
 in the ministry of the gospel — full of honors as of years. 
 
 " Our departed friend and brother had been identified 
 with the history and interests of this school of the proph- 
 ets, from its very foundation. Called in the year 1835 
 from the Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric, in Andovcr 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 Theological Seminary, to be the first pastor of the Mer- 
 cer street Presbyterian church of this city, he entered 
 with characteristic ardor into the project of creating a 
 similar institution, to be located in the great metropolis, 
 on the largest scale of usefulness, as called for by the de- 
 mands of the Church, in her vastly extending operations, 
 and the wants of the age. 
 
 " Chosen one of the first Board of Directors, he de- 
 voted the energies of his great mind and heart, and the 
 influence of his distinguished position in the Church, to 
 the establishment and advancement of this beloved Insti- 
 tution. During the whole of his pastorate, and so long 
 as he continued a member of this Board, he sought with 
 untiring assiduity and unwavering faith, to promote, in 
 every possible way, the prosperity of the Seminary, and 
 the spiritual good of its numerous students, — a large por- 
 tion of whom availed themselves of the benefit to be de- 
 rived from his eminently spiritual and instructive minis- 
 try. The services thus rendered by Dr. Skinner during 
 the thirteen years of his New York pastorate, must be 
 regarded as among the most effective means of establish- 
 ing the Seminary on its present strong foundations ; and 
 cannot be called to mind by the Board, without a due 
 expression of their devout gratitude to God, for the grace 
 that made him such an efficient helper in a time of the 
 utmost need. 
 
 " In the year 1848, he retired from the Board and from 
 his pastorate, to accept of the Professorship which had 
 just been endowed, by a wealthy member of his church, 
 with special reference to his occupancy of the chair, and 
 to devote the undivided energies of the remainder of his 
 life to the service of the Seminary, whose interests he 
 had so effectually promoted. To this work he brought 
 the ample stores of a richly cultured mind, of uncommon 
 acuteness, in the full maturity of its powers, with large 
 experience of pastoral life in three of our principal cities, 
 and of a similar Professorship in Andover Seminary. 
 
126 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 " Most faithfully and admirably did he fulfill the high 
 expectations of the Board, in the service to which they 
 had unanimously called him. He proved himself, not 
 only a master in his particular department of theological 
 instruction, but a most faithful and judicious guardian of 
 the spiritual interests of the young men committed to 
 his care. Most assiduously did he watch for their souls, 
 and strive, both by his holy example and his paternal 
 counsels, to lead his pupils into the higher walks of the 
 divine life. Very precious is his memory to those wdio 
 have enjoyed the benefits of his instructions, as well as to 
 the Board and his brethren of the Faculty. God be 
 praised for sparing our venerated brother, to serve Him 
 so long in the church on earth, and for the grateful savor 
 of his most exemplary life. 
 
 " To the family of Dr. Skinner in their great bereave- 
 ment, the Board would tender their sincere and heartfelt 
 sympathies, — congratulating them on having so long sus- 
 tained to him such endearing relations, and commending 
 them devoutly and affectionately to the all-sufficient grace 
 of Him who careth effectually and tenderly for the widow 
 and the fatherless." 
 
 ^ 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 B. 
 
 "Rev." Dr. Prentiss: " Philadelphia, June 27, 1871, 
 
 " My Dear Sir,— I have to-day your kind favor of the 
 26th inst., and regret that we are not to have the pleasure 
 of that discourse from your lips, and I thank you for the 
 kind promise of a copy of it when published. The pecu- 
 liar character of Dr. Skinner will render any memorial of 
 his life interesting-, and if in the form of a biography, it 
 would have given me pleasure to add, if possible, a trib- 
 ute in token of my regard for his blessed memory. 
 
 " My first acquaintance with Dr. Skinner was at a time 
 when he had yielded to one of the fiercest persecutions 
 practicable in the present century. Owing to his emi- 
 nent ability, his power as an orator, exalted piety and 
 zeal, he was called immediately, on his being licensed, to 
 be the co-pastor of the Second Presb)'terian Church in 
 Philadelphia, at that time the strongest and most influ- 
 ential Presbyterian church in the United States. Its 
 pastor was distinguished as a theologian, scholar and 
 minister. The elders of the church were men eminent 
 in the community and of unbounded influence ; the con- 
 gregation large and composed chiefly of persons recog- 
 nized as of the leading classes of society. The distin- 
 guishing characteristics of Dr. Skinner, which raised him 
 to so lofty a position in the ministry, and chiefly his zeal 
 in the work to which he had devoted himself, and his 
 being then scarcely of age, roused a feeling in that sober, 
 conservative congregation, most unhappy for all parties. 
 
 (1-7) 
 
128 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 The young, both men and women, filled with admiration 
 and passionate affection for the young evangelist, crowd- 
 ed the places of worship whenever he preached. A con- 
 trast to this, was a realit)', or suspected, v/hen the senior 
 pastor conducted the services. A clamor arose, the like 
 of which will, probably never exist again in this country — 
 the cry of fanaticism, wild-fire, new measures, with tales 
 as absurd as they were false, spread over the whole city. 
 
 " The Exchange, where merchants gathered daily, the 
 insurance offices, the banks, and every private circle rang 
 with the name of Thomas H. Skinner, often in terms of 
 bitter denunciation ; and even now, many of the older part 
 of our citizens, unconnected with our churches, associate 
 his name with memories of epithets and language not to be 
 repeated. The godly man, with all the resolution of his 
 energetic character, sunk under the storm. Agonizing 
 days and sleepless nights, spent in groans, were bringing 
 him to an early grave, when his father-in-law, a wealthy 
 merchant, with relatives of his family and a few devoted 
 adherents, left the church and united with the Fifth Pres- 
 byterian Church, occupying a building in a very obscure 
 position, and which under another pastor had dwindled 
 dowm almost to extinction. Here, in Locust street, Avhere 
 the INIusical Fund Hall now stands, Mr. Skinner enjoyed 
 peace if not prosperity. He recently observed to a friend, 
 * From the highest round of the ladder of the pastorate, 
 I had descended to the lowest.' It was a rest to his per- 
 turbed spirit, and here it was easy for a young man, just 
 settling in life, to find what he deemed essential, a pew to 
 which he could take his bride. In fact the pews, oft- 
 times, were more numerous than the auditors, and here 
 Thomas H. Skinner was delivering discourses which, but 
 a few years after, were electrifying our city. 
 
 " The building up of a church in that spot was palpably 
 out of the question. The feeble body took its departure 
 for a new locality ; with wonderful energy and faith they 
 succeeded in constructing a large and commodious build- 
 
APPENDIX. 129 
 
 ing in Arch street, in the midst of an increasing popula- 
 tion. From the hour when rehgious worship was com- 
 menced, and for years after, that church was crowded 
 with admiring, reverential audiences. It was impossible 
 at times for the collectors of the congregational offerings 
 to pass through the dense crowds that filled the aisles of 
 the church. Dr. Skinner was then in the full power of 
 manhood, with all the fervor of youth, that lasted him in- 
 deed to his eightieth year. To others it is left to give the 
 portraiture of this finished Christian orator. Perhaps in 
 nothing, saving a high- wrought eloquence, in which lan- 
 guage flowed with mingled majesty and sweetness, was 
 he so remarkable as in his power of analysis. The most 
 profound and mysterious problems in theology, under his 
 preaching, assumed a distinctness and vivid clearness 
 that astonished not less than it delighted the hearer. The 
 conviction of truth came irresistibly, producing a deep 
 and solemn satisfaction. 
 
 " Among the discourses of Dr. Skinner, one will illus- 
 trate his power as an orator, not more, however, than 
 was very frequently exercised. The text was, * Joy shall 
 be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.' In the 
 scene delineated, of the sinner trespassing, and the angel 
 group Avatching the fatal progress, the dramatic power 
 displayed was perfect. With a master hand the interest 
 was centered in the heavenly host, to whom the very 
 thought of sin was a horror, whose holy sense of God's 
 anger and of eternal wrath excited in them the deepest 
 anxiety, and as the picture was drawn, the sinner advanc- 
 ing step by step to dreadful ruin, the mind of the audi- 
 ence was brought to a state of agony, when the burst of 
 relief came, and one long sigh was breathed, and the joy 
 was as it might have been in heaven. 
 
 " The organization of the congregation was peculiar, 
 and very much of its character was owing to its compo- 
 sition. A very few members with their families consti- 
 tuted its nucleus. We were weak and comparatively 
 9 
 
130 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 poor. Every accession to our number was hailed with 
 dehght and received with tokens of friendship. We be- 
 came associated as one family in Christ. This sentiment 
 pervaded the whole church for years. The woman at 
 her stall in market, and the mechanic at his bench, were 
 greeted by the lawyer and the merchant on terms of inti- 
 macy. We sat at one table in our communion service, 
 sitting face to face, and could not but know each other, 
 and all this without impinging on the ordinary social dif- 
 ferences in society. It was boldly said by a warm-hearted 
 member, ' there never was such a church, and there never 
 would be.' Its power in Christian enterprise was great 
 and far beyond its supposed ability. Anything under- 
 taken was done. 
 
 " The departure of Dr. Skinner from this scene of his 
 labors and successes is elsewhere described, but to the 
 last of his life he regarded it with strong regret. He 
 walked the streets of Philadelphia with a buoyant step — 
 for regret did not make him sad — saying, here I am at 
 home ; here was the sphere of my influence, and I never 
 should have gone away. Others, however, think differ- 
 ently, and that he has exercised in the Theological Sem- 
 inary an influence for good far more impressive and ex- 
 tensive. 
 
 " The relation in which Dr. Skinner stood towards his 
 elder brother, forms one of the most interesting points in 
 his life. Judge Skinner was a most honorable, high- 
 minded man. His memoir was written by his brother — 
 a charming production. The Judge was warm-hearted 
 and eccentric. ' My brother Tom' was to him the Mag- 
 nus Apollo ; no such man, in his estimation, existed, and 
 he loved him with the affection of a mother. A Uttle in- 
 cident was characteristic of both. Some years since, 
 while visiting the Virginia Springs, on my arrival at the 
 Salt Sulphur, Judge Skinner addressed me, as I dis- 
 mounted from the stage coach, ' Do you know anything 
 • of my brother, and where he is?' I answered, * He is at 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 131 
 
 the White Sulphur with his tamily, I left him there this 
 morning-.' ' Tell me, how is it ? I have been looking for 
 him at the various springs for two weeks past, and inquir- 
 ing for him in vain. On the arrival of the stage yesterday, 
 I spoke to the most intelligent-looking man, saying, " Sir, 
 do you know anything of the Rev. Dr. Skinner being in 
 this valley ?" He answered, '* Yes ; he is at the White 
 Sulphur." "How do you know, sir?" "I heard him 
 preach yesterday." ''What," said I, ''did he preach 
 about?" After mumbling for a minute, the man said, " I 
 don't know." I answered, " You never heard Tom Skin- 
 ner preach and say you don't know what he preached 
 about !" Tell me, now, how it is ?' ' It is easily explain- 
 ed,' I replied. ' It was announced on the doors of the 
 Hall, on Sunday last, that Dr. Skinner would preach. He 
 was taken ill in the night, and I was roused at two o'clock 
 in the morning to visit him ; and having administered 
 som.e soothing medicine, he was relieved, but did not 
 leave his bed all day. Another person preached, and to- 
 day he is well.' In his rough manner, the Judge replied, 
 ' I knew that nobody could hear my brother Tom preach 
 and say he didn't know what he preached about.' The 
 brothers were together the next day, and the two re- 
 markable men were the admiration of the crowd of 
 visitors. 
 
 " The last I saw of my venerated friend, was on the 
 day of Mr. Barnes's funeral, and as he parted from myself 
 and one of his early pupils, the latter exclaimed, ' Dear 
 old man ! I love the boots he walks in !' This was but 
 the expression of the affectionate regard in which he was 
 held very generally by those who enjoyed his intimacy. 
 
 " I have sketched these memories of my dear friend — 
 under whose ministry I united with the church, and from 
 whom I enjoyed for more than fifty years the tenderest 
 tokens of friendship— for my own gratification and at 
 your suggestion. I do not know that they can do any- 
 thing to increase, in yourself or any one, a higher esti- 
 
132 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 mate of Dr. Skinner than is already entertained. I sup- 
 pose, indeed, they are too late for any use in your memo- 
 rial of his life. Please, my dear sir, when you have done 
 with these sheets — or rather, have read them — let me have 
 them. I shall anxiously expect a copy of your discourse. 
 
 " Yours, most respectfully, 
 
 "Joseph H. Dulles." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 c. 
 
 Soon after Dr. Skinner's death, a number of affection- 
 ate and grateful tributes, written by his former pupils, 
 appeared^ in the religious papers. Only two of these 
 articles are at hand ; I give them both. The first comes 
 from the shores of Lake Michigan. 
 
 THOMAS H. SKINNER, D.D. 
 
 BY REV. JAMES H. TAYLOR. 
 
 " The dear, dear old man ! How I loved him ! 
 There was not the man living for whom I had such an 
 affectionate veneration. So intellectually clear, so fiery, 
 yet so devout, so gentle, so kind ! It seems to me that 
 if I had known he was near his end, I would have 
 gone to New York for the privilege of passing ten min- 
 utes in his society once more. He was so simple, so 
 sympathetic, so earnest, so interested in another's cares 
 and joys and thinkings. His death is a personal bereave- 
 ment to me. The world seems lonely in my conscious- 
 ness that he is no longer in it. 
 
 " While a student under him, I learned so to love and 
 honor him, that I have leaned upon him ever since, and 
 have been wont to turn to him for counsel, as a son to a 
 father. I knew, when on my way to his study, that he 
 would not be too busy to either see me then or appoint an 
 hour which he would give — that he would not treat my 
 errand as a trifle, nor dismiss me with the fewest words 
 
 (133) 
 
134 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 possible, or cold expressions of opinion. Though up in 
 the clear light himself, he would come down into a cloud 
 or fog where another might be laboring, get round him, 
 lay hold of him, and, if warm sympathy and clear state- 
 ment would avail, he would help him out. 
 
 Possibly it may not be known to many that he was 
 naturally skeptical. Surely, none who often heard him 
 pray, and felt the wonderful power in his simple, child- 
 like clinging to Christ, as if in a personal conference that 
 made him oblivious to any other personal presence, would 
 suspect anything like a skeptical cast of mind. Yet it 
 was true. Up to twelve years ago, by the confession 
 of his own lips to me in an interview that is still preci- 
 ous in my memory, such had been the life-long thorn in 
 the flesh. 
 
 Hearing, once while I was a student, that I was in 
 some theological perplexity, he invited me to his study, 
 and gave me his entire evening. I had hung upon his 
 prayers and loved him before, but never had known him 
 until then. Such condescension, without so seeming, in 
 turning aside from his path of light and joy, to the dark 
 and painful way in which another was walking — such pa- 
 tience in wandering to and fro and pointing the way out 
 — such tenderness and skill in disposing of difficulties ! 
 Then it was that he made known his own experience. I 
 cannot quote exactly his language, but 1 can come very 
 near it, such an impression did it make and so efficient 
 was it for good to me. But I cannot even undertake to 
 picture his restlessness, nervous springing, walking, and 
 fiery words while he talked. 
 
 Said he, " I have fought the devil-suggesting-doubts 
 every day of my Christian life. He attacks me every- 
 where with temptations to doubt and abandon the Chris- 
 tian religion. He takes every mean advantage of me. 
 He is most likely to come when I am very weary and 
 just dropping to sleep. Only a few nights ago," said he, 
 " when I had lain down and was just gliding into my first 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 doze, he whispered in my ear, ' Deny that there is any 
 God.' And I sprang- upon the floor, and cried out, 
 ' You devil ! you old coward ! why take me when I am 
 half asleep ? Come when I am awake.' " Then he added, 
 " I expect this warfare to continue as long as I live. My 
 mind is so constituted." 
 
 But then he set forth, most impressively, the possi- 
 bility of maintaining such a life of faith in Jesus that such 
 attacks should not disturb the deep peace of the soul. 
 He knew wdiat such faith was. His prayers breathed it. 
 His life was it. Blessed Jesus, who can give such vic- 
 tory ! Nearly three-score years in the service of his Mas- 
 ter, and loving that service more and more to the end. 
 
 He and Albert Barnes began their work together, 
 were intimate friends, and together both have gone to 
 their rest. Both were converted when young men study- 
 ing law — both were independent in thought and bold of 
 speech — both were charged with heresy, though only 
 Mr. Barnes was actually brought to trial — both were too 
 sincere and unselfish in their devotion to the Christian 
 ministry to be soured or turned backward by opposition 
 — both maintained unusual sweetness of spirit and single- 
 ness of purpose in their life-w^ork. May some of us find 
 their mantles and Avear them. 
 
 Dear, dear old Dr. Skinner! We shall hear him pray 
 no more, nor any more witness the child-like simplicity of 
 his character in the varying circumstances of life. But 
 we have the same Saviour who made him what he Avas 
 and is. — From the Interior, February i6th. 
 
 The other comes across the ocean from the shores of 
 Lake Leman. 
 
 THE LATE DR. SKINNER. 
 
 BY JAMES LEONARD CORNING. 
 
 The last post brought heavy tidings from over the 
 sea. One after another the fathers are passing out of our 
 
136 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 sight, leaving us their examples to stimulate and reprove, 
 and their unfinished Avork to be carried forward by their 
 children. Just a score of years have elapsed since I sat 
 in my student life at the feet of that venerable saint and 
 scholar, whose dismission has just taken place. At that 
 period he seemed to be an aged man, with sparse grey 
 hair, attenuated limbs, and the deep lines of thought, 
 mayhap, too, of sorrow, on his ample brow. Not one of 
 all the faculty had such emphatic individuality as he. 
 He Avas one of those strong characters which on the 
 first contact impress a memory indelible by time. I re- 
 member as if it Avere yesterday my first introduction to 
 him, at our matriculation in the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary. In the midst of the commonplace Avork of taking 
 our certificates, registering our names, and the like, some 
 young brother proposed a theological question ; and in 
 a moment a flood-gate was lifted, and we all stood in 
 mute astonishment at the varied Avealth of learninof Avhich 
 poured forth from his lips. There were some of our 
 teachers Avhom Ave only dared to reverence ; but I think 
 Ave all loved Dr. Skinner Avith filial tenderness. His pro- 
 fessional Avork Avas of such a sort Avhich required more 
 of the fatherly element than that of any other member of 
 the faculty. It Avas his duty (a daily cross-bearing) to 
 read over and criticise our essays and maiden sermons, 
 to patch here and prune there Avith surgical pencil, to 
 cut out adjectives and supply nouns, to shrink up our 
 long-Avinded sentences and paragraphs Avithin the limits 
 of common sense and ordinary comprehensibility. Any 
 school-teacher who has the Aveekly task of correcting a 
 peck or so of compositions, may get just a suggestion of 
 the amount of grace required in the function of our pro- 
 fessor of homiletics and sacred rhetoric. For my part, I 
 ahvays considered him an almost solitary example of 
 condescension and patience. A great healer of mind 
 Avas he. He diagnosed our individual cases Avith mar- 
 velous skill. He had a remedy at hand for CA'ery intel- 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 lectual infirmity. I have kept one of his prescriptions 
 by me for twenty years. Wc were sittin<^ alone in his 
 private library, he sipping his tea and I reading sermon 
 ' Number One/ well equipped with flights and exple- 
 tives, and tied at the back with a blue ribbon. If I re- 
 member aright, he finished his tea about at the moment 
 that I concluded the last sentence of the last " practical 
 application." He set down his cup, and, giving me a 
 look of paternal fidelity, said : " My young brother, your 
 style is too florid. You must read John Foster and Isaac 
 Taylor." 
 
 Dr. Skinner was a man of great modesty. He never 
 paraded his learning ; and yet he was beyond question 
 one of the most erudite theologians in the American 
 church. He was an omnivorous reader, and it seemed 
 that he never forgot anything. I think I know why this 
 was so. Our class will never forget the day Avhen he 
 was lecturing to us on the use of books, and the almost 
 thunder tones with which he startled us from our seats 
 as he smote with his hand on the desk, and exclaimed : 
 " Yoimg gcntlcjuen, read zvith pen in hand!' He was one of 
 those men who back precept by example, and I have no 
 doubt his "common-place books" of various sorts would 
 make a good-sized library. He had one literary weak- 
 ness, in that his great kindness of heart somewhat dulled 
 the edge of his critical faculty. It has been for years a 
 common saying among his friends that " the best book 
 Avith Dr. Skinner was the last one that he read." If an 
 author would but give him one fresh thought in a chap- 
 ter, or even in a volume, the doctor was so thankful that 
 he canonized him at once. He was altogether too merci- 
 ful a man to conduct the review department of a first- 
 class periodical. 
 
 Dr. Skinner had all the elements of a great preacher. 
 He was a rhetorician by nature as well as by profession. 
 And so, like all men of his class, he was in danger of sac- 
 rificing practical force to style. But he never succumbed 
 
138 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 to this subtle seduction ; but was always lo3^al to convic- 
 tion, and, as Porson has put it, ' called a spade a spade, 
 and not a horticultural implement.' He was one of the 
 most fervid pulpit orators that I ever listened to. It was 
 always a marvel to me how a man, seemingly of deficient 
 vitality, could give out magnetic force at his accustomed 
 rate, and yet survive beyond middle-age. Nothing would 
 explain this phenomenon but the most scrupulous physi- 
 cal moderation. He w^as temperate everywhere else but 
 in the pulpit ; but there I have often seen his earnestness 
 rise to a pitch of " fine frenzy." 
 
 Dr. Skinner will be remembered by all who knew 
 him on earth as a man of extraordinary piety. Remark- 
 able as he was in intellectual gifts, yet so great were 
 his spiritual excellencies that the saint hid the scholar. 
 Hence, as might be expected, his gift in prayer almost 
 eclipsed his gift in preaching. I am afraid that, in this 
 age of materialism and freezing philosophies, this special 
 endowment is greatly depreciated. We have poets laure- 
 ate and crowned philosophers, and it is well ; but the 
 few men and women who possess the gift of prayer in 
 great degree are really of higher rank than poets and 
 philosophers, deny or doubt it who will. And, above all, 
 I love to think of our clear teacher as rarely great in the 
 coronal element of greatness. 
 
 Every day in the lecture -room he conducted our 
 opening devotions ; and the service, though customary, 
 never descended to formality. But occasionally a special 
 inspiration seemed to be given him, and for a brief spell, 
 while he voiced our sacredest thoughts and yearnings in 
 the ear of our dear Father, we seemed caught up to the 
 summit of some Mount of Transfiguration, and we forgot 
 that we were still denizens of the flesh. I never will for- 
 get one fervid sentence in the midst of one of his pray- 
 ers : * O Lord, grant that every one of us may save some 
 souls before we die !' It was a parenthesis preceded and 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 followed by a solemn pause ; and responsibility and mor- 
 tality never stared us so full in the face as at that instant. 
 
 Now, as I close these honest yet imperfect words, let 
 us for a moment think of the grandeur of moral influ- 
 ence. It is a sum of permutation, and no figures can 
 compute the last result. There are probably several 
 hundred men living to-day and occupying spheres of 
 public influence who are chiefly or in great part indebted 
 to Dr. Skinner for their best culture and inspiration. 
 He was a bright jewel cast into the ocean of Time, 
 and now sunk out of sight ; but the ripples follow one 
 another to the eternal shores. — From the hidependcnt of 
 April 20th. 
 
 Vevay, Switzerland, 3Iarch, 1871. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 D. 
 
 The following is the description referred to : 
 
 " I conclude with a brief notice of Mrs. Lowther, the 
 mother of Mrs. Skinner. She was a grand-daughter of 
 Governor Gabriel Johnston* and Penelope Eden, daugh- 
 ter of Governor Eden. Her parents were William and 
 Penelope Dawson ; her husband was Tristrim Lowther, 
 Esq., a man of refined manners, who had a high standing 
 at the bar, and was esteemed and beloved for his kindness 
 to the poor and the general excellence of his character. 
 
 " Mrs. Lowther Vv'as distinguished by birth and educa- 
 tion, in both of which she had every advantage, less than 
 by intrinsic excellencies ; such, especially, as form the 
 highest grace and charm of the female character. Her 
 person was a rare model of beauty and delicacy : in 
 height, in shape, in complexion, in every feature and 
 line so exquisitely fashioned, that, regarding it in the 
 class of forms to which it belonged, art itself could 
 scarcely suggest an improvement, or desire any varia- 
 tion ; one, at least, could note no defect, could attempt 
 no criticism, in the presence of so much that was so sur- 
 passingl}^ beautiful and attractive. I cannot imagine that 
 any one not insensible to beauty could see Mrs. Lowther, 
 though in a multitude of the fair,' without having his eye 
 
 * A brother of Governor Samuel Johnston's father. 
 (140) 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 riveted by her distinctive queenly appearance, and yet she 
 was the complete contrast of ostentatious beauty. 
 
 " The charm of all her charms was a palpably evident 
 self-unconsciousness of being in any degree uncommon or 
 distinctive. She could not be hid, yet it appeared to ob- 
 servers that she would be if she could. It gives me a 
 singular pleasure, at this remote day, to contemplate 
 such a specimen of unaffected modesty ; I have never 
 conceived of anything, of its kind, which I think more 
 entitled to be termed celestial ; and the adornments and 
 movements of her person were invariably consistent with 
 its peerless symmetry and elegance. Her dress, her steps, 
 her attitudes, her looks, were always such as became her 
 inherent modesty, the true dignity and nobility which be- 
 longed to her nature. For six years, during which I was 
 an inmate of the family, according to my best remem- 
 brance of those happy years, T saw her do nothing which 
 had not a decorum and propriety in entire keeping with 
 her character as I have represented it. She had always 
 a tasteful and beautiful air, and to look upon her face, or 
 hear her voice, at any time, was a refreshment. 
 
 " And if she was so lovely and beautiful in appearance, 
 she was more beautiful within. She did not aim at effect ; 
 if she studied to please others, as she certainly did, it was 
 for their sake, not her own. 
 
 " It seemed to be as much her nature to be unselfish, as 
 it is the nature of man generally to be the reverse. She 
 always appeared — for she always was — happy in what 
 made others so ; and in the afflictions of others, how 
 spontaneously, how sincerely, how deeply was she afflict- 
 ed ! When the weather Avas stormy, her sympathies were 
 with the weather-beaten mariner ; when the pestilence 
 was raging, they were with sufferers, in the chamber of 
 disease and death. I never heard her — I cannot think 
 any one ever heard her, speak an evil word of any person. 
 She would estimate the faults of others, and the more so 
 sometimes, when she herself was the sufferer by them ; 
 
142 THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 
 
 and if she could find no excuse for them, she would 
 weep, and comfort herself as far as she could with that 
 * charity, which hopeth all things.' Her cultivation and 
 politeness gave her no inferior place among persons of 
 refined and elegant manners ; but in intercourse with the 
 humble and the poor, even such of them as were of lower 
 habits, while she retained her lovely individuality, she 
 was as famihar as if she had been one of their own class. 
 She gave such evidence as no one could question ; that 
 she esteemed those she had intercourse with, whether of 
 high or low rank, better than herself, and even forgot 
 herself in the interest which she took in them. She had 
 a bright and well-furnished mind ; her proper sphere was 
 that of the highest cultivation and intelligence ; but she 
 was quite at home, also, with persons of inferior name 
 and condition. 
 
 " The loveliness, the grace, of Mrs. Lowther's charac- 
 ter, as now regarded, though advanced and matured by 
 education, was merely natural ; it was what belonged to 
 her by her original constitution as given her by her 
 Maker. That such native excellence should have been 
 crowned and sanctified by evangehcal piety, was not a 
 fruit from itself, and not to be on any account anticipated 
 as a necessary or certain result. In my early acquaintance 
 with her I do not think she was a spiritual Christian. 
 Her goodness was constitutional, natural, not from the 
 renewing influence of the Holy Spirit. But when the 
 change occurred in myself, which led to a change in my 
 choice of a profession, she was simultaneously and singu- 
 larly changed ; she sympathized with me in my new feel- 
 ings, began a strictly religious mode of life, and, until her 
 death, continued to give most decisive evidences of reno- 
 vation by the Spirit. Her religious character was im- 
 proved by time ; she was a mature and established Chris- 
 tian when she died ; and her death was serene, touching, 
 triumphant. 
 
 " One circumstance of it was remarkably characteristic. 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 When the last struggle was about to commence, observ- 
 ing her daughter, who sat near her, overwhelmed in sor- 
 row, she said : ' Let Maria be removed ; what is about to 
 take place is more than she can bear.' 
 
 " She arranged her person, with her own hand pressed 
 her falling chin upward, and so calmly and peacefully 
 yielded up her spirit into the hands of God. 
 
 " In reviewing what I have said of a dear friend, I am 
 not conscious of any exaggeration ; however it may ap- 
 pear to others, in my own vivid conviction it is but an 
 utterance of strict sober truth. Until but a short time 
 before her death, she lived with her daughter, the pride 
 of the family, as she was also of the eminently cultivated 
 and refined social circle to which she belonged." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 " Truly, if ever there was a period when the whole 
 Christian world should be down upon their faces before 
 the throne of mercy, imploring with all the importunity 
 and boldness and perseverance of faith, a race of minis- 
 ters, each full of the Holy Ghost, as was Barnabas or 
 Paul, that period is passing over us. Not from one place 
 or another, but from all quarters of the earth, testimony 
 multiplies daily that amidst the greatest possible facilities 
 for converting the world, a greatly increased and more 
 devoted ministry is indispensable. This testimony comes 
 to us, not indeed as the Macedonian cry came to the 
 apostle in a supernatural vision, but in a manner not less 
 affecting or decisive as to its purport. It is a real sound, 
 which flies round the land and rings in our ears all the 
 day long. ' Send us preachers,' is the universal, ceaseless 
 demand, at home and abroad. It comes from more than 
 a thousand of our destitute churches ; it comes from the 
 cities, from the wilderness, from the islands, from the ut- 
 termost parts of the sea, from tracts until lately unknown 
 to civilized man. This cry, which sounds so loudly and so 
 complainingly in our ears, should, by general consent, be 
 turned into prayer and sent up to heaven. And shall we 
 longer forbear to do this ? Shall we stand and hear that 
 unusual cry, and feel no inclination to direct it to the ear 
 of Him from whom help alone can come ? Is it not a mys- 
 
 ('44) 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 terious species of infatuation to forbear to lift up our cry 
 to the Lord of the harvest ? Why do we not, if this be 
 the case, abjure the very religion of Jesus, and abandon 
 ourselves, as well as the heathen, and the whole race of 
 man, to despair? Why should not a reform forthwith 
 commence, and the place of prayer have more attractions 
 than the eloquence of any mortal, or any angel's tongue? 
 Why, then, will not every true Christian make a cove- 
 nant with himself to change his life in this particular, and 
 from henceforth make it one of his chief subjects of wrest- 
 ling supplication, that God would give us a more faithful, 
 earnest, and laborious ministry ? Why will we not call 
 to mind how Abraham and Moses and Elias and Daniel 
 and Paul, and, above all, how the blessed Jesus labored in 
 prayer, and resolve in God's strength to pray in the same 
 manner ? Oh, what an amount of beneficent power would 
 such prayers exert upon the external destinies of our 
 world ! What wonders of grace would be witnessed in 
 our churches ; what accessions would be made to the sa- 
 cred ministry ; what an impulse would be given to the 
 cause of missions ; what brightness would be shed on all 
 the prospects of the Church !" 
 
 10 
 
The following list of Dr. Skinner's publications is taken 
 from Allibone's Dictionary of Authors : 
 
 1. Religion of the Bible. N. Y., 1839; London, 1848, '51. 
 
 2. Aids to Preaching and Hearing. Phila., iSmo ; Lon., 1839, lamo; 
 1S40, Svo. 
 
 3. Religious Liberty; a Discourse. N. Y., 1S41, i2mo. 
 
 4. Hints to Christians. Phila., 32mo. 
 
 5. Inaugural Address. 8vo. See Spirit of the Pilgrims, vi., 84. 
 
 6. Thoughts on Evangelizing the World. 
 
 7. Religious Life of Francis Markoe. N. Y., i8mo. 
 
 8. Vinet's Pastoral Theology. Trans, and edited. 1854, i^mo. 
 
 9. Vinet's Homiletics. Trans, and edited. 1854, 8vo. 
 
 10. Discussions in Theology. 1868, cr. 8vo, pp. 287. 
 
 Dr. Skinner also published a number of religious tracts and occasional 
 sermons, (see Fish's Pulp. Eloq. of 19th Cent., 363, 77,) and contributed to 
 Amcr. Bible Repos., Chris. Spect., Amer. Presby. and Theolog. Rev., etc. 
 
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