BY REV. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D., LL.D.,

[Pastor of the Coliegiate Reformed Church, New York City.]

My acquaintance with Dr. Talmage began at a very early period. During the years 1842-5 his father was Sheriff of Somerset Co., N. J., and resided at Somerville. While there he and his wife were members in communion of the Second Reformed Dutch Church, of which I was pastor; and from them I heard frequently of their son John, who was then a student in New Brunswick.

He prosecuted his studies in the College and Theological Seminary with zeal and success, and was duly licensed, and then, while awaiting the arrival of the period when he would be sent to join the mission in China, he accepted the position of assistant to the Rev. Dr. Brodhead, who at that time was minister of the Central Church of Brooklyn. Here his services were very acceptable, and the training under such an experienced man of God was of great value to him. His course was what might have been expected of one reared in a peculiarly pious household. His father was a cheerful and exemplary Christian, and his mother was the godliest woman I ever knew. Her religion pervaded her whole being, and seemed to govern every thought, word, and deed, yet never was morbid or overstrained. The robust common sense which characterized her and her husband descended in full measure upon their son John. His consecration to the mission work was complete, and his interest in the cause was very deep, but it never manifested itself in unseemly or extravagant ways.

So far as I can recall, there was nothing particularly brilliant or original in the early sermons or addresses of the young missionary ‹ nothing of those wondrous displays of word-painting, imagination, and dramatic power which have made his brother, Dr. T. De Witt Talmage, famous. But there was a mental grasp, a force and a fire which often induced the remark that he was too good to be sent to the heathen, there being many at that time who labored under the mistake that a missionary did not require to be a man of unusual ability, that gifts and acquirements were thrown away on a life spent among idolaters. Still, while this was the case, none of his friends expected that he would develop such marked and varied power as was seen in his entire course at Amoy. I remember the surprise with which I heard the late Dr. Swanson, of London, say from his own observation during ten years of the closest intercourse at Amoy, that Dr. Talmage was equally distinguished and efficient in every part of the missionary's work, whether in preaching the Word, or translating the Scriptures, or creating a Christian literature, or training native workers. Nothing seemed to come amiss to him; everywhere he was facile princeps. I suppose that the explanation is found in his thorough and unreserved consecration. He was given heart and soul to the work. Whatever he did was done with his whole mind. There was no vacillation or indecision, but a deliberate concentration of all his faculties upon the task set before him. Nor did he work by spurts or through temporary enthusiasm, but with a steady, unyielding determination. So he went on through life without haste and without rest, doing his best at all times and in every species of service, and thus earning thc brilliant reputation he acquired. The same qualities rendered him as wise in counsel as he was efficient in working. He was able to look on both sides of a given problem, was not inclined to snap judgments, but preferred to discriminate, to weigh, and, if need be, to wait. Yet, when the time came, the decision was ready.

He perceived earlier than his brethren at home the true policy as to churches in heathen lands, that is, that they should not be mere continuations of the denoinination whose missionaries had been the means of founding them, but should have an independent existence and grow upon the soil where they were planted, taking such form and order as Providence might suggest. When the proposal was made in accordance with these views to build up a native Chinese Church strictly autonomous, there was an immediate revulsion. The General Synod in 1863 emphatically declined to consent, not, however, from denominational bigotry, but on the ground that the new converts must have some standards of faith and order, and, if so, why not ours, which had been tested by centuries? And, moreover, if they were to be regarded as an integral part of the Church at home, that fact would prove to be a powerful incitement to prayer and liberality on the part of our people. But the rebuff did not dishearten Dr. Talmage. He renewed the appeal the next year, and had the satisfaction of seeing it succeed. Full consent was given to the aim to build up a strong, self-governing, and, as soon as might be, self-supporting body of native churches in China, who should leave behind the prejudices of the past, and form themselves under the teaching of God's Spirit and Providence in such way as would best meet the demands of the time and be most efficient in advancing the Kingdom of God upon the earth. The consequences have been most happy. The missionaries of the Presbyterian Church have cordially co-operated in renouncing all denominational interests and giving all diligence to the forming of what might be called a Chinese Christian Church, freed from any external bond and at liberty to shape its own character and course under the guidance of the Divine Spirit. The experiment has been entirely successful, and stands conspicuous as a testimony to the true policy of carrying on missionary work in countries where there is already an antique civilization and certain social habits which need to be taken account of.

Dr. Talmage always kept himself in touch with the Church at home by correspondence or by personal intercourse. His visits to America were in every case utilized to the fullest extent, save when hindered by impaired health.

It is matter of joyful congratulation that he was permitted to finish the usual term of man's years in the missionary field. Others of our eminent men, such as Abeel, Thompson, Doty, and Pohlman, were cut off in the midst of their days. But he spent a full lifetime, dying not by violence or accident, but only when the bodily frame had been worn out in the natural course of events. Our Church has been signally favored of God in the gifts and character and work of the men she has sent into the foreign field ‹ and this not merely in the partial judgment of their denominational brethren, but in the deliberate opinion of such competent and experienced observers as the late Dr. Anderson, of the American Board, and the late S. Wells Williams, the famous Chinese scholar; [One remark of Dr. S. Wells Williams is worth reproducing: "I think, myself, after more than forty years' personal acquaintance with hundreds of missionaries in China, that David Abeel was facile princeps among them all." ‹ Prresb. Review, II. 49.] but I think that none of them, neither Abeel nor Thompson, surpassed Dr. Talmage in any of the qualities, natural or acquired, which go to make an accomplished missionary of the cross. I enjoyed the personal acquaintance of them all, having been familiar with the progress of the work from the time when (October, 1832) our Board of Foreign Missions was established, and therefore am able to form an intelligent opinion. Our departed brother can no more raise his voice, either at home or abroad, but his work remains, and his memory will never die. For long years to come his name will be fragrant in the hearts of our people; and his lifelong consecration to the enterprise of the world's conversion will prove an example and a stimulus to this and the coming generation. The equipoise of his mind, the solidity of his character, the strength of his faith, the brightness of his hope, the simple, steadfast fidelity of his devotion to the Master, will speak trumpet-tongued to multitudes who never saw his face in the flesh. The unadorned story of his life, what he was and what he did by the grace of God, will cheer the hearts of all the friends of foreign missions, and win others to a just esteem of the cause which could attract such a man to its service and animate him to such a conspicuous and blessed career.