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A MEMOIR 



THE LIFE 



JAMES MILNOR, D.D. 



LATE RECTOR 



OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, NEW YORK. 



BY THE REV. JOHN S. STONE, D.D 

RECTOR OF CHEIST CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by 

WILLIAM H. MILNOR, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
New York. 



2>7 



PREFACE 



In accounting for the delayed appearance of the following Memoir, 
it is proper to state, that the work of collecting its materials was ob- 
structed by an effort to recover the foreign correspondence of Dr. Milnor, 
particularly that part of it in the hands of his friend the Bishop of Cal- 
cutta. About the time of Dr. Milnor's death, Bishop Wilson visited Eng- 
land for the improvement of his health. "While there, it was ascertained, 
that he had left Dr. Milnor's letters among his other papers at Calcutta, 
Hence, much time was lost in waiting for his return to India, in the hope 
that something valuable from that quarter might at length be recovered. 
After all, however, it was found necessary to proceed to the work with 
such materials only as had been gathered in this country. Accordingly, 
the documents were put into the writer's hands, and he at once addressed 
himself to the task of their examination and arrangement. In this, much 
time was necessarily consumed. Large masses both of manuscript and of 
print required reading, which were of no use. And when at last the 
required selection had been made and arranged, the labor of composition 
was constantly impeded by the daily and unshared care of a parish. Nor 
was this all ; for when that labor had been brought to a close, the work 
of publication was still longer postponed by the writer's recent unavoid- 
able absence from the country. 

As to his own part in the Memoir, the writer desires to say, that in 
the use made of Dr. Milnor's diaries, journal, and letters, he has taken no 
other liberties than such as he supposed his friend would himself have 
taken, had he attempted, while living, to prepare them for the press. 
Written as those papers were, amid the bustle of a busy life, and with no 
thought of their being ever embodied in their present form, they of course 
needed some revision. The clearing of the meaning of some sentences, 
by an occasional transposition in the order of their members, and by the 
occasional substitution of more exactly significant words for those which 
had been seized in the process of rapid composition, and which but im- 
perfectly expressed the author's thought ; and the softening, here and 
tnere, of a term, which in the confidence of familiar intercourse, was safe 
and proper, but which with a public necessarily ignorant of minute and 
explanatory circumstances, might be regarded as too strong : these are 



4 PREFACE. 

the chief freedoms, which, in the execution of his task, he has felt at 
liberty to indulge. Generally, Dr. Milnor's expressions needed no cor- 
rection. Many personal references, however, both to himself and to 
others, have been dropped ; and as little, that could be painful to the 
feelings of the living, has been retained, as was consistent with fidelity 
to the character and views of the dead, and to those public interests and 
trusts under which he was called to act. Dr. Milnor lived to see the 
Church pass into, if not through troublous times — times during which 
public feeling was often most painfully alive ; and he felt called to act in 
many stations where he became himself the occasion of much of the feel- 
ing by which the public was affected. It was therefore difficult, if not 
impossible, to write the life of such a man after he had left the stage. 
without sometimes reviving memories more or less unwelcome to not a 
few of his survivors. 

It should be borne in mind, that in the following work are virtually 
two memoirs : one of Mr. Milnor as a man of the world, and another 
of Dr. Milnor as a Christian man. The former could not with pro- 
priety be omitted, because, though a distinct life by itself, with its own 
principles, character, and acts in full development, yet it is important 
to a just appreciation of the latter. In some things, Dr. Milnor as a 
Christian, is very like Mr. Milnor as a worldly man ; in others, quite 
unlike. These lights of likeness and of contrast combine, or stand out in 
distinctness, to give us the true idea of the whole man. Even the false 
and dangerous notions of religion which he entertained in his days of 
darkness and self-righteousness, help to set forth in stronger colors those 
right conceptions of divine truth to which he was led by the great crisis 
of his life. Those, however, to whom the details of his early history 
would be likely to prove uninteresting, and who have known, or wish to 
contemplate him as a Christian only, will find the former part of the 
work as brief as it could well be made, and will not have to turn over 
many pages before they reach what will more specially meet their 
wishes, and it may be, satisfy their desires. 

And now, all that remains is to say, that although the writer has 
felt that he was dealing with a character of uncommon excellence, yet 
he has not felt that he was writing the life of a perfect being. However 
much, therefore, he has found in that character to commend, he has en- 
deavored not so to shape his commendations as to make the praise redound 
to the man, instead of Him from whom alone cometh every good, and to 
whom alone, especially in the results of Christian excellence, all praise 
is due. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

HIS EARLY LIFE, LEGAL PRACTICE, AND POLITICAL CAREER. 

Section I. — Quaker parentage — Family history — Youthful traits — Education 
— Law studies — Yellow-fever of '93 — Admittance to the har — Debating 
societies — Commences practice at Norristown — Freemasonry — Return to 
Philadelphia — Early Abolition Society — Fire Department — Yellow-fever 
of ; 98 — Retreat to Norristown — Marriage — Read out of Quaker meeting — 
Reasons for keeping a diary — Character as a lawyer — Incidents of legal 
life — An honest lawyer — Business habits — Affecting incident — Value of 
business habits — A fashionable man of the world, . . . .11 

Section II. — Entrance on political life — Diary — Member of city-council — 
Troublesome political editor — The elder Adams — French Jacobinism — 
Milnor s popularity — Election to Congress — Takes his seat in the House — 
First winter's letters from Washington — Speech in Congress — Summer of 
1811 — Second winter in Washington — Extracts from letters — Speech — 
Dinner with the President — War fever — Washington gayeties and war 
debates — Mode of life — Domestic feelings — Prospect of long session — Gout 
— Secret debates — War impends — Is declared — Address of the Federalists — 
Eventful speech — Philadelphia newspaper report — Difficulty with Henry 
Clay — Challenge — Correspondence — Review — Third winter in Washing- 
ton — Extracts from letters — Speech — Political excitement — Grand national 
ball — Political asperities — Quincy ; s severe speech — Short session — Ad- 
journment — Gout — Close of political life, 44 

PART II. 

HISTORY OF HIS RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 

Section I. — Early moral traits — Aquila M. Bolton — Serious letters — Mr. 
Milnor' s remarks thereon — Milnor a Universalist — Examination of the 
Christian evidences, and study of the Bible — Universalism renounced — A 
rational believer — Dependence on works — Second diary — Attendance on 
Presbyterian ministry — Probable influence of Bolton's letters — Begins to 
attend Episcopal Church — Feeling after truth — New-year's reflections. 
1810 — Forms of prayer — Dr. Pilmore — Election to Vestry of Associated 
Churches — Hearing sermons — Inward struggle — Views of the Sabbath — 
First recorded prayer — Influence of early Quakerism — Review of religious 
progress to 1812 — General Convention at New Haven. . . . 85 



6 CONTENTS. 

Section II. — Thomas Bradford- — Anecdote in a law-office — Remarkable inci- 
dent — Religious letters from Congress to Mrs. Milnor — A praying Con- 
gressman — Religious letters continued — Weariness of politics — Solemn 
morning walk, Dec. 22, 1812 — Unfriendly influence of politics, . . 110 

Section III. — Correspondence with Thomas Bradford — Letters — Epistolary 
account of conversion — Views of death — Letters to Mrs. Milnor — Solici- 
tude for her conversion — Struggles with the world — Review, . .133 

PART III. 

HIS MINISTRY FROM 1814 TO 1830. 

Section I. — Theological studies — Norristown — Lay-reader — Reflections on a 
change of profession — Prayer — Rules of life and study at Norristown — 
Visit to Rev. Mr. Bull — Journey into Virginia- — Dangerous illness — Invi- 
tations to Baltimore and Richmond — Replies — Praying spirit — Return to 
Philadelphia — Temporal affairs — " Evangelical Society" — Letter to Aquila 
M. Bolton — Preparatory studies completed — Examinations — Ordination — 
First sermon— Assistant in the Associated Churches — Ordained Presbyter — 
Interest in the Bible cause — Letter to an afflicted mother — Correspondence 
in reference to St. George's, New York — Call — Visit to New York — Letter 
from Bishop White — Acceptance of the Rectorship of St. George's — Settle- 
ment in New York, 177 

Section II. — American Bible Society — Correspondence with a doubting par- 
ishioner, and a cavilling inquirer — Opening of new Sunday-school rooms — 
Murmurs — Letter to Mr. Mcllvaine — Glance from 1817 to 1821 — Ingenu- 
ous acknowledgment — Glance to 1825 — Perilous illness — Religious exer- 
cises — Public sympathy — Letter to Mr. Mcllvaine — Account of illness by 
Dr. Stearns and Wm. H. Milnor — Origin of American Tract Society — Sick 
chamber— Mr. Hallock — Espousal of Tract cause — First sermon after re- 
covery— -Public organization of Tract Society — Dr. Milnor's agency — Del- 
egation from New York to Boston — Dr. Woods, . . . .218 

Section III. — 1825. Letters to a theological student — Bishop Hobart's return 
from Europe— Letter touching that return. 1826. Letters to Prof. Mcll- 
vaine during the revival at West Point — Letter to the student touching his 
Fourth of July address — Backslider reclaimed — General Convention of 
1826. 1827. State of St. George's — Dangerous accident in returning from 
Flushing— Death of Rev. Mr. Duffle. 1828. State of St. George's— Mil- 
nor Professorship. 1829. Course of lectures — " Protestant Episcopal Cler- 
ical Association of New York." 1830. Letters to Wm. H. Milnor, and Rev. 
J. P. K. Henshaw — African Mission school — Review, . . . 250 

PART IY. 

MISSION TO ENGLAND. 1830. 

Section I. — American origin of the idea — Action of St. George's Vestry — 

Views of Dr. Milnor in accepting the appointment — Engagements on the 

eve of departure — Instructions and commissions — Embarkation — Extracts 

from journal of voyage— Reaches Liverpool, 299 



CONTENTS. 7 

Section II. — Liverpool — Mr. Sands — Curious chair — Deaf and dumb instruc- 
tion — Birmingham — Dr. Squiers — Mr. Gillet — Dinner at the high-bailiff's 
— Clergy of Birmingham — Dr. Kewley a Jesuit — First Sabbath in England 
— Rev. Mr. Morgan — J. A. James — Journey to London — Arrival, . 312 

Section III. — London — Bible Society's House — Mr. Brandram — Lord Teign- 
mouth — Bromley and Beckenham — Auxiliary anniversary — -Clergymen's 
widows — Dinner at Mr. Inglis' — Dr. Parker — Woolwich grounds — Royal 
marquee— First Sabbath in London — Bishop Blomfield — Preachers charac- 
terized* — British and Foreign Bible Society — Counsellor Marriott — Relig- 
ious Tract Society — St. Bartholomew's, and Rev. Mr. Wilkinson — British 
Museum, and T. Hartwell Home — Samuel Charles Wilkes — Zachary Mac- 
auley — Methodist Missionary House — Prayer-book and Homily Society, 
and Mr. Pritchett — Irish Society Anniversary — Hibernian Society — Statis- 
tics — Second Sabbath in London — Bridewell chapel, St. Paul's, and Fleet- 
street — The Rev. Mr. Denham, 317 

Section IV. — Week of the great Anniversaries — Monday, May 3, Wesleyan 
Missionary Society — Dinner at Mr. Haslope's — Tuesday, Church Mission- 
ary Society — Dinner at Mr. Solicitor Forster's — -Wednesday, British and 
Foreign Bible Society — Lord Bexley, Bishop of Winchester, Bishop of 
Chester, Mr. Wilberforce, Dr. Milnor, Hon. Charles Grant, M. P., Daniel 
Wilson, etc. — Introduction to the Bishops — Dinner at Mr. Williams' — Re- 
ligious exercises — Thursday, Clerical breakfast — Tract Society's western 
meeting — Prayer-book and Homily Society — Dr. Milnor's speech — Dinner 
at Mr. Bickersteth's — Literary company — Friday, Clerical breakfast — -Lon- 
don Jews' Society — Dinner at Mr. Hatchard's — Saturday, Rural scene at 
Clapham — Mr. Gilliat — Mr. Mcllvaine's arrival — Blackheath Branch Bi- 
ble Society — Third Sabbath in London, 331 

Section V. — Further Anniversaries — Religious exercises of the week, at 
breakfasts and dinners — Baptist Noel and Waltham-stow — -Critique on 
country residences — Daniel Wilson, and breakfast at Islington — Lord Bex- 
ley — Anniversary of the Reformation Society — Bishop of Winchester, and 
St. James' Square — Guernsey custom — Capt. Gordon, and St. James' Place 
— Discussion revived — Animated scene at one of the anniversaries — Clark- 
son, Wilberforce, and others — Mr. Ewbank and Mr. Peckham, . 343 

Section VI. — Sabbath at Camberwell — Melvill — Dulwich College — Green- 
wich Hospital — Breakfast at J. Haldane Stewart's — Caledonian chapel, 
and Dr. Chalmers — Social engagements — Woolwich, and Dr. Gregory- 
Sabbath at Paul's Cray, and John Symonds — Institution for Deaf and 
Dumb, and Mr. Watson — Dinner at Zachary Macauley's— Views of Millen- 
arians, Irving, McNeile — Interesting intercourse with Daniel Wilson at 
Islington — Stoke-Newington, and Dr. Watts — Business with Church Mis- 
sionary Society — Charity-school Anniversary at St. Paul's — Joseph John 
Gurney — Sunday thoughts of home — Trait in morals — Visits about London 
— Missionary institution at Islington — Professors Pearson, Ayre, and Lee — ■ 
Daughter of Legh Richmond— Turvey — William Allen, and Stoke-Newing- 
ton — Hannah Kilham — Accident and peril — Sufferings, . . .353 

Section VII. — Visit to Paris— Accident on the Thames— From Calais to 
Paris — Beggars — Paris — Catholic service at St. Roche's — Vaults under the 



8 CONTENTS. 

Pantheon — Bishop Luscomb — Visits to distinguished citizens — Professor 
Kieffer — M. Monod fils — Institution for the Deaf and Dumb — Sunday in 
Paris — Paroxysm of gout — Teacher for the New York Institution for the 
Deaf and Dumb — Mons. and Mad. Serrurier — Reminiscence of political 
life — M. Vaysse, Jr. — Dinner with M. Vaysse, Sen. — Literary company — 
Symptoms of revolution — Versailles — Return to England, . .376 

Section VIII. — Visit to Isle of Wight — Contrast between France and Eng- 
land — Sabbath at Ryde — Mr. Sibthorpe — Scenery — Tomb of " Little Jane " 
— Brading church — Sandown bay — Scenery of " African Servant" — Natu- 
ralness of Legh Richmond's descriptions — Shanklin- Chine — Reading of 
'•The Young Cottager" — Bonchurch and IJndercliff — Appuldercomb — 
Scenery of "Dairyman's Daughter" — Dairyman's cottage — Arreton church 
— Newport — Mr. Mcllvaine ill — Trip to Southampton — Western tour — 
Carisbrook castle — Clerical mayor — Shorwell — Scenery — Freshwater-gate 
— Caverns — The Needles — Return to Newport, .... 385 

Section IX. — Departure from the Isle of Wight — Tour through England. 
Wales, and Ireland — Southampton — Winchester, cathedral and school — 
Exeter — Scenery — Expensive road — Humorous signboards — Ilfracombe — 
Romantic position — Ancient church — Linton — Striking scenery — Porlock — 
Amusing colloquy with an Innkeeper — Progress to Bristol — Mr. Prust — 
Clifton — Robert Hall — Visit to Hannah More — Bishop Hob art's letter on 
Dr. Milnor's speech — Controversy in New York — Dr. Milnor's reply — Mr. 
Pritchett's letter — Other letters — Departure from Bristol — Election mob — 
The four daughters of Droitwich — Election canvass at Bridgenorth — Rot- 
ten borough system — Lovely scenery — Beautiful vale of Llangollen— Ro- 
mantic scenery — Welsh language — Passage of the mountains — Snowden — 
Magnificent scenery — Bangor — Suspension bridge over Menai Strait — An- 
glesea — Holyhead — Embarkation — Sleep in a storm — Janting-car — Dublin 
— Rainy ride to Belfast, . 395 

Section X. — Tour through Scotland, and north of England — Arrival at Glas- 
gow — Contrast with Ireland — Institutions of Glasgow — Statistics — Social 
engagements — Temperance meeting — Deaf and Dumb Institution — Depart- 
ure for Edinburgh — Dr. Byrne, and the General Assembly — A Scotch dis- 
cussion — John Sheppard — Mrs. Sheppard and Lord Byron — Long walk to 
Arthur's seat — Dr. Chalmers — Episcopal clergy — Breakfast at Dr. Chal- 
mers' — Discussion — Holyrood House — Asylum for Deaf and Dumb — Jour- 
ney among the Cheviot Hills — Assize Court at Carlisle — Lake scenery — 
Kendal and Manchester — School for Deaf and Dumb — Sabbath in Man- 
chester — The Rev. Mr. Stowell — Remarkable Infant-school teacher — Jour- 
ney to Sheffield — Derbyshire scenery — Sheffield — Montgomery — Social and 
religious scenes — Bible Society meeting — Valuable acquaintances — Vicar 
of Sheffield — Affecting parting with Montgomery — Touching reminiscence 
— Return to London, 429 

Section XI. — Business engagements — Recurrence to Bishop Hobart's letter — 
Adieus of the Bible Society — Lord Bexley — Parting dinner with Zachary 
Macauley — Robert Owen and his schemes — William Allen — Parting din- 
ner with Lord Bexley — Visit to Cambridge — Prof. Farish — Mr. Simeon — 
Pleasant travelling companion — Anecdote — Parting visit to Lord Teign- 



CONTENTS. 9 

mouth — Departure from London — Mrs. Dixon of Henley — Religion at an 
inn — Oxford — Embarkation at Liverpool, 27th of September — Reception in 
New York — Reputation of Dr. Milnor in England — Results of mission, 446 

PART Y. 

HIS MINISTRY FROM 1830 TO 1845. 

Section I. — Kenyon College, and Milnor Professorship — J. M. West — State 
of St. George's — Letter to a clerical correspondent — Clerical removals- 
Literary Convention — Letters to his son — Cholera season — Eleanor's ill- 
ness— Journey into Maine — Extracts from letters— better to his son against 
entering the Navy — Letter to Bishop Mcllvaine — Bristol College — Mission 
to Green Bay— Illustrative letters — Results of the mission, . . 460 

Section II. — -Letter to Bishop Mcllvaine— Episcopal periodicals — Visit to 
Boston, Massachusetts Convention — General Convention, 1835 — Reorgani- 
zation of Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society— Secretary and Gene- 
ral Agent — Generosity — The Rev. J. W. Cooke — Labors as Secretary and 
General Agent — Reappointment declined — Influence on our Missions — 
Letters during his Secretaryship — Proposed mission to Persia — Tour to 
Cleveland — Ohio Convention — Letters on his tour — Close of labor as Sec- 
retary and General Agent, . 488 

Section III. — Rev. Mr. Cooke — Letters from Lord Bexley and Montgomery — 
Tractarianism — better against withdrawing from our Missionary organiza- 
tion, etc. — Letter to Bishop Smith on Church views — Board of Missions 
at Baltimore — Letter to Bishop Mcllvaine— Letter to H. Van Wagenen — 
General Convention, 1838 — Division of the Diocese of New York — Northern 
tour with Bishop Meade, 510 

Section IV.— Case of G. Y. — Illustrative letters— Results of Dr. Milnor's 
efforts to save a fallen youth — Oxford Tract controversy — Letter to Bishop 
Mcllvaine — Gloomy forebodings — Charge on Justification — From Dr. Spar- 
row, resigning the Milnor Professorship — To Bishop Mcllvaine, "Oxford 
Divinity." 527 

Section V. — Letter to Dr. Beasley — Visit to Alexandria — Letter from the 
Bishop of Calcutta — Splendid tribute to Bishop Mcllvaine's " Oxford Di- 
vinity" — Answer — From Bishop Meade, Missions to Western Asia — Let- 
ter to Bishop Mcllvaine, Dr. Fuller appointed " Milnor Professor " — Mary- 
land State Colonization Society — Carey Ordination — Letters from Bishops 
Meade and Smith — Semi-annual Bible Society meeting at Cincinnati — Dr. 
Milnor appointed to read an essay on "The Rule of Faith" — Letter to 
Bishop Smith, Oxfordism — Stormy Convention in New York, 1843 — Busi- 
ness at Buffalo — Letter from Dr. Aydelott, Dr. Spring's essay on " The Rule 
of Faith" — The Rev. P. P. Irving Assistant at St. George's— Letter from 
J. Haldane Stewart, . . . . . . . . 553 

Section VI. — Dangerous attack of gout, 1844 — Letters on recovery, from Mr. 
Irving, Bishop Eastburn, and W. H. Walter — From the Bishop of Calcutta 
— From Bishop Mcllvaine — Love of repose — Visit to Middle Haddam — 
Heavy domestic affliction — General Convention of 1844 — Ecclesiastical 
trial — Dr. Milnor's testimony— Latin letter — Bishop Smith's tribute to Dr. 



10 CONTENTS. 

Milnor's conduct at the trial — "VYm. H. Milnor's "Recollections" — Long- 
ings for repose, not for inaction — Free chapel movement — ■'Mr. Irving's 
letter— Action of the Vestry — Vigorous old age — Impressive incident at a 
meeting of the Directors of the Deaf and Dumb Institution — Sudden death 
— Wm. H. Milnor's account of the closing scene — Habitual preparation for 
sudden death — Public demonstrations of grief — The funeral— Discourses 
on his death, . 575 

PART VI. 

RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER. 

1. His connection with the Bible Society — Principle of action — Dr. Brigham's 
statement — Influence of Dr. Milnor in the Society. 2. His connection 
with the Tract Society — Carrying out of principle of action — Mr. Hallock's 
statement — Illustrative documents — Preciousness of Dr. Milnor's name in 
the Tract cause. 3. His connection with the cause of Education. 4. His 
position in the Episcopal Church — A sketch — Prominence of Dr. Milnor in 
the Evangelical cause — His relation to the Church at large, and to the 
Diocese of New York in particular — Anecdotes. 5. Traits of character — 
Illustrative anecdotes and views — Intellectual traits — Theological traits — 
Pulpit traits — Dr. Cutler's sermon — Domestic traits, hospitality, cheerful- 
ness, the Christian gentleman, benevolence — Mr. Peet's sermon — Death to 
the good man never sudden — Anecdotes — Habits of sermon-writing, and 
pastoral duty — Favorite allegory — Idea of true Catholicism — Indifference 
to official elevation — Close, 597 



.MEMOIR. 



PART I. 

EARLY LIFE, LEGAL PRACTICE, AND POLITICAL CAREER. 

SECTION I. 

It is peculiar to the true children of Grod, that before they 
reach that perfect life which awaits them in heaven, they will 
have lived two blessed and beneficent lives on earth. This made 
the apostle say of the faith of Abel, " By it he, being dead, yet 
speaketh." For thousands of years, men have had a knowledge 
of the name, and faith, and gracious acceptance of that early 
saint. Through that whole period, indeed, he has been sleeping 
among the dead. Yet has he all the while had a most precious 
life among the living. In the experience of eminent saints, the 
one of these two lives is, at the longest, short ; the other is, at 
the shortest, long. The one is spent by the living among the 
living; the other cometh up to the living from among the dead. 
The one is the light of labor, and example, and influence, mov- 
ing rapidly towards the grave ; the other is the power of faith, 
and love, and suffering, coming back in perennial memories from 
the tomb. In the one, the faithful may see rich fruits from the 
short summer of their toils ; in the other, they will hear of fruits 
richer still, because so many ages shall lie within their harvest- 
time. In the former, faith sometimes does its work, like Abel's, 
in one great sacrifice ; in the latter, that faith, living in some 
God-inspired record, often carries on its work through long gen- 
erations, and over distant realms. 

To those who have finished well the former of these two lives, 
religious biography seeks to secure the most beneficial results of 



12 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR 

the latter ; and whether that biography swell to volumes, or be 
but as the brief paragraph which has brought down to our know- 
ledge the triumph of Abel's faith, yet, if it include all and only 
what God would keep alive, it doeth excellent work, and shall 
have unfailing fruits. The writer will add bu$ this, that such 
is the work which he would fain do in penning the following 
memoir. 

James Milnor, late rector of St. George's church, New York, 
was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 20th day of June, 
1773. His immediate ancestors belonged to the society of 
Friends ; his father and mother, William and Anna Brientnall 
Milnor, being by birth and education members of that respecta- 
ble body. Family tradition reports that they were both descend- 
ants of the early settlers of Pennsylvania, and has treasured facts 
showing that they were worthy of their descent. 

Without attempting to trace minutely the genealogy of the 
family, it may still be proper to bestow some notice upon those 
with whom Dr. Milnor was immediately connected. 

His father was born in the state of New Jersey, settled early 
near Falsington, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, subsequently 
removed to his native state, and finally fixed himself with his 
household in Philadelphia. The original orthography of the 
family name was Milner, and so it is still written in England. 
When the subject of this memoir visited England, he found 
the Milners numerous in Lancashire. The name was changed 
to Milnor by the early pioneers of the family in this country. 

William Milnor, the father of the late rector of St. George's, 
shared largely the respect of his people and acquaintances. To 
the plain manners and characteristic integrity of the Friends, 
he added great energy and a cheerful disposition. His cheerful- 
ness was often tried, but never overcome, by that trying' disorder 
to which he was a victim, the gout. Dr. Milnor has often been 
heard to say, that his father always preserved his equanimity of 
temper, even when suffering the most violent paroxysms of his 
disorder. He related that, under a peculiarly agonizing fit, his 
father was once sitting with his feet on a pillow, swathed in 
flannel, and too tender to be touched without distressing pain, 
when his daughter's dress, in her attempt to reach something on 



HIS EARLY LIFE. 13 

the mantel, took fire. Upon rushing into the room, he found the 
old gentleman, wholly unconscious of pain, busily stamping out 
the flames with his gouty feet. In truth, the gout had left him ; 
nighly delighted, too, with the suddenness of his cure. The 
next day, however, his delight ended in bitter disappointment ; 
for his disorder not only returned, but came back with strong 
reinforcements of violence. 

According to the wholesome custom of those good old days, 
which provided every young man some sure means of livelihood, 
William Milnor was early bred to the handicraft of a cooper ; 
but developing talents for other pursuits, he soon engaged in 
trade, and at the period which introduced the Revolution, was 
extensively engaged in a fishery. At the same time, he was 
factor to Col. Washington of Mount Vernon ; and a valuable cor- 
respondence, now in possession of the Milnor family, shows that 
for sound judgment and strict integrity, he enjoyed largely the 
confidence of that great man. From one of the letters in this 
correspondence, it appears that they had a joint interest in one 
of the fisheries. " I have not been unmindful of my promise," 
writes Col. Washington, " in respect to the fish-house. Before 
the next season, I shall have one erected for your accommo- 
dation, not doubting but it may turn out to both our advan- 
tages." 

The salting of fish appears to have been, even then, an exten- 
sive business in this country. Inspectors of these articles were 
appointed by several of the local governments ; and in Philadel- 
phia, this post was held by William Milnor. It is important to 
note his connection in business with Col. Washington, as proof 
of his high character, and as having had no little influence on 
his subsequent life. When the drama of the Revolution opened, 
his patriotism took fire ; and in spite of the discipline of the 
Friends, which is opposed to all war, defensive as well as aggres- 
sive, he at once applied for a commission in the army. His 
attachment to his old friend, who had by this time become 
General Washington, was perhaps the spark which kindled his 
patriotism into a flame, and made so painful the disappointment 
which awaited him. The reasons for withdrawing his applica- 
tion for a commission are stated in the following letter. 



14 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

To Gen. George Washington, January, 1776. 

" Honorable Sir — Your very kind favor of the 20th of De- 
cember came safe to hand, and gave me great relief. I am 
happy, inasmuch as I have not displeased your excellency in my 
conduct so far. I am unhappy, however, because I cannot get 
into the army. I had thrown in a petition for a captaincy, and 
had the greatest prospect of success. Mr. Franklin, in conse- 
quence of your letter, had made the way clear for me ; my 
spirits were elevated, and there appeared nothing in view that 
could stop me. My wife, from continued assurances of my 
unalterable intention of going, had got nearly reconciled to it. 
But alas, a few days before the appointment of officers, the old 
ferry was to be let. I was immediately surrounded by my 
friends, insisting that there was no fitter person for that busi- 
ness than myself; and as it was a place of profit, I ought, in 
consideration of my large family, to prefer being with them to 
going abroad on any terms. Their reasonings, together with 
the entreaties of my dear partner, prevailed on me to withdraw 
my petition, and I am now a drudge at the old ferry, within two 
doors of where I formerly lived in Water-street. 2" thank my 
God, he has given me a persevering' disposition, equal to any 
task he is pleased to lay upon me in this life. I never found any 
prospect of fatigue an annoyance to any undertaking, when a 
probability of a good, genteel sustenance for my little flock 
offered in view : and this business would be a very agreeable 
one to me, if these unhappy disturbances were at an end. But 
I cannot conclude this letter until I have assured your excel- 
lency, that I shall remain a poor, unhappy iv retch, as long as I 
am chained, and cannot take an active part in my country's 
cause. Whether a true patriotic concern for my country, or 
secret thirst after honor, or both combined, is the spring by 
which my spirits are actuated, I have the vanity to believe that 
the former is the chief motive, and that only experience is 
wanted to make me a soldier. I sometimes please myself by 
thinking, that, when my wife has gained experience in our pres- 
ent business, and if the troubles should increase in the ensuing 
summer as it seems probable they will, I will place some steady 
hand to assist her, and again offer myself to my country." 



HIS EARLY LIFE. 15 

In this letter breathes the true spirit of '76 ; and to those 
who were well acquainted with Dr. Milnor, it will be evident 
that one at least of the charaeteristie traits of the father — his 
inflexible, self-relying perseverance in any high and worthy pur- 
suit — was largely inherited by the son. Although the former 
was constrained to abandon his suit for a commission in the 
army, yet he by no means remained idle during the great strug- 
gle on which his country was then entering. Even his position 
at the " old ferry," in his plain, Quaker garb, gave him no poor 
facilities for acquiring important information of the enemy's 
movements ; and of those facilities he made the most. He was 
one of the many, whom the clear-judging "Washington had the 
good fortune to attach to him, whose humble names have long 
since been forgotten ; but whose services, as in other matters, so 
especially in transmitting by various channels intelligence of 
great value to the cause of the struggling colonies, were truly 
invaluable. 

About the " old ferry," Mr. Milnor usually drove a chaise 
with an ingenious false bottom ; so that, though often suspected 
of being in the interests of the revolutionists, yet he was never 
detected by the- enemy. Twice, indeed, he was obliged to fly 
for his life ; but the same good Providence which guided and 
guarded Washington, preserved him harmless to the close of the 
conflict. His services were not confined to the conveyance of 
intelligence : he did much towards furnishing supplies for the 
patriot army. 

His conduct during the Revolution, of course gave great 
offence to "the heads of meeting," and he was formally dis- 
owned. After the peace he, with other Friends similarly situ- 
ated, formed the society some time known in Philadelphia as 
" The Free and Independent Quakers." Their place of meeting 
was for many years at the corner of Fifth and Arch streets. A 
few years before his death he was reunited to the regular body, 
and died in the society's connection, at the age of 73. His wife 
had preceded him to the grave. Both, however, lived long enough 
to see their country in peace and prosperity, and their youngest 
son settled in life, and as a lawyer rising rapidly to wealth and 
honor. At his death the father held the office of city ganger, 



16 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to which, it appears, he had been appointed immediately after 
the peace, in consideration of his past services. It was, at that 
time, an important and lucrative office ; and after his decease, 
was continued to his son Isaac, and to his grandson Robert. 

The children of the family were five, two daughters ana 
three sons. The elder of the two daughters died at middle age. 
The younger, who was also the youngest child, was married to 
Dr. Joseph Klapp, a physician of eminence in Philadelphia ; 
and after a life of suffering from a painful disease, borne with 
Christian patience, died a few years before her favorite brother 
James. 

Of the sons, Isaac, the oldest, was a merchant, and a man 
of strong mind and great energy. He died at middle age, of an 
acute attack of the gout. William junior was also a merchant, 
and stood high in the community. At one time he represented 
the city of Philadelphia in Congress. He was author of some 
political pamphlets popular in their day ; in later life was ap- 
pointed mayor of Philadelphia ; and on retiring from office, was 
elected one of the aldermen. "When his brother James was in 
Congress, he thus wrote from Washington in a letter to his 
wife : " Gentlemen of the first respectability for talents here 
speak of brother William as a man of great strength of mind, 
and a pleasing and sensible speaker in the House. They regret 
his non-reelection." In religious sentiments William was, until 
a short time before his death, a Presbyterian ; but he finally 
united with the Episcopal church in Burlington, N. J., whither 
he had removed. He was exceedingly attached to his brother 
James, and it was evident to the family that his death was 
hastened by his grief for that dear brother's decease. He died 
about a year after the subject of this memoir. 

In passing, now, from these brief notices of the ancestry, and 
of the family kindred of James Milnor, to a detail of particulars 
in the life of this beloved " man of G-od," we find, as in other 
cases, little in his childhood that calls for record. His schoolboy 
days seem to have been bright and happy, because moral and 
industrious. At the Pennsylvania grammar-school, in his native 
city, he received the rudiments of his education ; and at an early 
age entered the university of Pennsylvania. One of his surviv- 



HIS EARLY LIFE. 17 

ing school and playmates, still living amid the scenes of their 
childhood, remembers well, that when a boy he was distinguished 
for the very traits which characterized him as a man, especially 
for soundness of judgment and kindness of disposition. By a 
sort of tacit election among his school-fellows, James Milnor was 
early raised to two important posts of distinction ; that of judge 
in their boyish controversies, and that of a student for his class- 
mates, whenever it was their purpose to let play trench on the 
hours of study. They willingly submitted to his judgment in 
the former capacity, because confident his decisions would be 
just ; while they gladly availed themselves of his diligence in 
the latter, because certain that the lessons which he prepared 
for them to copy, would be willingly as well as correctly done. 
His superior abilities were perhaps the more readily acknow- 
ledged, because associated with such superior kindness. 

For some reason, not preserved in memory, he did not com- 
plete his university course. Certainly, that reason was neither 
dislike of study, nor an undervaluation of the privileges of the 
university ; for of books he was ever fond, and with the impor- 
tance of a full course of study he was always deeply impressed. 
Nor could his separation from the university have been an act of 
discipline, since of that the memory would not so soon have per- 
ished. Whatever the reason may have been, it did not prevent 
him from subsequently receiving from the institution which he 
left, his degree of doctor of divinity. During the period of his 
early studies, he made considerable progress in the German lan- 
guage ; an acquisition of great service to him in his subsequent 
practice among his German clients about Xorristown. 

He commenced the study of the law with Mr. Howell, an 
eminent Quaker lawyer of Philadelphia. This was probably as 
early as the year 1789, when he was no more than sixteen years 
of age ; for during this year we find him a member of a debating 
club, called " The Ciceronian Society," and, as one of its mem- 
bers, appointed to argue an important legal question. His whole 
argument has been preserved in manuscript ; it bears clearly the 
impress of the juvenile age at which it was penned, and shows, 
moreover, the disadvantages under which he labored, from the 
interruption of his earlier classical studies. Still, it is an in- 



18 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

teresting paper ; especially as it shows him to have become 
already warmly interested in the Pennsylvania penitentiary sys- 
tem, and in measures for meliorating the criminal code of the 
state ; and as it enables us to trace the progress of his mind, 
in style, and thought, and legal ability, between this period and 
that at which, four or five years later, he entered on the practice 
of the law. 

He continued his law studies with Mr. Howell till the year 
1793, when that gentleman fell a victim to the yellow-fever, the 
fearful scourge which, at that time, almost desolated the city of 
Philadelphia. He then entered the office of Mr. Rawle, with 
whom he completed his preparatory legal studies. 

In the summer of 1793 occurred an incident deserving record, 
as illustrative of some beautiful traits in his character. When, 
from the flight of its inhabitants, the city had become almost a 
desert, and young Milnor was finally induced to retire to Alex- 
andria, where one of his brothers then resided, he embarked, with 
other citizens, in a schooner bound to that port. During the 
passage, he gave a striking proof both of real benevolence and of 
true courage. Soon after their embarkation, one of the passen- 
gers was seized with the well-known symptoms of the dreaded 
epidemic. The captain, crew, and all the other passengers for- 
sook the poor victim, and left him to his fate. But in young 
Milnor was found another spirit. Although he had a peculiar 
dread of the disease, he yet remained by the sick man's side, 
and nobly acted as his faithful nurse. As the schooner's medi- 
cine-chest contained nothing but herbs, he administered to his 
patient a variety of decoctions, till, as the last spark of hope 
seemed expiring, a profuse perspiration was induced, and the 
man most unexpectedly recovered. 

His admittance to the bar took place in the spring- of 1794 ; 
and at the May term of the same year he was, on motion of his 
preceptor Rawle, admitted as an attorney of the court of Com- 
mon Pleas for the county of Montgomery. He was, therefore, in 
the practice of the law before he reached his legal majority. He 
was not twenty-one years of age till about a month after he be- 
came a practising attorney, or on the 20th of June, 1794. 

Previous to this date, however, he became a member, and 



HIS LEGAL PEACTICE. 19 

was elected president of " The Law Society," in Philadelphia ; 
for on the 8th of February, 1794, he gave, from the presidential 
chair of the society, an extended and elaborate opinion, drawn 
up with all the gravity, precision, and learning of a judge, on 
the question, " Whether a jury, in an action of ejectment, can 
find the mesne profits in damages ?" and, apparently near the 
same date, he also delivered, as president of the society, an 
address at the first meeting after the adoption of its constitution. 
The fact of his being president of the association, as well as the 
comparatively finished and very judicious character of both the 
documents to which I have referred, speaks well for his standing 
and attainments as a student of the law. In truth, between his 
first appearance in the Ciceronian, and his performances here as 
president of the Law Society, there is all the difference that can 
well be imagined between a boy of sixteen, and a young, but 
ripe and well-furnished scholar in legal science. 

His prominence in the Law Society, however, did not abate 
his interest in the Ciceronian. Shortly after his admission to 
the bar, and his settlement in practice at Norristown, he wrote 
a beautiful letter in reply to one from Aquila M. Bolton, " dele- 
gate for correspondence of the Ciceronian Society," assuring him 
of his continued zeal for the honor and prosperity of that insti- 
tution; of his purpose to persevere in the duties required by its 
constitution; and of his warm personal regard for many of its 
members. 

From the fact, lying on the records of the court, that when 
admitted as an attorney, he did no^take the oath, but only gave 
an affirmation, it appears that he was then a regular and con- 
scientious member of the society of Friends. 

Though very young, and very youthful in appearance even 
for his years, yet his practice soon became respectable, and grew 
reasonably lucrative. It lay among the best families in Norris- 
town, and he retained it after his removal from the county of 
Montgomery. The date of his return to his native city is un- 
certain, but it was as early as 1797; since, in June of that 
year, he was again an active member of the Philadelphia Law 
Society; and in August of the same year was once more its 
president. 



20 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

His membership in the societies which have been mentioned, 
was doubtless of great practical utility. It was there that he 
early acquired the somewhat remarkable readiness and accu- 
racy in extemporaneous discussion and debate, which enabled 
him to bear so active and prominent a part in the business of 
all the deliberative bodies in which he was subsequently called 
to act. 

The incidents of his life while engaged in legal practice at 
Norristown, are not at this time recoverable. He was yet un- 
married, though it was probably there he formed an acquaintance 
with the lady who subsequently became his wife. It was there, 
too, that he was initiated, and entered, with the enthusiasm of 
youth, into the mysteries of the society of "Free and accepted 
Masons." In a diary, which he afterwards began to keep, and 
under date of March 17, 1800, he writes, "I was elected mastei 
of Lodge No. 31, while I resided in Norristown; but since my 
return to the city, I have been a member of No. 3, and am now 
treasurer of the latter." " On St. John's day, December 27, 
1798, I was elected senior- warden of the Grand Lodge ; and on 
St. John's day, December 27, 1799, was unanimously reelected 
to the same office." And according to the dates furnished by 
his son, "William H. Milnor, M. D. — to whose valuable " Recol- 
lections" the writer is indebted for most of the facts thus far 
recorded — in 1805, after having filled many important subordi- 
nate offices, he was elected grand-master of the Grand Lodge of 
Pennsylvania, and held that office, by yearly reelections, till 
1813, the great turning-point of his life. 

His labors, during his grand-mastership, in disseminating the 
principles of the order, and in extending its prosperity, were 
most assiduous, and his annual communications to the lodges 
under his charge are said to have been replete with sound and 
wholesome moral instruction. He was mainly instrumental in 
the erection of the old Masonic Hall in Chesnut-street, Philadel- 
phia, and conducted the ceremony of its dedication, on the festi- 
val of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1811. He pronounced his 
dedicatory oration, which his friend Bradford calls " graceful in 
delivery, and eloquent in itself," in St. John's Lutheran church, 
in Race-street ; and it was on this occasion, that, as they left 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 21 

the church together, his friend remarked to him, " Why, Right- 
Worshipful, you were cut out for a parson;" little dreaming that 
the idea would one day be realized. 

Concurrently with his relinquishment of legal practice in 
1813, he resigned his grand-mastership ; and, upon accepting 
his resignation, a beautiful and costly jewel, now in his son 
Henry's possession, was voted to him by the Grand Lodge, as a 
testimony of respect and attachment ; its delivery being accom- 
panied by appropriate formalities and a touching address. 

With many, peradventure, the last few paragraphs will throw 
more of a painful than of a pleasing interest round the name of 
Milnor ; nevertheless, as a faithful biographer, the writer could 
hardly with propriety keep out of sight so prominent a portion 
of his early life as was his connection with Free Masonry. Be- 
sides, whatever men's present views of Masonry may have be- 
come, none can refuse to believe that he considered the princi- 
ples of the order to be pure. 

On the 5th of July, 1795, he was elected a member of " The 
Society for promoting the abolition of Slavery, for the relief of 
free negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and for improving the 
condition of the African race." At the annual meeting of that 
society for 1796, he was elected one of its counsellors ; and for 
several succeeding years was annually reelected to the same office. 
In 1797 he was made secretary, as well as counsellor ; and con- 
tinued to hold both offices for several years. In his diary of 
March 17, 1800, he writes, "For two years past, the partiality 
of my fellow-members has honored me with the appointment of 
the corresponding committee ; and besides various nominations 
on special committees, I was, in the year 1798, elected one of 
the delegates to ' the fifth convention of delegates from the 
several abolition societies in the United States.' Soon after I 
became a member, I went through my routine of service (nine 
months) on the acting committee ; and, having drafted the ad- 
dress of our society to the fourth and fifth conventions, I have 
been requested to prepare the one which is to be presented to 
the sixth convention, to be held in this city on the first day of 
June next." 

These elections and appointments were not unmeaning com- 



22 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

pliments. They were selections of a man who, though young, 
yet entered with mature heartiness into the interests of the so- 
ciety with which he was thus incorporated. If he was not born 
with antislavery feelings, they were yet quickly generated in 
his heart by the whole moral nurture through which his infancy 
and childhood were carried by his Quaker parents. 

How long he continued to act in the affairs of this society, 
there are no means of deciding, since he either discontinued his 
diary a few days after the date last cited, or has suffered its 
continuation to be lost. In his son's " Recollections" it is stated, 
that, besides the various offices, already mentioned, which he 
filled, he was attorney to the society, and that on him devolved 
the burden of much of its business. The society, it is believed, 
was founded and supported chiefly by the Quakers ; and the zeal 
and ability with which he entered into its measures, made him 
conspicuous in its counsels and influential on its action. 

It would be a groundless inference to conclude, from what 
has been said, that when the more recent abolition movement 
took its rise, Dr. Milnor must have been found among its active 
supporters. Such was not the position which he subsequently 
assumed. His sympathies with the slave never abated; but as 
they enlisted him, at a later period, in the cause of African 
Colonization, so they continued to flow strongly in the channel 
of that society's labors. The original abolition societies of this 
country, as we have seen, aimed at the improvement of the con- 
dition of the African race, and at the relief of free negroes un- 
lawfully held in bondage ; while, if they contemplated the 
abolition of the slave-trade and of slavery itself, they still evi- 
dently looked at this latter result as a point to be reached, not 
directly, but indirectly, through the "improvement," the gradual 
elevation "of the African race." Under the quiet forms of such 
an organization, and amid the temperate influences which ema- 
nated from those forms, his zeal for the slave was early disci- 
plined; and by long use, he became habituated, perhaps it may 
be said, unchangeably habituated, to such action only as those 
forms and influences admitted. 

At an early period, he also became warmly and actively in- 
terested in the fire department of his native city. It was in 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 23 

December, 1797, that, as he says, "A number of young men, 
of whom I was one, associated together for the purpose of form- 
ing a fire company. We subscribed fifteen dollars towards the 
purchase of an engine, and near eight dollars each for the pur- 
chase of buckets. Our company is limited to sixty members. 
We have been full, but have now," March 17, 1800, " not more 
than fifty attending members. Soon after its formation, the 
company honored me with the office of president, and have since, 
at each successive election, continued me in that station." The 
company was called " The Resolution Fire Company." 

The fire companies of Philadelphia were, at that time, evi- 
dently composed of respectable young gentlemen; and were 
voluntary, irresponsible bodies, acting without concert, and, to 
a great extent, without efficiency. In this state they continued 
till he had been about two years a fireman. Early in the winter 
of 1800, however, having deeply felt the serious evils incident 
to the condition of the fire companies, he attempted, as president 
of the Resolution Fire Company, to introduce a new order of 
things ; and his labors, in conjunction with those of his fellow- 
firemen, resulted in giving existence to " The Philadelphia Fire 
Association ;" a body of form, and system, and efficiency, in the 
place of what had before been a formless, ungoverned, and in a 
great measure inefficient multitude of firemen. 

The details of his labors and of the posts of honor which he 
occupied, in connection with this association, as recorded in his 
diary, illustrate Mr. Milnor's talents for business, the readiness 
with which he engaged in every thing that concerned the public 
welfare, and the manner in which he infused life and activity 
into the various bodies to which he belonged. He evidently con- 
sidered the fire department a most important institution ; and 
felt that his post of service in it was highly useful, and because 
useful, therefore honorable. 

In the summer of 1798, during the last week in July, the 
yellow-fever again invaded Philadelphia, and continued, for sev- 
eral months, to rage with truly desolating violence. Early in 
August, his father's family, where he still had his home, broke 
up, and dispersed. He makes the following entry in his diary, 
August 11 : " The yellow-fever made its appearance in this city 



24 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

about two weeks since. Preparations for escaping its destruc- 
tive ravages have so engrossed my time, that, for some days past, 
I have omitted to pay any attention to my diary. To-day, my 
father's family are removing to Mr. Aaron Oakford's, near Darby ; 
my sister Anna starts for Elkton ; and I go to Norristown. Thus 
distributed, God knows when it will be our fortune again to 
unite at our home." 

The pestilence raged horribly. His diary for September 5, 
gives a lively idea of the state of the city, and at the same time 
of the tenderness of his nature. 

" The accounts from Philadelphia are to the last degree dis- 
tressing. On the list of victims to the ruthless destroyer, I find 
the names of several of my friends ;" especially that of " my 
ever-to-be-lamented friend Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre. This gen- 
tleman fell a glorious martyr to his philanthropy. 

" A most affecting address has been published by the board 
of health. They declare their efforts to arrest the progress of 
pestilence and death to be vain. Safety is to be secured only by 
flight. Indeed, the greater part of those who have the means, 
have already deserted this dreadful place. But the poor ! How 
must the heart of every feeling man be melted at the descrip- 
tion which is given of their horrid situation. Never did time 
and opportunity offer when it more properly behooved the rich to 
extend relief and preservation to this unfortunate class of our 
fellow-men. Past experience authorizes the anticipation that 
the occasion will be embraced with a cordiality worthy of gen- 
erous minds." 

His next entry is two months later, November 4, 1798. "It 
is two months this day since I have made a minute in my 
diary. During all this time, I have led the dull and monotonous 
life of an idle man. Expelled from home by the dreadful 
scourge which has unceasingly ravaged the city since the begin- 
ning of August last, I have had no business, except my small 
practice in Montgomery county, to attend to. Yesterday I re- 
turned to the city, my father and his family having arrived a 
few days before me. The streets have not yet resumed their 
usual cheerfulness ; nor can such a thing be looked for very 
soon, considering the loss, by death, of 3,446 of our inhabit- 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 25 

ants, and all the variety of miseries attendant and consequent 
on such a mortality. Other accounts make the number of 
deaths 3,637." 

The principal object in referring to these ravages of the fever, 
is to show how they introduced important incidents in his life. 
During his temporary retirement, having resumed his law prac- 
tice in the courts of Montgomery county, he engaged as counsel 
for plaintiff in trying an important cause ; the demand upon de- 
fendent being for £1,161. He obtained a verdict for his client, 
awarding the full amount claimed. His argument was regarded 
as one of his best efforts, and raised him high in public favor. 
He says of it in his diary, 

11 1 have the great satisfaction of finding my conduct in this 
business very generally approved ; and have received many flat- 
tering encomiums from the jury to whom my speech was ad- 
dressed. I never felt myself better master of my subject, nor 
better inclination for doing justice to it ; but the weather is so 
excessively warm, that I find standing on my feet for an hour 
and a quarter has excessively fatigued me." 

But the most interesting result of his summer and autumn 
retreat from Philadelphia grew out of his intercourse, during 
that time, with the family of Mr. Henry Pawling, a substantial 
farmer near Norristown. Of this intercourse he gives some 
glowing accounts ; and it was doubtless the occasion of ripening 
in him a most true and tender affection for one of the daughters 
of that gentleman, the amiable Miss Eleanor Pawling. She 
became his wife, and their marriage took place not long after 
his return to the city. His return, as we have seen, was on the 
3d of November, 1798 ; and their marriage was celebrated the 
28th of February, 1799. On the 2d of March he brought his 
wife from her father's in the country to his father's in the city ; 
and on the 10th of April, removed with her to their own house 
in Arch-street, between Second and Third, which he had rented 
for $400 per annum. With this lady he lived till the day of his 
death, in the enjoyment of a confidence, an affection, and a hap- 
piness, which soberly realized much, if not all of the bright im- 
aginings which he records on the day of their marriage. His 
record is as follows : 



26 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

" February 28, 1799. This day, the happiest of my life, I 
was united in marriage with my best of friends, Eleanor Paw- 
ling, daughter of Henry Pawling, Esq., of Montgomery county. 

" • This was the day — the eager wished-for day. 
My greedy soul had treasured up so long, 
And, in contracting fancy, half-possessed, 
To blot out every blacker hour of life, 
And pay, with double interest of joys. 
Courtship's dull toils and expectations pangs ; 
The day has now arrived, and brings more joy 
Than keen imagination's self e'er hoped.' 

" This is the state to which all my reflections have taught 
me to look up, as the happiest with which it has pleased a be- 
neficent Providence to bless his creature man. In the possession 
of the woman who has my first and warmest love, and perfectly 
assured of a reciprocity of affection, I look forward to the en- 
joyment of many happy days." 

A kind Providence permitted him to realize his anticipations. 
They lived long together, and their long lives were happy. After 
their marriage, however, eight years elapsed before they were 
blessed with offspring. Their first-born was "William Henry ; 
and after him were born six other children, two of whom died 
in infancy, and one, their daughter Eleanor, after long months 
of dreadful suffering, fell asleep about a year after her father. 
Four children, with their widowed mother, still survive, and 
are all settled, with or near her, in ]\ T ew York. 

Shortly after Mr. Milnor's marriage, occurred an incident 
which, peradventure, proved the remote antecedent of an im- 
portant consequence. Till his marriage he lived, as he had 
been educated, a Quaker. His education, indeed, had not been 
one of great strictness in the customs of the Friends ; still, it 
had induced him not to forsake the ways of his parents and 
remoter ancestry. But his marriage led to the severance of the 
bond which had thus far detained him among the religious fol- 
lowers of "William Penn. The severance, moreover, was not, on 
his part, voluntary ; it was on their part, disciplinary. His wife 
belonged to an Episcopal family ; and they were married by a 
clergyman who was willing to receive a wedding fee. For 
these things he was, in due process of time and form, read out 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 27 

of meeting ; and thus, though not immediately, yet ultimately 
became a member and a minister of the Protestant Episcopal 
church. In later years, when he came to have some, however 
inadequately serious thoughts, and had resumed his long-sus- 
pended diary, for the special purpose of preserving Sunday 
sketches of the sermons to which he listened, he thus alludes, 
in a passing note, to this penal consequence of his marriage : 

" On the subject of religion I have thought much, but not 
profitably. Born of parents connected with the society of Qua- 
kers, in my youth I attended their places of public worship ; but 
my education was little conformed to the strictness of their re- 
ligious discipline ; and, with the utmost respect for the society, 
I could not but believe that there was, among its members, much 
of enthusiasm, and a degree of useless rigor in the non-essential 
articles of dress and address. My marriage to a lady not a 
member of the society of Friends, occasioned my disownment ; 
and since that event, which happened in the year 1799, I have 
seldom gone to their meetings." 

The form of his disownment has been preserved, and is here 
inserted. 

"At a monthly meeting of Friends of Philadelphia, held 
29th of eleventh month, 1799, the following testimony was agreed 
to, and a copy directed to be given to the party, namely, 

" James Milnor, of this city, attorney at law, who had a 
birthright among us the people called Quakers, disregarding the 
order of our discipline, hath accomplished his marriage, with 
the assistance of a hireling minister, to a woman not professing 
with us ; and, in his dress and address, deviated from that plain- 
ness and moderation consistent with our religious profession ; for 
which deviations he hath been treated with, but without the 
desired effect. "We therefore no longer consider him a member 
of our religious society ; nevertheless, desire he may become 
duly sensible of his errors and seek to be restored." 

How sincerely they desired his restoration we may judge 
from the fact that a committee, probably that which was ap- 
pointed to " treat" with him, made a proposal, when they called, 
to reinstate him on some slight acknowledgment of error. They 
were evidently very unwilling to lose a man whose general life 



28 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

was so irreproachable, and who Avas so rapidly rising to influence 
in his native city. He received their proposal kindly, but face- 
tiously replied to it, that it was "rather too much to ask of a 
man whose honeymoon was scarcely ended, and that he must 
decline." 

This summer, in August, 1799, the yellow-fever made its 
third entry into Philadelphia. Mr. Milnor therefore removed his 
family to the country, where they took up their residence with 
his father-in-law. By the 20th of October, however, they had 
returned to the city ; the pestilence having, on this occasion, 
assumed a milder type than on either of its preceding visits. 

It is now time to look at Mr. Milnor's character and standing 
as a lawyer ; for he had already given decisive proofs of what, 
in this capacity, he was to become. 

As we have seen, he commenced the practice of law at ]\ T or- 
ristown, where his income exceeded his expenses ; so rapidly did 
his abilities and conduct, even at the early age of twenty-one, 
elevate him to a respectable standing in his profession. Some 
time after his removal to Philadelphia, he began the diary from 
which extracts have already been given. 

An entry, made so late as June 6, 1800, being a retrospect 
for the purpose of noting his success or his failure in realizing 
and investing pecuniary results, has a paragraph which throws 
some light upon his Norristown life ; while at the same time it 
illustrates the modesty with which he entered on legal practice. 

" I commenced my career," he observes, " with nothing but 
a small stock, say eighty pounds worth of books, the very mod- 
erate abilities bestowed on me by nature, and an education which 
gave me no more reason to boast of my acquirements than I 
before had with regard to natural endoivments. My outset in 
practice was made under heavy disadvantages. Removing, im- 
mediately after my admission, into Montgomery county, before 
I had quite attained the age of twenty-one years ; unacquainted 
with the world, and unknown to all the inhabitants of the county 
except two or three persons ; possessed of very little of that great 
requisite, assurance ; and totally inexperienced in the practice 
of my profession, it is not surprising that I did not make greater 
progress in business during my residence there. Indeed, the 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 29 

progress which I did make was beyond my own expectations ; 
and though I feel no disposition to eulogize my subsequent ef- 
forts, yet I cannot say that, since my return to the city, my 
advances have been slower than I had been led to anticipate." 

The views which prompted him to the commencement of his 
diary, are perhaps of sufficient interest to justify their insertion 
entire. 

" June 15, 1798. — The practice of making and preserving 
notes of a man's daily transactions, connected with such occur- 
rences as are happening around him, as well in the private as 
in the public departments of society, with such reflections as 
his observation may suggest, has, by many very respectable men 
in the literary world, been declared to be profitable and pleasing. 

" Their opinion of its utility has been founded upon actual 
experience, and is therefore entitled to the highest credit. It 
detracts not from the solidity of this opinion, when I acknowledge 
that the usefulness of a diary is diminished as the capacity of 
the man who keeps it is narrower, and as his means of informa- 
tion and observation are more confined. Or perhaps it would 
place the matter in a juster point of light to say, that the jour- 
nal of a man of understanding and science is highly useful to 
himself and to all iclw enjoy the privilege of its perusal ; while 
that of a man who can lay no great claim to either understand- 
ing or science, is profitable only to himself. And its usefulness 
to himself depends not on the intrinsic value of his reflections, 
or the extent of his observations. It serves principally to recall 
to his recollection events which, from the feebleness of his re- 
tentive powers, would otherwise be lost to him. It may be an 
amusement to revive in his own mind the remembrance of cir- 
cumstances which are utterly unimportant to all the rest of the 
world. It may, in various contingences, be essentially service- 
able to him to be able to ascertain when events happened, which, 
in themselves, or in relation to other events either closely or 
remotely connected with them, it is of great importance to ascer- 
tain. We know what Hume and other writers have said of the 
association of ideas ; and every one's own experience will supply 
him with numerous instances, in which things have been brought 
to his recollection by the remembrance of circumstances trivial 



30 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

in themselves, and apparently unconnected with what they bring 
to mind. 

" To these advantages, which a person of indifferent abilities 
may derive from a diary, it should be added, that the human 
mind is never in so degraded a state as to be incapable of im- 
provement. The custom of noting down reflections and obser- 
vations may induce a habit of reflecting and observing. This 
habit, no doubt, is the discoverer of faults ; and, in a mind pos- 
sessed of the least ingenuousness, the discovery of a fault is 
accompanied by regret that it should exist, and followed by res- 
olutions of a corrective nature. Here, then, is a benefit amply 
compensating the trouble, a reward overpaying the labor of half 
an hour's clerkship each day. 

" How important are the inquiries which it satisfies. How 
have I spent my time ? What have I been doing ? Have I any 
knowledge of past times, except the ability of numbering the 
years and months that have rolled unimproved away ? If I 
remember incidents that have occurred, did those incidents sug- 
gest profitable reflections ? If they did, have I retained the im- 
pressions which they made at the time ; or have they since been 
the foundation of advancement in intellectual improvement ? 

" If I find myself obliged to answer these inquiries in a way 
of which I am ashamed, it produces regrets and anxieties, which 
I shall not be willing again to experience. New resolutions are 
formed, and another self-examination results in emotions of a 
very different nature. 

" There is, in truth, no happiness, this side of the grave, 
superior to that of having done one's duty ; and present objects 
are often of so delusive a kind, that it is not until they have 
passed by, and their images are retraced on the mind, that we 
form notions in any way just respecting them. I do an act 
which, from present feeling, I believe innocent, perhaps praise- 
worthy. Let me note it down, and some time hence review it ; 
I may discover that, so far from being praiseworthy, it was not 
even innocent. It cannot be recalled, but the discovery which 
I have made will prevent its repetition. 

" If the weakness of our nature produces self-satisfaction in 
the performance of our own actions, so it not infrequently leads 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 31 

us into unjust censures upon those of other persons. A good 
man will feel happy, in these cases, to find himself mistaken ; 
and his diary may be the means of affording him this happiness. 

" While on this subject, it might be added, that as no one 
likes another as well as himself, why should not conversation 
with one's self be more gratifying than with another ? Happy, 
indeed, is he whose stores of intellectual acquirements afford a 
constant source from which that gratification may at all times 
be derived. To such a man no hour is vacant or heavy. He 
complains not of the leaden wings of Time ; he looks not anx- 
iously forward to the hour of rest ; but, when it arrives, regrets 
that nature should require this temporary suspension of his 
faculties. The prospect of a visit in his slumbers from the airy 
goddess Fancy, and of his awaking with redoubled vigor and 
strength for new exertions, is his only consolation. 

" Reflections like the foregoing have induced me to attempt 
a diary, and I mean to include in it all such matters of business, 
amusement, observation, sentiment, and reflection, as occasion 
and the routine of daily transactions may suggest. I do not 
mean to make it a minute or formal affair, nor that it shall be 
altogether uninterrupted; but as it is intended solely for my 
own perusal, its irregularity and want of order will be unim- 
portant." 

From this opening of his diary, it is evident that nothing of 
religious motive or principle entered into the combination of 
views by which, at the outset of his active life, he was influ- 
enced. And yet, we perceive in it a disposition thoroughly to 
inspect, and honestly to judge, and a purpose practically to dis- 
cipline, and really to improve himself, from which self-know- 
ledge and self-culture might reasonably have been anticipated ; 
and which, if ever brought under the control of religious motive 
and principle, would be highly promissory of a thorough and 
eminent Christian character. 

The first entry in his diary illustrates a prominent trait in 
his habits as a man of business. 

" June 15, 1798. — Is there a greater evil than that of being 
in debt, without the means of getting out of debt ? There may 
be greater evils than this, and my imagination may give it a 



32 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

coloring which it does not deserve ; but whatever foundation 
there may be for the belief, that it is not so great an evil as I 
suppose it to be, it would require some argument to alter my 
conceptions on the subject. 

" My next door neighbor is in debt. Upwards of two years 
ago he borrowed from me about two hundred dollars, and imme- 
diately afterwards one hundred and ten more. The latter sum 
he engaged to return in twenty-four hours. I have never 
received a shilling of these sums in money ; but as he is a book- 
seller, I have, at his earnest solicitation, taken books of him to 
the amount of nearly two-thirds of the demand. His note for 
the balance is now due, and he urges me to take books in pay- 
ment. I have agreed to take Viner's Abridgment, which satisfies 
the debt, except thirty or forty dollars. 

" During the whole of the time since the loan, he has perse- 
vered in a system of cringing prevarication and promises, which 
he must have known at the time he dealt them out, he never 
would fulfil. Various artifices, false tales, shifts, and pretences, 
has he made use of ; and I have been the dupe of them. I can- 
not believe him to be so destitute of feeling as not to be morti- 
fied and degraded in his own estimation, by the imagined neces- 
sity of resorting to them. But in the one case, or the other, I 
am unable to paint to myself a more humiliating situation for a 
human being to stand in. 

" I have derived from this transaction two pieces of instruc- 
tion, which are, in my view, an adequate compensation for the 
loss of the whole sum, had such an event happened. 

" 1. To be cautious of hastily and unadvisedly lending money 
to a man of whose ability and punctuality I am not well assured, 
unless it be accompanied with adequate security. 

"2. To adhere religiously to a determination which. I formed 
at the moment of my commencing business, never to incur a 
debt which I have the remotest apprehension of being unable, or 
even finding it inconvenient to discharge. And, in order con- 
stantly to possess the means of keeping this resolution, whatever 
my income may be, always to live within it." 

His next entry illustrates the same trait, and shows, besides, 
that his course, in the practice of the law, was, if not towards 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 33 

the confidence and the patronage, at least towards an acquaint- 
ance with the business transactions of citizens in the highest 
walks of life. 

" June 16. — When a man forms an opinion or hypothesis 
with which he is delighted, every new evidence of its truth or 
prosperity increases his attachment to it. This is the case with 
my reflections of yesterday." 

It seems that a gentleman " of high eminence in his profes- 
sion at the bar, and of the first reputation as a statesman in the 
national legislature," had been building himself " a stately edifice 
at Easton ;" that he had hired two workmen from Philadelphia, 
who went with " a certain hope of a good job, in the gentleman's 
employ, for the whole summer ;" but that when they had finished 
their work, instead of receiving their pay in cash, they were 
obliged to content themselves with money enough to defray the 
expenses of their journey back to Philadelphia, and with their 
employer's notes " for the residue of their demand," at three, six, 
and nine months. The latest of these notes had long been due, 
and the holders of them had engaged Mr. Milnor in an attempt 
at their collection. But, "sheltering himself under his privileges 
as a representative in Congress," the maker of the notes " had, 
for many months, amused" his creditors and their lawyer "with 
protestations and promises, the making and the breach of which 
tallied exactly with each other." At length " fresh importuni- 
ties" from those whom he owed, brought a letter from him to 
their lawyer, of which Mr. Milnor writes thus. This letter 
"comes to a man his inferior with regard to abilities as a lawyer 
and a statesman, and in a station in life inferior and obscure 
compared with his. No one, however, would infer this from a 
perusal of the letter. The style is precisely such as a person in 
an inferior, would address to a person in a superior station. It 
exhibits a mortifying disclosure of his embarrassed circum- 
stances, and must have produced in him, while writing it, the 
most humiliating reflections. Pride, or more properly speaking, 
a commendable degree of self-respect, will ever preserve me from 
these horrible dilemmas, or the temper of mind which I at pres- 
ent feel must materially change." 

The result of the matter was, that the Congressman " agreed 

Mem. Milnor. 3 



34 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to enter an amicable action on his notes in the Supreme Court," 
and Mr. Milnor afterwards bought them at their value from the 
workmen, and so became creditor to the embarrassed statesman. 

Four days later, the 20th of June, he thus notes the issue of 
his troubles with the bookseller. 

" After dunning to-day, and being shuffled off as 

usual, I am about to send him the following letter : 

" Sir — I am sure you can have no reason to believe, from 
my former conduct, that I would seek an occasion to destroy 
the friendship which has for some time subsisted between us. 
It is indeed with the most poignant regret that I have to com- 
plain of a series of unkind disappointments, many of which, I 
cannot persuade myself to doubt, a very small exertion on your 
part might have prevented. As, however, my convenience has 
been uniformly postponed to your own, and as in this small 
matter I have heretofore exercised a forbearance for which any 
prudent man would justly censure me, I confess I now feel my- 
self perfectly at liberty to act as I conceive best for my own 
interest. 

" I have just told you that I am in want of a small sum to 
complete a payment. I am persuaded you can furnish me with 
it, if you have the inclination. If, therefore, I do not receive it 
before ten o'clock to-morrow morning, I shall hold myself at 
liberty to decline the acceptance of Yiner, and shall do with your 
note whatever will most expeditiously supply me with money. 
I give you the refusal of it at a discount of nineteen dollars and 
thirty-five cents, and shall prefer your acceptance of this offer 
to taking the books which I have mentioned. 

" A trifling degree of pains will, I question not, enable you 
to comply with this last proposal, and the discount will com- 
pensate for the loss of the present opportunity of selling the 
books. 

" I conclude with assuring you that nothing could have 
given me so much uneasiness as to be obliged to cease calling 
myself, what I have ever done since our first acquaintance, 
" Your sincere friend and well-wisher, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

" Mr. , June 20, 1798." 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 35 

Almost immediately after dispatching this significant epistle, 
he makes the following memorandum in his diary. 

" Mirabile dictu ! My letter has, in a few minutes, produced 
me thirty-one dollars, with a promise of more before night." 
And before night, he adds, 

" The letter to produces the further effect of a pay- 
ment of the small remaining balance of seven dollars and thirty- 
live cents, which, with Yiner's Abridgment, now agreed to be 
taken, settles all accounts between us to the present day. The 
books I am to receive to-morrow." 

These extracts show with what feelings of high integrity 
Mr. Milnor entered on the business of life. The rules which he 
adopted from the outset, never to get into debt without the most 
reliable means of getting out of debt ; always to live within his 
income ; and never to lend money without adequate security, 
are unspeakably important to every man of business. To these 
rules Mr. Milnor was faithful, and to his fidelity he owed, under 
Providence, his uniformly increasing prosperity. His annual 
income always exceeded his annual expenditure, and so far as 
it can be ascertained from his diary, that income sustained a 
steady increase. He gives an occasional inventory of his effects, 
and a frequent statement of his income and expenses ; and the 
result uniformly shows that he was steadily, and not only so, 
but more and more rapidly rising in wealth. 

He was peculiarly strict with himself touching funds col- 
lected for his clients, never allowing himself to have on deposit 
to their credit less than the full amount of his collections for 
them. Once, indeed, on settling his accounts at bank, he dis- 
covered that he had drawn a small amount beyond what be- 
longed to him ; or had less left on deposit than the amount then 
due his clients. The discovery was disturbing, and he instantly 
took measures for putting his accounts in their proper state. 
" I have made it an invariable rule," he writes, in his diary, 
•'since I have been in business, never to intrench upon clients' 
money, and although I am well persuaded that this first devia- 
tion will not subject me to any inconvenience, yet I have made 
a memorandum of it for two purposes : 

" 1. That I may with all diligence replace this $101 83 in bank. 



36 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" 2. That I may be more careful in future, and not subject 
myself to the possibility of inconvenience or anxiety." 

He had a horror of debt, and of an unfaithful management 
of trusts, and the evidence of this gained him universal confi- 
dence, and won for him the honorable distinction of " the honest 
lawyer." A curious and pleasing illustration of this point was 
furnished at a later period, when he had been prevailed on to 
stand candidate for a seat in Congress. On the day of the elec- 
tion he walked to the polls, in company with his friend Bradford. 
As they approached they saw a gentleman busily engaged in 
distributing votes among the crowd. This gentleman was a 
warm personal friend of Mr. Milnor, a brother Freemason, and 
one of his clients, and yet opposed to him in political views. 
They saluted each other kindly, when the following brief colloquy 
ensued. "Well, Right-Worshipful," said the vote-distributer. 
" here am I, working against you hard as I can. I tell you, and 
our mutual friend Bradford, I would trust you with all my busi- 
ness, my property, and even my wife and children ; but I cannot 
trust you with my politics" "I thank you," replied Mr. Mil- 
nor, " I thank you, my brother, for your confidence. Do your 
duty, and let the result be what it may, it shall never break our 
friendship." Justly, indeed, might such a tribute to his honesty 
mitigate, though it doubtless failed to extinguish his regret at 
finding in a personal friend a political enemy. 

As an honest lawyer, he would not undertake a case in 
which, so far as his judgment was clear, he saw that he would 
be obliged to argue and to act against truth, justice, and equity. 
He may not have judged so rigorously in these respects as he 
would have done in later years, but judging as an honest man 
of the world, he was faithful to his conscience. What this told 
him was clearly wrong, he would not undertake. But then, 
acting on this principle, he was all the more earnest, thorough, 
and persevering in the prosecution of a cause, when once under- 
taken — all the more faithful, zealous, and devoted to a client, 
when he had once allowed himself to be retained as counsel, or 
engaged as advocate. He never winked at the remissness of a 
brother lawyer by consenting to postpone a trial, especially when 
he would thereby jeopard the cause, or compromise the interests 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 37 

of his client. Nor did he withhold aught which untiring dili- 
gence and unslumbering vigilance could contribute, towards 
defeating the sinister arts and the embarrassing influence of his 
opponent, however powerful. His zeal in the causes which he 
undertook, was true and long-lived. Being fed with the good 
oil of an approving conscience, it never went out, nor even flick- 
ered. He was not like the man whose zeal is quickly extin- 
guished by external difficulties, because it has first died at his 
own consciously hollow and dishonest heart. 

As illustrative of this remark, he had, in a certain case, for 
several years been prosecuting a claim against the celebrated 
Stephen Grirard. This gentleman, meanwhile, had been throw- 
ing in the way of a settlement every possible obstacle which 
immense wealth, and its accompanying influences, could raise. 
But finding that Mr. Milnor was determined to establish the 
claim, and that he could not be wearied out by " the law's 
delay," nor circumvented by any other of the arts of practice, 
he finally consented to abide the result of an arbitration. This 
result was in favor of Mr. Milnor's client, and when Mr. Grirard 
handed Mr. Milnor a check for the amount awarded, he observed, 
" You have proved yourself, sir, a lawyer who will never desert 
a client. If I had not an attorney whom I very much respect, 
you would be my man." The observation shows that true fidel- 
ity to a client is not lost even on an opponent. 

Based on the foundation of such a character for honesty and 
fidelity, the structure of his influence as a lawyer was reared by 
a variety of causes. As his honesty gave him an unfainting 
constancy to the interests of his clients, so his prudent caution 
and sound judgment in forming an opinion, ministered to a 
decided promptness and energy of action when that opinion was 
formed. Great amiableness of disposition, and suavity of man- 
ners, won him hosts of friends. And then, he was distinguished 
for habits of great diligence, and close application both to business 
and to study. His industry was, in truth, as untiring as his 
zeal. By early rising, strict punctuality, and the closest economy 
of time, while he generally had an hour for a friend, he contrived 
to dispatch a great amount of business, and no small amount of 
legal and general reading. He was a strict adherent to method 



38 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

in all things. His habits, in this respect, cleaved to him like an 
inseparable garment ; he "wore them through life, and they proved 
of immense value to himself and to others. The following entry 
in his diary shows what these habits led him, in a moderate way. 
to attempt ; and though he was often prevented from closely fol- 
lowing the plan here sketched, yet it marks, on the whole, the 
general order of his life while he continued in the practice of 
the law. 

"June 20, 1798. — How inconsistent is the conduct of man! 
How frequently variant are his practices from his precepts ! How 
much easier to conceive what is right than to execute it ! In one 
point, more particularly than in any other, I feel myself to be 
this inconsistent being. I have always been persuaded of the 
utility and indispensableness of method, in business and in study. 
It has always been the subject of my encomiums, and I have 
believed it to be equally useful to the man of genius and talents. 
and to the man of plain common-sense. In my professional prac- 
tice, although I cannot pique myself on my regularity, yet has it 
not been totally neglected. But in my studies I have, on this 
head, been careless to a very blamable degree. "When I have 
chalked it out, something invariably intervenes to obliterate my 
plan. 

""What if I were now to begin upon a moderate scale, and 
without venturing hastily upon rash resolutions, limit myself to 
a certain system for a month to come? Suppose that system 
were something like the following : 

" 1. To rise early — say. at least, by five — take up Burrow's 
Reports, and apply myself to it till about a quarter of an hour 
before breakfast ; this quarter of an hour to be spent in dressing. 

" 2. After breakfast, on enteritis: my office, to attend to the 
most prominent and urgent business of the day. and -devote the 
forenoon to matters of practice. This will comprise attention to 
the calls of clients, occasional out-of-door errands, keeping up 
docket, drawing declarations, preparing for trials and arguments, 
and attendance at courts, which, for a few days from this time, 
will engross part of the afternoon also. 

" 3. After dinner, some historical, classical, or miscellaneous 
book may occupy an hour ; say, for the ensuing month, Smith's 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 39 

"Wealth of Nations. The remainder of the afternoon may be 
devoted to " — perhaps, had he finished the sentence, he would 
have added, " lighter kinds of reading. 

" 4. The evenings during this month are short and warm, and 
may therefore be given to exercise, or to conversation. 

" I confess I like my scheme, and will endeavor to summon 
to my aid resolution enough strictly to adhere to it." 

And he liked it none the less when, his set month having 
expired, he found himself, from various interfering causes, con- 
strained to make the following record : 

"July 23. — I ought to note, on this day, that the plan which 
I marked out for my observance on the 20th of last month, has 
not been strictly, nor even tolerably observed. Shame, shame !" 

His reflections, four days later, appertain to the point in hand, 
and are therefore added. 

" July 27. — Buffon once observed to one of his friends, that 
' Genius is only a greater aptitude to patience ; but observe,' 
added he, ' that patience must be applied to every thing : patience 
in finding out one's line ; patience in resisting the motives that 
divert, and patience in bearing what would discourage a common 
man.' This is a very striking observation. It is one of those say- 
ings which may be the future making of a great man. Indeed, 
Buffon himself was a strong witness in favor of the remark, that 
he who passionately desires glory, is sure in the end to obtain it. 
This desire, however, must not be a momentary one. It must be 
an every-day passion. 

" Glory and fame are things beyond my expectations, perhaps 
my wishes. I do not permit myself, for a moment, to indulge in 
such fantastically delusive hopes. I trust I have a better know- 
ledge of the extent of my capacities, than thus to deceive myself. 
I cannot, then, entirely accord with the sentiment of the great 
Buffon. Perhaps it may be prejudice that induces me still to 
feel a reluctance in surrendering the old opinion, that there is a 
natural diversity in the understandings and genius of men. I am 
convinced, however, that this notion has been carried too far. 
Daily instances present themselves, in all professions, of the won- 
derful efficacy of this ' aptitude to patience.' "Would to God I 
possessed, or could acquire it. I might then be occasionally 



40 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

cheered by the modest hope of attaining a share of that reputation 
in my profession, which I sometimes fear will only be the reward 
of an application, an industry, and a patience, which I feel, very 
sensibly, do not constitute my character. Whatever may be the 
result, I find myself obliged to go on. Perchance good-luck, 
which has favored some of my forerunners, may light also on me. 
Who knows ?" 

These passages were written, it will be remembered, when 
Mr. Milnor was no more than twenty-five years old. He was still 
a very young lawyer. At that early period, he seems to intimate 
that he had not, as an ingredient in his nature, Buifon's " apti- 
tude to patience." However this may have been, he was, ere 
long, able to acquire somewhat very like it, and thus to prove 
that if he were not born to the philosopher's idea of genius, he 
could yet rise by effort to what perhaps served his purpose quite 
as well. But, whether patient, persevering industry were with 
him an element of nature, or a result of effort, the foregoing ex- 
tracts make one thing manifest : that, as yet, what ivas really 
elementary in his character was far from including any thing of 
religious principle, motive, or feeling. If he were akeady an 
honest, faithful, devoted, and rising lawyer, he had not yet, even 
in apparent tendency, any thing of the true Christian. 

In his practice as a lawyer, cases of great interest often pre- 
sented themselves, calling for his offices both as a lawyer and as 
a friend. He has placed several on record, even at this early 
period of his life ; one of which, as it illustrates the remark now 
made, while at the same time it gives us a good insight into 
his character, and a look back upon the political and moral aspect 
of the times, may be here advantageously inserted. 

" Saturday, July 14, 1798. — An incident yesterday afternoon 
much affected me. W. D. — a person for whom I some time since 
commenced an action against Mr. B. for arrearage of wages due 
the former as editor of a newspaper, of which the latter is pro- 
prietor — called upon me. Never did I behold a picture of more 
perfect wretchedness. With a countenance expressive of the most 
agonizing sensations, and with a voice faltering from emotion, he 
informed me that his wife was then lying dead, having departed 
about an hour and a half before ; that he was destitute of the 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 41 

means of providing a coffin, or any other of the requisites for 
interment ; and that his only resource was to sacrifice a part of 
the debt due him from Mr. B., in order to obtain an immediate 
payment of the remainder. I advanced him as much as his 
present most pressing necessities required, and proceeded at once 
to make arrangements with Mr. B. The latter is what may be 
termed, in an old phrase, ' a hard man.'' To be sure, D. has 
behaved towards him in an indecorous manner ; but it is not a 
recent transaction, and there would have been a generosity in 
forgiving him. 

" My eloquence yesterday, to which I vainly thought my 
feelings had given an unusual glow, was well-nigh lost upon B. 
To-day, however, he has sent me an offer of twenty dollars in 
cash, a note at sixty days for fifty dollars, and another at forty- 
five days for thirty-three dollars ; making one hundred and three, 
which he alleges to be Mr. D.'s risrht. D. claimed one hundred 
and thirty-eight ; but all considerations are lost, in circumstances 
like his, except that of present succor. He is obliged to accept 
the offer. And how does it relieve him ? He has twenty dollars 
in cash. The great humanity of church establishments calls for 
only sixteen of this, as compensation for a piece of ground six feet 
by two. Will the remaining four pay for the poor creature's coffin ? 
No. How heart-rending, then, the situation of this husband ! 
I can supply him with twenty dollars ; and opportunely he steps 
in to receive it. I wish to do more ; but am at present without 
the means, consistently with the punctuality which I must ob- 
serve in the discharge of a little engagement of my own. 

" The poverty of this man suggests very strongly the dismal 
effects of a misapplication of talents. In possession of abilities 
much above mediocrity, and with acquirements of an extraordi- 
nary kind, this man might, one would suppose, be an ornament to 
literature and a useful member of society. But, unfortunately, 
he has been deeply infected with the mania of the day. His 
principles are of the most Jacobinical sort. Blindly attached to 
the French Revolution, even now that its object is so obviously 
changed, he can see nothing that merits censure in the conduct 
of it. On the contrary, it is still with him the cause of liberty 
and republicanism ; while, at the same time, he believes our 



42 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

own government to be on the high road, and advancing with 
rapid strides, towards monarchy. This man, had he but pos- 
sessed moderation and temper, and given a proper direction to 
his talents, would have made a truly meritorious character. For, 
however I disapprove of the violence of his politics, I am not so 
far in the opposite extreme as to impute to him the worst in- 
tentions. I see too much of this spirit of intolerance not to 
deprecate it heartily. I feel dreadful anticipations as to its ef- 
fects in this country. The conciliatory spirit, a disposition for 
mutual indulgence and forbearance, once gone, whither may not 
the storms of party drive us ? It is the part of a rational man 
to convince by argument, not convert by force. But, from what 
we daily see, can we accuse the poet of injustice, when he says, 

" 1 Amid the wood the leopard knows his kind ; 
The tiger preys not on the tiger "brood. 
Man only is the common foe of man.' " 

The details thus given will enable the reader to form a suf- 
ficiently clear idea of Mr. Milnor, as a lawyer. His whole course 
of practice, a period of about nineteen years, was such, in its 
character and results, as might be expected from a man peculiarly 
mild and gentle in his ordinary dispositions, strong and ardent in 
attachments, affable and courteous in manners, and possessed, to 
an uncommon degree, of a sound judgment and a wise prudence, 
which rendered him, at all times and in all situations, an invalu- 
able friend, a safe counsellor, and a useful man. "With no pre- 
tensions to the highest order of intellect, and with too much 
genuine modesty to overestimate his actual abilities, there was, 
in his mind, so much of those rare endowments — more directly 
valuable, perhaps, than the gifts of genius — practical common- 
sense, great industry, and a sprightly activity of faculties, that 
he was able, in addition to what he effected in connection with 
the various political, benevolent, and literary associations of the 
day, to accomplish an unusual amount of results in his strictly 
professional engagements. He was, besides, a man of undoubted 
and undaunted moral and physical courage ; a courage, however, 
trained into strict subordination to the good-breeding of a gentle- 
man. He was never double-faced, either in public or in private ; 
never offended any by an abrupt or obtrusive expression of his 



HIS LEGAL PRACTICE. 43 

opinion ; and yet never shrunk, when occasion required it, from 
a sincere, frank, and fearless utterance of his views. All these 
traits of character were remarked, and are well remembered by 
the few surviving friends of his early life, and will be readily 
recognized by those familiar with him in later periods. 

The habits of business which he acquired in his legal practice 
were of great permanent value, as they rendered him useful in 
the management of pecuniary trusts, as well as safe in that ol 
his own affairs. "When he first began practice, he was more suc- 
cessful in making than in saving money ; and this led him early 
to study this latter branch of economy. His good judgment soon 
made him as judicious in the investment as he was skilful in the 
accumulation of funds. From the beginning of 1795, the year 
when his practice commenced, to the close of 1799, that in which 
his marriage took place, his yearly receipts increased from about 
$530 to nearly $3,000. They sustained a corresponding increase 
so long as he continued his practice ; and as his expenses were 
uniformly moderate, and for eight years after his marriage his 
family sustained no increase, he must have realized a rate of 
prosperity quite sufficient to satisfy the reasonable desires of any 
reasonable man. In short, he closed this part of his career a 
highly accomplished, truly respected, and moderately wealthy 
lawyer. 

But we shall not understand the first half of Mr. Milnor's life 
unless we are made aware that, notwithstanding the peculiarities 
which marked him as a prudent and prosperous man of business, 
rising constantly and rapidly towards wealth, he was yet, from 
the beginning to the close of his legal practice, a fashionable man 
of the ivorld. Tasteful and liberal in his provisions for his fam- 
ily, generously hospitable in his entertainment of friends, and 
careful to maintain his standing in the ranks of fashionable so- 
ciety, he was in truth cordially fond of all but its foolish and 
ruinous extravagances. This appears luminously in his occasional 
letters to his wife ; who, it seems, though bred an Episcopalian, 
was yet, as to the gayeties of the world, more of a Quakeress 
than he desired. Constitutionally of a quiet, retiring, and gentle 
spirit, she would gladly have persevered in the simple plainness 
of her earlier life in the country. But he had marked out for 



44 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

himself a different course ; and hence, in his letters, occasionally 
exhorts her to more of sympathy in his tastes and to more of 
conformity with his views. In a word, to use the language of 
his son's "Recollections," " He was still a man of the world; 
fond of its amusements, and, to a great extent, governed by its 
maxims ; and he considered a mingling with fashionable society, 
provided it did not conflict with his moral and professional duties, 
as itself a duty and a means of advancement." He was a man 
of too much honesty and principle to be either dissipated or ex- 
travagant; was always strictly moral in his conduct, and safe in 
his expenditures; but within these limits, he was fitted to enjoy 
and permitted to have whatever the gay world could furnish for 
his gratification. He was evidently fond of the theatre, and a 
frequent attendant at the play. 

As a man of the world, he was well fitted to rise and shine 
by the very combination which he presented, of gay, lively, so- 
cial, conversational qualities, with sterling good-sense and prin- 
ciple. The former made him popular ; the latter kept him from 
being ridiculous. He was far above the absurd littleness of those 
who live for the gay world ; as a sensible gentleman, he at least 
tried to make the gay world live for him. In other words, the 
amusements and pleasures of the world were of importance to 
him only so far as he saw, or believed, that he could make them 
minister to some useful end. 



SECTION II. 

"We come now to that view of Mr. Milnor's character and 
course, which opens at last into the scenes of his religious life ; 
the view which presents him as a political man. Politics and 
religion have no affinities by which the former become generative 
of the latter. Their most frequent relations are those of contrast 
and of conflict. And yet, it was while Mr. Milnor was running 
his political career, that the Lord called him to a knowledge of 
his grace, and to faith in his name : a change of deep importance 
to the Church, as well as of eternal significance to himself. 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 45 

Mr. Milnor's political opinions seem to have been early formed. 
Coming to the study and the practice of the law during the 
administrations of Washington and the elder Adams, he was 
prepared by previous training for a manful support of the Amer- 
ican doctrines on which those administrations were based. From 
boyhood he was a Washington-federalist, and his principles 
cleaved to him unchangingly through life. As early as 1798 he 
began, in his diary, to insert notices of political events, and of 
his own views respecting them. After a jaunt into the country, 
which, with a few friends, he had taken on the 15th of July of 
that year, while some of the measures of the elder Adams were 
agitating the nation, he inserted in his diary the following note ; 
furnishing, indeed, no index to the nature of his political opin- 
ions, but illustrating the truly generous spirit in which he main- 
tained them. 

" July 16. — In the afternoon of yesterday, the 'Squire, (Mr. 
Summers,) Mr. Swift, Mr. Jones, and myself, had a dish of poli- 
tics. We found each other, notwithstanding the temper of the 
times and the great variance in sentiment between us, little 
inclined for loggerheads. When men hold each other in estima- 
tion, what a pity that a difference of opinion in politics should 
disunite them. There is only one case in which I would despise 
a man for his opinions, and that is, when he makes pretensions 
to them from motives of self-interest ; and this, whether it be in 
a pecuniary way, or in any other incompatible with honor and 
the real amor patrice." 

Upon the death of the model President, he entered the fol- 
lowing simple, but touching note. 

" February 22, 1800.- — This is the birthday of Washington. 
It was once a day of festivity and rejoicing ; but alas, it is now 
spent in the most mournful dejection. Every face bears lines 
of deep grief strongly marked. Every voice sighs, * Washington 
is no more.' The man ' first in war, first in peace, first in the 
hearts of his countrymen,' descended to the tomb of his ancestors 
on the 15th of December, 1799 ; and Congress have recommended 
that, on this day, the people of the United States should assem- 
ble in their respective neighborhoods, and pay honor to his mem- 
ory by suitable eulogies, orations, etc." 



46 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

And then, after alluding to the three orations which were to 
be pronounced in the city of Philadelphia, he adds, in reference 
to that which he attended, " The church was exceedingly 
crowded, but without confusion. A suitable awe and solemnity 
were generally observed, and every party consideration seemed 
merged in universal mourning for the irreparable loss which our 
country has sustained. 

" 0, Washington, when will mankind have another friend like 
thee ?" 

A new change in the scenes by which the French Revolution 
was accompanied, in its progress towards the enthronement of 
Napoleon, gave occasion to the following reflections in Mr. Mil- 
nor's diary, which are inserted here because they indicate no 
little political sagacity, and show that, though he had yet been 
called to no political trust, yet with his well-known talents for 
business and debate, the cast of his mind would be very likely, 
ere long, to point him out to his fellow-citizens as a suitable can- 
didate for some one of the various offices in their gift. 

" March 20, 1800. — Another constitution, it seems, has been 
adopted by the French nation. Buonaparte has availed himself 
of his popularity, and effected a complete revolution. The old 
constitution has been consigned to the grave, whither several 
others had gone before it. How soon the new-fangled essay shall 
take up its abode with them, I do not pretend to predict ; for I 
have seen too many wiser political prophets than myself disap- 
pointed in the fulfilment of their predictions, to be myself willing 
to attempt the office. But I cannot avoid feeling strongly the 
expectation that a system like the present cannot last for ever. 
In my opinion, either the odious aristocracy which it imposes on 
the people, will induce them to prefer a restoration of the ancient 
order of things, or still further efforts will be made to establish a 
constitution more congenial with the principles of republicanism. 
Is it not truly extraordinary, that after all the panegyrics which 
the French writers and their imitators here have lavished on 
'the airy fabric of a vision' which has just vanished, we should 
now hear that it has been almost unanimously rejected, and the 
present, with equal unanimity, adopted in its stead? These are 
changeful times ; but the successive revolutions in France, which 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 47 

have followed each other like waves on the sea-shore, each new 
order of things swallowing up that which preceded it, have aston- 
ished every one, and baffled all calculation as to political events 
in that country. To-day, a system, apparently the idol of every 
Frenchman, is adopted ; its beauties are extolled from one end of 
the nation to the other, and you would suppose every citizen 
ready to risk life and fortune in its support. To-morrow, it is 
declared at Paris to be the worst of all wretched contrivances, 
answering none of the beneficial purposes of a good government. 
It is therefore consigned to the flames, and a new constitution, 
ready cut and dried, is proposed to the sovereign people. The 
sovereign people at once join the revolut ionizers ; every one exe- 
crates his former idol, and ' Live the nation and the new consti- 
tution,' instantly becomes the general cry. 

"With regard to the views of Buonaparte, who has obtained 
the executive chair, under the denomination of ' chief consul,' 
various opinions are entertained. Some are willing to believe 
him honest ; that, tired of a government possessing no energy, 
he has brought about the present order of things from a convic- 
tion that it promises more stability and permanency to the con- 
stituted authorities of the nation, and a better assurance to the 
people of an enjoyment of liberty. I cannot subscribe to this 
opinion. The appointment of the several departments of the 
government, and, in fact, every article of the new constitution, 
shows so strongly the aristocratic principles upon which it is 
built, that I am fully satisfied there has been an abandonment 
of republican principles on the part of its framers. I look upon 
it as either the stepping-stone to monarchy, or the result of a 
conspiracy, on the part of its present supporters, to obtain pos- 
session of power and wealth on the ruins of the public liberty. 
And yet, these folks still brawl about liberty and equality. They 
still keep up the farce at the expense of the sovereign people ; 
who, at the same time that their tongues are tied, and their 
pockets drained by successive lists of ambitious usurpers, are 
consoling themselves with the idea of the abolition of monarchy, 
and rejoicing in the blessings of a free government. I protest, I 
have seen nothing like rational freedom in France for several 
years ; and yet, after all their follies and excesses, and the mul- 



48 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

tiplied injuries which they have heaped upon this country, I 
have no wish that they should be brought under their ancient 
despotism. I would even wish them a republican form of gov- 
ernment, wise and solid as our own ; but a variety of reasons, 
which I have not now time to note, have long since convinced 
me, that the people must be radically altered in their dispositions, 
habits, and modes of thinking, before this can take place. I fear 
they must have a monarchy. If so, I hope it will be so limited 
as to make the people as free and happy as that form of govern- 
ment will admit." 

It is needless to say, his fear was realized, and his hope dis- 
appointed. They had a monarchy. Napoleon, at length, not 
only filled a throne, but wore imperial insignia. 

From a note in his diary, of about this date, it appears that 
during the year 1800, Mr. Milnor held, by election, a place in the 
city council, which, if municipal rather than political, was yet a 
discipline for public life on a wider stage. He says, 

" March 24, 1800.— This evening I spent at Common Council. 
Not a quorum. How blamable it is in men to accept of public 
trusts, and yet neglect the discharge of the duties which those 
trusts involve. I find my seat in this body very inconvenient to 
me. So much of my time is engrossed by the business of the 
council — though I do far less than many of my worthy fellow- 
members — that, unless I alter my mind, I shall certainly avoid 
a reelection next year. And yet I think it incumbent on me, 
while I retain the place, to contribute my small endeavors to- 
wards the welfare and good government of the city." 

From 1800 to 1810, the notices of Mr. Milnor's life are scanty. 
That he continued in the distinguished and successful practice of 
law, and in his accustomed devotion to the benevolent and liter- 
ary associations of the day, is well known ; but the knowledge 
brings us no facts, because, during that period, or at least till 
1809, there is no diary extant, nor any correspondence preserved 
or recoverable, from which those facts can be obtained. The 
most that are known, relate to his political career ; and even of 
that only naked facts remain. 

Thus, in his son's " Recollections," it is stated, that on the 
8th of October, 1805, he was elected a member of the Select 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 49 

Council of Philadelphia, for two years, in place of Robert Patter- 
son, who resigned his seat in the council in order to become master 
of the United States' Mint ; that on the 13th of October, 1807, 
he was reelected for three years to the same body ; and that on 
the 14th of October, 1808, he was raised to the presidency of the 
council for one year ; at the close of which, October, 1809, in con- 
sequence of a change in the political majority of the constituency, 
he was succeeded in that office by a member of the Democratic 
party ; although it is inferable that he continued a member of the 
council till the close of the three years for which he was elected, 
or till October, 1810. 

These naked facts are all that can, with certainty, be stated 
of his public political course until the year 1810. This date, 
however, brings us to the period at which he became more wide- 
ly known to the world, and after which there is less lack of docu- 
ments wherewith to illustrate his character and the principal 
events of his life. 

In October, 1810, took place his election to the Congress of the 
United States, as a member of the House of Representatives from 
the city and county of Philadelphia. On this event it will be 
interesting to pause a moment ; for when we remember that it 
was in Congress he became, in a sense before unknown to him- 
self, a subject of divine teachings and of heavenly grace, the de- 
vout mind will be ready and pleased to trace the hand of Grod in 
the circumstances which attended his election to a seat in the 
great council of the nation. 

The city and county of Philadelphia had, in 1809, given token 
of a readiness to follow other parts of the state and nation in 
adopting the political opinions of Jefferson and Madison. And it 
was very natural to infer, that, at the next general election, 
they would succeed in sending a representative, of the same 
opinions, to the halls of the national legislature. It was under 
these circumstances, that in October, 1810, a committee waited 
on Mr. Milnor to learn whether he would permit his name to be 
used, as a candidate to represent — if elected — his native city in 
the Congress of the nation. This was, to his mind, a new and 
important question ; and he could not at once give his answer. 
As soon as the committee had retired, he sent for his confidential 

Mem. Milnor. 4 



50 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

friend and brother lawyer, Thomas Bradford, Jr., desiring him to 
call immediately, on business of great importance. His friend 
instantly obeyed his call ; when, after mentioning the visit and 
object of the committee, he thus addressed him : " Knowing as 
you do all my concerns, private and public, I want you to give 
me your opinion whether I ought to accept the proposed nomina- 
tion." " This is a serious question," replied his friend ; " and I 
must have time to consider before I can make up an opinion." 
Mr. Milnor gave him till three o'clock P. M. of the same day. "I 
left him," says Mr. Bradford in his " Reminiscences," " and ex- 
amined the matter in all its bearings upon his professional busi- 
ness, his private comforts, and the situation of his family during 
his absence ; and came to the clear and settled opinion that he 
ought not to accept. At the time appointed, I went to make my 
statement and to give my opinion ; when, to my surprise, he 
informed me, that during my absence, the committee had called 
again, and he had accepted the nomination. He did not perceive 
it, but the footsteps of Providence were already leading him to- 
wards his conversion. He was elected, and went to Washington" 
in the fall of 1810, or early in January, 1811. Says his son in his 
"Recollections," "He consented" to become a candidate, "with 
the expectation, and almost the hope of being defeated ;" so 
strong was the probability against his election, and so " fearful 
was he that his success would prove a serious detriment to his 
business. His election was a proof how much he had won upon 
the respect and love of his fellow-citizens ; for he was the only 
federal candidate who succeeded." 

And had he waited an hour for his friend's advice, he proba- 
bly would never have been even a candidate ; and thus, to human 
view, all the coloring which the work of the Spirit gave to his 
religious character during his congressional life, might never 
have appeared. 

His letters from Washington to Mrs. Milnor, show that he 
took his seat in Congress almost immediately after his election 
in 1810. The first of these letters which has been preserved, is 
dated January 6, 1811, and merely informs her of his safe arri- 
val. On the 9th of the same month he writes again, and says 
that he had been to dine at the French ambassador's, had attend- 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 51 

ed Mrs. Madison's levee, and had received an invitation to the 
British minister's. And on the 14th, he forwards a communica- 
tion, from which some extracts may be given as illustrative of 
his manner of life at Washington, and as evidence that he went 
thither to do the business of his country, rather than to engage 
in the dissipations of the gay capital. 

To Mrs. Eleanor Milnor. 

"Washington, January 14, 1811. 

" My dear Ellen — I was much pleased with the receipt of 
your very acceptable letter by Capt. Kerr, who, with Mr. Joseph 
Lewis, arrived here this day. They have just left me for their 
lodgings in Georgetown. Mr. William Bethell and William 
Newbold were also here several days, and dined with me yester- 
day. The arrival of my first-named friends will give me a good 
deal of occupation, so long as they remain, as it will be my duty 
and pleasure to attend them so far as my duties in Congress will 
permit. To-morrow I dine with them at Mr. Bowie's, in George- 
town, and in the evening accompany them to the drawing-room ; 
and, if possible, I intend going with them, next day, to Alexan- 
dria. They propose to remain until Sunday next. 

" Yesterday, I made the longest and most animated speech 
which I have yet delivered ; it was against a project of some of 
the wise administration folks of sending the militia to take pos- 
session of Canada. But why do I trouble you on subjects in 
which you feel so little concern ? My friends who do take an 
interest in them, will see my remarks, such as they were, in the 
newspapers in a few days. 

"Capt. Kerr says, he was almost obliged to promise our little 
angel to bring home her papa. Would it were in her papa's 
power to enable the captain to fulfil such a promise. Public 
business progresses so slowly and unsatisfactorily, and my family 
and business at home are so constantly present to my thoughts, 
that I cannot boast of the happiness of my situation. 

" You have in my letters the whole extent of my dissipation, 
which I would willingly forego for those more pleasing, because 
less formal associations with my friends, of which I partake 
when at home. We have had, however, fine weather ; and here, 
even that's a comfort ; but visiting in the daytime is so incom- 



52 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

patible with attention to my public duties in Congress, our ses- 
sions are generally protracted to so late an hour — to-day, till 
after candlelight — and our dinners are consequently so late, that 
there is no visiting of families till after nightfall ; and then the 
distances are so great, and the walking so disagreeable, or car- 
riages so difficult to be had, that we hardly ever attempt it. I 
have never yet been at an evening party, except Mrs. Madison's ; 
and when I have made calls, it has been only at some of the 
lodging-houses of the members tolerably near our own. 

" I often think it a little curious, that after so much talk 
about the dissipation of this place, I should not have seen a card 
played since I have been here. It is an amusement for which 
I have not the slightest desire. 

" I forget whether I told you that Saturday next is the birth- 
night of the queen of England, and there is to be a great enter- 
tainment at the British minister's, to which I am invited, where 
all the fashion of the place will be displayed to the best advan- 
tage ; preferable to all which rareeshow would be the salutation 
of my affectionate partner and sweet little innocents, in the old 
fashion of the times that are past. 

" Ever your faithful and affectionate husband, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

One other letter, dated " Monday, 25, 1811," but whether 
in January or in February it is uncertain, is all that remains 
of the correspondence of this his first winter in "Washington. In 
this, besides a little pleasantry about family matters and other 
things, he says, 

" My anxiety respecting my family and business is often very 
oppressive to my feelings, and I do not by any means enjoy my 
accustomed rest. The want of exercise, I think, makes me 
fleshier ; and although I uniformly avoid taking supper, yet I am 
always disturbed by an oppression and uneasiness at my breast, 
long before the morning light. I accustom myself to rise with 
the sun, who gladdens my room the moment he is above the 
horizon. In other respects than the circumstances alluded to, I 
have my usual health, and sometimes my usual spirits, but often 
fall considerably below par." 

Although, however, these are all that remain of Mr. Milnor's 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 53 

first winter's correspondence from Washington, yet they are 
enough to show that he was there early in 1811 ; that he conse- 
quently spent three winters at the seat of government ; that, 
even during the first, he was not an idle man in the business of 
the nation; and that, however he may have entered into the 
gayeties of the capital, it was yet with moderation, and with an 
evident deadening of his mind towards the attractions of the 
world of pleasure. 

During the spring and summer of 1811, after his return 
from "Washington to Philadelphia, he was variously occupied in 
the affairs of the church, as a delegate to our General Convention 
in New Haven, and in his professional business ; till, in the fall 
of the year, October 28, 1811, he took his second departure for 
the seat of government. 

On this occasion, he was accompanied by a number of his 
political friends as far as the " Blue Bell Tavern," on the Ches- 
ter road; at which place they paid him the compliment of a 
public dinner. He reached Washington the 1st of November, 
and took lodgings at the house of Capt. Coyle, with Messrs. 
Chauncey Goodrich and Samuel W. Dana, of the senate, and 
Josiah Quincy and Timothy Pitkin, Jr., of the house, as his 
fellow-inmates. Here, as he states, in his diary resumed, he 
" remained during an eventful session of eight months' continu- 
ance, which resulted in a most calamitous declaration of war 
against Great Britain." 

For the benefit of our memoir, this session was as prolific in 
letters from him as in events to the nation. It is from these 
letters chiefly, that illustrations of this important period of his 
political life will be drawn. The complexion of his political views 
we have already seen ; and it is sufficiently well known what was 
our attitude towards Great Britain, and what an incubus of anxi- 
ety pressed on the bosom of our nation, while, for eight months, 
in the halls of Congress, the grim Spirit of War was slowly, but 
sternly and relentlessly dragging forth his materiel of passion 
and prejudice and fierce debate, in preparation, once more, for his 
bloody work of death. On these points, therefore, we need not 
touch, but may proceed, at once, to look at the part which Mr. 
Milnor took in reference to them, and to see how his course 



54 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

affected him in his personal, political, and domestic relations. 
For light on these topics, we pass to an examination of his letters ; 
merely remarking, as to those parts of them which are purely 
domestic, or which contain descriptions of the gayeties of the 
capital, though often highly interesting as specimens of familiar 
epistolary writing, that, as their insertion would too much enlarge 
the size of our volume, they will, for the most part, be omitted. 
Paragraphs relating to his public engagements of business and 
of ceremony, and an occasional extract touching himself and his 
family, will fill such space as may be at our command. The for- 
mality of address, at the beginning and close of each letter, will 
also be omitted, and our extracts arranged according to their 
dates, giving them the form of occasional entries in a diary for 
the eye of his wife. Unhappily, none of his many contempora- 
neous letters to his political friends and correspondents have been 
preserved : had they been recoverable, this portion of his life would 
have been much more strikingly illustrated. 

"Oct. 30, 1811. — Baltimore. In the confusion of this im- 
mense establishment of Gadsby's, I assume my pen to give you 
the first information of my progress. My good friends, three or 
four and twenty in number, who accompanied me to the Blue 
Bell, parted with me without descending into the frolic which 
you had anticipated. It was indeed a ' feast of friendship ;' but 
the feelings excited in every breast at this parting evidence of 
regard, were calculated to prevent the slightest tendency towards 
the extreme of festal indulgence. Capt. Kerr, with his wonted 
goodness, offered his carriage to relieve my next day's ride, by 
taking me on to Chester, and my friend Bradford could not avoid 
adding to the many evidences already given of his friendship, by 
going with us." 

"Nov. 2, 1811. — Washington. I arrived in this place yester- 
day, in time for dinner. I lose no time in acquainting you that 
I have procured lodgings at Capt. Coyle's, near the capitol. The 
people appear kind and friendly ; and the house is said to be the 
best furnished, and the most commodious for lodgers in this city. 
Mr. Q,uincy is, at present, my only fellow-inmate ; but Mr. Dana 
and Mr. Goodrich are expected. The mess will not consist of 
more than four or five gentlemen ; and choice could not have done 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 55 

more for me than chance has done in the persons of whom it is 
to consist." 

" Nov. 3, 1811. — Sunday evening. I had scarcely uttered my 
complaint of the insufficiency of my writing accoutrements " — 
alluding to what he had written the day before of the non-arrival 
of his trunk, in which they were contained — " when I found my 
table covered with ready-made pens, inkstand, sand-box, wafers, 
paper, and every other convenience of the sort ; with which, I find, 
it is made the duty of an attendant of the house to supply each 
member at his lodgings. This evening we have Mr. Dana of Con- 
necticut added to our mess ; whom, from his well-known charac- 
ter, we consider a valuable acquisition. Yesterday Mr. Quincy 
had the goodness to accompany me to the President's, where we 
left our cards ; his Excellency not having, as yet, become acces- 
sible to visitors. He is almost unremittingly engaged in council 
with the heads of departments on the subject (as is supposed) 
of the^expected message to both houses. It is thought they will 
each form a quorum to-morrow." 

" Nov. 5, 1811. — We have at length had our first meeting, 
formed a quorum, and elected our speaker and other officers. To- 
day, the committees will be appointed, the message of the Presi- 
dent received, and general business proceeded in. Brother Wil- 
liam's reputation here has helped me wonderfully," in making calls 
of ceremony on a few public characters and some private families. 
" Greatly as I knew him to be esteemed, I had no idea that his 
influence extended so far as I find it to have done. Gentlemen 
of the first respectability for talents speak of him as a man of 
great strength of mind, and as a pleasing and sensible speaker in 
the house : they regret exceedingly that he was not reelected. 
Tell him that my seat is the one heretofore occupied by Mr. Pit- 
kin, and that I wish I could bring into it as much good-sense and 
information as that worthy and intelligent gentleman possesses. 
Mr. Quincy sits on my right, and Mr. Bleecker, a new and very 
intelligent member from Albany, on my left." 

"Nov. 7, 1811. — Yesterday, I wrote you a scolding letter; and 
if the one received from William had not relieved my mind of its 
anxiety lest some untoward circumstance should have occurred, 
I should either in dudgeon have given over writing, or scolded 



56 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

more severely than ever. And even now, were I not confident 
that this evening's mail will bring me evidence under your own 
hand corroborative of his, railing would be my only employment. 
But I forbear, and only hope, in a few days, to find you galloping 
along in your writing- gears, as if you had all your life been de- 
voted to the service. I wish the little cherubs, over whose slum- 
bers you are this moment watching with a mother's kindness and 
affection, were old enough to scribble to their absent father ; and 
I'll answer for it, the mail to this great city in the desert would 
come heavier freighted. But no more of this. 

" Yesterday, I went to Georgetown to deliver letters of intro- 
duction. I found it much more of a city than this magnificent 
metropolis. Mr. Quincy and I afterwards paid pasteboard visits 
to the British and French Ambassadors, the Secretary of State, 
Secretary of War, etc., etc." 

"Nov. 11, 1811. — I hope you will not seclude yourself from 
society. Have you had your evening party ? When were you 
at the theatre ? Remember, the character of the family for 
attention to social intercourse is already almost below par. It 
depends on you to prevent it from entirely sinking during my 
absence." [He had other views of social intercourse before 
many months had passed.] In Congress, "We make slow prog- 
ress, sitting not more than two hours a day, and even then doing 
very little business. For myself, I feel a very languid degree of 
interest in the passing scene, and fear I shall never be able to 
excite in myself a relish for public duties sufficient to secure 
for their discharge the application of what little talent it may 
be my lot to possess." 

"Nov. 16, 1811. — A long letter, with which I was grati- 
fied last evening from my friend T. Bradford, informs me of 
the continued welfare of yourself and our family. When the 
mail arrives, the letters for each family of lodgers are made into 
several packages. A bystander would be amused to see the 
eagerness with which each of our family looks for his letters, 
and the long faces of those who happen to be disappointed. I 
hope you will not let your husband be often laughed at on this 
account." [With all his artifices he never succeeded in making 
his wife a letter- writer.] " Yesterday I made my first appear- 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 57 

ance on the floor of Congress, except that once before I rose 
-merely to present a petition. The few observations which I 
made were on an interesting subject ; and probably I owe to 
that, rather than to any thing of my own, a compliment which 
few speakers have obtained this session — a most profound atten- 
tion from the house." 

By his " first appearance on the floor of Congress," he means 
the first this session, for as we have already seen, the year before 
he rose repeatedly to the discussion of topics before the house. 

" Nov. 18, 1811.— Having written to you several times 
since I have had the pleasure of receiving any communication 
from you, I have now only to advise you of my continued good 
health, and the enjoyment of good spirits without recourse to 
any of that dissipation, which, I have reason to believe, was so 
causelessly apprehended as the inevitable concomitant of a resi- 
dence in this place. We find at our quarters, at those moments 
when business or study requires intermission, ample gratifica- 
tion in each other's conversation, without resorting to any of the 
too customary expedients for passing away time. The pleasur- 
able indulgences of the fashionable world, however, have not yet 
commenced, except attendance upon the weekly levee of Mrs. 
Madison. I propose complying with the requirements of custom 
by going there once, probably next Wednesday evening ; after 
which, I suspect, my visits will not be frequent." 

" Nov. 18, 1811. — Evening. I fully intended to leave this 
place to-morrow morning for my desired home ; but the question 
on the apportionment bill, which has been taken this afternoon, 
and decided in favor of the ratio which I advocate " — he has been 
speaking again — "is left in such a situation as to make it doubt- 
ful whether it may not, in another shape, be brought up again 
to-morrow morning. I shall, therefore, be reluctantly obliged 
to wait till Friday morning; but I shall still, if no accident 
occur, reach home at the time proposed." 

" Nov. 24, 1811. — I had the happiness to receive, by the 
mail of last evening, your kind and affectionate letter of the 
21st. The practice of letter-writing is, in my opinion, one of 
the best means of expanding the mind, and eliciting those latent 
powers, which in most individuals only want cultivation to ex- 



58 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

hibit them to advantage. Facility in this employment is, in a 
good degree, the result of habit ; and there are few persons, to 
whom habit does not render it both easy and agreeable. The 
poets talk of happy moments of inspiration, but this exercise is 
adapted to all occasions, and a flow of easy composition will 
never be wanting, if indolence do not prevent the beginning of 
the work ; provided the best affections of the heart prompt the 
assumption of the willing and obedient pen. For my own part, 
I boast of no elegance in this delightful employment ; but it is 
agreeable to me, and my language, such as it is, is the sponta- 
neous flow of natural feeling, without any labored effort after 
the beauties of a polished and ornamented style. I speak now 
of my letters generally ; but with reference to those more par- 
ticularly, which I write to the proprietor of all my thoughts, I 
should disdain giving them an artificial dress, or obscuring by 
the tinsel decorations of language the overflowings of a fond 
and faithful attachment, reciprocated, as I know it is, by as 
fond and faithful a return. Insulated as I am in a place so little 
tike that whose enjoyments surround you, separated from my 
best friends, deprived of all the endearments that sweeten the 
bitter cup of human existence, my chiefest happiness consists 
in pouring into your ear the effusions of an undiminished love, 
and in cherishing the sweet evidences, which you will, I hope, 
almost daily transmit me, of its being repaid with a full measure 
of that regard on your part, which I prize much more highly 
c than gold, yea, than fine gold.' " [Let Mrs. Milnor resist that 
argument in favor of frequent letters, if she can.] 

After having attended Mrs. Madison's levee, where he met a 
splendid crowd of one hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, 
he says, in a letter dated, 

" Nov. 27, 1811.— Wednesday night. Looking at the dreary 
aspect of this wilderness of a city, I could not have anticipated 
a collection of so much elegance and fashion ; and I must say 
that Madam performed the graces of her drawing-room with great 
dignity, affability, and ease. At several times during the course 
of the evening, I had a few minutes' conversation with her. She 
had heard of my Quaker extraction, and observed that neither 
of us were very faithful representatives of that respectable soci- 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 59 

ety. Mr. William Sansom, who was a better one, dined with 
me to-day, and went to the levee in the evening. To-day I 
received an invitation from the President to dine with him on 
Friday next ; and to-morrow I dine at Georgetown." 

" Friday evening, Nov. 29, 1811. — I have dined to-day with 
the President. The party consisted of about five and twenty. 
Mr. Munroe and his lady, Mr. Hamilton, Secretary of the Navy, 
and other grandees were among the number. To-morrow Con- 
gress does not sit." 

" Dec. 16, 1811. — We are making slow progress with the 
resolutions relating to preparations for the war with Great Brit- 
ain. I begin to fear that the resolutions will not be disposed of 
before the time fixed for my return home. My friends make 
great objections to my leaving before they are disposed of; but 
I shall make every effort to get away. This suggestion is merely 
in order, if I should be delayed a day or two longer than I expect, 
that you should not attribute it to indisposition, or any other 
cause than the unavoidable detention of public business." 

He visited Philadelphia during the Christmas holidays ; and, 
in his first letter after his return to Washington, dated " Jan- 
uary 8, 1812," after describing a cold, perilous, inland winter 
journey, via Lancaster, and across the Susquehanna on the ice, 
in a black night, against furious winds, and obliged to walk, 
with gentlemen and lady passengers, by the aid of guides and 
lanterns, a mile and a quarter from shore to shore, amidst broken 
fragments of ice, and many involuntary prostrations, he adds, 

" I arrived here before the house had adjourned, and in time 
to vote on the army bill. My friends received me with the most 
affectionate welcome, and I am now reinstated in my old lodg- 
ings. If well enough, I shall attend my friends Dana, Pitkin, 
and Quincy, to-day, to a dinner given by the French ambassador, 
M. Serrurier." 

" Jan. 13, 1812. — I am quite recovered from the cold and 
fever" — caused by his wintry journey — " and was able to-day to 
make a speech, of some length, on the volunteer bill." 

The gay season at Washington had now set in ; and we ac- 
cordingly find, in his letter of " Jan. 19, 1812," the following 
reference to what was expected at the British minister's. 



60 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" All the fashionables, I am told, are on the tiptoe of expec- 
tation for Mr. Foster's ball and supper to-morrow night. Two 
hundred people are expected there ; but so far from anticipating 
it with pleasure, I wish it were over ; for, although etiquette 
obliges me to go, yet, as I know very few of the company, as I 
cannot dance and will not game, I do not look forward to the 
gala with any pleasured 

" Jan. 23, 1812. — We are here, listening day after day to 
debates, which, from their prolixity, have become tiresome, on 
the subject of making an addition to the navy ; in which, besides 
the mortification of being sentenced to the punishment of listen- 
ing so long to so many dull speeches, we shall have that of being 
completely defeated in our views." 

"Jan. 25, 1812. — The long pendency of the question respect- 
ing an increase of the navy, makes our day's work drag heavily ; 
but I presume it is now near a determination. I fully intended 
to have made a speech upon this subject, as it is one in which 
the commercial interests of our city are so deeply involved ; but 
our party concluded it was best to leave the debate in the hands 
of the majority until near the close, as there are several able 
advocates of the navy among themselves ; and it was thought 
our interference would only be calculated to inflame the minds 
of the more violent of their party against the bill as a federal 
measure. Two of our members submitted a few observations 
yesterday and the day before ; and to-day, Mr. Quincy made the 
best speech which has been delivered on either side of the ques- 
tion. I have not positively concluded on my own course on Mon- 
day,, when the debate is to be renewed. Every possible argu- 
ment has been so forcibly urged, and so fully illustrated, that I 
can hardly think of taking the floor only to travel over the same 
ground which others have travelled before me. I am mortified 
at not having had an earlier opportunity of coming forward on a 
question of so much importance ; but in deference to gentlemen 
of older standing in the house, I was induced to acquiesce in the 
silence agreed upon in the first part of the discussion, as well as 
to give precedence to the gentlemen of our party, who have 
already spoken. And now, the subject is so worn out, that even 
the masterly display of it by Mr. Quincy, in a form of as much 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 61 

novelty as the nature of the case would admit, could scarcely 
secure the attention of the house. If brother William, or my 
friend T. B., or any other, should inquire whether I have spoken 
on the navy question, and my reason for not doing so, you will 
give that which I have stated. An apprehension of censure for 
holding back, as it would seem, on a question in which the mer- 
cantile part of the community feel a great interest, gives me 
uneasiness ; but it arose from the circumstances abovementioned ; 
and the business, I am satisfied, has been better managed by 
others than it would have been by me. Besides, I am by no 
means alone in my disappointment." 

"Jan. 28, 1812." — Speaking of the entertainments which 
he had attended, he says, "The pleasure which I have at these 
parties is, to meet and converse, in the course of the evening, 
with many intelligent persons, from whom much information of 
a general nature, as well as in relation to the public business 
which from time to time occupies our attention, may be derived. 
It serves also to relieve the oppressive tedium, arising from the 
continued sameness of our daily routine of engagements, wholly 
destitute as these are of that exhilarating variety and interest 
which my professional business and other avocations at home 
supply." 

It is true that he patronized by his presence the dancing and 
the gaming, of which he says he did not partake ; yet, from the 
above extract, we must give him at least the credit of being, in 
the midst of his gayeties, a sensible man. 

"Jan. 30, 1812. — The account of my political career, and 
the small part which I take in the affairs of the nation, it would 
be uninteresting to detail to you. These things I reserve for 
those of my own sex, who feel an interest in the passing events 
of the world's politics, and are always anxious to hear of the 
scenes acted in the councils of the country, at this critical and 
eventful period. Indeed, I feel less interest in them myself, than 
perhaps an actor should; much less than many mere spectators 
of the comic-tragedy performances which are daily exhibited at 
the capitol. It is sickening to hear the eternal brawlings of 
clamorous demagogues for war, while a pitiful love of office, or 
fear of displacement, prevents their putting forth courage enough 



62 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to provide the proper means for so awful a state of things. This 
consideration will, of itself, be sufficient to prevent war " — his 
prophecy was not fulfilled — " though it may prolong the session, 
in order to give full time and scope for the oratory of the heroes 
who like to talk about it." 

But, if ladies felt little interest in mere political details, he 
concluded they were not indifferent to the manner in which their 
husbands passed their time; and therefore, after a few farther 
paragraphs, he proceeded to give a short account of himself 
under this head. 

" The forepart of each day, that is, from my time of rising 
till eleven or twelve o'clock, I spend in my chamber, chiefly in 
answering the numerous letters which I receive; but when that 
duty does not require the whole time, the residue I devote to 
useful reading. My public duty then requires my attendance at 
the capitol, and there I remain till the hour of adjournment, 
which is frequently as late as four or half-past four o'clock. If 
not invited out to dine, the dessert to every day's dinner at home 
is the letters and newspapers which the mail brings to the dif- 
ferent gentlemen of our mess ; and a great regale they very 
often furnish. Our evenings at home are generally in great part 
spent in our respective chambers ; though sometimes we step 
into one of the neighboring boarding-houses, or receive calls from 
some of our friends. The frequent visits of gentlemen from 
Philadelphia tend to give a little variety to the scene." 

" Feb. 1, 1812. — I went with Mr. Astley yesterday, at twelve 
o'clock, to the President's, in fulfilment of a promise he had 
made to Miss M., to wait upon her for letters to her father and 
friends in Philadelphia; but the day being fine, she had gone 
out visiting with Mrs. Madison. The call, however, enabled 
me to see the President upon some congressional business about 
which I was appointed to wait upon him. I have been much 
neglected by my friends in the way of letter- writing, since my 
return to this place. Except yours, I know not that I have 
received one letter of mere friendship. The diminution of the 
number of those on congressional affairs I do not so much regret 
as I do the increase of those of another description; I mean, 
applications for office, particularly for appointments in the new 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 63 

army. If I were, as I thank God I am not, of the ruling party, 
I could not be more importuned. This is disagreeable, because 
it involves the alternative either of disobliging the applicants, or 
of condescending to ask favors of people against whose doings, 
as the servants of the public, I am often compelled to be opposed. 

"We make progress in our war measures, having the militia 
bill now before us ; but the war-fever seems every day to decline. 
Our valiant warriors begin to count the cost ; and they tremble 
for their places when the people begin to feel the pecuniary bur- 
dens which war will render inevitable." 

As the following illustrates his domestic feelings as well as 
any other of the numerous paragraphs of a like character with 
which his letters abound, it is inserted in its place. The husband 
and the father were stronger in him than the politician was likely 
ever to become. 

"Feb. 3, 1812. — Your last letter was written ten days ago, 
and Henry was then confined by illness to the nursery. Since 
then no one has written me a single line. My forebodings are 
awful beyond measure. I went to bed last night at an early 
hour, to drown in the forgetfulness of sleep my gloomy, harassing 
reflections. But the bed was no bed of rest to me. This morn- 
ing I was up with the dawn. I saw the glorious sun rise in 
resplendent lustre, and hailed his welcome return. I wandered 
abroad, and rambled for two hours before breakfast. Nothing 
but the verdure of spring was wanting to give this charming 
morning all the exhilarating delights of that charming season. 
My contemplations have resulted in more serenity of mind, and 
a confidence in the goodness of divine Providence inspires me 
with hope. Yet why this unaccountable silence ? God grant it 
may have arisen from your irremovable dislike to writing, or 
from neglect, or even forgetfulness of me, rather than from the 
dreadful cause which I have anticipated. If trouble has assailed 
our peaceful mansion, let me become, I charge you, an early 
sharer of it. It is my right ; duty as well as affection entitles 
me to claim this at your hands. No public responsibility shall 
detain me here, if home demands my presence. If another vis- 
itation of Almighty God has fallen upon us, let me come and 
alleviate your griefs." 



64 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"Feb. 7, 1812." — Having received a letter which relieved 
his fears for his son, he proceeds with his usual topics ; alluding, 
among other things, to a great entertainment which was expected 
to come off at the British minister's, and adding, " The policy of 
the minister is evident. His course has a tendency to allay a 
little the heat of party animosity against his country, and keep 
the folks in good-humor. He must take care not to overdo the 
business, and thereby excite the jealousy and resentment of those 
in power." 

"Feb. 22, 1812. — On Monday I am engaged to dine at Dr. 
Eustis', the Secretary of War, with a large party ; so that you 
see the folks here are making themselves very morry just on the 
eve of a war, as some suppose; and no one contributes more to 
the merriment than the minister of the nation which we are 
threatening to attack. He had another evening party on Thurs- 
day, to which he gave me an invitation ; but I was previously 
engaged, and, if I had not been, should have thought it best not 
to appear too often in so suspicious a place ; though, in fact, no 
persons are more fond of going there than the war advocates 
themselves." 

" We go upon the new taxes on Monday next, and expect to 
see war in the ivigwam. They still talk of a long session, but 
some think it will be impossible to keep as many members 
here as will be requisite to do the public business, throughout 
all April. Several have already gone home sick, and others 
begin to complain — the northern men of its being too hot, and 
the southern of its being too cold. For my own part, though I 
groan a little, now and then, for want of exercise, yet I never 
felt better than I now do ; so for the present, I have no excuse 
of that kind to make." 

" March 1, 1812." — Speaking of his purpose "not to indulge 
his wife with another line till encouraged to it by her," he adds, 
" I believe, upon the whole, I have punished myself more 
severely than the flagrant little offender for whom it was in- 
tended. This is the kind of folly to which the boys allude, when 
they speak of a man's biting his own nose off to spite his face, 
and which many wiser persons, in the world's estimation, run 
into, when, in order to gratify their passions to the injury of 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 65 

others, they inflict severer wounds upon themselves. You and 
I know a memorable instance of this in the only man who ever, 
to my knowledge, cherished towards me a personal enmity. In 
the indulgence of an unhappy temper of mind towards all around 
him, the effects of his ill-nature are continually recoiling upon 
himself, and every one sees that, in all his purposes of vengeance, 
he is himself the severest sufferer. I bless Grod, that with a 
thousand of the frailties of human nature, this is not a ' sin 
that easily besets' me. There is not a human being in exist- 
ence, upon whom I would willingly and knowingly inflict a 
moment's suffering ; and the greatest pleasure I have ever en- 
joyed, has been in healing the strifes of others, and in being — in 
a very inconsiderable degree, to be sure, yet as far as I could — 
instrumental in adding to the sum of human happiness. You 
see, my love, how good sometimes flows out of evil. I began to 
chide a little — -well, that you will agree was wrong ; but I have 
ended with a moral reflection, and that, were it not for the ego- 
tism which it involves, you will equally agree is very right, and 
altogether suitable as a matin employment of the sacred day." 
[More suitable than what he presently adds.] " During the past 
week, the business of the house has excited more than usual 
interest, by the discussion of the new taxes proposed to be raised 
for carrying on their ridiculous project of war against Great 
Britain. In these debates, the federalists have, by an under- 
standing among themselves, from motives of policy, taken no 
part. Our only employment in this department of the public 
business is, to listen and vote. There has been but little speak- 
ing among the majority members worth hearing, but the expec- 
tation of some oratorical effusions of more importance, and the 
fineness of the weather, have every day filled our galleries with 
the fashionable belles of Washington and Georgetown." 

"April 3, 1812. — I have the pleasure to inform you that I 
arrived in Washington about two o'clock to-day, quite well, 
though under the pressure of great bodily fatigue, not having 
slept since I left you." [He had been on a visit to Philadelphia.] 
" I immediately changed my clothes and went to the house, 
where my appearance was hailed with a joy and affection from 
my political friends much beyond any merits of mine, or any 

Mem. Milnor. 5 



66 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

service which I can render by being here. Already, however, I 
have been warmly at work, though, owing to the secrecy enjoined, 
I can give no account beyond what is already known, either to 
my political friends or to you." 

" April 17, 1812."- — A disposition to grant a short recess of 
Congress, as a relief to the weary members, had recently been 
manifested by the majority, who held the reins of power ; but 
under this date, he says, " The majority, with whom the propo- 
sal originated, have changed their minds, and now evince a deter- 
mination to continue the session until the question of war with 
England shall have been decided. This is greatly to be lamented, 
because it will equally violate my sense of duty, and the expec- 
tation of my friends in Philadelphia, to be absent at so interest- 
ing a crisis. Indeed, that is absolutely out of the question." 

Almost immediately after the last date, a severe fit of the 
gout, of which he writes many amusing accounts to his wife, 
detained him from the house, except that he once hobbled down 
by the aid of a friend and a staff, in order to give his vote, in vain, 
in favor of the proposed temporary adjournment of Congress. At 
length, however, on the 1st of May, he wrote from his seat in the 
house, that he had so far recovered as to be able to attend again 
to business, by wearing a very easy slipper. But his health had 
suffered so much, that after a few days' hard service, in which, 
as we shall see, he made one eventful speech, he obtained leave 
of absence, and remained at home till near the 20th of May. 
Hence he writes, 

" May 21, 1812.— -I have the pleasure to inform you of my 
safe arrival at this place, (Washington,) yesterday afternoon. 
Congress have had no session for two days, owing to the Speaker, 
Mr. Clay, having received an injury by a fall from his horse ; 
but I am told he is sufficiently recovered to attend in his place 
to-day." 

" May 26, 1812.— You used often to wish for the arrival of 
the Hornet, because that event promised to put an end to this 
tedious session. Well, the Hornet has at length arrived, and 
disappointed the hopes of Napoleon's friends. They had fondly 
expected from the universal robber a degree of justice and even 
of affection towards this country, which a knowledge of his 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. ' 67 

character ought to have told them was impossible. "What effect 
this will have upon the continuance of our session is uncertain. 
The ruling party are quite chopfallen, and as yet undetermined 
upon the course which they are to take : whether to continue 
their project of war against England only, or to wage it against 
both England and France ; or to stop short, and let the session 
end as it began. This state of incertitude may continue for 
some time ; and if either of the first two plans which I have 
mentioned should be adopted, more time, I presume, will be 
frittered away in making further preparations of a warlike 
nature." 

" June 6, 1812. — Whatever claims my greater age and longer 
close attention to business, and acquisitions of property, may 
have given me upon the suffrage of my fellow-citizens, and 
however these things may have justified me in yielding to their 
request to leave my own concerns and attend to theirs, I shall 
never be unwilling to acknowledge the indiscretion of my de* 
cision, and its prejudicial consequences. It is true, I neither 
contemplated the event of my election as probable, nor antici- 
pated, in case of so unexpected an occurrence, such a wearying 
session as this has been. Had the latter circumstance been 
expected, I would, even after the commencement of the session, 
have made arrangements for having my family here ; in which 
case the loss of personal comfort would not have been added to 
the ruinous loss of business, which I now fear will be the effect 
of my continued absence from it." 

As to the close of the session, " The war people, in whose 
hands our fate is held, talk of the beginning of July, of the 
middle of that month, or of the first of August, as the whim 
of the moment, their own information, or their want of infor- 
mation suggests. My fears, I confess, make me look at the 
most remote of the above periods as that most likely to disperse 
us. Congress is now fuller than it has been at any time during 
the session, our house wanting but nine of its full complement ; 
and of these nine, one has died and another resigned ; so that 
only seven actual members are absent. 

" The important discussions, in which we have been engaged 
during this week within closed doors, lead to results that will 



68 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

greatly prolong the session. New duties, direct taxes, and all 
the machinery necessary for carrying on the war, which these 
mad people are determined to wage against Great Britain, must 
necessarily consume much time in their consideration. Whether 
we shall be shut up from public view when these measures come 
under discussion, I know not. If we are, though our minds may 
be vexed, yet our bodies will be comforted : for our hall is abun- 
dantly cooler when strangers are excluded, than when we sit 
with crowded galleries. I can't say that our gentlemen-com- 
moners are influenced by this consideration to close the doors 
against their fellow- citizens, yet I believe their whole detail of 
reasons for this anti-republican proceeding does not furnish a 
better." 

" June 17, 1812. — The interesting question, to which all the 
proceedings of this long session have tended, still remains un- 
decided in the Senate" — the House, it seems, had settled it — 
"though it may probably receive its final decision in that body 
to-day. "Whether war be, or be not the result, I trust the neces- 
sity of our remaining together cannot last much longer." 

" June 20, 1812. — "Were it not that several matters are still 
depending in which my constituents are much interested, I would, 
for myself, break loose the latter end of this week. On one of 
these measures, the question of double duties on imported goods. 
I spoke yesterday ; and if another, the relaxation of the non- 
importation law, were disposed of, I should feel myself at liberty 
to go. A few days more will give me a clearer prospect, both as 
to the probable duration of the session, and as to my own duty 
in either remaining till the end, or breaking loose a little sooner.'" 

Two clays after the last date, he asked, and obtained leave of 
absence for the remainder of the session, and yet the privilege 
thus granted remained unused. The following extract explains 
the reasons. 

" June 26, 1812. — It is a great disappointment not to be able 
to leave Washington to-day, as I had promised myself I should 
do. Two reasons have detained me. In the first place, we " — a 
committee of which he was one — " are about publishing a pam- 
phlet, containing the reasons of the federalists in Congress for 
voting against the war ; and I wish to be here when it is read}' 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 69 

for circulation, in order to use my franking privilege in sending 
copies" — he had subscribed for one hundred — "to gentlemen in 
various places. In the second place, it is expected that within a 
few days some interesting questions may arise, in which a single 
vote will be of consequence ; and I should be much censured by 
my friends, as well as by my own feelings, were I, without the 
most pressing necessity, to leave my post at such a time." 

The pamphlet mentioned in this extract, is an able document 
of twenty-four closely printed octavo pages, entitled, " An Address 
of Members of the House of Representatives of the Congress of 
the United States to their Constituents, on the subject of the 
War with Great Britain ;" entering at length into the argument 
on the war question, and signed by thirty-four federal members 
of the House, of whom Mr. Milnor was one. As a public docu- 
ment, further reference to it in this place may be considered 
needless. 

At length, the early part of July, the great session closed, 
and Mr. Milnor was again at home and at his business ; while 
the war, which with others he had vainly striven to avert, was 
preparing to blaze over the breadth and length of our land. The 
extracts thus far made, give but an imperfect idea of his activity 
in Congress during the ripening of our hostile preparations. The 
letters to his political friends, in which that activity was more 
fully detailed, have been lost. We can therefore only say, in 
general, that, through the session, he was truly a working-mem- 
ber, in committees and on the floor of the House ; and a man of 
influence, so far as influence from his side was practicable, both 
within and without the halls of Congress. 

But one thing remains to be noticed, before we pass to a brief 
review of his last session, which was also the close of his politi- 
cal career. To that one thing we have already alluded, when 
speaking of a certain " eventful speech" which he delivered on 
the last day of April, while as yet but imperfectly recovered 
from his severe fit of the gout. To the circumstance which made 
that speech eventful, the following extract from one of his letters 
refers. 

"June 20, 1812. — I am very much pained to hear that a 
report, calculated to increase the anxiety unavoidably attending 



70 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

our unhappy separation, should have reached you; and whether 
there were any truth in it or not, I am vexed beyond measure at 
the want of common-sense as well as of common feeling mani- 
fested by the person who so injudiciously and unfeelingly com- 
municated that report to you. It is a matter which need not 
give you a moment's uneasiness. The report arose out of some 
dissatisfaction manifested by a certain gentleman at the publica- 
tion of a certain debate, in which I took a prominent part ; but 
nothing has occurred, and nothing will occur, which need excite 
any fears for the safety either of my person or of my reputation ; 
both of which, I am sure, are precious in the estimation of my 
affectionate partner." 

This extract will be rendered intelligible to the reader by 
stating, that the report which had reached Mrs. Milnor, was to 
the effect that her husband had been on the eve of a duel with 
the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay. The circumstances 
which had led to a challenge from this gentleman were briefly 
these. 

On the 30th of April, " Mr. Read, of Massachusetts, present- 
ed a petition, signed by upwards of 470 merchants of Boston, 
setting forth that they had an immense amount of property in 
the dominions of Great Britain, the safety of which was jeopard- 
ed by the state of the relations between the two countries ; and 
praying permission to draw their said property from Great 
Britain and her dependencies, under such provisions as shall be 
reasonable and just." 

The reading of this petition was ordered, but had not pro- 
ceeded far, when it was earnestly objected to by one of the ma- 
jority, on the ground that the petition was an insult to the House, 
inasmuch as it declared that the famous Berlin and Milan decrees 
were still in operation ; whereas the executive had declared them 
repealed. The Speaker, however, decided that the reading must 
proceed. After it was ended, Mr. Read moved that the petition 
be referred to a select committee, while Mr. Rhea moved that 
it be postponed till after the 4th of the ensuing July. Upon 
these motions arose the debate in which Mr. Milnor took such " a 
prominent part." Some days after the debate had been termi- 
nated by a reference of the petition to the committee of the whole, 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 71 

a sketch of the day's proceedings, containing a report of Mr. 
Milnor's speech, was sent to the Philadelphia " Political and 
Commercial Register," as its editor stated, " by a friend in 
Washington,'''' It was at this report that Mr. Clay took offence, 
and for it that he called Mr. Milnor to account. Or, more cor- 
rectly, the alleged ground of his challenge was, Mr. Milnor's 
refusal to answer his question touching the authorship of the 
report. 

It will not be necessary to give Mr. Milnor's speech at length. 
It was a fearless and manly effort ; and during its delivery, he 
was repeatedly interrupted for saying things unpalatable to the 
ruling majority. His soul seemed fired at the evident disposition 
of that majority to embarrass the freedom of debate ; particularly 
at the passionate warmth of manner with which the Speaker 
twice called him to order for saying, and repeating the assertion, 
that Mr. Rhea's motion to postpone the consideration of the peti- 
tion to so late a day as after the 4th of July was, " in effect, to 
trifle with the sufferings of the petitioners." After the Speaker's 
second interruption, the report represents Mr. Milnor as thus 
concluding his speech. 

" I have scrupulously avoided arraigning the motives of the 
proposer of this resolution, or of any other member. I have 
spoken of the effect of the course proposed. I know, however, 
Sir, your powers, and those of the majority, too well not to feel 
the necessity of acquiescing in this interposition of your author- 
ity ; and therefore, although perfectly satisfied that I have made 
no observation inconsistent with a just freedom of debate, the 
rules of decorum, or parliamentary usage, I bow in submission 
to the mandate of the chair. I hope, however, I may be permit- 
ted to repeat, as an impressive reason for looking into the subject 
of this petition now, and an argument against its postponement, 
that the recent burnings of our vessels upon the ocean furnish 
an evidence of the existence of the French decrees, which, having 
happened since the President's assertion of their repeal, could not 
have entered into his consideration of the question ; and, of course, 
it can involve no possible disrespect towards him to examine it 
with this additional evidence. But I was truly astonished at the 
want of recollection manifested by the honorable chairman of the 



72 MEMOIR OF DE. MILNOR. 

committee of commerce and manufactures. He asserts, that 
we had no evidence of these atrocities, except protests made be- 
fore notaries-public, by captains and mates of vessels ; and that 
every body knew how easily such protests were made. Now, 
though the honorable gentleman might find so little difficulty in 
supposing our citizens capable of fabricating these narratives and 
supporting them by perjury, yet I should have imagined, if he 
had recollected the documents produced not long since in this 
house, he could have given credit to the original authenticated 
certificate signed by the commandant of the squadron of French 
ships, by which ours were burnt, declaring that these outrages 
were committed by order of the Minister of Marine of France. 
I have no hesitation in believing the fact." After a few further 
observations, Mr. Milnor concluded by expressing his "hope, that 
the house would consent to the reference of the petition, as pro- 
posed by the gentleman from Massachusetts/' 

When the Philadelphia report of his speech reached "Wash- 
ington, Mr. Milnor was on a visit to his family ; and just before 
his return to Washington, the house was for two days prevented 
from sitting by Mr. Clay's accident in falling from his horse. At 
the moment of his return, however, Mr. Clay had sufficiently 
recovered to be able to resume the chair. The two gentlemen, 
therefore, reappeared in the house on the same day, May 21. On 
that very day, the Speaker opened the following correspondence, 
which, with Mr. Milnor s appended ;; memoranda,'' will be suffi- 
cient for a further elucidation of the clifficulty between them. 
The point in the Philadelphia report of the speech, and its con- 
nected proceedings, at which Mr. Clay took umbrage, seems to 
have been the charge, contained in that report, of intemperate 
warmth in the manner in which, as Speaker of the House, he 
repeatedly interrupted Mr. Milnor's remarks. 

(No. 1.) 

■•House of Representatives, 21st May, 1812. 

" To the Honorable Mr. Milxor, 

" Sir — Your return to the city of Washington affords me an 
opportunity of inquiring of you, if the sketch of the debate on 
Mr. Read's motion, upon presenting the petition of the Boston 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 73 

merchants, which appears in the Political and Commercial Reg- 
ister of the 6th instant, was furnished by you ? The place and 
manner of the appearance, for the first time, of this sketch, will 
apologize for the trouble I give you on this occasion. 

" Yours, H. CLAY." 

Answer. 

(No. 2.) 

"Coyle's, 21st May, 1812. 
" To the Honorable Mr. Clay, 

" Sir — Your note of this day was delivered to me in my place 
by the Sergeant-at-arms, during the sitting of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. However willing, under other circumstances, I might 
have been to give any information in my power on the subject 
to which you refer, yet, as an important principle, as it respects 
both my representative and personal independence, might be 
affected by an acknowledgment, on my part, of the right to make, 
and the obligation to answer, an inquiry of such a nature, I trust 
that my now declining it will not be attributed to any intention 

of personal disrespect. Yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
(No. 3.) 

"Mrs. Donson's, 21st May, 1812. 
"The Honorable Mr. Milnor, 

" Sir — Finding from your answer to my note of this morn- 
ing, that you have misconstrued the circumstances attending the 
place where it was delivered to you, and the mode of conveyance 
I employed, I think it due no less to myself than to you to 
declare, that there existed no intention to violate your independ- 
ence in any respect. As you have attached some degree of 
importance to these circumstances, altogether accidental, I have 
to request that, if they constitute the only bar to the information 
solicited, you will consider this as a renewal of my inquiry. 

" Yours, 

"H. CLAY." 

Answer. 

(No. 4.) 

" Coyle's, 22d May, 1812. 
" The Honorable Mr. Clay, 

" Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
second note last evening by the Honorable Mr. Bibb, of the 
Senate. 



74 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" In my answer to the one previously received, the expres- 
sions, according to my apprehension, did not impute to you an 
intention of violating my personal independence, nor represent 
the place where your note was delivered, and the mode of con- 
veyance, as constituting the only bar to my furnishing you with 
the information asked for ; at the same time I appreciate, as I 
ought, the frankness with which you have disavowed the inten- 
tion alluded to. I am obliged, however, to repeat, that confirmed 
impressions of duty, as they respect the preservation of the priv- 
ileges both of my public and private character, do not admit of 
my conceding the principle, under circumstances like the present, 
of your right to make, or of my obligation to answer, the inquiry 
which I understand to be renewed by your last note. 

" Yours, 

"JAMES MILXOR." 

(No. 5.) 

"Mrs. Donson's, 22d May, 1812. 

" The Honorable James Milnor, 

" Sir — I am gratified to learn by your note of to-day, deliv- 
ered to me by Mr. Groldsborough, that you have placed a proper 
construction upon the circumstances attending the delivery of my 
note to you yesterday morning. I have, at the same time, to 
regret that the sense entertained by you of your duty will not 
allow you to communicate the information sought for by me. 
Your determination leaves to my choice a single mode of repara- 
tion for an injury of which I conceive I have cause to complain ; 
and my friend Mr. Bibb is authorized by me to make the requi- 
site arrangements. " Yours, 

"H. CLAY." 

Answer . 

(No. 6.) 

" Capt. Coyle's, 23d May, 1812. 
" Honorable Mr. Clay, 

" Sir — -Being utterly unconscious of having ever offered or 
intended you any injury, and having received from you no infor- 
mation of any part of my conduct against which you consider 
yourself as possessing cause of complaint, the same leading prin- 
ciple in reference to public and private duty that has hitherto 
regulated my course, obliges me to deem it improper to comply 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 75 

with the intimation of your note of this day. For such a com- 
pliance, the most deliberate reflection that I have been able to 
give the subject, suggests no justification, on my part, in any 
thing that has occurred between us, either before or since the com- 
mencement of the present correspondence. 

" Yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Upon this correspondence Mr. Milnor made the following 
" memoranda." 

" On Thursday morning, May 21, 1812, after being a short 
time in my place in the House of Representatives, after the com- 
mencement of public business, and, as nearly as I can recollect, 
about half past 11 o'clock, the Speaker, Mr. Clay, being then in 
the chair, sent me his note, No. 1, by the Sergeant-at-arms, who 
delivered it to me in my seat. About 5, P. M., of the same day, 
I sent him my answer, No. 2, by a servant. 

" In the evening, about 9, the Hon. Mr. Bibb waited on me, 
and handed me Mr. Clay's second note, No. 3, unsealed, in my 
chamber. I inquired of Mr. Bibb, whether a written answer 
was expected, or whether he wished to confer verbally with me 
on the subject. He said that he presumed Mr. Clay desired a 
written answer, but did not wish to hurry me. I told him I 
would send Mr. Clay a written answer in the morning ; and in 
the meantime, had no hesitation in stating to him, that although 
I certainly thought it an unusual thing to receive a note of such 
a nature, in such a time, place, and manner, yet the difficulty I 
felt in answering the inquiry, arose from other and more impor- 
tant considerations ; that I deemed Mr. Clay not to possess a 
right to call on me to answer such an inquiry, because, if admit- 
ted, it would lead to very injurious consequences ; that it would 
recognize a right in any individual, affected by an anonymous 
publication, or thinking himself to be so, to call upon as many 
individuals as he chose to select, and demand of each of them 
whether he was not the author of the offensive publication. 
Suppose an anonymous letter from "Washington to be published 
in a Philadelphia paper ; suppose it even to purport to be from a 
member of the House of Representatives ; would I be bound to 
answer a formal demand in writing whether I was the author ? 



76 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

I apprehend not. I also stated, that the difficulty was increased 
in this instance, by the formality given to Mr. Clay's communica- 
tion, and by the concealment of its object and of the use intend- 
ed to be made of my answer. Mr. Bibb said he was wholly un- 
acquainted with the course intended to be pursued by Mr. Clay ; 
that he had never seen the publication referred to, nor did he 
know wherein it was offensive ; that Mr. Clay had showed him a 
copy of his note to me, and my answer, and requested him to be 
the bearer of the reply ; which constituted the whole of his in- 
formation on the subject. I again referred to my objection, as 
founded upon a denial of Mr. Clay's right to make such a de- 
mand ; but suggested, that in all probability, if the same request 
had occurred in the course of a familiar, verbal communication, I 
should have felt no disposition to withhold any information in my 
power, though not on the score of a right in Mr. Clay to require 
it of me. In the morning, I added, I would answer Mr. Clay's 
note. After some conversation on our foreign relations, Mr. Bibb 
left me. 

" On the morning of the 22d, some difficulty in finding my 
friend Mr. Goldsborough, prevented my getting my answer, No. 
4, into Mr. Clay's hands, as I intended, before the meeting of the 
House. He called on him immediately after the adjournment 
which took place, but did not meet with him at home. Mr. 
Groldsborough, however, delivered it personally to Mr. Clay before 
dinner. 

" In the evening of the same day, Mr. Bibb, 1 understood, 
called at my lodgings, but I was out. 

" Between 10 and 11 A. M., Saturday, 23d May, Mr. Bibb 
brought me Mr. Clay's third note, No. 5. I prepared my answer, 
and went in search of Mr. Goldsborough, but after some time dis- 
covered that he had gone to Georgetown. I left a note at his lodg- 
ings, requesting him to call on me immediately on his return. 
Mr. Goldsborough did so about — o'clock, when I gave him my 
note to Mr. Clay, No. 6, which he delivered to Mr. Bibb about — 
o'clock in the evening of the same day, (Saturday,) and had some 
conversation, which he can detail." 

"What that conversation was, is to us unknown. Probably 
it had the design and effect of disposing of the affair, without its 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 77 

being bruited to the satisfaction of the public's ever " itching- 
ear." Bishop Kemper, in a letter containing some notices of Mr. 
Milnor's life, says, that Mr. Clay " sent him a challenge to fight 
a duel, but withdrew it when convinced that he had misunder- 
stood his opponent." And Mr. T. Bradford, in his " Reminis- 
cences," says, " The matter was settled by the intervention of 
friends." Perhaps both these remarks refer to the effect of the 
conversation between Mr. Bibb and Mr. Groldsborough, of which 
Mr. Milnor speaks. At that conversation, explanations may have 
been made which induced Mr. Clay to "withdraw" his challenge, 
and thus " the matter may have been settled by the intervention 
of friends." Virtually, however, the matter was settled when 
Mr. Milnor declined the challenge of his opponent. After that 
decision, if Mr. Milnor persisted in withholding information, Mr. 
Clay had no alternative but either to drop the matter, or take 
personal satisfaction, if not by brute force, by the more reputable, 
but scarcely less senseless mode of posting his opponent as a 
coward. Towards dropping the controversy he may have felt by 
no means disinclined, but to either of the modes named for ob- 
taining further reparation, he was not likely to resort. He was 
doubtless too high-minded for a mere brute assault on such a 
gentleman as Mr. Milnor, and he must have known well, that to 
advertise him as a poltroon, would excite laughter at himself 
rather than scorn of his opponent. Both the personal and the 
moral courage of the latter was undoubted. In truth, he gave 
the highest proof of both by declining Mr. Cky's call to the field. 
Those were times, emphatically, when the mere sending of a 
challenge was deemed reason enough for its acceptance. Gen- 
tlemen of honor, so called, would ordinarily have been afraid to 
refuse the call, though given in the spirit of angry, yet reasonless 
caprice. Argument like the following would have been likely to 
rise in their heart : " My opponent calls ; that is enough for me : 
I must meet him." So reasoned not James Milnor, though yet 
in his unconverted state. He saw a principle, which his decision 
was either to support or to sacrifice, for others as well as for him- 
self ; and even if we may suppose that, as a man of the world, 
he had no conscientious scruples against duelling, still, as a man 
of principle, he would not permit the most distinguished oppo- 



78 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

nent to demand and enforce from him what was not his right. 
He had the highest kind of courage — that which stands to the 
right, and sets arbitrary and all but omnipotent custom at 
defiance. 

Years after the occurrences which we have now been review- 
ing, when Mr. Milnor had been long in the Church, and Mr. Clay 
had risen higher than ever in the political world, these two gen- 
tlemen met again on terms of mutual respect and amity ; and 
the circumstances of the meeting show that Mr. Clay thought 
none the less favorably of Mr. Milnor for the course which he had 
formerly taken. The account of the meeting is furnished by the 
gentleman who was instrumental in its occurrence. 

While Mr. Clay was Secretary of State, Dr. Milnor had occa- 
sion, in common with several other clergy of our church, to visit 
Washington. His friend, the Rev. G. W. Ridgely, formerly a 
student of the law in the office of Mr. Clay, was one of their 
number. During a call which Mr. Ridgely made upon his old 
patron, Mr. Clay inquired who of his clerical brethren were with 
him at the capital. In reply, the names of several were men- 
tioned, particularly that of Dr. Milnor of New York. Mr. Clay 
immediately expressed a high regard for Dr. Milnor, and asked 
Mr. Ridgely whether he thought the Doctor would come and dine 
with him ; assigning as a reason for his inquiry, the unpleasant 
circumstances under which, several years before, they had parted. 
Mr. Ridgely replied, he had no doubt of Dr. Milnor's willingness 
to meet Mr. Clay again on friendly terms, and at once offered to 
open the way for the acceptance of an invitation. An invitation 
was accordingly sent, and accepted. Others of the clergy were 
guests at the dinner which followed, and. were, of course, highly 
pleased with their entertainment. But Mr. Ridgely, being aware 
of the circumstances under which the two principal gentlemen 
met, felt a deep interest in silently observing their manner to- 
wards each other. It was that of the utmost frankness and high 
bearing. Not a word was said, not the shadow of a look passed 
over the countenance of either, to indicate that the past was 
remembered. The manner of Mr. Clay showed that the highest 
respect for Dr. Milnor had buried that past away from his feel- 
ings ; while that of Dr. Milnor made it perfectly evident that he 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 79 

knew how to meet the advances of Mr. Clay. He was not a man 
to say, by either his actions or his looks, " Sir, as a Christian I 
willingly forgive what, as a gentleman, I do but civilly forget." 
On the part of both there was a warm open-heartedness which 
pledged mutual respect for the present, and which put the past, 
in effect, where each wished it might have been in fact— out of 
existence. The conduct of both was such as to raise them higher 
than ever in the estimation of their silently observant friend. 

In still later years, Dr. Milnor voted for his former opponent 
as a candidate for the presidency. He had a high admiration for 
that gentleman's abilities and patriotism, and he strongly mani- 
fested it during the great statesman's public visit to New York, 
when a splendid civic honor was awarded him. Dr. ¥m. H. 
Milnor remarks in his '-Recollections," " I shall never forget my 
father's enthusiasm as the procession passed our door, during Mr. 
Clay's memorable visit to our city. He forgot, for the moment, 
his ecclesiastical position, and as his thoughts glided back to the 
past, his youthful political ardor returned, and he shouted with 
the loudest his welcome to the city's guest." 

We pass now to a brief review of the closing scenes of Mr. 
Milnor's political life. Early in November, 1812, he left Phila- 
delphia for his third winter in Congress, and after " a most 
tedious and irksome passage," reached Washington on the 5th of 
the month. He was soon settled in his old quarters at Coyle's, 
and as soon engaged in the business of the session. But a great 
change, dimly shadowed as yet to his own perceptions, was al- 
ready beginning to come over his mind; and it is here men- 
tioned, not because this is the time to trace its progress, but 
because a knowledge of the fact will help us to understand why 
he took so much less part in politics than during the previous 
session, and why his letters say so little of the part which he did 
take. The following extracts contain his only notices of what 
was passing in the great world of war and politics. 

"Nov. 10, 1812. — The weather has been so bad, and the 
walking so dreadful, that I have been barely able to get from my 
lodgings to the capitol since my arrival. To-day, however, I took 
a carriage, and paid the usual visit of compliment to the Presi- 
dent, with whom I had about half an hour's conversation. He 



80 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

was communicative and pleasant, but Mrs. Madison did not make 
her appearance. Business makes very quiet progress. No mani- 
festations of heat or violence have yet appeared, and I sincerely 
hope they may not." 

" Nov. 20, 1812. — -I have had much more leisure since my 
arrival than I had last session. Going less abroad, and being 
upon but one important committee, together with an unusual 
exemption from letters of either politics or business, with only 
two fellow-boarders, of retired and quiet habits, and, added to 
all this, with but short daily sittings of the house, have altogether 
contributed to give me retirement without weariness, and the 
luxuries of reading and reflection without the bustle and anxiety 
of public or professional concerns." 

"Nov. 21, 1812. — Yesterday, very unexpectedly to myself, I 
felt constrained to take the floor upon two interesting questions, 
arising out of the needless and calamitous war in which our 
rulers have unfortunately plunged us. The subject was, an act 
for increasing the facility of raising troops by enlistment. One 
of its objectionable provisions was, an authority to enlist boys 
from eighteen to twenty-one years of age, without regard to the 
claims, interests, or feelings of parents, guardians, or masters; 
thus authorizing a bribe to profligate young men to violate every 
duty of obedience towards those who have charge of them, and 
"ruining their prospects 4n life by takmg them from the acquisition 
of a useful calling^ into all the profligacy and vice of a camp. 
The other provision which excited my feelings, was an exemption 
to debtors from being arrested by their creditors, after enlisting 
as soldiers, whatever be the amount of their debts, and whether 
contracted before or after enlistment. Two more scandalous 
violations of true policy, the civil rights of the citizen, and the 
principles of religion and morality, cannot be conceived. May a 
merciful Providence shield our country against participating in 
the ruin which must await such shameful means for bolstering 
up a wicked and unnecessary war. Pray excuse this diversion 
to the rugged and unpleasant path of politics. I shall soon be 
permitted to leave their management to others. But, whilst my 
term of public service continues, they claim and must unavoid- 
ably receive a portion of my attention." 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 81 

"Nov. 24, 1812. — You will not think me very deeply en- 
gaged in the affairs of the nation, when I tell you, that instead 
of preparing speeches, and studying the intricacies of political 
controversy, my hours, when not spent at the capitol, or in social 
converse, or in writing to you, are chiefly passed near my cham- 
ber-fire in the perusal of books, such as I meet with here, and 
find adapted to the feelings of my mind." 

"Dec. 3, 1812." — Giving an account of a dinner-party at the 
President's, from which he had "just returned," and at which the 
guests were "quite select," he says, "I had the honor of a seat 
near the queen, and was treated with great civility and attention 
both by her and her royal consort, notwithstanding my recent 
well-known opposition to his reelection. 

"The discussion of the question of releasing the merchants 
from the penalties incurred by them in bringing in British goods, 
was commenced in our house this day, and is likely to continue 
for some time. I am prepared to speak in their favor, if it should 
be deemed expedient. 

" I shall not make my letter more of an olla podrida by add- 
ing any thing of a serious cast to the foregoing details of fashion 
and of politics. My allotted term of ceremony and of public 
business must be filled; and then for the moments of domestic 
comfort, the endearments of wife and children, and a regular but 
not morose attention to duties of the most pleasing and impor- 
tant nature, because they are fitted to gild with cheerfulness 
the passage through life, and to brighten the prospects of a future 
world." 

"Dec. 9, 1812." — Having been compelled, as a member of 
the naval committee, to attend a ball given to Captain Hull and 
others, as officers of the navy, he thus describes a scene which 
took place in the course of the evening. 

"The Secretary of the Navy, his wife, and two daughters 
were of the company. About 9 o'clock in the evening, it was 
announced that the son of the Secretary, Mr. Hamilton, had ar- 
rived with official despatches for his father, announcing the vic- 
tory gained by Commodore Decatur, of the frigate United States, 
over the British frigate Macedonian ; and that he brought with 
him the colors of the captured vessel. A few moments after- 

Mem.Milnor. (3 



82 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

wards, the ingenuous youth was ushered into the ballroom, and 
fell upon the necks of his overjoyed mother and sisters. They 
had not seen him for more than a twelvemonth, nor since he 
had miraculously escaped from the dreadful conflagration of the 
theatre at Richmond, where he happened to be at the time of 
that calamitous event, on his way to Norfolk to take his station 
on board the United States. He had now returned, flushed with 
victory, and found the city universally illuminated on account 
of the gallant action in which he had shared ; his family engaged 
in doing honor to the brave men who had gone before him in the 
career of glory ; and himself — happy man — bearer of the ensigns 
of another conquered foe. Soon after the scene I have described, 
the colors of the Macedonian were introduced, borne by Cap- 
tains Hull, Stewart, and Morris, with other naval officers, amid 
the loud acclamations of the company. This was a part of the 
entertainment so unexpected and so much in consonance with 
the feelings of patriotism, that I confess it very much diminished 
the sentiment of disgust at all around me, in which I had been 
indulging. I glory in the evidences we have had of the prowess 
of our little navy, and am convinced that it is the only true 
method of defending our national rights." 

Though opposed to the war, he was not blind to the ability 
with which it was conducted — at least, so far as it made the 
broad ocean its field. 

" Dec. 16, 1812." — The holidays were approaching, and he 
had promised to spend* them at home ; but he says, " Congress 
are still engaged on the question relating to the release of the 
merchants' bonds ; and I am not without apprehensions of a 
severe conflict between contending duties at the moment when 
I shall wish to leave this place. Yet I hope we may previously 
get through it, and no other public object shall detain me." 
Again : 

"Dec. 18, 1812. — The interesting question with respect to the 
relief of our merchants from the forfeitures and penalties incur- 
red under the non-importation act, which affects individuals in 
our city alone to the amount of four and a half millions of dol- 
lars, is not yet decided ; and the division in the House is so 
nearly equal, that a single vote may turn the decision one way 



HIS POLITICAL CAREER. 83 

or the other. Under these circumstances, I deem it a conscien- 
tious duty to submit to the necessity of remaining here till the 
question is settled, which I hope will be in the course of the 
ensuing week." 

The debates on the merchants' relief bill detained him, as 
nearly as can be ascertained, till about Christmas. The moment 
he could with safety leave, he visited Philadelphia, and was in 
his place again after the close of the holidays. Hence he writes, 
from the House, 

"Jan. 13, 1813. — I have arrived here, in good health and 
without accident, just in time, as upon one or two former occa- 
sions, to give a vote upon the army bill. Randolph is now 
making a very long speech ; and we have before us the prospect 
of a night-session, as the majority are determined to take the 
final question to-day." 

" Jan. 16, 1813.— While- I was absent, I find the political 
asperity of parties has risen to its highest pitch. Mr. Q,uiney's 
severe attack on the administration brought upon him an abun- 
dance of abuse. I found Mrs. Madison, to whose drawing-room 
entertainments Mr. Qiiincy (improperly, I think) made some allu- 
sion, by no means unaffected by the passing scene. She spoke 
freely and feelingly to me on the subject, though without anger; 
and I confess, between ourselves, I cannot but deem it a departure 
from the principles of liberality and decorum in a member of Con- 
gress, to make such reflections as fell from Mr. Quincy. I hope 
he will see the propriety of omitting them, or of assuaging their 
severity, in the publication of his speech which he is about to 
make ; and which, barring this and some other parts of it un- 
necessarily severe, our friends all concur in saying was an aston- 
ishing display of genius and eloquence." 

Possibly this brilliant but discourteous assault on the admin- 
istration is what Mr. Milnor refers to, in a letter some days before 
his visit to Philadelphia, in which he says, " I write in the House 
with a speech from Mr. Quincy thundering in my ear." 

His political course was now drawing to a close. His letters 
to Mrs. Milnor all breathe of the diviner themes which have filled 
his soul, and his allusions to the business of Congress disappear 
from their pages. On the 27th of February, he names the day of 



84 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

his intended final departure for Philadelphia ; his last being one 
of the short sessions, which terminate the 4th of March. Unex- 
pectedly, however, a gentle visit from his ancestral friend the 
gout, detained him for several days after the adjournment ; and 
" whilst all Washington was crowding to the capitol on the 4th, 
to witness Mr. Madison's re-inauguration, he had more pleasure 
in sitting down in the solitude of his chamber to relieve any anx- 
iety which his wife might have suffered" by his previous day's 
announcement of his expected detention. He was well enough 
to leave Washington on the 6th of March, but for safety's sake 
preferred taking his seat in the coach on the 8th. On that day, 
the coach, when it came along, was too full to receive him, and 
he did not finally leave till the 9th. 

Thus close all the notices which remain of Mr. Milnor's polit- 
ical life during his last session in Congress. He faithfully did 
his work for his country, but said little about it in his letters. 
He had other things on his heart, and other things for his pen, 
even while busily occupied in public duty. His letters to Mrs. 
Milnor and others were more frequent than ever ; but they were 
almost undividedly filled with concerns mightier than those of 
nations. They will come into view as we proceed to trace that 
work of the Spirit which transformed him from a man of the law 
to a disciple of the Gospel, and from a political servant of his 
countrv to an eminent minister of Christ. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 85 

PART II. 

HISTORY OF MR. MILNOR'S RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 



SECTION I. 

In proceeding to trace the formation of Mr. Milnor's Christian 
character, we have the advantage of a previous knowledge of 
what he was as a fully developed and maturely ripened man : 
unstained from boyhood with the too frequent vices of life, yet 
formed to the fashion and the manners, and governed by the 
spirit and the maxims of the world ; warm and generous in his 
friendships, especially in his domestic attachments ; scrupulously 
honest and upright in his dealings ; industrious and methodical 
in his business ; active and influential in the benevolent and lit- 
erary institutions of his age ; a peacemaker, who yet, for the sake 
of peace, would never sacrifice truth and right ; incorruptibly 
pure and high-minded in his social and political principles ; pecu- 
liarly popular with all the associations into which he entered, and 
in all the relations which he sustained ; an able and successful 
lawyer, of that order who seem formed to sit with grace, dignity, 
and reputation, on the bench of justice ; and a legislator, ani- 
mated with the truest patriotism, and gifted with no little insight 
and sagacity in the philosophy of politics. In short, had he been 
constitutionally as much in love with legal and political life as 
he was practically successful in both, he might have risen — such 
was his popularity in his native state — to her highest posts of 
trust and honor. At the time when he was about to disappear 
from the scenes of civil life, he was already talked of as next 
governor of Pennsylvania. 

But amid all this, and up to the period at which we have 
now arrived, he was without any just perceptions, and evidently 
without any real experience of the true nature of the religion of 
Christ. He was, indeed, far from thoughtlessness about religion ; 



86 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

yet his thoughts were any thing but true to the interior power 
and spirituality of the Gospel. Of this, the intelligent religious 
reader will have already seen evidence ; and evidence more sat- 
isfying to such will appear, in what we have further to examine. 

In school-hoy days, and hi legal studies, James Milnor had a 
playmate and a friend in Aquila Massey Bolton. Mr. Bolton was 
evidently, in mature years, a man of handsome talents ; gay, 
volatile, and witty ; the soul of social parties ; but, withal, loose, 
and in secret not merely sceptical, but utterly infidel in his 
views of religion. Amid the vicissitudes of life, however, it 
pleased Grod to make him, if we may judge from his letters, a 
monument of awakening grace, if not of recovering mercy ; and 
in the faithful dealings which he at once opened with the con- 
science of his friend James, we have our first glimpse into the 
earlier religious notions of the latter. 

As early as the 3d of March, 1800, somewhat more than a 
year after Mr. Milnor's marriage, Mr. Bolton addressed to him a 
letter, from which the following are excerpts. Explaining a 
" something" of which he says his mind had, "for a considerable 
time, been full," he proceeds : 

"Know, then, my dear friend — for I think you nearer to me 
than ever — that, like the Prodigal Son, I am seeking to be restored 
to the favor of my heavenly Father, through the mediation of his 
Son Jesus Christ, whom I have so long turned from and cruci- 
cified in my heart. This confession, I doubt not, will subject me 
to even your mockery, as I know it will to that of the world. 
The latter is a matter of indifference ; and even the former I 
think I could bear, if it would not be an evidence to your own 
condemnation. You may well say, ' Is Saul also among the 
prophets?' for I have been a cruel persecutor of Christianity" — 
[by the way, that is not the first time that the Saul of the Old 
Testament has been put in the place of Saul in the New] — u to a 
greater degree, I believe, than any but the Holy Spirit has had 
knowledge of. Few of my friends, I think, have known to what 
monstrous lengths I had gone from the faith which is in Jesus. 
Thanks be to the Lord, I was arrested on the high road to de- 
struction, and have been taught, as Saul himself was, that it was 
Jesus whom I persecuted." 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 87 

" If you knew how much I have your welfare at heart, and 
notwithstanding our past friendship, you cannot know, you 
would be disposed to believe one who, to his sorrow, avows that 
he was carried by a speculative philosophy far, very far beyond 
Deism. Indeed, I think I was never more fixed in any one opin- 
ion than in a total disbelief of all divine revelation ; and for a 
long time I valued myself upon having overcome every kind of 
superstition and prejudice, which I thought had their origin from 
the Old and New Testaments. But, notwithstanding I was as 
firmly fixed in my opinion as Yoltaire himself ever was, I can 
now declare, that I have no more doubt of the Scriptures having 
been dictated by the Supreme Being, than I have of my own 
existence. 

" Oh that I could communicate to you a full sense of what 
I have been taught in the school of Christ. Your eyes would 
then be opened indeed. You will remember, and I have not 
forgotten, the time when we used to laugh at serious people 
affecting to know something, which we, in our vain imagina- 
tions, could not believe to be of any importance. You have now 
an opportunity to renew the laugh at my expense. Bat, for 
your own sake, not mine, beware ; deceive not yourself : be as- 
sured there is a God to whom every knee shall bow, and whom 
every tongue shall confess ; and no man can come unto the 
Father but by that Son, whom I fear you have long ago dis- 
claimed. 

" Bearing in mind how ineffectual were remonstrances upon 
my own mind when in a state of apostasy ', (the reason of which 
inefncacy I can now discern,) I am indeed without much hope of 
being able to arouse you to a sense of your condition. Yet, 
when I reflect upon the great, the important change in my mind, 
and upon the friendship which has subsisted between us, I am 
tempted, and I trust permitted, at least by that Holy Spirit 
under whose awful influence I hope ever to continue, to sound 
an alarm, which I fervently pray may not be disregarded. 

" This conversion," (which he had experienced,) "I can only 
call strange, ' passing strange.' Oh, could you know the gratitude 
which I feel towards that Redeemer whom I have so long and 
so flagrantly offended, for having opened my eyes to see my con- 



88 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

dition when upon the very precipice of hell, you would feel very 
little concerned about the trash of this world. And this change, 
believe me, you must experience, or you will be lost to all eter- 
nity. Flatter not yourself that the Lord conforms himself to 
man's wisdom, or that you can save yourself from perdition in 
any other way than by reliance upon Christ Jesus. Believe me, 
I am in my perfect senses, when I tell you, that I know these 
truths as plainly as I know that two and two make four. 

" I thought I con Id do no less than write you as I have done, 
although it may be the means of breaking our friendship ; for 
you must not expect to find ?ne, in future, the same as you have 
found me in the past ; and I am afraid that you will not relish 
any thing from one who wishes not to violate the covenant he 
has made with his God. Our future intercourse depends upon 
yourself. If you think that I am not too gloomy a correspond- 
ent, I wjll gladly retain my place in your affection. As to mine 
for you, be assured it is increased most wonderfully ; for once I 
supposed our friendship would end in death; now I cannot but 
hope it will be eternal." 

And if, friend Aquila, thy own faith was steadfast to the 
end, thy hope is already certainty. 

On the fifth of April, he wrote again to Mr. Milnor as follows. 

" Dear James — I feel fearful that I may have said something 
in my last at which you have taken umbrage ; for several weeks 
are now elapsed, and I have not received a line from you. In- 
deed, my dear friend, notwithstanding the resolution I have 
most seriously made, to have less converse with the world, yet 
I cannot consent to give up your friendship. Perhaps, how- 
ever, this is not as I please ; and you being willing to give up 
mine, the continuance of a mutual fellowship is not" to be ex- 
pected. I am not ignorant how it is with the general run of 
mankind ; and how, in some instances, it has been with myself. 
When I have seen some one of my acquaintances drawn, as if 
by the hand of Grod, from the circles of mirth, to deliver him 
from temptation, I have felt a kind of contemptuous pity, that 
he should wish to be no longer cheerful ; and, by seeking soli- 
tude, should fall into a state of melancholy, not to say sullen- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 89 

ness. If you should feel this kind of contempt for me, what 
could I say or do to prove that I know I act rationally, and that 
you — yes, you, gay and wanton as you now are — must come to 
a like state of seriousness and solemn stillness, in order to com- 
mune with your own heart, and thus discover its deceitfulness ; 
or else — the alternative is dreadful, but not more dreadful than 
true — or else lose your salvation. This may not appear to you, 
at this time, a necessary truth ; but I pray that a merciful Grod 
will ere long open your eyes, as he has been graciously pleased 
to open mine. Be assured, that the unconcerned and wicked 
among men — and I fear they are the major part — walk in dark- 
ness ; but, believe me, there is a day of visitation to every son 
and daughter of Adam, in which, if they resist not the monitor 
of truth in their own bosoms, they may come to know how they 
are entangled in sin. I know that my zeal to convince you 
would be in vain, use what arguments I might, unless the Spirit 
of God disposed your heart to believe. If, however, you have 
any regard for me, as an old friend, you will not slight the ad- 
vice I offer, which I will comprise in two words — be serious. 

" Believe me your friend, 

"AQTTLLA M. BOLTON." 

To both these letters Mr. Milnor thus refers in his earlier 
diary : 

' ; April 7, 1800. — How singularly astonishing are some of 
the incidents of this life ! I received, some time since, a letter 
from my old friend Aquila M. Bolton, that really surprised and 
affected me exceedingly. The gay, the volatile, the facetious 
Bolton, has become a zealous convert to religion ; and his letter, 
which is handsomely written, is an appeal to my feelings, and a 
solemn warning of the danger of my present state, as he calls it, 
of apostasy and unbelief. He reprobates, in the strongest terms, 
his former opinions, discards all philosophy and reasoning on the 
subject of religion, declares his present belief to be produced by 
a clear and solid conviction, and concludes with a warm and 
affectionate call to embrace the truths, of which he says he is as 
clearly satisfied as that two and two make four. 

" My acquaintance with Bolton has been of longer standing 
than any which I at present know. It commenced when we 



90 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

were children, and grew into a friendship of the warmest kind, 
when we both began the study of the law. Bolton, soon after 
his admission, became disgusted with the practice ; and Mr. An- 
thony Butler offering him his patronage, he determined to enter 
into commercial life. He went out supercargo for Mr. Butler to 
the West Indies ; and afterwards, a favorable opportunity occur- 
ring, he settled himself in the island of St. Domingo, and entered 
into partnership with a Mr. Lewis, a native of the place. He 
received from Mr. Butler and others considerable consignments, 
and appeared to be in a fair way to riches. But in the midst of 
these prospects Mr. Butler failed, with property of Bolton and 
Lewis in his hands to a very large amount ; and the political 
relations between this country and France obliged Congress to 
interdict all intercourse of our citizens with that nation and her 
possessions. The large consignments made to Mr. Butler being 
principally purchased on credit, the bills drawn on him being 
protested, and the trade with this country totally suspended, Bol- 
ton's high expectations were blasted in the bud. "Whether these 
reverses have depressed and weakened my friend's nerves, and 
produced a habit of melancholy calculated to lay him open to the 
attacks of enthusiasm, or whether his state of mind is the result 
of sober inquiry and real conversion, I cannot pretend to deter- 
mine. 

" I have received another letter from him to-day, much in the 
same strain with the former, and it tends to increase my belief 
in the sincerity of his professions ; but I have seen so many 
changes of this sort effected by the despondency of the moment, 
which have been only coeval with that condition of the mind, and 
have given way at the dawn of better prospects, that I cannot 
give full credence to the solidity and unalterableness of his pres- 
ent resolutions. 

" In the usual style of young and enthusiastic converts, my 
friend speaks in terms of perfect carelessness as to the reflections 
and contempt of the world. He even fears he shall be obliged to 
bear my reproaches ; for he looks on me as an absolute apostate 
from the faith, and in a state nigh unto destruction. He observes 
that he does not expect success to attend his persuasions, unless 
it be the allotted moment of visitation ; but he repeats the most 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 91 

fervent strains of eulogy on his own, and the most earnest dec- 
larations of anxiety for my conversion. 

" Bolton is wrong in supposing that I would ridicule or con- 
temn his sentiments. I believe religion to be the grand bulwark 
of society ; and I have long deemed it unjustifiable to insult its 
professors, even though I may believe their notions, in some par- 
ticulars, absurd, or themselves too enthusiastically devout. I 
confess, the religion which I wish to see prevalent, is that which 
is comprised in a monition not likely to be too often repeated, to 
do to others as we would be willing they should do to us. I have 
never been able to persuade myself that one-half of mankind can, 
under any circumstances, be sentenced to eternal perdition ; es- 
pecially, as zealots say, though they have fulfilled all the requi- 
sitions of the moral and social law. But I respect even this zeal 
in those whom I think unnecessarily devout, because I think they 
intend well ; and I believe that enthusiasm itself has been pro- 
ductive of good effects among a numerous class, whom it has led 
from destructive habits of irregularity and intemperance to a 
sober, orderly, and quiet deportment. 

" Whatever doubts and difficulties may envelope my concep- 
tions of certain doctrinal tenets, and mysteries in religion which 
I camiot understand, Grod forbid that I should ever attempt to 
shake the faith of any man." 

Two days after this long note, he makes this brief entry : 
" April 9, 1800. Answered the two letters of my friend Bolton." 
Would that this answer were at this day recoverable. From the 
foregoing extracts, however, it is easy to see what were Mr. Mil- 
nor's religious notions at the time when that answer was written. 
They were what, many years later, when rector of St. George's, 
he thus describes, in a long letter to one of his female parishion- 
ers. She had written him a minute account of her sceptical 
doubts and difficulties on the subject of the Christian scheme, 
with an evidently sincere and earnest desire to be relieved of her 
embarrassments, and to reach a settled and comforting faith ; and 
he was about to advise a particular course of inquiry with a view 
to her relief. He introduces his advice by saying, 

" Now, the recommendation with which I am encouraged to 
follow this suggestion, is warranted by my own experience of its 



92 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

benefits. I acknowledge to you, that I was once a subject of like 
temptations with yourself; and that, for a time, I pacified my 
conscience by avoiding an absolute rejection of revelation, and 
substituting an unintelligent acquiescence in that miserable 
scheme of universal salvation, which I am happy to find you 
have been enabled more promptly to reject. So many rational, 
as well as scriptural arguments, however, continually arose 
against those which seemed to support that specious plan, that I 
was determined to satisfy myself, by abandoning all conjectures 
on the subject, and betaking myself exclusively to the plain dec- 
larations of Scripture. But before I took this step, I began to 
question whether I was a real believer in the Yolume of Inspira- 
tion. It occurred to me that I could not so continually find fault 
with the providential arrangements of Gfod, and with the declar- 
ations of his word, if I were certainly convinced of the truth of 
this sacred book. I therefore concluded to examine the evidences 
of its pretensions. I did so. My rational understanding was 
convinced. I had no more doubt of the genuineness and authen- 
ticity of the Scriptures than of my own existence ; nor have I 
now. Still, I was staggered at some of its parts ; and as I now 
dared not reject them, I was disposed to put my own interpreta- 
tion on their import. My views erred principally in the reception 
of unevangelical notions of the doctrines of the New Testament. 
These led me to an undue appreciation of human effort, and to a 
mischievous conceit of the merit of works. I was disposed neither 
to sink myself, nor to exalt the Saviour. But, thanks be to God, 
this state of things was not to last. I became concerned for a 
deeper acquaintance with the fundamental doctrines of the Gos- 
pel. I read my Bible more — more too in the spirit of a learner. 
I ventured to pray. By the light of God's word, and, as I trust, 
by the help of his Spirit, I discerned the character of man. I 
saw my own character in its proper colors. I perceived, on the 
ground of an authority to which my understanding unhesitating- 
ly assented, that I was a sinner — by the sentence of the Law, a 
condemned sinner — and had no hope of mercy but through a 
Saviour. I was convinced that such a being as I was, never 
could be admitted to the presence of a holy God, but through the 
atonement and mediation of the Redeemer ; that a change, also, 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 93 

in my heart and affections was indispensable ; and that God's 
Spirit alone could bestow the needed blessing. As I firmly be- 
lieved my eternal salvation depended on an experience of 'a 
death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness,' I sought it 
in deep repentance and in vigorous exercises of faith in Christ, in 
earnest supplication, and in the prayerful study of sacred writ, 
and when emboldened to do so, in the ordinances of religion. I 
hope I was careful to take no merit to myself for any of these 
exercises, but to give the glory of my salvation wholly to my 
God and Saviour." 

Thus ran his own experience ; and to the adoption of a simi- 
lar course of inquiry and of prayer, he proceeds to urge his doubt- 
ing and troubled parishioner. It appears, therefore, that friend 
Aquila, though he evidently underrated his "dear James's" high- 
mindedness and generosity, by supposing him capable of treating 
his friend's views with ridicule or contempt, was yet, after all, 
not far in the wrong in considering him the subject of a pretty 
thorough scepticism in regard to the true system of the Gospel, 
at the time when he addressed to him those two faithful and 
searching letters. The state of Mr. Milnor's mind was then evi- 
dently what he describes in the former part of the extract above 
given from the letter to his doubting parishioner. He supposed 
himself to* have avoided an absolute rejection of revelation by 
adopting, unintelligently, the theory of a universal salvation ; 
and yet he found, upon afterwards looking into his mind, that he 
had all along had too little reason for regarding himself as really 
a believer in the inspiration of the sacred Scriptures. 

At what period he began his prayerful study of the Bible and 
of the evidences of its truth and divine inspiration, as described 
in the latter part of that extract, we have no means of ascertain- 
ing: but it was probably soon after the receipt of his friend Bol- 
ton's letters. We know, however, very well, when the resulting 
state of a thorough rational conviction of the truth and inspiration 
of the Bible passed into those deeper convictions of the heart 
which he mentions, and which, by revealing him to himself as 
a condemned sinner, drove him, in vigorous faith, to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, as his only hope of pardon and eternal life. That 
state, then, of mere rational conviction, attended, for a series of 



94 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

years, with an "overvaluation of human effort and a mischiev- 
ous conceit of the merit of works," continued, with a tendency 
perhaps towards juster views, till after the close of his second 
session in Congress ; and it was then, more especially during his 
third winter in Washington, that it unequivocally passed into 
those interior experiences, in which his true religious life took 
its beginning. This general course of his mind on the subject 
of religion we shall see marked with sufficient distinctness when 
we proceed to look further at his resumed diary, and at his let- 
ters to Mrs. Milnor, and to his friend Thomas Bradford, Jr. 

As to his friend Bolton, whose letters evidently affected his 
mind deeply, and may have been the blessed occasion of turn- 
ing it away from its early looseness and scepticism towards 
juster religious thought, subsequent letters from him show, that 
after the breaking up of his opening fortunes by the failure of 
Mr. Butler, he had a life of various adventure in various lands ; 
a series of enterprises and ill-successes, of hopes and disappoint- 
ments; struggling hard, the while, to abide in faithfulness to his 
God and Saviour ; till finally, we find him returned to his native 
country, and quietly settled — with bright prospects once more, 
and, judging from the style of his address, a gay and cheerful 
member of the society of Friends — in the village of "Wheeling, 
in Western Virginia : having, as to denominational peculiarities, 
landed in the very haven from which his friend James took his 
departure, when read out of the Quaker meeting. By what 
steps the latter reached so different a resting-place, and attained 
to the character and station in which we are mainly to contem- 
plate him, and in which he stands forth an object of so much 
interest to the church of Christ, we are now to see. 

Mr. Milnor's earlier diary broke off in the year 1800. His 
later was begun in 1809. In character and object the two are 
very unlike. What the former aims at, we have had an opportu- 
nity of judging. What the latter contemplates, will be under- 
stood when we state that it consists almost wholly of a series of 
reports or abstracts written from memory, and sometimes very 
full, of the various sermons which he heard preached in the years 
1809, 1810, and 1813, chiefly in one of the three associated 
churches in Philadelphia, of which Bishop White was rector. 



RELIGIOUS CHAXGE. 95 

This diary, however, if it may be called such," is valuable to us in 
exploring an earlier period of his life than any included in its 
dates, from the circumstance that, on several occasions, he pauses 
from his homiletic reports and indulges in serious retrospects, 
which enable us to see along what track his mind had been 
moving. Sometimes, too, he intersperses his reports with remarks 
of his own, which reveal to us the tone and spirit of his religious 
views during the years in which those reports were written. 

These reports were evidently begun after his examination of 
the Bible and its evidences had so thoroughly convinced his reason 
that the book was God's. His habit of writing them was inter- 
rupted by his election to Congress ; but was for a short time 
resumed, with more of interspersed journalizing, in the year 1S13, 
after he had left Washington and political life together, and had 
resolved to devote himself to the work of the Christian ministry. 
Upon this temporary resumption of his habit, he thus laments 
the effects of the cause by which it had been interrupted, under 
date of March 25, 1813. 

Early in October, 1810, " I was elected a member of the 12th 
Congress ; and my mind being soon very much occupied with 
arrangements preparatory to leaving home, was most prejudicially 
drawn from that attention to religion which I had previously 
found increasing upon me in a most encouraging manner." 

His weekly exercise in writing out what he could remember 
of the sermons which he heard, was designed to assist him in 
reaping better fruits than he had been wont to realize from his 
religious instructions. He was in fact, even then, darkly feeling 
his way towards a light in which he was to walk rejoicingly, as 
one who could see his Leader. After taking brief notes of three 
sermons to which he had been listening on Sunday, the 17th of 
September, 1809, he appends the following reflections. 

"If I did not know the inconstancy of my resolutions, and 
even doubt the possibility of my adhering to so good an one, I 
would propose to note occasionally the text and subject of such 
sermons as I may hear. It is astonishing how evanescent has 
been the impression made by those to which I have heretofore 
listened. I have supposed myself attentive, have been pleased, 
instructed, sometimes feelingly affected ; but the impression has 



96 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

passed away like 'the morning cloud and the early dew,' and 
the lapse of a few days has effaced all memory of the text and 
the commentary. To what is this owing ? In a great degree to 
the want of a retentive memory, though such a memory is so 
necessary in my professional pursuits : but conscience tells me it 
arises principally from the want of a feeling of real interest and 
concern in the business of religion. The heart must be engaged : 
it will then enlist all the powers of memory on its side. I listen 
to sermons as to a speech at the bar, or a recitation at the theatre. 
I listen for amusement, and from habit. I go to church because 
I have been used to go thither at statedly recurring periods. I 
do not reflect afterwards on what has been said, nor ask myself. 
' Am I wiser, am I better for what I have heard V 

"A knowledge of one's fault is said to be the first step towards 
amendment. I wish it were so with me ; but I have long known 
my errors and inattentions, yet they are not removed nor les- 
sened. I would still hope for a change, if I dared rely on any 
determination of my otvn, or dared to ask for a superior influ- 
ence to effect it" 

This is one of those points already mentioned, at which he 
pauses from his weekly work of writing out abstracts of sermons, 
and throws his mind back into thoughtful retrospect. Accord- 
ingly, after recording the fact of his disownment by the Quakers, 
soon after his marriage in 1799, he proceeds to some remarks on 
the preaching to which he was in the habit of listening, especially 
on the offensiveness to his mind of certain doctrinal discussions 
which he could not relish, and to which, in his keen pursuit of 
wealth and pleasure, and in his self-righteous " conceit of the 
merit of works," it may fairly be assumed he was not qualified 
to do justice. He writes, 

" The Rev. John Blair Linn was pastor of the first Presbyte- 
rian church in Philadelphia, and incited by a great fondness for 
his style of preaching, which was liberal and unsectarian, though 
at once evangelical and moral, I took part of a pew in that 
church." [This appears to have been not long after his separa- 
tion from the society of Friends.] "'In a few years death de- 
prived the congregation of this valuable minister, and he was 
succeeded by the Rev. James P. Wilson, a man of great learning 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 97 

and most exemplary piety, but so devoted to the peculiar doc- 
trines of the Calvinists, and the discussion of intricate points of 
theology, and though amiable in an eminent degree in private 
life, yet so illiberal, austere, and sour in the pulpit, that I could 
not, with satisfaction or profit, continue my attendance on his 
administration. My aversion to many of the dogmas of the 
Presbyterians, and to Mr. "Wilson's style of preaching, induced 
me to take a pew in the new church of St. James, where I now 
attend." 

It will be remembered, that although this was written in 
1809, it goes back in its retrospect to at least the beginning 
of 1800, and therefore to the time when friend Aquila's letters 
were written. And yet a passage in his diary, too long for in- 
sertion here, clearly implies, that while Mr. Milnor attended the 
Presbyterian church, he admitted the truth and inspiration of 
the Bible, and even agreed with his preachers, Mr. Linn and Mr. 
Wilson, if not in all points of speculative faith, at least in what 
he deemed the essential doctrines of revelation. His study of 
the Bible and its evidences, therefore, and his rational conviction 
of its divine origin, must have been very soon after the receipt 
of Mr. Bolton's letters. They could not have had an earlier 
date, because, as we have seen, his contemporaneous comments 
on those letters show him to have been at that time, however 
unintelligently, yet practically a believer in the notion of an uni- 
versal salvation ; while his own subsequent letter to his doubt- 
ing parishioner proves, on his own acknowledgment, that so long- 
as that notion continued to occupy his mind, he was virtually 
without faith in a revelation. It was, in fact, his discovery of 
this that impelled him to his investigations, and thus led to that 
mere rational faith — that assent of the reason to the truth of the 
Scriptures, without the heart's experience of their power— of 
which we have spoken, and with which he so evidently sat under 
the teachings of the Presbyterian church. In all probability, 
then, the conversion of his reason took place very soon after he 
received his friend Bolton's letters ; while that of his heart was 
deferred to a long subsequent period. 

From this comparison of dates and circumstances, we gather 
increasing evidence, that the letters of Mr. Bolton, which so " ex- 

Mem. Milnor. 7 



98 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ceedingly surprised and affected'''' the mind of his friend, may 
have lain at the very beginning of that series of providential 
means by which he was led away from his earlier cold, practical 
unbelief, first to inquiry, then to intellectual assent, and finally, 
after long years of self-righteous trustings, to that " belief of the 
heart which is unto righteousness, and that confession of the 
mouth which is unto salvation." So late as the autumn of 
1809, he was not only unstable as water, " in any determinations 
of his own," but without grayer for divine aid. He " dared not 
to ask for superior influence to effect a change.'''' In truth, dur- 
ing the whole period from 1802 down to 1812, he was evidently 
striving to confirm himself in those " unevangelical views of the 
doctrines of the New Testament," which " led him to an undue 
appreciation of human effort, and to a mischievous conceit of the 
merit of works ;" and his fighting, meanwhile, with the dogmas 
of Calvinism, be the truth or error of that system what it may, 
was just a convenient shield against deeper self-knowledge, used 
to protect himself yet longer in his overestimate of mere out- 
ward morality. 

His friend T. Bradford, Jr., has a paragraph in his " Reminis- 
cences" which touches a portion of the above period. " He was 
for several years a worshipper in the First Presbyterian church 
in Market-street, under the pastoral care of the Rev. James P. 
Wilson, D. D. The acuteness, discrimination, and learning of 
the doctor, who had been for many years an eminent lawyer in 
the state of Delaware, and whose sermons were peculiarly marked 
by the characteristics of a legal mind, were highly interesting to 
him, though he could not then accord with the strictness of their 
theology. The subject of religion became frequently the topic of 
conversation in our daily walks, and we often discoursed on the 
Calvinistic system — he opposing, and I, according to my view 
of the Bible, maintaining its correctness ; whilst neither of us, at 
the time, had any spiritual light or knowledge." 

In the last extract from Mr. Milnor's later diary is stated the 
fact, with the reason for it, of his leaving the Presbyterian, and 
beginning to attend the Episcopal church. From the circum- 
stance, then, that his practice of taking notes of sermons in St. 
James', and his assignment of reasons for transferring his attend- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 99 

ance thither, are both mentioned for the first time under the date 
of Sept. 17, 1809, it may perhaps be rightly inferred that this 
transfer of church relations took place a short time before that 
date, or when he was about thirty-six years of age. That change, 
whatever we may think of the reason for it, may have been 
favorable to his religious hopes, inasmuch as his evidently intense 
dislike of Calvinistic doctrines was no longer irritated and kept 
open, like a frequently fretted sore ; while his mind, freed from 
such a source of annoyance, was the more likely to reflect calmly 
and seriously upon those uncontroverted truths of the Gospel, to 
which he listened both before and after the transfer was made. 
This inference seems supported by his diary, so far as it sheds 
any light on the progress of his religious views ; for although he 
continued three years longer to cherish unevangelical notions of 
the doctrines of the New Testament, yet there is evidence that 
he was all that while feeling after something to which he knew 
he had never attained. The very fact, that he was so earnest in 
taking careful and often copious notes of the sermons which he 
heard, shows that he was resolved, so far as his weak resolutions 
were of any worth, to press on from the mere rational belief 
which he had reached, to something which he might regard as a 
corresponding experience of the heart. And besides this, his 
notes of sermons are, as we have said, occasionally interspersed 
with remarks of his own, which indicate at least a growing ten- 
derness of feeling, and reflectiveness of habit ; however little they 
may, as yet, show of the true light breaking on his spirit. Some 
of these remarks occur at the opening of the year 1810. During 
the latter part of 1809, he had suffered his new habit of noting 
down sermons to be interrupted. He therefore began the new 
year with this sober record : 

" Jan., 1810. — Various reasons, which it is unnecessary to 
enumerate, because, when combined, they furnish no sufficient 
apology for the neglect, have occasioned a breach of my resolu- 
tion to note very briefly the substance of the religious discourses 
to which I attend ; not that my attendance on the devotional 
exercises of the Sabbath has been interrupted, but that causes, 
sometimes of more weight than at others, have induced a yield- 
ing to my habitual indolence of disposition. This I have contin- 



100 MEMOIR OF DE. MILWOR. 

ually to lament, as ; the sin which doss most easily beset me.' 
It produces its effects on all my habits, as well professional as 
others : and although I cannot deem myself at all times and in 
all respects its victim, yet I am so in a degree injurious to my 
concerns and oppressive to my feelings. It is easier to resolve 
to shake it off, than to do so — to form resolutions of industry, than 
to adhere to them." Doubtless he stands alone in thus urging 
against himself the charge of the sin of indolence. 

" The close of the old year, and the commencement of the 
new, have given birth to many sermons on the value of time and 
the brevity of life : the uncertainty of terrestrial enjoyments, and 
the certainty of irrespective death, and of a future accountability 
at the bar of an almighty Judge, for our negligences and omis- 
sions of duty, as well as for the transgressions of this life ; and 
yet. how many, like myself, listen to these solenni truths and 
awful warnings as to ' a twice-told tale !' "We hear — we assent; 
but where is to be seen the beneficial result ? Seldom in our 
secular concerns : much more seldom in those of our immortal 
souls." 

Thus entered he on the year IS 10 — questioning solemnly, yet 
coming to no decision. He had not yet looked far enough, if at 
all. into the hidden cause of his deep prejudice against the truth, 
and of his long and frequent failures to make progress in a better 
life. A sight into the dark deeps of sin in his own heart was 
yet to be vouchsafed him, before he could do more than run round 
a circle of oft-formed and as oft broken purposes — before he could 
start on a really onward and upward movement in the divine life 
of the soul. 

Immediately after his new year's reflections, he proceeds, 
through several pages of his diary, to discuss a topic which had 
evidently been for some time occupying his mind : the propriety 
of forms of prayer in the public devotions of Christians. This 
question, he says, was long a perplexing one to his mind. But 
it had ceased to be so, from first doubting the claims of his for- 
mer associates, the Friends, to immediate inspiration in the duty 
of public prayer ; and from next observing that his later associ- 
ates, the Presbyterians and others, although they had no estab- 
lished written forms, yet proceeded from Sunday to Sunday in 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 101 

the use of nearly the same words in their devotional exercises. 
Reasoning on from these doubts and observations, he comes out 
in the conclusions, first, that in public worship, written prayers 
are proper ; second, that if proper, and therefore used, they ought 
to be established by ecclesiastical authority ; and third, that if 
they are to be thus established, no better can be expected than 
those already furnished in the Common Prayer of the English 
and American Episcopal church : all these conclusions being sub- 
ject to the condition, that in private worship, the individual may 
adapt his supplications to the circumstances of the moment ; 
using either prepared forms, or the pious and feeling effusions of 
his own mind. The whole disquisition is interesting, but too 
long for insertion. It is enough to say of it, that although he 
had been but a few months a worshipper in the Episcopal church, 
yet it shows him to have been no unreflecting observer of her 
forms, and that he had already become, in one point, a sound 
Episcopalian, if not an experienced Christian. 

The next extract to be given from his diary is interesting, 
not so much from the fact which it records, as from the allusion 
which it contains. It is part of his entry on the evening of 

" Sunday, Jan. 27, 1810. — In the evening went to hear Dr. 
Pilmore, at St. Paul's church. 

" This gentleman, in his mode of preaching, departs from the 
general practice of Episcopal clergymen in two respects. He 
does not write his sermons, but speaks from short notes ; and he 
is much more evangelical in the treatment of his subject, and 
much more fervent in his delivery. This, as may be expected, 
increases the admiration of the more pious members of his flock, 
while it diminishes his popularity with others. For my part, as 
he is a man of undoubted talents, and, from his long service in 
the office of a public minister, is fluent in his style, and suffi- 
ciently methodical and perspicuous in the distribution of the 
heads of his discourses, and very ready in his scriptural quota- 
tions and allusions, I feel no great repugnance to the circum- 
stance of his sermons being, in a considerable degree, extempore. 

"As to the evangelical character of his discourses, it is, in 
my opinion, unobjectionable, because he allies it with, and makes 
it auxiliary to the inculcation of morals ; and he sets forth the 



102 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

atonement of our Saviour, in the general way in which it is 
viewed by most Christians, without proposing the perplexing, 
intricate, and dark theology, which the stricter Calvinists deduce 
from it. He enters upon no critical disquisitions upon nice and 
disputable doctrinal points, but endeavors to fix the faith and the 
affections of his hearers upon the blessed Redeemer, as the alone 
means of salvation, as the great propitiation for sin, as the divine 
Inculcator of morality, as the glorious Intercessor for his people 
at the right hand of God, and as the everlasting Judge of all the 
earth, who, in the great day of final retribution, will give to 
every man according to his works." 

This extract, it was said, is interesting, not so much from 
the fact which it records — that Mr. Milnor went to hear Dr. Pil- 
more — as from the allusion which it contains, to the difference 
between Dr. Pilmore's preaching, and that of the Episcopal clergy 
generally in his day. That able and holy man of God, it is be- 
lieved, was, after the times of Devereux Jarrat, among the first, 
if not the very first of those whom God raised up, when the 
effects of the war of our Revolution had, in the main, passed 
away, to be his instruments in quickening at least parts of a 
church, which had been left all but spiritually dead, not only 
under the ruthless and iron hoof of war, but also under the 
chilling and deadening influences — worse than those of war — 
exerted by long years of most " unevangelical " teachings. The 
obloquy which such men as Jarrat and Pilmore were compelled 
to endure, has been fruitful of precious results. They have suc- 
cessors to their spirit, and, God favoring, shall continue to have, 
till the church in which they served becomes, as nearly as the 
lot of man admits, all life, and full of " the fruits of the Spirit." 

But, not to anticipate too largely a topic which may again 
pass under our notice, it is evident from the above extract, that 
Mr. Milnor was not only growing in orthodoxy of faith, but also 
examining for himself all points, as they came along, of practi- 
cal interest ; and that, so far as his examinations were carried, 
he was quietly tending towards more serious views, and even 
losing some of his repugnance to evangelical doctrines — provided, 
always, they stopped short of the much-dreaded Calvinism of 
the stricter sort, against which he had so long warred. The 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 103 

moderate Calvinism, if so it may be termed, of the evangelical 
preacher did not offend him, because he saw how it included and 
produced the moralities of life. The doctrine of atonement was 
not unacceptable, because he heard deduced from it no decree of 
" unconditional reprobation." 

Soon after his connection with the Episcopal church, as an 
attendant on its worship, he was elected one of the vestrymen 
of the parish to which he belonged ; and, for several months after 
the new-year of 1810, continued, with increasing interest, his 
weekly exercise of writing out sermons from memory. In the 
summer of that year, however, this exercise was again interrupt- 
ed ; not now from indolence, but from other causes. Hence, when 
he resumed this exercise, it was after leaving a blank page of his 
diary, on which are written simply these words : 

"Hiatus, valde, valde defiendus" — 

expressive of the deep regret which he felt at the interruption; 
and followed by this short note. 

" Sept. 1, 1810. — Frequent absence from the city during the 
summer months, has prevented a regular attendance on public 
worship. I shall, on the morrow, resume the duty with real 
pleasure; for, after all, Sunday is to me not only a day of rest 
from the vexatious cares of life, but a much greater source of 
real enjoyment, when employed as religion and conscience enjoin, 
than when devoted to recreations of a lighter kind." 

Once, had he written as he felt, he would probably have said, 
that recreations of a lighter kind were more pleasing to him 
than a Sunday spent as religion and conscience enjoin. Thus 
far, then, had he been led. Habit, and perhaps the secret teach- 
ings of the Spirit, had made his mode of spending the Lord's day 
a source of more real enjoyment than he could find in worldly 
amusements on the Sabbath. How far he had recently been 
trying those amusements during his summer absences, he does 
not say ; but he leaves something of room for the inference that 
he had been indulging in them, and had "after all" found them 
more than usually unsatisfying in connection with the day. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, the 2d of September, he heard a 
sermon from the Rev. Dr. Abercrombie, on " The Christian life 



104 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

vieived as a warfare." To a somewhat brief notice of the dis- 
course he appends the following remarks. They are inserted for 
the view which they furnish of his religious creed at that period 
of his life. 

"Although, in this discourse, no allusion was made to the 
Calvinistic doctrine, which would puff up any individual whose 
pride, egotism, and self-righteousness led him to suppose him- 
self of the number of the elect, and his tear fare of course at 
an end, yet I never hear the Christian life referred to as a state 
of warfare without feeling more and more convinced of the 
falsity of that doctrine. I believe no human being, until he has 
shaken off mortality, is exempt from a liability to fall into sin ; 
and although the Calvinists would persuade us that the regen- 
erate cannot presumptuously sin, yet I thiDk Scripture and all 
experience are against the supposition of any such state of per- 
fection in this life. It is true, they talk of his having about him 
some of the remaining corruptions of his nature, which may lead 
him into transgression ; but they consider this not as wilful sin, 
and rely on its not being imputed to him as such. How much 
more consonant with the principles of right reason and of the 
Gospel is it, to suppose that, at no period of our temporal exist- 
ence, are we exempt from the infirmities of our nature, from ex- 
posure to the temptations that surround us, and, in our best state, 
from the danger of falling from rectitude into error and wicked- 
ness. The degree of danger, no doubt, depends on circumstances. 
The man who entertains just conceptions of the character of God, 
as a being of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness ; who views 
him as the God of providence, constantly superintending, influ- 
encing, and controlling the works which he has made ; who, con- 
vinced of his divine omnipresence, considers all his actions and 
all his thoughts as every moment passing the ordeal of unerring 
inspection; who, believing in the Grospel of Christ and the plan 
of salvation which it displays, adds to his faith obedience to its 
principles and precepts, and who loves his fellow-men, and is 
under an abiding impression that, for the glory of God, the hap- 
piness of man, and his own salvation, it is necessary for him ' to 
do with his might whatsoever his hands find to do :' such a man, 
I say, has the vantage-ground of his enemies; he may conn- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 105 

dently rely on the pleasing prospect before him, of, in the end, 
overcoming all his foes, and of being permitted, as his reward, 
' to eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of 
God.' 

" But does not even such a man as this at times remember — 
if not with a feeling apprehension of danger, yet with that dis- 
position to be ever on the alert which characterizes the real sol- 
dier — the sacred admonition, ' Let him that thinketh he stand- 
eth, take heed lest he fall V Although he may be sensible of a 
strong faith in Christ, and in the promises of the Gospel, and 
may modestly hope the seeds of divine truth have fallen into his 
heart as good ground, which he may determine to ' keep, and 
bring forth fruit with patience ;' yet, will his trust be unmingled 
with the apprehension lest he should finally prove one of those 
' who, when they hear, receive the word with joy ; but, having 
no root, for a while believe, and in the time of temptation fall 
away V Surely, this life is a state of trial and probation, and 
as surely do the trial and probation continue to the end of life. 
Let no one, therefore, plume himself on having gained a victory 
which entitles him to lay aside the weapons of his warfare, and 
retire into a life of peaceful security and inaction. He has done 
much. One victory gives a comfortable hope of more, and every 
enemy subdued lessens the labor of his future conflicts ; but let 
him not suppose that his opponents are altogether destroyed. In 
a moment of fancied security, they may steal upon his repose ; 
their attacks may be met by an unarmed soldier fatally sleeping 
on his post, and he may fall an easy conquest in consequence of 
his dreadful mistake of supposing there was peace when there 
was no peace." 

This extract almost betrays a struggle in Mr. Milnor's mind. 
It seems as if you could see, under his words, a concealed effort 
to justify to himself his cherished dislike of Calvinism, while at 
the same time, he is seeking for something on which he could 
rest as a rational view of the Gospel. It is not our province, 
even were it our wish, to defend Calvinism ; but were a Calvin- 
ist to do so, in reply to the argument of the above extract, it is 
easy to see he would proceed by showing that the writer does 
not accurately represent the theory which he opposes ; that he 



106 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

is, apparently, biassed by his feelings ; and that in most, if not 
all of the defensible points of his argument, he and the Calvinist 
might not, after all, find it so difficult to agree. The extract 
shows a progress toivards the Gospel, with no slight mixture still 
remaining both of an unevangelical spirit and of an unevangeli- 
cal creed. 

The next extract from his diary will exhibit a similar state 
of mind on the subject of the Sabbath — an evidently growing 
reverence for the institution, and yet, as evidently, a lingering 
dread of running into an over-rigid and austere mode of observ- 
ing the day. 

" Sunday, 16th Sept., 1810, A. M.— The return of this day of 
devotion and rest is grateful to my feelings. The abstraction, 
for a time, from the pursuits and cares of business ; the leisure 
for contemplating the character and perfections of the Most 
High, and the opportunity for humble endeavors to offer accept- 
able worship in sanctuaries dedicated to his service ; for perusing 
the oracles of a divine and infallible revelation ; for reflection on 
past errors and offences, and for using the means of future cau- 
tion and improvement which the season furnishes, as well in 
silent meditation as in an attendance on the advices of those 
appointed to minister in holy things, all contribute to render this 
a blessed holiday. 

" Alas, how is it abused by the inconsiderate and thought- 
less ! How have I abused it ! Let me endeavor, in this respect, 
to ' sin no more.' Let me, God, reverence this day as I ought, 
but preserve me from those errors of superstition, or fanaticism, 
which would exclude from its enjoyments the delights of social 
converse and innocent association with the friendly circle.. Let 
revelry and intemperance be kept far away ; let no trifling occa- 
sion induce an omission of attendance at the house of prayer ; 
let a season for private reading and meditation be afforded, but 
let the heart remain open for the cheering emotions of friendship 
and regard to those we love, and let not a narrow and contracted 
disposition be induced by a mistaken apprehension of the true 
duties of thine holy religion. Next to thee, we are taught by 
the lessons of a blessed Saviour, to ' love our neighbor as our- 
selves.' May we rightly appreciate this teaching as calling for 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 107 

the performance of the duties of our various allotments in life, 
' visiting the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and 
keeping ourselves unspotted' — not removing — ' from the world.' " 

This is the first of Mr. Milnor's recorded prayers ; and it is 
indeed the prayer of a beginner : not so much a supplication for 
grace to keep the Sabbath holy, as a petition to be preserved from 
keeping it too rigidly. how was he struggling in the dark ! 
laboring for a better life, yet laboring in bondage, with little or 
nothing of the freedom of a son ; the Spirit, it may be, teaching 
him, but leading to success at last, through the suffering of fail- 
ure at first. 

Sunday, Oct. 7, 1810, gives us the last of the " annotations" 
which Mr. Milnor made on the sermons preached at St. James' 
before his election to Congress, and the consequent unfavorable 
change in his habits of spending the Lord's day, which have 
already been noticed. His principal notes that day were on a 
sermon by Bishop White, upon the parable of the prodigal son ; a 
sermon, which apparently struck him with much force, and which 
he wrote out at almost its full length. 

The change just mentioned, in his habits of spending the 
Sabbath, has been termed "unfavorable." Such we must admit 
it to have been ; for, although the opening of his congressional 
life found him still unevangelical in his views of Christian doc- 
trine ; in feeling, if not in theory, opposed to salvation by grace ; 
yet is it past dispute, that on religious subjects, there had been 
progress in his mind, and that this progress was distinctly away 
from that loose freethinking, and its accompanying enmity against 
the G-ospel, which characterized him in early life. He was edu- 
cated in the freer and more liberal notions of the people to whom 
from childhood he belonged. With those notions he passed, at 
the time of his marriage, from his fellowship with the Quakers, 
through his supposed adoption of the tenets of Universalism, which 
was, after all, but another name with him for real scepticism on 
the subject of revelation, into an outward attendance on the min- 
istry of the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. Soon after he 
left the Quakers, and probably under the influence of his friend 
Bolton's faithful appeals, examination made him, in his rational 
understanding, a believer ; though it left him still amid the nat- 



108 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ural wilderings of " an evil heart of unbelief." But as years 
rolled by, and as he approached the opening of his congressional 
career, it is too plain for concealment, that, like "the scribe" 
whom Christ addressed, he was, though still out of it, yet "not 
far from the kingdom of Grod." Legal practice had already be- 
come distasteful ; the spirit and maxims of the world held a far 
less undisputed sway over his mind ; the general subject of relig- 
ion had become interesting to his thoughts ; he was evidently 
giving it much reflection ; the cast of his mind had even grown 
theological ; on some points he seemed " wiser than his teachers ;" 
and what is more, though he still continued to fight with Calvin- 
ism, and was by no means evangelical in all his doctrines, yet 
his prejudices against stricter views were much softened, and he 
could listen dispassionately, and with some satisfaction, to one 
of the leaders among that little band of despised ones, who had 
already begun to constitute a portion of our church. 

This may probably be regarded as a fair view of his religious 
progress and state of mind, up to the period of which we are now 
speaking. His election to Congress checked that progress, though 
it seems not materially to have affected this state. As he was, at 
his election in October, 1810, such he appears to have been, at the 
opening of his third Congressional term, in October, 1812. The 
most distinct notices, in the interim, of his inner being, relate to 
his ever-growing distaste for politics and for legal practice. Let- 
ters, yet to be examined, are strong on this point, and show, that 
if he had not become a Christian indeed, still, he was not likely 
to have remained either a politician in his pursuits, or a lawyer 
in his practice. 

Passing now, with these remarks, over his first two years in 
Congress, we are ready for an advance to his own account of the 
grand turning-point, the great crisis of his whole life. "We have 
viewed him in every important light in which his natural charac- 
ter needs to be placed. We have traced him from his parentage ; 
through his education ; into his professional studies ; among his 
social, civil, literary, and benevolent relations and pursuits ; and 
along his legal and his political career : and, amid all these, we 
have followed him through that darkly winding way which he 
tracked, from the blank wastes of scepticism, through secret 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 109 

stragglings with the shadowy forms of Universalism ; through 
more open, manly, and intense toils among the records and the 
evidences of the Bible as a revelation ; through barren years of 
cold, unproductive belief, and of unsatisfying, unevangelical the- 
ory ; and through fierce fightings with the Genevan giant and his 
offspring : till finally, we find him — with much of the light of 
truth in his head, and that light apparently beginning to beam 
downwards into his heart — walking earnestly, and standing, 
amid raised hopes and expectations, "not far from the kingdom 
of G-od ;" though, as yet, wanting that one thing, without which 
he might have stood at the gate for ever, incapable of entering 
among the wonders which lie within. 

"What this one thing was, he soon learned by the manifest 
teachings of God ; and the brief account which he gives of it, 
is contained in his diary, once more resumed when he had taken 
his final leave of Washington and politics. Writing in Philadel- 
phia, after he reached home, he prefaces this account with a few 
ordinary particulars, some of which have already been noticed, 
and others of which, as they belong to this period in the history 
of his religious life, may be here introduced. Under date of 
March 25, 1813, he says, 

" In my relation as a vestryman of the United Episcopal 
churches in the city of Philadelphia, I was considerably engaged 
in the secular affairs of the parish. I also served as a lay dele- 
gate in the ( Pennsylvania ) State Convention of 1811 ; and in 
May of that year was sent, in the same capacity, to the " Trien- 
nial" (or General) " Convention of the Episcopal Church at New 
Haven." 

On his way to New Haven, he spent a Sunday in New York, 
where he met and had a pleasant interview with Dr. Hobart, 
whom, in a letter to his wife, written in New Haven, he styles 
" one of my earliest and most intimate friends." Dr. Hobart was 
then Bishop elect of the diocese of New York. Dr. Wm. H. 
Milnor says, in his "Recollections," "They had been school- 
boys together." When they met in New York, " how little did 
either of them think of the relations which they would bear to- 
wards each other in after-years." 



110 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 



SECTION II. 

We proceed now with Mr. Milnor's account of the change 
which gave a new course and color to his whole life. Writing 
still, as in former extracts, under date of March 25, 1813, he 
says, 

" During the past fall and winter," that is, through the 
whole of his last session in Congress, " the interesting concerns 
of religion pressed themselves upon me with renewed force. The 
immense importance of the soul's salvation ; the inefficacy of 
mere human exertion in effecting it ; the abominable nature of 
sin ; my own character as a sinner ; the riches of grace in Christ 
Jesus ; and the necessity of embracing his precious merits, as 
alone calculated to redeem me from hell, renovate my nature, 
and fit me for ' an inheritance among the saints in light ' — all 
these considerations agitated my feelings for many weeks in their 
successive operations, until, by God's grace, I experienced some 
sense of his pardoning mercy, and was made willing to assume 
his yoke. 

"My friend Thomas Bradford, Jr., being at the same time 
engaged in similar exercises, we exchanged sundry letters, which 
I have thought proper to transcribe, as containing a faithful 
record of my spiritual engagements during the time alluded to, 
and of the nature and result of my religious experience." 

Such is the " brief account" of his change, referred to near 
the close of the previous section. He wrote contemporaneous 
letters to his wife, and to a few others, full of the same theme ; 
and they may all be taken, with those to his friend Bradford, 
as containing his more prolonged, though still informal account 
of the process so briefly sketched in the above extract from his 
diary. A few connected incidents, however, of peculiar interest, 
may well be allowed to introduce such extracts as it may be 
necessary to make from the series. 

In his letters to his wife, during the winter of 1812, his 
second session in Congress, he makes repeated reference to the 
sudden and strange neglect of his friend Bradford, with whom he 
had been in habits of most intimate correspondence as a political 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. Ill 

associate, but from whom he had all at once ceased to receive 
any letters. He wondered and was offended at the silence, and 
determined to write him no more till its cause should be ex- 
plained, and the correspondence be resumed by his friend. That 
cause, he soon after learned, was his friend's decided conversion. 
The suspension of their correspondence, however, continued till 
after Mr. Milnor's third and last departure for Washington. For 
substance, the further account of the introductory incidents is 
from Mr. Bradford's "Reminiscences." 

In a season of affliction, during the year 1812, Mr. Bradford 
was made more reflective and considerate than it had been his 
wont to be ; and the consequence was, the decided change of 
which we have spoken, in his whole character and course of life. 
For his own comfort, he found it necessary to withdraw from all 
intimate friendships and associations of a worldly nature. But 
when he came to the point of giving up the society of his friend 
Milnor, he found it the severest of duties. He says that friend 
was as closely knit to him as was ever the soul of Jonathan to 
that of David. Nevertheless, he resolved on the sacrifice : their 
correspondence ceased ; and when Mr. Milnor was in Philadelphia, 
even their personal interviews became less frequent. Mrs. Brad- 
ford, by birth and education an Episcopalian, and up to the pe- 
riod of their domestic affliction, an essentially worldly lady, sym- 
pathized with her husband in his change, and thenceforward 
became a devoted Christian. 

In this state of their relations, and just before the opening of 
his third session in Congress, Mr. Milnor called on his old friends, 
to give them his farewell. He found Mr. Bradford in his office, 
and on inquiring for Mrs. Bradford, was shown into the parlor ; 
whence, after saying his adieus, he returned to his friend. 
""Why," said he, "you have made your wife a Calvinist. I 
found her reading Scott's Force of Truth. I don't relish your 
spoiling a good Episcopalian. You Presbyterians are always 
talking about Paul, Paul. You never talk of what the Grospel 
says, but always of what Paul says." His friend made no reply : 
they exchanged their farewells ; and Mr. Milnor was soon again 
in Congress, engrossed, as Mr. Bradford supposed, with his usual 
zeal, in the politics and the pleasures of the capital. 



112 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Meanwhile, the short session was passing rapidly away. 
Early in January, 1813, Mr. Bradford was absent from Phila- 
delphia, having received no letter from his friend, and not caring 
to receive any, as he could look for nothing but the usual budget 
about politics, or the customary triflings about fashion, of both 
which his soul had grown weary. Upon his return to the city, 
however, on the 25th of January, he found on his table an evi- 
dently long communication, directed in the well-known hand of 
his friend. Supposing it to be a tedious talk about political 
affairs, his first impulse was not to open it. On reflection, how- 
ever, he concluded to look into it. He did so ; and, to his won- 
der and delight, before he finished the first page, he learned that 
his beloved Milnor was, if not a Christian indeed, yet absorbed 
in those deep, inward stragglings with sin, and strivings after 
Christ, which plainly foretokened that the day of his deliverance 
" from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
Grod," was at hand. He read on, and soon came to that part of 
the letter in which Mr. Milnor says, " In the expressive language 
of St. Paul, i I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth 
no good thing ; for to will is present with me, but how to per- 
form that which is good, I find not.' ' I delight in the law of 
God, after the inner man ; but I see another law in my members 
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into cap- 
tivity to the law of sin which is in my members. wretched 
man that I am ; who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' 
I embrace, cordially, and pray the aids of the Holy Spirit to do 
it effectually, the answer of that eminent minister, £ Thanks be 
to Grod, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' " The reading of this 
passage constrained Mr. Bradford to break out in joyous rap- 
ture, exclaiming to his wife, " Brother Milnor has found Paul to 
be as precious as we did." 

It is needless to say that Mr. Bradford entered eagerly into 
the reopened correspondence ; doubly thankful to Grod for giving 
him back not only his old friend, but more, his now dear friend 
in Christ ; not only his brother in the law, but better, his brother 
beloved in the Gospel. 

The opening of this interesting correspondence between the 
two friends was, as we have seen, in the latter part of the month 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 113 

of January. But, for more than two months before that time, 
Mr. Minor's mind had been engrossed with the subject of relig- 
ion as a personal concern ; and he had, meanwhile, written 
several letters to his wife, which, as they mark the opening and 
progress of his views and feelings, it will be proper to examine 
before taking up those which passed between himself and Mr. 
Bradford. Extracts from the former, arranged according to their 
dates, are all that need be given. 



To Mrs. Milnor. 

"Nov. 10, 1812."— The letter of this date is a long one of 
two full sheets. The first part dwells seriously on the near ap- 
proach of the time when he was cheerfully to lay down the honors 
of civil and political life, and return to the bosom of his family ; 
and on the deep peril to all his hopes and prospects as a Chris- 
tian man, of the scenes in which he had been acting his part. 
It is a sweet, beautiful letter. The following are some of its 
passages. 

" You will, no doubt, be surprised at the seriousness of this 
letter. But my mind always recurring, at some seasons, to 
religious contemplations, and never, I hope, wholly without relig- 
ious impressions, has, ever since I left ho?ne, been much engaged 
in the duty of self-examination, the only means of discovering 
the truth of that awful confession, which we so often make with 
our lips without realizing in our hearts, that ' We have left un- 
done those things which we ought to have done; and we have 
done those things which we ought not to have done ; and there is 
no health in us.' I have recurred to my baptismal vows,* and 
find much more care necessary, on my part, in their future, as 
there has been much neglect in their past observance ; and I have 
had deeper impressions than heretofore of the necessity of ac- 
quiring that temper of mind, and of pursuing that course of 
conduct, which will prepare us for conforming to all the duties 
incumbent on us as members of the Christian church, especially 
for a participation in the sacrament of the Lord's supper ; a duty 

* Having been educated a Quaker, he was not baptized in infancy, but 
received adult baptism after his connection with the Episcopal church. 

Mem. Milnor. § 



114 MEMOIR OF DR. HILtfOR. 

so strongly enjoined, that whenever my mind has been drawn to 
the subject, I have felt much self-condemnation for having so 
long neglected to make suitable preparation for becoming a com- 
municant. This, with God's help, I am now resolved to do. 
The reception of this ordinance, I am persuaded, is ' our bounden 
duty' as Christians. If we are not prepared for it, we ought to 
become so ; and our unpreparedness will, in the great day of 
account, be no apology for the omission. It is one of the means 
for making us what we ought to be, and must be, if we purpose 
becoming candidates for a heavenly inheritance. If some ill- 
natured or misjudging people should deride, or censure our con- 
formity to what they cannot deny to be legitimate and moment- 
ous ceremonials of the Christian Church, instituted and com- 
manded to be observed by our Saviour himself, it is no more than 
has fallen to the lot of all professors of religion, in a greater or 
less degree ; and it will cease, when more of those who are far 
removed from the character of fanatics and enthusiasts, have 
courage to avow openly, yet not with vanity, ostentation, or 
illiberality towards others, a full union with the Church in all 
her rites, and to pursue a course of conduct answerable to their 
Christian profession, yet comporting with a full discharge of pro- 
fessional and civil duties, a cheerful intercourse with virtuous 
society, and a moderate indulgence in the innocent relaxations 
and amusements of life." 

Both the date of this letter, and its style of remark, indicate 
its place at the very commencement of his new experiences, and 
show that it was written while his mind was as yet embarrassed 
with his earlier views of the sacraments, and of the world — that 
he was, in truth, but just beginning to feel his way out of dark- 
ness. The next extract indicates, among other things, as deep a 
sensibility to the perils of legal practice, as the last had expressed 
in regard to those of political pursuits. 

" Nov. 18, 1812.— I intend, so far as I can without unneces- 
sary singularity, to keep myself at home, where I find a satisfac- 
tion, which increases by habit, in the labor of study, and the 
varieties of miscellaneous reading, writing, and serious contem- 
plation. It is only by inuring one's self to retirement, that we 
can learn fully to appreciate the value of that injunction, ' Com- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 115 

mime with your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still.' 
I am far from being an advocate for entire seclusion from society. 
It is a scriptural position, that religion does not call a person out 
of the ivorld, but teaches him how to live in it. Particular situ- 
ations and pursuits, however, are particularly exceptionable on 
account of being attended with more pain to a tender conscience, 
more distraction, more occasions of irritation than others. Such 
I have long deemed a lawyer's life. He is often obliged to advo- 
cate one side, when his own understanding and sense of justice 
would, if freely exercised, induce him to espouse the other. He 
lives in a crowd, and witnesses a scene of perpetual strife. Yet 
his is a necessary and useful occupation ; may be pursued by an 
honest man with advantage to the community ; and is highly 
honorable in the estimation of society. As a mode of life, prefer- 
able to others, I have never, from the beginning, been attached 
to it. I now sigh for retirement. I am haunted by a perpetual 
feeling of disgust at the prospect of reentering the scene of con- 
tention, and of enduring the pertnesses of that tribe of young 
competitors, every day increasing in number and diminishing in 
respectability and worth. And yet, many difficulties lie in the 
way of any scheme for retirement ; and this has prevented my 
saying more to you in conversation on the plan suggested to you 
in my letter last winter." He alludes to a letter, not recovered, 
in which he indulged in what he termed " a Sunday day-dream ;" 
a pleasant imagining of rural life, devoted to an easy mingling of 
literary with agricultural pursuits, and adorned with the fruits 
of the competence which he had acquired. " I wish not idleness : 
it is the parent of discontent, and of many vices. My desire is 
for a situation attended with tranquillity, with intervals of ab- 
straction from general intercourse, and with consequent opportu- 
nities for varied reading, embracing the improvement of the un- 
derstanding, the innocent amusement of occasional leisure, but, 
above all, what I am at times aivfully afraid of neglecting till 
it be too late, a solid preparation for eternity." 

" My next leisure shall be devoted to an attempt at solving 
the difficulty so pathetically stated in your letter, where you say, 
' I know not what to do.' Your difficulty is precisely that which 
ought to be felt at the beginning of a change of life. Oh how 



116 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

sensibly do I feel it at this very moment ! So did one in the 
earliest days of the Church, when he exclaimed, ' What shall I 
do to be saved ?' I wish I felt more experimentally the weight 
of the answer which was given. Read the Scriptures ; pray 
humbly and fervently ; lay aside dependence on self : embrace 
the merits of a crucified Redeemer, as your deliverer from sin ; 
rely on him and his grace for humility, contrition of soul for past 
offences, and strength to maintain resolutions of future amend- 
ment ; use all the means which his goodness has provided, and 
which, next to the Gospel, are to be found in our excellent forms 
of devotion, and in the ordinances of our holy religion. 

" You see that a train of serious thought, which I believe it 
to be my duty to encourage, has, in a few words, given you the 
answer which I meant to reserve for a future letter. God forbid, 
that while I thus attempt to instruct you, i I should myself be- 
come a castaway.' " 

The thoughtful reader will mark in the above passages, as 
striking encouragements, the writer's awful fear of missing a 
solid preparation for eternity ; his deep sense of his own ignor- 
ance of the way of life, as being a mere beginner in the search ; 
and his impressive dread of becoming himself a castaway, while 
engaged in teaching others how to be saved. The next letter has, 
so much of the character of a profession of faith, that it may well 
be given in the main entire. It is not peculiarly evangelical in 
its views ; and yet it embodies much sound orthodoxy. 

'•Washington, Nov. 20, 1812. 

" My dear Ellen — I do not wish to importune you with too 
many letters of so serious a cast as those I have lately written 
to you ; but I obey a strong sense of duty in pursuing my "reflec- 
tions in this way, until, in my broken and unsatisfactory man- 
ner, I shall have laid before you a transcript of my feelings on 
the subject of religion, as they have lately, with much more 
force than usual, weighed upon my heart and understanding. 

" I believe theologians and schoolmen have entrammelled this 
interesting theme with very prejudicial intricacies, unintelligible 
distinctions, and strange deductions ; as inconsistent with the 
simplicity of the Gospel as with the manifest goodness and be- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 117 

nevolence of its divine Author. Is it not beyond measure aston- 
ishing, when you look at the parables and other instructive les- 
sons of our Saviour, wherein he so fully displays the purpose of 
his coming, and sets forth in the plainest manner the universality 
of his mission, the love which prompted it, and the way which he 
has set open to all for a restoration to the divine favor, that men 
should bewilder their minds in the mazes of doctrinal discus- 
sion, to find out terms, and phrases, and dogmas, such as never 
proceeded from the lips of our heavenly Teacher ? He could not 
have intended to keep back any part of the whole counsel of 
God"- — [Christ evidently did intend to keep back some things till 
after he had risen from the dead, and had thereby completely 
laid all the great foundation truths of the Grospel] — " and yet we 
discover, in all that he said and taught, not a word about predes- 
tination, election, and reprobation ; involuntary grace ; the impos- 
sibility of falling from grace, and many other harsh and perplex- 
ing doctrines, which stagger the faith, and give a death-blow to 
the hopes of many a well-intentioned person. I do not mean to 
advance an illiberal sentiment with respect to the professors of 
these doctrines. Many of them are among the most sincere and 
devout friends of religion ; nor do I believe that at the judgment- 
day, an involuntary error in respect to doctrines not vitally im- 
portant in their nature, will be to any a cause of condemnation. 
The sincerity of our faith and repentance will be tested by the 
amendment of our lives ; and we shall be judged according to the 
deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. 

" The theory of my views in religion is very simple, and is 
derived, I apprehend, from the obvious tenor of the writings of 
the Old and New Testaments. I would set forth its outline in 
some such way as this : 

" A supreme, self-existing, all-powerful, all- wise, and eternal 
Being is the Creator of all things, and sustains, by an ever-active 
providence, all the works of his hands. He is known to us in 
these characteristics by his works, as you find it beautifully and 
sublimely expressed by David in the nineteenth psalm ; a part 
of which was elegantly paraphrased by Addison, and now con- 
stitutes the fifteenth hymn" (old collection) "in our Common 
Prayer Book." 



118 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" But it is in the Yolume of Inspiration (Oh, how negligent 
have you and I been in its perusal ! ) that we find those clear dis- 
plays of the character and attributes of Grod, which must make 
the daring atheist tremble, while they excite the love and adora- 
tion of every pious believer. By this sacred book we are taught, 
that man originally proceeded from the hands of his Creator 
pure and upright, formed after the image of G-od himself, but 
with a freedom of action that enabled him to choose between good 
and evil, to obey or to disobey the divine commands. He yielded 
to the temptations of the evil one, disobeyed an express injunc- 
tion of his Creator ; and thereby ' brought sin into the world, 
and death by sin.' His posterity have been visited with the 
awful consequences of their first parents' departure from strict 
obedience ; human nature became depraved, and man inclined to 
evil ' as the sparks fly upwards.' l He lay in the open field of 
ruin, with no heart to pity and no hand to save ;' and if a reme- 
dy had not been found in the mercy of that God whom he had 
offended, he must have been irrecoverably lost. 

" But his heavenly Father, in the riches of his goodness, 
ordered otherwise. He formed a plan of redemption, whereby 
'he could be just, and yet the justifier of them that believe.' 
With unparalleled condescension, the Grod of universal nature 
assumed human flesh, came down from the realms of everlasting 
glory, appeared in the humblest form of degradation, suffered 
every indignity and reproach from that world which he came to 
save, and finally laid down his life in the agonizing death of the 
Cross. By this astonishing sacrifice, he atoned for man's trans- 
gression, and placed it in the power of every hapless victim of the 
fall to become reconciled to his Maker, and to appease divine 
justice by laying hold of the offers of pardon and reconciliation 
offered in the Gospel." [Man does not appease Grod by laying 
hold on his mercy : it is on the mercy of a God already appeased 
in Christ Jesus, that he lays hold.] "Faith in the all-sufficiency 
of this atonement, repentance for past sins, and an undeviating- 
obedience to the precepts of the Gospel, are the conditions of 
salvation ; and the lip of truth has promised the assistance of the 
Holy Spirit in his regenerating work, to all who sincerely desire it. 
Perfection is unattainable in this life" — [How so, if "an undevi- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 119 

ating obedience" be a condition of salvation ?] — " and a perpetual 
conflict with the enemy of our peace and our own rebellious pas- 
sions must be maintained by the most virtuous. A divine bless- 
ing, however, is promised to sincere endeavors. ' Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto 
you.' Christ earnestly solicits us to embrace his offers, but he 
does not compel us. His Holy Spirit works in and loith us in the 
regeneration of our hearts, and strengthens and supports us in our 
Christian course ; but on ourselves, so strengthened and supported, 
it depends to maintain a constant watchfulness, 'lest we turn 
aside to the right hand or to the left.' He who is 'the way, the 
truth, and the life,' will never leave us, nor forsake us, to our lives' 
end, if we do not wander from him. But this, the infirmity of 
our nature and surrounding temptations constantly incite us to 
do ; and hence the propriety of our reiterated penitential acknow- 
ledgments of having ' erred and strayed from his ways like lost 
sheep ; of having left undone those things which we ought to 
have done ; and of having done those things which we ought not 
to have done :' and hence, also, our constant recourse, in the same 
part of our service, to the Fountain of mercy for pardon and for- 
giveness, and for ability to live ' hereafter a godly, righteous, and 
sober life, to the glory of God's holy name.' Next to reading 
the sacred Scriptures under the influence of the grace of God's 
Holy Spirit — the only true guide to a right understanding of those 
divine doctrines and precepts, ' which are able to make us wise 
unto salvation ' — our aids in ' pressing towards the mark for the 
prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus,' are the preach- 
ing of the word, public and private prayer, (alas, how little do 
we know of the latter !) and the ordinances of the Church ; espe- 
cially the holy eucharist, or sacrament of the Lord's supper, 
instituted by our Saviour himself, which has been the consolation 
of the pious in all ages since its establishment, and unto which 
our Church constantly entreats us, ' for the Lord Jesus Christ's 
sake, that we will not refuse to come, being so lovingly called and 
bidden thereto by God himself.' 

"As a preparation for this interesting and solemn rite, let us 
attend to those previous duties which our Church in the com- 
munion-service directs. 



120 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" Although we have sometimes smiled at the frequent recur- 
rence of the fourth psalm in our Sunday worship, yet we cannot 
have better advice, preparatory to going to the table, than these 
verses of it contain : 

'■ l Then stand in awe of God's commands, 
Flee every thing that's ill, 
Commune in private with your hearts, 
And hend them to his will. 

The place of other sacrifice 

Let righteoasuess supply; 
And let your hope, securely fixed, 

On God alone rely.' 

" And the consequence to the practiser of the precepts in the 
last verse, is highly encouraging: 

" ' Then down in peace I'll lay my head, 
And take my needful rest ; 
No other guard, Lord, I crave, 
Of thy defence possess' d.' 

" That we may one day be less involved in the entanglements 
of the world, and more capable of realizing the sweet consola- 
tions of a religious life, is the sincere prayer of your ever-affec- 
tionate partner in life and in death, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"Mrs. E. Milnor." 

In its introduction, the theology of this letter is still stoutly 
anti-Calvinistic. Indeed, the writer never became an extreme 
Calvinist in his creed, though he did cease towage his strenuous 
warfare against the system of Calvin ; and the style of his subse- 
quent preaching was so highly evangelical, that many considered 
him, though no controvertist, yet a moderate Calvinist in his 
views. 

In the remaining part of the letter, the theology is by no 
means erudite ; and yet, for one who had been all his life a fash- 
ionable man of the world, and who was then involved in the 
duties of a political station, it may be regarded as evincive of a 
degree of thought and reflection, under such circumstances, not 
altogether common. The next letter exhibits a scene not often 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 121 

witnessed amid the influences of political life — a praying con- 
gressman, beginning to seek his Saviour, with a readiness to take 
up his cross and follow Christ. 

" Nov. 21, 1812. — Whenever accident or choice throws me 
into solitude, the interesting concerns of the soul and of a future 
state press upon my thoughts and feelings in a manner calcu- 
lated to produce the best effects ; whereas much forgetfulness of 
these things is always the result of extreme engagedness in the 
perplexities of politics and business. My desire is to become so 
grounded in the duties of faith and obedience, and so strength- 
ened in a religious course, by habitual study of the Bible, and a 
sincere and lively performance of all the public and private, ex- 
ternal and internal requirements of religion, that I may go into 
the world and take a moderate share in its affairs, while I escape 
its pollutions and vices. I speak of my desire only, for I tremble 
at the prospect of my weakness and deficiency in the perform- 
ance. God will do his part, but I have little confidence in my 
own perseverance and fidelity in the performance of mine. A 
sad experience of past defections alarms me for the future. 
From infancy to the present moment, a sense of religious obliga- 
tion, of its violation in my conduct through life, and of the neces- 
sity of a change, has occasionally impressed me very forcibly, 
and prompted resolutions of amendment, and a temporary adhe- 
rence to them. But too much mixture in general society, ex- 
cessive involvement in the affairs of the world, and neglect of 
the means provided in the Gospel and in the institutions of the 
Christian Church, have conspired with the infirmities of human 
nature, and induced deplorable relapses. 

" Thanks be to God, a proud spirit has latterly yielded 
to one of lowly prostration at the footstool of divine mercy. I 
am not ashamed, in the privacy of my chamber, to bend my 
knees and implore a blessing on my feeble endeavors ; to suppli- 
cate divine assistance in the duties of the day, and to implore 
a heavenly covering of protection from the dangers of the night : 
and with the aid of divine grace, I will not be ashamed nor 
afraid to assume the cross, and make a public profession by a 
union with the Church in the solemn service of the sacramental 
supper." 



122 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

From the close of this extract, as well as from other expres- 
sions in his letters, it would seem that he had been the subject 
of a strong feeling of shame, keeping him from what he had 
regarded as the weakness, or the absurdity of conforming to the 
outward rites of the Church. Perhaps lingering influences from 
his early Quaker education, so unfriendly to all external ordi- 
nances, may have kept alive this strong sentiment, and rendered 
what is to others, when brought to Christ, an easy duty, to him 
one of the severest of trials. 

His next letter is chiefly an account of some books which he 
had purchased, and had been reading — -The Apostolical Fathers, 
and the Life of Sir William Jones. From the latter he quotes, 
as specially interesting to him, " Sir William's translation of four 
beautiful Persian lines." 

"On parent knees, a naked new-born child, 
Weeping thou sat'st, while all around thee smiled ; 
So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep, 
Calm thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep." 

At this period he was evidently much engaged in reading, 
and in one of his letters describes his manner of reading good 
books to good account, having been recently much delighted 
with ■" the inimitable, saintlike Cowper." But with "the best 
of books" he was most concerned to make himself familiar. As 
a statesman, devoutly studying his Bible, he was, to the best 
effect, learning how to do his country good ; while, at the same 
time, his own soul was most effectually growing " wise unto 
salvation." He writes, under date of 

"Nov. 25, 1812. — I mean to read the best of all books, accom- 
panied by the use of the pen, in extracting or noting remarkable 
passages ; for my ignorance of its blessed contents is a perpetual 
source of self-condemnation, which cannot be diminished but by 
1 letting the time past suffice for having wrought the will of the 
Gentiles,' and by endeavoring in future to find some other use 
for this invaluable book than that of making its blank leaves a 
record of family blessings and family misfortunes. Join heartily 
with me, my best friend, in so good a purpose. God will give 
the aid of his Holy Spirit in our sincere obedience to his own 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 123 

injunction to ' search the Scriptures,' as the fountain of l eternal 

Life,' and as the oracles ' which testify of him.' Then may we 

expect to find, what 

" ' too many do not know, 

That Scripture is the only cure of woe. 
That field of promise — how it flings abroad 
Its odor o'er the Christian's thorny road ! 
The soul, reposing on assured relief, 
Feels herself happy amidst all her grief, 
Forgets her labor as she toils along. 
Weeps tears of joy, and bursts into a song.' " 

" Through thy commandments I get understanding; there- 
fore I hate all evil ways." Such was the experience of the 
Psalmist ; and that of Mr. Milnor was coincident. The study 
of the Bible gave him understanding, especially of himself; 
therefore he hated all evil ways, particularly those of his oivn 
heart. Accordingly, in the next letter to his wife which comes 
under our notice, he goes deeply into self-examination, with 
special reference to those sins and faults which had occasionally 
overcast, with a fleetly passing cloud, the otherwise clear sun- 
shine of their domestic happiness. After using, with a faithful 
hand, the moral probe which divine truth had furnished him, he 
adds: 

"Dec. 7, 1812. — Forgive me for recurring to these unpleas- 
ant topics. In looking forward to a closer union with our God, 
in the blessed sacrament of the body and blood of his dear Son, 
a primary duty is self-examination. In this work, a review of 
one's past life is indispensable; and/ as I write now under the 
inspection of the all-seeing eye, one of the sins which I have 
felt it peculiarly necessary to confess, and, by divine grace, to 
abandon, has been that of not duly appreciating his blessings, of 
giving way to improper feelings induced by trivial occurrences, 
of not curbing a temper too quickly excited, and of falling into 
a consequent indulgence of language and conduct from which a 
real Christian ought ever to abstain." 

In reply to the inquiry why he pressed this subject upon his 
wife as well as upon himself, he adds, "Because I wish to make 
you the depositary of all my thoughts ; because I wish you to 
begin with me a new life; and because a sense of mutual folly, 



124 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and united resolutions of future amendment, are necessary to 
that happy passage through the residue of our span of life, which 
I have a confident persuasion God will afford us, if, by upright- 
ness of heart and holiness of life, we merit it at his hands. Do 
not misunderstand me in the use of this term, l merit? I am 
more and more convinced," [we have seen the reason why he 
needed to be so, in his acknowledged "mischievous conceit of the 
merit of works,"] "as I give the important subject of religion 
deeper and more solid consideration, that our performances are 
no otherwise acceptable in the sight of God than as they are 
produced by the spirit of the Gospel ; and that, with respect to 
our ultimate hopes of eternal happiness, these hopes are worse 
than vain, if they have any other ground to rest upon than the 
atonement of the blessed Saviour, whose all-sufficient merits 
have given that satisfaction to offended justice, which our im- 
perfect obedience' never could have done." 

On the day next after the date of the last extract, Mr. Milnor 
wrote to Bishop White a statement of his views touching the 
Lord's supper, and proposed to become a communicant so soon 
as propriety and the good bishop's consent would permit. But 
as those views are identical with what we find in the letters to 
his wife, extracts are needless. 

Perhaps, however, the reader will be surprised to learn, that 
in the evening of the very day on which he thus wrote to his 
bishop, he attended a ball. But it should be remembered, that 
he was not yet wholly in the light on the subject of his former 
worldly amusements, although he had light enough to make him 
go reluctantly, and only in obedience to what he supposed a call 
of duty. "It was the ball given by naval officers to Captain 
Hull and others then in Washington ; and his position as a mem- 
ber of the naval committee, seemed to render it necessary that 
he should attend and participate in the compliment. He went 
late, came away early, and enjoyed little satisfaction in his reluc- 
tant compliance with the call." His comments on what he saw 
further illustrate the state of his feelings, and show that, if his 
views of Christian duty were not yet perfectly clear, at least the 
tendency of his religious tastes was in the direction of what is 
thoroughly right. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 125 

" The crowd was great, and no Parisian assembly of equal 
numbers ever exhibited a greater proportion of extravagantly 
painted women. The people of this place 

" c Still sacrifice to dress, till household joys 

And comforts cease. Dress drains their cellars dry. 
And keeps their larders lean ; puts out their fires ; 
And introduces hunger, frost, and woe, 
Where peace and hospitality might reign/ 

Never was satire more just than this of Cowper, applied to the 
people of this place, clerks and others, depending on the pub- 
lic for support, and receiving salaries abundant for domestic com- 
fort, but insufficient for the purposes of extravagance and show. 
Every deprivation is submitted to in private, in order to be able 
to mingle, with some display of brilliancy, in the fashionable 
throng. Happy would it be for their infant families, if they bet- 
ter accommodated themselves to their situation in life, and if 
they could be convinced before they verify, in their own experi- 
ence, how truly the same delightful moralist describes the nature 
and end of these amusements : 

ci • The rout is Folly 7 s circle, which she draws 
With magic wand. So potent is the spell, 
That none, decoyed into that fatal ring — 
Unless by Heaven's peculiar grace — escape. 
There we grow early gray, but never wise : 
There, form connections, but acquire no friend : 
Solicit pleasure, hopeless of success ; 
Waste youth in occupations only fit 
For second childhood, and devote old age 
To sports which only childhood could excuse. 
They are the happiest who dissemble best 
Their weariness ; and they the most polite. 
Who squander time and treasure with a smile.'" 

" I believe I did not play my part so well as to dissemble ray 
weariness ; but I think that, with a view of so much frippery 
and folly, I gained one advantage, and that is, a confirmation of 
my resolution to mix as little as I can in these extensive scenes 
of gayety, and to cherish the society of a few chosen friends. I 
am not satisfied icith myself for having done otherwise in this 
instance ; but I hope my heart is free from the influence of any 
of the poisons of this pernicious, unsatisfactory intercourse." 



126 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

His letter of December 11, 1812, contains, among other 
things, a beautiful little essay on "the golden mean," as occu- 
pied by the real Christian, between the hermit, the monk, and the 
recluse on the one hand, and the dissipated rake and the indis- 
criminate follower of pleasure on the other. In composition, it is 
uncommonly elegant ; but in thought, perhaps, it still finds the 
golden mean somewhat too far from the extreme of the recluse, 
and proportionally too near that of the devotee to pleasure — a 
mean somewhat on the wrong side of the middle. 

On the 14th of December, he had received a kind letter from 
Bishop White, encouraging him to visit Philadelphia, with a view- 
to communion on the 25th of the month. He determined to ac- 
cept the invitation ; and so anxious was he that his wife should 
accompany him, that his letters, at this period, are full of the 
one labor of persuading her to the duty. The thought seems to 
have occurred to him, that possibly she might be influenced to 
delay, by the supposition that his feelings were but temporary 
excitement, and would soon pass away and be forgotten. To 
meet this supposition, he wrote as follows : 

" Dec. 16, 1812. — I fear you little relish the style of my late 
letters, and that you probably consider it the result of a mo- 
mentary depression of spirits, arising from my lonely situation, 
and my dissatisfaction with public life. If you should have 
entertained such an idea, I hope it is a mistaken one. I say 
* hope,' for G-od knows, considering the opportunities which I 
have had for religious improvement, and the unquestionable 
goodness of my heavenly Benefactor, in the unceasing tender of 
the aids of his Holy Spirit, through the medium of the Grospel 
and other appointed channels of grace ; considering also the many 
secret purposes of a better life which I have heretofore unavail- 
ingly formed, and the continual deviations to which I am daily 
yielding in thought, word, and action, that I dare not too confi- 
dently anticipate a firm and undaunted perseverance in a relig- 
ious course. As to my retired situation, it need not be so if I 
desired otherwise ; for a man here has only to put himself in the 
way of fashionable dissipation, and he would be engaged in it 
almost every day. I avoid it as much as a decent conformity to 
custom will admit, both from a present sense of duty, and from 



RELIGIOUS CHAXGE. 127 

a feeling of dislike to it, which every day increases. As to dis- 
satisfaction with public life, I plead guilty to the charge ; but 
this mode of life does not depress my spirits, because the period 
of its termination is so near at hand. No, my love, the reading 
of the Scriptures, a perusal of the writings of good men, attend- 
ance upon public worship, and silent meditation and reflection, 
have long ago convinced me of the truths of our holy religion. 
and of the necessity of our observing punctually its sacred 
ordinances." 

The remainder of the letter is devoted to his usual theme, 
urging seriously and solemnly on Mrs. Milnor the duty of imme- 
diate preparation for the Lord's supper. 

The business of Congress, however, soon became so urgent 
that he was unable to visit Philadelphia in time for communion 
on the Christmas festival. He felt the disappointment severely, 
but without a murmur ; and it may, perhaps, be regarded as a 
kindly wise providence, that kept him yet a while in Washing- 
ton, amid the dealings of God in the secrecy of his chamber. 
For it is almost impossible not to see from his letters, that as yet 
he had not looked deeply enough into himself, nor felt with suffi- 
cient power the workings of the Holy Spirit, convincing him of 
sin, and throwing him, as his first step, not on outward ordi- 
nances, however seriously prepared for, but upon Christ alone for 
pardon, peace, and life. Had he gone to Philadelphia at the 
time proposed, there was danger, after all, of his resting on out- 
ward ordinances as the way to Christ, instead of finding in Christ, 
first, the life, and power, and significancy of all subsequent 
ordinances. 

In a letter, written about a week after the last extract, the 
truth of the above remarks appears to be confirmed. Rising with 
the early sun, and commencing his morning walk with a repining 
feeling in his heart, as the memory of his recent disappointment 
was revived, he seems to have been led into higher views of God, 
and into deeper views of himself, than any before described. 

" Dec 22, 1812. — It is now between eight and nine o'clock 
in the morning, and I have just returned from a long, solitary 
walk. The morning is unusually serene for the season, the roads 
dry, and every thing propitious to travelling either in carriage or 



128 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

on foot. I could not help repining a little, though I know it was 
wrong, at the untoward circumstances that have intervened to 
prevent the execution of my purpose to avail myself of such 
pleasant weather for my journey home. Reflections of this kind, 
however, quickly gave way to contemplations of a very difFerent 
character. The immensity of that Being who formed the scenery 
around me, which even winter had not robbed of its charms ; his 
goodness, in making such rich provision for his creatures ; his 
kind providence, in preserving, sustaining, and superintending 
all the works of his hands ; and, above all, his unspeakable love, 
in the redemption from eternal death of a rebellious world, that 
had, by sin, forfeited ever}' claim to his favor, broke in upon 
my mind with unusual force, and excited a rapturous feeling of 
thankful gratitude, which I am unable to describe. But alas, 
when, from such high-wrought, glowing contemplations, my 
thoughts were turned upon myself, how difFerent the sight pre- 
sented to the mental view : a poor, frail child of the dust, ' con- 
ceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity ;' ' prone to sin as the sparks 
fly upwards ;' and daily offending, in thought, word, and action, 
the glorious Being to whom my reflections had ventured to 
ascend : endowed with reason, blessed with the light of revela- 
tion, furnished with all ' the means of grace,' and encouraged, in 
the use of them, to indulge ' the hope of glory ;' yet still cleaving 
to the earth, yielding to unsubdued appetites, the victim of every 
surrounding temptation, and, in short, a rebel against the sov- 
ereignty of heaven. Surely, said I within myself, such a trans- 
gressor camiot look for pardon to that God whom he has offended ; 
he cannot claim the benefit of that sacrifice for sin which he has 
so often slighted ; he cannot be again supplied with the aids of 
that Holy Spirit, to whom he l has done despite,' and whom he 
is continually grieving by his sins. These harrowing reflections 
were, however, relieved by suggestions of the most soothing kind, 
derived from the long-suffering goodness of our heavenly Father, 
and from the comforting promises held forth in the Gospel of his 
blessed Son. I felt new force and beauty in the penitential con- 
fession at the beginning of our service, and let it flow from my 
lips with heartfelt sincerity and humility. 

" Such is the result of a morning's walk in Washington. I 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 129 

came into my chamber with humble confidence in Grod, but 
stripped of all reliance upon myself; being firmly persuaded, 
that He alone can fit us for every good word and work, and that 
it is by his gracious assistance only that we can accomplish our 
best purposes, or persevere to the end in a course of living well- 
pleasing in his sight." 

How plainly does this passage tell of the strong onward move- 
ment of the divine Spirit in his work of new-creating grace. How 
does it show the great character of Grod rising on the view of 
his servant with more power than a universe of splendors ; and 
influxes therefrom, pouring in as from a full-coming tide of bless- 
edness ; and then the soul, driven down from her unwonted ele- 
vation, into deep inward searchings ; self, detected as a rebel 
against the divine sovereignty ; and the sinner stripped, as by 
an almighty hand, of all self-confidence ! It is true, the refer- 
ences to Christ are yet but incidental. He occupies not the fore- 
ground of the view. The chief objects which fill the field of 
vision, are, God in his glory, stirring a heart that yearns to be 
reconciled ; and the sinner in his ruin, knowing no salvation but 
in that God upon whom he has been looking. But then, glimpses 
at least of Christ are had, as though the Cross were in sight, how- 
ever dim in the distance ; and light from the Sun of righteous- 
ness is filling the soul's firmament, as if that Sun were himself 
about to mount above his horizon. 

As might be expected, his next letter to Mrs. Milnor touch- 
ing the subject of religion, under date of January 26, 1813, ex- 
presses stronger dislike than ever both of the politics and of the 
fashions of Washington, as having a most unfriendly influence on 
his religious progress, and keeping him from those full comforts 
of hope in Christ, for which his recent experience made him thirst 
with all -the earnestness of a new-born soul. In truth, one of the 
greatest wonders presented in his case, is the fact, that such a 
work as that in his heart, was begun under such hostile influ- 
ences, and carried on against such accumulated opposition as met 
him in the circumstances amid which he was placed. But that 
work was of Gtod, and not of man ; and the divine power was the 
more manifest in his behalf, inasmuch as from every other quar- 
ter the prospect was so unusually, so absolutely hopeless. 



130 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

From the remainder of this letter it also appears, that neither 
conscience nor current events would allow him to remain an idle 
spectator of the business of the nation ; and that he was even 
specially active in his place, although the speeches which he made 
at this time in the House, earnest and zealous as they were, were 
yet in a manner forced out of him against the longings of his 
spirit for more congenial occupation. Indeed, this letter may be 
regarded as a dim foreshadowing of a change of profession, so 
soon as the hour of his release from political life should come. 

In a yet later letter, this foreshadowing becomes even lumin- 
ously distinct ; and as it is so full of Christ, the Cross, and the 
work of the Spirit, and gathers up, besides, all that need now be 
said about his change of profession, it may well be given, with 
slight omissions, entire. 

"Washington, January 27, 1813. 

" My dear Ellen — I wrote you yesterday, and know not 
why I should again trouble you to-day ; having nothing amusing 
to communicate, and having already sufficiently fatigued you on 
subjects in which you cannot feel an interest until your mind is 
awakened, in a more lively manner than it has yet been, to the 
realities of religion, and the indispensable necessity of receiving 
the Saviour through the exercise of faith in his atonement, and 
the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Suppose not, my 
beloved, that I mean unkindly to reproach you. It would ill be- 
come me to do so. My own attainments little qualify me for the 
duties of a censor, or a counsellor. I feel too forcibly, as applied 
to myself, the weight of that injunction, to take the beam out of 
one's own eye, before we nicely discern the mote in the eye of 
another. I think I see the better way, and would fain walk in it. 
I believe my happiness, both here and hereafter, depends on my 
doing so. Natural pride has so far been brought into subjection to 
the Cross, that I dare humbly venture, before I close my eyelids, 
and when permitted again to awake from the death of sleep, to 
address my thanksgivings and praises to the great Creator and 
Preserver of my existence, confess my unworthiness of the bless- 
ings with which I am favored, implore better dispositions for his 
service, and, above all, solicit an interest in the all-prevailing 
intercessions of a once crucified, but now risen Redeemer. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 131 

" Yet, though a rebellious spirit has, I trust, through God's 
grace, been subdued within me, so far as to compel me to repent 
in dust and ashes for my multiplied transgressions, and to seek 
divine aid in the maintenance of a better life, I see futurity 
beset with a thousand difficulties. I know not how I can avoid 
those smaller follies, as the world would call them, arising out 
of the manners and customs, the fashions and associations of a 
large city ; and yet conscience tells me, in a voice of solemn 
warning, many of them must be abandoned. Abstinence from 
glaring and profligate wickedness, which a regard to the decen- 
cies of life and to personal character prevents in many who are 
destitute of a principle of Christian piety, will not satisfy the 
requisitions of the Gospel. Many even of the lawful pleasures 
of social intercourse must be abridged in their frequency and de- 
gree ; and levity and thoughtlessness must more frequently give 
place to solid reflection and seriousness of mind and deportment. 
In this respect, I solemnly believe it is indispensably necessary 
to assume the cross, and to subject natural inclination to an im- 
plicit obedience to the precepts and spirit of the Gospel. How 
hard the task is to the beginner, is evident to me from my own 
daily struggles ; and it was evident to you, when, on my last 
visit, I gave you such imperfect testimony to my stability in a 
course of practice conformable to the profession which, in my 
preceding letters, I had avowed. 

"A still more formidable difficulty lies in my professional 
pursuits. In the conduct of them heretofore, I have endeavored 
to maintain fidelity towards my clients, and integrity towards 
all. But I have often advocated causes against which, as a 
judge, I would have pronounced; and sometimes have been 
obliged to make myself the organ of the passions and feelings of 
others in a way that it would not be possible for me to do here- 
after, and yet preserve that consistency of character, and that 
peace of mind, at which it is my settled purpose, with divine 
help, to aim.* 

* And yet he was called, hy eminence, " The honest lawyer ;" and thereon 
rise reflections which it were well for every man to entertain, who is already 
engaged in the practice of the law, or who is inquiring if that practice would 
he safe to his soul. 



132 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" On what to determine, I am utterly at a loss. I wish to con- 
sult your happiness and wishes, and the welfare of our dear chil- 
dren, in whatever course I may adopt. But I think their chance 
of respectability and happiness will not be much increased, by 
my continuing to toil in a dangerous profession to acquire for 
them a large estate ; nor do I believe, that with a continuance of 
unremitted industry on my part — in the present state of business 
and of competition for profits, with the loss of a great proportion 
of my share in business during my engagements in public life, 
and with the feelings which I shall carry back when I resume 
it — if I were ever so desirous of accumulation, I could count 
upon success. I am persuaded, however, that no duty towards 
our beloved children requires me to give them more than, if they 
survive me, will be their portion ; and that I shall render them a 
better service by giving them a good education, and endeavoring 
to instil into their minds early principles of piety, than if I could 
heap upon them the riches of Grolconda or Peru. 

" These are the unpleasant views presented to my mind by 
the prospect of entering again upon my former track of business 
and social intercourse. But in abandoning the former, and in 
some degree the latter, I am aware that deprivations not very 
pleasant to the natural feelings, must be submitted to ; and that 
there is still very great difficulty in fixing upon some other occu- 
pation by way of substitute. Idleness is the root of all evil, and 
I do not mean to encounter its dangers. If, therefore, I quit my 
present business, it will be to engage in some other. What that 
shall be, is a question to be solved before an abandonment of pres- 
ent occupation takes place. A small farm for some bodily exer- 
cise, and a library for the employment of the mind, together with 
a close application to interests of much more importance than 
all the perishing concerns of this world, are what present them- 
selves to my mind as the most likely means for insuring tran- 
quillity during the residence of our stay in this probationary 
part of our existence, and a title to happiness when called to our 
final and unchangeable lot in the world to come. 

" Ever yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 133 



SECTION III. 

We have now fully reached the time when the interesting 
correspondence between Mr. Milnor and his friend Bradford com- 
menced. The first letter in that correspondence, which was from 
Mr. Milnor, was written on the 22d of January, five days before 
the date of this last, which we have inserted, to his wife. This 
letter to his wife, therefore, will be found to breathe much the 
same feelings with those which pervade his first to Mr. Bradford. 
Indeed, it must be evident to the careful reader, that ever since 
his " long, solitary walk," on the fine winter morning of Decem- 
ber 22, which he began with repinings at his recent disappoint- 
ment, and ended with such enlarged views of God and of him- 
self, the style of his letters to his wife has been different from 
that of his previous communications. He has talked less of the 
outward, and more of the inward things of the Christian life. 
His main themes have been, sin and the Saviour, the merits of the 
Cross and the work of the Spirit, a growing weariness of the 
ways of the world, and a growing conviction of the necessity of 
a change in the business of his future profession. 

Even at the time, however, when he wrote his first letter to 
Mr. Bradford, although he may be considered as having become 
" a new creature in Christ," yet his religious views wanted some- 
thing of that clearness and fulness which were desirable, and 
which they finally reached. A few other letters to Mrs. Milnor, 
written after the 27th of January, contain passages, hereafter to 
be given, which, in their unusual earnestness for her conversion, 
will furnish most convincing evidence of the growth and genu- 
ineness of the work of the Spirit in his own heart. 

"We proceed, now, to the correspondence with Mr. Bradford. 
It would be interesting to publish the whole, just as it passed ; 
but this would swell too largely the size of the Memoir. Al- 
though, therefore, Mr. Bradford's letters abound in remarkably 
clear views of the new-birth of the Spirit, and of the course of 
life which the new-born Christian is required to pursue, yet, with 
the exception of one or two passages, they will be reluctantly 
omitted ; and even when we take up the letters of his correspond- 



134 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

entj only the most important parts of those of Mr. Milnor him- 
self will be inserted. Near the close of the series. Mr. Miinor 
uses the followinsr lan2;iiao-e : 

" Forgive me. I once more ask it. for filling my letters with 
so much of myself. But I judge of the satisfaction it gives you 
to have a tree communication of the course of my religious expe- 
rience, as well from your assurances as from the pleasure which 
I derive from your less verbose and more comprehensive commu- 
nications. Alas, my heart has, for so short a time, savored, as it 
ought, the tlungs of G-od, and is, even now, so { troubled about 
many things ' which ought to have no place there, that you must 
excuse my wanderings, and condescend — if peradventure they 
may be found at all — to seek, amid much chaff, for the few 
grains of ivheat which I have endeavored to send you.*' 

Our object, in the selection about to be made, will be to 
gather some of "the grains of wheat." not because they lie 
" amid much chaff,'' but because the most for which we can find 
room will be those more precious kernels which are the seeds of 
his spiritual growth, or which show the gradual development of 
his Christian experience and character. 

To Thomas Bradford. Jr. 

'-• Washington, 22d Jan. ; 1813. 
" My deah Freexd — Ever since my return to this place, I 
have contemplated writing you a long letter, but have been pre- 
vented by a succession of engagements, which occupy much of 
my time. I ought not, however, in candor and fair dealing, to 
den}' that I have been a little discouraged from recommencing a 
correspondence with you, by the abruptness with which that of last 
year terminated. Yet, I neither doubt your friendship, nor be- 
lieve that you doubt mine ; and I feel as if a more intimate and 
profitable intercourse than ever were about to take place between 
us. We have, I trust, entered on a course in which, whatever 
may be the difference of our views on minor points, being agreed 
in the grand way-marks of our journey, and designing, by (rod's 
help, to reach the same destination, we may travel harmoniously 
together, and lend one another a helping-hand, in surmounting 
the impediments which we may expect to find in our way. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 135 

"My best resolutions are frustrated, or interfered with, by 
surrounding temptations, and I seem to experience increased 
occasion for the penitent acknowledgment of having renewedly 
' erred and strayed from G-od's ways like a lost sheep ;' of having 
' left undone those things which I ought to have done, and done 
those things which I ought not to have done.' Or, in the expres- 
sive language of St. Paul, ' I know that in me, that is, in my 
flesh, dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, 
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. I delight in 
the law of God, after the inner man ; but I see another law in 
my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing 
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 
wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death V I embrace cordially, and pray the aids of the 
Holy Spirit to do it effectually, the answer of that eminent min- 
ister of Grod : ' Thanks be to Grod, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord? Let us look to Him, as ; the author and finisher of our 
faith ;' be persuaded that ' other foundation hath no man laid ;' 
rely upon his all-sufficient atonement ; receive him as our Prophet, 
Priest, and King ; and depend upon the sanctifying influences of 
the blessed Spirit to prepare us for maintaining our present con- 
flicts with the world, the flesh, and. the devil, and for obtaining 
ultimately a place among the saints in glory. Since my mind 
has become more seriously impressed, experience has convinced 
me, that when deep conviction of sin has seized upon the heart, 
when penitence and prayer have become its daily employment, 
and the soul is panting after righteousness, worldly engagements, 
both of business and of pleasure, slacken and impede its progress 
in grace, and hourly suggest fearful apprehensions of losing all 
that has been gained. how dreadful is the thought, that 
when called by Grod's Spirit to a view of one's lost, undone con- 
dition, when encouraged to lay hold of the hope set before us in 
the G-ospel, and feeling with humility and thankfulness some 
advancement in the work of piety, we should relapse into our 
first estate. Truly, ' the latter end of such is worse than the 
beginning.' G-od preserve you and me from such an event. His 
power alone is sufficient for the purpose. 

"After a long profession of religion," ( sacramental communion 



136 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

in the Church is not here intended,) "accompanied by vain at- 
tempts to accommodate it to the fashion and folly of the world, 
it has pleased God — in the midst of gayety and pleasure, and with- 
out that pressure of calamity which is so often made the means 
of turning the thoughts to the only sure Refuge, and while, too, 
the opportunity of public waiting upon him in his ordinances 
was, in a great measure, denied — to arrest me in my course, con- 
vince me of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, arraign me at the 
bar of my own conscience as a heinous partaker in it, and then, 
in mercy, to open to my view the way of escape, provided I no 
longer neglected the great salvation. 

" By a singular coincidence it has happened, that without a 
mutual knowledge of the fact, you and I have been similarly 
engaged. To whom, therefore, with more propriety than to your- 
self could I impart my feelings ? Let me hear from you. Dis- 
close fully your religious views, for it will be done to a friend. 
Fellow-travellers on the road to Zion, I rejoice to wish you ' God 
speed' on your journey, and shall not cease to pray for strength 
to accompany you, though it should be — ' haud passibus cequis ' — 
at an unequal pace. Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILM)R." 

Though Mr. Bradford's part of the correspondence thus opened 
must necessarily be omitted, yet a few passages from his first 
letter will be given, as evincive of the spirit in which he re- 
sponded to the feelings of his friend. 

"Philadelphia, January 26, 1813. 
"My dear Friend — Never did I read a letter with more de- 
light and joy than yours, received yesterday. I had been absent 
from the city for ten days, and just returned from the gayeties 
of a wedding at Dover, with a mind diseased and corrupted by 
the intercourse into which I had been obliged to enter with a gay 
and fashionable world. The contents of your letter warmed my 
soul, and enlivened all my affections. For, my dear friend, among 
the crosses which I foresaw I must bear in my Christian course, 
was that of separating, in a great degree, from you and many 
others whose pursuits and pleasures were different from those 
which I was following. The goodness of God in awakening your 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 137 

mind to a sense of its true condition, while it has excited, and 
should continue to excite in you a holy zeal and gratitude, has 
produced no less emotion in my own mind. A dear friend, in 
whose society I have ever delighted, and with whom I have so 
often controverted points of religion, when we were both stran- 
gers to God, has been taught of Him, and is restored to me in 
the bonds of a covenant, which, I trust, will never be broken. 
How delightful is that friendship, whose basis is religion, and 
whose object is the promotion of our eternal welfare. Thanks be 
to God for restoring to me one so beloved. 

""With you, I am every day constrained to bemoan the little 
progress which I make 'in grace and the knowledge of my Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ,' and almost to fear that I have no in- 
terest in his atoning sacrifice ; so cold and lifeless, so hard and 
flinty is my poor wicked heart. This body of sin weighs me 
down to the dust. ' Take from me, my God, this heart of stone, 
and give me a heart of flesh.' Truly, my friend, St. Paul was 
never more correct than when he said, ' The carnal mind is en- 
mity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be.' how precious does the bleeding Lamb of God 
appear to a soul, sinking under the conviction of its guilt and 
ill-desert ; and how all-attractive and endearing are the promises 
of this blessed Saviour : ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest ;' ' Come, buy wine and 
milk, without money and without price.' What, nothing to do 
to obtain this great salvation ? Nothing. Not a rag of self- 
righteousness will be accepted here. ' It is for my name's sake,' 
saith the great Jehovah, 'that I do this thing.' How constantly 
ought we to pray, ' For thy name's sake, Lord, pardon mine 
iniquity, for it is great.' ' Examine me, Lord, and prove me ; 
try my reins and my heart.' 

"Persevere, my dear friend, in beseeching God to have mercy 
on you ; fight the good fight of faith ; put on the armor of the 
Christian warrior, for we have to contend with most wicked and 
powerful enemies; trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will 
give you victory over them all. 

" How pleasant will be our future correspondence. Leaving 
a jarring world and its concerns to those who love them more, we 



138 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

will tell each other what the Lord hath done for our souls, how 
we travel along the Christian path, what new beauties strike our 
view, what snares and perils we have escaped, what trials and con- 
flicts we have endured, and what crosses we have borne. Thus 
animating and counselling each other, we shall find an epistolary 
intercourse more interesting and instructive than ever. How dif- 
ferent will this be from that which we kept up for a part of the 
last session. Instead of the affairs of this world, we shall con- 
verse about a world higher and better : instead of ' Who shall rise 
to honor and distinction here V our question will be, ' How shall 
we attain to that unfading honor, in the mansions of eternal rest, 
reserved for the people of Grod?' But, my friend, in all things be 
watchful, guarding yourself from the deceitfulness of your own 
heart; for saith our blessed Lord, 'Watch and pray, lest ye enter 
into temptation.' The terms of discipleship are plainly proposed to 
us by Him. ' If any man will come after me, let him deny him- 
self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.' May Grod bless 
and preserve you, my dear friend ; and may we, like David and 
Jonathan of old, be united in a sure covenant, and say, that, as for 
others, they may do as seemeth meet unto them ; but, in the lan- 
guage of Joshua, ' as for us and our house, we will serve the Lord.' 
" Write to me, and believe me, more than ever, 

" Your friend, 

"T. BRADFORD, JR." 
" J. Milxor, Esq.'*' 

To this letter Mr. Milnor replied in the following, among other 
passages of his second letter, dated, 

<■' TTashixgtox. 29th Jan.. 1813. 

"My dear Friend — Your affectionate letter of the 26th has 
afforded me much satisfaction on every account but one. I fear 
I am to infer from your kind expressions, that you unduly appre- 
ciate my progress in religion, and that I have myself occasioned 
the mistake by using language in reference to the state of my 
mind, calculated to give you an idea of its subjection to the influ- 
ence of divine grace which the real fact does not warrant. If I 
have done so, ascribe it to any cause rather than a deliberate 
intention to deceive either you or myself: a greater than either, 
I know I cannot deceive ; for although I trust I may say, with 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 139 

the pious Job, ' I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; 
but now mine eye seeth thee ' — in faith and mental vision is my 
meaning — yet the glorious view does but excite in me the hum- 
bling sentiment with which he followed this declaration, ' "Where- 
fore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Truly, my 
friend, I should falsify every hour's experience, if I denied the 
enmity of the carnal mind against God ; the ingratitude of a cor- 
rupted heart for innumerable external and internal benefactions ; 
and its guilty murmurings at every parental chastisement for mul- 
tiplied transgressions. The reason why we do not discern its 
rebellion against the Almighty, and its tyranny over ourselves, is 
because we have been so long willing slaves to its dominion, and 
have so often aided its struggles against the Spirit of G-od, that 
we love its corruptions and defilements better than all the graces 
of purity and holiness. This I have deplorably experienced in 
my past life ; and now that I perceive with a clearer light than 
heretofore, a heavenly index pointing to the right road, with the 
emphatic direction, ' This is the way ; walk thou in it ;' an ; evil 
heart of unbelief,' still inhabiting this miserable bosom, would 
dissuade me from my course with the beguiling suggestion, that 
1 the ways of wisdom are not ways of pleasantness, nor her paths 
peace.' 'Yes,' suggests this rebellious spirit, -you are entering 
on a rugged and impracticable journey ; it is beset with briars 
and thorns ; few of those whom you most love will be your com- 
panions, and all from whom you separate will pronounce you a 
fool, a hypocrite, or an enthusiast, for your pains. You must 
assume new habits and manners, and on many topics, new opin- 
ions, that will be the ridicule of your acquaintance, and will unfit 
you for the duties of your station ; and after all, having made 
trial of your undertaking, you will only come back into the world 
with its scorn and derision for your folly and fickle -mindedness.' 
Thus is it that the arch-adversary — who dared presumptuously, 
though in vain, to assail the sinless purity of our Redeemer at his 
entrance upon the duties of his blessed mission, by tempting his 
supposed vanity, and love of power, and cupidity of wealth, with 
an offer of ' all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them' — 
more successfully spreads his snares for the souls of weak, irreso- 
lute, and guilty men.. Thus has he heretofore induced you and 



140 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

me to stifle convictions ; permitted us in some general way to 
acknowledge the truths of religion, and join in its public duties ; 
and allowed us to avoid open profligacy and direct opposition to 
many even of the stricter rules of life observed by others ; while 
he has prevented our following the good example of the truly 
pious, and made us content ourselves with a decent system of 
morality, mixed with some of the semblance of religion and the 
exercise of a disposition of charity and good- will to our fellow- 
men ; and then has assured us that these would carry us as suc- 
cessfully to heaven as godly sorrow for sin, repentance, faith in 
the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, regeneration by the Holy 
Ghost, and newness of life produced by the spirit and regulated 
by the precepts and the example of Christ. 

"As to myself, it pleases God at times to obscure my views, 
and to allow my corrupt heart to fear the difficulties which I 
have mentioned ; and thus am I threatened with the dangers of 
backsliding, if not the perils of apostasy from the faith of Christ. 
My religious strength is very weakness, yet I will not despair ; 
because, blessed be the Author and finisher of my faith, my sal- 
vation either from sin here, or from eternal death hereafter, de- 
pends not on my unassisted efforts. My help is laid on One who 
is mighty to save, and who will save, to the uttermost, all that 
come to God through him." 

After a somewhat prolonged and striking train of reflections 
on the perils of his future practice of the law, much in the style 
of those already quoted, he thus proceeds : 

" I sometimes think, that were I some years younger, and 
yet favored with my present views, my course of duty would be 
pretty obvious. But the want of capacity, and of religious and 
other knowledge, and the diminution of that aptitude to new 
acquirements which belongs to the youthful mind, with other 
obstacles that need not be mentioned, banish every hope of being 
useful in the profession to which you will easily understand me 
as intending an allusion." 

This is the first distinct reference, with which we have met, 
to the new direction of his thoughts towards the work of the min- 
istry, and it shows how little qualified he then was to judge of 
what God was designing for him in the future. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 141 

" Farewell, my friend," he concludes ; " ' Quench not the 
Spirit ;' ' prove all things ; hold fast that which is good ; abstain 
from all appearance of evil ; and the very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ.' This is heavenly advice, not mine. May we both adopt 
and pursue it in all time to come." 

" Jan. 31, 1813. — Thanks to my heavenly Father, that he has 
been graciously pleased in some measure to prepare me for wait- 
ing upon him, on this his holy day, in that way which is alone 
acceptable, ' in spirit and in truth.' I say, in some measure ; but 
0, how small a dispensation of divine grace is yet my portion ! 

Lord, ' take not the word of thy truth utterly out of my mouth; 
for my hope is in thy judgments.' My desire to avoid the scene 
of political discussion, which, in this city, is everywhere, save at 
church and in the chamber, induces me very often to seek a 
retreat in the latter, where, I thank God, I may undisturbedly 
' commune with my own heart, and be still.' " 

He closes the letter in which the foregoing brief passages 
occur, with a Sabbath evening's " song of ardent praise ;" and then, 
as if feeling a slight return of his once strong' dread and distrust 
of all high- wrought feeling in religion, adds in a postscript, 

" Excuse the foregoing transcript of my feelings. The full 
heart must speak out, or it will burst. I would place a whole- 
some restraint upon any tendency of my religious affections 
towards enthusiasm. This spirit is often more honest than the 
Pharisaical formality of mere outside-professors ; but it obscures 
those clear perceptions of divine truth at which we ought to aim, 
and brings disrepute upon religion. Let the Scriptures be our 
only, as they will prove themselves our infallible guide. Let us 
never submit to the strange persuasion that the affections are not 
to be engaged — warmly, feelingly engaged, in the work of relig- 
ion ; but let us avoid the evil of yielding them an ascendency 
over the word of God. l To the law and to the testimony.' " 

After this characteristic caution to himself, he subjoins, 
" Farewell, my dear friend. God is teaching me to pray aright. 

1 am a stubborn and backward scholar ; but in his good time, he 
will enable me, as I hope he has already enabled you, to mount 



142 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

boldly, though not presumptuously, that ' true ladder,' as Lord 
Bacon expresses it, ' which he has fixed in the person of a Me- 
diator, whereby God descends to his creatures, and his creatures 
ascend to God.' " 

" Feb. 5, 1813. — Since I last wrote you I can pretend to but 
little progress in that work, the root of which, I humbly trust, 
is laid in my heart. The necessity of circumstances, or rather the 
seeming necessity, carried me yesterday to an entertainment at 
the Russian minister's, from which I returned in the evening with 
a heart less prepared for communion with itself, or with its God, 
than if I had been drinking at the fountain of his blessed word, 
or employed in the duty of private meditation. To-day, your 
worthy brother, and a party from Philadelphia, have claimed my 
attention, and the offices of friendship, pleasing as they are to the 
natural disposition, have made me partaker of conviviality, on 
which by any austerity on my part, I feared to throw a damp ; 
but which the retirement of this chamber, where my best affec- 
tions have had their birth and nurture, reminds me must be 
abandoned, or I myself shall be abandoned by the Spirit of the 
Most High." 

After quoting some sentiments from Lord Bacon, who seems 
to have been a favorite author with him, he adds, 

" You see how a mixture with gay society disqualifies me for 
resorting to higher authority. I am more and more convinced, 
in respect to myself, that these occasions and temptations must 
be avoided ; and that the limits of propriety assume so equivocal 
a character to the mind, and may be so easily exceeded in com- 
panionable intercourse, that the tyro in religion must beware how 
he exposes himself to the danger of losing, by his own folly and in- 
discretion, all that he has gained. May the time soon arrive when 
I shall be less ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, better practice his 
blessed precepts, and have more courage and success in subduing 
inveterate habits, and in devoting myself, as a consistent disciple 
of the Cross, to the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom." 

His next letter contains an account of a visit to Washington — 
on his way from Philadelphia, southwards — of a young Presbyte- 
rian preacher, the Rev. Mr. Skinner, who brought him a letter of 
introduction from Mr. Bradford, and whose eloquent and faithful 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 143 

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 
fellow-member of Congress, "who would have been much offend- 
ed to be told he was not a believer, was frank enough to acknow- 
ledge to me, that he went home after morning service, retired to 
his chamber, and wept bitterly at the reflection, that, at the age 
of fifty, this young stripling should have so laid open his deformi- 
ties, and set before him truths to which he had so long been ex- 
perimentally a stranger. A conversation held with him to-day, 
induces me to believe that an abiding impression has been made 
on his mind. 

" On Sunday afternoon, at the close of service, a lady, who 
had been much affected, went to speak to Mr. Skinner ; but her 
tears choked her utterance, and she withdrew." 

The occasion was apparently blessed to himself likewise, for 
he soon after subjoins: 

" My mind becomes more stayed upon GJ-od. The realities of 
religion begin to fasten more steadfastly on my understanding 
and my heart. The Holy Spirit graciously assists my infirmities 
in making prayer and supplication at the throne of grace, and I 
patiently wait for an answer to my petitions in G-od's own time, 
confiding hi the unchangeable faithfulness of his gracious prom- 
ises. How dare we distrust that Grod who has promised to be 
1 rich in mercy to all who call upon him V " 

" Feb. 11, 1813. — You ask, i Is it painful and injurious to 
me to mingle with the world, and to partake of its pleasures V 
Yes. Nothing so much disqualifies me for all religious duties as 
promiscuous company, especially if it be of such a cast as that 
in which you and I have been accustomed to delight. "Whenever 
a seeming necessity has drawn me reluctantly into it, I have 
returned to my chamber with heaviness of heart and the keenest 
stings of remorse ; so true is the observation, as to the effect of 
such associations, which Solomon applies to the excessive use of 
one of their ordinary accompaniments : ' At the last, it biteth 
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder;' or, as he elsewhere 
says, 'Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of 
that mirth is heaviness.' For any real delight which these things 



144 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

have given me, their loss is as nothing. The cross lies in sub- 
jecting one's self to the imputation of a hundred motives for a 
new course of life different from the true ones, and in offending 
many amiable friends, who cannot, unless enlightened by divine 
grace, discern any just reason for an alteration in our conduct. 

" Hospitality and friendliness towards all who have claims on 
us, may be lawfully indulged, but revelling and carousal must be 
avoided; and, for myself, I add all those places of public amuse- 
ment ivhere God is insulted or forgotten, and religion and mor- 
als are set at open defiance. If religious convictions had not 
already divorced me from that fascinating syren the theatre, I 
should have been completely satisfied by the conclusive argu- 
ments of Dr. Miller, in his sermon preached on the occasion of 
the conflagration at Hichmond. 

" Many thanks for your clear, experimental views of ' the 
truth as it is in Jesus.' On the fundamentals of his blessed, 
glorious religion, we shall never disagree. If on any obscure, 
controverted point we should happen to differ, we will follow the 
conscientious dictates of our respective minds, appealing to the 
Searcher of hearts for the honesty of our views, and exercising 
charity towards each other. My feelings must indeed be changed 
much for the worse, before I can refuse Christian charity to every 
sincere follower of the Lamb, whatever be the denomination 
under which chance or choice may have thrown him ; fully be- 
lieving that, as ' in every nation,' so in every body of Christians, 
6 he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted of 
him.'" 

To this part of his letter is appended a note, beginning with 
the following passage. " Chance. Allow me to recall this hate- 
ful expression. How careful ought we to be, ever to bear in mind 
the all-pervading providence of Grod. The language, as well as 
the thoughts of the days of our carnality, is an effective means 
in the hands of the tempter, of sullying our Christian purity, and 
of annoying us in the warfare in which we are now engaged." 

" Feb. 12, 1813. — I know not whether I am to consider my 
residence in this place, with all its privations, as an evil. Per- 
haps it has been a blessing in disguise. It engaged me in politics 
till my heart sickened with disgust at the contentious scene 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 145 

around me. It involved me in the frippery, and parade, and 
foolery of fashionable life, till I was surfeited with their wretched 
insipidity, and alarmed at the dangers lurking beneath their taste- 
less sweets. Depriving me of the enjoyment of a regular at- 
tendance on public worship, it taught me to prize that blessing 
more highly than ever. Abstracted from my professional pur- 
suits, and the many engagements which the cares of a family 
bring with them, and finding little satisfaction in the passing 
scene, the solitude of my chamber has afforded me precious op- 
portunities for meditation, self-examination, communion with my 
own heart, and finally, by Grod's grace, intercourse with heaven. 
This work has been in progress for many years. 1 ' [It evidently 
be^an the moment when examination had convinced his "rational 
understanding," as he terms it, of the divine inspiration of the 
Scriptures, and had driven this belief of the head into what proved 
its long conflict with the self-righteousness of the heart — a con- 
flict in which nature stoutly withstood grace, and made disputes 
about religion and an exterior semblance of it a shield against 
inward conviction, and an opiate to conscience ; till, finally, the 
very excess of this world's noises — Grod speaking through them — 
awoke him from his dream of saving himself, and drove him for 
eternal life to the only immovable rock, Christ Jesus.] "In the 
midst of much worldly business, political anxiety, and pleasura- 
ble occupation, the 'still small voice' has unceasingly whispered 
in my ear, that these could never constitute my rest ; that there 
was an awful eternity before me, and a work of grace to be ef- 
fected in my heart, if I wished for final happiness. You say, in 
one of your letters, that you and I used to dispute about religious 
doctrines, when we were wholly ignorant of the power of religion 
upon our souls. The observation is most true ; but do you not 
believe that God's Spirit was then at work upon us, and that, 
though the obduracy of our hearts would not then yield to his 
requisitions, but we daringly sent him away till a more con- 
venient season, yet he has been pleased, in matchless goodness, 
still to strive with us to the present day ? Such is my persuasion ; 
and the desire of my soul now is, to ascribe to him praises too 
exalted for my polluted lips to express, for his long-suffering 
mercy and goodness; and fervently and constantly do I implore 

Mem. Milnor. 1 



146 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

that I may be preserved, by a power superior to my own, from 
all manner of sin and wickedness, and be, one day, presented 
blameless by my dear Redeemer before the throne of his Father." 

Alluding soon after to Christ's "gracious promise of making 
us partakers of ' the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation 
of the world,' " and to the assurance that " so shall we ever be 
with the Lord," he breaks forth in the following strain : 

" transporting, rapturous contemplation! Inspired by such 
hopes, founded on the unchangeable faithfulness of the Grod of 
truth, vain pomp and glory of the world, we hate you. Honor, 
fame, riches, become empty sounds; and our whole happiness 
consists in the fulfilment of the noble purpose which you have 
intimated, of knowing - only Christ Jesus and him crucified.' " 

He proceeds to advise the preservation of their letters, in order 
that, if their hearts should ever grow cold, and lose the sweet 
sense which they then enjoyed, of "heavenly moments, unseen 
by any but their Father," a recurrence to what they had once 
written might be blessed to the rekindling of their fires, and the 
reviving of their unearthly joys. This again put in movement 
the balance-wheel of his caution, and therefore he adds_, 

" But let us avoid enthusiastic delusions, and test all our 
emotions by the written word of Grod. Let our ecstasies, if 
haply G-od inspire us with some portion of the spirit that ani- 
mated them, be such as were felt by David, and Job, and regen- 
erated Paul. Then we need not fear that our affections will run 
into enthusiasm and rant. At least, though a gainsaying, igno- 
rant world might pronounce it such, yet such will not be the 
judgment of the redeemed of God. They have felt the transports 
of a soul emancipated from the slavery of sin, and favored, in 
mental vision, with a glimpse of the glories of the heavenly 
world. my friend, may your heart be as light as mine is to- 
day. Last night was a happy night. Dare I be so presumptu- 
ous as to say, that Grod was present with me in my ardent sup- 
plications, and vouchsafed me an answer of peace ? Knowing, 
as I do, my ignorance and blindness, I could not, of myself , have 
so poured out my soul unto him. Thanks be to his adorable 
name, the Spirit gave me utterance, and I feel a humble hope 
that I have not wrestled for naught." 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 147 

The farther we advance in these transcripts, the more are 
we struck with what must have been the uncommon depth and 
strength of Mr. Milnor's early antipathy to Calvinism. Even 
with those who allow that his objections against that system were 
just, there can be no doubt that his antipathy was so excessively 
sensitive as to render him, for a long period, all but incapable of 
the true and full comforts of a Christian hope. For no sooner 
was he brought to something like the davmings of that hope, and 
to an expression of the holy joys to which it naturally gives birth, 
than he was seized with an uncomfortable fear, lest his friend 
should understand him as admitting the doctrine of "assurance " 
or as professing to have become one of "the elect." Hence, im- 
mediately after writing the letter from which the last extracts 
are taken, he sent forward another to set himself right on this 
point. 

" Feb. 13, 1813. — I did not intend so soon to trouble you with 
another letter ; but I fear, lest, in the warmth of my feelings 
when I last wrote, I have expressed myself presumptuously and 
unadvisedly. I would by no means i lay the nattering unction 
to my soul,' that my spiritual warfare is accomplished. G-od 
forbid that I should take up a false rest, and cry, ' Peace, peace, 
when there is no peace.' There is no danger so great, in my eyes, 
as a false security in present attainments. It stops the progress 
of piety in the heart ; shuts out those affusions of divine grace, 
which would continue to be dispensed, were the mind kept in a 
meek and humble state ; and is, I believe, not infrequently a road 
which imperceptibly carries an awakened sinner back to the 
world, and makes his latter end worse than the beginning." 

These thoughts are just ; but what was there in his previous 
letter to justify the "fear" which prompted them? That "Grod 
was present with him," and heard his prayer with "an answer of 
peace ;" that "the Spirit gave him utterance," and filled him with 
the " humble hope that he had not wrestled in vain ;" and that 
the night should have been made "happy" amid the refreshings 
thus kindly vouchsafed him; were surely no reasons why he 
should distress himself with the fear that he had "taken up a 
false rest." Nor, it is presumed, would he have felt this fear, 
had he not once filled his mind so crowdedly with the theory that 



148 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

all strong hope borders somewhere on presumption ; and that 
enthusiasm, though often "honest," is yet, almost necessarily, 
mischievous. From some passages in his next letter, he seems to 
have been already thrown far back into darkness and discomfort. 

" Feb. 17, 1813. — Except when I seek the privacy of my 
chamber, I am in the midst of a continued whirl of politics and 
fashion; and after subjecting myself to much censure for the 
languid interest which I take both in the one and in the other, 
I find my own conscience, in my closet, upbraiding me with mix- 
ing too much in their contaminations. With respect to politics, 
my heart loathes their corrupting and uncharitable dissonances ; 
and as for the parade of drawing-rooms, it can afford little pleas- 
ure to a mind bowed down under a conviction of sin, and humbly 
seeking the regenerating and sanctifying influences of the Spirit 
of God. Solitude and retirement, during some part of each day, 
can on no account be dispensed with. If secular occupations de- 
prive us of them during the hours usually allotted to the world, 
let us abridge the unnecessary quantum of sleep in which our 
sluggish natures too often invite us to indulge. My religious 
impressions have induced me to consider this useless waste of 
time as a sin to be abandoned ; and I find a late retirement to 
the pillow, and an earlier desertion of it, by no means injurious 
to health. 

" I have to thank you for the interesting extract relative to 
the conversion of the Bishop of Carthage. It confirms the obser- 
vation made by you in a previous letter, that truth is a unit, and 
that believers in all ages will be found to have undergone, what- 
ever be the diversity of their circumstances, substantially the 
same operations of divine grace in the regeneration and renewal 
of their hearts. It is not, however, for us presumptuously to 
expect that we shall be favored in the extraordinary manner 
allowed in Grod's providence in this instance of Cyprian, and 
some other cases." 

" I am but at the threshold of this great undertaking of 
' working out my salvation with fear and trembling.' My course 
is much less successful than you suppose. If ; the Day-spring 
from on high ' seem now and then to shine into my corrupt and 
darkened mind, its rays are ever and anon obscured by more 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 149 

than midnight gloom. The very ' blackness of darkness ' appears 
sometimes to blot out all my hopes, and my only solace is the 
still continued promises of the Gospel, which the combined efforts 
of the world, the flesh, and the devil, will never, I trust, be able 
to defeat." 

He had recently attended, in Alexandria, the preaching of a 
charity sermon by the Rev. Mr. Wilmer, in the Methodist church. 
Of this he remarks, 

" Judge "Washington since observed to me — not with a view 
to censure, for he afterwards highly applauded both the preacher 
and the sermon — that he had seen me in Alexandria ' listening to 
a Presbyterian sermon from an Episcopal minister in a Metho- 
dist meeting-house.' that all Christians agreeing in the fun- 
damentals of religion, would feel that glowing love towards one 
another, enjoined by that commandment of our Lord, which he 
does not hesitate to assimilate in dignity and importance to the 
first and greatest." 

" Feb. 18, 1813. — "What a precious privilege is it to such 
worms of the dust as we, to have such a door of access opened to 
us into the holiest ! My heart burns with rapturous gratitude 
and praise at this wonderful condescension in that infinitely ex- 
alted Being of beings, who dwells in light inaccessible and full of 
glory, and before whom even angels veil their faces." 

" You see I keep on with my letters, destitute as they are of 
novelty, and, except to minds exercised as ours are, of interest 
too. Do not criticise their language, or their method ; for I at- 
tend to neither. Such as it is, you have my heart laid open to 
your view, with all its obliquities and alternations : now tossed 
on an ocean of fears and doubts almost at the will of the tempter ; 
and now, with the impetus from that Heavenly Wind which ' blow- 
eth where it listeth,' and under the pilotage of that unerring 
guide, the revelation of Grod, gently steering towards 6 the haven 
where it would be.' " 

A large part of his next letter, which is very long, is occupied 
on a theme to which he often recurs — the difficulties thrown in 
the way of his religious progress by his professional pursuits, and 
his former entanglements amid the pleasures of the world. After 
dwelling on the subject at such length, he proceeds, under date ot 



150 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" Feb. 20, 1813. — Accept, my friend, these Saturday night 
effusions. They come from a heart more and more convinced of 
its innate and obstinate depravity, yet excited by divine grace to 
pant after that ' laver of regeneration ' spoken of by the pious 
Cyprian ; and though moving with a faltering and unsteady pace 
in the appointed way, yet having no dependence on itself, but 
looking towards a bleeding Saviour as its only hope and stay, and 
consoling itself with an assurance, that what it could never have 
accomplished for itself, has been freely done by an adorable act 
of unmerited mercy on the part of the Son of God. amazing 
condescension ! Love unparalleled ! Well might the apostle so 
feelingly declare, ' Scarcely for a righteous man will one die ; 
yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die : 
but God commendeth his love to us, in that while ive ivere yet 
sinners, Christ died for us.'' " 

Alluding to the danger of " expecting, too soon, conclusive 
evidence of God's favor," in what he calls, though without theo- 
logical accuracy, "the complete regeneration of our hearts" — 
language which seems to confound our original new-birth of the 
Spirit with final, perfect sanctification — he proceeds : 

" His own time is the best time. Let us beware of the sug- 
gestions of the tempter, who would have us outrun the openings 
of divine light upon our souls, and upbraid the Almighty with 
the tardiness of his operations. Hearts, so lately at enmity with 
God, and even now constantly prone to forget that ' his ways 
are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts,' should be 
bowed down in humility, and patiently wait for God to be fur- 
ther gracious to us, by giving us a sensible assurance of our be- 
ing wholly his. If this be withheld, a scriptural caution should 
silence every murmur : ' "Who art thou, man, that repliest 
against God ?' ' He that reproveth God, let him answer it.' " 

After he began this letter, he received one from his friend, 
mourning under an unusual darkness, which had come over his 
soul. Among other comforting suggestions, therefore, he offers 
the following in a postscript : 

" Feb. 21, 1813. — It is good for us, my friend, and an evi- 
dence of God's love, that he chastens us, and does not permit us 
to relinquish our warfare by a false security of its having been 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 151 

already accomplished. Talk not of ' delusion.' It is the sug- 
gestion of the Evil One to shake your faith in the Redeemer. 
The Holy Spirit has begun a work, which he will assuredly ac- 
complish, if you and I do not wilfully resist his strivings. What 
though our prayers are weak and languid ? "We have a prevail- 
ing ' Advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous ; and 
he is the propitiation for our sins.' Into his hands let us resign 
our cause ; let his blood and merits plead for us ; and let us not 
dare to doubt but his intercession will procure for us a full dis- 
charge of all our sins, and a renewal of our hearts unto holiness 
and newness of life. If our desires and prayers have ever wan- 
dered from the ground on which they must rest to be prevalent 
with God, let us apply to ourselves the Redeemer's rebuke, obey 
his divine injunction, and rely, yes, boldly and confidently rely on 
his faithfulness to the annexed promise : ' Hitherto have ye asked 
nothing in my name. Ask, that ye may receive, and that your 
joy may be full.' ' If ye abide in me, and my word abide in 
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.' 
The Psalmist, too, assures us that ' God forgetteth not the cry of 
the humble :' and again, ' This poor man cried ; the Lord heard 
and delivered him out of all his distresses.' 

" My confidence in the Lord is strong this morning : I fer- 
vently beseech him to make yours so." 

He was learning to " comfort one who was in trouble, by the 
comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God ;" and so 
experienced the truth of the divine assurance, " He that water- 
eth" others, " shall be watered also himself." 

" Feb. 25, 1813. — I have need of an apology for the length of 
my last letter, rather than so soon to trouble you with another ; 
but I hope it is one evidence of my continued love to the blessed 
Saviour, that I delight to hold converse with one of his acknow- 
ledged disciples, and to be employed in so often speaking forth the 
praises of his holy name. If there be one sentiment at this 
time predominant in my mind, it is that of gratitude for his 
long-suffering goodness and merciful loving-kindness to sinners, 
especially to me, who am the chief of sinners. He has been 
pleased to call me out of darkness into some degree of his mar- 
vellous light ; and thanks be to the adorable faithfulness of his 



152 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

character, no doubt dares intrude into my mind of his perfectly 
fulfilling towards me every promise of his gracious word to pen- 
itent offenders. My prospects are, it is true, sometimes most 
lamentably darkened. Since I last wrote to you, I have, at times, 
been greatly discouraged. My devotional exercises have more 
than once been destitute of the life and power of religion, and, of 
course, have been followed by none of the cheering consolations, 
expected on the ground of a Gospel assurance, from communion 
with heaven. I accept these evidences of Grod's displeasure with 
humility, as chastenings due my transgressions ; and pray afresh 
that they may be efficacious in bringing down every vain imagi- 
nation, and in teaching me to rate still lower every performance 
of my own — to forsake, more and more, evil ways and evil thoughts, 
and to rely wholly on the grace of G-od for ability to do so, as 
well as to offer up acceptable sacrifices of praise and thanksgiv- 
ings for his numerous mercies, and humble supplications for a 
continuance of his unmerited favor. The world, the world, my 
friend, is the great obstacle. We must take a firm stand, and 
tread it under our feet." 

" I have received a most pleasing letter from the Rev. Mr. 
Kemper, written in the true spirit of a gospel minister. No man 
more earnestly desires to see the Church rise out of the cold and 
lifeless state in which she now lies, or more fervently rejoices at 
the prospect of these days of coldness fleeing away. ' My heart,' 
says he, ' is indeed cheered at the prospect ; my spirits revive. 
"When the hands of those who are appointed to minister in holy 
things are upheld by their lay brethren, victory in the Redeemer's 
cause is certain. I anticipate the time when we shall take sweet 
counsel together, for the purpose of promoting this best of causes. 
Nor will we be long alone. Many have become sensible of the 
vast importance of their immortal souls, who, if they continue 
seeking, will soon glory in the Cross of Christ.' 

" I will show you the whole of this letter when I see you, 
because I am persuaded you view the Church as I do : not as con- 
fined to any sect bearing the Christian name, but as embracing, 
in its wide-spread arms, the redeemed of Grod through faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, in whatever branch of the great family Provi- 
dence may have cast their lot. Grospel charity, like gospel faith, 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 153 

working by love upon the heart, breaks down that unhappy wall 
of separation, which too much divides brethren of the same house- 
hold ; who, however they may differ about forms of worship and 
of government, or even on some controverted doctrines, unite in 
cordially embracing the great fundamental and peculiar doctrines 
of our holy religion. I thank God for favoring me with an ex- 
pansion of heart towards all the members of the mystical body 
of Christ, to which I desire to be united as one of the humblest 
and the least." 

Perhaps we have met with no evidence of his own adoption 
into the true family of Christ more convincing than that contained 
in this last passage : the expansion of his heart's love to the limit 
of embracing all who are in Christ by faith. " "We knoiv that 
we have passed from death unto life, because we love the breth- 
ren," the entire Christian brotherhood. Another passage from 
this letter shows, that though Mr. Milnor had become tired of po- 
litical life, yet he had not done serving his country ; for, perad- 
venture, he did that country more good by his prayers than by 
his speeches. He says, 

" The mischievous policy which has involved us in a most 
disastrous war, has perhaps been permitted in divine wisdom, as 
a judgment for our sins. Let us hope that it may yet be over- 
ruled for good to our beloved country ; and never let us omit to 
pray to Him who governs all things, that he would rule our rulers, 
counsel our counsellors, and teach our senators wisdom ; so that, 
in due time, the days of prosperity and peace may once more 
return to our hitherto highly favored nation." 

By this time he had received his friend's reply to his long 
letter of consolation, dated, February 20, 21, and 22. The fol- 
lowing passage will show that his offered comforts had not proved 
like waters poured on the desert, which cannot be gathered up 
again. 

" Feb. 26, 1813. — Independently of the happiness which it 
gives me at all times to hear from you, I have, in this instance, 
a special happiness, from the assurance that you have been fa- 
vored with those consolations which were denied you at the time 
of writing your previous letter. I am indeed rejoiced, if, under 
God, the counsel of one who so much needs it as I do, has been 



154 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of any service in this good work ; and yet I would not claim the 
smallest portion of merit, for I am a debtor for all things myself 
to the inexhaustible treasury of the blessed word of God. I trust 
the time will arrive, when, instead of the buffetings which the 
noviciate in religion experiences, we shall be raised above them ; 
and although we may have to ' call to remembrance the former 
days, in which, after we were' partially 'illuminated, we en- 
dured a great fight of afflictions,' we shall yet have the full 
assurance in our hearts, that ' there remaineth a rest to the people 
of God,' and that we are of the happy number of those who are 
entitled to claim it." 

In the letter which Mr. Milnor is here answering, his friend, 
having been comforted, found his heart courageous and his tongue 
loosed, so that, in adverting to the best means of counteracting 
the evil tendencies of legal practice and other necessary inter- 
course with a wicked world, he was led to make the following 
quotation from "Watts. 

" As to our duty on such occasions, I have been struck with 
these stanzas as peculiarly apt. 

" l Whene'er constrained a while to stay 

With men of life profane, 
I'll set a double guard that day, 

Nor let my talk be vain. 
I'll scarce allow my lips to speak 

The pious thoughts I feel, 
Lest scoffers should occasion take 

To mock my holy zeal. 
Yet, if some proper hour appear. 

I'll not be overawed, 
But let the scoffing sinner hear 

That we can speak for God.' " 

In his remarks on this quotation, Mr. Milnor lets us look into 
one of the constitutional peculiarities, perhaps we may say faults 
of his mind — a peculiarity, indeed, in which he has many fol- 
lowers : we refer to his great caution, tending to reserve, in mak- 
ing religion the subject of direct personal appeal to sinners. 
Some talk to these too much, because they talk indiscreetly ; 
others talk too little, because, when they do open their mouth, it 
speaketh right things. The former need a bridle on their tongues ; 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 155 

the latter should pray against being tonguetied. But to the 
remarks. 

" I concur with you in your views of the danger not only of 
business pursued, and of pleasure indulged as heretofore, but also 
of the vain and trifling intercourse, to which we must every day 
be unavoidably subjected" — [supposing the continuance of their 
legal practice.] "Your poet's advice is excellent, but a man 
must be well grounded in religion to make it safe for him, in 
general, to introduce topics connected with it into ordinary con- 
versation. There are undoubtedly times when it may be expe- 
dient and profitable to do so ; but commonly so sacred a subject 
should be reserved for the private intercourse of kindred minds, 
shut out from a giddy and thoughtless world, to commune with 
each other on God's dealings with their souls, and to build each 
other up in their most holy faith. This, I trust, will often be 
our sweet employ." 

" Feb. 28, 1813.—' The race is not to the swift, nor the 
battle to the strong.' Thou, Lord, art the only giver of victory, 
and vain are the efforts of men who rely upon their own strength, 
and call not upon thee for aid. be pleased to teach us every 
day our entire dependence upon thee. Give us true repentance, 
saving faith, willing obedience, enlarged love, perfect humility ; 
so that, having exercised all the graces with which thy Holy 
Spirit may endow us, we may still avow ourselves ' unprofitable 
servants,' and thankfully acknowledge that it is of thy free 
mercy only we are saved : — 

" Such have been the aspirations of my heart this day, both 
in the house of God and on my knees in this chamber. The 
gratitude which I feel towards this gracious Giver of every good 
and perfect gift, for his infinite condescension in inviting us to 
these approaches to his throne, burns at this moment in my bo- 
som with an ardor not to be described. Let holy David supply 
the song of thankful praise. ■ I will praise thee, Lord ; even 
thy truth, my Clod. Unto thee will I sing upon the harp, 
thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I 
sing unto thee, and my soul which thou hast redeemed. I will 
hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. My 
mouth shall show forth thy righteousness, and thy salvation all 



156 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the day. I will go in the strength of the Lord God ; I will 
make mention of thy righteousness , even of thine only.' 

" How greatly am I astonished when I look back at my for- 
mer misconceptions of religious truth. I refer not merely to its 
practical influence on the life and conversation, but to a theoret- 
ical view of it as a system. Those doctrines of the Gospel, on 
which, if I know my own feelings now, I consider all my hopes 
of eternal happiness as resting, were, to my understanding, so 
repulsive, that my constant effort was, not daring utterly to 
reject them, to qualify them so as to suit my own dark, limited, 
and perverted views. Forgetting that the great Supreme ' will 
never give his glory to another,' my endeavor was, to make poor, 
finite, feeble, and depraved man, the efficient cause of his own 
salvation ; in this delusion losing sight, in a very great degree, 
of the glorious and complete atonement of Christ, and evading 
the agency of the Holy Spirit in appropriating its benefits to the 
soul of the believer. Then did I employ myself in hewing out 
broken cisterns, and in amusing myself with many inventions 
calculated to strip the blessed Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 
of all that I noiv see in it as most estimable and important. That 
1 it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' but that his 
deliverance from the thraldom of sin, and his hopes of everlasting 
happiness, rest wholly upon the offering made by ' the Lamb that 
was slain from the foundation of the world,' and upon the regen- 
erating, converting, and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit 
upon the heart, are now the pillars which support the whole* 
fabric of my religious faith. Without these fundamental doc- 
trines, the word of God degenerates into a mere system of ethics ; 
and the only surprising thing is, that such a mission as that of 
our Saviour's, his sufferings, and ignominious death, should- have 
seemed necessary for so trifling an effect as that ascribed to them 
by those who thus depress His glorious merits, sacrilegiously, shall 
I say, to exalt their own. Such, once, were you and I. Such 
was the burden of our unprofitable, unsanctified discussions. Let 
our prayer to God be, that ' we may obtain mercy, because we 
did it ignorantly, and in unbelief.' For my part, I humble my- 
self before God for this and all my multiplied transgressions ; 
and confess, that were he strict to mark iniquity, I could not 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 157 

abide it. But with him there is mercy and plenteous redemp- 
tion. Let us not despair of their extension even to us. He will 
yet give us to ' rejoice in the Lord, and to joy' even abundantly 
' in the G-od of our salvation.' " 

" March 2, 1813. — I hope there is not an undue spice of self- 
complacency in the gratification which it gives me to hear from 
you, arising out of the kind things you are pleased to say of me ; 
for although I will not be so fastidious as to deny the value 
which I set upon your good opinion, yet the insight which it has 
pleased Grod to give me into my heart, and the hostility which it 
daily and hourly evinces to the operations of the Holy Comforter, 
will, I trust, sufficiently warn and guard me against spiritual 
pride, and the too favorable opinions of friends so partial as 
yourself." 

Yet this, or something else, as he says, " seemed to have 
obliterated the impressions of the Sabbath, and to have prostrated 
all his religious affections." 

■"At an early hour in the evening, I retired to my chamber, 
and opened the sacred volume. It seemed to have no word of 
comfort for me, and I laid it aside, disposed to retire to my slum- 
bers without this their usual prelude. Happily, however, I have 
not latterly dared to go to my rest without a previous prostration 
at the footstool of the throne of grace. I wept bitterly at the 
necessity of entering on this solemn exercise with icy feelings ; 
nay, I fear, with almost a disposition to evade the duty. I am 
sure, I should have been glad to have a Christian friend with me, 
whose tongue might have relieved my own from a service for 
which I felt utterly unfit. But it was best for me to be deprived 
of this seeming blessing, this praying friend. Our heavenly 
Father did not suffer my apathy and torpor to continue long. 
The humble petition, that he would be pleased ' not to cast me 
away from his presence, nor take his Holy Spirit from me,' but 
that he would ' give me the comfort of his help again, and stab- 
lish me with his free Spirit,' was not unanswered. My soul, 
before full of heaviness, and disquieted within me, ready to cry 
out unto the Grod of my strength, ' "Why hast thou forgotten me V 
received new life from the warming, animating beams of divine 
love. My praises rose into rapture, and I left my requests with 



158 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the God of all grace, with a renewed confidence in his unchange- 
able goodness and truth ; exclaiming with holy David, I will ' put 
my trust in God ; I will yet thank him, who is the help of my 
countenance and my God.' I will only add, that thus prepared, 
the sacred volume gave me sweet employment until the lateness 
of the hour obliged me to retire to rest. To no one but yourself 
would I be thus particular. I am so to you, because the result 
of this conflict furnishes a consoling assurance of the efficacy of 
humble, fervent prayer ; a privilege and blessing so little prized, 
so much neglected." 

He goes on to say, " To-morrow is the last day of my public 
life," and to take a sort of review of his political principles and 
conduct during his membership in Congress, under the light of 
his new and higher views ; and then he adds, 

" But how I fatigue you with this endless talk about myself. 
Let me turn to the more grateful duty of congratulating you on 
your increased composure of mind, your consequent determina- 
tion to unite with the people of God in the holy communion, the 
gratifying circumstances of Mrs. Bradford's association with you 
in this solemn profession, and the consolations which you derive 
from your stated family observances. All these sources of hap- 
piness will, I hope, be one day mine. How long some of them 
may be postponed, I cannot tell. Some appeals to my nearest 
earthly friend are not answered as I could wish. But conversa- 
tion and prayer may, with higher aid, make more impression. 
My appeals are not rejected or negatived, but passed over slightly 
with a sort of acquiescence bordering on indifference. But per- 
haps I am mistaken in my opinion. Mrs. Milnor is too kind and 
affectionate, if it were for my sake only, to let me travel on 
alone. The heavenly Teacher will, I hope, make her, for her oivn 
sake, my companion in this, as in all the other duties of life." 

His next letter was written on the 4th of March, the day of 
President Madison's re-inauguration, while the writer was con- 
fined to his chamber by his old enemy, the gout. It turns chiefly 
on the event of the day, and the character of the war in which 
the country was involved ; and has, therefore, little or nothing to 
the purpose of these extracts. But, two days later, being still 
confined, he wrote again ; and his letter was full of interest. 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 159 

" March 6, 1813. — I sit down, my worthy friend, to write 
you, in all probability, for the last time from this place. 

" In the series of letters already transmitted, I have endeav- 
ored to give you a faithful transcript of my feelings on the all- 
important subject of religion. Unless I have been under a great 
delusion, they describe to you a work of Grod upon my soul, pro- 
duced by the free and unmerited dispensation of his Spirit, for 
which I desire ever to be most thankful, and to manifest my 
gratitude by devoting, as he may enable me to do, the residue of 
my life to his holy service. Not that I expect to pay, by any 
imperfect labors of my own, the incalculable amount of obliga- 
tion which I owe my heavenly Benefactor. My blessed Surety 
has done for me what I never should have been able to do for 
myself, though an angel's powers had been mine. But although 
my Ransom has been offered and accepted, and I would not dare 
presumptuously to claim the merit of having contributed any 
thing towards it, yet, does not this astonishing goodness call upon 
me, by God's help, to i walk in all the commandments of the Lord 
blameless ?' And although Christian humility must make every 
redeemed sinner acknowledge, that after his best performances, 
he is 'an unprofitable servant,' yet, does it exempt him from ex- 
ertion, and entitle him to 'stand all the day idle?' My former 
blindness on this plain and easy doctrine of our religion amazes 
me. The inseparable union of saving faith and good works, as 
cause and effect, whilst no reliance is placed on the latter as the 
efficient means of our salvation — this depends wholly on the 
atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, the benefits of which are 
appropriated to ourselves by a lively faith, the gift of G-od's Holy 
Spirit working in us — is at this moment as clear to my appre- 
hension as the simplest proposition of which I can conceive," 
[though it were friend Aquila's " Two and two make four."} 
" However I appreciate — and I do most highly — the labors of pious 
men employed in the investigation of religious truth, it is a cause 
of rejoicing with me, that my hearty reception of this doctrine 
is derived from a higher authority, the fountainhead of know- 
ledge, the unerring ivord of God. My heart bounds within me, 
that I can add, the doctrine is sealed upon my conscience in an- 
swer to fervent, importunate supplication at the throne of grace ; 



160 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and every day gives me new evidence of its being the basis of 
every system of doctrine that can rightfully claim the Gospel 
of Christ for its support." 

All this is not unlike friend Aquila's " solid conviction 11 of 
the truths which he found so precious ; and if this letter had 
been addressed to him, he might well have exclaimed, with 
thankful surprise, " The gay, the popular, the worldly Milnor has 
become a zealous convert to religion." 

" how comfortless would be our situation, how dismal our 
prospect for the future, had we to depend on any thing short of 
the right arm of God to bring us salvation ! Yes, thou self- 
righteous, presumptuous Pharisee, who art vaunting thy own 
performances before thy fellow-men, tell me, durst thou do so in 
the retirement of thy closet, and to thy God ? Dost thou ever 
pray ? If so, wherefore this unnecessary trouble ? But dost thou 
in secret acknowledge thy infirmities, and ask divine assistance : 
while, before men, thou disclaimest both ? Strange inconsis- 
tency ! Tremendous infatuation ! Yerily, unless thou art brought 
down from thy towering imaginations, and humbled at the feet 
of Jesus, and unless thou acknowledge to the world that thy help 
is laid upon One that is mighty, the most daring profligate might 
refuse to exchange his situation for thine. Divine truth may, at 
some moment, reach his heart, and subdue his love of sensuality 
and pleasure. But thou art wise above knowledge ; thou art 
wrapped in an impenetrable cloud of arrogance and self-conceit. 
Thou hast darkened counsel, rejected the Saviour's plan, and 
made a system for thyself ; forgetting that ' other foundation can 
no man lay, than that is laid,' without sinking into ruin with 
the tottering, baseless fabric of his own invention. Yet, the 
mercy of God is infinite, and a timely resort to it may prevent 
even thee from feeling how ' fearful a thing it is to fall into the 
hands of the living God.' 

" Such, I have thought, were I a commissioned officer of God. 
would be my address to those self- worshipping men ' who, profess- 
ing themselves to be wise, have become ' such ' fools ' as to sub- 
tract from the all-sufficiency of the gospel plan of redemption, and 
supply 'a cunningly devised fable' of their own: to reject vir- 
tually, if not confessedly, the merits of an almighty Saviour, even 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 161 

an incarnate God, by the substitution, or at least addition of 
some fancied merits of their own as necessary to salvation. Ah, 
it is cursed infidelity, however disguised ; it is the enmity of the 
carnal mind against God, that produces such delusions. In the 
work of repentance, wrought by God upon my heart, this l root 
of bitterness ' has, I humbly trust, been extracted for ever ; and 
now my prayer to God is, that every high thought and vain 
imagination may be laid low, and that, as the only fit prepara- 
tion for an entrance into that ' rest which remaineth for the peo- 
ple of God,' I may be ' washed in the blood of the Lamb,' be 
6 sanctified' by divine grace, and be 'justified in the name of our 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.' 

"It is a great source of humble praise and thankfulness to 
Almighty God, that he has led me to love and obey him, or to 
attempt, in some sort, to do so ; that he has endeared to me the 
word of truth ; that he has opened to me a door of access, in 
prayer and supplication, through the blessed Mediator ; that he 
has revealed to my mind, by his Holy Spirit, some sense of par- 
doning grace for past transgressions ; and that he has given me a 
humble, but firm hope in the promises of the Gospel." 

The remainder of the letter is occupied with considerations 
calculated to guard his friend and himself from the entangle- 
ments of business, and from the beguilings of pleasure; accom- 
modating to these dangers the language of Solomon, when speak- 
ing of a peculiar class of perils, " Can a man take fire in his 
bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can a man go upon hot 
coals, and his feet not be burned?" and closing with this reference 
to a future improvement of the means of Christian steadfastness : 

"We shall find, in their daily use, a comfort and security, that 
will minister to our souls' peace, and arm us against the fiery 
darts of the Evil One, and against all the efforts of his followers 
to seduce us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." 

Although he supposed that the above would be his last letter 
from "Washington, yet, on the evening of the same and the morn- 
ing of the next day he wrote another, a few extracts from which 
will close the account, furnished by this correspondence, of the 
development of his religious views and character. 

Mem. Milnor. 1 1 



162 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"March 6 and 7, 1813. — What, another letter? Yes, my 
friend; but, with more truth than the announcements of our 
theatrical gentry import, 'positively the last performance in 
this city.' 

"My lameness, thank God, nearly removed, my accounts 
settled, and my passage taken in the close coach for Baltimore 
on Monday next, I shall, with divine permission, be then on 
my homeward way. What pleasure have I in the prospect 
of a permanent reunion with my family and friends during the 
residue of such term on earth as God, in his wisdom, may be 
pleased to allow me. may he grant to you and me, when we 
are 'ready to be offered, and the time of our departure is at 
hand,' that complete and glorious assurance which enabled the 
great apostle, in view of death, exultingly to exclaim, 'I have 
fought a good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the 
faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that 
day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his 
appearing.' Let us avail ourselves of the last encouraging as- 
surance, and seek, devoutly, perseveringly seek to be of the 
number of those who love the Lord's appearing." 

" In my former communications I have said but little on the 
awful subject of death; but much, I hope, having a relation to 
the requisite preparation for that event. The truth is, that 
without meaning to undervalue the solemn incitements to duty, 
arising out of the denunciations of the Gospel against the finally 
impenitent, which often affect me with deep and afflicting anxi- 
ety, I have to praise God that he has brought my mind to a real- 
izing sense of religion rather by the soothing and inviting prom- 
ises than by the soul-awakening terrors of his word. I feel as 
if I must love my Saviour for himself for his own intrinsic 
excellence of character, independently of his love to me, unde- 
serving as I know myself to be of the smallest of his many 
favors. But when I look into my past life, and view myself the 
slave of sin and the bond-servant of iniquity ; living at the full 
meridian of gospel light, yet choosing darkness because my 
deeds were evil ; being almost without a sense of God's righteous 
government, and of my accountability to him ; and offering him 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 163 

external worship, the service of the lips, while my heart was far 
from him ; when I consider that, in so hopeless a condition, his 
love should have reached even me, 'the chief of sinners,' and 
given me a comfortable prospect of pardon and acceptance; I 
find abundant cause for cleaving to him, even if an eternity of 
punishment did not — as assuredly it does — await a contrary 
course. So fully do I feel a Saviour's love shed abroad in my 
heart, that methinks, though a dreadful hell did not await my 
desertion of him, I could never leave or forsake him. In this 
view of the 'constraining love of Christ,' the terrors of the law 
seem absorbed and lost, and the soul contemplates the great Je- 
hovah only as 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffer- 
ing, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for 
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Although 
I would not take from this sublime description of his character 
the remaining essential attribute of justice, exhibited in the con- 
cluding clause, that he 'will by no means clear the guilty,' yet 
the idea which I wish to convey is, that the drawings of his love, 
rather than the threatenings of his law, have been the means of 
turning my heart to God. 

"Under such feelings, how do an attachment to life and a fear 
of death diminish ! This it is that destroys the comeliness of all 
created things, and disrobes the tyrant of his terrors whenever he 
may approach. This it is that makes us see the mercy of God 
in all our earthly afflictions, and death itself to be but the pas- 
sage to ever-enduring happiness. The love of God in Christ dis- 
arms him of his sting, and robs the dark valley of the shadow of 
death of all its horrors. It was this that could make the great 
apostle say, ' For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ;' and 
with all his desire of usefulness to the Church on earth, and of 
some prolongation of his life for that purpose, yet to acknowledge 
his ' desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.'" 

He had recently been reading Lindley Murray's " little book, 
called ' the Power of Religion on the Mind in affliction and retire- 
ment, and at the approach of death;'" and had been much 
affected by its contents. He had also been studying "the eloquent 
and impassioned sermons of the late President Davies, of Prince- 
ton college ;" and gives a striking extract from one of the presi- 



164 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

dent's letters to a friend, descriptive of his feelings on a supposed 
near approach of death. He adds, further, some extracts from 
the sermons, of great interest ; with one of which, and a few 
remarks thereon, he closes the correspondence with Mr. Bradford. 
This last extract from President Davies' sermons, with Mr. Mil- 
nor's remarks thereon, is as follows : 

" Finally," says the President, " let me congratulate my 
reverend brethren on their being made ministers of the New 
Testament, which reveals that glorious and delightful subject — 
' Christ crucified ' — in full light, and diffuses it through all their 
studies and discourses. ' The Lamb that was slain,' is the theme 
that animates the songs of angels and saints above ; and even 
our unhallowed lips are allowed to touch it without profanation. 
Let us therefore delight to dwell upon it. Let us do full justice 
to the refined morality of the Gospel ; let us often explain and 
enforce the precepts, the graces, and the virtues of Christianity, 
and teach men to ' live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
world ;' but let us do this in an evangelical strain, as ministers 
of the crucified Jesus, and not as the scholars of Epictetus or 
Seneca. Let us labor to bring men to a hearty compliance with 
the method of salvation through Christ, and then we shall find 
it comparatively an easy matter to make them good moralists. 
Then, a short hint of their duty to Grod and man will be more 
forcible than whole volumes of ethics while their spirits are not 
cast in the gospel mould." 

" I have little prospect," adds Mr. Milnor, " that I can be use- 
ful in the way suggested ; and yet I wish I could be, for I think 
I always loved my fellow-men ; and never so much as since I have 
convincingly felt the love of Christ on my own soul. The thought 
of being instrumental in saving one soul out of hell besides my 
own, would be more to me than the wealth of the Indies." 

This letter, as a whole, furnishes a fit close of the series to 
which it belongs. Mr. Milnor's remarks on death, and his refer- 
ence to President Davies' feelings in view of its "supposed near 
approach," were, as we shall see, sweetly illustrated in his own 
case, in the year 1825. His experience, too, in being drawn to 
Christ by love rather than driven to him by terror, furnished the 
key-note to the harmony of his subsequent preaching of the 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 165 

Gospel. He delighted in winning souls to heaven by the love of 
Christ, more than in terrifying them from hell by the thunders 
of wrath. And it is probable that every faithful preacher of 
Christ, when he comes to proclaim the Saviour to others, un- 
studyingly follows the course of his own experience under the 
work of conversion. John's preaching was fullest of love ; Paul's 
of light ; James's of practice ; and Peter's of warning and con- 
firmation for the brethren. His last extract, moreover, from 
President Davies, shows that a radical change had taken place in 
his own theological system, as well as in the temper of his heart. 
Formerly, he used to put morals before the Gospel, and even as 
a substitute for it, while yet he never reached a morality which 
was more than superficial and earthly ; but now, he had learned 
to put the Gospel before morals, not because morality is useless, 
but because he had found in the Gospel the power of God for 
producing such morals as live in heaven. And finally, his closing 
remarks on that extract prove that his mind was already ripe 
for the work of the ministry of reconciliation. His last words 
breathe the true spirit of Christ and of Paul, and of every largely 
successful preacher of the Cross: "The thought of being instru- 
mental in saving one soul out of hell besides my own, would be 
more to me than the wealth of the Indies." 

Allusion was made, some time since, to several letters to Mrs. 
Milnor and others, written during the progress of the foregoing 
correspondence, and containing passages of interest in their bear- 
ing on this period of Mr. Milnor's life. Those to Mrs. Milnor in 
particular, as breathing intense desires for her salvation, furnish 
the best evidence of the genuineness of his conversion. A few 
of these passages, therefore, will now be given ; and with them 
will close the view, proposed to be taken, of the work of grace in 
his heart, as presented in his own prolonged account. The letters 
to his wife, from which extracts have already been given, spoke 
mainly of external conformity to the ordinances of the Church. 
Those from which passages are now to be furnished, say little 
on those subjects, but abound in thoughts calculated to awaken 
her mind, and to lead her to an immediate turning unto God. 

" Jan. 30, 1813. — Do you begin to feel the power of religion 
upon the heart ? Do you ever dare to hold communion with your 



166 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Saviour in the privacy and stillness of your chamber ? Do you 
find pleasure and consolation in reading the sacred book of God ? 
Oh, it is to the true Christian a most invaluable treasure of know- 
ledge and of comfort ; and if my heavenly Father enables me to 
overcome the seductions and temptations of a wicked world, I 
will regulate my faith and my practice by its blessed doctrines 
and precepts. I am covered with shame and remorse at my past 
inexcusable folly and neglect. Boundless riches of grace before 
me, and I so poor, and needy, and miserable, and naked ! A gar- 
den, abounding in every variety of spiritual pleasure, so near me, 
and I roaming in pursuit of the gilded but perishing vanities of 
this world ! "What madness ! "What infatuation ! But, thanks 
be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, this winter has been 
to me a precious winter ; and, since I left you, almost every dac- 
has given me new cause to adore and magnify the goodness of 
God in opening my eyes to a view of the exceeding sinfulness of 
sin; of the absolute want of personal merit in myself, and of 
any ability to save myself; of the astonishing display of divine 
mercy in the gospel scheme of salvation ; and of my duty rever- 
ently and gratefully to accept its beneficent terms." 

" Give your mind to the contemplation of this all-important 
subject. I will pray daily for you, as for myself, that we may 
each receive the openings of divine illumination. Only remem- 
ber one thing, God requires the heart, the whole heart, to be 
surrendered to him ; and when this is done, he will change it, 
regenerate it, wash it from every defilement, and prepare it for 
its final state of perfect happiness." 

" Feb. 12, 1813. — From the brevity, infrequency, and reserve 
of your letters to me this winter, I conclude that those with 
which I occasionally trouble you, afford you but little pleasure." 
[They had not, like those of the previous winter, abounded in 
pleasant details of gay life in Washington. The truth was, as he 
goes on to say,] " The experiment has been long tried of making 
a compromise between religion and the world. I find it will not 
do ; and if I am strengthened by divine grace to maintain my 
resolution, I am determined to abstract myself as much as possi- 
ble from the haunts of pleasure. All associations inconsistent 
with the innocence and purity at which I desire to aim, must by 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 167 

me be laid aside, because the book of God and the teachings of 
his Holy Spirit direct such a course of self-denial as absolutely 
necessary to a soul resolutely bent on the cultivation of the Chris- 
tian life. 0, my dear Ellen, can you not be my companion and 
' help-meet ' on the way to heaven ? Thitherward all my desires 
and wishes tend. Come with me, my best earthly friend. 

" I doubt not your willingness to renounce the gayeties of life. 
In these you have hitherto little mixed. In this respect, /have 
abundantly more to answer for than you. But, my love, you 
must do more than this. ' You must not talk of intending to be 
serious. Consider the brevity and uncertainty of life, and the 
awful consequences of dying in an unconverted state. ' Noiv is 
the accepted time : noiv is the day of salvation.' Now, if we 
call on the blessed Saviour, he will hear our voice, and grant our 
humble supplications. let us see in its proper light the de- 
formity of sin. It was that which nailed our bleeding Lord to 
the accursed tree. It is that which now separates us from him, 
and prevents these cold and flinty hearts from breaking out in 
rapturous strains of love and praise for such an astonishing dis- 
play of grace and mercy to a perishing world. Shall he have 
bled and died for us in vain ? Assuredly this will be the case, if 
we refuse to accept the terms proffered in the G-ospel. "What 
are they ? A turning unto Gfod by faith in Christ, and repent- 
ance for past transgressions ; and even these things are not ex- 
pected to be done by us in our own natural strength : divine 
assistance is promised to every humble penitent. Christ's all- 
sufficient grace will never be withheld in time of need. No 
matter what have been our offences, though they be red like 
scarlet or crimson, he will make them white as snow. He re- 
quires nothing on our part but the surrender of ourselves into 
his hands, as a faithful Shepherd, who never abandons his flock. 
Neither does he expect us to come to him in a state of holiness : 
he knows our infirmities, and the natural depravity of our hearts. 
"We are to approach the footstool of sovereign mercy just as we 
are, owning ourselves sinners by nature, and sinners by practice ; 
giving up every claim of self-righteousness or self-dependence, 
and relying wholly upon him to make us what he would have us 
to be. Be persuaded, my Ellen, to read the Scriptures, especially 



168 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the New Testament ; and try to lay hold, by faith, of the gracious 
promises which there abound. Doubt not the love of the adora- 
ble Saviour. By his Spirit, he will fan the fading embers of piety 
in your heart into a flame of glowing devotion ; and you will find 
a pleasure, and take an interest in the exercises of public and 
private worship, such as you never before experienced. I am 
awfully convinced, that if we are not finally saved, it will be our 
own fault ; for G-od has put all the means immediately within 
our reach. Let us cordially, and with full purpose of heart, 
make use of them. Neither let us be ashamed of assuming the 
Cross of Christ. I mean not by putting on any affectation of 
extraordinary sanctity — that was the vice of the Pharisees, which 
Christ so severely reprehended — no, let our faith and piety be 
evinced by the holiness of our lives ; by attending regularly on 
public worship ; by joining in the ordinances of the church ; by 
reading attentively the word of God, which contains the message 
of eternal life ; by charity and kindness to our fellow-men ; by a 
renunciation of all sinful pleasures ; and, dare I venture to sug- 
gest it ? by family prayer. These things will recommend us to 
the favor of our heavenly Father " — [a remnant of his olden 
phraseology still cleaving to him,, which, a month later, he would 
have cast away as a filthy rag of self-righteousness] — "and 
though a gainsaying world may sneer at our course, we shall yet 
have inward peace, and the hope that ' we may die the death 
of the righteous, and that our last end may be like his.' 

u O do not give me a cold answer, in a single sentence, to 
these well-meant suggestions. Lay them to heart. Take up 
this letter a second and a third time, and then tell me unreserv- 
edly your feelings. If I did not love you most sincerely, I would 
not write thus to you. If I had not, in a measure, felt the grace 
of God on my own heart, I should not dare to invite you to seek 
after a change of yours. My attainments are infinitely small, 
but I have ' laid my help upon One who is mighty to save,' and 
who will i save, to the uttermost, all who come unto God through 
him.' I solicit you to do the same ; and then there is no danger 
but that, persevering in the ways of his appointment, we shall 
spend a happy life, so far as it is attainable in this vale of tears, 
and a happier eternal life in the Paradise of God." 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 169 

The' only remaining letter to Mrs. Milnor from which we shall 
quote, was dated, 

" Feb. 27, 1813. — If," says he, " the cause of your increased 
reluctance" to write " arises from a secret dislike to the serious 
tenor of my letters this winter,- it would grieve me much more" 
than if it were found in your mere want of fondness for the pen. 
" For, as I wish you to be a partaker with me in every earthly 
enjoyment, so do I most ardently desire that we may be joint 
participants in that happiness which is laid up for the righteous 
in the world to come. Every day enamours me more and more 
with the beauties and consolations of religion. It has been the 
pleasure of God to turn my heart to it with increased ardor, and 
to cheer me with the prospect of that great ' recompense of re- 
ward,' which has been purchased for us by the atoning blood of 
the dear Redeemer, on whose merits only do I desire to rely for 
every hope of future blessedness. There is no enthusiasm, no 
delusion, in these enlivening prospects. They are founded on the 
immutable promises of God in the word of truth, and are of 
more value than all the riches, and honors, and pleasures of an 
unsatisfying world. My future life must, therefore, be conformed, 
so far as weak and wavering human nature will permit, to the 
rules of the blessed Gospel. All other things must be held sub- 
ordinate to this ; and you too, my endeared partner, must arouse 
your slumbering affections, take up your cross, and follow after 
Christ." 

Perhaps God was then teaching her to do what her husband 
so earnestly urged, and thus her neglect of writing may have 
had no other than its old cause. 

The other contemporaneous letters, to which allusion has been 
made, were addressed to Bishop White and the Rev. Jackson 
Kemper, the latter an assistant minister in the parish of which 
the bishop was rector. From those to the latter a few extracts 
are subjoined. 

" Feb., 1813. — Rev. and dear sir, I write to you confidentially 
as a friend, and most seriously and respectfully as an ambassador 
of God, and one of those appointed to minister among us in holy 
things. It is on a subject upon which, though, in the Laodicean 
state of too many among us, it may be unusual for individuals 



170 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to make their feelings known to you, yet, if I rightly apprehend 
the measure of your zeal in the cause of religion and the salva- 
tion of souls, a disclosure, whenever made in sincerity and from 
right motives, will be properly appreciated, and receive its merited 
attention. Religion has, in a vague and unsettled manner, af- 
fected my mind occasionally from my earliest recollection. Some- 
times it has warmed and animated my heart. Sometimes I have 
been involved in speculations calculated to lessen its effect as the 
governing principle and rule of life and conduct ; and sometimes, 
by subtracting from the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, I have 
weakened its divine authority and made it a mere system of 
morality, which the human mind, limited as it is, might have 
been competent to frame without the intervention* of the wisdom 
of the Most High, or the sufferings and death of his blessed Son. 

" In the providence of God, I have had my mind drawn to 
this interesting subject in a way which I have never before ex- 
perienced." 

He then proceeds to a brief account of the progress of his 
change, coincident with that already laid before the reader in the 
extracts from his letters to Mrs. Milnor and his friend Bradford; 
after which he adds, 

" I do not state these things to you boastingly. ' God forbid 
that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 
My heart tells me that I have nothing to boast of. It is of the 
goodness of my heavenly Father that my eyes have been partially 
opened, and I rely wholly upon his all-sufficient grace to enable 
me, ' forgetting those things which are behind, to press towards 
those things which are before — towards the mark for the prize of 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' " 

Then follows a proposal to present himself for Confirmation 
and the Lord's supper, at the first convenient opportunity after 
his return to Philadelphia ; to which he subjoins, 

" I am suitably aware of the awful responsibility of such a 
measure ; but entering upon it, as I trust, under the direction of 
God's word impressed by his Spirit upon my heart, with a con- 
firmed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his atonement for the 
sins of a lost and ruined world, and in the gracious promises of 
his Gospel, on them will I depend for the performance of the 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 171 

duty, and for aid to follow it by a corresponding obedience to the 
commandments of God in my subsequent life and deportment. 

" I am sure you will pardon this egotism. It is an observa- 
tion of the great Lord Bacon, that 'the communicating of a 
man's self to his friend, worketh two contrary effects ; for it re- 
doubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in half; and there is no man that 
imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more ; and no 
man imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less.' 
Such is the only apology I now offer for opening my mind to you, 
whom I desire to consider not merely in the formal relation of 
my spiritual instructor, but in the still more tender one of a 
friend and brother in Christ." 

The rest of the letter is occupied in requesting Mr. Kemper's 
" counsel and assistance in his future course," particularly in the 
selection of works for a practical religious library, and in rejoic- 
ing anticipations of a speedy return to his family, and the privi- 
leges of the Church. To this letter, Mr. Kemper returned the 
answer formerly noticed in the correspondence with Mr. Brad- 
ford, after which Mr. Milnor addressed him a second, dated, 

" Feb. 27, 1813. — I thank you sincerely, my dear sir, for 
your kind and affectionate letter, and cordially accept it as a 
pledge of our union in the cause of Christ. For myself, I can 
promise but little. Every day furnishes new evidence to my 
mind of the necessity of abandoning self-confidence, and of placing 
my reliance upon Him only who is ' mighty to save.' Since my 
attention has been turned with more closeness than heretofore to 
the interesting concerns of religion, the dangerous hinderances 
with which I meet to the Christian's progress in holiness have 
filled me with apprehensions, such as, in my recent state of self- 
security, were wholly unknown to me." "I entreat your prayers 
that I may be succored by the aids of divine grace, so that I may 
fall l into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger.' 

" I rejoice at the intimations given in your letter, of an in- 
creased concern in some of our members about their immortal 
souls, and pray Grod that it may manifest itself in an open pro- 
fession of religion on the part of many. How strange, that we 
should be ashamed to be known as Christ's real disciples ! Yet 
I speak both from observation and from experience, when I say, 



172 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

that a fear of this world's censure and criticisms, and of an 
abridgment of its pleasures, deters many, who are not without a 
respect for religion, nor without occasional alarms in their con- 
sciences for their want of conformity to it, from openly acknow- 
ledging themselves the followers of Christ. Even at this mo- 
ment, with all my strong desires after a saving interest in his 
merits, and resolutions to embrace every means of grace which 
his goodness has provided, the tempter often assails me with such 
suggestions. A loss of business, arising from more scrupulous- 
ness in its selection ; a loss of acquaintance, proceeding from the 
same cause ; a relinquishment of some long-established schemes 
of pleasure ; the world's scorn, and evil imputations ; a dread of 
singularity, and a numerous train of similar difficulties, are pow- 
erful in weakening good determinations, and in diverting the mind 
from ' the one thing needful.' And yet, when rightly viewed, 
some of these have no foundation; and with respect to others, 
religion would be valuable, independently of its holier ends, if its 
only effect were to destroy an ill-judged fondness for many things 
alike unprofitable both for this world and for that which is to 
come. But when considered in relation to our duties to God, as 
the great author of our existence, and in relation to ourselves as 
rebels against his divine authority, yet reconciled to him and 
freely pardoned through the sacrifice of his Son, how insignificant 
appear all other things compared with ' the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord,' and an assurance of an 
interest in his blessed atonement ! Here, by his gracious aid, 
will I take up my rest ; in all my weakness relying upon his 
strength, and in the midst of trials and temptations depending 
wholly upon him, who has promised that he ' will not suffer us 
to be tempted above that we are able to bear.' " 

Such, then, viewed in the light of his private journals and of 
his own letters at the time and since, was that eminent work of 
grace in his heart which — after long years of indulgence in the 
dream of a universal salvation, in " a mischievous conceit of the 
merit of human works," or of man's virtual sufficiency to save 
himself, and in a strenuous warfare against evangelical truth in 
general and Calvinism in particular — the Holy Spirit accom- 
plished in the once unbelieving and worldly subject of this me- 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 173 

moir. It has been supposed that the process had its beginning 
during his congressional career, and that it might be traced 
to particular incidents lying within that period of his life ; but 
our researches have shown that, in reality, it dates from a point 
much further back in his history.* It is plain that his first step 
towards the truth, under the divine leadings, was taken soon after 
the receipt of his friend Bolton's pungent letters, during the sec- 
ond year of his married life. He began his course by resolving 
to search the Scriptures, that he might see whether they taught 
his creed of a universal salvation. This, however, drove him, as 
a preparatory step, to examine the evidences of revelation, the 
claims of the Bible to divine inspiration. In this search, he seems 
to have acted like a lawyer only, in the weighing and sifting of 
testimony ; and he accordingly came to no more than a lawyer's 
conclusion, a mere faith of the rational understanding, that the 
Bible is God's word. He now proceeded to the reading of its 
contents, and, in doing so, soon found that they do not teach his 
then favorite theory of the salvation of all men. Still, he was 
not prepared to receive their plain, obvious meaning ; he there- 
fore set himself to his protracted labor of interpreting them in 



" There have "been many reports respecting the instrumental cause of his con- 
version; none of them, I belieA r e, entirely correct. Some of the circumstances 
related very probably promoted the change • but none, I think, originated it. 
One incident doubtless made a powerful impression. On one of his visits to 
Philadelphia, during his term in Congress, his little daughter Anna met him. 
as he entered the house, with the exclamation, l Papa, do you know I can 
read ?' l No,' said he : ' let me hear you.' ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart,' were the words which she happened to select. A 
chord in his heart vibrated in harmony. It seemed to come as a solemn ad- 
monition. Out of the mouth of babes God was teaching him. Still, human 
agency had little to do with his change. The Spirit of God was moving within 
him, and gradually drawing him from worldly thoughts and scenes to the 
retirement of his closet, where he could commune with his own heart and be 
still." 

His friend Bradford also, in his "Reminiscences," mentions the following 
incident. "Religious subjects were evidently interesting to him for a long 
time before his conversion, though he was not distinctly aware of it. I well 
remember calling upon him one evening at his house in Walnut-street, when 
he remarked, that he had just read ' The Dairyman's Daughter,' and had wept 
over it ; and that his wife had read it, and Patty the cook had read it, with 
similar feelings." 



174 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

accordance with what now became his equally favorite theory 
of the merit of works, of man's supposed ability to save himself. 
Thus he entered his long warfare against the truth — at first un- 
der the Presbyterian ministry of Linn and "Wilson, and afterwards 
under the Episcopal teachings of White and Abercrombie, Kem- 
per and Pilmore. In that warfare, evidently, he was now and 
then hit by the arrows of light, shot by the hand of some evan- 
gelical archer ; so that, when he finally entered the strife of the 
political arena, he went with a strange mixture of light and dark- 
ness, and with the risings of a mysterious interest in religion, 
which, as yet, he did not comprehend. His political career lay 
amid scenes agitated by the awakening of the savage demon of 
war ; at first stirring the blood of the nation for fight, and then 
maddening that blood with the hot passions of conflict. Against 
all this, his spirit and his principles, derived perhaps from early 
association with the peace-loving Friends, and fostered by his own 
peace-making dispositions, led him, with unusual vehemence, to 
protest on the floor of Congress. Politics, as embodied in war- 
making and war-waging measures, became more and more the 
loathing of his soul. His heart sickened at the exhibitions which 
he beheld, of strife, intrigue, and party bitterness. His difficulty 
with Mr. Clay, though met and averted with firmness and dig- 
nity, may well be supposed to have deepened the sentiment, 
already settling down into his nature, of utter aversion to politi- 
cal life, as distinguished from political science. In the longings 
of his spirit, he turned away towards something quieter and more 
loving, as better fitted to a right discipline of mind and a rational 
enjoyment of life. His first thoughts seem to have been of union 
with the Church by compliance with its outward forms, in con- 
nection, it is true, with some creditable measure of his former 
habits of easy conformity with the world. Even these thoughts, 
however, brought him, more directly than ever, into secret inter- 
course with himself; and, ere he was aware of it, the Holy 
Spirit was leading him down, below outward, visible forms, into 
deep, inner experiences. 

Doubtless, there was much in his condition favorable to some 
new development of character. A man in Congress, who cannot 
grow fond of its business and excitements, will very likely be 



RELIGIOUS CHANGE. 175 

driven into himself, or towards some form of life different from 
those around him. This tendency in Mr. Milnor's case was even 
peculiarly strong. Peacefully and domestically attempered as he 
was, he was yet compelled to hear war thundering almost at the 
gates of the capitol, and politics filling every place with its din of 
angry words. Home, too, with its endearments, to him peculiarly 
dear, was far away ; and even the fashionable amusements of 
Washington, however agreeable in themselves to his old, long- 
cherished tastes, were so identified with the actors and the actings 
of the strifeful scene around him, that he grew more and more 
sated and incapable of finding in them what his earnest longings 
asked. Hence, his own private chamber became the place of his 
frequentest resort, and books and thought his pleasantest entertain- 
ments. The very wearisomeness of the outer world drove him 
into the home of his own mind, and to the company of his own re- 
flections ; and, considering the current of his thoughts before he 
entered Congress, it is not surprising, that the influences, by which 
he was now surrounded, led him into meditation on those aspects 
of religion which had hitherto lain nearest his view, its outward 
institutions. But there the train of tendencies must have stopped, 
or turned, had there not been a higher impelling and guiding 
power. That power was not absent. Far back in his soul, be- 
hind the disgusts and longings which he felt ; deep in his heart, 
underneath the movements and tendencies to which he yielded, 
the Holy Spirit was doing his own proper work. "While the 
weary congressman was thinking of union with the outward 
Church, that divine Agent opened his heart to a sight and a sense 
of his sins ; uncovered and touched the sore, which self-delusion 
had so long been hiding ; stripped him of every remnant of his 
old self-righteousness ; showed him his utter inability to save 
himself by any work or merit of his own ; opened, as though at 
his left hand, a door into the world of woe, through which, for a 
moment, came up low but deep whisperings of the wrath and 
misery which he had deserved ; and then, closing the dismal pit, 
and opening golden portals at the right, led him gently on, till 
he stood more and more fully in the light of the love of Christ, 
and felt his whole soul drawn and bound to the glorious Redeemer 
by responsive gratitude and praise : in a word, till he learned to 



176 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

love Jesus for his own sake and loveliness ; and religion, because 
he saw in it the spirit of Jesus, and found in it so deep a spring 
of pure and heavenly joy. 

This, doubtless, by those who have read the foregoing pages, 
will be recognized as, though a condensed, yet a true history of the 
process by which the mind of Milnor was led from its earlier 
darkness and hostility to the truth, to its later light and love for 
Him who is the truth. He knew well what is meant by deep 
convictions of sin and of his own deservinsrs of everlasting death : 
and yet he was, in an eminent sense, drawn to Christ by the 
power of love. He felt the terrors of wrath ; but he yielded to 
" the attractions of the Cross." In his case, the most power- 
ful teachings of the Father were given in the light of love ; and 
in the light of love the offices of the Son stood most winningly 
manifest. Hence, the character into which he was formed, was 
one of ardent love for Christ, and of realized love, from Christ. 
He felt much, because he had received much, of that love which 
is unspeakable, in that it " passeth knowledge." These were the 
earlier rudiments of his Christian character ; and they came out 
in all its after-growth and combinations, amid the changes and 
the trials of life. He was from the first a loving disciple ; and 
all his further activities were truly the " labor of love." 



HIS MINISTRY. 177 



t 



PART III. 

DR. MILNOR'S MINISTRY FROM 1814 TO 1830 



SECTION I. 

Mr. Milnor's ultimate dislike of legal practice was more a 
principle than a sentiment, as his distaste for political life was 
rather feeling than judgment. He loathed political life, because 
he saw it steeped in so much strife and corruption on the part of 
others : he dreaded the practice of the law, because he saw it 
would be dangerous to his own new-born faith and hope. He 
abandoned political life, because his soul was sick of its unprin- 
cipled demagoguism : he shrunk from the renewed practice of 
the law, because his conscience was afraid of what seemed its 
almost necessary dishonesty. He could have loved politics, had 
politicians been all fair men and true ; he could not have been 
satisfied with the practice of the law, unless the very principles of 
that practice, as too generally held, had been reformed. Hence, 
so soon as he found, clustering in his heart, evidences that he was 
indeed become a new-born child of Grod, he came to the simul- 
taneous conclusions, that he would not continue in political life 
if he could, and that he could not resume the practice of the law 
if he would. His heart leaped to get away from Congress ; his 
judgment dreaded a return to the bar. No sooner, therefore, was 
the great question for eternity settled, than uprose a subordinate 
question for time : How should he spend the remainder of his 
life? Upon what new course of action and of usefulness did 
duty now call him to enter ? During his last weeks in Wash- 
ington, a dimly traced shadow from his future profession seemed 
to fall upon his mind, but it soon passed off; and it was not till 
after his return to Philadelphia that it reappeared. There, how- 
ever, its reappearance was in clear and distinct outlines, because 

Mem. Milnor. 1 2 



178 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

he stood in stronger light and nearer the reality from which the 
shadow fell. A thought, that he might be called to preach the 
Gospel, glided, ior a moment, into his mind while at the capital, 
and then flitted out again ; but, when he reached home, it came 
back and settled with him, and grew into a big conviction, and 
got to be imperative, and finally ordered him, as by a voice from 
God, to go his way, put his hand to the plough, and never look 
back, till he should have sowed and reaped — till, from the harvest 
in eternity j he could remember and rejoice over his going forth 
to the work in time. Upon that portion of his life, spent in obe- 
dience to this divine behest, we are now to enter. It commenced 
when he was about closing his fortieth year. 

His decision in favor of the work of the ministry as his fu- 
ture profession, seems to have followed very closely his return to 
Philadelphia, and his temporary resumption of legal practice. He 
left "Washington the 9th of March, 1813, and on the 3d of April 
"waited on Bishop White, and acquainted him with his deter- 
mination to relinquish the profession of the law, and with the 
views which he entertained of entering on the study of divinity." 
On the 5th, he announced the same determination to his friend 
and pastor the Rev. Mr. Kemper, and on the 7th applied, through 
Bishop White, to the standing committee of the diocese, for ad- 
mission as a candidate for orders ; having already, as he remarks 
in his communication, "entered upon the course of studies pre- 
paratory thereto, as directed by the House of Bishops." 

From that, time till the first of June, he was engaged, chiefly, 
in arranging his temporal affairs with a view to his retirement 
into the country for the more quiet prosecution of his studies ; and 
on the 2d of that month he removed his family to Norristown, 
the neighborhood of Mrs. Milnor's birthplace, and the scene of his 
first practice in the law. Here, by permission from his bishop, 
he soon connected with his preparation for the ministry the labors 
of catechist and lay-reader in St. John's church, a new Episcopal 
parish ; evincing thus a desire to do some good, even while pre- 
paring for a fuller measure of usefulness. It is a fact of some 
interest, that Norristown, which gave him his partner for life 
and the mother of all his children, became also the scene of his 
earliest labors, both in the law and in the Gospel. 



HIS MINISTRY. 179 

Very soon after his change of views, and his intended change 
of profession, became known, almost in the first weeks of his 
theological study, he received very encouraging testimony to the 
esteem in which he was held, and to the value set on his expected 
labors. This testimony came in the shape of pressing invitations 
to two of the most important parishes in our Church south of 
Philadelphia : one in Baltimore, vacant by the removal of Dr. 
Beasley to the provostship of the Pennsylvania University; the 
other in Richmond, just built on the site of the theatre which 
perished in the melancholy conflagration of a previous year. 
Each of these parishes wished to engage his services in advance ; 
the one was willing to receive him as a lay-reader, the other to 
wait the time of his ordination. He however respectfully de- 
clined the solicitations of both, and left the choice of his place 
of labor to be decided when he should find himself ready for the 
field. It was, indeed, Bishop White's wish, and that of many 
friends in Philadelphia, that he should reserve himself for a place 
in the united churches of his native city ; and to a compliance 
with their wishes his heart was evidently inclined ; but even on 
this point he avoided committing himself so long as he continued 
a mere student of divinity. 

His duties as catechist and lay-reader at Norristown were of 
unexpectedly short continuance. They were interrupted during 
the summer by an almost fatal sickness, which fell first on him- 
self and then on Mrs. Milnor, who had nursed him ; and this 
sickness was followed by their return to Philadelphia, late in 
the autumn of the year, where he resumed and continued his 
studies till the period of his ordination, August 14, 1814. 

Illustrative of this whole peri6d of study, from the spring of 
1813 to the summer of 1814, several passages in his diary and 
letters must here be inserted : they will put life into what would 
otherwise be a mere dry skeleton of events. The first of these 
passages will show by what feelings his mind was agitated when 
he came, amid old friends and associates in Philadelphia, amid 
the scenes of his former gayeties and the clustering of his former 
interests, to the practical task of publicly announcing his total 
change of religious views, and his proposed change of professional 
pursuits. The hold of fixed habits in gay society upon one of 



180 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

its cherished votaries, and of flattering prospects of honor and 
emolument upon one of their favorite candidates, was seldom 
stronger, or called for greater firmness of soul in order to their 
breaking, than in the case of him whose character and course 
we have hitherto been tracing. He felt deeply the power of the 
associations by which he was begirt. There was a sacrifice to 
be made, a cross to be taken up, and he realized how heavy, to 
mere nature, they were to prove ; but he also found how light, 
to the power of grace, they may be made, and rejoiced in giving 
up, for Christ's sake, all that forty years of intense existence 
had made most attractive to his heart. He writes, in his diary, 
under date of 

" April 2, 1813. — The impressions of religious truth made 
upon my mind at Washington, have continued since my return ; 
and the suggestions made in some of my letters to Mr. Bradford, 
with respect to the difficulties of my profession, have recurred 
with great force, in consequence of the resumption of my pro- 
fessional pursuits. So many cases occur not to be reconciled with 
that profession of religion which I feel myself called upon to 
make, and so many entanglements and distractions are connected 
with all its pursuits, that, after much meditation and prayer to 
God for divine direction, I have determined on a relinquishment 
of practice. At the same time, while it has pleased Almighty 
God to point out this, as the only safe course for me to pursue, 
he has also directed my choice to the ministry, as a means of 
being, in some small degree, useful during the residue of my 
days. It is some time since distant prospects of this sort have 
glanced across my mental vision. A sense of my unworthiness 
of so high a calling, in respect to the qualifications both of head 
and of heart, has, however, soon obscured them; until, more 
recently, an abiding impression of duty has pointed me to the 
assumption of this cross as on my part indispensable. My de- 
cision, therefore, can be no longer delayed. I resign, I trust 
cheerfully, all prospects of fame, fortune, and worldly pleasure, 
to enlist myself as a soldier under the Captain of my salvation; 
and trust in his support to aid me in every trial and conflict to 
which this measure, so strange and unexpected to my friends, 
will expose me. It were idle, however, to conceal either from 



HIS MINISTRY. 181 

myself or from others, the conflicts through which my mind has 
passed in reaching this result. The natural man assents not 
readily to sacrifices of wealth, ambition, style of living, acquaint- 
ances, and a thousand other ligaments which tie him to the world 
and its enjoyments. But, through God's grace, I hope to over- 
come the world, and willingly to relinquish every thing that may 
come in conflict with the work of religion in my own heart, or 
the improvement of such humble means as the Lord may vouch- 
safe me of being useful to others. 

"Nevertheless, God, let me presume on nothing in my own 
strength. Grant me the all-sufficient aids of thy Holy Spirit ; 
and enable me thereby, when I shall have laid my hand to the 
plough, to look not back, but to follow the leadings of the heav- 
enly Guide, and become, if not a highly useful, at least a truly 
faithful laborer in the vineyard of Christ. I ask it in his name, 
and for his blessed merit's sake. Amen." 

He evidently felt that now, of a truth, he was at the great 
turning-point of his life ; and every step which he took was with 
much pondering of his way, and with much prayer for guidance. 
He had, some time before, associated with himself, as law-partner, 
and manager of his business while he was in Washington, his 
nephew, William Milnor, a young man of promise in his profes- 
sion. To this young beginner his experience and patronage were 
of great value ; and he deeply felt the painfulness of disappoint- 
ing the hopes which his relative had been building on the ground 
of their partnership. The trial thus brought upon him quickened 
his sensibility to all his other trials, and drove him with increas- 
ing earnestness to the throne of grace. On the evening: of the 
day on which, as we have seen, he first communicated to Bishop 
White his intention to devote himself to the work of the minis- 
try, he made the following entry in his diary. His written prayer 
is valuable as evincing the views with which he looked forward 
to his new profession. 

" April 3, 1813. — In the evening I communicated for the first 
time, to my nephew and partner, my intention to give the whole 
of our practice into his hands ; and expressed to him the regret 
which I could not avoid feeling, at being obliged to withdraw 
from him that assistance in professional duty which he had ex- 



182 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

pected from me on my return from Congress. He expressed his 
regret at the change, but at the same time his perfect approba- 
tion of the motives which induced it, and a willing acquiescence 
in our separation. 

" I have other crosses and trials to meet in fulfilling my in- 
tentions ; but the Lord, in whom I trust, and whom I desire to 
serve, will support me in them all, if I steadily maintain my faith- 
fulness towards him. 

" Yes, blessed God, my confidence is in thee only. enable 
me to persevere manfully in the work which thou hast assigned 
me. Enlighten my mind with a knowledge of thy truth, and 
endue it with ability, when the time shall come, to communicate 
that truth to others ; and 0, gracious Father, grant that, if it 
should be thy will to prolong my life until the allotted term of 
preparation for the ministry of thy word shall elapse, I may be 
enabled to preach thy Gospel in its own purity ; and that, while 
I warn others, I may not myself become a castaway, Give me 
solemn views of the immense importance and responsibility of the 
office on which I purpose to enter. Grant me the refreshings of thy 
Spirit from day to day. Open to me more and more the mysteries 
of thy word ; and forbid, merciful God, that I should either hold 
the truth in unrighteousness, or in any manner mistake the mean- 
ing and intention of the divine oracles. Grant me mental activ- 
ity and persevering diligence in the acquisition of religious know- 
ledge ; ability profitably to digest whatever I may read or hear ; 
and both the disposition of heart and the capacity of mind to ren- 
der all my attainments beneficial to myself and others. But, 
God, in a more special manner keep me constantly and fervently 
affected with love for thee and thy dear Son ; fill me with brighter 
and more evangelical views of the greatness of that salvation, 
wrought out by Him for perishing sinners ; and fix indelibly on 
my mind the determination to know only Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. May the great atonement, and the divine character of 
the blessed Saviour, be prominent objects of my daily contempla- 
tions ; and may I count all things but loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Strengthen my faith in 
the all-sufficiency of his blood and cross for the salvation of sin- 
ners ; and when utterance shall be given in his righteous cause, 



HIS MINISTRY. 183 

enable me to hold him forth as a propitiation for the sins of the 
world, in such a manner as may induce many to accept his merits, 
to exercise a lively faith in him as a Saviour, and to renounce 
for ever the filthy rags of their own righteousness for that wedding- 
garment of the Lamb, which can alone qualify them to be guests 
at the marriage-supper provided for the redeemed of God in the 
blood of Christ." 

This is a truly appropriate prayer to be left lying on record 
amid the trials of the period in which he broke from the entangle- 
ments of human law, and sought seclusion for the study of the 
divine counsels. Meditating the work of the Christian ministry 
with such views and aspirations, and under the pressure of those 
all-constraining motives which his spirit felt, his subsequent 
abounding usefulness was but a result of God's faithfulness to 
his gracious promises. 

At the time of his entry, April 5, we find him engaged " in sec- 
ular concerns," but not without mingling therewith an effort to 

do good to his friend J S -, whom he found to be " feeling 

somewhat after religion." He also records an account, " as sin- 
gular as it was pleasing," of the conversion of L M , "an 

eminent lawyer in Baltimore, advanced in years, who had been 
equally celebrated for his powerful eloquence at the bar, and for 
his notorious sacrifices at the shrine of Bacchus." After noticing 
this man's appearance at a public religious meeting, where he 
engaged in exhortation and prayer, in a manner " which for fervor 
and sublimity astonished all who heard him," the adoring diarist 
exclaims, " Thanks be to God, his power is infinite. He shows 
mercy where he will show mercy, and can as easily convert the 
flinty heart of the oldest and most obdurate offender, as the soft 
and tender one of the most willing and yielding suppliant at the 
throne of grace. Glory be to God for the riches of his grace in 
Christ Jesus." 

Amid the incessant activities which now engrossed him, we 
hear nothing further from him till he was ready to leave Phila- 
delphia for Norristown. He then felt that his severance from the 
world, so far as outward associations were concerned, was com- 
plete, and was enabled to look back upon what he was leaving 
without a sigh. " The separation," says his diary for June 1, 



184 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" from so many objects of attachment, I am thankful to God, has 
not cost me many pangs. To my beloved partner, it has been a 
more severe trial ; but her mind at length acquiesces more cheer- 
fully than I could have expected ; and when once we shall be 
quietly seated in our new abode, I have no doubt she will be 
better pleased, than she has been with the gayety and frivolity of 
a city life." 

On the 3rd of June, he was busy in setting their new abode 
in order, and especially in arranging the furniture of his study. 
He found that abode " agreeable," and that study, though " small," 
yet " airy and commodious ;" and having taken possession, he 
proceeded to record a suitable act of dedication, in which, amid 
the hallowing strains of prayer, he consecrated himself, his house- 
hold, and his little study, to Him whom he had covenanted to 
serve. Bending in that quiet retreat which was to witness his 
sacred studies, we may easily conceive with what fervor he 
poured forth his heart's dedicatory act, in the following fervent 
but chastened strain. 

" Vouchsafe, God, thy special presence and direction in all 
the exercises in which I may here from time to time be occupied. 
Afford the aids of thy Holy Spirit in every act of devotion, that 
so I may learn to pray aright, and offer thee the unadulterated 
homage of the heart. Open thou my understanding, that I may 
understand the Scriptures. Chase away every rising doubt in- 
cited by the subtlety of the Tempter. Banish error, unbelief, and 
every unhallowed thought from this place. Teach me to know, 
and reverence, and love thee with all the faculties of my heart 
and mind, and to hate sin and all its defilements with a perfect 
hatred. Cleanse me from all my impurities, keep down rebel- 
lious passions, and arm me with strength effectually to resist 
every temptation from without and from within. I desire, 
merciful God, to consecrate myself unreservedly to thee and thy 
service. But I am humbled and abased at my own unworthiness 
of the least of thy favors, and my inability to make thee any ade- 
quate return. Yet, through Christ, my weakness may be made 
strength, and the imperfect performances of an imbecile and sin- 
ful creature may be accepted for the infinite merit's sake of the 
blessed Redeemer. For his sake, then, merciful Father, accept 



HIS MINISTRY. ' 185 

of me and mine ; make us happy in the smiles of thy counte- 
nance here, and elevate us hereafter to the joys of thy heavenly 
kingdom. 

" ' Let cares like a wild deluge come, 
And storms of sorrow fall, 
May I but safely reach my home, 
My God, my heav'n, my all. 

There shall I bathe my weary soul 

In seas of heavenly rest, 
And not a wave of trouble roll 

Across my peaceful breast.' " 

Having thus appropriately set in order both his outer and his 
inner house, he proceeded, on the following day, to settle the 
course in which his daily duties should proceed. Though con- 
stitutionally inclined to system, he had yet found it difficult to 
reduce either the labors of legal practice, or the pursuits of legal 
study, to any thing like invariable rule. He felt that his mind 
needed stricter discipline, and resolved, at this important crisis 
of his life, to make an effort to bring it under the power of fixed 
habits of thought and application ; knowing that if he were ever 
to feel the benefits of such a discipline, now was his best, if not 
his only time to insure them. He writes : 

" June 1, 1813. — This morning we commenced our new plan 
of living, in which I have had in view the divesting of myself, 
as much as possible, of secular engagements of every kind, that 
so my theological studies may be pursued without distraction, 
and my heart become more and more weaned from the world, and 
habituated, by divine grace, to a righteous, sober, and godly life 
before Grod and my fellow-men. My unsettled affairs in Phila- 
delphia will make two or three visits of business necessary, after 
which nothing of importance will be likely to withdraw my 
attention from the interesting pursuits in which I desire to be 
exclusively engaged. The varied occupations of a professional 
life, in which a thousand things called for immediate attention 
as they occurred, have been wholly irreconcilable with any settled 
plan of study. But it will now be necessary, however difficult, 
to bring my mind and its habits under a strict discipline ; and 
for this purpose, to prescribe to myself some routine of study and 



186 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

employment for each day. I propose, for the present, the follow- 
ing course. 

" Morning. Rise, if possible, at or before 5 ; private devo- 
tion ; Greek, composition, or other writing ; family devotions ; 
breakfast ; Bible, with commentaries ; Church history. 

" Afternoon. Dinner; miscellaneous reading and writing; 
endeavor to read, every day, one sermon of some eminent divine. 

" Evening. Exercise and conversation ; family devotions, 
with occasionally a chapter of Scott's Bible ; private devotions. 
Rest, when in health, to be limited, if practicable, to six hours." 

Such was the "plan of living" which he prescribed to himself 
during his retirement, and which he followed, while his retire- 
ment continued, at least so far as the orderings of Providence 
permitted. He thus refers to it, in his entry for 

" June 19, 1813. — Since the above note, I have, as far as 
practicable, conformed to the plan of study above marked out ; 
but I have, in the interval, been obliged to go twice to the city — 
once on my private concerns, and again to be present at the 
annual meeting of the state," diocesan, " convention, which was 
held on the 15th inst." 

But systematic study, in connection with necessary business, 
was not the only occupation of his retired life. He endeavored 
to gain some practical acquaintance with pastoral duty. Hence, 
he not only engaged as lay-reader and catechist in St. John's, 
Norristown, but also availed himself of his vicinity to St. Mary's, 
Warwick, the parish church of the Rev. Levi Bull, a cousin of 
Mrs. Milnor, to become familiar with other forms of parochial 
usefulness. He has this note, under date of 

" June 21, 1813. — I have just returned from a visit to Mr. Bull, 
with whom I spent the evening of Saturday, and the whole of 
Sunday. Sunday morning, at 8 o'clock, we went to St. Mary's 
church, in the vicinity of Mr. Bull's residence ; and found a con- 
siderable number of people assembled to attend a prayer -meeting, 
which is held during the summer season for one hour before the 
regular service of the morning begins. The exercises consist of 
prayers by the pastor and different members of the church, offered 
extemporaneously, and accompanied with singing and a short 
exhortation. For the first time in public, I was induced, at Mr. 



HIS MINISTRY. 187 

Bull's solicitation, to address the throne of grace. I felt the pres- 
ence of that Grod who, when two or three are assembled in his 
name, has promised to be in the midst of them ; and was much 
refreshed in the inner man by the various services of the forenoon, 
as well as by those of the afternoon at Churchtown, to which 
place, distant eight miles, I rode with Mr. Bull." 

His services as catechist and lay-reader in St. John's, com- 
menced July 11, but were soon interrupted by the dangerous 
illness of which he speaks. 

" Nov. 17, 1813.— Philadelphia. The interval between the 
date of the last memorandum and the present has been to me a 
very interesting one. I officiated for the first time as a lay- 
reader, on Sunday, the 11th of July last; and a few days after- 
wards went upon a journey with my brother-in-law, Levi Pawl- 
ing, Esq. Our object was to pay a visit of friendship to Mrs. 
Johnston, of Franklin county, Pa., a relation of my wife ; but on 
arriving at her house, we found that she had gone for her health 
to the springs at Bath, in Yirginia. To this place, being only 
forty miles further, we concluded to follow her. "We did so ; but 
I had so little relish for the amusements of the place, that we re- 
mained but two days, and then set out on our return. Our jour- 
ney to Bath was by the way of Reading, Harrisburg, Carlisle, 
and Chambersburg. We returned by the way of Martinsburg, 
Ya., Harper's Ferry, York, and Lancaster. The sedentary life 
which I had passed at Norristown, had unfitted me for exercise 
of so constant and severe a kind as that which I used during my 
fortnight's absence ; and the consequence was, that I became in- 
disposed on my way home, and the night of my arrival I was 
taken seriously ill. My complaint at first appeared to be a ner- 
vous debility without fever, and so continued for a fortnight, 
when it assumed the type of an intermittent, and after some 
time was accompanied with a most distressing bowel-complaint, 
which lasted for eight weeks, and brought me to the verge of the 
grave. Soon after I became convalescent, Mrs. Milnor was at- 
tacked with the same complaints ; and when apparently recover- 
ing, relapsed into so low a state as to be despaired of by her phy- 
sician and friends. Her illness lasted about the same time as my 
own. But, for ever praised be the adorable Giver of every good 



188 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and perfect gift — the God of our lives, and the Saviour of our 
souls — ' though he has chastened us, yet he hath not given us 
over unto death. We shall yet live to praise the name of the 
Lord.' 

"In a review of this providence of Almighty God, I desire to 
be humbled under a deeper sense of his justice as well as mercy. 
That my sins deserved such an infliction of divine correction, I 
submissively acknowledge ; that I am wholly undeserving of the 
sparing mercy which has continued my life and that of my beloved 
partner, I most sensibly feel ; and that our dear children have been 
preserved in life and health, is a cause of unceasing thankfulness. 
' What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards 
me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name 
of the Lord.' 

" Since the recovery of Mrs. Milnor and myself, in conse- 
quence of a great desire on her part to return to the city, and a 
belief on my own, that it would tend to the advancement of my 
studies and to my growth in spiritual improvement, I have taken 
a house in Tenth- street, near Arch, into which I have now re- 
moved my family. The afflicting dispensation through which I 
have passed, and my beloved Ellen's long and dangerous illness 
since, have interrupted my regular plan of study ; and I am now 
only about to resume it. God grant that I may do so in his fear, 
and with a sincere desire to proceed under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit ; to be preserved from all false doctrines ; to advance 
in piety towards God, and in love to my fellow-men ; and steadi- 
ly to keep in view the blessed Jesus, as ' the Author and Finisher 
of the faith' set forth in the Gospel." 

The illness, of which he has given us the foregoing account, 
was the same with that thus mentioned by his friend Bradford in 
his "Reminiscences." "In the latter part of the summer he 
became alarmingly ill, so that for a time his life was in jeopardy; 
and it seemed to us, blind mortals as we are, as if all hopes of his 
attaining to the usefulness in prospect, were about to be blasted. 
God designed the affliction for his sanctification. He was re- 
stored to health." 

During his journey to Bath, letters reached his residence at 
Norristown, earnestly soliciting his acceptance, or his promise to 



HIS MINISTRY. 189 

accept, of the two important parishes to which reference has 
already been made ; the one at Baltimore, the other at Richmond, 
Yirginia. He embraced what he supposed to be "the first mo- 
ment of returning strength" — though it proved to be but an 
intermission of his disease, and was followed by all its most per- 
ilous stages — to return the following answers. 

To Mr. Coales. 

" Normstown, August 4, 1813. 

" My dear Sir — I returned yesterday week from a long jour- 
ney, so much indisposed as to compel me to keep my bed almost 
continually since, and to disable me from either reading or writ- 
ing. I embrace the first moment of returning strength, though 
with a feeble hand, to answer your kind letter of the 25th ult., 
and sincerely to thank you and the other gentlemen of our com- 
munion in Baltimore, for the very flattering offer of so respecta- 
ble a situation as that which the Rev. Mr. Beasley's removal to 
Philadelphia has left vacant. 

"On a subject of so much importance, I shall be glad of an 
opportunity of consulting with our venerable diocesan, to whose 
friendship I am greatly indebted, and without conferring with 
whom I should hesitate, at this stage of my progress towards 
ordination, to take any decisive step in regard to a settlement. 
He has more than once intimated, in the most affectionate man- 
ner, that he calculated on my remaining in his diocese ; and many 
of my friends in Philadelphia speak in very determinate terms, 
of the expectation there that my labors should be commenced 
among them. With respect to myself, as my views in proposing 
to enter the ministry have, so far as I know my own heart, no 
selfish considerations mingled with them, I am willing to render 
my little portion of service to the cause of religion wherever the 
providence of Grod may seem to direct. My present impressions, 
however, are, that it would conduce neither to the good of the 
Church, nor to my future usefulness, to undertake the duties of 
a reader and continue them for so long a period as will elapse 
before, according to the canon, I can expect ordination. A year 
from my annunciation as a candidate will not have expired till 
the middle of April next. For the intermediate time, I have 



190 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

removed to this pleasant little village, among Mrs. Milnor's friends, 
where I am retired from all bustle, and have very much the unin- 
terrupted command of my own time, except as my attention is, 
now and then, unavoidably engaged in the winding up of my pro- 
fessional and other concerns in the city ; which, indeed, for some 
time to come, require me to be within convenient distance of my 
successor in the law. I have also, at the request of the vestry of 
a new parish in this place, consented, under a license from the 
bishop, to officiate as a lay-reader for them during the time of 
my stay ; so that, all things considered, a change of my situation, 
at present, would be attended with considerable inconvenience. 

" Another very important consideration affects my mind ; and 
that is, the apparently unbecoming presumption of a candidate 
for orders, in anticipating his duties in a place of so much impor- 
tance as your city, and perhaps standing in the way of a regular 
clergyman, who would be more acceptable, and to whom the sit- 
uation might be very desirable. In short, after repeating my 
thanks for your kind intentions, I have to express my wish that 
you may be successful in finding a faithful pastor, of better qual- 
ifications than myself, to take at once full charge of the Church, 
and prevent the inconveniences of such a plan as that which you 
have suggested. I think it, however, due to so unexpected and 
friendly an intimation to say, that I will avail myself of the first 
opportunity, after God shall be pleased to restore my health, to 
speak with Dr. White and one or two other friends upon the sub- 
ject ; but beg that I may not, in the meantime, stand in the way 
of any arrangement for the welfare of your Church, that Provi- 
dence may offer to your acceptance. 

" I lament the illness of your venerable mother ; but she has 
lived long enough under the blessed influence of the religion of 
Jesus to know its consolations ; and I trust, if it be his will to 
require it, she will resign her soul without a murmur into the 
hands of her Redeemer. Her advanced age, and the long-con- 
tinued enjoyment of her society, with which her children have 
been favored, should reconcile them to her departure, if such be 
the purpose of God ; knowing that their loss is her everlasting 
gain, and that the separation now made, unless it be their own 
fault, will not be eternal. You all have my affectionate prayers 



HIS MINISTRY. 191 

for your support under this and every trial, and for a full share 
in the riches of grace in Christ Jesus, the true foundation of solid 
comfort and happiness in this world, and of all our hopes of ever- 
enduring felicity in that which is to come. 

"Be pleased to present my best respects to the family, and 
to the Rev. Dr. Kemp ; and believe me to be, 

"With affectionate regard, yours sincerely, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The letter which he next answered, was from the Rev. Oliver 
Norris, of Alexandria, who appears to have written in behalf and 
by the authority of the congregation in Richmond, over which 
Mr. Milnor was urged to think of a settlement. To the manu- 
script copy of his answer is prefixed the following note: "Sketch 
of letter to Rev. Oliver Norris, Alexandria. Note — the letter sent 
varied materially from this sketch ; but I have no other copy." 
This sketch, therefore, is here given, not as his exact answer to 
Mr. Norris, but as an exposition of some important views which 
he entertained. It was dated, 

" Norristown, August, 1813. 

"My dear Sir — I thank you very sincerely for your affec- 
tionate letter of the 14th ult., to which I should have made an 
earlier answer ; but, at the time of its arrival here, I was absent 
on a journey of a fortnight, from which I returned about twelve 
days ago, so much indisposed as, for the greater part of the time 
since, to have been confined to my bed. My sickness is still 
such as will oblige me to write this short letter with many in- 
tervals of rest. 

"You appreciate justly my motives in venturing, as I humbly 
trust under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to take upon me a 
portion of the ministry of reconciliation. 'I am as a wonder 
unto many,' who, unacquainted either with the duty of submis- 
sion to the manifested will of Grod, or with the operations of 
divine grace upon the renewed mind, whereby alone true Chris- 
tian obedience can be produced, are astonished at my voluntary 
surrender of a lucrative practice, of associations of the most 
varied and attractive kind, and of encouraging prospects of pub- 
lic honor and distinction. Yet, strange as it seems to them, to 



192 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

me not one relinquished object of former attachment occasions 
the smallest regret. But it is a source of painful reflection to 
me, that so much of a short lifetime has been so unprofitably 
spent, and that I am now able to make an offering to God of the 
small remnant only of my days, when the whole ought to have 
been his. 

"With respect to the future sphere of my labors, my best 
reflections and the advice of friends have led me to postpone, for 
the present, any decisive determination. My probationary year 
will not expire till the middle of April next; and there seems a 
want of delicacy towards the proper authorities of the Church, 
in anticipating their decision upon my qualifications, of which 
every day's experience opens a humbler view to myself; or in 
entering into engagements at present which circumstances here- 
after may render it difficult, perhaps impracticable, to fulfil. 

"I trust I shall not be so misunderstood as to be supposed to 
set a light value upon so very respectable a proposition as that 
of a settlement at Richmond, if, besides the general reason above 
stated for now withholding a decision, I were to add, that, honor- 
able as the post will be, and extensive as may be the good to be 
done by him who fills it, I doubt whether it is adapted to my 
opinions or habits. My impressions against slavery were early 
and deep; and, with my present views of the universality of 
divine love, they are strengthened and rendered unalterable. I 
do not think I ought to go voluntarily into the midst of it, and 
perhaps become, from necessity, a partaker in it. 

" There is also, I understand, at Richmond, a fashionable gay- 
ety of manners and disposition, far exceeding the general style of 
those to which I have been accustomed in Philadelphia, in which 
it would be painful for a Christian minister to be compelled to 
participate, and which, perhaps, it would be useless, nay, destruc- 
tive of even partial usefulness, to oppose. 

" To these suggestions I might, as a subordinate considera- 
tion, add, that the heats of summer are extremely unfavorable to 
my health ; and that, even in this cooler climate, I scarcely ever 
pass through July and August without an attack of sickness : 
and, as a more important item, might again add, a friendly wish, 
more than once expressed by our venerable diocesan, that I would 



HIS MINISTRY. 193 

not leave this state ; and the kind and earnest requests of my 
Episcopalian friends in Philadelphia, that I would remain in that 
city, where many circumstances lead to the belief that my poor 
exertions may be so directed as to be profitable to many. 

" To every thing now said, I should be unjust to my own 
feelings if I did not add, still further, that considering the grand 
scale on which the church in Richmond has been commenced, 
and the expectations raised with respect to the services to be per- 
formed in it, the moderate estimate, which I am taught to make 
of my talents and acquirements would render me apprehensive 
of falling very far below the standard which has been set up. 
To the gay and volatile, l Christ Jesus and him crucified' is but 
a dull and simple theme, poorly supplying the place of those 
flowers of rhetoric and charms of diction with which genius de- 
lights to embellish the merely moral theme. Yet it is my deter- 
mination, through grace, to preach nothing else to the people 
whom Grod, in his providence, may allot to my charge, than the 
Gospel of Christ ; for * I count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord :■ I believe it 
to be ' the power of G-od unto salvation unto every one that be- 
lieveth;' and that there is great danger of preaching in such 
' wisdom of words as to make the Cross of Christ of none effect.' 

" In all that I have said, it is far from my intention to give 
offence. The friendly nature of your communication required 
that I should detail some of my reasons for doubting whether 
Richmond were an eligible situation for me ; and I have done so. 
I leave you to judge of their weight. 

" I congratulate you, my dear sir, on your settlement in Alex- 
andria, which, I hope, you will find an agreeable residence, and 
a situation where you may be the means of winning many souls 
to Christ — praying that you may meet the double reward of pres- 
ent peace of mind, and of future endless bliss. 

" Be pleased, as it may fall in your way, to present my re- 
gards to Col. Deneale, Mr. John Roberts, and their families ; also 
to Judge Washington and the Messrs. Lee ; and believe me to 
be, with sentiments of sincere affection, 

" Your faithful friend and brother in the truth, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Mem. Milnor. j o 



194 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

These letters are interesting, both as the productions of a sick 
man, scarcely able to hold his pen, and as proofs that the good 
work of the Spirit in his heart was in progress, shaping him more 
and more perfectly according to the pattern of the true minister 
of Christ. To this latter point, all the traces which he has left 
of his feelings at the close of his long and perilous illness, bear a 
decided testimony. It is particularly manifest, that at this time 
the spirit of prayer in him was actively alive. It mingled in all 
his engagements, and breathed through no small part of his diary. 
Thus: 

" Nov. 18, 1813.— The unsettled state of my family," he 
writes, " for some time past, has prevented attention to the inter- 
esting duty of family worship. My dear Ellen's state of health 
now admitting of her attendance, and our arrangements in a new 
residence being made, I this morning commenced prayers, and 
hope to continue them every day, morning and evening. May 
God give us the aids of his heavenly grace to perform this duty 
with cheerfulness and regularity ; to enter upon it, at all times, 
with prepared hearts and with engaged minds ; and to profit by 
our daily communion with him on the throne of his mercy. 
Grant, Almighty Father, to thy servant, a spirit of prayer and 
supplication ; enable him to pray with the heart and with the 
understanding ; put thou, Holy Spirit, right words into his 
mouth, and grant that we may never be found offering the sacri- 
fice of fools. may every member of this family rejoice in the 
privilege of access by prayer to God, through the blood and inter- 
cession of the Redeemer, and pay their daily vows, with unvary- 
ing fervency and zeal, to the blessed and triune God, to whom be 
ascribed never-ending praises. Amen." 

His return to the city enabled him, with increased expedi- 
tion, to close the settlement of his temporal affairs, and at an 
earlier period to give his mind to uninterrupted study. He 
writes, no longer after his return than 

" Saturday, Nov. 27, 1813. — My beloved partner's bodily 
health being restored, and her strength in some measure regain- 
ed — purchases of furniture for our new residence being nearly 
completed, and many other temporal cares being either removed 
out of the way, or lessened — I hope, hereafter, to be more closely 



HIS MINISTRY. 195 

and methodically engaged in theological studies. My prayer to 
Almighty God is, that I may be enabled to pursue them with a zeal 
and industry proportioned to their importance ; but that, while 
the head is acquiring knowledge, the heart may not lose the ar- 
dor of its affections ; its love to God and the Saviour ; its desire 
after more grace and inward holiness ; its unceasing gratitude 
for countless mercies and undeserved blessings ; its wrestling with 
God for their continuance, unworthy as I am, for the Redeemer's 
sake ; and its faith and hope in his precious sacrifice and inter- 
cession. Let me not lose, merciful God, my convictions of sin, 
my hatred of its contaminations, my sense of ^mremitting depend- 
ence on thee for ability to resist its baneful influence, and my 
continual applications to thee for thy support. Be thou, ' Lord, 
a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.' 

" To-morrow is the Sabbath of the Lord ; that day, of which 
he has commanded us to ' remember that we keep it holy.' I 
feel, as it draws near, fresh reproaches from my conscience, that 
I have not kept it more strictly and spiritually in times past, and 
that I have profited so little by its sacred exercises. how lan- 
guid and wandering have been my devotions ; how cold and spir- 
itless my confessions, prayers, and praises ; how indifferent my 
attention ; and how irretentive my memory of the precious truths 
delivered, by God's ambassadors, from the sacred desk ! Inspire 
me, God, with grace to amend my ways : give me more zeal, 
more sincerity, more of the vitality of true religion — more heart- 
felt, deep, and untiring engagedness in thy service. ' turn unto 
me, and have mercy upon me ;' ' Teach me thy way, Lord ; I 
will walk in thy truth ; unite my heart to fear thy name.' Then, 
' I will praise thee, Lord my God, with all my heart ; and I will 
glorify thy name for evermore.' " 

These aspirations seem not to have been repressed by what he 
heard the following day. 

" Sunday, Nov. 28, 1813. — In the morning, attended divine 
service at St. James'. Mr. Kemper preached a forcible and im- 
passioned sermon from part of the first verse of the sixty-third 
Psalm : ' God, thou art my God ; early will I seek thee.' 

" The discourse was addressed principally to the younger part 
of the congregation, but in the course of it Mr. Kemper took 



196 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

occasion to make an earnest appeal to those more advanced in 
years. He referred to the causes of the present Laodicean state 
of the Episcopal church. We were, in a considerable degree, com- 
posed of the rich and respectable, the gay and fashionable ; we 
were willing to be religious on our own terms only, and therefore- 
desired no stricter conformity to Christ than what comported 
with the full enjoyment of all the pleasures and frivolities of life ; 
we had cultivated an empty system of morals, having nothing 
in it of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity and of the gospel 
method of salvation, but substituting for them a vain reliance on 
our own performances, and in a great degree rejecting Christ as 
our Saviour. He declared, that no reliance was to be placed on 
so fallacious a scheme ; that without genuine, heartfelt repent- 
ance, and a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, none of us 
could be saved ; and that without these essential prerequisites, 
all our works were unproductive and useless, if not sinful in the 
sight of God. We are justified by faith, and until its power is 
felt in the heart, and, whatever our rank or influence, honors or 
wealth, we come as suppliants to the foot of the Cross, crying 
out, ' What shall we do to be saved ?' and there, through free and 
sovereign grace, receive remission of our sins and a renewal of 
our nature, we can have no reason to hope for happiness in 
heaven." 

Here, certainly, was nothing of baptismal regeneration, nor 
of the notion of justification by the sacraments. No wonder 
that Mr. Milnor, as he proceeds, breaks forth in this impassioned 
language. 

" how my heart went along with our zealous young pastor. 
These are the doctrines which, if frequently pressed home upon 
the consciences of our congregations, would indeed make a stir- 
ring among the dry bones. God grant that he may be encouraged 
in his course, that he may continue to be increasingly bold in his 
divine Master's cause, and that, through his instrumentality, ' the 
hearts of the disobedient may be turned to the wisdom of the 
just,' and many of those who are now under the power of Satan 
and their own delusions, unto God." 

At the close of the year 1813, Mr. Milnor was engaged, with 
some others, in organizing an association in the city of Phila- 



HIS MINISTRY. 197 

delphia for " the improvement of its members in religious know- 
ledge, the invigorating of their pious affections, the promotion of 
a spirit of Christian fellowship, the increase of their attachment 
to the doctrines and ritual of our holy apostolic church, the 
obtaining and communicating of religious intelligence, and the 
enjoyment of the pleasures and advantages of social worship." 
The secular affairs of the church were excluded from the exer- 
cises of the meetings. Those exercises were to consist of reading 
the Scriptures and approved religious authors, prayer, exhortation, 
singing, and religious conversation. Members were admitted by 
election only. Visitors, from the city exclusively, and to the 
number of six only, might be invited to attend at any one meet- 
ing. When a clergyman was present, he was always to conduct 
the religious exercises, unless he chose to devolve the whole or a 
part on one or more of the lay members. 

A draft of the constitution of the society, "agreed to, Dec. 
29, 1813," in the handwriting of Mr. Milnor, and embodying the 
above features, denominates the association, " The Protestant 
Episcopal Evangelical Society." How long it continued in oper- 
ation we have not the means of ascertaining ; but its organiza- 
tion and Mr. Milnor's share in it show how early he began to 
transfer his fondness for this mode of action from political and 
literary to religious interests. He was seldom more in his ele- 
ment than when engaged in conducting the concerns of the vari- 
ous societies of which he was a member. 

The following letter, found among Dr. Milnor's papers, though 
without name or date, yet leaves no room for doubt on the ques- 
tion to whom it was addressed. It was probably written, whether 
earlier or later, about this period, and is therefore here introduced. 
It excites a somewhat sad foreboding as to the close of the relig- 
ious life of his old friend, Aquila M. Bolton. And yet, who knows 
but that this later remonstrance from one whom that friend so 
early warned of the peril of impenitency, may have proved the 
means of reawakening his own soul, and of saving him from the 
peril of apostasy ? The letter was as follows : 

" My dear Friend — I have received the first number of a 
Miscellany, of which the well-known letters on the cover apprise 
me you are the editor. Has the long interruption of epistolary 



198 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

intercourse so far deadened our sensibilities to one another's in- 
terests, and so completely estranged us from each other, as to 
preclude a free and candid intercommunication of sentiments ? 
I trust not. The evidence which you have just given me that I 
still live in your remembrance, and the throbbings of my own 
bosom as I am now communing with you, convince me that our 
friendship is not dead, though it has slept ; and it is this persua- 
sion that encourages me to unburthen my mind with the most 
unbounded frankness. 

" For several years past I have heard but little of you, for we 
had ceased to interchange letters, and I seldom met with any of 
your friends who could tell me any thing about you. You have 
now suddenly risen to my view in a shape so new and unexpected 
as greatly to surprise me, without affording any of that delight 
which those precious communications — still preserved and fre- 
quently recurred to — from Jersey, from Spain, and from "Wheel- 
ing, have afforded. 0, my valued, my earliest friend, has your 
relish for divine things deserted you ? Has the love of God in 
Christ Jesus, once, as I believed, so liberally shed abroad in your 
heart, waxed cold ? Does religion no longer court your feelings 
by those sweet endearments in which you once so much de- 
lighted ? Can you have become willing to relinquish the solid 
and durable pleasures of piety for the light and frivolous amuse- 
ments of the day, even though they court you under the mask of 
literature and taste ? Believe me, when I look at those awful 
admonitions with which you once addressed me, and in which 
your whole concern was to induce me, like yourself, to take up 
the cross of the Redeemer, and to ' count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord ;' when 
I recollect my being told, by one of your friends, that you had 
become a public champion of his glorious cause, and when I look 
at the title and contemplated plan of your Miscellany — useful as 
some of its proposed objects may, no doubt, be — I am at a loss to 
decide whether astonishment or grief be the predominant feeling 
of my mind. Not one word in your prospectus, or in your first 
number, of Christ or his blessed religion ; and but a trivial glance 
towards even morality, good as the product of the Spirit, but a 
mean and barren substitute for genuine religion. Ah, this, I 



HIS MINISTRY. 199 

fear, evinces too plainly, that you have become satiated with the 
fountains of ' living water,' of whose delightful streams you once 
partook, and have betaken yourself to ' cisterns, broken cisterns, 
that will hold no water.' 

" With such apprehensions, permit an old friend, who has 
abandoned the pursuit of the wealth, and honor, and pleasures of 
this world, for the riches of eternity, the unfading honor of his 
Redeemer's crown of righteousness, and the enjoyment of the 
light of his divine countenance, to solicit you to pause and con- 
sider the awful danger of apostasy from the faith of Jesus. Can 
it be possible that he who once, with so much feeling, admonished 
the friend — who now sincerely thanks him for, while he recipro- 
cates the kindness — of the necessity of closing with the offers of 
mercy, is willing to become a castaway ? beware, my friend, 
I entreat you, that the evil spirit which has gone out from you, 
do not ' return into his house, and find it empty, swept, and gar- 
nished,' for the reception of himself and 'seven other spirits more 
wicked than himself,' and so make your ' last state worse than 
the first.' I shall probably hereafter write you more fully, and 
give you some account of the Lord's dealings with my soul ; but 
in the meantime will conclude with an apposite quotation from 
an author with whose style you are well acquainted." 

The manuscript closes without the quotation, and our notices 
of his friend Bolton's religious life must be dismissed without any 
certain light as to its issue. 

From the close of the year 1813, Mr. Milnor continued his 
theological studies until August, 1814, four months after his re- 
quired term of candidateship had expired — apparently in conse- 
quence of the long interruption of those studies by his own illness 
and that of his wife, in the summer and fall of 1813. He would 
have continued them for a still longer period, but for a circum- 
stance which hastened his ordination, and which he thus records 
in his last entry in his diary : 

"August 9, 1814. — Once more I resume my brief annotations. 
Since my last entries, my life has been that of a student, much 
abstracted from the world, and laboriously engaged hi the acqui- 
sition of theological knowledge. My prospect has been to apply 
for orders in October next ; but circumstances of an unexpected 



200 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

nature have hastened the measure. The Rev. Mr. Kemper having 
been invited by the Society for the Advancement of Christianity 
to go upon a mission through the state, the vestry have requested 
me to anticipate the time of my ordination, that I may supply 
his place during his absence. The desire of the bishop and of 
all my friends concurring in this arrangement, I have consented ; 
and have accordingly undergone, agreeably to the canon, four 
separate examinations at Bishop White's, conducted by himself, 
Dr. Hutchins, and the Rev. Mr. "Wiltbank: the first, on Friday 
last, for two and a half hours; the second on Saturday, for two 
hours ; the third yesterday morning, for two and a half hours ; 
and the last yesterday afternoon, for two hours. My ordination, 
with God's permission, is to take place on Sunday morning next, 
in St. James' church." 

In a record which he soon after opened, for the simple purpose 
of "preserving a note of each sermon preached by him during 
his ministry," he adds, "I was ordained deacon by the Rt. Rev. 
William White, in St. James' church, Philadelphia, on Sunday 
morning, August 14, 1814." 

So brief was his notice of that interesting event, which lay 
between all his past life of pleasure and of politics in the great 
world of men, and all his coming life of labor and of usefulness 
in the sweet service of Christ ! His first sermon was preached 
in St. Peter's, the afternoon of the same day on which he was 
ordained. This, with St. James' and Christ church, constituted 
the parish of which Bishop White was rector; having associated 
with him as assistants, the Rev. Dr. Abercrombie and the Rev. 
Mr. Kemper. 

The text of his first sermon, chosen with peculiar appropri- 
ateness, was Rom. 1 : 16: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of 
Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth : to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." We can 
well conceive the interest with which a sermon before such an 
audience, from such a text, and by such a man, must have been 
received; preached, as it was, in the very centre of that round 
of fashion in which, for so many years, he had been moving; 
before many of his former companions in gayety and business; 
and on a text which called him to exhibit the Gospel of the lowly 



HIS MINISTRY. 201 

Jesus in all its humbling peculiarity, and with modest boldness 
to take up the cross of proclaiming Christ crucified among men. 
That he was, for once, "a prophet not without honor in his 
own country, and among his own kin," may be inferred from 
the fact, that on the 21st of December next after his ordination, 
he was "unanimously elected by the vestry a minister of the 
united churches;" his election being announced to him " by Gen- 
eral Gurney, Commodore Dale, and Mr. Wayne," on the evening 
of Wednesday, after he had been out of the city to preach in 
" Spring Garden Academy." 

The three united churches were now furnished with a rector 
and three assistants; an arrangement, in consequence of which 
each had one " leisure" Sunday out of every four. This leisure 
each seems to have spent in preaching in the neighboring par- 
ishes and destitute places. Such was the use which Mr. Milnor, 
at least, made of his leisure Sundays, as appears from his record 
of the times and places of his labors. The first fruit of this ar- 
rangement was the organization of St. John's church, Northern 
Liberties. Mr. Milnor commenced this enterprise by preaching, 
Sunday evening, February 19, 1815, "in the Commissioners' 
Hall," or town-house, in that dense suburb. The service was in 
"a large and crowded room," and the sermon to "a deeply at- 
tentive people." 

On Sunday morning, August 27, 1815, he was admitted by 
Bishop White, in St. James' church, to the order of presbyters; 
and on the next Sunday morning, September 3, in Christ church, 
he " for the first time administered the holy communion." 

The only incident out of the usual routine of duty, which he 
records during the year of his diaconate, was the following. 

"At night," Sunday, October 23, 1814, "at the request of 
the Hev. Mr. Broadhead, pastor of the Dutch Reformed church in 
Crown-street, who was absent on a religious visit to the camp, 
near Wilmington, Delaware," [those, it will be remembered, were 
times of war,] " I preached to a very crowded congregation on 
love to Christ, especially addressed to youth, from Prov. 8 : 17 : 
i I love them that love me ; and those that seek me early shall 
find me.' N-. B. — In the service I used the forms of our Church, 
and complied with Mr. Broadhead's request, after conferring with 



202 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Bishop White, who declared there was no ecclesiastical impro- 
priety in my compliance ; and expressed himself pleased with the 
liberality of Mr. Broadhead's proposal." 

The two following letters, written during this period, indicate 
very distinctly the acceptableness of his labors ; the stand which 
he at once took as an evangelical preacher ; his temper in regard 
to ecclesiastical dissensions ; and the manner in which he sought 
to do good "in season, and out of season." The former was 
addressed 

To the Rev. Levi Bull. 

" Philadelphia, January 16, 1815. 

"Rev. and dear Brother — It will be best, I believe, to com- 
promise all our differences about want of punctuality and atten- 
tion in the interchange of letters, by an understanding that we 
mutually attend to it as other duties permit, and that, where 
seeming negligence occurs, it shall be ascribed to sufficient cause. 

"I thank you for your kind communication of the 10th ult. 
The good opinion of so experienced a fellow- Christian as yourself 
is confessedly grateful to my feelings ; whilst I desire that neither 
that, nor any other expression of human approbation may seduce 
me into those ' vain imaginations and high thoughts,' which are 
so destructive of true religion in the soul. Every day's experi- 
ence tends to lower me in my own estimation ; for I know the 
inadequacy of my talents and attainments, and that I am neither 
so ardent and laborious in my external labors, nor so devout and 
spiritual in my inward exercises, as becomes the sincere follower 
of Jesus, more especially a worm who has taken upon himself 
to speak to others in his holy name. My prayer to Grod is, for 
daily supplies of his all-sufficient grace, to strengthen me in his 
work, and to enable me to press forward with a steady aim to 
the promotion of his glory, and the good of souls. 

" In relation to the character and conduct of others, associated 
in the same duties, I think myself bound to act, where I believe 
error to exist, with much moderation. Many such act honestly, 
according to the conclusions, however wrong, of their own judg- 
ments ; and give no offence to religion in their lives and conver- 
sations. Others let religion sit more loosely upon them ; and the 



HIS MINISTRY. 203 

injury, which their errors in doctrine might otherwise occasion, 
is prevented by the ill appearance which its practical influence 
exhibits in their conduct. ' To their own Master they stand or 
fall.' The course of those who profess deeper views in divine 
things, and endeavor after a closer conformity to the requisitions 
of the Gospel, is, in my opinion, to remain firm to their principles ; 
to adhere to that strictness of life which conscience and the word 
of God exact ; and to proclaim the evangelical truths of religion 
with holy boldness, but without useless ofTensiveness of language. 
Parties in the Church, my dear friend, should not be counte- 
nanced. If an upright and consistent discharge of duty invite 
odium or persecution from others, let us receive with meekness 
and resignation any consequences to which it may lead. But 
opposition to the persons of men, the distinction of names, and 
the array of each other into conflicting ranks, must produce, 
whatever be the sincerity of intention, disastrous consequences to 
the interests of our Zion. My views lead me to shrink from any 
situation that may excite in my mind those turbulent and unruly 
passions which divine grace has yet so partially subdued ; and 
religious controversies, of all others, do excite them in the most 
lamentable and pernicious degree. Forgive the egotism into which 
your suggestions unavoidably lead me, when I declare my per- 
suasion that God has not formed me for an agency in any such 
scenes. 

" But, whilst I wish to meddle little with others, God has 
clearly pointed out to me my own line of duty. For n^self, I 
am ' determined to know nothing,' in my ministerial labors, ' save 
Jesus Christ and him crucified ;' to preach nothing but his pre- 
cious Gospel to perishing sinners ; and, according to my poor 
measure of ability, to call men from a reliance on their own works 
to an entire dependence upon the free grace and mercy of God 
in Christ. The native depravity of man, his utter helplessness, 
the necessity of repentance and conversion, the agency of the Holy 
Spirit in these evangelical exercises, and the manifestation of the 
blessed fruit of a change of heart in the work of holy obedience 
to the revealed will and word of God, are themes which fill my 
mind, and upon which, both publicly and privately, I shall con- 
tinue to dwell. If others preach differently, may God forgive 



204 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

them, and bestow upon them better views. I trust the Spirit of 
God will illuminate the minds of many, so as to enable them to 
discern where the truth rests ; and that he will not leave his 
faithful servants without the reward of their labors. Without 
finding an apology in this trust for any negligence on my part, I 
feel, my friend, more and more deeply convinced that we do not 
sufficiently refer to the faithfulness and the omnipotence of God, 
in our estimate of the effects to be produced by the labors of the 
ministry. Let us rely upon his promises and his power, and we 
shall feel less desponding as to the success which in his own time 
will attend his preached word. Although the pleasing occurrence 
has not taken place within the pale of our own communion, yet 
the late revival of religion in the college at Princeton is a just 
evidence of the truth of this position, and a cause of pious felici- 
tation among Christians of every denomination. I have heard 
the letters of Dr. Green on the subject read with astonishment 
and delight. One of them contains fifty-two names of young 
men, a part of whom, it was believed, had 'passed from death 
unto life ;' while another part were 'not far from the kingdom of 
God,' and the remainder were under strong convictions of sin. 
Surely, 'this is the Lord's doings, and it is marvellous in our 
eyes.' May the dews of his heavenly grace descend more copi- 
ously on that part of his vineyard, in which his providence has 
called you and me to labor. We have, it is true, very great dis- 
couragements ; and latterly not many appearances here of a con- 
trary description. But, ' as the husbandman waiteth for the pre- 
cious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he 
receive the early and the latter rain,' so let us also 'be patient.' 
Let us 'establish our hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth 
nigh.' 

" Mrs. Milnor unites in affectionate remembrance to your 
father, family, and Mrs. Bull. Believe me, in the bonds of that 
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, wherein we 
desire ever to abide, 

" Your faithful brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The latter of the two communications which have been men- 
tioned, was addressed to a young gentleman — possibly one of the 



HIS MINISTRY. 205 

"fifty-two" to whose case reference was made in the former. It 
was dated, 

"Philadelphia, Aug. 3, 1815. 

" My dear Sir — I acknowledge, with great pleasure, the re- 
ceipt of your letter of the 15th ult. How sorry am I that a com- 
munication which encourages me to think so favorably of your 
religious steadfastness, should give so disheartening a prospect of 
that of some of your associates. This is lamentable, indeed, as 
it respects the individuals, for it is a tenfold increase of their 
guilt and condemnation, to have been placed, by the grace of 
Almighty God, in the road to eternal happiness, and then wil- 
fully to forsake it ; and the shocking sin of ingratitude for past 
mercies lessens awfully the hope of those mercies being renewed 
to them. Surely, these infatuated youth are sinning against the 
clearest light, against the convictions of conscience, and have 
abundantly more reason than its author to adopt the language of 
the heathen poet — and to fear the righteous vengeance of Almighty 
God for its presumptuous truth — who declared of himself, 

' Video meliora proboque : 
Deteriora sequor." 

Let us not, however, cease to pray for them, and remonstrate 
with them ; and let us beware how we ourselves, by the indul- 
gence of sloth, by exposure to temptation, or by any of that infi- 
nite variety of means which Satan and our own evil hearts are 
so ready to suggest, fall into the like condemnation. 

" But if the effect of these secessions from the truth as it is 
in Jesus be thus deplorable upon the individuals themselves, it 
is equally injurious to the general interests of religion. Already 
the enemies of evangelical righteousness begin to take great 
credit to themselves for the truth of their predictions as to the in- 
stability of the subjects of the late revival ; infidels find in these 
events excitements to blasphemous merriment, and cold moralists 
plume themselves on the superiority of their unfeeling system 
of reason and expediency over one which they allege to have no 
foundation but in the effervescence of animal excitement. 

" But let none of these things, my dear young friend, move 
you. However ignorant blasphemers may revile, or lukewarm 
Christians undervalue the work of grace begun by the good Spirit 



206 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of our God in your seminary, I trust that in the hearts of many 
it will be carried on unto perfection, and that you, who have, in 
some good degree, ' tasted and seen how good and gracious the 
Lord is,' will maintain your confidence, ' knowing in whom you 
have believed, and that he is able to keep that which you have 
committed unto him against that day.' Never, however, expose 
yourself to the seductions of temptation, and the arts of the 
adversary of souls ; never yield to the suggestions of that re- 
mainder of a corrupt nature, which you will find still luring you 
back to former habits, or lulling you into indifference about holy 
things, or beguiling you into self-security and satisfaction with 
your present measure of attainments : strive to ' forget those 
things that are behind, and to reach towards those that are be- 
fore ; pressing daily towards the mark for the prize of your high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus.' How anxiously should we aim 
at that glorious assurance which, after the most trying conflicts, 
crowned the religious experience of the great apostle, and enabled 
him to say, ' I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord.' 

"Accept, my Christian brother, the humble prayers of an 
unworthy aspirer after these blessings, for your attainment of 
so happy an advancement in the divine life ; give him an interest 
in your approaches to God, and believe him to be, with that love 
which the true Christian only knows how to feel and to cherish, 
" Your fellow-traveller to Zion, and faithful friend, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

From the former of these two letters it is evident, that his 
early ministry was received with such flattering commendations 
as made him feel the need of a strong guard against high thoughts 
of himself ; and that he found that guard in those teachings of 
the Spirit, which filled him with lowly self-esteem. It is also 
evident, that he was early urged to assume the attitude of a con- 
troversial leader of the newly rising evangelical interest in the 
Episcopal church ; and that, from the first, he took the stand, 
which he ever afterwards maintained, of avoiding religious con- 



HIS MINISTRY. 207 

troversy, and especially party names, except as he was forced to 
bear them in his adherence to what he considered matters of 
principle. His temper in this respect was beautiful. "Where 
his views of truth and duty required, he took his stand fearlessly 
and firmly, and then calmly met the consequences of his stand. 
His position often drew upon him violent assaults ; but he always 
contented himself with the dignified defence which self-respect 
demanded. Assaults upon others he never made. The eyes of 
thousands were early and long turned upon him as one of the 
most prominent men, if not the most prominent, among the 
evangelical portion of the American Episcopal church ; but no 
one was ever able to look upon him and say, " Milnor is the 
leader of our party .^ The letter on which these comments 
are made, may be taken as an index, not less true than early, to 
his whole course as an evangelical minister in the Church. 

The latter of the two letters, while it shows his aptness to 
do good as occasion was offered, exhibits also the interest with 
which he ever regarded the great question of revivals of religion. 
He never doubted that such revivals are in full harmony with 
the genius of the Gospel, and with the promised influences of 
the Spirit ; although he never shut his eye to the perils attend- 
ant on remarkable seasons of revival, through the wiles of Satan, 
the frailty of man, and the deceitfulness of the sinful heart. He 
was disposed neither to overrate the good found in revivals as the 
work of God, nor to be blind to that good because of sometimes 
attendant evils as the work of man. He prayed for God's bless- 
ings through revivals, and he labored to avert man's abuses, 
when they came. 

From the period of his admission to the order of presbyters, 
in August, 1815, he continued to labor in Philadelphia, as one of 
the ministers of the united churches, until his removal to New 
York, in September, 1816. During this early period of his min- 
istry, the only incident of importance that occurred out of the 
line of his uniform and diligent labors, was the part which he 
took, in the winter of 1816, in the action of the Philadelphia 
Bible Society. This Society undertook, at that time, to extend 
its operations by the formation of Bible associations throughout 
the city and its populous suburbs, and for this purpose appointed 



208 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

a committee to carry its resolutions into effect. Of this commit- 
tee Mr. Milnor was a member, and at its first meeting was ap- 
pointed secretary. The committee detailed itself into four sub- 
committees, and under this distribution, carried out the work 
with which they were intrusted. In doing so, they incidentally 
took measures for organizing a " Marine Bible Society." They 
also ordered the circulars, which were intended to accompany 
the Society's report when published in the newspapers, to be sent 
to each of the presidents of the Bible Societies of Boston, Hart- 
ford, Providence, New York, Albany, Baltimore, Charleston, 
Richmond, Savannah, and Lexington, as well as to the presi- 
dents of the Auxiliary Bible Society, and of the Female Bible 
Society, of Philadelphia. 

These proceedings were had in January, 1816, and it is wor- 
thy of remark, that on the 11th of _May of the same year, the 
American Bible Society was organized in the city of New York : 
an organization which brought nearly all the disconnected Bible 
Societies of the country into union with one mighty agency for 
the dissemination of the word of Grod among all the families of 
the earth ; a fit associate in this work, with the British and 
Foreign Bible Society of London. How far this grand central 
movement in New York grew out of the measures adopted in 
Philadelphia the preceding January, it is not intended to inquire : 
but it is pleasing to know, that Mr. Milnor not only became most 
actively engaged in the American Bible Society immediately 
after his removal to New York, but was similarly engaged in the 
Bible cause before its central organization had a bein£\ 

Among his papers written during the winter of 1816, is found 
the following copy of a letter addressed to an afflicted parishioner, 
which is here given, both as a touching allusion to his own earlier 
afflictions, and as a happy example of his tenderness in comfort- 
ing the sorrows of others. 

To Mrs. M . 

'•'Philadelphia, February, 1816. 
"My dear Madam — Permit me to express my sympathy with 
you in the deep distress which your recent loss of a beloved child 
has occasioned. Having twice experienced a similar bereave- 



HIS MINISTRY. 209 

ment, 1 know how difficult it is, in the first transports of grief, 
to take to ourselves the comforts of religion ; and yet, where 
shall we find comfort, under such dispensations, but in the hopes 
and promises of the Gospel ? Did I not believe, with an unshaken 
faith, that the two lovely infants which I have followed to the 
grave, are now part of that heavenly throng that ' circle the 
throne of God day without night rejoicing,' that their happiness 
is unchangeable and eternal, and that, through faith in the Re- 
deemer of mankind, I may be allowed hereafter to see them, and 
partake of their glory, I should not only be destitute of any 
ground of solace for myself, but could not presume to pour the 
balm of consolation into the heart of a weeping mother. Yes, 
your dear boy, whose engaging countenance has so often, in 
church, attracted the attention of Mrs. Milnor and myself, is now 
in heaven. A thousand anxieties respecting his future destiny, 
by which your maternal feelings would have been assailed, had 
he grown towards manhood, are now prevented. You know he 
is of that happy number whose salvation has been purchased by 
the blood of the precious Lamb of God ; and what are the honor, 
and respect, and riches, and long life, which were apparently in 
store for your son, compared with the unceasing love of God, and 
the joys of a never-ending eternity? Your loss is great, and 
tears must pay the debt of nature. A compassionate God will 
not lay to your charge, as sin, the temporary indulgence of affec- 
tions which he has implanted. But in the midst of your tears, 
let them not blind you to the views that have been presented. 
Your boy is now encircled by the arms of the venerable Father of 
the faithful whose name he bore. The loss of his mourning rela- 
tives is his eternal gain. 

"Having understood that the duties of pastoral condolence 
have been discharged by our respected and beloved diocesan and 
one or more of my senior brethren, and not willing to increase 
the number of visitants at a time when, no doubt, retirement is 
desirable, I send you a small volume, which I hope may admin- 
ister that comfort to the heart of Mr. M. and yourself, which its 
sentiments have formerly afforded to 

" Your obedient servant, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Mem Million 14 



210 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Early in the month of May, 1816, he became aware of a 
movement in St. George's church, New York, tending towards 
his future rectorship of that parish. He received a letter from 
the Rev. H. J. Feltus, dated the first of the month, intimating 
that a committee from St. George's might soon visit Philadelphia, 
with the view of hearing him in his "undressP This intimation 
was probably not realized ; but Mr. Milnor soon after received 
from Dr. Kewley, who had just resigned the rectorship of the 
parish, a letter dated May 4, and covering a resolution from the 
vestry of St. George's, which invited him to visit New York for 
the purpose of "performing service and preaching" before the 
congregation. To take off as much as possible the appearance 
of asking him to officiate on trial, Dr. Kewley proposed to put 
the visit on the ground of "an exchange of services" with him. 
The following is an extract from the answer which Mr. Milnor 
returned to Dr. Kewley : 

"Philadelphia. May 7. 1816. 

"Rev. and dear Sir— Your favor of the 4th inst. was duly 
received, and I have to thank the vestry of St. George's church 
for their friendly invitation, and you for the kind manner in 
which you have been good enough to make known to me their 
wishes. 

"It is difficult for me to return an immediate answer, because 
a compliance with the request to visit New York, thus officially 
made, would imply a willingness on my part to receive the situ- 
ation, if it should be offered ; and that is a point of too embar- 
rassing a nature to be decided at once. I am attached to my 
present place of residence, and to the congregations in which I 
minister, by so many strong and endearing ties, that nothing but 
a sense of manifest duty could induce me to separate myself 
from either. If, however, the leadings of divine Providence ap- 
peared to demand a different direction of my labors, I would 
submit to any sacrifice for the furtherance of that precious cause, 
to which, by the help of God's grace, I purpose my remaining 
days shall be assiduously consecrated. I will, therefore, ask per- 
mission to keep for a few days under consideration a request with 
which I could not comply without a pretty decided determination 
in my own mind to accede to ulterior measures, should the vestry 



HIS MINISTRY. 211 

and congregation of St. George's judge favorably of my capacity 
to serve them, and propose my becoming their rector." 

The remainder of the letter proposes to Dr. Kewley some in- 
quiries concerning the parish in New York, politely declines the 
proposed exchange of services, and promises a farther seasonable 
reply. 

On the 11th of May, Dr. Kewley, under instruction from the 
vestry, earnestly repeated to him their invitation to visit New 
York, and furnished him with the information for which his in- 
quiries called. He returned his answer on the 14th, declining 
their invitation, and apologizing for the promptness of his reply 
on the ground of a wish to prevent disappointment in the supply 
of St. G-eorge's for the following Sunday. The tenor of his reply 
may be gathered from the following letter to the Rev. H. J. Fel- 
tus, who had been in correspondence with him on the subject of 
the proposed visit. 

'•Philadelphia, May 14. 1816. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — I received yesterday your favor of the 
11th inst., and at the same time a letter from Dr. Kewley, accom- 
panied by a very respectful resolution from the vestry, answering 
some inquiries which I had made in relation to the extent of 
duty intended to be required of their rector, and repeating their 
desire of a visit. 

"I have just transmitted my reply, by which, in terms I trust 
of suitable gratitude and respect, I have declined a compliance 
with their request. I have not thought it material to go into a 
detail of my reasons ; but have stated in general, that, in part, 
they arise naturally out of the circumstances of my present con- 
nection, where, besides the minor consideration of personal feel- 
ing, my future usefulness might, in one event, be materially 
affected by my having made such a voluntary advance towards 
its relinquishment; and, in part, out of the contemplation of a 
possibly different result of my visit, involving anticipations of so 
painful a nature to myself and family as to require clearer con- 
victions of duty than have yet been felt to induce a willing sub- 
mission to the trial. 

"It is in vain to conceal the fact that this business has occa- 
sioned me many anxious hours. On the one hand, my situation 



212 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

here is, in most respects, as eligible as could be desired. The 
duties incumbent on me, though sufficient to occupy me, are not 
burdensome. My associates are friendly and accommodating ; 
our bishop one of the most amiable men in existence ; the people, 
among whom I minister, affectionate, kind, and manifestly im- 
proving in piety ; and my worldly circumstances easy and com- 
fortable. In addition to these considerations, some plans of use- 
fulness, in which I am more immediately engaged, have endeared 
to me in a high degree the younger people of our charge ; and I 
take a deep interest in some of the pious and benevolent institu- 
tions of the city, not immediately connected with the Church ; 
and besides all, at the age which I have now attained, the aban- 
donment of so many relations of social life, that bind my attach- 
ments here, for the uncertainty of their being supplied in a new 
place of residence, would necessarily induce a solemn pause in 
my determination, had the resolutions, to which you attach the 
importance of a virtual call, actually assumed that shape. 

" On the other hand, a single congregation, under the imme- 
diate and entire charge of one pastor, presents many advantages 
for a useful application of ministerial effort, which a collegiate 
charge does not ; and it is this circumstance, principally, that 
would induce me to listen for a moment to any suggestion of a 
change of situation. 

"It is very probable, that the one to which our correspondence 
has had reference, will be no more thought of in the quarter where 
it originated ; and from the sensation which it has produced in the 
minds' of my friends here, it had indeed become very desirable 
that the questions by which I am assailed on the subject, should 
admit of a decisive reply on my part. 

" I return you many thanks for the kind interest you have 
been pleased to take in this business ; request your remembrance 
at the throne of the heavenly grace ; and remain, 

" Your faithful brother and obedient servant, 



"i 
'JAMES MILNOR." 



Mr. Milnor's letter received from Dr. Kewley a speedy reply ; 
regretting the decision announced, and intimating a determina- 
tion, so soon as the question of a successor to the rectorship of St. 
George's should be decided, to depart for Europe. It has since 



HIS MINISTRY. 213 

become known, that at this time, Dr. Kewley was a Romanist in 
heart, perhaps by commission ; and that his return to his native 
country was for the purpose of appearing in his appropriate char- 
acter, as a priest in the church of Rome. 

On the 24th of May, Mr. Feltus also wrote again ; and the 
following extract from his letter will show the position in which 
matters then stood at St. George's. 

• " Your last letter " (to the vestry through Dr. Kewley) " was 
worthy of yourself, and has done you much honor. It has placed 
you on that high ground, which your friends should have wished 
you to occupy. There was dignity in the position you assumed ; 
and I trust God had much to do in directing both your mind and 
your pen. 

" I am certainly informed, that the vestry met yesterday, and 
have appointed a committee to be in Philadelphia next Sunday. 
They set out to-morrow : two from the vestry, Mr. Yan Wagenen, 
and Mr. Brackett ; and two from the congregation, Mr. Hicks, 
and Mr. Tredwell. How far they are authorized, I cannot pre- 
cisely say, but believe they are to return and report ; whereupon 
a call is to be immediately forwarded. Don't resist the leadings 
of divine Providence. The whole is unsought by you. I trust 
and pray that God may sweetly incline your mind to his most 
blessed will ; and prevent you, if the whole measure would not 
be to his glory." 

The way was now open for decisive steps. Accordingly, on 
the 6th of June the vestry of St. George's met, and made out 
their official call of Mr. Milnor to the rectorship of the parish ; 
accompanying it with the following brief, but interesting letter. 

:: St. George's Church, New York, June 6, 1816. 
"Rev. Sir — It is with feelings of great satisfaction, that we 
present you the resolution inclosed. Convinced we can offer you 
no motive for accepting this call but the prospect of more extend- 
ed usefulness in the cause to which you have so disinterestedly 
dedicated your future life, permit us to observe, that our congre- 
gation, now large, is capable, under the blessing of God, of being 
very greatly increased ; and considering the anxiety prevailing 
among us to hear the tidings of salvation, we cherish the confident 



214 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

hope, that under your ministrations, our Zion may be brought to 
rejoice in the strength of her Lord. We believe the harvest may 
be great, but the laborers are wanting ; and we trust you will 
not decline what we hope you and all of us may be led by the 
Spirit of God to consider the summons of the Lord of the har- 
vest. 

"We are not conscious that any circumstance can exist, to 
induce a doubt in your mind of this being a call of duty ; but, 
anxious to omit no proper means of securing to our congregation 
your useful labors, if any such circumstance exist, we trust you 
will give us an opportunity to explain : which we believe can be 
done, on all points, in a manner entirely satisfactory. 

" Requesting your communications may be addressed to 
either of the undersigned, we remain, with sentiments of great 
respect, reverend sir, 

" Your friends, 

"GERRIT H. VAN WAGENEN,) w „ 

"HARRY PETERS, $ wardens. 

" The Rev. James Milnor." 

The following was his first reply. 

'•'Philadelphia, June 10, 1816. 

" Gentlemen — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your 
favor of the 6th inst., and to return you my thanks for the 
friendly and obliging terms in which you have been good enough 
to communicate the call of the wardens and vestry of St. 
George's, to the rectorship of. that church. 

" Flattering as I consider an invitation to that respectable 
charge, I trust that on a subject so interesting as that of a per- 
manent removal from the place of my birth, to which so many 
attachments, relative, social, and religious, bind my affections, 
you will not be surprised at any hesitation which has been man- 
ifested on my part, in encouraging the measure, or that may now 
be evinced in regard to a compliance with your offer. 

" Of one thing I assure you, gentlemen, that if, after proper 
consideration, duty appears to require of me the surrender of 
personal convenience, it shall be made ; and that, should divine 
Providence direct my course to New York, as a measure of re- 
spect towards the congregation of St. George's, and with a view 



HIS MINISTRY. 215 

to a better determination of a point of so much importance both 
to them and to myself, I propose to visit New York the latter 
part of the present week, and if it be agreeable, preach in your 
church on the ensuing Sunday. 

" In the meantime, the subject will be deeply reflected on by 
me ; and I trust I shall have your prayers associated with my 
own, imploring such a result as shall be for the glory of God, and 
the promotion of the kingdom of his Son. 

" I am, with sentiments of great respect, 
" Your obedient servant, 



" Gerrit H. Van Wagenen, ) Wardens t » 
" Harry Peters, $ W araens, etc. 



"JAMES MILNOR." 



In pursuance of the intimation thus given, Mr. Milnor was 
in New York on Saturday, the 15th of June; and on Sunday, 
officiated all day at St. George's. His first sermon there was 
that which he first preached after the event of his ordination — 
from Rom. 1 : 16 : "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ;" 
and it was received, as were all his services there, with the 
greatest satisfaction. Assiduous attentions gathered round him 
from all parts of the congregation ; and before the close of his 
visit, it became evident to his own mind, that he could not, con- 
sistently with duty, decline the call which he had received. He 
intimated as much in his letters to Mrs. Milnor ; and in Philadel- 
phia, before his return, it was known to be a settled matter, that 
they were to lose him from among them. He spent two Sun- 
days in St. George's, and then returned to his native city, to meet 
practically the trial of a final severance from persons and from 
places so long and so deeply loved. 

While in New York, he signified to Bishop White the prob- 
able issue of his visit ; and as the answer which he received was 
characteristic of that venerated man, and withal short, it is here 
inserted. 

"Philadelphia, June 20, 1816. 

"Rev. and dear Sir — I have received yours of yesterday, 
not without sensibility at the prospect of the dissolution of a con- 
nection begun with my approbation, continued to my entire sat- 
isfaction, and expected by me to be as lasting as the remainder 



216 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of my life. Being aware, however, how ineompetent we are to 
determine on the comparative probabilities of usefulness in dif- 
ferent fields of labor, I do not permit myself to sit in judgment 
on the question of the wisdom of the measure adopted by you, 
but most sincerely wish that it may be for the benefit of the 
Church, and to the comfort of yourself and of the amiable lady 
who is equally interested in the issue. 

" Had my feelings been ever hurt by any thing which has 
passed during our connection, I should have made the allowance, 
intimated in your letter, of its being unintentional ; but there 
has been no cause of such an allowance. I will flatter myself 
that there has been as little appearance of offence on my part ; 
since, otherwise, you would not have declared so friendly regret 
for the ceasing of the relation in which we have stood to one 
another. 

" I wrote the above, intending to send it by Mr. Bo wen ; but 
after his leaving me, there ensued some interruptions, which con- 
tinued beyond the hour of his expected departure from the city. 
" I remain, your affectionate brother, 

"WM. WHITE." 

While Mr. Milnor was in New York, an effort, full at first of 
sanguine hope, was made to retain his services for Philadelphia, 
by calling him to the rectorship of St. Paul's ; but it was, with 
sad regrets, abandoned, when it became known that his views 
inclined so strongly towards St. George's. His acceptance of the 
latter was signified to the vestry in New York before his return 
to Philadelphia, his letter of acceptance bearing the same date 
with the above from Bishop White. He wrote thus : 

"New York, June 20, 1816. 

" Gentlemen — Having suspended my decision upon your 
obliging call to the rectorship of St. George's, until I had an op- 
portunity of visiting the congregation, and they of hearing me 
perform divine service and preach, the unanimity which, I am 
since assured, prevails both in your body and amongst the people, 
leaves no doubt in my mind of its being my duty to comply with 
your wishes. 

" I accordingly accept the call, and implore the great Head 



HIS MINISTRY 217 

of the Church to accompany with his blessing the connection 
thus formed between us. 

" Some time will be requisite for procuring a dissolution of 
my present engagement in Philadelphia, and for settling my con- 
cerns there. Any accommodation, therefore, in regard to the 
time of commencing my labors, that may be found convenient 
to you, will be acceptable. 

"I remain, gentlemen, with gratitude and respect, 
" Your obedient servant, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"To the Wardens and Vestrymen of St. George's." 

He had prepared a longer form of reply, in which he proposed 
to place the call again in the power of the vestry, to be renewed 
or suffered to expire, as they and the people might feel disposed, 
after having heard him in their desk and pulpit ; but, upon sec- 
ond thought, he laid aside the letter which he had written, and 
trusting to the evidences which he saw around him, of a unani- 
mous desire for his acceptance, penned and sent the brief letter 
just given. 

The canonical requisitions in order to his dismission from the 
diocese of Pennsylvania, and his settlement in that of New York, 
were in due time complied with ; the formalities in Pennsylvania 
bearing date June 28, 1816, and those in New York a few days 
earlier. His rectorship and emoluments in St. Greorge's com- 
menced the 10th of July ; though he had leave of absence for the 
settlement of his affairs in Philadelphia, and did not remove his 
family till September. In the meantime, however, he twice vis- 
ited New York, spending two Sundays in July, the 21st and the 
28th, and two in August, the 18th and the 25th, with his new 
parishioners. On the last of these occasions, he for the first time 
administered among them the Lord's supper ; the number of 
communicants being 135. The removal of his family, which 
was at the expense of his New York vestry, appears to have 
taken place before the 22d of September ; since, from that date, 
his services in St. George's were uninterrupted. His institution 
by Bishop Hobart, as rector of the parish, took place on Monday, 
September 30. 

The severance of one of the last links in the chain of his 



218 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

connection with Philadelphia, was effected by his receipt of the 
last check of the accounting warden of the united churches for 
$375, the balance of his salary to the 10th of July ; accompanied 
by a kind note, in which the writer signified that his brother 
wardens in New York might send Mr. Milnor bigger checks, but 
could not give him better love. 



SECTION II. 



Mr. Milnor now entered on that long and uniform period of 
his ministerial career, which closed but with his life, and during 
which, as he kept no diary save that of the summer of 1830, it 
will be impossible to trace, in their order, the events of his his- 
tory. Such of his letters as have been recovered, will furnish 
our best knowledge both of his Christian and ministerial char- 
acter, and of his history from year to year. To these, indeed, 
much additional interest will be given by extracts from his 
diary in the summer of 1830, and by several contributions from 
others, touching the most interesting points of his life. 

With the hearts of his people from the first united in him, 
and kindly yielding to his wise and gentle sway, his labors were 
not long in assuming that direction which, with little variation, 
they held to the end of his ministry. To his regular services in 
the pulpit, were soon added those of his favorite Tuesday and 
Friday evening lectures ; of his unceasing attention to parochial 
Sunday-schools ; of his management of the parish organization 
for the promotion of missionary and other benevolent operations ; 
and of his watchful care of the social meetings of his communi- 
cants for prayer and exhortation. 

Within his own parish, the stream of his ministerial life ran 
ever smooth. His preaching was always most favorably received, 
and encouragingly blessed. His Sunday-schools became large, 
prosperous, and, in a short time, several in number. His Friday 
evening lectures, which, when given in the lecture-room, were 
always opened with forms from the prayer-book, but usually 
closed with extemporaneous prayer, were uniformly to large au- 
diences, and often scenes of deep and powerful interest through 




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BEEKMAN St. NEW YORK. 



HIS MINISTRY. 219 

the evident presence of (rod's Holy Spirit. The benevolent opera- 
tions of his parish, conducted with wise reference to system, and 
sustained by constant manifestations of liberality, were steadily 
prosperous and increasingly productive. And the weekly meet- 
ings of his communicants for social prayer and conversation, 
sometimes attended by himself, but more frequently without his 
presence, were seldom if ever omitted, and not often destitute 
of truly pleasing tokens of the divine favor. 

Out of his parish, however, his course of labor lay through 
much opposition, and his day of action was often stormy. The 
extemporaneous close of his lecture-room exercises, and the meet- 
ings which he countenanced among his communicants for social 
prayer without forms, encountered the constant and earnest dis- 
pleasure of his bishop ; while the public stand which he felt it his 
duty to take, in cooperating with Christians of other denomina- 
tions in distributing the Bible without note or comment, and in 
circulating religious Tracts of an unsectarian character, drew 
upon him reiterated expressions of disapprobation, not only from 
his bishop, but also from a large portion of the Episcopal church. 
The manner, however, in which he met all this opposition, stand- 
ing, as he always did, mildly firm to his principles, his rights, 
and his sense of duty, displayed at once the strength of his char- 
acter and the beauty of his religion. Offensively or officiously, 
he urged his peculiarities upon none : from the ground which he 
felt constrained to take, he was moved by the reproaches of none. 
He blamed none for the different views of ministerial duty to 
which they chose to adhere : he suffered the interference of none 
to disturb him in those which he was led deliberately to adopt. 
He sought no party distinctions and no personal ends, either 
for himself or for others : he suffered not the stigma of offensive 
names, by whomsoever fastened on him, to withdraw his eye for 
a moment from the one great cause of Christ in which he was 
enlisted for life, and in which he sought to enlist his fellow- 
creatures ; but true to the line of duty by which a scripturally 
enlightened conscience bade him walk, and intelligent of the 
rights with which the laws of his church and of his country in- 
vested both himself and his brethren, he quietly took his course, 
and neither turned from it, nor faltered in it, until death. 



220 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

His interest in the cause of the Bible before he left Philadel- 
phia, has already been noted. It has also been seen, that the 
American Bible Society was organized May 11, 1816 ; at the 
very time when he was in correspondence with the vestry of St. 
George's. At his settlement in New York, therefore, in Septem- 
ber, this central organization was but just beginning to put its 
machinery in motion ; and as he lost no time, after his removal 
to this city, in identifying himself with its friends, and had been 
previously engaged in those expanding activities of the Philadel- 
phia Bible Society, which, if they did not originate the general 
institution in New York, were at least in close connection and 
full sympathy with its originating causes, he may be considered, 
if not one of the first founders of that blessed institution, yet one 
of that noble band of Christian spirits of various name, but of 
harmonious views, and of united hearts, through whose influence 
its earliest foundations were laid. 

The history of his valuable labors in this Society belongs 
properly to a later page in this memoir. The mere fact of his 
early connection with its operations, is all that it is here necessary 
to state. For the present we have nothing to do but to trace the 
course of his labors and his life as well as we may, by the help 
of those few letters which have been recovered, and which he 
either wrote or received in the course of his prolonged and very 
varied correspondence. 

The following from a doubting parishioner, presents us with 
an interior view of his parochial life. An extract from it has 
already been given, in illustration of that early period of his relig- 
ious inquiries, when he was attempting to test his theory of a 
universal salvation by the word of God. 

"New York, July 31, 1817. 
" Rev. Sir — Emboldened by the permission which you gave 
me, of stating to you some of the impediments which prevent me 
from joining the company of travellers to Zion, I have taken the 
liberty of enclosing a few thoughts. I hope I have not written 
with too much boldness and disrespect, on a subject of which I 
wish to think and speak with reverence ; and that you will favor 
me with your opinion of them, and say whether you do not think 



HIS MINISTRY. 221 

that one so faithless and wavering had better abstain from the 
table, lest, partaking with an unbelieving heart, she eat and drink 
condemnation to herself. Your candid sentiments on this sub- 
ject will much oblige, 

" Rev. sir, your friend, 

•<C P . 

:: Rev. Mr. Milnor. 

" I am much pressed by those interested in my spiritual wel- 
fare to come forward as a public professor, and join the number 
of those who seal their faith and love by partaking of an ordi- 
nance, recommended by the Saviour as a memorial of himself. 
My not doing so is, I fear, misunderstood as obstinacy or indif- 
ference. But it proceeds from neither. Indeed, I feel sincerely 
sorry that I cannot go up with the assembly of saints, and feed 
upon those precious memorials with true faith and a thankful 
heart. But while I feel no assistance of faith ; while I know I 
do not experience the power of religion in my soul ; while I do 
not embrace the whole gospel plan with all my heart ; while 
I cannot place such dependence on it as to say, ' Here is firm 
footing, here is solid rock '—would it not be acting the hypo- 
crite to substitute appearance for reality, the shadow for the 
substance ? 

" Let it not be said I indulge a sceptical mind. Oh, I lament 
the disposition. I would fain believe with all the simplicity of a 
little child. But, alas, the evil spirit of unbelief is continually 
rising and starting objections. Some stumblmg-block is ever in 
the way. Some doubt that cannot be solved constantly impedes 
my progress in the Christian course, and renders me cold and 
indifferent. Am I asked to mention some of these doubts ? They 
are not always present ; but often show themselves in many dif- 
fering forms. One of the most besetting and hardest to answer, 
is, that the gpspel plan of salvation appears a confined one, 
allowing its utmost latitude, except as explained by the Univer- 
salists, and theirs is a creed which I dare not adopt. The Pre- 
destinarians say, that Christ's blood was not shed in vain ; that 
human nature is so depraved, so averse to good, so far gone out 
of the right way, that, although a remedy is provided for them, 
they will never turn and embrace it ; but that Christ, by his 



222 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

sufferings, purchased the redemption of all that shall be saved ; 
that they are bought with a price ; that they are his ; and that 
therefore none of them shall be lost, but his Spirit will operate 
so powerfully on their minds, as to transform them, and make 
them willing to accept his offered grace. This is generally re- 
jected as a cold, contracted thought ; as derogating from the gen- 
erous motive that brought the Son of God from the abode of 
unceasing happiness to suffer and die, that guilty man might be 
fitted to partake of his endless glory. 

" l He left his radiant throne on high, 
Left the bright realms of hliss ; 
And came to earth to bleed and die ) 
Was ever love like this ?' 

" 'Tis, indeed, a proof of love and mercy enough to thaw the 
frozen heart of apathy itself into feeling and devotion. Why, 
then, is mine so refractory ? Why will it not believe and accept ? 
Alas, because I am a doubting Thomas. I have not faith, even 
as a grain of mustard seed. When I am about to stretch out the 
withered arm, and make a feeble attempt to lay hold on the hope 
presented in the G ospel, this thought arrests it : Can it be that 
those transactions have taken place, and were necessary for the 
salvation of men ? And is it also necessary that they should 
believe and depend on them to be saved? Then, why is the 
knowledge of them so confined? If Christ came to save the 
world, and the world cannot be saved but by faith in him, what 
is to become of the greatest part of its inhabitants, who cannot 
exercise faith for want of knowledge ? How many of the ancients, 
who were endowed with great capacities, and seemed illumined 
by a light divine, have died without faith ! They could not be- 
lieve what they had never heard. How many good men have 
died ignorant of the contents of the Bible ! Nay, how many in 
modern times have been sceptical, who have appeared to be sin- 
cere searchers after truth, and who have possessed capacious 
minds ! Are we not taught to believe this to be the first stage 
of being, that we are now fitting for the stations which we are 
hereafter to fill ? Does it not seem probable, then, that a com- 
prehensive mind, which here just began to unfold, will expand 
and enlarge when it enters that world where faith shall be swal- 



HIS MINISTRY. 223 

lowed up in vision ? And if so, was it- — with powers superior, 
in the order of being, to common minds — created for no purpose ? 
Does it not appear to have some part to act hereafter, and that 
its powers of perception will increase, wdien, freed from its dark 
prison-house, it can soar and view what mortal eye hath not 
seen, ear heard, or heart of man conceived ? Yet many of these 
have died unbelievers, and we are told, that ' without faith it is 
impossible to please God.' 

" There are other difficulties, not so formidable, indeed, which 
still create doubts. One is, the want of charity among profes- 
sors. If the fruit of the Spirit be love and gentleness ; if Christ 
said, ' By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye love 
one another,' what testimony to the fulfilling of this command 
do different sects exhibit in their charity for each other ? Al- 
though travelling to the same place, they yet obey not the injunc- 
tion, ' Fall not out by the way ;' but because they understand 
not all the directions alike, a spirit of acrimony and contention 
usurps the place of brotherly kindness. Forgetting that they are 
all equally sincere in their interpretations of their Master's com- 
mands, and that he alone can judge who has best understood his 
orders, they ' snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,' and 
are often more inveterate against their fellow- Christians that 
differ from them, than they are against Infidels. Where, says 
unbelief, is the transforming influence, in all this, of a religion 
that changes a sinner into a saint ; or if so many paths lead 
astray from the right one, why are we left, blind as we are, to 
grope our way with such obscure directions ? 

" I do not encourage these difficulties ; they force themselves 
upon me : they weaken my confidence in revelation; take from 
me that prop on which my hopes, my affections, would fain lean, 
and leave, instead, a cold, insensible, doubting heart. "Would 
such a sacrifice be acceptable ? Or can it possibly be brought to 
the table of the Lord ?" 

Answer. 

"New York, Aug. — 1817. 

" My dear Madam — To the question with which you close 
your communication, I answer, without hesitation, in the nega- 
tive. With your present feelings, it would be wrong in your 



224 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

friends to press you on the subject of communion. But the cir- 
cumstances which now restrain your approach to the table of the 
Lord, are of vastly more importance when viewed in reference 
to eternity, than when considered in reference to this prelimi- 
nary ordinance. They form a most alarming barrier to those 
hopes, which its participation is designed not to create, but to 
strengthen and confirm ; and therefore, in regard not to this 
measure alone, but to that heavenly happiness after which its 
faithful recipients aspire, it is of infinite interest to you that the 
doubts with which you are harassed should be removed. Noth- 
ing, indeed, but a superior Power can do this ; but if he be ap- 
pealed to with earnestness and sincerity, and if fervent prayer 
be accompanied by the use of all those means of knowledge with 
which we are favored, I have no doubt that the truths of reve- 
lation will shine into your mind with a radiance that shall dispel 
from it every cloud of unbelief. 

" Your letter, though leading to a fear that your mind is dis- 
turbed on other points, yet appears to me to embrace, substan- 
tially, but two difficulties ; the latter of which, as the less im- 
portant, I will notice first. This is, the want of charity among 
professing Christians. The existence of this evil, to a lamenta- 
ble extent, cannot be denied ; yet perhaps it is not so generally 
prevalent as you imagine. Where the errors of some sects affect 
the vital truths of religion, those on which salvation is deemed 
to depend, they are assailed by others with a vehemence and even 
intemperance of language, which the maintenance of truth, im- 
portant as it is, will not justify. And yet, where this is the case, 
so far from hostility to individuals being felt, the unhappy per- 
sons who are believed to be in error are often borne on the hearts 
of their opponents in secret prayer to Grod, and in sincere suppli- 
cation presented in their behalf. Acrimony, violent and unpar- 
donable, it is admitted, is sometimes indulged, and not unfre- 
quently on points of minor importance. But may not much sin- 
cerity in these persons, though so improperly manifested, really 
exist? And even where blamable motives prompt contending 
parties, does this affect the truth of that religion, all whose prin- 
ciples and precepts are directed to the rectification or removal of 
those motives ? It proves the deep and radical corruption of hu- 



HIS MINISTRY. 225 

man nature. It furnishes ground for apprehending, that the per- 
sons in question have not experienced the transforming influence 
of that religion whose very basis is love, or that it has but par- 
tially operated its effects on their minds. If, on a recurrence to 
the system in which they profess to believe, that is found to jus- 
tify, even towards enemies, hatred and animosity, then reject it 
as inconsistent with the nature and attributes of Deity ; but if, 
on the contrary, it is seen exacting of all its professors the culti- 
vation of love to God and man ; if its great object of conscien- 
tious pursuit, as there delineated, be that ' wisdom which is from 
above,' and which is characterized as being ' first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and 
good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy ;' then, 
surely, it is wrong to transfer the blame, to which false or mis- 
taken professors are justly liable, to a system which condemns 
their conduct. 'All are not Israel that are of Israel.' Hypo- 
crites and self-deceivers have ever infested the Church of Christ, 
and on other minds than yours have produced prejudices against 
the religion which they disgraced. Nay, might we not as well 
condemn the eleven apostles, because their remaining associate 
was a traitor ; or the blessed Jesus and his instructions, because 
they failed in producing the same benign effect on the heart of 
Judas, which we know they did produce on those of the others; as 
to say that, because hypocrites obtrude themselves among the sin- 
cere, or because the inveterate depravity of the human heart has, 
in many professors, been but partially subdued, therefore that 
system which stamps condemnation, and pronounces the most 
fearful threatenings on their misconduct, is false and unfounded? 
" But is the spirit of which you speak of universal preva- 
lence ? Are all, or the greater portion of Christians, chargeable 
with a want of charity ? If it were so, this would justly excite 
doubts of the power of Christianity to transform even its sincere 
adherents. Do the various methods by which the hostility of 
Christian sects has, in our day, been so much lessened, furnish 
no answer to your objection ? Is there no proof that this acri- 
monious disposition is every day yielding to the bland affections 
which swayed the soul of the Redeemer, and which his precepts 
and example are calculated to infuse into all his true disciples ? 

Mem. Milnor. 1 5 



226 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Do Bible societies, composed of all religious sects ; missionary 
associations, uniting several denominations heretofore deemed 
hostile to each other ; charitable institutions for the succor of 
the miserable and the instruction of the indigent, embracing a 
harmonious union of almost every department of the Christian 
world : nay, does the intercourse of private life afford no testi- 
mony that, if not in all, yet in many hearts the doctrines of the 
Gospel have produced the happiest, most glorious effects? I 
really think, that on consideration, you will perceive there is, in 
your suggestion, some indication of the very fault in yourself 
which you condemn in Christians ; and that, in fact, one of the 
strongest evidences of the truth of our blessed religion is the 
obvious effects which it has produced in ameliorating the man- 
ners and feelings of society, and in its begetting a love among 
its professors, which we may in vain look for in any country 
where it has not obtained an entrance. 

" The other difficulty which besets you, you state to be the 
confined character of the gospel plan, ' allowing the utmost lati- 
tude, except as explained by the Universalists ; and theirs,' you 
say, ' is a creed which you dare not adopt.' I am glad of this 
latter remark, because this, as well as other expressions of your 
letter, shows that your mental embarrassments have not only 
failed to prepare you for rejecting wholly the system of revealed 
truth, on which our immortal happiness depends, but also left 
you sufficient discernment to see the iniquity of a plan that, 
with a fair show of benevolence, would prostrate all distinctions 
between good and evil, and consequently between the opposite 
results, which reason, even without revelation, teaches us ought 
severally to follow. 

"You allude to the confined aspect of the predestinarian 
scheme. Except under modifications which its strict adherents 
will not admit, my past reflections have not led me into this view 
of the gospel plan. Of course I am not obliged to defend Chris- 
tianity attended by this incumbrance. Rejecting, then, this 
view of it, where is the ground for your objection ? So far from 
being liable to it in its own nature, the whole system is predi- 
cated on the purest and most extensive principles of universal 
benevolence. 



HIS MINISTRY. 227 

a The race of mankind lose their integrity and become rebels 
against God. A restoration to purity and a title to' forgiveness 
are, by human means, unattainable. Mere mercy, under the 
direction of infinite wisdom, in accordance, too, with the princi- 
ples of justice, provides a method whereby both may be procured. 
This is offered to all, urged upon all. Not one of the human 
family is excluded from a right to its participation on the terms 
prescribed. A church, a ministry, and ordinances, are established 
for the promulgation of this expanded scheme of beneficence to 
all the nations of the world. Through the agency of these, with 
the written word and the accompanying influences of the Spirit, 
it is making progress over the earth, is now daily accelerating 
its march, and will not stop till all ' the kingdoms of the earth 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.' 

' t But ' it has not been made known everywhere at once. 
Why,' you ask, ' is the knowledge of it still so confined ? "What 
is to become of those who, for want of knowledge, cannot exer- 
cise faith V Might not the question be as well settled, first, 
Why does not God conduct all the operations of his providence 
by miracle ? Why does he operate at all by human means ? As 
to the gradual progress of Christianity, though it would be easy 
to advance many conjectural reasons for it, I find the difficulty, 
if it be one, answered in my own mind by a reflection, which, 
I believe, ought to satisfy yours. Not only according to the 
declarations of Scripture, but necessarily, it is of the very es- 
sence of Deity, that his ways should be inscrutable. If our finite 
apprehensions could fathom all his plans, then indeed would be 
realized the fallacious promise of the tempter to our first parents : 
we should ' become as God.' If we could understand, or recon- 
cile his transactions in a thousand other particulars, on which 
we are equally blind ; if we could, for instance, without falling 
into Atheism, account in any other manner than that in which 
Scripture accounts for the origin and continued prevalence of 
evil ; if we could tell why Omnipotence has made the circum- 
stances of nations, and the lots of individuals, and their grades 
of happiness so unequal — one nation free and happy, another 
enslaved and miserable ; one individual born in a climate mild 
and genial as Eden, another freezing near the poles or burning 



228 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

under the line ; one almost uninterruptedly prosperous and happy, 
another ever unsuccessful and wretched ; and if, in innumerable 
other instances, we could see the reason of circumstances and 
events which, if we believe in a God, we must certainly admit 
to be under his control, then we might, perhaps, be able to say 
why, by an instantaneous and of course miraculous operation, 
he does not communicate the light of the Gospel to every portion 
of the globe. I forbear, therefore, to assign reasons for the 
Almighty, which it has not been his pleasure to reveal. I bow 
in silent submission. ' Even so, Father, for so it seemed good 
in thy sight.' ' We know not the thoughts of the Lord ; neither 
understand we his counsels.' It is a presumptuous arraignment 
of his providence in me to doubt, though I cannot by searching 
find out the reason of his ways, that they are ordered in infinite 
wisdom and goodness, and will issue in those results that shall 
most promote his glory. 

" As to the condemnation of those to whom the Gospel has 
not been revealed, your difficulty is founded on an assumption, 
to which, I apprehend, but few enlightened Christians would 
accede ; that is, that the heathen will be condemned for not exer- 
cising that faith which his want of knowledge makes it impossi- 
ble for him to feel. This is not my creed. St. Paul says, ' When 
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things 
contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto 
themselves, which show the work of the law written in their 
hearts ; their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts 
the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another.' The 
heathen world are certainly in a deplorable state of ignorance 
and wickedness, and every endeavor should be made for their 
illumination and conversion; but my mind rejects with' abhor- 
rence the sentiment which involves them indiscriminately in a 
sentence of condemnation. Notwithstanding the passage which 
you quote, that ' without faith it is impossible to please God' — 
which I think should be restricted to those who are capable of 
its exercise — there are many considerations furnished by the 
Bible in support of the rational conclusion, that God, who is 
'no respecter of persons,' will not condemn, for the want of this 
grace, those who, without fault of their own, are incompetent to 



HIS MINISTRY. 229 

its attainment. This opinion is advanced and supported by Drs. 
Macknight, Whitby, Clarke, and many other writers of unques- 
tionable piety and learning. It is assumed in an approved body 
of Calvinistic divinity now before me ; and if many of a persua- 
sion deemed so rigid are willing to allow, as the author declares, 
that ; the heathen will not be condemned for not believing' in 
Christ, whom they never heard of, or for not complying with the 
gospel overture, that was never made to them ; and that invinci- 
ble ignorance, though it be an unhappiness and a consequence of 
our fallen state, is not a crime ;' I see not why we should perplex 
ourselves with a difficulty which is of our own creation, and 
which arises not out of any just view of the declarations of God's 
word. 

" But if we were constrained to leave the question of the pos- 
sible salvation of unconverted heathen undecided, to me it seems 
not to affect that of solicitude about our own. We have the \\sht 
of the Gospel ; and whatever may be the doom of those who have 
it not, if we remain heathen amid the blaze of divine light with 
which we are surrounded, we cannot doubt our own. And this 
remark contains my answer to your difficulty about those mod- 
ern sceptics, who appear to you to have been sincere inquirers 
after truth, and who, with eminent talents for its discovery, have 
yet continued unbelievers. If you are acquainted with the writ- 
ings of these persons, I ask you whether they seem to have ever 
sought after truth in a disposition suited to its attainment, or in 
a manner that will excuse an ignorance which I cannot but be- 
lieve to be wilful ? I declare that my knowledge of their writ- 
ings convinces me, that their only search was after fresh food for 
scepticism ; that the depravity of their hearts is manifest in the 
manner as well as in the substance of their assaults upon relig- 
ion ; and that there is no evidence of any of them having availed 
themselves of the assistances with which God is ever ready to 
supply real inquirers after truth. As a believer in the Bible, I 
give full credence to its declarations, that ' the world by wisdom 
knows not God,' or his ways ; that ' the natural man receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto 
him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 
cerned.' These men were strangers to prayer, deniers of the 



230 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

supernatural light which we Christians believe to be requisite 
and attainable, and presumptuous admirers of their own natural 
and acquired powers. Can it be wondered that they were left 
in spiritual blindness, and destined to endure the consequences 
of wilful unbelief ? 

"And now, madam, will you allow me, with a frankness 
which the candor of your communication justifies and calls for, 
to make an encouraging suggestion, and to follow it by a recom- 
mendation of that course which I believe it to be your duty and 
interest to pursue ? Many of your expressions indicate a sensi- 
bility that would seem inconsistent with actual unbelief ; espe- 
cially that desire, which you say you feel for the attainment of a 
true faith, and your aversion to entertain doubts, which, never- 
theless, involuntarily obtrude themselves, and appear to be the 
causes of much mental uneasiness and distress. On these favor- 
able circumstances do I rest my hope — what pleasure will it 
give me to see it realized — that God's blessing will attend your 
endeavors to come to a better mind. 

" Now the recommendation, with which I am encouraged to 
follow this suggestion, is warranted by my own experience of 
its benefits." [Here follows the account of his own experience, 
given in a former extract, vide pp. 91-93, after which he thus 
proceeds :] 

" I know the charge of egotism, to which this plain narrative 
would, in many minds, subject me. But I hope I shall be acquit- 
ted of any desire to boast when I declare, that my only view is to 
incite you to pursue a course which, from a persuasion of its effi- 
cacy, I can safely recommend ; and this, not on the ground of any 
very elevated personal confidence to which it has raised me, but 
on that of its having dismissed from my mind every shadow of 
doubt as to the true way of salvation, and of its having excited 
in my heart fervent desires and a humble hope of an ultimate 
attainment of that happiness to which it leads. 

" No exertions of our own, unblessed by the great Supreme, 
can give us genuine faith, or qualify us to bring forth the fruits 
of righteousness. After all that we have done, we shall, if prop- 
erly enlightened, be brought to a simple reliance on the merits 
and atonement of the Saviour for acceptance with God. Still, 



HIS MINISTRY. 231 

we are called upon to -strive ; and we are encouraged to do so by 
many great and precious promises. But if, instead of ' working 
out our own salvation with fear and trembling,' and imploring 
God to ' work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure ;' that 
is, if, instead of uniting laborious effort with implicit faith, we 
neglect our own interests, and are cavilling at the revealed decla- 
rations, or the providential arrangements of God ; if we entertain 
every phantasy which the enemy of our souls or our own wicked 
hearts may raise ; if we neglect prayer, and instead of attending 
to our own souls, and ' striving to enter in at the strait gate,' we 
are impatiently asking whether there be ' few that be saved,' or 
involving ourselves in other matters too high for us to reach, we 
shall probably be left to the delusions of our own hearts, and fail 
of our hopes of heaven. 0, madam, as you value your soul, let 
me entreat you to turn your thoughts inward ; and instead of em- 
ploying yourself on subjects which the wisest heads have never 
been able fully to unfold, go to Christ with the simplicity of a 
little child, and be willing to learn of him. You will find one evi- 
dence of his favor an ample substitute for a thousand conjectures ; 
and he will succeed it by tokens of love, that shall fill you with 
' joy unspeakable and full of glory.' For ' they shall know, who 
follow on to know the Lord.' ' If any man will do his will, he 
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.' ' Wait on the 
Lord : be of good courage ; he will strengthen thy heart.' Per- 
severing in your endeavors, you will be made 'free from sin;' 
and becoming ' the servant of God, you will have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life.' 

" I pray God to give you his blessing, and remain, 

" Your obedient servant, and affectionate pastor, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

This may be called a wise as well as faithful piece of Christian 
teaching and advice ; and if she to whom it was addressed be 
not finally found one of the gems in Milnor's crown of rejoicing, 
it will not be because his letter failed of the duty which he owed 
as her spiritual guide. 

The next two letters are of a different character ; though they 
also give us an interior view of his parochial life. 



232 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" New York. August 18, 1817. 

" Sir — You will, I hope, excuse the liberty I take in troubling 
you with the perusal of these lines ; but the urgency I have to be 
informed respecting many points in religion, has prompted me to 
this method of being satisfied, and must furnish my excuse ; while 
the high ground on which you stand as an ecclesiastic, pointed 
you out as one fully competent " to satisfy my inquiries. 

" I have, within this last year, imbibed — how, I scarcely 
know — ideas that vary very little, if any, from the principles of 
Deism. I have lately commenced an acquaintance with a young 
man, who has advanced many things to stagger my faith in the 
authenticity of the Bible, and, of course, in the being of a Saviour. 
You will probably start at a young person's avowing so much ; 
for I am but nineteen, and was brought up with strictness in the 
Episcopal persuasion. His chief argument is the contradictions 
which appear in the Bible, and which would not be found had it 
been written by inspiration of God." 

The letter then proceeds with a catalogue of these alleged 
contradictions from the Pentateuch ; after which it thus concludes : 

" I have, as yet, proceeded no farther in conning the different 
parts of the Scriptures ; but a satisfactory explanation of the 
preceding passages will go far, if not entirely, to remove my 
doubts, as I am open to conviction. I hope you will think me 
right in proclaiming my doubts, that I may have them, if possible, 
removed. I shall wait with impatience till I receive an answer. 

" I remain yours, etc. 

-•> 

"Rev. James Milnor. 

; ' P. S. Please direct Charles H. Fitz Edmond, to be left at 
the post-office till called for." 

This anonymous young sceptic seems to have been one of those 
sincere inquirers after truth, who boast of their openness to con- 
viction, while evidently deeming their objections against the Bible 
irremovable. He had an answer probably different from what 
he expected. 

" Beekman-street, No. 27, Aug. 20, 1817. 

" Sir — "With the sincerest disposition, I trust, to assist, so far 
as I am able, any sincere inquirer after truth, it will afford me 



HIS MINISTRY. 233 

very great pleasure, should such be your pursuit, to be service- 
able to you. But it comports neither with my sense of propriety, 
nor with my personal convenience, to do this through the medium 
of an epistolary correspondence, which may run into much 
length, and in which, for want of explanations, too minute to be 
put on paper, misunderstanding may take place. If you have 
been seduced into a connection with a person who has hardened 
his heart into Deism, and, with the malignant disposition which 
characterizes the Infidel, is not content to destroy his own soul, 
but seeks to make you his companion in misery, I beseech you, 
my young friend, break off your intercourse with him ; seek the 
establishment of your mind in the most interesting of all con- 
cerns ; and when God has enlightened you to a clear discovery 
and reception of religious truth, he may make you a means of 
converting the unhappy young man. He has my prayers that he 
may not, by cold unbelief, experience a fate as calamitous as that 
of the Egyptian prince, whose being given over to the delusions 
of his own heart, instead of exciting a cavil against the Bible, 
should be a warning to us, lest we also fall into the same con- 
demnation. 

" Every objection stated in your letter has been successively 
urged by all the infidel writers who have, in turn, opposed their 
puny efforts to the truth of God, and as often been with readiness 
refuted. They constitute but a small part of the trivial weap- 
ons by which a system has been assailed, whose foundations are 
as eternal as the heavens, and by no exertions of mortal man can 
be overthrown, or even shaken. On them, as well as other diffi- 
culties, I shall be happy to converse with you at any time, in my 
own house, provided you are disposed with seriousness and sin- 
cerity to seek satisfaction on points that have unhappily disturbed 
your belief in the Scriptures, 

"I have myself known the evil of an unbelieving heart. J 
bless God that I have been brought by his mercy into a stead- 
fastness of faith that men and devils cannot shake. It is my 
daily happiness to enjoy a confidence that smooths every difficulty 
in life, inspires a serenity and peace which the infidel cannot 
know, and directs my view to an eternity of happiness, which 
God has reserved for those who believe his promises, and devote 



234 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

themselves to his_ service. Such, my dear sir, will be your expe- 
rience, if you use those means which a merciful God has given 
us for attaining his forgiveness and favor. 

" I am your sincere well-wisher, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Judiciously differing responses to sceptical inquirers, according 
as their appeals were prompted by a serious solicitude to know 
and obey the truth, or by the spirit of precocious and self-compla- 
cent cavil. It is evident from both appeals, that the first year 
of Mr. Milnor's ministry in St. George's had given him a deep 
reach into minds of various habits ; and that his teachings were 
working with power among the surrounding elements of scepti- 
cism and unbelief, as well as among those of humble honesty and 
earnestness in the concerns of our higher life. 

The summer of 1817 was occupied by the vestry of St. 
George's in erecting the Sunday-school and lecture rooms, which 
have long stood on the rear of the church-grounds ; rooms conse- 
crated by better forms than those of man's device — the overshad- 
owing presence and the inworking power of God's ever-gracious 
Spirit — rooms in which some of Mr. Milnor's best labors were 
performed, and many of his best fruits gathered. 

The building in which these rooms are contained being fin- 
ished and ready for use, it was first opened for religious services 
on the evening of Sunday, November 9, 1817. At the hour for 
service, the vestry of the parish, accompanied by the officers of 
the New York Sunday-school Union Society, the superintendent, 
teachers, and children of the parochial schools, and a number of 
respectable visitors, proceeded to the upper room ; where, after 
appropriate prayers, a short address was delivered by the rector, 
and a suitable hymn sung by the children. In due order,- they 
then proceeded to the adjoining church, where a large congrega- 
tion were awaiting them, and where, after prayers by the rector, 
and a psalm by the congregation, a hymn was sung responsively 
by the children and teachers. The rector then delivered an 
interesting address; and the whole service closed with a third 
hymn, sung responsively by the congregation and the children, 
and with the customary benediction. 

The occasion was one of abiding interest. It was an evidence 



HIS MINISTRY. 235 

to Mr. Milnor of his first year's prosperity in his work ; and it 
opened means by which, for nearly thirty years longer, his labors 
were rendered increasingly effective and fruitful. Many plants 
of his heavenly Father's planting, are now growing in heaven, 
whose roots first struck into the good soil of graciously prepared 
hearts in old St. Greorge's Sunday-school and lecture room. 

The occasion, indeed, had a more ephemeral, though, for the 
day, a more stirring memory, from the very vigilance with which 
the new rector of St. Greorge's was watched in certain quarters, 
and from the representations made there to the effect, that before 
his Sunday-school address, he had omitted the regular church- 
service. His parish Sunday-schools were at this time connected, 
not with the Episcopal, but with the New York Sunday-school 
Union ; the latter being a society composed of different Christian 
denominations. This relation of his schools was distasteful in 
the quarters referred to, and disposed his vigilant observers to 
seize, for censure, the first irregularity with which he should be 
found chargeable. Hence the promptness with which his noised 
omission was assailed. The ferment, however, suddenly subsided 
upon its becoming more accurately known, that on the occasion 
referred to, he had really been chargeable with no irregularity. 

The noise of this brief stir was heard in other places besides 
New York, as he learned by a letter from a friend in Philadel- 
phia, of which the following is an extract. 

"Philadelphia. January 6, 1818. 
"My dear Friend — I feel much disposed to write a very long 
letter, and to give you a vast deal of interesting information, 
both about yourself and those who are keeping an eye on all 
your movements and irregularities, particularly on Sunday-school 
occasions. But as I fear you have lost much of the interest which 
you once felt in Philadelphia and Philadelphia friends, I will 
confine myself to the main object of my letter. I must, how- 
ever, by the way, just let you know that the hints, and insinua- 
tions, and innuendoes, which passed pretty freely among certain 
individuals, and those not a few, relative to your omission of the 
church-service on the occasion of your late Sunday-school meet- 
ing, when you delivered your address, have all recoiled on their 



236 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

own heads; and it has been pretty satisfactorily proven, to the 
regret, I fear, of some, that you are yet a regular man." 

From the date of the letters which Mr. Milnor wrote to his 
two sceptical inquirers in the summer of 1817, the period of almost 
four years, running on to April, 1821, is, so far as letters and other 
documentary traces of his course are concerned, an almost total 
blank; but little, touching that period, having been recovered 
from the absorbing gulf of the past. Of his life, however, dur- 
ing that period, a sufficiently distinct idea may be formed from 
the next letter which we are enabled to present. It was ad- 
dressed to the Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine, and dated, 

"New York, April 9, 1821. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — I have to return you my sincere 
thanks for the pleasure which you afforded me, in introducing 
to my acquaintance your friend Mr. Robinson; from whose so- 
ciety, so far as it was my privilege to enjoy it during his stay in 
New York, I derived no little gratification. One of the most 
interesting topics of our conversation was yourself, and the mo- 
mentous interests which the favor of a kind Providence is per- 
mitting you, as an honored instrument, so signally to promote. 
I congratulate you, my very dear young friend, on the success 
which I learn from other sources, as well as the one just men- 
tioned, is accompanying your labors in the gospel field ; and de- 
voutly pray that God, whose we are, and whom we serve, to* 
continue his blessing on the good work to which I have no doubt 
his Spirit has called you. 

" I am happy now to have it in my power to reciprocate your 
kindness in making known to me your friend, Mr. Robinson, by 
presenting to you one of mine, the Rev. Mr. Tyng, a recent pupil 
of Bishop Griswold, who is anxious to be employed without delay 
in the work of an evangelist. I have thought, my dear friend, 
that God has given me an opportunity in him of gratifying all 
Mr. Robinson's wishes. He is a young gentleman of good talents 
and acquirements ; of personal piety and agreeable manners ; of 
decidedly evangelical views; a moderate churchman, who loves 
his own communion, but does not exclude from his affections any 



HIS MINISTRY. 237 

who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and a pleasing 
speaker. I am persuaded that Mr. Tyng's heart is so much in 
the work as to promise great success to his exertions ; and that, 
should he become an inmate of our friend's family, he will com- 
mend himself to their friendship and esteem. 

" Although I feel myself very much to blame in delaying so 
long to write to you, yet I hope you are prepared to receive an 
apology, which will mitigate in some degree the severity of your 
censure. Since last fall, I have had two lectures in the week, 
besides my services on Sunday ; catechetical exercises ; superin- 
tendence of five Sunday-schools ; various agencies in public insti- 
tutions ; and from my peculiar situation here, a greater amount 
of parochial and extra duty than usually falls to the lot of a sin- 
gle presbyter. I do not mention these things boastingly. Alas, 
I am afflictingly sensible how little I do for Him who has done so 
much for me. A better qualified man would, no doubt, with 
much greater facility get through such a course of duty as that 
in which I am engaged. But for me, the situation which I fill is 
an arduous one, and requires my unremitted and laborious atten- 
tion to go through its exactions with any tolerable satisfaction to 
my own mind. 

" I wish I could give you more favorable accounts than I hon- 
estly can of the state of spiritual things amongst us. Luke- 
warmness and formality, error in doctrine and latitudinarianism 
in practice, deform, in a greater or less degree, all our churches. 
In all of them are to be found a few who have not bowed the 
knee to Baal ; but I am afraid our city, large as it is, would not, 
out of the Episcopal churches, furnish the prophet's number. In 
St. George's, we continue to have a goodly number of devoted, 
praying people ; our Sunday-schools are flourishing ; and every 
season of communion exhibits some addition to the number of 
Christ's true disciples. The congregation have now, for near 
five years, been proof against every attempt to sow dissension 
among them ; and those who have not experimentally felt its 
power, are still willing to hear the truth. But what cause of 
grief is it to any minister, whose heart's desire and prayer is the 
salvation of his people, to see so many, young and old, still stran- 
gers to a crucified Saviour ; still living to the world ; still un- 



238 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

mindful of the interests of their never-dying souls. It is a 
ground of unspeakable gratitude that any should, through the 
divine blessing on our labors, be plucked as brands from the 
burning ; but when we are filled with a sense of the value of the 
souls committed to our charge, how feelingly alive should we be 
to the consideration of the immense danger to ourselves, if one 
be lost through our negligence or remissness ! God grant, my 
endeared fellow-laborer, that neither you nor I may be the sub- 
ject of this awful guilt." 

After alluding, in rather pointed terms, to the opposition 
which he had been called to encounter, he adds, 

" But if much more serious consequences than I have occa- 
sion to apprehend, were to follow my adherence to that ministe- 
rial course, which the finger of God marked out for me at its 
beginning, and to which, by divine grace, I have been enabled 
hitherto to keep, I trust nothing would terrify or allure me from 
it ; unless, which may God prevent, I should merit the withdraw- 
ing of those influences from above, which alone can enable any 
of us to persevere to the end. 

" Your affectionate brother, 

"JAMES MIL2TOR." 

" P. S. Mr. Tyng can give you information, if you have not 
before had it, respecting a splendid testamentary benefaction to 
Bishop Hobart's seminary. May the great Head of the Church 
overrule its application to the promotion of his own glory and 
the salvation of sinners. If the General Seminary had remained 
in New York," (it had been removed to New Haven,) " the legacy 
would have been theirs. Some think, if it be brought back into 
this state, they may yet claim it. But Bishop Hobart's lawyers 
say it is a clear case for him. As I am a minister and no law- 
yer, it becomes me to listen to others, but to abstain from giving 
any opinion myself. ' Ne sutor ultra crepidam? 

" Yours truly, «j. m." 

The legacy mentioned in this postscript, was " The Sherrid 
Legacy ;" and the " Bishop Hobart's Seminary," a diocesan school 
of divinity, organized, under that bishop's patronage, after the 
removal of the General Seminary to New Haven, and, as being 



HIS MINISTRY. 239 

in New York, claiming the legacy under the terms of the be- 
quest. The General Seminary ivas afterwards restored to New 
York, Bishop Hobart's school merged in it, and the Sherrid legacy 
settled as a part of its endowment. 

As to the account, contained in the foregoing letter, of the 
engrossing character of his avocations, it might be taken and 
spread over his entire life in New York, and be found a suffi- 
ciently accurate description of the whole. His thorough busi- 
ness habits before he entered the ministry, made him a thorough 
business man after his entrance. Wherever ecclesiastical inter- 
ests called for business talents, he was sure to be called ; except, 
indeed, in those quarters where opposition to his theological views 
and his ministerial course kept him, to some extent, out of posts 
of labor which he might otherwise have filled to profit. This, 
however, only left him a more available man in the general relig- 
ious institutions of the city, with many of which he became, as 
years rolled by, more and more closely identified, and through 
which he became more and more widely useful. In consequence 
of his rare qualifications for business, he became emphatically a 
busy man, not in the select world of letters and of authorship, 
but in the great world of action and of live results. He became 
embodied in the living Christianity of his age, and his memoirs 
will be found best written, not on the pages of any book, but in 
the effects of the many institutions which he served — in the 
souls of those multitudes whose salvation he has been, and yet 
will be one of the instruments of securing. 

Beyond the general application of these remarks to his labors, 
during the years which we have seen so blank of letters and 
other documentary traces of his course, little remains to be said. 
The following bare incidents are all that have been recovered. 
Within that period he received from the University of Pennsyl- 
vania the degree of doctor of divinity. On the evening of Sun- 
day, December 20, 1818, he preached a sermon in St. George's 
for the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society of New York, 
the effectiveness of which had its evidence in the collection ensu- 
ing, of $505. His list of sermons, moreover, and of the times and 
places of their delivery, shows that his labors in the pulpit were 
arduous and unceasing; save that from August 27, 1820, to 



240 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

September 17 — four Sundays — he was confined to his house by 
a painful disease which he describes as an " abscess." 

Passing, now, with the current of events, we meet one which 
suggests a reflection. No man is perfect. Perhaps he is most 
perfect, or most likely to become so, who cannot sleep well, till 
in the ear of a wronged fellow-man, he has acknowledged his 
infirmity, and any act of injustice into which it may have be- 
trayed him. Miserable sinners that we are, we can confess our 
trespasses to Gtod with tenfold more courage than that with 
which we can acknowledge a wrong to a felloic- sinner. Dr. 
Milnor was not perfect, but he was perfect enough to do this 
difficult thing. Witness the following interchange of letters, 
which are to the credit of both the parties concerned. The indi- 
vidual whom Dr. Milnor addressed, is still living ; his name, 
therefore, is withheld. 

" Beekman-street, Wednesday evening, Nov. 13, 1822. 

" My dear Sir — I have felt concerned, since I left you this 
afternoon, lest, under a momentary warmth of feeling, excited 
by the expression of opinions on your part, in reference to Bible 
Societies, for which I was wholly unprepared, I may have made 
a remark or two calculated to wound you. The institutions 
which you condemned, have a stronger hold on my affections 
than any in existence of merely human origin ; and to their sup- 
port I have devoted, and shall continue to devote my best exer- 
tions, under the impression that, next to my immediate duties 
as the pastor of a congregation, I can in no other way so efficiently 
subserve the cause of Christ. But on this subject you have a 
right to your opinion, as I have to mine ; and therefore, though I 
lament the change of sentiment which you professed, yet- 1 also 
regret that any allusion to it should have been made in the rapid 
conversation which passed between us, that might interfere with 
our future good understanding upon the many subjects in which, 
as ministers and Christians, we no doubt agree. 

"Although I acknowledge myself as tenacious as any man of 
opinions, formed after as long consideration as I have given to 
the Bible cause, and shall not shrink, on all proper occasions, 
from their maintenance : yet I wish to hold these, and al] others, 



HIS MINISTRY. 241 

ill a spirit of meekness, and if at any time betrayed into improper 
warmth of expression, it will give me as great pleasure as it now 
does, to own my sorrow. I write to you in Christian confidence, 
being, with much regard, 

" Your brother in the Lord, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"Rev. Dr. . 

Reply to the foregoing. 

"New York, Nov. 18, 1822. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — I have been prevented, by an engage- 
ment which completely occupied my thoughts, from replying to 
your note of the 13th inst., and beg you will excuse the delay. 

" My feelings, it is true, were somewhat wounded by your 
remarks, particularly in imputing to me unworthy motives for 
changing my opinion on the subject upon which we formerly 
agreed, but now differ. But attributing those remarks to a mo- 
mentary excitement, which it was very natural to expect, I did 
not suffer the unpleasant impression to remain on my mind ; and 
I most cordially reciprocate your desire, that, though we may 
continue to disagree in opinion on a particular mode of dissemi- 
nating religious knowledge, yet nothing that has passed should 
interrupt the harmony and brotherly love which ought to subsist 
between us as ministers of the same church and disciples of the 
same Lord. 

" In haste, but with great respect and esteem, I remain, 

" Yours, 



"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

Here, again, from the close of 1822 till towards the spring 
of 1825, another period, of more than two years, must be passed 
over, with no other notices of his life than those which lie on the 
silent records, and live in the spiritual results of his ceaseless 
activities. 

At the beginning of 1825, he was suddenly seized with gout 
in the stomach ; and the attack proved so severe that, at last, he 
seemed to be yielding up his spirit. His family, his physician, 
himself, believed, on Sunday morning, that while his parishion- 
ers were mournfully entering the doors of their sanctuary, he was 
in articulo mortis, passing through the very gates of death. In- 

Mem. Milnor. 1 6 



242 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

deed, it was reported through the city that his decease had actu- 
ally taken place ; and the writer of this, who was then a mem- 
ber of the General Theological Seminary, remembers with great 
distinctness, the sensation which ran through the hearts, making 
itself visible in the saddened countenances, and audible in the 
low sighs of his fellow-students, when the announcement came 
that morning that Dr. Milnor was dead. The afflictive intelli- 
gence, however, was soon contradicted ; and it was found that, 
at the time when he was pronounced in a dying state, he was 
passing a critical point in his disease, after which he began sen- 
sibly to recover. In the rapid progress of his disease, he sunk, 
lower and lower, till his feet touched the earth at the very brink 
of the grave ; but at that point, as if the touch had brought him 
where the power of God was waiting to arrest his descent into 
the dark chambers of the dead, he at once rebounded, and by slow 
but steady degrees sprang up again to the cheerful day of health 
and duty. His first sermon after his illness was preached the 
13th of March. 

The peril through which he thus passed, made the public 
aware of the great value of his character and influence ; and 
showed, in the most touching manner, the depth and strength of 
the hold which he had obtained upon the respect, the love, the 
veneration, of his fellow-citizens. For weeks, the whole religious 
community of New York, without distinction of name, were 
laboring in prayer for him unto God. From Sabbath to Sabbath 
scarcely a sanctuary was open in which the throne of mercy was 
not besieged with most earnest supplications in his behalf. The 
lecture-room and prayer-meetings of his own dear flock, in par- 
ticular, became almost daily scenes of solemn, tearful, trembling 
wrestlings with the angel of the covenant, that yet a little while 
he might be spared. Faith, hope, pleading faith, humble hope, 
were there ; bowed down, indeed, and almost awed to silence ; 
but laboring all the more intensely and strugglingly, from the 
very pressure under which they bent ; and seeming to say, though 
in words it came not, " Lord, we cannot give him up ; his work 
is not done : we cannot give him up." And the Lord heard and 
spared ; and many were the adoring disciples, who thenceforth 
went on their way, and still go on their way, strong in the feel- 



HIS MINISTRY. 243 

ing and the faith that the twenty added years of their pastor's life 
were the gracious gift of a Father in heaven to those unwontedly 
earnest and persevering prayers. 

But it will be asked, what were his oivn views while passing 
through the scenes now described ? His own pen and those of 
his nearest observers shall answer. Here is a letter, which he 
wrote from his chamber after he had regained strength to write. 
It was to his friend Mcllvaine. 

"New York, Feb. 22tf, 1825. 

" My dear Brother — I thank you for your kind favor of the 
15th. In the eighth week of confinement to my chamber, it is 
refreshing to my spirits to hear from my Christian friends ; and 
among them I can name no one whose letters are more accept- 
able than yours. 

" On the evening of the 3d ult. I was suddenly attacked in 
the street with the gout in my chest, and soon became so ill as 
to be obliged to take shelter in the house of a friend until I could 
be conveyed home in a carriage. The complaint continued to 
resist every effort for its removal, and daily to increase in vio- 
lence until the Sunday following its commencement, although 
four of our firstrate physicians were in attendance upon me, and 
their exertions unremitted. On the day just mentioned, the 
impression of all around me was, that a few moments must ter- 
minate my existence. Such was my own persuasion ; and, blessed 
be God, the prospect was unaccompanied by the least alarm. 
There was given me not only a spirit of calm submission and 
quiet resignation to the divine will, but a hope full of immor- 
tality. how precious was the Saviour to my rejoicing soul in 
that never-to-be-forgotten hour. "With what an unshaken faith, 
as a helpless, hell-deserving sinner, was I enabled to rest my 
assurance of pardon and expectations of approaching glory on 
his righteousness and blood. Although drenched with medicines, 
which, under other circumstances, would not only have taken 
away my reason, but been destructive of life itself, yet my un- 
derstanding was unimpaired, and my speech articulate and clear ; 
so that I was permitted to bear testimony before my surrounding 
friends to the unspeakable consolations of the Holy Spirit, to the 



244 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

unfailing faithfulness of God, and to the abundant love of the 
Redeemer, of all which I had the joyful experience. 

" After an awful season of bodily suffering, during the whole 
of which faith in a crucified Saviour was triumphant, my pains 
were, for a short ti7?ie, alleviated ; but it proved to be merely a 
transfer of the disease from the chest to the bowels, which by no 
means lessened the prospect of dissolution ; and when it again 
returned to its original seat, every hope seemed to vanish from 
the minds of my mourning relatives and friends.* But Grod was 
pleased to answer the prayers of his believing people, and to 
spare me, perhaps for some further usefulness in the Church. A 
long life of the utmost devotion to his service, if allowed me, will 
very inadequately repay the manifestations of his loving kind- 
ness, with which, during this providential visitation, I have been 
favored. 

" I am now quite well as it regards my general health ; but 
have had several slight attacks of gout in my feet during my 
convalescence, which, added to the excoriations occasioned by 
blisters and mustard applications, disable me from walking more 
than a turn or two at a time across my chamber. I endeavor to 
be patient under this long suspension of the delightful duties of 
the ministry ; but it is somewhat of a trial. 

u I was rejoiced to hear of your appointment," (to a chap- 
laincy and professorship at West Point,) "partly from the strong 
persuasion which I have felt of your present residence being 
entirely unfavorable to your health, and partly from the selfish 
consideration of having one whom I so much love so near me. 
I pray Grod to overrule this change for good to your constitution, 
and for your spiritual advancement and usefulness in the Church. 
"When you come to New York I hope you will calculate on mak- 

* This shifting of the disease from place to place, seemed to show that the 
enemy had been driven from his first stronghold : and though he again returned 
to it, was yet, in fact, conquered. It was evidently the crisis of the attack. 
Probably, the movements here noted all took place on the same eventful Sab- 
bath, inasmuch as the " intervals of relief '" on that day ; are described, by his 
physician and himself, as u so short" or continuing only " for a short time f 
and as "the prayers of God's believing people," to which, mediately, his 
"sudden" deliverance is ascribed, were then most unitedly and imploringly 
ascending to a throne of mercy. 



HIS MINISTRY. ■ 245 

ing some stay, and give my people and myself the gratification 
of at least a Sunday's service. You will, of course, immediately 
on your arrival, come to my house. Kind regards to Mrs. Mcll- 
vaine, and to all our brethren. 

" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
" The Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine, ) 
Georgetown, D. C." ) 

Here is another document, from his family physician Dr. 
Stearns, who had attended him through all his sufferings from 
the gout, in its repeated attacks, from the year 1821. 

" These attacks," says Dr. Stearns, " however painful, never 
disturbed that placid equanimity which so remarkably character- 
ized his whole deportment in every condition of life. Always 
cheerful, always communicative while strength remained, he 
improved every opportunity for producing reciprocal feelings in 
others. In 1825, the gout, for the first time, was translated from 
his feet to his chest. This happened while he was walking in the 
street. He was immediately taken into an adjoining house, and 
thence conveyed home. A few minutes after his arrival, I found 
him laboring under a great oppression in his chest, a great diffi- 
culty of breathing, and intense agony. His symptoms were of 
the most dangerous character ; and the paroxysms continued to 
increase until the following Sunday, when the disease assumed 
its most critical form. So violent were the paroxysms, and so 
short the intervals, that, upon every succeeding attack, it seemed 
impossible for him to survive. Conscious that every breath 
might be his last, he improved every interval of relief in express- 
ing his resignation and his reliance upon divine grace. Never 
did I hear such impressive words from a dying man. The so- 
lemnity of the scene, the anguish of his countenance, now and 
then yielding to smiles, an index to the peace within, like the 
occasional brilliancy of the sun shining through a dark cloud, 
his great efforts to speak, and his deep-toned utterances, made 
impressions never to be effaced, melted every heart, suffused 
every eye, and palsied every tongue. The solemn silence was 
never broken, save when he spoke. Often and impressively did 
he bear witness to the great truths which he had preached, and 



246 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

often and fervently did he repeat his love for his congregation. 
Addressing me, he said, ' Tell them how I love them ; and that, 
if God spare my life, I will improve it in doing more good than 
I have done. Tell them, also, to call a snccessor who will preach 
the same evangelical doctrines which I have preached, and not a 
formalist.' And then he exclaimed, ' my precious Jesus. 
How I love my God. How I love the Son of his love. How I 
love the Holy Comforter.' 

" At another interval, addressing the Rev. Dr. Lyell, he gave 
him the following message for Bishop Hobart, who was then in 
Europe. ' Tell the bishop I have always loved him from our ear- 
liest acquaintance ; that, although I have been obliged to differ 
in opinion with him on some points, particularly in reference to 
Bible societies, yet I have always loved and respected him. I 
did think he had done wrong in introducing my name into the 
controversy with Mr. Jay ; but I freely forgive him. Tell him, 
also, that I have never been the author of any publication against 
him. Although I have been often urged by some of my friends 
to do so, yet I have never, in opposition to him, put pen to paper.' 

" Such was our beloved rector, and such the evidence which 
he exhibited of the true Christian character, during that danger- 
ous illness when he and all around him supposed that he was on 

the verge of death. 

"JOHN" STEARNS." 

Here, finally, is another, though a briefer note, from one 
who bore to him a still nearer relation, and who was his medical 
attendant for several of the last years of his life. The note is 
from the " Recollections" of his son, Dr. "Win. H. Milnor. 

" How often have I seen his Christian faith and hope tested, 
when suffering excruciating torture, which, apparently, death 
only could relieve ! That faith never wavered, that hope never 
sunk ; but steadily the Christian soldier bore himself through the 
conflict. The infidel may smile at the assertion, but it is cer- 
tainly evident, that the efficacy of prayer was strikingly mani- 
fested, when, in his most dreadful attack — his case surrendered 
as hopeless by the ablest physicians — the united prayers, not only 
of his own church, but of Christians of other denominations, 
went up to the mercy-seat, and the hand of the destroyer was 



HIS MINISTRY. 247 

suddenly staged. I remember, that on the Sunday when his 
death was momentarily expected, it was proposed to stop the 
ringing of his church-bell," (the parsonage being closely along- 
side of St. George's tower;) " ' No, no,' he murmured; 'let it 
ring on : to me there is no sweeter sound on earth. I shall soon 
listen to the harmonies of heaven.' " [Not so soon, dear saint : 
even then prayer was entering into the ear of the Lord of Sab- 
aoth, and he was yet to live.] " Like good old Hezekiah," con- 
tinues the " Recollections," " he was spared for longer years. 
His measure of usefulness was not yet full." 

It was, while yet in his chamber, though able to attend to 
various affairs, that he received a visit from some of those who 
were most active in the steps which its friends were then taking 
towards the formation of the American Tract Society. As this 
truly great institution is founded on the principle of publishing 
those religious works only, in the circulation of which all evan- 
gelical Christians may unite, the object of this visit was to enlist 
Dr. Milnor in its organization and support, as a suitable repre- 
sentative of the Episcopal church. "Weak as he still was, he 
entered with zeaJ into the proposed measure, and became, from 
the first, one of the founders, and to the end of his life, one of the 
most active officers of the Society. 

As in the case of the Bible cause, so in this, the history of his 
connection with it belongs to a future page of this Memoir. For 
the present, therefore, the following account of the visit just men- 
tioned, from the pen of one of the visitors, with a few other no- 
tices connected with the same period, will be sufficient. 

"When I came to this city," says the Rev. Mr. Hallock, Cor- 
responding Secretary of the Society, "asa medium of communi- 
cation between the Tract Societies then existing in New York 
and Boston, Dr. Milnor lay apparently at death's door; and the 
hope of his recovery seemed to rest much in the unceasing prayer, 
offered by Christians of different name, that he might yet be 
spared to the Church of Grod. When he had so far recovered that 
he could be seen in his chamber, we had drafted a Constitution 
of the proposed Society ; and I called on him, I think with Mr. 
Arthur Tappan, to lay the subject before him. From the public 
reports of his relations to institutions already existing, I had im- 



248 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

agined that he was a very grave and aged father in the Church, 
whose aspect and manners might indicate him as belonging rather 
to the past than to the present age. Judge of my surprise, when, 
as health was rapidly returning, and the delicate flush on his 
cheek was perhaps increased by his late confinement, I beheld all 
the bloom of youth, and one of the most bland, buoyant, and 
attractive countenances, I had ever seen ; with manners corre- 
spondent, and breathing out a heart full of benevolence. He 
entered at once into the design ; took the draft of the proposed 
Constitution ; examined carefully every item ; suggested a few 
verbal improvements, which yet remain in it ; and, while he 
intimated a fear that Christians might not be ready to engage in 
such a union, expressed his strong and decided wish that, seek- 
ing direction from God, the enterprise might go forward, and his 
own willingness to do whatever he could to promote so excellent 
a design." 

Soon after this visit, Dr. Milnor preached his first sermon in 
St. George's after his long confinement. The interest of the 
occasion may possibly be conceived, though not easily described. 
His affectionate congregation received him as a messenger from 
heaven, come back to speak to them of things which he had all but 
seen and heard ; while he, on his own part, looked like one new- 
born into the world. His face shone with a heavenly radiance ; 
so freshly beautiful was the glow of new health, and so joyous, 
so divinely peaceful the expression which the inner man sent out, 
to talk silently through his transparent countenance with his 
devoutly listening flock. And then, from the fulness of the heart 
the mouth spake ; and his words had, plainly, the same secret 
with his looks. Twenty-two years ago that scene was present, 
and that sermon preached. During that time words have, passed 
away ; but the messenger from the borders of the grave ; the face 
which looked as if it had just come, not from Sinai, but from 
Zion ; the feelings, which rose fresh and pure from their spring, 
as though they flowed, not through a defiling world, but from a 
heaven close by — these are still like things of yesterday, not only 
to the writer, but also to multitudes besides. 

But to return to the Tract Society. A feeling in favor of 
organizing a national institution at New York, awoke so early as 



HIS MINISTRY. 249 

the preceding August, in the summer of 1824 At that time, 
important and flourishing, but separate Tract Societies existed 
both at Boston and at New York ; and the question at first was, 
which of the two should become auxiliary to the other. This 
question, however, was ultimately decided by a determination to 
organize a national institution at New York, independent of both ; 
and that to it both should be invited to become auxiliary. Ne- 
gotiation was somewhere near this point, when Mr. Hallock and 
his friend made their visit to Dr. Milnor's chamber. Thencefor- 
ward, progress in the formation of a national Tract Society was 
rapid. On the 11th of March, two days before the sermon just 
mentioned, a public meeting of the friends of the cause from New 
York and its vicinity, preliminary to the organization of such a 
Society, was held at the City Hotel ; at which a temporary Ex- 
ecutive Committee, and officers for the receipt and management 
of funds, were appointed ; and twelve thousand five hundred dol- 
lars, soon after raised to about twenty-five thousand, towards the 
building of a Tract house, were subscribed. On the 15th of 
March, two days after that sermon, the first meeting of the tem- 
porary Executive Committee was held at Dr. Milnor's study, 
apparently in accommodation to the still tender state of his health, 
when he was requested to act as their chairman. 

On the 10th of the following May, delegates from various 
Tract Societies throughout the United States met in New York, 
at the call of the Corresponding Secretary. Of this meeting, 
also, Dr. Milnor was appointed chairman, and the Constitution 
of the proposed Society was calmly considered and matured. The 
next day, May 11, 1825, at a large public meeting in the City 
Hotel, the Society was solemnly organized, by the adoption of 
the Constitution, and the election of officers; and immediately 
afterwards the corner-stone of the Society's house was laid. Dr. 
Milnor was placed on the Executive Committee ; was made chair- 
man of that and also of the Publishing Committee, and held both 
places till the day of his death : places, too, of the highest im- 
portance, and filled with large and most fully accredited ability. 

Very soon after this, the first anniversary meeting of the 
Society, a delegation from the national institution in New York 
was appointed, and proceeded to Boston, to meet a delegation 



250 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

from that city, for the purpose of finally settling the deeply in- 
teresting question, whether the American Tract Society, located 
in Boston, would identify itself with the national society in New 
York, which had taken the same name. Of this delegation also, 
Dr. Milnor was made chairman. The joint action of the two 
delegations was completed before the 30th of May ; and Dr. Mil- 
nor's influence on the happy result which followed, was felt and 
acknowledged. Twenty years after this, Dr. "Woods, of Andover 
Theological Seminary, one of the vice-presidents of the Society, 
writing to apologize for his absence from the anniversary meeting 
in 1845, thus alludes to the doings of this delegation in 1825 : 

"I take this occasion to express my increasing conviction of 
the usefulness of the Society, and my entire confidence in the 
wisdom, integrity, and untiring diligence of those who manage its 
concerns. It is one of my comforts, that I had a part in the first 
planning and early labors of the Tract Society. I remember 
with unutterable satisfaction the time when we met, in Boston, 
a committee from New York to deliberate on the best way of 
promoting the Tract cause, and when we knelt together in the 
parlor to seek wisdom from above, and our dearly beloved Dr. 
Milnor led us in prayer. The Lord be praised that that excellent 
man was continued to us so long; and that, by his labors and 
prayers, and holy example, he did so much to promote the pros- 
perity of the American Tract Society." 



SECTION III, 

We approach now that part of Dr. Milnor's ministerial life 
which will be somewhat more copiously illustrated by his own 
letters. The first which occur shed a beautiful light on that 
trait in his character which presents him as the generous and 
fatherly patron of those young brethren in the ministry, and in 
their studies for the ministry, whom Providence brought within 
the sphere of his influence and kind offices. These letters, in- 
deed, were addressed to a single student ; but his was a case by 
no means solitary. Others, as well as the individual alluded to, 



HIS MINISTRY. 251 

have had occasion to take grateful knowledge of the lovely trait 
about to be exhibited. Before proceeding to these letters, it will 
be proper to add, that the person addressed was, at the opening 
of the 'series, a student in the General Theological Seminary ; 
but entered soon after into orders, and for many years had the 
privilege of regarding Dr. Milnor as one of the kindest of friends, 
and one of the wisest of counsellors. 

To a Theological Student. 

" St. George's, June 20, 1825. 

" My dear Brother — The object of the present brief commu- 
nication is to assure you of the lively interest and sincere sym- 
pathy which have been awakened in my breast towards you by 
our interview on Saturday evening, and to proffer you, along 
with my earnest prayers in your behalf at the throne of grace, 
any personal service that may be helpful to you in your future 
course. 

""With all the difficulties that may arise out of your happy 
change of views on the most interesting of all concerns, I am 
persuaded you will find that you have chosen the path of true 
wisdom ; and that Grod, who has called you by his grace from 
darkness to light, will fulfil, in your rejoicing experience, all the 
encouraging promises of his word to his faithful servants. How 
thankful will you have reason to be, if, besides filling your own 
heart with a hope that maketh not ashamed, he should honor you, 
even before the commencement of your public ministry, by mak- 
ing you an instrument of good to some of your present associates. 
How delightful a hope to indulge, that holy example, and a word 
fitly dropped, and fervent prayer — means which I trust a gra- 
cious Grod will enable you to use — may, with his blessing, be 
rendered effectual in bringing to right views of divine truth even 
one of your fellow-students. How animating the thought, that 
the consequence of so happy an occurrence may be the salvation 
of multitudes, whom, instead of helping onward, by his own 
errors in doctrine, to their everlasting ruin, he may, by his work 
of faith and labor of love in the ministry of reconciliation, con- 
duct to eternal blessedness in heaven. 

" I am well aware of the delicacy of your situation, and how 



252 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

much religious prudence and discretion will be requisite in union 
with the desire which, as a disciple of Christ, I know you must 
feel for his honor and the truths of his glorious Grospel. My 
counsel is, that you should ever act in the spirit of meekness ; 
that, by your deportment, you convince your young friends that 
you are influenced by feelings of love only in connection with 
deep convictions of truth ; that you avoid every thing which might 
bear the aspect of dictation, or of assumed superiority ; and above 
all, that you give them a large share of your intercessory suppli- 
cations in the closet, and in those social prayers which I rejoice 
to hear a few of you daily have in your chambers. 

"Be of good courage, my dear friend ; I pray Grod that your 
faith fail not ; and if it be the product of Grod's Holy Spirit, I 
know it will not. His providential dealings with you will be as 
propitious to your success in the work which he has for you to 
do, as his grace has been in calling you to enter upon it. Make 
the promises of his word your constant dependence, and believing 
prayer will not fail to supply you with continual evidences of the 
truth and faithfulness of Grod. 

" In our conversation, you intimated, I think, a preference, of 
which I approve, for the completion of your theological course, by 
remaining another year in the seminary ; but intimated that cir- 
cumstances, which you did not explain, might render it imprac- 
ticable for you to do so. I believe I am not a stranger to those 
circumstances ; and trust that I shall not offend you by the inti- 
mation, that, if they be such as I suppose, they will be remedied 
in a way that shall not be offensive to your feelings. To be quite 
plain on the subject, whatever reasonable addition to your pres- 
ent pecuniary resources may be necessary to your continuance in 
the seminary, will be made by the agency of 

" Your faithful and affectionate brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The generous offer, with which this letter closes, it did not 
become necessary to accept. The student addressed received an 
unexpected appointment to a tutorship in college, and therefore 
did not return for his closing term of study in the seminary. 
The following letter was addressed to him about the time of his 
entrance on his new duties. 



HIS MINISTRY. 253 

"New York, Sept. 17, 1825. 

" Dear Sir — I have been gratified by the receipt of your favor 
of the 12th inst., to which it would have been convenient, on 
some accounts, to have delayed a little my answer. But you 
mention a circumstance, in which I presume it may be in my 
power to render you a small service ; and that is my motive for 
writing so soon. The books which have a relation to the depart- 
ment assigned you in the college, you must, as soon as possible, 
be supplied with ; and you must allow me to assist you in their 
purchase, and to make the necessary advances in your behalf. 
Let me, therefore, be forthwith furnished with a list, and every 
exertion shall be made to obtain the best editions with as little 
delay as possible ; and if besides this there be any other particu- 
lar, in which it may be in my power to assist you, I pray you 
not to be reserved in your communications, but frankly tell me 
how I can oblige one to whom I rejoice in bearing the relation of 
a brother. 

" Oh, how sweet and endearing that tie which unites fellow- 
Christians in the bonds of the Gospel ! Among the other eviden- 
ces of our being real disciples of Christ, how delightful that of our 
loving one another. It is one of the most gratifying circumstances 
of my earthly pilgrimage, to live in affection for my spiritual 
kindred in Christ, and to believe that I also live in their love for 
me-; and that we mutually bear each other in our thoughts, when 
approaching the throne of grace in the grateful duty of interces- 
sory supplication. 

" While I heartily congratulate you, my beloved brother, on 
your accession to a situation, which, while you occupy it, may, 
with God's blessing, enable you to prepare for a different and more 
extensive field of usefulness, I sympathize with you in your anti- 
cipation of some difficulties in the way of spiritual improvement, 
with which it will certainly be attended. It is good, however, to 
foresee evil, because it will excite to watchfulness, and set in- 
vention to work in the contrivance of the best means for averting 
the effects of exposure to that most awful of calamities to a re- 
newed Christian, spiritual declension. Set out, my friend, with 
the resolute determination, that, by the help of divine grace, you 
will daily redeem sufficient time from your secular studies and 



254 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

employments to attend to l the one thing needful ;' and often re- 
volve in your mind the solemn inquiry suggested by Him who 
died for our redemption, ' What shall it profit a man, if he shall 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul V There is no such 
help to our growth in grace as frequent retirement to the closet, 
there to investigate, with no eye upon us but that of the Omnis- 
cient, our true character and condition ; to look back impartially 
on our outward walk ; to dive into the secret springs and motives 
of our actions ; and, with fervency, to pray to the Author of all 
our mercies for those which we especially need. It is good, too, 
in our seasons of devotional retirement, to open our Bible, not 
for criticism — let that employ some other moments than those of 
secret communion with God — but to warm our hearts, and 
elevate our desires, and strengthen our resolution, and increase 
the ardor of our love. 

1 ■ In reference to your time of life, and your recent experience 
of the goodness of God, allow me to suggest to you a thing, which 
I have made multiplied duties and cares an apology in my own 
case for too much neglecting — the keeping of a religious diary. 
It will be a wholesome as well as pleasing exercise ; and it will 
be hereafter cheering and encouraging to look back upon all the 
way in which God has led you ; to see the dangers from which he 
has delivered you ; and to be able, from past evidences of divine 
benignity and power, to maintain the persuasion, that you will 
be ' kept by his power through faith unto salvation.' 

" But pleasing as it is to me thus to converse with one, in 
whose present happiness and future usefulness I think I feel a 
most affectionate interest, I am so near the limits of my paper, 
that I must defer to future occasions much of what my feelings 
of attachment would lead me to add. 

" On your part, my dear friend, you need not hesitate to com- 
municate with the greatest freedom to him who rejoices to have 
a place in your affections, and to subscribe himself, 
" Your faithful brother in the Lord, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

From the following reply which he received, it appears that 
his generous offer was, this time, gratefully accepted. 



HIS MINISTRY. 255 



College, Sept. 24, 1825. 



"Rev. and dear Sir — This speedy answer to yours of the 
17th inst. is owing to the unexpected offer contained in that 
communication. An expression of the feelings excited by your 
Christian kindness and brotherly affection on this and on a for- 
mer occasion, shall be reserved to another part of this letter. For 
the present, I will show how I esteem your generosity by attend- 
ing at once to what you have enjoined upon me." Here follow a 
plan for collecting books, and a list of books to be purchased ; 
after which the letter continues : 

" I will now enter on a more pleasing subject of interest. I 
can hardly hope, however, to give you a just idea of the feelings 
which arose in my mind, on reading the kind assurances and the 
Christian counsel which your letter contained. how different 
now are the emotions which start up at the name of Christian 
brother, from those which one year since awoke at the mention 
of that sacred appellation ! To be a fellow-subject with others 
of God's renewing grace, and a fellow-heir with others of the 
hope of glory ! There are a breadth, and length, and depth, and 
height, in the thought, which none but the renewed mind can 
measure. For myself, dear Christian brother, I am not always 
able to realize the idea. At seasons, however, when I obtain 
refreshing views of divine things, it comes over my mind with a 
joy so big, that I almost hesitate to admit it. The peculiar cir- 
cumstances which modify the relation of Christian brotherhood 
between yourself and one so unworthy as I am, might furnish 
scope for many remarks ; but for the present I forbear, with the 
assurance that I deem my acquaintance with you one of the 
providences with which God has been pleased to mark my hum- 
ble life. The gift of friends, especially of Christian friends, is 
from the hand of God. While, therefore, in the present instance 
I am enjoying that gift, may the gracious Giver send me special 
grace for its improvement. 

" "When I wrote last, I spoke of the influence of college life 
on a life of piety, from speculation. I can now speak of it from 
a short experience. In consequence of the unusual number of 
classes in the college, and of the yet small number of instructors, 
I have, for the last week, had an exceedingly laborious task. 



256 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Five recitations each day, with the study necessary, in me, to 
prepare for them, have given occupation to all my time, except 
such as I have been able to save for devotional and necessary 
duties. But amid all this crowd of cares, I have been much 
blessed in my religious state. God has been pleased to make his 
own word and promise, and my weak attempts at prayer, at all 
times comforting, and occasionally sweet and refreshing. How 
full and satisfying the assurance which I have at such seasons 
felt ; how elevating and blessed the hope which I have then en- 
joyed ! Pray for me, dear Christian friend, that the evils of a 
college life may be always thus averted by the good grace of 
God. 

" Your suggestion as to a religious diary, is one on which I 
have regularly practised ever since reading the memoirs of Henry 
Marty n last winter ; a little book which I believe was God's in- 
strument of a great blessing to my soul. I have already found 
the practice a great profit, as well as a great pleasure, and I 
shall use your suggestion as an encouragement to persevere in 
what I have thus far so beneficially prosecuted. 

" Without room to write more, I remain, 

" Your obliged and affectionate brother in Christ, 



The next letter from Dr. Milnor being almost wholly confined 
to an account of the books which he had purchased and forwarded 
to his friend, a brief extract only will be given, as referring for- 
ward to others in the series. 

"New York, Oct. 6, 1825. — Churchmen are all alive here 
in reference to two very interesting events ; the expected arrival 
of the bishop," from Europe, "and the doings of your trustees 
yesterday. A few days will elicit things of most portentous 
bearing on the interests of our Zion." 

Accordingly, he says, writing soon after, under date of 

"New York, October 15, 1825. 

" My dear Friend — Before this reaches you, you will probably 

have heard of the return of Bishop Hobart. The clergy attended 

him yesterday at St. John's, to return thanks for the goodness of 

Almighty God in restoring him to his diocese and family. I 



HIS MINISTRY. 257 

never saw him when he looked better, though he says he is still 
subject to attacks of dyspepsy. He made a very feeling address 
to us in the vestry-room ; in which he declared that he came home 
with the liveliest feelings of affection towards all his brethren ; 
that he was sensible of his infirmities, and besought for them the 
indulgence of his friends ; that he would at all times be ready 
to receive counsel from them; and that, whatever might have 
been, or might still be, his errors, he trusted those who most 
differed from him would not impute to him other than pure and 
disinterested motives. Nothing could be more conciliatory or 
affectionate than his demeanor towards myself; nor could con- 
gratulations be warmer than those which he expressed on my 
merciful preservation last winter. I am to dine with him on 
Monday next, and he with me on the following Thursday. 

•'I mention these things as a source of gratification, because 
indicative of an enlargement of views on the part of Bishop 
Hobart, which he has acquired by his general intercourse dur- 
ing the last two years, and which, if maintained, will greatly 
contribute to his own peace of mind and the prosperity of the 
Ohurch. I have ever entertained a warm personal friendship 
for the bishop, with whom I have been intimate for at least five 
and thirty years ; but I have ever regretted his intolerant views, 
and determined, at all hazards, to maintain my own convictions 
upon religion and church politics, until convinced of their error. 
I do trust in God, he will see the necessity of allowing to others 
a liberty which he so largely claims for himself; and then, with 
a very considerable diversity of opinion, harmony and Christian 
love may be maintained. I am persuaded that firmness, united 
with moderation and meekness, on the part of those who wish 
to see our church not only advancing in outward prosperity, but 
growing in evangelical purity and attachment to the distinguish- 
ing doctrines of Christianity, will, in the end, be blessed of God; 
and that, when our opponents shall be convinced that we have 
no personal objects in view, and are under the influence neither 
of fanaticism nor of party spirit, they will feel more charitably 
disposed towards us, and approximate more nearly that course of 
sentiment and of action which the providence of God is now so 
manifestly forwarding within the limits of our church. 

Mem. Milnor. 1 / 



258 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"I rejoice to hear that our friend ■ talks of spending the 

winter at , and still more at the motive which prompts him 

to the measure. The Lord make your influence successful in 

bringing his heart into closer union with that glorious Saviour 

whose minister he designs to be. God bless you, my beloved 

brother. Every letter you write me gives you a deeper seat in 

the affections of your faithful 

"JAMES MIL1S T 0R." 

The next letter was mainly in reply to one in which the 
writer had stated some difficulties on the subject of intercourse 
with the world ; and it shows how thorough, on this point, had 
become the change in Dr. Milnor's views, in passing from his 
natural to his religious life. 

"New York, Nov. 29, 1825. 

" My dear Friend — I thank you for addressing me by a title 
to which I hope you will always allow me to maintain a claim. 
And I pray God, that when we are both removed from our terres- 
trial conflicts, the friendship now begun may be continued with 
more purity and fervor in that better state to which, I trust, we 
are looking forward with delight. If there be one thought which, 
more than others, fills my mind with sweet anticipations in hours 
of retired meditation, it is that of the renewal of those cherished 
intimacies which a common love of our dear Redeemer has led 
me to form with kindred minds on earth, and w"hich, I verily 
believe, will be cemented and made eternal in the paradise of 
God. Let us deport ourselves so as to insure that blessedness, 
and find an alleviation of all the difficulties and trials of life in 
the delightful prospect of the peaceful enjoyments of the heav- 
enly state. 

" The steady contemplation of that state will, I think, re- 
move every embarrassment in regard to the extent in which we 
should mingle in the pleasures of this. I am free to say to you, 
my dear brother, that I feel every day growing apprehensions of 
worldly conformity, and that I find my peace of mind requiring 
an unequivocal renunciation of amusements such as you have 
mentioned. Since I consecrated myself to God, it has been no 
cross to me to reject them. When I acquired a taste for religious 
enjoyments, I lost, in a good degree, my relish for such trifling. 



HIS MINISTRY. 259 

But the censure of the world it was, for a time, unpleasant to 
encounter ; until I found — as I believe, by a mild but firm per- 
severance in duty, you also will find — that it is better, if need 
be, to incur the world's displeasure, than that of God ; and that, 
in truth, he is pleased so to regard his faithful servants as to con- 
strain even that world secretly to admire what it affects to dis- 
approve. I never yet knew a minister, whom a conduct incon- 
sistent with his profession did not bring into contempt, not merely 
with the pious, but even with the ungodly themselves ; nor one, 
whom unaffected, earnest piety has ever permanently injured. 
Let the manner of rejecting or evading the calls of fashionable 
pleasure be discreet and temperate, and the general tenor of con- 
duct show the hallowed motives by which abstinence from the 
gayeties of life is induced ; and you will find, as I have done, 
that you will be left to pursue your course with no more of cen- 
sure than, as a good Christian, for Christ and conscience' sake, you 
can, by the help of your divine Master, very easily bear. Nor 
does this required sacrifice imply, that cheerfulness is in itself 
sinful, or that our dispositions are to become sour and morose, 
or that intercourse with those who live not by our rule, is to be 
entirely withheld. But I would say, that it should not be more fre- 
quent than circumstances render necessary ; that, when allowed, 
it should not be long continued; that, if practicable, it should 
always be improved to some religious end ; and that, on no ac- 
count, should the world be permitted to entrap us into scenes 
where we can receive no benefit, but must return to our closets 
with minds unfitted for communion with God, less inclined to 
all our spiritual duties, and harassed with intimations from the 
inward monitor of vows forgotten, character lowered, and use- 
fulness impaired, and with the apprehension not only of having 
wounded the feelings of the pious, but also of being sneered at 
and despised by the very persons who have delighted to find us, 
with all our professions, so much like themselves. There is a cler- 
gyman, not many days' ride from your present residence, whom I 
have heard mentioned by the very persons whose worldly pleasures 
he habitually shares, in terms corroborative of what I have said 
as to the estimate which such people form of Christians, espe- 
cially ministers, who thus desecrate their characters and destroy 



260 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

their usefulness. I know many similar instances. But I never 
knew a real man of God, who did not ultimately, by forbearance 
and moderation in the article of pleasurable intercourse, where 
he united with them suavity and kindness of feeling and de- 
meanor towards all men, command the respect and esteem of all 
whose opinions were worthy of regard. A bishop of our church 
once said to me on this subject, ' Let a minister of God begin 
his course by marking out for himself a strict line of conduct, 
and then take care to keep a great way within it.' ' The tongue 
of the wise is health :' ' A word spoken in due season, how good 
it is !' But I am fatiguing you with remarks which, I trust, 
your own feelings have anticipated, and at present will say no 
more on the subject. 

" On the proceedings at our late Convention, I wish to say but 
little. My conscience acquits me of any ill design ; and as I 
wish, in no unnecessary way, to incur censure, I am glad, in this 
matter, to have been involved in none, on the part of either the 
bishop or his friends. By the latter, if I desired the praise of 
men, I was abundantly complimented. The former remarked to 
me, after the rising of the Convention, ' You behaved towards 
me personally, in that instance, as you have always done, like 
a gentleman and a Christian.' I would not mention this but to 
allay any fears which persons of our acquaintance might ex- 
cite in your mind, lest some new offence had arisen between the 
bishop and myself. He is more cordial than I ever knew him ; 
and as I have not a tittle of animosity against him, so long as I 
am allowed to pursue the ministerial and religious course which 
I believe duty requires, I will endeavor not to make his cordiality 
less. But I will never sacrifice principle for the sake of retain- 
ing any man's regards. That I very partially concur in the 
church politics of this diocese, I am obliged to avow. But as I 
cannot alter a course of which I am obliged to disapprove, I am 
content to be put out of the question in every thing but what 
relates to my immediate duties. With these, I will allow no 
man, except in the way of counsel, to interfere. "While I walk 
according to the law of God and the written rules of the Church, 
and continue to discharge my duties in the fear of God, I feel no 
inward disquietude, nor any apprehensions of what man can do 



HIS MINISTRY. 261 

unto me. And all this I hope to find consistent with the avoid- 
ance of schism, and of any improper disrespect towards those 
who are set over us in the Lord. 

" how I mourn over the spiritual state of some whom your 

friend has left behind in the seminary ; and how gloomy 

are the anticipations which involuntarily afflict my mind, at the 
prospect of a diminished number of those who love the Lord 
Jesus in sincerity, in an institution which is called ' The hope of 
the Church !' Our friend D. has left ' The Society of Inquiry,'* 
on account of the Princeton business ; that society having deter- 
mined to hold no intercourse with Presbyterians. I thank God 
I ' have not so learned Christ.' 

" I have many more things to say to you ; but though you 
see how I have husbanded my paper, yet it is run out. I have 
still room, however, to invoke on you and your pursuits the bless- 
ing of Grod, and to reiterate that I am 

"Your faithful and affectionate brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

In order to understand the allusion to Bishop Hobart and the 
Convention, towards the close of this letter, it will be necessary 
to give a short explanation. Soon after the bishop's return, and 
upon the assembling of the Annual Convention of his diocese, it 
was deemed highly proper to pass resolutions expressive of the 
feelings of the clergy and laity upon again receiving their dio- 
cesan in health and safety ; and responsive to the affectionate, 
unbosoming salutations, with which he had just greeted them in 
his annual address. In doing this, a strong desire was felt to 
frame the resolutions in such language as should insure their 

* This was a society, then recently organized in our General Theological 
Seminary, for promoting among the students a missionary spirit. Its chief 
object was, inquiry as to the state and progress of the missionary work 
throughout the world. Soon after its organization, it was proposed, at its 
deliberations, to open a correspondence, for the interchange of missionary 
intelligence, with a similar society in the Princeton Theological Seminary. 
Such a correspondence, however, was deemed, in high places, inconsistent 
with attachment to the distinctive principles of the Church. It was, there- 
fore, abandoned; and it is believed the society itself soon after ceased to 
exist. Perhaps this was one of the "things of portentous bearing on the in- 
terests of our Zion." which " a few days" from October 6 were expected to 
" elicit." 



262 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

unanimous adoption; and as there were known points in the 
bishop's course of church policy which could not be unanimously 
approved, it was determined, in reference to those points, to avoid 
any expression of opinion, and to construct one of the resolutions 
in the shape of a simple pledge of devoted, personal confidence, 
friendship, and affection. Accordingly, the bishop having tem- 
porarily retired from the Convention, the committee to whom 
the subject was referred, introduced a series of resolutions, which 
were received with unanimous approbation. But on presenting 
them to the bishop, he expressed his decided dissatisfaction with 
that which referred personally to himself; and declared, that if 
the resolution were to stop short of an approval of his whole epis- 
copal course, he must decline receiving it. This unexpected stand 
threw on the majority of the Convention the necessity of either 
abandoning their complimentary measure, or withdrawing the 
unsatisfactory resolution for a substitute framed in accordance 
with the bishop's wishes. Of course, the latter part of the un- 
pleasant alternative was adopted ; and a resolution, expressing 
the confidence of the Convention in " the soundness of 'his policy '," 
was introduced, in company with those which greeted his late 
return and responded to his pathetic address. This movement 
raised a debate on the passage of the resolutions ; and this debate 
brought Dr. Milnor upon the floor in a speech, which, for ability 
and Christian courtesy, presented him in a most attractive light 
as an accomplished debater and as a Christian gentleman, and 
raised him high in the esteem even of those who most differed 
from him in his views of church policy. While he did full jus- 
tice to the personal and Christian excellence of his bishop, and to 
the known friendship subsisting between them, he did not hesi- 
tate freely and frankly to avow his dissent from some -of the 
opinions of his diocesan, and openly and manfully to vindicate 
his own resistance to measures calculated to bring odium upon 
him for the exercise of what he felt to be his Christian liberty. 
The scene which this debate presented, has long since faded from 
general remembrance ; but it was thrilling, and constituted a 
beautiful triumph to one who, although he moved in a little 
minority, was yet able to command admiring approbation from 
an overwhelming majority. 



HIS MINISTRY. 263 

Other letters to the same' correspondent will hereafter be found 
on these pages ; but those which date next in order, are part of a 
correspondence with the Rev. C. P. Mcllvaine, then professor at 
West Point. His labors as chaplain of the Military Academy had 
already been largely blessed ; and before the summer of 1826 the 
academy was agitated with the movements of that great awak- 
ening, from the fruits of which our church has selected several 
of her bishops and other clergy. About the first of June, Dr. 
Milnor was induced to visit West Point, for the purpose of spend- 
ing a Sunday with his friend, and assisting him in the arduous 
labors to which he was then specially called. It was about the 
same time, that the correspondence, of which a portion has been 
preserved, was opened. The first of the series from Dr. Milnor is 
wanting. The second is dated, 

"New York, June 8, 1826. 
" My dear Brother — My mind dwells with inexpressible de- 
light on the transactions of the last Sabbath. Especially when I 
reflect on our evening interview with those dear youth who had 
given themselves to the Lord, and with their anxious companions, 
I cannot be sufficiently thankful that, in the kind providence of 
God, I was permitted to witness such a scene. The Lord Grod 
Almighty be with you, direct you to the best means of prosecut- 
ing a work so manifestly the product of his Spirit, and be your 
' refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,' should per- 
secution assail you on account of the unexpected reward bestowed 
on your labors in his service. In the fulness of my gratitude to 
God, of my love to you, and of the deep interest which I feel in 
the increase of this wonderful instance of the Spirit's power on 
the heart, I have hesitated whether I should say a word to you 
that might operate as a discouragement. Perhaps some things 
in my former letter are calculated to have that effect, and what 
I am about to add may increase it ; but, on the whole, I think 
it best to acquaint you with any thing coming to my ear that 
may have a bearing on the subject ; trusting that it may be the 
means of preparing you for those difficulties which some are plot- 
ting to throw in your way, and of enabling you, by prayerful 
meditation, to determine on the best method either of evading or 



264 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR 

of removing those difficulties. The enemies of truth are busy in 
spreading here the grossest misrepresentations of the character 
of the revival, of your manner of conducting it, and of its ' un- 
happy' effects on its subjects. From various quarters, since my 
return, I have heard it declared to be a mere burst of enthusiasm, 
a sudden excitement of the animal passions of the young men, 
produced by your eloquence : as having led to actual insanity in 
one, and, according to the comforting prognostications of these 
sagacious opponents, being likely to have the same effect on many 
others ; and as having disgusted the officers, and so alienated them 
from you as to make them forsake public worship on Sundays : 
in short, it has been said that measures would be taken either to 
stop these disorderly proceedings, or to effect your removal. 

" Yesterday I met a gentleman in Broadway, who wears the 
title of major in our militia, which, of course, makes him, in his 
own opinion, a competent judge of all matters connected with 
military life. He began his remarks by saying he had been dis- 
appointed in his hope of hearing me last Sunday ; but understood 
that I was at West Point. He then made some complimentary 
remarks on your talents as a preacher ; but soon followed them 
by an expression of his deep regret at your fanatical proceedings. 
You were, he said, turning a military academy into a theolog- 
ical seminary, and aiming to make young men soldiers in the 
Church militant, ( he meant ministers, ) whom the government 
intended to train for its army ; he understood that you met them 
for prayer every morning at daylight, and encouraged them to 
neglect other studies for that of religion ; that the most serious 
apprehensions were entertained of the consequent degradation, 
if not ruin of the institution ; and that the subject would be 
brought before the board of visitors, with a view to an expression 
of a disapprobatory kind to the Secretary of War. Some of his 
representations I contradicted, others I explained ; and left him 
with a declaration of my belief that no investigation would result- 
to your prejudice in the estimation of the wise and good ; and 
that every subject of God's grace at West Point would, by his 
deportment, prove himself faithful to every duty incumbent on 
him as a member of the academy, without abandoning his enlist- 
ment under the banner of the Captain of his salvation. 



HIS MINISTRY. 265 

" Now, my endeared brother, let not these things alarm you. 
It is right that you should know the machinations of the enemies 
of truth, that you may be prepared to meet them ; but to you, 
and the precious seals of your ministry, I would say, ' Be not 
afraid of their terror, neither be troubled ; but sanctify the Lord 
God in your hearts ; and be ready always to give an answer to 
every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, 
with meekness and fear : having a good conscience, that whereas 
they speak evil of you as of evil-doers, they may be ashamed that 
falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ ;' and then, i if 
the will of God be so, it is better that you suffer for well-doing 
than for evil-doing.' Yet it must be admitted, that your situa- 
tion is inexpressibly trying, and that you have much need of 
prayer, and patience, and self-denial, and forbearance towards 
opposers. May God give you the wisdom of the serpent, and the 
harmlessness of the dove, and overrule all for his own glory. 

" Your affectionate, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

After an answer to this letter from Mr. Mcllvaine, he wrote 
again : 

"New York, June 14, 1826. 

"My very dear Brother — You have rightly understood every 
intimation which I have ventured, on the subject of prudence 
and discretion in conducting what belongs to human agency in 
the work of grace at West Point. I would do nothing from mere 
motives of regard to self, nothing from the fear of man ; but I 
would, so far as may be consistent with the paramount duty 
which you owe to God and the souls of men, avoid all that 
would furnish a ground of objection to the world, with whose 
opposition you will be sure to see associated that of nominal, 
lukewarm, unevangelical professors. I would put no weapon in 
the hands of enemies, nor furnish them with even a pretence for 
objection. Especially would I have our dear young brethren 
confute, by practical arguments of the most conclusive kind, that 
which I now hear from many quarters, of the deleterious effects 
of this revival on the immediate duties of the students — its inter- 
ference with the proper objects of the institution at "West Point. 
I feel a most intense interest in the uninterrupted progress and 



266 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

propitious result of this work of God, and every day wish to know 
whether more are added to the awakened, whether the inquiring 
are advancing to the consummation of their desires, and whether 
the dear brethren who have assumed Christ's yoke, bear it as 
they ought, and enjoy the sweet comforts of their calling. 
' " When does your examination close ? How will matters 
stand next Sunday week ? That is the day of our next com- 
munion, and if all things suited, the company of as many of our 
young disciples as could come would be gratifying. I dare not 
say a word of the delight which it would give me to have him 
present, who, under God, has been made an instrument of good 
to their souls, because such an event is not, I presume, within 
the compass of probability. 

" Last Sunday, hot as it was, I preached three times, besides 
preaching the previous evening. I am looking as anxiously for 
the descent of the dews of divine grace on my thirsty spiritual 
vineyard, as the husbandman is now desiring that of the rain 
upon his parched fields. The Lord gratify the expectations and 
desires of both. On Sunday night a crowd of believers joined 
me in supplications which, I hope, reached the mercy-seat, for a 
rich blessing on you, and all interested in your present trying 
labors. Give my warmest Christian salutations to the dear 
cadets, to Mrs. Mcllvaine, to your amiable sisters, and to all 
whom we salute as brethren in Christ, and accept for yourself 
the assurance of my undiminished affection. 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Mr. Mcllvaine's answer to this letter, soon called forth an- 
other. 

"New York, June 17, 1826. 

" My dear Brother — Your letter of the 15th, just received, 
has relieved my mind of some distressing apprehensions in regard 
to the character and influence of the opposition, which I found 
was rising to the work of divine grace at "West Point. I pray 
God that the only retribution awarded the enemies of truth, may 
be the conquest of their own hearts, and their introduction into 
the ranks of the soldiers of the Cross. Tell our dear young 
friends, each of them, to make, in his private devotions, every 
inveterate opponent the subject of special prayer ; to forgive from 



HIS MINISTRY. 267 

the heart every injurious expression which that opponent may 
have used, and to manifest, in necessary intercourse with them 
all, feelings not of resentment, but of love. 

" I think the course which you have resolved to pursue in 
regard to the Wednesday evening meeting a very proper one, 
and have no doubt your much-respected superintendent will find 
in the written assurance of the cadets a solid pledge of the most 
dutiful and exemplary behavior on their part. "What can even 
unbelievers object to the operation of inward religion on the 
minds of these young men, when its practical effects are seen, 
not in the deterioration, but in the improvement of their charac- 
ter as members of your very excellent and useful institution ? 
To the mind of your colonel, happily not given over to the delu- 
sions in which some others are enveloped, it will give a confi- 
dence in the maintenance of his present course, which I am sure 
all your personal agency in the affair will strengthen and con- 
firm. 

"I thank you for the explanation of that ominous l amen? 
and hope that every Christian cadet, whatever prudence may 
direct in regard to the utterance of the lips, will always be ready, 
with the feelings of his inmost soul, to make this response to 
such a desire as that which you expressed at the conclusion of 
your sermon in behalf of the beloved youth whom you had bap- 
tized into the name of Christ, and the open profession of his 
Gospel. 

" I have just finished a discourse for to-morrow morning, 
from Rom. 15 : 13 : ' Now the God of hope fill you with all joy 
and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the 
power of the Holy Ghost.' The object of the discourse, as you 
may suppose, is to explain, and as explained, to defend the doc- 
trine of assurance. < The G-od of hope' be praised, that some of 
our dear young brethren have experimentally realized its truth 
by the witness of God's Spirit with theirs, that they are his chil- 
dren. The Lord keep them by his power through faith unto 
salvation. Though ' it doth not yet appear what they shall be,' 
yet may every day's advance in the divine life enable them more 
assuredly to l knoiv, that when he shall appear, they shall be like 
him, for they shall see him as he is.' 



268 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" My family having removed to Flushing # last Thursday, I 
am left without the means of inviting our young friends to dom- 
icile with me during their stay in New York. But I shall rejoice 
in giving them all the aid I can in facilitating their acquaintance 
with our religious institutions, and hope they will attend the 
Tuesday evening prayer-meeting of the brethren of my congrega- 
tion. It will particularly delight me to find you their fellow- 
traveller. Tell dear little Bledsoe," a son of Mr. Mcllvaine, 
"that that declaration and promise, ' I love them that love me; 
and they that seek me early shall find me,' are assuredly his, if 
he persevere. Salute all your beloved flock with the truest affec- 
tion. God bless them, and keep them, and make them minis- 
ters of good to all with whom, in his gracious providence, they 
may be called to associate. My kindest regards await Capt. D. 
and your own dear family. Let me continue to occupy a corner 
of your heart, and an interest in your prayers. 

" Your brother in the best of bonds, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Some of the cadets, with Mr. Mcllvaine himself, having paid 
their desired visit to St. George's, and to the religious institu- 
» tions of the city, especially the newly erected Tract Society's 
house, whence they carried back large supplies of the Society's 
publications, Dr. Milnor, after their return, writes thus : 

"New York, June 28, 1826. 
" My dear Brother — The refreshing intercourse with which 
we were lately favored, has left so sweet a savor in my mind, 
that I feel as if I wanted, every now and then, a few minutes' 
converse with you. And yet, I do not know that you require a 
word of encouragement or of counsel from one so incompetent as 
myself to offer either ; for your heart is fixed on your Master's 
work : you are as fully aware as any of my suggestions can 
make you, of the difficulties which you have to encounter ; and 
you see the necessity of uniting, in the required conflict with 

# For several years, during his rectorship of St. George's, Dr. Milnor owned 
a farm and a summer residence at Flushing, L. I. ; but finding considerable 
inconvenience in the arrangement, it was subsequently abandoned, and his 
residence confined wholly to the city. 



HIS MINISTRY. 269 

them, the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the 
dove. Still, I feel an anxiety, greater than words can express, 
in regard to the progress and issue of this manifest visitation of 
the Spirit to the dear youth at West Point. I wish it to proceed 
in a way which, if it fail to convince infidel gainsay ers, will 
lessen the apprehensions of its running into enthusiasm, which 
many professors who have inadequate views of such matters, are 
beginning to express. for that wise, discriminating spirit 
which may enable them to distinguish between the extrava- 
gances sometimes exhibited in revivals, and the deep, silent work 
of grace now in progress with you. I fear that the accounts, 

given by a clergyman of our church from , of the revival in 

that place, will have the effect of increasing among our brethren 
their opposition to every thing of the kind. Allowing for some 
exaggerations in the statements of this clergyman, there are 
many circumstances, which he narrates as facts positively known 
to him, which certainly prove a great want of sound wisdom, and 
no inconsiderable religious error, on the part of the leaders in that 
revival. And yet, while we lament these aberrations, which, I 
doubt not, too much of what Bishop Hobart calls ' animal excite- 
ment' has produced, I have as little doubt that signal interposi- 
tions of divine mercy have occurred ; and that, while some have 
mistaken the workings of their own imaginations for those of the 
Spirit, many have been truly born of God, and will look back to 
this revival with rejoicing through eternity. 

"I have hesitated, but upon the whole think it best to state to 
you, that I have conversed with one of the visiting committee,* 
who has left West Point with strong prejudices, which I hope I 
have somewhat diminished. He stated to me that a very general 
impression in the academic staff was, that your proceedings were 
fanatical, had a tendency to interrupt attention to study, and 
made it indispensable that there should be some interference ; 
and that the subject was discussed by the board of visitors, and 
an attempt made to express a very unfavorable feeling towards 
you and your doings. But it was at length concluded that it 
should not be done in their official document, though my inform- 

* A committee annually sent by government to conduct the examination 
of the cadets in their studies at the national academy. 



270 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ant regretted that your removal would probably be the result of 
a less formal exhibition of the matter to the war department. 

;" "What he expressed as a matter of regret, I feel ; for if your 
removal should take place, though I am sure the Lord would give 
you the ability to suffer patiently in his cause, yet the effect 
would be disastrous as it respects West Point, and injurious in a 
vast variety of ways, which will as readily suggest themselves to 
your mind as they have to my own. One thing, my very dear 
friend, I do desire you to bear in memory ; and that is, that the 
peculiar circumstances in which you are placed require a course 
of conduct very different from that followed in ordinary revivals, 
and that, as far as duty will permit, those circumstances should 
be constantly regarded. 

" We are full here of ecclesiastical builders, busily engaged 
in the construction of the external temple. that every heart 
were the place of His hallowed residence, for whom that temple 
is designed. Christian regards to all our dear brethren in the 
Lord. " Your faithful brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Here close the letters touching the West Point revival. If 
more were written— and this is probable — they have not been 
preserved. Those which have been given are characteristic of 
their author, full of love and zeal for his Master's work, and 
equally full of sanctified wisdom and prudence in guarding that 
work from danger. His fears of the removal of his friend from 
his professorship were not realized. The work of grace at the 
military school was fruitful in blessed results ; and our church 
herself has reason to rejoice in what G-od there wrought among 
the youth of our national institute. 

We have next another letter to the theological student, then 
in orders. By a committee of his fellow-citizens of different 
religious denominations he had been invited, and, though opposed 
by his clerical brethren in the college and neighborhood, yet, on 
account of the superior size of the building, he had consented, to 
deliver a Fourth of July address in a Presbyterian meeting- 
house, at a religious celebration of the first semi-centennial anni- 
versary of our national independence. It is to his conduct on 
this occasion that a part of Dr. Milnor's letter alludes. 



HIS MINISTRY. 271 

" New York, July 13, 1826. 
" My dear Friend and Brother — I was actually musing, 
with feelings of painful regret, on the interruption of our corre- 
spondence, when your very welcome letter of the 7th was handed 
me ; and my feelings were probably a little more excited than 
they would have been, by having just read, perhaps for the twen- 
tieth time, the first letter which you ever wrote me. The ingen- 
uous statement which that contained of an experience so corre- 
spondent with the course through which the Lord led me between 
thirteen and fourteen years ago, has always deeply affected my 
heart ; and its undoubted sincerity has inspired me with a per- 
sonal affection for you, which I can allow no trammels of cere- 
mony to prevent my expressing in a manner the most hearty and 
unreserved. And I cherish the grateful sensations with which 
it fills my bosom the more ardently, because I do believe that 
affection to be reciprocal ; while I long to see you freed from the 
shackles which I know hold you back from the formation of such 
alliances, and from the direction of your talents in such a way, 
as your love for Christ and his dear people would render gratify- 
ing to yourself and most useful to his blood-bought Church. My 
dear brother, you must not much longer bury your talents in the 
monastery at , nor live so nearly in contact with ecclesiasti- 
cal icebergs. I want to see you neither a fanatic nor a disor- 
ganizer ; but I do want to see you where you can give free scope 
to those animated conceptions of your high and holy calling, with 
which, I trust, the Spirit of our divine Master has filled your 
heart ; and where, with every required attention to matters of 
form, the grand purposes of the gospel ministry can be kept 
steadily in view, and prosecuted by you without the fear of man. 
Your conduct on the Fourth was exactly such as became you, 
and will commend itself to the approbation of G-od and of good 
men as it does to your own conscience. I am more and more 
persuaded, that while we should not forget the meekness which 
becomes us as the followers of our lowly Saviour, we gain nothing, 
even in the estimation of our opposers, by a want of firmness in 
maintaining that ground which duty to Grod and love for the 
souls of men require us to take. Notwithstanding my apparent 
difficulties, I find more peace of mind, more free communication 



272 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

with a throne of grace, more respect from my opposers as well 
as from my friends, and more animation in my various duties, 
when I can rise above the fear of man, and go straight forward 
in the path which I believe the providence of Grod has marked 
out for me, and which his grace directs me to pursue. Do not 
understand me, my endeared brother, as recommending incivility 
of demeanor, or an unrequired obstinacy in things indifferent, or 
a hasty self-determination, taken without cautious inquiry and 
earnest prayer. But where we know we are right by the best 
of tests, the outward word and the inward witness, let us beware 
how we make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, in 
accommodation to the views of ungodly men, or of misjudging 
Christians. 

" You see how I open all my heart to you, and I want to 
open it still wider ; expecting in return just as much of your 
confidence as you are pleased to give." 

In the remainder of the letter, he interests himself most gen- 
erously in the matter of a parish for his friend, mentioning sev- 
eral places though of no great promise, and then adding, 

" Pray write to me, if you think me entitled to advise in 
this matter, as you would to your nearest and most affectionate 
friend, that I may know, in confidence, your full views. 
" Ever yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

About this time an incident occurred, which, coming in si- 
lently along the track of his customary labors, must have greatly 
gladdened the heart of this faithful minister of Christ. One of 
the Episcopal churches in the city of New York having been 
closed for two months during the summer, a member of its con- 
gregation who had been a wretched backslider, attended, during 
that period, Dr. Milnor's ministry, both on Sundays and at his 
weekly lectures. While thus engaged, the Spirit of Grod fell 
upon him, reached him as he lay in the blood and guilt of his 
fall, and reawakened him to the trembling but blessed hope, that 
he might yet be embraced in the love of his all-gracious Re- 
deemer. Upon the reopening of the closed church, and his re- 
turn to its regular ministrations, he addressed a letter of warm 
and glowing thanks to Dr. Milnor, as the instrument, in God's 



HIS MINISTRY. 273 

hands, of the new life which he felt stirring within himself, 
and of deep and humble supplication that they might meet in 
glory at the last great day. The fact is mentioned as one among 
a multitude of instances in which the labors of Dr. Milnor 
were blessed to others besides the members of his immediate 
charge. 

He had now passed another of the annual conventions of the 
diocese of New York, and soon after wrote again to his friend in 
college. Parts of his letter furnish perhaps as strong a view as 
was ever exhibited of those points in his character and opinions 
in which be differed from his distinguished diocesan. 

"New York, Oct. 25, 1826. 
" My valued Brother — Your esteemed letters of August and 
September are before me; and, after the decided intimation of 
the former in respect to a ministerial settlement, I regret that 
one or two eligible situations have passed into other hands from 
the same cause which I fear may continue to obstruct your 
views — your present unavoidable confinement to the duties of 
college. There are so many young men who have no difficulty 
in exhibiting themselves at once to vacant congregations, and 
there is such a disposition in those congregations to hear before 
they commit themselves by a call, that persons in your circum- 
stances must necessarily labor under a considerable disadvantage 
in any attempt at securing a settlement. I know of but one 
remedy for this; which is, that gradual knowledge of your gen- 
eral character and talents as a preacher, which even in your 
present situation will be every day spreading itself. I have no 
doubt that this, with the influence of friends, will ultimately 
lead to the accomplishment of your wishes. In the meantime 
it may please the Lord to subject you to some trial of your faith 
and patience. I pray that he may reward your submission to 

his will with evidences of his loving-kindness at , and with 

a most abundant harvest in the field to which I trust he will 
direct your ultimate labors. 

" The bishop's charge at the late convention was an official 
array of the leading parties in our church, and a formal vindi- 
cation of that denominated ' High Church? against the impu- 

Mem, Mil u or. 1 8 



274 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

tation of bigotry, fondness of power, formalism, and non-evan- 
gelism. I heard the substance of it more than two years ago in 
a sermon delivered by Bishop Hob art on a Sunday evening in 
St. Paul's. Every division of it abounded with language not to 
be misunderstood against those whom I indignantly refuse to 
call, in the sense intended, 'Low Churchmen? the pious, devoted, 
and liberal members of our Zion. In the bishop's subsequent 
address to the convention, he denounced, in unqualified terms, 
our associating with other denominations in Tract Societies and 
Sunday-school Unions. Personally, to me the bishop is as kind 
as ever. But he designs to wound me, and all who think with 
me, in every official communication which he makes. Be it so. 
If persecution unto death were the penalty of my persevering 
dissent from what I deem his most exceptionable system, I feel 
confident that God would enable me to sustain the trial ; and I 
have no apprehension that my constancy will fail under any less 
fearful expressions of that spirit which only wants power to make 
it issue in acts of unqualified oppression. I mourn over this 
spirit, as I do over the daily proofs which I see of greater and 
greater opposition to the truth. More hereafter. At present, I 
have room to say but that I am, 

"Very affectionately, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The language of this paragraph has no little strength ; perhaps 
it may be thought to carry somewhat of severe earnestness. But 
when the circumstances of the writer are considered — placed, as 
he was, at the centre of an opposition more easily felt than coun- 
teracted, and the more irritating in proportion as it was irrespon- 
sible — his expressions, perhaps, will not be deemed too strong. 
The letter is important in its place, as disclosing more - plainly 
than any yet presented, the relation in which he stood to the 
ruling influences of the diocese ; a relation coeval in its origin 
with his rectorship of St. George's, and encompassing him with 
its more or less painful pressure to the end of his days. 

The next letter from him was to the same correspondent, 
and seems a fulfilment of the promise, at the close of the last, 
of more " hereafter." A part of it onlv, is of value to this 
memoir. 



HIS MINISTRY. 275 

"New York, Nov. 17, 1826. 

" My dear Brother — I have just returned from Philadelphia. 
The General Convention was a very interesting one, not so much 
for the amount and importance of the business actually done, as 
for the variety of the subjects brought before it, and their bear- 
ing, if eventually consummated, on the feelings and interests of 
the several classes of clergy in our church. 

" The magnificent project of a Book Society, brought forward 
by the Rev. Mr. B., met with a reception very different from 
that which he expected. Bishop White was much opposed to it, 
and the other bishops concurred with him in refusing to give it 
their sanction as a house. In the house of clerical and lay depu- 
ties, Mr. B. being himself a member, defended his plan ably ; but 
after much warm discussion, that body also refused to give it 
their recommendation. Although I subscribed to this object, 
some time ago, at the solicitation of its proposer, yet I am not 
sorry for this result, nor shall I be for its entire failure ; the aus- 
pices under which the selection of publications is to be made, 
being, in my view, not such as would secure the appearance of 
those most congenial with the opinions and feelings of the friends 
of evangelical truth. 

" It will give you pleasure to learn, that notwithstanding a 
warm opposition from a certain staunch advocate of canons and 
rubrics, and from others equally high-toned with himself, both 
houses adopted the report of the committee on hymns, of which 
we shall now have over two hundred, most of them very good. 
The contemplated improvement in the psalms was not effected, 
the committee not being ready to report on that part of their 
duty. They were, however, continued, and will report to the 
next General Convention. Bishop Hobart was warmly in favor 
of the hymns, and professed to regret very much the opposition 
with which they met. The house of bishops adopted them 
unanimously and promptly. 

" Your neighbor, the Rev. Mr. C , will tell you what the 

house of bishops have attempted to do with our Liturgy. On 
the suggestion of Bishop Hobart, they proposed not only that the 
clergyman officiating in the Sunday services should be allowed, 
at his discretion, to shorten the lessons and psalter, but also, that 



276 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

it should be at his option to omit the Litany. This also excited 
a warm opposition in the lower house. Even our friends, so far 
as the litany was concerned, were against the proposed innova- 
tion ; and the bishops, finding it so much objected to, withdrew 
that part of the proposal. After much debate, the other altera- 
tions were adopted, and according to the constitution, are to be 
transmitted, for their consideration, to the several state," dio- 
cesan, " conventions, and will be finally acted upon by the next 
general convention." 

But the most ominously important movement of this session 
was, the attempted passage of new canons, designed to augment 
the power of bishops in our church. In his letter, Dr. Milnor 
characterizes them as 

" Certain canons, making a bishop's rejection of a candidate 
irreversible and conclusive ; crippling clergymen in regard to let- 
ters dismissory from one diocese to another ; obliging candidates 
to apply," for admission, "to the bishop of the diocese in which 
they reside ; and giving new powers to that officer in regard to 
clergymen of other dioceses officiating in his." 

"These canons," he adds, "passed the upper house; were 
referred to a committee in the lower ; by that committee were 
remodelled ; and finally, thank God, instead of being passed in 
any shape, were referred to a joint committee, who are to report 
to the next convention. They will never, I trust, be heard of 
again, and would have been rejected now, had the vote been 
taken. 

" Though you may not like its style, yet you will be de- 
lighted when you read it, with Bishop Boweirs very conciliatory 
convention sermon, from the words, ; For meat destroy not the 
work of God ;' as I was to see the great accession of strength 
to the evangelical cause, which has been gained since the last 
convention. I feel sanguine, that, under the continued smiles 
of the great Head of the Church, the next triennial convention 
will be decidedly right ; and even at this, I am confident no 
high-handed measure of the exclusive churchmen could have 
obtained a majority of both orders, if of either, in its favor. 
This circumstance, with the delightful change which has been 
effected, and is every day becoming more marked in Pennsyl- 



HIS MINISTRY. 277 

vania, is a cause of grateful acknowledgment to God. May it 
all redound to his glory. 

" Have me much on your heart in prayer, and believe me, 
" Most affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

His anticipations of the rightness of the next triennial con- 
vention were in a measure realized. - Nothing more was heard of 
the new power-giving canons ; at least, they have never yet been 
passed ; and the proposed grant of discretion to our clergy to 
shorten the services of the Church, was, when the measure came 
up from the various diocesan conventions for final action, by gen- 
eral consent, withheld. Nevertheless, his hopes of a decided in- 
crease of evangelical influence in the councils of our church, are 
proved to have been rather " sanguine" than solid. Other influ- 
ences have since arisen ; and sad it is to be said, the tendencies 
of our bod}? - have received a melancholy change. But we must 
proceed with the letters. His next to the same correspondent 
was dated, 

"New York, Feb. 20, 1827. 

" My dear Friend and Brother — -It is with great pleasure 
that I now congratulate you on your emancipation from the 
drudgery of teaching as a secular instructor, and the assumption 
of your more appropriate work of teaching men how they may 
become ' wise unto salvation.' Now that you are settled down 
in a new parish and a new diocese, I want a long letter from you 
to tell me all your feelings and doings, with all your prospects 
and hopes of usefulness. I hope, my dear brother, you will ex- 
cuse the interest which I feel in whatever relates to you ; for I 
have lost none of that cordiality of attachment which I have so 
often had occasion to express, and which, I trust, will be con- 
tinued beyond the little time we shall be allowed to converse 
together this side of eternity. There is a hallowed character 
in Christian friendship, which gives it a stability as well as a 
warmth unknown to the friendships of the world. It is this 
cherished enjoyment, that fills my breast with some of its most 
delightful emotions. Next to the love of Christ, how sweet to 
love his disciples, to mingle our sympathies with theirs, to inter- 
change evidences of affection, to repose in each other's faithful 



278 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

counsels, and to pray for spiritual blessings on each other's be- 
half. I bless God, that while I am compelled to mourn over the 
coldness of feeling among our clerical brethren, and am obliged, 
here, to look for what seems lacking in them, to those of other 
names but of kindred minds, I am still solaced by the correspond- 
ence, which it is my privilege to hold from week to week with 
distant brethren of more congenial sentiments and views. "With 
one of these, our dear brother Mcllvaine, it has recently been my 
happiness to hold a few days' personal converse. He preached for 
me twice, the Sunday before last, in a most powerful manner : 
and the following evening we had a most interesting and affect- 
ing social meeting at the house of one of our brethren. "When 
you next write to me, you must tell me when you mean to give 
me the like pleasure. In visiting New York, you will, of course, 
think of no other residence but with us. 

"It will give you pleasure to hear, that Christians in St. 
George's have become more alive to the necessity of combined 
prayer and effort in behalf of the unconverted. Though a few 
only of encouraging indications have appeared among the latter, 
yet there is evidently more intense interest manifested both in 
the services of the church, and in my weekly lecture; which 
latter I continue to find profitable to myself and to those who 
hear me. How stand matters with you? Will your people bear 
the truth? I am sure you will preach it, whether they will 
hear or whether they will forbear. The Lord bless and prosper 
you in all things. 

" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILM)R." 

To the same. 

"New York. May 28, 1827. 
" My dear Brother — I feel ashamed, on recurring to a large 
bundle of unanswered letters, to find two from you, for which I 
believe no return has been made. I will not waste my paper 
and your precious time in long apologies ; but only beg you to 
believe, that I do not intend to forego the pleasure and advantage 
of your friendship, nor, little as is its value, to withhold from 
you mine, until the one or the other of us shall have severed 
that bond of union which connects us — our common love of the 



HIS MINISTRY. 279 

Redeemer — or have received his summons to that blest abode, 
where I pray God we may be permitted to dwell together for 
ever. That faith, which I find the great support of all my hopes 
and exertions, encourages the persuasion that the former event is 
not likely to occur. The latter we will unite in leaving to the 
disposal of Him who doeth all things well. 

"I was much interested by your account of the state of re- 
ligion in your parish. What with the prevalence of immorality 
in some, and of formalism and cold-heartedness in others, your 
difficulties are no doubt great ; but God can magnify his grace 
in overcoming all these obstacles to the spread of his own truth ; 
and I trust the encouraging symptoms of awakening, noticed in 
your letter of last month, have already strengthened your faith 
and animated your exertions. I am not opposed to such a pru- 
dential regard to circumstances as may consist with a faithful 
discharge of duty ; and I feel confident that it will be your study 
to combine wisdom with harmlessness. While we should not 
flatter the wicked, nor withhold, either in public or in private, 
needful and timely reproof, it is both lawful and expedient to 
temper all our communications with Christian suavity, and thus 
convince those who would oppose themselves, that we really love 
them, and seek to do them good. It has been my aim to with- 
hold no part of the counsel of God ; to give no countenance to 
either error in opinion or viciousness in life ; and to let all my 
views on every point, whether of doctrine or of duty, be fully 
known. But I have never thought that there was no hope of a 
sinner's conversion but by making him angry. Our best intend- 
ed communications may have that effect; and, in such a case, 
whether they harden or convert, we must be satisfied with having 
done our duty. Certainly, however,' we should not study to of- 
fend; and ever should we keep a most prayerful and watchful 
guard upon our own spirits, and be well assured that our motives 
are such as will commend themselves to the great Searcher of 
hearts. So doing, we may confidently leave our labors to the 
disposal of his providence and grace. 

"You have heard the deplorable issue of things in Pennsyl- 
vania, where our friends managed the whole business, from be- 
ginning to end, as badly as was possible." [He refers to meas- 



280 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ures which led to the election of an assistant-bishop.] " I have 
much to write you on that and other topics ; but I have now only 
room to solicit your prayers, and to assure you that, so long as 
you will allow me, I will remain, 

" Your affectionate friend and brother, 

"JAMES. MILNOR." 

Before his next letter to the same correspondent, he had met 
with an accident, which came near proving instantly fatal. In 
passing to the city from his summer residence, he was thrown 
upon the pavement, his head striking the curbstone, with a vio- 
lence which for some days rendered his recovery very doubtful. 

"New York, Aug. 21, 1827. 

" My dear Friend and Brother — I have before me your letter 
of the 26th of June ; and if it were not that I presume you to 
have heard of my calamity in falling from the Flushing stage the 
early part of July, I should deem it necessary to apologize for my 
long silence. This is the first day since the 11th ult. that I have 
taken a seat at my desk ; and I wish you to consider it as one 
evidence of my continued and warm affection, that one of the 
first hours of my recovered strength is devoted to you. 

" During my confinement, I have often looked for the letter 
which you ought to have written me ; but if this be the means 
of drawing from you an early communication, I will not com- 
plain. Indeed, I fear you will not discover much of any other 
object in my writing to you ; for a prisoner, just released from 
a protracted seclusion from the world, is much better fitted for 
receiving than for communicating information. 

" I have, however, some melancholy tidings to transmit. Our 
friend and brother, Mr. Duffle," the originator and first rector 
of St. Thomas's church, N. Y., " died last night ; and, if my 
strength permit, I am to assist as a pall-bearer at his funeral this 
afternoon. A few weeks ago he was at my house, and had much 
more reason then to anticipate his being called to such a service 
for me, than that I should be called to assist in the last respects 
to his remains. Thus mysterious are the ways of God's provi- 
dence. how unutterably important to be prepared for the 
most sudden call ! The Lord grant that all these visitations may 



HIS MINISTRY. 281 

have their due effect upon all our minds. No reflections should 
be more abiding with us of the ministry, than the importance of 
a fixed and continued assurance, that while we preach to others, 
we do not ourselves become castaways. My personal warnings 
have impressively taught me the value of personal religion, and 
the absolute necessity, in the midst of all our complicated duties 
to others, to see that matters stand right between Grod and our 
own souls. 

" I congratulate you, therefore, my dear brother, that your 
accession to the office of presbyter was accompanied by feel- 
ings so appropriate to that interesting step in your ministerial 
career. The Grod whom we serve, preserve you and me in a 
constant feeling of our high responsibilities, and fill us with 
the hopes resulting from a conscientious discharge of our mo- 
mentous trusts. 

" Your ever affectionate 

"JAMES MIUSTOB." 

On his return from "Washington, whither he had gone to 
attend a meeting of clergy, he wrote again to the same cor- 
respondent. 

"New York, Nov. 30, 1827. 

" My dear Friend and Brother — On my return from the 
south I found on my table your kind communication of the 5th 
inst., of which, if incessant occupation had not prevented, I 
should have transmitted an earlier acknowledgment." After 
alluding to the temporary ill health of his correspondent, he pro- 
ceeds: "In spiritual things, I am willing to trust you in the 
hands of that God, to whom I am assured you have given your- 
self, body, soul, and spirit ; and by whose power you will not only 
be kept through faith unto salvation, but also, as I trust, be 
made, in your day and generation, a blessing unto many. 

" I have abundant cause for discouragement in the little fruit 
which results from my own labors, and in the opposition of the 
enemies of truth within our church. But, so long as Grod allows 
me, I will strive to do something in his service ; and will pray 
for grace to enable me to meet the difficulties, which will ever, 
more or less, attend the faithful laborer in his vineyard. We 
have need of much firmness, in union with great meekness of 



282 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

temper, in the present state of things. By divine aid, I will not 
barter the hopes of eternity for the approbation of man; nor 
swerve from a course of clearly indicated duty, whatever offence 
it may give. At the same time, I am willing, and do desire to 
put my feelings under proper restraint, where undeserved injuries 
are offered ; and therefore I have refrained, though much incited 
to it by my friends, from answering the partial and unfair repre- 
sentation of a conversation between the assistant-bishop of Penn- 
sylvania and myself, which has been appended to the reasons 
published by the Episcopal college for the consecration of that 
most strenuous of high churchmen. I hope you have read the 
well-considered, moderate, and able pamphlet of dear brother 
Mcllvaine. Though I felt averse to his writing, yet I am satis- 
fied that what he has done will not only vindicate his character, 
( that was unnecessary, ) but give information to the public, which 
was much wanted, as to the sentiments and opinions of the 
evangelical clergy. Every minister and layman on the moderate 
side, from whom I have heard any expression of opinion respect- 
ing it, has given it his unqualified approbation. * 

" In regard to Pennsylvania, I verily believe that our breth- 
ren, in all their procedures, have been actuated by pure motives ; 
but there has been a great want of practical wisdom in their 
plans, and some intemperance of feeling in their publications. 
For their errors they are severely scourged in having set over 
them so unconciliating a man as their present assistant-bishop. 

" The Recorder, I fear, must necessarily, at least for some 
time, maintain a character that will be unpleasant to those who 
take no interest in the exciting controversies in the place of its 
publication. But they have no other vehicle for communicating 
the views of those whom, in his convention address, and. in his 
consecration sermon. Bishop Hobart has so clearly misrepresented ; 
and, unless they give up the evangelical cause to the unanswered 
attacks of their opposers, the paper must, for a while, bear a con- 
troversial aspect. I wish, as you do, that we had a miscellany, 

* The reference in the above paragraph is to the controversy, which for a 
while agitated the Church, upon the retirement of the late bishop of Pennsyl- 
vania from his parish in Brooklyn, and upon the settlement of the Rev. Mr. 
Mcllvaine in his place, as the rector of St. Ann's. 



HIS MINISTRY. 283 

decidedly of the same cast as to doctrine, but free from any 
reference to the local concerns of the church in that distracted 
diocese. At Washington, however, it was not found practicable 
to do any thing on this subject. Indeed, it was not formally dis- 
cussed; but in conversation, the view seemed to prevail, that 
"The Repertory" was identified with the interests of the Vir- 
ginia Theological Seminary, and of the Maryland and Virginia 
Education Society ; and " The Recorder," at present, with the 
defence of the principles and conduct of the evangelical brethren 
in Pennsylvania ; and that, on the whole, it must be referred to 
a more propitious moment to originate a publication of a more 
general character, in which the others should be merged. For 
various reasons, it was also thought best to defer the formation 
of a foreign missionary society. I was, however, delighted with 
the devout and ardent spirit of piety, which animates our south- 
ern brethren. Their new building for the Theological Seminary 
is about three miles from Alexandria, on a charming eminence ; 
and they had an expectation of twenty students for the present 
session. They have already sent forth several pious and well- 
qualified laborers, and I do believe that seminary is destined to 
be a great blessing to the church. 

" Farewell, my very dear brother. Pray, if your health per- 
mit, sit up an hour later than usual on some early evening, and 
let me hear from you at large. I love your letters, and I love 
them to be long, not in coming", but in compass. 
" With the warmest affection, 

"Ever yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To the same. 

"New York, April 21, 1828. 
" My dear Brother — The Lord be thanked, that you are still 
able to work, and that he is pleased to give you souls for your 
hire. Should the encouraging account which you give me of the 
state of things in your congregation be followed by the result of 
a manifest revival, you must avoid a name so offensive to many, 
and call it i an increased attention to religion.' All will then be 
well. It is a pity, when the Lord has of late years been so 
evidently pleased to accomplish the work of his grace by special 



284 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

effusions of his Spirit, that in such a church as ours, the opera- 
tions of that Spirit should be denied, though proved by the very 
evidence to which Christ himself refers as decisive — ' their fruits? 
That there have been alleged revivals which deservedly lost all 
credit with considerate Christians for want of this evidence, none 
of the best friends of those merciful visitations will deny ; and it 
cannot be questioned, that many enthusiastic excesses and cen- 
surable circumstances of various kinds, have accompanied true 
revivals. But with every needed abatement, I have not the least 
doubt of their having been, in countless instances, the means of 
salvation to multitudes ; and that they are, and will be among the 
means of hastening the latter-day glory of the church. Let us 
pray earnestly that an anxious concern for the best interests of 
our fellow-men may be revived in our own hearts, and in those 
of our lay-brethren ; peradventure the covenant-keeping God 
whom we serve, may grant us a more signal blessing, in pouring 
out his Spirit upon our people, than we have yet known. 

" Our increase of communicants in St. George's has not, of 
late, been very rapid ; and yet my Sunday and week-day services 
were never better attended, nor the prayer-meetings more regu- 
larly held and fervently conducted, nor the six Sunday-schools of 
my church better supplied with teachers and pupils. Nor does 
God leave himself without witness among us, in the ingathering 
of souls. Since the last Convention, I have received to commun- 
ion about twenty. We have now some earnest inquirers ; but 
still, I mourn the coldness of my own heart, the feebleness of my 
labors, and their inadequate results, and would hail with un- 
speakable gratitude such an evidence of the divine favor as has 
been afforded to many congregations in our land, to whatever 
odium it might subject me in the minds of many around me. 

" Can you tell me whom I ought to appoint to the Milnor 
professorship in Kenyon college ? If I had dared to hope that a 
certain friend of mine, not a hundred miles from you, would 
have accepted it, he would have been promptly named. But I 
have had no hope. "What think you he would have said to such 
a proposal ? 

" "With unabated affection, ever yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR. 



HIS MINISTRY. 285 

To the same. 

"New York, Feb. 26, 1829. 

" My dear Brother — I am now engaged, in addition to my 
stated Friday evening lecture, in a course of lectures, every 
Wednesday evening, preparatory to Confirmation, which is to 
take place about Easter. I have already lectured on the author- 
ity and inspiration of the sacred Scriptures ; the being and attri- 
butes of God ; the primeval and present state and character of 
man ; and salvation by grace through a divine Redeemer ; and 
shall proceed with the course on the offices of Christ ; the per- 
sonality, Deity, and influences of the Holy Spirit ; repentance ; 
faith ; justification ; sanctification } obedience ; the Church ; the 
sacraments, etc. An unusual interest has been excited by these 
communications, and I pray God that the spiritual profit of many 
may be the result. 

" But in telling you this, I have only afforded my testimony 
to the truth of that article of our church which declares that the 
' infection of nature doth remain,' etc. ; for what but the natural 
selfishness of the heart could lead me to speak about myself and 
my doings, whei? the immediate and proper object of this letter 
is, to answer the inquiries which you have made on the subject 
of your contemplated voyage across the Atlantic ? I do sincerely 
congratulate you on the favorable prospect before you of effect- 
ing an object which, in your case, I think on many accounts 
peculiarly desirable. If I were twenty years younger, and less 
encumbered than I am with responsibilities, you might be bur- 
dened with an unprofitable fellow-traveller." 

The rest of the letter is occupied with answers to the inqui- 
ries of his correspondent ; in furnishing which, Dr. Milnor little 
thought, that notwithstanding his age and responsibilities, he was 
himself so near his own more important visit to Europe. Only 
a single narration and a letter or two remain to be given, before 
we proceed to an account of that interesting portion of his life. 

At the close of the year 1828, and the beginning of 1829, 
Dr. Milnor passed through one of the most trying scenes of his 
ministerial course. It was the part which he took in the organ- 
ization and dissolution of " The Protestant Episcopal Clerical 
Association of New York." 



286 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

During the summer of 1828, a feeling, which had for some 
years been rising in the Church, began to express itself in a half- 
audible call for some association of a specially clerical character, 
" for the purposes of prayer, religious conversation, expounding 
the Scriptures, and other similar exercises." One of the first 
utterances of this feeling was in the ear of Bishop Hobart, by 
"the rector of one of the principal congregations of the city." 
This address to the bishop was evidently prompted by a desire to 
engage him as the head and leader of the movement, it being 
well known that whatever of a religious character he should 
either favor or oppose, would be either favored or opposed by the 
great majority of the clergy and laity of the diocese. Unfortu- 
nately, although the suggestion came to him from one with whom 
he had "the happiness to agree substantially as to principles and 
policy," yet, while he "approved the contemplated object," he 
had "various objections to the proposed plan of accomplishing 
it." But as the interview was friendly and unofficial, the sub- 
ject being "kindly discussed" between the parties, it was not 
supposed that the bishop's objections would lead him openly and 
officially to oppose the movement. Accordingly, when the An- 
nual Convention assembled, in October, 1828, it was determined 
by the clergy who were favorable, to proceed to the contemplated 
organization. A preparatory meeting was held, and a second 
appointed for "consummating" it. 

In these steps, no further consultation with the bishop was 
had, because it was thoroughly felt that all such consultation 
would be unavailing, and because it had been determined to pro- 
ceed in the prosecution of an object, which the movers considered 
of great importance, and from the prosecution of which no earthly 
power had a right to restrain them. 

A few hours, however, before the meeting for " consummat- 
ing" the organization, the bishop "accidentally heard" of what 
was passing, and " immediately resolved on seeing two of the 
four or five clergy of the city who, as far as he could learn, were 
as yet engaged in this measure, in order to a frank and friendly 
communication with them." These two clergymen were the 
Rev. Drs. "Wainwright and Milnor. " To them he stated ear- 
nestly and solicitously the reasons which convinced him that the 



HIS MINISTRY. , 287 

plan which they proposed for accomplishing their object, was 
inexpedient and unnecessary." Still, as in these interviews, es- 
pecially in that between Bishop Hobart and Dr. Milnor, the 
former expressly disclaimed addressing the latter in an official 
capacity, and more than once desired to be considered as convers- 
ing with him "not as his bishop, but as a friend," it was not 
deemed either necessary or advisable to desist from the work 
upon which they had so seriously entered. They therefore per- 
severed, and on the evening of that day completed the organi- 
zation of " The Protestant Episcopal Clerical Association of the 
City of New York," having " for its object the promotion of the 
personal piety and the official usefulness of its members, by devo- 
tional exercises and by conversation on missionary and such other 
religious subjects as might conduce to mutual edification." 

From its inception, this society was composed of clergymen 
representing the various shades of opinion in the Church, and 
was otherwise guarded against the danger of abuse. Its meet- 
ings were opened and closed with approved forms of devotion ; 
any clergyman of our church in New York and its vicinity, of 
whatever shade of opinion, might become a member by signify- 
ing his wish to the secretary in writing, with his approbation of 
the nature and object of the association ; and any member might 
invite any other clergyman of our church, not resident in either 
New York or its vicinity, to attend any of the regular meetings 
of the society. Besides, by mutual consent, the ordinary topics 
of theological and ecclesiastical controversy were excluded from 
the discussions of the members, and their exercises directed to 
"the promotion of harmony of feeling and of character," and 
not to that of "perfect uniformity of opinion." This latter re- 
sult they professed to consider "just about as feasible as to regu- 
late the proportions of the waves of some mighty river." 

Thus organized, constituted, and designed, the association 
commenced its regular meetings. It was some months, however, 
before the printed constitution and forms of devotion could be 
furnished for the use of the members. The pamphlet containing 
these documents, printed, not published, came from the press at 
the close of the year 1828 ; but being " at first inaccurately 
printed," " many corrections were necessary," and it was not 



288 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ready for distribution until several weeks later. At length a 
copy of the corrected impression, bearing the imprint of 1829, 
fell into the bishop's hands. Indeed, " it had been intended to 
send a copy to each Protestant Episcopal clergyman in the city." 
Before this could be done, however, and even " before the mem- 
bers received their copies," one " accidentally" met the bishop's 
eye. He immediately issued his memorable " Pastoral Letter," 
addressed "to the clergy and laity" of the diocese. This docu- 
ment appeared the 21st of February, 1829, "before the first meet- 
ing of the association" after the correction of their constitution 
and forms of devotion ; so that the members received the Pastoral, 
in all its formidableness, before they were favored with a sight of 
their own simple regulations and ritual in print. It came " not 
merely to the surprise, but to the utter astonishment of every 
member, some of whom would not believe the rumor of its pub- 
lication, when it reached them." To rumor, however, quickly 
succeeded ocular demonstration, and they were left with nothing 
to do but to gather up their scattered powers of reflection, and 
forthwith consider the question, whether they would dissolve the 
association, or continue it against the officially expressed disap- 
probation of their bishop. 

Meanwhile, they published to the world their constitution and 
forms of devotion, with "Prefatory Remarks," explaining, and 
mildly defending their course, and taking a brief but respectful 
notice of the "Pastoral Letter." This drew forth a "Vindica- 
tion" of the "Letter," anonymous in form, but evidently from 
the pen of the bishop. This, in its turn, was followed by a full 
"Account of the true nature and object of the Association," 
with " A Defence" of the same from objections which had been 
urged against it. And this, /finally, was succeeded by a " Brief 
Notice" of the Account and Defence, probably from the same 
pen with the "Vindication." The public papers, too, took up 
the doings of the bishop and the association ; the noise was 
heard from end to end of the land ; even from beyond the eastern 
limits of the states came back an echo of the sound ; and various 
movings in the atmosphere of feeling disturbed the quiet of the 
Church. 

In the midst of all this, the fate of the association was decided 



HIS MINISTRY. 289 

by the movement of one of its members, who had been the first 
actor in the business. He withdrew, and in a published letter 
to his brethren of the association, assigned his reasons for the 
step. Immediately after the receipt of his letter, the remaining 
members decided upon dissolving the organization. Their " Ac- 
count and Defence" was accordingly accompanied with a state- 
ment of reasons for the dissolution. The feeling of the associa- 
tion had previously been in favor of its continuation, but the 
withdrawment of one of its leading members changed the aspect 
of the question before it, inasmuch as its continuation after that 
event, would have seemed to justify the charge of partisan 
design. The members, therefore, no longer deliberated, and the 
dissolution was publicly announced in their very able " Account 
and Defence" of the organization. 

Such is the history of the brief-lived " Protestant Episcopal 
Clerical Association of New York." 

It has been given because Dr. Milnor was one of the two 
leading presbyters under whose auspices it was organized, and 
that one emphatically on whom the heaviest weight of odium 
fell, in consequence of the position assumed and of the course 
pursued by Bishop Hobart, It is not necessary to enter here into 
a defence of Dr. Minor's agency in the matter. It may be well, 
however, to add to the foregoing statement some few general 
reflections, inasmuch as the case involves a great general prin- 
ciple. 

The members of the association, in their reasonings on the 
case, alluded to the fact, that so far as schism in the Church is 
found to follow those actings of the religious life which sought 
expression in the exercises of their body, the evil flows, not from 
the nature and tendency of such associations in themselves, but 
from the unreasonable opposition with which they so uniformly 
meet. This fact has been specially observable in the case of the 
continental Reformation in Europe, and in those of the Puritans 
and Methodists in England. Had the ruling majority, during 
those great crises, abstained from contumelious treatment, oppo- 
sition, and persecution, the manifestations among them of relig- 
ious life would have wrought no schism. That life would have 
spread quickeningly and purifyingly in and through the Church, 

Mem. Milnor. 1 9 



290 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

till the whole would have felt the blessed and the needed in- 
fluence. Humanly speaking, popes and bishops had the control 
of this result in their own hands ; and by putting themselves at 
the head of the movements around them, and directing instead 
of opposing them, might have made the Reformation, or the re- 
vival of the Church, a safe and peaceful process. 

The same principle governs the humbler cases, in which these 
same actings of the religious life seek to develope themselves 
among us. "Were they left unopposed, especially if ruling ma- 
jorities would, with a prudence sought from above, favor and 
guide them in their course, the peace as well as the unity of the 
Church would remain undisturbed ; and its religious life, diffus- 
ing itself more uniformly, would reach and maintain itself at a 
higher and more satisfying point. It is when opposed and treated 
with harshness and contumely, that extremes follow its stronger 
movements. In the best actings of this religious life, there is 
always enough of human infirmity to feel keenly the injustice 
of such treatment. It must be remembered, too, that when 
extremes begin to evolve themselves, they are never found all on 
one side. If what may be termed the spiritual element be driven 
into an extreme on the one hand, the ritual element, as it may 
be called, will, by an invariable law of moral forces, certainly 
be found in an equal extreme on the other. 

In thus distinguishing the spiritual from the ritual element, 
the meaning is not, that the former is incapable, of expressing 
itself in ritual forms, or that it is a spirit which seeks freedom 
from external order and ceremonies. It is, undoubtedly, a spirit 
which refuses to be bound, as if in chains, at all times and under 
all circumstances, to one prescribed mode of worship. At the 
same time, however, it is a spirit compatible with consistent and 
most profound attachment to one prescribed, if scriptural mode 
of worship, and with enlightened and most reverent regard for 
all the appointments of God's visible Church. To suppose, on 
the one hand, that this spiritual element must, at all times and 
under all circumstances, be bound to one prescribed mode of wor- 
ship, is to claim for that mode a divine original, imposing itself 
on the observance of Christians with a divine obligation. It is 
to lose sight of the truth, that in the Christian Church, all par- 



HIS MINISTRY. 291 

ticular modes of worship are confessedly matters of mere human 
arrangement and expediency ; and therefore cannot, by ecclesias- 
tical authority, be made obligatory beyond the times and occa- 
sions for which they are avowedly designed. And on the other 
hand, to suppose that the spiritual element in the Church cannot 
express itself, with full and entire satisfaction, in ritual forms, at 
the times and on the occasions for which those forms are de- 
signed, is to admit, either that the particular " routine of pre- 
scribed formularies" is indeed "dull," spiritless, without food for 
the soul in its intenser moods of action ; or, that such routine is 
unscriptural, superstitious, corrupting to religious character : 
neither of which will be admitted by those who love to be always 
bound to forms ; certainly neither will be alleged by those who 
plead for liberty of action at times and on occasions for which 
existing forms were not designed. 

It is important to observe, that these two elements — the ritual, 
or that which loves to confine itself to prescribed forms and cer- 
emonies ; and the spiritual, or that which, while capable of most 
reverent attachments to lively and scriptural forms, and of full 
enjoyment in them, still claims the liberty wherewith the Church 
as well as Christ hath made it free at times and in places not 
contemplated by public rituals — either always are, or at any 
time may be, present in the Church. Should any church be- 
come thoroughly and literally dead in ritualism, as distinguished 
from a rational love of forms, it would still be impossible, unless 
God had for ever cast off that church, to prevent the revival and 
growth within it of the spiritual element, as just defined. The 
world rolls round ; and it would be as impossible to make night 
perpetual in any one region, as it would be to make utter spirit- 
ual death perpetual in any church not for ever deserted of God. 
The revolutions in the spiritual world may be slower than those 
of the natural, but they are not less sure. Generally, however, 
the ritual and the spiritual elements coexist in every church, 
especially in every church which has chosen to adopt in its pub- 
lic worship prescribed forms of prayer ; and they coexist, not as 
necessarily invidious and antagonistic distinctions, but as possibly 
rational and harmonious developments. There is no more reason 
for supposing that the true religious life must always develope 



292 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

itself in one of these forms, than there is for supposing that the 
natural life must always develope itself under one invariable 
temperament. Grace does not annihilate nature ; it does but 
reneiu and sanctify it in all its peculiar developments. 

Allowing, then, that in any particular church the ritual ele- 
ment is enlightened and rational as well as devout and reveren- 
tial ; still, it has no more right or reason on its side in endeav- 
oring to expel, or even to repress from activity, the spiritual 
element, than the latter would have in endeavoring to expel or 
to repress the former. To assume the converse of this proposi- 
tion, is to assume that this spiritual element is sheer delusion, 
the work of Satan, or of mere corrupt nature, with which the 
Spirit of God has no intercourse or concern : a position which 
the most strenuous advocate of forms dare riot assume. In as- 
suming it, any sane and reflecting Christian would be afraid of 
being smitten with some irrepealable curse. It is futile to at- 
tempt to avoid this by saying, that the spiritual element is liable 
to dangerous mixtures with mere animal heats and delusions, 
and that therefore the ritual element has a right to war against 
its movements ; for if such a danger exist on the one hand, it is 
equally true on the other, that the ritual element is liable to dan- 
gerous mixtures with mere animal chills and pharisaisms, and 
that therefore the spiritual element has a right to drive it out 
of the Church. Thus would be established the right to ceaseless 
warfare within what was designed to be the ever-tranquil fold of 
the Prince of peace. The truth is, under any of its developments, 
grace cannot come into fallen human nature, without liability to 
abuse from that nature ; and there is no more reason for suppos- 
ing that the Spirit of God holds exclusively with the ritual, than 
there is for believing that he holds exclusively with the -spiritual 
element in the Church ; and therefore the true inference is, that 
both should be prayerfully watched, and prayerfully cultivated, 
that thus unbroken peace and brotherhood may always prevail 
within the household of Christ. 

To apply this to such cases as that of the association whose 
brief history has been given : If the Spirit of God have intercourse 
and concern with the spiritual element in the Church, which it 
were profaneness to deny, then it is not merely the interest, but 



HIS MINISTRY. 293 

also the duty of the Church, while seeking wisdom from God to 
regulate it, to cherish and direct it also to its intended good 
results ; and more than this, to secure for it the free privilege 
of its own peculiar modes of action and expression — so long, at 
least, as it respects, reverences, and observes those which the 
Church has rightfully prescribed. It should be well understood 
and cordially admitted, that this element is a part of the Church, 
and its actings a part of the Church's action ; that this element 
and its developments are just as normal, and as Christian, and 
therefore as privileged, as any other element and its developments. 
Christ designed that this element should be in his Church, and 
should have scope, not merely for its private opinions and judg- 
ments, but also for the appropriate action of its peculiar sympa- 
thies, capabilities, adaptations, and tendencies. It has work to 
do, and results to evolve ; and it comes forth in the Church, not 
"bound hand and foot," but " Christ's free man;" under law to 
him always, under law to his Church, where she hath rightful 
authority ; yet under his commission still to go free, and do its 
work openly, unimpededly, efficiently, for his Church and in his 
Church, as well as for the world and in the world. In this work, 
it is not merely the interest, it is also the duty of the Church to 
cherish and defend it. It is not enough to let it alone ; to keep 
off from it the persecuting hand and the persecuting tongue ; to 
treat it as a merely tolerated, endured, yet displeasing presence : 
it must be cordially welcomed, honored, provided for, as a most 
glorious part of the Church, and as doing in it a portion of Christ's 
most glorious work. 

In the church to which Dr. Milnor belonged, it may be be- 
lieved, this treatment of the spiritual element would be not only 
safe, but peculiarly safe. It is surrounded with, perhaps, just 
that provision of safeguards, which, so far as the infirmities of 
fallen man may render its action, under any circumstances, un- 
safe, is best calculated to counteract the danger, while securing 
all the richest benefits which this modification of the religious life 
is designed to yield. Instead, then, of frowning upon it, and setting 
themselves against it, let the ruling powers fearlessly and cordially 
put themselves at the head of all its manifestations, and cherish, 
while directing them, in the spirit of a heavenly wisdom. The 



294 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

world may then see a Church, combining all the best life of purity 
and efficiency with all the best beauty of order and decency. 

The opposite of this treatment, we may be assured, inflicts 
on the Church, in the long run, one of her most serious wounds. 
Treated with persecution or harshness, this element must flee, as 
it did in the Puritan and Wesleyan movements, if not to the 
mountains, at least to independent positions, where it can defend, 
maintain, and expand itself. And then, when any church has 
lost that portion of its members in whom this element had mani- 
fested itself, it is impossible to prevent the revival of the same 
spirit among those who remain. Hence, a new portion must be 
driven for refuge and activity out of its pale ; and thus that 
church will be successively drained of portions of its life and 
substance which it can least afford to lose. No church can 
afford to undergo continually-repeated depletions. "We can en- 
dure the thought of the world's losing successive portions of its 
population, when drawn off to be made alive in a living church ; 
but not the idea of any church losing such portions of its own 
soul and body, though drawn off to be nourished and kept alive 
under other auspices. No local church can bear such a process 
without the peril of falling at last into either a moral atrophy, or 
a literal depopulation. Christ designed not that his Church, or 
any portion of it, should be continually parting with its numbers, 
but that, in every portion, it should be continually adding to its 
multitudes. 

This design cannot be realized under the circumstances which 
we have been reviewing. It is plainly too much to expect of hu- 
man nature, even in its best state on earth, that individuals in 
whom the spiritual element is developed, can be kept in a church, 
yet always in fetters ; tolerated in their private opinions and 
judgments, yet restrained from all peculiar modes of expressing 
their own sympathies and activities. Theirs is a spirit which 
loves law and order, and will abide them ; but it is also a spirit 
which loves liberty and action, where Christ and true church 
authority have left it free to act ; and such liberty and activity it 
must and will enjoy, or it will either expire where it stands, or 
go and seek what it needs elsewhere : leaving other and perhaps 
more vigorous manifestations to revive in its vacated place, and 



HIS MINISTRY. 295 

to work out its postponed, but appointed mission and destiny. 
It has common sympathies and susceptibilities, which fit it to 
live and act in harmony with its ritual companion, and to make 
the companionship a blessing to both ; but it has also sympathies 
and susceptibilities, wants and necessities, which ask for other 
and freer exercise ; and this exercise it must and will have. It 
is not a thing of opinion and judgment alone, which may be 
privately entertained, and with private entertainment be satis- 
fied ; but a thing of life and activity also — assimilated, in some 
of its living and active attributes, to ritualism — peculiar to itself 
in others, and as such demanding other and peculiar modes of 
expression. It is a spirit which may be traced through the 
Church from Christ's time to our own ; and enough is known of 
its history to show, that it is one of the offspring of God in his 
great kingdom, and not a mere progeny of man in his fallen es- 
tate. Let it, then, be treated according to its true origin and 
character. It will thus work out its mission and its destiny 
peacefully and blessedly, bringing high glory to its Author, and 
wide good to its objects. But it is time to return to the memoir. 

His next letter, on the list of those which have been recov- 
ered, was on a subject deeply interesting to its writer, that of a 
school for training colored missionaries to Africa. 

To the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw. 

"New York, Jan. 27, 1830. 
"Rev. and dear Brother — I sympathize sincerely with your 
young friend, whom I presume to be Mr. Cleveland, in the anxiety 
which he has so lonsr felt to direct his efforts into a channel of 
usefulness, for which there has yet appeared no opening. The 
school attempted some years ago in New Jersey, for the in- 
struction of colored youth having a view to the ministry of the 
Presbyterian church, fell through, partly for want of support, and 
partly in consequence of the licentious conduct of some of the 
pupils. A subsequent attempt, principally by gentlemen in New- 
ark, and, on their invitation, a few from other states, who con- 
sulted together at a meeting in that place which I attended, was 
followed by no beneficial results. It was then hoped that a con- 
siderable sum left by General Kosciusko, might be secured for 



296 MEMOIR OF DR. MILBTOR. 

this purpose ; and Mr. Lear of "Washington, who is administrator, 
cum testamento annexo, and who has the funds in his hands, 
gave encouragement for such a hope. Afterwards, however, 
General Kosciusko's will was contested by his relatives; and 
whether it is still in litigation or not, I do not know. 

" In the African mission-school at Hartford, there are four 
young men, and the wife of one of them, receiving instruction 
preparatory to a removal to Africa. Three of these young men 
Bishop Brownell intends to ordain. One is not expected to have 
all the qualifications requisite to a clergyman, but is to go out as 
catechist and schoolmaster. The woman, it is hoped, will make 
a good schoolmistress. That school is ready to receive other 
pupils of piety and promise, who, like those already there, will 
be taught by a suitable instructor in secular learning, and by 
Bishop Brownell and Mr. Wheaton in theology. The bishop al- 
lows them to hold a weekly religious meeting for colored persons, 
and to exercise themselves in extemporaneous preaching. 

" ' But what are these among so many ?' If the wants of 
Africa received the sympathy and commiseration to which they 
are entitled, a large seminary, with a special view to their sup- 
ply, would be at once established. But the variety of other calls, 
the distance of the object, the supposed difficulty of obtaining 
well-disposed pupils having a view to emigration to that country, 
the prevalent denominational distinctions, and the monies re- 
quired to accomplish any thing on an extended scale, all seem to 
be barriers in the way. If we had, I will not say a "VVilberforce, 
but an Anthony Benezet among us, who would arouse public 
attention to this interesting object, something perhaps might be 
done. But talents, exertion, and what must be their associate 
influence, are required; and our young friend, with all his zeal 
and abilities, could effect nothing until some master-spirit should 
arise among the class of more advanced Christians, whose hold 
upon the public mind would enable him to rally in his cause not 
only those who wish well to Africa, but also those who would 
prove the sincerity of their feelings by liberal contributions to 
her spiritual relief. Unhappily, almost all our colored population 
in this city are opposed to colonization, and of course look with 
jealousy on all attempts that may seem to favor it; and many of 



HIS MINISTRY. 297 

their white friends partake of their feelings. The result of the 
whole is an entire inability on my part to suggest any thing that 
would assist the benevolent aims of your young friend. 

" I wish I had room for more than the assurance that I re- 



main 

" Your affectionate brother, 



JAMES MILXOR. 



The letters which have filled so many pages of this memoir, 
though they furnish no connected view of the incidents in the 
outer life of Dr. Milnor, yet, as revelations of his inner life, are 
peculiarly valuable. They show how various current events af- 
fected him ; and illustrate the position in which he was provi- 
dentially placed in relation to his own church, and to various 
religious institutions in our country. Profoundly actuated by 
convictions so different from those which governed the majority 
of Episcopalians, particularly in the diocese to which he be- 
longed, he was, for many years, called to few posts of action and 
of influence among them. With the fewer engrossing cares, 
therefore, was he left to devote whatever of time and of talent 
he could, command to the working of those great Christian asso- 
ciations, with which our country was beginning to abound, which 
were designed to embody the influence of all truly evangelical 
denominations, and of which both his judgment and his heart 
constrained him to approve. Originally, it is true, he engaged 
in the service of those noble institutions because he loved their 
spirit and their objects, without stopping to inquire whether there 
were not other channels through which he might pour the re- 
sources of his influence into the general stream of Christian be- 
nevolence. But it is likewise true, that the mere withholding 
of his cooperation from those institutions would not have opened 
to him, as substitutes, any important places of trust and influ- 
ence in his own church. Under a system of ecclesiastical tactics 
which effectually excluded him, those places were always care- 
fully, or at least controllingly, filled by others of very different 
religious views ; and never would have been opened for any effec- 
tive exertion of his influence, save on an abandonment of those 
Christian principles and sympathies which he cherished, and which 
constituted an indestructible part of his character and experience 



298 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

as a disciple of Christ. Virtually, therefore, the question with 
him was, whether he would throw his main strength into such 
institutions as the American Bible and Tract Societies, or be 
content with those narrow limits of a parish, which would prac- 
tically shut him out of the great world of Christian action and 
movement. Of course, such a question, proposed to such a mind, 
could not remain an hour undecided. He knew, indeed, that his 
decision would expose him to opposition; he knew the quarter 
from which, mainly, that opposition would come; and he knew 
that it would be an opposition all the more formidable because 
backed by the forces of an early and still sincere friendship. 
Yet all this could not move him from his course. Many, now 
living, know well the peculiar pain which it gave him to differ 
from his early friend, especially when appearing in the later 
character of his bishop. Still, he felt that, so long as he walked 
with scrupulous care according to all the prescriptions of his own 
church, he had a Christian man's liberty to walk, in other things, 
according to his own best judgment of duty. It was, doubtless, 
a difficult path to tread; and if, while following it, his private 
correspondence shows, that in alluding to the measures of his 
diocesan, he expressed himself, though never with discourtesy, 
yet sometimes with warmth, it must be ascribed to the peculiar 
shaping and power of that influence in which early friendship 
and later office were brought to bear against him. For it must 
be confessed, that if any thing can excite a Christian to speak 
with an earnestness beyond what his own calmer thoughts would 
prompt, it is that influence with which office arms itself, when it 
attempts, through the tenderness of friendship, to enforce what 
authority may not enjoin, or to prevent what authority may not 
forbid. Precisely this sort of influence was Dr. Milnor repeat- 
edly compelled to encounter. It cannot, therefore, be a matter 
of wonder if his letters sometimes show, that the sensibilities both 
of the Christian and of the friend had been somewhat disturbingly 
touched. The disturbance was always momentary; for his na- 
ture was of the kindlier sort, that 



carries anger as the flint bears fire — 



Which, much enforced, doth show a hasty spark. 
And straight is cold again." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 299 

PART IV. 

MISSION TO ENGLAND, 



SECTION I. 

We have now reached the period at which Dr. Milnor was 
called to undertake a most important agency — that of delegate 
from the American Bible Society and other religious institutions 
in this country, to those noble kindred associations in England, 
which the month of May annually brings together in the city of 
London. These societies, though originating in different lands, 
yet have the same parentage. They were all born of the active 
benevolence of Protestant Christianity. The same spiritual blood 
flows in all their veins. No wonder, then, that they desired to 
know one another face to face ; and it is much to the credit of 
the American sisterhood, that they were the first to propose and 
bring about the meeting. The idea of sending Dr. Milnor as a 
delegate from the American to the British and Foreign Bible 
Society, had for some time been entertained, but never till now 
could those who conceived the idea bring it into realization. 
The account of Dr. Milnor's visit cannot be better introduced 
than by an extract from the records of the vestry of St. George's, 
containing their assent to his proposed absence from his parish. 
That extract is as follows : 

" At a special meeting of the vestry of St. George's church, 
in the city of New York, held in the vestry-room, Feb. 20, 1830, 

" The rector stated to the vestry, that since his application, 
several years ago, for leave of absence for the purpose of visiting 
England, when the vestry were kind enough to grant permission 
for that purpose, although circumstances prevented his availing 
himself of it, he has been frequently and much importuned by 
his religious friends to fulfil what was then expected of him on 
behalf of the American Bible Society and other institutions of 



300 MEMOIR 0? DR. MILNOR. 

our country, with which he has been long officially connected ; 
that at this time, in consequence of renewed applications of the 
same nature, urged upon his attention by many powerful consid- 
erations, his mind has become impressed with the persuasion of 
its being his duty, if practicable, to attend the ensuing anni- 
versary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church 
Missionary, the Prayer-book and Homily, the Tract, and other 
religious societies in London, in the month of May next ; and 
while in England to avail himself of whatever means may be 
presented for furthering the interests of institutions of a similar 
kind in the United States ; and that, adding to these views a 
humble hope, with the help of God's grace, of improving by the 
same means his own mind, and increasing his own zeal in the 
discharge of his duties to his beloved congregation on his return, 
he was induced to solicit of the vestry leave of absence for the 
space of about six months. It was therefore unanimously 

"Resolved^ That although the vestry cannot, without deep 
concern, look forward to so long a separation between their 
pastor and his congregation, to whom he is so faithful, and by 
whom he is so much respected and beloved, yet — convinced that 
the proposed mission, by leading to a more friendly and intimate 
intercourse between the eminent and useful associations in this 
and our parent country, which have for their object the extension 
of religious knowledge, and by collecting much useful information 
as to the state of religion abroad, and the means of propagating 
the knowledge and influence of the Gospel, as well as in various 
other ways, may promote the interests and advancement of the 
institutions formed here for such purposes, and of the common 
cause of our holy religion — this vestry approves of the design, and 
consents to the absence of the rector for the requisite time; ex- 
pressing their satisfaction at being thus permitted, in their en- 
deavors to promote such interesting objects, to contribute, as 
they trust, to his personal gratification, by adding to the means 
of extending his own usefulness. And they affectionately com- 
mend him to the care of the great Head of the Church, and pray 
that he may enjoy a speedy and pleasant voyage, and a safe 
return. 

"Attested, THOMAS BLOODGOOD, Clerk." 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 301 

The feelings with which he undertook this enterprise, were 
characteristic at once of his usual modest estimate of himself, 
of his pious devotion to the cause of his Master, and of his heart- 
felt interest in the societies which he was to represent. Illustra- 
tive of this is the following extract from a letter to the present 
writer. 

"New York, Feb. 20, 1830. 

"Rev. and dear Brother — You will be surprised to learn, 
that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you as you pass 
through New York, and still more so when you know the cause. 
I have yielded to the importunity of my friends, and with the 
unanimous consent of my vestry, have agreed to sail for England 
on the 16th of the ensuing month. Perhaps it might, by some, 
be considered affectation in me to say, that I have acceded to 
this measure with reluctance, and that nothing but a sense of 
duty would have led me to consent to so long an absence from 
my family and flock. But I am sure you will believe me when 
I say, that with advanced age, much of the curiosity that would 
have made such a proposal delightful in my earlier years, has 
subsided, and that, besides other feelings of repugnance to cross- 
ing the ocean, a conviction of my incompetency for many duties 
which will probably be consequent on my arrival in England, 
has oppressively increased it. I shall, if God permit, attend the 
principal anniversaries in London, and perhaps may be called to 
take some part in their proceedings ; and much as I have spoken 
in public in my own land, I do shrink at the thought of doing so 
before such assemblages as those occasions bring together. But 
if God enable me to become an instrument in opening a more 
effectual communication, and of exciting a more feeling interest 
between the evangelical clergy of England and those of this coun- 
try, and between the great benevolent institutions there and 
here, it will be no imbittering reflection, during the residue of my 
brief term of existence, that I have been so honored, and to God 
shall be all the glory and the praise. Let me ask of you your ear- 
nest supplications in my behalf, for divine preservation and support 
in the enterprise to which his providence appears to direct me. 
"Your faithful and sincere brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 



302 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Although, however, his appointment as delegate from the 
American Bible Society and its kindred associations was the 
prime mover of the enterprise, yet the missionary and other soci- 
eties under the control of his own church were not without a 
share in his attentions abroad. This is evident from the follow- 
ing letter. 

"Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1830. 

" Rev. and very dear Brother— Our mutual friend Mr. Ib- 
botson has made me acquainted with his urgent endeavors to 
enlist you in an undertaking which, for more than a year, has 
been very near my heart. Should he prevail in pleading a cause 
in which I have been so unsuccessful, I must, even if I go pur- 
posely to New York, have an interview with you previous to your 
departure. "While, however, the decision is pending, I trust you 
will not consider it out of place for me to run over with you a 
very hasty and condensed schedule of the benefits which I think 
cannot fail to result from your voyage. 

" 1. In connection with the Bible and Tract causes, 'the lay 
of the land' is more entirely before your mind's eye than that of 
any other man. 

"2. The Sunday-school, Bible-class, and infant-school cause 
must receive benefit by an interchange of minute knowledge of 
facts and details. 

"3. In your interviews with the editors of the Christian Guar- 
dian and the Christian Observer, you can help a correct impression 
of the true state of l revivals ' and many kindred points, besides 
opening a free communication, of inconceivable use to the Recorder,* 
but of which I despair if left to mere letter- writing. They feel no 
deep sympathy, no lively concern in our views, with regard to bring- 
ing the evangelical interests of the two countries nearer together. 

"4. You could do much for dear Bishop Chase and the noble 
work at Kenyon college. 

" 5. But after mentioning of how great use you might be to 
the Recorder, in collecting pamphlets, tracts, sermons, etc., not 
accessible in this country, but extracts from which would be 
delightful, and most influentially useful, I must hasten, 

* The writer of this letter was then editor of "The Episcopal Recorder," 
a paper published in Philadelphia. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 303 

" 6. To the main thing — intimate, thorough, effective inter- 
views with Mr. Bickersteth and Daniel Wilson on the subject of 
Missions. Do you know that an order has been repeated again 
and again to our secretary, to open a correspondence with all the 
church societies for missionary objects ? It must be done through 
you, if you go. But chiefly for our own sakes must we know 
the routine of business at the Church Missionary Society's house ; 
its cardinal rules, modes of dividing labor, keeping books, and 
conducting correspondence ; its lessons of experience, warnings, 
cautions, etc. We must sometimes get at fields through them, 
and they sometimes through us. We must exchange intelli- 
gence, and interchange laborers. In a word, as much of the 
benefit of their labor as we can get, without buying the like wis- 
dom and success by all the hard cost of experience, and as can 
be brought cheaply across the Atlantic, we ought to have ; and 
you are the very man, from your large acquaintance with the 
Bible Society's movements, to obtain it. We want all manner 
of missionary documents, files of reports, and series of publica- 
tions from all our three societies — from the London Missionary 
Society, from the General Baptists, and from the Wesley an Meth- 
odists. But I have done. 

" Your brother in Christ, 

"B. B. SMITH." 

" P. S. I had just closed this, when yours of the 20th came 
to hand. I desire, first of all, to bow my knee in unfeigned 
thankfulness to God, that my heart's desire and prayer to him, 
in relation to this . great movement, have been so unexpectedly 
answered. Next I must say, that we must meet. Should your 
engagements render it difficult for you to come to Philadelphia, 
I will, the Lord permitting, visit you as soon as brother Robert- 
son's business here is put in train ; say, after the 10th of March. 
By the way, will you please to bear in mind so to bring the 
Greek mission before your people, previous to your departure, 
that brother Robertson and brother Hill may work to advantage 
among them in April or May ?" 

For the information of the general reader, it may be stated, 
that the Rev. Mr. Robertson was our first missionary to Greece ; 
and that the Rev. Mr. Hill became early his associate. 



304 "memoir of dr. mil^or. 

The former of the two following letters gives an idea of the 
manner in which Dr. Milnor continued to employ himself amid 
the engrossing cares of preparation for his voyage ; the latter 
furnishes one of the many instances in which his private influ- 
ence was blessed to the good of others. 

"New York, Feb. 23d. 1830. 

"Rev. and dear Brother — I called a special meeting of the 
Publishing Committee of the American Tract Society yesterday, 
for the purpose of considering your interesting communication on 
the subject of the progress of ' Catholicism.' My colleagues and 
myself concur in opinion, that the time has arrived when some- 
thing must be done to check, if possible, the alarming advances 
of popery in this country. It was therefore resolved to be expe- 
dient to issue some Tracts of the character which you describe : 
and that, if our absent members concur in our views, measures 
be immediately taken for that purpose. You will be made ac- 
quainted, as soon as possible, with the final determination of the 
Committee. I sincerely hope that they may concur in entering 
on the defence of Protestantism in such a spirit as will commend 
itself to the approbation of the great Head of the Church, and to 
the feelings of the community. 

" I have the pleasure of informing you, that permission has 
been given me to visit England, and that I shall sail by the 
packet of the 16th of March. Will you be good enough to men- 
tion this to brother Johns. Both from him and yourself let me 
have fraternal counsel as to the best means of improving my op- 
portunities of intercourse with our dear brethren in England for 
the benefit of evangelical religion in our own country ; and if in 
the power of either of you, please favor me with letters to clergy- 
men there. Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain, 
" Your affectionate brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MIL^OR." 

" To the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, Baltimore." 

The other letter was from a near neighbor in New York, to 
whom he had written on the subject to which it refers; and 
whose reply doubtless furnished him as welcome a cheer as any 
that greeted him on the eve of his departure. 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 305 

From . 

"New York, March 15, 1830. 

" Rev. and respected Sir — -I received the letter which you 
did me the favor to write ; and I thank you for the friendly and 
affectionate counsel therein contained. 

" Believing, as I do, that the communication will give you 
pleasure, I hasten to inform you that I was last night brought to 
the determination to abandon the sale of distilled liquors, and to 
cast myself and family on the good providence of God ; getting 
rid of the enemy in the best way I can, and looking to Him who 
alone is able to bless me in this my humble attempt to serve 
him. 

" May the God of the ocean, whose servant you are, be with 
you on the sea as well as on the dry land. May you do good and 
get good among the people whom you are about to visit ; and 
may you be abundantly prospered in the object of your mission, 
and in due season returned to Zion here, and to the flock of your 
charge, and be continued to both a rich and a lasting blessing. 
"I am, reverend and respected sir, 

" Your obliged and humble servant, 



In a note on the back of this letter, Dr. William H. Milnor 
remarks, "I remember this person well. He had frequent in- 
terviews with my father on the subject. I am under the impres- 
sion that he was himself much addicted to the use of liquors. 
After this letter he was a regular attendant at church, and be- 
came a respectable citizen." 

So soon as it was publicly known that Dr. Milnor was going 
to England in a public capacity, and for purposes of business, 
commissions of various kinds flowed in upon him in a stream 
almost literally overwhelming. A more striking proof could not 
well have been given of the high estimate in which he was held, 
and of the thorough confidence which he enjoyed, as an able and 
faithful Christian man of business, than that furnished by the 
number and variety of the trusts which he was urged to assume, 
and of the commissions which he was called to execute. He had 
enough to load a minister plenipotentiary to a foreign sovereign ; 
and to discharge them all, seemed to require the assistance of a 

Mem. Milnor. 20 



306 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

secretary of legation. And yet he undertook them all alone, and 
discharged them all alone. By his uncommon quickness and 
skill in reducing matters of business to system, and in doing 
every thing in its proper time, place, and order, he left nothing 
uncared for, and few if any trusts undischarged. Some idea of 
the force of these remarks may be had from a simple enumera- 
tion of the formal commissions which he bore, and of the informal 
matters of business with which he was intrusted. 

He was clothed, then, with more or less formal commissions 
and instructions from the American Bible and Tract Societies, 
the American Sunday-school Union, the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions, the American Education Soci- 
ety, the American Temperance Society, the American Seamen's 
Friend Society, the Prison Discipline Society, the General Union 
for promoting the observance of the Christian Sabbath, and the 
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church ; all of which operate throughout the broad bounds 
of our political union, while some of them aim to throw their 
blessed influence over all the earth. Most of them, likewise, 
accompanied their commissions with masses of documents, re- 
ports, and other pamphlets, for his examination and use in man- 
aging their interests abroad. 

Besides these, he was intrusted with informal, though im- 
portant business commissions from the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 
Bishop Chase and Kenyon College, the Savings-bank in New 
York, and the patrons of the Episcopal Recorder, Philadelphia ; 
while private commissions also were numerous, and involved, 
some of them, no small amount of attention to business details, 
and to topics for inquiry. Thus the Rev. Dr. Hawks, subse- 
quently appointed modern historiographer to our American Epis- 
copal church, commissioned him to procure various valuable 
documents and works touching the early history of our church 
in this country, which were to be found by searching the vast 
accumulations in the archives of the venerable " Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." From a dear friend 
in the ministry, he also received the following list of topics for 
inquiry, and of things to be thought of, as bearing with interest 
on the welfare of religion and of the Church in this country. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 307 

" I. Subjects of inquiry. 

" 1. State of opinion in the Church of England relative to 
the exclusive claims of Episcopacy. How far those called High- 
Church generally carry their views ? What is the prevailing 
opinion among the evangelical clergy ? "Whether this point con- 
stitutes as general a ground of division among them as it does 
among us ? And how far the evangelical clergy are in the habit 
of introducing such topics into the pulpit ? 

"2. The precise state of the controversy touching baptismal 
regeneration. What ground is generally held on the two sides ? 

" 3. The proportion of evangelical men in the ministry of the 
English church. What is the extent of Calvinistic views among 
them? How their spirit, preaching, and labors, and practical 
qualifications generally, compare with those of the same class of 
clergy among us ? Into what different classes of character, and 
in what proportion those not evangelical may be divided ? What 
intercourse and feeling generally subsists between the two divis- 
ions ? How the bishops stand in respect to them ? What diffi- 
culties they throw in the way of evangelical men ? And what 
are the positiveness and decision of those bishops who are con- 
sidered evangelical ? 

" 4. The extent to which extemporaneous preaching and 
prayer enter into the services of the English evangelical clergy. 
To what extent do they unite with dissenters in general soci- 
eties ? 

' " 5. State of opinion in the English church with regard to 
foreign missions. How far does it resemble that among us as to 
the comparative claims of domestic and foreign ? 

" II. Topics to be thought of. 

" 1. The possibility of inducing young evangelical clergy, on 
the principle of taking up the cross, to emigrate to this country, 
and enter on some of our vacancies and desolations. 

"2. The practicability of producing a much greater reciproc- 
ity and interchange of feeling and action between the evangelical 
clergy of the two countries, in the way of correspondence, visita- 
tion, and interchange of publications. 

"3. The devising of some plan by which, every year, some 
one should be delegated from England to represent all the 



308 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

principal institutions of London at our anniversaries, and vice 
versa. 

"4. The interior character, throughout, of the great Church 
institutions in England — the Christian Knowledge Society, Soci- 
ety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the 
Church Missionary Society. As to the last, inquire into its sys- 
tem minutely, how they collect funds and get missionaries, and 
what they expect in a foreign missionary, etc." 

Thus abundantly charged with matters of grave public im- 
port, and already known in the best religious circles of Europe 
through his long connection with our great benevolent institu- 
tions. Dr. Milnor stood in little need of letters of introduction, or 
of "epistles of commendation;" yet, with such he was most am- 
ply furnished from the best sources at home to many of the best 
characters in the Christian community of Great Britain and of 
the continent, assuring him of a cordial reception from all the 
great and choice Christian spirits in those noble lands of zeal, 
benevolence, and enterprise in the cause of Christ. 

But besides all these, the letters which poured in upon him 
from all quarters, expressive of warm affection for himself, of 
devout aspiration for his welfare, and of a high appreciation of 
the importance of his mission, were numerous and gratifying. 
Those in particular from Bishops Griswold, Chase, and Meade, 
were characteristic of those characteristically different men of 
God, as were those from Dr. Bedell, the Rev. B. B. Smith, and 
the president of the American Tract Society. It would add to 
the interest of this work, if all those letters could be given at 
length, consistently with the limits assigned. A few paragraphs, 
however, will sufficiently indicate their character. 

"Had it been in my power," writes Dr. Bedell, "I should 
have made a journey to New York on purpose to express my 
pleasure, and to bid you farewell ; but duties, and roads, and 
imperfect health, all combined to forbid me. I wish, indeed, 
that I could even go with you to England, just to enjoy one such 
feast as that which must be spread out before the spiritual appe- 
tite during the month of May in the British metropolis." 

" My visit to New York," says the Rev. Mr. Smith, alluding 
to his promised journey from Philadelphia, subsequently per- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 309 

formed, " has brought down the wrath of him who is behind the 
curtains there, upon the Philadelphia Recorder, in a most faith- 
ful and pungent admonition through one of the daily papers, 
warning Episcopalians not to give it their patronage. Dear, dear 
brother, how much better is that spirit which has followed, and 
is following you in almost numberless prayers from Christians 
' of all arms,' that where you go, you may go blessing and blessed ; 
and when you return, you may come as much to profit as to 
delight us all." 

" While earthly kings," remarks the president of the Tract 
Society, "with their views confined to things of time and sense, 
are sending their ambassadors from one nation to another, you, 
sir, are about to occupy a more important station. You go as an 
ambassador from the King of kings ; and when the transactions 
of princes shall have dwindled into insignificance, your mission, 
if you f nd grace to be faithful in its discharge, will tell on the 
sacred records of eternity." 

Thus qualified, accredited, and cheered, Dr. Milnor took his 
departure from New York on the promised day, March 16, 1830, 
in the packet-ship Florida, Capt. Tinkham. He took leave of his 
family and a number of friends at the parsonage, about 9 o'clock, 
A. M., and on proceeding to the steamer which was to convey 
him to the Quarantine ground, whither the day before the ship 
had dropped down, he met a much larger number, both of parish- 
ioners and of other Christian friends, who had assembled there 
to bid him farewell. Some of them "accompanied him to the 
ship," and there, with every expression of Christian kindness, 
bade him adieu. By half past four, he was at sea ; and before 
the pilot, on his return to the harbor, was out of sight, he had 
entered systematically on the business of his mission. In a brief 
note which he sent by the pilot to his wife, he says, " I have be- 
gun my journal, and if preserved from sea-sickness, intend to 
keep it regularly." Of his companions on the voyage, he thus 
speaks: " My fellow-passengers are only five — Mr. Evan "W*. 
Thomas, a member of the society of Friends in Baltimore ; his 
nephew, Mr. E. Thomas; his grand-nephew, Mr. Weatherhead ; 
Captain O'Connor, of the British army ; and a young man of the 
name of Kenworthy. If I may not expect entire congeniality of 



310 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

feeling in my companions on religious subjects, I hope to find 
nothing positively offensive." 

A few short extracts from his diary will show how his time 
during the voyage was spent. From two of his fellow-passengers, 
the elder Mr. Thomas, and Captain O'Connor, he derived both 
profit and pleasure ; as the following notices evince. 

" In the elder Mr. Thomas I find a great stock of information 
respecting England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, a great part of 
which, in his former visits, he has traversed on foot, and thus had 
an opportunity of seeing many things, which would escape the 
observation of a traveller in the stage-coach. 

" Captain O'Connor has spent four years in the service in the 
West Indies, and is well acquainted with most of the islands, 
particularly with Trinidad, where, for the most part, he was 
stationed. He describes Trinidad as delightful for its variegated 
scenery, and rich productions. He is a scholar of the Dublin 
University ; and, since his residence in the West Indies, has 
directed his attention very much to the study of ornithology and 
entomology. He is taking home with him some beautiful speci- 
mens of West India birds, especially several varieties of the 
humming-bird, of his own preservation." 

Again: " I am glad to record, that though I find it difficult 
to maintain conversation with my fellow-passengers on those 
topics that would be most agreeable to me, yet their behavior is 
such as not to be offensive, and the conversation of several of 
them on secular subjects by no means uninstructive. Captain 
O'Connor surprised me by stating his age to be only twenty- 
four. He is temperate in his habits, and free from the too com- 
mon fault of men in his profession of employing unbecoming- 
expletives in conversation. He has improved his leisure by much 
reading and conversation ; and converses with that freedom and 
energy, for which the natives of the Emerald Isle are wont to be 
distinguished." 

With such companions, much of his time might have been 
spent with satisfaction and to advantage ; but he had other en- 
gagements during his passage. The following paragraph shows 
what he had to accomplish, as a man of business. 

" I propose, now that my health will admit of my reading 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 311 

and writing" — he had had the usual experience of sea-sickness — 
"to employ myself in the examination of various documents refer- 
ring to my mission, and in making such notes as may be useful 
on my arrival in England." 

And the following shows what he delighted to do as a Chris- 
tian man. 

" Saturday, March 20. — Rose at six o'clock this morning in 
health, after a good night's rest. I trust I was enabled to appro- 
priate those lines of the poet, which came with feeling to my 
mind soon after I awoke : 

" Arise, my soul, with rapture rise, 

And, filled with love and fear, adore 
The awful Sovereign of the skies, 

Whose mercy lends thee one day more. 
And may this day, indulgent Power ! 

Not idly pass, nor fruitless "be ; 
But may each swiftly passing hour 

Still nearer bring my soul to thee." 

" I propose to let no day pass without connecting with my 
devotional duties the reading and meditating upon a portion of 
the sacred Scriptures. Of these duties I do not contemplate 
noting in general the character in my journal. Sometimes, how- 
ever, it may be expedient to do so. This morning I commenced 
reading St. Paul's epistle to the Romans. In contemplating the 
awfully wicked character of the heathen of his day, as described 
in the first chapter, and comparing it with the present state of 
most of the unconverted nations of the earth, we are at once 
struck with their similarity. And what a powerful incentive 
does the melancholy comparison furnish to enlarged efforts on the 
part of the Christian Church for their conversion. 

" Shall we, whose souls are lighted 

With wisdom from on high — 
Shall we, to men benighted, 

The lamp of life deny? 
Salvation, salvation ! 

The joyful sound proclaim ; 
Till earth's remotest nation 

Has learned Messiah's name." 

He was accompanied on his way, by the usual incidents of a 
voyage : fierce storms, and dead calms ; fair winds, and head 



312 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

winds ; beautiful scenes, and appalling sublimities ; swift sailing, 
and sudden perils. The first and last Sabbaths of the passage 
were fine, and admitted of worship and preaching aboard ship ; 
but the two intermediate were so tempestuous as to render the 
enjoyment of those privileges impossible. The ship reached Liv- 
erpool the 14th day of April. 



SECTION II. 



In our notices of Dr. Milnor's visit to England, we shall sim- 
ply follow his steps by giving the most important passages from 
his own journal, and from a few of the letters which he wrote 
to his family and friends at home. 

" Before we reached the dock," he observes, " a gentleman 
came off in a boat, offering to convey me to the pier, and bring- 
ing me a very kind letter from Mr. Augustus W. Grillet, of Bir- 
mingham, requesting me to accept the hospitalities of his house 
on my way to London. I found, on the wharf, waiting to receive 
me, my friend Mr. Thomas Sands, who gave me a hearty wel- 
come, and insisted on conveying me, in a carriage which he had 
ready, to his house in Everton. I went with him ; and the even- 
ing being wet, I remained till the following morning within 
doors. Mr. Sands had invited two pious and intelligent friends 
to spend the evening and sup with him. After a month's separa- 
tion from my religious friends in New York, it was gratifying to 
meet with kindred spirits immediately on my arrival in England. 
Among other topics of conversation, I was happy in the opportu- 
nity of communicating information in regard to the progress and 
success of temperance societies in the United States." 

After recording some brief visits which he made the next 
day, he has the following note on a curiosity which he saw in a 
Methodist chapel, through the politeness of Mr. Cromy, a member 
of that persuasion. The chapel, he says, " is a plain, but very 
neat and commodious building, in which families sit together in 
pews, as in our churches ; and even in the free seats, which are 
slips without doors, the sexes are not in separate sittings, as with 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 313 

the society in America. In the forenoon, the Liturgy is read 
from the desk. In the vestry, I was shown a curious arm-chair, 
formed of a part of the trunk of an oak-tree by Dr. Clarke, the 
celebrated author of a commentary on the Bible. It is wholly 
the work of the doctor's own hands ; his pocket-knife having 
been, I was told, the only instrument used in giving it its present 
finish. It is in one piece ; and the knots and other appendages 
of the tree have been very ingeniously used to give a grotesque 
appearance to the whole. It is highly varnished, placed on roll- 
ers, and comfortably cushioned ; and it will remain, no doubt, a 
monument of the doctor's industry, taste, and patience, long after 
he has gone to receive the reward of his more important labors." 
" Mr. Cromy had been one of the principal founders and 
patrons of the Liverpool school for the instruction of the deaf 
and dumb. I asked his opinion as to the advantage of teaching 
this unfortunate class to articulate. He was decidedly in favor 
of its constituting a part of their instruction. I stated, as ob- 
jections to the plan, the labor and difficulty attending it, the 
limited extent to which it can be carried, and the imperfect, dis- 
agreeable, guttural enunciation, painful to the hearer and appar- 
ently so to the speaker, which I had observed in our country in 
all with whom the experiment had been tried ; for which reasons, 
I presumed, it had not formed a part of the system of the Abbes 
De L'Epee and Sicard. To convince me that our failure must 
have been owing to the want of proper instruction, he proposed 
that we should visit a family of his acquaintance, in which there 
were a young gentleman and his sister, both deaf mutes, the 
former of whom had learned to speak in a manner free from the 
objections which I had urged. We found them at home with 
their mother, a lady in independent circumstances ; and were 
favored with an interview of some length, in which I was much 
gratified by the talent exhibited, and the improvement made by 
them in various branches of their education. Both produced a 
variety of drawings and paintings copied by them, and beautiful 
specimens of ornamental writing, to which the young lady added 
some ingenious work in worsted, which she had just completed. 
The latter had made very little proficiency in speaking ; and the 
young gentleman's attempt, instead of removing my objections, 



314 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

was calculated to increase them. His voice was so weak, and 
his articulation so indistinct, that, when he addressed himself to 
his sisters, I could distinguish scarcely a single word; and when 
he addressed himself immediately to me it was little better. He 
repeated the Lord's prayer in a tone by no means pleasant, and 
in an articulation far from distinct. My unfavorable impressions 
in regard to this branch of instruction were rather confirmed 
than removed by this instance of its failure." 

His " expected engagements in London obliging him to hasten 
on to that metropolis without delay," he was not able "to wait 
upon the gentlemen to whom he had letters of introduction" in 
Liverpool, " or to see more than the exterior of the public build- 
ings" of that city. " One of those gentlemen, Adam Hodgson, 
Esq., author of Letters on America," he writes, " came to Mr. 
Sands' counting-house while I was writing letters home, having 
heard of my arrival, and being desirous of offering me the 
hospitalities of his house. Mr. Crocker also called on me and 
invited me to his father's. A letter which had been handed me 
by Dr. Griscom of New York, to the venerable "William Roscoe, 
Esq., who lives in the adjacent village of Toxforth Park, I trans- 
mitted to him, with a note apologizing for not waiting personally 
upon him." 

He started for Birmingham the morning of Friday, April 
16, and arrived at 8 o'clock in the evening. For the first ten 
miles of his ride he was entertained by " a lady, who indulged 
her communicative disposition in giving him all the information 
about her own affairs and about Liverpool which she could com- 
prise in an incessant flow of eloquence for one hour ;" and during 
the last stage, he had the presence rather than the company of 
"another of almost entire taciturnity." Through all the. inter- 
mediate stages, he remarks, " I had but a single companion, a 
Dr. Squiers of Liverpool, who, with his father, keeps an asylum 
for the insane. He was on his way to the Isle of Wight to visit 
a patient, who would probably accompany him back to their 
asylum. I was happy in having the company of this intelligent 
gentleman ; and derived from him much information on the de- 
partment of medicine to which his attention is specially devoted. 
He stated, that in a great majority of the cases which had fallen 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 315 

under the notice of his father and himself, the cause of mania 
had been intemperance" 

On reaching Birmingham, he adds, " I found Mr. Grillet wait- 
ing my arrival, with a carriage to take me to his house at Edge- 
baston, a pleasant situation, just beyond the limits of Birming- 
ham. Mrs. Grillet was deeply affected on my arrival ; and the 
eldest of her little boys, who had been much attached to me in 
New York, clung to me and cried for joy." 

" Mr. Jacot and his wife, whom I married about eighteen 
months ago, and who reside in Birmingham, are at present in 
London, so that with sorrow I shall lose the opportunity of see- 
ing them. After talking about friends and affairs in New York, 
and conducting family worship, I retired to rest about 11 
o'clock." 

On Saturday, the 17th of April, he received a call and an 
invitation to dinner from " Mr. Chance, high-bailiff of Birming- 
ham ;" who " brought with him the Rev. Mr. Mayer, a convert 
from Judaism, and presbyter in the established church." He 
was also favored with calls from " the Rev. Mr. Mosely, rector of 
St. Martin's, the principal parish church of Birmingham," " a 
single-hearted, evangelical minister of Christ;" and from "the 
Rev: William Marsh, minister of St. Thomas', a new Episcopal 
chapel of ease, lately erected, and already overflowing with at- 
tendants." Mr. Marsh's "name and character having been long 
known to him as those of an active cooperator in the great relig- 
ious institutions of the day," they "were in a few moments as 
well acquainted as if they had been companions for years." 

" Before dinner," he remarks, " I rode to the house of the 
Rev. J. A. James, the minister of a large independent chapel, to 
whom I had a letter of introduction. He received me, as did his 
lady, in the most friendly manner ; and supposing that I intended 
to spend some time in town, urged me to make his house my 
home, and to preach for him to-morrow. Of course, I was 
obliged to decline both proposals, though I felt grateful for the 
kindness by which they were dictated. The still unrepealed pro- 
hibition of officiating in any of the churches of the establishment, 
which shuts all American ordained Episcopal clergymen from 
the pulpits of their brethren in this country, is not at all credita- 



316 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"ble to its liberality ; but while the prohibition subsists, it must 
be acquiesced in as law ; and the measure of preaching in the 
dissenting chapels would, in my case, be for various reasons in- 
expedient. I stated those reasons to Mr. James, and he was sat- 
isfied with their sufficiency. 

" Mr. Marsh and Mr. Mayer were of our little dinner-party at 
the high-bailiff's. The afternoon was spent in edifying conversa- 
tion on various subjects connected with religion and the Church ; 
and all the company united in condemnation of the statutable 
exclusion of the American clergy from the English pulpits, as 
unchristian and illiberal." The statute in question has been so 
far repealed, that any Episcopal clergyman from the United 
States, carrying suitable credentials of his clerical and Christian 
character, may now be admitted into the pulpits of the English 
established Church. 

" In the course of our conversation, a curious fact was de- 
veloped in relation to Dr. Kewley, my predecessor in St. George's. 
Mr. Mayer said that he had seen him in Italy, and was well ac- 
quainted with him. He passes there by the name of ' Father 
Kewley;' but Mr. Mayer says he knows his true name to be 
Lawson, and that he has a brother of the latter name, now living 
in Liverpool, with whom also he is acquainted. He has no doubt 
that Dr. Kewley was a Jesuit during the whole time of his resi- 
dence in America." 

Sunday, April 18, he spent in attending St. Thomas' chapel, 
with the family of his friend Mr. Grillet, where he heard the Rev. 
Mr. Marsh, in the morning ; the parish church of St. Martin, 
where he heard one of the curates, the Rev. Mr. Morgan, in the 
afternoon ; and the independent chapel, where he heard the Rev. 
Mr. James, in the evening. 

The parish church of St. Martin includes "the whole of Bir- 
mingham, except two churches, which form another of small ex- 
tent." One of those two churches was under the rectorship of 
•' Mr. Hodson, Archdeacon of Litchfield." Dr. Milnor remarks, 
" With the exception of one clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Byrne, now 
far advanced in years, there were, a few years ago, no clergymen 
of decidedly evangelical views in Birmingham. At present, full 
one half of the whole number are of that character." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 317 

After describing the interior arrangements of the new St. 
Thomas' chapel, which contained a large number of well-filled 
free seats, he adds, '• The new churches and chapels, built under 
the authority of Parliament, and in part out of a public appro- 
priation for that purpose, are all constructed on the plan of a 
large gratuitous accommodation of the lower classes ; and there 
can be no doubt that this stands recommended alike by Christian 
benevolence and by true policy." 

He speaks in terms of high commendation of all the sermons 
which he heard during the day ; especially of that by Mr. James. 
He calls this, " One of the finest discourses to which I have ever 
listened." 

He adds, " After family worship, I retired to rest with, I 
trust, a heart full of gratitude to God, for enabling me. to spend, 
both agreeably and profitably, this my first Sabbath in England." 

On Monday, April 19, Dr. Milnor started for London, intend- 
ing to spend one day in Oxford ; but when he reached that city, 
he found that so short a time would give him but little acquaint- 
ance there ; and as, with the exception of two slight showers, 
the weather was fine, he determined to proceed at once to the 
metropolis. Accordingly, he arrived in London about 10 o'clock 
at night, and took lodgings till morning at " The White Horse, 
Fetter Lane." 



SECTION III. 

" Tuesday, April 20," Dr. Milnor thus continues his journal, 
" It has rained, more or less, every day since I have been in Eng- 
land. This morning the showers were drenching. I therefore 
took a hackney-coach, and proceeded to the Bible Society's house. 
Earl-street, Blackfriars. I found there the Rev. Mr. Brandram, 
the principal secretary, who introduced me to Mr. Jackson, Mr. 
Tarn, and other officers of the Society, and to the Rev. Dr. Pink- 
erton, whose services on the continent have been so important to 
the Bible cause. Mr. Brandram also conducted me through the 
whole establishment, in which there are now not less than 



318 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

700,000 volumes of the sacred Scriptures in various languages. 
The house is in a narrow street, and its interior aspect is rather 
gloomy ; but blessed be God, there is light emitted from it which 
will one day enlighten all, as it has already enlightened many of 
the dark corners of the earth. Mr. Brandram detained me with 
the expectation of introducing me to Lord Teignmouth, the pres- 
ident, who was to be there, by appointment, to make some ar- 
rangements for the approaching anniversary ; but exactly at the 
designated hour, a servant came with a note from his lordship, 
stating that the unpleasantness of the weather and the state of 
his health would prevent his fulfilling the appointment. 

" Mr. Brandram was then kind enough to accompany me in 
search of lodgings, which I determined to take at Radley's Fam- 
ily Hotel, New Bridge-street, Blackfriars. It is but a short dis- 
tance from the Bible Society's house, and from the offices of sev- 
eral of the other great institutions with which I shall have busi- 
ness to transact." 

The latter part of the day he spent in rambling across Black- 
friars bridge, and through the Surrey side of London to the Asy- 
lum for the Blind, containing "upwards of a hundred blind per- 
sons, all cheerfully employed in various occupations ;" "a very 
laudable institution, well deserving of imitation in the United 
States." 

The next day he had the delightful satisfaction of receiving 
a letter from home, and the pleasure of a visit from a New York 
acquaintance, the Rev. Mr. Frazer, of the Presbyterian church, 
who was in London "prosecuting his claim by inheritance to a 
Scottish earldom." He adds, "At Mr. Frazer's request, I ac- 
companied him in a walk to Lincoln's-Inn Fields and Court. 
We went into a court where Yice- Chancellor Shad well was sit- 
ting, and listened for a short time to an argument. We then 
went into the chancery, where Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst was 
attending to an argument by Sir Charles Wetherill. The speaker 
was animated, but somewhat singular in his manner. 

" We afterwards had a long stroll through various streets of 
this immense city, taking an exterior view of St. Paul's, Guild- 
hall, the Post-office, and the Bank of England, and in admiring 
the shops in Cheapside and Ludgate Hill, some of which exceed 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 319 

in splendor any thing of the kind that I had seen on the other 
side of the Atlantic." 

In a letter to Mrs. Milnor, after the rambles of the day, he 
says, " You may well suppose, that in this wilderness of houses, 
I feel myself very much a stranger, and if I did not anticipate a 
change, should scarcely be able, separated from all I hold most 
dear on earth, to keep up my spirits. But to-morrow I shall 
begin to deliver my letters of introduction, and I trust that, ere 
long, I shall have some with whom I may converse. My thoughts 
tend continually towards home, and the happiest day I shall 
know, if Providence permit me to see it, will be that in which I 
shall rejoin my beloved family and congregation." 

" Thursday, April 22. — Received a note from the Rev. Mr. 
Brandram, inviting me to accompany him in his gig to the anni- 
versary meeting of the Bromley and Beckenham Auxiliary Church 
Missionary Society. On account of my desire to deliver some of 
my letters of introduction to-day, I waited on Mr. Brandram, and 
endeavored to excuse myself; but he was urgent, and I con- 
cluded to acquiesce in his wishes. We reached the village of 
Bromley, in Kent, about 12 o'clock, where I was introduced to 
Mr. Cater, the president of the society, the Rev. Mr. Bickersteth, 
one of the principal secretaries of the parent institution, and the 
committee of the society. 

" The meeting was opened with prayer, and a concise but 
appropriate address by the president. Mr. Long, a young gentle- 
man of large landed property in the neighborhood, made the first 
address. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Bickersteth, Mr. 
Wells, a member of the House of Commons, and the Rev. Mr. 
Orger, a lecturer in London, and principal of a large academy in 
the vicinity. I was then called upon, and made an unpremedi- 
tated address, which was received with far more flattering marks 
of approbation than it deserved. The meeting was also addressed 
by the Rev. Mr. HofF, recently a missionary to India resident at 
Tinnevelly, the Rev. Mr. Fenn, lately a missionary at Travan- 
core in India, and the Rev. Mr. Brandram." 

After giving an account of the addresses by Mr. Bickersteth 
and the two missionaries, and of an exterior survey of the palace 
of the Bishop of Rochester, which they visited after the close of 



320 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the exercises, Dr. Milnor thus adverts to one of the charitable 
institutions of the place. 

" I was also shown, at Bromley, an establishment for the sup- 
port of forty clergymen's widows. The object is excellent, but 
there are many reasons for believing, that the money annually 
expended in this way, would be better laid out in annuities to 
the objects of the charity, leaving their places of residence to 
their own option. "What I had seen of an institution for the sup- 
port of poor widows in America, convinced me of the inexpe- 
diency of congregating them into one family ; and on inquiry, I 
found that this widows' house was not free from the same jeal- 
ousies, slanders, and strife, which I knew to have existed in the 
one referred to at home." 

" In the evening, Mr. Brandram, Mr. Cater, and two or three 
other gentlemen, with myself, dined by invitation at the seat of 
Mr. Inglis. The situation is beautiful, the mansion spacious and 
elegant, the furniture in the first fashion, the grounds finely im- 
proved, and the whole establishment excelled by few in the 
country. It may be supposed that the entertainment was in 
correspondence with the place. It was indeed far too sumptuous. 
Mr. Inglis had been taken ill the day before, and was unable 
either to attend the meeting, or to join us at dinner ; but his 
partner, a lady of very affable and unassuming manners, mani- 
fested a great desire for the happiness of his guests, which, 
besides those already mentioned, consisted of ten ladies, most of 
whom had attended the meeting, and as Mr. Brandram informed 
me, were decidedly pious. It was pleasant to find the conversa- 
tion taking very easily a religious turn, and the sentiments of 
the company harmonizing so agreeably on the several subjects 
which were introduced. 

"I accompanied Mr. Brandram to his house at Black Heath, 
four miles from Bromley, where I lodged ; and in the morning, 
after breakfast, and my conducting family devotions in reading, 
exposition, and prayer, we returned to London in the Black 
Heath coach." 

" Friday, April 23. — "Went out and delivered principally such 
sealed letters as I had brought with me from New York." " Spent 
the evening with Mr. and Mrs. Jacot of Birmingham; Mr. Jacot 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 321 

having called at my lodgings in the course of the day, requesting 
me to do so. I was glad of an opportunity of communicating to 
Mrs. Jacot the circumstances attending the illness and death of 
her sister, Mrs Kissam, shortly before I left home ; as she had 
not seen any one so particularly acquainted with them as my- 
self. Mrs. Jacot had been almost inconsolable for her loss ; and 
her husband had been with her to the continent under the hope 
of assuaging her grief. My account of the tranquillity and res- 
ignation of Mrs. Kissam's last moments, and of the hope which 
she indulged of acceptance through the Redeemer, seemed to 
impart more consolation than she had hitherto felt." 

"Saturday, April 24. — I was employed till eleven o'clock 
this morning in business connected with the objects of my visit 
to England. 

"At that hour, I for the first time mounted the top of a coach, 
and proceeded to visit Dr. and Mrs. Parker, at Woolwich." They 
were formerly stationed at Quebec, and Dr. Milnor had formed 
a friendly acquaintance with them at New York. 

"On our arrival at Woolwich, we received a hearty welcome 
from our kind friends. Dr. and Mrs. Parker proposed to me a 
walk through the grounds enclosed within the barracks. Some 
of the scenery is very pleasing, being in sight of the Thames, on 
which a great number of vessels are constantly moving, and the 
buildings and walls being so disposed as, united with a stream of 
water here formed into a lake, to give a fine effect to the whole 
landscape. Within this enclosure are many curious things — 
among them, an immense gun, taken from one of the conquered 
nabobs in India ; the hearse, brought from St. Helena, on which 
Napoleon was conveyed to his grave ; and various trophies of 
victories gained over the French in the last war of Great Britain 
with that country. On the plain, in a peculiarly fine situation, 
stands the marquee under which the Prince Regent gave a ban- 
quet to Alexander, Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, 
etc., when on their visit to England. It was removed to this 
place from the grounds in the rear of the palace of St. James', 
London, where the entertainment was given; and, having had 
its sides enclosed, forms a large and beautiful circular room for 
models of military implements, curious armor, etc. There was 

Mem. Milnor. 2 1 



322 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

not time to visit half the curiosities of this canvass-covered room ; 
for such is the material of which its roof is composed. This 
apparently slight structure is rendered entirely impervious to the 
rain, and beautifully ornamented within by ribs of heavy gilded 
cord. 

"Mr. Frazer, who, during this walk, had been visiting his 
relative, joined us at dinner, at five o'clock ; and our conversation 
about friends and incidents in America prolonged our interview, 
so that it was near ten at night when I reached my lodgings in 
London. On my return, I found I had been called upon by the 
secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the secretary 
of the British and Foreign Seamen and Soldiers' Friend Society ; 
who had severally left documents of their respective institutions. 

" Sunday, April 25. — This morning, when I awoke, the sun 
shone brilliantly into my chamber, and my heart was at once 
raised to my heavenly Protector in thanksgiving for the sweet 
refreshment which I felt from my night's repose, and for his 
mercy in sparing me to awake in health to the light of my sec- 
ond Sabbath in England, and my first in this great city ; with 
earnest entreaty that I may be enabled suitably to improve its 
privileges, and that it may be made a day of special blessing to 
my dear people of St. George's. 

"11, A. M. — Attended the church of St. Mary-le-bow, com- 
monly called the Bow church, Cheapside, where the anniversary 
sermon for the benefit of ' The City of London National Schools,' 
was preached by the Rt. Rev. Charles James Blomfield, bishop 
of London. The lord-mayor, a venerable-looking old gentleman, 
very much resembling Col. Fish, of New York> with the recorder, 
the two sheriffs, etc., etc., attended in full costume. The bishop 
is a pleasing, but not very forcible preacher. He uses no action 
whatever, but his enunciation is very clear and correct, his man- 
ner solemn, and his whole delivery without the least ostentation. 
His sermon was without division, destitute of all figure, plain, 
practical, and evangelical. 

" There was no chanting, and no Gloria Patri at the close of 
the metre psalms. Before sermon, the bishop used the custom — 
now, I am told, rarely practised — of ' bidding to prayer.' He 
did not kneel, but standing, said, ' Let us pray for the whole 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. , 323 



state of Christ's Church militant ;' adding, by way of explanation, 
* that is, for the whole body of Christians throughout the world.'' 
And so he proceeded through the different topics of supplication 
in that prayer, adding some others not found there, especially 
for the national schools. His bidding was not in the very words 
of the Prayer-book ; and in its delivery, he either spoke extem- 
poraneously, or recited memoriter, concluding with the Lord's 
prayer. In the prayer after sermon, as in every other instance 
of my attending service, the bishop, in the clause, 'that they 
may bring forth in us the fruit of good living,' substituted for 
these last words, ' the fruit of a holy and religious life.' * * 

"In the afternoon, I went to St. Stephen's, Wallbrook, and 
heard the Rev. Mr. Brandram preach in this beautiful church to 
a congregation of not more than a hundred persons besides Sun- 
day-school children. A principal cause of this smallness of the 
congregation, is the situation of the church in a parish filled with 
merchants' counting and ware houses, whose residences are gen- 
erally in the country. The church is one of the works of Sir 
Christopher Wrer ; and is said to be his masterpiece. 

u At half past 6, 1 went to the evening services of the church 
of St. Bride's, Fleet-street, another of the works of the same ar- 
chitect. All the pews and aisles were filled with a congregation 
attracted by the preaching of the evening lecturer, the Rev. Mr. 
Denham, a young man of great piety and very engaging elocu- 
tion, who was appointed to the office by the present bishop of 
London. His lordship, since his accession to the see, has done 
essential service to the cause of evangelical piety in the city, by 
bestowing three lectureships upon able, spiritual young ministers. 
Mr. Denham's tones and cadences are very pleasing ; his diction 
little ornamented, but perspicuous and impressive ; and his 
thoughts those of a mind apparently holding habitual intercourse 
with heaven. More energy and warmth in the delivery of his 
sermons would, I think, be looked for in our country, in order to 
give a preacher so large a measure of popularity as Mr. Denham 
here enjoys. 

* The above remarks on the bishop of London's mode of conducting the 
services of the English church, have an interest to the intelligent Episcopal 
theologian, which they have not to the ordinary reader. 



324 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" This has been the first day entirely without rain since my 
arrival in England." 

"Monday, April 26. — Arose before 5 o'clock. An old drone 
of a watchman is crying the hour under my window, while I am 
shaving by the light, not of a candle, but of the broad day." 

" Passed a portion of the morning in reading and writing ; 
and then employed myself in delivering sealed packages and let- 
ters committed to my charge. Was able this morning to com- 
plete the delivery of all the communications brought with me for 
public institutions. I have thought it best to withhold a great 
part of my open letters of introduction to gentlemen in London 
until after the anniversaries. 

" After going to the Port of London and Bethel Union office, 
and leaving there the communication from the American Sea- 
men's Friend Society, I attended at noon the stated meeting of 
the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I was 
introduced by Mr. Brandram, and received in the most cordial 
and affectionate manner. I made a communication of the objects 
of my mission ; my credentials were then read ; and after some 
remarks from Mr. J. "Wilson, chairman pro tern., expressive of the 
feelings of the committee at this mark of affection and respect 
from the American society, they proceeded to the reading and 
consideration of their annual report. 

" I remained till near two o'clock, when I was conducted by 
my friend the Rev. Gr. W. Phillips, so advantageously known to 
the congregation of St. George's, to the stated meeting of the 
committee of the Church Missionary Society in Salisbury-square, 
by whom I was very kindly received. With this committee, who 
were also occupied on their annual report, I remained until the 
close of their session. 

" At 5 o'clock, I dined by invitation, with Counsellor Marriot, 
Queen's-square, Bloomsbury, who was and still is one of Bishop 
Chase's warmest English friends, and one of the trustees of the 
fund raised in this country for the benefit of Kenyon College, 
Ohio. The Rev. Mr. Heap, vicar of Bradford, the Rev. Gr. M. 
West, Bishop .Chase's chaplain, and myself, were the only per- 
sons at dinner besides Mr. Marriot's family." 

" Kenyon College, and the interests of religion and learning 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 325 

in the western parts of the United States, formed prominent sub- 
jects of conversation. Among other topics, however, Mr. Marriot 
himself introduced that of temperance ; with the measures for 
promoting which important object he was considerably acquaint- 
ed. He thought them veiy intimately connected with the well- 
being of society, not merely through the moral reformation at 
which they immediately aim, but through the increased influence 
of true religion, which they promote by the removal of one of the 
principal hinderances to its advancement. On my mentioning 
that I had found the subject in some instances, since my arrival 
in England, rather coldly received even by serious people, I was 
pleased to learn from Mr. Heap, that a society had actually been 
formed in his neighborhood at Bradford, under encouraging au- 
spices ; and that already, under the influence of its proceedings, 
they were enabled to rejoice in the apparent reformation of sev- 
eral habitual drunkards. 

" A letter had been handed me just before I left my lodgings 
for Mr. Marriot's, which, by his permission, I retired for a few 
moments during the course of the evening, to read. It proved to 
be from the Rev. Mr. Henshaw of Baltimore ; and gave me an 
account of a sad accident which had befallen Bishop Chase, by 
the oversetting of the stage, in which he was returning from 
Philadelphia to his home in Ohio. The letter states his collar- 
bone and two ribs to have been broken ; but that his physician 
did not think his life in danger. We had, the moment before, 
been speaking of the bishop and his plans, and commenting on a 
portrait of him, which hung in Mr. Marriot's dining-room. It 
may be easily imagined how affected we all were at this distress- 
ing intelligence." 

" Tuesday, April 27.< — At 8 o'clock this morning, I attended 
by invitation the weekly meeting of the committee of ' the Re- 
ligious Tract Society ' in Paternoster-row, and breakfasted with 
them. At the request of the chairman, I offered prayer ; after 
which a blessing was asked, and business immediately proceeded 
simultaneously with their simple meal, consisting of a cup of 
black tea only, with bread and butter. I communicated to the 
committee the resolutions of the American Tract Society appoint- 
ing me their delegate to London ; and made a short address on 



326 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR, 

the subject. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the man- 
ner in which these were received ; or more kind than the expres- 
sions of the chairman and of several of the members of this 
respectable board. 

" Certain German tracts were then considered, and the opin- 
ion of each member taken with regard to some proposed eras- 
ures. Some interesting letters from abroad were read; after 
which, the committee proceeded to the reading and consideration 
of their annual report. 

" At 11 o'clock, I went to St. Bartholomew's church, near the 
Exchange, for the purpose of hearing the stated weekly lecture 
of an aged minister, the Eev. Mr. "Wilkinson, who has preached 
this Tuesday morning lecture for the last twenty-seven years. 
He is a man of small stature, of very venerable appearance, and 
near eighty years of age. His voice is rather weak ; but the 
deep silence observed by a crowded congregation during the de- 
livery of his sermon, enabled me, though seated near the entrance 
of the church, to hear him distinctly. He read his text from a 
small Bible, and without spectacles; and preached with great 
vivacity of manner for three-quarters of an hour, and entirely 
without notes. The sermon was for the benefit of the charity 
school of the parish, in which are instructed fifty boys and thirty 
girls. These are clothed, and furnished with books ; taught the 
elements of English, with needlework, etc., to the girls ; and 
when of proper -age, bound apprentices to trades or to service. A 
handbill stated that between two and three thousand children 
had received the benefit of this charity. The pupils sat in the 
capacious chancel of the church ; were very clean, and neat, and 
healthful in their appearance ; and sang very sweetly an appro- 
priate hymn." 

" Mr. Wilkinson is a very thorough-going Calvinist. He is, 
I am told, one of the few remaining pupils of old Mr. Romaine, 
who, in the early part of his ministry, was said to be the only 
living and avowedly Calvinistic minister in the Church of Eng- 
land. It would seem that many of its present members in Lon- 
don do not disrelish the system of the Genevan reformer ; for 
not only were all the pews of St. Bartholomew's to-day com- 
pletely filled, but the aisles also were crowded ; and I understand 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 327 

this is constantly the case, though the church stands in the very 
throng of business, and the hours of service are those of its great- 
est press. The occupants of the pews were of very respectable 
appearance ; those in the aisles, of the poorer class ; and the 
whole exhibited the aspect of great seriousness and devotion. 

" At the close of the service, I conversed with Mr. Poynder, 
one of the committee of the Bible Society, and an eminent solici- 
tor, who told me that, whenever it was possible for him to leave 
his business, he did not fail to be one of Mr. Wilkinson's hearers 
at this lecture ; and that he always found himself edified and 
comforted by his instructions. 

" Took a carriage and went to the British Museum, having 
letters to the secretary, the Rev. T. Hartwell Home, from Bishop 
Hobart, Dr. Turner, and Mr. Wheaton. I met Mr. Home at the 
Museum, and found him a frank, plain, unaffected man; his 
manners courteous and kind, not characterized by much warmth 
of feeling, but by no means stiff and formal. He offered to 
attend me through the numerous apartments of this great estab- 
lishment ; but time permitted my going with him only through 
the rooms containing the library. The noble collection pre- 
sented by his present Majesty, occupies a grand room, built spe- 
cially for its reception, three hundred feet long, and superbly fin- 
ished. The whole building was formerly the palace of the Duke 
of Montague, and is of great extent, independently of the beau- 
tiful addition just mentioned. On taking my leave, Mr. Home 
invited me to visit the Museum as often as possible, where I 
would always find him between the hours of ten and four." 

Having received, and in consequence of fatigue and engage- 
ments, declined an invitation to dine with " Col. Leblanc, a 
pious officer at Chelsea;" and been waited on ." by the Rev. 
George Morley and John James, two of the secretaries of the 
Wesleyan Missionary Society," with a request from their commit- 
tee that he would make one of the addresses at their anniversary 
on the Monday following, and also breakfast with the committee 
at the Mission house, Hatton Garden, on Friday ; he " spent the 
remainder of the evening in making some preparation for his 
expected engagements next week." 

Dr. Milnor spent the next day in business engagements at his 



328 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

lodgings, and at the Bible Society's house ; in visiting the Rev. 
Samuel Charles Wilkes, editor of the Christian Observer ; in 
dining with the Rev. Mr. Woodruffe, of Cumberland Terrace, 
Regent's Park, and in walking the whole long distance back 
to his lodgings after nine o'clock in the evening. When he 
" reached his lodgings, he found a ticket of admission to the Port 
of London and Bethel Union Society, with a request from the 
committee to be one of the speakers" at their anniversary. In 
returning from Mr. Wilkes' he witnessed what appears to have 
then recently arisen, " a great rivalry between the old coaches 
and certain newly contrived, oblong carriages, called ' omnibuses ,' 
in consequence of which a ride of four miles is given for one- 
fourth of the former charge." In speaking of the dinner-party at 
Mr. WoodrufTe's, he characterizes the hostess as " a pious woman 
of fine mind," who, "in the course of some religious discussion, 
displayed much acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures, and an 
intimate knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity." He adds, 
" After tea, at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Woodruffe, I read and 
expounded a portion of Scripture, and prayed ; the servants of the 
family being first called into the dining-room." This mode of 
closing social entertainments presents a feature in the highest 
religious circles of England, which is almost as common as it is 
interesting. Society in this country is highly imitative of that 
in Europe, but unhappily we copy its worst, more frequently 
than its best peculiarities. 

The next day, also, till a late hour, he spent in business, in 
his own room, and with the Bible, Church Missionary, and 
Prayer-book and Homily Societies. On his return from these, 
he "received a visit from Zachary Macauley, who invited him to 
breakfast" the next morning; and another from "Mr. Ewbank, 
a respectable merchant to whom he had letters of introduction," 
and who pressingly urged him "to make his home with the fam- 
ily at Peckham." He closes his note for the day by saying, 

" I was surprised to-day by the receipt of a letter from my 
dear friend and brother, the Rev. C. P. Mcllvaine, of Brooklyn, 
informing me, that on account of indisposition, he was to sail for 
England on the 8th of the present month. While I lament the 
cause that brings him from home, I shall rejoice to have with me 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 329 

such a friend and coadjutor in my mission, and such a companion 
in my travels. I shall now be looking for him daily. The Lord 
send him safely to my embraces." 

Friday, April 30. — His engagement to breakfast this morn- 
ing at the Methodist Missionary House, Hatton Garden, prevented 
his accepting Mr. Macauley's invitation for the same hour. At 
Hatton G-arden he met several of the leading men of the Meth- 
odist church: "the Rev. Mr. Reece, with whom he became 
acquainted during the visit of that gentleman to America ; the 
Rev. Dr. Townley, president of the conference ; the Rev. Mr. 
Newton, of Liverpool; the Rev. Mr. Morley, Mr. Watson, and 
Mr. James, secretaries of the Society, and several other of their 
most distinguished ministers." He " spent nearly two hours 
very agreeably and profitably with those intelligent and pious 
men;" during which, after the reading of the Scriptures by one 
of the company, and prayer by himself, " an interesting conver- 
sation ensued, in which many inquiries were made respecting 
the state of religion in the United States, especially in regard to 
the progress of Pcpery and of Unitarianism, of which," he adds, 
" I think they had received exaggerated accounts." 

After breakfast, he " attended the stated meeting of the com- 
mittee of the Prayer-book and Homily Society. Lord Bexley was 
to have presided, but he sent a note of apology for necessary ab- 
sence. The committee," he says, " received me with great re- 
spect and kindness. The principal business transacted was the 
consideration of the annual report, which was read by the secre- 
tary, the Rev. Mr. Pritchett. But there was some conversation 
on a question of great interest, which has been agitated, and I 
believe is not yet considered as finally decided. It relates to an 
extension of the publishing operations of the society to other 
religious books and tracts besides the Prayer-book and Homilies. 
Nineteen out of twenty of the contributors to the funds of the 
society, it was said, were warmly in favor of the plan ; but the 
vice-patrons, who are bishops and noblemen, are opposed to it, 
and on that account, it will probably be, for the present, aban- 
doned. Mr. Pritchett introduced me to the Rev. Mr. Raikes, 
examining chaplain to the bishop of Chester, and author of a 
volume of excellent sermons. He then proposed to go with 



330 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

me to Freemasons' Hall, where the Irish Society of London were 
holding their anniversary. The object of this society is, the edu- 
cation of the Irish through the medium of their own language. 

"The Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, Dr. Ryder, was in 
the chair, supported by the Bishop of Chester on his right hand, 
and by Lord Harrowby on his left. I staid until I had heard 
two long and impassioned speeches from the Rev. Messrs. Daly 
and Bemish, two of the clergy of the established Church in 
Ireland. This was my first visit to Freemasons' Hall, where a 
large proportion of the public meetings are held. It is a hand- 
somely finished room, with a lofty ceiling, rather dark, however, 
and in capacity of accommodation, I should suppose not superior 
to the assembly-room in the City Hotel, New York. 

"In the evening I went to Poultry chapel, Cheapside, to hear 
an anniversary sermon by the Rev. Robert Stewart for the Hi- 
bernian Society for establishing schools and circulating the holy 
Scriptures in Ireland. The society supports at present 950 day- 
schools and 400 Sunday-schools, containing together upwards of 
76,000 scholars, at an expense each of about three shillings ster- 
ling per annum. It distributed last year 22,966 Bibles and 
Testaments ; and, since its institution in 1806, has circulated 
230,000. It also employed 67 persons as Scripture readers. With 
such claims to public patronage, I was surprised to see a very 
thin congregation. The amount collected was probably small." 

The next day, Saturday, May 1, Dr. Milnor spent in sight- 
seeing; but, as he indulged sparingly in this amusement, and 
gave but slight accounts of what he saw, his record for the day 
maybe omitted, saving its concluding paragraph: "Spent the 
evening in the retirement of my little parlor, in duties prepara- 
tory to those of the sanctuary to-morrow." His engagements on 
Sunday likewise may be very briefly sketched. In the morning he 
" attended Bridewell chapel, Blackfriars; a neat but very small 
and unornamented place of worship connected with Bridewell 
hospital, of which the Rev. Mr. Budd, a well-esteemed clergyman 
of the establishment, and author of a work on baptism, is min- 
ister." In the afternoon, he "went to St. Paul's cathedral. The 
evening service was almost entirely chanted. Even the prayers 
were read in a tone resembling recitative. There was very little 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 331 

solemnity in the demeanor of the performers, and some positive 
levity on the part of the surpliced boys. The congregation, oc- 
cupying movable seats without backs, appeared to be chiefly 
composed of persons who had come from curiosity ; very few of 
them being provided with prayer-books, or appearing to take any 
interest in the service." He says, "I never attended the duties 
of public worship with less edification or comfort than in this 
magnificent temple." In the evening he again " attended service 
at St. Bride's, Fleet-street, where Mr. Denham preached to an 
overflowing congregation," on the subject of "the sinner justified 
by the imputed righteousness of Christ." "Mr. Denham's man- 
ner this evening was singularly interesting and affecting. He 
commanded the most silent and profound attention for upwards 
of an hour." 



SECTION IV. 

We now come to the great week in London, the week of the 
principal anniversaries ; and will give a condensed outline of the 
engagements which it brought upon Dr. Milnor. He had already 
attended the preparatory meetings of the committees of all the 
leading societies, and was favorably known to most of the actors 
in the stirring scenes on which he was about to enter : scenes in 
which are brought together larger and denser masses of Christian 
life, where is felt a more vitally organized and intensely beating 
heart of Christian faith and feeling, and whence are sent forth 
more powerful and far-reaching pulsations of Christian benevo- 
lence and activity, than are to be found elsewhere within the 
sphere of evangelical operations. 

The first anniversary, which occurred, Monday, May 3, was 
that of the "Wesleyan Missionary Society, in the City Road chapel, 
"The B,t. Hon. the Earl of Mountcashel presided. As I went to 
the vestry-room," says Dr. Milnor, "half an hour before the com- 
mencement of the exercises, and his lordship arrived soon after, 
I was introduced to him, and was much pleased with the pious 
character of his conversation. He was plainly dressed, with no 



332 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

decoration to distinguish him from a commoner. His manner 
was perfectly friendly and familiar, and his sentiments those of 
an experimental Christian. In the course of the conversation, 
he spoke of a motion which he intended to bring forward to- 
morrow in the House of Lords, of which he had given notice, for 
an inquiry into the income of the bishops. He stated that his 
object was, not the abduction of any part of its property from 
the Church, but the ascertainment of the actual revenues of the 
bishops, with which none but themselves were acquainted; and, 
where the amount was unreasonably large, its reduction to a 
more moderate but still generous support; the surplus to be ap- 
propriated to the increase of the salaries of the poorly provided, 
hard-working clergy. He seemed not to expect present success, 
but hoped to awaken parliamentary attention to the subject, and 
eventually to get something done. He expected opposition both 
from the bishops and from the radicals : from the bishops, because 
they wanted nothing done, and from the radicals, because they 
wished to do more than he proposed." 

When the hour for the exercises arrived, "the honorable 
chairman opened the meeting with an address of a very catholic 
spirit, and evincive of a mind imbued with much spiritual feeling. 
His manner was by no means graceful, and his utterance very 
hesitating ; yet his sentiments were so entirely consonant with 
the object of the meeting, and the whole address so replete with 
frank and unaffected Christian kindness, that it was followed by 
a universal burst of applause." 

After a glowing account of the various speeches delivered on 
the occasion, and a very modest allusion to his own, he thus con- 
cludes his narrative for the day : 

" I was never present at so animated a public meeting.- But 
the cries of ' hear him, hear him,' the clapping of hands, and 
knocking of the floor with umbrellas and canes, within a place 
of worship, sounded rather oddly to ears unaccustomed to such 
expressions of feeling. I have made no note of the matter of 
any of the speeches ; for the hurry of the different meetings, 
following each other day after day for the ensuing fortnight, will 
render such a measure entirely impracticable. 

" At the close of the meeting I went to dine with Mr. Has- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 333 

lope, treasurer of the society, at Highbury Lodge, Islington, 
where I met Dr. Townley, Mr. Hautrey, Mr. Reeee, Mr. Waugh, 
Mr. Taylor, Mr. Hammit, and several others, with the large fam- 
ily of our host, who had six grown up daughters at the table, 
with the husbands of two of them. Mr. Haslope's residence is 
in the most beautiful part of the environs of London which I 
have yet seen. His lodge, as it is termed, is a spacious three- 
story house, of four rooms on a floor, situated within an enclo- 
sure of eight or ten acres, with gardens, lawns, hot-house, etc. 
The arrangements of the house and table, and the dress of the 
females of the family, are somewhat beyond the style common 
among the members of the Methodist society in America. Mr. 
Haslope, however, bears an excellent religious character, and his 
family attend in part the established Church, having accommo- 
dations in the parish church of Islington, of which that distin- 
guished minister, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, is vicar. 

" Tuesday, May 4. — Attended the anniversary of ' The Church 
Missionary Society,' at Freemasons' Hall. It was full to over- 
flowing ; and the assemblage of ladies and gentlemen presented 
a very imposing appearance. The Rt. Hon. Lord Gambier in 
the chair. 

" His lordship opened the meeting with a short address, and 
then read from the Bible one of the psalms, as peculiarly ex- 
pressive of the feelings of gratitude which should now animate 
every heart. Mr. Bickersteth followed by offering a prayer, 
copies of which had been distributed through the meeting." 

Yarious resolutions were, as usual, offered and seconded ; the 
speakers being the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry ; Arch- 
deacon Hodson ; the Bishop of Winchester ; Dr. J. B. Sumner, 
Bishop of Chester ; the Hon. M. Buxton, M. P. ; Mr. Solicitor 
Poynder ; the Rev. Mr. Hartley, a missionary in the Mediterra- 
nean ; Sir George Gray ; the Rev. Mr. Smiley, from Ireland ; 
the Hon. and Rev. Gerard T. Noel, and Dr. Milnor himself. His 
own speech was in seconding the resolution offered by the Bishop 
of Winchester. The following is his allusion to it : 

" I was honored with an invitation to second the resolution. 
My reception was unmeritedly kind ; and though I so far trans- 
gressed as to extend my remarks to three-quarters of an hour, 



334 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

yet I was constantly encouraged to proceed ; and when I con- 
cluded with an apology for their length, it was answered by a 
cry, ' No, no, not too long,' and an alarming volley of applause. 
I received it as a strong evidence of English courtesy towards 
a stranger, and of respect towards the country from which I 
came." 

At the close of this day's account, he remarks, " This was to 
me a very interesting meeting. I confess I liked the sober dig- 
nity and comparative silence by which it was characterized, 
better than the more violent expression of feeling witnessed 
yesterday." 

"We may judge of the deep interest of the meeting by the 
feeling which, even at this later day, arises in the mind at the 
mention of the great fact in the history of English Missions, 
referred to in the following paragraphs of Dr. Milnor's account : 
a fact then for the first time proclaimed, with all its newly thrill- 
ing power, in the ear of Christian England. 

The Bishop of Chester " was followed by the Hon. Mr. Bux- 
ton, M. Pc, a large, fine-looking man, of commanding eloquence. 
The recent abolition of the Suttee, or burning of widows in 
India, formed a principal topic of his speech ; in the course of 
which he paid a compliment to Mr. Solicitor Poynder, as a chief 
instrument in effecting that humane and excellent measure, for 
which the labors of missionaries had previously prepared the way. 
It was, he said, Mr. Poynder's persevering and able exertions 
with the Board of Directors ( of the East India Company, ) that 
led to the final abolition of a practice so abominable as to have 
been an increasing disgrace to the government which allowed it, 
every day that its existence had continued. 

" As soon as Mr. Buxton sat down, Mr. Poynder arose for the 
purpose, he said, of disclaiming all personal merit in the pleasing 
transaction referred to, and of making a public acknowledgment 
to Almighty Grod for the support of his Holy Spirit, in the dis- 
charge of an incumbent duly ; and he called upon all present to 
give glory to God for the singular and unexpected success with 
which that discharge of duty had been attended." 

After the exercises of the day, he proceeded, at six o'clock, to 
dine with Mr. Solicitor Forster, at his house, Cumberland Terrace, 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 335 

Regent's Park, where he lives in a style of great elegance. Be- 
sides a number of ladies and gentlemen, relatives of Mr. Forster, 
he met there the Rev. Mr. Cox, author of several religious works ; 
the Rev. James Haldane Stewart, minister of Percy chapel, and 
author of a volume of discourses on the advent of Christ, which 
happened to have been the last book read by Dr. Milnor before he 
left home ; the Rev. Mr. Sibthorpe, who had recently taken 
charge of a church at Ryde, on the Isle of Wight/' (more notori- 
ous for having since joined and again renounced the church of 
Rome; ) " the Rev. Littleton Powys, brother of Lord LyfTord ; the 
Rev. Gr. W. Phillips ; Captain Vernon, son of the Archbishop of 
York ; Mr. and Mrs. "Woodruffe," etc. 

" The evening," says Dr. Milnor, " was passed very agreeably, 
the conversation being entirely of a religious character, and the 
ladies sustaining their part in it in a way alike evincive of deep 
interest in the various topics which it embraced, and of much 
acquaintance with them. I like exceedingly the practice which 
I find prevalent at these late dinners, of the gentlemen, soon 
after the retirement of the ladies, leaving the dinner-table for the 
drawing-room ; and still more, that of closing the evening, before 
the separation of the company, by religious exercises. On this 
occasion, the servants were called in, when a hymn was sung, a 
chapter read and expounded by the Rev. Mr. Cox, and a prayer 
offered by myself." 

We reach now the most important of the great London an- 
niversaries, to attend which had been the moving-spring of Dr. 
Milnor's mission to England ; we therefore give his account of 
it entire. 

" Wednesday, May 5. — This day was held the anniversary of 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Freemasons' Hall. 

"No ladies are admitted at this meeting. The room was 
exceedingly crowded with gentlemen, including a very large body 
of clergy, with many noblemen and persons of distinction in 
society. The president, Lord Teignmouth, was prevented by in- 
disposition from attending. Lord Bexley occupied his place, and 
opened the meeting with a short address, in which he felicitated 
the meeting on the continued prosperity of this great institution, 
and on the spiritual blessings which it was shedding on the world. 



336 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" The Bishop of Winchester moved the adoption of the report,* 
after an abstract of it had been read by the secretary, Mr. Brand- 
ram. He spoke about ten minutes, and was followed by Lord 
Calthorpe for about the same space of time. 

" The Bishop of Chester moved the second resolution. His 
address occupied a quarter of an hour, and was seconded by Mr. 
Wilberforce, in a speech of great interest, delivered with as much 
animation as his wasted frame and now feeble voice would admit. 

" I was then introduced to the meeting as a delegate from the 
American Bible Society, and was received with greetings of a 
kind that almost overpowered me. I made my communication, 
however, as well as I could, in an address of thirty-five minutes ; 
and had reason to be very grateful for the affectionate manner in 
which it was received, and for the many kind notices of the 
society which I represented, and of our beloved country, which 
several of the subsequent speakers took occasion to introduce. 
The prevalent sentiment seemed to be, that a friendly communi- 
cation and harmonious cooperation between the great national 
religious institutions of the two countries, besides the effect upon 
their immediate objects, would have a most salutary influence in 
preserving that friendship, which it was so much the political as 
well as the moral interest of both to preserve and cherish. 

" The Hon. Charles Grant, M. P., whose standing in the na- 
tional legislature is of the highest order, and whose patronage of 
religious institutions has been so able and long continued, sec- 
onded the motion of thanks to Lord Teignmouth, with which I 
had been charged. He is a charming speaker, and merits my 
grateful acknowledgments for the obliging manner in which he 
adverted to my mission. 

" The Rev. Daniel Wilson, who had been to Paris and attend- 
ed the anniversary of 'the Protestant Bible Society,' gave an 
account of the meeting, and of the state of religion in France. 

" The Hon. Charles G. Shore, son of Lord Teignmouth, in a 
short address, acknowledged the society's vote of thanks to his 
venerable father. 

" The Rev. Mr. Dixon, a Wesleyan Methodist minister from 
Ireland, next addressed the meeting in a speech of singular vehe- 
mence of manner and of great originality and point. 



MINISTRY TO ENGLAND. 337 

" I should have mentioned, that after Mr. Grant, that aged 
minister of Christ, Rowland Hill, who, if he has been noted for 
singularity, will be remembered and respected by posterity for 
his long-continued and useful services to religion, made what he 
expected would be his last speech before this society. It partook 
of the peculiar manner by which his public communications have 
been distinguished, and was received with great applause. 

"The treasurer, Mr. Thornton; the Dean of Salisbury; Mr. 
Newman, a lay gentleman from Ireland ; and Sir Thomas Bloom- 
field, each made a short address. The motion of the last was a 
vote of thanks to Lord Bexley, which was supported by an address 
from the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. The latter had been 
prevented by indisposition from coming to the meeting till near 
its close. With scarcely an exception, the whole audience re- 
mained without the least evidence of impatience, until it broke 
up, near five o'clock, P. M. 

" Lord Bexley, in acknowledging the vote of thanks to him- 
self, just before the meeting was dismissed, referred, in a manner 
exceedingly respectful and kind, to America, to its Bible Society, 
and to my mission and address. Immediately afterwards, he 
approached me with eagerness, seized my hand, and observing 
that he needed no introduction for my address had made us 
friends already, invited me to dine with him on "Wednesday next. 
I was then introduced to each of the bishops who had been 
speakers on the occasion, and to a large number of clergy and 
laity ; and amid a hundred English hands stretched out to greet 
me as a visitor to their country, I ' felt deeply thankful for the 
favor which the cause I came to advocate procured me. Never 
will the scenes of this day fade from my memory. 

" At half past six, dined with Mr. Williams, M. P. for the 
county of Devonshire, where he has a splendid seat. He is a 
banker, and his town residence is one of the most elegant in 
Grosvenor-square, and the most richly embellished and furnished 
of any house which I have entered since my arrival in London. 
There were eight liveried servants in attendance on a dinner- 
party, which consisted of about twenty, one-half at least ladies. 
In this respect, I observe a difference between New York and 
London ; the females, on such an occasion as this, bearing a much 

BIcni.Milnor. 22 



338 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

greater proportion to the gentlemen, on this side of the Atlantic. 
Mr. and Mrs. Williams are professors of religion in the established 
Church ; and Mrs. Williams bears the character of a deeply spir- 
itual Christian, to whom a less splendid style of living would be 
far more agreeable. Her manners are very courteous, though 
unassuming, and wholly free from all fashionable affectation ; 
and the company, Mr. Phillips assured me, were all professedly 
pious. The only clergymen present, besides myself, were Mr. 
Phillips, and Mr. Grrimshawe, author of the life of the lamented 
Legh Richmond, with whom I had previously become acquainted, 
and whose character and conversation are in consonance with the 
spirit which pervades his interesting memoir. 

The conversation at dinner slid very easily into a religious 
channel, and was agreeably maintained during the evening. 
Soon after the ladies had retired to the drawing-room, we were 
invited to follow them, and found there some accession to their 
number. After tea and coffee, the servants placed on a large 
circular table in the centre of the room a Bible and a number of 
hymn-books, sufficient to supply the company. A hymn was 
then sung, accompanied by Miss Williams on the piano ; after 
which Mr. Phillips read a chapter, expounded, and prayed. This 
was a pleasant sequel to the enlivening duties of the day ; and if 
I retired under some fatigue of body to my rest; — the walk to my 
lodgings being long — it was with a grateful sense of the kind- 
ness shown me by the friends of religion, to whose acquaintance 
this visit to England has already introduced me, and with prayer 
for Grod's continued support in the duties still before me. 

" Mr. Grimshawe's walk home being for some distance coin- 
cident with mine, he gave me an account of Mrs. Williams' 
change of views, which had taken place under his ministry in 
Devon, and had resulted in her becoming a very decided Chris- 
tian. The style of living which the family arrangements as- 
sumed, she would wish altered ; but it is deemed by her husband 
what his rank and circumstances call for, and she acquiesces in 
his wishes. On his part, he concurs with her in excluding cards, 
balls, theatres, etc., from constituting any part of their amuse- 
ments, and in selecting for their chief associates those who are of 
the same feelings with herself on the subject of religion." 



MISSION TO EFGLAND. 339 

At 8 o'clock on Thursday morning, Dr. Milnor attended by 
invitation a clerical breakfast in Sackville-street, in one of the 
large rooms of an edifice used for business offices by several of 
the benevolent societies. Near one hundred of the clergy of the 
established Church were present, besides several laymen of dis- 
tinction : Lord Mount Sandford, Sir Thomas Baring, Col. Phipps, 
Capt. Grambier, and others. The breakfast was as usual a plain 
meal, and was followed by the customary religious exercises, the 
Rev. Daniel Wilson presiding. In the religious exercises, parts 
were borne by the Rev. Mr. Stewart of Liverpool, the Rev. Presi- 
dent, the Dean of Salisbury, the Rev. Mr. Bemish, and Dr. Mil- 
nor. "At the conclusion of this very solemn and interesting 
service, the hour had arrived for the assembling of two anni- 
versary meetings : that of ' the Religious Tract Society's General 
Western Meeting,' at Willis' rooms, King-street, St. James' ; 
and that of ' the Prayer-Book and Homily Society,' at Freema- 
sons' Hall." 

By appointment, Dr. Milnor went first to the Tract Society's 
anniversary, where the Marquis of Cholmondeley presided ; and 
where the exercises partook of the customary interest of the occa- 
sion. In an address of five and twenty minutes, Dr. Milnor 
"endeavored to comply with an intimation given by the com- 
mittee of this society, as had been done by most of the others, 
by furnishing all the information in his power as to the opera- 
tions, and their results, of kindred institutions in the United 
States." 

" Soon after I sat down," he proceeds, " I received a message 
from the committee of the Prayer-Book and Homily Society, 
urgently requesting my attendance at Freemasons' Hall. Ac- 
cordingly, I stepped into a coach, which they had sent for me ; 
and on my arrival, found the president, Lord Bexley, in the 
chair, supported by the Bishops of Chester and Winchester, and 
several pious noblemen. Several speakers had addressed the 
meeting before I entered. Captain Grambier and the Rev. Daniel 
Wilson spoke immediately afterwards. 

" I was then called up, and was graciously supported in an 
address, in a great degree unpremeditated ; wherein I dwelt on 
the value of the liturgy as a vehicle of devotion, and as a bulwark 



340 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

against error ; and upon the homilies, as an admirable illustra- 
tion of the evangelical doctrines of the articles of our church. I 
noticed also the attachment of the American Episcopal church to 
the liturgy, as evinced in the recent general disapprobation of 
certain alterations which had been proposed ; while at the same 
time I paid the respect justly due to the motives of the very 
distinguished prelate with whom those proposed alterations origi- 
nated. The Bishop of "Winchester was pleased to express himself 
very kindly towards me and the remarks which I had made ; 
and supposing my address to have been written and committed 
to memory, he afterwards sent me a message by the Rev. Mr. 
Raikes, requesting me to allow of its separate publication in a 
pamphlet form, which I very respectfully declined." 

This reference to his address before the Prayer-Book and 
Homily Society is important, as we shall hereafter see, in con- 
sequence of the unhappy controversy, to which the report of his 
remarks led, between Bishop Hobart and himself. 

Dr. Milnor dined to-day with Mr. Bickersteth, at Islington, 
in company with several pious and literary men : Messrs. "VYood- 
raffe and Coates, secretaries of the Church Missionary Society ; 
the Rev. Mr. Pratt, son of the Rev. Josiah Pratt; the Rev. Mr. 
Fawcett, author of two volumes of much-esteemed sermons ; 
the Rev. Francis Cunningham, brother to the author of the 
Velvet Cushion, and the Rev. Mr. Jetter, a missionary to India, 
who said he was well acquainted with Dr. Mil nor 's friend, Mr. 
Newton of Massachusetts. Of his host and some of the guests 
on this occasion, he thus writes : 

" Mr. Bickersteth, who has rendered such essential service to 
the Church Missionary Society, is about resigning his secretary- 
ship, having accepted the rectorship of the parish of "Wotton, in 
Hertfordshire. He is one of the most excellent of men, uniting 
respectable talents with a truly Christian spirit. It is only 
necessary to know him in order to admire and love him. Mr. 
Pratt is curate to his father, a modest and unassuming young 
man, of disposition and feeling entirely in harmony with those 
of his estimable parent. Mr. F. Cunningham is a man of talents, 
and one of the most exemplary ministers of the establishment 
in the laborious discharge of all the duties of his station. He 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 341 

is among those whose acquaintance I have considered one of the 
most pleasing gratifications of my visit to London." 

On Friday, Dr. Milnor's engagements were at another clerical 
breakfast, given at Freemasons' Tavern, the Rev. Mr. Hawtrey 
presiding; at the anniversary of " The London Society for pro- 
moting Christianity among the Jews," Sir Thomas Baring in 
the chair ; and at dinner with Mr. Hatchard the bookseller, at 
Clapham. At the breakfast he became acquainted with the 
author of " The Velvet Cushion," the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, 
Vicar of Harrow. At the anniversary, the gallery was filled with 
Jewish children, male and female, who were supported and edu- 
cated by the society ; while the speakers were, the chairman ; 
the " venerable Basil AVoodd, upwards of seventy years of age ; 
Sir Robert H. Inglis, the treasurer ; the Bishop of Litchfield and 
Coventry; the Rev. Mr. Stewart of Liverpool; '"the aged and 
excellent Mr. Simeon of Cambridge ;" Mr. Drummond the 
banker, and the Rev. Mr. Alexander, a convert from Judaism, 
and missionary to his brethren, (probably the late lamented 
bishop to Jerusalem. ) And at dinner the company was composed 
of the Vicar of St. Andrew's, Plymouth, an " amiable and pious 
son" of Mr. Hatchard; H. V. Tebbs, Esq., an intelligent and 
truly Christian proctor of Doctors' Commons, and Dr. Milnor's 
friend Mr. John K. Gilliat, besides several male and female con- 
nections of the family. The evening was spent and closed in 
the usual Christian way ; after which Dr. Milnor went with his 
friends Mr. and Mrs. Grilliat, and spent the night at their house, 
about a mile from Clapham. 

How delightful must it have been, after so many days of 
incessant and intense mental excitement amidst the crowded 
throngs of the city, to awake, as he did, on the morning of Sat- 
urday, May 8, between five and six o'clock, and find himself in 
the sweet, still country, with "the weather delightfully balmy 
and refreshing, the birds gayly carolling their matins, and the 
whole landscape covered with the greenest verdure of spring." 
"I took a walk," he writes, "through Mr. Grilliat's beautiful 
grounds ; and being soon joined by him, our conversation took 
a direction in consonance with the evidences of divine beneficence 
exhibited in the charming scene before us. I found Mr. Grilliat's 



342 MEMOIR OF DR MILNOR. 

sentiments on spiritual subjects such as, under the blessing of 
God, are usually produced on minds having the advantage of so 
faithful a ministry as that on which he has from his youth attend- 
ed. Our conversation was reluctantly ended by the announce- 
ment of breakfast ; before which, however, I read and commented 
on one of the Psalms, and prayed with the assembled family." 

Returning to the city after breakfast, he learned that his 
friend Mcllvaine had reached London, and taken lodgings at the 
same hotel with himself. But as his friend was out on a morning 
walk, and as he was himself under an engagement to be at 
Blackheath, six miles distant, to attend, at 12 o'clock, the anni- 
versary of the Branch Bible Society of that eastern suburb, he 
was compelled to defer, till his return, a meeting with one so 
recently from home. 

At the Blackheath anniversary, Lord Bexley presided ; and 
after the reading of the report, " addresses were delivered by 
Charles Dyer, Esq., of the admiralty ; the Rev. Dr. Colly er, a 
distinguished dissenting minister of Peckham ; Dr. Parker, of 
Woolwich ; the venerable Mr. Symonds, rector of Paul's- Cray, 
and father-in-law to Dr. Parker ; the Rev. Mr. Haugh, an East 
Indian missionary ; the Rev. Messrs. Chapman, Bemish, Hatch- 
ard," and Dr. Milnor himself. His anxiety to see his friend 
Mcllvaine, led him to solicit and obtain a release from an engage- 
ment to spend the night with Dr. Parker at Woolwich, and the 
Sabbath following with Mr. Symonds, at Paul's-Cray. He was 
therefore soon in London again, rejoicing in the safe arrival of 
his friend, and in the " many letters of a cheering character from 
family and friends " which he had brought from home ; though 
grieved to find the health of that friend so much impaired by the 
complaint which induced him to visit England. 

" Sunday, May 9.- — My breakfast this morning was taken 
with increased thankfulness, being enlivened by the company of 
my beloved brother, who is, blessed be God, better in health than 
he was last night. After breakfast, we united in rendering praise 
to God for his goodness, and in supplicating his continued favor ; 
and just before going to public worship, we again knelt to ask a 
blessing on the duties of the day, and the special favor of Al- 
mighty God upon our respective families and congregations." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 343 

They attended morning service at St. Stephen's, Coleman- 
street, and heard a charity sermon by Dr. Ryder, Bishop of Litch- 
field and Coventry ; and evening service at the venerable church 
of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, " where Mr. Romaine so long endured 
the opprobrium of faithfully and ably teaching and enforcing, as 
the sine qua non of a right belief of the Gospel of Jesus Christ," 
that very doctrine of justification by faith which formed the sub- 
ject of this afternoon's discourse. Dr. Milnor remarks, in his 
journal, that Mr. Clemenson, the afternoon lecturer, " prayed ex- 
temporaneously both before and after sermon." 

At night they walked to " St. Martin's-in-the-Fields"— the 
fields having now become a wilderness of houses — where thev 
heard an excellent discourse from a young clergyman, the Rev. 
Mr. Harnage, who was evening lecturer there at that time. And 
then "they returned home, read together a portion of the word 
of God, prayed, and retired to rest." 

So ended with Dr. Milnor the first and great week of the 
London anniversaries for the year 1830 ; a week which brought 
him into personal and profitable acquaintance with many of the 
noblest citizens of Christ's true kingdom upon earth, and set the 
buds of many a holy friendship,' which will be blooming and fra- 
grant for ever amid the better airs of that kingdom in heaven. 



SECTION V. 

During the week, on the active engagements of which he 
now entered, he attended the following anniversaries : that of 
" The Port of London and Bethel Union Society," Monday, May 
10, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, the Rt. Hon. Lord 
Gambier presiding; that of " The Sunday-school Union" on 
Tuesday, at the same place, George Bennet, Esq., in the chair ; 
that of " The Naval and Military Bible Society," the same day, 
at Freemasons' Hall, Lord Lorton in the chair ; that of "The 
London Missionary Society" on Thursday, at the City Road 
chapel; that of " The Religious Tract Society" on Friday, at 
the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, the Hon. Mr. Erskine 
presiding; that of " The Society for promoting the principles of 



344 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

the Reformation," the same day, at Freemasons' Hall. Lord Vis- 
count Mandeville in the chair; and that of " The Ant i- Slavery 
Society" on Saturday, at Freemasons' Hall, Mr. Wilberforce in 
the chair. Dr. Milnor was among the speakers on Monday, be- 
fore the Port of London and Bethel Union ; on Tuesday, before 
the Sunday-school Union ; on Thursday, before the London Mis- 
sionary Society ; and on Friday, before the Society for promoting 
the principles of the Reformation. During the week, he also 
attended public breakfasts, accompanied by religious exercises, 
on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday ; while his dinner 
engagements were with Mr. Purvis, at Nottingham Place, on 
Monday ; Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, Waltham-Stow, on Tues- 
day ; Lord Bexley, at his city residence, on Wednesday ; the 
Bishop of Winchester, St. James' square, on Friday ; and Mr. 
Ewbank, of Peckham, on Saturday. 

It is needless to follow him closely through these numerous 
engagements, so similar to those already noticed. A few ex- 
tracts from his journal, however, may furnish an interesting 
illustration of his course through this busv week. Alluding to 
the religious exercises with which he was called to close the 
evening, after dinner at Mr. Purvis', he says, 

" This manner of sanctifying social intercourse is both pleas- 
ing and profitable. Although I would always prefer being a 
hearer, yet the circumstance of my being a stranger often de- 
volves on me the duty of conducting these religious exercises. 
My prayer is, that my unstudied and unpretending communica- 
tions may be accompanied with a divine blessing ; so that, while 
unable publicly to preach the Gospel, I may be an instrument 
of some good in this more private way." 

Of the anniversary of "the Naval and Military Bible Society," 
he writes, " This was, on several accounts, one of the most inter- 
esting Bible Society anniversaries which I have attended. It is 
a much older institution than the British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety itself; and a great proportion of its supporters are naval 
and military men. 

" I was urgently solicited to make an address at this meet- 
ing ; and consented to do so, provided my friend Mcllvaine did 
not previously arrive. In case of his seasonable arrival, I had a 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 345- 

particular desire to devolve the duty on him, from the circum- 
stance more especially of his having held a professorship and 
chaplaincy at the military academy at West Point. I was happy 
both in his arrival, and in his being well enough to speak. In 
his address, he gave an account, as far as was suitable for the 
occasion, of the work of grace among the cadets which took 
place under his ministry at West Point ; and the effect of his 
solemn and interesting narrative was very striking." 

The Rev. Baptist W. Noel also made "a most eloquent and 
spirit-stirring address. A fine effect was produced by so power- 
ful a speech from a young clergyman, who justly enjoys a large 
portion of popular favor, and possesses talents admirably adapted 
to such a duty. Mr. Noel has the singular felicity of having 
associated with him in Christian feeling four brothers, three of 
whom are in the ministry, and the fourth an officer in the navy, 
who made one of the previous addresses." 

" I can scarcely conceive of a more interesting spectacle than 
that of so large a body of gentlemen of the army and navy, asso- 
ciated with so much zeal in the benevolent and pious work of 
circulating the Bible among their destitute fellow-soldiers and 
seamen. An unusual spirit of evangelical piety distinguished 
their addresses. No faintheartedness or equivocation was mani- 
fested in the avowal of their religious sentiments. Several ex- 
pressly adverted to affecting circumstances in their own religious 
experience, and declared their firm adherence to their beloved 
Saviour, and their determination, through evil report and good 
report, to live to his glory. Every speech was full of fervor ; and 
several, alike excellent for a display of fine talents, and a mani- 
festation of ardent piety. That of Lieut. Rhind was character- 
ized by a flow of delightful Christian thought, which his spirited 
delivery sent home with powerful interest to every heart." 

It is a sign of the importance attached to the army and navy 
in Great Britain, that at this anniversary, " notes were read 
from the Duke of Gloucester, and from the Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, apologizing for unavoidable absence." 

Dr. Milnor and his brother Mcllvaine " were much gratified 
with their visit" to the Rev. Mr. Noel at "his charming;- residence 
at Waltham-Stow, seven miles from London, where they dined 



346 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and spent the night" of Tuesday. Mr Noel's church in London, 
" St. John's chapel, Bedford-row," is the place where the cele- 
brated Cecil and the present Bishop of Calcutta, Daniel Wilson, 
formerly officiated. Alluding to Mr. Noel's residence in the 
country, Dr. Milnor writes, 

"I cannot but remark on the very inconvenient arrangement 
to which so many London clergymen subject themselves, of hav- 
ing their family residences in the country at distances from three 
to ten miles. Mr. Noel's duties call him to the city almost every 
day; and yet he subjects himself to the trouble and loss of time 
unavoidably attendant on the arrangement, and that throughout 
the whole year. But the practice is more objectionable in another 
view, and that is, its injurious effect on the pastoral relation. This 
I found to be a frequent complaint among the laity. Where they 
are perfectly satisfied with the public services of their ministers, 
they charge them with remissness in visiting, and express regret 
that they have so little religious intercourse with their pastors. 
In this respect, curates are less censured than rectors; but it 
certainly is one of the evils of the establishment, that the pas- 
toral office is so feebly sustained by a great portion of its clergy, 
whose independence of their congregations allows them a license 
in neglecting their flocks which with us would soon lead to a 
separation. This censure, however, by no means attaches, in all 
its extent, to those ministers whose hearts are in their work ; 
though many of these are apt to depend upon their assistants for 
the principal performance of the duty in question." 

The public "clerical breakfast" of Wednesday morning was 
" given by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, at the vicarage" of Islington, 
to "a party of about thirty clergymen, and half that number of 
ladies;" and the religious service which followed was in Mr. 
Wilson's "study," "a spacious room, with an uncommonly lofty 
ceiling, and having its walls lined with ranges of neatly con- 
structed bookcases, containing a library of 6,000 volumes." The 
repast was closed by Mr. Wilson's "giving out a verse of thanks- 
giving, which was sung by the company standing. He then pro- 
posed that they should amuse themselves for fifteen minutes in 
his garden, a beautiful spot, kept in the neatest order; and re- 
assemble in his study" at the expiration of that time. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 347 

The exercises in the study were opened with prayer ; contin- 
ued in the discussion of certain topics suggested by the vicar, 
"with intervals for prayer and private meditation;" and closed 
as they opened — leaving " an impression on the minds of all, that 
their coming together had been for the better, and not for the 
worse." 

Mr. "Wilson "proposed, as the first topic" for discussion, "The 
best means of obtaining correct views of the mind of the Spirit, 
as revealed in the sacred Scriptures;" and, "after a few explan- 
atory remarks," called on Dr. Milnor, " without any previous 
notice, to give his views upon the subject." "In the presence 
of so many gentlemen more competent than myself," he remarks, 
"I would willingly have been excused from this duty; but un- 
derstanding that it was not usual, at meetings such as this, to 
decline any required service, I proceeded to give such an answer 
to the inquiry as I was enabled to do on so sudden a request. 
Reading, as the basis of my remarks, a part of the second chap- 
ter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, I suggested, and in an 
address of fifteen or twenty minutes, a little enlarged upon the 
following means of obtaining the proposed end : 
" 1. A competency of human learning. 
" 2. A renewed heart. 

" 3. Close and patient study, 'comparing spiritual things with 
spiritual.' 

" 4. Implicit submission of our imperfect reason to the clear 
discoveries of G-od in his holy word. 

"5. Reliance on the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
" 6. Continual prayer for the dispensation of that Spirit. 
" The want of attention to one or more of these particulars I 
considered as the main cause of the heresies, superstitions, and 
errors, which have deformed and distracted the Christian church." 
After prayer and secret meditation, Mr. Wilson proposed, as 
the second topic for discussion, "The mind of the Spirit, as re- 
vealed in the sacred. Scriptures, in regard to the person and grace 
of Christ;" and called on the Rev. J. Haldane Stewart to speak 
to the point. He obeyed in a discussion of some length, evincing 
familiarly deep acquaintance with his theme. 

Another interval for prayer and secret meditation ensued, 



348 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and then Mr. Wilson proposed, as the third topic for discussion, 
" That depravity of heart in the unregenerate, and that remain- 
der of evil in the regenerate, which obstruct right apprehen- 
sions of the person and grace of Christ" and called on the 
Rev. Mr. Darby for his views in illustration of the same; and 
they were given in a way which showed, that like the preceding 
speakers, he was " a scribe well instructed unto the kingdom of 
heaven." 

Need it be doubted, that after discussion, by Christians of 
such heavenly ripeness, of topics like these, sprinkled with so 
much of the incense of holy prayer and silent musing, many of 
the members of that favored circle went forth and preached 
Christ with a clearness and an unction which had never before 
marked their teachings on this great theme ? 

At the dinner, this evening, with Lord Bexley, which was 
one of " great sociability" and profitable friendliness, "the 
bishop of Litchfield and Coventry," says Dr. Milnor, " pressed 
me to spend a few days with him at Eccleshall Castle, in the 
course of the summer, and kindly gave me a memorandum of 
the times when I would be sure to meet him at home ; and 
Lord Bexley proposed my spending a week with him, on the 
removal of his family for the summer season to his seat at Foot's 
Cray." 

At the anniversary, on Friday, of the Society for promoting 
the principles of the Reformation, Dr. Milnor's feelings were not 
a little disturbed by an untimely and " vehement" discussion, by 
the Rev. Hugh McNeile and the Rev. Mr. Dalton, of "the pro- 
phetical question ;" exhibiting their " views of the coming of the 
Messiah," and urging "the high doctrines of Calvin as among the 
purest principles of the Reformation." They "reflected severely 
on the evangelical clergy" in general, as not coming up to their 
standard, and at the same time, " in very severe terms denounced 
dissent, and seemed to rest the claims of the established Church, 
as a true Church of Christ, upon its connection with the state." 
" Nothing," adds Dr. Milnor, " so apparently out of place as the 
remarks of these gentlemen, had occurred in all my attendance 
upon the public meetings. They are both talented men, and Mr. 
McNeile, who is son-in-law to Dr. Magee, archbishop of Dublin, 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 349 

is a fine-looking man, and a remarkably fluent and powerful 
speaker." 

The dinner-party, this evening, at the Bishop of "Winchester's, 
was one of great interest. The bishop's city residence, in St. 
James' Square, " formerly belonged to the Duke of Leeds, but the 
bishop has now purchased it as a permanent city establishment 
for himself and his successors." His " income is said to be 
£18,000 sterling." " Mrs. Sumner, the bishop's lady, is a native 
of Switzerland, of a ruddy complexion, and a countenance rather 
handsome. Her piety is unquestioned." 

" The company consisted," besides their host, " of his brother, 
the bishop of Chester ; the dean of Salisbury ; the chaplains of 
the two bishops ; the Rev. Daniel "Wilson ; the Rev. Francis Cun- 
ningham ; the Rev. Mr. Pell, of Islington ; the Rev. Mr. Melvill, 
of Camberwell ; the Rev. Mr. Crossman ; the Rev. Mr. Stewart ; 
several other clergymen ; three or four ladies, and a few lay 
gentlemen." Much conversation was had on the subjects of 
prison discipline, the progress of the temperance reformation in 
the United States, and the violation of the Sabbath, especially in 
London. " The bishop of Winchester also mentioned a singular 
custom which prevails in the island of Guernsey, a part of his 
diocese." In that little by-place, of which so little is generally 
known, it seems that " they have popular elections for several 
officers, occurring several times in the course of the year. These 
are held on Sunday, after service in the parish church, and are 
often accompanied with brawls and battles. He said he was 
assured by the rector of one of the churches, that at a recent 
Sunday election, he was the only sober person present. The 
bishop has been laboring to get the time and place of these elec- 
tions changed ; but it seems to be claimed as a matter of inter- 
nal arrangement, by the authorities of the island, where the 
assent of three estates is necessary to bring about this salutary 
measure. I am not certain," says Dr. Milnor, "that I remember 
their several denominations, but I think they were the clergy, 
the magistrates, and the constables. The first two orders have 
met and deliberated, and are in favor of the proposed change ; 
but the constables are for adhering to this odious desecration of 
the Sabbath, and therefore absent themselves from the meetings, 



350 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to prevent the accomplishment" of the bishop's measure, " then- 
presence being necessary to form a quorum." 

The evening being thus agreeably spent, "after tea in the 
drawing-room, the company were invited into an adjoining par- 
lor, when Mrs. Sumner seated herself at a grand piano, and ac- 
companied by the chaplain, played and sung a fine piece of sacred 
music. We were then provided with hymn-books, and sung, 
standing, the hymn, 

' How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
In a believer's ear ;' 

after which the bishop gave out the Doxology, 

' Praise God. from whom all blessings flow/ 

which was sung to the tune of Old Hundred, and we took our 
leave." 

Dr. Milnor's account of the breakfast on Saturday morning, 
has much interest. 

" Having been invited to breakfast this morning with Capt. 
Gordon, in St. James' Place, for the purpose of meeting Dr. 
Chalmers, I proceeded thither at the appointed hour. I found 
the doctor there, and was introduced to him ; but regretted that 
he could stay but a few minutes, being under a previous engage- 
ment to breakfast elsewhere. In the short conversation which I 
had with him, he observed, that he was very happy to hear of the 
rapid progress of learning and religion in the United States. He 
had read with great satisfaction the writings of several of our 
American divines, and referred especially to those of Dr. Stuart, 
of Andover ; adding, that he had lately read and much admired 
the work of Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, on the canon of Scrip- 
ture. The doctor kindly said, he hoped he should meet with me 
before he left London; but if not, would expect me to call on him 
if I went to Edinburgh. I was sorry that my friend Mcllvaine, 
who had spent the night out of town, arrived with the Rev. B. 
W. Noel too late to see a man whose writings have so much 
instructed and delighted us at home. 

" Captain Gordon, our host, is a countryman of Dr. Chal- 
mers ; a man of great muscular strength, and of a proportionably 
vigorous and sturdy mind. He is the great champion of the 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 351 

Reformation Society, a thoroughly informed evangelical Chris- 
tian, and particularly well acquainted with the whole merits of 
the controversy between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The 
Rev. Mr. Dalton was also of our company at breakfast ; and we 
did not fail to express to him our regret, that the current of good 
feeling at the meeting yesterday, should have been in any de- 
gree interrupted by the introduction of topics on which a differ- 
ence of opinion prevailed, and which had no connection with the 
object of the meeting ; more especially, considering that the opin- 
ions introduced had been received by so small a portion of the 
audience, and that the doctrine of the almost immediate coming 
of Christ was known to have had the effect of leading many of 
its advocates to abandon most of the great religious institutions. 
Mr. Dalton, however, was unconvinced of the impropriety of his 
course. He considered the doctrines which he had promulged to 
be true and very important ; and being so, it behooved him on 
all occasions to urge them. Millenarianism and supralapsarian 
Calvinism were, in his view, such fundamental doctrines, and 
their rejection had such a tendency to lead the mind into the 
corruptions of popery, that he considered his duty to G-od and 
the souls of his fellow-men required him, yesterday particularly, 
to dwell upon them. It was in vain to argue with a man under 
such feelings and impressions of personal duty. In answer to an 
intimation from me, that his views of Christian doctrine might 
lead to antinomianism, it is due to Mr. Dalton to say, that he 
utterly disclaimed the right to draw such inferences from his 
doctrine as should lead to the least allowance of sin. He admit- 
ted that, in due proportion, the whole gospel scheme should be 
developed ; and its duties and obligations, both religious and 
moral, urged upon men. Mr. Dalton himself bears the character 
of a man who walks strictly according to godliness. Our conver- 
sation was spirited, but in good temper, and was concluded with 
prayer." 

The anniversary meeting of the Antislavery Society, after 
breakfast, was a scene of most intense excitement. Freemasons' 
Hall was crowded with an almost impenetrable mass ; so that 
when " the committee, headed by Mr. Wilberforce, the veteran 
advocate " of the oppressed African, entered, they were obliged 



352 MEMOIR OP DR. MILNOR. 

to ■■ force their way through the dense crowd. Every one seemed 
to feel for the distinguished champion of African liberty, whose 
appearance was now that of a shadow of a man, and who was 
quite exhausted after accomplishing the labor of getting to his 
place. In a few words of address from his colleague, the vener- 
able Thomas Clarkson, he was proposed as chairman ; and his 
appointment to that office was carried by an astounding accla- 
mation. 

" On taking the chair," continues Dr. Milnor, " he made an 
address of some length, with much energy of manner, but in so 
feeble a voice, that I presumed those at the greatest distance, 
notwithstanding the profound attention of the audience, could 
scarcely hear him. He was repeatedly cheered with loud ap- 
plause, and at thevslose, with a long reiteration of it, in which 
several well-dressed sons of Africa on the platform most heartily 
joined." 

The regular speakers on the occasion seem to have been the 
Hon. Mr. Buxton, M. P., Lord Milton, Josiah Foster, T. Bab- 
ington Macauley, Lord Calthorpe, the Rev. David Wilson, George 
Bennett, Esq., Charles Brownlow, M. P., and the celebrated Mr. 
(now Lord) Brougham. But a scene of the most animated and 
stormily sublime excitement was produced by an attempt of Mr. 
Hunt the radical, though not a member of the society, to intro- 
duce his peculiar views, and to bring odium on the society for 
expending all its sympathy on the suffering slave of the "West 
Indies, to the neglect of the more suffering operative of England; 
and the strong spirit of eloquence being thus stirred, a discussion 
subsequently sprung up, which brought out some of the most 
powerful speakers of the day — Mr. Pownell, Mr. Drummond the 
banker, Mr. Spring Rice, M. P., Daniel O'Connell, Mr. Den- 
ham, ( or Denman, ) and Dr. Lushington, both M. P's. 

Mr. Hunt, after being received at first with fierce English 
defiance, finally obtained the floor through the intercession of Mr. 
Brougham; but "his language became at length so offensive," 
that by a unanimous vote of the society, he was compelled 
" reluctantly to take his seat ;" and when it came to be Mr. 
Brougham's turn to speak, he " honored Mr. Hunt with an an- 
swer to his animadversion on the supporters of this institution," 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 353 

and showed that the friends of the "West India slave " were, with 
very few exceptions, the very men who manifested most anxiety 
for the moral and social welfare of the poorer classes at home." 

"When Dr. Milnor and his friend Mcllvaine left the meeting, 
" it was past five o'clock, and others were still to speak." " "With 
some difficulty," he writes, we " made our way out, being under 
an engagement to dine with Mr. Ewbank, of Peckham. "We 
were so delayed in finding a conveyance, that it was near seven 
o'clock when we arrived at Mr. Ewbank's. Dinner, however, 
had been . delayed. Before the company rose from table, I re- 
gretted that my friend found himself so fatigued by the length 
and excitement of the antislavery meeting, that he was obliged 
to retire for the night. 

" Before the company retired, I was called upon to read, 
expound, and pray ; and, being under an engagement to spend 
to-morrow with this hospitable family, I went to bed, not like 
my friend, sick, but uncommonly weary with the exercises of 
the day." 



SECTION VI. 

The great London anniversaries were now at an end ; and it 
only remained for Dr. Milnor, during his stay in England, to cul- 
tivate and perfect the many delightful and valuable friendships, 
which, during their progress, he had formed, and to dispose of 
the numerous subordinate details of business with which he had 
come charged from his native land. 

His Sunday at Peckham, May 16, was spent in attending 
service, with his hospitable entertainers, morning and evening, 
at Camden chapel, in the near suburb of Camberwell, where the 
Rev. Mr. Melvill preached; and, in the afternoon, at another 
neighboring chapel, where the Rev. Mr. Springett officiated. Of 
Mr. Melvill's discourses he took copious notes ; but the name and 
character of that preacher are too well known to need illustra- 
tion from such a source. Dr. Milnor returned to Mr. Ewbank's ; 
and, after "conducting family devotions, retired to rest, both 

Mem. Milnor. 23 



354 MEMOIR OF DR. HILffOR. 

pleased and edified with much that he had heard, and refreshed 
with the delightful solemnities of the house of God." 

Mr. Melvill came to breakfast the next morning at Mr. Ew- 
bank's, and they enjoyed his " pleasing conversation until near 
11 o'clock ;" when Dr. Milnor and Mr. Mcllvaine went with Mrs. 
Ewbank and her three sisters to " Dulwich college, a delightful 
establishment about four miles distant," to see "the Bourgeois 
collection of pictures," so called from the donor, Sir Francis 
Bourgeois. " The institution, though called a college, is so only 
in name. It has a considerable endowment, which supports a 
few old people, pays the salaries of certain officers, and main- 
tains the exhibition of these pictures." 

After spending about two hours at this charming place, they 
proceeded " through a very pleasant range of country, including 
the fine town of Deptford, on the Thames, to Greenwich," "to 
dine with Mr. Locker, one of the commissioners of Greenwich 
Hospital, and secretary to that institution." Before dinner they 
took a view of " this magnificent establishment ;" the apart- 
ments of the veteran tars ; the schools for the children, boys and 
girls ; the gymnasium, where the lads are trained to wonderful 
strength and expertness in all the exercises of nautical athletae ; 
the cooking and washing establishments, and the dormitories, all 
worthy of this vast palace of England's scarred ancbsuperannu- 
ated sailors and their families. They visited also its "beautiful 
park, two and a half miles in circumference," and stocked with 
two hundred of the king's deer ; the Royal Observatory on the 
eminence, overlooking walks made shady by " elms more than 
two hundred years old ;" and the chapel, with its altar-piece by 
"West, representing " St. Paul's preservation from shipwreck," 
an idea most appropriate to the leading design of this grand 
naval hospital. "How lamentable," writes Dr. Milnor, "that, 
in an institution containing such a number of inmates, there 
should be, as we understood, a great want of solid spiritual 
instruction ; especially when the further fact is added, that two 
hundred of the aged tenants of Greenwich annually sink into 
the grave." 

At dinner, they found their host to be "a scholar of Eton, a 
gentleman of great intelligence, and a decidedly pious man;" 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 355 

who informed them "that this great institution is supported by 
funds of its own ;" and that, of its " board of five commissioners, 
all, except Mr. Locker, were at that time titled persons, who paid 
great attention to its affairs." 

At 8 o'clock, they " took a row-boat to convey them to Lon- 
don ;" and as they reached "the steps leading down to the 
Thames, in front of the hospital, they had a fine view of the 
whole from the water," with its terrace on the river, nine hun- 
dred feet long ; "the grand square between the wings, more than 
two hundred feet broad ; the statue of George II., which orna- 
ments the centre ; and the entire mass of building, " of white 
stone, richly wrought, and forming a pile of palaces far too gor- 
geous for the purpose to which they are now applied." 

Dr. Milnor's first engagement on Tuesday morning, May 18, 
was to attend a public breakfast at the Rev. Mr. Stewart's, very 
similar in character to that at Islington, of which an account has 
been given. The principal point of difference was, that instead 
of three separate topics for discussion, Mr. Stewart proposed but 
one, on which he mvited different speakers to give their own 
favorite views. The interest of the discussion may be inferred 
from the theme proposed, "What part of the character and 
offices of Christ had any of us found most serviceable to our own 
souls, and to the souls of those committed to our charge ?" and 
from the names of those who were invited to discuss it, Daniel 
Wilson, Dr. Milnor, and the author of "the Yelvet Cushion," J. 
"W". Cunningham. 

The company at breakfast consisted, besides their entertain- 
ers, of the Rev. Daniel Wilson, Dr. Milnor, B. W. Noel, J. W. 
Cunningham, his brother Francis Cunningham, Mr. Hatchard, 
Mr. Phillips, Mr. Foot, and several other clergymen, with Sir 
Thomas Baring, and a number of other gentlemen and ladies. 
Mr. Mcllvaine also, who had been too ill to be present at break- 
fast, "joined them in the course of their morning duties." "At 
their termination," says the journal, " we agreed that it was, to 
each of us, a season of peculiar spiritual enjoyment ; and hum- 
bly did we trust that we had with us the divine presence and 
blessing." 

Such are the entertainments which true British Christians 



356 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

prepare for their foreign brethren of kindred soul ; and which 
draw from noble ranks guests who are not ashamed to sit openly 
at the feet of Jesus, amid the offerings of prayer, and spiritual 
song, and holy teaching. 

Wednesday morning, May 19, he " rose early, and was busily 
engaged during the forenoon in various matters relating to the 
religious objects committed to his charge." 

At twelve o'clock he " went to the Caledonian chapel," Mr. 
Irving's, " to hear Dr. Chalmers preach a sermon for the benefit 
of the Society for the support of Schools in the Highlands and 
Islands of Scotland. His subject was, Popular Education ; and 
his discourse, written in his usual elevated style, occupied an hour 
in the delivery." Says the journal, " Nothing but the sterling 
good-sense and piety that pervaded this discourse, and the fine 
language in which the thoughts of the preacher were clothed, 
could, for so long a time, have so enchained the attention of a 
crowded audience. For though the doctor's manner is very ear- 
nest, yet in other respects his delivery is very unpleasant. His 
pronunciation is strongly Scottish; so much so, that some of his 
words, though loudly uttered, were lost upon my ear. His voice 
appeared to be so painfully exerted, as at times to become almost 
a scream. His gesture was confined to an awkward up and 
down motion of his right hand ; and his eyes were pretty closely 
confined to his notes. And yet the distinguished talents of Dr. 
Chalmers, his loftiness of thought, and grandeur of expression, 
together with the practical utility of his discourses, raise him so 
far above his cotemporaries, that you are willing to excuse all 
the disadvantageous circumstances of voice, and accent, and 
manner in their delivery." 

; " I regretted to find that, by my absence, I had missed see- 
ing our American ambassador and Zachary Macauley, Esq., who 
had called and left cards at my lodgings." 

Much of his time for several days was now spent in a social 
manner, and in visiting and describing the sights of great Lon- 
don, too familiar to readers of foreign travel to need a place in 
this work ; and too briefly described by Dr. Milnor to increase 
the interest of his memoir. 

On Thursday, May 20, he dined again with his friend Mr. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 357 

Gilliat of Clapham, where he met Mr. Solicitor Poynder, and the 
Rev. Mr. Hughes, one of the secretaries of "the British and For- 
eign Bible Society." Of the latter he remarks, " Mr. Hughes is 
a man of learning as well as of sound understanding and eminent 
piety ; a minister of the Baptist denomination ; and the man 
ivith whom originated the idea of forming a grand national 
society for the distribution of the Bible" 

Friday afternoon he went to Woolwich "to dine with Dr. 
Olinthus Gregory, principally known to us in America by his 
excellent Letters on the Evidences of the Christian religion. 
Unhappily," he writes, "we found Dr. Gregory in his chamber, 
having been ill for several weeks past. He came down stairs for 
about an hour after dinner ; and while he was able to remain, 
conversed with great vivacity and interest. He is a man of very 
pleasing manners, as well as great talents, and learning, and 
piety." 

In the evening he met, at his friend Dr. Parker's, a company 
of ladies and gentlemen. The occasion of this assemblage was 
a custom which, "for twenty years past," had prevailed among 
" a few pious families in Woolwich, to meet at each others' 
houses in rotation every Friday evening, for the reading of the 
Scriptures, religious conversation, and prayer." After the close 
of the exercises, Dr. Milnor observes, " How rational and charm- 
ing a way of increasing the delights of social intercourse, and of 
making our very pleasures conduce to our growth in religious 
knowledge and practical piety." 

Having spent the night with Dr. Parker, he went on Satur- 
day to view "the Woolwich arsenal, one of the grandest estab- 
lishments of the kind in the world ; covering a plot immediately 
on the Thames of more than two hundred acres," and filled with 
" all the munitions of war ;" in looking upon which, a French- 
man, with a customary national expletive, exclaimed, "Here 
are oceans of guns, and mountains of shot." 

Sunday, May 23, he rode with Dr. and Mrs. Parker "to Paul's 
Cray, seven miles distant," to spend the day with " the Rev. John 
Symonds, the rector of the parish, and the venerable father of 
Mrs. Parker." His friend Mcllvaine accompanied him. Of this 
visit the journal gives the following account. 



358 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" Mr. Symonds is now seventy-five years old, and has been 
for fifty years rector of this parish. He is a tall, spare, pale- 
faced old gentleman ; but of an amiable countenance, affect ion- 
ate manners, and great piety. He has the reputation, along 
with his many excellent qualities, of being not a little eccentric. 

" Though his curate was present, yet the old gentleman read 
the morning service and preached extemporaneously for nearly 
an hour. His manner was very lively and energetic for a man 
of such advanced age." His text being Heb. 2 : 6-11, " he dwelt 
earnestly on two topics, of which he is said to be peculiarly fond : 
full assurance, which he seemed to consider a necessary evidence 
of true faith, and claimed as the undoubted privilege of every 
real believer ; and the spiritual union of Christ with the believer, 
which, as he considers, is not maintained, in its just extent, by 
even the evangelical clergy of the Church. 

" After morning service, a loaf of bread was given to each of 
a crowd of thirty or forty poor persons ; a custom which the aged 
rector has long observed every Lord's-day morning. He says it 
relieves their bodily wants and brings them to church, where, 
peradventure, they may find a supply of their spiritual." The 
journal questions the expediency of such a motive to attend 
church, but adds, " The rector stood at the door to give a word 
of religious counsel to his beneficiaries, and pronounced upon 
them his pastoral benediction." 

In the afternoon the curate read prayers and preached ; and 
in the evening, after tea, the company engaged in a religious 
service, to which the servants were not invited. " I was sur- 
prised," says Dr. Milnor, "that at this, which I supposed to be 
the family service, the domestics were not called in ; but I found 
my mistake, when, later in the evening, Mr. Symonds intimated 
that the hour had arrived for his stated family devotions. Six 
or seven servants were then called in, and a second service of a 
similar kind took place. The benevolence of the old gentleman 
was particularly exhibited in his expositions of Scripture, and in 
his kind addresses to his domestics. About an hour was after- 
wards spent in conversation, in which Mr. Symonds recurred to 
his favorite topics, full assurance as inseparably connected with 
a vital faith, and the indissoluble union of the believer with 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 359 

Christ. To these doctrines he adds a firm persuasion of the 
speedy personal coming of Christ to reign with his saints upon 
the earth. He does not, like Mr. Irving and his associates, dog- 
matize as to the place in which his throne is to be established, 
or as to the period of his reign, and many other circumstances, 
which are expected to attend that great event. But by cal- 
culations, founded on the prophecies of the Old Testament and 
the book of the Revelation, he is persuaded that, about the year 
1836, Christ will appear, the saints will awake from the dead, 
and the living believers be changed. He expressed a confident 
belief, that if he should live six years from the present date, 
John Symonds would never die." 

Returning to London Monday morning, Dr. Milnor attended 
"by appointment the Institution for the instruction of the Deaf 
and Dumb in Surrey," where he witnessed a much more favor- 
able result of the experiment of teaching this class of pupils to 
articulate, than that which he had witnessed at Liverpool. " I 
conversed some time," says he, " with a deaf mute, who is a 
tutor in the school, of considerable intelligence. He spoke 
plainly, grammatically, and agreeably ; and, with now and then 
a repetition of my words, understood me by the motion of my 
lips. I was allowed to see several of his compositions, which 
evinced a finely cultivated mind, an accurate acquaintance with 
the construction of sentences, and, what to me was most pleasing 
of all, an evident knowledge of the truths of religion, and a 
practical impression of them upon his own heart. 

" But an exhibition, by which I was particularly delighted 
and surprised, was by a beautiful boy twelve or thirteen years 
of age, who, standing on a form, recited in a sweet, pensive 
voice, with good accent and emphasis, and without the smallest 
error, an address, which he is to deliver at the annual meeting 
of the patrons of the institution, shortly to be held, at which the 
Duke of Gloucester is expected to preside. I held the printed 
address in my hand while he delivered it, and am persuaded that 
no one not apprized of the fact, would have imagined this inter- 
esting child to be an object for the care of such an institution as 
this." 

Mr. Watson, the son and successor of the then lately deceased 



360 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Dr. "Watson, as superintendent of the institution, " is a decided 
advocate for the instruction of the deaf and dumb in articula- 
tion ; though he admitted that, in many cases, it was necessary, 
on trial, to relinquish the attempt, from the malformation of the 
organs of speech, the irremediable unpleasantness of the voice, 
or the dulness and obstinacy of the pupils. In a large majority 
of cases it was successful ; and he considered it a great acqui- 
sition for these unfortunate persons to be able to articulate. He 
said there were no artificial contrivances, and no painful pro- 
cesses, in giving them their lessons in speaking ; and where they 
attained the art, it always seemed a source of pleasure to them. 
This latter remark was confirmed by several, to whom I sepa- 
rately put the inquiry whether they considered it a privilege and 
an advantage to be taught to speak. There was but one senti- 
ment among them on the subject ; and the older pupils expressed 
themselves strongly in favor of the system of instruction here 
pursued. 

" Mr. Watson said that he had many children under his tui- 
tion, whom he could send on errands to any part of the city, 
without the least fear of their not being able to make themselves 
understood by oral speech. He also informed me of a singular 
fact which had recently occurred ; that of one of the pupils of 
this school having been admitted to the bar. His want of hear- 
ing will of course prevent his officiating as a pleader in court ; 
but his legal knowledge is highly respectable, and he will act as 
chamber counsel and conveyancer. He is stated to be an excel- 
lent Greek and Latin scholar, and an expert mathematician ; and 
he speaks plainly and fluently, and readily understands those 
who speak to him. I heard it said — with what truth I do not 
know — that a number of the gentlemen of the bar gave a dinner 
to this new and singular member of their profession, on his admis- 
sion ; that the late Dr. "Watson was a guest ; and that he died a 
few days afterwards ; his illness being attributed to the effect of 
excessive joy at this noble instance of the success of his art. It 
was too delicate a matter to be made a subject of inquiry of his 
son." 

" I asked Mr. "Watson whether there were any probability of 
my being able to obtain a teacher in Great Britain for our New 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 361 

York Institution. He thought not. The few who prepared 
themselves for that office, soon found employment in the various 
schools which are constantly rising in different parts of the 
country." 

After visiting "the model school of the British and Foreign 
School Society," Dr. Milnor " proceeded to a meeting of the com- 
mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, where he intro- 
duced his friend Mcllvaine to the committee and to the chair- 
man, Lord Bexley. I availed myself of this opportunity," he 
writes, "of communicating to the committee the wish of the 
managers of the American Bible Society to be advised in relation 
to the most eligible translation of the New Testament into mod- 
ern Greek. The general sentiment of the members seemed to 
be in favor of the improved version which preceded Bishop Hila- 
rion's, on the ground that the latter is in too elevated a style for 
common readers. They also stated that they considered the for- 
mer susceptible of improvement, and that it was now in compe- 
tent hands, undergoing a revision, by which they hoped it would 
be improved. I also respectfully intimated the anxious desire of 
our board of managers, that this committee would send a dele- 
gate, or delegates, to represent the British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety at the anniversary of the American Bible Society in May 
next. The suggestion was kindly received ; but I did not urge, 
in reference to it, immediate action." 

Dr. Milnor and Mr. Mcllvaine dined, to-day, with Mr. Surgeon 
Kingdom, Bank-buildings, in company with other gentlemen, 
among whom there was much discussion upon " the comparative 
merits of different systems of education in England and Amer- 
ica, and upon the institutions of the latter in church and state. 
The company professed to be much gratified with the information 
which was communicated respecting our country." 

On Tuesday, May 25, after much sight-seeing, Dr. Milnor 
and his friend dined with the Rev. Mr. Raikes, examining chap- 
lain to the bishop of Chester, in York Terrace, Regent's Park. 
"A young Cantabrigian," he says, "made many inquiries about 
America, indicating a singular unacquaintance with every thing 
in our country. I was not more surprised at this in him, than I 
have been at the same thing in many others, especially the clergy. 



362 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

The merchants are the best informed persons respecting Amer- 
ican affairs." 

On "Wednesday, again, there was much sight-seeing ; and it 
was followed by dinner "with Zachary Macauley, Esq., late 
editor of the Christian Observer, one of the excellent of the 
earth." Dr. Milnor remarks, "As the company consisted almost 
entirely of ladies and gentlemen of his own family and connec- 
tions, I had the privilege of the evening's conversation with him 
almost without interruption. He is well acquainted with Amer- 
ica, and has for our country a great regard. It supplied many 
topics of conversation. 

" Mr. Macauley expressed great regret at the dissensions 
arising out of the existing controversies in regard to prophecy. 
Though by no means concurring in opinion with the Millenarians, 
as to the speedy personal coming of Christ to reign upon the 
earth, yet he was willing to allow them the credit of a conscien- 
tious persuasion of the truth of their views, and was not, there- 
fore, disposed to break friendship with them on account of their 
difference on this point. But it unhappily occurs, that most of 
the Millenarians adopt novel opinions upon other subjects of more 
vital importance ; Mr. Irving and Mr. McNeile insisting on the 
peccability of Christ ; and both, with many of their friends, sep- 
arating from the Bible Society and other benevolent institutions. 
Mr. McNeile also claims exclusive jure divino right for the estab- 
lished Church, principally on account of the king being its head. 
Of course, he would unchurch altogether our American Episco- 
pacy. He also pretty strongly intimates the superiority of Jewish 
faith to that of those imperfect believers in Christ, who do not 
concur in his Millenarian views ; his mind inclining to the posi- 
tion, that their firm persuasion of a coming Messiah, who is to 
reign at Jerusalem, will more avail to their salvation as Jews, 
that that of antimillenarians will to them as Christians." 

Between the 26th of May and the 16th of June, the remainder 
of his residence in London, Dr. Milnor transacted various matters 
of business with the different religious bodies to which he had 
brought commissions ; continuing, at the same time, to cultivate 
and extend his social and friendly relations with those accom- 
plished and estimable Christian men, who are to be found at 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 363 

that great centre of English society. Especially, in the early 
part of June, he wrote to "the Rev. Mr. Pritchett, secretary of 
the Prayer-book and Homily Society, requesting, in the event 
of their publishing the anniversary addresses, an opportunity for 
correcting the errors of the report of his speech, already pub- 
ished" in the papers. Notes of similar import were at the same 
time addressed to the secretaries of other societies, at whose an- 
niversaries he had taken a part. These indicated errors in the 
newspaper reports of his addresses, it will be important to bear 
in mind. 

Among the many gentlemen in London to whom he became 
warmly attached, was that eminent man of God, Daniel "Wilson, 
"than whom," says he, "no one in England has been more anx- 
ious to show me kind attention. He calculates on my spending 
a week at his delightful residence in Islington ; but that will not 
be practicable." Nevertheless, he spent there the afternoon and 
night of Thursday, and from that time until Tuesday morning, 
June 1, in the enjoyment of the peaceful and blessed family 
scenes, amid which that faithful servant of Christ was then mov- 
ing. At the Thursday evening dinner he met Mr. Bickersteth 
again, and the Rev. Mr. Natt, "the latter of whom had just been 
presented to the living of St. Sepulchre's, Newgate-street. He 
is," says the journal, "a decidedly evangelical man, and succeeds 
a drone in a parish of 15,000 souls, within the limits of which, 
in the very heart of the old city, there is not another place of 
worship, except the adjacent chapel in Newgate prison. And 
this important station has for forty years been occupied by a man 
who has left no fruits of his ministry for a blessing on his mem- 
ory. Mr. Natt's first measure was, to dismiss a useless young 
curate, and appoint in his place one who is able and willing to 
work where the required labor will be immense." 

The same evening, after dinner, he attended a meeting of the 
committee of the Islington Church Missionary Society, in Mr. 
Wilson's study; and, after the transaction of the regular busi- 
ness, gave, at the request of the members, important information 
touching "the origin, design, proceedings, and success of tem- 
perance societies in the United States." He adds, "The impres- 
sion produced on the minds of the gentlemen present, was quite 



364 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

favorable to the idea of attempting something of the same kind 
here. Mr. Wilson invited two or three gentlemen, most likely to 
take up this business in Islington, to meet me at dinner to-mor- 
row for further conversation." 

"Our family devotions this evening," he continues, "were 
peculiarly interesting. Two young female relatives read the 
Scriptures by alternate verses ; Mr. Wilson, and I at his request, 
interspersing remarks from time to time. Miss Wilson, an el- 
derly single sister of the vicar, then read a hymn, and I concluded 
with prayer. The intelligence and piety of Mr. Wilson, in his 
explicatory and practical remarks, were delightfully manifested, 
and his manner was exceedingly edifying; it was plain and un- 
pretending, yet full of interest and instruction." 

A similar scene awaited him the next morning; after which 
his kind host presented him with seven valuable volumes, three 
of which contained Mr. Wilson's published sermons and tracts, 
and two his tour on the continent. The remaining two were 
Baxter's Reformed Pastor and Wilberforce's Practical Yiew ; to 
each of which the donor had prefixed valuable essays at the time 
of their republication. 

Between breakfast and dinner he visited the house of the 
Society for the promotion of Christian Knowledge, and transacted 
business involving the mutual relations of the English and Amer- 
ican churches, and the interests of the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society of the latter. At dinner, he writes, "The 
Rev. Mr. Sands, minister of a newly erected' chapel in Islington, 
was, besides myself, the only guest ; and he stated his impressions 
from my address last evening in regard to temperance societies, 
to be such that he was persuaded it was his duty to attempt 
something next week towards the commencement of a society in 
a portion of this parish. I promised to do what I could to assist 
him. 

"After dinner, I accompanied Mr. and Miss Wilson to drink 
tea with Mrs. Fowler, at Stoke-Newington. Besides meeting a 
very sensible and devoutly pious woman, the visit was rendered 
interesting from the circumstance, that the house in which Mrs. 
Fowler resides was, for thirty-five years of his life, the residence 
of that excellent man, Dr. Watts. We went into his study, and 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 365 

saw a portrait of him which hung there in his lifetime, and has 
come down as a sort of heirloom with the house. "We walked 
through the beautiful grounds in the rear of the dwelling, and 
especially a shady avenue of considerable length, terminating in 
an arbor, which was his favorite resort. I can hardly conceive 
of a retreat more suited to the feelings of such a man as Dr. 
"Watts. The house is spacious, with every convenience usual in 
the country residences of the wealthy; and though I suppose it 
to be one hundred and fifty years old, it is yet in perfect repair. 
In the hall are chairs of a very antique appearance, which were 
there in Dr. Watts' time, and which are said to have belonged to 
the stadtholder of Holland." 

Having led the evening devotions of the families both at Mrs. 
Fowler's and at Mr. Wilson's, he " retired to rest with the im- 
pression of having spent a portion of the day with profit and 
pleasure." 

He spent the next evening at Bansbury Park, with the vicar 
and the clergy of his parish, at their stated weekly meeting, 
though this meeting was usually held at Mr. Wilson's own house. 
From the fact that the parish of St. Mary's, Islington, is very 
large, and that the building of chapels for its population has been 
a favored measure, " Mr. Wilson had the control of five churches, 
holding from 1,500 to 2,000 persons each, the ministers of which 
were all men of sentiments congenial with his own, united in the 
closest bonds of Christian affection, and ' striving together for the 
faith of the Gospel' and the good of souls." It was with pro- 
priety, therefore, that Dr. Milnor added, " The situation of the 
vicar of Islington is one of arduous duty, and great responsibility, 
and yet it is truly enviable. In connection with his own private 
means, it supplies him with a large fund for charitable effort, 
which he most faithfully applies. Universally respected and 
beloved, his influence within his important sphere is unbounded. 
Besides, his writings are extensively read, and his agency in use- 
ful public institutions is eminently beneficial." 

After the meeting at Bansbury Park, says the journal, " we 
took tea in Mr. Wilson's library, during which a free conversa- 
tion occurred, when it gave me pleasure to answer many inqui- 
ries about the state of religion and the Church in the United 



366 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

States." The religious exercises which followed, were concluded 
by Mr. Wilson, "with a most spiritual and comprehensive prayer, 
in which he poured out his soul in fervent supplications, not only 
for the Church in England, but also for the Church in America, 
for the congregation of St. George's, and in a most touching 
manner, for myself and the object of my mission. May the Lord 
make this sweet opportunity of brotherly communion promotive 
of the best results." 

So passed, till Tuesday morning, his time with the beloved 
vicar of Islington, during his sojourn with whom, in addition to 
numerous other engagements, he took part in measures for organ- 
izing in that important portion of London, a society for promoting 
the better observance of the Lord's day. 

" Tuesday, June 1. — Mr. "Wilson brought me to town in his 
carriage this morning, and we attended together a meeting of 
the committee of the Church Missionary Society. An opportu- 
nity was offered me of making a full exposition of the views of 
the directors of the American Episcopal Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society, in relation to intercourse with this excellent 
institution. It was received with the utmost kindness, and a 
resolution was passed expressive of their regards towards our 
society, and another directing copies of their publications to be 
presented to it." 

We pass over Wednesday, spent chiefly in visiting the two 
houses of Parliament, to his account of " the anniversary meeting 
of the children of the charity schools, held on Thursday, June 3, 
in the cathedral church of St. Paul's. 

" There were in attendance," he observes, " about 6,000 chil- 
dren ; and every part of the church, from which any view could 
be had, was crowded with spectators. The spectacle was most 
imposing. The children were ranged in seats elevated one above 
another around the circumference of the pavement under the 
grand dome, and clothed in dresses of various forms and colors, 
according to the costume used in the several schools. The girls 
were all in close caps, some plain, others ornamented with bows 
of ribbons. The boys were in new clothes, of many fashions J 
and some of them looked awkward enough in their long, broad- 
backed coats, and short breeches, the latter of which I observed, 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 367 

in one of the schools, to be of leather. The cloth and the cut are, 
in most of the schools, what they were at their first institution. 

" The exercises commenced a little after twelve o'clock, by 
the children singing, accompanied by the organ, the hundredth 
psalm. Morning service was partly read and partly sung by the 
cathedral choir, the children joining, whenever it occurred, in the 
Gloria Patri. In that part of the service where prayer is made 
for the king, the choir and the children sung the coronation 
anthem with astonishing power and effect. The sermon was 
preached by the very Rev. James Henry Monk, D. D., dean of 
Peterborough, from Matt. 18 : 14 : ' Even so it is not the will of 
your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones 
should perish.' By invitation, we occupied seats in the pew 
erected for the members of the ' Society for the promotion of 
Christian knowledge,' one of the most favorable positions for see- 
ing and hearing ; but the pulpit being placed immediately under 
the great dome, the preacher's words were so drowned in rever- 
berations that much of the sermon was lost upon me, and I pre- 
sume that in some parts of this vast building, not even a sound 
of his voice was heard. The sermon — a professed eulogy on the 
Christian knowledge society — was about forty minutes long, and 
the whole service lasted from twelve till near three. To secure 
places, we were obliged to be in church a little after ten. 

" There are few circumstances which I should have regretted 
more than absence on this occasion ; and I was much indebted to 
Mr. Wilson for his kindness in attending us, and lending me gown 
and bands for the purpose of obtaining an entrance at the clerical 
door, which led to the comfortable situation with which we were 
favored. The children kept good time, and their voices, made 
loud by the multitude from which they ascended, were at the 
same time thrillingly delightful. The whole scene was in a high 
degree affecting to every one present, who loved the rising gen- 
eration and the improvement of their minds and hearts in the 
duties of religion and morality." 

His engagement next day led to a very pleasing acquaintance 
with that distinguished member of the society of Friends, Joseph 
John Gurney. Calling at the counting-room of his brother, Mr. 
S. Gurney, Dr. Milnor learned that the former, who resided near 



368 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Norwich, was then in London, and would dine with the latter at 
his residence in Upton, five miles from town. He accordingly 
accepted a very urgent invitation, and accompanied the brother 
to dinner. 

" Mrs. S. Gurney," continues the journal, " had been engaged 
at an anniversary meeting of a female society for improving the 
condition of female prisoners, held in a meeting-house of the 
Friends in London. No gentlemen were present, but Mrs. Gur- 
ney said the interest of the meeting, which filled the house, was 
sustained by successive addresses from ladies of various denomi- 
nations, for more than two hours. Many ladies of rank were 
present. Mr. J. J. Gurney had also been detained in town, at a 
meeting, which lasted several hours, of members of the commit- 
tee of the British and Foreign Bible Society and their friends ; the 
object of which was, to confer in a friendly manner on a proposi- 
tion which has been made, for opening the meetings of the soci- 
ety and its committee with prayer. He, of course, as a Friend, 
was opposed to the measure, and lamented its being brought for- 
ward, as likely to lead to unhappy divisions. He is, himself, 
president of an auxiliary society, a situation which he must re- 
sign if the measure should be adopted, because he cannot, con- 
sistently with his principles, either make a prayer at a fixed time 
or call on another person to perform the duty. The gentlemen 
of dissenting churches who were present, though opposed to the 
measure, yet put their opposition wholly on the ground of regard 
for the feelings of the Friends. It was evident, however, that 
they apprehended difficulty to themselves, in the event of the 
adoption of prayer, from a claim to precedence in the perform- 
ance of the duty which would probably be urged by the clergy 
of the establishment. In fact, before the discussion closed,, it was 
directly stated by a clergyman, that such precedence would be 
claimed, and also the use of a prescribed form. Mr. Gurney bore 
an affectionate testimony to the good spirit in which the discus- 
sion was conducted, and declared that if it should be decided 
against him, he would not withdraw from the society himself, 
and would use his influence to prevent others from withdrawing. 

" It is evident that the question is a very embarrassing one ; 
and if, as Mr. Gurney anticipates, it should be carried affirma- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 369 

tively, it is greatly to be apprehended that it will disaffect many 
Quakers and others towards the society ; while, if it should be 
negatived, great offence will be given to those who very consci- 
entiously insist on the introduction of prayer. And whatever be 
the result, as to the adoption or rejection of the measure, I much 
fear that the harmony of this noble institution will be interrupt- 
ed ; a result, in my view, much more to be deprecated than the 
neglect of an outward expression of that sentiment of gratitude 
to God, and of dependence on him, which I have no doubt is felt 
by the functionaries of Bible societies at all their meetings. 

" ' Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
Uttered, or unexpressed : 
The motion of a hidden fire. 
That trembles in the breast. 

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 

The falling of a tear ; 
The upward glancing of an eye, 

When none but God is near.' 

" I felt so much interest in the conversation of this intelligent 
and amiable man, that I acceded to an urgent request to pass the 
night at Upton. Our evening was spent in conversation on the 
unhappy dissensions among the Friends in America, excited by 
Elias Hicks, whose heresy, it was stated, had found no entrance 
among the Friends in England, the late yearly meeting having 
been perfectly unanimous in maintaining the doctrines which 
Hicks and his partisans have opposed. The conversation also 
turned on the subject of Unitarianism generally ; on the effects, 
in various particulars, of our republican institutions in America ; 
on the benefits derived from our rejection of any established re- 
ligion ; and on the progress of infidelity, slavery, etc." 

" Saturday, June 5. — Mr. S. Grurney's family were convened 
this morning, including seven female-servants, several men-serv- 
ants, and seven children, two others being absent. Mr. G-urney 
read a chapter, the company sitting a few minutes in silence both 
before and after the reading. 

" This place was the residence of the late Dr. Fothergill, and 
is as beautiful as a perfectly level plain of seventeen acres can be 
made. It is all in garden and grass, and has a large hot-house 

Mem. Milnor. 24 



370 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

for exotics, and another exclusively for grasses ; an aviary for a 
variety of birds ; tame deer on the lawn ; and a little lake, cov- 
ered with waterfowl of several kinds, among which are the 
largest swan that I have seen in England, several beautiful kinds 
of ducks, and a pair of spoonbills, It is a place of perfect silence 
and seclusion in the midst of a dense population, affording both 
in its buildings and in its grounds a delightful retreat from the 
noise and smoke of London, and every comfort that wealth, fam- 
ily union, love, and Christian piety, can yield." 

Upon his return to town on Saturday, he spent the day in 
visiting the docks and the Millbank penitentiary, having letters 
from Lord Bexley, the governor of the latter, which procured 
him free admission and a full survey of the establishment, under 
the direction of an intelligent guide. He dined again with his 
friend Mr. Ewbank, of Peckham ; took tea with Mr. Lucas, of 
New- Cross ; and in the evening returned to his lodgings in the 
city. His note next morning opens the domestic apartment of 
his heart. 

" Sunday, June 6. — In the religious exercises with which I, 
with my fellow-lodger, Rev. Greo. A. Smith," (lately arrived from 
the United States,) " began our preparation for the public duties 
of the day, my thoughts were turned with intensity of interest 
to my dear family and flock in New York. They are indeed 
daily with me in my contemplations and prayers ; and it is the 
frequency with which my mind dwells upon every thing con- 
nected with their temporal and spiritual well-being, that prevents 
my speaking often on the subject in my journal ; for it would 
fill all its pages if I were to note the various thoughts — some- 
times full of hope, at others checked by fear — ■ which, from time 
to time, cheer or depress me. The Lord grant that a special 
blessing may descend upon them in the duties of this day." 

After this note, he attended morning service and the Lord's 
supper at St. John's chapel, Bedford Row, and enjoyed a precious 
season under the ministry of his friend and brother the Rev. B. 
"W. Noel. In the evening, he went to Longacre chapel, and heard 
its minister, the Rev. Mr. Howell, a preacher of such strong 
Welch accent and tone as to render it somewhat difficult to 
apprehend the scope of his discourse. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 371 

At breakfast, on Monday morning, June 7, with the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips, he met the Rev. Mr. Dodsworth, of St. Margaret's 
chapel, and the Rev. Mr. Drummond, both high Calvinists, and 
both high advocates for the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, in 
the sense of a spiritual change ensuring the salvation of its sub- 
ject. Mr. Dodsworth was, moreover, a strong advocate for the 
exclusive claims of the established Church. In the amicable 
controversy which ensued, Dr. Milnor repeatedly involved his 
opponents in inconsistencies from which they found it impossible 
fairly to extricate themselves. 

One of his entries in the journal for Tuesday, June 8, shows 
the stamp of his morals in matters of business, as well as in 
matters of religion. " Received a letter to-day," he writes, 

"from a Mr. ■ -, dated Derby, June 7, in which he states, 

that a benevolent gentleman in his neighborhood was about to 
send out to our Tract Society a set of stereotype plates of a work 
about which he had corresponded with Mr. Hallock," our secre- 
tary, " and inquires whether I could take them with me as pas- 
senger's baggage, in order to avoid the heavy duty chargeable 
upon them in the United States. If I could do so, he requests 
me to return an immediate answer. If not, he says i" need not 
write. As these plates are unquestionably dutiable, and as pas- 
sengers' baggage undergoes the official inspection of the custom- 
house, and I understand the passenger also makes oath that he 
has no dutiable articles among his baggage, even if the act pro- 
posed were not morally wrong, I could not accede to the proposal. 
But I hold any contravention or evasion of the revenue-laws of 
my country to be morally wrong ; and therefore, if I could by 
stealth get these plates to their destination free of duty, I would 
not : so I returned no answer to the letter." 

It would be interesting to many, if we were to give Dr. Mil- 
nor's account of the examination which he conducted on Thurs- 
day, the tenth of June, of the parochial schools of the parish of 
Islington, containing four hundred boys and two hundred girls ; 
but it is too long. We can merely say, it was almost wholly a 
religious examination ; and evinced, that while the pupils had 
been well disciplined in all ordinary human learning, very suc- 
cessful efforts had been made to fill their minds with a clear com- 



372 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

prehension of "the very pith and marrow" of the Gospel of their 
salvation. Equally interesting to some, might be his account of 
a visit, made in the evening, to the House of Commons ; listen- 
ing to the debates of that stormy and disorderly body till two 
o'clock, Friday morning. But this would be but a repetition of 
what ordinary readers already know of that popular branch of 
the British Parliament. 

His dinner on Friday, was again with his beloved brother of 
Islington, in company with such men as Dr. Ryder, Bishop of 
Litchfield and Coventry ; Dr. Sumner, of Chester ; Lord Bexley ; 
Sir G-eorge Gray ; the Hon. Mr. Ryder, brother to the bishop ; 
Zachary Macauley ; the Rev. Mr. Pearson, author of the Life of 
Archbishop Leighton ; and Mr. Mcllvaine. After dinner, the 
company proceeded to attend the anniversary of the Islington 
Auxiliary Church Missionary Society, which drew together a 
crowded assemblage of the inhabitants, to listen to several 
truly interesting addresses. After coffee and tea, between 
nine and ten o'clock, the customary religious exercises of the 
family were enjoyed ; and the spirit which had pervaded the 
whole proceedings of the afternoon and evening, was so sweetly 
Christian as to prompt, at the close of his journal for the day, 
the brief, but emphatic entry, " This was a day of as much pure, 
rational, and religious enjoyment, as any that I have spent in 
England. God's name be praised." 

Mr. "Wilson's influence at Islington must indeed have been 
as blessed as it was " unbounded." On Saturday morning, after 
having spent another night with his kind entertainer, Dr. Milnor 
went through the buildings of the Church Missionary Institution 
at Islington, of which he says, " There are now under instruction 
in this school twenty-seven students, (the buildings will accom- 
modate forty-five,) taught by Mr. Pearson, professor of divinity ; 
Mr. Ayre, son-in-law of Legh Richmond, professor of classical 
learning ; and, for four months in each year, by Mr. Lee of Cam- 
bridge, as professor of oriental languages. The object of this 
establishment is, the preparation of pious young men of good 
talents, who consider it their duty to devote themselves to the 
work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen. It has already 
sent out some excellent missionaries ; and I pray God that it 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 373 

may become a mighty engine in the destruction of idolatry, and 
in the extension of Christ's kingdom, especially in the East. 

" Besides a short but pleasant interview with Mr. Pearson, 
we had the pleasure of being introduced to the amiable and pious 
daughter of the late Mr. Richmond, whose letter in the memoir 
of her father's- life has excited so much interest. She informed 
us that the family have it in contemplation to publish a volume 
of his papers and a memoir of his little son Wilberforce, which 
he had not completed at the time of his death. 

"We were desirous of knowing the present state of Mr. Rich- 
mond's late parish. Mr. Ayre told us that the parish church, 
which used to overflow with worshippers, had not now in general 
a congregation of more than thirty persons ; the bulk of the pop- 
ulation attending at two dissenting chapels. The religious views 
of the new rector are directly opposite to those of Mr. Richmond ; 
and he consequently not only dissatifies them with his preaching, 
but refuses to give them a curate of evangelical feelings and 
views. Yet he treats Mr. Ayre, when he goes to Turvey, with 
complaisance ; invites him to preach ; expresses approbation of 
his sermons ; and evinces particular pleasure at the large congre- 
gations, which, on such occasions, assemble ; and when the last 
chapel was dedicated, he insisted on entertaining the dissenting 
ministers in attendance, and expressed a hope that the blessing 
of Grod would attend their undertaking." 

"At two o'clock," he proceeds, " I took coach for Stoke-New- 
ington, where I was engaged to dine with William Allen, that 
leading member of the society of Friends, so well known both as 
a man of science and as a philanthropist. He has a beautiful 
retreat ; the ' new river ' running in front of his house, and the 
rear being adorned with a fine velvet lawn, a delightful garden, 
a spacious hot-house for his large collection of exotics, and an 
observatory, with a telescope for his astronomical observations. 

" I was glad to meet there that singularly benevolent female, 
Hannah Kilham, who has compiled several books on an original 
plan, for the instruction, in their own language, of the WollofT, 
or Jolloff tribe of negroes, at and near Sierra Leone. She ac- 
quired a knowledge of the language from natives brought to 
England ; and then embodied her information in several element- 



374 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ary works, designed to teach the Jolloffs both their own and the 
English language." Hannah Kilham had visited Sierra Leone 
twice ; and though she had nearly fallen a victim to the climate, 
intended to make a third visit, and if possible, extend her travels 
to Liberia, with a view to prepare herself for writing similar 
books in the Bassa language. 

" In the course of the afternoon, besides presenting me with 
several pamphlets, of which he is the author, Mr. Allen commu- 
nicated to me his plan of domestic colonies, by the establishment 
of which he would supersede the necessity of emigration among 
the poorer classes. His plan is, to give them agricultural em- 
ployment, by assigning to each family a small portion of land at 
a moderate rent ; they undertaking to cultivate it according to a 
prescribed method, insuring the largest product at the smallest 
expense. Besides the little book which he has published, enti- 
tled, ' Colonies at Home,' he has exemplified his system on a 
farm of his own, at Linfield, forty miles from London. This he 
has divided into little farms of five acres each, and smaller lots 
of an acre and a quarter, on which are erected small cottages ; 
and in the vicinity a common school for the education of the 
children of the cottagers, who, if I remember rightly, pay each a 
small sum per week for the instruction of each child. Mr. Allen 
urged me to visit his establishment, which I regret it will not be 
in my power to do before I leave England for the continent." 

This visit to the philanthropist of Stoke-Newington had well- 
nigh proved fatal to the rector of St. George's ; for, immediately 
after the foregoing entry in his journal, he writes thus : 

"I have reason to be very thankful to the special providence 
of a gracious God, by which my life was preserved this evening 
under circumstances which put me in the utmost peril of its 
loss. A servant was sent to take places in the London coach for 
Dr. Pennock of Philadelphia and myself, at seven o'clock; but 
he returned with an answer that all the inside seats were taken. 
"We therefore concluded to ride outside. When the coach came 
to the door, it appeared that one inside seat was still vacant, but 
I declined taking it, as that would separate me from Dr. Pennock. 
"While he was taking leave of Mr. Allen I attempted to mount 
the rear outside seat, which accommodates two, and is conven- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 375 

iently separated from the other passengers. When I reached the 
entrance to the seat, I found it too confined for me to pass through 
without turning sideways. In attempting this, I was obliged to 
let go my right hand hold ; as I did so, my left hand gave way, 
and I fell immediately to the ground on my back, a distance of 
ten feet. I was unable to rise without assistance, and was con- 
veyed into the house, when it was ascertained that I had broken 
no limb, nor received any material contusion. I was, however, 
most dreadfully strained in my back and chest. I resisted the 
importunity of the kind family to remain during the night; and, 
getting into the coach, rode in great pain to town. On my ar- 
rival, I sent for a physician in the neighborhood, who took from 
my arm twenty-two ounces of blood, prescribed some medicine, 
and recommended that my back and chest be rubbed with opo- 
deldoc. With the assistance of my friend Mr. Smith, this was 
done; but I passed a most painful night." 

"Sunday, June 13. — Found myself unable to rise without 
assistance, mv back and chest bein^ in such a state as obliged 
me to keep as still as possible. I was tp have taken a family 
dinner to-day with our ambassador, Mr. McLane; but I sent an 
apology, and endeavored to improve my solitude by reading, 
meditation, and prayer." 

"Monday, June 14. — I have passed an almost sleepless night, 
and am this morning in much pain. We had intended to leave 
London this morning for Brighton, and thence proceed to the 
continent : but my situation has compelled us to abandon that 
intention. Endeavored, though with much difficulty, to prepare 
some dispatches for America. Last evening had been unavoida- 
bly employed until a late hour in correcting proofs of very brief 
sketches of my addresses at several anniversaries, to be inserted 
in the Christian Register, an annual publication of the proceed- 
ings of the public religious meetings. Went to bed, worn out 
with fatigue, and suffering exceedingly with bodily pain. Slept 
only three or four hours during the night; but hope I had no 
feelings but those of gratitude to Grod that matters, after such a 
fall, were not far worse." 

" Tuesday, June 15. — Rose in considerable pain, and so stiff 
as to be unable to walk but with great uneasiness. Wrote notes 



376 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of apology to the Rev. Henry Raikes, and Joshua Bates, Esq.," 
excusing himself from engagements ; " it being our design, if 
I am able to go by coach to the steamer to-morrow morning, to 
take our leave of London for Calais. This change of route is 
induced by the hope that rest on board the steamer will so far 
recruit my health as to enable me to bear the subsequent journey 
to Paris. Was laboriously engaged in various matters necessary 
to be attended to, before taking my departure from London, and 
went to bed again perfectly worn down by fatigue." 

" Wednesday, June 16. — Contrary to my expectation, Grod 
has graciously favored me with a comfortable night's rest ; and 
though still very stiff and sore, I have ventured to take coach to 
the steamer for Calais." 



SECTION VII. 

Dr. Milnor's chief, object in visiting Paris, was to engage an 
instructor for the New York Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb ; 
but his passage to Calais came as near putting an end to this 
and all his other designs, as his late Saturday evening's attempt 
to mount the rear outside seat of Stoke-Newington coach for 
London. The first note in his journal, after entering the steamer, 
is as follows : 

" The Thames was crowded with vessels of all descriptions ; 
so that if the habit, for weeks past, of passing in coaches and 
cabs through defiles not much broader than the carriage itself, 
had not familiarized me with the seeming danger, I should have 
wondered how a steamer could possibly make her way in .safety 
through such a throng. This, however, she would have done, 
had not a collier vessel, some distance ahead, unexpectedly 
veered round so as to bring her bowsprit directly across our 
narrow passage. The captain of our boat immediately reversed 
the engine, at the same time hailing the collier to turn his bow- 
sprit out of our way. He did not, however, and it carried away 
the shrouds of our hind-mast ; when, very unexpectedly, as soon 
as the bowsprit came in contact with it, the mast itself gave 



VISIT TO FRANCE. 377 

way, and fell across the after-deek. Messrs. Mcllvaine and Smith 
and myself were, at the moment, standing within a foot or two 
of the mast. They sprang to the right far enough to escape it, 
and it fell to the left of me. As it fell, I turned round, and saw 
it crush several of the passengers, and knock one boatman over- 
board and several hats into the water. The boatman knocked 
overboard was saved without much injury ; but another, on whom 
the end of the mast fell, was killed, and the wife of Admiral 
Rouse was taken up senseless. She bled excessively, and at length 
revived sufficiently to be put into a boat and taken ashore. The 
agony of her husband, and that of a brother of the deceased 
boatman, were indescribable. One other lady was much injured ; 
but several of the passengers, who I thought were crushed be- 
neath the mast, were in fact uninjured, having merely crouched 
beneath its descent, which was arrested by the companion-way. 
Thus the result, melancholy as it was, proved more favorable 
than we anticipated. Melancholy indeed was it for the poor 
man so suddenly called into eternity, if unprepared for the awful 
change. It was a consideration of most serious import, as well 
as of grateful acknowledgment, that within a very few days, I 
should have been twice exposed to imminent peril of death, and 
yet have been — I pray God it may be for some good purpose — 
twice preserved." 

They had a smooth passage across the channel, and reached 
Calais about eight o'clock in the evening of the same day on 
which they left London, and Paris at ten o'clock the Friday even- 
ing following ; noticing only the ordinary features of the coun- 
try as they passed, and the mendicity which to such a great 
extent prevails. Dr. Milnor writes, " Whenever the diligence 
stopped, even at night, we were assailed by beggars. The cry 
everywhere was, ' Ah ! pauvre miserable ! Monsieur, quelque 
chose ! tres miserable !' At every hill, where the slow progress 
of the vehicle admitted importunity, we were followed by old 
men, women, and children. This arises from the' fact, that in 
this country no public provision is made for the poor." 

On Saturday, June 19, the travellers took an exterior view of 
Paris, Dr. Milnor closing his brief journal for the day with the fol- 
lowing note: "I do not think it necessary to describe particularly 



378 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

all the public places which we have seen ; as this is already done 
by so many travellers, and far better than I can do it from such 
casual observation." The spirit of this remark will apply to 
most of his journal while in France. "We shall not therefore 
attempt minutely to follow his course in this country. A few of 
his notes, however, are worth preserving. 

Returning from a third Protestant service on Sunday, June 
20, he passed the Catholic church of St. Roch; and as it was still 
open, evidently for some public service, he entered, and had an 
opportunity of witnessing a most gorgeous exhibition of the 
ritual of the Romish church, in " the Fete Dieu." After describ- 
ing a scene in which at least sixty performers were engaged, and 
which was closed by a well-dressed lady going round and solicit- 
ing from each an offering " pour repose " — or for redeeming souls 
out of purgatory — he gives utterance to his feelings in the fol- 
lowing strain : 

" Now, in all this parade of worship, in this superb church 
maintaining such a retinue of ecclesiastical functionaries, and 
lasting from an early hour in the morning till after nightfall, not 
one word of edification was addressed to the assembled multitude ; 
but the whole was conducted in a language unknown to by far 
the greater part, and with all the idle pageantry of heathenism. 
when shall ' Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and 
abominations of the earth,' be destroyed ? Hasten this event, 
Lord, in thy time." 

In his many wanderings about Paris, he once found himself 
in the vaults beneath the Pantheon, where he observed a remark- 
able phenomenon. "There is," says he, "in these vaults, a most 
wonderful echo. Standing at the end of one of the passages, it 
responded, not as usual the last word of a sentence, but the 
whole, as articulately as we ourselves uttered it. Our attendant, 
striking the skirt of his coat with a ratan, produced a sound like 
near and very loud thunder, and by some variation of his strokes, 
the effect of the loud firing of cannon. A part of us remaining 
at this spot, and the remainder going off in the windings of the 
passage to a distance of one hundred and seventy feet, we could 
converse together in a whisper, and even the rubbing of the hand 
on the coat-sleeve could be heard at the same distance." A part 



VISIT TO FRANCE. 379 

of this description reminds us of such worship as he had before 
witnessed at the church of St. Roch. So far as the effect of such 
worship on the multitude is concerned, it is but echo in dark 
vaults artificially lighted, and imposingly reverberating upon won- 
dering ears the rattle of ratans and the rustling of coat-sleeves. 

On Tuesday, June 22, Dr. Milnor called on the following gen- 
tlemen for the purpose of delivering letters of introduction, most 
of whom were at home and received him courteously. Bishop 
Luscomb, Mr. Lutteroth, Professor Kieffer, Mr. Curtis, an Ameri- 
can merchant, M. Monod fils, Mr. Wainwright, cousin of Dr. 
"Wain wright, Mons. Le Compte Ver. Huell, and Mons. Le Due 
De Broglie. 

" Professor Kieffer," he remarks, " received me in his library 
with great kindness, and tendered me any service in his power 
during my stay in Paris. My valet acted as interpreter, the 
professor, though able to read English, not venturing to speak it. 
He handed me the last monthly extracts of the British and For- 
eign Bible Society ; pointed to my address, which he was so kind 
as to say he had read with great pleasure, and added, he was de- 
lighted to hear of the resolution of the American Bible Society, 
pledging a general supply of the sacred Scriptures — a measure 
which they find it difficult to accomplish among the scattered 
Protestants of France. I was very favorably impressed with the 
piety and meekness of this distinguished scholar and Christian." 

Wednesday, June 23, after walking, till his feet were sore, 
" over the intolerable pavements of Paris," he felt " considerable 
pain, the remaining effect of his fall, both in his left shoulder and 
in his chest, especially when he became fatigued with walking." 
Nor was this all, for he goes on to say, " Both my friend Mcll- 
vaine and myself find a great vacuum here, which we did not 
feel in London. There, though we occupied a part of the time 
in seeing what was curious and novel, we yet had, almost daily, 
the association and converse of the pious ; something to relieve 
that secularity of feeling to which the mind is prone. But here, 
we are deprived of that enjoyment. We endeavor to supply its 
place as well as we can, by uniting regularly, every morning 
and evening, in reading the Scriptures, religious conversation, 
and prayer, in our little parlor. But we do not feel desirous of 



380 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

prolonging our stay in France. No person unacquainted with 
the language, can have the same satisfaction with one who can 
speak French. Considering, therefore, the intended shortness of 
our stay, we have taken little pains to form acquaintance ; and 
after we have seen such objects as principally merit attention, 
we shall take our leave of Paris without regret." 

On Thursday, June 24, Dr. Milnor addressed himself to the 
object of his visit — the engagement of a competent teacher for 
the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in New York. Accordingly, he 
visited the asylum in Paris, had an interview with its principal, 
the Abbe Borel, and opened with him the necessary negotiations. 

On Sunday, he attended church in the morning at the Brit- 
ish embassy, and heard Bishop Luscomb preach ; and in the 
afternoon preached for the bishop, in the church of the Oratoire. 
At five o'clock, he dined with the bishop, " whose easy, uncon- 
strained hospitality, and interesting conversation, detained his 
guests till between nine and ten." "He is," says Dr. Milnor, "a 
very high churchman, but — though to be tolerated in England 
for the present, as a necessary evil — strongly opposed to the 
union of church and state. He has had considerable controversy, 
or rather epistolary discussion, with the bishop of London, re- 
specting the claim of the latter to jurisdiction over all English 
Episcopal churches in foreign countries. The claim he deems to 
be, as it certainly is, preposterous, when applied to churches not 
situated in British colonies or provinces ; but for peace' sake, and 
to secure a certain pecuniary aid which the government affords 
these churches, he has so far acquiesced in the claims of the 
bishop of London as to grant licenses to ministers, subject to his 
approbation, which is always, as a matter of course, accorded. 
Almost all the Episcopal churches in France and the Nether- 
lands, have acknowledged the Episcopal superintendence of 
Bishop Luscomb. Mr. Way's chapel, in the Hotel Marboeuf, 
which is his private property, forms a somewhat galling excep- 
tion, as his congregation embraces some of the most respectable 
Episcopalians in Paris. Our American ambassador's family at- 
tend that chapel, because they prefer the more evangelical style 
of preaching which prevails there, as well as its more agreeable 
situation. Perhaps, too, etiquette may interpose some objection 



VISIT TO FRANCE. 381 

to an attendance on the morning service at the British embassy ; 
and the Oratoire is neither a pleasant church, nor, for the Eng- 
lish and American population, conveniently situated." 

"In the evening," he continues, "about bedtime, I was at- 
tacked with a slight paroxysm of gout in my right foot, which 
occasioned me, during the night, considerable loss of sleep." 

" Monday, June 28. — My foot was somewhat painful this morn- 
ing ; but being under an engagement to meet the director of the 
Royal Institution for the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, I 
took a carriage, and called on Mr. "Warden, late American con- 
sul, who accompanied me to the asylum. The director informed 
me that he had consulted several teachers respecting my propo- 
sition, and that a young gentleman, of about 23 years of age, 
was, he believed, willing to engage. I inquired respecting his 
natural talents, his literary acquirements, his capacity for the 
instruction of the deaf and dumb, the amiableness of his temper, 
and his moral character. On all these points, the director gave 
the fullest assurances in favor of the young man, declaring that 
his talents and acquirements were far beyond his years ; that he 
was fully acquainted with the French system, and an excellent 
practical instructor ; that his disposition was extremely amiable ; 
and that his moral character was unsullied. He added, that 
he should consider his departure from the school a great loss ; 
but for the sake of the young man, he was willing to part with 
him. 

"All this passed through Mr. "Warden, as interpreter, before 
the candidate himself made his appearance. His sister, who 
could speak a little English, accompanied him ; and to her I de- 
tailed, in answer to her inquiries, and to his through her, every 
particular of the agreement which I was willing to make with 
him. My offer was $800 salary, with board, washing, and 
lodging ; his expenses to Havre, and his passage out ; and an 
advance of money commensurate with his outfit. In answer to 
inquiries about religion, I stated that we were Protestants, and 
that the instruction of our pupils would be Protestant; but 
that we should not interfere with his personal enjoyment of his 
own faith. 

" The young lady spoke English tolerably well, and was re- 



382 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR, 

markably intelligent. He had paid some attention to our lan- 
guage, but could not speak it. He said, that if he concluded to 
go, all the intervening time, until his arrival in America, should 
be applied to the cultivation of the English language, in which 
his sister was satisfied he would soon become a proficient. She 
stated that he was now engaged in translating a German book 
into French ; and the director informed me that his father was 
an author of some note. He is to give me his answer at my 
hotel on Thursday morning, at 9 o'clock." 

After this engagement, he indiscreetly took a pedestrian ex- 
cursion to Pere la Chaise. " The state of my foot," he observes, 
"was not improved by our protracted walk through those beautiful 
grounds. We returned very much fatigued ; but being under an 
engagement to spend the evening at the house of our ambassador, 
Mr. Rives, we repaired thither, and were very kindly and unosten- 
tatiously received and entertained by him and his excellent lady. 
I met there M. Serrurier and his lady, whom I had known in 
Washington as the ambassador of the Emperor Napoleon to the 
government of the United States. Madame Serrurier was then 
only seventeen years of age. She is still a beautiful woman, in 
the bloom of life ; but he is so much altered that I should not 
have known him. It seemed to be agreeable to him to have met, 
thus incidentally, with an American acquaintance ; for he pro- 
fessed to remember me, though so many years had passed. He 
made numerous inquiries about men and things in Washington, 
and our country generally ; with which, by the by, he showed 
himself more familiar than most of the gentlemen with whom I 
conversed in England. I suffered, the whole evening, violent 
pain in my foot, but made no complaint ; though, upon taking 
my leave, I was unable to get to the carriage without- assist- 
ance." 

"Tuesday Morning, June 29. — I am, this morning, in a state 
of complete disability for locomotion, and consequently have to 
remain at home, and that in much pain." Of his sufferings in 
the evening he writes, the next day, "My foot was so exceedingly 
painful and sore, that I was compelled to resort to laudanum ; 
and though I took, in three doses, 150 drops, yet I obtained no 
sleep, nor abatement of pain, till near daylight of Wednesday, 



VISIT TO FRANCE. 383 

June 30th." "When he awoke, however, he was "greatly re- 
lieved," although his foot was excessively swollen and tender. 

Thursday morning, July 1, though suffering still, he received, 
according to appointment, M. L. Yaysse, the proposed instructor 
for the deaf and dumb, accompanied by his father and sister, and 
concluded with, him the terms of an engagement as an instructor 
in the New York asylum. 

During the evening of this day, he received a visit from M. 
Monod fils, pastor of the Protestant French church which meets 
in the Oratoire, and had with him a long conversation, which 
threw much light on the state of religion at that day in France. 
But since that period, light has become so much fuller, so many 
changes in France have occurred, and so much knowledge of her 
changes has been disseminated, that his remarks would now 
appear quite behind the times. 

The next three days he spent in the quiet of his room, re- 
ceiving a few visitors, writing letters, and on Sunday, July 4, 
penning reflections on American freedom, and on the liberty 
wherewith the Son makes free. 

On Monday, after receiving various visitors, and transmitting 
sundry documents of business to institutions in America, from 
which he had brought commissions, Dr. Milnor dined with Mr. 
Vaysse senior, in company with five French gentlemen, none 
of whom understood English. Through his amiable interpreter 
Miss Yaysse, however, he collected the substance of their conver- 
sation, which was principally on the "very critical state of the 
country." "The elections," says his journal, "which are now 
going on, it is generally agreed, will terminate in the choice of a 
majority of deputies of the liberal party. This will compel the 
king to change his ministry, or come to an open rupture with the 
lower house ; for it is said, they will withhold supplies, unless 
their wishes are complied with. The gentlemen of our circle at 
dinner, profess to be inclined, in general, to the views of the lib- 
eral party, at least so far as to wish a change of ministers, as the 
best means of quieting the feelings of the nation. But they la- 
ment the violence of some of the journals, and also the excesses 
that have taken place in some of the departments ; and deprecate 
any direct opposition to the executive government, as likely to 



384 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

bring back the horrors of the Revolution. An old gentleman 
present, recently one of the editors of the Journal des Debats, 
was twice condemned to be guillotined, and once an actual 
account of his decapitation was published." 

In truth, they were, without knowing it, on the eve of the 
historic "three days" of July, 1830— a convulsion which heaved 
Charles X. from his throne, and threw upon the brow of Louis 
of Orleans the crown, not of France, but of "the French." 

Having described the pursuits and productions of his five 
fellow-guests, "for all the company were literary men," Dr. 
Milnor adds, " I had a specimen of a real French dinner ; and 
while I was surprised at the needless variety of unknown condi- 
ments, and the protracted use of them, I was much more aston- 
ished at the immense quantity of food which each guest devoured, 
and at their copious libations of various light wines. Our din- 
ner — the eating part of it, I mean— lasted from seven till after 
nine o'clock ; and when the eating was over, all was over : for 
the gentlemen and ladies immediately retired together to the 
drawing-room, where a cup of coffee and a small glass of eau de 
vie — -of the latter, of course, as a temperance man, I did not 
partake — closed the evening's repast." 

In order, however, to a correct idea of French dinners, the 
reader should know the character of French cookery and French 
wines. Their dishes contain much less nutriment than those of 
the English; and the wines of the country, of which the French- 
man drinks so copiously, are generally far less exciting than the 
ordinary wines of commerce. Still, the French are liberal con- 
sumers of food, and their dinners are wasteful consumers of time. 

On Tuesday he visited that monument of the splendid ex- 
travagance of the grand Monarque, the palace of Versailles ; 
despatched various business matters ; and, with regrets at being 
unable, in consequence of his long confinement, to return the 
many civilities which he had received, addressed notes of apology 
to those who had paid them. Thus prepared, he took his de- 
parture from Paris. His return course lay through Rouen, and 
by way of Dieppe to Brighton, on the south coast of England. 
He left Paris, Wednesday, July 7, and reached Brighton, Satur- 
day, July 10, early in the morning. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 385 



SECTION VIII. 

With his companions in travel, Mollvaine and Smith, he 
passed directly from Brighton, through Portsmouth, to the Isle 
of Wight, and spent the Sabbath of the next day at Ryde. 

" It was cheering," he says, "on this beautiful morning, after 
the bad weather, and miserable roads, and half-starved horses, 
and crazy carriages, and dirty villages, and desolate^ fields of 
France, to find ourselves in a well-constructed stage-coach, drawn 
by elegant horses, as neatly caparisoned as those of a nobleman's 
private carriage, over roads perfectly dry and smooth, through 
towns neatly built, and a country richly variegated with delight- 
ful scenery, and studded with buildings, some of beautiful, and 
almost all of comfortable appearance. The comparison certainly 
places France far behind England in the career of improvement." 

After reaching the Isle of Wight, he evidently spent one of 
his most comfortable and heavenly Sabbaths, under the ministry 
of the Rev. Mr. Sib+horpe, and in company with the Rev. Mr. 
Hatchard, vicar of Plymouth; and he gave, in his journal, very 
full notes of the two sermons which the former preached, and 
which demonstrated him to have been at that time as far as any 
man living from the views of Dr. Pusey and the Church of Rome. 
His subsequent lapse into those views forms one of the most 
melancholy chapters in the history of the evangelical men of 
England. 

Speaking of his Sabbath in Ryde, Dr. Milnor remarks, "This 
was a delightful day to myself and my friends. What a contrast 
to the business, and bustle, and noise of Paris, the quiet of this 
pleasant town and peaceful isle ; to the defiling superstitions of 
popery, the chaste worship of our Church; and to the senseless 
pomp and pageantry of their corrupt and miserable forms, the 
pure Gospel as preached by a gifted minister of God !" 

It is well known that one of the very important principles 
adopted for its guidance by the American Tract Society, is that 
of publishing no narrative Tract which is not substantial truth. 

* This refers to the fenceless, hedgeless, and treeless condition of large 
portions of the rich lands of France. 

Mem. Milnor. 25 



386 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

One of Dr. Milnor's objects, therefore, in visiting the Isle of 
Wight, was to verify, if it admitted of verification, the descrip- 
tive part in the narrative of that incomparably useful tract, the 
Dairyman's Daughter, by Legh Richmond ; as well as that of the 
Young Cottager and the African Servant, by the same "almost 
hallowed" pen. To the Christian reader, therefore, this part of 
his journal assumes more than its usual interest, and will, for 
this reason, be more closely followed. 

"Monday, July 12. — The Rev. Mr. Sibthorpe and the Rev. 
Mr. Hulme kindly proposed to accompany us to-day on a part of 
our ride through the island. They went in a one-horse vehicle, 
and we with a fine pair of horses and an excellent coach, imme- 
diately after breakfasting with Mr. Sibthorpe. And now, at the 
close of our journey, I find myself utterly incompetent to de- 
scribe the scenes of natural grandeur and beauty through which 
we have this day passed. I had often read and heard of them ; 
but the reality every way surpassed the expectation which I had 
formed. 

" The town of Ryde, where we spent the last two nights, and 
enjoyed so sweet a Sabbath, is opposite Portsmouth. It is situ- 
ated on the side of a hill of considerable elevation, and affords a 
fine view of Portsmouth, its celebrated harbor, and several other 
important naval stations in its neighborhood. Some of the houses 
of Ryde are elegant, and present a neat appearance, with great 
attention, on the part of their occupants, to the cultivation in 
front and around them of trees and shrubbery ; a species of orna- 
ment so easy, and affording so great an addition to the beauty 
of a dwelling, that one is surprised it should be anywhere neg- 
lected. Yet, in all the villages which we saw in France, the odor 
of filth and mud seemed more agreeable to their inhabitants than 
that of flowers; and a glaring sunshine, when it could be had, 
than the relief which the English think is afforded by overshad- 
owing foliage. 

" At the commencement of our ride, the weather looked a 
little inauspicious ; but it soon cleared off, and became very pleas- 
ant, though the temperature is exceedingly cool for the season. 
Our road was not very broad, but it was smooth and winding, 
bordered on each side by luxuriant hedges, and often by lofty 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 387 

trees. Its serpentine course was produced by its conforming, in 
a considerable degree, to that of the beach, along which, until we 
passed the village of Bonchurch, and turned more inland toAvards 
Arreton and Newport, it principally lay. The circuitous course 
of the road over hill and dale sometimes conducted us close to 
the water's side, and gave us a full view of the noble harbor of 
Portsmouth, in the first part of our ride, and subsequently of the 
great Atlantic ; and at other times, receding a little, and causing 
a temporary interruption of our prospect by intervening hills, it 
only increased our delight at emerging again to some more ex- 
tensive view. Every one knows how a change of position will 
alter the appearance of a landscape, and disclose at every turn 
new beauties. Here we enjoyed this pleasure in a high degree ; 
and besides seeing every object in a variety of views, new scene- 
ry, which the pen of a Richmond could describe, though mine 
cannot, was continually bursting on our sight. We noticed a 
beautiful building in the form of a castle, and of recent erection, 
the seat of Lord Vernon ; and another on a lofty hill, belonging 
to Sir Richard Simeon ; and within three miles of Ryde, six or 
eight other country-seats of various architecture, yet all seeming 
to harmonize with the delightful and enchanting scene around. 

" Soon after passing Helen's Green, a small village of neat 
cottages, we saw the tower of its old church, on which the sea 
encroached till it was abandoned to ruin, and another was built 
in a safer position. We soon came to Brading harbor, which, at 
high tide, forms a lake of several miles in extent; but at low 
water, is an uncovered flat. The tide flows in through a narrow 
inlet, which we crossed in a small boat, our carriage being taken 
over in a larger. We walked up the hill on the side opposite to 
Bembridge chapel, recently built by a Mr. Wise, and in which an 
excellent clergyman, Sir Henry Thompson, officiates. We re- 
gretted our disappointment in not seeing the incumbent, to whom 
Mr. Sibthorpe was desirous of introducing us. 

"We were now approaching Brading,* where Legh Rich- 
mond commenced his ministry ; were passing through the rich 

* The journal, from this point till the travellers reached Newport, was, 
soon after Dr. Milnor's return, presented to the American Tract Society as a 
part of his report to that institution. 



388 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and delightful scenery which he so tastefully describes ; and 
were about to behold, and in some instances to press with our 
footsteps, those almost hallowed spots, where occurred the events, 
the memory of which he has perpetuated in those admirable 
tracts, the Young Cottager, the African Servant, and the Dairy- 
man's Daughter. 

" We had these invaluable narratives with us, and employed 
ourselves in reading such parts of them as were specially calcu- 
lated to direct our attention to the several places which he does 
not name, but describes with such fidelity to nature that the 
observant traveller needs no other guide to point them out. 

" I am glad that we can bear our testimony to the accuracy 
of his descriptions, because many have supposed them to be 
principally fancy ; and on this account, much that adds greatly 
to the interest of the narrative, and is highly instructive in show- 
ing the Christian with what religious feelings the works of the 
great Creator should be viewed, and to what profitable use their 
contemplation may be applied, has, in many editions of them, 
been omitted. Though not so intended by the curtailers of these 
tracts, the retrenchment is yet, in my opinion, an injustice to 
their lamented author, and an injury to the narratives them- 
selves. 

" On arriving at Brading, we drove directly to the church- 
yard, where are interred the remains of ' Little Jane,' the young 
cottager. Several children were playing near the gate; and I 
asked a fine-looking little girl if she could show us the grave of 
Jane. ' yes,' she said, and advanced before us as our guide. 
After conducting us to the grave, over which we stood for some 
time in silent but affecting meditation, she said she would 
< show us the verses on Mr. and Mrs. Berry's tombstone, ivhat 
Jane had got by heart and repeated to Mr. Richmond.' '"Well, 
my dear,' said I, ' the reading of these verses helped Jane to be- 
come a good girl and to die happy, did it not ?' She answered, 
' Yes, sir,' as she did my next inquiry, whether she would try to 
be as good a girl, and die as happy as little Jane. 

" The epitaphs which little Jane committed to memory, espe- 
cially that on Mr. Berry's tombstone, which was probably, under 
God, the means of her first serious impressions, are both pious 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 389 

and affecting ; and their influence on the mind of this youthful 
candidate for heaven, shows what simple instruments the Holy 
Spirit often employs to accomplish the conversion of the soul 
to God. 

" From the graveyard we went into the church, a very 
ancient structure, not less, the sexton assured us, than eleven 
hundred years old. It has been enlarged since its first erection, 
and is remarkable for nothing in its interior but two singular 
tombs with wooden effigies of the deceased ; several plainer, but 
apparently very old monuments of stone ; and a most helter- 
skelter and inconvenient arrangement of the pews. Its location, 
however, is at once sequestered, and near the village, above 
which it is slightly elevated. The parsonage, a comfortable- 
looking abode, is immediately adjacent to the churchyard. 
From the church, the view of Brading Haven, the bay beyond, 
the elevated hill on the right, and the sloping bank on the left, 
with the other scenery described by Mr. Richmond in 'The 
Young Cottager,' as seen from this spot, are all just as there 
represented. 

" On our way from Brading to Sandown Bay, the prospects 
were variegated and pleasing ; and as we passed the fort, we 
emerged upon one of the grandest views of the ocean through 
the bay, that we had yet seen. Here was pointed out to us the 
high Down, which Mr. Richmond describes in ' The African 
Servant,' the perpendicular cliff in which it terminates, and the 
jutting rock, under which he discovered and so interestingly 
conversed with his sable companion. Nothing can be more true 
to nature than his descriptions, in that tract, of the. surrounding 
scenery. "We saw the cottage of the celebrated John Wilkes, in 
the garden of which are flourishing several rosebushes said to 
have been planted by his own hands. 

"We then proceeded to the village of Shanklin, consisting 
of a few neat cottages, and stopped at a residence bearing 
nothing of a tavern aspect, but affording us the refreshment 
which we needed — some excellent cold roast beef and lobsters. 
After lunch, we walked down to what is called Shanklin Chine, 
a large, romantic fissure, or chasm, in the cliff that fronts upon 
the sea. The descent to the beach is by an ordinary road ; and 



390 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

then you return through the chine to the village. No descrip- 
tion extant of this singular spot is either so beautiful or so mi- 
nutely accurate, as that given by Mr. Richmond in l The Young 
Cottager,' as one of his places of solitary, religious meditation. 
We occupied the same ' little hollow recess in the cliff,' from 
which he surveyed and delineated the surrounding scenery. "We 
there read deliberately his graphic description of the various 
interesting objects that lay before him, and could discern no 
difference between it and the noble scene in actual view, save 
that a mist hid from us the ' towering spire ' of Chichester cathe- 
dral ; that in these peaceful times, we beheld no ' frigate stand- 
ing into the bay ;' and that but a few vessels of any size happened, 
at that moment, to enliven the prospect. We lingered long upon 
and near the beach, and then proceeded up the chine, along the 
side of which the fishermen have cut a convenient footpath, 
with a resting-place or two by the way, where an interesting 
point of observation happened to present itself. Several neat 
cottages, with small gardens, have been built within the fissure, 
each of which, while sheltered from the weather by its lofty 
sides, and embowered amid the rich foliage of shrubs and over- 
hanging trees, enjoys at the same time an extensive prospect of 
the sea. 

" Returning to the village, we resumed our carriage, and 
passing by the neat old church of Shanklin, came to Bonchurch 
village, quietly seated on what is called 'the undercliff' " This, 
as its name implies, is a cliff under a cliff. For a considerable 
distance, the road runs along the top, and at times near the brink 
of one cliff which rises directly above the sea ; while, for the same 
distance, it runs along the base of another cliff, which rises, a 
few rods inland, perpendicularly above the traveller's head. The 
singular wildness of this scene may be judged from the circum- 
stance, that the upper cliff towers, at some points, near a thou- 
sand feet above the level of the ocean. " We got out of the car- 
riage, and proceeded along the brink, for the sake of the view 
which it presented of some exquisite scenery not before disclosed. 
Below the village, we threaded our way down a footpath to the 
road, and got into our carriage ; our course now lying up an in- 
land valley, between gently sloping but lofty hills on either side. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 391 

Landscapes of peculiar beauty and .variety, exhibiting number- 
less fields of grain, nearly ripe for the harvest ; herds of cattle, 
and flocks of sheep, with here and there a company of haymakers, 
busily employed, presented themselves in ever-changing aspects, 
as we ascended or descended the successive slopes of this delight- 
ful valley. 

" We had long in sight, and at length passed, at some dis- 
tance, the splendid seat and extensive park-grounds of Lord Yar- 
borough, called Appuldercomb. Travellers have given rapturous 
descriptions of the interior, and its rich collections of paintings 
and sculpture. Of these, we shall probably never have a sight ; 
but it was commended to our notice by circumstances of a very 
different kind. It was there that the sister of ' the dairyman's 
daughter' died, whose funeral Mr. Richmond attended, at the 
request of the latter ; and it was there, that about a week after, 
he had his first conversation with her whose religious experience, 
as narrated by that faithful minister, has had a more extensive 
influence in the world than ever attended any similar publi- 
cation. 

" He gives, in ' The Dairyman's Daughter,' a correct account 
of the situation and appearance of Appuldercomb, and of the 
surrounding scenery. "We saw ' the summit of the hill adjoin- 
ing' the venerable mansion, to which he ascended after the visit 
just referred to ; and the triangular pyramid of stones, near which 
he sat down to meditate ; and the magnificent prospect which lay 
around him. In full view of this elevated spot, we read his 
extended description, and turned southward and southeastward, 
and northward and westward, and admired, as he had done, the 
unequalled beauty of the scene. Certainly neither of us had 
ever read the descriptive part of ' The Dairyman's Daughter ' 
with the like interest and emotion. My feelings obliged me to 
resign the book to my companions ; and under the various emo- 
tions excited by the narrative and the scene, it was difficult for 
any of us to prosecute our reading; but with an intensity of 
interest, we gazed upon the lovely prospect until it could be no 
longer seen. 

"We now approached Arreton, the village, in the church- 
yard of which lie interred the mortal remains of Elizabeth Wall- 



392 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

bridge, the sainted daughter of the dairyman. About a mile 
from it, we stopped before the cottage from which her soul as- 
cended to its rest, and were kindly received by her surviving 
brother, a man now advanced in years, and still a resident in the 
cot of his birth. He showed us Elizabeth's Bible, in which was 
simply written, ' Elizabeth Wallbridge, daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth "Wallbridge ; born 1771, died 1801.' He also took us 
up stairs into the room in which she expired. We added our 
names to a long list, in a book kept by her brother for the pur- 
pose, and then took our leave, Mr. "Wallbridge in a very respect- 
ful manner thanking us for our visit. 

" Our simplicity in finding satisfaction in such a visit, would 
be a fruitful subject of derision to men of the world ; but if they 
will indulge our simplicity, and we can enjoy feelings such as 
these scenes excited, let them laugh : we will delight in every 
thing calculated to cherish the memory of the pious dead. 

" On leaving the cottage, our path was the same with that 
over which moved the funeral procession of the dairyman's 
daughter, in the manner so affectingly described by Mr. Rich- 
mond. It lay along a narrow but excellent road, winding be- 
tween high, green hedges, and sometimes under an arch formed 
by the trees on either side ; a lofty cultivated hill on the right, 
and a charming view of the luxuriant valley now and then break- 
ing upon us to the left. As we read the account of the solemn 
passage of the mourning, yet rejoicing relatives and friends of 
the deceased, we were almost ready to realize its actual vision, 
and to hear the pious strains of melody, as they filled the air and 
ascended to the skies. 

" Thus prepared, we reached Arreton church ; and leaving 
our carriage to ascend the hill without us, we went to the grave 
of Elizabeth ; read the beautiful lines, which love of her charac- 
ter and the recollection of her triumphant death have caused to 
be inscribed on her simple monument ; meditated awhile on her 
present glorious state ; dropped a tear of sympathy but not of 
sorrow, and silently retired. 

"From this to Newport, our resting-place for the night, we 
could talk on none but things connected with the scenes, and in- 
cidents, and reflections of the day ; uniting in the sentiment that 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 393 

Paris, with all its palaces, and gardens, and paintings, and stat- 
ues, had afforded no such gratification to our eyes as the glorious 
works of Grod, on which they had dwelt in this enchanting island ; 
and none of its multiplied attractions, such an inward feast as the 
religious associations of this day's travel had supplied." 

A sudden and unexpected return of Mr. Mcllvaine's illness 
prevented the party, for a few days, from prosecuting their tour 
round the island. In the meantime, Dr. Milnor visited old Caris- 
brook castle, in the neighborhood of Newport, with its ancient 
Roman well, and the ruins of the chamber in which the ill-fated 
Charles I. was a prisoner ; and spent a day in crossing over from 
Cowes to Southampton, for the purpose of visiting his friend Mrs. 
Grilliat, and of obtaining letters from home, which he had ordered 
to be sent thither from London. After a pleasant visit with his 
friend and her family, though without finding the letters which 
he expected, he returned to Newport on Thursday, July 15, the 
day appointed for the funeral of George IV. As his fellow-trav- 
eller, Mr. Mcllvaine, was still too sick for journeying, Dr. Milnor 
and his remaining companion, Mr. Smith, resolved upon the west- 
ern tour of the Isle of Wight. Accordingly, on Friday morning, 
immediately after breakfast, they took a carriage, and favored 
with a beautifully cool summer's day, set forth on their pleasant 
jaunt. 

" Our road," says the journal, " lay through Carisbrook, a 
village adjacent to Newport, and remarkable for little save the 
pleasantness of its situation, the neatness and rural decorations 
of its dwellings, and the fine view which it presents of the vener- 
able ruin, Carisbrook castle, already described. As seen in pass- 
ing along the road, one has a much higher idea of the ancient 
importance of this castle as a place of military defence, as well 
as a much more interesting view of its ivy-mantled gateway, its 
lofty round towers, the fragments of its gray walls, in great part 
buried in foliage, and the elevated keep, from which we had en- 
joyed so delightful a survey of the beautiful country around it, 
Our host at Newport informed us that the mayor of that city is, 
by immemorial usage, sworn into office in the chapel of the cas- 
tle. The present mayor is the clergyman of the church in New- 
port, and I presume a good officer, from the fact of our host's 



394 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

complaining of him as ? ruling the publicans of the city with a 
rod of iron.' One thing is certain : during the time which we 
have spent in his jurisdiction, there has been every appearance 
of the utmost quiet and order. "We have seen no drunken men, 
or mendicants ; have heard no profane language ; nor witnessed 
the least disorder of any kind. The stillness of the place has 
been very propitious to the recovery of my sick friend. 

" We continued our ride through the village of Shorwell, 
which has a pretty, antique church, and near which we passed 
a cottage of the larger size, literally buried in ivy, no part of the 
building being visible, save the doors and windows. It is aston- 
ishing with what luxuriance this plant grows in England ; how 
it seems to love stone walls ; and how greatly it adds to the pic- 
turesque appearance of the buildings which it invests. 

" Soon afterwards, a magnificent view of the ocean broke sud- 
denly upon us, as we cleared a high verdant bank by which it 
had hitherto been intercepted. We passed through the village of 
Brixton, in which, as in Shorwell, the principal objects of interest 
were its antique little church and its comfortable cottages imbed- 
ded in the greenest foliage. Again the sea was hidden from 
view, and again it appeared in all its grandeur, as we passed over 
hill and dale in this enchanting ride. A little way from Brixton, 
we passed through the hamlet of Mattisone, lying at the foot of 
a high down, and then through another, called Brooke, quietly 
recessed in a deep valley between two lofty downs, its church be- 
ing honored with a more elevated site just without the cluster 
of cottages which shelter the worshippers. 

"After leaving Brooke, our road, in its continual windings, 
conducted us over several very elevated tracts, called Shalcombe, 
Compton, and Afton Downs, on which are numerous flocks of 
sheep, apparently thriving on the short pasturage which these 
tracts afford. Except such parts of them as have been gradually 
brought under cultivation, they are generally without tree or 
shrub, the soil being a light loam on a substratum of chalk. 
They are, no doubt, generally susceptible of cultivation ; but un- 
til thus improved, they serve principally for sheep-pastures, and 
for gratifying travellers with uninterrupted prospects of the most 
varied and extensive character. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 395 

" Our ride over Afton Down brought us to Freshwater-gate, 
the inappropriate name of a very interesting spot, which forms 
one of the great objects of attraction to this part of the island. 
We stopped at an inn upon the beach, and the tide being down, 
were able at once to enter a large cavern, a few hundred yards 
off, in the face of a very high cliff. Its principal opening towards 
the sea is under a natural archway thirty feet high, and about 
the same width ; and it extends into the rock above an hundred 
feet. There are other chasms in the vicinity, of smaller dimen- 
sions. 

" To the north from this place, lies a range of chalky cliffs of 
great height, often exactly perpendicular, and sometimes over- 
hanging the ocean with a terrific frown. After viewing the caves 
at Freshwater-gate, we resumed our carriage, and by a circuitous 
road of about three miles, reached the lighthouse on Needles'- 
point. This is a singular promontory, extending from the main 
body of the island into the sea, and lashed on either side by its 
waves. The whole of the scenery here presented is truly grand 
and impressive. After a full enjoyment of it, we returned to our 
carriage, and proceeded back to the inn at Freshwater-gate, and 
then returned to Newport by a different road from that travelled 
in the morning. On this road, we passed through a finely culti- 
vated country, and in view of many elegant mansions, the seats 
of the nobility or gentry who spend part of their time on this 
fascinating island." 



SECTION IX. 

The party left Newport on Saturday, the 17th of July, and 
proceeded to Southampton ; passing that exquisitely beautiful 
ruin, Netley Abbey, standing near the right shore of Southamp- 
ton Water, about three miles below the town. That day, and 
the succeeding Sunday, were cold, blustering, and stormy. In 
his room, Sunday morning, while the storm was raging without, 
Dr. Milnor thus writes : 

" May the Lord give me peace within, by renewed evidences 



396 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of his pardoning love, and by the communication of larger meas- 
ures of his sanctifying grace. May he graciously accept my 
prayers for the dear family and the beloved flock at home, and 
make this his hallowed day a blessing to their souls ; and may 
he, by his Holy Spirit, prepare me and my companions for a right 
engagement in the solemn duties of the sanctuary, and, to use 
the language of this day's collect, ' pour into our hearts such love 
towards him, that we, loving him above all things, may obtain 
his promises, which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord.' " 

Monday, 19th, the party rode to Winchester, and after view- 
ing, and confessing his inability to describe its ancient cathedral, 
Dr. Milnor remarks, " We attended the evening service at three 
o'clock, and heard the choir chant the hymns and the psalter. 
The prayers were read in recitative. On the whole, we plain 
American Episcopalians found but little to admire, either in the 
music or in the worship of this splendid church. An anthem, 
sung in the course of the prayers, might, so far as the music was 
concerned, be considered an exception." 

From the cathedral, they went to visit the famous Winches- 
ter school, founded by William of Wykeham, and still kept under 
the iron rule of its founder's times. It dates from the close of 
the fourteenth century. 

" The school-room," says Dr. Milnor, " which holds two hun- 
dred pupils, has a lofty ceiling, but is not only destitute of all 
ornament, but mean and inconvenient in its arrangements. 
Only a few have the accommodation of a desk for writing. The 
rest straddle their rude benches, and write on little chests, 
brought from their chambers and placed on the bench before 
them. The attention of the tyro, on entering this school, will 
soon be attracted to the ominous capitals on the wall, ornament- 
ed with the likeness of a hand- whip, 

" l aut disce, aut discede : 
Manet sors tertia — C^edi.'* 

" The play-ground is not large, and neither there, nor any- 
where within the close, are the boys allowed to wear their hats. 

* " Either learn, or leave : 

A third lot remains— he flossed." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 397 

In the open yard is a reservoir of spring water with half a dozen 
cocks, where the junior pupils perform their ablutions, and then 
carry water in their basins into the chambers of their seniors, to 
whom they are fags ; in other words, menial servants. It is 
astonishing, that so brutal and unnecessary a practice should be 
continued ; or that parents of respectability should be willing to 
place their children under the tyranny of the older pupils, who 
may chastise them with stripes, if they disobey. 

" We were shown the dormitories. Several boys occupy the 
same chamber. They have but little of the appearance of com- 
fort. The boys are not allowed tea or coffee, their breakfast 
being bread and beer. Their dining-room is a spacious apart- 
ment, with a very narrow table placed around the sides ; and 
they eat off of small boards or trenchers, each about eight inches 
square. The prefects — some of the senior pupils having that 
title — are allowed plates, unless when the official visitors are 
present, and then the trenchers supply their place. The guide 
told us that the pupils sometimes by stealth make tea and coffee, 
and provide other comforts at their own expense, in their rooms ; 
and he thought the practice was rather winked at ; but if these 
superfluities came under the notice of their teachers, they were 
taken away." Admirable discipline for a false theology, breeding 
in the young bone and sinew those inseparable concomitants, 
abject submissiveness and Jesuitical secrecy. 

" Certain pupils called ' candlemen' — from some office which 
they hold, in the superintendence of lights — have the privilege 
of six pounds each of corned beef per day, for lunch. This they 
usually give away among the other boys. To the head prefect, 
I think, belongs, as a perquisite, the value in money of the ra- 
tions of such pupils as are allowed, on Saturday or Sunday, on 
special leave, to dine with their friends. A large covered chest, 
called ' the tub ,' receives the rations of any boys who do not at- 
tend at dinner, and also what is left of their meal ; and the con- 
tents of ' the tub ' are sent, five days in the week, to the county 
prison, and two days to certain poor widows called ' sisters,' con- 
nected with the cathedral. Seventy boys are on the foundation ; 
and one hundred and thirty are commoners, who have a separate 
sleeping apartment. 



398 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"The chapel, where the full morning service is performed, 
and the pupils attend on Wednesday and Friday forenoons, is a 
handsome apartment, and ornamented with a large painted win- 
dow, lately renewed. The library has also a painted window, 
and contains a neat collection of books. A very large Bible is 
shown, in two volumes, the gift of Mr. Onslow, formerly speaker 
of the House of Commons : the boys call it ' the vinegar Bible,' 
from its having, at the top of one of its pages, ' the parable of 
the vinegar] instead of ' vineyard.' There is also here, on a 
roller, the pedigree of William of Wykeham, by a learned monk, 
who, no doubt, expended immense labor on this inglorious pro- 
duction ; for he has traced the ancestry of the distinguished pre- 
late up to our first parents, who, in all their nudity, are placed 
at the head of this unprecedented achievement of antiquarian 
research. 

" The cloisters are a Gothic, quadrangular, covered walk, 
around which, in olden times, the monks are supposed to have 
pursued their meditative perambulations. Many bodies have 
been deposited beneath these pavements ; and monuments, both 
ancient and modern, are spread over their walls. 

" The pupils attend service twice every Sunday at the cathe- 
dral. The vacation of six weeks had just commenced, so that 
we had no opportunity of seeing either teachers or pupils ; but 
the school has a high reputation, and has prepared for the uni- 
versity (chiefly that of Oxford) some of the greatest men that 
have adorned the English annals." 

From Winchester, they passed through Salisbury to Exeter. 
Of this city, the journal remarks, " Being the emporium of this 
part of England, it is a lively place, and rendered more so at 
present by one of those nuisances and nurseries of vice, a fair. 
We went, this morning, (Wednesday, July 21,) to the cathedral 
service, which, like that at Winchester, was attended by only 
two or three persons of respectable appearance, and a few of the 
poor brethren and sisters, besides the persons actually engaged in 
the services. These were two clergymen, who divided the duty, 
six men singers, and ten boys. 

"It is to me a matter of surprise that so much should be 
thought of cathedral chanting, on the score of its music. There 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 399 

is such a sameness, such a long reiteration of the same cadences, 
that it tires the ear, and becomes fatiguing to the spirit. The 
fact, too, that these are paid performers, and that there is, in 
most of them, an absence of devotional feeling, gives the whole 
an air of formality and lip-service, which, notwithstanding the 
solemnity of the place, very much diminishes its effect. I sup- 
pose the thought will, by some, be considered quite puritanical. 
But I could not help wishing that such noble structures as these 
English cathedrals might be devoted to more practical purposes, 
and rendered more subservient to the great end of the Gospel of 
Christ — the salvation of perishing sinners. As these daily ser- 
vices are conducted, they approximate much too nearly the pag- 
eantry and formality of the Romish church, and have but little 
in connection with the interests of evangelical piety." 

"The monuments, ancient and modern, spread throughout 
this edifice, are numerous. There is one of a prelate, who at- 
tempted to fast during the whole of Lent, and, it is said, actually 
did so until the thirty-eighth day, when he died. An effigy on 
his tomb exhibits his appearance after death. It is the ghastly 
figure of a skeleton ! A similar instance of fatal superstition is 
commemorated in the same manner on a tomb in Salisbury ca- 
thedral, though that devotee died on the thirty-first day. Query : 
"Will piety of intention in such cases acquit the victims of the 
guilt of suicide ? Scit Deus, non egoP [God knows, not I.] 

On Thursday, July 22, the travellers left Exeter, via Tiver- 
ton, Barnstaple, and Ilfracombe, and along the south shore of 
Bristol channel, to Bristol city. We give a few of Dr. Milnor's 
notes on his passage through this picturesque region. 

" We arrived at Ilfracombe at dusk, in the heaviest fog that 
I have seen since my first landing in England. The road between 
Barnstaple and Ilfracombe is a turnpike, cut at an immense ex- 
pense, along the side of a hill, and requiring a wall for its support, 
on the lower side, almost the whole distance. It passes along a 
deep valley between high hills, though at a considerable height 
above the bottom of the valley, following on a perfect level, all 
the windings, some of them very short, of the hill along the side 
of which it pursues its devious course. In some instances, the 
steep and lofty hills on the opposite side of the valley were culti- 



400 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

vated to their very summits ; but for many miles they were cov- 
ered with fine plantations of forest-trees, thickly set, and their 
tops often so uniform in height as to resemble the surface of a 
field of grass." 

" In passing through the English villages, one is sometimes 
amused with the signs which they exhibit. A tailor, for instance, 
informs the public, that he ' makes all sorts of ready-made cloth- 
ing ;' and a grocer, that he is ' licensed to brew and sell beer, 
spirituous liquors, and tobacco.'' " 

" The situation of Ilfracombe is singular. It lies on the Bris- 
tol channel, embosomed on all sides by lofty hills, except a narrow 
opening to the water, which affords an entrance into a sheltered 
and commodious harbor for vessels of 250 tons burden. It is a 
natural basin, the only artificial improvement being a stone pier, 
on one side of the entrance, running a short distance into the 
channel, principally to prevent the accumulation of sand at the 
mouth of the harbor. At low tide, as we saw it, the recession of 
the water leaves the vessels high and dry on the sand. 

" In the circle of hills around Ilfracombe, those lying inland 
are loftier than those which rise from the beach, and afford de- 
lightful sites for dwelling-houses, commanding a full view of the 
whole interesting scenery, and of the channel and ocean beyond. 
Along the summit of the chain of hills which rise immediately 
from the water, a path has been made which forms a charming 
promenade, in fine weather, for the visitors who resort to Ilfra- 
combe— for Ilfracombe is a watering-place of some note, and the 
number of taverns and lodsdn^-houses indicates that it is not a 
little frequented. Some of the private residences on the heights 
have a fine appearance, and few finer than that which was 
pointed out as the residence of Mr. Bowen, the rector of the 
parish. 

" The church, as might be expected, occupies a very romantic 
spot. It is on a hill, rather difficult of access to the aged and 
infirm, yet surrounded by hills still higher than its own, which 
protect it from storms and tempests. The safety of its position 
cannot be questioned, for it is said to have stood already for 
1,200 years. It is a truly venerable structure, carefully kept in 
repair, and of late greatly improved in its interior. 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 401 

" We left Ilfracombe in a postchaise about mid-day, and for 
three miles retraced our yesterday's route on the turnpike." 

" As we advanced, we were again enveloped in a thick fog, 
until we approached Linton, the scenery around which we were 
particularly desirous of seeing. It now broke away, and per- 
mitted us, as we descended without intermission a winding slope 
of at least two miles, to survey a most romantic succession of 
ever-varying views. Immense hills, some affording pasturage 
for innumerable sheep, others cultivated to the very tops ; vales 
of enchanting beauty, and occasionally the most picturesque 
clusters of buildings at the bottom of the deepest glens, or on the 
steep sides of the adjacent acclivities, as our road turned, now in 
one direction, now in another, attracted our admiration. Sud- 
denly, a full view of the channel, presenting here the appearance 
of a sea, broke upon us through a deep valley on our right, at 
the termination of which, and close to the beach, is seated the 
little town of Lymouth. Its appearance, from the vast height 
which we occupied above it, was pleasing as it was singular. 
Several of its white houses, being new and of very tasteful con- 
struction, added to its beauty. A turn to the left brought us, by 
a short ascent, to the town of Linton ; the position of which, 
notwithstanding our long descent towards it, was still high 
above the water, and commanded an almost boundless prospect. 
It has a small church: and from the churchyard, the view of 
Lymouth beneath ; the wide expanse of water in front ; the hills 
and vales, with their various appendages, on either side ; and the 
stupendous elevations in the rear, formed an aggregate of beau- 
ties and sublimities such as is rarely found concentrated at the 
same spot. As I turned from side to side, to gaze on the attrac- 
tive scene, I observed a neatly-thatched roof directly below the 
eminence on which I stood, and varying my position so as to 
get a tolerable view of it, I found it a finished specimen of a 
Gothic cottage. It is perched almost against the cliff, having 
but little level ground about it, but that little as green, and as 
delightfully ornamented with roses, jessamines, and honeysuckles, 
as can be imagined. Access to it is by a winding path from the 
hill above, and except that the view in the rear is shut out by 
overtopping heights, the prospect from it must be as grand as 

Mem. Milnor. 26 



402 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

that which I have mentioned, but not attempted minutely to 
describe. 

" We dined at Linton, and then, with fresh postchaise and 
horses, proceeded to Minehead, where we had arranged to spend 
the night. After travelling over a good road, across an elevated 
tract, at one of our turns the village of Porlock was unexpect- 
edly seen reposing at the very bottom of an exceedingly deep 
valley before us, amid fields of the most nourishing grass and 
grain. They reminded me of the garden at Versailles. It seemed 
at so small a distance from us as to make it impossible to reach 
it, save by an almost perpendicular descent. And steep enough 
it was ; but the road, winding as the surface of the hill allowed, 
first in one direction and then in another, proved to be five or 
six times as long as one would have imagined, and brought us 
in safety to the village. This, however, on entering its narrow 
street of low and mean habitations, lost all the beauty which it 
appeared to have from the heights above. We stopped a moment 
at its best, though, at the best, its miserable inn. I asked the 
landlord if the church, at some distance from his house, was a 
handsome one. ' Why, much like the town,' he replied : ' it's 
very old ; they say how it's three hundred years old, but I can't 
believe any house would stand that long.' 'Why, my friend,' I 
observed, ' they say the church at Ilfracombe is twelve hundred 
years old.' 'Ah,' he answered, 'I was burn (born) at Ilfracombe, 
but not so long ago as that.' I inquired about the minister of 
Porlock. ' Why, he sarves another parish about two miles off, 
and the church has a tower and a bell ; but they're a queer sort 
of people. In the winter it's too co-aid to ring, and in the soomer 
it's too warm ; and so they don't often have sarvice.' Finding 
my host so intelligent and communicative, I inquired of him 
about a tower on one of the hills in the vicinity of Porlock, 
which is said to be of great height, but was hid from our view 
by the clouds and mists around it. l He had never measured it,' 
he said, ' but he was told it was as high as I had stated.' I asked 
if it was built of stone ; to which he sagely answered, \ he 
believed it was built of stone, and other such like combustibles! 1 

" Saturday, July 24.— We left Minehead at half past 6 A. M. 
in a c&aeh and one, honored with the name of a ' Fly? 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 403 

" As we approached Bristol, the embellished residences of the 
wealthy multiplied, and presented a constant succession of objects 
deserving of notice. We came in sight of Bristol while it was 
yet six miles distant, lying in a valley far below the eminence 
from which we beheld it ; our road being one almost continu- 
ous descent until we entered its crowded streets. The election 
of members to Parliament being at hand, the city was in a great 
bustle, owing to the canvassing of the candidates. One of the 
streets was rendered impassable by a throng of people listening 
to a speech from one of these solicitors of popular favor. "We 
concluded that a residence at Clifton, two miles from Bristol, 
would be more pleasant, during our short stay, than at so noisy 
a place ; and therefore, after we had dined at ' the White Lion,' 
and inquired for letters at the post-office, we took a coach and 
made our quarters at the Bath Hotel, Clifton. Mr. Mcllvaine 
and I having each a letter of introduction to Mr. Prust, a pious 
dissenting merchant, whose family residence was at Clifton, we 
sent them to him, and he soon called upon us, sat the evening with 
us, and kindly offered us any service in his power. It was agreed 
that we would accompany him to-morrow morning to the chapel 
of the Rev. Robert Hall, whose celebrity as a preacher, as well as 
his evangelical piety and Christian Catholicism, have made him so 
well known and so much admired in this country and in ours. 

" Sunday, July 25.— On going with Mr. Prust to Mr. HalPs 
chapel, we found he was not to preach until evening ; we there- 
fore went with our guide to that of Mr. Liefchild, an independent 
minister. The service of the Episcopal church commencing at a 
later hour in the morning, we then went to St. Mary's, Redcliffe, 
and heard its rector, the Rev. Mr. Whish. The church is so 
spacious, having in fact the aspect of a cathedral, that the voice 
of the preacher was too indistinctly heard to allow my mind to 
go along with his discourse. After service, we were introduced 
to him, and walked through the church to survey its monuments, 
some of which are very ancient. The whole interior of this ven- 
erable Gothic edifice is uncommonly beautiful. Against one of 
its pillars hangs the armor of Admiral Penn, father of the founder 
of Pennsylvania ; and two of the now ragged colors of his ship. 
His tomb is in the adjacent aisle. 



404 MEMOIR OF DR. MILKOR. 

"At half past six P. M., we rode down to Mr. Hall's chapel 
He did not come from the vestry until the conclusion of the pre- 
liminary services, being much indisposed. He appeared feeble 
as he ascended the pulpit, and delivered his sermon extempora- 
neously, in a low voice, and entirely without action." 

According to his custom, Dr. Milnor took full notes of both 
the discourses which he heard to-day ; and those of Mr. Hall's 
show it to have been, in richness of thought at least, one of his 
ablest efforts. ""We had the pleasure," adds Dr. Milnor, "of 
being introduced to Mr. Hall, and went into his vestry. This 
distinguished man appears to be in declining health. He has for 
many years been afflicted with the ' tic douloureux ' in his back, 
which obliges him to take large quantities of opium, and to keep 
as much as possible in a reclining posture. A sitting posture 
and the labor of writing are very irksome to him. He is now 
also distressed with a determination of blood to the lungs. After 
a few moments' conversation, we took our leave, promising our 
endeavors to comply with a kind invitation to visit him at his 
own house. 

" Monday, July 26. — Clifton. Mr. Mcllvaine not being so 
well as he had been for the last few days, we concluded to remain 
quietly at our lodgings in this delightful place. "VYe walked out 7 
however, to see the village and the adjacent scenery, in the course 
of the morning. Clifton is about two miles from the centre of 
Bristol. In fact, however, it is but an extension of the city from 
the valley up a steep acclivity, on the sides and top of which 
merchants and gentlemen retired from business have planted 
their residences. The ascent is continual, till the eminence is 
reached. This overhangs the river, the frequent windings of 
which, and its high banks, covered on the opposite side with 
lofty forest-trees, give great interest to the scene. Much of the 
summit of the hill is left open for a promenade ; and is greatly 
frequented by the inhabitants, and by strangers, who resort to 
Clifton for the benefit of the hot wells, or for cool air in their 
morning and evening walks. On the open space in front of our 
inn, are constantly standing little carriages, on two hind wheels 
and one fore, each drawn by a stout man, for the accommodation 
of invalid females ; many of whom may be seen, from time to 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 405 

time, taking their airing in that way. A dozen little donkeys 
also stand ready saddled, the saddle of each covered with a clean 
linen cloth, for hire to the numerous children of the gentry, who 
ride about the grounds for exercise. I could not but wish to see 
my own little boys partaking of the pastime. 

"At half past two o'clock, we visited, by appointment, Mrs. 
Hannah More, now in her eighty-sixth year, and for two or three 
years past a resident at Clifton. Her house is very agreeably 
situated, having a pleasant prospect both in front and in rear 
from the apartments which she occupies. She has no inmates 
except her servants and Miss Frowd, a niece of Lord Exmouth, 
who is her constant companion, and devotes to her, with all the 
affection of a daughter, the most assiduous attentions. Mrs. 
More rose, and received us in the kindest and most courteous 
manner ; offering her hand to each of us, with an expression of 
the pleasure which it gave her to receive our visit. On inquiring 
the state of her health, she said, 'It was as good as usual ; she 
never had enjoyed perfect health ; and yet, through the mercy 
of God, she had attained her present advanced age, having sur- 
vived her six healthy sisters. Her removal from Barley- Wood 
had been a trial, being much attached to the place, and having 
expected to end her days there. Her trial, too, had been aggra- 
vated by the cause which led to her removal — great dishonesty 
discovered in servants who had lived with her twenty years. God, 
however,' she said, 'had overruled it for good, especially in one 
particular. The minister of the parish at Barley- Wood, unhap- 
pily, did not prize the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel; and an 
attendance on his ministry was, in fact, lost time, from the ut- 
terly unprofitable character of his instructions. But here she 
had the comfort of being visited by three evangelical clergymen, 
who were always ready to assist her with their counsels and their 
prayers.' 

"I adverted, in the course of conversation, to the currency 
which her works had obtained in our country. "With great hu- 
mility of manner she said, she was thankful for any good which, 
under God's blessing, they might accomplish. The Bible Society 
and Sunday-schools were spoken of. She mentioned that she 
had engaged in the work of the latter immediately after its com- 



406 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

mencement by Mr. Raikes ; and that, in Shipham and two other 
parishes adjacent to her late residence, her schools had ever since 
been continued ; that she regretted her inability now to visit them 
personally, but that her friend Miss Frowd went occasionally in 
her behalf; that the people were very poor and ignorant; but she 
hoped that the four or five hundred of their children, who were 
constantly receiving religious instruction in those schools, would 
be profited by them. She said she had been much pleased with 
learning that one of the worst pupils they ever had had been 
converted, and was now a missionary among the negroes of Caf- 
fraria. 

"The welfare of the African seemed much to engross her 
thoughts ; and she expressed an anxious hope that Mr. Protheroe, 
her favorite candidate for Bristol, might succeed in his election. 
He had called on her, she said, yesterday ; but she never received 
visitors on the Sabbath, and had therefore declined seeing him, 
but requested he would call at another time. 

" She asked if we had seen the last volume of her publications, 
consisting of short pieces, written at different periods of her life ; 
and requesting Miss Frowd to hand her the volume, she turned 
to ' The negro boy's petition to his master to be allowed to learn 
to read the Bible,' and putting the book into my hand, asked me 
to read the piece aloud, which I did. She subsequently turned 
to another, and requested Mr. Mcllvaine to read a part which she 
pointed out ; and again, at her request, I read another beautiful 
passage — all on the same subject:" [Mrs. More remarking, that 
his enunciation was so purely English, that it would never have 
occurred to her that he was from a foreign land.] 

" The name of Robert Hall being mentioned, she spoke in 
high terms of his piety and talents, and mentioned that, many 
years ago, her dear friend Bishop Porteus had requested her to 
use her influence with Mr. Hall to enter the established Church ; 
declaring, if he would do so, he should have any preferment in 
the bishop's power to bestow ; and that she had conferred with 
Mr. Hall on the subject, who said that he would have no diffi- 
culty in subscribing to the thirty-nine articles of the Church 
of England, but that he was conscientiously opposed to infant 
baptism ; besides, that his entering the Church would be ascribed 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 407 

to motives of self-interest ; that his usefulness would be impaired 
by such an imputation ; and that therefore he declined. 

" Mrs. More expressed a great interest in America, and much 
pleasure in the prospect of every family there being supplied with 
a copy of the sacred Scriptures. She adverted to the late Mr. 
Bethune, and to Mr. Eastburn," father of the present Bishop 
Eastburn, " and spoke of them in terms of high regard. 

" I cannot mention more particularly the various topics that 
occupied our visit of an hour to this estimable lady ; but her 
conversation was such as elevated her in our esteem, and made 
us regret, so far as we dare, that a life so useful should be draw- 
ing to a close. For herself, peacefully as her days may have 
glided away in the practical duties of religion, in offices of 
benevolence, in literary employments, and in refined as well as 
pious social intercourse and correspondence, and much as her 
works have contributed to give her a well-earned fame, her 
approaching departure can be a subject of no regret ; for her 
faith in the Redeemer, attested by her whole life, has fully pre- 
pared her for the change. She said, in the course of our conver- 
sation, that God had been very gracious in prolonging her days, 
and thus giving her time for lamenting her past sins and pre- 
paring to meet him in judgment. She said she had not been 
out of her apartments since her removal from her former resi- 
dence, and added, with calm resignation, ' she did not expect to 
leave them till she was carried to her tomb.' "When we were 
leaving she rose again, and extending her hand to each of us, 
said she considered our visit to her a favor, and desired an inter- 
est in our prayers at the throne of grace ; adding, ' No one has 
more need of them.' 

" I pray God that the remaining days of his venerable ser- 
vant may be full of lively faith and cheerful hope ; and that, 
with an aged scripture-saint, when the hour for her transi- 
tion to glory shall arrive, she may be enabled, in tranquil con- 
fidence, to say, \ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace, according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy sal- 
vation.' 

" Tuesday, July 27. — This morning we took a carriage and 
called at the house of Mr. Hall ; but he was so much indisposed 



408 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

after his last Sunday's service, that his friends had prevailed on 
him to seek the relaxation of a journey to Weston. "We were 
also disappointed in a call which we made on Mr. Foster, author 
of * Essays,' etc." 

He spent the remainder of the day in visiting such objects 
of interest as were to be seen in the city of Bristol, and at the 
close of it made the following entry in his journal : 

" I received, to-day, a newspaper from New York, contain- 
ing a letter addressed to me by Bishop Hobart, under his signa- 
ture, complaining of my address before the Prayer-book and 
Homily Society, as reflecting improperly on him, in relation to 
his proposition for altering the Liturgy. No improper reflection 
was intended by me ; nor would he have thought so, had it not 
been for the miserable manner in which the speech has been 
reported. It will require consideration and prayer to enable me 
to adopt a proper course in relation to this unexpected attack. 
The bishop's letter, though it contains some kind expressions, is 
yet evidently designed to injure me, by conveying the impres- 
sion of a misstatement of facts on my part, and of an intention 
to make the British public believe that he was unfriendly to the 
Liturgy. I thank God, that whatever may be the effect of this 
publication of the bishop on the minds of others, my own con- 
science acquits me on both these points. I stated nothing but 
the truth on the occasion referred to ; and my manner of doing 
it was neither designed nor calculated to produce any such 
unfavorable impression as to the bishop. If he had himself 
exercised the judgment of charity in the case, he would have 
drawn no such false inferences, even from the incorrect newspa- 
per report which he has made the basis of his letter. But had 
what I said been stated as delivered, it would have been impos- 
sible for him to do so." 

Suspending, at this point, the course of his journal in Eng- 
land, it may be well, before taking further notice of the unhappy 
controversy to which the above paragraph alludes, to give an ex- 
tract from one of Dr. Milnor's letters, written immediately after 
the close of the London anniversaries, and of course before he 
could have anticipated any such notice from his bishop. It was 
dated, " London, May 20, 1830," and addressed to the Rev. M. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 409 

H. Henderson, his temporary assistant in St. George's. The 
extract is as follows. 

" In every instance, my addresses have been received with 
evidences of approbation more evincive of the kindness of Lon- 
don audiences towards strangers from America, than of their 
possessing any title to the marks of respect with which they and 
the speaker have been favored. One mortification every speaker 
will experience, that of having his speech most miserably mur- 
dered by the wretched note-takers, who only vie with each other 
who shall soonest slay his victim. The addresses of the morning- 
appear in the evening, or, at the farthest, the following day, in 
the language of the illiterate reporter, instead of that of the 
speaker, and with all manner of blunders of expression and mis- 
statements of statistics and facts. Brother Mcllvaine and I, of 
course, fare like others ; and as there is no remedy, it is not 
worth while to complain. The reporter of one of my addresses 
makes me call the state of Georgia by the more classic, or at least 
Italian name of Geor giant ; and with a like preference of Euro- 
pean to Indian appellations, makes me speak not of Creeks, but 
of Cretes. Another, instead of one hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars, which I had spoken of as pledged to the fund for supplying 
destitute families in the United States with the Bible, reduces it 
to tivelve thousand dollars ; and in another speech, in which I had 
noticed Bishop Brownell's missionary tour, magnifies my modest 
tribute of respect to that worthy prelate into an assertion, that 
great changes had been produced by his ministry in the country 
through which he passed. I have hesitated whether to send to 
America any of these bungling reports ; and, in fact, have con- 
cluded not to do so, hoping that the annual account, which is 
published in the course of the summer, may be a little better 
than these hasty, jejune, and false reports. I have been aston- 
ished to see some addresses, that have electrified the audience who 
have listened to them, cut so miserable a figure in print, with 
an abundance of notices of 'applause,' 'cheers,' 'loud cheers,' 
' hear him, hear him,' where no reader can possibly divine what 
could have led to such expressions of approbation ; the report 
entirely omitting, or shamefully perverting or debasing the 
sentiments which extorted from the hearers these tokens of 



410 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

approval, and the reporter putting them in anywhere, as it might 
happen." 

A brief extract from Dr. Milnor's journal, of a somewhat later 
date, but before he could have anticipated any letter from Bishop 
Hobart, will also be proper in this connection, inasmuch as it 
shows that he had observed the errors in the report of his address 
before " the Praj^er-book and Homily Society," of which the bishop 
complained ; and that he took the earliest opportunity, and what 
he believed the best means of correcting them. In his journal 
for "June 4," he writes thus : 

"Addressed a note to the Rev. Mr. Pritchett, secretary of 'the 
Prayer-book and Homily Society,' requesting, in the event of 
their publishing the anniversary addresses, an opportunity of 
correcting 1 the errors of the report of mine, as already pub- 
lished '." 

This erroneous report, then, of Dr. Milnor's address, reached 
New York about the 20th of June ; and on the 27th of July, he 
received a copy of Bishop Hobart's letter to him, published in 
the New York Commercial Advertiser. We give the principal 
parts of this unexpected communication. 

"To the Rev. Dr. Milnor. 

"New York, June 23, 1830. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — A report of a speech, which you deliv- 
ered in the city of London on the 5th of May last, at the meet- 
ing of the Prayer-book and Homily Society, has been published 
in several of our newspapers. In that speech, as reported, the 
following paragraph occurs : 

" 'The Rev. Dr. Milnor of New York, who, after adverting 
to the benefit which would result from the present institution, 
observed, that in America it was proposed, by one of the prelates 
of the American Episcopal church, to make an alteration respect- 
ing the lessons which were used, by having a smaller portion 
read than at present ; and this proposal was no less than three 
years before the conference, and was discussed by those who had 
been sent to the conference from the different states. Upon its 
coming on for a decision, he was gratified in saying that there 
was not a single person in favor of the proposed alteration of the 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 411 

venerable prelate who brought forward the measure ; and he 
rejoiced in saying, that throughout America they now used the 
same prayer-book and homilies which were used by the Church 
of England, with the exception of some slight alterations that 
took place upon the declaration of independence in the United 
States. He certainly considered it was dangerous to touch and 
alter that which contained such sacred writings.' 

" This paragraph, and indeed the entire speech, is calculated 
to produce the impression that ' one of the prelates of the Ameri- 
can Episcopal church' — I am the individual meant — stood alone in 
a rash and presumptuous attempt to ' touch and alter ' the litur- 
gy ; and that you and the entire American bishops and clergy, 
actuated by a sincere and devoted reverence for this hallowed 
ritual, marshalled yourselves against this daring innovator, and 
saved this * delightful service ' from the rude hand that would 
have marred its beauty. 

" I am unwilling to believe that it was your deliberate design 
to produce these impressions ; for they are not warranted by 
facts known to you. You and I, too, under a variety of circum- 
stances, and under no very unimportant differences in matters of 
policy, and, I am afraid, of principle, have been friends from 
early life. On your recent departure for England, I took leave 
of you as a friend ; and our mutual expressions of feeling on this 
occasion were, I am satisfied, perfectly sincere. I was not pre- 
pared, therefore, to find, that on one of your first public appear- 
ances in England, you had held up your bishop and your friend 
in a light certainly not calculated to raise him in the good opin- 
ion of those whom you addressed. 

" I have reason to thank God that I have never been much 
tempted to consider, in the determinations of duty, what might 
or might not be popular ; and the older I become, the more con- 
vinced am I that ' it is a small matter to be judged of man's 
judgment.' But I am not indifferent to that ' good report ' 
which, both from personal and official considerations, it is my 
duty to endeavor to preserve. My visit to England made me 
somewhat known there ; and I am willing to think that I enjoy 
the good opinion of some distinguished individuals, whose friend- 
ship is as honorable as it is gratifying. A principal claim to that 



412 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

good opinion arises from the conviction of my consistent attach- 
ment to the church, and especially its liturgy. It is the tendency 
of your remarks to deprive me of this claim. I must be permit- 
ted to prove that they are not warranted by facts." 

By a reference to "the journal of the General Convention of 
our church of 1826," page 76 and page 65, the bishop proceeds 
to show that the impression which he ascribes to the tendency of 
Dr. Milnor's remarks, was unfounded. He thus comments on 
his proofs : 

" Thus, then, the propositions which I am represented by you 
as alone sustaining, were unanimously adopted by the house of 
bishops, and by a very large majority of the house of clerical and 
lay deputies of the General Convention of 1826. 

" It is true, the motion which introduced these propositions 
was made by me, but not until I had consulted all my brethren 
of the house of bishops, several members of the house of clerical 
and lay deputies, and others not members, and among them, your- 
self, and received their and your approbation of them. 

" You observe, that these ' propositions were no less than 
three years before the convention, and were discussed there ; and 
on their coming to a decision, you are gratified in saying that 
there was not a single person in favor of the proposed alteration 
of the venerable prelate' — meaning me. I am confident that indi- 
viduals, not acquainted with the real state of the case, would 
suppose, from the above statement, that I was, after the lapse of 
three years, the advocate of the adoption of the proposed altera- 
tions, and in this sentiment stood alone. "What is the fact ?" 

By a reference to " the journal of the General Convention of 
1829, page 79," the bishop again shows that this supposition was 
in like manner groundless. He thus follows up his proof: 

"Thus, then, there was in fact no decision on the abstract 
propriety of the proposed alterations. Under ' existing circum- 
stances,' it was judged not expedient to adopt them ; and they 
were dismissed from consideration, in consequence of a motion 
made by me to this effect." 

By a long quotation from the annual address to his own dio- 
cesan convention in 1827, the bishop then proceeds to show 
"what circumstances led to this determination, and what rea- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 413 

sons induced the measure of bringing forward these proposi- 
tions ;" and proves that he had been influenced in that measure, 
not by a "desire, for his own gratification, to shorten" the lit- 
urgy — for he " rarely availed himself of the discretionary rubrics," 
which already tolerated certain abbreviations — but by a wish to 
take away from irregular clergymen, "the plea of necessity for 
altering the liturgy in consequence of its length ;" a plea which 
he seems to fear had been " influenced by a desire that individual 
license may have no bounds." Having illustrated at length his 
reasons for what he had done, in doing which he of course shows 
that he was the unquestionable friend of the liturgy, and of the 
ivhole liturgy, just as it was, he thus concludes his letter : 

" The address, from which the above extract is taken, was 
delivered in your hearing ; and, as well as the journals from 
which the other extracts are made, (was) printed and published. 
I now beg leave to call your attention to these documents, be- 
cause I think if they had not escaped your recollection, you would 
not have made the statements in your published speech. In that 
speech you appear, I think at my expense, the high panegyrist 
of the liturgy. I doubt not your attachment to it. But who 
most consistently displays a sacred regard for this invaluable 
ritual ? The use of the Book of Common-Prayer before all ser- 
mons and lectures, and of nothing but that book, is bound upon 
us by our ordination vows, and by the canons. You use this 
liturgy as it is prescribed in your church edifice ; but when you 
assemble your congregation in what is called your lecture-room, 
before your sermon, or lecture, you abbreviate the liturgy ad lib- 
itum, and use extemporaneous prayer.* I judge not your con- 
science in this matter. But the individual who addresses you 
uses, before all sermons and lectures, the liturgy, the whole lit- 
urgy, and nothing but the liturgy. May I not ask, who evidences 
the most consistent attachment to it ? The length of the service 
with you is no difficulty ; for you think yourself at liberty, when 
you judge proper, to abridge it. 

" I think you have not done me justice before the English 

* The reader will observe, that the ad libitum abbreviation of the liturgy, 
and the use of extemporaneous prayer, are both predicated of Dr. Milnor's exer- 
cises before sermon or lecture, in his lecture-room. 



414 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

public, and that portion of the American community who may 

not be in possession of all the facts of the case. But, reverend 

and dear sir, it will require stronger acts than these, and often 

repeated, to extinguish the feelings of esteem and regard with 

which I am 

" Your friend and brother, 

"J. H. HOBART." 

Immediately after the appearance of this letter in the col- 
umns of the Advertiser, and while Dr. Milnor was profoundly 
ignorant of what was passing in America, a controversy appeared 
in the same columns between two anonymous writers ; well un- 
derstood, however, to be Dr. Bedell and Bishop Hobart — the for- 
mer writing over the signature of " Observer," and the latter 
over that of " The whole Truth." In this controversy, Ob- 
server defended Dr. Milnor, principally on the ground that the 
London report of the speech before the Prayer-book and Homily 
Society was, in all probability, not only imperfect, but also in- 
correct ; while The whole Truth not only justified the published 
letter to Dr. Milnor, but even stated the charges against him in 
much graver terms, and with additions and amplifications far 
more injurious to the good name of the absent. 

For a reason which will subsequently appear, Dr. Milnor's 
reply to the published letter of Bishop Hobart was not written 
till a month after that letter was received. His reply bears date 
August 27, 1830. It was sent for publication to a clerical friend 
in New York, and is known to have been received in due course 
of the transatlantic mail ; and yet it did not appear in the Ad- 
vertiser until the 22d of October. For what reason the reverend 
gentleman to whom it was sent, detained it until it was peremp- 
torily demanded by the vestry of St. George's, the public, have 
never learned. Dr. Milnor wrote as follows. 

" To Bishop Hobart. 

" Sheffield, England, August 27, 1830. 
"Rt. Rev. and dear Sir — I have but recently seen, in the 
Commercial Advertiser of the 25th of June last, the letter which 
I exceedingly regret you felt yourself under the necessity of ad- 
dressing to me in so unusual a way. If the topic to which it 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 415 

refers could have been made a matter of personal explanation, 
or its notice been delayed until it was ascertained whether the 
report of my address before the Prayer-book and Homily Society 
of England, at its late anniversary, which you have used as the 
basis of your animadversions, was correct, I think you would 
have been satisfied that I neither intended you the slightest in- 
jury or disrespect, nor made any remarks, on the occasion refer- 
red to, having a tendency to produce such an effect. To arraign 
your attachment to the liturgy, would be to assail you in a point 
where you are invulnerable ; and the folly of such an act would, 
in the present instance, only have been exceeded, if done by me, 
by its ingratitude ; for I have no hesitation to acknowledge, in 
this public manner, what I have done repeatedly in private since 
my arrival in England, the singular acts of kindness on your part, 
which distinguished our last hours of intercourse in New York. 

"I confess, I consider myself as having reason to complain 
that the miserable report of my address from which you have 
quoted, with such manifest evidences of incorrectness as are ap- 
parent on its face, should have been so far credited as to be made 
the foundation of your letter, or to have occasioned you a mo- 
ment's uneasiness. One would have thought, were there no 
disposition to put a harsh construction on my conduct, and this 
I am unwilling to suppose, that, without giving me any credit 
either for the possession of very accurate information in church 
affairs, or a desire to report truly in relation to them, it would 
not have been believed that I could have forgotten the name of 
our highest ecclesiastical legislature, or the character of the pro- 
posed alterations in the liturgy, so as to have expressed myself 
in the bungling manner attributed to me by the reporter. In 
the remarks actually made by me, I am perfectly confident, not 
a word dropped from me that was either intended or calculated 
to make any unfavorable impression in regard to your attachment 
to the church and its liturgy, of which neither I nor any other 
person ever entertained a doubt. My single object, in referring 
to the subject of the proposed alterations at all, was, to do honor 
to the American Episcopal church, in the matter of its attach- 
ment to the Book of Common-Prayer, by exhibiting the unanim- 
ity of the disinclination of its bishops, ministers, and people, to 



416 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

any change in the order of the public services which it prescribes. 
In doing this, I am persuaded I did not impress an individual 
present with the idea that you formed an exception, in this re- 
spect, to the whole body ; and much less could any one have sup- 
posed me to intend the disrespect and vulgarity, as well as the 
obvious falsehood and injustice of representing you as a 'daring 
innovator,' who would 'with a rude hand have marred the beauty 
of the liturgy,' or of arrogating to myself any agency whatever 
in the prevention of such an attempt. 

" I thank you for acknowledging your unwillingness to be- 
lieve that it was my 'deliberate design to produce these impres- 
sions.' I add to this concession the assurance, on my part, that 
it was as little my design at the moment. 

"It is to be regretted, that the haste with which the news- 
paper reports of the addresses delivered at the religious anniver- 
saries in London are published, should render them such imper- 
fect representations of what is actually said. I have, however, 
no more reason to complain of this than others ; for scarcely an 
address, heard by me, was reported with any measure of fidelity. 
In part, undoubtedly, this arises from the necessity of condensa- 
tion, but more frequently from the incapacity, or inattention of 
the editorial reporters, or the hurry with which they are obliged 
to write out their notes for the press. 

" I have, I believe, a pretty exact recollection of the terms in 
which I expressed myself ; but I wish not to incur even the sus- 
picion of making a too favorable report of them by any statement 
of my own. I therefore subjoin an extract from ' The Christian 
Register,' a miscellany which gives a more correct, though very 
condensed report of the addresses made at the principal anniver- 
saries. This report of my address is defective in its want of ful- 
ness. My remarks were still more guarded against the possibility 
of conveying such an impression as I regret to find has been pro- 
duced on your mind. I copy, verbatim, all that the Register 
reports me to have said in relation to the subject of your letter. 

" ' The Rev. Dr. Milnor of New York, after some preliminary 
remarks, observed that the Protestant Episcopal church of the 
United States of America, of which he was a minister, was sin- 
cerely attached to the liturgy and services which they derived 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 417 

from the church of England, and in which they had made few 
alterations, except such as were requisite to adapt them to the 
varied circumstances in which they were placed. An evidence 
of the attachment of both clergy and laity to their Book of Com- 
mon-Prayer had recently occurred. At a General Convention, 
held four years ago, it was proposed to allow certain discretion- 
ary powers to the clergy, in the abridgment of particular parts 
of the service. The proposition was laid over for consideration 
at the next triennial Convention, which was held in August last. 
But so general was the disapprobation of any intrenchment on 
our venerable forms of devotion, that the proposition was with- 
drawn by the highly respectable prelate who was its author. 
The proposition had, no doubt, been made from the purest mo- 
tives, and from an impression, arising out of certain differences 
of opinion, that it was desired by a part of the clergy. But even 
those for whose accommodation the measure was supposed to be 
intended, were averse to any change, and the American Prayer- 
book remains as it was established a few years after the declara- 
tion of independence.' " 

[This extract, abbreviated as it is declared to be, is still scru- 
pulously conformable to facts — historically accurate ; and so far 
is it from representing Bishop Hobart as an " innovator," seeking 
to alter the liturgy for his oivn gratification, that it shows he was 
influenced by " an impression" that the proposed discretionary 
abbreviations were " desired by a part of the clergy," and that 
when he had ascertained that they " for whose accommodation 
the measure was supposed to be intended, were averse to any 
change," he withdrew his own proposition, evidently because it 
was designed not to express his own desire for change, but to 
"accommodate" desires " arising out of certain differences of 
opinion" among the clergy. Well, then, might Dr. Milnor say,] 

" With this extract, I leave the matter before you and the 
public, with an earnest hope of standing acquitted both by them 
and you, as I do by my own conscience, of having said any thing 
in the speech referred to, designed or calculated to offend. 

" On the subject of any approbation expressed by me, of the 
proposed alterations which you have taken occasion to mention, 
I will say but a word. 

Mem. Milnor. 27 



418 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" I am sure, Right Rev. Sir, you will do me the justice to 
admit, that whatever passed between us was of a very cursory 
character, and at a time when but little opportunity had been 
afforded for their consideration, and when, certainly, I had not 
understood their entire bearing and relations. * Fuller reflection 
led me, in connection with many others much more intimately 
associated with your general opinions and views than myself, to 
think them, on the whole, inexpedient ; but from that hour to 
this, the idea never crossed my mind, that they originated in any 
want of attachment, on your part, to the liturgy, of which your 
ministerial and episcopal course has afforded such uniform and 
abundant proof. 

" With respect to my own attachment to it, I repeat what, 
in substance, I said before the Prayer-book and Homily Society 
in London, that a persuasion of its excellence had no little influ- 
ence in leading me to unite myself with the Episcopal church ; 
and that, in my own estimation, no part of my subsequent con- 
duct has been inconsistent with this profession : but at no time 
has my regard to the prescribed public service led me to suppose 
the use of extemporaneous prayer to be either unlawful or inex- 
pedient, on many occasions when a liturgical form is not en- 
joined; and I made this express qualification of my eulogy in 
the address referred to. It ( extemporaneous prayer ) is used by 
many clergymen of great respectability and piety, both in Eng- 
land and America, even after their sermons in church. This is 
not my practice. ' In what is called my lecture-room,' I do 
use a prayer of this description, not before, as would be inferred 
to be the fact from the statement given in your letter, but 
after lecture ; a practice in which I do not differ from a large 
body of those whom I esteem as among the most devoted 
and useful ministers of the Church. Neither am I more sin- 
gular in the use of a selection from the liturgy before lecture, 
on the occasion just mentioned, instead of reading the whole 
evening service ; a practice in which I have had the ex- 
ample of many of the brethren of mj own order in the min- 
istry, and some of yours, but which they and I will, no doubt, 
be willing to discontinue, whenever we are convinced that it 
is inconsistent with a rational attachment to the Book of Com- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 419 

mon-Prayer, or to our duty and obligations as ministers of the 
Church. 

"In conclusion, Right Rev. and dear Sir, I have only to 
repeat my great regret that the incorrect report of my remarks 
should, in your view, have made it necessary to bring me in so 
painful a manner before the public ; and it will be much in- 
creased if your unfavorable impressions are not removed by the 
explanation now given. For your kind expressions towards me 
personally, I return you my unaffected acknowledgments, and 
sincerely reciprocate them. However we may differ in matters 
of policy — I would hope not of principle — I retain a pleasing 
recollection of our early friendship, and a lively sense of the 
evidences which you gave me of its continuance when I was 
about leaving home. If I cannot, with sincerity, express my 
coincidence with all your views, I can admire the talents which 
have raised you to your present elevated station ; and if a wit- 
ness were wanting to your consistent and undeviating attach- 
ment to the Church and her Liturgy, my testimony in your favor 
would be prompt end unqualified. 

"I remain, Right Rev. and dear Sir, 
" With great respect and regard, 

" Your faithful presbyter, and obed't serv't, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The following letter from the secretary of the Prayer-book 
and Homily Society, of a later date, corroborates the statement 
of Dr. Milnor on both the main points : that the first report of 
his address was incorrect, and that the address, as delivered, was 
not calculated to make, and did not make any unfavorable im- 
pression on the public mind in England in relation to Bishop 
Hobart. 

" Prayer-Book and Homily Society, 
134 Salisbury-square, London, Sept. 8, 1830. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — I regret much that some things which 

you said at our annual meeting, as stated in ' The Record,' seem 

to have been misunderstood. In reference to the report made in 

the Record, I have only to state that it was so full of the most 

palpable blunders — blunders which had the effect of total mis- 



420 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

representation of that which was read as well as spoken — that, 
after seeing a copy of the paper, I personally sent to the editors 
a refusal, on the part of this society, to purchase any copies for 
circulation by us. Over the general circulation of that paper, I 
of course had no control ; but this is not the first instance in 
which a mistaken report of that which passed at our general 
meetings has caused us uneasiness. 

" What you actually did say was correctly reported by the 
shorthand writer whom the society employed, and was some 
time since published by us, from his notes, in an occasional 
paper, of which I have sent you copies. 

" I do not know whether my personal testimony, in addition 
to our official report, will be of any use in this matter ; but I can 
most truly say, that your statement, when I heard you make it, 
did not produce the slightest suspicion in my mind, that you in- 
tended in any way to censure, or to reflect upon the bishop, who- 
ever he might be — for his name was not mentioned, nor any thing 
said which might lead the audience to conjecture what prelate 
was intended — on the contrary, I was led to think that the prop- 
osition made by that bishop originated in the best possible inten- 
tions and motives ; and all that your statement was calculated 
to show, appeared to be this one fact, namely, that the Book of 
Common-Prayer, as it is, without any alteration whatever, is 
held in the highest estimation by Episcopalians, whether clergy- 
men or laymen, in the United States. 

" I did not hear of the objections which had been made to 
your speech, till August 23. I shall be truly glad, if the state- 
ment now made shall be of the least use on this occasion. My 
many engagements have prevented my addressing you earlier, as 
I intended. 

" Believe me, dear sir, 

" Yours, with sincere respect, 

"C. R. PRITCHETT, Secretary." 
"Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

The following extract, from a great number which might be 
given, will show the general impression made upon the public 
mind in the United States by the bishop's letter, and the news- 
paper controversy which followed in America. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 421 

To Dr. Milnor. 

"Philadelphia, Aug. 7, 1830. 

" Rev. and very dear Brother — In all things you have laid 
me under the greatest obligations, both as it regards the papers 
you have transmitted, and the kind and invaluable letters which 
you have written. One of them came to hand at a most provi- 
dential moment, to satisfy the public that Bishop Hobart had 
been answering the blunders of a bad reporter. I deeply regret- 
ted the circumstance of that most unauthorized personal attack 
upon you ; but I am most happy in assuring you that the tide 
of public sentiment is wholly in your favor ; and the affair, pain- 
ful as it has been in some of its stages, will probably be some- 
thing to laugh over, when you return." [Alas, when he returned, 
it was any thing but a subject for pleasantry.] 

The following extract from one of Dr. Milnor's letters, ex- 
plains the reasons why his answer to Bishop Hobart was so long 
deferred ; and will close what we have further to give on this 
unpleasant subject, except what may be found in the continua- 
tion of the journal. 

"To Hubert Van Wagenen, Esq. 

"London, Sept. 6, 1830. 

" My dear Sir — 'How great a matter a little fire kindleth !' 
Guiltless as I was of any intention to wound the feelings of Bishop 
Hobart, and remote as my remarks were from any tendency 
injuriously to affect his character or feelings, nothing could have 
more surprised me than his public letter. From my inability, 
while travelling, to obtain a more correct published account of 
my speech, and unwilling to let my defence rest on any mere 
statement of my own, I was unable to prepare my answer until 
just before the sailing of the last packet. It was sent from Shef- 
field, and I hope will be esteemed by the public, if not by the 
bishop, entirely satisfactory. 

" When I reached London, on Tuesday, the 31st of August, 
I was surprised to find that there had been a public controversy 
on the subject, and that the bishop, abandoning his proper signa- 
ture, had assailed me anonymously. I will not deny, that I con- 
sider this as placing him and me in a very different attitude tow- 



422 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ards each other ; and had I known that he had held me forth in 
so odious a light before the public"— -he refers to the shape of the 
charges in the anonymous controversy — " I fear the weakness of 
nature would have made me less forbearing than I was in the 
answer referred to. I am glad, however, that it went to America 
in the mild shape which I think you and all my friends will 
agree that it bears ; and I shall publish no more on the subject, 
unless compelled by some further unkindness on the part of the 
bishop. 

"You will receive by this conveyance the Society 1 s own re- 
port of my speech. This I never saw until since my return to 
London. "Without any revision by me, which my absence ren- 
dered impossible" — he went to Paris before he had any opportunity 
for the correction which he requested, in his note to Mr. Pritchett 
of June 4th — " it was published, just as it stands, from the notes 
of the Society' *s reporter, before it was known that any contro- 
versy existed on the subject. You will see, at once, that I could 
not have been more guarded in my language ; and I think it 
will acquit me of arrogating to myself any thing in regard to the 
preservation of the liturgy from change. 

" Your affectionate friend and pastor, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

We resume now our extracts from Dr. Milnor's journal. "We 
left him at the close of his visit to Bristol ; and find him setting 
forth on his journey to Bath. 

"Wednesday, July 28, 1830. — I left Clifton this morning in 
the coach for Bath, fifteen miles distant. In passing through 
Bristol, we found ' the Bush Inn - sheltered by a high board-fence 
in front, put up in consequence of the windows having been 
broken by a mob in the interest of Mr. Bailly, the candidate for 
the House of Commons opposed to Mr. Protheroe, whose com- 
mittee sat at ' the Bush.' We were told thirty-seven wounded 
persons had been carried to the infirmary, most of them struck 
down by bludgeons in the hands of drunken sailors. These dis- 
graceful scenes, it is said, cannot be prevented by the police. I 
was glad to see a handbill from Mr. Protheroe's committee, ear- 
nestly entreating his friends to abstain not only from violence, 
but from all irritating language and conduct towards his oppo- 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 423 

nents. I think our English friends must cease to abuse the de- 
mocracy of our country. Such excesses as have disgraced the 
contest in Bristol rarely there occur." 

In passing from Worcester to Birmingham, he witnessed a 
pleasant sight, of which he thus writes. 

" Near the town of Droitwich, a fellow-passenger told me that 
between twelve and thirteen years ago, a poor woman had four 
daughters at a birth, all of whom were still living ; and that the 
event had brought the parents about £1,000 in presents from 
visitors. It was a little extraordinary, that as he pointed out to 
me the house, the children actually appeared, two of them with- 
out, and two of them just within the front door. They were 
comely girls, and decently dressed ; and the apparel of the four 
being exactly alike, increased their resemblance to each other." 

"At Birmingham," says the journal, "it suited the arrange- 
ments of our little party to separate for a time from each other. 
Mr. Smith was desirous of going, in a day or two, to Liverpool, 
where his brother has been recently married ; Mr. Mcllvaine 
thought it best for him to remain quiet a few days with Mr, Gil- 
let's family in Birmingham, and then visit various places in Eng- 
land ; and my plan was to go through Wales to Holyhead ; thence 
over to Dublin ; then through some parts of Ireland to Belfast ; 
from Belfast across to Scotland ; and after visiting Glasgow, 
Edinburgh, etc., to pass down through the northern counties of 
England to London." Accordingly he says, 

" Saturday, July 31. — This morning I took leave of my friends, 
and proceeded in the mail-coach for Holyhead. 

"My only fellow-passenger inside was a gentleman of the 
bar, who left us at Wolverhampton, being engaged to attend the 
election for members of Parliament in the borough of Bridge- 
north, as counsel for Mr. Arkwright, a new candidate, opposing 
a wealthy family, under whose influence the members have for 
many years been returned. He told me the expense on both sides 
would be enormous; the voters being about 1,200 in number, 
and 900 of them out- voters, that is, residents in other parts of 
the kingdom. These are to be hunted up and coaxed — in many 
instances, no doubt, bribed — into the interests of one or the other 
of the combatants, and their expenses borne to, and at, and from 



424 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the place of election. "With all its corruptions, the popular branch 
of the national legislature is, doubtless, a valuable part of the 
British Constitution ; but, if it could be accomplished peaceably, 
a reform is very desirable to equalize the representation, and im- 
part more purity to the exercise of the- elective franchise. A 
large number of the members of the House of Commons are 
returned by small boroughs, over the few voters of which some 
nobleman or other rich individual has the entire and absolute 
control. Mr. Brougham lately asserted, that peers had actually 
received so large a sum as £10,000, for returning a member to 
the lower house; and this, while by a strange anomaly many 
very considerable places, such as Manchester and Birmingham, 
are not represented at all." [True ; but was not William IV., 
surnamed, some time, The Reform Bill, already on his throne ?] 
""We soon crossed 'the lovely Dee,' whose praises I learned, 
when a child, to recite in a pensive ballad of that day. Taken 
in connection with the region through which it here passes, it 
deserves them all. Llangollen, the vale through which this river 
pursues its winding course, is too abundant in beauties for my 
unpractised pen adequately to describe. The road throughout is 
perfectly smooth, and terraced on the side of the hill, supported 
by a stone wall; sometimes running along the sinuous course of 
the Dee, at a great height above the windings of the river, which 
flows cheerfully beneath, and sometimes nearly on a level with 
the stream ; and yet its ascents and descents so gentle as scarcely 
to be perceived. In the midst of this charming vale lies the vil- 
lage of Llangollen, an interesting place, most romantically situ- 
ated; near which were pointed out the elegant residence of a 
rich proprietor, in the finest Gothic style; the ruins of Castel- 
Dinas-Bran, a Welsh fortress of great antiquity, perched on the 
pinnacle of a conical and apparently almost inaccessible moun- 
tain; and further on, the beautiful remains of Yalle-Crucis- Ab- 
bey, and other objects, the names of which I might have recorded 
if I could always have understood the Welsh pronunciation of 
our coachman, by whose side I sat, and perhaps wearied his pa- 
tience by my questions. An intelligent gentleman, who contin- 
ued with us to Corwen, about ten miles beyond Llangollen, now 
and then kindly supplied his lack of tongue. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 425 

"After feasting my eyes with a succession of scenery of most 
surpassing beauty throughout the whole length of this sweet 
vale, as we approached its termination the views varied from 
unbroken verdure and fertility to smiling meadows overtopped 
by uncultivated hills ; the road now and then diverging from the 
river to avoid a hill so close upon its margin as not to admit the 
passage of the road, and then returning to its bank in view of 
fresh objects of attraction.' 1 

" A few miles from Corwen," having left the source of the 
Dee, "we entered another vale," through which flows, in an 
opposite direction, one of the head- waters of the Conway, " only 
inferior in point of interest to that which we had left. Among a 
thousand objects deserving of notice, a beautiful cascade of the 
river presented itself in a deep glen by the road-side ; and further 
on, .at a place, the name of which I dare not attempt to spell, a 
small, old church, which I should not have noticed but for its 
parsonage of uncommon stateliness, leading me, perhaps not in 
the most charitable temper, to some practical meditations on the 
rebuke of the prophet Haggai, 1:4: ' Is it time for you, ye, to 
dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste ?' 

" Other evidences than the language of the coachman and 
hostlers, now convinced me that I was in the midst of Wales. 
Beyond the inn just mentioned, we crossed the Conway on an 
iron bridge, and the country at once completely changed its 
aspect. Below us ran the river, at an amazing depth, the view 
downwards being at times perpendicular to the bottom of the 
glen through which it rolled ; and on each side, rose craggy, 
naked mountains, of most formidable aspect. It was now night, 
but the nearly full moon shone brightly ; so that, but for the un- 
pleasant sharpness of the air, I should have found still greater 
pleasure than in the daytime, from thus beholding the wonderful 
works of God in this wild region. 

"At Bettws, besides a singular bridge over a ravine among 
the rocks, there is an iron bridge over the Conway of 105 feet 
span, to which, from its having been built about the time of the 
battle of Waterloo, the name of that bloody field has been given. 
Our passage through the mountains was a distance of sixteen 
miles. Snowden is the highest. Down the shaggy side of this 



426 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

mountain, my fellow-passenger to England, the elder Mr. Thomas, 
precipitated into the valley beneath a large portion of rock, which 
he detached by pushing against it. This rugged scenery, from 
its contrast with that through which we had so lately passed, 
increased greatly the interest of this day's journey, without mak- 
ing any difference in the smoothness of the road, over which our 
horses conveyed us at the uniform speed of ten miles the hour. 
By winding along the side of the mountain, curving and recurv- 
ing, with scarce a hundred yards of straight road in any place, 
its builders have been able to keep it almost on a perfect level, 
though often at a great expense for its security, arising from the 
necessity of laying the foundation of its wall far down almost 
precipitous declivities on the side next the narrow valley beneath. 
In the midst of this immense range, we passed Onwig lake, a 
beautiful little trout- water, about a mile long and half as wide." 

As this was at night, Dr. Milnor little realized the grandeur 
of the scene by day ; the awfully shaggy cliff, which at one mo- 
ment beetles above the traveller's head as he rides along the 
shore of that lovely water, and the suddenly frightful chasm 
which, at the next, yawns beneath the roadside ; while the out- 
let of the little lake leaps, from under the bridge that crosses it, 
into lower air, and reaching at last the bottom of the gulf, sends 
its waters away in a fine, silvery thread, distant and noiseless, 
through the narrow, green meadow- vale hundreds of feet below. 

" After leaving the mountains, the country for several miles 
is sterile, but afterwards gradually improves, until several fine 
country-seats of gentlemen are seen, one of which has a park en- 
closed by a wall of stone masonry, ten feet high, and, taking its 
four sides, seven miles in extent. 

" The last town of any importance that we passed, was Ban- 
gor, in Caernarvonshire, situated between two high ridges of rock 
at the head of Beaumaris bay. It appeared to be principally one 
long street. We stopped for a few minutes at a large hotel, 
much frequented by company, who are attracted by the striking 
character of the adjacent scenery. This town is the residence of 
a bishop, who has a palace here, and a cathedral, of the latter of 
which I had, as I passed it, a moonlight view. 

" On leaving Bangor, one of the most curious objects is the 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 427 

chain-bridge across the Menai strait, an arm of the sea, that sep- 
arates the Isle of Anglesea from "Wales, and adds much to the 
beauty of Bangor. This bridge is 30 feet wide, 560 feet long, 
and 100 feet above high water. As you approach, its appearance 
is very fanciful and light, and you can scarcely realize that it is 
a structure of sufficient solidity to admit the passage over it of 
vehicles so heavy as that on which I was mounted. Its great 
height above the water, also, is sufficient to inspire a momentary 
apprehension of danger ; but when you are once upon it, this 
entirely vanishes, from the evident strength of its supports, and 
the security against accidents of the defences on its sides. My 
moonlight view of this beautiful object, and of the scenery 
visible from it, probably presented them in a more interesting 
aspect than they would have borne, had I seen them by the light 
of day. 

" I have so extended my note of this day's gratifying, though 
long and fatiguing ride, that I will mention none of the objects 
of remark between Bangor and Holyhead, except the lighthouse 
of the latter, alternately seen and hidden for several miles before 
reaching it, as our motion changed the apparent position of inter- 
vening hills. 

"Holyhead is on a small island at the northwest point of 
Anglesea, and is considered the best point of embarkation for 
Dublin, the distance across the channel being only twenty leagues. 
We arrived a quarter past one o'clock A. M., having travelled, 
since eight the previous morning, 151 miles, with only one meal 
on the road. 

" Though I felt little or no fatigue during my ride, yet I 
found myself sufficiently weary, at its termination, to solicit a 
berth immediately on going aboard the packet, which I took, and 
in a few minutes fell into a profound sleep. I did not awake till 
aroused by the captain, with the information that we had arrived 
at our destination ; not Dublin, indeed, but nine miles below the 
city, where the packet stops. During the night there had been 
a severe storm, and our vessel had encountered an exceedingly 
rough sea — of all which I had been entirely unconscious. 

" In consequence of my late sleep, all the seats in and on the 
mail-coach were occupied before I was ready for the start. I 



428 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

was, therefore, obliged to put up with one of those elegant ve- 
hicles called a 'jaunting-car,' with a miserable-looking horse and 
driver, and went forward at a pace — which, for want of a whip, 
poor Patrick was unable to quicken — of about four miles the 
hour." 

Dr. Milnor's visit to Ireland was so short, and his notes so 
few, that extracts from the latter would be of little interest to 
the reader. We give, however, a single incident and a single 
paragraph. At Dublin, he unexpectedly met his interesting fel- 
low-passenger across the Atlantic, Captain O'Connor, who was of 
great service in introducing him to valuable acquaintance, and 
in pointing out to him interesting objects in that beautiful city. 
From Dublin to Belfast, his ride was of the most unpleasant kind. 
"Yesterday," he says, "being a fine day, and hoping for a con- 
tinuance of fair weather, I took an outside seat. This I had rea- 
son, soon after our departure, to regret. When the coach started, 
at half past six, the morning was lowering, and we had not pro- 
ceeded far before it began to rain ; and in a little while we were 
driving through a most furious tempest. Unfortunately, too, I 
had the windward seat, and it seemed, at times, as if my um- 
brella would be torn into shreds. Besides, the rain soon pene- 
trated through, so that it afforded but little protection, while 
those of other passengers poured their drippings upon me, and in 
a short time wet me to the skin. When we arrived at Drogheda, 
our breakfasting-place, I had a violent ague, which disqualified 
me not only for taking my breakfast, but also for changing my 
clothes. I would have stopped, but the inn was a shabby one, 
and crowded to overflowing by people attending the election. I 
swallowed, however, some hot tea ; and, in consequence of the 
vacation of an inside seat, rode the rest of this stormy day, up- 
wards of one hundred miles, to Belfast, under shelter, but" in my 
wet clothes. My landlord at Belfast was very kind. A warm 
fire, a comfortable supper, a hot bath for my feet, and a good 
bed, procured for me a delightful night's rest ; and I awoke in 
the morning with a heart grateful to God for my preservation 
from the anticipated bad effects of such an unusual exposure to 
cold." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 429 



SECTION X. 

At twelve o'clock, Friday, August 6, Dr. Milnor was in the 
steamer Fingal, for Glasgow, where, after a tranquil passage, he 
arrived the next morning at four, and remained till Tuesday 
afternoon, Aug. 10 ; making himself acquainted with the prin- 
cipal religious and benevolent institutions of that beautiful and 
flourishing mistress of the Clyde, and with several worthy fam- 
ilies, to whom he had letters. He paid particular attention to 
the tract operations of the city, and to the institution for the 
education of the deaf and dumb. Speaking of the religious 
operations of Glasgow, he says, 

" The building called ' The Religious Institution,' is the prop- 
erty of all the societies bearing that character in the city ; no 
less than twenty-five holding their meetings within the commo- 
dious building, which they own. They have a secretary of the 
institution, with a clerk to assist him ; and he issues all the 
notices for the meetings of the several societies, or of their com- 
mittees. Each society has also its own secretary, to record its 
proceedings ; but this united arrangement saves the proper offi- 
cers of the societies considerable mechanical labor." [Why is 
not the plan of such an institution worthy of adoption in all 
our large cities ?] 

In reference to the general condition of the country, he 
remarks, " In one particular, I see a great difference between 
Scotland and either England or Ireland, and I may add France. 
It relates to the practice of mendicity. When I left the steamer 
this morning, I was assailed by no beggars ; and I have traversed 
the streets of Glasgow all day without a single application. The 
appearance of the lower orders here, with few exceptions, is 
much more decent than in any large town I have seen on this 
side of the Atlantic. Yet I was astonished to learn, that re- 
spectable as is the appearance of the town, so far as I have seen 
it, and decent as is that of its inhabitants, there is, in fact, a 
great deal of poverty ; and the reduction of the means of living 
has had a very deleterious effect upon the poorer classes, in point 
of morals and religion. The population of Glasgow, [this was 



430 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

in 1830,] approaches 200,000. Mr. Heugh, a clergyman of 
credit, told me that the church accommodation afforded 75,000 
sittings ; but that of these not more than 35,000 were actually 
occupied." 

It would be wrong to infer, from this mode of calculation, that 
the means of grace in Glasgow reached no more than 35,000 of 
its inhabitants ; yet, with even this caution, the testimony of the 
above paragraph to that great truth in political economy, that 
the want of comfortable bodily sustenance among the lower 
orders is peculiarly injurious to good morals, and therefore to 
good government, is sufficiently striking. 

" Sunday, Aug. 8. — I desire," writes Dr. Milnor, " gratefully 
to acknowledge the goodness of God in my preservation to see 
another sacred day of rest. May my heart be deeply impressed 
with a sense of the unmerited mercies which I am daily receiv- 
ing at his hands. As the only return which I can make, and 
make it I cannot without thy aid, grant to me, Lord, I beseech 
thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be right- 
ful ; that I, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, 
may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will, through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." 

This morning he attended worship at St. Mary's chapel, of 
which the Rev. Mr. Almond was minister. St. Mary's, he says, 
" is one of the two Episcopal chapels in Glasgow — our breth- 
ren being dissenters in Scotland, are not privileged to call their 
houses of worship churches. Mr. Almond is a moderate, evan- 
gelical churchman : the minister of the other chapel is a high- 
churchman. Mr. Almond being absent in consequence of a 
family bereavement, a young clergyman in deacon's orders 
supplied his place. His sermon excited a very favorable opinion 
of the piety and doctrinal views of the preacher, but not a very 
high one of his talents. It is to me astonishing, that the young 
clergy of our church should be so regardless of delivery. The 
effect of all that was valuable in this sermon was, in great meas- 
ure, lost, by the close and monotonous manner in which it was 
read : not a hand raised ; scarcely a look towards the congrega- 
tion from beginning to end, and not even such a regard to em- 
phasis and cadence as at all times to convey clearly the meaning 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 431 

of the speaker ; and yet, the sentiments good, and of such prac- 
tical importance to the hearers as would have justified their 
enforcement by the utmost energy of manner." 

In the afternoon, he attended " Blackfriars' chapel, and heard 
the Rev. Dr. Dick. He had been preaching a course of sermons 
on the works of God in creation, providence, and grace, of which 
this afternoon's discourse was the conclusion." 

Monday morning he spent at a pleasant literary breakfast, 
with what he calls a " pious and catholic little circle of minis- 
ters," at the house of the Rev. Mr. Willis, secretary of 'the 
Religious Institution;'" and at one o'clock, " met, by appoint- 
ment, a number of the committee of the Tract Society for the 
purpose of a friendly conference on the subject of tracts. The 
gentlemen present expressed great satisfaction at the account 
which he gave them of our American tract operations. Neither 
Methodists nor Episcopalians unite in those of the Glasgow so- 
ciety." 

" At four o'clock, Mr. Wardlaw, a lay nephew of the Rev. Dr. 
Wardlaw, and a ve^y efficient laborer in works of benevolence 
and piety, called for him," and took him in his carriage " to din- 
ner at his country residence, three miles from the city ;" and in 
the evening to a temperance meeting " in the little parish church 
of the village of Govan on the Clyde ; a beautiful building, and 
as beautifully situated as any which he had seen." Of this tem- 
perance meeting Dr. Milnor thus writes : 

" The church was full ; and a most silent and respectful 
attention was given to the addresses on the subject from the Rev. 
Mr. Strothers, Mr. "Wardlaw, and myself. I occupied about fifty 
minutes, and communicated many facts in relation to the success 
of the cause in America, which were new to the people whom I 
addressed. The poor of Govan are principally weavers, and many 
of them given to intoxication ; while few, until temperance meas- 
ures were introduced, wholly abstained from the use of spiritu- 
ous liquors. It is confidently believed, that these measures will 
be attended with most happy effects. The cause is looking up 
most encouragingly in Scotland ; though, as yet, many even of 
the clergy withhold their countenance ; and on the present occa- 
sion, though the minister of Govan granted the society the use of 



432 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

his church, yet he declined personal attendance, ' not having made 
up his mind on the subject.' " 

Tuesday morning, Dr. Milnor enjoyed another breakfast like 
that of Monday, with the Rev. Mr. Heugh, whose acquaintance 
he had formed in London ; a man " of fine abilities, and earnest 
devotion to his duties ;" who had invited several of his breth- 
ren to meet Dr. Milnor. " I was much gratified," he says, 
" with the conversation, which, including the religious services 
of the morning, occupied two hours. I was much pressed to 
continue longer my stay in Glasgow ; and every kind expression 
of feeling was used towards me and my country." 

After this parting breakfast, Dr. Milnor had time, before the 
coach left Glasgow, to visit the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, inspect 
its system of instruction, and examine some of the productions 
of the pupils. He found that here, as in other similar institu- 
tions, articulation was taught, though in a few cases only in 
which the prospect of success was flattering. Among the pro- 
ductions of the pupils, he saw " several copies of rich engravings 
made with a pen, and scarcely to be distinguished from the orig- 
inals." One of these was " a copy of the full-length portrait of 
Napoleon in his imperial robes, by a boy twelve years old. The 
lad observed that ' the engraving did not give a correct represen- 
tation of Napoleon's face, and he thought he could improve it.' 
And," adds Dr. Milnor, "judging from the best likenesses, and 
the bust of that distinguished man, he has certainly made a man- 
ifest improvement on the original." 

At four o'clock, Tuesday afternoon, he took leave of Glasgow, 
in the coach for Edinburgh. " The Rev. Dr. Byrne, of the kirk, 
was his agreeable fellow-traveller," being on his way to "attend 
a meeting of the Commission of the General Assembly of the 
Established Church of Scotland." By his invitation, Dr. Milnor 
attended the sittings of the commission. " This is a kind of 
standing committee, possessing the powers of the general assem- 
bly, and holding quarterly meetings for the transaction of its 
business, especially its judicial concerns, during the recess of 
that body." 

When Dr. Milnor entered the Tron church in Edinburgh, 
the place where the commission held their sittings, "they were 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 433 

engaged in the consideration of addresses to King William and 
Queen Adelaide, which were agreed to, being loyal effusions, 
conceived in terms sufficiently complimentary ; and a delegation 
of nine were appointed to present them to their majesties," on 
the occasion of their recent accession to the throne. 

"A discussion then came on, which, in one shape or another, 
had been depending for four years, respecting the settlement of a 
minister in the parish of Inverness, whose orthodoxy had been 
questioned. A preliminary objection to the jurisdiction, arising 
out of some peculiarities in the forms of the church, and of the 
previous proceedings in the case, gave me," says Dr. Milnor, "an 
opportunity of hearing two eminent barristers, Mr. Buchanan 
and Mr. Patrick Robertson, who were employed as counsel on 
opposite sides of the question. Both spoke with ability, and the 
latter with much animation ; but neither of them, I thought, with 
so much tact as several ministers and lawyers, members of the 
commission. The Rev. Dr. Cook, Dr. Byrne, and others, spoke 
with great energy and warmth ; and the objection to the jurisdic- 
tion was almost unanimously overruled." 

Thus introduced to Edinburgh, Dr. Milnor remained in that 
renowned capital of Scotland from the 10th to the 17th of Au- 
gust, cultivating the acquaintance, and enjoying the hospitalities 
of its religious circles. The evening of the 11th was a "dismal" 
close to what had been a stormy afternoon ; but " Dr. Walker of 
London, and his travelling companion, an intelligent student of 
the Inner Temple, dined with him at his hotel, and by their con- 
versation relieved the solitariness" of his hours. And he adds, 
at the close of his journal for the day, "Besides the respectable 
gentlemen above mentioned, I have had the pleasure of becoming 
acquainted with John Sheppard, Esq., author of ' Thoughts on 
Private Devotion' and some other works, who transmitted to 
Lord Byron a prayer composed for his lordship by Mrs. Sheppard. 
Lord Byron returned the reply which, since his death, has been 
published, and which, as corning from such a man, contains so 
singular an acknowledgment of the excellence of Christianity in 
communicating happiness to its true subjects. Mr. Sheppard 
studied medicine in Edinburgh, several years ago ; but being a 
man of independent fortune, and having determined not to prac- 

Mem. Milnor. 28 



434 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

tise the medical profession, he never took his degree. His pur- 
suits have since been literary, religious, and benevolent ; for use- 
fulness in which, he sustains the highest reputation in Frome- 
Selwood, Somersetshire, England, where he resides. He has 
lately published, in two volumes, a work on the evidences of 
Christianity." 

" Thursday Morning, August 12. — Mr. Sheppard proposed to 
accompany me on a long walk. Accordingly, we started for 
Holyrood house ; and after surveying the exterior of this venera- 
ble and celebrated building, we ascended the circular, and in 
some places steep road, which winds round Salisbury Craig and 
Arthur's Seat, stopping at various points of the ascent, to view 
the inimitable panorama of Edinburgh, as presented in various 
aspects all the way up this lofty eminence. The striking termina- 
tions of the old town in those massy ancient structures, Holyrood 
house on the east, in the valley beneath our feet, and the castle on 
the west, upon its lofty rock ; the many intervening churches, with 
turrets, domes, and steeples ; the splendid column in memory of 
Nelson ; the elegant specimens of modern architecture, presented 
in the unfinished temple and other structures on Calton Hill ; 
the high-school, the jail, the bridewell, etc. ; the singular valley 
between the old town and the new, and the immense mass of 
fine buildings in the latter ; the charming view of the Frith of 
Forth on the one hand, and of the Pentland Hills on the other, 
with country-seats of the nobility and gentry in the distance, 
altogether, present a scene of unrivalled grandeur. As we 
mounted the height, especially as we rounded the elevated sum- 
mit of Arthur's Seat, the wind was so strong as almost to make 
our position unsafe. We persevered, however, in our course, and 
descended on the opposite side." 

But, while in Edinburgh, Dr. Milnors object was less to see 
things, than to become acquainted with men and with religious 
institutions. He spent most of his time in social and religious 
intercourse with such men as have already been named, and with 
the aged and veteran Dr. Peddie, of the Secession church; the 
Rev. Mr. Lines, of the Baptist ; the Rev. John Brown, grandson 
of the Rev. John Brown of Haddington ; the Rev. Messrs. Ram- 
say, Sinclair, and Craig, of the Episcopal church ; Dr. Chalmers, 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 435 

and Mr. Thomas Miller, brother to several of that name in Phila- 
delphia — all men of piety and talents, and several of them, be- 
sides Dr. Chalmers, authors of no mean distinction. His social 
and religious intercourse with these gentlemen, on various break- 
fast and dinner occasions — similar to those on which he met so 
many noble ones of the Church in London — was full of satisfac- 
tion and of profit, and made his memories of " The Heart of Mid 
Lothian" more fragrant than they could have been if gathered 
from the festivities of wealth and the splendors of fashion. Dr. 
Chalmers was of the company at dinner both on Friday at Mr. 
Ramsay's, and on Saturday at Mr. Craig's, and had the circle of 
friends at his own house to breakfast on Monday morning. Inter- 
course with this great, good man served to elevate him still higher 
in the estimation of those who had previously known him only 
in his loftiness as a preacher and an author. The character of 
the social, religious entertainments to which Dr. Milnor was ad- 
mitted in Edinburgh, may be judged from the brief account which 
he gives of the breakfast at Dr. Chalmers' on Monday morning. 

"He received me with great affability and kindness, and Mrs. 
Chalmers, with all that frankness and ease of manner which 
distinguishes the Scottish ladies. Before breakfast, Dr. Chalmers 
read a chapter to the family ; and at his request, I offered prayer. 

"The topics of conversation were various. Dr. Chalmers, 
being a member of the established Church of Scotland, is evi- 
dently much attached to the union of church and state. It is 
true, that, like all the members of the Kirk, he utterly disclaims 
the idea of the king's being, in any sense, its spiritual head, or 
of the government's having any right to interfere with the most 
entire liberty of conscience in its subjects. On this latter ground 
it was; that he advocated so strenuously the cause of Catholic 
emancipation. But he favors the union of church and state 
simply because he thinks it is of advantage to Christianity to 
be formally recognized as the religion of the country, and to 
receive the protection of government, and in various ways its 
pecuniary aid in maintaining its ministry and institutions. He 
inquired particularly as to numerous difficulties which he sup- 
posed must in our country attend the absence of an establish- 
ment; especially in regard to the erection of churches, and the 



436 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

extension of religion coordinately with the rapid increase of our 
population. He thought that, if left entirely to the voluntary 
contributions of the people, religion must decline for want of 
pecuniary support. 

" On the contrary, I argued, that besides the utter inconsist- 
ency of an establishment with the genius of our free institutions, 
and with the character and opinions of our people, it would be 
inexpedient to adopt such a measure ; that religion would be 
more cheerfully supported under a voluntary, than under a com- 
pulsory system ; that unhappy jealousies between different de- 
nominations would be avoided, as well as those numerous cor- 
ruptions and incumbrances which we saw appertaining to all 
long-continued connections of religion with government, even to 
those best in the world, the English and Scotch establishments ; 
that although, in the peculiar circumstances of the United States, 
the increase of the population exceeded that of the means of 
grace, yet this was an evil which, in the existing divided state of 
religious opinion, would find no remedy in the established domi- 
nance of one denomination ; that, in point of fact — allowance 
being made for the youth of our country — our religious statis- 
tics would bear a respectable comparison with those of either 
England or Scotland ; and that in both of the latter countries, 
the great proportion of dissenters was a proof of the unpopularity 
of establishments, as the number of the dissenting churches, the 
talent and learning of their ministers, and the piety of many of 
their people, were, of the truth, more fully demonstrated in Amer- 
ica, that religion could be supported by the unconstrained liber- 
ality of its friends, and would lose none of its purity by refusing 
all secular reliances whatsoever. I adverted to some of our re- 
ligious statistics, and compared them with the information which 
I had received in Glasgow as to the proportion of attendants on 
public worship in that respectable city ; and contended that our 
country did not suffer in the comparison. 

" Dr. Chalmers listened with much attention to my argument 
and statements, and avowed a deep interest in America — espe- 
cially in her connection with the cause of Christ throughout the 
world. He spoke in terms of respect of several of our religious 
writers ; and in answer to an inquiry whether we might hope for 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 437 

a visit from him, said that he feared his engagements in the uni- 
versity would prevent such a step ; and that extreme aversion to 
a sea-voyage was with him another formidable difficulty in the 
way." 

On Tuesday morning, August 17, he left Edinburgh for Car- 
lisle, saddened by two considerations — the shortness of his visit, 
and the state of the weather ; for it was " what the Scotch call 
• a soft morning ;' that is, it rained hard." His course lay 
through Selkirk and among the Cheviot hills ; along the Tweed 
and the Esk, and across the border grounds of olden fame. He 
reached Carlisle about dark, where he would have stopped, but 
for the wish that had come over him to see the English lakes, 
and the circumstance that the town was overflowing with attend- 
ants on the assizes, to such a degree as to make it difficult for 
him to obtain lodgings. Influenced by these considerations, he 
changed his mind, and in spite of a long day's ride, intense cold 
weather, and an outside seat, rode on to Penrith, eighteen miles 
further, before he found a resting for the night. 

" The tediousness of this night-travelling," he observes, " was 
somewhat beguiled by a talkative fellow-traveller by my side, 
who had been attending the assize court. Mr. Brougham and 
several other of the most eminent counsel had been several days 
employed in trying a cause, in which the question between the 
litigants related to a right of way, which the one claimed, by 
prescription, from time ' whereof the memory of man runneth 
not to the contrary ;' while the other contended that the claim 
was a recent invasion of his own rights. Fifty witnesses on each 
side had already been examined, and yet the battle remained un- 
decided. The matter is of but small real importance, and the 
contest is clearly for victory between two angry combatants, who, 
to gratify their resentments, will expend each several thousand 
pounds." 

Dr. Milnor's visit to the lakes of Cumberland and Westmore- 
land, on his devious route between Penrith and Kendal, was a 
source to him of unmingled delight, as such a visit must be to 
every true lover of nature. The scenery is some of the most 
lovely ever spread by the hand of God before the eye of man. 
With no great height of mountains, the loftiest being little over 



438 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

3,000 feet, there are still such a grouping of almost innumerable 
summits ; such a cleaving of each from all the rest, down to its 
very base ; such a sombre ruggedness and grotesqueness in many 
of their forms ; yet such a kind, and genial, and sunny embosom- 
ing of green fields and glassy " waters" among their deep vallies ; 
such a sprinkling of quiet villages, and of guileless villagers 
among the glens, and round the lakes below ; and such worship- 
moving views of God's glory from the pinnacles above, that no 
traveller who, with a poet's eye, has looked upon the whole, will 
deem it hyperbole to call this region, as a tourist of former days 
has named it, " the pageantry of creation." 

Hanging round, and hovering over those deep-sheltered lakes ? 
Bassenthwaite, Derwentwater, and Thirlmere ; Ullswater, Wast- 
water, and Winandermere ; and even little Eydalwater and Gras- 
mere ; about Keswick and Rydalmount, Bowness and Ambleside. 
with the various lesser hamlets of their train ; in narrow Gris- 
dale, deep Borrowdale, and nameless sister dales around; and 
finally, in the dark chasms and the dim caves which now and 
then yawn around the feet of the mountains, as well as in the 
dashing cascades which here and there leap from their rough 
foreheads and rush down their rocky faces — hanging round, and 
hovering over all these, there is a silent or a speaking, a profound 
and an almost living soul of nature, which could hardly have 
failed to draw amid their charmed abiding-places, such spirits as 
those of Watson and of Arnold, or those of Wordsworth, Southey, 
and Hemans. The retreats of Westmoreland a ad Cumberland. 
are the sacred summer homes both of devotion and of poetry. 
Nor even in winter do they furnish less, though it be a rougher 
nurture to the soul that loves to look on God as seen in all the 
moods of his ever-various works. " Beaumont-street in Oxford," 
may please the learned lecturer on history; "nevertheless," sa}^s 
the proprietor of Fox How, penning a letter on the 17th of Janu- 
ary, " I prefer writing from the delicious calm of this place, 
where the mountains raise their snowy tops into the clear sky, 
by this dim twilight, with a most ghostlike solemnity, and noth- 
ing is heard, far or near, except the sound of the stream through 
the valley. I have been walking to-day to Windermere, and 
went out on a little rude pier of stones into the lake, to watch 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 439 

what is to me one of the most beautiful objects in nature, the 
life of blue ivater amidst a dead landscape of snow. The sky 
was bright, and the wind fresh, and the lake was dancing and 
singing, as it were ; while all along its margin lay the dead 
snow covering every thing but the lake." [Life of Arnold, p. 435. 
Appleton, New York, 1845.] 

After this day of rare pleasure, Dr. Milnor reached busy old 
Kendal a little after dark, and the next morning, Thursday, Aug. 
19, pursued his way to busier young Manchester. Kendal and 
Manchester are indeed both old, in the date of their origin, yet 
both comparatively young in the rise of their bustling manufac- 
turing interests. Between the two he passed through Burton 
and Lancaster, Gfarstang and Preston, Chorley and Bolton. He 
spent Friday in taking an exterior view of Manchester, and in 
delivering his letters of introduction. Unfortunately for him, 
however, the good folks of Manchester were too busy to wait at 
home for visitors, and he therefore, for this day, failed of making 
any acquaintances, except with Mr. Thomas Smith, who subse- 
quently called upon him, and took him to his country-house to 
spend the evening. 

On Saturday he visited the school for the deaf and dumb, and 
examined its system of instruction, particularly as applied to 
the teaching of articulation. Institutions of this class he evi- 
dently made a subject of more than ordinary attention; and one 
of his chief objects was, as evidently, to obtain some distinct 
and well-founded views touching the question whether the at- 
tempts to teach articulation to deaf mutes were likely to prove 
generally successful. His journal shows that his original doubts 
on this point were, on the whole, confirmed rather than removed, 
by what he saw in the various European institutions which he 
visited. 

He also inspected some magnificent cotton-factories during 
the day ; and, at dinner with Mr. Smith, became acquainted with 
the Rev. Mr. Stowell, an able evangelical preacher of the estab- 
lished Church, for whose use "a handsome new chapel" was 
nearly in readiness ; and with Mr. Richard Roberts of Pendleton, 
brother to Josiah Roberts, Esq., with whom Dr. Milnor became 
well acquainted in London. 



440 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

His Sabbath in Manchester was a day of more than usual 
spiritual refreshment. He attended Mr. Sto well's services morn- 
ing and afternoon, and in the evening went to hear the Rev. Mr. 
McCall, minister of an independent chapel. Of the three sermons 
he took copious notes, which evince that they were as full of the 
marrow of the Grospel as they were distinguished for earnestness 
and ability. 

In his journal for Monday he has the following entry : " Break- 
fasted with the Rev. Mr. Stowell, and found him, as I had antici- 
pated, a deeply experienced Christian and a devoted minister of 
Christ. Nominally, he occupies the situation of an assistant 
minister ; but in fact, he is the only officiating clergyman in the 
chapel where I heard him yesterday. This chapel is the property 

of the Rev. Mr. , whose misconduct obliged him to leave 

Manchester, and who was glad to put his building in charge of a 
man the very opposite of himself in religious views and in moral 
conduct, but whose faithful ministry would fill the chapel and 
bring him a handsome revenue. All the seats being rented, he 
receives an interest, after paying Mr. Stowell's salary, far beyond 
what any other investment of his money would produce. He is 
so sensible of the benefits of evangelical preaching, in this point 
of view, that he has given Mr. Stowell the privilege of appoint- 
ing his successor. I was sorry to learn that Manchester is not 
so highly favored in the established Church as among the dis- 
senters, with ministers of eminent talent; and that the clergy 
of the former are considerably disunited by doctrinal varieties; 
some being low Armenians, and others Calvinists of the highest 
grade. Much coolness in their intercourse with each other is the 
result." 

"After breakfast, I went with Mr. Stowell to an infant-school 
supported by his congregation. It is under the charge of a male 
teacher, assisted by his wife, and contains 150 pupils. The 
teacher is a man of ordinary education, but of superior natural 
abilities, which he has certainly applied in a very effectual, 
though, in some respects, novel manner, to the business of infant- 
school instruction. His method of engaging and sustaining the 
attention of his little scholars is quite peculiar ; and I have seen 
no establishment of the kind in which a better result has fol- 



MISSION" TO ENGLAND. 441 

lowed the teacher's efforts. The history of this successful teacher 
of infants, as shortly given me by Mr. Stowell, would form an 
interesting biography; one of the most instructive features of 
which would be, an exhibition of the power of divine grace in 
reclaiming, after a life of singular wanderings, infidelity, and 
vice, accompanied with much suffering and misery, this object of 
the divine mercy ; and transforming him into a meek and pious 
disciple of Christ, and a useful member of society. 

• "After dinner I left Manchester, with an impression alike of 
its immense importance as a manufacturing town, and of its un- 
inviting character as a place of residence, except for those inter- 
ested in its business. It has some handsome public buildings; 
but, with the exception of the exchange, they are situated in 
narrow streets, where they appear to no advantage. A few of 
the streets are wide and airy, and a portion of the environs very 
pleasant ; but the interior of the town is in general disagreeable 
and gloomy. As to all business objects, however, it is one of the 
most flourishing places in the kingdom ; and those who are mak- 
ing fortunes in the town, have no difficulty in rendering their 
families comfortable in rural villas or terraced rows of genteel 
houses, which are every year increasing in the neighborhood. 

"With one thing I was much grieved. In returning "from 
Mr. Smith's, in the Crescent, to Albion hotel, Piccadilly, on Sat- 
urday evening, I saw more drunken men, women, and boys, than 
I* ever before beheld in the same space of time. Temperance 
societies will, I hope, remedy this deplorable state of things ; and 
I am happy that they have been commenced with encouraging 
prospects of success. Intemperance is becoming increasingly 
prevalent among the lower orders in England ; but I everywhere 
find it asserted, that among the middle and higher orders, no in- 
crease of the evil is perceptible. It is therefore difficult to con- 
vince these classes of the utility of temperance societies, except 
for the reformation of the lower. I am, however, persuaded that 
there is enough of the evil among all ranks to make the universal 
establishment of these societies useful; and I have consequently 
everywhere urged them upon the attention of those with whom 
I have had an opportunity of communicating on this important 
subject." 



442 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

In passing from Manchester to Sheffield, Dr. Milnor traversed, 
though without leisure to examine, the singularly fine scenery of 
Derbyshire, with its peak, castle, and caverns, and with its lovely 
vales succeeded by lone moorlands ; reaching Sheffield about nine 
o'clock in the evening of Monday, August 23. 

Here his letters soon made him acquainted with the Sander- 
sons and Mr. Ibbotson of the busy world, with Mr. Bronson and 
Mr. Brookfield of the law, and with Montgomery of the Christian 
Lyre. Of the last, his journal speaks thus : 

"I found him, as I had been led to expect, living in a retired 
way, with two maiden ladies, the Misses Gales, sisters to Mr. 
Gales of North Carolina, and aunts to Joseph Gales of the Na- 
tional Intelligencer of Washington. During his nonage, Mr. 
Montgomery left the Moravian seminary near Leeds, at which be 
was receiving his education, and came to Sheffield, where he 
apprenticed himself to the elder Mr. Gales. Some years later, 
Mr. Gales, having encountered some difficulties with the govern- 
ment as publisher of a newspaper, left England for America; 
and Mr. Montgomery took charge of the Iris as its printer and 
editor. While in this employment, he also offended the adminis- 
tration by republishing a patriotic song, although it had appeared 
in several other papers, and was sentenced to nine months' im- 
prisonment in the jail at York. He endured his sentence with 
becoming fortitude ; wrote, during his confinement, a little vol- 
ume of poems, now very scarce, called 'Prison Amusements,' and 
came out with the result which generally attends unrighteous 
persecution — the sympathy of his friends, and renewed patronage 
for his paper." 

"He received his religious impressions under the ministry of 
the Methodist church, but continues a member of the Moravian. 
His piety is deep-toned and decided, though cheerful as it is 
ardent. Its practical exhibition is seen in his engagement in all 
the works of piety and beneficence for which Sheffield is distin- 
guished. No man can be more beloved and respected for his 
unassuming devotion to the interests of religion, morals, and 
science, or for the varied talent which he has exhibited. My 
first interview affected me with the most favorable impressions 
of his character, and all my subsequent intercourse with him, 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 443 

and all the information which I received from his neighbors, 
confirmed and deepened them. 

" Immediately after I left Mr. Montgomery," at the close of 
this first interview, " I called on the Rev. Mr. Best, of St. James' 
Episcopal chapel, who soon after waited on me with a venerable 
layman, Mr. Hodgson, a gentleman of fortune, who devotes his 
time and his income to the cause of Christ, through the various 
means of its promotion with which he is presented in this thriv- 
ing place. But when he called, I had gone to visit my friend 
Mr. Congreve, a worthy disciple of Christ, who first obtained a 
hope of mercy in St. George's, while on a temporary visit of 
business at New York. I was delighted to find him an estab- 
lished, happy, vjorking Christian, with as single a dependence as 
I could desire, upon the unmerited mercy of his reconciled Father 
in Christ Jesus." 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Dr. Milnor rapidly extended his 
acquaintance with the interesting religious society of Sheffield, 
and consented " to address a public meeting of all the Bible asso- 
ciations of the tovvn on Friday evening." He was under an en- 
gagement of some standing to make his home, while in Sheffield, 
at Darnell Hall, the residence of Mr. John Sanderson, about three 
miles from town ; but as Mr. Sanderson was absent when he 
arrived, he consented to abide with his old friend and parishioner 
Mr. Congreve, until the return of his expected host. On Tues- 
day evening he lectured for Mr. Best, in the room of one of the 
" eleven districts," into which the Episcopal clergy of Sheffield 
have divided the town, for the purpose of accommodating "the 
working classes, as well as many of a higher grade," with stated 
weekly instruction ; and much of Wednesday was spent in 
viewing the extensive steel- works of the Messrs.. Sanderson, and 
those of Nay lor, Hutchinson, Vickars, and Co., and in witnessing 
the process of converting iron into steel. He also visited the 
room of the Philosophical Society, of which Mr. Montgomery was 
the first president ; the extensive show-room of Messrs. Pixley 
and Co.; and the rolling-mills, tilting-hammers, and other ap- 
pendages to the vast iron and steel manufactures of Sheffield. 

" Thursday morning, August 26," Dr. Milnor says, "I spent 
the forenoon in writing, particularly a part of it in making the 



444 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

rough draft of an answer to Bishop Hobart's letter ; which I hope 
Grod has enabled me to do with a Christian temper, while at the 
same time I utterly disclaim his unfounded charge. 

" Dined with Mr. Ibbotson at the Grlobe works. Mr. Mont- 
gomery, and Mr. Holland, author of the Life of Summerfield, 
were of the party. The company being all professedly religious, 
the conversation also was of that character. Mr. Montgomery 
was in one of his best moods, and rarely have I heard a more 
pleasing and earnest advocate of experimental religion. No con- 
troversial differences were allowed to give asperity to our inter- 
course ; and with the intellects and feelings of such men as Mont- 
gomery and Holland employed on so delightful a theme as that 
of genuine Christianity, its character, state, and glorious pros- 
pects, I could only regret the arrival of the hour of our separa- 
tion. Mr. Holland is a layman, the present editor of the Iris, the 
intimate friend of Montgomery, and like him, a poet." 

At eleven o'clock Friday morning, Dr. Milnor went with Mr. 
Best to the stated monthly meeting of the Female Church Mis- 
sionary Association, composed of pious ladies of all the Episcopal 
congregations of Sheffield, and lectured before them for an hour 
from Romans 10 ; after which, he dined with a small party of 
friends at Mr. Congreve's. Mr. Montgomery was detained by 
business from the dinner, "but came in immediately afterwards," 
says Dr. Milnor, " and again gratified us with the exhibition of 
high intellect, united with deep spirituality, and a most ardent 
interest in all the means which, in our favored day, the provi- 
dence of Grod has put in action for the advancement of Christ's 
kingdom in the world and in the hearts of men." 

From the dinner-party they all adjourned to the public meet- 
ing, which had been called, of all the Bible associations of Shef- 
field. At this meeting also Dr, Milnor made an address. He 
occupied an hour in " giving some account of the state of religion 
and of religious institutions in America, especially in relation to 
the circulation of the Scriptures and of Tracts ; and in consid- 
ering what was the duty of every Christian under the peculiar 
circumstances of the present times." " Mr. Montgomery made 
the closing speech, with a warm glow of religious feeling, and 
an affectionate importunity of expression. His only difficulty 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 445 

seemed to lie in finding vent for the flood of ideas that constantly 
rnshed into his mind. This made him occasionally stammer for 
a moment ; but a short pause always restored his self-possession; 
and his plain but forcible delivery riveted the attention of his 
hearers. His acknowledgments to myself," adds Dr. Milnor, 
" were full of Christian warmth and affection; and his allusions 
to my country of most touching interest." 

On Saturday, he accompanied Mr. John Sanderson, who had 
now returned from Birmingham, to his fine old country-mansion, 
Darnel Hall, surrounded by grounds of the most perfect neat- 
ness, and covered with the richest verdure. At this charming 
retreat he remained till the Monday following, attending service 
Sunday morning at St. James', where he heard an impressive 
discourse from Mr. Best ; at the parish church in the afternoon, 
where the vicar, the Rev. Mr. Sutton, preached ; and at St. George's 
chapel in the evening, where the Rev. Mr. Langston officiated. 
As usual, when interested in what he heard, his journal for the 
day consists chiefly of copious abstracts of the three sermons, 
to which he thus listened. He adds, however, the following note 
touching the good vicar : 

" Mr. Sutton was, some years ago, of very different senti- 
ments and feelings from those which he expressed in this day's 
pious discourse. As vicar, he has the appointment, not only of 
his own curates, but of the ministers of the chapels, three new 
ones having been recently built with the aid of the Parliament- 
ary commissioners, making the whole number in the parish six. 
These, with the parish church, are all supplied with evangelical 
pastors : men who see eye to eye, are universally beloved by all 
denominations, and are giving a more powerful impulse, moral 
and religious, to this populous town, than is, perhaps, found in 
any other manufacturing centre in the kingdom. Happy are 
the people who have . such a man as Mr. Sutton to preside over 
their spiritual concerns, and happy is Mr. Sutton in being sur- 
rounded by men of consentaneous views, whose only strife is, 
who shall most earnestly contend for the faith of the Gospel, 
and most industriously labor, under God, to bring souls to 
Christ."' 

On Monday morning, he took leave of Sheffield and its loved 



446 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

circle of Christian spirits ; adding, in his journal, this reference 
to one whose memory is dear to other hearts than his. 

" I had parted with Mr. Montgomery at his own house, just 
before evening service yesterday, when I took tea and passed an 
hour and a half in delightful communion of feeling with this 
gifted poet and most devoted Christian. I experienced, in part- 
ing from him, much of that painful emotion, which I am now, 
towards the close of my visit to England, so often obliged to 
suffer, and which is excited by the thoughts of taking my last 
leave, in this world, of some of the most estimable men who 
tread its surface. May it be my blessed privilege to meet them 
in inseparable union in a better world." 

According to his wish it has already happened. Teignmouth 
and Ryder, Gregory and Grurney, Wilberforce and Clarkson, 
Zachary Macauley and Bishop Burgess, Rowland Hill and Rob- 
ert Hall, Simeon and Chalmers, William Allen and Hannah 
More, are gone : Milnor is with them, and others of the good and 
noble throng with which he mingled a while on earth, are on the 
way : great spirits, all ; elders and saints in the one holy church 
universal ; citizens ever of the one great kingdom of Christ. 



SECTION XI, 



Upon his return to London, whither he went directly from 
Sheffield, Dr. Milnor's engagements were almost wholly of a 
business character. He found himself loaded with letters and 
papers from New York, many of which developed, to his sur- 
prise, the anonymous controversy which had ensued upon the 
appearance of Bishop Hobart's public letter, but of which, until 
that moment, he had been utterly ignorant. He reflected upon 
these developments like a man writing under a strong sense of 
injured feelings ; and filled page after page of his journal with 
proofs of what he had stated in his reply, and of the profound 
astonishment of the London religious public at the manner in 
which his address before the Prayer-book and Homily Society 



MISSION TO ENGLAND." 447 

had been misapprehended, A paragraph or two from this part 
of his journal, is all that need now be given. 

" That I had no intention to reflect, in the most distant man- 
ner, on the character of Bishop Hobart, is as certain as that I 
exist. When I made the observations which had reference to 
him, I had as friendly feelings towards him as I ever entertained ; 
nay, I felt under obligations to him for his kindness in giving 
me letters of introduction, and other evidences of friendship, on 
the eve of my departure from New York. I had spoken grate- 
fully of his attentions ; and instead of intending to be his ca- 
lumniator, had had frequent occasions to be his apologist in 
relation to the sermon which he preached on his return from 
England, and which has given offence to people of all opinions 
in the English church." 

" I well remember having seen the incorrect report in ' the 
Record,' soon after it appeared, and to have been grieved at its 
unfaithfulness ; but as all the speeches were miserably reported, 
correction would have been an endless and an impossible task. 
In respect to this one, had I anticipated the hasty sensitiveness 
of Bishop Hobart, I might have made the attempt ; but I thought 
of no such thing." 

"From the time when I received the Commercial Advertiser, 
containing Bishop Hobart's letter, I inquired, in every city and 
town through which I passed, where I supposed it likely to be 
procured, for 'the Christian Register,'" the official reporter of 
the societies, " but was unable to obtain a copy until the last 
day of my visit in Edinburgh. My subsequent movements were 
too rapid to allow me to sit down and prepare a reply, until I 
reached Sheffield." 

There would be little interest in following Dr. Milnor through 
the various details of business which now occupied his time in 
London. He attended faithfully to all the more private commis- 
sions with which he had come charged, but gave special atten- 
tion to that which he bore from " the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society " of his own church. In this duty he spent 
much time, making himself familiar with the internal arrange- 
ments and the external operations of "the Church Missionary 
Society," and of "the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 



448 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

in Foreign Parts," and furnishing himself with all the informa- 
tion and documents, which could be of service to our church in 
the infancy of her missionary institutions. In these engagements 
he amply qualified himself for the important position which he 
was subsequently called to occupy in the practical direction of our 
own missionary work, both domestic and foreign. 

He also devoted some time to perfecting his acquaintance 
with the topography of London and its environs, in cultivating 
the Christian friendships which he had already formed, and in 
taking formal leave of the public bodies to which he had been a 
delegate. The ceremonies which marked his adieus to the Brit- 
ish and Foreign Bible Society, were of sufficient interest to jus- 
tify in this place a fuller notice. We give it in his own words. 

" Monday, Sept. 6. — At twelve o'clock, attended a stated 
meeting of the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Soci- 
ety; Lord Bexley in the chair. 

" When I was introduced by the secretary, Mr. Brandram, 
the committee had been some time in session. Soon after I 
entered, his lordship rose, and addressed me to the following 
purport. 

" ' It is my pleasing duty, reverend sir, to communicate to you 
the result of the deliberations in which the committee have just 
been engaged. They are informed that you are about to return 
to your native land ; and the committee cannot suffer you to de- 
part without signifying to you the high gratification. which your 
visit has afforded them, and the great utility with which it has 
been attended. The resolutions themselves, however, express 
the feelings of the committee better than I can in any verbal 
communication. I will read them.' Here his lordship read the 
resolutions,^ and then continued : ' I will add to what is here 

* At a meeting of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
September 6, 1830, 

" The Rev. Mr. Brandram reported, that the Rev. Dr. Milnor, One of the 
secretaries of the American Bible Society, who had been deputed to attend at 
the last anniversary of this Society, is about to return to the United States. 
Mr. Brandram, therefore, submitted the following resolution, which was 
adopted unanimously. 

"The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society desire to record 
the great satisfaction which they have experienced in receiving the Rev. Dr. 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 449 

said, my personal persuasion of the importance of uniting out- 
most strenuous efforts for the universal diffusion of the sacred 
Scriptures ; and particularly of maintaining, between your great 
society and ours, a constant intercourse and cooperation in this 
great work. This is a most important crisis. There seems to be 
a mighty conflict, just now, between the powers of light and dark- 
ness. God is on our side, and will give us the victory ; but the 
battle must be fought, and it will require our most diligent and 
united exertions to secure success. I hope, sir, your respected 
society will be persuaded of the obligations under which we lie to 
them for sending you to us as their representative, and of our 
grateful sense of the acceptable manner in which you have ful- 

Milnor, secretary for foreign correspondence to the American Bible Society, as 
the representative of that institution at the late annual meeting. They would 
also express their conviction, that all the supporters of the Society present upon 
that occasion, shared largely in their own delight, as they listened to the in- 
teresting statements delivered by Dr. Milnor, relative to the present proceed- 
ings and prospects of the American Bible Society; and they would add their 
persuasion, that the circulation of those statements in the printed report of Dr. 
Milnor's speech, in the monthly extracts for May last, has produced a similar 
feeling among the friends and supporters of the auxiliary societies, branches, 
and associations throughout the kingdom. 

" The Committee, therefore, in the name of the Society, request Dr. Milnor 
to convey to the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society an expres- 
sion of the unfeigned delight with which their labors are regarded in this 
country, accompanied by their earnest prayers, that those labors may, from 
year to year, become still more extended, and that wisdom and strength, and 
all the necessary means of usefulness, may be vouchsafed to them. 

" The Committee cannot but take the present opportunity of solemnly re- 
cording their deep conviction, as they regard the aspect of the present times, 
of the necessity and importance of giving the widest possible circulation to the 
inspired volume, as the only infallible rule of truth, of devotion, and practice ; 
and the encouragement they experience in witnessing the existence of a sim- 
ilar feeling on the part of their brethren in America; while they would unite 
with them in ascribing all glory to Him who has put it into their hearts to 
make the efforts in which they are mutually engaged, and who has crowned 
those efforts with such manifest tokens of his favor. 

" The Committee desire, further, to express towards Dr. Milnor personally, 
their unfeigned feelings of brotherly affection, and to commend him to the 
protection of his heavenly Father, that he may return in safety and comfort 
to the bosom of his family, and be permitted to resume his important duties, 
both as minister of St. George's church, and secretary for foreign correspond- 
ence to the American Bible Society. 

" TEIGNMOUTH President. 
" BEXLEY, Vice President." 
Mem. Milnor. 29 



450 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

filled the honorable trust committed to your charge. Be assured, 
reverend sir, we shall retain a grateful remembrance of your 
public services, and of the personal intercourse which we have 
had with you. You carry with you our high respect and esteem, 
our Christian affection and regard. Our earnest prayers will 
attend you, that you may be favored with a safe and prosperous 
voyage ; that you may meet your beloved family in health and 
happiness ; that your multiplied labors may be prolonged to your 
congregation, and to this and other useful operations of our day 
in which you are engaged ; and that we may at last meet you 
in Grod's heavenly kingdom.' 

" This address was entirely unexpected, and a little embar- 
rassed me ; but I stood, during its delivery, and answered in the 
same extemporaneous manner, nearly in these terms : 

" ' My Lord — I am much affected by this unlooked-for evidence 
of the kindness of yourself and the committee. In behalf of the 
American Society, I return you my thanks for the obliging man- 
ner in which you have expressed your approbation of their act 
in sending a delegate to your interesting anniversary, and to con- 
fer with you on the interests of that great work in which we are 
engaged. 

" 'For your approbation of the manner in which I have ful- 
filled the duties of my appointment, I beg to make my personal 
acknowledgments, though sensible how little I deserve the eulogy 
which your lordship and the committee have passed upon my 
feeble services. I shall return to my country with many delight- 
ful remembrances of my visit to England ; and among them the 
most pleasing will be, that of my intercourse with the officers of 
this society, and the members of its committee. 

" 'In taking my final leave of them, will your lordship and 
the committee excuse me for reiterating the anxious wish which 
I have heretofore expressed, that one or more delegates from this 
society may be sent to the anniversary of ours next spring? 
Nothing, I am convinced, will be found more promotive of union 
and cooperation between the two institutions, than this inter- 
change of friendly gratulations and mutual aid at our yearly 
commemorations. I venture to assure your lordship, that your 
delegates will be received with Christian kindness and respect in 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 451 

our ruder land ; and perhaps, while they are profiting us, and as- 
sisting the cause of Christ in the western world, they may find 
some gratification in the scenery of our country, and in a per- 
sonal acquaintance with our institutions and people. 

" * Your lordship and the committee will allow me to say with 
what grateful emotions I receive your kind wishes for my safe 
return to my beloved family and flock. I will detain you from 
your important duties no longer than to add, that I sincerely re- 
ciprocate the feelings which you have been pleased to express 
towards me, by imploring a blessing on your labors in our glori- 
ous cause, and praying that health and happiness may attend 
you individually here, and that the felicity of heaven may be your 
everlasting portion.' 

"His lordship replied, that the committee were fully im- 
pressed with the duty and advantage of sending one or more del- 
egates to America, as proposed by me ; but the difficulty of find- 
ing gentlemen who were fitted for the office, and at the same 
time willing to assume it, had hitherto prevented any positive 
measure on the subject. ' I am persuaded,' he added, i there is 
not one of us who would not consider himself highly honored by 
such a commission, though many obstacles might lie in the way 
of its acceptance. "We shall, however, keep the matter before 
us ; and if it can be accomplished, it will afford us, reverend sir, 
the greatest pleasure to comply with your suggestions.' 

" After remaining with the committee a short time longer, 
other engagements obliged me to withdraw." 

After this meeting, Dr. Milnor went to dine again with Zach- 
ary Macauley, of Christian Observer memory ; and his account 
of the occasion is worthy of preservation. 

"Mr. Macauley's personal appearance," says he, "is that of 
a heavy, dull man ; but in reality he is entirely the opposite of 
this. One of his friends observed to me, l He is a library of 
knowledge ; and it is quite a common thing among us, on almost 
all subjects, if a question is asked which we are unable to an- 
swer, to say, '"Well, we'll ask Macauley; he can tell us.' He 
is full of conversation, but glad to hear that of others ; and when 
it depends on him to give it a direction, it is uniformly to serious 
and important subjects. He is a man of decided, cheerful piety, 



452 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and of great usefulness in many of the national institutions 
established for its promotion. Of the committee of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society he is a very active member, as well 
as of several other societies. 

" Mr. Macauley is well acquainted with Robert Owen, who is 
giving public lectures in London, on his plans for the reformation 
of the world by the substitution of reason for revelation. He 
considers Owen, as do many others, to be partially deranged ; of 
which there can be no stronger evidence than the delusion under 
which his mind continually labors, that his abstruse disquisitions 
before his, for the most part, illiterate audiences, are actually 
producing a great revolution in public sentiment ; and that, in a 
short time, government itself will openly espouse his Utopian 
schemes. Some years ago, before his infidelity was so well 
known, he had a conference, at his own request, with a number 
of distinguished gentlemen, including several who then belonged 
to the administration. They listened to his strange develop- 
ments, and there the matter ended ; but he told Mr. Macauley 
he was confident he had made the whole company converts to his 
scheme. On another occasion, he fancied that the bishops and 
clergy were beginning to see their errors, and would embrace his 
views. He called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the 
Bishop of London, who treated him civilly, and as Macauley ex- 
pressed it, bowed him out of the house. Their silence in relation 
to his communications was to him conclusive evidence of entire 
coincidence in his views ; and he reported to Macauley, very ex- 
ultingly, his success with these dignitaries of the Church. Mr. 
Macauley told him perhaps he was mistaken in this ; and that 
the right way to test the matter would be to engage them to 
bring before Parliament some proposition on the subject. He 
took the hint, and actually called upon them, again, and made 
the suggestion recommended ; when they soon gave him to un- 
derstand, what courtesy had before prevented, that they consid- 
ered him a visionary, and his plans downright nonsense. 

" The community, as he termed it, at Lanark in Scotland, 
owes any success that has attended it, as a large manufacturing 
establishment, to his having as his associates, religious men. 
William Allen, the distinguished Quaker, was captivated with 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 453 

some parts of his scheme, and united with him ; but at once de- 
parted from so much of it as went to exclude the services and 
influences of religion ; and their determination to lay aside many 
other of his whims led to the necessity of finally dismissing him 
from all agency in the concern. 

" Mr. Macauley is on terms of friendship and intercourse with 
Mr. Drummond, Mr. McNeile, and others of the prophetical 
school, and speaks highly of the talents and piety of many of 
them ; but he has not the slightest tincture of their errors, and 
thinks the absurdities into which those of them who are church- 
men are now running, of uniting ultra-high-churchmanship with 
excessive Calvinism, rigid views of election with baptismal re- 
generation, full assurance as a necessary part of true faith, with 
declamations against obedience as any evidence of its being war- 
rantably asserted ; the persuasion of the speedy advent of Christ, 
with opposition to Bible societies and other religious efforts : these, 
with other strange views about the continuance of the power of 
miracles, the universal pardon of sin, the justification of the elect 
before their actual conversion, etc., will be likely to prevent the 
general spread of their main error, that of looking for the coming 
of Christ to establish a temporal kingdom upon earth, instead of 
his coming into the hearts of men by the enlightening and sanc- 
tifying influences of his Spirit ; and, after the millennium, appear- 
ing with power and great glory in the heavens, as the final Judge 
of quick and dead." 

It would be pleasing to read Dr. Milnors account of his din- 
ner on Saturday, Sept. 11, with that unostentatious Christian 
nobleman, Lord Bexley, at his beautiful seat, Foot's Cray, in 
Kent, twelve miles from London ; but his journal has already 
occupied more space than was intended in his memoirs, and the 
reader must therefore hasten with us to the period of his return 
to America. 

Before his final departure from London he made an excursion 
to Cambridge, for the purpose of becoming acquainted at the 
university. Unfortunately, most of the professors had availed 
themselves of the privilege of vacation and were absent, but he 
found delightful intercourse with one whom he styles " an Israel- 
ite indeed," Professor Farish, " a man of learning and piety, and 



454 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of most unassuming and amiable manners." Nor did he miss 
an opportunity for further acquaintance with "the venerable 
Simeon, who for fifty years had been a blessing to the university 
and town of Cambridge." 

On his way from London to Cambridge, he had a delightful 
fellow-traveller in a young gentleman of the name of Sutton, a 
graduate from Cambridge, who also accompanied him on his return. 
The acquaintance originated a somewhat amusing anecdote. 

"In the course of our ride," he says, " a gentleman who sat 
beside me observed, that he had never seen a more striking like- 
ness than between me and my son ; and our consequential coach- 
man added, that he had been observing the same thing. ' There 
is no mistake there,' said he. ' No child ever was more the 
image of a parent.' Their impressions were so strong, that they 
could hardly be persuaded we were not joking in our denial of 
any relationship to each other. I was unduly flattered by the 
alleged resemblance, for I have rarely seen a more pleasing, ami- 
able, and interesting youth." 

Having despatched all matters of business, and taken all his 
other adieus, his closing visit in London was to the truly noble 
president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Lord Teign- 
mouth, in Portman-square. 

"We found his lordship," he remarks, "in his library. He 
is now eighty-six years of age, and experiences many of the in- 
firmities of a man of such advanced years. He received me with 
great affability of manner, and expressed much regret, that his 
indisposition had prevented his attending the anniversary of the 
Bible Society, and deprived him of the pleasure of paying me 
personal attentions during my stay in England. His memory of 
recent transactions has become very imperfect ; and that, more 
than any other circumstance, has latterly unfitted him for the 
active duties of president, which he has chiefly devolved on Lord 
Bexley. 

" We spent an hour with his lordship, and the interview left 
a strong impression on my mind in favor of his piety and 
benevolence. His literary talents will be as highly estimated 
by those who have read his excellent biography of Sir William 
Jones. He conducted us to the door, and desired me to present 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 455 

his best respects to the managers of the American Bible Society ; 
to assure them of the benefits, in his opinion, attendant on mis- 
sions such as mine ; and to communicate his particular regards 
to Col. Varick, our venerable president." 

Dr. Milnor left London on Wednesday, Sept. 15, in company 
with Mr. Brandram, on his way to Liverpool, taking Oxford in 
his route, and stopping the first night at Henley-upon-Thames. 
The inn at this place is a rare one, and tempts us to pause long 
enough to give Dr. Milnor's short account of his evening there. 

" We arrived at Henley about dark, and took lodgings at the 
house of Mrs. Dixon, an inn immediately on the bank of the 
Thames, and at the entrance of the town. Mrs. Dixon is a sin- 
gularly pious member of the established Church, has a son asso- 
ciated with her who is like-minded, and endeavors to make all 
around her partakers of the happiness which she enjoys as a con- 
sistent disciple of Christ. Her establishment is large, and it is 
impracticable for her whole household to attend on religious du- 
ties at any one time. She therefore has reading of the Scrip- 
tures and prayers three times a day, and makes her arrange- 
ments so that every servant attends one, and most of them two 
services daily. Mr. Brandram being an old acquaintance, Mrs. 
Dixon proposed, soon after our arrival, that we should allow her 
to invite some of her neighbors to Scripture exposition and prayer 
in the evening, and also the following morning. Accordingly, 
Mr. Brandram read and expounded at nine o'clock, and I prayed ; 
and the next morning, at nine, I conducted lecture and prayer 
before a company which filled a large room. Our good landlady 
and her son expressed much gratitude, and we took our leave of 
them for Oxford about ten o'clock." 

We have now done with Dr. Milnor's journal of his visit to 
England. For though, as at Cambridge, he saw all that was 
worthy of examination at Oxford, yet he found the latter univer- 
sity still more effectually vacated than the former — not a pro- 
fessor, nor more than here and there a straggling student, within 
the shades of those venerable halls. He reached Liverpool the 
20th of September, and embarked on the 27th. He kept no 
journal on his return-voyage to New York, had a safe, though 
long passage, and reached home on Saturday, the 30th of October. 



456 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

When she approached the harbor, the ship received her pilot, and 
as he stepped upon her deck and recognized Dr. Milnor among 
the eager crowd of listeners for news, his first words to him con- 
veyed the startling intelligence, "Bishop Hobart is dead!" 

Thus ended every discord between those early friends. Their 
course ran not always smoothly through this jarring world; but 
we may believe it is peaceful now, not only in their union of 
heart, but also in their oneness of views, as they look together 
on unshadowed truth, and, seeing eye to eye, admire the eternal 
things of God. 

Much of the correspondence between Dr. Milnor and his 
friends, during his absence in England, has been preserved ; but 
so far as his own letters are concerned, the substance of them, 
and even more than their details, have already been given in the 
extracts from his journal ; while as to those which he received 
from others, having reference mainly to the excitement with 
which the controversy during his absence agitated the public 
mind at home, they add nothing essential to the facts of the case, 
as exhibited in the documents which have been placed before the 
reader. 

To the American societies which he had represented in Eng- 
land, he made careful reports of his doings, and from them re- 
ceived expressions of heartfelt thanks. The action of the Amer- 
ican Bible Society, in particular, is noted in the margin.* 

It has been seen with what ready cordiality the vestry of St. 
George's consented to his summer's absence. It is but justice 

* " American Bible Society — At a meeting of the Managers, Society's 
House, New York, 4th November, 1830, 

" Resolved unanimously, That while this Board are deeply penetrated with 
a sense of gratitude to Almighty God, for his protecting care over the Rev. Dr. 
Milnor during his absence ; for the favorable reception which he met with 
among the friends of the Bible in England and France ; and for his safe return 
to his family and flock, and to his important duties as Foreign Secretary of the 
American Bible Society ; this Board is fully sensible of the very important 
services which the Rev. Dr. Milnor has rendered to the Society, by the able 
and acceptable manner in which he has performed, gratuitously, the duties of 
a delegate to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and for which they desire 
to express to him their sincere thanks, and request of Dr. Milnor a correct 
copy of his report, with a view to publication. 

" Extract from the minutes. 

"JOHN PINTARD, Recording Secretary." 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 457 

to them to say, that with equally ready generosity, they not only 
continued to him his salary while abroad, hut also, on his return, 
relieved him, in a great measure, of the extra expense of his 
mission* 

To himself, personally, Dr. Milnor's intercourse in England, 
and in the other countries which he visited, was a source of 
abundant pleasure, and of real profit. Not ignorant previously 
of public men, and public life, he greatly extended his familiarity 
and intercourse with both, and returned laden with profitable 
stores for thought and reflection, as well as with delightful 
memories of men and things. Nor did he bring away blessings 
without leaving blessings behind. His elevated Christian char- 
acter, and his ready practical talents, secured him a facile and 
useful currency in the highest and best religious circles, and left 
in his pathway many precious and abiding impressions of an 
active benevolence. Four years after his return, the present 
writer was in England, and found himself, at almost every step, 
meeting with traces of Dr. Milnor's influence, and with proofs of 
the high consideration in which he was everywhere held. There 
was a sweet savor to his name in Great Britain, and a letter of 
commendation from him was itself a quick and sufficient pass- 
port both to confidence and to kindness, wherever kindness and 
confidence were most to be desired. 

In prefacing the introduction of his journal into these pages, 
an intimation was given that more would be said of the results 
of Dr. Milnor's mission. "What those results were, as to the 

* " At a meeting of the Vestry of St. George's church, held in the vestry- 
room, Nov. 11, 1830, 

" Resolved unanimously, That this vestry acknowledge, with humble 
thanks, the merciful providence of Almighty God, in the preservation of our 
cherished Rector during his late absence, and in his happy return to his con- 
gregation. 

" Resolved unanimously, That as evidence of our respect and attachment, 
and in consideration of his voyage having been undertaken, and successfully 
prosecuted, chiefly with a view to benefit the religious and charitable institu- 
tions of the community, the Rector be requested to allow us a participation in 
the extra expenses incident to his mission, and that the Treasurer is hereby 
directed to pay him twelve hundred and fifty dollars out of the first unappro- 
priated money which may be received. 

" THOMAS BLOODGOOD, 

"Clerk of the Vestry of St. George's church." 



458 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

details of business actually transacted, the reader has had some 
opportunity of judging. These, however, were the least impor- 
tant that followed in the train. The influence of his mission 
upon the relations of our own Episcopal missionary organizations 
and operations with those of the mother country, has been most 
beneficial. He brought home an amount of practical knowledge 
in the management of missions, which we had not before pos- 
sessed; and he opened channels of full and free sympathy and 
intercourse, between ourselves and our brethren abroad, where 
there had previously been but little of the flux and reflux of 
living activities. 

His mission, moreover, gave him an interest and a standing in 
the cause of education for the deaf and dumb, which he carried 
through life, and which made his subsequent services so impor- 
tant in the New York institution for that interesting class of his 
fellow-men. He obtained, too, a knowledge of the posture of the 
affairs of Kenyon college, in England, which was afterwards of 
great value to the interests of that young and imperilled seat of 
learning at the west. 

But, without dwelling upon particulars like these, one of the 
happiest results of his mission is seen in the new relations, which 
have since arisen, between the noble brotherhood of Christian 
societies in Great Britain, and their equally noble fraternity in 
the United States; especially in those mutual delegations to 
represent each other at their anniversary celebrations, which 
have become of such frequent occurrence. 

It is needless to say, unless to such as have not reflected on 
this subject, that these great religious associations in the two 
countries, exhibit one of the most remarkable features of our 
age; not merely in the vast amounts of money, which they 
collect and apply to the diffusion, through the world, of corre- 
spondingly vast amounts of religious truth, and light, and living 
labors, but also in the immense influence which they exert upon 
society ; in the rich treasures of knowledge, facts, and statistics, 
geographical, historical, and scientific, which they are gathering 
home from all lands ; and in their practical action upon even the 
governments both of barbarian and of civilized countries. These 
institutions have already a history and a literature, which are 



MISSION TO ENGLAND. 459 

yearly growing richer and richer, and which will be known and 
felt, not only through all coming periods of the divine kingdom 
upon earth, but also on the pages of those who, with an enlight- 
ened and adequate after-thought, shall undertake to sketch the 
fortunes of the lower kingdoms of this world. 

It will be remembered, then, that in relation to these grand 
institutions, Dr. Milnor's mission stands first in the series of 
delegations and interchanges, which have since characterized 
and given such intensity of life to their mutual intercourse, and 
which have contributed so largely to quicken and deepen the 
circulations of Christian truth and influence through the earth. 
Doubtless, the idea of this mission did not originate with him; 
and it may not be possible to say with whom it did originate. The 
truth is, like many other great things, it seems to have origi- 
nated with no one in particular, but with multitudes in common. 
It was the asking of the religious age. There was, in the mind 
of the religious public, a deep feeling of the need of such a sys- 
tem of living intercourse — a silent shaping of events towards an 
open and sensible issue ; and it was the position which Grod, in 
his providence, had assigned to Dr. Milnor in the affairs of active 
American Christianity, that pointed him out as the first, and per- 
haps the fittest embodiment of the idea thus distinctly conceived 
in the inner sense of the age, and sent him forth to be its first 
living, speaking, and acting exponent before men. 

Others have since followed him, from both sides of the waters, 
who may have possessed higher powers of personal display, and 
for immediate popular impression ; but few, if any, in the series, 
have equalled him in the prestige of name, and standing, and well- 
earned, well-settled influence : while none have surpassed him in 
qualifications for the business of such an agency ; and none have 
left behind them more hallowed and unstained memorials as a 
Christian, gentleman, and friend. 



460 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

PART V. 

DR. MILNOR'S MINISTRY FROM 1830 TO 1845 



SECTION I. 



In entering on an account of that portion of Dr. Milnor's 
ministry which followed his return from England, it will be 
proper to take a brief notice of his interest in the welfare of 
Kenyon College. 

Among the various efforts for the endowment of that institu- 
tion, one resulted in founding " The Milnor Professorship of Di- 
vinity." This professorship was endowed partly by members of 
St. George's, partly by Bishop Chase and his brother, and partly 
by individuals, of St. Luke's, Rochester, and elsewhere ; and the 
endowment was presented to Kenyon college, subject to the con- 
dition that the nomination of the incumbent should reside in Dr. 
Milnor during his natural life. In this professorship he of course 
felt a deep interest, and this interest very naturally extended 
itself to the welfare of the whole institution. Hence, when he 
went to England, he went commissioned by Bishop Chase to 
have a friendly eye to the interests of the college in that 
country. 

While in England, Dr. Milnor met the Rev. G. M. West, who 
was then laboring as Bishop Chase's chaplain and agent, in en- 
larging the fund for the general endowment of Kenyon college ; 
and about the period of his return to America occurred the diffi- 
culties between the bishop and his chaplain, which resulted in 
exposing the true character of the latter, though not without 
seriously affecting the public interests of the former. 

Not long after the strange developments here referred to, 
arose Bishop Chase's troubles with his convention, ending in the 
resignation of his jurisdiction of the diocese of Ohio, and, as 



HIS MINISTRY. 461 

involved in that, his presidency of Kenyon college. During 
these developments and changes, the troubles of the college 
thickened, and days of darkness passed over its history. The 
Milnor professorship, the endowment of which was not yet quite 
full, was in danger of being lost ; and the college itself seemed 
almost sinking under its embarrassments, made increasingly 
heavy by the distrust with which Mr. West had led many of its 
former friends to regard the management of its interests. 

Through all these trials, Dr. Milnor's knowledge of the affairs 
of the institution in this country and in England, and his strong 
interest in them, enabled and prompted him to be of great ser- 
vice to the bishop and his enterprise. He did much, as his letters 
about this date show, to expose Mr. West's absurd pretensions, 
and to prevent the injury of his misjudged plans. He pledged 
himself to make up, out of his own private purse if necessary, 
the somewhat large deficiency in the endowment of the Milnor 
professorship ; and as a means of relieving the general embar- 
rassments of the college, counselled the sale of the northern 
section of the valuable college domain. His nomination of Dr. 
Sparrow as the first incumbent of the Milnor professorship, placed 
an able and learned man at the head of the divinity department ; 
and when Dr. Sparrow accepted the professorship of systematic 
theology in the Virginia Theological Seminary, the nomination 
of Dr. Fuller as his successor placed another able instructor in 
the same important post of influence to our church at the West. 
Indeed, next to those who have been invested with the direct 
responsibility of founding and managing Kenyon college, few, 
it is believed, have rendered it such valuable services as Dr. 
Milnor ; and it is to be hoped, that through the professorship 
which bears his name, and which he did so much to establish, 
preserve, and perpetuate, his influence will be felt, ages to come, 
in the dissemination of a sound theology and an uncorrupted 
piety throughout the most important portion of our country. To 
proceed now with matters more properly connected with this 
memoir. 

It is a long time since any reference in these pages has been 
made to the spiritual condition of St. Oeorge's parish. The 
following letter to one of his clerical correspondents will show 



462 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

that but a few months passed, after his return from Europe, before 
he was permitted to gather some rich fruits from his labors. 



To 



"New York, April 8, 1831. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — I have neither been gratified with 
the much-desired visit, nor favored with the long letter, of which 
a hope was held out in yours, now lying before me, of the 9th 
November, 1830. But I write not for the purpose of upbraiding 
you with your remissness, because I do not doubt your affection, 
and because I am equally in fault, having no more right to claim 
from you evidences of continued regard, than I feel obligation 
on myself to render them. So the account is, if not satisfacto- 
rily, at least fairly settled. I am very anxious, however, that 
you should believe my silence has proceeded from no diminution 
of affection towards one for whom, from my first knowledge of 
him as a dear brother in Christ, I have not ceased to cherish the 
purest and warmest regard. You are often in my thoughts and 
in my prayers ; and every word of information which I receive 
of your being blessed of our common Lord in the work of your 
ministry, makes me rejoice as if the blessing were a boon be- 
stowed on myself. Receive my hearty congratulations on the 
favor, which I hear the great Head of the Church has manifested, 
in blessing your labors to the conversion of sinners to himself. 
We are told that the Episcopal church in your city partakes in 
that extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, by which God is 
there glorifying himself ; and I feel very anxious to be assured 
of this pleasing fact by evidence under your own hand. I know, 
from my own, what must be your labors ; yet you must not 
refuse, even if it do occupy an hour that might be otherwise 
profitably employed, to give me an account of what the Lord 
has done and is doing for you. 

" You have, of course, heard of the encouraging state of relig- 
ious affairs in New York. A time of deeper solemnity, in many 
congregations, has never been known. Among Presbyterians, 
Methodists, Reformed Dutch, and Baptists, conversions have been 
very numerous, and new cases are every day occurring; the 
greater part from among the youth, but many from the ranks of 



HIS MINISTRY. 463 

aged and apparently incorrigible sinners. In Dr. Lyell's congre- 
gation there is more attention than usual. In Mr. Mcllvaine's," 
Brooklyn, " much interest prevails ; and he has the prospect of a 
large addition to the number of his communicants. To my own 
list, thirty-five were added on Easter Sunday ; and the whole 
number who communicated on that delightful day exceeded four 
hundred — the largest number to whom I have ever been permitted 
to administer the symbols of a dying Saviour's love. The in- 
terest still continues ; and I am looking, alas, with too small a 
measure of faith, for its increase. 

""Will you please to accept a little token of my affection, 
1 Bridges on the Christian Ministry,' republished by Mr. Leavitt 
on my recommendation ? When shall we have the privilege of 
meeting ? I have not an absent friend on earth whom I am more 
desirous of seeing than yourself. Let me say, my endeared 
brother, that few things will be more gratifying to me, during 
the remainder of my rapidly passing days, than to know that I 
occupy a place in your heart, and to cherish you as one having 
a most near and intimate interest in my own. Let us speak 
oftener with each other, and strengthen one another's zeal and 
ardor in the cause of Him whose we are and whom we serve. 
The Lord bless and keep you and yours. Commend me to your 
beloved partner, and believe me to be, in eternal bonds, 
" Your ever affectionate 

"JAMES MILN"OR" 
The following letter to the same correspondent is given be- 
cause it contains advice, and expresses views, on the subject of 
removals from one parish to another, which ought, perhaps, in our 
day, to be more widely regarded. 

"New York, Sept. 8, 1831. 
" My dear Friend— Your letter of the 5th I have just received, 
on my return this morning from Newark, where I preached last 
evening for my friend Henderson. That I answer it thus 
promptly you are to ascribe, not to my preparedness to do so, but 
to my desire to comply as far as I can with your wishes, and to 
the fear that, in this respect, I should gain no advantage by 
delay. 



464 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" You will not suspect me of affecting an interest in your 
concerns which I do not feel, when I say that I have thought 
much of you and Kentucky, since we conversed together at your 
own house ; and that I have never been able to think more favor- 
ably of the project than I did at that time. By information from 
various quarters, I am confirmed in the persuasion that you oc- 
cupy a sphere of great and growing usefulness. So far as the 
objects of the Christian ministry are concerned, I can scarcely 
conceive of a more desirable position for the exercise of your 
office, whether it regard your immediate or your collateral influ- 
ence. Now it appears to me, that the influence which divine 
Providence has from the beginning assigned you, is of a religious 
character ; and this, it does not seem to me, will be increased by 

a removal to L ; on the contrary, it may be impaired by its 

association with secular pursuits. As to the assistant-minister- 
ship, that will not be required, unless a new election for bishop 
should, a year hence, have a more favorable result than the late 
mismanaged attempt ; and I fear, that if the principal object for 
removal be an association with Mr. 's laudable undertak- 
ing," (a promising literary institution,) " the opprobrium will be 
cast upon you of being biased by the pecuniary advantages which 
it offers, as well as of fickleness and a desire of change. Ought 
it not to be a principle with every clergyman, not to leave a sit- 
uation of undoubted usefulness for any other, until he has evi- 
dence, of the most satisfactory kind, that his usefulness will be 
enlarged in that to which he is invited ? Is there such evidence 
in the present case ? After making due allowances for very nat- 
ural feelings on the part of Mr. and Mr. -, I do exceed- 
ingly question whether there is any real preponderance in favor 

of L . So far as emolument is concerned, the latter place 

would seem, from the statements of Mr. , to present a pow- 
erful inducement to become his associate ; but it is pulpit-teach- 
ing, and not literary instruction, which I take to be the province 
assigned you by our common Master ; and just in proportion as 
a minister's situation calls him from the former to the latter, I 
have ever seen his character and influence, as an ambassador of 
Christ, deteriorate. There is, indeed, an apology for a partial 
and even an entire transition from the pulpit to the school, in 



HIS MINISTRY. 465 

the incompatibility with health of the incessant discharge of the 
duties of the ministry. But I hope this is not your case. Your 
temporary weakness has been produced by circumstances of a 
special character, only now and then occurring in any congrega- 
tion. Something also is due to the feelings of an attached peo- 
ple, who have a right to expect the minister of their choice and 
affection not to leave them but upon grounds of duty the most 
unquestioned. 

"You will probably think there is more of decision in this 
conclusion, than you had reason to expect at the beginning of this 
letter ; and I do confess, that the more I think upon the question 
which it discusses, the more averse I feel to say one word that 
might lead to the sundering of your present connection, unless, 
indeed, self-interest should lead me to acquiesce in your coming 

to St. -'s, should that parish — now in entire abeyance as to its 

rector — invite you to its charge. 

" But after all, my dear brother, I have no such partiality for 
my own leanings on this subject, as not to acquiesce in any con- 
clusion to which your deeper reflection and better judgment may 
conduct you. I feel quite confident that you will not decide 
upon it without a reference to that great Being, from whom ' all 
good counsels do proceed ;' and whatever may be your conclusion, 
you will remain very dear to me, and I trust will esteem me 
" Your faithful friend and Christian brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

In the year 1830, a " Literary Convention" was held in the 
city of New York, at which a committee was appointed to con- 
sider and report, at a future meeting, on " the propriety of study- 
ing the Bible, as a classic, in the institutions of a Christian coun- 
try." About the first of November, 1831, the convention re- 
assembled, and the committee presented their report. " After an 
extensive correspondence with gentlemen of various religious 
opinions," they "recommended in their report, that the Bible 
should receive the respect and attention due to a classic in our 
literary institutions." To carry this recommendation into effect, 
the convention, at their session in 1831, appointed a second com- 
mittee " to prepare and report a plan of biblical instruction, es- 
pecially in reference to the academical and collegiate course." 

Mem. Milnor. 3 



466 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

This important committee was composed of Dr. Milnor as chair- 
man, Dr. Maclay, "W. C. Woodbridge, Professor Vethake, and 
Professor "Woolsey ; and was instructed to report its plan at a 
meeting of the convention in October, 1832. Preparatory to this 
final report, the committee, through their chairman, issued a cir- 
cular, addressed to all the heads of colleges and academies, and 
to other gentlemen of religious influence in the country, asking 
such information as might be useful to the committee in devising 
the contemplated plan for the general study of the Bible as an 
academic and college classic. This great measure, however, 
failed of success. Several letters, among the papers of Dr. Mil- 
nor, in reply to the circular of the committee, show that it met 
with apparently insuperable difficulties. Yet the conception was 
noble ; and the place assigned to Dr. Milnor, in the attempt to 
realize it, shows the estimation in which he was held, and the 
relation which he bore to the great religious and philanthropic 
movements of his age. 

It was not long after his return from Europe before his life 
assumed its wonted channel, and continued to flow on year after 
year in quiet but ceaseless activity. In following him, therefore, 
the rest of his way, we shall have little to do but to give such 
letters as have been preserved, illustrative of his character and 
course, notice some of the more important events in which he 
was yet to be an actor, and add some general views of his posi- 
tion and influence. 

To Wm. H. Milnor, at Philadelphia. 

"New York, May 3, 1832. 

" My dear Son — "We learned verbally from Edward Thompson, 
that our friend Dr. William Klapp is unwell, and that you are 
much occupied in attending to his patients. I am very sorry for 
the cause, but hope your opportunity of seeing practice may add 
to your improvement. You are aware of the solicitude which we 
feel on this subject, and how anxiously we look forward to your 
making an honorable debut in your profession, for which I do trust 
you are now assiduously preparing. I cannot too often repeat 
to you how much depends upon continued application, and upon 
ascertaining its fruits by meditation, and by submitting to ex- 
amination. 



HIS MINISTRY. 467 

" We feel anxious to hear of the circumstances of the family 
with which you are now an inmate. We have been told that 
some of its members have recently been baptized. I sincerely 
hope this may have included your dear uncle and aunt. I have 
myself experienced so great a blessing in religion, that nothing 
gratifies me more than to hear of any whom I love, coming under 
its blessed influence ; and if I am ever so favored as to see you 
giving up your heart to God, it would be one of the happiest 
events of my life. Do, my dear Henry, give this most interest- 
ing subject your best consideration ; and may God grant the 
desired result. 

" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The following extracts from letters to the same, revive re- 
membrances of the gloomy times which passed over New York 
in the summer of 1832, when "the cholera" swept so many 
thousands to the grave. At the same time they are interesting, 
inasmuch as they show, that during all the horrors of that wast- 
ing plague, Dr. Milnor deserted not his post, but continued his 
ministries among both the living and the dead. 

"New York, July 21, 1832. 
" Dear Henry— The daily reports of the board of health will 
inform you of the general state of things here in regard to the 
prevailing disease. Yesterday's report was the most unfavorable : 
two hundred and two new cases, and upwards of eighty deaths. 
I myself awoke yesterday morning with a diarrhoea, but under 
Dr. Stearns' advice, took five pills of his preparing, and this 
morning find myself entirely relieved. I have lost but one 
parishioner, old Mr. Mitchell of James-street. He was at church 
on Sunday, sickened on Tuesday, and died Wednesday. Many die 
in from one to three hours after the attack. Hitherto, a very 
large majority of the cases, especially of those that prove mortal, 
are of persons of dissolute or irregular habits ; and from the great 
number of drunken people seen in the streets, it would seem as 
if they were bent on their own destruction. There is no sick- 
ness in our immediate neighborhood. M and his bar-keeper, 

who kept an abominable dram-shop, were taken ill at nearly the 



468 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

same time, and died in a few hours. I continue my services as 
usual. This afternoon at six o'clock I have my lecture in the 
church, preparatory to communion on Sunday next. The con- 
gregation is very much diminished, but on Sunday last there 
were more than I could have expected. This week, however, has 
been one of considerable anxiety, and many have removed. 
" Your affectionate father, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To the same. 

"New York, Aug. 6. 1832. 

" My dear Henry- — We have heard, with great regret, of the 
indisposition of your cousin William, and some other members of 
the family whose kindnesses you are receiving ; and, with much 
sorrow, that the cholera has begun its work in Philadelphia." 

This letter reached his son while he was resident-physician in 
the Southwark cholera hospital, to which the first case of the 
disease in Philadelphia was brought. He had not informed his 
father of his position, lest he should occasion alarm. 

"With us it continues its ravages among the intemperate, 
and in some, but comparatively few instances, among those who 
are temperate. It is the remark of every physician with whom 
I have conversed, that in the course of their practice, they could, 
with few exceptions, trace every severe case of cholera to intem- 
perance in drinking, improper food, or some other manifestly ex- 
citing cause. The Rev. Mr. H.'s case was lamentable. He and 
his wife and child, Dr. A. who attended them, and a colored 
nurse, all fell victims to this terrible disease. In Broad-street, 
Mrs. T., and seven of her family besides, were cut off in a few 
days. It is believed, that in both these sad cases, local causes of 
a noxious character had a principal share in their production and 
fatality. 

" Yesterday I officiated twice in St. George's, and, with the 
advice of my vestry, gave notice that the church will be closed 
for the remainder of the month. Probably two-thirds or three- 
fourths of the congregation are absent from the city ; and as this 
is about the time of our annual cleaning, it was thought best to 
close for that purpose. 

" I would now willingly give the family a little country air, 



HIS MINISTRY. 469 

but there is great difficulty in knowing where to go with safety, 
and at the same time have a favorable reception. We must 
inquire and determine, in the course of a few days, whether to 
remain or go. I must be principally at my post. With our best 
regards to all our dear friends, I remain, 

" Your affectionate father, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

After the removal of the scourge of pestilence, Dr. Milnor was 
left to spend a long lonely season at home, in consequence of the 
illness of his younger daughter Eleanor. She had become the 
subject of a nervous debility, which compelled her to travel ; and 
to enable her to do this with comfort and a hope of benefit, Mrs. 
Milnor and Henry were obliged to accompany her. They accord- 
ingly took a voyage to Charleston and Savannah, with the pros- 
pect of remaining at the south till the spring of 1833. In the 
meantime, his elder daughter Anna fell sick at home, and was 
for several weeks confined to her room by an attack which threat- 
ened a result in pulmonary disease. This season, however, of 
domestic gloom at length passed away, and the whole family 
were again reunited in customary happiness, though not at once 
in their customary health. The travellers returned from the soutli 
before the middle of January. This appears from the circumstance, 
that at that time Dr. Milnor himself was just recovering from 
a short but very violent sickness in Philadelphia, whither he had 
gone for a brief visit after their arrival in New York. 

By this time his son had completed his professional studies, 
•taken his degree as doctor of medicine with credit to himself, 
and made arrangements for commencing practice in Philadelphia. 

The following extract from a letter which he received soon 
after his settlement there, touches a subject not yet introduced 
into these pages ; but without a notice of which our view of Dr. 
Milnor's inner life would be incomplete. He had as much hap- 
piness as any father in the respect and affection of his children ; 
but, for long years, he had not the comfort of knowing that any 
of them were partakers of his own " good hope through grace." 
Many of his letters evince how deep were his fatherly solicitudes 
for their salvation, and how profound his Christian sorrows over 
the protracted delay to which the realization of his hopes in their 



470 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR, 

behalf was subjected. Of this the extract alluded to furnishes 
an affecting illustration. 

"New York, April 15, 1833. 

"Dear Henry — I received your letter, written immediately 
on your arrival in Philadelphia, as did your mother the one 
written to her. I know not that any thing material has occurred, 
since you left us, within the circle of our acquaintance. Our 
Easter election for vestrymen was peaceful and satisfactory • and 
every thing is as I could wish it in my congregation, except that 
my desires are not fully gratified in the increase of the number 
of those who are willing to devote themselves to a religious life. 
No one circumstance preys more upon my spirits, and more im- 
bitters my private meditations, than that neither of my dear chil- 
dren has done so. The unhappiness is twofold : first, on their 
account, for I know that without religion they cannot be truly 
happy in this life, and must be miserable in eternity ; and second, 
because I fear I have not done my duty in their education, and 
that, should they be lost, their guilt and condemnation will lie at 
my door. Reflections on these subjects sometimes agonize my 
heart, and almost unfit me for my necessary duties. One thing, 
my dear son, is certain ; if you have really listened to my preach- 
ing with the attention which your appearance from Sunday to 
Sunday has seemed to indicate, you must be theoretically 
acquainted with all the great truths of the Gospel, and espe- 
cially with the means by which a sinner must be saved from 
eternal ruin. Why have not those means produced the desired 
effect? 

"You are the subject of my continual prayers ; and I will 
hope that you will not be content with avoiding evil associations, 
but will ' seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon 
him while he is near.' It would give me more pleasure than 
your accession to a large estate, to know that you had the same 
interests, objects, and attachments, which I trust will engross my 
heart till I am called to my account. I was rejoiced to hear 
of the manner in which you spent your first Sunday in Phila- 
delphia, and sincerely hope that you will uniformly observe the 
Sabbath-day ; and may the Lord, who has not made the ministry 



HIS MINISTRY. 471 

of a parent effectual to your conversion, give that honor to some 
more devoted minister of Christ. Accept the assurance of an 
unceasing parental anxiety for you, on the part of your dear 
mother, and of 

" Your affectionate father, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

During the summer of 1833, Dr. Milnor's letters to his son 
describe a partial return of the illness of his daughter Eleanor; 
and a voyage and journey, undertaken by himself and Mrs. Milnor, 
with the interesting invalid, to Portland, Maine, and thence, by 
land, across the Green Mountains to New York again, in the 
hope of a more perfect reestablishment of her health. By the 
blessing of God, their hope was realized. Eleanor reached home 
with many evidences of a reinvigorated constitution. 

His absence at the east was longer than he expected. He 
was, therefore, obliged to write to one of his vestry, to secure a 
supply for his church on the Sunday before his return. The 
only part of this letter of general interest, is a paragraph which 
refers to the important position, so long occupied by him, as a 
trustee of our General Theological Seminary. 

" I regret very much," says he, " that circumstances have 
made it impracticable for me to attend the meeting, next week, 
of the trustees of our General Seminary ; this being, I believe, 
the first annual meeting, except that of the year when I was 
absent in Europe, at which I have not been present. I hope, 
however, by the blessing of God, to reach home in time to attend 
the Commencement on Friday." 

The following was written soon after his return. 

"New York. July 1, 1833. 
"My dear Friend — I have the pleasure to inform you, that 
we reached home in safety on Saturday evening, and with our 
dear daughter's health evidently much improved ; and that I was 
able to preach to my beloved people on the following day in the 
forenoon ; while, in the afternoon, they were gratified with a 
discourse from our friend the Bishop of Ohio, the last to be 
expected from him before his departure for his labors in the 
west." [After his consecration, the previous autumn, Bishop 



472 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

Mcllvaine had spent several months in a finally successful 
attempt to raise, in various cities at the east, the sum of 
$30,000, to relieve the embarrassments of Kenyon college, before 
entering on the duties of its presidency.] "He collected enough, 
before he left Philadelphia, to make his subscriptions amount to 
$28,000. Could he have gone to Baltimore, I have no doubt he 
would have completed his desired sum. 

"All accounts concur in giving a very favorable representa- 
tion of the seminary proceedings last week. The dissertations 
of the graduates, it is said, were excellent in spirit and in style. 
Indeed, my acquaintance with most of them, and with many 
others of the students, inspires me with a very pleasing hope of 
an increasing tendency, in that important institution of our 
church, towards moderate church views, and evangelical doc- 
trines. 

"You will see, by the Recorder of last week, the delightful 
promise of the collegiate institution at Bristol, Pennsylvania : I 
verily believe no attempt in the church, by those of our views. 
has ever been made, from which more good will result, provided 
the energies of the pious are promptly put forth in its establish- 
ment and support. Let us pray earnestly for our dear brother 
C. and his associates, and for the complete success of this hal- 
lowed work. 

" Your affectionate friend and brother, 

"JAMES MILXOR." 
. "The Rev. John S. Stone." 

This letter, placed in the light of subsequent events, shows 
that Dr. Milnor was disappointed in two of his most pleasing 
anticipations : his hope, that the tendency of our General Sem- 
inary would be increasingly towards moderate church views, and 
evangelical doctrines ; and his hope, that Bristol college would 
live to fulfil its first "delightful promise," of good to the cause 
of Scriptural truth and godliness. The star of Bristol college 
has long since fallen from our ecclesiastical firmament, into the 
darkness of utter extinction; while that of our General sem- 
inary is suffering an occultation, which threatens to be gloomier 
than the darkness even of extinction itself. There is blessed 
light within it yet; but baleful shadows have fallen between it 



HIS MINISTRY. 473 

and our eyes, portending " trouble and darkness," and the " dim- 
ness of anguish," to those who look for the breaking forth of the 
true brightness. 

In a letter to Bishop Mcllvaine, dated January 22, 1834, 
soon after the bishop's full entrance on his official duties, having 
congratulated him on the encouraging prospects which had 
greeted his settlement in Ohio, and spoken of the disturbances 
in the New York University — a new institution, in founding 
and organizing which, Dr. Milnor had taken a prominent part— 
he inserts the following paragraph, touching another of the topics 
of the day. It shows- the steadfastness of the grasp, by which he 
held his own original religious convictions and principles. 

"Your brother of , (whom I do not cease sincerely to 

love,) under the auspices of a confessedly powerful advocate of 
the claims of the Church, is, I think, fast ascending towards the 
topmost step of the Episcopal ladder. I am sorry for it, on the 
score both of propriety and of expediency. What does that 
beloved brother mean, in the address to his convention, where, in 
reference to Christians of other denominations, he speaks of 
' withdr diving ourselves, in a great measure, from their plans and 
movements for doing good?' If he refer to ultra new-light 
measures in revivals, etc., it is well. But we have never been 
associated with, and therefore cannot 'withdraw from,' these 
things. If he mean Bible and Tract operations, his course will 
be disapproved by all his old friends ; and will, I am persuaded, 
greatly impede the progress and prosperity of the Church in his 
diocese." 

It had by this time become certain, that his son's attempt to 
establish himself in medical practice in Philadelphia would, in 
order to success, require a longer sacrifice of time than he was 
willing to make ; and he had therefore begun seriously to entertain 
the purpose of applying for an appointment as a surgeon in the 
navy. It was this which drew from his father the following let- 
ter, containing general views worthy of record : 

" New York, February 4, 1834. 
"My dear Son — Your renewed suggestion of the navy project 
has filled your mother with sorrow ; and I would certainly prefer 



474 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR, 

almost any other attempt to this. A sea-life is, almost without 
exception, declared by those who pursue it a most unpleasant 
one. Aside from danger, the unprofitable associations to which 
it leads, the temptations which in the navy it is constantly pre- 
senting, the limitation of emolument with which it bounds the 
hopes of the physician, the sundering of the most endearing ties 
of nature, which it requires — these, and many other circum- 
stances, induce me to consider it, of all modes of professional 
life, the most to be dreaded; and when, as a Christian father, I 
add the death-blow which it would almost certainly give to the 
hope which I desire to cherish, of my son's one day being asso- 
ciated with me in a hope worth more than worlds, I cannot think 
of it without the deepest grief. 

"Even, however, if your parents concurred in your views, I 
do not think there is any prospect of your obtaining the appoint- 
ment. I am told there are now numerous unsatisfied applications, 
many of them, no doubt, from known adherents of the adminis- 
tration. A preference will be given to earlier applicants, and 
they will be the favorites whose immediate connections are known 
to be attached to the party in power. A view to such an appoint- 
ment will, moreover, divert your attention from every thing else : 
and then perhaps, after all, you will be disappointed. 

"While I highly approve of your anxiety to be in a situation 
which may enable you to gain a maintenance, I think less fa- 
vorably of this than of any scheme that could be presented, more 
especially in reference to your wish to enter into the married life. 
The wife of a navy surgeon has little before her but a series of 
anxieties; and if he have the proper feelings of affection as a 
husband, his prospect is no better. I would rather that you 
should abandon the profession, and seek your support in some 
other calling, than that you should engage in so unpromising and 
objectionable an experiment as this. But you are not a minor, 
and I claim no right to direct your destinies. I can only give 
you my views, and then leave you to pursue your own course. 
" Your affectionate parent, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

As an index to some of the movements of the day, the follow- 
ing, from a letter to Bishop Mcllvaine, maybe interesting: 



HIS MINISTRY. 475 

"New York, April 21, 1834. 

"Rt. Rev. and dear Sir — I cannot let my young friend, Mr. 
W. H. Moore, set out on his journey to Grambier, without a short 
line, as well to commend him to your kind regards as to assure 
you of the affectionate interest which I constantly feel in all that 
concerns your personal happiness, and the interesting charge 
which divine Providence has thrown upon you. You have many 
prayers offered for you in this eastern region; and I trust our 
gracious Lord is rendering answers in the acceptance and pros- 
perity with which he is rewarding your self-denying and assidu- 
ous exertions. All the accounts are favorable to the hope, that 
the great loss which we have sustained in your separation from 
us, will prove, through the divine blessing, an immense gam to 
Ohio and the neighboring states. 

"Our friend— has sailed in the packet-ship Orpheus, of 

the 1st inst., for England, and I was glad not only to introduce 
him to several of our good friends there, but to avail myself of so 
favorable an opportunity of answering a considerable number of 
letters, which I had received in the course of the last year, but 
had not found leisure before to acknowledge. He has marked out 
for himself a far more extensive tour than ours, and much longer 
than I think he will be able to accomplish, if he return, as he 
proposes, next fall. 

" A few days since, I received a very kind letter from Dr. 
Gregory, who speaks of you in the most affectionate terms, and 
of the gratification which it afforded him to have been instru- 
mental in the publication of an English edition of your Lectures 
on the Evidences — a work which, he says, ' is highly esteemed by 
Lord Bexley, the bishop of "Winchester, Dr. Dealtry, and other 
competent judges, and is getting into very good circulation in 
England.' He speaks also in terms of eulogy of your ' faithfully 
simple, and touching farewell sermon,' which he would have had 
printed for private circulation, had he not lost the copy which 
you sent him. 

"You have doubtless heard that the Bristol institution has 
been chartered as a college, and has expectations of a larger 
accession of students than it can accommodate. But you will 
probably be surprised to hear that our brother endeavored 



476 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to defeat the application for a charter, on the ground that it was 
not connected with the Church, and did not place the bishop at 
the head of its direction. A few months ago he deprecated such 
a measure. The views of our good brother are, to all appearance, 
changing. 

" I am happy to say, that in our theological seminary here, 
there is an increasing spirit of evangelical piety among the stu- 
dents, and much more liberality of conduct than formerly, on the 
part of its directors, towards those who profess themselves of the 
moderate school. 

" The Lord have you all in his holy keeping, in time and in 
eternity. I remain, truly, 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The letters and extracts thus given, bring us to a period in 
the life of Dr. Milnor, at which he was called to undertake an- 
other important mission. The operations of our Domestic and 
Foreign Missionary Society among the Indians at their Green 
Bay station, had become seriously embarrassed, and it was neces- 
sary either to reduce the mission, or to place it on a more secure 
basis. With a view to the decision of this alternative, it was at 
length resolved, at a meeting of the Board of Directors in May, 
1834, " to appoint a suitable person to visit the missionary sta- 
tion at Green Bay, as agent, to examine and report on the state 
of its affairs." The appointment fell upon Dr. Milnor. and 
though the resolution of the Board contemplated but a single 
agent, yet, apparently at his suggestion, two other gentlemen, 
Drs. Hawks and Kemper, were nominated as his associates. 
The former was prevented by illness in his family from accepting 
the nomination; but the latter consented to engage with Dr. 
Milnor in the proposed visit. Accordingly, after much time, in 
the month of June, spent in making the necessary arrangements 
and provisions, and in furnishing the requisite instructions and 
documents for their guidance, the two agents left New York on 
Thursday, July 3, in time to take the steamer of the 10th from 
Buffalo. 

The documents with which they were furnished were nu- 
merous and important, involving the internal affairs of the mis- 



HIS MINISTRY. 477 

sion, and its external relations to the government of the United 
States ; and the instructions with which they were supplied 
were ample, and clothed them with all needful powers. 

On their way, they stopped at Auburn to spend Sunday, 
where Dr. Milnor preached both morning and evening ; and from 
Buffalo they made a detour for the purpose of viewing the falls. 
Upon his return from Niagara, Dr. Milnor wrote the following 
brief letter to his wife : 

'•Buffalo, July 10, 1834. 

" My dear Ellen — We have been, as we proposed, to view 
the greatest natural curiosity of our country, the falls of Niag- 
ara ; and have been gratified beyond anticipation at the sight of 
this stupendous cataract. 

" On returning to the hotel in this place last evening, we 
found Mrs. Isaac Lawrence and her party, who had just arrived. 
Five out of six of them were most anxious to make the excursion 
to Green Bay ; but Mrs. Lawrence could not venture to encoun- 
ter the sea-sickness on the lake, which, when there is a high 
wind, is as certain as on the ocean. They return by the way of 
Little York, Montreal, and Quebec. 

" There is, we understand, to be considerable company on 
board ' the Michigan ;' and it is not certain that we may not have 
with us a party of Indians, who are here ready for embarkation 
to Green Bay. I hope they will adopt, as they wish to do, a 
cheaper conveyance. 

" Our nephew James came on, and arrived here soon after we 
reached Buffalo on Tuesday. He went with us to the falls, and 
was serviceable as a guide ; being well acquainted with all the 
points from which they are to be seen with the best effect. He 
has partly made up his mind to join the excursion to Green Bay; 
several of his acquaintance being of the number of those who 
make it merely for pleasure. This is his leisure season of the 
year. 

" We sail at nine o'clock ; and Providence favoring, expect in 
thirty-six hours to be at Detroit, where I hope the boat will stop 
long enough to admit of my dropping you a line. At present we 
are busy in preparing to go on board : I can therefore only com- 



478 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

mend you all anew to the divine protection, and with the best 
regards to every one, as if named, subscribe myself, 
"Your affectionate 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"Mrs. Milnor." 

From Detroit he wrote again as follows : 

'•'Detroit, July 12, 1834. 

" My dear Ellen — I wrote you from Buffalo immediately 
before my departure from that city ; and have now the pleasure 
to inform you, that we have had a delightful passage to this place. 
We left Buffalo at nine o'clock on the morning of Thursday last ; 
proceeded up lake Erie to Grand river, where we arrived before 
daylight yesterday, and remained two hours to take in wood. 
From Grand river we sailed to Cleveland, where we arrived 
about eight o'clock, and remained upwards of two hours ; during 
which time I visited my former parishioners, Aaron and William 
Cleveland. While I was at the house of the latter, their sister 
Susan arrived in the stage from Gambier, distant less than one 
hundred miles, and gave me intelligence of the state of Bishop 
Mcllvaine's health, and of his having received my letter appriz- 
ing him of my intention, if possible, to be with him at the time 
of Commencement of the college on the first Wednesday in Au- 
gust. I also saw Mr. F. T. Peet and wife, who had recently been 
at Gambier, and who, I hope, will personally tell you of my wel- 
fare. Mr. Hempstead of Buffalo, also a former communicant in 
St. George's, who was to leave that place the same morning with 
ourselves, likewise promised to call on you. 

" We are now to pursue our voyage up the river Detroit to 
lake St. Clair, then through the river St. Clair into lake Huron ; 
a distance still of three or four hundred miles. Our nephew James 
has accompanied us, and goes with us to Green Bay; returning 
in the same steamer to Buffalo. Our company has been very 
agreeable, and many of them highly intelligent. We are to have 
an addition of several of like character from this place. 

" I wish I could describe to you the very interesting lake 
scenery which we have enjoyed, but time does not admit. I 
have just dined with the Rev. Mr. Searle ; have been visited this 
afternoon by many of the first inhabitants, and have called on 



HIS MINISTRY. 479 

others. Several have offered carriages for an afternoon's drive, 
with one of whom Dr. Kemper and I are immediately going to 
view the country near this flourishing and rapidly improving city. 
I will write on my arrival at Green Bay ; and in the interim, 
with kindest love to the children, etc., I am 

" Yours affectionately, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The following letter shows that he was able to write again 

before he reached his destination. 

" Mackinaw, Michigan Territory, ) 
July 14, 1834. 5 

u My dear Ellen — If our children have the curiosity to note 
my progress on the large folded map of the United States, which 
they will find in one of the drawers in my study, they will 
probably see this place spelled Michilimackinac. It is an 
island of about nine miles in circumference, at the termination 
of lake Huron, and helping to narrow the strait which connects 
that with lake Michigan. There is here a fort, garrisoned by 
troops of the United States, and situated on a beautiful eminence ; 
while, from a height still higher, there is one of the most exten- 
sive and delightful prospects I have ever seen. 

" We have been most singularly favored in the weather ; the 
water being smooth, with no rain, and the temperature of the 
air very pleasant. In our company also we have been much 
gratified. If all are not religious, they have manifested a respect 
for religion, and for us as its public functionaries. I have not 
witnessed, in a company of sixty, one act of intemperance, and 
have heard scarcely a profane expression. Some of our passen- 
gers left us at Detroit ; but General Brady, commander of these 
western forts; Greneral Ashley and lady; Mrs. Morris, senior and 
junior, of New York ; Mr. and Mrs. Whitney, and a number of 
other pleasant passengers go on in 'the Michigan' to Green Bay;- 
for which place we start to-morrow. We arrived early enough 
this afternoon to allow us to visit the fort, on invitation and in 
company with General Brady, who reviews the troops to-morrow 
morning, and has invited us to witness the review. 

" We have also visited the mission-house of the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at this post, and 



480 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

have been kindly received. We obtained much information from 
Mr. Ferry, the missionary, with whom Dr. Kemper and I are to 
breakfast to-morrow morning at half past six." [Somewhat 
earlier than the London breakfasts.] 

" We have now no other stopping-place until we reach our 
destination. If therefore Providence allow us to arrive in safety, 
my next letter must be dated from Green Bay. I feel as if I 
could not be sufficiently grateful to my heavenly Father for con- 
tinued health, and the very favorable circumstances under which 
he has brought us thus far on our journey into the far West. 
Though considerably over a thousand miles from you, yet you 
are all in my thoughts, hour by hour ; and I have no doubt of 
my enjoying, reciprocally, a place in yours. I am now writing 
in the cabin of this fine boat, at a late hour, fearing I might not 
have time for writing before our departure to-morrow. I am not 
a little anxious about St. George's, but trust every thing will go 
smoothly until my return. My most affectionate love to sister 
Anna, and to our dear children ; with remembrances to our do- 
mestics, and to all friends as if named. 

" Very affectionately and truly, your 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The two agents reached Green Bay according to their expec- 
tations, and Dr. Milnor at once forwarded to his wife the prom- 
ised information. 

" Mission House. Green Bay, Michigan. ) 
July 17, 1834. ' \ 

" My dear Ellen — I have great pleasure in now writing to 
you from the place of our destination, which Dr. Kemper and I 
reached last evening in perfect health. Considering that we 
spent our first Sabbath at Auburn, and a whole day in visiting 
the falls ; and that we were detained a day at Detroit, while the 
steamer was taking in wood, and another at Mackinaw for the 
same purpose, besides stoppages of a few hours each at two 
other places, it is considered by our friends here that we have 
made an . uncommonly rapid journey ; and when we compare it 
with the month or six weeks, or even two months, during which 
some, in former times, have been employed in its accomplish- 
ment, we have great cause of thankfulness to God, both for the 



HIS MINISTRY. 481 

expedition and the pleasure with which we have been permitted 
to complete thus far our arduous undertaking. Of our return 
we cannot anticipate so favorably. "We are likely to be disap- 
pointed in obtaining a passage back through the lakes by steam- 
ers, none being expected here until long after the time when 
we shall have fulfilled the purpose of our visit, and be desirous 
of returning. Hopes are held out that our passage in a good 
schooner may be obtained ; but it is possible that even in this we 
may be disappointed. Our steamer, 'the Michigan,' leaves this 
afternoon ; and when she is gone, the port of Navarino will not 
contain a single vessel larger than a barge or a canoe. 

" We were pleased to find the missionary family and their 
interesting pupils all in good health, and the mission-house spa- 
cious and convenient, and very pleasantly located on the Fox 
river. The Rev. Mr. Cadle, though no longer connected with the 
mission, having removed to the settlement of the Oneida Indians 
about nine miles off, was yet fortunately here, and will remain 
for the purpose of assisting us in our inquiries, which will be 
industriously prosecuted, so that we may be ready for the first 
opportunity of turning our faces eastward. 

" We are in expectation of a visit to the missionJiouse this 
morning, from a number of our fellow-passengers, who are on 
board the steamer at Navarino, three miles off, and who will re- 
turn with her this afternoon. Judge Irving, of this place7 is also 
going in her, intending to proceed to New York. I have given 
him a letter of introduction, and would be glad if Henry would 
pay him attention. 

" I have many things to say; but my time is so occupied this 
morning, that I can only conclude with the customary saluta- 
tions to all the family, and assure you that I remain, unalterably, 

"Your faithful husband, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Two other letters furnish all that is known of his return 
journey. The first is dated, 

'•Wheeling, Va. 3 Saturday, Aug. 16, 1834. 
" My dear Ellen — You will perceive, by the place from 
which I date, that I am now hastening homewards as fast as 

Mem. Milnor. 3 1 



482 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

conveyances and other circumstances will admit. At 9 o'clock, 
Wednesday morning, I took leave of Bishop Mcllvaine and other 
friends at G-ambier, and went down in the daily stage to Mount 
Vernon ; remaining there until afternoon, when I took the stage 
to Newark, and arrived at ten o'clock at night. 

" There I was compelled to wait for a stage, until the after- 
noon of the following day, to take me over to Jacksonville, on the 
great ' Cumberland road,' where I was to meet the western stage 
in the evening of that day. On our arrival, I was sadly discour- 
aged to learn from the inn-keeper, that the coach almost always 
came full ; and that we — for there were six persons desirous, like 
myself, of going eastward — might have to wait a day or two, 
before we could all be accommodated with seats. He proved, 
however, to be a false prophet ; for the coach came along about 
nine o'clock in the evening, with only two passengers. Of course, 
there was room enough and to spare. I travelled all Thursday 
night, reaching Zanesville about two o'clock in the morning ; and 
while prevented from getting any rest by the intimation that the 
coach would soon start, we were detained by the delay of the 
post-master in examining and distributing the mails until day- 
light. The morning air was cool and refreshing ; and through- 
out the day, the weather was pleasant, and the roads, with the 
exception of those in England, the best that I ever travelled. 
"We arrived at this place last evening a little after dark. I would 
have gone on immediately in the mail ; but having lost one night's 
rest, and finding it would not leave me at a convenient place to 
stop over Sunday, I concluded to sleep here, and this morning, at 
eight o'clock, to proceed in 'the Reliance line' to Uniontown, 
Pa., where I shall remain till Monday morning. I shall then 
hasten by the way of Baltimore to Philadelphia, where I shall 
be detained a day or two by my necessary conferences with the 
executive committee of our Missionary Society, and then, with 
none but unavoidable delay, be at home, I hope, before the close 
of the week. 

" I enjoy uninterrupted health, thanks to the Griver of every 
good and perfect gift ; but my anxiety to be at home increases as 
I advance towards it. It was a great disappointment to me to 
receive no letters at Kenyon college ; I expected to find several 



HIS MINISTRY. 483 

there, awaiting my arrival. I suppose there was some misun- 
derstanding of my directions on this point. Please to give my 
love to all as usual, and believe me, 

" Your affectionate 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To William H. Milnor, M.D. 

" Brownville, Pa., Aug. 18, 1834. 

" My dear Son — Former letters will have advised you of my 
past progress homeward, up to my arrival at Wheeling. Over the 
worst road I ever met with, I arrived at this place on Saturday, 
at midnight. I stopped here to spend the Sabbath, expecting to 
go on in the stage that came through this town last evening, 
having paid my fare through from Wheeling to Fredericktown, 
Md., with the right to stop on the road over Sunday, and then 
resume my place. This privilege, however, could only be granted 
conditionally ; and unfortunately the coach came on entirely full. 
I am now compelled to wait until one arrives from Wheeling with 
a vacant seat. I hope this will be in the course of to-day ; but 
it is entirely possible that I may be detained several days for 
want of room. I thought it best, therefore, just to drop you a 
hasty line to account for my detention, if it should occur. 

" I preached here twice yesterday ; and have met with a 
female cousin, Hannah Rhoads, aged eighty-one years, the old- 
est inhabitant of this place, and universally respected. Though 
a Friend, yet she came to church, and went to the same place 
to be with me in the evening. You can hardly imagine her joy 
at seeing one of her family. Her mother and mine were sisters. 

" With love to all, 

" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Leaving him now, without any further trace of incidents 
by the way, till he reached New York, we must go back to 
Green Bay, and gather up some account of the results of the 
agency. 

In their report to the Executive Committee, which is a docu- 
ment of considerable length from the pen of Dr. Milnor, the 
agents state, that their " residence at the mission-house was 
continued from the evening of their arrival until the 4th of Au- 



484 MEMOIR OF DR. MILIs T OR. 

gust," full eighteen days. Of these, "ten days of assiduous 
application were devoted to their inquiries and observations. 
Their subsequent detention, for want of any means of return, 
supplied them with a further opportunity of maturing their 
reflections, and preparing their statement for the perusal of the 
committee." This statement, drawn up in a minute and busi- 
ness-like manner, embraced the following general heads: "Mis- 
sion buildings and farm ; mission family ; supplies ; mission 
schools ; reduction of schools ; past benefits of the mission ; Onei- 
das ; the Menominees ; ministerial labors of the agents ; con- 
clusion." For the particulars of this report, reference may be 
had to the October and November numbers of "the Missionary 
Record," for the year 1834. The account of their visit to the 
Oneidas is peculiarly interesting ; and their labors as preachers 
during their absence, were of frequent occurrence. The "con- 
clusion" of their report, and the "instructions" given immediately 
afterwards to the new superintendent by the Executive Commit- 
tee, will sufficiently indicate the results of their mission. The 
agents say, 

" We cannot conclude without repeating our conviction, that 
under the auspices of an enlightened, economical, and pious ad- 
ministration, this mission may be continued with great literary 
and religious benefit to its immediate beneficiaries ; with a happy 
influence upon society at Green Bay, and with credit and advan- 
tage to the Church. 

" "With the proposed reasonable limitation of its numbers, and 
suitable guards against improvident expenditure, we think that 
there are abundant motives for persevering in this work of Chris- 
tian beneficence ; and that no thought should be entertained of 
its present abandonment. 

" On the contrary, with the rising missionary spirit of our 
church, we would fain anticipate a new impulse in favor of its 
maintenance and improvement. And if, at some future period, 
in the changing circumstances of our Indian population, its re- 
linquishment should be judged expedient, we have no doubt the 
reasons for such a measure would then commend themselves to 
all ; while its premature adoption would find a sufficient sanction, 
neither in the past history, nor in the present situation, nor yet 



HIS MINISTRY. 485 

in the future prospects of the mission. A certain good, of no 
inconsiderable extent, would be surrendered, before substitutes 
of unquestioned value were prepared to take its place, and a 
character of uncalled-for fickleness be stamped upon our oper- 
ations. 

" The weight of these considerations is increased by the high 
estimation in which our mission is held by the respectable and 
good in the West. It has the regard, we believe, of the whole 
Protestant population there, who are acquainted with its char- 
acter and doings, and whose moral dispositions qualify them to 
estimate aright its value. , 

" "We have done, and will still seek to do the Indians good. 

Our mission will continue to be conducted with ' the meekness 

of wisdom,' and so long as the less prejudiced shall continue 

their children under its care, they will be prepared by wholesome 

instruction to fulfil with propriety their duties to God and man ; 

and some of them, we hope, be invested, through faith in the 

Redeemer of mankind, with the most elevated expectations of 

his true disciples. 

"JAMES MILNOR, 
"JACKSON KEMPER." 

The instructions given by the Executive Committee to the 
new superintendent, so far as they grew out of the report of the 
agents, were the following : 

" T. To reduce the number of boarding pupils to fifty, and to 
give preference to full-blood Indian children, especially Menomi- 
nees. 

" 2. To make arrangements for having the pupils instructed 
in the different trades suggested in the report of the Rev. Drs. 
Milnor and Kemper. 

" 3. Whenever practicable, to have the candidates for admis- 
sion into the school bound for as long a term as the law will 
allow ; and whenever it is unavoidably lessened, to abridge it as 
little as possible. 

"4. To receive no children into the establishment over twelve, 
nor under five years of age. 

" 5. To take such measures as are calculated to give a decid- 
edly religious character to the duties of the schools, by the for- 



486 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

mation of Bible and catechetical classes, and by having, on the 
first day of the week, the usual exercises of Sunday-schools. 

"6. To have cleared and prepared annually, for tillage or 
pasture, a portion of the land belonging to the society ; to in- 
crease, from time to time, the number of milch-cows, and to pur- 
chase a pair of horses, a wagon, and a sled for the use of the 
farm, and a low-priced vehicle for the accommodation of the mis- 
sion family." 

The first superintendent of our mission at Green Bay, was 
the Rev. Mr. Cadle, than whom, it is believed, a more modest, 
humble, pure-minded man, of more delicate sensibilities, or of 
more unobtrusive merit, was seldom, if ever, known. A combi- 
nation of circumstances, anterior to the visit of the agents, led 
him to resign his office, and the Executive Committee to appoint, 
as his successor, the new superintendent of whom we have 
spoken. As the circumstances which led to these changes, in- 
duced also the agency of Dr. Milnor and his associate, it is but 
justice to Mr> Cadle to annex the following action of the Execu- 
tive Committee and of the Board. 

" Soon after the return of the Rev. Drs. Milnor and Kemper 
from Green Bay, the committee adopted the following minute : 

"Resolved, That the Executive Committee approve of the 
conduct of the Rev. Mr. Cadle and his assistants, in exercising 
necessary discipline upon several offending scholars, and deeply 
regret the difficulty to which this discharge of duty subjected 
them. 

" Resolved, That the Executive Committee entertain a grate- 
ful sense of the ability and faithfulness with which the Rev. Mr. 
Cadle has discharged the important trust committed to him, and 
assure him that he has had their cordial sympathy in the severe 
mental sufferings which have lately been occasioned him by the 
unworthy treatment of certain individuals at Green Bay." 

"At a special meeting of the Board, held — , it being 

stated, that in consequence of the affair referred to in the former 
of the above resolutions, reports injurious to the character of the 
Rev. Mr. Cadle had been industriously and widely circulated ; 
and it being evident to the Directors, from oral and documentary 
evidence submitted to them, which they carefully examined, that 



HIS MINISTRY. 487 

such reports were entirely unfounded — the following resolution, 
as will be seen by reference to the minutes, was unanimously 
adopted : 

" Resolved, That in the opinion of this Board, no farther ac- 
tion in the premises is necessary on their part, except to declare, 
which they hereby do, their entire confidence in the purity of 
character and integrity of conduct exhibited by him in the dis- 
charge of all his duties, and their satisfaction with the resolu- 
tions so promptly passed by the Executive Committee, after re- 
ceiving the report of their agents to Green Bay, approbatory of 
the course of Mr. Cadle." 

The results, then, of the agency to Green Bay, may be thus 
summed : the removal, from one of the sweetest of characters, 
of every shadow which had been cast upon it ; the reduction of 
the mission to the measure of the society's means for its support ; 
and the maturing of a judicious plan for its future more effective 
management. In reaching these results, however, extensive 
investigations were necessary, involving intercourse with agents 
and officers of the United States government ; interviews, through 
interpreters, with Indian tribes ; and careful examinations of the 
domestic economy of the mission family, of the schools, and of 
their books and system of instruction : work for which few men 
in our church could be found more happily qualified than Dr. 
Milnor and his associate. 

After their return and report, and under the new and some- 
what reduced system of operations which they recommended, 
confidence in the mission revived, and its operations were suc- 
cessfully maintained, until changes in the Indian population of 
its neighborhood rendered its final abandonment a measure of no 
longer doubtful expediency. 

Upon their return, the agents proceeded together, by the 
lakes, until they reached Huron, upon lake Erie, in Ohio. At 
this point they separated, Dr. Kemper continuing by the lake to 
Buffalo, and thence to New York ; while Dr. Milnor passed down 
through Ohio, to Kenyon college at Gambier, and thence home 
by the route which his letters have already indicated, and by the 
further way of Baltimore and Philadelphia. 



488 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 



SECTION II. 

"We return now to letters and extracts from Dr. Milnor's cor- 
respondence. The first in date, from which the following are 
extracts, was to the present writer, then settled in Boston. 

"New York, Feb. 27, 1835. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — Before the receipt of your last, I 
had heard of your establishment of a new Episcopal paper, and 
read with pleasure its first number. I sincerely hope it may 
meet with an abundant measure of patronage, though, from the 
number of similar publications already extant in the middle, 
western, and southern states, you will have to look for it princi- 
pally ' down east.' 

" With regard to an editor, the only person whose qualifica- 
tions I have thought well adapted to that office, is the Rev. 

. Dr. Eastburn requests me to say, that he unites cordially 

in recommending him to your consideration. 

" I am glad to hear of the good effects of your wife's voyage 
to England on her health, but regret to hear of little Archibald's 
repeated illnesses. But thus it is. Few of our causes of hap- 
piness are unalloyed with counteracting ills, fitted to remind us 
that unmixed enjoyment is to be expected only in a better state 
of being. Alas, I am astonished at my own insensibility to the 
influence of a consideration so well calculated to detach us from 
a reliance on earthly comforts, and to elevate our views habitually 
to heaven. 

" Your good bishop has been abundant in his supply of our lack 
of forms of prayer. They are a transcript of his own pure and 
devotional frame of mind, and I hope will be useful in teaching 
some how to pray. But the semi-official character under which 
they are set forth, will, I fear, lead to some strictures on the 
publication. I speak, however, only from my knowledge of the 
jealousy with which any thing from such a quarter is likely to be 
viewed. 

" I want to hear oftener from you, and more about yourself 



HIS MINISTRY. 489 

and your parish, and every thing that concerns one so warmly 
seated in my affections as yourself ; being still 

" Your sincerely attached friend and brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"The Rev. John S. Stone." 

"P. S. Since writing this letter, I have received a charming 
communication from our dear brother Mcllvaine, under date of 
the 19th of January. He has been most cordially received, and 
though reserved in speaking of what he has done for the college, 
yet he gives reason to believe his visit will be propitious to its 
interests. He is in excellent health, and gives me an account of 
a clerical meeting in the very apartment at Islington, where we 
attended one of a similar and very interesting character in 1830. 
At the late meeting he was called upon to give a full account of 
the Church, etc., in America ; in doing which he occupied two 
hours. An account of it will appear in the Gambier Observer, 
which you must not fail to republish. He sends me the names 
of about a dozen of the best men in England, who requested him 
to send me their kind remembrances. 

" You see how generously I requite your brief communica- 
tion, or rather, how generously I should requite it were mine as 
valuable as it is long. "j. m." 

To Bishop Mcllvaine. 

"New York, Feb. 28, 1835. 

" My dear Bishop — I was sitting yesterday in my study, 
where, on account of toothache and a swelled face, I have spent 
the last three or four days, when I was pleasantly interrupted in 
my employment by the receipt of your kind and welcome letter 
of the 19th ult. 

" I had, too, just been repining a little at your silence, more 
especially on account of my inability to answer the daily inquiries 
of our mutual friends. To hear that you were well and in good 
spirits, and obstructed by no difficulties, and enjoying the inter- 
course of beloved Christian brethren, and though you speak cau- 
tiously, yet likely, as I infer, to accomplish something for Kenyon 
and Ohio, were such pleasing circumstances, that the account, if 
it did not remove my bodily pain, at least helped me to bear it, 



490 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

and gave me the privilege of adding a fresh note of thanksgiving 
to my evening devotions. 

"It so occurred also, that a few minutes after the receipt of 
your letter, a young friend, a communicant of my church, called 
on me to say that he designed sailing immediately for London, 
in the packet of the 1st proximo, so that I am assured of the safe 
delivery of my answer. 

"You will have a famous coterie of American clergy in Lon- 
don next spring — Dr. McAuley, Dr. Codman, Dr. Spring, Mr. 
Baird, Mr. Breckenridge, etc. You will have to take charge of 
them, and introduce them to our friends. Though ' they do not 
follow with us,' yet we know them to be good men and true, 
whose talents as well as piety will do no discredit to our country. 
I mentioned to the two first-named gentlemen that I would en- 
deavor to forward them some letters of introduction. But I have 
been so free in my trespasses on the few whom I can address in 
this way, and I am persuaded they will have so little need of 
letters at such a time of universal greeting and hospitality as 
that in which they visit London, that I must ask of you the favor 
of making an apology for me to our esteemed brethren for my 
seeming neglect. 

"Drs. McAuley and Spring have credentials as delegates from 
the American Bible and Tract Societies, with accompanying let- 
ters of introduction from myself, and are both representatives 
from several other bodies. • 

"I was delighted with the account of the Islington meeting. 
It brought affecting reminiscences to my mind, and I feel grate- 
ful for the kind inquiries about me by brethren, whom, though I 
shall probably never see them again in the flesh, yet I can never 
forget. Give them, as if individually named, my kindest love, 
and tell them, though I cannot go to them, yet few things would 
delight me more than to find some of them coming to us, to re- 
ciprocate the over-proportion of visits which they are continually 
receiving, from this side of the Atlantic. I hope, at all events, 
they will make you the bearer of letters to one who so highly 
values the communications of his transatlantic brethren. 

" To Mr. Ewbank and the other lay gentlemen named by you, 
and to Mr. Gilliat, if you meet with him, present my kind remem- 



HIS MINISTRY. 491 

branoes. To the family of the former, particularly to Mrs. Ew- 
bank, I owe much for their kind attentions, and ought long since 
to have made my acknowledgments by letter. 

" I am glad you will be able to counteract the articles of the 
correspondent of the New York Observer, in regard to what he 
represents as the almost execrable character of the Church of 
England and Ireland. We have to-day in the Churchman, testi- 
monies of a different kind, from two eminent English dissenters; 
and I presume the fact to be indisputable, that while there are 
abuses which need correction, and personal misconduct in some 
clergymen which is to be deplored, for several years past the 
character of the Church has been greatly improving, both in Eng- 
land and in Ireland. I am sorry that the recent unparalleled 
severity of an archdeacon of the latter country, in the collection 
of his tithes, should oblige us to admit of still remaining sorrow- 
ful exceptions. 

" We are abounding in Episcopal periodicals. Since you 
started for Liverpool, I believe, Bishop Doane's Missionary, and 
Mr. Lee's Southern Churchman, and Dr. Cooke's Church Advo- 
cate, and the Christian Witness, have taken the field; the last 
but one in quite a warlike attitude, armed cap-a-pie at the out- 
set. Surely, we have reason to rejoice that there is enough of 
public appetite for these things to require such means of gratifi- 
cation. I pray God a spirit of peace, a love of souls, an anxious 
desire to spread the saving truths of the Gospel, may predominate 
over an excessive zeal on minor points. On the whole, I think 
we may anticipate important aid to the cause of vital godliness 
from the increase of these valuable instruments. 

"Bishop Smith is wisely calculating on the slow movements 
in works of beneficence, too common in some of our eastern 
churches; and allows them ample time to consider what they 
will do for his seminary. After holding several meetings here, 
and paying many visits, he is doing the same in Philadelphia ; 
and, in the result, I have no doubt he will draw successfully upon 
many who never before gave a dollar for the West. In a plain, 
matter-of-fact statement, and a short practical improvement, he 
succeeds admirably. 

" You see I have entirely avoided the necessity of any apolo- 



492 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

gy for brevity, and have induced that of asking your forgiveness 
for so long and rambling a letter. But you know how I love to 
have long chats with you when together, and how natural it is 
to make the written page correspond with our usual habits, I 
shall, no doubt, have as much to bore you with on your return, 
as if I had not written a word. 

" I have one favor to ask of you. It is, to bring me the volumes 
of the Christian Observer for 1832, 3, and 4, which the Carvills, 
who had before imported the work for me, have not supplied. I 
hope you have read the most interesting recently published biog- 
raphy — that of Hannah More, our visit to whom is one of the 
most pleasant of my English recollections. If you go to Bristol, 
do not fail to call on our attentive friend Mr. Prust. All the 
members of our family, and countless friends, send you their 
best regards. 

" Affectionately and truly yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

In the month of June, 1835, Br Milnor attended the annual 
convention of our church in Massachusetts, which met at Pitts- 
field. His object in attending was, informally, to represent the 
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society at a missionary meet- 
ing for which arrangements had been made in connection with 
the occasion. With this reference, the following letter explains 
itself. 

"To the Rev. John S. Stone. 

"New York, June 24, 1835. 

" My dear Brother — On the importunate request of several 
of the brethren at Pittsfield, I agreed to endeavor, by the help of 
memory and. the little memorandum from which I spoke at the 
missionary meeting, to recall and note for publication in 'the 
Witness ' the substance of what I delivered. 

" I reached home on Monday evening, and at eight o'clock, 
yesterday morning, was obliged to attend the annual meeting of 
the trustees of the General Theological Seminary, the business of 
which will occupy us until the Commencement on Friday next. 
I mention this as my apology for sending you such a scrawl, and 
for asking of you the favor of examining and correcting whatever 
you may see to be amiss, before you send it to the printer. I 



HIS MINISTRY. 493 

leave it to yourself to call it a speech, or an address, or the sub- 
stance of either, or what you please, and to introduce it in such 
a way as you may think proper. I hope you have reduced your 
speech to writing, and will also publish it. 

" I am suddenly called to a funeral, and remain, in haste, 
" Yours, most affectionately, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The following exhibits the interest which, until it became 
inextricably involved by the management of others, Dr. Milnor 
continued to feel in the concerns of Bristol college. 

To the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, D.D. 

" New York, Aug. 5, 1835. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — You have, no doubt, before this, 
received official information of your appointment as an agent for 
Bristol college. The president was led to believe you might be 
prevailed on to undertake a six months' engagement in this inter- 
esting service, and that it would be practicable for you to make 
arrangements with your congregation for an entire devotion of 
your attention to it for that period. I sincerely hope this may 
be the case, as the circumstances of the college are now pecu- 
liarly trying ; the press for admission being very great, and our 
accommodations quite inadequate even to the comfortable living 
of the present students, and the board of trustees entirely with- 
out the means of their extension ; while the debt incurred in 
building the new hall, is, to a considerable extent, unpaid. If 
the institution should continue long in its present condition, its 
friends who are disappointed in obtaining admission for their 
children, will be discouraged, and much patronage be lost. It 
would be a subject of great regret, if an enterprise so popular 
should either fail or falter in its course, for want of those timely 
exertions which might place it on a footing of permanency and 
respectability of the highest order. It wants a man just like 
yourself, to go forth as its advocate, and gather for it present 
means, and the assurance of continued aid, until it is placed on 
the basis of independence enjoyed by other literary institutions of 
our country. 

"Allow me, as a friend of the college, to hope you will accept 



494 * MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

the appointment ; and, as your personal friend, to wish you the 
honor of being, under Providence, the instrument of insuring the 
stability and success of such a promising means of usefulness to 
the church, and to the country. 

" Yours, very faithfully and truly, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The next shows where he was, and intimates in what he was 
employed during the remainder of the month, and for a part of 
September. 

To Mrs. Milnor. 

"Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1835. 

" My dear Ellen — I was much disappointed on Saturday, 
by Mr. Cairns' omission to call, as he promised he would on his 
way to the steamer, for a letter which I had written to explain 
to you the necessity under which I was unexpectedly laid, of 
remaining here until the close of the Convention. Had I not 
expected to see Mr. Cairns, I should have gone down to Dr. 
Klapp's to give Henry the letter, and explain to him personally 
the reason of my not returning on Saturday. I did not write 
yesterday, because I was fully persuaded that the Convention 
would have closed its session last evening. That was not the 
case. If it had been, I should this morning have been on my 
way home. It is now uncertain whether we shall get through 
to-day. If we do, I shall certainly, Providence permitting, be at 
home to-morrow evening ; but you must not be disappointed if 
I should be delayed yet one day longer. 

"It will give you pleasure to be informed, that all is harmony 
and peace. Never has there been a meeting of the great council 
of our church, at which so much has been done, and so well and 
satisfactorily done ; and there is every prospect that this state of 
things will continue to the end. We have had many interesting 
public meetings in the evening ; one last night at St. Stephen's, 
of peculiar interest. — Love to every member of the family. 
"Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The references in this letter are to the well-known General 
Convention of our church in 1835, and the simultaneous trien- 



HIS MINISTRY. 495 

nial meeting of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, at 
which the new constitution of the latter was adopted — proclaim- 
ing for our Zion the truth, that in her missionary operations, 
"the field is the world;" and placing the two departments of 
this field, the domestic and the foreign, under the supervision of 
two distinct executive committees, with each its own secretary 
and general agent. The history of this important change, and 
of its results in our missionary operations, it is not necessary in 
this place to write. That history lies on our public records, and 
lives in our public doings. The first meeting of " The Board of 
Missions," the new body "intrusted with the supervision of the 
general missionary operations of the church," was held in Phila- 
delphia, Sept. 1, 1835, when the two executive committees were 
elected. The second meeting of the board was held in the same 
city on the 23d of the same month, when the two secretaries and 
general agents of those committees were elected. This election 
fell upon the Rev. Mr. Dorr, for the domestic, and upon Dr. 
Milnor, for the foreign committee. 

At the former meeting it had been resolved, that the domes- 
tic committee should be located in New York, and the foreign in 
Philadelphia ; but this election of secretaries at the second meet- 
ing, induced a reconsideration, in consequence of which, both 
committees were located in New York. 

The question now presented itself for Dr. Milnor's considera- 
tion, whether he was in duty bound to accept the important 
office to which he had been thus called ? That it would, at first, 
be a laborious office, there could be no doubt. The whole inter- 
nal economy of our general missionary society must necessarily 
undergo essential modification. Not only were new missions to 
be projected, but also a new system of management to be de- 
vised and matured. Every thing was to start upon a plan so 
new in the office of each secretary, as to require nothing less than 
the undivided attention of each for at least the first year of oper- 
ation. Was it then Dr. Milnor's duty to undertake his part of 
the task? The thought of resigning his rectorship, and retiring 
from his parish, was not for a moment to be entertained. To 
dear St. George's he felt himself wedded for life. And yet there 
was a manifest suitableness in the choice which had called him 



496 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

to the head of the foreign department. There was not a clerical 
man in our church, north, south, east, or west, so well qualified 
for the post as himself ; whether by general and accurate busi- 
ness habits and experience, or by particular familiarity with the 
foreign missionary work. The whole previous course of his life 
had been fitting him, though without apparent design, yet with 
thorough effect, for this very office. The pressure of the ques- 
tion upon his mind at length determined him to throw the whole 
upon the responsibility of his vestry, and to abide their decision 
of the case. He had repeatedly before called upon them for sac- 
rifices of parochial to public good, and doubted not, that if duty 
seemed to them to point distinctly in the new direction, they 
would be found capable of their customary magnanimity, and 
without hesitation give their advice in accordance with right, 
though against the leanings of inclination. Accordingly, a meet- 
ing of his vestry was called, and the case submitted to their con- 
sideration. It should be stated, that the annual salary of each 
of the two secretaries had been fixed by the board at $2,300. 
The statement which he laid before his vestry included the fol- 
lowing particulars. 

" That it should be proposed to the foreign committee to 
receive Dr. Milnor's acceptance of the office, with an under- 
standing that he should be at liberty to relinquish it at the next 
meeting of the Board of Missions : that in the meantime he 
should decline all personal emolument from the office ; but that, 
to enable him to detach himself as much as his agency should 
require from the duties of the parish, an assistant in said duties 
should be appointed for one year, with an adequate salary, say 
11,000 ; this sum to be paid out of the salary appropriated by 
the Board of Missions to the agent of the foreign committee, the 
residue of the stipend of the agent to be at the disposal of that 
committee. 

"At the same time he apprized the vestry, that in the event 
of their acceding to this arrangement, the duties of his agency 
might be expected to be of a very absorbing nature. The office 
for the transaction of business must be arranged and put in order ; 
the minutes and papers of the late committee be examined ; an 
extensive correspondence be forthwith entered upon; plans be 



HIS MINISTRY. 497 

projected for widening the sphere of missionary operations, and 
means be proposed for an increase of pecuniary resources, pro- 
portioned to the noble views of the Church in reference to the 
great work of which she had now assumed the charge. Added 
to these duties, frequent absences from the city on missionary 
business would be indispensable ; and when at home, personal 
attendance at the missionary rooms would be a daily duty. 

"Under these circumstances, he desired them seriously to con- 
sider whether, as the representatives of the congregation, they 
could make such a sacrifice to the interests of the mission cause ; 
declaring, that if they should be adverse to the plan, he would 
decline the appointment, and content himself with fulfilling the 
ordinary duties of a member of the committee. But if, on the 
contrary, they should assent to his engagement in the duties of 
the agency in the way suggested, though he felt a humble sense 
of his insufficiency for the work, yet he would enter upon it in 
reliance upon the help of Grod, and with the assistance of his 
brethren ; calculating upon a more laborious course of bodily 
and mental service than he had yet known, and earnestly hoping 
that the result might redound to the glory of God and the 
extension of the kingdom of the Redeemer." 

The action of his vestry on these generous and Christian pro- 
posals was affirmative ; they consented to, and advised the ac- 
ceptance of the office ; while the foreign committee, on their 
part, at their first meeting, October 12, 1835, readily acceded 
to the terms on which his acceptance was offered. The parochial 
assistant appointed by his vestry was the Rev. James "W. Cooke, 
who subsequently became one of our highly esteemed foreign 
secretaries. 

The expectations raised by Dr. Milnor's acceptance of the 
office were not disappointed. He impressed on his department 
his own thorough habits of business, and imparted to our whole 
missionary development a before unattainecl system and efficiency. 
It is presumed that few if any will deny, that in its practical 
details and workings, our general missionary organization, espe- 
cially in its foreign branch, owes more to him than to any other 
single individual. The year which he spent in the office, proved 
indeed one of his most laborious ; for it must be remembered. 



498 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

that he held at the same time, his post of great toil both in the 
American Bible and in the American Tract Societies, besides 
various other places of responsibility and care in connection with 
our own church and with the cause of general benevolence. So 
severe, in fact, were his labors during this year, and so profoundly 
interested, as well as engrossed, did he become in the missionary 
department, that some of his immediate friends, fearful that he 
might be induced to continue his agency beyond the year for 
which he engaged, and apprehensive of dangerous consequences 
to his health from such continuance, felt constrained to expostu- 
late with him, and to insist upon his resignation at the close of 
the specified term.^ Accordingly, at the first annual meeting of 
the Board of Missions, held in the month of June, 1836, his resig- 
nation was tendered, and by the following action of the board, 
accepted. 

* Indeed, his own vestry took "up the matter, as the following extract from 
their minutes demonstrates. This extract, while it shows the reason why his 
resignation was tendered "before his year had expired, shows also that his in- 
terest in the missionary work had carried him to the point of proposing, what 
he at first thought wholly inadmissible, the resignation of his rectorship, and 
the exclusive devotion of his remaining days to service in his missionary 
agency. 

'•'At a meeting of the vestry of St. George's church, held at the vestry- 
room, 16th June, 1836, 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the communication from the Rector, just 
read, containing a candid statement of his embarrassing situation, as Rector of 
this church and Secretary and General Agent of the Foreign Committee of the 
Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and soliciting counsel 
and direction from the vestry, presents a fair view of the circumstances under 
which he was led to consult, and the vestry to consent and advise, in the month 
of October last, that he would yield to the wishes of the church by undertak- 
ing the arduous duty of arranging, maturing, and reducing to practice, plans 
for the operations of foreign missions on the enlarged and spirited scale which 
had been recently pledged. 

" In advising him to that course, the vestry were influenced by the belief, 
that he might render essential services to the general interests of religion, 
without material interference with his paramount duties to the congregation, 
or prejudice to his own health, provided the new office was seasonably relin- 
quished. 

" In the judgment of the vestry at that time, the extreme term for which it 
would be proper for the rector to enter into these engagements, with a due 
regard to the considerations last named, was a single year ; and beyond that 
term they were then of opinion, and still entertain the belief, that their con- 



HIS MINISTRY. 499 

" Resolved, That the Rev. Dr. Milnor be requested to con- 
tinue in the discharge of the official duties of Secretary and Gen- 
eral Agent, until a successor be appointed and ready to enter on 
the duties of his appointment ; provided, that the services of Dr. 
Milnor are not understood to be required beyond the expiration of 
a year from the time when he commenced his duties. 

" Resolved, That in accepting the resignation of the Rev. Dr. 
Milnor, as Secretary and General Agent of the Committee for 
Foreign Missions, the Board deeply regret the necessity which 
dictates that measure ; and would, by this resolution, express 
their grateful sense of the eminent ability, zeal, industry, and 
success, with which, under divine Providence, he has been per- 
mitted to labor so faithfully in this holy cause." 

" The Rev. John A. Yaughan, of Salem, Mass., was elected to 
fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Dr. Milnor." 
The latter, however, continued in the labors of the office until the 
4th of October, 1836 ; about which time Dr. Yaughan took his 
place, and with distinguished ability conducted the affairs of his 
department. The final report of his doings, which Dr. Milnor 

stituents would not tie satisfied to make the sacrifices incident to the arrange- 
ment. It now appears, that the year for whieh the rector is committed, and 
to which the vestry consented, will not have been completed at the animal 
meeting of the Board of Missions ; but the vestry fully concur with the rector 
as to the propriety of his signifying to the board, at that meeting, his deter- 
mination to decline a reappointment, that they may immediately provide a 
successor, unless they contemplate a special meeting at the expiration of his 
year. 

" The vestry think that every view which can be taken of the subject, 
demonstrates the propriety of a relinquishment of the office of secretary and 
general agent at the time specified. As to the alternative referred to by the 
rector, they cannot, either for themselves or for the congregation, for a mo- 
ment listen to a proposition of dissolving the ties which have so long and so 
affectionately and happily and usefully united them together, that he might 
devote himself exclusively to the missionary cause. They believe with him, 
that he has passed the period of life at which it would be practicable to con- 
tinue, for a length of time, the laborious efforts requisite for the discharge of 
both offices. They have lent him for a year, and have reason to rejoice in the 
belief, that their object in doing so has been fully realized : they believe, now, 
that the interests of the congregation require his speedy return to his pastoral 
duties ; and they trust, under these circumstances, the Board of Missions will 
readily acquiesce in the opinion expressed by them. 

lt Extract from the minutes. 

"THOMAS BLOODGOOD, Clkek." 



500 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

presented on retiring from his labors, and which recounts his 
various journeyings through different states, on the business of 
his agency, may be found in the " Spirit of Missions," for No- 
vember, 1836, pp. 328-333. 

Nor was it in the business alone of our missionary organiza- 
tion, that his influence was benignly felt, but in the spirit also, 
which began increasingly to pervade the missionary life of our 
church. The different diocesan conventions, and their simulta- 
neous missionary meetings, which he attended for the purpose of 
addressing their assembled clergy and laity, became, in no poor 
sense, scenes of missionary revival ; and the sermons which he 
preached at many other places on his way, were the blessed means 
of diffusing among our people some portion of his own pure and 
ardent missionary zeal. In short, the year of his secretaryship 
and general agency, while it was doubtless the culminating point 
of his ascent along the path of active duty, was also to our church 
a season of rich and lasting benefit, from the holy influence which 
he carried with him and shed along his course. 

His correspondence during this year had more or less direct 
reference to the work in which he was engaged. Much of this 
correspondence has been lost, and much more might be obtained 
by searching the papers which he left in the office of the foreign 
committee. Being chiefly of a business nature, however, it is 
not important to the memoir ; we therefore content ourselves 
with a few of the letters which lie within reach. The first was 
addressed to the present writer. 

"New York, Jan. 11, 1836. 
"Rev. and dear Brother — -Mr. Southgate's appeal for the 
Persian mission, wherever it has been made, has excited great 
interest, and we are persuaded we could not have engaged in any 
foreign missionary object either more eligible in itself, or more 
likely to receive from the church a generous measure of support. 
It is, however, desirable that he should enter on it at as early a 
period as possible ; and with that view, be in a few weeks on his 
voyage towards the place of his destination. This will prevent 
any very extensive plan of collection, which is, indeed, rendered 
less necessary by the very liberal pledge of St. Andrew's, Phila- 



HIS MINISTRY. 501 

delphia. That congregation alone, if we are not mistaken in the 
sum requisite for that purpose, will furnish his support for three 
years. But money is wanted for outfit, passage, and other con- 
tingencies ; and we are desirous also, of giving him as soon as 
possible, at least one associate. Yery opportunely, an individual 
offers himself for this purpose ; and in the view of those who 
know him intimately, one admirably fitted for this office. Dr. 
Savage, whom perhaps you may have known some years ago, at 
New Haven, and who is now pursuing his studies at the Yirginia 
Theological Seminary, having offered himself for service as a for- 
eign missionary, Mr. Southgate went to see and converse with 
him ; and the result is, a persuasion that Dr. Savage is the very 
man he could have desired to be united with him in his benevo- 
lent work among the votaries of the false prophet. Now we 
want our friends, in those places where it is practicable for Mr. 
Southgate to present his interesting appeal, to afford him an op- 
portunity for so doing, both with a view to the supply of imme- 
diate means, and for the purpose of spreading information, and 
thereby enlisting permanent feeling in favor of the object. 

" We have been made acquainted with your kindness in 
opening your church for an evening service with that view ; but 
as the weather was unfavorable, I would take the liberty of sug- 
gesting that you would much gratify the committee by allowing 
Mr. Southgate to preach, and take a collection in St. Paul's, on 
some early Sunday morning. I suppose it would be too presum- 
ing in me to say, that if Boston would undertake to support Dr. 
Savage, as Philadelphia has Mr. Southgate, it would tell more on 
the interests of foreign missions, in the way of example, than 
even a liberal donation would subserve the particular object to 
which it would be applied. 

" I write from my chamber, having been confined a few days 

by indisposition, which must be my apology for the character 

and brevity of this communication from 

"Your affectionate friend and brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"The Rev. John S. Stone." 

" The Persian mission," mentioned in this letter, was that 
originally contemplated in Mr. Southgate's labors among the Ma- 



502 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

homedans. The ground was surveyed, but never occupied by 
him, his attention being subsequently diverted in favor of a mis- 
sion among the Turco- Armenian Christians. The change was 
an unhappy one, and has been the cause of much painful excite- 
ment in the missionary world, and of enduring dissatisfaction to 
the committee by whom Mr. Southgate was sent forth. Dr. 
Savage never became his associate, but was soon placed at the 
head of our mission to Africa, where he labored successfully, 
till a shattered constitution compelled him to retreat from the 
field of peril. 

The next letter, to the same correspondent, was written after 
the state of his health had determined him to decline a reap- 
pointment to the office which he held. The gout, of which he 
complains, was not his only trouble. His general health had 
suffered so much, and so evidently, under the pressure of his 
labors, that his son Dr. ¥m. H. Milnor was apprehensive that 
their continuance for another year would prove fatal ; so fully 
did he, in this case, exhibit his disposition to do " with his 
might," whatever he consented to undertake. 

"New York, Monday, May 13, 1836. 
"My dear Friend — You must forgive my peevish letter of 
Friday last. The gout is apt to make its subject querulous, and 
I was suffering under the lingering remains of the disease, or 
perhaps I should have considered myself as having no right to 
complain of arrangements, which, if they disappointed me, were 
no doubt to be productive of greater advantages in some other 
way. It has, however, happened well enough ; for though, by a 
great effort — my assistant being absent — I went through the 
whole service, and preached yesterday morning, yet I was obliged 
to go to bed immediately afterwards, and have since been more 
unwell. Under any circumstances, I could not have ventured 
to set out on a journey to-day, though I bless God, I am better 
this morning than I have been for a fortnight, and am encour- 
aged to hope, that in a few days I shall again be well. On an- 
other account, I regret less my disappointment in regard to the 
Massachusetts Convention. I am engaged in preparing the an- 
nual report, which will be a pretty long document. The rough 



HIS MINISTRY. 503 

draft for my clerk to copy, I expected to have completed on Sat- 
urday ; but it would have been a hurried work. My remaining 
at home will enable me to complete it more at my leisure. As 
my concern with it will be over in a day or two, if you desire it 
and think it would be useful, I will leave New York on Friday 
evening next, and spend Sunday with you, returning on Monday. 
But this must depend entirely on your own wishes, as I have no 
desire to leave home but with a view to usefulness in the mis- 
sionary cause. 

" And now, my dear brother, let me entreat you to make your 
arrangements for being present at the meeting of the Board, as 
an adviser in the important business of appointing a successor to 
me in the office of secretary and general agent. I hope your 
good bishop and Messrs. Edson, Tuckerman, and Greenleaf, who 
are members, will not fail to attend. I am deeply solicitous to 
have a better man than its present occupant for an office which 
he is compelled to relinquish. If such a man as some would be 
disposed to put into it, is elected, our missionary cause, now so 
hopefully prosperous, will be ruined. I wish it to be understood, 
that under no circumstances is it possible for me to continue. 

" My suggested visit will depend altogether on my hearing 
from you on or before Friday next ; so that, if you should think 
it expedient for me to come, I may leave on that day. "When 
you write, say whether you have had any person in view for the 
office which I now fill. How would Mr. Yaughan answer? 
Would he serve ? And are you willing to give him up ? If not, 
who else could be had ? 

" Truly and affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

"The Rev. John S. Stone." 

The report of which Dr. Milnor speaks in this letter, was prob- 
ably the annual report of the Foreign Committee ; if so, however, 
subsequent letters to the same correspondent show that he did 
not complete it until the middle of June, so much labor did it 
require, and so much was he interrupted by sickness and by calls 
of persons on business. The Massachusetts Convention, of which 
he speaks, was not held till the 15th of this month. His attend- 
ance, during the session, as missionary agent, had been expected ;: 



504 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

but the state of his health, and some misunderstanding about the 
arrangements for a missionary meeting during the session of the 
convention, led to mutual disappointment. From a letter which 
he received, he inferred that Bishop Grriswold objected to his visit 
in an official capacity ; a decision of which he complained as " a 
mortifying and perplexing rebuff; and the more so, inasmuch as 
it was the first he had received." The mistake was instantly 
corrected, though at too late an hour to secure his presence at the 
convention, even had his health been such as to admit of a jour- 
ney. Both himself, however, and Mr. Dorr, the domestic secre- 
tary, were present at the convention of " the Eastern diocese," 
held in Boston on the 28th of the ensuing September, when they 
were greeted with the kindest reception, and their missionary 
appeals met with the most cordial response. The following let- 
ter, written during the session of the Massachusetts convention, 
is an instance of his readiness to take undue blame to himself, 
when others were more deeply in fault. 

"New York, June 16, 1836. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — Your letter of the 14th I have 
just received on my bed, where I have been obliged to remain two 
or three hours after my usual time of rising, from the effects oi 
medicine taken last night. I have got up to return an immediate 
answer, feel better, and hope I shall be able to-day to complete 
the annual report, and attend a special meeting of the commit- 
tee this evening. 

"Your explanation is entirely satisfactory; and if you are 
sorry for having written in haste, so am I for my peevish reply. 
I hope, if dear Bishop Grriswold knows any thing about it, you 
will in my behalf ask his forgiveness for my unbecoming and 
unchristian jealousy of his and others' feelings towards our glo- 
rious cause. 

" And now, dear brother, I feel more sorrow than I can ex- 
press, that it has pleased Grod to disappoint my hope of being 
with you on Sunday. I am not seriously sick, but so prostrated 
by my late severe cold, that my family will not allow me to think 
of leaving home so early as to-morrow. The Lord having so 
ordered events, I am ashamed that I do not feel more submission. 



HIS MINISTRY. 505 

It is, perhaps, ' all for the best.' I have much, very much, yet 
to do before the annual meeting, and I can do it the better for 
the additional time given me by remaining at home. I am glad 
notice has been withheld, and I hope if I do not visit you officially 
in the course of the summer, I may do it as a friend. In the 
meantime, believe me, more affectionately than ever, 
" Your friend and brother, 

"JAMES MILXOR:' 
"The Rev. John S. Stone." 

The following bears the same date with his resignation to the 
Board of Missions, of his office as secretary and general agent. 

"New York. June 28, 1836. 

" Right Rev. and dear Sir — I return you many thanks for 
your very kind and interesting letter of the 10th inst., of which 
I had great pleasure in laying so much as was official before the 
foreign committee on the day of its receipt, the 16th. 

" Few circumstances were better calculated to fill my mind 
with pleasing anticipations, than your invitation to be present at 
your next diocesan convention; and if divine Providence should 
favor me with health, and I should then be in the exercise of my 
present functions as secretary and general agent of the foreign 
committee, I entertain the hope that I may be allowed the privi- 
lege of meeting you at Cleveland, ready to sow as Grod may give 
the ability, a portion of missionary seed in what I trust will prove 
the prolific soil of Ohio. 

" But I have been constrained by a sense of duty to present 
to the Board of Missions my resignation of the office of secretary 
and general agent ; consenting to act, should it be necessary, until 
the middle of October next, when my full year of service will 
expire. The Board have, in very kind terms, accepted my resig- 
nation, and elected the Rev. Mr. Yaughan, of Salem, my succes- 
sor. Whether he will accept the station is not yet known. From 
all that I have heard of his character and qualifications, I sin- 
cerely hope he may. If he should not, a special meeting of the 
Board of Missions will be necessary to fill the vacancy, as no pro- 
vision is made in the constitution for any other method of effecting 
that object, and as it would be almost ruinous to the cause of our 



506 MEMOIR OF DR. MILISTOR. 

foreign missions for the committee to be without a secretary and 
general agent until the regular meeting of the Board next year. 

" From my great love to the missionary cause, and especially 
the extension of our efforts into foreign lands, and from the grati- 
fication which the absorbing duties of my office have afforded me 
for the last eight months, I lamented the necessity of my resigna- 
tion. But it was impossible to continue my services without 
abandoning my connection with St. George's ; and of this, neither 
my own feelings nor those of my beloved people would allow. 
In the missionary office, my time of life warned me that I could 
not for many years render efficient and satisfactory service. In 
my parish, with such aid as they are willing to allow me if I re- 
quire it, I might, by the blessing of God, be much longer useful. 
Relinquishing, a few years hence, my present office, I should be 
left without the opportunity for ministerial usefulness during the 
remainder of my life. Retaining my parochial charge, there are 
many ways in which I might much longer serve my gracious 
Master, and promote the spiritual interests of an attached and 
most indulgent people. 

" My course, though professedly regretted by my friends, yet 
has generally been considered that which duty required me to 
pursue ; and I shall be happy to have the approval of one with 
whom it has been my delight to ' take sweet counsel ' for so many 
years. " Your faithful friend and servant, 

"JAMES MILXOR." 

" The Rt. Rev. Bishop McIlvaine." 

It had been one of Dr. Milnor's favorite objects, during his 
secretaryship, to organize, and bring into operative aid of the 
committee which he represented, a " Female Foreign Mission- 
School Society." But at the first annual meeting of the Board, 
objections were urged against it ; and as his term of office was 
so near its expiration, he did not press the measure, and the 
nascent organization was suffered to die in its birth. This is 
the substance of a letter to the present writer, dated July 12, 
1836. The next on hand was preparatory to his projected tour — 
a hint of which is contained in his last letter to Bishop McIl- 
vaine — to meet the diocesan convention of the church in Ohio, at 
Cleveland. It was dated, 



HIS MINISTRY. 507 

"New York, Aug. 11, 1836. 

" Right Rev. and dear Sir — Agreeably to your kind invita- 
tion, I am endeavoring to make all practicable arrangements for 
being present at your convention at Cleveland, intending to make 
that tour the close of my year's service in the cause of foreign 
missions. 

" I should have returned an earlier answer to your last oblig- 
ing favor, but the amount of business in hand, and the little 
prospect of obtaining the services of the Rev. Mr. Vaughan until 
the middle of September, threw so much discouragement in the 
way of my leaving home, that I was afraid of holding out any 
decisive prospect. Now, however, I have better hopes. In con- 
junction with my friend, or rather his substitute, of the domestic 
agency, I have got through the editing of the sixth, seventh, and 
eighth numbers of the " Spirit of Missions," and the publication 
of the proceedings of the Board of Missions — which last will 
make quite a large pamphlet. I have also finished the required 
arrangements in regard to several neiv missions. By declining 
your suggestion, which I do very unwillingly, in regard to the 
Commencement at Gambier, and proceeding directly, by way of 
Buffalo, to Cleveland, I can accomplish much that will relieve 
the labors of my successor. 

" I shall be able to make many needful arrangements with 
Dr. Robertson, who is now here on a visit of business ; finish all 
our transactions in reference to the mission at Athens, before Mrs. 
Hill's departure, which will be on the 24th instant, and before 
Mr. Benton's for Crete, which will be a few days sooner ; assist, 
in their preparations, our two heroic young missionaries for Af- 
rica, Messrs. Minor and Payne, of the Virginia seminary, and 
tranquillize the feelings of two or three other anxious expectants 
of missionary appointments ; and finally, shall find it possible to 
spend a few days with Mr. Vaughan, to initiate him into the 
business of the office, he having just informed me, that under 
the circumstances which I have stated, he will come on about 
the 20th of this month. If, therefore, Providence permit, I hope 
to see you at Cleveland on the 8th of next month. 
" I am, very truly and respectfully, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR," 



508 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

He left home on Monday, August 29, and upon reaching Buf- 
falo, addressed to Mrs. Milnor the following almost amusingly 
afflictive account of the manner in which he had been unexpect- 
edly thrown upon his extemporaneous resources in speaking. 

'•Buffalo, Sept. 4, 1836. 

" My dear Ellen — My last was dated at Auburn. I left 
there on Thursday, about one o'clock, for Canandaigua, which 
we did not reach till ten o'clock at night. At four the next 
morning, I proceeded in the stage for Batavia, where I arrived 
about five in the afternoon. Having caused notice to be given 
that I would preach in the evening, I was no sooner fixed at my 
lodgings with the rector, the Rev. Mr. Bolles, than I went to my 
chamber to change my clothes ; which, having accomplished, as 
the hour for service was at hand, I went to the bottom of my 
trunk in search for my package of sermons, when behold, it was 
not to be found. How you could have omitted to put it into my 
trunk, I cannot divine. I am certain I sent it up to the cham- 
ber — I think, by James : and now I can only blame myself that 
I did not ascertain the fact of your having put them into the 
trunk, by inquiry or personal examination. Under such unfortu- 
nate circumstances, I would willingly have declined all service, 
and have returned home ; but I thought myself condemned to the 
mortification of addressing the congregation at Batavia wholly 
without preparation, for the time admitted of none. I did so ; 
and although my young friend Bolles was pleased to solace my 
feelings when I had done, by saying that 'my loss was their 
gain,' yet I was enough chagrined and dissatisfied with my per- 
formance to rob me of the comfort of sleep." An evidence, by 
the way, of the manner in which the severity of his late labors 
for the committee were known to have affected his whole nervous 
system. 

" Yesterday, I came to this place in the afternoon, and found 
that notice had been given last Sunday, that I would preach to- 
day, and that Mr. Shelton, depending on me for the whole day, 
had prepared no discourse. It happened, providentially, that I 
had with me one sermon, that which I preached last Sunday 
morning in St. George's, and which, on account of its being in 



HIS MINISTRY. 509 

the velvet cover, I threw into the top of my trunk, just before it 
was closed. 

" To-morrow, or next day, I take the steamer for Cleveland. 
You may judge with what unhappy feelings I go among a large 
body of respectable clergy and laity, wholly unprepared to meet 
the expectations which have been raised. I pray God he may 
enable me, however imperfectly, to do something in the cause on 
which, in his name, I am sent. 

" Immediately on my arrival in Buffalo, I went to the post- 
office, with the hope of at least receiving a letter, written after 
your discovery of the omission ; and I even hoped that you might 
have found, through the agency of Mr. Cooke or Henry, some 
opportunity, by a merchant coming immediately to this place, to 
send on the sermons. But not a letter was there for me. I think 
I shall delay going to Cleveland till Tuesday, under the hope 
that the mail of to-day or to-morrow may relieve my anxiety. 

" But it is useless to say more on the subject. No doubt, I 
merit the mortification which I feel. All I fear is, its injury to 
the cause committed to my charge. I shall, of course, so soon 
as the convention at Cleveland is over, hasten back, making no 
appointments to preach on the way home, and probably, God 
willing, reaching you the latter end of next week. 

" Give my love to all the family, and believe me 
" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
' : Mrs. Eleanor Milnor/ 5 

From a subsequent letter to Mrs. Milnor, from Cleveland, it 
appears that he preached at Buffalo Sunday morning, and deliv- 
ered a missionary address in the afternoon, followed by a collec- 
tion ; and that he started for Cleveland at nine o'clock Monday 
morning, in a steamer, not of the largest class, loaded with "more 
than eight hundred passengers." 

" Our machinery," he says, " gave way several times, and 
made it necessary to stop for repairs ; but no serious difficulty 
occurred. I feel extremely at a loss for my sermons, considering 
the expectations which have been entertained of the part I was 
to take in the religious exercises of the convention. I shall do, 
however, as well as I can ; and as there is a prospect of a large 



510 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

assemblage of clergy, and among them Bishop McCoskry, the 
want of my services will not be felt. We hope to have an inter- 
esting missionary meeting to-morrow or next day." 

Such, so far as it is at present accessible, is all the account 
that can be given of this, the last missionary tour undertaken 
during his agency. From his known talents as an extemporane- 
ous speaker, and from the freshness in his mind of our current 
missionary statistics, he probably spoke as much and as well 
without his " sermons," as he would have done with them ; and 
possibly with more popular effect, from the greater freedom of 
his manner. 



SECTION III. 

With the close of his missionary agency we are already ac- 
quainted; and as Mr. Cooke continued most acceptably to labor 
in St. George's as his assistant, for some time after his reengage- 
ment exclusively in the duties of his parish and in his ordinary 
devotion to the cause of general benevolence, he speedily recovered 
the customary tone of his health, and the current of his life began 
again to flow in its wonted channel. 

The following brief but interesting letters from across the 
waters, were received during the summer and fall of 1836. 

From Mr. Vansittart, Lord Bexley. 

"Foot's Cray Place. June 9, 1836. 

"Dear Sir — I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 
8th March, by the hands of Mr. Jackson" — the late Rev. William 
Jackson — " and of hearing one of his able and valuable statements 
in Exeter Hall. I had also once the honor of receiving him at 
dinner ; but the hospitality which I should have been happy to 
show him, as well as my attendance at religious meetings this year, 
has been checked by the pressure of a heavy domestic affliction. 

"I was happy to receive from his conversation, as well as 
from other accounts, so' favorable a statement of the progress of 
the Episcopal church in the United States. God grant that it 
may rapidly extend its limits still further, and obtain increasing 



HIS MINISTRY. 511 

success against infidelity and false doctrine. The consecration 
of missionary bishops not having a specific diocese, is, I think, 
new in the Church ; but, in the circumstances of your country, 
it seems to me a happy novelty. The ministry of the apostles 
must necessarily have been of that character. It has also much 
of what Dr. Chalmers recommends in what he calls * the aggres- 
sive character;' and such I hope it will prove, against ignorance, 
error, and unbelief. Perhaps we may consider our new colonial 
bishops of Madras, Bombay, and Australia, though each fixed to 
a particular diocese, yet, considering the vast extent and peculiar 
nature of those dioceses, as having a very similar character in 
respect to duty and jurisdiction. 

"1 hope you will not think any apology necessary when you 
may give another friend a letter of introduction to me, as it will 
always give me pleasure to receive any communication from you, 
but especially when it affords, at the same time, an opportunity 
of forming so valuable an acquaintance as Mr. Jackson's. Be- 
lieve me, dear sir, 

"Very faithfully, yours, 

"BEXLEY." 

"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

From James Montgomery, Esq. 

"The Mount, near Sheffield, October 15, 1836. 
"Rev. and dear Sir — I have unexpectedly caught a minute 
on the wing, after I had lost, as I supposed, all opportunity of 
doing it, to shake hands with you across the Atlantic, to thank 
you for your kind note of remembrance by Dr. Fisk, and to assure 
you of my sincere respect and esteem, associated with pleasant 
recollections of the brief but lucid moments of Christian inter- 
course which we had together, when you were in this country. 
There is ' another country,' of which all of every land on earth, 
that are born of God, become by that very fact natives — even a 
heavenly country : there may we, and all whom we have known 
in the flesh as of one spirit with us in the Lord, find ourselves 
at home and for ever with him, at the end of our pilgrimage. 
Meanwhile, I am truly 

" Your friend, in great haste, 

ttrm „ ^.- h „ "J. MONTGOMERY." 

"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 



512 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

In the first line of this letter we see the poet ; in every other, 
the Christian — synonyms, severally and together, of the beloved 
name subscribed. 

In entering on the year 1837, we find little to mark the course 
of Dr. Milnor, save in the quiet steps which he took pn his well- 
known rounds of parochial duty, and in his various engagements 
with benevolent institutions. He continued, indeed, till the day 
of his death, an acting member of the foreign executive com- 
mittee, whose first secretary he had been ; and his interest in 
our foreign missions remained unabated while his life was spared ; 
but his action in this capacity presents nothing distinctive from 
that of his fellow-members, as it lies on the records of the com- 
mittee. The few letters, therefore, which have survived for our 
use, still furnish us with the principal vestiges of his remaining 
life. Soon after the opening of the year, he wrote as follows : 

To Bishop Mcllvaine. 

" New York, January 31, 1837. 

" Right Rev. and dear Sir — Immediately on the receipt of 
your obliging favor of the 17th instant, I sent to the friends of 

Mr. ," a beneficiary in Kenyon college, who had apparently 

proved unworthy, "to acquaint them with the state of things* 
and advise them as to the course which they should pursue. His 
brother-in-law called on me this morning, and the result of our 
interview was his saying, that money should be forthwith sent to 
him to enable him to liquidate his debts at Gambler, and defray 
his expenses to New York. I regret this event, both on account 
of the young man himself, and in view of the unpropitious 
influence which it is likely to have on the minds of our lay 
brethren, in regard to sustaining a branch of Christian charity 
subject to such disappointments. He has written me a very 
appropriate letter, which I will lay before the directors of our 
association" — a society in St. George's for benevolent objects* — 
" at the next meeting ; and as you suggest, will return him a 
kind answer. 

" I will apply to the American Bible Society for the quarto 
Bible for the society of theological students at Kenyon college, 
and to ' the Press ' for the Prayer-Book ; and if obtained, have 



HIS MINISTRY. 513 

them put in the hands of our friend White, to be forwarded by 
him at the opening of the spring navigation. 

" I exceedingly lament the revival of controversy in the 
Church." [The tractarian movement begins its development.] 
11 I fear a new corner among us has been a very active agent in 
inciting our brother to his present course. I have no hesi- 
tation in saying, that I believe the reputed author of ' Protestant 
Jesuitism,' who is his constant companion, has been instrumental 
in prompting him to his attack on Temperance, Bible, and Tract 
societies. For my own part, I purpose, at the close of the year, 
to drop his paper, the influence of which, as for some time past 
conducted, is decidedly irreligious ; and not a number of which, 
for the last twelvemonth, has been without some article, editorial 
or communicated, offensive to the feelings of moderate church- 
men and evangelical Christians. It is much to be regretted, that 
the very superior talents of the editor should be so employed. 
His influence on the students in the seminary is of the most 
unhappy kind, because his communication with them affords 
him the opportunity of orally impressing on them the leading 
doctrines of his paper, and of filling their minds with prejudices 
against all who do not subscribe to his exclusive and ultra-high 

tenets. The bishop told me, to-day, that Mr. had been 

advised to cease from his assaults on the Recorder and Dr. Tyng ; 
and that he believed there would be no more matter of that sort 
in the paper. I have written to the editor of the Recorder, 
advising him to take no notice whatever of his attacks, should 
they be continued. 

" For my own part, having now reached my i grand climac- 
teric,' it is my sincere desire to be ' at peace with all men,' and 
much more intent on strengthening my assurance of an interest 
in the Saviour's love, and living from day to day in the pleasing- 
contemplation of the enjoyment, ere long, of his presence in 
glory, than on mingling in the ' strifes of words,' in which some 
appear so keenly to delight. The principles with which I set 
out in my ministry, are those which I still cherish ; and fully 
believing them to be scriptural and true, I hope to carry them 
with me to the grave. But even for them I will not angrily, 
though I will i earnestly contend,' as for ' the faith once deliv- 

Mera. Milnor. 33 



514 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ered to the saints.' I do heartily wish to adopt into my daily 
experience the feelings intimated in the latter part of your letter ; 
and pray God that his Holy Spirit may enable me to be like- 
minded with one whose labors he has so eminently blessed, and 
whose exaltation to a high rank he will, I trust, make the 
means of enlarged usefulness to his Church. 

" Your externalism, I am persuaded, will never be allowed 
to usurp the place of spiritual affections and ardent devotion to 
God, love to his children of every name, and a supreme regard 
to the doctrines of the cross. ' O si sic omnes? But alas, 
with us, formalism, a love for externalism, which destroys every 
feeling of vital piety, a dislike of those who place inward religion 
above outward show, and an apparently positive repugnance to 
those who do not walk with us, are such offensive features in the 
character of many, that I am compelled, in view of the disas- 
trous consequences, to cling to my old preferences, and most 
sedulously to avoid those evils which are prostrating, in so many 
souls, every thing most dear to the hearts of evangelical Chris- 
tians. 

" With kind regards to Mrs. Mcllvaine, and all the dear chil- 
dren, and my earnest prayers for your personal happiness and 
official success, I remain, 

"Respectfully and affectionately, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

If it be inferred from the foregoing letter, that the elements 
of movement in our church, were beginning to exhibit strong 
symptoms of excitement, the influence will not be at all weak- 
ened by that which follows to another correspondent. 

u New York, April 6, 1837. 
" Rev. and dear Brother — The letter to which this is to be 
an answer, is dated two months ago ; and the delay is at least 
prima facie evidence, how undeserving I am of the compliment 
which you were kind enough to pay me — ironically it either was 
or ought to have been — of a comparison with a late venerable 
father in the church," [John Newton,] " whose published letters 
will be a memorial of his talents, piety, and friendship, to the 
latest generations. And yet, though I claim not the least merit 



HIS MINISTRY. 515 

as a letter- writer, I confess there are to me few moments more 
agreeable than those which I can abstract from the continual 
routine of parochial duty and too many collateral engagements, 
and give to familiar and sacred converse with an endeared 
brother in the Lord. Such, you know, I have ever esteemed you ; 
and therefore, though I have not now manifested a promptitude 
that affords any confirmation of the fact, yet it is not the less 
true, that I love to receive and answer your letters ; and that it 
was more than ordinarily pleasant, after so long an interval, to 
have such an one as you were so good as to make your favor of 
the 7th of February. 

" While 'the faithful are minishing from among the children 
of men,' it is consoling to think, that we are not necessitated to 
say with the Psalmist, i there is not one godly man left;' but on 
the contrary, may rejoice, that in the midst of ultra high-church 
views, combined with an increase of formalism, uncharitableness, 
and opposition, in high places, to some of the most precious doc- 
trines of our holy religion, there is a goodly number who will 
bow the knee to no idol, and are determined, Grod being their 
helper, to serve Him alone, in sincerity and truth. The attitude 

which the has assumed, is offensive in the extreme, and it 

has, in consequence, lost many subscribers ; but this has only 
served to stimulate the zeal of those, to whom its antievangelical 
spirit is agreeable, to new efforts in its support ; so that on the 
whole, it proudly boasts an increase of patronage. Its editor, 
however, is thought, by many of his quondam friends, to over- 
shoot the mark ; and it was counsel amounting to little short of 
command, that stopped his unexampled abuse of Dr. Tyng, and 
of all like-minded members of the church. Next Saturday, we 
understand, he is to come out with a powerful support of the 
Romanizing doctrine of ' progressive justification.' Grod grant 
that these movements may lead us all to the consideration of our 
own ways, and make us more faithful in preaching up the great 
doctrines of the cross, and in preaching down the false substi- 
tutes, with which, in association with ultra church views, so 
many are endeavoring to supersede them. Here is a point, in 
regard to which, among truly converted ministers, there will 
never, I trust, be any difference of opinion or of conduct. 



516 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" But there are suggestions in your letter of high import, 
and calling for much prayer and deep reflection, on which the 
opinions of good men and true may perhaps differ. For instance, 
I cannot entirely agree with your views of the consequences of 
the measures adopted at the last General Convention. In regard 
to the action itself of that body in the matter of missions, I can 
see no reason for regret. It still appears to me the appropriate 
concern and bounden duty of the church through its regular 
organization, and ought not to be devolved, but on the default of 
the church, on mere voluntary associations. Look at the prac- 
tical effect of our refusal to cooperate in the plan adopted. The 
church, by its ultra majority, would have adopted some such 
plan as that now in operation, perhaps with some distasteful 
appendages, which our influence has prevented. In that case, 
where would have been the foreign mission cause, confided exclu- 
sively to such hands ? Not immediately laid aside, but so inade- 
quately sustained as to cease to be an object of interest, and per- 
haps after a time utterly abandoned ; whereas, under the existing 
organization, its management is confided, almost exclusively, to 
its warm friends, and through their agency has drawn forth an 
unprecedented accession of funds. Opposition direct has been 
almost entirely muzzled, and so much as has shown itself, is pro- 
nounced by many so-called high-churchmen, unwarranted oppo- 
sition to the authority of the church by which foreign missions 
have been sanctioned. 

" But, you will say, this matter would have prospered better 
in the hands of voluntary associations. I doubt this. The party 
aspect which, under such an arrangement, foreign missions would 
have assumed, would have caused the great body of high-church- 
men to stand aloof, if not violently to oppose them ; whereas, 
under the present system, I know of many converts to the cause, 
and of some liberal donations from quarters where nothing of 
the kind could have been expected, had not this system been 
adopted. Besides, there would have been great difficulties from 
our bishops, who, in many cases, would have been very likely 
to interpose their canonical authority to prevent the sending of 
missionaries from their different dioceses, and to obstruct col- 
lections within them for foreign missions. Even, however, if the 



HIS MINISTRY. 517 

voluntary system were, in itself, indisputably preferable, yet, as 
we are now circumstanced, the error of having adopted a differ- 
ent system could not, in my opinion, be repaired, without greater 
evils than those incident to the one under which we are now 
placed. 

" You must not, however, infer from any thing that I have 
said, that I am an advocate of all the rant on this subject, which 

has, for a time, filled the editorial columns of the , and figured 

on the pages of the author of ' Protestant Jesuitism.' In the 
missionary work, much voluntary agency is still required ; and 
there are many other matters, in which I should be sorry to be 
manacled with the bands which some in authority would fain 
impose. It is true, that from the beginning, I have acted as a 
trustee of the General Theological Seminary : aided, however, by 
other brethren, I am persuaded I have been able to exercise, not 
a controlling, but a restraining influence on many of its proceed- 
ings. By intercourse with the students, which would have been 
far less influential had I stood in the attitude either of opposition 
or of indifference to that institution, I have been able to give 
much individual encouragement to their adoption of moderate 
church principles and evangelical doctrines, and to the cultiva- 
tion of habits of personal piety ; and experience in this, as well 
as in some other departments, has convinced me, that so far as 
we can, without a compromise of principle, it is best to act with 
our brethren of the other school. The effect has been, thus far, I 
believe, beneficial. 

" But if, under the influence of any, measures should be 
adopted which would drive us to the necessity of either sacrificing 
our views of duty, or entirely seceding from them " — he means, 
evidently, from them, as a party, and not from the church, of 
which they are a part — " I shall have no hesitation in adopting 
the latter course. With our representations of divine truth in 
the pulpit, in intercourse with our people, and in the conduct of 
the religious press so far as it is in our hands, they cannot, unless 
through our own fault, presume to interfere ; or, if they do, 
should be met with firm resistance. Practices in our pastoral 
relations, which they professedly disapprove, and openly censure, 
so long as our own consciences justify us in their continuance, I 



518 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

hope none of us will abandon. So that, whatever union there 
may be in some measures more obviously requiring the authori- 
tative sanction and support of the church, there will, until a 
mighty revolution shall have taken place in the minds of high- 
churchmen, be many obvious differences between them and us. 
Concession from our side must have its limits, and the time may 
come, when we shall be compelled to a wider separation than 
now exists. It is not, however, desirable. ' If it be possible,'' 
let peace be preserved. If faithfulness to the cause of Christ, 
and the souls of our fellow-men, oblige us to disapprove the 
course of our brethren, let it be done in moderation, in the tem- 
per of the meek and lowly Saviour, and in the spirit of his Gos- 
pel of love. 

"I had, some time since, a long conversation with the editor 

of the , in which I expressed to him my mind very frankly 

and fully. I have done the same to the bishop, and to several of 
the same class ; and although the character and design of that 
paper remains, and probably will remain unaltered, yet the 
editor was induced to assume the more quiet and uncontroversial 
tone which has marked his course for the last month. Still, his 
influence is bad, especially on the minds of the students in the 
seminary ; and I hope his paper will be given up by all the friends 
of evangelical religion. 

" I have thrown out these thoughts in a very desultory and 
hasty manner. Give them as much weight as you think they 
deserve, and let me know with distinctness what you would 
wish done in the actual state of things, and of the prospect 
before us. 

" "With great affection, 

" Your brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

In this letter are some permanently important truths ; and 
some things that were true, as well as important, in connection 
with the circumstances under which they were written. But 
change of circumstances has forced us to view some of the latter 
in a different light. It has now become very evident, that the 
policy of putting our foreign missions under the exclusive direc- 
tion of their evangelical friends, practically involved that of put- 



HIS MINISTRY. 519 

ting our domestic missions under the exclusive control of anti- 
evangelical patrons ; and that the working of this division of labor 
and patronage has had the effect of filling the great home field, 
the real supply field, more and more widely with antievangeli- 
cal laborers ; thus gradually bringing on the time, the full arrival 
of which, unless speedily prevented, cannot be far distant, when 
our whole missionary work will fall undividedly under wrong 
sway, and the foreign, as well as the domestic field, be filled by 
missionaries of virtually another Gospel, instead of that which we 
have so long been preaching. 

The next letter touching on subjects of public importance, 
was addressed to Bishop Smith. An extract only is given. 

"New York, April 7, 1837. 
" Right Rev. and dear Bishop — You will, I am sure, prefer 
that I should atone for my long-continued neglect of your kind 
letters, by now writing you a long one, to my wasting time in 
apologies, the character of which your goodness and your know- 
ledge of my daily occupations have already anticipated. I pro- 
ceed, therefore, to notice a topic to which your favors of last 

winter require me to advert : the report made to you by Mr. 

of our conversation about your essay in ' the Literary and Theo- 
logical Review.' It is more than probable, that he has given it an 
unwarrantable coloring. Certainly he did so, if he represented 
me as expressing any thing more than deep regret that you should 
have given publicity to sentiments, in regard to admission to the 
Lord's supper, which were apparently at variance with the uni- 
versal practice of the evangelical clergy of our church, with 
what we had understood to be your own, and with what I con- 
sidered a course of bounden duty on the part of every rector of a 
church of our communion. At that time, it will be remembered, 
we were without any explanation from you of an article of which 
every clergyman of our views had expressed strong disapproba- 
tion ; which had occasioned severe animadversions in some pul- 
pits, on the inadequacy and error of views entertained by even the 
best portion of our Zion ; and which had caused our high-church- 
men to exult at the gain they had acquired, in an evangelical 
bishop's advocacy of principles to which they boasted of having 



520 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ever adhered. And now, my dear bishop, though I feel bound 
gratefully to acknowledge the frankness with which you have 
disavowed the latitudinarian views of Christian communion sup- 
posed to be maintained in your essay, yet I am sure your candor 
will excuse my continuing to regret that it should have exhibited 
the subject in such a light as to have impressed all, both friends 
and foes, with a like understanding of its import. As the matter 
now stands, the demand of a reasonable satisfaction, on the part 
of every pastor, with the sufficiency of the religious qualifications 
expressly required by the church, in all who partake of the Lord's 
supper, I understand as having your decided approval. This is 
all I desire. I would not have the exercise of this judgment 
placed in other hands. I would not, even by the proper officer, 
have what I consider an undoubted right, in the overseer of every 
flock, harshly or inquisitorially used ; and I would be very care- 
ful that no other terms of communion be exacted than such as 
are strictly authorized by the Gospel and the Church. Of the 
duty of antecedent family and parochial instruction, you have 
not spoken in terms too strong. Of its effect, under God's bless- 
ing, we ought to entertain much hope. And yet, facts but too 
strongly prove that education, even when best conducted, will 
not always make our children Christians ; and we should beware 
of trusting to any other power than that of God to change their 
hearts and qualify them for spiritual communion in the ordi- 
nances of the Church. I am sure there can be no essential dif- 
ference of views on this subject among evangelical Christians. 
Let no means be omitted. Let a just confidence in God accom- 
pany their use. But let the final reference be wholly to the 
omnipotence of his grace. 

" It has caused us great pain to part with dear brother Jack- 
son." [The Rev. "William Jackson, who resigned St. Stephen's, 
New York, and removed to the parish in Louisville, Ky.l " But 
it is an evidence of the desire of your evangelical brethren to aid 
you in your present conflict, that none of them have used any 
influence to retain him. "We rejoice that our loss is your gain, 
and pray that his emigration to the West may be abundantly 
blessed. 

" I have much more to say, but I am so near the bottom of 



HIS MINISTRY. 521 

my paper that I can only desire my affectionate regards to Mrs. 
Smith, and assure you, that with undiminished affection, I am 
" Your faithful brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The next shows that, though no longer secretary and gen- 
eral agent, he was yet busy in our missionary affairs as an ordi- 
nary member of the board. 

To Mrs. Milnor. 

"Baltimore, June 12, 1837. 

" My dear Ellen — The session of our Board of Missions 
closed on Friday evening, in time for me to make an address at 
the anniversary meeting of the Bible Society of this state. On 
Saturday I was favored with a ride round the precincts of the 
city, which are ornamented with many handsome country-seats. 
Yesterday I preached in three different churches ; and to-day, I 
have been prevailed on to remain for a little repose before I start 
on my journey homeward. 

" I have received a message from General Sewell and his lady, 
of Elkton, pressing me to pay them a short visit on my way. I 
have not yet made up my mind whether I shall do so or not. If 
I should, I will write you from that place, and let you know 
what day you may expect me home. 

" Bishop Mcllvaine went to Washington on Saturday. He 
returns to-day ; and I will learn from him when he expects to be 
in New York, and regulate my movements by his, if he intends 
to go to New York this week. 

" Tell Mr. Cooke I would have written to him, but had noth- 
ing particular to communicate. He will be kind enough not to 
depend on me for any service till Sunday next, when, God willing, 
I will be ready for any duty required. Give my love to all the 
members of the family, and believe me, 

"Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

About this time, the fever of excitement in our church, pro- 
duced by the development of certain theological tendencies in 
our General Theological Seminary, began to run high. To this 
state of things some passages in the following letter refer. 



522 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

To Bishop Mcllvaine. 

"New York ; June 30, 1838. 

" Right Rev. and dear Sir — When I received your favor of 
the 21st instant, the board of trustees of the General Theological 
Seminary were in session, and had already passed upon the ques- 
tion, whether they would appoint to the temporary occupation 
of the two vacant professorships — Evidences and Pastoral The- 
ology — or, as heretofore, refer the business to the standing com- 
mittee. The determination of the question was in favor of the 
reference ; and of course, not a word was said about the present 
incumbents. In this state of things, I thought it would be best 
not to lay your communication before the board, but reserve it 
for the standing committee, provided you deem it expedient, and 
will authorize me either to alter the direction, or to submit it as 
it is, after stating the reason above-mentioned for its not having 
been submitted to the board. 

" Dr. 's extraordinary course is a subject of general 

conversation, and — so far as I have conversed with our clerical 
brethren, without distinction of party — of pretty general con- 
demnation. A few either justify his views, or give them such a 
gloss as to lessen their apparent heterodoxy. 

" I have spent three days with the committee of examination 
for the seminary ; the result of which has been satisfactory. 
About twenty received testimonials. The dissertations read at 
the commencement yesterday, were all respectable, and some of 
them excellent; no 'progressive justification' or Universalism 
being apparent. Every student with whom I have conversed, has 

expressed decided opposition to the views of Dr. . A very 

few, I understand, are his advocates. I sincerely hope, that the 
injury which he may do them, will be prevented by the refusal of 
the standing committee to reappoint him. 

" Last week I attended the meeting of the board of missions, 
at Boston. It was not so large as could have been wished, but 
was conducted in a good spirit, and with perfect harmony. The 
Massachusetts convention was contemporaneously in session, and 
with great unanimity, elected Dr. Potter assistant bishop in that 
state. He is unhappily absent in Europe ; and I fear no answer 
will be returned by him in time for his consecration at the 



HIS MINISTRY. 523 

approaching General Convention, should he accept the appoint- 
ment, of which great doubts are entertained. You have heard 
of Dr. Eastburn's ' Nolo'' to Maryland. Dr. Johns, who preached 
our mission sermon at Boston, tells me that he thinks another 
effort will be made, at a special convention, to elect a clergyman 
resident in the diocese" — as bishop of our church in Maryland — 
" but if that should fail, he thinks Dr. Hawks will probably be 
elected. 

" My assistant has become disabled for duty, by a rush of 
blood to the head ; so that I expect to have the whole charge of 
pulpit and parochial duty, for the remainder of the summer. 

" Yours, most truly, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To Hubert Van Wagenen, Esq.,* Poughkeepsie. 

"New York, Aug. 16, 1838, 
" Dear Sjr— I regretted that a preengagement for next 
Sunday obliged me to decline the Rev. Mr. Hatch's invitation to 
assist him in his duties on that day ; particularly as I have been 
desirous of paying you a visit ever since the lamentable event, by 
which you and Mrs. Yan Wagenen have been so unexpectedly 
and heavily afflicted. I was, however, rejoiced to learn from 
Mrs. Maynard, that your dear partner was favored with more of 
a spirit of resignation than, under such a bereavement, could have 
been expected ; and that the Lord has enabled you also to bear 
your loss with a good degree of acquiescence in this unlooked-for 
providence. 

"Poor Sarah must have been deeply distressed; but, in com- 
mon with her beloved parents, has, I trust, realized in the event 
an occasion of renewed gratitude to God for the blessing of an 
experimental acquaintance with our blessed religion, which teaches 
us, that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,' and that, 'though 
no chastening for the present be joyous, but grievous; neverthe- 
less, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness 
unto them which are exercised thereby.' 
"With kindest regards, 

" Affectionately and truly yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

* Formerly one of the wardens of St. George's. 



524 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

To Mrs. Milnor. 

"Philadelphia, September 9, 1838. 

" My dear Ellen — On the principle that no news is good 
news, I presume you will take it for granted that all has been 
well with me since I left home. We have a full convention, all 
the bishops being now present. At the opening of the convention, 
we had an excellent sermon from Bishop Meade ; on Thursday 
evening, an interesting discourse from Bishop Otey, at St. Ste- 
phen's, before the Board of Missions; and on Friday evening, a 
missionary meeting at St. Andrew's, at which six of the bishops 
made addresses. 

"The convention sit every day from nine till three, and at 
five the Board of Missions hold their sittings ; so that, with meet- 
ings of important committees as they can find opportunity, our 
time is fully occupied ; and, with long walks, occasioned by the 
distance of my residence from the place of meeting, I go to bed 
every night thoroughly fatigued. 

"Please tell Mr. Cooke, that the business of dividing our dio- 
cese has gone on well. The amendments to the constitution, 
authorizing that measure, have passed with great unanimity; 
and Bishop Onderdonk will, I presume, leave this city on Tues- 
day morning, in order to be present at the special convention 
which is to sit in New York at five o'clock on the evening of 
that day. He will immediately return, with their final action 
on the subject; when the ratification by the General Convention 
will take place, and all will be complete. Believe me 
"Your affectionate husband, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

Almost a year intervenes between the date of this letter and 
the next — the time being spent in his usually numerous engage- 
ments; but no letters of importance having survived to mark 
any special incidents on its passage. The summer vacation of 
1839 Dr. Milnor spent on a tour with Bishop Meade to Niagara 
and through the Canadas. The next letter marks a portion of 
their progress. 

"Schenectady, Friday, August 9, 1839. 

"My dear Ellen — I drop you a line, just to give you an ac- 
count of our progress thus far. We had a delightful passage up 



HIS MINISTRY. 525 

the river to Albany ; and, on our arrival, concluded to proceed 
immediately to Troy, the owners of the boat sending us and 
others thither in a small steamer free of expense. After tea at 
Troy, we walked, under the guidance of a Mr. Cannon, who in- 
troduced himself to me as an old parishioner, to Mr. "Walker's 
institute for boys, which Bishop Meade was desirous of seeing. 
There we spent the evening, attending the chapel worship of the 
school, and then went back to our inn in the town. In the morn- 
ing we saw the Episcopal clergy of the place, visited Judge Buel 
and Mrs. Willard's seminary, and about eleven o'clock went back 
by coach to Albany ; where we dined, and left for this place at 
half-past two o'clock, P. M. Here we visited the Episcopal church, 
took a general survey of the place, went to Union college and 
drank tea with Professor Potter, walked through the beautiful 
gardens of the college, and then returned ; Dr. Potter accompany- 
ing us to our lodgings. We also saw Dr. Nott, and Mr. Walter, 
rector of the parish. 

" This morning we intend to proceed, at half past nine, in the 
cars for the west, expecting to sleep to-night at Auburn. I never 
felt better in my life, and anticipate a pleasant day in passing 
up the valley of the Mohawk. 

"Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To the same. 

" Steamer United States, Aug. 13, 1839. 
" My dear Ellen — I write in the cabin of the steamer in 
which we left Lewiston about five o'clock this afternoon, bound 
down lake Ontario to Ogdensburg, whence we propose to cross 
into Canada and visit Montreal, and probably Quebec. We have 
prosecuted our journey by every species of conveyance — steam- 
boats, railroads, canals, and coaches — and have met with no 
unpleasant circumstances on our way. Except a little rain on 
Sunday, the weather has been clear and pleasant, though uncom- 
monly cool for the season. After leaving Schenectady, we passed 
through Utica and Syracuse, and spent our Sunday in Rochester, 
where Bishop Meade preached three times, and I twice, in the 
two beautiful churches of that delightful city. Rochester far 



526 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

exceeds my anticipations, both in elegance and extent. Yester- 
day we proceeded by railroad to Batavia, and thence in post- 
coaches to Buffalo. After breakfast to-day we proceeded, by the 
cars, to the Falls of Niagara, and spent several hours — not so 
long as we could have wished — in surveying those stupendous 
cataracts. In viewing them, Bishop Meade anticipated disap- 
pointment, but found them far exceeding his expectations. We 
were compelled reluctantly to leave them, at half past two, for 
Lewiston, in order to secure our passage this evening down the 
lake. Our expectation is to be in Quebec on Sunday, and on the 
next day to return to Montreal, taking lake Greorge and Bur- 
lington, Vt., on our homeward way. As the bishop wishes to 
spend a day or two at Burlington with Bishop Hopkins, and one 
day at Saratoga Springs, and also to stop at Poughkeepsie, to 
see Mr. Bartlett's school, I begin very much to doubt whether it 
will be practicable for me to reach New York by Saturday week ; 
but should I not, the Rev. Mr. Haight was kind enough to say 
he would endeavor to see our church supplied. I will, however, 
write you again on this subject, when I can more exactly ascer- 
tain how we shall stand for time. 

"Your faithful and affectionate 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

If, however, he wrote again during his absence, his letter is 
lost, and the above is all we know of this summer's northern 
tour. Through what part of the Canadas the two friends passed 
during this interesting excursion, or whether they visited any 
part of those provinces but the cities of Quebec and Montreal, we 
have no means of ascertaining. Indeed, it is much to be regret- 
ted that Dr. Milnor either kept no journal or has preserved none ; 
for it cannot be doubted that he formed many new and interest- 
ing acquaintances, and met with many new and interesting in- 
cidents, in the course of his journey ; or that, if we had but some 
of the sweet communings of the two friends by the way, they 
would make a pleasant and a profitable chapter in the present 
memoir. 



HIS MINISTRY. 527 

SECTION IV. 

The northern tour, noticed at the close of the last section, 
possibly led to a subsequent passage in the life of Dr. Milnor, 
which, like hundreds of others, if they could be gathered up, 
tends to show that he was not always the man of business in 
religion ; not always in missionary agencies and on missionary 
tours ; not always at meetings of conventions and missionary 
boards ; not always the watchful trustee of the seminary, and 
the critical observer of theological developments : that these 
were, in fact, but the occupations of his spare time — the occa- 
sionally stirring incidents which drew him out in those letters 
most easily preserved and recovered ; and that under and be- 
tween these more public movements and actions ran the great 
stream of his life, in quiet, regular, unnoticed labors ; in doing 
good to his flock and good to every body, as God gave him oppor- 
tunity. The passage in his life to which these remarks refer, was 
as follows. 

Soon after his return from his northern tour, he received from 
the Rev. Mr. F , of C , Upper Canada, a brief note, intro- 
ducing to him a young man, the only child of a pious officer in 
the British army, who proposed to devote himself in New York 
to literary pursuits. The previous history of the young man 
may be judged by extracts from a letter which immediately fol- 
lowed the note of introduction. 

To the Rev. Dr. Milnor. 

" C , Upper Canada, Oct. 29, 1839. 

" Rev. and dear Sir— I took the liberty, last week, of giving 
to a young man leaving this for New York, a letter of introduc- 
tion to you. I did so because I felt I should be excused, if by 
taking that liberty I could, in any degree, alleviate the feelings 
of almost heart-broken friends, and give to the poor, self-exiled, 
and unhappy youth one to whom, in an hour of repentance, he 
might look for that advice and godly counsel, which your years, 
experience, and standing in the religious world, would enable you 
to give with so much effect. 



528 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" But in order that you may know how to deal with this 
poor prodigal, I feel that it is my duty to make known some 
particulars of his history. His parents and aunt are truly pious. 
He is an only child. His father has been in the British army, 

and now commands the — regiment on active service here. 

He is possessed of a small private fortune, amply sufficient for 
a private gentleman in this country. This youth has been a 
child of many prayers, which, alas, appear as yet to have been 
unheard. Being delicate from his childhood, he has been watched 
with almost more than a mother's fondest solicitude, yet I be- 
lieve, guided by that judgment which a knowledge of their own 
state by nature could not but give the parents. I think I may 
safely say, he has not been ' a spoiled child.' 

" He was educated in his father's house, under the eye of his 
parents. Every pains was taken with him that you would 
expect from such parents with an only child. Unfortunately, 
about six years ago, a young man was recommended to them as 
tutor to their son, who afterwards proved a worthless character. 
From him, I fear, he received those seeds which have since pro- 
duced a most plentiful harvest of sorrow and woe. Though his 
parents had some slight fears regarding him, yet they did not in 
the least dream of the lengths to which he has since shown him- 
self capable of going. Nothing appears to have been too bad 
for him. 

" He has abilities, and imagines he can succeed as an author. 
When he returned from Buffalo," whither he had fled from mil- 
itary duty, "he told his friends he could shift for himself; and 
they have now allowed him to look to a cold, unfeeling world 
for support. In all money transactions he has been most correct 
and honorable ; but he loves low company, and in such company 
he will exceed. 

" Such is the unhappy youth of whom Satan has possessed 
himself. Not a lad in the province had fairer prospects, a more 
comfortable home, or kinder and better parents. But 0, mys- 
terious ways of Providence, he has given himself up to the 
charms of his implacable enemy, and sold himself, as it were, 
1 to feed swine.' That, like the Prodigal, he may tire of the 
husks which he will soon have to eat, and that God may bless 



HIS MINISTRY. 529 

you in all your ' labors of love,' is the prayer of his devoted, but 
now afflicted friends, and of 
" Rev. and dear sir, 

" Your much indebted and faithful servant, 

"T. B. F." 

Early in January, 1840, Dr. Milnor received a second letter 
from the same gentleman, intimating that the mother of the 
young man had become extremely anxious on his account ; and 
that, though the parents did not expect Dr. Milnor to receive the 
prodigal into his house, yet they did beseech him, as a minister 
of Christ, to seek him out, take him by the hand, be a Christian 
friend to him, and write to the parents as soon as he could make 
it convenient. 

Dr. Milnor soon had an interview with the youth ; found him 
penniless, and willing, if enabled, to return to his parents ; and 
accordingly, after becoming responsible for his support for some 
weeks, communicated his proceedings to the father, and, in a 
letter not recovered, but dated January 24, 1840, advised him to 
permit and provide for his son's return. The reply which he 
received was characteristic of a pious British officer, whose heart 
was full of kindness, but whose habits had taught feeling to be 
silent in the presence of judgment. It was sternly just, and 
martially inexorable. The following are extracts. 

To the Rev. Dr. Milnor. 

" C , Upper Canada. 4th Feb. 1840. 

"Rev. and dear Sir — I beg leave to thank you, most sincerely, 
for your truly kind and Christian letter of the 24th ult., and for the 
interest which you have manifested in the affairs of my unhappy 
child. The same mail brought a letter from him, also, to his poor 
heart-broken mother, written after a silence of many weeks. 

" In this letter it is evident, that he is still far from desiring 
to procure a livelihood by any more rational or reputable means 
than those which he was bent upon pursuing when he left home. 
He has been in company with play-actors and leaders of orches- 
tras, and has even so far degraded himself as to appear as a hired 
actor at one of the theatres, though, providentially, he received 
nothing for his services. 

Mem. Milnor. 34 



530 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

" I declare to you, my dear sir, that nothing would give greater 
pleasure to my heart, than to receive back my prodigal, if assured 
that he were at the same time my repentant son. Were it Grod's 
will, I would with pleasure lay down my life, could my doing so 
be serviceable to his soul's welfare ; but I will contribute nothing 
towards maintaining him in his present evil courses. I therefore 
most earnestly, and at the same time most respectfully request 
that you will not again become liable for any of his debts. If he 
could procure employment by which he would be merely fed and 
housed, it would be the best thing for him under present circum- 
stances. By a long continuance in such a situation, and perse- 
verance in good conduct, furnishing evidence of an inclination to 
abandon his present worthless companions and his wild, imprac- 
ticable schemes, he would find that, so far as my means would 
allow, he should want no sum requisite to establish him in life. 

" I should consider it a favor, additional to those already con- 
ferred, if you would again seek him out, convey to him the sub- 
stance of what I have stated, and let him understand, that with 
his present views, he can expect no assistance from me. When- 
ever I become convinced that he is endeavoring to seek pardon 
from, and reconciliation to the Saviour, whose mercies he has so 
despised, my arms, my heart, and my house, will be open to 
receive him, and all — all shall be forgotten. 

" I beg your prayers in his behalf at the throne of grace ; and 
assuring you of my grateful sense of your kindness, I remain, 
dear sir, 

" Most faithfully and respectfully, yours, 



"New York, Feb. 24, 1840. 
" Dear Sir — Your letter of the 4th inst. I have duly received, 
and made known its contents to your unfortunate son. He was 
evidently deeply affected; but neither then, nor at any other 
time, has he uttered a reproach against any but himself. He 
blames no one for the abject situation into which he confesses his 
own disobedience and folly have brought him. As his lodgings 
are in a part of the city distant from my residence, and in his 
few calls upon me, your son had not mentioned his appearance 
upon the stage, I knew it not until I received your letter. His 



HIS MINISTRY. 531 

account of it is, that a person connected with a theatre in the 
neighborhood, being a boarder in the same house with him, sug- 
gested the idea of his seeking some relief from his utter destitu- 
tion by recourse to this as an immediate means ; that his poverty, 
not his will, consented ; that it resulted, as you were informed, 
in his obtaining no remuneration ; and that every thing about 
the theatre so disgusted him, that he has not since had, nor ever 
will have, any further connection with it. At the same time he 
declares, that he avoided, as far as practicable, intercourse with 
the actors ; and has since had with them none whatever. 

"At his second boarding-house he remained seven weeks 
without being able to pay his board. To protect him from the 
inclemency of the weather, and to give him an appearance that 
would allow of his remaining in any decent lodgings, I paid his 
landlady $21 for the redemption of his trunk, clothes, and writ- 
ing-desk. The person with whom he now boards, is a poor but 
respectable woman. I have paid her his board for the five weeks 
during which he has lived with her, and engaged to pay for the 
current week, which ends on Saturday next. 

11 And now, my dear sir, what is to be done ? The times 
with us are distressing beyond all past experience ; and thou- 
sands of persons are wholly without employment. Notwithstand- 
ing his great faults, I have commiserated the situation of your 
son, and have spent much time in vainly seeking some means 
by which he could get a living ; so that what is to become of 
him, if entirely deserted by his relatives, God only knows. I 
have made all the inquiry in my power to ascertain his habits in 
the matter of temperance, since he has been in the city. At his 
first lodgings, in a family worthy of credit, they say his conduct 
was perfectly correct. At his second, they allege it was so, ex- 
cept in a single instance ; and that instance he denies. At his 
present, his landlady assures me there has never been the least 
appearance of his having touched liquor. I can only add, that 
when he has called upon me, and in the two instances when I 
have visited him, there was no indication about him of any ad- 
diction to intemperance. 

" Besides the impossibility of obtaining employment, I am 
sorry to add, that if he could obtain it, the state of his health 



532 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

would probably very soon oblige him to leave it. Our climate 
seems not to agree with him. He has had repeated attacks of 
asthma, so as to confine him to his bed under the physician's 
care for two or three days at a time. 

" We cannot assuredly count on the permanent reformation 
of the unhappy youth, until Grod changes his heart ; but I do 
think, that so far as one destitute of this blessing can see his past- 
errors and determine to reform, it is the case with him ; and yet, 
not presuming to interfere with what God has made it your right 
to decide, I can only add, that he could not be more unfavorably 
circumstanced than he now is for carrying any good resolution 
into effect. I pray you not to abandon him. 

" Very respectfully, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

On the 12th and 13th of March, Dr. Milnor wrote again both 
to the father of the young man, and to the clerical friend who 
first introduced him. From these letters the following are inter- 
esting extracts. 

"New York, March 12, 1840. 
" My dear Sir — Under these circumstances" — the father'? 
refusal of money, and the son's inability to find employment— " I 
am placed in a state of great uncertainty as to my future course 
in respect to him. On the one hand, the great desire which you 
express for his reformation, leads me to suppose that your affec- 
tions are not entirely withdrawn from him — that you do not con- 
sider him an utter outcast ; on the other, your order to make 
no more advances for him will assuredly make him such. If I 
notify his present landlady that I will not be responsible for his 
weekly board, he must leave her house ; and in his present cir- 
cumstances, whither shall he go ? Forgive me, my dear sir ? but 
I am a father ; I wish to act consistently with the golden rule of 
my divine Master, and I must do to you and your unhappy son 
as in a similar situation I could wish you to do to me and mine. 
I cannot see him thrown into the street, for I greatly fear, that 
instead of producing the result which you desire, it would be his 
utter ruin. I will continue my efforts to get him employment, 
though I have but little expectation of success ; and in the mean- 



HIS MINISTRY. 533 

time, at least for a season sufficient to give you opportunity to 
reconsider your determination, and to take, as I earnestly entreat 
you to do, some measures for his return, I will continue to pay his 
board ; at the same time frankly acknowledging, that after what 
you have written, I have no legal claim upon you for remunera- 
tion. I have said much to the youth that may, under the divine 
blessing, be at some future time beneficially revived in his recol- 
lection. He appears to be deeply impressed, even to tears ; and 
though I cannot suppose him to be the subject of evangelical 
repentance, yet sad experience leads him to confess, with bitter- 
ness- of feeling, the past errors of his course ; and he makes to 
me the most positive assurances, that if permitted to return, he 
will hereafter pursue a course of life that shall meet his parents' 
approbation. He considers that it might not be suitable, at pres- 
ent, for him to reside with you at C , but he declares him- 
self willing to go upon either of your farms, and employ himself 
there in any way which you may direct, and to avoid all those 
habits which have already proved a source of so much misery. 

" Since I last wrote, he has been repeatedly attacked with 
violent fits of asthma, at which times his situation is extremely 
distressing ; and I will add, in reference to a personal inconven- 
ience to himself, and a hinderance to his obtaining respectable 
employment, that his wardrobe, if he is not to leave all decent 
association, ought, within reasonable limits, to be improved. 

" Allow me to add farther, that the gentlemanly port of your 
son, and the talents which he exhibits for conversation and com- 
position, would, in my opinion, fit him for the profession of the 
law. Again I would entreat you to rescue him from the perilous 
situation into which he will be brought, if I should be obliged to 
abandon him. 

"If my suggestions should be deemed obtrusive and inad- 
missible, I can only appeal to your candor in behalf of the good 
intentions with which they are made. With compliments to 

Mrs. •, and sincere condolence with her under the trials 

which her feelings must suffer, I remain, 

" Yery respectfully and truly, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

"Lieut. Col. ." 



534 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

"New York, March 13. 1840. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — Since receiving your letter of Oct. 29, 
1839, I have not deemed it right to trouble you with any com- 
munication respecting the son of your friend Col. ; circum- 
stances rendering it necessary for me to correspond directly with 
his father. But matters have now reached such a crisis, that I 
can no longer forbear writing to you, in the hope that your kind 
counsel and intercession may be of service in restoring the un- 
happy youth to the affections of his parents. I proceed to state 
some things, that may enable you to form a judgment in regard 
to the course proper to be pursued. 

" For a considerable time after Mr. 's arrival in this city, 

I saw but little of him. I called, indeed, at his lodgings, and he 
several times on me without happening to find me at home ; and 
as he did not make known to me any pecuniary necessities that 
pressed upon him, and seemed to think he might be successful 
in his project of getting his living as an author, I only made 
use of such opportunities as were offered, to give him that coun- 
sel which I hoped might profit him. 

"After the events of which he informed his mother, such as 
his attempt to prepare a play for the Chatham-street theatre, 
and, in what grade of character I know not, being actually per- 
suaded to appear upon the stage, I determined to bring myself 
into closer contact with him. I at once informed him, that it was 
utterly inconsistent with my views of duty, to have any thing to 
do with him while he continued his attachment to that mode of 
life, and that any continuance of my friendship must depend on 
his entire abandonment of the theatre, and all its associations. 

" After many personal conferences with him of the most seri- 
ous character, I sent him, a few days ago, a publication recently 
issued by our Tract Society, on 'the temptations of young men,' 
accompanied by a letter of considerable length. Yesterday I re- 
ceived from him an encouraging answer. He professes to lament 
sincerely the dreadful condition into which his own folly has 
plunged him; blames only himself, and speaks of his parents, 
especially his affectionate mother, in the most grateful manner. 
He confesses his eyes are opened to a full view of his past mis- 
conduct, and acknowledges his own ignorance of the unfeeling 



HIS MINISTRY. 535 

character of the world on which he had so mistakingly thrown 
himself. His expressions of gratitude to myself, for my pecun- 
iary assistance, and much more for the counsel and advice which 
I have given him, are very full. After detailing, at consider- 
able length, the reflections to which the latter have led him, and 
expressing himself in regard to his mother, in a way which 
brought a flood of tears from my dear wife, he adds, 

" 'I trust that my desire for amendment is really sincere : I 
think it is ; for although I -have frequently made resolutions 
which were easily broken, yet at present a total change seems to 
have come over my feelings and intentions for the future, and the 
desire of doing right seems more firmly founded than I ever felt 
before. I have begun to pray and read my Bible with more com- 
fort to myself than any earthly amusement can now afford me ; 
for all my fancied happiness is vanished, and I have long been a 
prey to a melancholy which seems only relieved by the perusal 
of the sacred volume. It is really astonishing how I can pore 
over its contents, and never feel tired of its sacred instructions. 
I do not mean to say that I do this from a love of religion — for 
that would be hypocrisy ; but when a child I loved to read it, 
and perhaps it is a remembrance of those days, and the happiness 
I then enjoyed, which makes me peruse it with more diligence 
than I should otherwise give. I feel a decided conviction of the 
sinfulness of my past life, and would willingly make up, by the 
improvement of my future conduct, for the misery and sufferings 
which I have brought upon my poor parents ; and I trust, through 
your instructions and advice, which I shall always be happy to 
receive, I may be led to seek a bountiful Saviour, in whom alone, 
I am sure, true happiness is to be found. I am not saying this 
merely to please you, and to show myself in a too favorable light 
with regard to religion — for my wishes, I feel, are sincere ; and 
although the basis on which I have placed my desires for -future 
amendment' (that of atonement to his injured parents) i may not 
be secure, yet, with your assistance, and that of my Bible and 
prayer, I trust I may yet become a restored lamb to the flock of 
Christ.' 

"After more of a similar import, he says, 'In conclusion, I 
must say, that so erroneous have been my schemes, and so self- 



536 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

controlled my past actions, that I would gladly be once more 
under a parent's eye, and would willingly attend to his wishes 
and instructions for the regulation of my future life. I have 
tasted the fruits of disobedience ; their sweets are momentary, 
and turn to bitterness at last.' 

" Thus, my dear brother, I have spread before you the cir- 
cumstances of this misguided youth. I venture to ask you, is 
there not something hopeful in his case ? "Would it not appear 
that the Spirit is striving with him ? May not the Lord, in an- 
swer to his own and our fervent prayers, convert and save him ? 
Ought he to be abandoned ? "Will his friends allow what may be 
the commencement of a work of grace in his heart to be stifled, 
by his being thrown into a state of utter abandonment and de- 
spair ? Forgive me, but I think Col. misjudges as to the 

best means of his reclamation. Leave him, in this unfeeling and 
wicked city, without a shilling and without a friend, and what 
can such a poor outcast do ? It must not be ; and until I have 
evidence that the present encouraging appearances are fallacious, 
I will not suffer him to want either his daily bread or my utmost 
efforts and prayers for his thorough conversion to happiness and 
Grod. Make what use you please of this letter. "When I last 
wrote to the colonel, I had not received the letter from his son 
which I have now quoted. 

"Your affectionate friend and brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

" To the Rev. T. B. F." 

Before the last two letters were written, Colonel had 

decided upon recalling his son — Dr. Milnor's letter of Feb. 24 
having induced the decision. The letter enclosing the recall, 
was, nevertheless, of the same severe tone with the former, and 
evinced that he had little confidence in his son's professions of 
sorrow for what he had done. Portions of it were as follows : 

" C , Upper Canada, March 7, 1840. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — I need not say how sincerely grateful 
I feel for your kind attention to the interests of my unfortunate 
son, and for all the trouble which you have taken upon yourself 
in his affairs, as manifested in your letter of the 24th ult. 



HIS MINISTRY. 537 

" From all the circumstances which you mention, I perceive 
it is in vain to look for employment for the wretched youth in 
New York ; and considering his state of health and utter destitu- 
tion, I know of nothing better than to recall him. 

"After his arrival here, my intention is to send my son to 
my farm. Any thing will be better than to have him here amidst 
so many witnesses of his degradation. It could not be pleasant 
to him : to me it would be insupportable. I would advise him, 
most seriously, before leaving New York, to burn all the papers 
containing attempts at plays, poetry, and novels, upon which he 
has wasted so much precious time. Experience should, ere this, 
have taught him that these idle pursuits can never benefit him, 
even if he had the talents of a poet or a novelist, which, even in a 
minor degree, he has not. He has mistaken a liking for those vain 
and worthless compositions, for the genius required in producing 
them ; and the destruction of all the useless trash which he has 
collected in the indulgence of a diseased imagination and a 
vitiated taste, is a sacrifice now due to himself, to prove the 
sincerity of the repentance which he professes to feel. He has 
known my sentiments on this subject for years ; but in defiance 
of advice, and in direct opposition to my declared wish and com- 
mand, he has continued to yield himself to these studies, and to 
no other. He now reaps the fruit which they have produced. 
His mind will never be in a healthy state until he has totally 
and for ever abjured them. I thank God for what I hear from 
you, that he has not been intemperate of late. Asthma is his 
constitutional disease, and from a child he has had it impressed 
upon him, that either spiritous or malt liquors are poison to his 
complaint. He thought otherwise, and is now reaping fruit from 
that tree also of his own planting. And now, low, and wretched, 
and degraded as he is, he should remember, that it is not possible 
for him to regain his station in society, save by a very long con- 
tinuance in acts the very reverse of those to which he has hither- 
to been addicted. I pray God he may, ere long, be able to offer 
these substantial proofs of amendment. When he shall have 
redeemed his character as a gentleman, his intercourse with me 
shall be on as friendly a footing as it ever has been ; and when- 
ever the happy day shall come, on which I shall be assured he is 



538 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

seeking the Lord with all his heart, my arms shall be opened to 
receive him as a dear son. 

"May God bless you, my dear sir, for all the pains which 
you have taken with this erring youth. If it should please him 
to change his heart, as I know it will give you pleasure to hear 
of it, I shall not fail to communicate it to you. Believe me to 
be, with great respect, 

" Very truly and faithfully, yours, 



To this letter Dr. Milnor returned a reply, of which the fol- 
lowing is the principal part. 

To Lieut. Colonel — . 

"New York, March 18, 1840. 

" Sir — Your favor of the 11th inst. came to hand the day 
before yesterday. My first business was to see your son, and 
acquaint him that he was permitted, and would be supplied with 
the means to return home. You may judge, after all that has 
occurred, that this was to him pleasing information. Without 
any extravagant expressions of joy, he received it with becoming 
seriousness and sensibility. I spent much time with him, then 
and since, in giving him such counsel as, under the blessing of 
God, and with his good resolutions, if he persevere in them, 
may yet make him a respectable and useful man, a Christian, 
and a candidate for a happy eternity. I do not suppose him to 
possess • a new heart ;' but I do believe the Spirit of God has striven 
with him, and that he has felt awakened desires to experience the 
joys of true religion. May God prosper the work, if begun, and 
make him all that his parents' fondest wishes could desire." 

"And now, my dear sir, I can only say, your son has under- 
gone much of the salutary discipline which you have desired. 
He has passed a lonely winter ; and, except in the few weeks of 
my unacquaintance with his doings, I have reason to believe he 
has formed no prejudicial associations. During a few of my latest 
interviews with him, there have been some favorable indications 
of a substantial change of mind; and so far as respects absti- 
nence from all that would be displeasing to you, or in itself wrong, 
his assurances have been reiterated and earnest. 



HIS MINISTRY. 539 

" It would be presumptuous in me to advise you as to. your 
future course towards him ; but I am sure you will excuse me 
when I say, that without intermitting due watchfulness over his 
conduct, I would not, were he my own son, use austerity of man- 
ner towards him, or what he might think unkindness. For the 
present, I would give credit to his promises of reformation, and 
take measures for giving him a profession. I do believe, that were 
a godly minister to watch over and counsel him, he might yet 
redeem his character, and become an ornament to the Church of 
Christ. He has my prayers for his conversion ; and with those 
of his parents and friends, and well-conducted endeavors, I by 
no means despair of his being made a good man — per adventure a 
preacher of the Gospel to those with whom he has heretofore so 
injuriously revelled. 

" It has afforded me great pleasure to render you and your 
family the little service which I have been enabled to perform. 
If your son should be reclaimed and do well, it will be an ample 
remuneration for any trouble which his case has occasioned me. 

With my compliments to Mrs. and your sister, I remain, 

' Very truly, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

It will be remembered, that the young man's recall was in- 
duced by *Dr. Milnor's letter of the 24th February. Those sub- 
sequently written, giving a more cheering view of his moral and 
religious prospects, prepared the way for a far kinder reception 
than the terms of his recall seemed to promise. The character 
of his reception is apparent from the tenor of the following com- 
munication, which Dr. Milnor, several weeks afterwards, received 
from the young man himself. 

" C- , Upper Canada, 30th April, 1840. 

"Rev. and dear Sir — Having just learned that a person in 
this neighborhood is about to proceed to New York, I take the 
opportunity of writing to you according to promise, since I am 
sure you will be anxious to hear of my return to my father 's 
house, together with any hopes that may be entertained relative 
to my future prospects. 

" The reception -with which, on my arrival, I met from my 



540 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

family, and I may say from all with whom I had formed any 
previous acquaintance, was certainly far beyond the utmost of 
my expectations. It was a warm and cheering reception ; the 
reception, as many have termed it, of the prodigal son, returned, 
at last, from the misery and guilt to which he had been a volun- 
tary victim, to the restored confidence and indulgence of a joy- 
ous parent, who seemed to forget the past in bright hopes of a 
future reformation. 

" I feel, my dear sir, that I can never fully thank you for the 
timely assistance which you rendered me in your last commu- 
nication to the Rev. Mr. F ; for it was that letter, the con- 
tents of which were made known to my parents, that seemed, 
in the first degree, to effect that change in my father's feelings 
towards me, for which I earnestly and gratefully thank God ; 
while the remembrance of all I have so lately suffered comes 
back to my mind in its full force. Had I never met with you, 
had I never known what it was to find a friend in a land of 
strangers, I might still have been the same wretched creature, 
without home, or friends, or any one to pity me, that I was when 
you first extended your kindly hand to the sorrowing exile. My 
case might have been even more deplorable now than it was 
then ; for God only knows what would have become of me, had 
I continued much longer in a city where every one around me 
was starving. But through your kindness and exertions in my 
behalf, I find myself restored to a home and long lost parents, 
whom I thought never more to behold. My father appears as 
kind in his manner towards me as he ever was. And while en- 
joying this return of confidence and indulgence on his part, I am 
trying, on mine, all that lies in my power to please and comfort 
him. Through the blessing of God, I trust that the happy 
reunion which has been effected may ever continue as brightly 
as it has begun. 

" Although I have been anxiously looking forward to the time 
when I shall be steadily settled at some good employment, yet 
my prospects are still rather clouded. The study of the law 
seems to be out of the question, however anxious I might be to 
attain a correct knowledge of it ; for, in the first place, it would 
take me at least two years of constant study" to acquire even the 



HIS MINISTRY. 541 

necessary knowledge of the classics; after which, in the next 
place, as you doubtless know from your early pursuits, five 
years' study of the law is required before a student can be ad- 
mitted to practice. I have been talking with my father on the 
subject of my becoming a physician, and I may have some hopes 
on this head ; but as my friends in Ireland have been written to 
on the subject, we are anxiously awaiting a reply before doing 
any thing further for me on this side of the Atlantic. 

" Although my health is much improved since my return to 
Canada, yet I am only now recovering from a severe fit of 
asthma ; and as I feel very weak at present, and my mother 
intends writing you a few lines, I must beg you to excuse the 
shortness of my letter, and believe me, dear sir, 

" Ever, your grateful and obliged servant, 

"G- — Y r 

Appended to this letter, and on the same sheet, are the prom- 
ised lines from the mother. 

" My dear Sip — Allow me to offer you my warmest thanks 
for all your kindness to my dear child. You have been the 
means, under Providence, of his restoration to us all ; and I am 
happy to say his outward conduct is every thing we could wish, 
or that his letters led us to expect ; but we must wait the Lord's 
time for that inward change which his power only can effect. 
I am sorry to say the colonel has had a very severe attack of 
fever, and is not yet out of bed, though doing well. I was 
much gratified by your present of the little book. A friend of 
ours, Capt. Y., will hand you the amount which you were so 
kind as to advance to Gr. Pray excuse haste, and believe me, 
with kind love for you and yours, in which the colonel and Miss 
Y. beg to join, 

" Most sincerely and gratefully, yours, 

"M Y- -." 

So ends, with these interesting extracts, the account of that 
passage in the life of Dr. Milnor which immediately followed his 
Canadian tour, at the close of the summer of 1839. The issue of 
his cares for the young man concerned, is, to us, a secret among 
the things of God. Hope whispers that his cares were not in 



542 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

vain ; but fear suggests the possibility that they were never fol- 
lowed by the great end which he sought.^ The case is full of 
lessons for the young ; and not without teachings to elder years. 
They lie on the surface, and need not to be indicated to the reader. 
In one remark only will the writer indulge. 

" The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." The 
law drives us to the Gospel. The law kills ; the Gospel, giveth 
life. But the law must be used lawfully, that the Gospel may 
do its work effectually. Each, rightly used, has its place; and 
neither can do without the other. The law, by its terrors, must 
convince of sin, before the Gospel, by its love, can win the soul. 
Something like this principle seems illustrated in the foregoing 
case. The offended father, in his earlier action, is all law. The 
loving minister, throughout his course, is all gospel. The stern 
severity of the former may have been necessary to make the 
guilty offender appreciate the winning gentleness of the latter. 
And both together, under the sealing grace of the Spirit, may 
have wrought a renewal, harmonious at first, and finally coales- 
cent with the higher and saving change, for which Dr. Milnor so 
tenderly labored and so earnestly prayed. We proceed to the 
other correspondence for the year 1840. 

The Oxford Tract controversy had now made an open entry 
into our church through the republication, in New York, of "the 
Tracts for the Times." Dr. Milnor's letters, therefore, to his 
principal correspondents may be expected distinctly to define his 
position in relation to the agitating questions thus introduced. 
It is needless to say that- position was not left doubtful. 

To Bishop Mcllvaine. 

"New York, Jan. 31, 1840. 
" My dear Bishop — I should sooner have answered your kind 
favors of the 17th of December, and the 6th instant, but that I 

* Since writing the above, the author has received a note from Dr. William 
H. Milnor to the fol] owing effect: "I must have omitted in my 'Recollec- 
tions ' to state, that the young man subsequently passed through New York 
with his parents, and called at the rectory. He was on his way to England 
with them, to enter on a course of study preparatory to the ministry' 1 '' 



HIS MINISTRY. 543 

hoped before this time to have read your anxiously expected 
charge, on "justification," and to have communicated to you 
some information of the manner in which it had been here re- 
ceived, and of the effects which it had produced. The delay in 
its appearance is a little provoking ; but no doubt we shall be 
amply compensated whenever it arrives. 

" I am glad my little protest against one of the many errors 
of the school at Oxford, meets your approbation. It has excited 
the disapprobation of a few ; and among them, of the editor of 
' the New York Review,' who, as I presume you have seen, en- 
tirely approves of the new divinity, and charges me, without 
quoting a line of my sermon in proof, with advancing a view of 
the nature and design of the eucharist which is positively So- 
cinian! It was, I fear, in a wrong spirit that the doctor put on 
record this unfounded charge. Some time since, I dined in his 
company ; and after dinner the subject of the Oxford tracts was 
brought upon the carpet. At that time he had evidently made 
himself but little acquainted with them ; yet with very imper- 
fect second-hand information, he undertook to become their de- 
fender ; endeavoring, however, to controvert my representations 
of some of their views, and to give a plausible gloss to such as he 
could not deny. I had just risen from a fortnight's study of the 
whole series of ' the Tracts,' and was therefore prepared to- ex- 
hibit them in their true colors. Several clergymen of our church 
were present, and the Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, chancellor of the 
university. One intelligent clergyman remarked, that I had 
' floored Dr. on every point ;' and several confessed the im- 
pression which my argument made on their minds against the 
tracts. The doctor, however, is much abler with his pen than 
with his tongue. He has since, no doubt, studied the tracts 
attentively ; and I am ready, his spirit towards me notwithstand- 
ing, to acknowledge the talent displayed in his review, though I 
regret its employment in such a cause. 

" And now, in reference to this dangerous system, I fear that 
it is to obtain an influence in our church quite equal to that 
which it is exerting across the water. In our diocese, the bishop 
expresses his entire approval of its doctrines. In answer to a 
clergyman who said that he could go half way with the authors 



544 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of the tracts, the bishop told him to read and study them more 
attentively, and he would be prepared, like himself, to go the 
whole. He inquires of all the candidates for orders, whether 
they have read them ; and if not, urges them to do so : and 
many of the students in the seminary — though few have read 
more than the numbers republished in New York — are yet their 
loud eulogists, and consider the promulgation of these ' primitive 
views ' as constituting a more propitious era to the Church than 
that of the Reformation, the fanaticism of whose conductors car- 
ried them so far ultra mediam viam, in their correction of a few 
acknowledged errors in the Roman church ! We thought we 

had achieved somewhat, when we prevented the return of 

to his temporary professorship ; but, unhappily, the seminary 
contains a man of more influence, one too who constantly 
exerts that influence in favor of Puseyism, and whose repu- 
tation for learning and piety enables him to exercise a pow- 
erful control over the students. A few of them come to me to 
unburden their griefs, and especially to deplore the sad effects 
of the Oxford divinity on the spirituality of some of their asso- 
ciates, of whose evangelical tendency they had, some time ago. 
the brightest hopes. I verily believe, that when about half a 
dozen precious souls shall have left the institution, there will 
remain scarcely an advocate for the scriptural doctrines of our 
articles and homilies in their plain, unsophisticated sense. And 
then, when we consider the advanced age of one or two of our 
evangelical bishops, which will prevent their effective opposition, 
the balancing state of mind in some of their juniors, and the 
reluctance of others among them to engage in controversy, my 
fears grow still more serious, and my only confidence is, that 
' when the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord 
will lift up a standard against him.' 

" I regret that I cannot send you a copy of the very excellent 
charge of the Bishop of Calcutta. One was lent to me ; and so 
far as I know, it is the only one in the city. Please remember 
me, my dear bishop, in your daily prayers, and believe me 
" Yours, most truly and affectionately, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 



HIS MINISTRY. 545 

To the same. 

"New York, Feb. 8, 1840. 

" Right Rev. and dear Brother — I have thought it best to 
send to you, by the direct route, an answer to your favor of the 
31st ult., lest the delay should prove a hinderance to you in get- 
ting out your charge. 

" I regret that it is not in my power to send you, in the way 
proposed, any of my numbers of the Christian Observer, as they 
are all bound in volumes to the close of the past year. But 
although the numbers for the last two years and upwards contain 
much matter in relation to the Oxford tracts, and all their vari- 
ous errors are, more or less, the subject of remark, yet you will 
perceive their examination to be of less importance to you, when 
I mention that neither Newman's Lectures on Justification, nor 
Dr. Pusey's Letter to the Bishop of Oxford, is the subject of a 
specific review. The lectures of the former on Romanism are 
briefly reviewed, but without any material reference to the sub- 
ject of Justification ; but neither of the other works is more 
than incidentally noticed. I doubt whether, from any of the ani- 
madversions, scattered in brief notices throughout the period re- 
ferred to, you would derive much information beyond what you 
already possess, in relation to their avowed doctrine of justifica- 
tion by baptism, further justification by self-mortifying observ- 
ances, etc., and final justification at the day of judgment : the 
same system so broadly avowed in the correspondence between 
Bishop Jebb and Mr. Knox, the inadequacy of which to afford 
true comfort to the dying Christian, there is reason to believe, 
was so powerfully realized by the latter in his last sickness. 

" I have made inquiry of booksellers, in hope of being able 
to obtain for you such numbers of the Christian Observer as con- 
tain the most valuable matter in relation to the doctrine which 
is the subject of your charge ; but they are not to be had. The 
Recorder has, I think, made a pretty good use of them in the 
numerous extracts which it has published. The talents of Mr. 
Wilkes as a controversialist, are far greater than I supposed him 
to possess ; and he enters into the battle with the altitudinarians 
at Oxford con amove. He is, I think, about the most annoying 
assailant with whom they have to contend. Here, next to Dr. 

Mem. Milnor. 35 



546 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

, perhaps even before him, ranks Dr. , as an earnest 

defender of the Oxford tracts. His review of them — to which, 
in my last letter, I referred, and which, no doubt, you have ere 
now seen — is, in some instances, a direct defence of their anti- 
protestant doctrines, and in others an attempt, by subtle casu- 
istry, to disguise their enormities. The bishop's influence also is 
very injurious ; and yet, while he is recommending the study of 
these tracts to candidates for orders, with a decided expression of 
opinion in their favor, I have very recently attended examina- 
tions at which both his questions and the answers of the candi- 
date were any thing but in accordance with their doctrines. He 
has never yet introduced the subject to me, nor to any one in my 
presence ; but students have, in several instances, informed me 
of his high eulogy of the Oxford divinity, as being the same with 
that which he has taught for many years, even long before the 
movement in Great Britain. In that country, Dr. Wolff has 
avowed himself an adherent of most of the Oxford peculiarities. 
The Wilberforees are said to be coworkers with the school, and 
even our friend Melvill is suspected." [Since that time, some of 
the suspected ones have cleared themselves.] " God be thanked, 
toe have yet some bishops, and I trust a goodly number of pres- 
byters, who will have moral courage enough to stick to the Bible 
as the only rule of faith, and to our articles and homilies, not 
merely on the ground of their ecclesiastical authority, but be- 
cause they are so delightfully accordant with God's precious 
book. We are beyond measure anxious for your charge. Pray 
do not delay its publication. If any thing is wanting in the 
first, it can be supplied in a second edition. I hope your book- 
seller will send a considerable number for sale at the eastward, 
where, I assure you, it is awaited with much impatience. 

" Truly, yours, 

"JAMES MILSTOR." 

Whatever of correspondence may have passed between Dr. 
Milnor and his friends during the spring, summer, and autumn 
of 1840, all that was valuable in it has been lost, or proved irre- 
coverable. He spent his summer vacation on a visit to lake 
George and its neighborhood ; but no trace of his tour remains, 
with the exception of one brief note to Mrs. Milnor, informing 



HIS MINISTRY. 547 

her of his arrival at the Springs, and of his intention to proceed 
to the lake the next afternoon. At the close of the year he 
received notice that he would soon be called to make another 
nomination to the Milnor professorship in Kenyon college. The 
letter containing this notice is pertinent to these memoirs. 

From the Rev. Dr. Sparrow. 

"Gambier, Dec. 17, 1840. 

" Rev. and dear Sir— Having concluded to remove from this 
diocese to that of Virginia, and accept a situation offered me in 
their theological seminary, it seems proper that I should apprize 
you of my intention. 

" Years ago, when I was much younger in age, and much 
younger still in health and strength, you very unexpectedly nom- 
inated me to the Milnor professorship. That so much confidence 
should be reposed in one so young and so little known, was a 
wonder to me ; and I can truly say, helped, with higher consider- 
ations, to make me solicitous to discharge my duty faithfully. 
The value of truth, pure truth, l the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth,' in matters of religion even more than in 
the affairs of the judgment-hall, I have always felt to be impor- 
tant ; and the incident referred to was a stimulus, additional to 
every other, to * give heed to my doctrine.' How far I have suc- 
ceeded is certainly known to none but the infallible Judge in 
heaven. This, however, I think I may say to you, that during 
eleven years' duty in this station, I have never seen occasion to 
depart in the least from the spirit of those instructions which, 
when a lonely student in New York, I used to seek in the lec- 
ture-room of St. George's on week-day evenings. May they as 
certainly carry me, through infinite grace and mercy, to the in- 
heritance which I seek above, as I have endeavored to inculcate 
them on the minds committed to my care. 

" I regret exceedingly, that when I was last in New York I 
was not able to enjoy more of your society, and have some free 
conversation with you about the state of religion in our church. 
Your long and careful study of events as they have arisen among 
us, would naturally give weight to your judgment upon such 
matters, and not least with me. How you interpret some of the 



548 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

'signs of the times' I cannot conjecture. In reference to some 
things, there is more obscurity, vacillancy, and ambiguity about 
the doings of some portions of our church, than I like to see. I 

think the declaration of the , whose ability and honesty 

I respect — that the only difference between the high and the 
low church portions of our communion, is one of feeling — a ques- 
tion simply of more or less zeal — one of the severest satires ever 
inflicted on a respectable and intelligent body of ecclesiastics. 
"Were I near you, I should like to canvass with you in person the 
truth of this assertion. 

" But you will excuse all this irrelevancy. My only object in 
writing was to announce to you, as the person who nominated me 
and will have the nomination of my successor to the Milnor pro- 
fessorship, that I expect to retire from my present position about 
the end of next spring vacation ; that is, about the first of May. 

" Present my respects to Mrs. Milnor, and believe me, 
" Rev. and dear sir, most truly, 

" Your obliged friend and servant, 

"WILLIAM SPARROW." 

"The Rev. James Milnor, D. D., New York/ 5 

About this period the onsets of the upon Bishop 

Mcllvaine appear, from his letters to Dr. Milnor, to have become 
marked both for frequency and for violence. To this state of 
things allusions are made in the following letters to the bishop. 

"New York, January, 15 1841. 

" My dear Bishop — Immediately on the receipt of your letter, 

I sent the accompanying communication to Bishop , and 

have no doubt it was on his suggestion that the editor of the 
has tried to make his peace with you by personal corre- 
spondence. I am glad you have insisted on the publication of 
all the letters ; though I should not wonder if, encouraged by 
the bishop's unqualified patronage, he should exclude your vin- 
dication from his paper, and substitute some half-way, unintelli- 
gible apology of his own. 

" I have read, with great delight, your interesting and elab- 
orate examination of the principles of the Oxford divinity, and 
earnestly hope it may have a wide-extended circulation. But 



HIS MINISTRY. 549 

when this edition is disposed of, I shall look with anxiety for one 
of less magnitude and price ; so that it may go into the hands 
of many more of the clergy and laity than will buy it in its 
present more expensive form. I observed with pleasure the 
notice of its intended publication in London, and anticipate for 
it a most favorable reception from the friends of evangelical 
religion both in and out of the church. 

" I had at my house, last evening, a young clergyman who 
has spent some time in England. He was introduced to Mr. 
Newman, with whose personal conversation, which he says was 
not at all polemical, he was much pleased ; as he was with that 
also of one or two others of the party. He says, the great 
majority at Oxford are decided rejecters of Puseyism, and feel 
indignant that his system should anywhere be supposed to meet 
the approval of the university, whose stamp it is, by some, 
thought to bear. 

" I had been apprized of the subject of your letter of the 
4th instant, by one received some time before from Dr. Spar- 
row, and have in vain been looking round for some one who 
could satisfactorily fill his place. You may be assured that I 
shall have a very high regard to your approval, and shall never 
propose to the board of trustees one whom I do not previously 
know to be agreeable to you ; harmony of views between the 
head of the theological seminary and its professors being of the 
utmost importance. The portraiture which you have drawn of 
the man whom you would prefer, I very much like ; while I 
have great fears lest, in our limited circle of candidates, we shall 
not be able to find one, in whom all its lineaments are blended. 
I shall at all times be glad to receive from you any intimation as 
to your wishes ; being, as ever, 

" Your affectionate brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

1 l New York, March 16,1841. 

" Right Rev. and dear Bishop — Your last favor, by Mr. Hoyt, 

bears date near a month ago ; so that I am apprehensive you 

will think me inattentive to the several topics of that and former 

letters, if I longer delay an answer, though I regret my being 



550 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

still unprepared to reply in a manner satisfactory to my own 
mind or profitable to yourself. 

"Immediately on receiving your request in relation to the 
republication here of your work on the Oxford divinity, I called 
on the Messrs. , but found they had just completed an ar- 
rangement for becoming the agents of others for publishing, or 
to publish on their own account, the various books issued at Ox- 
ford. I then called on another firm, but they also declined on 
the score of their present responsibilities. I have since conversed 
with one or two others ; but the fact is, that the disastrous state 
of the times creates, for the present, insuperable difficulties in 
the way of almost every enterprise. A cheap edition of your 
book, however, ought to be out soon; and I hope you will be able 
to fall on some plan by which it may be accomplished. 

"May I ask what you think of the 'Bishop of the Protestant 
Episcopal church in the diocese of Maryland,' laying aside this 
his appropriate title, and styling himself in his official papers, 
'Bishop of Maryland,' and certifying the administration of con- 
firmation ' conformably with the goodly order and administration 
of the Catholic Church of Christ in these United States of Amer- 
ica?' Though I well understand the grounds on which this 
change of title is defended, and though something of the same 
kind has been attempted in the convention of our own diocese, 
yet I lament it as, in truth, another attempt to get rid of the 
idea, so odious to Oxfordism, of protesting against the Romish 
church. It is another branch of the vine Of Puseyism. 

" I have never been able to obtain the number of the 

to which you have referred me, and of course am unacquainted 
with the exact nature of its assault upon you, though I readily 
infer from your letters that it was of a most offensive character. 
The position in which the editor has placed you, by a singular 
disregard of common courtesy between man and man, indepen- 
dent of your official claims on his respect, together with the 
waiver of responsibility on the part of his diocesan, after what 
I think should be considered its official assumption, makes the 
case not a little difficult. As to the suggested appeal to the New 
York Standing Committee, I am persuaded it would be worse 
than useless. They would, I have no doubt, either decline inter- 



HIS MINISTRY. 551 

ference, or decide the matter entirely on party grounds. I am 
also sorry, in reference to another suggestion, to express a very 
repugnant feeling towards any interference whatever with the 
religious press on the part of the General Convention. It could 
assume no shape that would not he alarming to the minds of 
many. I confess, I should myself feel as sensitive in regard to 
any prescribed restrictions on the religious, as I would with re- 
gard to the same course, on the part of the general or state gov- 
ernment, with the liberty of the political press. In both cases I 
think the principle should be — unfettered freedom, with respon- 
sibility for its abuse. Editors of political and religious papers 
should be alike liable for libels on personal character ; and your 
assailant should Jbe presented, tried, and punished for any un- 
founded aspersions, whether the offensive article be editorial, or 
published from a correspondent with his sanction, especially after 
refusing redress to the injured party. But the times are out of 
joint when such an assailant is able to take shelter under the 
wing of a bishop, and when the appeal for justice must be made 
to one who is a copartner in the offence, or will at least be found 
to have prejudged its merits in favor of his friend and favorite. 
Under such circumstances, I can conceive of no course more 
judicious than that which you proposed, of publishing the whole 
correspondence, though I think it might be best done in a pam- 
phlet form. 

" Your friend Dr. Gregory has gone to his rest. I scarcely 
thought, when we saw him at Woolwich, in 1830, that he would 
be detained so long from its enjoyment. 

" "We are passing, at St. George's, a very pleasant, and I 
hope, profitable Lent. ¥e have among us several exercised 
minds, and an unusual interest in our extra services. We have 
three every Sunday, and four during the week. After prayers 
on Wednesday and Friday mornings, we read a portion of our 
venerable homilies, and have a lecture on the evening of each of 
those days ; besides a domestic religious meeting in the families 
of our parishioners, every Monday evening. Mr. Cooke, who is 
indefatigable in his labors, has also a Bible class every Saturday 
evening. Thus, by the blessing of God, we hope to have some- 
special evidence among us of the wisdom of the church, in ap- 



552 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

pointing this season of ' protracted meetings,'' in which our mem- 
bers may be called, in our peculiarly solemn services, to an awa- 
kened attention to the things that belong to their eternal peace. 

" I have now said enough, my dear bishop, to weary your 
patience, with but little that can apply to any practical use ; but 
I trust in your goodness to excuse the garrulity of an old man, 
and to believe me, with undiminished regard, 
" Your affectionate friend, 

" And faithful brother in Christ, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

To the same. 

"New York, July 14, 1841. 
"My dear Bishop — I have been in great perplexity in regard 
to the professorship. Dr. Vaughan has insuperable objections to 
its acceptance. What think you of Dr. May ? I believe him 
admirably qualified for the office, in point of talents, acquire- 
ments, piety, and soundness of principles. His health, too, seems 
to be, in a considerable degree, restored. His voice is excellent. 
I heard him make one of the best missionary addresses to which 
I ever listened, at the late Virginia convention. He is now at 
Wilkesbarre, and can be readily consulted ; or, if you approve of 
him, and should think it best to elect him without previous con- 
sultation, you may consider this as my nomination of him to the 
office. 

" I send you Tract Ninety, in the Oxford series. You will 
not wonder at its drawing down the official interference of which 
we have heard. 

" Yours, affectionately and faithfully, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The foregoing letters are introduced together, because they 
were addressed to the same correspondent, and appertained to 
the same set of subjects. It will be sufficient to add, so far as the 
Milnor professorship was concerned, that Dr. May was compelled, 
by the serious and protracted illness of his wife, to decline the 
nomination which he received ; and that Dr. Milnor subsequently 
nominated the Rev. Dr. Fuller, then of Christ church, Andover, 
Massachusetts, who was afterwards elected, and became Dr. 
Sparrow's successor. 



HIS MINISTRY. 553 

SECTION V. 

Some further letters for the year 1841, now require inser- 
tion. 

To the Rev. Dr. Beasley. 

"New York, March 17, 1841. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — I am glad you are so well pleased with 
the Christian Observer, for which my own fondness is such, that 
I have long been in possession of all the volumes in the series, 
from its commencement in 1802. I had seen it for several years 
before the beginning of my ministry. About that time, I hap- 
pened to have a conversation with the venerable Dr. "Wharton, of 
Burlington, N. J., who spoke of it as a work which he exceed- 
ingly admired, and constantly read, both on account of the ortho- 
doxy of its views on the doctrines of the church, and for the 
talent with which it was then conducted by Zachary Macauley, 
Esq. Mr. Macauley was its editor for the first fifteen years 
of its career ; since which time, it has been conducted by the 
Rev. Samuel Charles Wilkes. I had the pleasure of becoming 
acquainted with both these excellent men, when in London, in 
the year 1830. Mr. Macauley has since deceased. He was the 
father of the present distinguished member of the House of Com- 
mons of that name ; and from the extensiveness of his reading 
and acquirements, was called 'the walking library.' I think 
it was Lord Bexley who spoke to me of his astonishing readiness 
in giving information on almost every subject of inquiry, and 
said nothing was more common, in the circle of their acquaint- 
ance, when all others were posed on any subject, than to say, 
' We '11 ask Zachary Macauley ; he can tell us.' He was a 
remarkably plain, unpromising man in his appearance ; but I 
can truly say, I derived no such benefit from any individual in 
England as from him, in the frequent interviews with which he 
was kind enough to favor me. Mr. Wilkes was one of the most 
intelligent and pious of the clergy, with whom it was my privi- 
lege to become acquainted ; and I have few more pleasing volumes 
in my library than his sermons, with which he presented me, 
when he called to take leave of me, the day I left London. 

" Edward Tuckerman, Esq., of Boston, intending shortly to 



554 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

visit England, and having written me for letters of introduction, 
I have, among others, sent him one addressed to Mr. Wilkes, and 
in a separate communication, which he will hand him, I have 
made the request contained in your letter. 

"It is astonishing to what an extent high-church principles 
are now carried. It was remarked to me, by the late Bishop of 
Quebec," Bishop Stewart, " on one of his passages through this 
city, on his way to England, that he heard more about them in 
a three days' sojourn in New York, than in a year's residence in 
London ; and the late venerable Bishop of Pennsylvania, though 
a strict churchman, often spoke to me, in terms of still stronger 
disapprobation, of the extravagant views of some with whom he 
acted, than he has done in his published works. The effects of 
certain influences in our General Seminary are very deleterious 
on the unformed minds of its students. The disapproval of ex- 
treme views, by two of the resident professors, has but little effect 
in preventing those views from being embraced by the young 
men, under the more direct instruction of others ; and our eccle- 
siastical paper, by flattering them with the reception of their 
productions, and with compliments from its editor, has a most 
injurious effect on their minds. Narrowness of feeling, and illib- 
erality of opinion, in relation to Christians of other names, are 
not its only bad effects. Its influence in inducing, if not in some 
instances the rejection, at least a diminished esteem of those evan- 
gelical doctrines which are now the continual subjects of assault 
from the Oxford divines, and the substitution of the new system 
exhibited in the ' Tracts for the Times,' is calculated to give a 
most dangerous character to the ministry of these the future 
standard-bearers of our church. For one, I sincerely rejoice that 
your veteran pen has been so successfully employed in exposing 
the true character of the new divinity ; and I am encouraged to 
hope, that though the enemy is coming in like a flood, yet the 
Spirit of the Lord will continue to lift up a standard against him. 

" "What the expectations of Home are, may be inferred from 
the oft-repeated expressions of approval of the Oxford measures, 
with which the Romish publications teem. In the English Cath- 
olic Magazine for 1839, its editors thus express themselves : 
! Most sincerely and unaffectingly do we tender our congratula- 



HIS MINISTRY. 555 

tions to our brethren of Oxford, that their eyes have been opened 
to the evils of private judgment, and the consequent necessity of 
curbing its multiform extravagance. It has been given them to 
see the dangers of the ever-shifting sands of the desert, in which 
they were lately dwelling, and to strike their tents and flee the 
perils of the wilderness. They have already advanced a great 
way on their return towards that church within whose walls the 
wildest imagination is struck with awe, and sobered down into 
a holy calm, in the enjoyment of which it gladly folds its wea- 
ried wings. They have found the clue which, if they have per- 
severance to follow it, will lead them safely through the laby- 
rinth of error into the clear day of truth. Some of the brightest 
ornaments of their church have advocated a reunion with the 
church of all times and all lands ; and the accomplishment of the 
design, if we have read aright 'the signs of the times,' is fast 
ripening. Her maternal arms are ever open to receive back re- 
pentant children ; and, as when the prodigal son returned to his 
father's house, the fatted calf was killed and a great feast of joy 
made, even so will the whole of Christendom rejoice greatly, 
when so bright a body of learned and pious men as the authors 
of the ' Tracts for the Times' shall have made the one step neces- 
sary to place them again within that sanctuary, where alone they 
can be safe from the moving sands, beneath' which they dread 
being overwhelmed. The consideration of this step will soon 
inevitably come on ; and it is with the utmost confidence that we 
predict the accession to our ranks of the entire mass.' 

" I trust, my dear sir, that though your impaired health may 
continue to abstract you from much engagement in the public 
duties of the ministry, yet you may realize to better effect than he 
did by whom the acknowledgment was uttered, ' Deits nobis hcec 
otia fecit p a leisure given, in your case, not for the purpose of in- 
dolence or self-indulgence, but to enable you, from the stores of a 
matured and well-cultivated mind, to assist in healing some of the 
wounds which religion and the Church are now receiving from 
those who profess to be the chief, if not the exclusive friends of both. 
" I am, with great respect, 

" Your faithful friend and brother, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 



556 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

During the spring of this year he visited Alexandria to attend 
the meeting of the Virginia convention, intending to return to 
New York in company with his friend Bishop Meade, who had 
made arrangements for a voyage to England by the steamer from 
Boston of the first of June. The following is an extract from a 
letter to Mrs. Milnor, written while he was at Alexandria, and 
dated May 21, 1841. 

" Yesterday morning, Thursday, I preached before the bishops 
and convention to an overflowing audience, and last night, in the 
Second Presbyterian church, kindly offered for the use of the 
Episcopalians; the two churches of our order being insufficient to 
accommodate the immense crowds that fill the city. The hos- 
pitality of the citizens is unbounded. Every house of Episcopa- 
lians, and those of many others, are rilled with strangers." [Such, 
at that period, were Yirginia conventions.] 

The following, from his " old friend" Daniel "Wilson, reminds 
us how much these memoirs have suffered from the elevation of 
that faithful servant of Christ to the see of Calcutta. Many of 
Dr. Milnor's most valuable letters were addressed to him, but 
their removal, with his other papers, to India, has rendered their 
recovery for our purpose impossible. 

"Bishop's Palace, Calcutta, Sept. 16, 1841. 
" My dearest old Friend — I see an old letter of yours on my 
table which does not appear to have been answered, I suppose 
from a dread of your again letting parts of the answer slip into 
the newspapers. I am, however, unwilling longer to delay in- 
quiring after you and yours and the church of Christ in the 
United States. Your Episcopal church has produced one of the 
most splendid and valuable works in divinity that I have ever 
read. Nothing since your Jonathan Edwards on Justification 
and Dean Milner's History of Luther, has at all come near 
Bishop McIlvaine. I have read his masterly treatise with un- 
mixed admiration, and shall write to him, I hope by this very 
mail, to thank him most cordially. A twilight sermon of my 
own happened to come out just before the bishop's book, but was 
lost in his brilliancy. I want very much to see your Episcopal 
almanacs, convention papers, and chief works in divinity. If 



HIS MINISTRY. 557 

you produce a few such theological refutations as Bishop Mc- 
Ilvaine's, your country will rise most rapidly in religious influ- 
ence. I hope our mad traditionists are not corrupting the sim- 
plicity of the faith amongst you, as they are at home, and in 
some degree in India. I have an instinctive dread of this man of 
sin under the guise of an angel of light, and his mystic piety 
makes no impression on my heart. I have again and again 
wished to know why you inundate India with Presbyterian mis- 
sionaries, but do not refresh us with even a sprinkling of Episco- 
palians ? There is nothing I should so rejoice in as to welcome 
such staid, learned, well-read, evangelical laborers as your church 
would furnish. 

"Well, and how are you yourself, my dear friend? How 
well do I remember the pleasant times we spent together at 
Islington. My son is laboring there still, with twenty helpers 
amidst 56,000 souls. I continue, thank God, in good health for 
my years. The cause of Christ, as I hope, is making progress. 
The events of the world are conspiring to widen the British ter- 
ritory and influence. Soon will the end come ; and may we stand 
in our lot at the end of the days. 

" I am yours, affectionately, 

"D. CALCUTTA." 

'•The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

The year 1842 will not furnish us with so many letters as 
its immediate predecessor. From three brief communications 
addressed to Dr. Milnor, we learn that he was during the year 
elected one of the Counsellors of the Board of the New York 
Lyceum ; a member of the Council of the University of New 
York ; and President of the New York City Tract Society, one 
of the efficient auxiliaries of the American Tract Society. The 
first and only letter from him, for 1842, is a copy of his answer 
to that just given from the Bishop of Calcutta ; and this the 
only copy found among his papers, of all his letters to that in- 
teresting correspondent. 

"New York, July 2, 1842. 
" Right Rev. and Beloved — In the recent receipt of your 
esteemed letter of September last, I was much delighted to be 



558 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

once more favored with a token of your continued remembrance 
and regard. That your valuable life should have been preserved 
for a period so much longer than that of any of your revered 
predecessors in the Calcutta episcopate, and that your health 
should be continued in a climate which so often proves unfavor- 
able to Englishmen, are causes of devout thankfulness to God, 
and should be gratefully recognized as a pledge, that he has large 
blessings in store for his Church in those distant regions. We 
have heard, with great joy, of the mighty work of grace which 
the Holy Spirit is accomplishing through British agency in some 
places under your jurisdiction. May the Lord encourage your 
labors, by many such cheering evidences of his favor. 

" You inquire, my Rt. Rev. friend, why we do not send some 
Episcopal missionaries to India ? The answer is as easily given, 
as the fact furnishing that answer is by many of us feelingly 
regretted. All the efforts of such of our highly esteemed bishops 
as are favorable to the cause of foreign missions — and they are 
a large proportion of the whole — and of such of our clergy as 
have like feelings,. have not yet been successful in awakening 
such a spirit among us as adequately to supply our treasury for 
so desirable an extension of our missionary work. I have been 
laboring in this cause for five or six and twenty years, and 
though, God be praised, there has been much improvement in 
our church, especially during the last six or seven years, under 
our new plan of operation, yet we have still to encounter much 
opposition from certain influential quarters, to the foreign work ; 
and our means, partly from this cause, and partly from the sad 
state of the monetary concerns of our country, have allowed us 
to extend but little the existing missions, and compelled us to 
withhold the establishment of any entirely new. One mission- 
ary at Constantinople, having in prospect some endeavors in favor 
of the Syrian church ; our schools in Athens, and a small estab- 
lishment in Crete ; a single but excellent missionary in China ; 
four or five clergymen and their families at Cape Palmas, on the 
western coast of Africa ; and two missionaries in Texas, com- 
prise all the heralds of salvation that our church has given us the 
means of sending forth, either for the renovation of corrupt Chris- 
tian communities, or for the conversion of the heathen. Several 



HIS MINISTRY. 559 

of the other denominations around us have far outstripped us in 
obedience to the Saviour's command. 

"There is undoubtedly, as you are aware, avast extent of 
missionary ground in our own country, which many — I think 
mistakingly — consider a sufficient reason for confining ourselves 
exclusively to its cultivation. I say 'mistakingly;' for I have 
invariably observed, that those who advocate this principle are, 
even in their contributions to the domestic department, far behind 
those who consider the field marked out for our exertions by the 
great Head of the Church, to be the whole world. Just in pro- 
portion to the prevalence of vital piety in our congregations, is 
the missionary spirit seen to take this wide-extended scope ; and 
an amount of contributions of a corresponding character, to be 
poured into the treasury of the Lord. While the increase of this 
spirit among us is a continual subject for ardent prayer and sup- 
plication, I do exceedingly rejoice in the hope that the noble 
Church Missionary Society of your country, under its new aus- 
pices, may be favored with such an increase of means as will 
supply our lack of service in the foreign field, so many parts of 
which have been already blessed by the evangelical labors of that 
inestimable institution. 

"Your warm approval of the work of our dear friend Bishop 
Mcllvaine, is exceedingly grateful to my feelings, as it will be to 
his. I am quite confident, there is no one whose favorable opinion 
he would more highly appreciate than your own. His public 
testimony against Oxfordism, supported as it has been by a large 
proportion of his Episcopal brethren in this country, has had a 
very propitious influence on the public mind. 

"It is an evidence of the limited circulation of the 'Tracts' 
among our churches, that there has been but one American edi- 
tion of them, and that this resulted in the ruin of its publisher. 
Out of ten or eleven Episcopal periodicals, the Churchman is the 
only one that has advocated the principles of the authors of those 
pernicious publications. May the Spirit of the Lord lift up a 
standard everywhere against the errors of these misguided and 
misguiding teachers, and lead even themselves, at length, into 
the way of truth. 

" In regard to the general state of the Church in our country, 



560 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

I thank God that I am enabled to say, it is, in its external cir- 
cumstances, prosperous ; and, in doctrinal views and evangelical 
feeling, improving. With our rapidly growing population, its 
extension keeps tolerably equal pace ; and the divisions in some 
Protestant denominations have tended to add to our numbers. 
To a much greater extent than formerly, the great doctrines of 
the Reformation are preached to our congregations ; and though 
in some places, what are called the distinctive principles of the 
Church are, in my view, suffered to occupy too much attention, 
yet, for the most part, I believe the latter are allowed only their 
just place in the communications of the pulpit. A few of our 
ministers are disposed to keep up a spirit of controversy, and to 
decry what they call low-churchmanship ; but on the whole, there 
is a preference for the things that make for peace. None are 
disposed unduly to compromise our peculiarities by inadmissible 
mixtures with others in the services of the sanctuary ; and our 
church commends herself to the regards of those who are without, 
by maintaining towards them ' the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace.' " [Very serious would have been his modifications of 
this portion of his letter, had he lived till the present day.] 

" Romanism, however, among us is making rapid strides. 
Immense numbers of immigrants are almost daily landing on our 
shores. Of these the major part are from Ireland, and almost all 
of that church ; as are also multitudes from the German states. 
Large importations of priests are constantly arriving; and the 
popish missionary societies of Italy, Austria, and France, are 
pouring their thousands annually into the country for the build- 
ing of churches and the support of the priesthood. "When I came 
to my present charge in 1816, there were but two Roman Cath- 
olic churches in New York. Now there are many, and several 
in a course of erection. There is evidently a grand effort also to 
acquire a foothold in our great western country, throughout 
which popish seminaries of learning abound, and are continually 
increasing in number. Many Protestant children are improperly 
sent to them. 

" And now, to answer your kind inquiries in relation to my- 
self: I can only say, that I continue, at the age of nearly three- 
score years and ten, through the blessing of my heavenly Father, 



HIS MINISTRY. 561 

to enjoy excellent health. My duties are the same as heretofore. 
I enjoy the continued affections of a large congregation ; and my 
labors among them are, from time to time, followed by pleasing 
fruits. I find time, in the midst of arduous parochial duties, for 
an engagement in the missionary, educational, and other institu- 
tions of our church ; and am still actively employed in the Bible, 
Tract, and Missionary causes, and in various other means of pub- 
lic usefulness. I have five children ; a son and a daughter mar- 
ried ; and with two sweet grandchildren, these are all residing 
with me in St. George's parsonage. 

" I have the pleasure of transmitting to you a package, con- 
taining such publications as' I supposed might interest you ; and 
beg you to accept the assurance of that high respect and sincere 
affection with which I remain, 

" Your faithful friend, 

" And obedient servant in the Lord, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

At the opening of the year 1843, Dr. Milnor received from 
his friend Bishop Meade a letter, the following extract from 
which will serve to introduce a remark touching a part of his 
course as one of the members of the Foreign Committee of our 
Board of Missions. 

."Millwood, Jan. 30, 1843. 
"Rev. and dear Brother — Besides the sincere pleasure 
which I take in communicating with you on all subjects per- 
taining to the affairs of God's Church, I have a particular object 
in addressing you at this time. I perceive there have been let- 
ters, pro and con, as to our missionary establishments in Greece 
and Asia, especially the latter ; and fears have been expressed 
that we are not presenting there, as we ought, the pure Gospel, 
but are conceding too much to prevalent corruptions. I am told 
that the cause has suffered in this country by reason of such ap- 
prehension ; and that the committee have not been altogether 
satisfied for some time. How is it ? I have always thought that 
the attempt to introduce our missionaries into those old, decayecT 
churches, was so delicate and difficult a task, that we must be 
slow to condemn those missionaries for any cautious movements 

Mem. Milnor. 3 6 



562 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

which they might make. But have they erred ? And if so, how 
far ? And have the doubts on this subject seriously injured our 
collections for these missions ? I should be glad to hear from 
you on this subject, and on any others in which you know I am 
interested. 

" If it be permitted to descend from such a height to speak a 
word about myself and my poor body, and you feel any interest 
in it, I would say that God has been very good in giving me a 
more comfortable state of health than I have had for nine years. 
My chief defect, that of voice, still remains ; but it is in some 
measure relieved by preaching very seldom, and contenting my- 
self with official duties and short addresses from the chancel. My 
mind also is much relieved by having so valuable an assistant as 
Dr. Johns, who is giving great satisfaction. 

u Let me hear from you as soon as convenient. 

"Affectionately, 

" W. MEADE." 
" The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

"What answer Dr. Milnor gave to the former part of the above 
extract is unknown. Not so, however, his opinion on the subject 
involved. In common with his fellow-members of the Foreign 
Committee, he inclined to that judgment which finally expressed 
itself in the well-known unwillingness of the committee to sus- 
tain the Asiatic, or Constantinopolitan mission of our church. 
He advocated, as long as he could, the continuance of that mis- 
sion ; and acquiesced in its continuance as long as he could, even 
after his judgment began to lean to the side of its inexpediency. 
But the views which the missionary himself advanced, and the 
measures which he adopted, at length settled the mind of Dr. 
Milnor, and he gave his influence to that action of the committee 
which, since he left the stage, has resulted in placing the mission 
on a new and separate basis of its own. It is true, that the want 
of funds was the reason at first assigned for the proposed aban- 
donment of the mission ; but it is no less true, that this want of 
funds was, by multitudes, believed to be the consequence of a 
want of confidence in the views which actuated the movement at 
Constantinople ; and in this belief the Foreign Committee almost 
unanimously concurred. 



HIS MINISTRY. 563 

To Bishop Mcllvaine. 

"New York, March 10, 1843. 

" My dear Bishop — I am under the impression that I have 
answered your two favors of last year ; or rather, I have been 
under that impression. But I am startled, on laying my hand 
upon them to-day, to find no endorsement to that effect ; and 
therefore I now fear that I have been mistaken, and that I must 
submit to the charge of inexcusable negligence. In regard to 
all that relates to the professorship, I am glad to learn, by a let- 
ter from Dr. Fuller, that he has accepted the appointment. He 
wrote me that he should not go to Ohio until fall, and expressed 
a desire to act as my assistant until that time. But Mr. Cooke 
having leave of absence no longer than to the 15th of June, and 
expecting then to resume his station, the vestry and I have con- 
cluded that it is not best to make an appointment for the short 
intermediate period ; and even if it had been otherwise, it would 
not be worth while for Dr. Fuller to come to New York for that 
time. I entirely approve of your choice, and hope you and he 
may have much happiness in the connection. 

" Of the prosperity of the college in its ' students, study, or- 
der, and reputation,' I am glad to hear, but regret the pecuniary 
difficulties in which it is involved. I wish it were in New York 
as in times past, so that you might receive help from your old 
partial means of supply ; but every thing here, in the way of 
business, seems at a stand ; and many of the friends of Kenyon, 
I am sorry to say, have just emerged from the painful process of 
bankruptcy, while others are, as to means, in quite a different 
position from that which they once occupied. Almost all my 
rich men have gone to the court end of the city, or remain 
with us in cramped and impaired circumstances. I exceedingly 
regret that among your Brooklyn friends, too, so many have 
fallen under the weight of the pressure which has come upon 
them. On both sides of the river, however, some still hold their 
own. 

" I have little ecclesiastical news to communicate. In refer- 
ence to Mar Yohanan, I presume you have seen Bishop Hopkins' 
views. I think they have been sufficiently refuted. Mar Yohanan 
did not receive much Episcopal attention, except from our lament- 



564 MEMOIR OF DR. MILK"OR. 

ed father, Bishop Griswold. He has just sailed, with Mr. Perkins 
and others, for Smyrna. 

"It is intended to hold a semi-annual meeting of the Ameri- 
can Bible Society at Cincinnati, in October next. We shall be 
glad to have your approval of the measure, and your important 
assistance at the meeting. 

"We have been much pained to hear that your son Joseph's 
health continues to decline. I am well and strong for a man near 
threescore and ten, but must expect soon to break down. 
" Respectfully, affectionately, and truly, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

From Bishop Mcllvaine. 

"Gambler, April 6, 1843. 

" Dear Doctor — I have no letter-paper, and cannot get any 
till somebody brings some from New York ; but I shall not im- 
pose on you a whole sheet of foolscap. So you remembered, at 
last, to answer my letters, after I had forgotten they had been 
written. Better late than never. 

" You speak of a semi-annual Bible Society meeting at Cin- 
cinnati. I shall be very happy to do what I can to promote its 
usefulness. It is a good idea. The Episcopal clergy in Cincin- 
nati, and, so far as I know, all in the diocese, with one or two 
exceptions, will unite in heart, if not in personal attendance. 
The more the Romish doctrine of tradition lifts up its head, the 
more we must lift up our standard against it in the shape of the 
Bible, distributed as Bible societies do their work. It is David 
against Goliath — the sling against the helmet, and shield, and 
spear of a giant. But the difference is, that God is on one side, 
and not on the other ; and the truth shall make men free, no 
matter whose servants they may have been. 

" Our difficulties in Kenyon have arisen out of the exceeding 
expensiveness of a college in the woods, on its own domain, 
where every thing, even to a shoemaker's shop, had to be built 
by the trustees. At other colleges, the village, the church, etc., 
are furnished by others, and the houses of professors may be 
hired. Here we had to build every thing. Bishop Chase's great 
boast was, its cheapness to students. In seeking that, he failed ; 



HIS MINISTRY. 565 

for it was no cheaper than some other colleges in Ohio, and he 
made it exceedingly expensive to the community. 

" My son is a great deal better in health — about as well as 
when in New York. 

" Yours, very affectionately, 

" CHAS. P. McILYAINE." 
'•'The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

The spring of 1843 found Dr. Milnor again at the annual 
convention of the diocese of our church in Virginia, in the city 
of Richmond, and as usual, abundant in his pulpit-labors during 
his absence. Like all his visits of this kind, however, it has no 
record, save in the customary brief letter to Mrs. Milnor, inform- 
ing her of his movements, his engagements, and the day of his 
expected return. The only additional reference to the period is 
in a letter from Mr. Brigham, of the American Bible Society, 
from which it appears that Dr. Milnor was duly appointed to 
represent that institution before the Bible-meeting in Richmond, 
held concurrently with that of the Virginia convention. 

During this same spring was most deeply felt the alarm which 
the measures of the Maryland State Colonization Society, in en- 
forcing military duty, or military fines, on all within their colo- 
ny, had previously spread through those churches at home which 
had established missionary stations on that part of the African 
coast — an alarm which, for a time, threatened to set the Chris- 
tian community of the free states in hostile array against the 
whole cause of African colonization. 

Fears were entertained, that it would become necessary to 
remove our mission from Cape Palmas. Our Board of Missions 
therefore instructed its foreign committee to propose conferences 
with the Maryland State Colonization Society at Baltimore, with 
a view to the possible settlement of amicable relations between 
that society and the board. In pursuance of this policy, the 
foreign committee referred the instructions of the board to a 
special committee of two of its members, who, after a previous 
conference, conducted on our part by the secretary, the Rev. 
Dr. Vaughan, and one of the missionaries, the Rev. Mr. Payne, 
were directed to proceed to Baltimore for the purpose of a further 
interview and a more satisfactory understanding with the agent 



566 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of the State Colonization Society. This special committee was 
composed of the Rev. Drs. Milnor and Turner ; and from a letter 
which the former received at Baltimore, it would seem that they 
held the further conference required during his spring excursion 
to the South. The main results of these negotiations was, the 
undisturbed continuance of our Cape Palmas mission. 

The summer of this year was rendered memorable in the 
annals of our church by the occurrence, soon after the annual 
Commencement of our General Theological Seminary, of the 
famous "Carey ordination," an event at which Drs. Anthon and 
Smith protested against the admission to deacon's orders of a 
recent graduate from the seminary, who had exposed himself to 
the charge of holding the Tridentine doctrines of the church of 
Rome. The convulsion which shook our church upon the an- 
nouncement of this ordination, was altogether unprecedented. 
Dr. Milnor's letters to his correspondents on this occasion, have 
mostly perished ; but one, from his old friend Bishop Meade, will 
serve as an early expression of those feelings, among the evan- 
gelical portion of the church, in which Dr. Milnor fully shared. 

'•Millwood, Aug. 1. 1843. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — We have fallen upon strange 
times. We have reached a fearful crisis in the Church. I had 
not supposed it possible that Romanism had so far regained its 
power among us, as recent events in your city and the language 
of some of our religious papers would indicate. A general and 
distressing contest throughout our whole church, in England and 
America, seems now inevitable. May God give us all grace to 
perform our several parts faithfully and wisely. I should like to 
hear from you, who are on the spot, how matters stand. I trust 
our brethren, Anthon and Smith, find strong supporters, not only 
among the laity, but also among the clergy in your city. From 
some New York papers which have been sent me, probably by 
yourself, I perceive the laity are coming out boldly. I hope the 
pamphlet of Drs. Anthon and Smith will be circulated far and 
wide, to every clergyman, at least, a copy ; and I wish the laity 
also could be well supplied. 

" I saw, a few days since, a talented, zealous layman of a 



HIS MINISTRY. 567 

neighboring diocese, who has been very active in supporting ultra 
views, who said, after reading the pamphlet, he was truly sur- 
prised at it ; and unless it could be answered and disproved — and 
he did not see how it could — it showed a state of things which he 
had never supposed. The card of the six presbyters will, I pre- 
sume, satisfy him that an answer and refutation are not very 
probable. I suppose your approaching convention will, in some 
way or other, let us know its opinion on the subject. Our next 
General Convention can scarcely avoid some agitation on the 
questions involved. 

" We have been too much elated by our prosperity. Looking 
at the dissensions of other denominations, boasting of our unity, 
and proud of our advantages, we calculated on uninterrupted 
and unbounded success, without relying humbly on God's bless- 
ing. The result has been, that while the dissensions of others 
are, in a good measure, healing, and we have contrived, by our 
exclusive claims, very greatly to increase and combine the 
opposition of all others, we are in a most divided state among 
ourselves, and are under the strongest temptation to neglect the 
more important spiritual matters for controversy about externals. 
This is to me a most distressing thought — that bitter controversy 
is, in many of us, about to eat out the soul of religion. God 
have mercy on us, and avert the evil. 

" I do not see that any question was put to Mr. Carey about 
justification, sacramental grace, etc. ; on which points, I can 
scarce think that one, holding his views on other points, could be 
received. Let me hear from you soon and fully. 
" Yours, very truly, 

"W.MEADE." 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

Another, a month later, from Bishop Smith, contains a charac- 
teristic allusion to the same subject. 

"Kalorama, near Louisville, Sept. 1, 1843. 

" Dear Friend of my early Ministry — Brother Jackson tells 

me that you are to be in Cincinnati about the 1st of November. 

God willing, so am I. He also says, that he invited you to come 

and see me as well as him. I thank him for it ; and I now write 



568 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

specially to urge this request, and that you will accompany me 
as far as Shelbyville, where I will take you in our little carriage, 
in order that the early friend of Christian and Church education 
at the West may see what God has enabled us to begin in Ken- 
tucky. So dark a cloud has long brooded over this horizon, that 
I want such a friend as you to come and have it in your power 
to say that, through the divine clemency, daylight again dawns 
upon us. Besides, your presence will give a new impulse to all 
our affairs. Do come, kind doctor, do ; and may God's presence 
come with you. 

" I was present with you in spirit in blessed old St. John's, 
Providence, on that day." [An allusion, probably, to the day of 
Bishop Henshaw's consecration.] u O, by how many cherished 
memories is that temple sacred to me ! I was witness of the 
first revival of religion there, and in Bristol. The stripling Hen- 
shaw was instrumental in the revival, during which — chiefly 
however among the Congregationalists — the mere boy, Ben 
Smith, was brought to serious reflection. Our venerable father," 
Bishop Griswold, "is gone ; but we his sons are left to toil and 
suffer : Bishop Henshaw in the very field which witnessed his 
prayers and his victories, and Bishop Smith in a far-off" field, 
where unheard-of trials have awaited him. So God works. 
* Even so, Father ; for so it seemeth good in thy sight !' 

" I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of Bishop Gris wold's 
shoes ; but, thank God, I am still most thoroughly of his school. 
We have strange wonders in our days. Some of our Episcopal- 
ians are half Romanists ; and some of our high-churchmen are 
low, while some of the low are high. Of all sorts, however, 
find me out a consistent Bishop Griswold, and an unchangeable 
rector of old St. George's. 

" These are storms, the flashes of which we see afar off", and 
the roar whereof faintly reaches us, but of which we know 
almost nothing. Our comfort is, that Christ changes not ; that 
his truth never changes ; and that he is Prince of the kings of 
the earth, be the people never so unquiet. The Church is safe ! 

"If Mrs. Smith, or brother and Mrs. Jackson, who are on a 
visit to us, knew that I was writing to you, this letter would be 
so heavily freighted with love and respects to Mrs. Milnor and 



HIS MINISTRY. 569 

yourself, to Henry and his lady, to your daughters, and to all, 
that the frail paper could not contain it. Ever, as of old, 
"Your true friend and brother, 

"B. B. SMITH." 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

Dr. Milnor's answer to this affectionate epistle contains the 
only reference to "the Carey ordination" and its consequences, 
to be met with in his recovered letters. It also intimates his in- 
ability to attend the semi-annual Bible Society meeting at Cin- 
cinnati, to which former letters refer, and at which he had been 
appointed to read an essay on " The Rule of Faith;" the design 
of the essay being to advocate the Protestant doctrine on that 
subject, in opposition to the Romish views of Tradition.* 

* The following is Dr. Milnor's letter to the Secretary, announcing his 
inability to attend the meeting at Cincinnati, and expressive of his views on 
the occasion. It will be read with interest. 

" St. George's Rectory, New York, Oct. 20, 1843. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — You may be assured that the impracticability of my 
accompanying } 7 ou to Cincinnati is to me a subject of most sincere regret. 
Concurring, as I did, heartily in the expediency of the interesting measure of 
holding a special meeting of our noble institution in that region, and having 
been honored as one of its delegates, in connection with a particular duty of 
an important character, my disappointment is only alleviated by the persuasion 
that there will be no want of far better counsellors than myself in the general 
transactions of your meeting, and that the performance of the special duty 
referred to, by my learned and respected alternate, will afford the assemblage 
no reason to regret my absence, which I trust will, by none, be attributed 
either to any diminution of interest in the cause, or reluctance in the most 
public manner to avow my most earnest desires for its promotion. 

"However small the measure of my past efforts, the retrospect of thirty 
years' engagement in the work, twenty-seven of them in immediate connection 
with the American Bible Society, is among the highest satisfactions of my 
now declining years. 

"It was under the auspices and at the solicitation of my late venerable 
friend Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, that I first united, in my native city, 
with the Bible Society, over which he presided with so much dignity and 
devotion until his lamented death. On my removal to New York, a few months 
after the formation of the national institution, one of the earliest duties of my 
new residence was to tender my humble aid in the advancement of the glorious 
cause through this great instrumentality. 

"I now bless God that he has allowed me for so long a period to be a wit- 
ness of the delightful harmony with which its proceedings have been con- 
ducted, and the ever- widening scope of its salutary influence ; and to unite in 



570 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

To Bishop Smith. 

" New York, October 2, 1843. 
"Rt. Rev. and dear Sir — I thank you sincerely for your kind 
favor of the 1st ult., and wish it were in my power to accept 
your obliging invitation. But I find I am unable to comply with 
the wishes of our Bible friends, in making the proposed visit to 
Cincinnati ; and consequently must defer, to some future period, 
the pleasure of meeting you at your pleasant residence in the 
neighborhood of Louisville. An unexpected and indispensable 
journey. of business to Buffalo, from which I returned a few days 
since, forms one difficulty in the way of my leaving home again 
this fall. But added to this, I fear, at my time of life, taking so 
long a trip at such an advanced season of the year. Besides, 
were I younger and better fitted for it, there is another great 
impediment, arising out of the pressingly heavy duties of my 
parochial charge, in which, for the last nine months, I have been 

the inspiring hopes of its friends for its becoming in future years a still greater 
blessing to our beloved country and to the destitute in foreign lands. 

"If there were sufficient reasons for the organization of this plan by the 
Parent Society in England — and the great Author of the Bible by vouchsafing 
a most abundant blessing upon its measures, I feel assured, has sanctioned 
such a conclusion — we have the like reason to believe, that his providence 
and Spirit led to our following their good example ; and that in contributing 
the most vigorous efforts for continuing and extending the work, we are acting 
in conformity to his holy will, and acceptably promoting his designs of mercy 
to our fallen world. Never were the signs of the times more indicative of the 
necessity of more labor, and prayer, and pecuniary means for carrying forward 
our hallowed undertaking. The dishonor done to the book of God, by putting 
an uncertain tradition upon a level with it as a rule of faith, is no longer 
confined to the corrupt church which has so long been guilty of that crying 
sin; individuals of other communions not hesitating to embrace the same 
ruinous error. 

"One of the most effectual methods of counteracting this impious treat- 
ment of God's merciful revelation, wherever it may obtain, is the universal 
circulation of that blessed book which is its own best witness, and wherever 
read, with prayer for the light of the Holy Spirit in its perusal, will establish 
its claim as the only and exclusive test of Christian faith and practice. 

" May the Lord be with you in your coming deliberations, and shed on all 
your minds the enlightening influences of his grace. 

. "With my earnest prayers for the happiest results to your meeting, I am, 
reverend and dear sir, your faithful friend and brother in Christ. 

"JAMES MILNOR." 
"Rev. Dr. Brigham." 



HIS MINISTRY. 571 

wholly without assistance. My prayers and best wishes will 
attend our beloved brethren who go on to the expected meeting. 
I pray God the occasion may be one of signal benefit to our 
great cause. 

"We live in eventful times. The changes in opinion — in too 
many instances, as I think, for the worse — that are continually 
occurring around us, are not a little alarming. Recent develop- 
ments here afford reason to believe, that to a greater extent than 
we had imagined, the Oxford heresy has invaded this diocese. 

The noxious influence of the has exceedingly corrupted 

the minds of our younger clergy and candidates for orders; 
and indeed I am grieved to the heart, to find such a tendency to 
Romanism as prevails among some of the more advanced in 
years and standing. When I speak thus, I do not mean that 
any are prepared to go over to the ' mother of abominations.' 
To remove such a suspicion, they call her hard names, and speak 
strongly against some of her doctrines. But the danger lies in 
their exaltation of the Church above Christ, the great Head ; 
making her, and not Him, the dispenser of renewing and sancti- 
fying grace, and giving to external sacraments and ordinances 
the inherent efficacy which constitutes so much of the supersti- 
tion of the papacy. They do not mean — until a great many 
impediments are removed — to unite with Rome ; but on the 
principles of Tract No. Ninety, they adopt, as the means of 
allaying such a desire, the expedient of giving an aspect to our 
doctrines and observances, that shall approximate them as nearly 
as possible to hers. The evangelical doctrines which some of 
us have supposed were plainly taught in our articles, more fully 
explicated in our homilies, and embodied in their life-giving 
spirit in our liturgy, are now to be superseded by the dogmas of 
the school at Oxford. The great principle of justification by 
faith is by many virtually abandoned, and that of baptismal 
justification adopted in its stead. God is impiously confined, in 
his communication of grace, to the channel of the sacraments ; 
and a most unwarrantable denial of covenanted mercy to all but 
the members of a church enjoying the Episcopal succession, is 
insisted on. The Reformation is now found to have been fraught 
with evils ; and instead of adhering to its great principles, we 



572 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

are to condemn its authors for having taken dangerous liberties, 
and, as far as possible, to unprotestantize the Church. Such, 
among us, has been the baneful influence of Tractarianism, as 
upheld and taught by too many in this most unevangelical 
portion of the Church. God grant that they may find successful 
opponents in other and better instructed dioceses. I confess I 
am grieved and alarmed beyond measure, and especially since 
our convention, which has just adjourned, and in which the pro- 
ceedings in the case of young Carey have been sustained by a 
large majority of the clergy, and by an unexpectedly large num- 
ber of the laity. You will, no doubt, in the secular papers of the 
past week, see the full details of our stormy session ; particularly 
the melancholy exhibition of passion on the part of our bishop, 
near its close. I was not present at the disgraceful scene, being 
engaged in a quiet lecture to the good people of my charge ; nor 
have I, save by a silent vote, taken any part in the proceedings 
of the convention : the speakers on the side of Messrs. Smith and 
Anthon, being all of them eminent lawyers, and men who have 
not hitherto sustained any other character than that of avowedly 
high-churchmen. 

" Though much cast down in spirit by the opposition, so 
extensively prevalent, to what the Lord has taught me to believe 
to be Bible-truth, yet I still have faith in the ultimate triumph of 
correct principles. For one, I will still pray, and labor, and hope ; 
and amidst all discouragements, rejoice that the Lord reigneth. 
I feel my mind greatly soothed and comforted by the blessed com- 
munion which we yesterday enjoyed in 'old St. George's;' where, 
at least, for the few remaining years of the ministry of its rector, 
Christ and him crucified will, I trust, continue to be preached. 

"With Mrs. Milnor's and my best regards to yourself and 
Mrs. S., believe me, 

"Affectionately, yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

In this letter he speaks of a recent journey to Buffalo on 
business. This business, however, was not connected with any 
public agency. The following extract of a letter to Mrs. Milnor 
gives a lively idea of the fatigues which, at seventy years of age, 
he endured in reaching the place of his destination. 



HIS MINISTRY. 573 

"Buffalo, Sept. 21, 1843. 
" My dear Ellen — I arrived at Troy after dark, in a heavy fall 
of rain, and immediately took the cars for Schenectady and Utica, 
travelling all night. The next day we continued our course to 
Rochester ; but in consequence of having Governor Bouck and 
Ex-President Yan Buren with us, we were detained at every 
town through which we passed, to afford the latter an opportu- 
nity for canvassing with the people, for his expected promotion 
to the presidency. They were going to the agricultural fair and 
cattle-show at Rochester. We arrived there at nine o'clock on 
Tuesday night, and found the town full of people, brought 
thither by the occasion. I intended to continue on to Buffalo ; 
but it was announced, that the cars would not proceed until 
morning. Fatigued as I was, I had to traverse the whole city 
to obtain lodgings, and then failed. At length, through the 
charity of one of the laboring men at the railroad depot, I 
obtained a clean, comfortable bed ; and the train not starting 
till five o'clock, I had some hours of sleep. I reached Buffalo 
between twelve and one o'clock of Wednesday. 
" Yours, affectionately, 
;. "JAMES MILNOR." 

From the Rev. Dr. Aydelott. 
I; "Woodward College, Cincinnati, Nov. 29, 1843. 
" Dear Brother — We were all much disappointed by your 
not coming to the late meeting of the Bible Society in this city. 
But from Dr. Brigham's account, I suppose it would have been 
imprudent for you to venture upon so long a journey during this 
peculiarly inclement fall. Your alternate, Dr. Spring, did nobly. 
His essay was learned, logical, and to my mind, conclusive : 
clothed in a style perfectly clear and neat, and breathing through- 
out a spirit eminently Christian. I hope it will be speedily pub- 
lished, and widely circulated ; as it cannot fail, with the divine 
blessing, of doing much. good. Still, I would rather have had a 
paper from you ; because, besides its general argument, you 
could have given it a most salutary bearing upon the particular 
state of our church. Why, indeed, can you not let your essay, 
which I suppose you prepared, go out to the world ? Certainly 
there is great need of argument and information on the subject 



574 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR 

of ' the rule of faith ,' in these days of nascent Tractarianism and 
reviving Romanism. There is a straightforward, candid, com- 
mon-sense way of handling subjects, which preeminently belongs 
to you, and which is peculiarly adapted to engage the popular 
mind, and carry conviction to the popular judgment. I should 
anticipate the best results from such an effort on your part. 
" Your affectionate brother, 

" And servant in Christ, 

"B. P. AYDELOTT." 
" The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

During the fall of this year, the Rev. Mr. Irving, our foreign 
secretary and general agent, was invited to assist Dr. Milnor 
in the labors of St. George's, and continued, more or less con- 
stantly, his valuable services during the remainder of the rector's 
life. The following brief note is a pleasing memento of the asso- 
ciation into which he was thus brought. 

"Missionary-Rooms, Monday, Dec. 4, 1843. 
"Rev. and dear Sir — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt 
of your very kind note of this morning, with the accompanying 
check. 

"It is very gratifying to me to learn that my services are at 
all acceptable ; and I can say with all truth, that even were 
there no emolument derived from them, I should render the same 
services with the greatest readiness and pleasure. My employ- 
ment at St. George's has given me a delightful spiritual home, 
and relieved me from the chief source of concern, arising out of 
my separation from pastoral duty. I consider it not the least 
among the many marks of the divine goodness towards me, that 
I have been thus brought into this frequent intercourse with 
yourself and your flock. 

" I am, most faithfully and affectionately, yours, 

"PIERRE P. IRVING." 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 

The remark ought not to be omitted, that to both the breth- 
ren who, for a considerable part of the last ten years of his life, 
acted as his assistants in St. George's — the Rev. J. W. Cooke 
and Mr. Irving — Dr. Milnor was most truly attached. With 



HIS MINISTRY. 575 

none, perhaps, could he have held more cordial, or more broth- 
erly intercourse ; and from few, if any, could he and his flock 
have received more acceptable auxiliary labors. 

His correspondence for the year 1843, so far as available for 
our present purpose, closed with the following short letter. 

From the Rev. James Haldane Stewart. 

"St. Bride's, Liverpool. Dec. 6, 1843. 
" Very dear Brother — I had the pleasure to receive your 
kind letter, introducing your friends the Rev. Dr. Cutler and 
his lady, whom we were happy to see at our table, having before 
communicated with them at the supper of our blessed Lord. 

" It gave us sincere pleasure to hear from him that you were 
still active in our divine Master's service. May you abound more 
and more in every good word and work, and may your last days 
be your best days. 

" I enclose you a copy of my invitation for a general concert 
of prayer on the first of January. I hope it may be in time. If 
not, you may, perhaps, have seen it more seasonably in the 
London Record, or in some of our religious magazines. I had 
expected to send it by a steam packet. Perhaps, after reading 
the invitation, you will have the kindness to send it, for insertion, 
to one of your religious papers. 

" Believe me to remain, my dear friend, 

" Yours, very affectionately, 

"J. HALDANE STEWART." 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 



SECTION VI. 

The opening of the year 1844 was signalized, in the life of 
Dr. Milnor, by an attack of his old complaint, which, like that 
of the year 1825, brought him to the verge of the grave. For 
weeks, his friends and the church stood trembling with solici- 
tude, as life and death seemed to hang again in uncertain balance ; 
leaving it doubtful, from day to day, which would preponderate. 
Again, therefore, as in former days, prayer was made unceas- 
ingly for him, by individuals and in the churches ; and again, 



576 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

as in that memorable crisis, prayer prevailed with God, and 
life was once more prolonged to this his faithful servant. A few 
extracts from letters which he received soon after his recovery, 
furnish pleasing evidences of the strength and tenderness of the 
feeling which his peril had inspired. 

From the Rev. P. P. Irving. 

"Charleston, South Carolina, Feb. 17, 1844. 
" Rev. and dear Sir — I have been exceedingly concerned to 
hear of the relapse which you suffered after my departure from 
New York ; and most gladly would I have returned, in order to 
relieve you by my presence from all anxiety about the parish, 
had I not feared that I might be thought negligent of my official 
duty. Indeed, I wished to defer my departure until you were 
more thoroughly recovered ; but having made all arrangements, 
any delay might have been ascribed to my known disinclination 
to a long journey. I am glad, however, to learn that you are 
rapidly recovering ; and I pray God that you may be spared yet 
longer to your flock and to the Church. Truly, the latter, to 
human eye, could ill afford to lose any of its true sons at this 
moment of confusion and excitement." 

From Bishop Eastburn. 

"Boston, March 6, 1844. 
"My dear Friend — An intention, long cherished, to address 
a few lines to you from this my new home and field of labor, is 
now quickened by the desire which I feel to congratulate you on 
your recent recovery from severe and dangerous illness. I am 
filled, as I humbly trust, with gratitude to God that he has 
spared you for yet further services to his Church, at this period of 
her searching trials. Little can we afford to lose at such a time, 
if ever, those of God's ministering servants who are true, to the 
grand essentials of the Gospel, and to those standards of our 
church which so unequivocally set forth the Gospel. May you 
live, my dear friend, to see the present cloud passing away, and 
to witness the triumph of our scriptural communion over princi- 
ples which, if generally prevalent, would reduce us to a condition 
little different from that of the dark ages : to a body without a 
soul, a shell without the kernel. 



HIS MINISTRY. 577 



Another from the Rev. Mr. Irving. 

"New Orleans, 14th March, 1844. 

" Rev. and dear Sir — A very long time had elapsed without 
any intelligence from New York ; and as my last advices spoke 
of your very serious illness, I was suffering great disquietude on 
your account. But I have this moment been put in possession 
of a letter from Mr. Denison, of the 4th inst., in which he delights 
me by saying, that he had that day seen you in your study ' quite 
yourself again.' I hardly know how to express the emotions of 
joy and gratitude with which I have read this letter. I had been 
filled with sad forebodings of mournful intelligence. I had been 
thinking of all that we should lose in the Church, and especially 
in our Foreign Committee, should it please God to take you to 
himself. And now, my joy is in proportion to the depression 
under which I had been laboring. My heart instinctively blessed 
God that he has seen good to spare you yet a while to his Church. 
6 To depart and be with Christ ' would, indeed, for you, be ' far 
better;' yet, I am persuaded, that for us, it is 'more needful' 
that you should ' abide in the flesh.' And so think many, very 
many of God's people. Everywhere have I found men inquiring 
about you with the greatest solicitude ; and this moment, while 
on my return from the post-office with Mr. Denison's letter open 
in my hand, I met one who, hearing the news, thanked God 
aloud for this mercy to his Church. 

" To me, my venerable friend, it is a matter of deep personal 
gratitude. When I came to New York last summer, as my place 
of abode, I returned to the home of my youth ; yet, alas, I felt 
myself almost a stranger. Spiritually, I seemed to be alone. But 
your kindness relieved me from the loneliness ; while I every day 
felt thankful that God had brought me into such frequent inter- 
course with you, to be cheered and refreshed by your society." 



During his long illness, and the absence of Mr. Irving, the 
pulpit of St. George's was very acceptably filled by that amiable 
and serious young minister of Christ, the Rev. William H. Wal- 
ter, now no more. After his recovery and return to duty, Dr. 
Milnor made a suitable acknowledgment of his indebtedness and 

Mem. Milnor. 3 / 



578 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

attachment to this estimable young brother, which drew from the 
latter a note, from which the following is an extract. 

"15 University Place, April 17. 
" Rev. and dear Sir — In the evening I received your note 
with its accompaniments. I desire to acknowledge your prompt 
and liberal remuneration of the services which it has been my 
privilege to render you during your illness. With still greater 
pleasure do I accept the token of your personal esteem with 
which you have favored me. Most beautiful and valuable in 
itself, the gift has a still higher value in my eyes, as the expres- 
sion, which you have made it, of the Christian regard and affec- 
tion towards me, entertained by one so much my senior in years, 
and so justly honored and venerated in the Church. In return, 
sir, I can only reciprocate from my heart the sentiments of attach- 
ment which you have expressed, and renew to you the assurance 
that my temporary connection with yourself and your cure has 
been productive to me of the most unqualified satisfaction. 

" That our gracious Lord may continue you yet many years 
in happy and active ministration to your flock, is the fervent 
prayer, 

" Dearest sir, of your sincere and respectful 
" Friend and brother, 

"WM. HENRY WALTER." 
"Rev. Dr. Milnor. ?? 

While Dr. Milnor was recovering from his dangerous illness, 
his old friend the Bishop of Calcutta was penning the following 
letter ; which, of course, could not have been received till a con- 
siderably later period. 

"Moradabad, near Meerutt, March 19, 1844. 

"My dear, dear Friend — I received your esteemed letter of 
July 8, 1842, just before I left Calcutta last October ; and it has 
been accompanying me for nearly one thousand nine hundred 
miles of my circuitous route, waiting to be answered, month after 
month. At length a delay of two days from indisposition, at this 
small station, has determined me to thank you for your most 
valuable letter, which was as cold water to a thirsty soul. It 
must, I fancy, have been brought by a private hand. The pam- 



HIS MINISTRY. 579 

phlets also, which accompanied your letter, were most welcome ; 
and any repetitions of such favors will be equally so. 

" Your statement of the narrow means of your church mis- 
sions is but too satisfactory as an answer to my request for Epis- 
copal missionaries. But I cannot help lamenting that although 
there are nineteen Presbyterians, yet there is not one Churchman, 
in our sense of the word, in British India. "We are so much in 
want of national clergy also, that I have lately formed a 'Cal- 
cutta Diocesan Additional Clergy Society,' for the support, by 
subscriptions, of a certain number of clergy, aided by the stations 
where they are intended to labor. 

" Tract arianism is on the wane, thank God, both in England 
and in India ; but it smothers still in the live ashes of our cor- 
rupt and superstitious nature, and will break out again unless 
extinguished, embers and all, by floods of grace on the dry ground, 
rivers opening in the wilderness itself. 

" I rejoice to hear that so many of your bishops and clergy 
are alive and sound in the faith. I bless God especially for the 
talent and rare faithfulness of Bishop Mcllvaine. His protest is 
admirable, and his late charge the very best thing that has ap- 
peared in so small a compass. Our Bishop of Ossory has also 
done incomparably well in another style of thought and argu- 
ment; cool, dispassionate, candid, laborious, mild, and yet forci- 
ble and convincing. 

" The tidings of yourself, my beloved friend, are most grate- 
ful to me. My own family mercies are also remarkable. I have 
but a son and a daughter : the former at Islington, with near 
sixty thousand souls, and twenty-four clergy ; the latter married 
to the Yicar of Huddersfield, with forty thousand souls, twelve 
churches, and fifteen or more clergy. Bless the Lord, my soul. 
Soon, dear brother, we must put off, each of us, this our taber- 
nacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed us. May we 
endeavor that, after our decease, our people may have the truths 
of the Gospel still in remembrance. 

" Write to me, love me, pray for me. 

" I am your affectionate 

"D. CALCUTTA." 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." 



580 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 



From Bishop Mcllvaine. 



"Gambier, June 20, 1844. 



" My dear Doctor — I have often intended writing to you to 
express my joy at your recovery from your dangerous illness ; 
but almost constant absence from home on visitations, for three 
months, has prevented. For a long while I could not hear how 
you were ; and only judged you were better, because not hearing 
that you were worse. I have no doubt you experienced the same 
sweet support and peace in your danger as when, many years 
ago, you lay expecting to depart. The Lord has raised you up 
to witness and share still more of the trials of his Church. How 
we are beset on all sides ! Our heresies within ; the universal 
crusade against us from without; and then, the fuel to the zeal 
of that crusade, which is given by such tribulations as that in 
Philadelphia, and the less public but quite understood case of 
greater evil in New York. These are trials !" 

And this allusion to them is not improper, because God had 
indeed raised Dr. Milnor from sickness both to witness and to 
share those trials, especially as growing out of that " case of 
greater evil," which was so soon to be presented in the trial of 
the bishop of the diocese of New York. 

Meanwhile, with his accustomed assiduity, he devoted his 
newly recovered health and strength to the performance of his 
parochial duties ; withdrawing as much as he consistently could, 
from the strifes of the Church, and spending what he felt to be 
emphatically his last days in still and sacred fellowship with his 
God and Saviour. How long he was to live, he knew not ; but 
he knew, that though many years should be added to his course 
on earth, they might yet be justly regarded as an addition to be 
spent, not in reassimilating his tastes and feelings to the acerbi- 
ties and contentiousness of men, but in further ripening the tem- 
per of his spirit for the sweet and peaceful employments of heaven. 
He passed a part of his usual summer vacation with his friend 
and former parishioner, Mr. Jeremiah H. Taylor, at his quiet 
retirement on the banks of the Connecticut. The following short 
letter is the only notice of this retreat. 



HIS MINISTRY. 581 

To Mrs. Milnor. 

"Middle Haddam, Aug. 8, 1844. 

" My dear Ellen — I arrived at the landing of this place yes- 
terday morning at four o'clock, and found Mr. Taylor, with his 
carriage on the wharf, ready to take me to his residence, about a 
mile and a half distant. The steamer Kosciusko, in which I 
came, is a very noisy and disagreeable boat. The noise of the 
machinery and the heat of the cabin prevented my sleeping 
much, and about one o'clock I was glad to get up and enjoy the 
air of a most beautiful night on deck. On arriving at Mr. Tay- 
lor's, I enjoyed two hours' refreshing sleep before breakfast. Af- 
ter breakfast, I rode to Middletown, about four miles distant, the 
weather continuing, as it is to-day, delightfully pleasant. 

" The situation of Mr. Taylor's house is on an eminence, 
commanding a view of the Connecticut river and of the country 
for many miles ; but the neighborhood is very retired, and fur- 
nishes little agreeable acquaintance. 

" I shallbe very quiet here during the residue of this week ; 
but unless otherwise advised, you may expect me to reach home, 
God willing, on Tuesday next. "With love to all the family, 
" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

But, notwithstanding his growing fondness for a calm and 
meditative life, he was compelled to close the year 1844 amid 
two of perhaps the severest trials of his pilgrimage. To the one 
of these trials reference is made in the following note : 

To the Rev. Dr. Stone. 

"'New York, Dec. 7, 1844. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — My heavy domestic affliction must 

be my apology for not remembering my promise to Mr. , to 

return an earlier answer to your note of the 2d inst." After 
briefly disposing of the business to which the note related, he 
proceeds : 

" Our dear Ellen had an awful day yesterday, and as bad a 
night. Dr. Delafield, who was called in for consultation yester- 
day, gives us some encouragement from the fact, verified in his 
practice, that few patients die of these nervous diseases. But 



582 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

her debility is extreme, and her stomach in so irritable a state as 
to reject all food; so that I confess I entertain but little hope. 
Give us your prayers. I have more than once realized, in my 
own experience, the availableness of fervent intercession ; and I 
know much is now offered for our poor afflicted daughter. 
" "With our kind regards to Mrs. Stone, 

" Affectionately yours, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

This return of his youngest daughter's former malady, from 
which she had now enjoyed several years of apparently full ex- 
emption, was attended with uncommon aggravations in the vio- 
lence of the disease, and in the disappointment of fond young 
hopes by the sudden death of a friend. To her parents, both the 
malady, and the disappointment by which it was precipitated and 
made so dreadful, were inexpressibly afflictive ; and for months 
they hung in painful solicitude as over a frail and delicate flower 
which threatened every moment to drop from the parent stem. 

And then, in the very midst of this bitterness, came that other 
trial to which we have alluded. Immediately after the rising of 
our General Convention, in the autumn of 1844, the bishop of 
the diocese of New York was presented for trial on those grave 
charges, the investigation of which resulted in his suspension 
from office on the 3d of January, 1845. Of this ecclesiastical 
trial, no account is here needed, or would be proper. All into 
whose hands these pages will come, know what facts were 
charged ; all know how long the bishop's trial, on those charges, 
continued to agitate the Episcopal church throughout the Union ; 
and all know how deeply this church has been humbled under 
the result to which that trial led. All that it will be necessary 
to add in this place, is to say, that during the trial, Dr. Milnor 
was called on to testify to an important transaction which the 
case involved ; that he consented to bear his testimony with the 
most unfeigned reluctance ; that he felt himself dragged from his 
loved retirement and meditations into the most painful contact 
possible with the convulsions which were heaving our church ; 
that he bore his testimony at the bidding of simple duty, but 
with all the directness, candor, and solemnity of a Christian 
man ; and that the character of his testimony had a manifest 



HIS MINISTRY. 583 

weight in deciding the minds of many who were sitting in judg- 
ment on the case. The most profound attention was given to his 
statement, and the most strenuous effort made to invalidate it. 
But this effort was in vain. He had himself once been an ex- 
amining lawyer ; and now, as a Christian witness, he understood 
too well the nature of his duty and of his position, to be either 
disturbed, or driven from the coolness of conscious rectitude, or 
from the course of constant truth. He did his duty and retired, 
leaving results with Him in whose hand are all times and all 
events.^ 

To his conduct throughout this agitating crisis, Bishop Smith 
thus refers, in a letter to Dr. ¥m. H. Milnor. Alluding to two 
things in the life of the father which had deeply interested him, 
the bishop says, after disposing of one of them, 

" The other relates to the impression made upon me by his 
singular forethought, wisdom, kindliness, and firmness, in those 
last sad acts of his life which dragged him near, and almost into 
the vortex, during the memorable ecclesiastical trial in New York. 

" I thought I plready knew him thoroughly, and that I duly 
appreciated that singular statesmanlike combination of boldness 
and firmness of principle with a just and tender regard for the 
rights and feelings of others, and a most scrupulous care to pre- 
serve his character and influence intact and unimpaired. But 
his whole course during our General Convention, pending the 
question of presentment and trial, and during his own long and 
vexatious cross-examination, gave me so much higher an idea 
than I had ever before entertained of his wisdom and his worth, 
that I could not but devoutly give thanks for the grace of God 

* The following appropriate quotation was probably sent him a few days 
after the termination of the trial : 

" My dear Doctor, 

" l Ac veluti magno in populo quum ssepe coorta est 
Seditio, sEevitque animis ignobile vulgus, 
Jamque faces et saxa volant ) furor arma ministrat : 
Turn, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem 
Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant ; 
Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet.' 

" Yours affectionately, 



"New York, January 14, 1844"(5.) 



584 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

which was in him, and also greatly wonder, that he had not long 
before insured the suffrages of his brethren somewhere for the 
office of a bishop, for which I then felt, and now feel, that he was 
preeminently better fitted, in all such the highest respects, than 
many, his juniors, on the bench of bishops." 

In reference to the same period, Dr. ¥m. H. Milnor, in his 
"Recollections," has the following paragraph: 

" One of the most unpleasant, nay, painful passages in the 
life of Dr. Milnor, was the part which he felt it his duty to take 
on the trial of his own diocesan. While he deeply deplored the 
necessity which called him forth, he shrunk not from the obli- 
gation which Christian duty imposed. Many different opinions 
have been expressed, and many unkind reflections made, on the 
course which he took. Those, however, who attributed it to 
other motives than a deep sense of the duty which he owed his 
Church and his office as a minister of God, little understood the 
individual whom they assumed to judge. His diocesan and him- 
self had long been on terms of friendly intercourse. He had 
carefully refrained, even in the bosom of his own family, from 
speaking of former delinquences ; trusting, with his wonted un- 
suspecting generosity, to professed penitence and promised refor- 
mation. But when he fully believed that he had been disappoint- 
ed, and that the probation had been abused, his resolution was 
taken. All personal considerations were merged in regard for 
the welfare of the Church and the cause of religion. The evi- 
dence which he gave on the trial was clear and consistent; and 
the attempts which were made to shake his credibility as a wit- 
ness, on the score of failing memory, or on that of intentional 
misrepresentation, alike failed, and recoiled on their authors. His 
memory was but too retentive, and his tale too truthful for many 
who listened ; while the doubting minds of some on the bench 
were settled by it in coincidence with the verdict which was 
rendered. Dr. Milnor, I know, felt deeply the exceedingly unkind 
remarks of one of the bishops respecting his testimony. He re- 
peatedly spoke of them to me, and mentioned that he had been 
strongly advised to notice' them. No difference of opinion, he 
thought, should have induced a man so completely to forget Chris- 
tian kindness and the respect due to age." 



HIS MINISTRY. 585 

As soon as the verdict and sentence with which the trial 
closed, had been pronounced, and even while the Church through- 
out the land was rocking amid the agitations which followed, Dr. 
Milnor again withdrew, as much as possible, into the retirement 
of his own parish and his own thoughts ; composed and peaceful 
in the approbation of his conscience, and desirous above all things 
of cultivating closeness of communion with God and heaven. 
Nor was it long ere the state of mind to which he was brought 
by his illness of the previous winter, was again comfortingly re- 
gained. To each period the remarks of his son, in the " Recol- 
lections," are equally appropriate. 

" The dangers which threatened the Church and the cause of 
evangelical religion, from the controversies and convulsions of 
the day, he dreaded much, and constantly deplored. But amid 
them all, he strove to live in a calm and sacred self-possession. I 
heard a conversation between him and the Rev. Mr. Walter, while 
the latter was temporarily supplying his pulpit during his dan- 
gerous illness, in which he very feelingly alluded to those con- 
troversies and convulsions, and remarked that he had long tried 
to keep himself aloof from all contentions, and to devote himself, 
with redoubled vigilance, to his own parish. Years were creep- 
ing upon him, the fire of youth was abated, and the holy calm 
of eternity was settling on his spirit." 

It would be wrong, however, to infer from what has been 
said, that the calm of his ripened age was spent in the con- 
templations of solitude. He was still a hard-working man in 
the cause of general benevolence, as well as in the rounds of 
parochial duty; and, during the winter of 1845, became deeply 
interested in a contemplated movement which had for its object 
the accommodation of many in the upper part of New York, es- 
pecially of those of his parishioners who were led, by the pressure 
of a growing city, to remove to an inconvenient distance from 
St. George's. Such were the constantly increasing demands of 
business for space in which to operate, that the dwellings of the 
wealthy and of the poor in the old and lower parts of the city, 
were more and more rapidly transformed into shops and stores, 
and their occupants compelled to seek their residences in other 
and more distant neighborhoods. The regular worshippers at St. 



586 MEMOIR OF DR. MILtfOR. 

George's were, indeed, drawn towards their old place by the strong 
bond of personal affection and veneration for him who had so 
long been their chosen spiritual guide ; and not a few of them, 
disregarding distance, were still constant attendants on his min- 
istry. Nevertheless, general tendencies were too manifest and 
too strong to be either disregarded or resisted; and Dr. Milnor 
and his vestry became, during the winter of 1845, earnestly en- 
gaged in considering the question which was thus brought home 
to their minds. Having an ample parish-endowment, and an 
endowment more ample still in the liberality of the parishioners, 
the plan upon which they fell was that of building a chapel in 
the upper part of the city, which should be partly appropriated 
to free sittings. The following passage in the "Recollections" 
expresses the feelings of Dr. Milnor in relation to the contem- 
plated movement. 

" He long mourned over the changes which every spring 
brought among his parishioners. His congregation had become 
a shifting one, and he could not stem the current. It was setting 
resistlessly upwards. Still, no new edifice, however splendid, 
could ever have taken the place, in his affections, of old St. 
George's. It had been, for nearly thirty years, the field, fruitful 
and extensive, of his labors ; and to no other could he ever have 
transferred the feelings of home and the interests of life. His 
views in relation to the proposed edifice, were in strict accordance 
with the lovely simplicity of his character. He desired a plain, 
modest building, in which the rich and the poor could worship 
God together. To the latter, the galleries were to be made free. 
He loved the poor. He never forgot the Saviour's words, ' To 
the poor the Gospel is preached.' Throughout his ministry, they 
received a large portion of his care." 

The following letter from Dr. Milnor's assistant, has also a 
reference to the same subject. 

"Missionary-Rooms, 27th March, 1845. 
" Rev. and dear Sir- — The Rev. Mr. Lewis, of Calvary ( free ) 
church, Brooklyn, happened to come this morning into the mis- 
sionary-rooms to hand me a contribution from his parish, which, 
by the way, was a very liberal one. The recent conversation in 



HIS MINISTRY. 587 

St. George's vestry-room, on the subject of free churches, led me 
to make inquiries of him as to the practical working of the sys- 
tem; and his replies were so satisfactory, and his statements so 
surprising, that I am prompted to communicate them to you. 

" I send you, herewith, a Tract which he published in 1843 ; 
and he assures me that the experience of two more years con- 
firms all he has there stated. He declares the system to be no 
longer an experiment, but a most successful enterprise. And 
this appears from the facts, that the rich and the poor do actually 
worship together ; that the only difficulty with which they have 
to contend, is want of room ; that one hundred more pews could 
be filled at once ; that he has as regular a congregation as any in 
Brooklyn, and numbering very many families of the highest re- 
spectability ; that he has on his list the names of 340 communi- 
cants, regularly worshipping in the church, to 300 of whom he 
administered the sacrament on Easter Sunday ; that aid was re- 
quired for the first six months only, since which, they have not 
only been a self-supporting congregation, but have contributed 
liberally to others ; that the receipts for 1844 were, subscriptions 
from the congregation, $2,000 ; plate collections, $900 ; contri- 
butions to missions and charitable objects, $800 ; expenses for 
music, etc., $500 — making an annual revenue of $4,200 ; cer- 
tainly a very remarkable result, when we consider the recent 
origin of the congregation and the moderate size of the edifice. 

" These and many other observations which went to show 
the harmony, interest, and prosperity which characterized the 
congregation, quite removed all the practical difficulties which 
seemed to me to encumber a very beautiful theory, and satisfied 
me, that could a church of proper dimensions and respectable 
appointments, be established in this city under your auspices, it 
would insure success to a very noble enterprise. 

" The continued zeal in the matter which Mr. Winston 
evinces, and his earnest desire to secure your countenance and 
cooperation, induce me, after conferring with him, to send you 
the foregoing information. If my own 'zeal' lack 'knowledge' 
in this matter, I pray you to excuse it. 

" I am, most respectfully and affectionately, yours, 
"The Rev. Dr. Milnor." "P P- IRVING." 



588 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

At what point, precisely, of this and all his other enterprises, 
he was finally interrupted, the annexed document in the margin 
will show.* We hasten to other incidents. 

* " At a meeting of the Vestry of St. George's church, 2d April, 1845, at five 
o'clock, P. M., the following communication was presented, and entered upon 
the minutes. 

" The Rector stated to the Vestry, that after service on Good Friday, he 
was applied to for the purpose of obtaining his influence and cooperation in 
the building of a free chapel of St. George's church, in the upper part of the 
city, where the rich and poor might worship together, according to the spirit 
of the Gospel and ancient usage. A former member of this parish had gener- 
ously offered a subscription of five thousand dollars, and to use his efforts in 
carrying forward the design to completion. The Rector stated his unwilling- 
ness to embark in this enterprise until he had the consent and concurrence of 
this Vestry ; and he felt the more delicacy after the remark of a member of 
the Vestry, who, in stating the wishes and designs of those who urged it, said, 
that in addition to other and weighty motives, they also designed it as a lasf^ 
ing memento of the piety, faithfulness, and extended usefulness of the present 
Rector of St. George's church. He hoped that the subject would be thor- 
oughly investigated by the Vestry through a committee, to report at a future 
meeting. 

"The Vestry resolved unanimously, to appoint a committee of five mem- 
bers to consider and report upon the subject at a future meeting; whereupon, 
the Rector appointed the five senior members, and was himself added as chair- 
man of the committee. 

" The Vestry then adjourned, and the gentlemen composing the committee 
remained to consider the subject, and came to the conclusion, with entire 
unanimity, to report in favor of the undertaking, upon the condition that 
Trinity church would contribute $25,000 towards it; there being at the same 
time reason to believe, that about an equal amount might be obtained from 
individuals friendly to the undertaking, the Reverend Rector offering himself 
to contribute towards it five thousand dollars. 

" When the committee adjourned, notwithstanding the evening was well 
advanced, the reverend chairman, with the energy and promptness for which he 
was so distinguished, prepared the following memorial to Trinity church, and 
sent it to a member of the committee about nine o'clock the next morning, 
with a request that he would hand it to the other members of the committee 
for examination : 

" ' To the Rector, Church- wardens, and Vestrymen of Trinity church, New 
York; the memorial of the Rector, Church- wardens, and Vestrymen of St. 
George's bhurch, New York, respectfully showeth, 

" ' That it has been represented to your memorialists, that an addition to 
the accommodations afforded for the public worship of Almighty God, accord- 
ing to the usages of our venerable church, in the upper part of the city, is ex- 
tremely desirable, and will soon, from the rapid increase of buildings in that 
quarter, become absolutely necessary ; and that there is a disposition on the 
part of many individuals, to contribute towards the erection of a free church, 



HIS MINISTRY. 589 

After his recovery in the winter of 1844, he enjoyed his usual 
health and vigor, both of body and of mind, insomuch that but 
for his thin white locks, he might well have been mistaken for a 
man of sixty, instead of one near the opening of his seventy- third 

in a location in the upper part of the city, sufficiently remote from other Epis- 
copal churches, provided the purchase of ground and the erection of such a 
"building should he undertaken by your memorialists, and be connected, as a 
chapel, with St. George's church. 

" c Your memorialists, therefore, believing that the increase in the number 
of Episcopal churches in this city, for the last thirty years, has not borne a just 
proportion to the increase of the population during that time ■ and that a com- 
modious edifice on the plan proposed, of leaving the sittings free, and the cur- 
rent expenses to be defrayed by the voluntary contributions of the worshippers, 
would be peculiarly acceptable to many of our members, and tend much to 
the enlargement of their numbers ; believing also, that the accomplishment 
of such an undertaking is practicable on the part of your memorialists, at an 
estimated cost of from sixty-jive to seventy thousand dollars, provided they can 
obtain from your body a sum adequate to meet the expense of purchasing suit- 
able lots for the erection of such edifice thereon, respectfully request your 
body to make them a grant of twenty-five thousand dollars in money, or lots 
of ground which may be estimated to be worth that sum, towards carrying the 
proposed object into execution ■ and your memorialists believe that the erec- 
tion of such edifice, without interfering with the interests of existing establish- 
ments, will most essentially contribute to the promotion of religion, and the 
growth and prosperity of our church — objects which they doubt not, your 
honorable body as well as your memorialists are anxious to promote. 

" i In the event of your concurrence in these views, and a grant being 
made from your funds of the sum required, your memorialists purpose to em- 
bark in the undertaking, and to pledge themselves, with the blessing of God, 
for its accomplishment upon a scale commensurate with the increasing wants 
of the church, and unincumbered with debt ; and your memorialists respect- 
fully and urgently request, that you will take the subject into consideration. 
and by a compliance with the request now made, enable your memorialists to 
proceed at once, with all reasonable expedition, to the commencement and ac- 
complishment of a design which they trust will conduce to the glory of God, 
the welfare of the community, and the honor and advantage of the church.' 

'•'The writer," [Mr. B. L. Woolley,] ' : being one of the committee of five 
appointed to consider and report upon the subject, called upon the reverend 
chairman of the committee on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 8th of April, 1845, 
with the draft of the above memorial, which had been sent to him for exami- 
nation, and remained with him about a couple of hours, conversing upon that 
and other subjects, as he was frequently in the habit of doing. On his leav- 
ing, the reverend chairman proposed a slight alteration in the phraseology of 
a small portion of the memorial, and in the course of the evening wrote it out 
in a fair copy. This was probably the last act of his useful life." [It may 
be added, that in consequence of his death, nothing has been heard, by way 
of response, from the corporation of Trinity church.] 



590 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

year. His form was still unbent, and his step quick and firm ; 
his voice was strong and free from tremulousness, and his eye 
bright and full of expression ; his complexion, too, wore its usual 
unwrinkled and ruddy freshness, and all his faculties of mind 
seemed as quick and undimmed as ever. In short, the approaches 
of age manifested themselves in little more than his growing 
fondness for repose and quiet meditation, and an increasing aver- 
sion to the strifes and noises of the age ; and even these feelings 
seemed, in a good degree, the promptings of a consciousness, 
never absent, that his years could not be many, and that his 
constitutional tendency exposed him every day to a sudden arrest 
and summons to depart. Under this consciousness, he may be 
said to have been now living and laboring by the day. 

On Sunday, the 6th of April, he preached an admirable dis- 
course on the subject of "a charitable judgment of the opinions 
and conduct of others," in which, without professing to do so, he 
yet really and ably illustrated and defended his own principles 
and life in all his past intercourse with Christians of different 
names. And on the evening of Tuesday, the 8th of the same 
month, he presided in his own study at a meeting of the Direc- 
tors of the Deaf and Dumb Institution, of which he was one of 
the founders, and had long been a beneficent patron. It was at 
the close of this meeting, that one of the directors congratulated 
him on his appearance of good health, and that in reply to the 
congratulation, he laid his hand upon his breast, and said, " I 
have something here, sir, that warns me to expect death at any 
moment." The warning was not causeless. In five hours from 
the adjournment of the directors, his body lay — a lifeless form ! 

What an appropriate gathering of incidents ! His last deed 
for the cause of Christ was amid labors of benevolence ; his last 
sermon to his flock was an elucidation of his whole Christian 
life;* and one of his last words showed, that though in appar- 
ently perfect health, he was yet waiting to die. 

* The last sermon which he ever preached was to the inmates of " the 
Asylum for Respectable Aged and Indigent Females," on the afternoon of Sun- 
day, April 6, two days before his death. Those inmates were much attached 
to him, and at the close of the service, crowded around to bid him, what they 
little thought was to be, a last farewell. 



HIS MINISTRY. 591 

Thus suddenly, and with little note of preparation, have we 
reached the event to which these pages have been tending. But 
not more suddenly, nor with less note of preparation, has it now 
come upon the reader, than it actually broke upon the family, 
on that sad night of the 8th of April, 1845, and upon the public 
ear, on the sorrowful morning of the following day. The partic- 
ulars of his death are furnished in the following letter from his 
son, who was his only medical attendant and nurse, and who 
wrote to Mr. Winston soon after the event. 

" Dear Sir — At your request, I will give you a brief account 
of the closing scene of my dear father's life. For some days pre- 
vious to his death, his general health appeared to be improved. 
There seemed to be a rallying of the powers of nature for a last 
effort. You will recollect with what strength of voice and energy 
of manner his last sermon in our church was delivered. At home, 
he was cheerful and happy ; engaging with all the animation and 
spirit of earlier years, in the new arrangements which were in 
contemplation. On the morning of Tuesday, the day which was 
to close his career, he appeared at family prayer and breakfast 
as well as usual. At noon, I saw him writing at the very desk 
from which these lines to you will issue, complaining of no ail- 
ment. I cautioned him respecting the change of weather, and 
left him. 

" On our reunion at the dinner-table, he informed me that 
during his walk that morning, his oppression and difficulty of 
breathing had been much worse than usual. what a pang 
shot through my own heart on listening to these words. For a 
year past, I had been confident that he labored under a disease 
of the heart, which was incurable, and would, in all probability, 
terminate instantly. Although I never distinctly told him my 
own opinion of his situation, and though to me the end seemed 
to be slowly, but surely approaching, and once that very day I 
had avoided a direct answer to his question, whether he had not 
a disease of the heart ; yet for a long time he was convinced that 
such was the case, and was unquestionably expecting a sudden 
termination of life. I advised him to keep quiet at home for the 
remainder of the day; and he did so" — presiding, however, as 



592 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

we have seen, at the meeting in his study of the Directors of the 
Deaf and Dumb Institution, and uttering the impressive words 
which have already been quoted. 

"At tea I saw no change. I sat with him until eight, and 
then left him reading. At half past nine, I visited him again ; 
he was still reading, and said he felt comfortable. At ten, I heard 
him pass my room door on his way to bed. He called loudly on 
my younger brother, who slept with him, to come to bed, and 
then retired to his own room. I was waiting until sufficient time 
had elapsed for his undressing before I made him my usual final 
visit for the night, when my brother entered, and bade me come 
immediately. On reaching his room, I found him sitting upon 
his bed in great distress, and gasping for breath ; not worse, how- 
ever, than I had often seen him before, when, by the blessing of 
Grod, I had been able to relieve him. I immediately adminis- 
tered the usual draught. He complained of great coldness, and 
said, ' Henry, I am dying — I am dying.'' I prepared a still 
stronger remedy, and while mixing it heard him calmly praying, 
1 God have mercy; have mercy — '" [Something scarcely audi- 
ble, the writer says, was added ; but whether it was a prayer for 
himself, his family, or his flock, he could not distinguish. This 
only could he perceive, that it was the prayer of a soul at peace, 
and sweetly breathing out its desires to Grod.] " On my present- 
ing him the mixture, he doubted his ability to swallow. I begged 
him to make the attempt. He did so, and succeeded. In a few 
moments he became insensible ; his breath grew softer ; and his 
spirit passed so quietly away, that I knew not the exact moment 
of its passing. 

" So went to his gracious reward this best of fathers, full of 
years and of honors in his Saviour's cause. He died with his 
harness on. He had long stood watching at the portals of eter- 
nity, listening for the Spirit's song to call him home. That strain 
was sounding in his ears when I reached his bedside. It was not 
for human voice to call him back when the heavenly Harper was 
bidding him away. " Yours, very truly, 

"WM. H. MILNOR." 

To show how deliberately and habitually, though in silence 
and by himself, he had for some time been " setting his house in 



HIS MINISTRY. 593 

order," in expectation of a sudden death, the following extract 
from the " Recollections" is given : 

" The last sermon which he began to write, was from Psalm 
16 : 8 : 'I have set the Lord always before me : because he is at 
my right hand, I shall not be moved? The manuscript is now 
before me. Only one page is finished, and that page closes with 
the following sentence, the last he ever wrote for his people : 
' The faithful servant of God desires not only to cultivate an 
habitual regard to his presence, as a matter of duty, but also to 
enjoy a constant sense of that presence, as a special privilege.'' 
How soon was he permitted to enjoy, not a mere foretasting 
sense, but the actual presence of God himself ! 

" As he had for some time evidently been looking for a sudden 
call, so all his actions seemed to have a reference to it. Thus, 
all his accounts were carefully made up, and useful memoranda 
were placed where they could easily be found. He had indeed 
' set his house in order? 

"A few days before his death, his daughter Ellen's health 
required a change of climate, and her mother accompanied her 
to the South. - He yielded to the necessity of the case, but parted 
from them with great reluctance. He doubtless felt, that so far 
as earth is concerned, the parting would be final. He stood on 
the wharf with me gazing after them till they were lost in the 
distance, and then, with an attempt at cheerfulness which I saw 
he did not feel, turned away. Passing the market on our way 
home, he requested me to step in with him. He went round and 
introduced me to all with whom he was in the habit of dealing, 
saying with a smile, ' You know not how soon this duty of mar- 
keting may devolve on you.' " 

The reference in this extract to his sad parting with his 
wife, explains an allusion in the foregoing letter, to the fact that 
a "younger brother" slept with his father. There was a sort 
of unacknowledged recognition of the truth, that it had become 
unsafe for him to sleep alone. Nor was Eleanor's afflictive 
and protracted illness, with the consequent absence of her mo- 
ther and herself, the only circumstance which, at that moment, 
tended to make the rectory of St. George's more than usually 
lonely. The youngest son was at the same time on his way to 

Mem. Milnor. 3 8 



594 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Europe, in the prosecution of the business in which he had en- 
gaged. Thus almost alone did the master of the mansion pass 
away. And yet he was not alone, for, besides the hand of filial 
tenderness that ministered to his case, God was with him ; and 
with that presence his departing soul was doubtless satisfied. 
He felt the Lord " at his right hand; 11 and therefore he was 
" not moved 11 In the calmness of prayer he communed with 
his Father even while passing the gate of death ; and therefore 
breathed his soul away so softly, even as it had been a babe fall- 
ing quietly asleep on its mother's bosom. 

From this brief notice of the good man's death, of the circum- 
stances under which it occurred, and of his preparation for the 
event, we must pass to dwell a few moments on the impression 
which it made on the public mind, and on the regards which 
were paid to his memory. 

It may be said with truth, that seldom, if ever, have simul- 
taneous and wide-spread expressions of public grief testified more 
loudly or more touch ingly to the worth of a departed man of 
God, than those which were poured forth upon the announcement 
of Dr. Milnor's sudden demise. He had not been living in his 
closet alone, nor in his study chiefly, perusing or producing those 
volumes which elicit the world's loud praises or louder strictures, 
to soothe or to torture the living author's ear. " Fruitur sua fa- 
ma 11 could indeed be said of him, if not as a living scholar, at least 
as a living actor, moving among the multitudes whom his benefi- 
cent life had blessed, and enjoying the secret consciousness of a 
well-earned fame. Still, it was not during life that even as an 
actor in its busy scenes, his worth was fully proclaimed, and his 
praises fully uttered. Towards the living philanthropist, the liv- 
ing man of beneficent activity, the world often behaves not only 
with something of fitting modesty, lest its praises should seem 
like flattery, but also with something of apparent indifference, 
because not fully conscious of the blessings which it is receiving. 
In such cases, it is only when the instrument of those blessings 
is removed, that men awake to a true sense of their indebtedness, 
or give free vent to the emotions which had been silently growing 
into strength within them. It was so in the present case. Al- 
though he was a well-read divine, yet he was most emphatically 



HIS MINISTRY. 595 

a man of action. In this character, too, the Christian world 
knew him widely, and widely appreciated the great value of his 
services; yet it was not till he was gone, that it was prepared 
fully to express its appreciation, or even fully to realize the value 
of what it appreciated. But when death came, and he no longer 
walked among living men, then his true worth was felt in the dis- 
tressful void produced : grief burst forth on every hand ; and deep 
acknowledgments to God were made for the rare blessing so long 
enjoyed, so late removed. The religious press, of every Christian 
denomination, and in every part of the country, spoke forth the 
strength and fervor of the common sentiment ; nor was even the 
secular press either less prompt or less emphatic in its utterances. 
The various societies, greater and smaller, of which he had been 
a member, met and mourned, and gave published expressions of 
their sorrows and their sense of loss. The clergy of his own 
church, of all orders and of all opinions, united in heart-felt 
tributes to his memory and his worth. The great anniversaries 
in New York, which occurred soon after his death, spread 
throughout Protescant Christendom the loud wail of sorrow for 
the dead, and the equally loud note of gratitude to God that the 
dead had lived. The pulpit, especially of the Episcopal church, 
gave voice in cities and in villages to the universal feeling ; and 
in many of the religious periodicals of the country, obituaries of 
various length swelled the testimony of the day to the truth, that 
a greatly good and a greatly useful Christian had gone to his rest. 
And finally, private letters and official communications, from 
individuals and from societies, poured into the bosom of the 
bereaved household, in unstinted measure, the healing balms of 
sympathy and of a just appreciation of the character and services 
of its departed head. 

The attempt to collect what was thus, in various forms, done 
and said and published, would of itself require a volume ; and 
therefore will not here be made. For this place the foregoing 
allusions will suffice. 

The funeral took place on Friday, at four o'clock, P. M., and 
was a most 'affecting and solemn ceremony. " So intense," says 
one of the published notices of the event, " was the desire on the 
part of the public to pay the last tribute of respect to his mem- 



596 MEMOIR OF DR. MIL1STOR. 

ory, that the galleries of St. George's church were filled some 
hours before the time announced for the interment ; and so soon 
as the doors were opened, and the coffin was carried into the 
church, the spacious building was filled to overflowing. Among 
those present, were clergymen of nearly every denomination, in- 
cluding most of those belonging to the Episcopal church, the 
respective Boards of the American and New York Bible Societies, 
the Tract Society, the Deaf and Dumb Institution, and all the 
pupils." " The church was apparelled in deep mourning, and 
the chandeliers were veiled in black crape." " The choir sung 
the anthem, ' Yital spark of heavenly flame ;' and the Rev. Dr. 
Tyng delivered the funeral address ; often laboring under deep 
emotion, only repressed with great effort; and many of both 
sexes wept nearly the whole time of its delivery." 

A similar scene was presented the next Sunday morning, 
when the funeral sermon was delivered. In that scene, it is 
true, there were no public representatives of either ecclesiastical 
or benevolent organizations, and the sentiment which prevailed 
was somewhat sobered in its tone by the fact that " the narroiv 
house 1 '' of the dead was no longer visible to the eye. But the 
house of God was similarly crowded, and a sacredly tender so- 
lemnity breathed over the great congregation, and through the 
affecting services of the morning ; as if it were a consciousness, 
that though the form of the holy dead was sleeping beneath, yet 
his spirit was still hovering above, and holding, deep-felt, with 
his sorrowing friends, the mystic "communion of saints." 

His remains repose beneath the chancel from which he so 
often delighted to dispense the symbols of his Saviour's love ; 
while in the recess, on a lofty base, rises a beautiful marble bust, 
which by its faithful likeness, speaks continually to long-lived 
feelings of love and veneration in the hearts of his surviving and 
affectionate flock. 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 597 

PART VI. 

RETROSPECT OP DR. MILNOR'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, 



All that now remains to be done, in giving to the world the 
life of this faithful servant of Christ, is to present some general 
views of his position, influence, and character, upon which, dur- 
ing the progress of the work, it has not been convenient to dwell. 
Upon several points, little could be said with effect before reach- 
ing the termination of his course. They are seen to better ad- 
vantage in looking back, and regarding them as fixed points, than 
in looking at them by the way, and regarding them as moving 
points. There are several things which run through his Christian 
and ministerial l^fe, and being chiefly of uniform tenor, present 
few occasions for special remark ; but which, when seen in their 
completeness, as each a whole, well deserve particular consider- 
ation. Whatever was special in the matters to which reference 
is here made, has received sufficiently special notice in passing. 
Hence, to general views only is the reader's attention now to be 
directed. 

I. DR MILNOR'S CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 

This connection was formed almost contemporaneously with 
his entrance upon the ministry, was based on principle, and was 
therefore consistently and perseveringly maintained. The prin- 
ciple on which he acted in his early and continued connection 
with that great institution, may be thus unfolded. 

He regarded all bodies, professedly Christian, who hold the 
Bible as their rule of faith, on the ground of its divine inspira- 
tion and authority, as, in some valid sense, parts of the visible 
Church of Christ. He was not of the number of those who limit 
the boundaries of this Church, so as to include those millions only 
which are covered by an episcopally constituted ministry and 
government, and who consequently regard the remaining millions 



598 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of Christians, so called, as neither churches, nor parts of the 
Church, but as, in their collective states, certain nameless mon- 
strosities, engendered, amid the outer darkness of the world, by 
the few rays of light which have happened to straggle beyond 
the favored pale of privilege. On the contrary, he looked upon 
these millions as lying within that pale ; as in the Church, and 
of the Church ; as being, many of them, highly illuminated, and 
as animated with much of the best life and power of the Gospel 
of Christ. Taking this view, he held that there is a unity which 
reaches and includes all who are thus distinguished — a unity 
which holds in one visible whole all the particular members of 
Christ on earth. Of this unity, therefore, he held that there 
ought to be, especially among Protestants, some visible expres- 
sion^ some recognized badge. This visible expression, this 
recognized badge, so far as our country is concerned, he could 
find nowhere more appropriately than in the union of Christians 
of different names in the American Bible Society, an institution 
whose sole work is to prepare and circulate through the world 
the simple standard of their common faith, hope, and practice. 
The question with him was not so much whether such a union 
were at present literally practicable and harmoniously main- 
tainable, as whether it were not desirable, and ought not, as far 
and as fast as possible, to be realized. Whether it were not, in 
the highest sense, important to the efficiency, the growth, the 
best interests of the Church of Christ. Answering this question 
as his soberest Christian judgment constrained him to answer it, 
the decision left nothing in him for doubt, wavering, or hesita- 
tion. He gave to such a union his unqualified allegiance ; and 
it was one of the great works of his Christian life to embody, 
illustrate, and extend the practicability, the benefits, and the 
blessedness of living in so divine a bond. 

Entering this union, then, with such views, the question nat- 
urally arises, What were the position which he held, the influ- 
ence which he exerted, and the labors which he performed, in 
connection with the American Bible Society ? To this question, 
an answer in part may be drawn from the foregoing narrative of 
his ministerial life. But an answer in full requires a farther 
statement. And, happily, with the materials for such a state- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 599 

merit we have been furnished by the excellent Corresponding Sec- 
retary of the Society, the Rev. Dr. Brigham, so long one of the 
worthy associates of Dr. Milnor in the conduct of the institution. 
The materials furnished by Dr. Brigham are, indeed, but a sum- 
mary. In the following statement, therefore, they will be used 
without strict confinement to the language in which they have 
been communicated. They are valuable for the dates and facts 
which they certify, and for the views of character which, as the 
result of long and familiar intercourse, they express. 

" This distinguished man became interested in the cause of 
the Bible before his removal from Pennsylvania ; and his interest 
there was strongly favored by the well-known views of his be- 
loved diocesan, Bishop White. Upon his settlement in New 
York, in the summer and fall of 1816, the American Bible Soci- 
ety had been but a few months in existence. He lost no time in 
connecting himself with it as an active member ; and continued 
to labor in its service until the very week of his decease. 

" In 1819 he was appointed Domestic Secretary ; an office 
which involved an active correspondence with the various 
branches, auxiliaries, and agents of the institution throughout 
the United States. In this capacity too, he prepared and pre- 
sented the fourth annual report of the society, at its anniversary 
in May, 1820 ; an able and interesting document of forty-five 
octavo pages. In 1820 he was appointed Foreign Secretary, as 
successor to the Rev. Dr. Mason ; and in this capacity he main- 
tained, for many years, an active correspondence with the British 
and Foreign Bible Society ; thus bringing the experience and 
counsels of that great institution to the aid of the younger organ- 
ization which he represented. It was in his capacity as For- 
eign Secretary, that Dr. Milnor represented the American Bible 
Society in London, during the great anniversaries in the spring 
of 1830. 

" But his most important services in this cause were ren- 
dered, in connection with committees and the board, in the trans- 
action of business. For many years he was chairman of the 
committee on versions ; a committee whose duty it was to 
examine and certify the correctness of all the Scriptures pub- 



600 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

lished and circulated in various languages, at home and abroad. 
After the publication of the facsimile copy of ' King James' 
Bible' in 1837, he and his associates on the committee, aided by 
a skilful proof-reader, compared that issued by the society with 
the copy referred to, and carefully noted every instance of change 
which in the course of two centuries had occurred. This, of 
itself, was a labor of no ordinary magnitude, and resulted in 
giving to the society a standard, for which all its members and 
friends should be grateful." 

It was while Dr. Milnor held the place of chairman of the 
committee on versions, that the unhappy controversy arose 
which resulted in the withdrawment from the union of the 
greater part of the Baptist denomination, and in the separate 
organization of a society for the preparation and distribution of 
the Scriptures. The origin of that controversy was, a request 
from the English Baptist missionaries in Bengal, for aid from the 
American Bible Society in publishing a version of the Bengalee 
Scriptures, in which the Greek terms baptize and baptism 
were translated by words signifying immerse and immersion ; 
and which, for this reason, the Calcutta Bible Society had refused 
to patronize. Without being aware of the fact that the Burmese 
translation by Dr. Judson, was made on the same principle, 
the American Bible Society had aided in circulating this latter 
version ; and hence the Baptists of Bengal supposed there would 
be no objection to aid in publishing the Bengalee version which 
they had prepared. When, therefore, upon a discovery of the 
facts, the American Bible Society determined to follow the 
example of that of Calcutta, in refusing the patronage which 
was asked, the Baptists of the United States organized a sepa- 
rate institution. It was a subject in which Dr. Milnor felt a 
deep interest, and took a kind, yet leading and decided part; 
and when the managers of the American Bible Society felt con- 
strained publicly to vindicate their principles and course in the 
matter, the work of preparing their vindication was assigned to 
Dr. Milnor ; a work which he performed in an able pamphlet of 
sixteen octavo pages. 

" For the last ten years of his life, Dr. Milnor was also chair- 
man of the committee charged with, the duty of making arrange- - 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 601 

ments for the successive anniversaries of the society ; and it was 
on business with this committee that he made his last visit to 
the Bible house. At this meeting the arrangements for the 
twenty-ninth anniversary were completed; the speakers were 
engaged, the place of meeting for the anniversary was secured, 
and all things were ready. But when, a few days afterwards, 
the anticipated gathering of the friends of the Bible took place, 
he, who had done so much towards giving shape and order to the 
proceedings, was not there. He had been called from his willing 
labors, and had entered on his gracious reward." 

The following is the notice of his character and services which 
the Board of Managers took in their twenty-ninth report ; 

" Within a few days, one who had been a devoted fellow- 
laborer, and was chairman of the committee to make arrange- 
ments for this anniversary, has been called in a moment from 
his associates, leaving a vacancy in the society which few or none 
can fill. It may not be improper to record, with more minute- 
ness, some of the qualities which rendered Dr. Milnor so pecu- 
liarly useful in this institution. 

" One quality was his familiarity with business. Having 
been trained, in early life, to the legal profession, and for many 
years engaged in it, as well as occupied, to some extent, in legis- 
lative proceedings, he was prepared oftentimes to render a service 
here which ordinary clergymen could not. On questions con- 
nected with finance, making of contracts, charitable bequests, 
and rules of order, his counsels were often of great service. 

" Another quality was his candor, or freedom from prejudice. 
In a body like this, composed of men educated and trained under 
very differing circumstances, it might be expected that questions 
difficult of adjustment would sometimes arise. Occasionally 
they did arise. But the deceased approached all such questions 
with a frankness, sincerity, and kindness of manner which se- 
cured the confidence of his associates, making them feel that 
truth and right were the only objects of his aim. All listened 
with candor to what he proposed. His open and courteous de- 
meanor in this body, for more than a quarter of a century, has 
had much to do in promoting that harmony and mutual confi- 
dence which so generally prevail in its deliberations. 



602 MEMOIR OF DR. MIL^OR. 

" Another, and a crowning quality, was his scriptural and 
catholic piety. While he was sincerely and avowedly attached 
to the peculiarities of his own denomination, he could rejoice in 
discovering the image of Christ under any outward form ; and 
where he could consistently, he united with those who bore that 
image, in diffusing, among the ignorant and perishing, the bless- 
ings of a common Christianity. In the Bible cause, this noble, 
fraternal spirit had ample scope. Having one common book to 
prepare and circulate — and that the divine book — and receiving 
it heartily as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, he 
could labor with his might for its diffusion ; and, to enlarge the 
measure of success, could unite with all who held it in like esti- 
mation, and thus aim, if possible, to impart its light to every 
benighted creature. 

" Qualities like these, united with a rare cheerfulness and 
urbanity of manners, not only rendered the deceased of great 
service to this institution, but made him, at the same time, one 
of the most endeared of friends. There is no one of his associ- 
ates but feels that he has sustained a personal loss, and all will 
cherish in sweet remembrance the bright example which has been 
so long before them." 

Thus far the annual report. The following remarks by Dr. 
Brigham are in the same spirit : " I became connected with the 
society in 1826, young and inexperienced. I felt the need of 
much counsel, and sought it from those who had been long con- 
nected with the board. As Dr. M ilnor still performed many of the 
duties of foreign secretary, and was chairman of one, and some- 
times of two standing committees, I was led, as a matter of ne- 
cessity, to seek his advice. I was, at times, obliged to call on him 
when he was pressed with business, and more than once or twice 
to see him in his sick room, and in more or less pain. Yet in all 
my interviews with him, I never found him irritable or repulsive, 
but ever kind, affable, and ready to do all in his power to solve 
my doubts, and help on the good cause in which we were engaged. 

" On committees he was ever punctual, courteous, intelligent, 
and of course influential ; and it was always felt, by his associ- 
ates, to be a pleasure thus to labor with him in their great com- 
mon cause. 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 603 

"One noble trait in his character I early noticed, and have 
often had occasion to admire ; I mean his candor, his readiness 
to recognize and follow truth, wherever and whenever discerned, 
without inquiring what this or that man or party would say. I 
have seen him, after earnestly defending one side of a question, 
find, on presentation of evidence, that he had been mistaken ; 
and then, with a disinterested frankness, say that he saw reason 
to change his views and his vote. I have seen him do this when 
very few would have done so, although all were constrained to 
admire his course. This sincere, catholic spirit of his has had 
much to do in giving harmony to the operations of the board ; 
and my hope is, that a remembrance of his example will long 
exert a salutary influence." 

It is of course impossible, from so brief a statement as the 
foregoing, even with the aid of what has been said in earlier 
pages of the Memoir, to estimate truly the amount of labor which, 
in the course of nine and twenty years, must have been per- 
formed by so active and ever-punctual a member of the Bible 
Society. Numberless special efforts, journeys, speeches on plat- 
forms, and other calls to duty, must lie unobserved of us, though 
at the time they neither wanted observation, nor were unaccom- 
panied by toil. One only of these many engagements now lies 
on record before the writer, in the shape of a vote of thanks from 
the board of managers for the " truly catholic and excellently 
appropriate address" which he delivered "on occasion of the 
first meeting of the managers in their new rooms," about the 
1st of January, 1823, accompanied by a request that he would 
" furnish a copy thereof for publication." 

But although the amount of his labors may not be easily 
estimated, yet the importance of his position, and the dignity 
with which he maintained himself in it, may without difficulty 
be apprehended. In that position, indeed, he was strongly as- 
sailed by influences which it was most difficult to resist. But 
he stood firm till the storm of opposition and obloquy had spent 
its force, and then for long years calmly maintained his stand- 
ing amid the sunshine of general favor; Christians of all Prot- 
estant names admiring his consistency and his constancy, and 



604 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

multitudes of his own denomination in particular, rallying round 
him in the heavenly cause of union for the dissemination of the 
pure word of God. In this latter respect his influence was pre- 
cious. To his quiet perseverance the Episcopal Church owes 
much of its present interest in the cause of the American Bible 
Society. Had he quailed before the stern frown of opposition, 
spirits of feebler nerve would never have ventured to meet the 
intimidation. But he lived long enough to see that frown die of 
self-exhaustion; and now the cause has a hold on our church 
which cannot easily be broken. Henceforth, it is opposition that 
will be afraid to take its stand in public. It may murmur in 
private, but it is too feeble for overt acts. The cause of union, 
the union of Christian hearts and labors, without any sacrifice of 
essential principles, is incalculably indebted to the dignified stand 
so firmly taken and so calmly held by the late rector of St. 
George's. 



This was but the consistent carrying out of the principle 
involved in his connection with the American Bible Society. If 
the Bible contain the whole of a common Christianity, and be 
the only infallible standard of its truths, so as to render a union 
of Christians for the distribution of the Bible desirable and 
practicable, and at the same time a suitable visible expression 
of the unity which reaches and includes all really Bible Chris- 
tians, then certainly there must be a unity which extends to a 
still further point. A unity which includes those who recognize 
the Bible as their only standard of infallible authority, clearly 
supposes that there is, in the Bible, a body of truths or doctrines 
which are held and cherished, if not by all who call themselves 
Christians, yet by all who really are Christians; that these truths, 
or doctrines, however men may differ about other things in the 
Bible, are certainly discoverable; that the unity of true Chris- 
tians, in holding them, is not a vision of something that ought 
to be, but a verity that actually exists ; and that, therefore, of 
this unity also there ought to be some visible expression, some 
recognized badge. This expression and badge, then, of the unity 
of all true Christians in holding the essential and vital truths or 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 605 

doctrines of a common Christianity, are what the organization 
of the American Tract Society was designed to furnish. This 
institution is organized on the principle of publishing and circu- 
lating those truths only which all evangelical Christians agree 
in regarding as vital; that is, essential to salvation, or sufficient, 
when blessed by the Spirit, and received into the faith of the 
heart, to insure the salvation of all who thus receive them. The 
institution is based on two great axioms in Christian ethics: 

1. That it is idle to expect that all true Christians will think 
exactly alike, or adopt precisely the same opinions on all external, 
or even all subordinate internal points of the Christian system. 

2. That it is worse than idle, it is disastrous to the best hopes of 
the Gospel, to allow the divisions which have taken place upon 
external, or upon subordinate internal points of Christianity, to 
run into total and hostile separations, so as to leave no visible 
sign or badge of the unity which really exists in matters both 
internal and essential, marking all true Christians as one saved 
body in Christ. Such is the standing point of the American Tract 
Society. It leave? all Christians unmolested in their opinions, 
and support of opinions, on points not fundamental, and seeks the 
union of all true Christians under at least one outward sign and 
badge of their real unity in whatever is essential or sufficient to 
salvation. In dignity and value, beauty and loveliness, it is twin 
sister to the Bible Society; second in birth, and only second in 
its claims to profound affection and regard. 

Dr. Milnor felt all this in the deepest sensibilities of his re- 
newed nature. He saw Christians of various names acknow- 
ledging one Bible, yet wanting something visible and tangible to 
show that they all belonged to one and the same body of Christ. 
The moment, therefore, the plan of the American Tract Society 
was submitted to him in his sick room, in the winter of 1825, just 
after he began his return from the brink of the grave, he adopted 
it with the freest, fullest action of his feelings and his judgment, 
inserted permanent modifications into its constitution, and identi- 
fied himself for life with its founders, its history, and its fortunes. 
An account of these incidents has already been given, but of all 
that followed little or nothing has yet been said. Dr. Milnor's 
labors in the Tract Society were even more abundant than those 



606 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

in the Bible cause. Its faithful Secretary, however, the Rev. Mr. 
Hallock, who laid the plan of the society before Dr. Milnor in his 
sick room, and who continued to labor with him until his death, has 
furnished us with the materials for such a statement as is needed 
to bring out this part of the Memoir into proper distinctness. 

'•New York, Jan. 29, 1846. 
"Rev. Dr. Stone, 

"Respected and dear Sir — I present you herewith copies of 
letters and documents written by Dr. Milnor, to which you may 
wish to refer in preparing his Memoir. They may serve as way- 
marks of his labors for twenty years in connection with the Amer- 
ican Tract Society. But what he did and desired for this insti- 
tution better appears in its nearly twelve hundred publications, 
stereotyped under his sanction, together with two thousand ap- 
proved for circulation in foreign lands ; in the spread of the So- 
ciety's influence in this and other countries ; and in the multi- 
tudes already, by these means, brought into the kingdom of 
Christ, and established in the hope of their eternal salvation. It 
is more fully written in the hearts of those who so long and so 
happily cooperated with him in these works of Christian benefi- 
cence. But it is fully known to God only, who saw every im- 
pulse of his benevolent heart, listened to every prayer which he 
offered for divine direction, and watched every hour of the conse- 
cration of his active and finely balanced mind to the great results 
already achieved, and destined, as we trust, long to bless our 
revolted world. In reference to this object, his course was one 
and the same from the hour when it was first proposed to him, 
to that in which God called him to rest with his Redeemer 
above. 

" The impressions made on my mind, at my first interview 
during his illness, were but deepened by his uniform course 
through twenty years. Knowing the pressure of his public du- 
ties, I felt bound not needlessly to engross a moment of his time. 
But his ear was ever open. If the cause of Christ demanded 
either counsel or labor, he was ready to give it ; and I can truly 
say, that in all he counselled and all he did, a supreme desire to 
honor the Redeemer by the advancement of his kingdom in the 
eternal welfare of men, and a desire cordially to unite evangeli- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 607 

cal Christians of every name in the work of God, seemed the pre- 
dominant motives of his heart. I think it no disparagement to 
any other man, living or dead, to say, that I know of no one who 
exceeded Dr. Milnor in genuine catholic feeling. Perhaps few, 
if any, ever did so much to bind together truly evangelical Chris- 
tians. He himself was a bond that united thousands. His piety 
towards God and his love towards man were deep and enduring ; 
and his affection for the great foundation-truths of the Gospel, of 
vital godliness, of the religion that humbles man, exalts God, and 
trusts in nothing but atoning blood and the power of the Holy 
Spirit, was stronger than death. 

" Every important measure adopted by the Society previous 
to his demise, passed under his sanction, and received his cordial 
concurrence. Every annual report was prepared under his super- 
vision, and every anniversary was honored by his presence, except 
the report and the anniversary for 1830, when he went a delegate 
to the London Tract Society. His public addresses had a pow- 
erful interest ; and if any new modes of operation or other sub- 
jects of importance were to be presented, the duty was usually 
devolved on him, and was in all cases most acceptably and suc- 
cessfully performed. His talents for business, and for presiding-, 
whether at large deliberative meetings, or in the small commit- 
tee ; his intuitive discernment of propriety ; his promptness in 
decisions ; his facility and despatch in reaching desired results ; 
his dignity, mingled with sweetness, and sometimes almost play- 
fulness of manner ; his uniform kindness and courtesy, and far- 
reaching benevolence, rendered his presence always attractive, 
and won him the love and the confidence of all who cooperated 
with him. 

"As an illustration of the reference to his 'sweetness and 
almost playfulness of manner,' when presiding on committees, 
the following incident occurs to memory. At a meeting of the 
Executive Committee, when a letter from the Hon. Peter Browne, 
her majesty's charge d'affaires at Copenhagen, had been read, 
expressing the most evangelical and catholic sentiments, 'I 
presume,' said the chairman, ' that the writer of that letter must 
be an Episcopalian ; first, from his orthodoxy, and second, from 
his love of Christian union /' There was a mingled gravity and 



608 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

pleasantly perfectly intelligible in his manner, which very hap- 
pily reminded the circle of the confidence and Christian union 
which they were themselves enjoying. 

" He manifested to the last a growing attachment to the So- 
ciety ; and perhaps no man ever presided so long over commit- 
tees so unanimous, and united by so sacred a bond. I think it is 
a fact, that he never heard 'nay' but in one single instance, to 
any question which, as chairman of the Tract Society's commit- 
tees, he put, during the whole course of his twenty years' con- 
nection with them ; and in that instance the resolutions were 
reconsidered, and a unanimous result reached. 

"As chairman of the Executive Committee, his counsel was 
sought on all important questions coming before them ; and as 
chairman of the Publishing Committee, residing near the Socie- 
ty's house, and with the promptness and facility in business 
alluded to, almost every publication examined, went to him first ; 
and as those which he judged unworthy of further examination 
were not sent to the other members, he had a larger share of 
reading than the rest. Generally, he completed the examina- 
tions at the earliest practicable hour ; wrote his decisions in neat 
notes, that might be at hand when the committee should meet 
for final action, or that would be available in case of his sudden 
death, or providential absence ; and promptly returned the books 
or manuscripts, that those which were to be read by others might 
be transmitted without needless delay. At the hour of his death, 
two such notes were actually in the Society's house, prepared for 
meetings which he did not live to attend ; and one of the two 
was a renewed and noble expression of his catholic feeling. 

" Near the close of his life, occurred an incident as interest- 
ing and as tender as any thing in the incipient stages of the 
Society's existence. 

"A highly respectable delegation from the committee of the 
Branch American Tract Society at Boston, spent three days with 
the Executive Committee of the Society in New York, carefully 
considering the facts of its history, and the principles on which 
its operations had been conducted. Almost the first murmur of 
complaint against the Society had recently been heard ; and it 
seemed to assume the form of a question whether the Society's 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 609 

publications and aims were thoroughly and soundly spiritual and 
evangelical. This led to a review of the principal facts in the 
Society's history, and of the aims and motives by which the 
members of the committee had been governed ; and called up the 
most tender recollections of what God had done for the Society, 
while one and another gave a narrative of the past as it had 
affected his own mind. A large number of the original officers 
were present ; and all the scenes of twenty years presenting 
themselves at a glance to the tender heart of our beloved chair- 
man, more than once excited emotions which found relief in 
tears, and more than once prompted him to call on some one to 
address the throne of grace. On the morning of the third and 
last day, the first president of the Society unexpectedly entered ; 
and addressing the chairman, adverted to the prayer, and hope, 
and ties of Christian love, in which the institution was founded, 
and to the evident smiles of God which had attended all its 
course. The chairman commenced a reply ; but overcome by 
tender recollections, was obliged to sit down and compose him- 
self before proceeding. On that occasion, he reminded the circle 
around him, that he had often thought his other and arduous 
duties might compel him to relinquish his labors on the Publish- 
ing Committee ; but he now assured them, that while those labors 
should be needed, and while God spared his life, they should not 
be withheld. 

" But I will not add. His record is on high. It cannot be 
fully given here. It is ever pleasant to dwell on his memory. 
God be praised for what he was. Thousands love the Society the 
better for all he did in it ; and the thought makes heaven the 
sweeter to our hope, that we shall there join our beloved chair- 
man in praising our Redeemer with perfect hearts and unfalter- 
ing tongues. The official documents of the Society bespeak the 
preciousness of his memory ; and God hath said of such as he, 
{ They that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for 
ever and ever.' 

" With great respect and esteem, 

" Your brother in Christ, 

"WILLIAM A. HALLOCK." 

Mem. Milnor. 39 



610 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

The letters and documents which accompanied the above 
most valuable and acceptable paper, are of themselves, as illus- 
trative of Dr. Milnor's connection with the Tract Society, almost 
enough for a volume. Considering, therefore, the size which the 
Memoir has already reached, it must suffice to add a small selec- 
tion as a sample of the whole. 

" The following practical suggestions by Dr. Milnor, which 
were inserted in the fourth annual report of the Society, and 
afterwards adopted for the governance of the Publishing Commit- 
tee, give an idea of one of the varieties of labor, which from time 
to time have devolved on that hard-working body. 

" The committee take this occasion to state, that the offers of 
premiums for tracts have become so numerous, that the Publish- 
ing Committee feel compelled to relinquish the labor and respon- 
sibility of examining them and deciding upon their merits. The 
amount of labor which the performance of this duty has devolved 
upon the Publishing Committee, may be estimated from the fact, 
that in the selection of three premium tracts and ten handbills, 
which have been approved during the past year, they have exam- 
ined, including the handbill tracts, 452 ; and 82 exclusive of 
these shorter productions. The reasonableness of their being 
relieved from the heavy responsibility of this duty, is increased by 
the consideration of the almost unavoidable dissatisfaction with 
their decisions, which will be felt by at least a portion of those 
whose productions are not rewarded by the offered premium. 
The difficulty of deciding between tracts possessing nearly the 
same degree of merit, is often great ; and the impracticability of 
stating to the authors of those that are not successful, the par- 
ticular grounds of preference for those approved, precludes the 
committee from all means of explanation. The seeming disre- 
spect to such authors, in the rejection of essays which have cost 
them much labor, and often possess no small portion of intrinsic 
merit, may have a tendency to produce feelings of alienation 
from the Society, and of unkindness towards the members of the 
Publishing Committee. These evils will be avoided, and every 
purpose which benevolent individuals may have in view in the 
offer of premiums for tracts, be answered, by their ovm selec- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 611 

tion of persons to whose examination the manuscripts may be 
subjected ; and then, if it be desired that the tract to which the 
premium is awarded be published by this Society, it may be sub- 
mitted to the determination of its Publishing Committee how far 
it is suitable for admission into the Society's series of tracts." 

In obedience to the following instructions, Dr. Milnor per- 
formed very important labors during his visit to London. 

" At a meeting of the Executive Committee, March 11, 1830, 
it was 

" Resolved, That the Rev. Dr. Milnor be requested, in his con- 
templated visit to London, to ascertain, as far as practicable, the 
origin and history of such of the publications of the Religious Tract 
Society in that city, as have been reprinted by the American Tract 
Society ; especially how far such of them as are narratives, are 
a record of facts ; and also the principles on which the London 
Tract Society have proceeded, in relation to the subject of issuing 
fictitious publications." It was also 

" Resolved, That Dr. Milnor be requested, during his travels 
abroad, to obtain all such information, and to procure a copy of 
such publications as, in his opinion, will be useful in the future 
labors of this committee." 

These instructions, it may be proper to remark, were founded 
on the principle, early adopted by the American Tract Society, 
that religious fiction concurs with ordinary novels in vitiating 
the taste and morals of the age ; the fiction being read less for 
the valuable truths which it teaches, than for the unhealthy 
excitement which it supplies. On this ground, the narrative 
tracts of our Society are well-ascertained facts ; and in this re- 
spect, our Society differs somewhat not only from the London 
Religious Tract Society, but also from the American Sunday- 
School Union, and frora many of the religious authors of the 
age. The only apology for religious fiction lies in the plea, that 
as novel-reading is an almost universal indulgence of our times, 
it is better that children should read those fictions which may 
possibly communicate truth, than that they should devour those 
which will probably instil error. This, however, leaves out of 
view the all-important considerations, that religious fictions, early 



612 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

placed in the hands of children, inevitably generate a passion 
for the mischievous and more exciting novels of the day ; that 
they thus become the prime springs of corruption to their liter- 
ary tastes, unfitting their minds to feed on more solid and whole- 
some nutriment, and stimulating them till they become obese, 
or bloated by the masses of trash which they devour ; and that 
it is the duty of the Christian press to counteract, instead of 
cooperating with one of the most serious evils that threaten the 
Christian Church. 

Dr. Milnor's report of his mission to the London Tract Society, 
is contained in the American Tract Magazine for January, 1831. 
as is also the account of his visit to the Isle of Wight, already 
embodied in this Memoir. 

The following explains itself, and shows one of the many in- 
stances in which the American Tract Society has aided the work 
of foreign missions. It was written in 1836, while Dr. Milnor 
was at the head of our foreign executive committee. 

"Office of the Foreign Missionary Committee ) 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. ) 

"Rev. Mr. Hallock, Sec'y Amer. Tract Soc. 

" Dear Sir — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt, 
by the hands of your Assistant Treasurer, of fifteen hundred dol- 
lars ; seven hundred and fifty dollars thereof being the balance 
of a donation from your" — the American Tract Society's- — " Ex- 
ecutive Committee to the Foreign Missionary Committee of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, to aid in the publication and dis- 
tribution of Tracts by the missionaries in Greece, and seven 
hundred and fifty dollars, a like donation for the distribution of 
Tracts by the committee's missionaries in China. 

" I am instructed by our committee to convey, through you, 
to the Executive Committee of the American Tract Society, their 
cordial thanks for this additional evidence of their beneficence : 
and in doing so, you will allow me to add the assurance, that the 
missionaries referred to will be instructed to apply your liberal 
grants in conformity to the principles which you have heretofore 
communicated, and which have received the approval of those to 
whom is committed the immediate direction of the missionary 
operations of our church. 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 613 

" Praying that the great Head of the Church may bless all 
the efforts of Christians for the world's regeneration, and that his 
special favor may be extended towards your benevolent exertions, 
I remain, reverend and dear sir, 

" Your obliged friend and Christian fellow-laborer, 

"JAMES MILNOR, Sec. and Gen. Agent, etc." 

The following series of notes, a part only of a much larger 
collection which might be made, presents an interesting view of 
Dr. Milnor's position and action as chairman of the Publishing 
Committee, and is valuable as embodying some of his opinions 
both of authors and of doctrines. 

" New York, April 8, 1839. 

"Rev. Mr. Hallock — I have given the tract of Dr. Alexan- 
der, No. 393, on Justification by Faith, an attentive reading in its 
revised form. I believe it to be a correct, scriptural, and clear 
view of the important doctrine of which it treats. It forms a 
compendium of what I have been preaching for more than twenty 
years, and presents, as I believe, the true and only method of a 
sinner's acceptance with God. What countless contentions would 
have been avoided, if this precious doctrine had been adhered to 
in all the definiteness of the apostle's teachings on the subject; 
and if the pride of men had not led to so many contrivances to find 
some other way of salvation than that which the Holy Ghost has 
so clearly revealed in the sacred Scriptures. 

" Your affectionate brother in the hopes of a free and unadul- 
terated Gospel, 

"J. MILNOR." 

DR. MILNOR'S JUDGMENT OF LAW'S SERIOUS CALL. 

"New York, April 8, 1839. 
" Rev. Mr. Hallock, 

" Dear Brother — I very much question the expediency of 
paying, as proposed, for the abridgment of this work. There are, 
besides this, three other abridgments : one by I know not whom ;. 
a second by John "Wesley ; and a third anonymous, published by 
Hatchard, London, in 1814. I do not know whether they are to 
be procured : but perhaps they may, and may be found preferable 
to this ; in which case, if it is deemed expedient for us to pub- 
lish it at all, one of them might be used without expense to us. 



614 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

"Law was undoubtedly a most devout man ; and as this 
work was written before he run into the mysticism of Jacob 
Boehmen, it is free from the peculiarities of that singular man, 
and is, in truth, in one view a very useful book. As an exhibi- 
tion of the folly, sin, and danger of a worldly life, and of the supe- 
rior wisdom, excellence, and happiness of a life of piety and de- 
votion, it is calculated to be practically useful in a high degree. 
But I am not satisfied with the reason given, in the preface to 
the abridgment, for his not laying aright the foundation of his 
intended superstructure. He is deficient in not beginning with 

■ repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,' 
and the renewal of the heart by divine grace, as the spring of all 
true religion and all practical holiness. Hannah More, in her 

■ Strictures on Female Education,' assigns Law the merit of deep 
insight into the human heart, and skill in probing its corruptions ; 
but she adds, ' Yet on points of doctrine, his views do not seem 
to be just ; so that a general perusal of his works would neither 
be profitable or intelligible.' She adds, \ Even in the Serious 
Call, Law is not a safe guide to evangelical light. As the mor- 
tified apostle, the holy, self-denying Baptist, preaching repent- 
ance because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Mr. Law has no 
superior. As a preacher of salvation on scriptural grounds, I 
would follow other guides.' 

"As a dissuasive from a worldly, and an exhortation to a re- 
ligious life ; as recommending fervent and unwearied devotion, 
the consecration of ourselves and all we have to God, humility, 
love, resignation to the divine will, etc., no work is superior. But 
the want of the foundation to which I have referred, gives a self- 
righteous aspect to the whole, which, though lessened by the ex- 
punging of numerous particular expressions of the most excep- 
tionable character, still leaves it without that evangelical basis 
which I wish all our publications prominently to display. 

" With so much to admire in a production which Dr. Johnson 
characterized as 'the first piece of hortatory theology in any 
language,' I am far from proscribing it, or denouncing it as a 
work not to be profitably read ; but considering that there is in 
it scarcely an allusion of a distinct and decided character to the 
great subject of Dr. Alexander's tract" — which he had just ap- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 615 

proved — "I would say we might find other volumes better suited 
to our evangelical library than this. 

" Yours, affectionately, 

"JAMES MILNOR." 

The next two notes refer to one of the Tract Society's 
volumes, entitled i Bible Thoughts, by Melville The volume 
consists of selections, by Dr. Milnor, from Melvill's published dis- 
courses. 

" New York. Sept. 14, 1839. 

" Rev. and dear Brother — I have read over all the sheets 
of Melvill; and I think, corrected a number of errors that had 
been overlooked. With a good margin, it will make a beautiful 
volume ; and I am more convinced than ever, by a reperusal, 
that our labor has been well employed, and by its fruits will be 
well rewarded, in getting up this delightful work in its present 
form. I am persuaded, that from the compactness of views on 
the several topics embodied under each head, and the direction of 
the mind to each point by its title, it is destined to be more use- 
ful than the whole volume, of which it contains the pith and 
substance. " Yours, truly, 

"J. MILNOR." 
'•Rev. Mr. Hallock." 

"New York, Nov., 1839. 

"Rev. and dear Sir — I have completed, and now send you 
my selections from Melvill. I have not numbered them, because 
I wished your judgment as to the arrangement ; and as it would 
derange the whole if alterations should be afterwards thought 
best, I have let them remain unnumbered, but placed them in 
the order which I think in the main will be approved. 

" Be good enough to examine them, and have them bound in 

some way, and then return them to me with your remarks for 

final examination, before they circulate through the committee. 

" Yours, truly, 

"J. MILNOR." 
'•'Rev. Wm. A. Hallock." 

ON PUBLISHING VENN'S COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN. 

"New York, Aug. 16, 1841. 
" Rev. and dear Sir — It is several years since I read Venn's 
Complete Duty of Man ; but it was at a very interesting time in 



616 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

my religious course, and has ever since left an impression on my 
mind of the great value of the work. I have refreshed my recol- 
lection now by turning to some of its delightful chapters ; but do 
not think it necessary to detain the book from the perusal of our 
colleagues. If it commends itself to their approval, as it does 
to yours and mine, no unnecessary time will be lost in enriching 
our volume series with it. 

" I think it right to add, that this work — as well as the 
evangelical preaching of its author — contributed largely to rein- 
troduce into the established Church, or rather to revive the slum- 
bering spirit of the Reformation. Simeon, and Farish, and Cecil, 
and Scott, and the Milners, and Wilson, and a host of others, 
have in succession maintained the same principles. The Chris- 
tian Observer and other Episcopal publications of the same spirit, 
are walking in Venn's footsteps, and under God will, I trust, 
form an effectual barrier to the assaults on spiritual religion, 
which are now made by the more than semi-popish Tractarians 

at Oxford. 

"J. MILNOR." 
"Rev. Mr. Hallock." 

In October, 1842, a public deliberative meeting of the 
board and friends of the American Tract Society, was held dur- 
ing most of three days in the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, 
at the call of the Executive Committee, of which Dr. Milnor was 
chairman. This call was influenced by a belief, "that careful 
attention to its several spheres of labor, and discussion of the 
principles involved, would give definiteness to the conceptions of 
many as to its character and objects, and thus awaken prayer, 
liberality, and persevering effort, to bless the world with these 
means of grace." Among the many valuable documents pre- 
sented at this meeting, was the following from Dr. Milnor ; and 
most fully does it breathe the spirit which characterized and 
governed his life. 

"'the harmony of the society's proceedings. 
"'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 

in unity.' 
" Among the many interesting topics deserving of notice on 
this extraordinary assemblage of friends of the American Tract 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 617 

Society, may be eminently ranked that of the very remarkable 
harmony of feeling and action by which its past history has been 
distinguished. It would be ungrateful to that divine Being 
whose direction, in the management of its affairs, has been so 
constantly sought by its conductors, not to recognize, thankfully 
and devoutly, his special providence, and the benignant guid- 
ance of his Holy Spirit in all the way in which he has hitherto 
brought us. 

" The institution had its basis in the principle of brotherly 
love. It was deemed possible for the disciples of a common 
Saviour, honestly divided from each other on some points of doc- 
trine, discipline, and worship, and separated into different com- 
munities, cordially to unite in the dissemination of those great 
truths of their religion in which they harmoniously concur, and 
which are indissolubly connected with the eternal well-being of 
the soul. It was not entirely a new experiment. Several small 
associations had been productive of much good. In Great Britain 
a similar effort, on a large scale, had been attended with an 
astonishing measure of success ; and it may be added, the great 
Society by which it has been prosecuted still maintains its har- 
mony, and continues to bless that country and the world, through 
its numerous publications, with invaluable treasures of spiritual 
knowledge and practical instruction. Tract societies, both here 
and there, owe much of their prosperity, under the divine favor, 
to those well-considered principles of action which were adopted 
at the outset of these undertakings, as the basis of Christian 
union. 

" With whatever delight the Christian mind may contemplate 
the happy period, how distant none can tell but He who ' knows 
the end from the beginning,' when on all points the followers of 
Christ shall see eye to eye, be ' perfectly joined together in the 
same mind, and in the same judgment,' and all unite under one 
congenial banner, it was apparent to every considerate mind, that 
there were existing differences of opinion and practice among 
evangelical Christians, which in such a combination must be left 
untouched. It was to be ascertained in what doctrines of faith 
all of this character were agreed ; and an honest understanding 
was to be had, that to such their united endeavors were to be 



618 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

implicitly confined. Happily, little difficulty occurred in settling 
these. ' Man's native sinfulness ; the purity and obligation of 
the law of Grod ; the true and proper divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; the necessity and reality of his atonement and sacrifice ; 
the efficiency of the Holy Spirit in the work of renovation ; the 
free and full ofTers of the G-ospel, and the duty of men to accept 
it ; the necessity of personal holiness, and a state of rewards and 
punishments beyond the grave ' — doctrines dear to the hearts of 
all evangelical Christians, were the declared basis of our union. 
They were adopted with much deliberation and fervent prayer, 
and they have continued to form the inspiring topics of more 
than a thousand different publications, including upwards of one 
hundred bound volumes, which it has been our privilege to issue. 
By a faithful adherence to these original terms of association, 
has harmony been uninterruptedly preserved for the nineteen 
years and more through which the labors of this institution have 
been so happily conducted. 

" During this period, no tract or book has been issued but with 
the unanimous approval of all the members of the Publishing 
Committee, consisting of a representative from each of the six 
evangelical denominations of Christians. To whatever extent 
any denomination may have thought it a duty to spread abroad 
a knowledge of its own peculiarities, this has been its own sepa- 
rate and exclusive work: we have scrupulously adhered to the 
principles on which our union is based, and on which its continu- 
ance depends. 

" One great object, however, it is believed, has been effected by 
this exhibition of harmonious action. Multitudes have become dis- 
posed to look more at the great principles of their blessed religion, 
in which they are all able conscientiously to concur, and less on 
those in which they unhappily differ. The discovery has been 
satisfactorily made of the inferiority in number and magnitude 
of the latter, compared with the former. The beneficial example 
of its divine Author has become more an object of assiduous 
imitation. Where discussion has been had on subjects which are 
still in dispute among Christians, less of asperity has been seen in 
the pages of controversy, and the failure to convince an adversary 
has not often been followed by the language of bitterness and de- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 619 

nunciation. It has been seen by Protestant churches, that just 
in proportion as they present a united front to the assaults of in- 
fidelity and error, and the machinations of the Man of Sin, will 
the citadel of their hopes stand firm and uninjured : just as they 
spend their strength in mutual contention, will their common 
enemies gain advantage over them. It was a happy step towards 
that union, over the continued subsistence and increase of which 
the present occasion calls upon us so gratefully to rejoice, when 
that grand association, the British and Foreign Bible Society 
originated, whose labors have given to the world more than four- 
teen million copies of the volume of inspiration, and multiplied 
the means of conveying its blessed truths to the nations of the 
earth, by translations into more than one hundred and fifty of the 
languages into which they are divided. 

"The establishment of Tract Societies by Christians of differ- 
ent denominations, was a further advance in the way to that bless- 
ed consummation when all discord shall cease ; when the prin- 
ciples, and objects, and modes of action among Christians shall 
universally coalesce ; when the genius and spirit of the Gospel 
shall unite their hearts in Christian love ; when God shall be 
adored as the universal Father, the world become one vast fam- 
ily of brethren, united to him and one another by the blood of 
Christ, regenerated by his Spirit, and prepared to cast their 
crowns before the same Lord, and rend the concave of heaven 
with one harmonious shout of praise. 

" In the retrospect of the past doings of this institution and 
their results, they who have been most intimately connected 
with its transactions, have reason, with a deep sense of the im- 
perfections of their own agency therein, to exult in multiplied 
evident manifestations of divine favor towards it. Especially do 
they rejoice in the delightful fact to which these remarks are in- 
tended to have especial reference — the preservation, thus far, of 
perfect unity and concord among its officers and members, and 
the confirmation which this affords of every glowing anticipation 
of its friends as to its future progress. 

" For the promotion of this end let us improve our present 
assemblage. For this let our united prayers ascend to heaven, 
and our best endeavors be exerted. A dutiful spirit should de- 



620 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

light to recur to the precepts, and a living faith to lay hold of the 
promises of God. Where is one to be found among the former 
which gives countenance to disunion and discord ? Where is 
there one among the latter that assures any recompense of bless- 
ing to a contentious and litigious spirit ? The religion of Jesus 
is a religion of love. It was this hallowed principle in which the 
Gospel originated, and its too partial prevalence has been the 
chief obstacle to its predicted universal sway. Its final success 
can never obtain, until the same mind is possessed by his people 
that was in Christ their divine Head, and their combined and un- 
embarrassed efforts are united for his glory and the salvation of 
mankind. A wide field lies open before us. Millions of heathen 
implore, in their destitution, the exercise of our benevolence to- 
wards them. Other millions of nominal Christians, if in their 
blindness they ask not, we know need our interposition, to pour 
into their minds the light of heavenly truth, and recall them to 
the simplicity that is in Christ. Still many a waste place of our 
own land reproaches the narrowness and lassitude of our exer- 
tions, while grateful multitudes, in regions which our efforts have 
availably reached, bless God for that concentrated union of action 
which has sent them our publications to light them on their way 
to heaven. Experience has proved that our plan of union in this 
work of benevolence is not visionary or Utopian. It contemplates 
no improper interference with any of the departments into which 
the family of Christ is divided. 

"Let no means employed by individual churches for the glory 
of the Redeemer and the salvation of those for whom Christ has 
died, be disregarded or esteemed of light importance. Let the 
living ministry be respected as a most honored institution, a 
divine appointment, having the promise of the Church's Head to 
the end of time. Let each distinct branch of the vast household 
of faith employ the means entrusted to it by a gracious Provi- 
dence, to promote the great ends contemplated by divine mercy 
and goodness to our fallen race. But let the broader principle of 
united action, so sanctioned of God, so blessed in its past results, 
so in accordance with the long cherished expectation of Christian 
faith and the opening prospects of millennial glory, never be 
abandoned. 0, it would grieve the soul of charity, and throw a 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 621 

gloom over the brightening prospects of futurity, were the sacred 
union of Christians, thus happily begun, and thus successfully 
pursued, to be dissolved, or in any measure lessened or impaired. 
But it may not be. The sacred bond must not be broken. With- 
ered be the hand that would attempt its severance. Whilst any 
portion of six hundred millions of unenlightened heathen remain 
to be brought into submission to the Prince of peace ; while dark- 
ness broods over the superstitious churches of the East ; while 
papal Rome is seeking to extend her despotic sway over the 
minds of men ; and while multitudes, not utterly beyond the 
influence of gospel light and truth, are seen crowding the broad 
road that leadeth to destruction ; let Christian union be made 
the means of counteracting these mighty evils. We ask object- 
ors to a plan so consonant with the spirit of the Gospel, what 
would have been the number of Bibles circulated within the last 
thirty-eight years, if sectarian jealousy and rivalship had been 
successful in preventing the establishment of that magnificent 
monument of religious enterprise, with the thousands of its prog- 
eny, of the vast extent of whose most laudable exertions we 
have already spoken ; and how many precious souls would have 
gone unblessed to their great account, had not the great Tract 
association of Great Britain, with our own and other kindred 
unions, disseminated through innumerable channels the words of 
life and salvation in the little pamphlet or the more enlarged 
volume ? 

" When we look at the details of spiritual good effected by this 
joint cooperation which stand authenticated and recorded in the 
annals of our Tract Society alone, and form the most moderate 
conjecture of cases which have never met the public eye, we are 
compelled to exclaim, ' What hath Grod wrought !' And when 
we are mourning over the remaining bitterness of party spirit in 
the Church or in the world, and are filled with grief that union 
is not the watchword with all that love their Saviour and their 
fellow-men, and while we also join in the lamentations of our 
associates, that the means of such extensive good as lies before 
us are, by so many who profess highly to appreciate our object, 
injuriously withheld ; we may perceive, amidst all our discour- 
agements, sources of pious gratulation for the past, and of inspir- 



622 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

ing hope for the future, that should silence our complaints, and 
lead us to trust in G-od for an issue to our labors for which we 
shall have reason to praise him through eternal ages." 

The foregoing document may be regarded as among the last 
of Dr. Milnor's public words for the Tract cause. They are 
glowing words ; and they show that to the end his heart was as 
full as ever of what, at the outset, rilled its affections to over- 
flowing. The Tract Society still holds its course. Its operations 
have become wider than ever, and still more beneficent ; and in 
all that it is through the instrumentality of wise counsel, and in 
all that it is doing- by the labors of industrious toil, it doubtless 
owes as much to Dr. Milnor as to any other man. 

The present writer having been appointed to succeed Dr. 
Milnor on the Executive and Publishing Committees of the 
American Tract Society, though not as chairman of those com- 
mittees, has some grounds for knowing whereof he affirms. His 
predecessor's name needs but to be mentioned among the band of 
brethren whom he has left, to show that it is still, in some sweet 
respect, like his Master's, " as ointment poured forth," giving a 
precious perfume. He can also well appreciate the importance 
of Dr. Milnor's position, and the value of his services, in an insti- 
tution whose receipts, equalled by its expenditures, had become, 
at the time of his decease, more than $150,000 per annum ; and 
whose hallowed influence in the cause of Christian union and of 
man's salvation, is increasingly felt in the speech of differing na- 
tions, and almost literally from end to end of the earth. 

HI. DR. MILNOR'S CONNECTION WITH THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION. 

Allusions to this have from time to time been made ; and yet an 
adequate impression of the interest which he felt, and of the time 
which he spent in this cause, might not be received without 
directing a more special attention to the point. The additional 
remarks needed, however, are not many. 

His interest in the cause of education was all-comprehending. 
It started with the application of Sunday-schools to the instruc- 
tion of the most ignorant and needy classes ; and from this passed 
up through a care for schools of every grade, till it reached the 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 623 

supervision of theological institutions designed to train men for 
high service in the kingdom of heaven. 

The parish church of St. George being in one of the most 
densely populated districts of the city, and there being always a 
large number in his congregation, both male and female, who 
were willing to become teachers, several distinct Sunday-schools, 
at one time no less than six, were sustained in his parish : a 
body of from four to six hundred pupils, regularly instructed, 
and much of his own time devoted to a general supervision of 
the schools. These schools were usually very nourishing. He 
was fond of addressing children ; and his facility in extempore 
speaking fitted him admirably for the task, while his winning 
manners never failed to interest the subjects of his care. The 
first Sunday afternoon in each month he devoted to the examina- 
tion of the schools in church. On these occasions, the regular 
evening service was read, and then the examination was begun. 
Many a child, through a long life, and peradventure to his soul's 
saving, will remember the mild blue eye, the silvery locks, and 
the white robes of his old pastor, as he stood before the young 
assembly, and with kind and gentle yet earnest tones, bid each 
one think upon his Creator while he was yet young, and before 
the winter of life should scatter its snows upon his head. Beau- 
tiful sights were those : fathers and mothers bringing forward 
the firstlings of their little flocks to be set apart and nurtured 
for the Lord. The fidelity of this view to truth is guaranteed 
by his son's " Recollections," who was for many years one of 
his father's Sunday-scholars, and for thirty years an observer of 
his father's interest in Sunday-schools. 

The common-schools of the state of New York also shared 
his solicitudes. In behalf of the American Tract Society, in 
particular, he applied, in the year 1842, to the Hon. Samuel 
Young, then Secretary of State, for his sanction, as " Superin- 
tendent of common-schools," to the measure of introducing into 
the common-school libraries of the state, so far as the trustees 
of each school district should consent, that portion of the Tract 
Society's publications called " the Youth's Christian Library;" 
believing that such an introduction would be " found of incal- 
culable benefit to the young." 



624 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

To the higher educational institutions of the country he was 
an earnest friend. To Kenyon college his services were inval- 
uable. From Bristol college, Pennsylvania, he hoped great 
things, and labored zealously to realize his hopes, until meas- 
ures, over which he had no control, resulted in the total loss of 
that once-cherished and favorite institute. Of the university 
in the city of New York he was one of the founders, and for 
years, a member of the council. And when the chapel in the 
new university buildings was opened and dedicated to the relig- 
ious services for which it was designed, he officiated in the de- 
votional exercises of the occasion, by the offering of a prayer, 
which, in its humble fervor, and its comprehensive requests, told 
how deeply his soul felt the importance of education in its clas- 
sical and scientific, legal and medical departments, as well as in 
those which involve more immediately the interests of religion. 

And finally, with all the leading theological seminaries of 
the Episcopal church he was more or less closely connected, in 
the capacity either of a trustee or of a patron ; though it need 
not be disguised, that the diocesan school of Virginia was that 
in which his interest arose from sympathy, while that in New 
York, though a general institution of our church, awoke in him 
mainly the interest of solicitude. 

In short, under whatever aspect the cause of learning pre- 
sented itself before his mind, he was its enlightened, efficient, 
and true friend : enlightened, because he saw and felt its im- 
measurable importance to the opening and onward destinies of 
the world ; efficient, because he cheerfully devoted time and 
substance to its support ; and true, because he realized most 
profoundly the necessity of baptizing all learning into the spirit 
of Christ and Christianity, in order to make it a real and an 
unfailing blessing to the human race. 



Under this head an interesting history might be written, for 
Dr. Milnor's relation to the cause and the progress of evangelical 
truth and piety in the church of which he was a minister, was 
second in importance to that of no other man. But for the 
present, history must be left unwritten. We must content our- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 625 

selves with something less than even annals of the time through 
which we have been passing. Dr. Milnor's position must be 
seen, but we must be content with saying no more than may be 
necessary to make that position evident. 

The Episcopal church in these United States had its origin 
in times and under circumstances far from propitious to the 
cause of evangelical religion. The church of England, before 
the American revolution, was not, herself, in her best estate ; 
and they were, by no means, the best of her clergy, whom she 
sent as early missionaries to these her growing colonies. Some 
worthy men, indeed, the list of those missionaries contained ; 
but it also contained many worthless ; and, theologically speak- 
ing, few or none of them, it is believed, belonged to what has 
since been known, both in England and in this country, as the 
evangelical school. When the events of the revolution began 
to transpire, most of the clergy fled to the mother country ; and 
when peace returned,. few indeed ever came back to their flocks 
in the wilderness. Meanwhile, red war had swept over the 
land, and in its violence had not only expelled every form of 
British power, but also extinguished the very name of the Eng- 
glish church. Some fragments, indeed, of what once bore that 
name remained ; and they were doubtless the most vital parts 
of the earlier fabric — parts that had enough of life to outlive 
the wasting desolation. Still they survived, like wounded and 
mutilated soldiers. They did not quite expire amid the blood- 
iness of the conflict. For years after the peace, they were crip- 
pled and extremely feeble. But what is worse, the life which 
they retained had little or nothing in it of the true evangelical 
spirit. And yet these were the beginnings from which the pres- 
ent Episcopal church in this country has since grown. 

The war had been waged almost as much against episcopacy as 
against monarchy ; and therefore, when the Episcopal church be- 
came reorganized in this country, it set itself to contend, if not as 
vigorously against republicanism as against Puritanism, at least 
against the latter as the historic antagonist of both the prelacy 
and the kingship of former days. From this opposition of our 
Episcopal church to the Puritanism of revolutionary times, both 
its early theology and its early practice received not only an anti- 

Wcm. Milnor. 40 



626 MEMOIR OF DR. MILXOR. 

puritanical, but also an anti-evangelical stamp and tendency ; 
so that afterwards, when, by very slow degrees, the evangelical 
spirit began to manifest itself among Episcopalians, it was at 
once met with the most determined hostility. The idea seemed 
to be, that this spirit was nothing less than the old Puritanism 
itself working its stealthy way into the Episcopal fold, because 
it would sometimes pray and preach without book, and because it 
held doctrines which sounded as if they might have been studied 
somewhere within the shadow of Calvin's great name. 

The most conspicuous — probably the only exception to the 
foregoing remarks, as they apply to the times which preceded, 
accompanied, and immediately followed the revolution — was the 
case of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt with the people to whom he 
ministered. He was a great light within the circle which bound- 
ed his labors, but that circle was of moderate diameter, and he 
did not live to see the light pass much beyond its circumference. 
Dinwiddie county, in Virginia, was the principal scene of his 
labors, and it was only on occasional invitations that he was 
induced to travel further, and preach in the surrounding coun- 
ties. He was the subject of repeated insult, and of frequent per- 
secution ; and after he died, there were none left to take up his 
mantle, and carry forward his searching prophesyings and his 
successful labors. 

In later years, however, successors to his spirit and in his 
work appeared on the stage. Almost simultaneously, Pilmore, 
Griswold, and Richard Channing Moore began to dispense the 
true light ; the first in Philadelphia, the second in Bristol, R. L, 
and the third in New York. Pilmore's light seemed to radiate 
in lucid words, gathered into a divine order, from the sacred 
page ; Griswold's was like that which shone in his own calm, 
clear eye — as calm and clear as ever unto the end ; and Moore's 
beamed through many tears, and amid much vehement pleading. 
As we have already seen, Pilmore's light fell, with other influ- 
ences, on the mind of Milxor. From their times, it would not 
be easy to recall the names of all who, like Meade, and Bedell, 
and Mcllvaine, and Clark, and Johns, and Elliott, have arisen to 
swell the evangelic brightness, and to deepen, throughout our 
church, her evangelic life. But all these have been Milnor's 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 627 

juniors ; and all, or at least all the leading names upon the list, 
have been accustomed to look to him, not as their party cham- 
pion, but as their more experienced friend and counsellor. He 
was, by common consent, not the most highly gifted man in all 
their ranks — for in learning and mental endowments, some were 
possibly his superiors — but, from various causes, the most widely 
known and the most largely influential. He stood most in the 
eye of the world. For thirty years he was at the very point of 
convergence and radiation of all our great influences and move- 
ments. He was at the centre of conflict between the evangelical 
and the anti-evangelical portions of our church. Nay, for years 
he was, in his own person, the one point against which the most 
strenuous assaults of the latter were directed ; and had he fallen, 
many others would have been unable to stand. From sympa- 
thy, as well as from respect and veneration, there was a rallying 
around him, as a sort of evangelic centre. He touched a greater 
number than others could touch, of religious and theological 
minds in their forming state. He touched more of the causes 
which, under God, generate evangelical results. In a word, 
through the early training of his mind, the practical character of 
his pursuits, the finished amenity of his manners, the peculiar 
post of labor assigned him, and above all, the eminently intelli- 
gent and elevated character of his piety, the providence of God 
gave him a position which, during his life, was, on the whole, 
more commanding than that of any other evangelical clergyman 
of our church. A bishopric might have added to him somewhat of 
official weight, but it would not have enlarged, perhaps it would, 
in some respects, have lessened, the sphere of his influence. 

Under this last remark, there happens to lie before the writer 
an apposite illustration. One of the most highly respected of our 
bishops, having spent some days with Dr. Milnor, and observing 
how often his counsel was sought, and how active was the agency 
which he exerted, in furthering the various efforts for the spread 
of the Gospel, and for the good of men, just as the secretary of 
one of the benevolent societies had left his door, pleasantly ob- 
served, " I see how it is, Dr. Milnor ; you have all the responsi- 
bilities and duties of the office of a bishop, but without its crown 
of thorns." 



628 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

He lived to witness great changes, and to contribute to a 
wonderful progress in the spiritual life of our church. Some of 
his letters show, that there were times when he was filled with 
the most gladdening hopes, that the evangelical spirit would 
speedily penetrate and enliven every part of our Episcopal con- 
federation. Long before he left the stage of life, the terms evan- 
gelical and anti-evangelical had ceased to be exactly synonymous 
with low church and high church. The lines which divide the 
former, were found not to be the same with those which separate 
the latter. He saw no reason, therefore, why evangelical doc- 
trine and piety should not become universal among us, however 
differences about church-theory might continue to perpetuate 
themselves. He loved to contemplate that doctrine and piety in 
the character of a sacred leaven, which, having by the hand of 
the Spirit been "hid" in the midst of us, would silently, yet 
speedily " leaven the whole lump." He saw, indeed, that in 
several instances it became mixed with some measure of human 
elements, and was diverted from its silent working and leavening 
of the mass, and placed in the attitude of a competitor for the 
honors and the influence of office and authority. But, as his 
letters at such times indicate, he saw this with grief, and felt 
that the evangelical spirit had left its true vocation, and was in 
peril of losing its true end. As to the doctrine and piety which 
were the life of his soul, he felt, that as they came from Christ, 
so their true place was that which Christ himself assumed, to be 
among the disciples "as he that serveth" and to leave it for 
others to "strive among themselves which of them should be 
accounted the greatest." This feeling governed him through 
life. Though he seldom, if ever, refused a post which called him 
to labor, yet, it is believed, he never sought an office for the sake 
of honor, or even of increased usefulness. He saw that useful- 
ness does not depend on office, but upon a Grod-given heart and 
will, and power to live, and act, and suffer for Christ. To this 
great end, therefore, he desired to see the evangelical spirit in 
our church wholly consecrated : if God, in his providence, thrust 
it into office, not to refuse to serve him even there ; but like 
Christ, to make this its one great aim, to minister, and not to be 
ministered unto ; to serve, and not to be served. He knew that 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 629 

neither offices nor officers can make a church living and holy ; 
while, at the same time, a church made living and holy by the 
Spirit of God, sought in prayer and by the word, will be least 
likely to fill its offices with spiritually dead and unholy men. 

It is needless to say, that when the movement from Oxford 
began to reach this country and to affect powerfully the mind of 
our church, Dr. Milnor first saw reason to apprehend the disap- 
pointment of his hopes as to the pervading spread of the evangel- 
ical spirit through every part of our communion. His intelligent 
and discriminating piety saw too clearly the utter antagonism of 
the evangelical and the Tractarian theologies, and of their respec- 
tive tendencies, to hope that, in a church which so eagerly and 
so extensively embraced the latter, the former could continue to 
spread towards a universal prevalence. Nay, he seemed at times 
oppressed with heavy forebodings, lest the long coexistence of the 
two should be found impracticable ; lest the evangelical spirit 
should be doomed, amid the temporarily dark ways of Heaven, 
either to die on its own field, or to flee away where it could live 
and labor without mixture and without conflict. 

The foregoing remarks, it is believed, exhibit with sufficient 
distinctness Dr. Milnor's position in our church. He belongs 
strictly to its evangelical history. He was one of the most emi- 
nent, luminous, and unchanging embodiments of its evangelical 
spirit. His was always one light, shining from one place, and 
shining fairer and farther than any of its contemporaries. It may 
be succeeded by other lights as clear and as far diffused ; but 
while he lived, there was probably no other among us, upon 
which so many eyes were turned, which was so nearly central 
in our evangelic firmament. 

Before finally dismissing this topic, however, it will be proper 
to remark, that in one respect, Dr. Milnor held a different, or 
rather an additional position in our church. In the general 
counsels of our body, those which find their expression through 
our triennial convention, the value of his services was in some 
measure appreciated. As we have already seen, he was to the 
last one of the trustees of our General Theological Seminary, 
and in that body labored as unceasingly, and we hesitate not to 
add, as beneficently as any other of its members. In our general 



630 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

Board of Missions, likewise, both under its earlier and under its 
later constitution, his labors were of the highest value ; not only 
as secretary and general agent, but also as a more permanently 
working member of its Foreign Executive Committee. But, in 
the counsels of the particular diocese to which he belonged, those 
which find expression through our annual New York convention, 
he held virtually no position. It will doubtless by many be re- 
garded as a lasting reproach to that body, that, influenced appar- 
ently by a fear of giving him influence, it studiously "kept such 
a man," to use the language of one of his correspondents, " out 
of those chief places, where prudence, and wisdom, and business 
habits were wanted, and only put him where he would seem to 
be honored, but where he had no chance of being felt." To all 
this, indeed, he found no difficulty in submitting. Place was not 
peculiarly the object of his ambition. Besides, he knew that he 
was felt, and that it was not in the power of others to keep him 
in the dark, or under bonds. Still, theirs was an unwise policy. 
It deprived the diocese of some useful service. And, so far as it 
was intended as a censure upon his course in the Bible and Tract 
Societies, and in his lecture-room and prayer meetings, it was 
weaker than mere brutum fulmen ; or rather, it defeated itself: 
it probably gave him more sympathy and companionship in that 
course than he would have otherwise enjoyed. Upon himself, it 
was simply powerless. Conscious of a sincere and warm attach- 
ment to the Church in which he was a minister — an attachment 
based, not on mere sympathy, but on firm principle — he yet dis- 
cerned the compatibility of this attachment, and of his proper 
obligations as an Episcopalian, with that sentiment of enlarged 
Christian affection and brotherhood which he cherished, and with 
that course of cooperation which he adopted, in whatever involved 
the common interests only of our common Christianity. . And, 
believing such cooperation to be not merely consistent with prin- 
ciple, but also important to the best interests of religion, he could 
well afford to meet, with undisturbed serenity, all the opposition 
which he encountered, whether from honest prejudice or from 
illiberal hostility. 

As to his course in the lecture-room and prayer-meeting, he 
felt that that was his own concern; and with it, therefore, he 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 631 

allowed no man to interfere, except, as he remarks in one of his 
letters, in the way of friendly advice. The manner in which he 
met opposition on this ground, may be illustrated by the following 
incidents; the former resting for its truth on the "Recollections" 
of his son, and the latter certified by a clerical friend, who had 
it from his own lips. 

His Friday-evening lecture, preceded always by the shorter 
service from our liturgy, and concluded by extemporaneous 
prayer, was at first, says the "Recollections," "a source of much 
difficulty. The Bishop made strong objections to it, calling it an 
irregular meeting, and using every effort to effect its discontinu- 
ance. But Dr. Milnor was unmoved. He had not adopted his 
course without prayerful consideration. He felt that he was in 
the path of duty, and nothing could make him swerve to the 
right or to the left." He finally ended the matter, after sufficient 
listening to objections, by telling the bishop, in that kind, but 
peculiarly firm and decided manner which he was capable of 
assuming, that "his only proper and effectual course would be 
that prescribed by the canons in case of their violation by a pres- 
byter, specific charges and a trial; that his duty as bishop was 
plain ; and that, as the presbyter whom the charges would affect, 
he was ready to meet them on their trial." But, as no violation 
of the canons had taken place, no charges could be preferred ; the 
matter therefore was dropped, and Dr. Milnor thenceforward pur- 
sued this part of his course without further open molestation. 

At the prayer-meetings in his parish, he was not always, nor 
even generally present. But he countenanced them, and was 
occasionally in attendance. One evening, while the prayer- 
meeting was in session, the bishop came to his house ; and after 
the usual statement of objections, desired Dr. Milnor to go and 
dismiss the assembly. The answer which he returned was, in 
substance, this: "Bishop, I dare not prevent my parishioners from 
meeting for prayer ; but if you are willing to take the responsi- 
bility of dismissing them, you have my permission." Of course, 
the praying members of St. George's remained undisturbed. 

Such, then, on the whole, was Dr. Milnor's position in the 
Episcopal church : one of the most prominent of all her evangel- 
ical clergy, yet in nothing wanting as one of her most loyal 



632 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

sons ; less active than he ought to have been made in her public 
counsels, but probably not more active in the cause of general 
benevolence than he would have been, had his services in our 
church been ever so encouragingly invited. 

V. TRAITS OF CHARACTER, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES AND 

VIEWS. 

Let a few notices under this head close the Memoirs, in 
which we have so long been engaged. They may not amount to 
an adequate analysis of the character of Dr. Milnor ; certainly 
they do not contain all that fond affection would say of him ; 
but they are, it is believed, on the points which they involve, a 
truthful picture of what he was. 

Intellectually, then, the subject of this notice was distin- 
guished for great quickness of perception, and activity of mind ; 
for uncommon correctness of judgment, and as uncommon firm- 
ness of purpose. He took at a glance a clear view of every 
subject presented to his examination, and rarely found it neces- 
sary to change the opinion first formed ; although, when con- 
vinced of mistake or error, no man more cheerfully or more 
gracefully acknowledged it than himself. Bishop Hobart once 
remarked, " I had rather deal with Dr. Milnor than with some 
who in church views agree with me, because I always know 
where to find him." His mind was eminently practical. For 
imagination, considered as one of the loftier attributes of genius, 
he was not particularly distinguished ; though in a certain quick 
and agreeable humor he was very happy. He had a relish for 
true poetry and the higher classes of literature, yet he had noth- 
ing like a passion for either poetry or music, or, indeed, any of 
the sister arts. He greatly enjoyed their beauties, but made no 
pretensions to the genius which produces them. He was a rapid 
and very correct writer. His sermons are remarkably free from 
erasures and corrections; and he had a talent which made him 
always a ready and most agreeable correspondent. 

Theologically it is scarcely necessary to characterize him. 
His doctrines were determined by the standing point which he 
finally assumed, and from which, for thirty years, he looked upon 
the Christian scheme. Originally a stout anti-Calvinist, grace at 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 633 

length made him neither a disciple nor an opponent of the Ge- 
nevan doctor, but emphatically a disciple of Christ. The point 
to which he was thus brought, formed and fixed his whole char- 
acter, both as a Christian and as a churchman ; and it is upon 
this point alone that any thing further need be said as illustra- 
tive of the theology which he cultivated. 

His theology, then, was not speculative, but practical. It 
was a light which he received, and which he made to shine. It 
was not a cold, but a warm light ; and therefore diffusive. He 
was not spiritually born amid the dimness of superstition ; he 
did not theologically live amid the depths of abstraction. If the 
illustration may be allowed, his soul was, in an eminent sense, 
born of the Sun ; amid the light that shineth most immediately 
from Christ. His new birth was indeed the work of the Spirit ; 
but it was wrought at the feet of Jesus, amid diviner teachings 
than fall from human lips, and under a higher sacrament than is 
administered by human hands ; amid the teachings of God's per- 
fect word, and under the mystery of His mighty love in Christ. 
This, doubtless, was the secret of all the subsequent " burning" 
of his light. It was a light fed daily and directly from the Sun. 
He lived habitually with his Saviour, and was surrounded con- 
tinually by the intense shining of those glorious truths which 
meet and mingle most closely in the halo round the Saviour's 
head, and burn and beam forth most immediately from the mys- 
teries of the Saviour's work. He did not undervalue those exter- 
nal and formal arrangements which Christ left on earth for the 
conservation, the purity, and the spread of his worship and his 
truth. On the contrary, he ardently loved the Church and her 
order, and was ever ready for such services as he could render, 
and for such sacrifices as he could make, either for her welfare, 
or in her defence. But as these things of the Church were not 
the original fountains whence he drew his light, so they never 
afterwards became more than the divinely contrived and beauti- 
fully arranged glasses, through which that light came tempered 
to his vision. 

The order in which he viewed the parts of the great Chris- 
tian system, seems to have been not only peculiarly scriptural, 
but also essentially important in accounting for the strong and 



634 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

steady burning of his light. In looking at this system, his point 
of view was not from the earth. His soul was not down here, 
enveloped in the visibilities of service, and looking up through a 
dim or a gorgeous cloud of architecture and shadows, intercessors 
and semi-propitiators in the Church, till finally it caught a dis- 
tant glimpse of a diminished and almost hidden Saviour — a little 
babe, half folded in the ample robes of a resplendent and queenly 
mother ; but his soul was up there , with the Saviour himself — 
with the Saviour, clearly and fully revealed- — with the Saviour, 
shining in the unobscured greatness and effulgence of his own 
unshared glory on the adoring mind of his servant — with the 
Saviour, looking down on the Church and all her decent offices 
and order, as a great body of instruments to be used in the con- 
version of a lost world to God. 

Or, to give a different expression to the idea, this was the 
order of his view in looking at the Christian system : Christ first, 
"the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of 
his person ;" then his Cross and its work of sacrifice for sin; then 
"justification by his blood," "the righteousness of God by faith 
of Jesus Christ ;" next, the work of the Spirit, receiving these 
things of Christ, and showing them unto men to glorify him ; 
next, the deep, dark sinfulness of man, as rendering that won- 
drous work of Christ and that glorifying work of the Spirit 
necessary to our renewal, sanctification, and eternal life ; next, 
the "lively oracles" of God, the word of inspiration, revealing 
the whole body of divine truth, and speaking with the only in- 
fallible authority beneath the sun ; and finally, as making up 
the externals of this dispensation of mercy, the Church, with its 
ministry of the word, its worship, and its ordinances — the Church, 
a witness divinely appointed to keep those " lively oracles " pure, 
and to attest their origin from God— the Church, a great golden 
candlestick, to bear up and send forth light for the world — the 
Church, a trumpet from the Lord, to blow the enlivening, sound 
of his salvation to the ends of the earth. This was the order in 
which he viewed the connected parts of the grand Christian sys- 
tem : Christ first, its sun and centre ; then all those truths that 
lie closest round him and are in a manner his outgoing life and 
power ; and finally, those outward defences and helps of the 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 635 

Church which God hath set for carrying on his saving work 
among men. Hence, we see what it was that kept his light so 
steadily and so brightly "burning" Originally lit from the Sun, 
that light was ever after fed from the Sun. He kept his light 
close by Christ ; among the luminous truths which lie nearest 
Christ. 

And are not all those truths which have been named, most 
divinely luminous ? Or if one alone in the circle, the sinfulness 
of man, seem a dark and gloomy radiance from the shadow of 
death, yet doth not even this, if not itself luminous, reflect up- 
wards the light of all the rest ? Doth it not urge, yea, hurry 
the repenting sinner upwards, till, in the actings of his lively 
faith, his once-defiled soul is bathed in the clean light of life and 
truth, as it shines around the Son of God ? Accordingly, does 
not this account for the fact, that even when Dr. Milnor dwelt on 
the sad ruin of the fall, and meditated on his own sinfulness in 
the sight of God, the exercise brought no stain of darkness, and 
cast no shade of gloom upon his spirit ; that it did but raise him 
the nearer to his Saviour, and cover him more beauteously with 
the light of those other shining truths which lie around the Cross, 
and stream forth from Him who was " lifted up" to be " the light 
of the world?" 

Yes, we see here the true secret of what we are now study- 
ing in the character of this man of God. He lived habitually 
with Christ, and among the truths which shine forth of his 
unconcealable Godhead, and of his gloriously redeeming work. 
This it was which made his own light " burn" so steadily and so 
strongly. He could not be other than " a burning light," when 
he lived in the midst of such burning brightness, and shone down 
upon the world from such a watch-tower of living light. It is 
only when the Christian minister wanders away from Christ, and 
from the central truths which burn around him ; only when he 
gets lost or bewildered among the mazes of the many lesser or 
subordinate truths, opinions, and externals, which lie more or 
less in the distance : only then that his light burns dim, or shines 
into darkness, or goes altogether out. Let his " life be ever hid 
with Christ in God," and his light shall ever shine beyond the 
power of being hid. 



636 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

The theological system, then, indicated by the standing point 
from which Dr. Milnor looked on Christianity, though it may, in 
the judgment of some, mark him as a low-churchman, yet ex- 
hibits him to the eye of all as a high-christian ; it may not iden- 
tify his creed with Calvinism, but it does distinguish his doc- 
trines from Tractarianism. Perhaps his best description, so far 
as this particular is concerned, may be thus given : he was emi- 
nently a Christian theologist ; sufficiently well read in books, 
but still more deeply taught by the Spirit, and therefore be- 
longing less to any human school of divinity than to the one great 
body of Christ's true disciples : more and more an evangelical 
divine ; less and less a doctrinal disputant : an Episcopalian by 
conscientious preference, but in his highest birthright and aspi- 
rations, a member of " the general assembly and Church of the 
first-born." 

As a preacher, he was as bold in opposing error as he was 
zealous in defending truth. Yet he was always more ready to 
win the wandering to the path of holiness by kind invitings and 
gentle expostulation, than to terrify him by fierce threatenings 
and harsh upbraiding. Perhaps to an uncommon degree, his 
style of preaching was conciliatory. Though he failed not to 
exhibit the terrors of the law, yet above them he always displayed 
the love of the Gospel. He was ever careful that the Saviour 
should appear in his teaching, as the winning Messenger of 
peace ; one to whom the weary and heavy laden might come and 
find rest. The power of his ministry lay in the word love. As 
a preacher, he was impressive rather than strictly eloquent. His 
enunciation was remarkably distinct; and his manner, without 
being violent, was earnest. You listened, and became convinced 
that the speaker felt, in the recesses of his own heart, all that 
he uttered ; and that his love for his flock was deep and over- 
flowing. 

Such being the grand theme and the prevailing spirit of his 
ministry — Christ's truth spoken in love — it is but reasonable to 
infer that his labors were largely successful. The inference is 
sustained by facts. Many " times of refreshing from the pres- 
ence of the Lord" passed over his congregation, and dropped 
upon them regenerating dews from the overshadowing Spirit ; and 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 637 

silent blessings were generally found waiting on his steps. From 
his densely populous, and latterly, changing parish, multitudes 
have gone forth, through the city and through the country, bear- 
ing the impress of his doctrine and of the mind of Christ which 
was in him, to be church-members, and church-officers, and 
preachers of Christ — some of them unto the ends of the earth. 
Even his occasional labors, as he journeyed round the land, were 
often richly blessed. How many — like the Rev. Richardson Gra- 
ham, late one of our missionaries to China, who refers his con- 
version to a sermon on James 5:9, " Behold, the Judge standeth 
before the door," which he incidentally heard Dr. Milnor preach 
at St. Paul's, on one of his visits to Philadelphia — have been the 
fruits of his seed-sowing as he passed from place to place, the 
great day only can reveal. 

So, in truth, may we say of his whole ministerial life. Dr. 
Cutler, in a sermon delivered soon after the death of his old 
friend, on the text, 1 Cor. 4 : 15, " Though ye have ten thousand 
instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers" uses the 
following truthful language : " To multitudes, he was a father in 
a higher sense than any of which we have yet spoken. He it 
was by whom their eyes were first opened to see their perishing 
condition by nature, and their only hope of salvation in Christ. 
God made him a father unto them by a tie more lasting than any 
which earth can originate. how many such will rise up in 
the day of God, and call him blessed ! His paternal anxieties 
and patient labors will be amply rewarded when, with a multi- 
tude of sons and daughters, he shall say before God, "' Here am 
I, and the children whom thou hast given me.' Like the blessed 
Master, he even now ' sees the travail of his soul, and is satis- 
fied.' And when God shall have answered all the prayers which 
he put up, and brought forward into fruit all the seed which he 
sowed, then both he that hath sowed, and he that shall hereafter 
reap, will abundantly rejoice together." 

In domestic life — the bosom of his own family — the beauties 
of his character shone with peculiar lustre. 

Liberal in his household arrangements, he nevertheless dis- 
couraged extravagance and disallowed waste. His domestics 
loved him, and looked up to him as a friend. He was very regu- 



638 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

lar in his habits. An early riser from youth, he preferred the 
morning hours for study, and always accomplished much before 
breakfast. In domestic worship he took peculiar delight, and 
was peculiarly happy. He was strict in requiring all the mem- 
bers of his household to be present, and nothing pained him more 
than the unnecessary absence of any. The most tender and de- 
voted of husbands, the kindest and most indulgent of fathers, 
he was ever seeking the happiness, temporal and eternal, of those 
whom he loved. He never used harshness in reproving an erring 
child, yet he never overlooked a fault, nor failed firmly to reprove 
the offender. His son, in his " Recollections," has an anecdote 
which illustrates his character in this particular. 

" I recollect," says he, " when in college, during an absence of 
my father from home, I engaged in what was called, among the 
students, a ' standing out' for the maintenance of rights, which, 
as we thought, had been invaded. On his return, he was of 
course made acquainted with the case. He reproved me for my 
course, but did not wish me to compromise my honor by turning 
traitor to my companions. I remember well that his kind but 
firm manner had the intended effect — an effect which severity or 
harshness might have failed to produce." 

He was very regular at meals, and very temperate. For a 
large portion of his life, he had been in the habit — such was the 
custom of the times — of taking an occasional glass of wine at 
dinner. But many years before his death, the habit was discon- 
tinued. His medical advisers opposed the change, from an appre- 
hension that it might prove injurious to his peculiar constitution 
under advancing years ; but he was firm, and afterwards used 
stimulants only when prescribed as medicine. He remained a 
warm, though never an indiscreet friend of the Temperance cause. 

As he was an early riser, so he retired early to rest, never, 
save when necessity obliged him, consuming the midnight oil. 
As for himself, so to all about him, he successfully endeavored to 
make his dwelling the home of wise moderation, cheerful content, 
holy peace, and Christian hospitality. His house was always 
open to his brethren, and the prophet's chamber on the wall ever 
ready for a guest. One of his clerical friends, the Rev. E. W. 
Peet, long in habits of familiar and frequent intercourse with 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 639 

him, in a discourse preached the Sunday after his death, thus 
embodies his impressions of Dr. Milnor's domestic life, with a 
special view to illustrate its social and hospitable character. 

" Who that was accustomed to step over the threshold of the 
blessed rectory of St. George's, was not at once conscious of be- 
ing under the roof of a godly man, whose name and character 
were as a sweet savor among the intelligent, and wise, and good ? 
What forms and features are well remembered there ! What 
zealous ministers of Jesus gathered round his board ! How fa- 
miliarly all approached him as a father and a friend ! The mis- 
sionary of the far West, the diligent country rector, the student 
of theology, the man of benevolent enterprise, the young man 
just entering on the trials of city life, all found there a welcome. 
And there, too, gathered good men of every name and denomina- 
tion. There was no need, in his case, of a mitre or a crozier. 
An episcopate would have added nothing to the savor of his char- 
acter, or the sacredness of his influence. There is no bishop in 
all our wide-extended country who might not well have deemed 
himself peculiarly favored in the cheerful, voluntary, irrepressible 
love and attachment which Dr. Milnor excited and secured in 
the hearts of such multitudes of good and intelligent men. This 
homage no official station can ever purchase. Such station may 
secure an outward exhibition of respect, but the hearts of men 
are beyond its reach." 

It is important, in estimating Dr. Milnor's character, to note 
more specially the sweet cheerfulness of temper which his relig- 
ion favored and produced. The impression that such strict views 
as he was known to take must make men gloomy r , is one of those 
subtle and lurking errors of a falsely reasoning world which 
ought to be met at every step, and exposed in all its falseness. 
Of this error, Dr. Milnor was a living refutation. His religion, 
instead of destroying, heightened and perfected his natural 
cheerfulness of disposition. Many who for a time knew him 
only by the public estimate of his views, were astonished, upon 
subsequent personal acquaintance, to find in him nothing of the 
gloom and austerity which they expected, and with which their 
inferences from his self-humbling doctrines had invested him. 
Indeed, he abounded in cheerfulness and even in humor, though 



640 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

his cheerfulness was always becoming, and his humor ever deli- 
cate and chaste. In its indulgence he never forgot who he was, 
and whom he professed to serve. His peculiarities in this respect, 
made him a truly delightful friend. Says Bishop Kemper, in a 
letter to Dr. William H. Milnor, written after the father's death. 
" He was, in every respect, a charming companion, abounding in 
anecdotes, which he told exceedingly well, and often with much 
humor. You doubtless remember many of his admirable stories 
about the Rev. Dr. Colin, the old rector of the Swedish churches 
in Pennsylvania, and the Rev. William Ayres, an ancient clergy- 
man of New Jersey, who resided two or three years in the Penn- 
sylvania hospital with his daughter, while she was nurse in that 
institution. I have known Bishop White, when- we have been 
dining with him, turn to your father, and ask him to relate some 
interesting event, knowing that the company would be delighted 
with the narrative from his manner of telling it." 

" His flow of spirits, and his fund of anecdote," says his son 
in the " Recollections," " made him truly agreeable in society. 
He always retained the easy but dignified deportment which early 
mingling in the society of the world had made familiar to him. 
The Christian gentleman shone in every word and action. I 
have before me memory's daguerreotype of his beaming face and 
laughing eye, when enjoying some fine sally of wit; and of his 
earnest countenance, when discussing some favorite topic. In 
argument he never lost his temper. Though he expressed him- 
self with animation, and sometimes with warmth, yet he never 
lost sight of the respect due to his opponent. His naturally 
hasty temper was subjected to a gracious and complete control. 
He would meekly bear reproach for a season, rather than harshly 
resent an injury." 

The benevolence also of his character should receive its meed. 
It was, indeed, his crowning grace. Drawn to his Saviour by 
love, instead of being driven by terror, love was the life of his 
religion ; and his religion was, in a high sense, but love in activ- 
ity. His whole Christian life was enlarged philanthropy — sanc- 
tified benevolence. How much he gave from his moderately 
ample income, we have no means of definitely ascertaining. His 
contributions to all good objects were liberal, and in the aggre- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 641 

gate large. His pledge towards the building of a free ehapel, 
made near the close of his life, was, for one of his means, munifi- 
cent. But in general we find no record of his gifts. His left 
hand knew not what his right hand was doing. This only is 
certain, that, according to his ability, he gave much. But his 
giving, in the ordinary sense of money contributed, was not the 
true measure of his real benevolence. His life was one great 
expression of this heavenly spirit. And it will not be forgotten, 
that his really abounding labors in the Bible and Tract Societies, 
and in the general agency of our Foreign Executive Committee, 
were all gratuitous. So, in part, was his visit to Europe, as their 
first and most laborious delegate ; and it would have been wholly 
so, had not the vestry of his parish generously relieved him of a 
portion of the expense. Much of his benevolence expressed itself 
in behalf of objects of which, ordinarily, the wealthy world knows 
as little as it may. To quote again from the " Recollections :" 

" His ear was always open to the tale of woe, and his hand 
never shut against the friendless and needy. And as his private 
resources were inadequate to all the calls on his purse, he took 
peculiar pleasure in carefully cherishing and wisely applying the 
charity-fund of his parish. This consisted of the revenues of the 
offertory at communion seasons, and amounted to a considerable 
sum per annum. His regular pensioners, the old, the sick, the 
needy, and the helpless, received each quarter-day their allotted 
portions. If he was obliged on that day to be absent from home, 
he invariably left neat little parcels for them in charge with some 
member of his family. He furnished them with wood, and coal, 
and other necessaries during the inclemencies of winter ; his own 
purse supplying any deficiency which unusual calls might create. 
Bitter were the tears which these poor old people shed, when they 
came, one by one, to look for the last time upon the face of their 
old pastor." 

It was the lovely benevolence of Dr. Milnor's character which 
gave their most touching pathos to the scenes at St. George's and 
its rectory, immediately after his decease was announced, and on 
the day of his funeral. 

" The moment this event was known," says Mr. Peet, in his 
discourse, "the throng around the well-known rectory, the groups 

Mem. Milnor. 4 1 



642 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of lingering parishioners, the eyes strained with weeping, the old 
friends from distant parishes, whom the growth of the great me- 
tropolis had separated from his ministry, proved the depth and 
sincerity of the feeling which prevailed, and bespoke the pres- 
sure of some great calamity. And on the day of the funeral, men 
of all ranks and professions, and clergymen of various denomina- 
tions, gathered around the house of mourning ; and as his inani- 
mate remains were borne sadly and solemnly into the sanctuary, 
which for so many years had reechoed to his voice, the vast mul- 
titude crowded every niche and corner, from floor to roof; and 
there, in the passages and open vestibules, closely and densely 
thronged, were seen men of high degree, judges, and senators, 
and doctors of divinity, mingled with the poor daughters of 
Africa, whose tearful faces, if apology for their presence were 
needed, told the story of those emotions which had brought them 
thither." 

" To some," Mr. Peet adds, " it may seem that his death was 
painfully sudden. They may feel surprised, that Grod's faithful 
ones should be denied the privilege of testifying, in their last 
hours, of the grace and mercy which they have received. But 
not thus ought we to reason. The death of the good man is 
never sudden. He dies daily. He converses often with death 
and the judgment. He has all things in readiness, and he pre- 
fers that his whole life should testify of the grace and mercy 
which his Saviour has bestowed." This language is appropriate. 
Dr. Milnor had no dread of sudden death, and it was his special 
desire to make his life speak to the last. " He had a great dread," 
says his son, "of being obliged to give up duty, and earnestly 
desired that he might be enabled to work to the very end of the 
day. A sudden death was to him a visitation of mercy." He 
had his wish ; for almost literally, 

"He ceased at once to labor and to live." 

It is true, that when he fell asleep there was no song upon 
his lips. But, twenty years before, those who were near him, 
heard him sing in the very spirit of the great apostle, when 
" ready to be offered." At that time he supposed himself to be 
actually in the passage of the straits of death ; dying, not with 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 643 

the suddenness which finally snatched him away, but with a dis- 
tinct perception of the gradual yet apparently inevitable approach 
of his end. That was the hour of his triumph. Then he sung 
the song of the apostle. Then the grave opened before him a 
lighted passage to glory. Can we then suppose, that after so long 
an added course of ever-increasing faithfulness in labor, and of 
ever-increasing ripeness in grace, the scene at last proved a 
dark one ? No. Had not death chained his tongue in almost 
instant silence, we cannot doubt it would again have sung the 
song of triumph — would again have spoken of the precious- 
ness of Christ — would again have testified to the power of that 
faith which can make the dark dwelling of the grave itself a 
land of light. Had his passing away been ordered according to 
human wish, he might, indeed, have been too humble to make 
his last song in the precise words of the apostle ; and yet, now 
that he is gone, there can be neither presumption nor impropri- 
ety in our putting those words into his mouth, and conceiving 
the silence of his death-bed as having been made vocal to the 
ear that " heareth in secret," with this animating strain : " I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give 
me at that day ; and not to me only, but to all them also that 
love his appearing." Nor can there be any presumption or any 
impropriety in believing that the same silence in which this was 
heard, brought back to his own inner ear the cheering re- 
sponse, " Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord." 

A very few of the many anecdotes and illustrations of his 
character and habits, which might have been collected, remain 
to be added. They might have been inserted in other and more 
appropriate places, but having escaped notice till now, they are 
given here, by way of taking our last look of the man. 

HIS HABITS OF SERMON- WRITING AND PASTORAL DUTY. 

He made it a practice, says his son, every Sunday evening, to 
select a text for the ensuing Lord's day ; and on Monday morn- 
ing, he always commenced the writing of his sermon. 



644 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

A portion of every fair day, generally the latter part, he 
spent in visiting his parishioners, both sick and well. He loved 
to be among his flock ; and considered parochial visitation as 
among a pastor's most important duties. 

HIS FAVORITE ALLEGORY OF THE CHURCH. 

This was suggested by one of the Saviour's well-known par- 
ables. He loved to view the Church of Christ as an extensive 
vineyard. Here and there different classes of laborers are en- 
gaged in cultivating the same great vine ; their different modes 
of training it being determined by diversities of taste, judg- 
ment, and skill. The roots strike deep into the same soil. The 
branches climb aloft towards the same heaven. Its fruitfulness 
is dependent on the same divine influences. And one and all 
who labor faithfully their allotted season, receive at its close, 
from the same Master, the same. " penny a day" 

HIS IDEA OF TRUE CATHOLICISM. 

" Between Dr. Milnor and the sectarian bigot there was no 
fellowship of feeling." In illustration of this remark, his son 
relates the following : " I remember, though at the time a mere 
boy, listening to a conversation between him and a brother cler- 
gyman who was then his guest. This gentleman advocated 
extreme high-church views ; shutting the gate of heaven against 
all without the pale of the Episcopal church, save as the uncov- 
enanted mercy of God might perhaps grant them admittance. 
After long argument on the subject, my father's face glowing 
with animation, he exclaimed, ' Why, my good sir, if I held 
such views as you have expressed, I could not rest to-night on 
my pillow. I have beloved relatives and dear friends, who are 
without the pale, as you define it. Their hopes and mine rest 
on the same Jesus. Are they to be excluded from the covenanted 
benefits of his atonement, simply because they have not been 
baptized in an Episcopal church, and do not worship according 
to a particular form?" 

"When recovering from a violent attack of gout, and unable 
to read from an affection of the eyes, I read to him one afternoon 
the controversy between Drs. Wainwright and Potts on the ques- 



RETROSPECT OF HIS LIFE. 645 

tion whether there can be a Church without a bishop. When I 
had finished, he mildly observed, ' The difference between high- 
churchmen and myself is this : they magnify into essentials what 
I consider non-essentials.'' At another time, when reading to 
him an advertisement of a course of lectures on the distinctive 
principles of the Church, ' I should prefer,' said he, ' a course on 
the distinctive principles of the Gospel.' " 

HIS INDIFFERENCE TO OFFICIAL ELEVATION. 

It is well known to many, that he was more than once solic- 
ited to consent to a nomination as candidate for the Episcopal 
office. He sometimes, in his vein of serious humor, refused his 
applicant by saying, " No ; I have long since made up my mind 
to accept no mitre lower than that of the diocese of New York!" 

At a meeting of clergy of different denominations, the subject 
of an election of an assistant bishop for the diocese of Pennsyl- 
vania was introduced. A friend playfully remarked to him, " Dr. 
Milnor, I understand there is danger that a mitre will fall upon 
your head." "Not the least," he as playfully replied. "If my 
Presbyterian brethren made bishops, I might possibly have some 
chance. But, indeed," he more seriously continued, "I have no 
aspirations on the subject. I have seldom known a presbyter 
made bishop whose piety was not, more or less, a sufferer from 
the elevation. I have little enough, as it is." 

By this, he doubtless meant, that, to the true usefulness and 
the true dignity of a minister of Christ, personal piety is more 
important than official rank; and that, although the latter is not 
necessarily incompatible with the former in even its highest 
grade, yet, considering the weakness of our nature, there is, in 
all elevated official distinction, a peril to Christian character, 
which should deter the faithful and humble servant of Christ 
from coveting the exposure. To use one of his own quotations, 
" O si sic omnesV The Church would have more peace, and 
the world more profit. 

"We now leave the subject of our Memoir to his rest in Christ, 
to the affectionate regards of Christ's people, and to the blessing 
of God on his beneficent example. In this world are many kinds 



646 MEMOIR OF DR. MILNOR. 

of greatness. There is a greatness which is terrible, and a great- 
ness which is splendid, and a greatness which is profound. Per- 
haps the best idea of a great man is this : one who has enough 
perspicacity to discern truth, though it has become enveloped in 
a fog; and enough love for truth discerned, to follow it, though it 
lead into a fire. This is the real martyr for Christ, as distin- 
guished from the man who fancies himself " persecuted for right- 
eousness' sake," when he is merely punished for self-righteousness. 
Of this true greatness Dr. Milnor had more than a common share. 
Certainly his greatness was neither terrible nor splendid; but it 
was, if not in the fullest sense profound, at least in the truest 
sense lovely. It wants not that which commends him to our 
respect; but it has most of that which wins our affection. His 
was the greatness of beneficent action, of a living benevolence, 
and of an enlarged Christian sympathy. If he astonished not 
by deep discoveries in science, by brilliant displays of genius, or 
by prodigious acquisitions in learning, he nevertheless blessed by 
a noble example, by a beneficent life, and by yielding freely 

AND BEING READY TO SUBMIT PRACTICALLY TO THE HIGHEST CLAIMS OF 

the greatest truths. He penetrated greatly into the depths of 
Christian experience. He felt with great power the sinfulness 
of his nature and the imperfections of his life; and, with great 
ingenuousness and self-abasement, carried all his sins and all his 
imperfections to the cross of Christ, and gave to his Saviour alone 
all the glory of his great salvation. He took a great grasp on 
eternal things, and lived greatly by seeking, as the one high aim 
of his studies, his labors, and his prayers, the supreme glory of 
God in the everlasting welfare of man. May such samples of 
Christian character be multiplied, till all the world has learned 
how great is God, and how great is goodness. 




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