24th. The memorial addresses were delivered by the Rev. Joseph G. Monfort, D.D., LL.D., Senior editor of the Herald & Prescyter, a classmate of Dr. Chidlaw in Miami University in 1832-33, and by the Rev. Wm. Henry Roberts, D.D., LL.D., professor in Lane Theological Seminary. The meeting was presided over by the pastor of the church, the Rev. John Hughes Griffiths, M.A. The biographical portion of the sermon was delivered by Prof. Roberts, and is as follows:

Benjamin W. Chidlaw was born in the village of Bala, North Wales, July 14th, 1811, the year in which the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists separated finally from the Established Church. His father, Benjamin Chidlaw, was a tradesman, and his mother, Mary Williams, a farmer's daughter. The main facts of his life have been recited by himself in his book, entitled, "The Story of my Life," a book which I advise those who have not read, to read at an early day. To use the testimony of another, "It is a grand record, a leaf from experience, a Godgiven book. Richard Cecil says, God has given us four books, the book of nature, the book of the world, and tha book of Providence. Every occur rence is a leaf in one of these books. It does not become us to be negligent of any of them.”

Into the minute details of the life of our friend, time does not permit me to enter. It is sufficient to refer the inquirer to his book for such facts. The few minutes at my disposal will be devoted to a general view of his life, and to a brief analysis of his character, and work.

There are hinge events in every life, hinges upon which swing wide open the doors which lead to opportunnity and snccess. The first hinge event in the life of our friend was his removal to the United States in

1821, when a lad of ten years of age. His father, wearied out with ecclesiastical tyrrany, determined to remove to the United States with his family, and begin life in a land where tithes and establishments of religion were unknown. It is a commentary upon the change which has come over our beloved land since that far off date of seventy years, that it took the Chidlaw family two weeks traveling from New York City to reach Utica, N. Y., a journey which can now be made in five hours, and that it took them a longer time to remove from Utica to Delaware, Ohio, via lower Sandusky. Mr. Chidlaw's father died a short time after the arrival of the family at Delaware, but in so dark an hour, help came where help was perhaps not expected. It is not always possible to determine a woman's power to think and act. The fatherless family was cared for and supported by the mother, a person of marked ability, deep piety and strong character. The mother, with the instinct of a true woman, determined among other things that her son should have an education. The first willing steps in this direction were taken by young Chidlaw at two of the log school houses at that time characteristic of Ohio. He made a profession of religion in the Radnor Presbyterian Church in the Spring of 1829, and during the summer of the same year resolved to study for the Gospel ministry. His education was completed by three years of study in Athens College, and one year in Miami University. From the latter Institution he graduated in 1833. In April, of the latter year, he was taken under the care of Oxford Presbytery, and examined at the same time with Joseph G. Monfort, the venerable editor of the Herald and Presbyter, and Thomas E. Thomas, afterwards pastor in several prominent Presbyterian

Mr.

Churches, and Professor in Lane Theological Seminery. His Theological studies were pursued under Dr. Bishop, president of Miami University, and he was licensed to preach the gospel in April, 1835. In 1836, Mr. Chidlaw was ordained by the Oxford Presbytery as pastor of the Congregational Church at Paddy's Run. Sixty years ago the lines between the Congregational and the Presbyterian denominations were not so sharply drawn as they are at the present time, and ministers passed easily from one Church to the other. In 1844 our friend left Paddy's Run to become pastor of the Presbyterian Churches at Cleves, Elizabethtown and Berea, a relation which continued for a little over a year, and was terminated in 1846 in order that Mr. Chidlaw might enter fully upon the work of the American Sunday School Union. Chidlaw's connection with this benevolent and beneficent Society began in 1836, but prior to 1845 he was only engaged a part of his time in its service. It is noticeable that he was the first commissioned missionary of this society, doing great good, accomplishing marked results, and filling out a remarkable career. Entrance upon the full work of the Society was the third hinge event in our friend's life, the second being his call to the ministry. The first made him an American, the second a preacher, and the third a missionary. The first gave him a country, the second a profession, and the third a special field of labor. In all these, that divine sovereignity was made manifest, which shapes the destinies of men according to the wise, holy, just, and loving will of God.

In 1861 the great national crisis which culminated in the war between the States did not find our friend unprepared nor unequal to the demands of the new situation. The excitement

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connected with the beginning of that great struggle seriously interfered with his Sunday School work, but instead of complaining of difficulties, and sitting with idle hands, he at once transferred himself to a new sphere of labor. Finding that in Southern Ohio Camps of Instruction had been established for Union Volunteers, he undertook missionary work in them, and with great success. After a short time spent in such labor, he was persuaded to accept the chaplaincy of the 39th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With this regiment he remained for about a year, highly useful to both officers and privates, greatly valued by both as a friend and as a minister, and under God the means of leading many souls to Christ. His service as Chaplain was terminated by an attack of what appears to have been nervous prostration, and rendered him unfit for the arduous duties of the camp and the march. But this illness resulted simply in a change of work. Prevented by the providence of God from service in the field, he entered as soon as health permitted into the work of the Christian Commission, and became one of the most trusted and valued agents of that beneficent and patriotic organization. In this service he remained until the close of the war. Dr. Chidlaw valued American Institutions very highly, and one of the most significant incidents in this connection in his book is that of the discovery of a picture of himself painted at the desire of his father in 1819, when the son was but eight years of age. The picture, it appears, had been for years in the possession of a relative, and did not come into Mr. Chidlaw's knowledge until 1889, when on a visit to Great Britain. He writes of it in this manner: "As I held the antique frame, 10 by 8 inches in size, in my hand, realizing what it was, astonish

ment and delight filled my soul. My emotions were indescribable. Amazed, my hand trembling, I beheld the face and form of a small boy dressed in a blue jacket, and a white frill around his neck; holding in the right hand a United States flag, the glorious red, white and blue, its beautiful folds richly displayed, and the forefinger of his left hand pointing to a legend in English, 'Where liberty dwells, there is my country." Is it any wonder that our friend was a devoted American? To the Cambrian's instinctive love of liberty were added both paternal and maternal favorable influence and patriotic feeling was strengthened and matured through the fulfillment of that father's desires for his boy, by the latter's life of earnest service in that country where liberty in truth dwells.

Dr. Chidlaw was happily married three times, first in 1836 to Miss Elizabeth Gwilym of Paddy's Run, who died in 1841; second in 1842, to Miss Rebecca Hughes, of Whitewater Township, Hamilton Co., O., who died in 1888, and third in 1891, to Mrs. Henrietta Manning of New York city, who survives him, and is a lady of noble Christian character and like her late husband, devoted to religious and philanthropic work. The universal testimony in our friend's case is that he was an affectionate, true and manly husband in his marital relationships. Sincerely mourning the bereavements which came to him personally, he is to-day as sincerely mourned by the loving and devoted companion he left behind, who is patiently waiting the happy reunion

above.

Dr. Chidlaw as a man had many marked qualities. His physique was excellent, inherited from healthy and God-fearing parents, and strengthened and matured by the hard work of his early pioneer life. Without this

physical strength which he possessed, much of our brother's work would have remained unperformed. He had a sound body, for the use of the sound mind contained therein. In his young manhood he thought nothing of walking between thirty and forty miles a day, and it is on record that he made the distance between his home at Delaware, to Athens College, Ohio, a distance of 151 miles in three and a half days. It is to be feared that the young men of this generation are lacking in that vigor and endurance which can only be secured by hard work, and which is one of the main essentials of a successful life. The wear and tear of modern life can be successfully endured only by strong

men.

Yet another marked quality of our friend was activity. He was always at work. Rest to him meant simply a change of labor. There was that in his constitution which forbade idleness, and his sound physique gave efficiency and force to his activity. During his fifty-six years of service for the American Sunday School Union, the amount of work performed was simply enormous, and the results of indefatigable labors can hardly be estimated. He planted Sunday-schools in all parts of this central west. During a large portion of his term of service he also labored a part of every year in the Atlantic States, advocating by voice and by the pen the interests of the society in whose service he delighted. So continuously did he obey the Scripture injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might," that from 1855 onwards he was "the best known Sundayschool advocate and worker in the United States,"

Another marked characteristic of Dr. Chidlaw was his sympathy. This welcome and beneficent Christian grace was developed in him to the

full, and colored all his acts and words during the course of his life. It was the expression of the inner character of the man, and in no way to be confused with the easy goodnature which is the weakness of some men and makes them the ready victims of designing persons. Always ready to speak words of comfort to the sorrowing; of guidance to the onxious and perplexed; always according to his means bestowing charity where there was need of it; he was yet ever ready to rebuke hypocrisy and falsehood. He had the tenderness conjoined with the strength of a true manhood. His sympathy, further, was not given to any one class in the community, but to all classes without exception. So well was it understood that he was the friend of all, that all gave him cordial welcome, and sustained him heartily in his endeavors to advance the interests of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Having drunk deep at the fountain of love in the heart of Christ, his sympathy was in some measure the sympathy for man of the Saviour of a lost world. Dr. Chidlaw was a man also of deep spirituality. There was about him nothing of the hypocrite. He never indulged in cant, His views of theology and of life were practical_and honest. He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart, and added to faith its evidencing works. He was an evangelist as well as a Sabbath-school Missionary. During his visits to Wales, and in the midst of his missionary labors, he found abundant time and opportunity for revival work. His converts were numerous, and in large part reflected the sincerity and piety of him who, under God's blessing, had been the means of bringing them from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of light. One of the special seasons of blessing mentioned by Mr. Chidlaw in his

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book occurred in 1839 in Llanuwchllyn chapel near Bala, when 250 persons professed faith in Christ as a result, of one Sabbath's sermons. Converts are an evidence of true spiritual power in the preacher.

Dr. Chidlaw in his prime was a remarkable platform speaker. I distinctly remember the first occasion on which it was my privilege to hear him. In 1856, when a lad of fourteen years, and in company with my father, I attended a Sunday-school missionary meeting held at the church of the Puritans, on Union Square, New York City. The principal speaker on the occassis was our friend, and I shall never forget the impression which his simple, clear and yet enthusiastic and convincing address made upon me. Dr. Chidlaw's sympathy, energy and enthusiasm made him an exceedingly acceptable speaker and preacher, one whom all classes in the community delighted to hear and to honor.

The close of Dr. Chidlaw's life was sudden and unexpected, and occurred at Dolgelly, Wales, July 14, 1892, within a few miles of his birth-place, and on his birthday. The eighty-first anniversary of his advent to earth was the day of his advent to the fullness of the life eternal.

His remains were brought home to Cleves, Ohio and laid to rest in the Berean Cemetery, a beautiful spot, very near his home, and always dear to his heart. A large concourse of friends attended the funeral services in the grove surrounding the house, where many words of true and loving eulogy were spoken of him.

Let us who yet remain, be edified and comforted by satisfying thoughts based upon the goodness of God to our departed brother. His was a life of earnest faith and wide usefulness. Under the divine blessing he accomplished much good. During his long