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Memoir of James Petigru |
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MEMOIR
OF
JAMES PETIGRU BOYCE.
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JAMES PETIGRU BOYCE, D.D., LL.D.
LATE PRESIDENT OF
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY LOUISVILLE, KY.
BY
JOHN A. BROADUS
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
61 East 10"' Street, near Broadway
1893
ixK^
Copyright, 1893, By John A. Bkoadus.
SaniiJEtstts Press : John Wilson and Son, Camuhidge.
TO
MRS. BOYCE AND HER DAUGHTERS,
"WITH MANY PRECIOUS MEMORIES IN COMMON, AND HEARTY PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP,
J. A. B.
PREFACE.
This Memoir has been prepared by request of the family, and through strong impulses of personal affec- tion ; for we were of the same age, and had worked side by side for thirty years. But in depictnig a char- acter so elevated and sincere, one feels obliged to restrain the natural tendency to eulogium.
I have especially tried to represent the environment and development of Dr. Boyce's early life in Charles- ton, at Brown University, and at Princeton Theological Seminary, and to bring out his labors as editor in Charleston, pastor in Columbia, and professor in Fur- man University. The part which he took in the war, and in South Carolina politics, is not overlooked.
As his recognized life-work was the foundation and establishment of the Soutliern Baptist Theological Seminary, a biography of him could hardly fail to comprise a history of that institution. But this is for the most part thrown into distinct chapters, which some readers can pass over if they like. For the his- torical sketch of the institution I have carefully used printed and manuscript records, besides recollections which go back almost to the beginning of the move- ment. If any persons interested in theological educa-
Vlll PREFACE.
tion wish really to understand the peculiar plan and operations of this Seminary, they will find a brief chapter of explanation.
The account of Dr. Boyce's ancestry and early life is most of all indebted to Dr. H. A. Tupper, who was liis friend from boyhood and married his sister, and who has written copious memoranda and furnished a long series of letters, carefully arranged, from which I drew many facts and impressions, besides the extracts given. Valuable assistance was also afforded by Dr. Boyce's sister, Mrs. Burckmyer, and by William G. Whilden, Esq., Judge B. C. Pressley, and numerous other friends, to whom indebtedness will be found acknowledged at one point or another. The Misses Boyce have carefully selected from their father's let- ter-books all such as they thought likely to be helpful, and have written notes of his later journeys which they shared, and also personal recollections of his home life and traits of character, which are freely used in the closing chapters. I lieartily thank many former students and others who have furnished material for this labor of love.
J. A. B.
Louisville, Ky., April 15, 1893.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.
The Scotch- Irish. — The Bo3'ce Name and Family. — The Grandfather's Services and Adventures during the Revolutionary War. — The Father, Ker Boyce, settles in Charleston as a Cotton-Factor, — "Weathering a Financial Storm. — James Boyce's Mother. — Her CoDversion, during a Sermon by Basil Manly, Sr.
Pages 1-9.
CHAPTER II.
THE CITY OF CHARLESTON.
Beautiful Bay, Islands, and Rivers. — The Rich Planters of "Sea Island " Cotton. — The Carolina Aristocracy. — Story of Dr. Jeter. — Population of Charleston at Different Periods. Pages 10-13.
CHAPTER m.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
The Namesake, James L. Petigru. — The "Little Guardsman '' at Church. — Sketch of the Pastor, Basil Manly, Sr. —James's Early Fondness for Books.— His Archery Club and Debating Society. — His Mother's Early Death. — The Lesson she once gave him in Truthfulness. — His Boyish Care of the Younger Children, and how they regarded him. — Six Months in a Dry-Goods Store. —
CONTENTS.
Reading the Works of Gilmore Simms, — At Professor Bailey's School, and at the High School with Dr. Bruus. — Timrod and Hayne. — H. H. Tucker his Sunday-School Teacher, and after- wards Judge Piessley. — Hearing Dr. Thornwell. — At the Charleston College under Dr. Brantly. — Tribute of his Fellow- Student, F. T. Miles. — Sketch of Dr. Brantly, the Pastor and President. — Business and Political Activity of Mr. Ker Boyce.
Pages 14-32.
CHAPTER ly.
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY.
Early Interest of South Carolina Baptists in Brown University.— Sketch of President Wayland, whom James Boyce resembled in Impor- tant Respects. — Dr. Wayland's Controversy with Dr. R. Fuller on Slavery. — Professors Caswell, Gammell, Lincoln, and J. R. Boise. — Various Fellow-Students who became famous. — Visit of Adoni- ram Judson. — Letters of Boyce to H. A. Tupper. — Tributes to him by J. R. Boise and J. H. Luther. — His Conversion, through the Influence of Fellow-Students at Brown, and the Preaching of Dr. R. Fuller in Charleston. — His Zeal on returning to College, and Important Revival there. — His Studies. — Lively Letter to a Charleston Lady. — Continued Religious Labors. — Letters. — Determination to become a Minister. — Disappointment of his Father and some others. — Graduated and licensed to preach.
Pages 33-54.
CHAPTER V.
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK.
How he became acquainted at Washington, Ga. — The Ficklen Family. — The Village, its Schools and Society. — Quickly enamoured, and long persevering. — How prevented from studying Theology at Hamilton. — Marriage. — Editor of "The Southern Baptist" in Charleston. — Characteristics and Success in that Capacity. — Much in Company with Dr. A, M. Poindexter.
Pages 55-66.
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER VI.
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1849-1851.
Archibald Alexander and his Famous Sons, James and Addison. — Dr. Charles Hodge. — Fellow-Students, Presbyterian and liaptist. — Very laborious, his Wife aiding by copying Notes. — Preaching olten at the Penn's Neck Baptist Church, near Princeton. — The Earlie&t Sermon that remains. — A Vacation with the Ficklens in Virginia, preaching every Sunday. — Letters to Mr. Tupper, now his Brother- in-law. — Plans on leaving Princeton . . . Pages 67-83.
CHAPTER Vn.
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA, S. C, 1851-1855.
The City, its Surroundings and Beautiful Homes. — Capitol, South Carolina College, Piesbyterian Theological Seminary, — The Baptist Church in Columbia, and his Ministerial Labors. — Getting a Strong Hold upon the Colored People. — Setting up a Home. — His Father's Death there. — Closing Estimates of Mr. Ker Boyce. — The Young Minister left as Active Executor. — At the Southern Baptist Convention in 1855 Pages 84-99.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN FURMAN UNIVERSITY.
History of the Furman Institution from 1827, and its "Removal to Green- ville in 1851, as Furman University. — lioyce elected to its Theological Department in 1855. — Sketches of Pivsidont Furman and Professors Judson, Edwards, and others. — Boyce's Anxiety to have another Theological Professor. — His Faithful Labors. — Sermon on the Death of Senator A. P. Butler . Pages 100-110.
Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX,
FOUNDATION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
Almost every Baptist College began with a Theological Department. — Young Basil Manly and others going to Newton, in Massachusetts.
— Separation of Northern and Southern Baptists, in 1845. — Idea of a Common Theological School for all Southern Baptists. — Various Consultations, at Augusta 1845, Nashville and Charleston 1849, in Virginia 1854 ; in Educational Conventions, at Montgomery 1855, Augusta 1856. — James P. Boyce's Address in 1856 at Furman University on "Three Changes in Theological Institutions." — Copious Extracts from this Epoch-Making Address. — His Views compared with those of President AV ay land. Three Years before, in " The Apostolic Ministry." — Proposition of the South Carolina Baptists accepted by an Educational Convention in LouisviUe, 1857.
— Professor Boyce at work as Agent in South Carolina. — Final Convention at Greenville, 1858, organizing the Seminary. — Opening delayed a Year Pages 111-154.
CHAPTER X.
THE seminary's PLAN OF INSTRUCTION.
Its Aim to give Theological Instruction to Men in every Grade of General Education. — How could these work together ? — System of Independent "Schools," like the University of Virginia. — Every Man's Studies completely elective. — List of the Seminary's Schools, or Departments. — Great Stress laid upon the Study of the English Scriptures. — Remarkable Experiences in that Direction. — How the Plan has worked, with even Unexpected Good Results. — Peculiar- ities as to Graduation. — New Degrees recently introduced, and New Titles. — Wide Range of Special Studies.
Pages 155-165.
CONTENTS. Xlll
CHAPTER XI.
THE seminary's THREE FIRST SESSIONS, 1859-1862.
The Town of Greenville and its Environs. — The Four Professors. — Some of the First Students. — Opening full of Encouragement. — Dr. Boyce's Country Pastorate. — His Kindness to the Students. — Dedicating tlie New Church at Columbia. — Second Session dis- turbed by the Great Political Excitement. — Visiting P'ort Sumter after its Capture by South Carolina Troops. — Third Session greatly hindered by the War. — Dr. Boyce's Correct Forecast as to Duration of the War. — His Diligence in Study amid so many Interruptions.
Pages 166-182.
CHAPTER XII.
DR. boyce's part IN THE WAR.
Opposed to Secession, but went with his State. — Fearing a Long and Bloody War. — Prospect of Heavy Financial Losses. — Chaplain in Confederate Army. — Member of the South Carolina Legislature. — Important Bill and Speech as to helping the Confederate Finances. — Extracts from the Speech. — Aide-de-Camp to the Governor. — His House at Greenville plundered by Union Soldiers.
Pages 183-197.
CHAPTER XIII. •
FIRST SIX YEARS AT GREENVILLE AFTER THE WAR, 1865-1871.
The Seminary reopened, with very Few Students, and Ruined Finances.— Working for the Future. — Dr. Boyce's Personal Losses and Embar- rassments, and Great Exertions to collect Support for the Seminary.
— Salaries once a Whole Year in Arrears, amid the High Prices.
— Southern Interest in Higher Education, and Real Generosity of many. — Boyce refusing Offers of Large Salary. — Number of Stu-
XIV CONTENTS.
dents slowly increasing. — Finances improving, and (1869) a Fifth Professor appointed, C. H. Toy, — Dr. Boyce's Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Basil Manly, Sr. — Extracts. — Professor B. Manly, Jr., goes to be President of Georgetown College, Ky.
Pages 198-217.
CHAPTER XIV.
SERIES OF EFFORTS TO REMOVE THE SEMINARY.
What had become of the Original Subscribed Endowment. — Necessity for Removal slowly recognized. — Various Suggestions and Proposi- tions, from 1869 onward. — Otfer to make Boyce President of Brown University. — Decision in 1872 to remove the Seminary to Louis- ville. — Professor W. H. Whitsitt elected in 1872. —Dr. Boyce yields the Chair of Systematic Theology to Dr. Williams. — Elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1872-1879. — Removes his Family to Louisville, 1872. — Letters to J. O. B. Dargan and Mrs. Butler. — Grave Difficulties encountered at Louisville, and Opposition of some Excellent Men. — Financial Collapse of 1873. — Boyce's Great Speech before a Meeting in Louis- ville, and another before the Southern Baptist Convention in 1873. — Remarkable Contributions in Texas, and at the Baptist Anniver- saries in Washington City. — Tour of Kentucky, — Long Series of Efforts to secure Endowment in Kentucky and elsewhere. — Preach- ing much in Louisville. — Work of the Seminary at Greenville. — Failing Health of Dr. Williams, and his Death. — Sketch, and. Tribute by Dr. Curry. — Removal of the Seminary to Louisville in 1877 Pages 218-250.
CHAPTER XV.
TEN BUSY YEARS IN THE SEMINARY AT LOUISVILLE,
1877-1887.
Extracts from Dr. Boyce's Opening Lecture on History of the Seminary. — Professors cordially received in Louisville. — Dr. Boyce again teaching Theology. — Number of Students much increased. — Resignation of Dr. Toy (1879), and Return of Dr. Manly. — Dr.
CONTENTS. XV
Boyce's Work as a Teacher. — His Method of Instniction in The- ology.— His Love of Turrettin, and Class in " Latin Theology." — His Teaching in Church Government, Pastoral Duties, and Parlia- mentary Practice. — His New Studies in Various Directions. — Seminary's Financial Condition unsatisfactory, and Boyce's Labors and Journeys. — The Institution saved by a Single Gift, in Answer to Prayer, with Further Gifts in Louisville and New York. — More Students. — Assistant-Professor G, W. Riggan. — Need of Ground and Buildings. — New York Hall. — Death of Riggan. — Assistant- Professors J. R. Sampey and A. T. Robertson. — Letters of Boyce to his Sister and others, to M. T. Yates and other Missionaries.
Pages 251-303.
CHAPTER XVI.
PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS.
Brief Catechism of Bible Doctrine. — Abstract of Theology. — History of its Production. — Adapted to his Method of Class Instruction, but very useful also to Working Preachers. — Highly Favorable Notices in the " Standard " and the " Independent." — Mention of Various Sermons, Lectures, and Essays, which ought to be published Pages 30i-313.
CHAPTER XVIL
DECLINING YEARS AND DEATH.
Occasional Attacks since 1871. — Overwork. — Co-Professor F. H. Kerfoot in 1887. — Various Letters, one to William E. Dodge, of New York. — Journey with Family to California and Alaska. — Notes of Miss Boyce. — Assault on Dr. Manly, impairing his Health. — Dr. Boyce once more presiding in Southern Baptist Convention, 1888. — Voyage with Family to Europe. — Letters. — Miss Boyce's Notes of their Travels in England and Scotland. — Very ill in London. —Death of two Sisters. — Letters. —Sojourn in Paris, with Failing Strength. — Death at Pan, in the South of France, Dec. 28, 1888. — Funeral from Broadway Church, Louis- ville. — Memorial Meetings Pages 314-344.
XVI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
GENERAL ESTIMATES OF CHARACTER.
Various Qualities stated, with Numerous Extracts from Memorial and Funeral Addresses, from Letters of Students and other Friends, and from Miss Boyce's Notes Pages 345-371
MEMOIR
OF
JAMES PETIGRU BOYCE.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.
JAMES PETIGRU BOYCE was born in Charleston, South Carolina, January 11, 1827. His father, Ker
Boyce, had removed ten years before from Newberry Dis- trict.^ This large district, or county, lies in the fine central region of South Carolina, which is rolling and healthful, and near enough to navigable streams to have been earlier developed than the upper portions of the State, towards the Blue Ridge. An enthusiastic old citizen is reported to have said: '' South Carolina is the garden spot of the world, and Newberry District is the garden spot of South Carolina.''
^^Tiile the early settlers of South Carolina were chiefly English, there were two other considerable elements, which have always been highly influential in the business, politics, and society of the State, — the Huguenots and the Scotch-Irish. These last are a people who have made
1 The terra "district" was always used in South Carolina until the Reconstruction legislation of 1866 changed it to "county." The dis- tricts near the coast were subdivided into parishes, some of which had separate representation in the State Legislature.
1
^ MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
themselves felt in all parts of the world. They went from Scotland centuries ago to the adjacent portions of Ireland, and liav^e continued to occupy all the northeastern part of that island, having Belfast and Londonderry as their chief cities, and keeping themselves mainly distinct from the properly Irish population. They followed the example of their kinsmen in Scotland in becoming Protestant and Presbyterian, and they now constitute an important factor in the possibilities and the difficulties of Home Rule in Ireland.
The father of Ker Bo^^ce was John Boyce, who was born in Ireland. The family name is still common in northeastern Ireland and in various parts of the United States.^ John Boyce removed to the British colonies of
1 Prof. James R. Boise, formerly of Brown University, and now Emeritus Professor in the Divinity School of Chicago University, in a letter of February, 1889 (after James P. Boyce's death), from which we shall hereafter quote further, says, "I had correspondence with him a few years ago respecting the various forms of our name ; and the result may be interesting to some of his relatives and numerous friends. By the aid of encyclopaedias and biographical dictionaries we arrived at the following list, showing that the name is found in Greek, Latin, German, Italian, French, and English ; and it is quite likely that other forms might be found : Bor)d6s, Bo7]d6os, Boethius, Boetius,. Boethe, Boecius, Boece, Boecio, Boezio, Bois, Boice, Boyce, Boyse, Boise, Boies, Boyes, Boys, Boyis, Boiss, Boeis." There is some reason to believe that all were primarily of Huguenot origin, their ancestors having emigrated, when banished from France, to the north of Ireland, where they found Protestant sympathy. It may be worth while to mention that about 1786 Gilbert Boj^ce is spoken of as an English Baptist minister, and that a collection of hymns published in England in 1801 contained twenty-one hymns by Samuel Boyse (Diet. Hymn., p. 167). Dr. Hubert Boyce, author of an important medical work, is now a medical professor in University College, London. We learn further, through the researches of Samuel Wilson, of Richmond, that persons named Boj'^ce were early prominent in Virginia. Chyna (Cheney) Boyse came over in 1617, and was of the Assembly of Burgesses in 1629; John Boys was of that body in 1619, both representing Charles City county. Several others appear among the immigiants of that century.
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. S
North America in 1765. In 1777 he married Elizabeth Miller, daughter of David IMiller, of Eutherford, North Carolina, and shortly after settled in Newberry District, about fifteen miles north of the town of Newberry, in a section which has for man}^ years been called iMollohon. He thus began his married life in the midst of the Revo- lution. The battle of Fort Moultrie had been fought in June, 1776. On the loth of January, 1778, the city of Charleston was set on fire, — according to the popular supposition by ''partisans of the British,'' — and lost two hundred and thirty-two houses, valued at half a million of pounds sterling. In the spring of this year the Schophel- ites, followers of Colonel Schophel, a militia colonel whom Moultrie called ''an illiterate, stupid, nois}" blockhead, " organized in South Carolina and moved across the, Savan- nah River to form a junction with the British troops in St. Augustine, Florida. It was expected that these troops would invade South Carolina, and the military prowess of the Carolinians was greatl}' aroused. Alexander Bo3'ce, a brother of John not otherwise known to us,^ obtained a commission as captain; and as a private in his brother's company, John had his first military experience. At the siege of Savannah, Captain Alexander Boyce, on the 9th of November, 1779, in a gallant attempt to carry the British line, fell at the head of his compan3\ John Boyce afterwards joined a company commanded by Captain (sub- sequently Colonel) Dugan, and was in the battles of Black- stocks, King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Eutaw. After one of these battles he returned home for a brief visit, but had scarcely seated himself to eat when he was startled
1 Xor do we know what kin to John and Alexander was James Boyce, who also came from Ireland to North Carolina before the Revo- lution, settling near Charlotte. He was an eminently religious man, and highly respected. His grandson is Rev. Ebenezer Erskine Boyce, D.D., of Gastonia, N. C, and the latter's son is Eev. James Boyce, of Louisville, Ky., minister of the Associate Reformed Church.
4 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
b}' t!ie approach of horses. Springing to the door, he found himself confronted b}- a party of Tories, headed by the celebrated partisan William Cunningham, and an- other man equally dreaded, named McCombs. Hurling his hat into the faces of the horses, which made them open right and left, he rushed through the opening to- wards the woods, not reaching them till he had lost three fingers from his uplifted arm, by a furious blow of Cun- ningham's sabre. When the Tories withdrew, he hurried to the house, that his hand might be bound up; then joined his company, and before night was in pursuit of the mur- derous marauders. On the Enoree River, near the mouth of Duncan's Creek, they captured eleven or twelve of the party, and among them McCombs. *' These were con- veyed to the place where the Charleston road crosses the old ]S"inety-Six road (now Whitmire's), and there a ^ short shrift,' a strong rope and a stooping hickory, applied speedy justice to them all. A common grave, at the root of the tree, is their resting-place for all time.
*^ On another occasion Mr. John Boyce was captured, and tied in his own barn, while a bed-cord was sought for to hang him ; his negro man (long afterwards known as Old Sandy), being hid in the straw, while the captors were absent on their fell purpose arose to the rescue, untied his master, and both made good their escape. . . . These are a few of the hairbreadth escapes which tried the men of that dark and bloody period, when home, sweet home, could not be enjoyed for a moment without danger, and w^hen wife and children had to be left to the tender mercies of the bloody, thundering Tories." The late John Bel- ton O'Xeall, Chief-Justice of South Carolina, from whose *^ Annals of New^berry " the above details are taken, adds: ** John Boyce lived long after the war, enjoying the rich blessings of the glorious liberty for which he had perilled so much. He lost his wife in 1797, and died in 1806, leaving seven sons and a daughter, Robert, John, David,
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 5
Alexander, Ker, James, Andrew, and Mary," It will be noticed that several of these sons bore familiar Scottish names. It is a family tradition that he and all the seven sons were noted for their wit, and fond of practical jokes; and many anecdotes are preserved which show how the old gentleman, at the age of seventy-five and eighty, still en- joyed getting the best of ''the boys." We shall find this characteristic fully inherited by Ker Boyce and by his son James.
Judge O'Neall says that John Boyce was "a well-in- formed, though not a well-educated, man, who had read much, and exercised a just and wholesome influence in the section where he lived. He was a Presb^^terian and an elder in McClintock's church. Gilders Creek, and his re- mains rest in the graveyard of that church." His sons all led industrious and prosperous lives, making them- selves favorably known in Newberry, Laurens, Union, and elsewhere, and no doubt permanently influenced by the "Let us worship God," heard night and morning in the home of their youth. A son t)f Eobert was Hon. William W. Boyce, a distinguished member of the United States Congress and of the Confederate Congress, and a prominent lawyer, who spent his last years in Washington city in the practice of his profession, and died in 1889.
Beyond the general good influence of the home and the church, we know nothing as to the early life of Ker Boyce, born April 8, 1787, save that he was mirthful and mis- chievous, so that some imagined he would not succeed well in business, but found themselves very much mis- taken. His educational advantages were limited, but he showed a quick and bright intelligence. After some experience as clerk in a store, he established himself as a merchant in the town of Newberry, and steadily prospered. In 1812 the Legislature elected him to be tax-collector for Newberry District over several opponents, and it is related that he showed much electioneering skill in deal-
6 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
ing with the members, aided by his contagious good humor and wit. In the year 1813, when the second war with Great Britain interrupted communication by sea with the Northern States, Mr. Boyce began to trade overland with Philadelphia. Cotton was hauled from Newberry to Philadelphia in wagons, which then brought back goods purchased there by the young merchant, who made the journey on horseback. In 1815 he and a friend went on horseback to Amelia Island (off the Forida coast, near Fernandina), purchasing a stock of goods which was there for sale, and transporting it to Newberry by wagons.
In 1815 Ker Boyce was married to Miss Nancy Johns- ton, of Newberry. She and also his second wife (the mother of James P. Boyce) were sisters of Job Johnston, who was distinguished as a chancellor. The following account of their father was copied from a Family Bible by Hon. Silas Johnston, of Newberry: ^'John Johnstown [note the spelling] was born in the county of London- derry, Ireland, and married Mary Caldwell, daughter of Job Caldwell, in the same county, Jul}^ 2, 1785. The father of John was David Johnstown, whose w^fe was Mary Boyd, who was the daughter of Thomas Boyd, who served on the side of King William at the siege of Londonderry, in the year 1689. ( Vide Smollett's History of England.) " So we see that the mother also of James P. Boyce was of a Scotch-Irish family, and they too were Presbyterians. Nancy Johnston was born in Fairfield, S. C, Oct. 9, 1795, and married July 11, 1812. Judge O'Neall remarks, ''No more lovely woman ever blessed a husband."
In 1817, two years after the close of the war with Eng- land, it became manifest that there were great possibilities for the cotton trade from Charleston to the Northern cities and to Europe. Our far-seeing and enterprising young merchant became dissatisfied with Newberry, as too narrow a field, and too far from the sea. So he and his brother-in- law, Samuel Johnston, formed a co-partnership, and com-
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 7
menced business as merchants in King Street, Charleston. Subsequently they transferred their business to "The Bay " and became factors and commission-merchants. The term *' factor," according to its original use, might suggest that such men were only the agents of the cotton-planters, to sell their cotton and buy their plantation supplies. But the leading cotton factors soon began to advance money on the cotton, and themselves furnish the supplies. They would often provide these for the current year, taking the planter's obligation to pay with interest when the cotton should be sold, or taldng a lien on the crop, which was sometimes specially authorized by law. Thus the cotton factors frequently became operators on an extensive scale, and men of great business talents had opportunity^ for large acquisitions of wealth. Judge O'Neall tells us that Mr. Samuel Johnston '^was the most perfect man of busi- ness " he ever knew. He credits both the young part- ners with ''an excellent judgment," and ascribes to Mr. Boyce ''tireless energy and activity." So the firm made large profits, and rose rapidly to financial power. But Mr. Johnston's health gave wa}^, and he died of consumption in 1822. A Mr. Henry had been associated with them, and the firm was for some 3'ears Bo^'ce and Henry, and then Boyce, Henry, and Walter.
"In 1823 Mr. Boyce sustained the first great misfor- tune of his life," in the death of his admirable wife, who lies buried in the cemetery at Newberry. She left three children, — John Johnston, Samuel J., and Mary C, who became Mrs. William Lane.
In 1825 occurred one of the great periodical revulsions in trade and finance. At such times cotton factors are exposed to peculiar danger, when from the beginning of the year they have made large advances in supplies to planters, expecting to borrow money as needed, and replace it all when the cotton should be sold the next winter. When the banks shut down, and private loans become
8 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
impossible, the cotton factor of large connections is apt to o-o under. Mr. Boyce's firm is said by our authority to have accumulated by this time fifty thousand dollars. He put the whole of it in requisition to save his business, but this would by no means have sufficed. Mr. Blackwood, presi- dent of the Planters' and Mechanics' Bank, had closely observed Mr. Boyce's business talents and character, and told him that the bank would furnish him funds to any needed extent. In all pursuits and relations, personal character tells. We learn (from an obituary) that at this time Mr. Boyce also upheld various other men, in whom with his remarkable insight he put just confidence, and enabled them to tide over the time of danger.
In the latter part of this year, Oct. 25, 1825, Ker Boyce formed a second marriage, with his previous wife's younger sister, Amanda Jane Caroline Johnston, born Dec. 3, 1806. Her children were five; namely, James, Nancy (Mrs. H. A. Tupper), Eebecca (Mrs. Burckmyer), Ker (or Kerr), Elizabeth (Mrs. Lawrence). This young wife, the mother of James, is described as singularly attractive and admirable. Thus Dr. H. A. Tupper says: '^A more gentle and lovelier Christian woman never lived. Her person had the frail beauty of the lily; her character, the rich fragrance of the rose. The writer, as a little boy, knew her well and admired her greatly. Tristram Shandy says a man's history begins before his birth. The almost womanly gentleness and amiability of James P. Boyce may be clearly traced to his mother, — just as his hard common-sense, great executive ability, and deep vein of humor may be with equal readiness traced to his father and his paternal grandfather."
It cannot be ascertained under what precise circum- stances Mr. Boyce and his wife, though both reared in Presbyterian families, began to attend the ministry of the young Baptist pastor, Basil Manly (see below in chapter iii.). In November, 1830, the pastor felt bound, for some
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 9
highly important reason, to attend the Baptist State Con- vention, tliough one of his children was very ill. He and his wife prayed for direction, and decided that he must go ; and all matters at the convention were sat isf actor il}' ar- ranged. Keturning, he found that the child, named John, had died and been buried. It was hard for him to preach on the following Sunday; but under a similar sense of duty he did preach, taking as his text Genesis xliii. 14: '< If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." ^ Through that sermon Mrs. Ker Boyce was converted; and others were known to have been specially blessed, as well as the preacher himself. In after years he would sometimes tell of these events, as showing that it is always best for us to subordinate personal and family affection to the claims of duty in the service of Christ. And who would have thought that Mrs. Boyce's little boy, near the same age as the one he had lost, was in the course of Providence to preach Basil ]\Ianly's funeral sermon, with grateful recog- nition of the good done by that day's discourse?^
1 The notes made in preparing are still in existence, and are singu- larly interesting and suggestive. Every thought comes right out of the text or the occasion, and the tone is healthy and uplifting.
2 In October, 1891, the venerable and greatly beloved widow of Dr. Manly recited the circumstances of her child's death in a letter to a be- reaved young mother, and added : " The Lord was with us both, and strengthened us for our duties. I can truly say He comforted us, and has ever been to us a tender, loving Father. Never doubt His tender mercies, my child, but trust in Him, and He will sustain and com- fort you."
10 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
CHAPTER II.
THE CITY OF CHARLESTON.
CHARLESTON has always been the most important city on the southern Atlantic coast. Its harbor is not so extensive as that of Port Royal, farther south in the same State, but was far better adapted to defence against assaults from the sea. Its advantages in this respect attracted world-wide observation during the War of Se- cession. The principal channel across the bar has some sixteen feet water at ebb tide, wdiich sufficed for the largest sea-going vessels until recent times. Since 1891 jetties have been built by Congressional appropriations, which are beginning to wash out the bar; and it is hoped they will so deepen the channel as to receive the largest ocean steamers of to-day, and thus greatly increase the prosperity of this ancient seaport. The site of the city is beautiful. The Ashley and Cooper rivers, as they approach the sea, run a parallel course for nearly six miles, at no great distance apart, but somewhat widening towards the point at which they flow into, or in one sense consti- tute, the bay. On this peninsula between the rivers the city is built. The lower end, fronting the bay, is known as the Battery, — doubtless because (as in New York) bat- teries were early placed there for defence against hostile ships. The Cooper River, on the northeastern side of the city, and the Ashley,^ on the other side, are pleasing
1 The rivers of South Carolina mostly retain their Indian names, as Santee, Pedee, Wateree, Congaree, Enoree, Edisto, Ashepoo, Saluda, etc. So the two rivers here mentioned were called Etivvan and Kiawah, hut
THE CITY OF CHARLESTON. 11
streams, and after their union the bay winds its way out for some seven miles southeastward to the ocean, with islands on either side that produce a picturesque effect, besides affording great facilities for defence. Sullivan's Island, on the northeastern side of the bay, has long been the seat of summer homes for some of the citizens. Here is situated Eort jNIoultrie, successor to that palmetto fort which in 177G resisted the bombardment of the British fleet, and fairly drove it away. The cannon-balls might penetrate into the palmetto logs, but their peculiar tough- ness of texture received and held the iron masses, without weakening the fortification. On the other side of the harbor lie James's Island and Morris Island, which be- came so famous during the recent war. Between Morris and Sullivan's Island, upon a shoal in the harbor, and covering the main channel, is Fort Sumter, which was first built when James P. Boyce was a child, but in fact was not entirely completed when it became the theatre of the celebrated bombardment and defence.-' On a smaller shoal and much nearer to the city is the little fort called Castle Pinckney. The two rivers, the inner harbor, and. the narrow straits that separate the islands from the main- land and from each other, are admirably adapted to boat- ing and fishing; and all the coast region formerly abounded in game, attracting the vigorous huntsman, with his gun and dogs. Tlie city is very healthy, for those who are ac- climated, as the heat in summer is delightfully tempered b}^ the sea-breeze. The average mortality is far less — as also in most of the cities on our southern coast — than in the great cities of the North. Occasional outbursts of
afterwards received the two names of Sir Ashley Cooper. Gilmore Simms has a novel called " The Cacique of Kiawah."
1 See "The Defence of Charleston Harbor (1863-1865)," by Eev. John Johnson, who was Confederate Major of Engineers in charo;e of Fort Sumter, and has given us an admirable book. Charleston: "Walker, Evans, & Cogswell Co.
12 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
yellow fever, brought from the West Indies, impress the imagiuation of people at a distance like some great rail- way or steamboat accident, while yet travel by steamer or rail is on the average far safer than b}^ private convey- ance. The diseases produced by extreme cold in northern regions are much more destructive to life than those pro- duced by extreme heat, — a fact which reminds us that all the earliest seats of civilization were in hot countries. The wealthier people of Charleston and all the adjacent coast region could in summer cross at pleasure to Sullivan's Island and other cool spots on the bay, or could journey in their private carriages to Ccesar's Head, Flat Rock, or Asheville, in the mountains of North Carolina, or far away to the White Sulphur and other springs in the Virginia mountains, where South Carolinians used to be very nu- merous, or could go by sea to Saratoga and Newport, or across to Europe. Thus they possessed a rare combination of advantages for health and everj'- higher gratification. The planters who produced ''sea-island" cotton, the long staple of which was so much better adapted than ''up- lands " to the manufacture of all the finer fabrics, and thus commanded a greatly higher price, were better off than the owners of a gold-mine. Besides the summer journeys above mentioned, many of them would spend part of the winter in spacious and hospitable establishments which they maintained in Charleston, or in Columbia, the capital of the State, where they formed a ruling element in legislation and government. Every low-country parish had its separate senator, and the districts a much larger proportionate representation in the lower house than had been assigned by the old and still unchanged legislation to the up-country districts. In a word, the wealthy planters around and the Avealthy citizens of Charleston constituted an aristocracy, with all the good and ill attach- ing to such a social condition. It is the fashion now in our country and in most countries to have only words of
THE CITY OF CHARLESTON. 13
scorn for aristocratic institutions; yet, as often seen in America as well as in England, they certainly afford very great opportunity for developing and exalting individual character, and furnishing noble leaders of mankind. Many of these Charleston and low-country homes gathered large and carefully chosen libraries, with a growing preference for English editions, and often bound in English tree-calf. These books were read, and high discussion of history and literature, as well as philosophy and polities, prevailed in domestic and social gatherings, besides clubs and societies formed for the purpose, and conducted with great spirit. Charleston was long the chief seat of culture at the South, as Boston was at the Xorth. Dr. J. B. Jeter, a celebrated Baptist minister of Virginia, from whom a thousand say- ings are repeated, once visited Charleston, having pre- viously spent some time in Boston. One day he asked a friend in Charleston, '' What do you think is the difference in the look of a Boston man and a Charleston man?'' The friend referred the question back to him, and he said : " A Boston man looks as if he thought, * I know everything;* and a Charleston man, ' I know everything that it's worth while for a gentleman to know.' " It was a palpable hit, and might repay a good deal of reflection.
The population of Charleston in 1830, when James P. Bo3'ce was a child, was 30,289, of whom 12,828 were whites. In 1810 the whites were 13,030, and the blacks had fallen off a little, being probably more in demand on the plantations, so that the total was 29,261. After this the white population gained more rapidly. In 1860 the total was 40,519, of whom 23,373 were white. In 1870 it was 48,956, of whom the whites were 26,207; but it is un- derstood that the blacks in that census were often quite incompletely enumerated. In 1890 the total was 54,955, of whom 23,919 were whites; and the blacks were again largely in the majority.
14 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
CHAPTER III.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
THE oldest child of Ker Boyce's second marriage, born Jan. 11, 1827, was named after James L. Petigru, a higlily distinguished lawyer of Charleston, a man of brilliant wit and other attractive qualities, and Mr. Boyce's cherished friend. He was of mixed Scotch-Irish and Huguenot ancestry, and born and reared in Abbeville District, adjoining Newberry. Mr. Boyce and he were of nearly the same age, and removed about the same time to Charleston. Ere many years Mr. Petigru had no rival at the Bar. In 1822-30 he was attorney-general of the State, and exceedingly popular. This popularity was greatly diminished by his opposition to the Nullification move- ment of 1830-32, which doubtless prevented his rising into the highest political distinction. In later years he was also steadfastly opposed to the Secession movement ; but (as we shall see) was so highly esteemed for personal char- acter, and legal abilities and attainments, that a Legis- lature bitterly hostile to his opinions treated him with marked consideration. Mr. Petigru's wife was quite a mu- sician, and one of their daughters was an artist; but he does not appear to have been himself much acquainted with music, whatever other artistic gifts he may have possessed. The story is told that once when Ole Bull came to Charles- ton, at the height^of his reputation, and, appearing on the platform, began to tune the violin a little, Mr. Petigru turned to his wife and said, ''My dear, isn' t that superb ! '^ ''Hush, Mr. Petigru! " she replied, "he is only tuning the instrument; you '11 disgrace yourself." The great lawyer
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 15
subsided in humiliation, and a good while afterwards, when Bull was in the midst of one of his noblest passages, Mr. Petigru timidly touched his wife's elbow and said, ^'My dear, will the man never get done tuning his violin?" Mr. Petigru long outlived his early friend, surviving until 1863, when his namesake had become a man widely known and honored.-^
The earliest glimpse we get of Jimmy Boyce, as he was familiarly called, is in connection with public worship. In the old First Baptist Church of Charleston, not many squares from the Battery, the beloved Thomas P. Smith, long a cotton factor in the city, recently pointed out to the writer the Boyce pew. It is a long pew, rather near the pulpit, extending from the centre aisle to the side aisle, and having only space enough for one seat between the side aisle and a large wooden column. In this space the rotund boy, with his fine head, could be seen regularly every Sunday, absorbed in a book until the service began; and people called him ''the little guardsman,^' always at his post. In this slight incident are already revealed several distinctive characteristics, — punctuality and self- reliance, love of reading, interest in public worship.
The pastor at that time, as already indicated, was Basil Mahly the elder, who became one of the most eminent Baptist ministers in the whole country. He was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, 1798 ; his elder brother, Charles, became governor of that State, and his younger brother, Matthias E., became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, Basil graduated at the College of South Carolina in 1821, with the first honor, his fellow- students including many gifted men. After preaching some years at Edgefield Courthouse, he removed to Charles- ton in March, 1826, and remained till '1837. Then for nearly twenty years he was president of the State Uni-
1 See a Biographical Sketch of J. L. Petigru, by W. J, Grayson. New York : Harpers, 1866.
16 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
versity of Alabama, showing extraordinary talent for administration as well as instruction. But he always loved the pastorate best, and returned to Charleston in 1855. He spent his last years of failing health with his son and namesake at Greenville, S. C, where he died in 1868. It was among the marked advantages of James P. Boyce's childhood to attend on Dr. Manly's ministry, and be brought in contact with such a pastor. His preaching was always marked by deep thought and strong argument, expressed in a very clear style, and by an extraordinary earnestness and tender pathos, curiously combined with positiveness of opinion and a masterful nature. People were borne down by his passion, convinced by his argu- ments, melted by his tenderness, swayed by his force of will. James Boyce was only ten years old w^hen this hon- ored pastor moved away; but we might be sure he received from him in public and in private many a wholesome and lasting impression.
Nor are we left to conjecture as to this matter. Witness the following extract from Dr. Boyce's Funeral Discourse upon the death of Dr. Manly in 1868: '' Indeed, I do not know how a people could be more attached to a pastor than they were to Mr. Manly. He made himself accessible to all, manifested deep interest in their welfare, readily 'ad- vised them according to his best judgment, and above all showed a cordial sympathy with their joys and sorrows. Especially was this true in spiritual matters. No one ever understood better how to console a suffering soul, or dealt with it more tenderly. And his people loved him with a depth of devotion seldom equalled. Nor was this confined to the members of the church. The presence of no one conferred more pleasure upon any family. The little children felt him to be their own, and spoke of him as such. And he loved them, and never forgot the word of kind exhortation, or admonition, or sympathy, suited to their case. The elders found in his genial intercourse a
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 17
true copy of that of liis Master, who mingled with men everywhere, entering into the ordinary social festivities of life, yet ever ready to utter the warning words of wisdom or counsel. It was his peculiar forte to say a word in season, and from his lips things unseasonable from others would be acceptable, because of the way in which he spoke them. . . . After a lapse of more than thirty years I can yet feel the weight of his hand, resting in gentleness and love upon my head. I can recall the words of fatherly tenderness, with wdiich he sought to guide my childish steps. I can see his beloved form in the study, in the house in King Street. I can again behold him in our own family circle. I can remember the very spot in the house, where the bands which he was accustomed to wear with his gown were laid on a certain Thanksgiving Day on which he dined with us. I can call to mind his conversations with my mother, to whose salvation had been blessed a ser- mon preached on the' Sunday after the death of one of his children upon the text, ^ If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.' And once more come to me the words of sympathy which he spake while he wept with her family over her dead body, and ministered to them as it was laid in the grave."
James's boyhood and early youth were not fruitful of events. He entered, we are told by a comrade, into few of the games that prevailed among boj^s. He did not " shoot marbles," ^'play shinnj^," or engage in games of ball or "prisoner's base." ^ As a bigger boy, he was not given to running, swimming, rowing, sailing, horseback-riding, or gunning. He was even averse to most of these sports, and through life never felt at ease on horseback. The ex- planation of all this is not found in any lack of sportive
1 Another schoolmate writes to the same general effect, but says that he joined with great zest in such games as ball and shinny. In this conflict of authorities the Muse of History can only leave the question undecided.
18 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
disposition, for he was the very quintessence of fun and jollity, but chiefly in the fact of his unusual size, which did not qualify him for sports requiring much activity or involving risk, and to which he sometimes referred in later years as having materially conditioned his early life. For the same reason, he never indulged in boxing, fencing, or fighting, — a not uncommon amusement of Charleston boys in his school-days. But this negative view of his youthful likes and dislikes makes only more prominent his fondness for archery. He organized a company of archers on the spacious grounds about h4s home in George Street, and was quite enthusiastic in the sport. Some of his friends find significance in this early desire for a definite object to aim at and hit. And his occasional liking for the more complicated aims and movements of the billiard table, with the great delight in chess which he developed at a later period, could hardly fail to suggest the skill and mastery of his combinations in after life. A friend of about the same age who knew him well adds the testimony that he Avas scrupulously temperate, and that the most searching scrutiny of memory does not recall a single act which stained his youth or young manhood with the slightest dishonor.
From early childhood, James was an excessive reader. While his companions were in the ''city square,'' or on the ''citadel green," engaged in their physical sports, he would be lying flat on the " joggling-board," in his father's piazza, absorbed in some story-book, novel, or his- tory. He would often drive down town with his father, on the way to the bank of which Ker Boyce had become president, and return with a pile of books on the front seat of the carriage, brought from the Charleston Library and other places ; and these books he would devour in an incredibly short time. His voraciousness only increased by gratification ; and the number and variety of books that he read, all through life, was a marvel to his family and
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 19
intimate friends. Besides his archery club, he organized at home a debating society. The "hall" was the room over his fatlier's carriage-house. He was a leader then, as he became afterwards in the college societies and in denom- inational gatherings. Some of the lads who stood with him in that '^ upper room" have ranked, or rank now, among the foremost men of the Southern country. It is evident that the wide reading, which was thought exces- sive by his home folks and teachers, would serve him a good part on the floor of the debating society.
When James was ten years old, his mother died, leav- ing four children younger than himself, of w^hom she charged him to take care; and this he often recalled in after life when thanked for any kindness. Her life and character made a great impression on Mary also, the daughter of the first marriage, then fourteen years old; and she and James would try very earnestly in the jeavs that followed to carry out all her rules in the home life. The oldest now surviving daughter can remember but little of their mother, except that' she was very particular about truthfulness, as James also was through life. It is related that she once gave the lad a hard Irsson in this respect. He remarked one Saturday morning that he would spend all his Saturday money on candy, and eat it all himself. When he returned, and, with his usual hearty generosity, wanted to distribute his candy, he was required to eat it all himself, because he had said he would. He took one of the little girls aside, and begged that she would ask mother to let him give her some; but no. Such was Mrs. Boyce's extreme solicitude as to truth ; for there was no thought of James's being stingy. At that time and through life he was not only generous, but very considerate towards others, and seemed to have as much delicate tact and intuitive per- ception of the situation as women have. He was also very grateful for any present or any slightest attention, — a rose, a book, or anything; and would tell his little sister
20 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
how kind somebody had been. The younger children were very fond of James, and felt that they could depend on him. He seemed to be an '^all-round" person, ready for everything. It is said that the four boys and four girls of the household gradually fell into couples ; James and Re- becca being special cronies, John and Mary, Samuel and Xanny, Kerr and Lizzie. Yet James showed no unplea- sant favoritism in any way, and was always sympathetic, not only towards the other children, but to everybody. A friend states that the family housekeeper of those days, who cared for the children, was in after years uniformly visited by Dr. Boyce when in Charleston, and we learn from his business agent in Charleston that he regularly supplied her wants as long as she lived, and provided for her funeral.
At home, as well as elsewhere, James was fond of fun, delighting in all manner of jokes, and never at all vexed when made the butt of a joke himself. This sportive turn of mind was clearly inherited from his father, who over- flowed with amusing stories of his own youth. James liked when a lad to go out at Christmas to the plantation homes of his father's friends, where they often dispensed a magnificent and delightful hospitality; and when some- what older, he was quite fond of being with girls. His father required the boys to be scrupulously polite and attentive to their sisters, and himself always treated his daughters with marked courtesy and consideration. If one of them was out at evening, she must not come home in the carriage alone, but one of her brothers must go after her. Through life their father would give a son almost anything that one of his sisters asked. ^ The beginning of James's library was made with a gift of five hundred
1 In like manner Patrick Henry, as we learn through his brother-in- law, was always the advocate of his sisters **when any favor or indul- gence was to be procured from their mother" {\Yirt Henry's Life of Patrick Henry, vol. i, p. 9).
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 21
dollars, handed him in New York after he graduated at college, at the special request of Nanny, as a gift to her. James was remarkable for being easy to please as to bodily comfort, and this continued through life, in all his wide travelling; he would be sometimes quite solicitous about a companion's comfort, and not seem to think of himself. It is also remembered that he appeared to his sisters a brave boy, while gentle and tender, and that lie was sin- gularly kind to animals. Those who knew him in later life would see in all this how ''the child is father of the man.''
Mrs. General Dickinson, of Florida, nee Mary Elizabeth Ling, on a visit to Louisville in 1890 told that when a little girl at the dancing-school in Charleston she was al- ways glad whenever Madame Feugas told her to waltz with Jimmy Boyce, because he was so springy and strong, and they went whirling. This exercise served to make some amends for the lad's disinclination to schoolboy sports. We know that his "barrel-shaped" figure — as several have described it — finally developed into a very symmet- rical specimen of " episcopal dimensions," and his move- ments were always remarkably light and graceful.
In his earlier school-days James was hardly a student, in the common acceptation of the term, but seemed to neglect his text-books through devotion to general reading. Dr. W. T. Brantly, Sr., who was pastor of the First Church from 1837-1844, called Mr. Boyce's attention to tliis defect in the lad. He was not then old enough to enter Charleston College, though he had been over the requisite studies. The father, who had a remarkable knowledge of men, as shown throughout his business career, had tried a successful experiment on an older son, which he now re- peated. Samuel, who was seven years older than James, had said much about a desire to go to sea. His father finally secured him a cabin passage from New York around Cape Horn ; and after an absence of two years, he never
22 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
spoke again of going to sea. In like manner, James was taken from school and put in the wholesale drygoods store of Wiley, Banks, & Co., in which his father was a partner. This new life would give excellent training of a certain kind until he grew old enough for college. James him- self once told the writer in later years how his father gave express directions, both to him and to the men in the store, that he was to perform his full share of all the roughest and hardest work done by other boys of the same age. He must rise at six in the morning, go down and help to sweep out the establishment, and at any time be ready to help bring out the heaviest boxes, and in general must stand bacli for nothing. All this exactly suited his energetic temperament.^ Many a rich man's son might feel in after life, as was felt in this case, that such a boyish discipline had been very helpful. However, six months of it sufficed for the lad's wishes, and he was quite willing to return to school. He had always stood fairly- well in his classes, as a classmate testifies. The fact is, he acquired the appointed lessons with wonderful rapidity; and then threw aside his school-books to revel in his favorite authors, — never, however, of evil or doubtful character, the books he read being always open to the in- spection of the family. But returning now to school, he turned over a new leaf as to the lessons, and applied him- self with such diligence as to have an excellent standing in his classes, both at the well-known private school of Professor Bailey, at the High School, and at the Charleston College.
Yet, while the lessons now received regular attention, the wide reading continued. Apart from the books com-
1 The early farailiarity with elegant dress-goods also helped to develop his remarkable talent and taste in that respect. In after years his wife and sisters and daughters not only sought his advice in such matters, but would often commission him, when visiting Charleston or New York, to make the most important selections.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 23
mon to all well-furnished boys of that period, — those great classics of literature for the young which are at the present day in danger of being neglected for the immense multitude of current and transient books, — and besides the novels of Cooper and Marryatt, we can see that the eager young reader would find much to attract him in the early history of Charleston and of South Carolina. He would often notice a fine statue of William Pitt (Earl of Chatham), '' erected by the Commons House of Assembly of South Carolina," in gratitude for his procuring a re- peal of the Stamp Act in 1766. It was placed in 1769 at the intersection of Broad and Meeting Streets. The right arm was destroyed by a cannon-ball from the English bat- teries on James Island during the siege of Charleston in 1780. After 1808 it stood in front of the Orphan House until a recent time. This fine statue would kindle the lad's curiosity about the causes of the great American Revolution. William Gilmore Simms published in 1840, when James Boyce was thirteen years old, a '^ History of South Carolina, from its first European Discovery to its Erection into a Eepublic," designed avowedly for the young, and suggested b}^ the wants of his own daughters. Written in the author's flowing and agreeable style, and detailing the early settlement of South Carolina, the three attacks of the British upon Charleston, including the famous story of the Palmetto fort and Sergeant Jasper, and the stirring adventures of Marion and Sumter, we may be sure that this book was eagerly seized upon by a lad so fond of reading. Mr. Simms was a native of Charleston, and spent his life there (1806 to 1870), though usually giving half the year to his country home in Barnwell Dis- trict. Before the appearance of this history he had pub- lished numerous volumes of poems and romances, including the " Yemassee," which is considered his best novel, and the "Partisan," which is a romance with Marion as the chief hero J many others appeared while James Boyce was still
24 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
growing up in Charleston. Mr. Simms, like some other famous novelists, wrote too rapidly and hurriedly, and thus fell short of doing justice to his noble powers. Yet Edgar A. Poe pronounced him ^'the best novelist America had ^produced, after Cooper/' and his books of every kind were exactly suited to delight an enthusiastic Charleston youth. It is worth while to notice that his History of South Caro- lina ended with the close of the Revolution; and the phrase in the title, "to its Erection into a E-epublic," is an amus- ing indication of the type of political opinion which was so popular in the State. ^ Besides the works of Simms and others, ''Horse-shoe Robinson " was at that time a favorite Southern romance. James was too young to be much in- terested in the brilliant and powerful '' Southern Review," published in Charleston from 1832 to 1840, and edited by the famous Hugh S. Legare and others; but he read the volumes as he grew older, and was not a little stirred by the presence in the city of several gifted and eminent men ■ who had contributed to it essays seldom equalled in even the great English Quarterlies.
Professor William E. Bailey, w^ho was young Boj'ce's first teacher after he returned to school, was a man of classic tastes and aspirations, and evidently became much attached to this now diligent pupil; for when James P. Boyce opened the Theological Seminary at Greenville in 1859, it received Professor Bailey's library, specially be- queathed by him for that purpose, and comprising, among the thirteen hundred volumes, many of the most elaborate and costly editions of the great classic authors, as well as the histories of Prescott and Motley and many others, and a complete edition of Gilmore Simms's novels, which have doubtless many a time relieved the ever-arduous labors of theological students.
1 After this was written appeared the Life of William Gilmore Simms, by W. P. Trent (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). It is an interest- ing book, but tlie author seems curiously incapable of understanding the Carolina people of that day.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 25
The Charleston High School had been organized in 1839. The venerable Dr. Henry M. Bruns, who still resides in Charleston, at a great age, was princijial at the time wlien James Boyce was for six months a student there. Among the teachers was Andrew Flynn Dickson, who is said to have been a remarkably gifted man, specially zealous about distinguisliing between words, and always using exactly the right term. It is quite likely that in this respect he made a definite impression on his pupiJ, who w^as through life solicitous to get the right word, and was thereby frequently retarded in extemporaneous utterance. Dr. Bruns recently told the writer that young Boyce was fonder of mathematics than of classics, and received at the Commencement a silver medal for solving an original problem in algebra. He was a good, sensible lad, con- scientious in preparing his lessons, jolly, and quite pop- ular with the students. The Commencement mentioned was held at the Lutheran church, the pastor of which was the celebrated Dr. Bachman, whose works on natural history (some of them in association with Audubon, with whom he was also closely connected by marriage) did not begin to appear until 1850. Bachman was already a great promoter of education. Coming originally from New York State, he continued pastor of this church from 1815 until his death in 1874. He was a friend of Ker Boyce, and was always regarded by his son with great pride as an honor to Charleston. Other medals were taken at this Commencement by Bazile E. Lanneau, afterwards a Pres- byterian minister and theological professor (and brother of Rev. Charles H. Lanneau), whose kinsman and namesake is Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, the famous Professor of Greek in the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University, himself a native of Charleston; by Charles H. Simonton, now United States Judge for the District of Sou^i Carolina, and one or two other men who became well known. The venerable principal remembers that the poet,
26 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
Henry Timrod, was also his pupil at the High School, and that lie recited at Commencement a passage from Moore with beautiful effect. Timrod was a native of Charleston, two years younger than James Boyce, and is said by Mr. W. Gr. Whilden to have been one of Boyce 's intimate friends. He afterwards studied law in the office of Mr. Petigru, as Boyce would no doubt have done had his father's cherished wish been carried through. Paul H. Hayne, another distinguished Carolina poet, was also a Charlestonian, three years younger than James Boyce, and resided there during the greater part of his life. After Boyce had spent some time at Charleston College, and de- signed to enter Brown University, Dr. Bruns gave him some special lessons by way of preparation. It is said that at the memorial services held in the Old First Church after Dr. Boyce's death, this aged teacher was present, and showed deep emotion. A life-long instructor can have no truer, deeper joy than in survejang the noble character and useful career of those whom he helped to mould in their youth. Mr. Whilden states that while at the High School James was frequently a peacemaker among the boys, because of the confidence felt in his justice and equity; also that his amiability and courtesy won him friends among all classes, rich and poor; and though all knew that his father possessed large means, it was no bar- rier to general sociability. This was the more remarkable in the case of one who already had very decided views, and a very earnest way of expressing them.
In the Sunday-school he was at one time taught by Charles H. Lanneau, Sr., a man of excellent talents and noble character, other members of the class being J. L. Iveynolds, Basil Manlj^, Jr., William Royall, William J. Hard, andT.W. Mellichamp, all of whom became ministers. When twelve years old his Sunday-school teacher at the First Church was Henry Holcombe Tucker, who became one of the most distinguished Baptist preachers and edu-
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 27
cators in the Southern country. He was a native of Georgia, but spent most of his early life in Philadelphia, where his grandfather, Dr. Henry Holcombe, was pastor; he graduated in 1838, at the Columbian College, in Wash- ington city (now Columbian University) ; and the next year, at the age of twenty, was residing in Charleston, as ''clerk '^ in a bookstore kept by his uncle, Mr. John Hoff, in Broad Street. It was a great privilege for young Boyce to be brought even for a short time under the influence of that singularly acute and powerful mind, that enthusiastic and inspiring instructor. We shall have occasion towards the close of this Memoir to quote from Dr. Tucker's striking address at the memorial services held before the Southern Baptist Convention after Dr. Boyce's death.
At a somewhat later time Dr. Brantly formed a Sunday- school class in the Greek Testament; and being greatly burdened with duties as pastor, and professor in Charleston College, he afterwards turned over the class to B. C. Press- ley, Esq., a member of the church. Judge Pressley re- members as belonging to the class, James P. Boj^ce, H. Allen Tupper, James K. Mendenhall, and K.. Furman Whilden, who all became ministers. He says that 3^oung Boyce seemed anxious to get the exact meaning of the Greek, and that he thought him likely to become a strong and clear thinker. When some fifteen years old, James was enamoured of a girl belonging to one of the Presbj^terian churches. He went one Sunday morning to that church, and so placed himself in the gallery as to command a full view of her family pew. There came a stranger into the pulpit, and preached, more than an hour, a sermon abound- ing in deep thought and strong argument. When it was over, the lad felt positively ashamed of himself, for he had been so busy listening as hardly to look at his girl. The preacher turned out to be the great Dr. Thornwell, who probably never received a higher tribute to his powers.
28 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
It is also clear that tlie entranced hearer ^Yas no ordinary youth.
From 1843 to 1845, James Boyce was a student at the Charleston College, j^assing through the curriculum of the Freshman and Sophomore classes. This institution had been founded in 1787, and though lacking sufficient endow- ment to sujjport a large faculty, it had some able teachers. Dr. Brantly, the Baptist pastor, an able and scholarly man, was now president of the college. One of the professors was Edward K,. Miles, a student of Sanskrit and learned in various languages, who afterwards became an Episcopal clergyman. At college the youth was increasingly stu- dious ; but no study suppressed his exuberance of spirits, which occasionally overflowed in some ''college prank," never injurious to an}^ one, and always regarded among his comrades as venial, because clearly the result of mere humor and merriment. Dr. Brantly formed a high esti- mate of his abilities, but had some misgivings on the score of his jollity, with which the grave and stern presi- dent could not readily sympathize. Once when engaged in some practical joke on the campus, James ran behind a tree which was not big enough to hide him, and Dr. Brantly, looking out of a window, said, *' There is Boyce, who will be a great man, if he does not become a devil.'' Yet he stood well in every class, especially in Latin and mathematics, and in history. And no one was more popu- lar, in the class-room, in the debating society, or on the campus. Several fellow-students state that James's utter loathing of everything mean, and the brave and manly stand he always assumed when any principle was involved, together with his uniform regard for the feelings and Avishes of others, made him a general favorite in the col- lege. At a time when many students were hostile to the president, young Boyce stood up for him, even when al- most alone. On one occasion he slapped a student in the face for some reason; but that evening waited for him
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 29
and begged his pardon. James's ringing laugh could be heard afar, and was contagious. He would sometimes purposely mistranslate a Latin plirase, and when called to account would justify it b}'- a joke, which wortliy Dr. Hawkesworth, the Latin professor from Dublin, did not always appreciate. Among his classmates was Francis T. Miles, a native of Charleston, and now a distinguished physician and medical professor in Baltimore. In a letter of February, 1889, to Dr. Tapper, he speaks concerning Boyce as follows: —
'' It was my good fortune during my college career in Charles- ton to have for a friend and classmate James P. Boyce; and al- though ever since we have been widely separated in life, I have always carried with me a strong and affectionate remembrance <.)f him.
" He was conspicuous among his class and the students of the college by his talents and the strong, rapid grasp of mind, which not only enabled him to master with ease the studies of the cur- riculum, but caused him to push his reading, thousflit, and inquiry quite beyond the circle of required recitations. But it is not only as the clear, original thinker, the quick, cogent reas(mer, that I remember him. I recall him as the genial, amiable, affectionate companion, who was never tempted (how rare a quality among young men !) to give pain or annoyance by a jest, nor, standing as he did on the high ground of a very pure morality, to scorn or animadvert upon those on an inferior level.
" I believe his subsequent life was the bright day of this clear da\ATi ; and he now rests from labors which endeared him to those who admired him."
In March, 1845, the pastor and college president. Dr. Brantley, died. Born in North Carolina in 1787, he was graduated with distinction at the South Carolina College in Columbia, and early became remarkable for his fine classical culture and his eloquence as a preacher. His pastorates of eight years at Beaufort, S. C, of seven years at Augusta, Ga., — where he founded the church, and was
30 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
at the same time rector of an academy, — and of eleven years at the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, were all surpassingly popular and successful. His health be- ginning to fail in Philadelphia, he returned southward, succeeded Dr. Manly in Charleston in 1837, and soon after became president of Charleston College. Such com- bined labors, though often performed by eminent minis- ters, are necessarily apt to be exhausting. It was a great blessing for young Boyce, and several others destined to become eminent ministers, to attend upon the ministry of this great man.
Dr. Richard Fuller said of Brantly that ^^his char- acteristics Avere grandeur of conception, and reverence for divine revelation." Dr. Manly said: ''He seemed ever to come fresh from communion with his Saviour, mellowed and enriched by hours of praj^erful se'clusion. I must regard him as the most uniformly engaging, instructive, and inspiring preacher that it has ever been my good for- tune to hear.'' Dr. Sprague in his ''Annals" saj^s in regard to some of Brantly 's published writings: "They were read and re-read, and laid up among the selectest treasures of memory." ^
It was no doubt partly in consequence of Dr. Brantly's death that Mr. Boyce determined at the close of that ses- sion, which was James's Sophomore year, to send him to Brown University. The father's penetrating insight into character must have already begun to discern in the youth of eighteen years no ordinary possibilities. There was in many respects a striking resemblance. James inherited his father's large frame, fine head, and strong features; also in a remarkable degree his business talent and force of will, together with his cheerfulness even in times of special adversity and trial. It was Mr. Boyce 's fond hope
''■ See H. A. Tupper's volume, "Two Centuries of the First Baptist Church in South Carolina (1683-1883)." Baltimore: R. H. Woodward &Co.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 31
that his son would become an eminent lawyer, perhaps a distinguished statesman, and at the same time would con- serve and carry forward his own great business under- takings, and care for the financial interests of his numerous children.
While his son was growing up, Ker Boyce had lived r. very laborious life, for some years adding political activities to his ever-enlarging business engagements. When the great Nullification struggle began, in 1830, we are assured by Chief Justice O'Xeall, from personal knowledge, that Mr. Boyce was opposed to the dangerous experiment ; but in the political combinations that arose, and through the skilful tactics of General James Hamilton, he was induced to act with the Nullification party, as practically the wisest course. The Chief Justice, who was on the opposite side, says that this ^^ secured the triumph of Nullification;" for Mr. Boyce's many business friends, scattered all over the State, *^took very much his lead." He was subse- quently a representative in the Legislature for the parish of St. Philip's and St. Michael's, and State Senator during two terms (1840-1848). When the Bank of Charleston was started, Mr. Boyce took a large amount of the stock, which he found very profitable; and some time afterwards was president of the bank for several years. This was at that time the largest bank in the South, having a capital of three millions. S. Y. Tupper, Esq., of Charleston (who died in 1891), being in Washington city in 1840, had a conversation with President Van Buren, in which *'the President said he had read Mr. Boyce's bank reports with much interest and instruction, and that they were the most able and intelligent papers on finance and banking he had ever read, and had been of service to him in his messages to Congress."^
Mr. Boyce was also actively concerned in the leading
1 Mr. Tupper wrote down these words soon after leaving the Presi- dent, and gave them in a letter of January 9, 1889.
32 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
improvements of the city, such as the erection of the Charleston Hotel and the Hayne Street buildings; and two important wliarves still bear his name. In 1837 he passed through a second great commercial revulsion. But though popularly supposed to be much shaken, he had learned from the former experience, and was now in no real danger. He had to pay out large sums for his friends and customers, but he had habitually taken pains to become liable for no man who had not more than the corresponding amount of visible property. Many an eminent business man has from some early experience of severe struggles and losses — sometimes even temporary failure — acquired the prudence necessary to temper his enterprising spirit, and enable him to steer safely through all the financial storms of subsequent life. After this period of trial in 1837, Mr. Boyce retired from the factorage and commission busi- ness, and employed his great and increasing wealth in other ways. He was one of the founders of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company, which established near Aiken, S. C, the most extensive cotton factories in the Southern States. This great establishment is still prosperous, and stock in it is still held by some of Mr. Boyce's heirs. He also united with a friend in establishing a wholesale dry- goods house in New York city which did a very large Southern business, and of which w^e shall afterwards hear, in the course of his son's history. Soon after the period we have reached, he began large investments in coal lands around Chattanooga, and a furnace, foundry, etc., in that rising city, which were afterwards developed and made ex- tremely profitable by James, as his father's executor. Mr. Ker Boyce never became a church member, but he was for many years president of the board of trustees of the Baptist church to which his wife belonged, and a generous finan- cial supporter.
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 33
CHAPTER IV.
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY.
THE Baptists of South Carolina had from the begin- ning taken an active interest in Brown University' (originally called Ehode Island College), founded at Providence, E. L, in 1765, and generous contributions were sent by them towards its support and endowment. This being the first American college founded by Bap- tists, it awakened interest among the churches of that denomination throughout the colonies. The movement for its institution began with the noble old Philadelphia Asso- ciation, and was heartil}^ taken up in Ehode Island; and it is doubtful whether anywhere else the zeal for it was as great as in South Carolina, where the leading Baptists were already quite pronounced in favor of an educated ministry. In fact, it was at first a question whether the proposed institution should be placed in Ehode Island or in South Carolina; and the former is said to have been preferred ^ because the principles of religious liberty which Eoger Williams had infused into that Colony made it eas}'- for a Baptist institution to obtain a charter, while in South Carolina there was a religious establishment, namely, of the Episcopal Church. Among the honored presidents of the University had been Jonathan Maxcy, D.D., who afterwards went South for his health, and was for sixteen years president of the College of South Carolina at Co- lumbia, where his extraordinary eloquence was greatly admired by such men as Mr. Petigru and Judge O'Xeall.
1 So Dr. Bovpe stated in an address before the alumni of Brown Universit}' in 1871.
3
34 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
He died there in 1820, and his tomb is conspicuous on the campus.
When young Boyce entered Brown, in 1845, the president for eighteen years had been Francis Wayland, who was one of the most distinguished of all American educators, and who made a more potent impression ujDon the char- acter, opinions, and usefulness of James Boyce than any other person with whom he came in contact. Dr. Way- land's famous sermon on '' The Moral Dignity of the Mis- sionary Enterprise '' had been preached in Boston as early as 1823. His ''Elements of Moral Science," published in 1835, was already widely used, and is believed to have become the most popular of all treatises on the subject in our language, including a revised edition in 1865. The ''Elements of Political Economy " had appeared in 1837. From the nature of the subject, and the necessity of taking sides upon some questions involving heated political dis- cussion, this treatise gained no phenomenal circulation, but it has been very widely used, and regarded as a re- markably good introduction to political economy as then held and taught. Dr. Wayland was already giving a full course of original lectures on Intellectual Philosophy, but his treatise on that subject did not appear till 1854. It is a notable epoch in the life of many a gifted young man when he first makes systematic study of psychology and logic, of ethics and sociology. This must have been in a very high degree the case with young Boyce when studying these subjects under the lead of a man so able in general, so impressive as an instructor, and (as we can now see) so like in many respects to the type of char- acter and abilities which the young man himself was des- tined to develop. For we can perceive that each possessed sound practical judgment, combined with love of abstract thinking, and intense but quiet religious fervor; each showed great force of will and personal dignity, united with humility, considerateness, and benevolence; each
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 35
was eminently truth-loving in studious inquiry and in statement, promptly indignant at any exhibition of insin- cerity or dishonesty, and yet forbearing, and in all per- sonal matters ready to forgive; each was cheerful and sometimes merry, yet full of serious aims and purposes. In style also, both men were clear in explanation and strong in argument, and used excellent English. These similarities may help to account for the profound and per- manent impression made by Dr. Wayland ui^on this pupil, who throughout his life delighted in every grateful ex- pression of obligation, and in supporting his own views by reference to any similar opinion of the great college presi- dent. And if this instance was conspicuous, it was far from being singular; for no pupil of Dr. Wayland can have failed to receive benefit, and very many, including men of great distinction in various callings, have ac- counted their contact with him as the highest educational privilege of their life. Mr. Bo3'ce adopted, when he be- came a teacher of theology, President Wayland's method of analytical recitations, without questioning; and some other pupils, probably many others, have done likewise. Hon. C. S. Bradle}^, Chief Justice of Ehode Island, stated to the writer some j^ears ago that the alumni of Brown were proud of the very large proportion of eminent law- 3^ers included in their number; and he believed it to result from Wayland's method of teaching, since the main thing for a lawyer is the power of making a clear and complete analysis of the case.
Dr. Wayland's studious fairness and moderation in argument had just been strikingly exhibited in a newspa- per discussion with Dr. Richard Fuller, then of Beaufort, S. C. (afterwards of Baltimore), on ^'Domestic Slaver}^ con- sidered as a Scriptural Institution.*' The articles on both sides were afterwards published in a volume. The sympa- thizers with each of the disputants generally considered their champion to have had the best of the argument; but
36 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
it was universally agreed that both conducted the discus- sion in a good Christian spirit and with good taste. This was notable, for it was a day of grievous political bitter- ness, and the controversy as to slavery was swelling higher and higher towards the terrific outburst of fifteen j^ears later.
Among the other professors during Boyce's two years at Brown University were several men of marked ability and distinction. Dr. Alexis Caswell, Professor of Math- ematics and Natural Philosophy, was an able and ear- nest teacher, an agreeable preacher, and remarkable for his courtesy as a gentleman, and the strong hold he took upon the respect and affection of young men. William Gammell, Professor of 'Rhetoric and English Literature, was a man of fine literary taste, and the au- thor of some well-written books. John L. Lincoln, son of the famous Boston publisher, had just become Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, after a course at Brown and Newton, and several years as a student in Ger- many, and was alread}^ a pleasing and inspiring teacher; he afterwards published very good and popular editions of Liv}^ and Horace. James E,. Boise had also recentlj^ be- come full Professor of the Greek Language and Literature, which he has ever since continued to teach, in various institutions, wdth uncommon exactness of scholarship and skill as an instructor, and with the high respect of all who know him. He is now Emeritus Professor of New Testament Interpretation in the Divinity School of Chicago Universitj^; besides ''Exercises in Greek Composition " and other text-books for school and col- lege, he has published several small and excellent volumes explaining the Greek text of certain Epistles of Paul.
The Junior class of 1845-1846, w^hich James P. Boyce entered, contained thirty-five men. Several of these must be here mentioned; and there are doubtless others whose names would attract the attention of persons more thor-
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 37
oughly acquainted with New England and the Northwest. Frederic Denison became a Baptist minister, pastor of sev- eral churches in Ehode Island and Connecticut, and cliap- lain in the Union Army for three years, and has publislied a large number of pleasing and popular works. George Park Fisher afterwards studied theology at Yale and An- dover and in Germany, and is the well-known Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Yale Divinity School. Be- sides numerous elaborate articles in the reviews, he has published quite a number of valuable books, including **The Beginnings of Christianity/' ^^ History of the Keformation, " << Outlines of Universal History," ''Faith and Rationalism, '^ ''The Grounds of Theistic and Chris- tian Belief,'^ and "History of the Christian Church." Eeuben Aldridge Guild has spent his life as librarian of Brown University, becoming one of the eminent librarians of the country. He has produced several books of great interest, including a life of James Manning (the first president of the university), a Biograj^hical Introduction to the Writings of Koger Williams, a History of Brown University, and "Chaplain Smith and the Baptists." He and Boyce formed a special friendship, which was maintained with ever-increasing cordiality through all the years. Whenever Dr. Boyce was able to attend annual meetings of his class he was the guest of Dr. Guild; and a visit of the latter to Boyce in Louisville is remembered by many with special interest. John Hill Luther graduated at Newton in 1850, and has ever since lived in the South, as teacher and Baptist minister, — in Georgia and South Carolina, in Missouri and Texas. He edited the "Central Baptist" of St. Louis for ten years, was long president of Baylor Female College at Belton, Texas, and is now one of the editors of the "Baptist Standard," Waco. He delivered an address at a memorial meeting after Dr. Boyce's death. Amos Fletcher Spaul- ding was afterwards graduated at Newton, and spent
38 MEMOIR or JAMES P. BOYCE.
his life as a Baptist pastor in Canada and New England, much respected and beloved. Ambrose P. S. Stuart be- came a distinguished Professor of Chemistry in New England and Illinois, afterwards residing in Nebraska. Benjamin Thomas went to Burmah as a missionar}^, and has been called ''the Apostle to the Karens." From a class report forty years after their graduation it appears that thirteen of the class became ministers, eight lawyers, and five presidents or professors, and four are set down as poets.
According to the class system, which at that time was rigorously observed, a student had but little association with members of other classes than his own. But it ought to be mentioned that among the Seniors of Boyce's Junior year were Samuel Sullivan Cox, — the celebrated ''Sunset Cox," — and Francis Wayland, Jr., now the dis- tinguished Professor of Law in Yale University. Among the Sophomores of that year were James Kirk Menden- hall, of Charleston, who was a friend of Boyce from boy- hood, was afterwards with him at Princeton, and has been very useful as a Baptist minister in South Caro- lina; James Wheaton Smith, who graduated at Newton, and was long an eminent Baptist pastor in Philadel- phia; and Adin B. Underwood, who was Boyce's room- mate, and an earnest Christian, who became a prominent lawj^er and a brigadier-general in the Union army; and the two had a joyful reunion at Providence some years after the war. The Freshman class of that year included James Burrell Angell, now president of the University of Michigan, and Heman Lincoln Wayland, now editor of the "National Baptist; " and in the Freshman class of Boyce's senior year was George Dana Boardman, now Baptist pastor in Philadelj^hia.
In May, 1845, James P. Boyce had been present at the Baptist Convention in Augusta, Ga., which formed the Southern Baptist Convention, — though he was not a
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. ' 39
member of that bod}^, being not yet a church-member. But although a division then took place between Nortliern and Southern Baptists as to tlieir missionary work, those of the South felt, and have always continued to feel, a deep interest in the work of their Northern brethren, and especially in Adoniram Judson. So it cannot have failed to im23ress the young student when, in November, 1845, Judson came to Brown University, of which he was an honored graduate, and remained some time as a guest of Dr. Wayland. Some persons of like age remember to have been profoundly impressed hj even the reports of persons present at the Southern Baptist Convention in Kichmond the following spring, who saw the great mis- sionarj'-, and could repeat the few words he was strong enough to speak.
Concerning Boyce's life as a student in Brown Uni- versit}", the testimony on all hands is that he did his work thoroughly and well. Take, for example, the following extract from a letter of James R. Boise, the Professor of Greek, written in February, 1889 : —
*^He was a pupil of miue in his college course, and I have a very distinct recollection of him as he appeared in the class-room. He was always attentive, scholarly, and a perfect gentleman. He was one of that type of students whom a teacher does not soon forget. Though more than forty years have elapsed since that time, and though I have had classes, often very large, through the entire intervening period (excepting a year and a half spent in Europe), yet there is no one of the many who have been in my class-room whom I have loved and respected more than James P. Boyce."
We begin now to find letters from the young student to his friend and future brother-in-law, H. A. Tupper, of Charleston. They are at first chiefly occupied with mat- ters pertaining to their young friends in that city, and the experiences of a beginner at Brown, together with
40 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
plenty of the gay badinage which is natural in the inter- course of young fellows at the age of seventeen or eighteen. It will be remembered that Boyce had excelled in mathe- matics during his Charleston studies, but here he found that this branch w^as completed within the Sophomore year. His father urged him to enter Junior, if possible, — washing him to begin promptly the study of law; but he had done nothing in analytical geometry, and a letter tells of the severe and desperate exertions he made to work up this' subject in time for the entrance examination, sometimes tempted to give it up as too difficult a task, but finally knowing every proposition Professor Caswell called for. A month after the session began, we meet something of a new student's usual summary and sharp judgment of one or another professor. Some young man had said in Charles- ton that the students at Brown were not gentlemen; but Boyce finds it far otherwise. ''There are some as noble- hearted fellows here as you would find anywhere; only one or two in college with whom I would not wish to associate, and these are gentlemen's sons, though not themselves what I call gentlemen." This favorable judgment came from one who through life was extremely sensitive to every point of propriety and honor. In another letter he says it was reported that to a student who had greatly misbehaved, Dr. Wayland said, ''My son, go home; and if you can make anything of yourself, do try and do so." Boyce thought this a fine combination of paternal kindness and strict discipline.
Catalogues show that at this period the Junior class studied Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology, something in Greek and Latin poetry. Modern Languages (in Boyce's case the French, which he acquired in a very short time, and through life read with great ease). Logic (which brought him in contact with President Wayland), and Modern History, in Smythe's Lectures, — a book to which he not unfrequently referred in after life. Our student
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 41
soon begins to glorify his literary societ}", the United Brothers, which has most of the Southern students, and in general the best men of the University, admitting a few exceptions. Didn't we all talk so, especially during the first session, about ''our society"? He supposes his friend has ''heard of the secret societies which are gen- erally attached to the Northern colleges; " and mentions in confidence that he has just been initiated into one of them, the Delta Phi. He thinks these societies are some- thing similar to the Odd Fellows and Masons, though he"ld for different purposes. It is believed that the col- lege secret societies were at that time just beginning their somewhat checkered career. In one letter he gives some account of the Senior speaking, saying that S. S. Cox was the best, having " in reality a splendid piece. He is by far the best writer of his class. His speech was well written, well delivered, and was filled with some of the most splendid imagery." One can't help wondering whether already the imager}^ included a gorgeous "sunset,'' such as afterwards gave to the admired statesman his familiar sobriquet.
College students are not at the time fully aware to what an extent they are influencing each other, intellectually and morally. Yet every one who looks thoughtfully back upon his own life when prolonged, and around upon cur- rent and recorded examples, will be likely to perceive that a young man's fellow-students are hardly less important to him than his instructors. Even the memory and fame of those who studied there in other days, and have since achieved something honorable in the world, becomes to susceptible young minds a powerful incentive. There is thus great advantage in attending an institution which has a large number of students, gathered from far and wide, and possesses an inspiring list of distinguished alumni.
The glimpses we catch of James Boyce in his association
42 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
with fellow-students" at Brown, reveal the same character and disposition we have heretofore observed. Dr. J. H. Luther, in an address after Bo^^^e's death, speats as follows : —
'^Little did we once think that the central figure of a group that nightly met in a well-furnished room in University Hall would be chosen of God to be a leader in theological thought, and the founder of a school of the prophets. That group was composed of noble spirits, — Stoddard, EUis, Robert, Garnsey, — not one then a professor of religion ; but they were all true gen- tlemen. A happier set of fellows I have never met since. They enjoyed the good will of their professors, and the respect of the entire class.- But ' Jim ' was the leading spirit. There was a magnetism in his humor, a nobility in his presence, and a manly expression in his language, which made him attractive to all. Blessed with a generous allowance from his father, he took a lively pleasure in helping a poor student to bridge over a crisis in his college course ; and when he had once made a gift, he would never suffer the recipient to return it."
It is remembered that at the end of a session, when James submitted a statement of the j^ear's expenditures, his father expressed some surprise at the gift of a large sum to a fellow-student, and was evidently inclined to dis- approve. But one of his daughters said, ''You know, Father, that if James had spent it in buying a horse or the like, you would not have objected.'' And so the matter was dropped.
At the approach of Christmas vacation, Boyce was sent as ambassador to Dr. Wayland, and obtained leave for the Southern students, who could not go home, to continue oc- cupying their rooms, and get their meals down town. He had thought of going to Boston; but it was '' so tremen- dously cold that were I in Boston I hardly believe I 'd budge a foot from my lodgings." Students from the far South of course felt the difference of climate.
In March, 1846, he lets his correspondent know that he
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 43
has been chosen to take part in the Junior speaking, by an amusing extravagance of complaint as to a professor's cor- rections of his address: ^'Confound it all, here have I been called away just at this moment by the old prof., to examine my exhibition piece; and as a matter of course have more work to do. But wait, I will tell you when I come back. ... As I thought, more corrections, dubita- tions, and scratchations (if I may manufacture a word), than I would have thought it possible for one man to make in a year, and he has had it but a day and a half. Alas, alas, wretched being that I am ! These confounded profs, are the hardest to please. If you don't curse, they tell you your piece is too tame ; if j^ou do, they tell you it is profane. It is absolutely impossible to tell what they do want. Now, here I have one half my piece to write over, and the whole to copy over, just for those inquisitive women who must be coming up here to see us make fools of ourselves. Oh, how I wish they were all sunk in the bottom of the sea!" He is evidently proud of the distinction, and extremely anxious to please both the professors and the rather dreaded audience from the city. The little outburst reveals a lively and exuberaut nature.
We come now to a highly important event in James P. Boyce's life, — his conversion to Christ. It is known that Dr. Wayland earnestly longed and labored for the conver- sion of all his students, and often greatly imj^ressed them by private conversations as well as public addresses and sermons. In this he was seconded by other professors and by devout students. The class to which Boyce belonged contained up to its Junior year many who were not Chris- tians. In 1889 Dr. R. A. Guild, the librarian, published in the ''Watchman'' a series of articles entitled ''Revi- vals in Brown University," from one of which we extract. It is stated that many students below the Senior Class of 1846 were not professors of religion.
44 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
''This was a source of anxiety to Dr. Wayland, who in his familiar talks to us frequently alluded to the subject, and urged upon Christians the importance of earnest prayer and special effort in behalf of the iuipenitent. Meetings for prayer and con- ference were for a time held every evening, and there were several conversions. In September, 1845, James Petigru Boyce, whose recent death is so deeply deplored, especially throughout the South, entered the class as a student from Charleston College. He was a fine scholar, very popular in his ways, and the heir-pre- sumptive to large wealth, his father being the richest man in Charleston. His classmates at once became deeply interested in his spiritual welfare, and made him a subject of special prayer, that his wealth and gifts and graces might all bo^KJOritiecrated to the Master's use. Several of the class who were thus interested had ' power in prayer.' I might meution one especially, whom, on account of his piety, we named ' St. James,' and another, the sainted Thomas, whom we know now in missionary history as the Apostle to the Karens.
" The usual college fast for the last Thursday in February was a day of great solemnity, and was attended by the students generally, including Boyce, who appeared to be deeply interested. The meeting in the morning was conducted by Dr. Wayland, who made the opening prayer. He was followed by Dr. Caswell, who spoke upon the necessity of religion in college, and dwelt upon the influence exerted by pious students. Professor Gammell en- larged upon the importance of cultivating our spiritual natures as well as improving our intellectual faculties. In the afternoon, Dr. Wayland preached an eloquent and practical discourse, ad- dressed mainly to the impenitent. Shortly after this occurred the spring vacation for 1846."
James K. Mendenhall tells that he and Boyce went at that time by steamer from New York to Charleston. The voyage was in a rather small sailing-vessel, and extremely protracted. He noticed that Boyce kept his state-room a great deal, and supposed he was reading a novel or the like ; but at length found that he was reading the Bible. They had then much talk together, and before arriving at Charleston he Vvas deeply under conviction of sin. We
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 45
learn incidentally from a subsequent letter that some two years before this he liad been a good deal moved, but the feeling had passed away. On reaching the city they were met by the news that their friend H. A. Tupper had just been received into the church, and that one of Boyce's sisters was deeply concerned. That wonderful j^reacher, Dr. Ricliard Fuller, had come from Beaufort, and was preaching every day, and a mighty religious movement was pervading the community. The appeals of Allen Tupper to James and his sister deepened his impressions. This sister, on the occasion of Dr. Boyce's funeral, recalled an expressioi. used at the time in regard to her brother, which shows his high reputation for moralit}^, and her imperfect conception at that time of the nature of the Gospel. She said, ''But James has not been so bad as the rest of us." He, however, felt himself a ruined sin- ner, and, like the rest, had to look to the merits of Christ alone for salvation. On the 22d of April he was bap- tized, Dr. Fuller's meetings being still in progress. The Charleston pastor at this time (1845-1847) was N. M. Crawford, from Georgia, who afterwards became quite dis- tinguished as a college professor and president. Let us pause to notice that young James Boyce had thus, by the age of nineteen, been brought under the special influence of six of the most notable Baptist ministers in America, — Manlj^ andBrantly, Tucker, Wayland, Crawford, and Fuller. Writing from Brown University on May 15, Mr. Boyce speaks with great interest of the previous Sunday, which he and Mendenhall spent in Philadelj^hia on their w^ay back. They attended in the morning Dr. Ide's church, and heard from some visiting minister ''a most excellent sermon," which is reported at considerable length. At the afternoon observance of the Lord's Supper —
''We spent a delightfally solemn hour in commemorating the death of our Redeemer. It seemed so delightful thus among strangers to joiu in recalling that event which makes us brothers
46 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
and sisters. As I looked around I was almost ready to go up and speak with those around me as to our hopes of meeting in heaven. I am sorry now that I did not ; I think it would have been better for me if I had done so."
The letter continues : —
'' There has been no revival here. The work has been going on among a great number of the colleges, but we have none here. Pray for us, Allen, pray for us ; pray that God may shower down his Spirit among us, and bring sinners to repentance. There is a strong feeling among those of the college who have professed Christ, and they I believe are praying earnestly for a revival. But what though we pray forever, and use no means of exhorta- tion, can we expect our prayers to be answered f Surely not ; and yet that is just our case. . . . The members of the First Baptist Church are interested for us. They have a prayer- meeting every morning from eight to half-past eight o'clock, and at two o'clock on Sundays ; and while praying for the youth of the church they are also kind enough to remember us, and to offer up prayers for a revival here. I hope their prayers may be answered ; I am sure they are needed."
The letter concludes with loving messages and exhorta- tions to the recent converts in Charleston.
With this letter accords the further narrative of Dr. Guild: ^'He returned to college a changed man. He at once joined the religious society, and with characteristic energy and zeal engaged in efforts to promote a revival, of which his conversion may be regarded as the beginning.'' His subsequent letters show similar fervor and zeal. He proposes to join by letter the First Church, and begins to teach a class in the Sunday-school. He is glad to hear that his correspondent has decided to be a minister. He speaks with much interest of some devotional tracts and books he has been reading, and of the Foreign Mission Journal just started by the F. M. Board of the Southern Baptist Convention at Richmond. He tells of a serious fellows-student, reared under Unitarian influences, whom
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 47
by prayerful effort he has convinced of the divinity of Christ, and the need of atonement. An address was given at Brown just before the close of the session by J. L. Shuck, a missionary to China, — now connected with the Southern Board, — and made quite an impression.
" Those who are accustomed to call all nations barbarian and ignorant except some two or three, Mr. Shuck's remarks must astonish. To those also who put education before Christianity as a means of civilization, what a lessou must his account furnish ! To think that a nation should be so literary, should have ad- vanced so far in the arts and sciences, and yet present such a picture of degradation in morals ! . . . I only wish there were more to go to carry the news of salvation to the ends of the world. I am rejoiced to hear of the efforts being made in Charleston for the cause of missions."
In the summer vacation (1846) he made a long trip for recreation and improvement. The letters speak with enthusiasm of the Catskill Mountains and of Niagara. From Montreal he returned by Lake Champlain and the Hudson steamer. Before railways made us so eager for speed, the great river-steamers probably afforded the most delightful mode of travel ever known on earth.
Mr. Boyce's Senior year (1846-1847) demanded closer work than he had ever before known. The Senior class gave some time to Plato, and studied astronomy and geology, continuing also the modern history, but devoted its prin- cipal attention to intellectual and moral philosophy, with Christian Evidences and Butler's " Analogy," and to rhetoric and political economy, and the American Constitution. In this year he was brought constantly in contact with Dr. Way land, and received from him those lasting and power- ful impressions which have been already mentioned. With subjects so congenial and a teacher of such power he was stimulated to great exertions. He also took a very large share in the religious interest which had come over
48 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
from the former session, and was now deepening. He taught a Sunday-school class with regularity, and found time for a good deal of devotional reading, as appears from the books recommended in his letters.
Besides the correspondence wdth Mr. Tupper, he cor- responded with Miss Mendenhall, of Charleston (now Mrs. Scott), a friend of the family, and whose brother James was his fellow-student and room-mate ; and he was of course much interested in the accounts she gave of all that was going on in the city he loved so well. One of his letters has been preserved, written Dec. 11, 1846, when James Mendenhall had returned home for a time on account of some trouble with his eyes. She had informed Boj^ce of a visit to Charleston by two 3'oung ladies. So he overflows with gratitude at the outset : —
*'I can hardly express the pleasure I experienced at receiving your letter. The fondest h()}>es I had dared to entertain were that Jimmy would now and then fiivor me with a paper. But when in the place of a paper there comes a letter full of news, and every- thing pleasing, you cannot imagine my pleasure. You write me
that is in Charleston, and also . This is news ; I had not
heard of it before. Pray remember me to my old sweetheart, and tell her I regret that T am not now at home, that I might do the
honors of the house. I suppose is as lively as ever. I often
look back upon the pleasant days I have spent in her company, — days which will never be forgotten so long as I have the power of memory, or of experiencing pleasure in the events it brings to
mind. Do remember me to ; tell her I often think of her,
and that it is by no means seldom that my prayers ascend to God for his blessings upon her and hers."
He then sends an imploring and vehement entreaty that she will use all possible influence for the salvation of one of his near relatives, and ends the paragraph by saying :
'' Dear , God bless her ! She has ever remhided me of my
mother. May she be as faithful a Christian, and be preserved to eternity !
AT BUOWN UNIVERSITY. 49
" Another term has closed, aud the Senior class now rest upon their well-earned laurels. Not a single man has beeu unsustaiued in a single study. During the whole of yesterday a blaze of glory surrounded as with a halo the members of our venerable class. Symptoms of gratification ever and anon broke forth from the examining committee and strangers present while we pro- ceeded in stately dignity to enlighten their ideas, and teach their withering minds to blossom with new vigor. Tell Jimmy, would for his sake I could say the same for the Juniors! With their usual luck, they came out with two unsustaiued, both in rhetoric. All the Sophs and all the Freshmen were susfained.
** The students are mostly all gone. A few of us retain our rooms during the vacation. This morning I laid out as the busi- ness of the day the mending of my carpet-^ (no small job, I assure you, and so can Jimmy) and the writing of two letters, — this for the morning, aud the arranging of my books for the afternoon. All this, I am happy to say, will be accomplished. Tell Jimmy that I am going to board at the eating-houses. However, to-day we will have a private dinner, — that is, Mabbitt and I will ; Mabbitt is cook, and I am to help him eat.
" We had a heavy fall of snow last night, and the snow now lies some ten or twelve inches deep. This afternoon and to-mor- row we shall have fine sleighing. Don't you wish you were here ?
" I expect to study pretty hard this vacation. I have laid out about three or four tliousand pages to read. First there is Plato; then Mill's Logic ; then the Republic of Letters ; while on the
1 His skill with the needle was well known to his friends. When a small boy he went to a dame's school and learned to sew, becoming soon so proficient as to make a complete outfit for liis little sister's doll. In after years he would tell his children of this with great glee, explaining that he made " leg of mutton " sleeves for the doll in imitation of what' he saw worn by the young ladies. Once, when he was President of the Southern Baptist Convention, a brother had the misfortune to tear his pantaloons; and various gentlemen, dropping in at the President's room in the hotel, were much amused to find him mending the rent. The owner — whose name has not been kept in memory — differed with Dr. Boyce on some theological points ; and upon warmly thanking him,
received the good-humored reply, "Ah, Brother , I only wish
I could mend your theology as easily."
4
50 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
moral and religious side come Wayland's Discourses, Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, interspersed with other books occasionally. So you see I have my hands full."
He proceeds to narrate at length how two students had been recently expelled, and then taken back. One of these, w ho became a famous Baptist minister, was expelled for lecturing on temperance during study hours. The other was expelled for striking a student during the rush for library books. By the intercession of one of the i>vo- fessors, both were restored. It is evident that the young Southerner relates with considerable gusto the circum- stances of this personal rencontre ; but it has to be admitted that the parties concerned were both from New England. The letter ends : —
'* I suppose ere I receive your answer, Christmas, with its eventful times, will have passed. Would that I were home on that day ! "
Even in this lively letter of the gay young student to a lady friend we see that his religious earnestness shows itself. In letters to Mr. Tupper, during the early part of 1847, he is full of devout fervor, and longing for the sal- vation of friends, both in college and at home. On March 5 he says that for five or six weeks he has been greatly occupied and deeply impressed. A revival has now begun in the college, and there are three converts, including two of his special friends. '^ Everything seems to indicate a ,great work about to be accomplished." Near the close of the spring term he tells that the revival has made a great change in the moral tone of the college, putting an end to profanity and other forms of irreverence.
** There was not a particle of excitement. Not a single man, as far as my knowledge extended, seems to have been converted under excitement. Many, T know, took works on the Evidences of Christianity, and, reading with a determination to learn the truth,
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY 61
were convicted of their sins, and taught to cry out, ' What shall I do to be saved ? ' Several, myself among the number, who had unconverted room-mates, have been gratified by seeing them turn to the Saviour. Two or three who had been brought up in the doctiiues of Universalism were convinced that these were un- scriptural and absurd, and taught to look to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. Nor do we expect it to end here ; we are determined, with the aid of God's Spirit, to continue this worlv during the next term, and not to rest until not a soul can be found here who has not felt and known the pardoning grace of God. Many of those who have recently become converted will labor among their impenitent friends at home, and return, we trust, strengthened in the faith of Je^us Christ. Never have I felt until this revival what a blessed privilege it is to save a soul. May my prayer evermore be to God that he may make me instrumental in his hands in the salvation of many ! It is indeed a glorious and blessed privilege to labor in the vineyard of my Master."
Dr. Guild tells us that the revival went on throughout the session, with much earnest praj^er and effort on the part of devout students, and constantly fostered by the conversations and discourses of President \Yayland. Be- fore the close of Bojxe's Senior year the converts included George P. Fisher, James B. Angell, H. L. Wayland, Rowland Hazard, and in all twenty-seven of the students. Probably few people consider how much a revival at a col- lege may amount to. Among these quiet but bright-eyed young men there are almost sure to be some who will be a great power in the land. Not onl}^ on set days, but often, in public and in private, ought Christians to pray for those who teach and those who learn in colleges and uni- versities, in theological seminaries, and all educational institutions.
The spring vacation (1847) w^as spent by Mr. Boj'ce as the guest of his room-mate, Adin B. Underwood (after- wards General Underwood), at IVIilford, Mass. Writing to Mr. Tupper from Milford, on April 17, he refers to the approaching Commencement, saying that the Senior
52 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
class is reputed the very best that has ever graduated at Brown, and speaking of a subject for the Commence- ment address, of which he has been thinking. In a postscript to this letter comes an important statement, for which an extract from a former letter has pre- pared us : ' ' I believe I have never told you my inten- tion to study for the ministry. I will tell you all about it another time." Two weeks later he writes: '*As to my profession, I think at present that I shall study for the ministry. That seems to me the only sub- ject in which I could have any interest; and it seems to me a tlieme so glorious, and one so much needed by man- kind, that I should love to proclaim it." In June we find that he has written to his father about his desire to be a minister, and to study at some theological school. His father suggested that he should wait till he comes home. He is now hesitating whether first to spend a year in gen- eral reading (as a resident graduate at Brown, or at home in Charleston), or to go next fall to a theological seminary. August 2 he writes from New York that he has been sick some days, and is barely able to sit up. He was doubt- less broken down by the hard study of the session, accom- panied by intense religious zeal and effort. Later we learn that his grade was seven (in a class of thirty-four) ; he had hoped to be fifth. The Commencement would occur in September, and his graduating address was to be on "International Charity, a New Thing in the Civiliza- tion of the World."
When Boyce returned home after being graduated at Brown in September, 1847, it became increasingly mani- fest to those who knew him well, not only that he was thoroughly earnest in the religious life, but that he was developing great intellectual power. His mind was full of questions which he was anxious to have solved. On one occasion, in company wath Allen Tupper, he ap- proached a distinguished divine at Charleston, and im-
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. 53
mediately after the exchange of salutations the minister said, ''I am very glad to see you, James; but please do not ask me any hard questions." He was equally j)leased to have hard questions asked him. He delighted to un- ravel any knotty matter, whether a conundrum, a philo- sophic paradox, or a social difficulty. He would be merry in positions wherein others were perplexed. His father, as we are told, was now very proud of James, and expected him to become a man of distinction. The young man, for his part, was burning with ambition for profound scholar- ship and the widest possible mastery of knowledge. One indication of this was in the character as well as number of the books he began at once to procure, at large cost. He was laying a broad foundation for life-long acquisition. While circumstances, during the greater part of his sub- sequent life, largely denied him the benefit of studious quiet, he did become a very remarkable combination of scholar and business man, such as one rarely sees. But his youthful ambition for vast attainments and profound scholarship was sadly hindered and thwarted throughout his busy years; and those who loved him best will appre- ciate the statement of Dr. Tupper, made from personal knowledge, that Boyce regarded this as the greatest sacrifice he made for the theological seminary.
It was a sad disappointment to Mr. Ker Boyce when he found, during the summer and autumn, that James was immovably resolved to be a minister. Besides a natural ambition that his son might become distinguished as a lawyer, and perhaps as a statesman, — for both of wh.ich pursuits the father's insight discerned in him peculiar qualifications, — he began already to hope, as we have heretofore observed, that James would be the man to take charge of his large estate, and carry on his great business undertakings, for the benefit of the whole family-. While a strictly moral man, and a generous supporter of the church he attended, the father had no great sympathy with
54 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
the claims of the ministry; and, as in many other such cases, it was hard for him to acquiesce in the youth's de- termination to ^Hhrow a^Yay" all his practical powers and possibilities upon the work of a minister. There were of course others who took a similar view. His namesake Mr. Petigru said, '^What a lawyer he would have made!'' We hear of an old merchant in Charleston, one of his father's partners in the dry-goods house, who, being told that Jimmy Boyce meant to be a parson, said, ^' Well, well, why don't he follow some useful occupation ? If he would onl}^ have stuck to business, he would have made one of the best merchants in the country." Young men of no remarkable talents or worldly advantages often have to pass through similar opposition and reproach in enter- ing upon the ministry of the gospel. A surviving sister testifies that their father was already proud of James's talents, and became so more and more ; and we shall find him gladly affording every possible advantage for the prosecution of ministerial studies.
On the 14th of November, 1847, H. Allen Tupper and James P. Boj^ce were licensed to preach by the church in Charleston. Two weeks earlier, Boyce had written to his friend from Aiken, the summer home of the famil}', where he was teaching his young brother Kerr, preparing him for boarding-school. In this letter he greatly laments his decay of spirituality. When he offers a prayer, it *' often seems to be the discord of the lips, and not the music of the heart." A fortnight after the licensing he writes again, " Bejoice with me, for my joy now is not exceeded by that which I felt when I first entered on Christ's de- lightful service." Such changes of feeling are neither rare nor strange. He was already beginning to preach on Sundays, and writing some articles for the South Carolina Baptist.
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK.
CHAPTER V.
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK.
AMOXG James Boyce's classmates at Brown Univer- sity, and for a while his room-mate, was Milton G. Eobert, of Eobertville, S. C, belonging to a family which has produced several distinguished Baptists. In visiting his brother, Eev. L. J. Eobert, pastor at AYash- ington, Ga., this young man made a marriage engagement with Miss Colby, of that place, and he still lives in the vicinity. After their graduation he took James P. Boyce with him to Washington, as one of the "waiters" at the wedding, Dec. 9, 1847. One of the bride's attend- ants, though not his partner, was Miss Lizzie Llewellyn Ficklen, daughter of Dr. Fielding Ficklen, of that village. It is related by a resident that the young man became quite enamoured that evening. The next day, when the wedding party were going into the country to dine, he was reproached by the bridegroom for asking to accompany Miss Ficklen instead of his partner. Things went so fast with his feelings that in returning from the country din- ner he asked her to marry him, but without success. In fact, it cost the ardent j^outh several months of repeated visits, to say nothing of numerous letters, before he could gain any promise of marriage.
Dr. Ficklen had come from Virginia, where his brother, George Ficklen, was an eminent citizen and leading Bap- tist of the famous Gourd Vine Church, in Culpeper County, and another brother, Burwell Ficklen, was an honored citizen of Fredericksburg; while the family connection in- cludes a number of well-known men in different parts of
56 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
that State. The Ficklens were of Welsh origin, and one fancies that they exhibit some of the better Celtic traits of character. Dr. Ficklen's wife was Miss Frances Ann Wingfield, whose grandfather came from Albemarle County, Va., the name showing an English family. The doctor did not give his whole attention to the practice of medicine in Washington, but turned more and more towards planting, in which he was quite successful. In middle life he became a Christian, and afterwards a greatly honored deacon of the Baptist church in Washing- ton,— a man of frank and manly bearing, " transparent can- dor, scrupulous conscientiousness, and Christian probity," and notably strict in his ideas of Christian life and of church discipline. Miss Lizzie had been educated in a very remarkable school at Washington, which had been built up especially through the efforts of Adam Alexander (father of the Confederate general, now railroad presi- dent), whose numerous daughters, there educated, became the wives of distinguished men in Georgia and South Carolina. The lady principal at the time when Lizzie was educated was Miss Bracket, who had come from the North, and afterwards married Dr. Nehemiah Adams, a well-known Congregational minister of Boston.
Washington is a pleasant village in Northeastern Georgia, eighteen miles north of the Georgia Railroad, and not far from the South Carolina line. It is the centre of a rolling and healthy country, which the AVingfields com- pared to Albemarle, very fertile in grain and cotton. Here the famous Jesse Mercer was the first Baptist pas- tor, and started here, in 1833, '^The Christian Index," which is still the Baptist paper of Georgia. Here lived the celebrated Senator Kobert Toombs, and Alexander H. Stephens went to school here, — in a square wooden build- ing which still stands, — but made the home of his life at Crawfordsville, in an adjoining county. Thus the village and surrounding country presented good society as well as
MAKRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WDRK. 57
good schools. To these advantages of family and educa- tion were added rare personal attractions, great kindness of heart, and extraordinary brilliancy in conversation; so that our young collegian, with all his ardor, may be de- fended as not having lost his head when he so quickly lost his heart.
We cannot venture to quote the letters written to his friend and future brother-in law during the next few months. On one occasion whole pages are filled with outpourings of a lover's wretchedness when rejected, but winding up with the steadfast purpose to try again. A loving sister brings to bear upon the case a certain feminine clairvoyance, and comforts him with the hope that he maj^ succeed at last. Then the correspondence fails us, as a well-behaved correspondence should do; but in May we learn, from an allusion to plans for the future, that an understanding has been reached, and definite hopes are permitted.
In April, 1848, Mr. Boyce and Mr. Tupper went to New York, on their way to Madison University, at Ham- ilton, N. Y., — now called Colgate Universit}'^, — for the purpose of entering the theological department. After arriving in New York city, they heard from Dr. T. J. Conant, then Professor of Hebrew at Hamilton, that three months of Hebrew had to be made up in about three weeks, in order to enter the theological course at the point they desired. Mr. Tupper accomplished this, and went through the course at Hamilton. Mr. Boyce found his eyes so weak and suffering at the time that it was evidentl}^ unwise to attempt the Hebrew. On April 28 he wrote from New York to his friend at Hamilton a very sad letter. The celebrated Dr. Delafield had ordered that he should stop study for a year, and advised that he should abandon altogether the idea of a studious life. ^'I shall therefore adopt the latter advice. I regret much that we cannot pursue our studies together, but
58 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
more that I am compelled to give up that profession towards whicli I have so long looked. I shall return to-morrow week to Charleston." A week later he writes again that he is not going to give up the study for the ministry. The physician thinks that by leading a very active life during the summer, together with certain med- ical treatment, he may recover the use of his eyes for study. The doctor has said that a trip to Europe would of itself be sufficient to cure him. But he shrinks from making this journey without a certain companionship, on which he may not count.
We learn from others that his return voyage to Charles- ton was protracted by bad weather; and through the con- sequent nautical experiences he was relieved of extreme biliousness, and this contributed to the cure of his eyes. Throughout the summer he found it necessary to be care- ful, but his eyes finally recovered strength. He often suffered through life from severe bilious attacks, but we never again hear of any trouble with the eyes, though he read so widely, at all hours, on railwaj^ trains and every- where. A like trouble from study at college led Richard H. D^na, Jr., to a voyage to California in 1834-1836, described in his famous book, ''Two Years before the Mast; " and the biographer states that he also never afterwards suffered from weak eyes.
In the autumn we find Mr. Boyce in much better health, and preaching with great zeal at Aiken, at Washington, Ga., and other points, and at length undertaking impor- tant duties in Charleston, to which we shall presently give attention. The marriage occurred at Washington, Dec. 20, 1848, and the young couple went at once to live in Charleston. But he delighted in visiting the pleasant village where he had found his wife, and easily made himself a place in the family circle. Some time after her marriage the bride told his sister, in her sportive way, that her mother always took sides with James rather than
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK. 59
with her. So glad he was to have a mother again! In one of the subsequent visits, it is stated by Capt. J. T. Wingfield, Mrs. Boyce's cousin, that the young minister preached, at the time when he was ordained deacon, a ser- mon an hour and a half long, which the captain quaintly declares to have been ''the shortest long sermon" he ever heard. Some years later, Mr. Boyce's brother-in- law, Eev. H. A. Tupper, became pastor at Washington, and remained there nearly twenty years, taking great delight in his charge, and resisting many invitations to go elsewhere.^
. 1 The following was published not long ago in the "Washington [Ga.] Gazette : " —
" GENERAL LAWTON AND WASHINGTON.
"The unforeseen consequences of our actions are often the subject of comment. On a November day of 1845, Gen. A. R. Lawton came to Washington on a very interesting occasion ; nameh% to be married. He doubtless felt very pleasantly disposed to the little up-country town in W'hich he found his wife. On one of his trips he was accompanied by a bachelor friend, Mr. Milton Robert, who fell in love with another Washington girl, and married her. There came to this weddin^ another bachelor, Rev. James P. Boyce. He, too, married a Washington girl. From these two marriages Washington has derived many advantages besides the blessing of good husbands to her daughters. The children and grandchildren sprung from them form a large circle of excellent and desirable citizens. But this was not all the good derived from General Lawton to Washington. In consequence of the marriage of Rev. James P. Boyce, Dr. Tapper, who married his sister, was invited here. The good Dr. Tupper did is untold. His influence on religion, and his thousand kindnesses, will never be forgotten while a single person remains who knew him. Now, General Lawton, though not the cause, was certainly the occasion, of all this good to Washington. . . . This is a good deal to owe to General Lawton ; and running it up, it seems as if we ought to present the general with a silver service. But it occurred to us just here that General Lawton owes a good deal to Washington, for the town furnished Mrs. Lawton. In detailing all this to the general, we asked him, did he not think he and Washington were even? 'Yes,' he said, 'more than even. I owe Washinstou
60 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
In May, 1846, there had appeared in Charleston ^'The Southern Baptist, '' a weekly paper which was contin- ued till the beginning of the War of Secession. For more than two years it was '' edited by a committee of brethren of the Baptist churches in Charleston." The pastors of the First Baptist Clnirch at that period were the famous Georgian, Dr. N. ]\L Crawford, from 1845 to 1847, and from 1847 to 1854 Dr. J. R. Kendrick, of the dis- tinguished Baptist family in New York State. No doubt each of these took an active part in the editing, and they were aided by James Tupper, Esq., a leading lawyer and Baptist, and others whose names are not known. On Nov. 22, 1848, the heading reads, *< James P. Boyce, Editor." A notice of the change, signed ''The late Editors, ' ' says : ' ' Mr. Bo3'ce is a graduate of Brown University, a licentiate of the First Baptist Church in Charleston, and possesses qualities of mind and heart whicli give promise of distinction and usefulness in the new field of labor he has entered." The new editor's salutatory mentions that the paper has been going into three thousand families, thinks that in excellence *' it has been surpassed by none of our Southern Baptist papers," and very earnestly asks for increased patronage and continued contributions. In fact, their high stand- ard of intelligence and taste had caused the brethren to make a better paper than could at that time be supported in a comparatively small State, where the great mass of the Baptists were in the middle and up country, — and railroads did not then extend above Columbia.
The young editor threw himself earnestly into the under- taking, and produced a paper of real value. To a much greater extent than was then common in religious week- lies, it is seen to have given copious and well-collated
boot, — ^ large boot.' And come to think of it, it was in fact Mrs. Lawton who brought the general here, and set the ball rolling in the first instance."
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK. Gl
7iews, foreign and domestic, secular as well as religious. There are many notices of books and periodicals, with special interest in the four British Quarterlies, and '' Bhick- wood's ^Magazine," which were republislied in this country by Leonard Scott & Co., and at that day represented the very cream of good reading. Many a young man of that period can remember the instruction and inspiration de- rived from these great British periodicals, iiemarkable space is given in the paper to foreign missions, those of the Missionary Union in Boston, as well as those of the Southern Baptist Convention, organized three j^ears before. Xo opportunity is missed for commending institutions of learning, or discussing questions of education. The edi- tor's writing consisted largely in brief paragraphs, such as have now become common in the best papers. Among the leading editorials, such general topics as ''Purity of Heart,'' ''Faith an Antidote to Trouble," "The Blessed- ness of Affliction,'' are discussed in a readable and help- ful fashion. Under the head of "State Schools and Teachers," great earnestness is shown in urging improve- ment of public instruction. Under "Southern Baptist Literature," it is said: "We trust the day is not distant when Southern Baptists will be extensive producers as well as consumers of religious reading." Under "Mis- sions among the Southern Slaves " : "iSTo planter, we con- tend, should rest satisfied until he has taken measures either to provide a religious instructor for his negroes, or to instruct them himself; " and favorable mention is made afterwards of the way in which this was managed by B. C. Pressley, Esq. (now Judge Pressley), on his plantation. An editorial in the first number for 1849 refers quite impressively to the European revolutions of the preceding year. On March 28, 1849, a leader of unusual length favored the establishment of a "Central Theological Insti- tution " for all Baptists of the South, — a subject which had been broaclied two or three years before, and with
62 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
which this Memoir must largely concern itself in later chapters.
Meantime, on March 7, Rev. A. M. Poiudexter, who had the previous summer come from Virginia to Charleston to be Corresponding Secretary of the new Southern Baptist Publication Societ}^, gave the following notice in the paper: "The Depository of the S. B. P. S. has been removed to 40, Broad Street, and Eev. James P. Boyce has been appointed Depository Agent.'' From that time the advertising columns contain long lists of religious books as kept for sale at the depository, with his name as agent. The editor and incipient theologian found great delight in the intimate friendship thus begun with Dr. Poindexter, one of the strongest theological thinkers in the country, and destined to a highly influential co-opera- tion with him in the future establishment of the theolog- ical school. His own penchant for theology, even at this early period, appears in his allowing the paper to be for many weeks weighted down by two distinguished brethren with long and elaborate articles on the doctrine of "Im- putation," in which comparatively few of the readers could be expected to take much interest.
On April 11 the editor in three several instances defends himself against personal attack. The "Christian Index" had severely complained of the "Southern Bap- tist" for publishing a misleading account of action taken b}'' the trustees of Mercer University in regard to the question of a general theological institution, and declared that statements given in quotation marks were utterly different from what had been actually said in the report of the trustees. Mr. Boyce replies: ^^ Strictures of the ^ Christian Index.'' — We regret very much that errors such as the ' Index ' notices in the piece quoted below should have been found in any article in the 'Southern Baptist.' We copy the entire strictures of the ' Index, ' purposely to manifest our regret. And yet we are not to blame." He
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK. 63
goes on to explain tliat his account of the matter had been derived from another paper, and the quotation-marks re- ferred to that paper's statements. The defence is ample, and the opening expression of regret is characteristic of a man so frank and candid. It is said that some one connected with the paper censured this expression, on the ground that a newspaper cannot well afford to admit that it has made a mistake. This idea does appear to be enter- tained in some editorial offices; but one can imagine that James P. Boj'ce must have been not a little vexed at the mere suggestion. Following this editorial is another, in reply to the criticisms of a correspondent. These had included an utter misstatement of something the editor had said, and he replied very sharply: ''We said no such thing; and how a man of common sense and common hon- esty can assert it, w^e know not. This may seem strong language, but ... it is enough to irritate any man to have his language perverted in this way." A third edi- torial replies to an anonymous ''Subscriber" who grossly misrepresents the editor, and upon the strength of this misrej^resentation announces that he will cease to be a subscriber when the time expires for which he has paid. The editor in reply tries to be calm in pointing out the misrepresentation, but adds : "In conclusion, we say to a ' Subscriber ' that if he will but forward his name, it shall be immediately stricken from the list. We would not for ten times the sum of his sub- scription be again subjected to so much impertinence and injustice.''
The number for May 2d ends the third volume of the paper. The editor calls attention to that fact, and says : " Our own connection with the paper is to close with the present number. We opened its editorial charge at the solicitation of our brethren, and with no exj^ectation of retaining it beyond a few months. We feel a deep interest in the ' Southern Baptist,' and the prosperity of the Bap-
64 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
tists of South Carolina, and this interest alone induced ns to consent to occupy our present post." He states that the former editing committee will resume their task, but that the paper is still in debt, and the receipts not sufficient to pay the expenses; and so he appeals for payment of subscriptions in arrear, and for efforts to procure new subscribers. In resuming the editorship, on May 9, the committee state that ^'during five months the paper has been gratuitously and efficiently edited by Rev. James P. Boyce." ^ In the editorial that follows they speak of the fact that editors must expect at times to have " their mo- tives misapprehended and rudely impugned, their honest opinions perverted and unkindly assailed. '^ This goes to show that the young editor had keenly felt the injustice done him, especially by the writers he had replied to on April 11. He was a man so thoroughly honest, candid, and just that he felt surprise at first, and then indigna- tion, at any cases in which the opposite qualities appeared to be manifested; and few men of twenty-two would have been quite patient under such provocation. Had he felt bound by some high sense of duty to pursue the editorial career, he would have learned to bear quietly such unjust assaults, even as he afterwards did learn in other relations that any servant of the public must expect to be now and then misrepresented, and to have some speech or action of his perverted and seized upon as the occasion for exj^loiting personal views. But Mr. Boyce had not at all undertaken to make editing his life-work. The discussion of religious topics would only deepen the desire for regular theological education, which he now determined to seek at Princeton in the autumn. The close of the paper's third year was a convenient time for ending his connection with it, and the recent assaults perhaps made him impatient to throw
1 The number of subscribers had increased while lie was editor, but the receipts had been five hundred dollars less than the expenses of publication.
MARRIAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK. 65
the task aside without delay. All this may remind us that truly great and useful men have seldom escaped early struggles with impatience, and have never been without strong feelings wliich it was difficult to control. A great man has an ardent nature, or he would not be a force in the world. Those who see men of eminence silently bear- ing undeserved reproach, or explaining with quiet dignit}^, frequently have little conception of the discipline which has been needed to make this possible.
For one so young, with little experience in preaching, and no regular study of theology, Mr. Boyce had done remarkably well as an editor. Had he thought proper to continue in that line of work, his great administrative talent, w^ide and eager reading, special interest in the practical enterprises of missions and education, and rapidity of composition, would sooner or later have made his editorial life a marked success. Years afterwards he more than once intimated that if the Seminary could be- come fully established and allow some leisure, he would like to conduct a religious quarterly or monthly.
Until the end of July, 1849, he continued to act as depository agent for the Publication Society, and some- times wrote for the paper over his initials.
During the summer he hesitated whether to take a theo- logical course at Hamilton, where ]\tr. Tupper was, or at Princeton. There was much talk at the time of removing the theological school from Hamilton to Rochester, and he did not fancy being there in a time of dissolution and reconstruction. He inquired particularly about the extent and value of the library at Hamilton, in which respect Princeton then doubtless greatly excelled. Few patrons of higher education appreciate the value of a great library in attracting the more aspiring students and in promoting breadth of culture.
In April, 1849, Mr. Boyce's eldest brother, John John- ston Boyce, died in Florida. He had married his cousin,
5
66 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
tlie daughter of Cliancellor Johnston. His father had established him on a plantation in Florida, with the vague hope of stopping the ravages of consumption. An obituary in the paper which James was editing says that he died ''in the hope of a glorious resurrection.''
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 67
€HAPTER VI.
IN September, 1849, Mr. Boyce went to the Presby- terian Theological Seminary at Princeton, and re- mained there as a student for two years. This famous seminary had, like all the rest, its small beginnings. It was founded in 1812, and for one year Archibald Alexander was the sole professor. In 1813 Samuel Miller was added, and in 1822 Charles Hodge. By 1849 Princeton and An- dover were the two leading theological schools in America. The whole number of students during Mr. Boyce's first session was one hundred and thirty-six, and for the second session one hundred and forty-seven. The division of the Presbyterian Church into Old School and New School was by this time thoroughly established, and Princeton was recognized as the great bulwark of Old School theology.
When our student entered, in 1849, Dr. Samuel Miller had just been made Emeritus Professor, and he died in January of the next year. His numerous practical writ- ings on ecclesiastical questions and ministerial duties must have been quite in demand among the students. The author of ^' Clerical Manners " was somewhat formal in his own deportment, but proved quite cordial when visited at his home. The active professors at this time were Dr. Archibald Alexander, his two sons, James and Addison, and Dr. Charles Hodge.
Archibald Alexander had in 1840 turned over the department of Didactic Theology to Dr. Hodge, and was Professor of Pastoral and Polemic Theology. Though now
6S MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
seventy-seven j^ears old, and taking but a limited part in the instruction, this gifted and charming man left a last- ing impress upon his students, and Mr. Boyce often spoke of him with gratitude and affection. He was a sort of pastor for the young men, with whom they found counsel and sympathy.^ His numerous works gained a wide circu- lation, and his "Moral Science," ''Religious Experience," and ''Sermons to the Aged'' may still be particularly commended. The memoir by his son James is a delight- ful book. Dr. Alexander excelled in the somewhat diffi- cult matter of helpful criticism upon sermons preached by the students before the class. His general kindness and sympathetic appreciation gave keener edge to the caustic remarks which sometimes appeared needful. Dr. Boyce used to relate that on one occasion a student took as his text, "Let there be light, and there was light," and launched into a magnificent description of the creation of light, with great splendor of diction and vehemence of de- livery. The aged professor sat with his chin on his breast, quietly listening throughout the performance, and then, lifting his head, said, in the j^iping tones characteristic of old age, " You're a very smart young man, but you can't beat Moses." A few years earlier, a student of very im- posing talents and bearing, a Presbyterian then, but who afterwards became a High Churchman and a bishop, made a grand discourse upon the religious instincts. He represented that every man's character and life will depend simply upon which of his instincts gets the upper hand,
1 It was probably at an earlier date that we must place a story which theological students might find suggestive. An old negro was accus- tomed to attend a church some miles from Princeton, and often praised the **high larnt " young preachers who came out from the seminary. One day he looked glum on returning home, and being asked whether he had had a good sermon, said, " No, sir; no, sir. There did n't none of them high larnt young gentlemen come to-day, but jes' a old man, and he stood up and jes' talked and talked." The preacher was Archibald Alexander.
AT princp:ton theological seminary. 69
and everything human was made to turn on a battle of instincts. When he finished, and the time came for critical remarks by the students, they seemed afraid to venture, and were silent. Dr. Alexander simply said, '' My instincts are not sufficient to comprehend, much less to criticise, that discourse." In these cases the severity was no doubt well deserved, and ought to have proved beneficial. But professors of homiletics, and even unofficial critics of preaching, doubtless often err, and sometimes gravely and hurtfully err, in bestowing their causticities as well as their commendations.
Dr. James Waddell Alexander this year succeeded Dr. Miller as Professor of Ecclesiastical History- and Church Government, and the next year took over from his father the subject of Composition and Delivery of Sermons. He resigned in 1851, and it was Boyce's singular good fortune to hear his only course of lectures on this latter topic, — the notes of which lectures the student always greatly valued. From 1851 to 1859 Dr. Alexander was pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church of iS'ew York cit}^, which he did much to strengthen and train, and which, under the pastorate of Dr. John Hall, is now recognized as one of the leading churches of America. He published a large num- ber of popular and useful books, of which the '' Sermons on Consolation," the biography of his father, and the ''Forty Years' Familiar Letters of J. W. Alexander," are of particular interest and value. His now venerable mother was the daughter of James Waddell, the "blind preacher," whom William Wirt heard in a church near Gordonsville, Va., and described in an often-quoted pas- sage of "The British Spy." James's wife was also a Virginia lady, a sister of the famous medical professor, Dr. James L. Cabell, of the University of Virginia. These two ladies naturally took a special interest in Southern students, and the elder once said that she knew the Baptist students better than the Presbyterian, because
70 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
they were more inclined to be sociable. Her daughter and namesake, IMiss Janetta Alexander, is also remembered as particularly cordial and agreeable towards the wife of a student.
The younger son, Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander, among the foremost of American Biblical scholars, was still Pro- fessor of Oriental and Biblical Literature, which two years later he gave up for Biblical and Ecclesiastical History. His great work on Isaiah had appeared in three parts in 1846, 1847, and ^^The Psalms Translated and Explained" came out in 1850. Addison was by no means a patient teacher of the elements of Hebrew. He learned languages himself with marvellous facility, and could not sympathize with, or patiently endure, the slow mental movements of the ordinary student. One day, when some fellow had made a very bad out of his Hiphil forms of the verb, the professor threw down his Hebrew grammar on the table, and angrily said, ''Gentlemen, I can't spend any more time on these elementary matters. Learn them for your- selves. I shall begin lecturing on Genesis to-morrow." For three years before this, his students had enjoyed the help of William Henry Green as instructor in Hebrew, who resigned that position in 1849, and in 1851 succeeded Dr. Alexander in the chair which he still occupies with so much honor. In 1850, when the professor had worked alone for one year, it was found advisable to appoint another instructor in Hebrew. It is somewhat frequently the case that a great linguistic or mathematical genius proves ill- suited to elementary instruction in the subjects he masters with such facility; and a teacher, in whatever department or grade, must constantly strive to maintain intellectual sympathy with his pupils. As a lecturer on exegesis, Dr. Alexander made a great impression. He did not teach the students how to make exegesis for themselves, but he set them a noble example, by his complete mastery of the requisite learning, his honest and unwearied pursuit of
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 71
truth, and the clear and convincing fashion in which his results were stated. He was particularly fond, as his works also show, of reconciling antagonistic views, not simply by the easy method of taking an intermediate position, but often by rising to some higher principle, which compre- hended them both in its unity ; and he would oflen startle by the felicity with which he converted objections to the truth into arguments for its support. A few years later, as Professor of Biblical and Ecclesiastical History, his course for the Junior class consisted really of lectures on the English Bible, and awakened great enthusiasm, so that Presbyterian pastors in Philadelphia would run out to Princeton to hear them, and students of that period have often dwelt upon their extraordinary interest.
Dr. Chalmers had in his Lectures in Theology, a few years earlier, urged upon his students a thorough study of the English Bible. But these lectures bj^ Alexander are the earliest known instance of making the English Bible the text-book on a large scale in a theological seminary, — a plan afterwards much more extensively and sj^stematically pursued in the Seminar}^ which James P. Boj'ce founded, and of late years beginning to be adopted in various institutions. In his last years, Addison Alexander published Commentaries on Acts, Mark, Matthew (chapter i.-xvi., interrupted by his death in 1860), which are admirable specimens of penetrating and judicious exposi- tion, and must long continue to be necessary to a minister's library. The memoir by his nephew. Dr. Henry C. Alexan- der, is a work full of inspiration for any minister or stu- dent for the ministry who values high scholarship, and appreciates rare and varied gifts. It is said that Princeton students were greatly impressed by Addison's occasional sermons, and many of these have been collected in two volumes of great value. His intellectual power seized upon a truth with the most vigorous grasp, his imagina- tion threw over it the chastened splendors of a genuine
72 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
illumination, and liis wealth of choicest English fitted it- self to every phase of truth like a garment to him that wears it. A shy and recluse student, he was never a pas- tor, and was not widely known as a preacher; but others besides the students have testified that when inspired by some great theme he would at times read one of his noble discourses with overmastering and seldom-rivalled power. Dr. Hodge once said to Dr. J. W. Warder that Addison had the finest mind he had ever known. It may be a use- ful warning to add that this admirable man presumed on his always vigorous health, and devoted himself to in- cessant reading and writing, with an almost total neglect of exercise; and so, at the age of fifty, there came a sudden collapse, and the world lost all those other noble works which he might have been expected to produce, and which some of us were so eagerly awaiting.
But the most influential of all Boyce's instructors at Princeton was Dr. Charles Hodge, now fifty-two years old, and at the height of his powers. A graduate of the seminary, and professor there since 1820, he had spent 1826-1828 as a student in Paris and Germany. He had founded in 1825 the *' Biblical Bepertory/' afterwards called " Biblical Repertory and Princeton Beview,'' which he was still editing, and which as a theological quarterly had no rival in America save the Andover ^' Bibliotheca Sacra." Two years before this he had collected from the review his two volumes of ^'Princeton Theological Es- says,'' and much earlier (1835) had sent out his famous "Commentary on Romans," abridged in 1836, and en- larged in 1866. Other works had also appeared from his busy pen, including an excellent practical treatise called "The Way of Life." The Commentaries on Ephesians and on First and Second Corinthians came out some years later, and his Ttiagnum opus, the " Systematic Theology, " three volumes 8vo, did not appear till 1871. But already in Boyce's time this great theological course was mainly
AT TRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINAKY. 73
devel.)i)e(l, and laboriously, dictated to the students. Dr. Hodge was a singularly clear and consecutive thinker. Dr. Manly remembered it as a saying of the students, ^'His thoughts move in rows.'' Even in the most fa- miliar address, every thought would bring with it the related thoughts. In the Sunday afternoon meetings, when his turn came to speak upon the practical topic which had been chosen, he would first lead up to the subject, then discuss it, and finally draw inferences or lessons; and this not in the waj^ of formality, but through the habit of his mind. He was also a man of marked Christian earnest- ness and fervor, with whom the great doctrines were living- facts. James Boyce was more powerfully impressed by Dr. Hodge than by any other Princeton professor, and j^robably more than by any other teacher except President Waj^land. Dr. Manly also felt satisfied that he learned more from Hodge than any of the others. It was a great privilege to be directed and upborne by such a teacher in studying that exalted sj'stem of Pauline truth which is technically called Calvinism, which compels an earnest student to profound thinking, and, when pursued with a combination of systematic thought and fervent experience, makes him at home among the most inspiring and enno- bling views of God and of the universe he has made. Dr. Hodge was at this time in quite poor health, and suffered great and long-continued distress at the death of his wife, Dec. 25, 1849; but his work was faithfully done. We have thus seen that, except the lack of Dr. Green's help in Hebrew, our student was greatly favored in his Princeton professors. Hodge and Addison Alexander were at the height of their great powers. Archibald Alexander was still giving, in the class-room and in private, the fruits of his eminent gifts and rich experi- ence, and these were the last two years of his long life. James Alexander was an inspiring teacher and friend, and his professorial work was limited to Boyce's two years.
74 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
His fellow-students also comprised a number of superior men. Among the fifty-two members of the entering class, even persons little acquainted with Presbyterian history can point out several who afterwards became distinguished. E. F. Bunting, D. D., was long pastor at San Antonio and Galveston, Texas, and at Nashville, Tenn., and in 1876 became editor of the Texas '^ Presbyterian.'' W. C. Cattell, D. D., was Professor of Greek and Latin in La- fayette College, Pa., 1855-1860, and in 1863 became president of the college. J. M. Crowell, D. D., was long pastor in Philadelphia. Caspar Wistar Hodge, D. D., son of Charles Hodge, was teacher and pastor for some years, and in 1860 became Professor of the New Tes- tament in the seminary, having succeeded Addison Alexander, who had held that position for one 'year; Dr. C. W. Hodge died in 1891. George McQueen was a mis- sionary in Western Africa from 1852 to his death in 1859. Robert Price, D. D., a Mississippian, was long pastor in Vicksburg. Eobert Watts, D. D., a native of Ireland, was pastor in Philadelphia for ten years, and in Dublin for three years, and since 1866 has been professor of Sys- tematic Theology in the Assembly's College at Belfast, Ireland. He is the author of numerous works in support of Presbyterianism or of general orthodoxy, of which the best known are ''The Newer Criticism" (1881), "The Rule of Paith and the Doctrine of Inspiration" (1885), and ''The New Apologetic."
Among the students who entered a year later than Boyce we may mention Edgar Woods, who was Presbyterian pas- tor at several places in Virginia and Ohio, and after 1877 a teacher at Charlottesville, Ya. There was also quite a group of Baptist students from the South who entered that year, the division between Northern and Southern Baptists making many reluctant to attend Newton or Hamilton. Alfred Bagby has spent a very useful life as pastor of Baptist churches in King and Queen and adja- cent counties of Virginia. Andrew Fuller Davidson was
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 75
also a beloved pastor of churches in Virginia for a good many years till his death. James K. Mendenhall had been Boyce's friend in Charleston, and his fellow-student at Brown University. He became pastor of various Baptist churches in South Carolina and Florida, and since 1875 has labored as missionary and evangelist in South Carolina, residing in Greenville. Kichard Furman Whilden had studied at the Furman Institution in Soutli Carolina, and was admitted to the middle class in Prince- ton, thus becoming Boyce's class-mate. He was graduated in 1852, was pastor and teacher at various points in South Carolina, and since 1864 has resided in Greenville Count}', teaching and preaching.
Of those who had entered a year earlier than Bo3^ce at least a few ought to be mentioned. Bobert G. Branh, D. D., was long pastor in Lexington, Ky., and since 1869 has been a well-known pastor in St. Louis. S. S. Laws, LL.D., was for some years president of Westminster College, Mo., and then president of the University of Missouri from 1875 to 1890. Joseph W. "Warder, D. D., of Kentucky, had been two years a student at Newton Institution, near Boston, and came to Princeton for his third year. He was Baptist pastor at various points in Kentucky and Missouri, and of the Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, 1875-1880. Since that time he has been Corresponding Secretarj^ of the Executive Board of the Baptist General "Association of Kentucky. Of those who composed the Senior class when Bojxe entered, L. G. Barbour, D. D., has been a teacher at various points in Kentucky, and is now professor in the Central University at Richmond, in that State. Basil INIauly, Jr., of Ala- bama, after one year at Newton, had entered Princeton in 1815, and been graduated in 1817. This was two years before Boyce entered; but it is mentioned because they had been boys together in Charleston, and were destined to be colleagues for many years.
Vo MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
Almost every student is more interested in one or two subjects than in the rest of his appointed course of study. Mr. Boyce had at Brown University become a thoroughly earnest student ; and the conviction that it was his duty to be a preacher, together with his brief experience as an editor, must have deepened the desire to become acquainted with all the leading departments of a theological course. He worked faithfully in all directions. He also gave un- usual attention to the library, steadily accumulating that general knowledge of books for which he was remarkable through life. Observe the plans indicated in a letter writ- ten a few weeks after his arrival at Princeton : —
" T am now pursuing, in connection with lectures on that sub- ject, a full course of reading in Mental Philosophy, designing to extend it from that of the Greeks down to the present day. At the same time I am pursuing Hebrew Exegesis in Genesis, and Greek in Eomans, and am carrying on a course of reading in the biography of the great and the good who have shed lustre upon the Christian name."
But his favorite study from beginning to end was Sys- tematic Theology. He was naturally inclined to reflect upon principles and causes, and had a facility in organiz- ing the results of reading and talk which was akin to his unusual talent for organizing and administering business affairs. These natural capacities had been no little devel- oped by Dr. Wayland's instructions in psychology and ethics, and by his familiar association with Dr. A. M. Poindexter, who delighted to draw every young minister into the deepest theological inquiry and the most animated discussion. The leading subject at Princeton has always been Theology. Thus tlie whole atmosphere of the place united with the great powers and influence of Dr. Hodge and the native tendencies and previous training of this student to make him especially earnest in the study of Systematic and Polemic Theology.
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 77
During the second session he took his regiiUir part in the appointed preaching and in the prayer-meeting; but Mr. Whilden says he was not prominent in the debating society. This must have arisen from the pressure of his studies, for he was naturally fond of discussion, and through life his powers always worked to better advantage in debate on the floor than in pulpit discourse. During the second session, when Mr. Whilden was there, Boycc was overwhelmingly busy, for he determined to carry on the studies of the Senior class together with those of the IVIiddle class, to which he belonged. He obtained from some fellow-student the full notes of Dr. Hodge's course in Theology, as dictated in previous years ; and these were patiently copied by the young wife, thus saving him a great deal of time and toil. Add to this that he had an extraordinary power of application and endurance, — he could work for weeks, when under an}^ special pressure, with five hours a day of sleep, almost no exercise, and well- nigh incessant application to study. His recreation was found in cheery talk at meals, in the occasional drives of which he was fond, and the somewhat frequent visits which he and his wife paid to his sister Mary, Mrs. William Lane, of Kew York city.
In December he writes to Mr. Tupper that the}^ have a delightful place of boarding, with the widow of an emi- nent physician. The Georgia wife is "in perfect ec- stasies with the to her somewhat unusual sight " of a heavy snow. Two of his sisters have just been married in Charleston to Mr. Tupper and Mr. Burckmyer, and in sending congratulations he speaks most enthusiastically of his own wife. He is exceedingly pleased with Dr. James Alexander, — a handsome man, with beautiful dark eyes, and the bearing of a Christian gentleman, and in the department of sacred rhetoric ''the most delightful lec- turer I have ever heard." He thinks Addison Alexander "the most gifted, but by no means the most admirable^
to
MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
Almost every student is more interested in one or two subjects than in the rest of his appointed course of study. Mr. Boyce had at Brown University become a thoroughly earnest student ; and the conviction that it was his duty to be a preacher, together with his brief experience as an editor, must have deepened the desire to become acquainted with all the leading departments of a theological course. He worked faithfully in all directions. He also gave un- usual attention to the library, steadily accumulating that general knowledge of books for which he was remarkable through life. Observe the plans indicated in a letter writ- ten a few weeks after his arrival at Princeton : —
^' I am now pursuing, in connection with lectures on that sub- ject, a full course of reading in Mental Philosophy, designing to extend it fi'om that of the Greeks down to the present day. At the same time I am pursuing Hebrew Exegesis in Genesis, and Greek in Romans, and am carrying on a course of reading in the biography of the great and the good who have shed lustre upon the Christian name."
But his favorite study from beginning to end was Sys- tematic Theology. He was naturally inclined to reflect upon principles and causes, and had a facility in organiz- ing the results of reading and talk which was akin to his unusual talent for organizing and administering business affairs. These natural capacities had been no little devel- oped by Dr. Wayland's instructions in psj^chology and ethics, and by his familiar association with Dr. A. M. Poindexter, who delighted to draw every young minister into the deepest theological inquiry and the most animated discussion. The leading subject at Princeton has always been Theology. Thus the whole atmosphere of the place united with the great powers and influence of Dr. Hodge and the native tendencies and previous training of this student to make him especially earnest in the study of Systematic and Polemic Theology.
I
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
During the second session he took his regular part in the appointed preaching and in the prayer-meeting; but Mr. Whilden says he was not prominent in the debating society. This must have arisen from the pressure of his studies, for he was naturally fond of discussion, and through life his powers always worked to better advantage in debate on the floor than in pulpit discourse. During the second session, when Mr. "Whilden was there, Boyce was overwhelmingly bus}", for he determined to carry ou the studies of the Senior class together with those of the [Middle class, to which he belonged. He obtained from some fellow-student the full notes of Dr. Hodge's course in Theologj^, as dictated in previous years ; and these were patiently copied by the young wife, thus saving him a great deal of time and toil. Add to this that he had an extraordinary power of application and endurance, — he could work for weeks, when under au}^ special pressure, with five hours a day of sleep, almost no exercise, and well- nigh incessant application to stud3^ His recreation was found in cheery talk at meals, in the occasional drives of which he was fond, and the somewhat frequent visits which he and his wife paid to his sister Mary, Mrs. AYilliam Lane, of Xew York city.
In December he writes to Mr. Tupper that they have a delightful place of boarding, with the widow of an emi- nent physician. The Georgia wife is "in perfect ec- stasies with the to her somewhat unusual sight " of a heavy snow. Two of his sisters have just been married in Charleston to Mr. Tupper and Mr. Burckmyer, and in sending congratulations he speaks most enthusiastically of his own wife. He is exceedingly pleased with Dr. James Alexander, — a handsome man, with beautiful dark ej^es, and the bearing of a Christian gentleman, and in the department of sacred rhetoric *^the most delightful lec- turer I have ever heard." He thinks Addison Alexander '*the most gifted, but by no means the most admirable^
iS MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
member of the Faculty," having seen him display ^^an ungovernable temper," — probably with reference to the Hebrew. Dr. Archibald Alexander is fast declining in years, and does not seem ''as gifted as his sons, but has a very clear, logical mind.'^ Dr. Hodge ''is one of the most excellent of men ; so modest and yet so wise, so kind and fatherly in his manner, and yet of so giant an intel- lect, he is a man who deserves a world of praise." In February Boyce has been to New York, .and finds the Lane family about to build a *home on Madison Square, and attending the ministry of the famous Dr. William E. Williams. He expresses much fervent solicitude, and again and again proposes special prayer for the conversion of various relatives. He affectionately urges Mr. Tupper, who has become pastor at Graniteville, S. C. (near Aiken), to be very faithful in pastoral visiting, which he thinks a good many ministers comparatively neglect.
On Feb. 17, 1850, Mr. Bo3^ce preached the first ser- mon that remains to us, and it is indorsed as written in January. It was given at a Baptist church called "Penn's Neck,'' a few miles from Princeton. The text is Acts xxvi. 28: ^^ Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'' It is thoroughly practical, and intensely earnest, abounding in pointed address to different classes of hearers, and fervent exhortation. You feel in reading that you are dealing with a man of strong intellect, great force of character, and large heart, a man full of Christian love and zeal, and consumed with desire to save souls. The sentences are often wanting in symmetry, and show the hurried negligence from which his style never wholly recovered; but the thoughts are made entirely clear, and are expressed with vigor and force. Written when he was just twenty-three years old, it is a notable sermon.
We learn from his wife that he frequently preached at ^'Penn's Neck" during this and the following session. Dr. C. W. Hodge, who was his fellow-student, in a letter
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 79
after Boyce's death spoke of ''his high reputation for eloquence and strength in the pulpit," and says he "was in request for supplying pulpits out of town/' It is well that seminary students should preach somewhat fre- quently, not for practice and criticism before a class, but as actual preaching to a real congregation. They can thus add greatly to the evangelizing and pastoral work of the city and vicinity, and in this day of fast trains can go to distances of a hundred miles or more. In every theolo- gical school there are doubtless some students who spend too much time in preaching, especially when they become pastors, and must hold protracted meetings. But on the whole it is believed that students should be encouraged to preach, for they may do good to others, and gain beneiit to themselves. The religious fervor in which a young man gave himself to the work of the ministry will often be best maintained by actual preaching, or at any rate by teaching in mission Sunday-schools and the like. Theo- logical studies ought to be pursued throughout as having a practical aim; and this aim is best kept in view by the student who is doing some actual ministerial work. Be- sides, the pecuniar}^ compensation which is sometimes received will enable a man to continue his studies w^ithout depressing want or extreme dependence upon the gene rosity of others. Mr. Boyce's means are well known to have been ample; but through life he welcomed, and indeed required, suitable compensation for ministerial service, because he would have just that much more to give away, and because he was not willing to encourage a" church in the neglect of its own duty to support the ministry.
The vacation in the summer of 1850 was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Boyce with her relatives in Virginia, chiefly with her uncle, Burwell Ficklen, in Fredericksburg, and her uncle, George Ficklen, at Thompsonville, in Culpeper County, and her aunt, Mrs. Brown, who lived in the same neighborhood. These were all families of high standing
80 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
and large liospitality, where many agreeable acquaintances were to be made, besides the circle of kinsfolk. It was a delightful way to spend vacation. The Piedmont Coun- ties of Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge, are a singularly healthy region, half way between North and South, half way between sea-coast and mountain. In summer weather, to ride or drive over beautiful hills and vales, gazing at will upon the deep-blue mountain range on the west, and to visit the large country houses and large-hearted country folk, must be healthy in every sense. Our young couple were both remarkably adapted to enjoy such a series of visits, and to brighten life for all with whom they met. Yew men so promptly win and so permanently hold the confidence and affection of others as did James P. Boyce. Highly cordial in manner and manifestly sincere, big- hearted and considerate, overflowing with vitality, and yet full of gentle courtesy and abounding in delicate tact, he seemed perfectly at ease, and made all around feel at ease, alike in the palaces of the rich and in the cottages of the poor. One fancies there must still be persons in Cul- peper and m Fredericksburg who remember that summer visit of their gifted and charming young cousins as an epoch of rare enjoyment.
This region was full of Baptist churches. A sermon remains, indorsed by Boyce as first preached at Mount Le- banon church, Rappahannock County, Ya., August 11, and at Fredericksburg, August 25, 1850. It contains glowing expressions about the beauties of Nature, which leave little doubt that it was written in Culpeper, amid the beautiful hills and in sight of the beautiful mountains ; for Prince- ton, with all its celebrity and advantages, lies in a flat and dull country. It is always pleasant when the thoughts of poet or speaker take shape and color from the immediate surroundings. This sermon is on John iii. 16, ^^For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,'' etc. The introduction is excellent, and the plan good.
AT PRINCETON TIIEOLCXJICAL SEMINAllY. 81
There is perhaps too much of theological discussion about the (liviue nature and purposes, and the relations of the Father to the Son, for a discourse meant to be thoroughly practical. It often requires considerable experience before the ministerial student can avoid carrying unchanged into the pulpit the thoughts and methods which have deeply interested him in the lecture-room. But the fault in this case is at any rate not serious. The sermon is earnest, and aims at practical results ; and it can hardly have failed to have been heard with great interest, when read in the sonorous and musical tones, and with the impressive and engaging aspect, of the young preacher.^ After leaving Virginia he visited New York city, and attended a meet- ing of his class at Brown University, introducing his wife to his classmates.
Through his first letter from Princeton in September we learn that this summer travelling had occupied more than four months. On every Sunday but three he had preached, and had enjoyed much time for general reading. His health was now excellent. He had decided to carr}^ on the third year's work together with that of the second year, and was beginning to plan for the next summer, when he should leave Princeton. If no immediate opening for use- fulness should be found in South Carolina, he thought of going to Halle, in German}^, especially to stud}^ German and Hebrew; or, to avoid separation from his wife, he might spend several months in some Nortliern city, and there
1 He must have left Culpeper for Fredericksburg about August 20. Ten days later, the writer of this memoir, having been graduated ia June at tlie University of Virginia, and gone to visit his kindred in Culpeper, attended a meeting of the Shiloh Association at a place only four or five miles from ]\Ir. George Fickleu's, and was frightened by being asked to preach. If Boyce had remained a little longer he would have attended also, for h.e was fond of Associations, and two, who were destined to toil so long together, would have met years before they did meet. Hawthorne has a quaint story to illustrate how often things come very near happening, and do not happen.
6
82 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
study the same languages. Two weeks later he is still considering where he shall settle as a minister. If there is no available place in South Carolina, he would be willing to labor near Providence, E. I., or else he will go West, having had already an informal invitation to St. Louis. His present studies (probably meaning especially Theolog}^ and Homiletics) have impressed on him afresh the great importance of the ministry. He feels deeply unworthy to be an ambassador for God, not competent to speak words on which must depend men's happiness or miser}'-, according as they shall believe them. He envies his correspondent the ministerial usefulness already at- tained, and longs to equal him, — yea, wishes he could do more than man ever did, in saving souls through the grace of God. He is engaged in anxious self-examination as to the reality of his call to be a minister. In December he expresses great regret at learning that all the pamphlets, etc., he left at home have somehow been destroyed. He was through life very solicitous to preserve every pamphlet or periodical, and bequeathed to the Seminary a very large and valuable collection of these, along with his theolo- gical library. This early loss included all his college addresses, and some sermons, with valued letters, etc. He is rejoiced to hear that Mr. Tupper has been preaching on Sunday afternoons to the negroes, including a large number of hired men engaged in building a railroad, and urges him to continue this, if his health will possibly allow. ''The Lord will bless your labors to them. Teach them as well as preach to them. You know I have long thought that for such congregations there should be given a great deal of exposition, such as is suitable to explain and cause them to remember the sacred text. I should delight to preach to them myself. I think that while we from the South should support our mission to Africa, we should also remember Africa at home. Let us teach them, preach to them, bear with them, explain to them, though they
AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 83
may be slow of heart to believe. May God bless your efforts, and those of all who attempt to preach the gospel to these poor of our land."
Mr. Boyce left Princeton somewhat before the close of the session, May 1st. As a matter of course he received no diploma, since he did not remain till the end of the course. He was always satisfied that he learned more by the plan pursued than if he had entered the middle year (making up the Hebrew by private work), which would have given him the regular graduation. He spent two or three months in New York, devoting himself to a thorough review of his theological studies. He considered the question of going to study in Germany, but concluded that he must now begin ministerial work. Writing to Mr. Tupper in March, he expresses a deep sense of un- worthiness, but a strong desire to be the means of saving souls and glorifying Christ.
In July we find him at Washington, Ga., considering an invitation to become pastor of the Baptist Church at Columbia, S. C. The church records show that, August 9, they received a letter from him accepting the pastoral charge, to take effect 1st October.
In the summer of 1851 Mr. Ker Boyce made a trip to Europe, accompanied by his youngest children, Ker and Lizzie; but we have no details. The desire to visit Europe grew upon James through all the years, but had to be denied till near the close of his life, — one of the many sacrifices he made for the work of theological education.
84 MEMOm or JAMES p. BOYCE.
CHAPTER YII.
PASTOR AT COLUxMBIA, 1851-1855.
C "COLUMBIA, the capital of South Carolina since 1790, J is one hundred miles northwest from Charleston, on the Congaree Eiver. This river is formed hy the junction of the Broad and the Saluda, and is navigable to the rapids which lie just below the junction. Hence the location of the city, and marked advantages in the way of water-power, never realized till recently. The population in 1851, when Mr. Boyce became pastor, was about seven thousand. There was a railwa}^ to Charleston, Avhich presently made a junc- tion with a railway leading northward by Wilmington, N. C, and lower down with another leading westward by Augusta and Atlanta. Of late years Columbia has become quite a railroad centre, and there has been a marked growth in manufacturing and in population.
The city is in a healthy region. The ridge of sand and pines, which near Augusta has become so famous at Aiken, the home of consumptives, extends northeastward so as to include the neighborhood of Columbia. The sand absorbs moisture so as to dry the atmosphere, and the pine-trees take out malarious elements, so that in this region persons having weak lungs in early years have lived a comparatively \<d\\Si, and vigorous life.
Columbia was already quite a handsome Southern town. The spacious streets were well shaded, some of them hav- ing not only trees along the sidewalks, but a double row along the centre, w4th a walk between, as in Augusta, Savannah, and other Southern cities, and in Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. There were many handsome residences,
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 85
built in the Southeru style, with large rooms and ample windows, and with broad porticos or verandas, sometimes on all four sides of the house, and even repeated for the second story. The principal dwellings were surrounded by extensive grounds filled with trees, shrubbery, and flowers. It is difficult for one who has not seen them to imagine the delightsomeness of these Southern abodes, found often in the country as well as in the town. From the blazing sun jou passed into an atmosphere of de- licious coolness, delicately perfumed by the odor of grow- ing flowers that entered at every window. The family were often highly educated, and always had in a high de- gree the charming manners of an aristocratic society. The hospitality seemed perfect. The memory of even brief visits to those noble Southern homes bears now a touch of romance, like the history of the old French noblesse, and something like the stories of the Arabian ISTights. Prob- ably the most notable residence in Columbia was the famous Hampton House, built by the second Wade Hamp- ton, whose father was colonel in the Revolutionary army, and general in the War of 1812, who was himself aide to General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and whose son, of the same name, is the Confederate general and United States Senator, — all three celebrated for skilful horsemanship, all gifted and gallant soldiers, all capital specimens of the Southern gentleman, .and born leaders of men. The Hampton House and its grounds are said to have cost $60,000, which was then a large sum of money. Around Columbia in various directions are low and pleas- ing hills, which, with the river scenery, make fine drives, such as Boyce delighted in.
The Legislature of South Carolina possessed unusual powers, electing not only governor and judges and senators, but the electors for president, and also appointing all man- ner of county officials. This gave dignity to the post of State representative or senator, and so the Legislature
86 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
included many of the leading planters. These, with the governor and other members of the State government, who were apt to be wealth}^, constituted every winter a very attractive social circle in Columbia, often occup3'ing handsome dwellings of their own, and dispensing a lavish and refined hospitality.
The State sustained in Columbia a military school, called the Arsenal, for the first and second years of stud}^, the two higher jeavs being taken at the Citadel, in Charleston. Here also was the South Carolina College, founded in 1804. We have seen that among its alumni were J. L. Petigru and Basil Manly, and may add that they included by 1851 a great many men of whom South Carolina is justly proud, in every leading pursuit of life. Among them was the celebrated William C. Preston, who in the United States Senate and elsewhere was recognized as almost unrivalled in oratorical splendor and passion (not strange in the son of Patrick Henry's sister), and who was just ending in 1851 a term of six years as president of the college. His wide popularity, and the charm of his personal influence, had attracted many students; and though not remarkable for teaching power or general administrative talent, he had given to the college great celebrity and a commanding influence. The famous James H. Thornwell. D. D., one of the most eminent Presbj^terian ministers and educators in America, was ajso an alumnus of the college, and had for thirteen years been professor, at first of Logic and jMetaphysics, and afterwards of Sacred Literature, with the additional and influential office of chaplain. He had resigned in May, 1851, and gone to Charleston to be pastor, but was destined soon to return.
There was also at Columbia a Presbyterian Theological Seminary, which had been twenty years in existence, and was in a prosperous condition. Among the professors was Dr. George Howe, a good Biblical scholar and a very gifted teacher, of whom Mr. Boyce oft*en spoke with admiration
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 87
in subsequent j^ears; and from 1853 Dr. B. M. Palmer, who since 1856 has been pastor in N^ew Orleans, and one of the most eminent preachers in America. As a matter of course, the city had a very flourishing Presbyterian church. The Scotchmen and Scotch-Irish, who had been so influential among the early settlers of the Stat-e, were generally faithful to Presbyterianism, and so were many of the Huguenot families; others of the Huguenots, to- gether with the leading English families among the early settlers, attached themselves to the Episcopal Church. These retained the social prestige brought over from the English Establishment, as Presbyterians still held the educational and social influence which they had brought from Scotland. Both of these important religious bodies have endeavored in America to confine their ministry to men regularl}'- trained for the purpose. This has pre- vented their taking hold upon the American people at large, — even as the lawj^ers and doctors of this country have necessarily included a very large proportion of men irregularly trained; and the great popular denominations have been those that encouraged every man to preach who felt moved to do so, and whom the people were willing to hear. But the fact that Presbyterian and Episcopal clergymen were regarded as an educated class added to the influences above mentioned in giving those religious denominations a powerful hold upon American cities and towns, which continues to the present day. About the middle of this century, just at the time when James P. Boyce began his work as a pastor, we can see signs of a marked advance among Methodists, Baptists, and other denominations, in the way of having a larger proportion of their ministers to be men thoroughly trained for that calling. The Baptist ministry had always included some such men, in South Carolina and in all the States; but about this time there was a definite forward impulse. The Baptist church at Columbia comprised in 1851 but
88 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
few members, none of them possessing much of social in- fluence or wealth. The house of worship was a small brick building, presenting a very plain gable front. When young men reared in Baptist families came from the coun- try or from Charleston to reside in the capital, there was everything to draw them away from the Baptist church to the other denominations of whom we have spoken; and yet fay-seeing men could perceive that it was wise to be- stow special labor upon this little church. If a minister of ability could manage to live there, faithful work would tell ; for the Baptists were numerous in some parts of the State, and beginning to grow almost everywhere. Mr. Boyce's predecessor, E-ev. H. A. Duncan, was a man of talents and worth, but doubtless found it impossible to sustain himself on the meagre salary. Mr. Boyce had the advantage of a large private income, and also of personal acquaintance and influence in the Charleston Association, to which the church at Columbia belonged, and which might be induced to give aid and comfort. It was under- stood before he accepted the call to be pastor that an effort would soon be made to erect a better house of worship, for which it was believed that he could obtain assistance in other parts of the State.
So we find our young minister entering upon his duties as pastor in Columbia, Oct. 1, 1851. Two weeks after, he writes that he is much pleased with the work. The con- gregations are very small, but he hopes, by the blessing of God, to be useful. In November he was ordained, the pres- b^^tery comprising J. B. Kendrick (of Charleston), John Culpeper, John M. Timmons, and the famous Dr. Thomas Curtis, whom w^e shall meet later in these Memoirs. Dr. Curtis asked the candidate for ordination if he proposed to make a life-long matter of preaching; and he answered, '■' Yes, provided I do not become a professor of theology.'' These early years of ministry present, as frequently happens, but little to record. As he is now near to Mr.
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 89
Tupper and they often meet, the letters between them are few. We may he sure that he was diligently studying theology, reading widely in his own already large collec- tion of books and in other accessible libraries, and faith-, fully preparing his sermons. Besides the Seminar}^, the College library was one of the best in the South. Board- ing at the principal hotel, he had opportunity for making pleasant acquaintance with legislators and other leading men. His father being known as the wealthiest man in Carolina, and he himself being uncommonly attractive and agreeable, while his wife possessed like qualities in a remarkable degree, he would rapidly gain consideration in important quarters. Yet these things did not at all hin- der his visits to the humblest homes of his congregation, nor his personal influence over all who attended his minis- try; for he had rare power of making himself easy and agreeable among all, and he was deeply earnest in the desire to be useful as a minister of the gospel. In December Col- onel Preston left the presidency of the college, on account of ill health, and Dr. Thornwell yielded to much urgency, and, giving up again his cherished desire to be a pastor, returned to Columbia and became president. As a gradu- ate of Princeton, the son of Ker Boyce, and an attractive gentleman, the young Baptist pastor must have early be- come acquainted with this great man, whose sermon in a Charleston pulpit had so charmed him in boyhood, and whose influence must have conduced to the promotion of profound thinking, wide reading, and great earnestness in the gospel ministry.
On May 13, 1852, the church, as its meagre records show, granted the pastor three months, or longer if neces- sary, to visit other churches in the State, and solicit con- tributions towards building a new house of worship. The pulpit was to be supplied by his early friend and fellow-stu- dent. Rev. J. K. ]\Iendenhall. We know that in his private carriage Mr. Boyce drove over large portions of the State.
90 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
The contributions pledged do not seem to have been suffi- cient at that time for the purpose, as the new church was not built till several years later. In the summer of this year he was thinking of purchasing a certain house and fitting it up for his residence. In April, 1853, various letters to Mr. Tupper in Charleston contain nothing but requests to select this article, and order that, for his house. It was his fancy that the dwelling should be com- pletely finished and furnished when his young wife first entered it; and those who knew him well can imagine the pleasure he took in arranging all details and perfecting all preparations for their home life. Here they lived for more than two years, delighting to entertain their friends and kindred. In the summer of 1853 Mr. Boyce went north- ward. He had stipulated with the church in the begin- ning that he should have one month of vacation every summer, such definite arrangements being at that time rare in Southern churches. During this trip to the North he attended the meeting of his class at Brown University, now six 3'ears after their graduation, and took the degree of A. M. in course.
On Jan. 11, 1853, the church records show that the pastor succeeded, after months of persuasion, in intro- ducing a melodeon to help the singing; and the next year he secured a choir-leader, at a salary of one hundred dol- lars per annum. It requires time and patience to alter any fixed usage of a Baptist church ; and this respect for established custom is, on the whole, a beneficial check upon the action of a thoroughly free organization in a period enamoured of progress.
Throughout these four years of pastoral work at Colum- bia, the young minister was encouraged by a steady growth of the little church. We have seen that the white people of the city were mainly attached to other churches, and so the material available for him was not large. But there was a marked increase in numbers, and still more in lib-
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 91
erality and other Christian graces. It must have been especially gratifying that he was enabled to get a strong hold upon the colored people. We have seen him dwell- ing upon this subject Mdien editor, and exhorting Mr. Tupper, in one of his letters from Princeton, to work faithfully among the negroes, giving them much oral explanation of the Scriptures. He doubtless pursued this course himself, striving not only to touch their religious susceptibilities, but to give them helpful instruction in the Avay of salvation and the fundamental duties of a Christian life. A wealthy and highly educated young minister was fitly emj^loyed in such labor for the benefit of the slaves. Nor was this a singular case. While the reading world was just then becoming fascinated and enkindled b}^ the high-wrought pictures of '^ Uncle Tom's Cabin,'' j^^^^^i^^^^d in 1852, and deeply impressed with the real and supposed evils of slavery; while events were rapidl}^ moving towards the great and awful conflict of ten 3'ears later, numerous ministers throughout the South, chieflj^ Baptist and Methodist, were faithfully laboring to convert and instruct the vast multitude of colored people among whom they found themselves called to the work of the ministry. By no means all was done that ought to have been done; when and where has this been the case about anything ? But thousands and ten thou- sands of Christian men and women did feel the burden of these lowly souls laid upon themselves, did toil faithfullj^ and often with great sacrifice to bring them to the Saviour, and lovingly- to guide their weak and ignorant steps in the paths of Christian life. Certainly there was among them, in some respects, a very low standard of Christian morality, as is usually the case with ignorant converts of any degraded race. But there are many still living who can testify, from personal observation and effort, that not a few of these negro Christians gave real and gratifying evidence of being Christians indeed. They were not
92 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
black angels, as some romantic readers of romance half imagined, nor yet black demons, as some who hated them then and now would have us believe; they were and are simply black men, from among the lowest races of man- kind, yet by no means beyond the reach of saving Chris- tian truth and loving Christian culture. Some of us remember them with strange tenderness of feeling, like that of foreign missionaries for their lowly converts, and find it painful to see them grossly misrepresented, either by fanciful eulog}'' or foolish censure. And now that the long conflict is long past, and we are facing the most remarkable problem that any civilized nation was ever called to attempt, — the problem of slowly and patiently lifting these people up to all they can reach, — it were well if mutual mis judgments could be laid aside, if the faithful work of many Christians in those trying years could be on all sides appreciated, and the whole undertaking before us could be estimated in part by its best results, and not simply by its worst difficulties.
From this ministry of four years there remain notes of several sermons, and a good many sermons written in full. He usually prepared by making a rather extended sketch, — what lawyers call- a ''brief," — which he kept before him when speaking. Most of these were allowed to perish in the course of years. From the outset we find him grasping with decided vigor the thought or several thoughts of the text, explaining and strongly vindicating the great doctrines of Scripture, applying the truth to his hearers with direct and fervid exhortation. There is still not much of illustration, but now and then an expanded figure that shows imaginative powers worthy to be oftener employed. The style is sometimes negligent, but rarely fails to be lucid and vigorous. Above all, the sermons show a man very anxious to do good; they belong to ''an earnest ministry." In later jears we shall meet several sermons that will require our special attention.
TASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 93
On March 19, 1854, occurred the deatli, at Coliimhia, of Mr. Ker Boyce. He had for some years made his home at KalDiia, not far from Aiken and Graniteville, wliere he had a delightful residence, shared with him by Mr. and ]\[rs. H. A. Tupper, until they removed, in 1853, to \Yashington, Ga. Going to Columbia on a visit to James, he was taken ill with heart-troubles, and after lingering ten days he died on a Sunday at midnight. His children had all gathered, and it is said that they ''confidently expected his recover}^; but he was persuaded of his ap- proaching death, and in view thereof he spoke calml}^ and with resignation, expressing his hope and trust in the mercy of Christ." Dr. Tupper says that during their residence together at Kalmia he showed great love of the Bible, and special interest in the family worship, l^^umerous letters to the Tuppers during 1850-1854 have been preserved, and not only abound in the warmest ex- pressions of fatherly interest and affection, but often speak in a distinctly religious tone.
Obituaries in numerous papers of South Carolina and other States, and personal recollections of various friends, all go to show that Ker Boyce was a man of remarkable abilities and character. His achievements in the business world would necessarily imply this; for causes have to be equal to effects, and he who has through a long life achieved great things must necessarily be at least in some respects a great man. Mr. Boyce was especially noted for his insight into the character and abilities of men. To an extent quite unknown before that time in Charleston, he trusted his business associates and em- ployees. People observed that notwithstanding predic- tions to the contrary, the enterprises in which he was interested almost always proved successful; and it slowly dawned upon them that he was safe in trusting men, because he selected men who could be trusted. We have already seen that he was a man of great nerve and pluck,
94 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
who in time of commercial panic never feared, but held np things. It is said that he had an extraordinary mem- ory for business matters, keeping details in his head, and never forgetting his business engagements. A marked peculiarity was the ease with which he left all business anxieties behind him at the close of the day. He some- times said that in shutting the doors of his bank he shut in all his worries; and when in the family circle you could hardly have imagined that this was a great finan- cier, daily engaged in large transactions, for he seemed as lively and gay as the children. This power of com- pletely throwing off one's cares, and heartily enjoying the cheery and humorous side of life, has been observable in many of those who have endured great labors and carried through great undertakings in the world. After the death of James P. Boyce, his colleague, Dr. Basil Manly, wrote as follows in a newspaper article: "M.y memory, as a child, of Mr. Ker Boyce, is of a most dignified, vigorous, commanding figure. The cast of his countenance and the peculiar compression of His lips indicated settled convic- tion and determination, while his penetrating eye showed the intelligence and inquiring mind which made him a power in the city and the State." Portraits show that James strikingly resembled his father in personal appear- ance; and his friends are well aware, as his whole career shows, that there was also a marked resemblance in many admirable points of character.
Mr. Ker Boyce bequeathed $20,000 to the Orphan House in Charleston, — an institution highly esteemed in the city, — and $30,000 to the College of Charleston. The income of this latter fund was to be used in aiding need^^ students, who were chosen by his son James as long as lie lived, and are now* chosen by one of the sisters. His large estate was left under the control of a son only twentj^-seven j^ears old, and a busy and faithful minister of religion. The associate executors. Judge John Belton O'Neall, Arthur
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G. Rose, Esq. (who afterwards went to live in England), and James A. Whiteside, of Tennessee, are said to have never taken any part in the management, fully sharing the father's confidence in his son. This confidence was the more remarkable, as much of the estate was to continue in the hands of his executors for many years, the final division not to be made till the youngest grandson should come of age. Through all the trying losses of the war time, and all the solicitudes of the years that followed to the end of his life, the executor bore these burdens of weighty responsibility.
It was inevitable that he should need some time for undivided attention to the settlement of so large an estate. Accordingly, the church records show that on April 8, 1854, he asked and obtained leave of absence from pastoral duties until October, '^at which time he hoped to be able to resume them,'' his salary to be used in securing a supply. The letters of that summer to H. A. Tupper are almost entirely occupied with business details. Indeed, from this time forward he had to write so many business letters that there was seldom opportunity for speaking of general matters such as would interest the readers of a Memoir. In November he was chosen moderator of the Charleston Association, thus for the first time called to exercise his remarkable powers as a presiding officer, w^hich we shall have frequent occasion to observe hereafter. In that year Rev. Edwin T. Winkler became pastor in Charles- ton, having previously served two years as Corresponding Secretary of the S. B. Publication Society, and editor of the ^'Southern Baptist." The frequent meeting thus occasioned with one so gifted and cultured and lovable must have been a great pleasure to the Columbia pastor.
At the end of the year came out Dr. Thorn well's ^'Dis- courses on Truth," a small volume of sermons which had been delivered in the chapel of South Carolina College. These made a profound impression on some young pastors
96 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
of that day, which might well be deepened in the case of Mr. Boyce by his personal acquaintance with the author.
Daring that winter or spring there were probably negotiations as to the idea of Mr. Bo^^ce's becoming Pro- fessor of Theology in Furman University at Greenville, S. C, the health of Professor Mims having hopelessly failed ; for the church records show that on April 29th Boyce tendered his resignation, to take effect October 1st. The church earnestly sought to prevent this dissolution of the pastoral relation, but on May 6th they accepted his resignation, with unusual expressions of regret and affec- tion. They had indeed unusual cause, apart from the pastor's personal Avorth ; for he showed his interest in the struggling church of which he had for four years been pastor, by proposing to contribute $500 towards a salary of $1200 for his successor.-^ We know also of a promise on his part to contribute $10,000 towards a new house of wor- ship for the church, whenever they should be prepared to build, — a promise dul}'- carried out a few years later. It was probably in the autumn of 1854 that he also promised to aid in building a new church on Citadel Square, in Charleston. Mr. Burckmyer, who had married his sister, was about to be baptized, and consulted James Boj^ce and B. C. Pressley, Esq., as to whether he should join the First Church, or the newer church on Wentworth Street. Pressley said he should do neither, but took them out to Citadel Square, and showed the point at which a new and elegant church building ought to be erected. James approved the idea, and said they could put him down for $10,000. The movement soon began, and others of the Boyce family gave $30,000 more towards erecting what was for along time, and is perhaps still, the noblest Baptist house of worship in the South. Let it not be imagined that our young minister was thoughtlessly giving away his ample
1 These extracts from the records have been kindlj'- furnished by Rev. W. C. Lindsey, D.D., now pastor of the church at Columbia.
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inheritance. He gave with reflection and foresight, as we shall find him continuing to do through life.
In jVIay, 1855, just after his resignation had been accepted, Mr. Boyce attended the Southern Baptist Con- vention (which then met once in two years) at Montgomery, Ala. Some of us were on the long journey of three or four daj^s from Central Virginia, by way of Wilmington and Augusta. At a point some hours west of Augusta, a branch road came in from Washington, Ga., and several passengers came aboard the train, among them a young man of large figure and smooth, youthful face, at whose entrance the foreign Mission secretaries, Dr. James B. Taylor and Dr. A. M. Poindexter, both rose eagerly, and met him with great cordiality. Presently Poindexter came and sat down by a young minister of the company, and said, *' Yonder is a man I want you to know. He is a minister of ability and thorough education, and full of noble qualities. His father was a man of great wealth, and he is now very generous in his gifts. He is going to be one of the most influential of all Southern Baptists. I want you to know him." At the introduction, it is re- membered that his marked heartiness seemed somehow a little clouded by a certain reserve. It was not thought by the person introduced, though sometimes thought by others in after years, that this reserve was due to hauteur. All w^ho knew him well soon came to understand that he had simply such a contempt for all affected cordiality as sometimes to go just a little towards the opposite extreme, and thus be slightly misunderstood. He was in fact, from youth to age, the soul of cordial kindness. At Mont- gomery the Convention appointed a Committee to investi- gate some controversy between the Foreign Mission Board and Bev. I. J. Boberts, one of the missionaries to China. The details of the controversy would be of no importance now, if they were remembered. The Committee examined very carefully the whole matter, and directed Mr. Boyce,
7
98 MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE.
one of its members, to draw up an elaborate report. He sat up all night to perform the task. When he came for- ward the next day with his report, his commanding figure, ringing voice, and look of unpretending genuineness and broad good sense made an impression that has lasted; and the report so marshalled the facts, and explained all the matters involved, as to vindicate the Board, without casting any painful censure upon the zealous missionary. Poindexter remarked afterwards that he had scarcely ever heard a report of a committee that w^as so ably written and so impressively read. Mr. Bo^'^ce was then twenty-eight years old.
It may be well enough to mention that at this meeting of the convention some of us for the first time encountered a new term, and an idea which for the next few years awakened no small controversy. After the organization, some one offered, as usual, a resolution inviting ministers of other denominations to sit with us and participate in our deliberations. This was at once sharply objected to, and there arose a debate which lasted a whole daj^ Presently the words ^'Old Landmark'' were used; and some of us from distant portions of the South, upon asking what in the world that meant, were told that Rev. J. M. Pendle- ton, of Kentucky, had published in Nashville a tract entitled, "An Old Landmark Reset." In this he was said to have maintained that it was a former custom of Baptists not to give any invitation or to take any action which might seem to recognize ministers of other persua- sions as in a just sense ministers. These were also the views of Rev. J. R. Graves, editor of the "Tennessee Bap- tist," published at Nashville. These honored brethren, and a number of others from that part of the country, maintained these "Landmark" views with great earnestness and ability. Those who held a different view appeared in many cases to be taken by surprise, through the novelty, as it seemed to them, of the " Old Landmark; " and they
PASTOR AT COLUMBIA. 90
did not always agree among themselves, nor maintain any well-considered or very consistent position. After the