tions were not the same. They differed about things fundamental. It is such inner spiritual and moral forces that give direction to human life. And such forces can alone account for the divergent roads that were afterward traversed by those two men.

We think loosely if we value lightly the potent power of moral and spiritual conviction.

In accepting the call to Schuylerville Wilbur left the placid, whispered flow of the Whitewater, along whose banks oxen patiently plowed the fields, and came to the restless, breathless surge and dash of the upper Hudson, whose dams hold back a hundred storage lakes whereby to press the paddles of a thousand wheels that they may give power to ten thousand paper rollers or to a million spindles, or whose booms may hold in duress the ten million lumber measurements. By his coming Wilbur entered into an atmosphere strangely different from that of his boyhood and his first ministry.

There the Hoosier tongue was spoken and on every side one might hear the Puritan "yea" and "nay" mingled with the quaint Quaker expressions "thee" and "thou."

But here on the banks of the Hudson there was to be heard on every side the vocabulary of the mart; not only of the little local market, but of the great centres of import and export where the ships come in; where the spirit of acquisition rules the day, and where after the day is over the social intercourse is less serious and more bent on material things.

He would emerge also from one denomination into another, not far apart in doctrine, and yet different in many other respects. If the call of the Dutch Church seems to be somewhat austere, it is none the less of noble expression

and contains about four or five times as many words as that contained in the call of the churches from which he came.

After the Preamble, which is beautifully engrossed, it may be of interest to note the usual form of expression:

Therefore, we "The Elders and Deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Saratoga at Schuylerville" have resolved to call, and we hereby solemnly, and in the fear of the Lord, do call you the said J. Wilbur Chapman to be our pastor and teacher, to preach the Word in truth and faithfulness, to administer the holy Sacraments agreeably to the institution of Christ, to maintain Christian discipline, to edify the congregation, and especially the youth, by catechetical instructions, and as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, to fulfil the whole work of the Gospel ministry agreeably to the Word of God, and the excellent rules and Constitution of our Reformed Dutch Church, established in the last National Synod held at Dordrecht, and ratified and explained by the ecclesiastical judicatory, under which we stand, and to which you, upon accepting this call must, with us, remain subordinate.

In fulfilling the ordinary duties of your ministry, it is expressly stipulated that besides preaching upon such texts of Scriptures as you may judge proper to select, for our instruction, you also explain a portion of the Heidelberg Catechism on the Lord's days, agreeably to the established order of the Reformed Dutch Church; and that you further conform in rendering all that public service which is usual, and has been in constant practice in our congregation.

That is no small contract to be placed into the hands of a young minister for his signature. In the day when first expression was given to the terms of such a call much was required of the minister however little of responsibility may have been assumed by the congregation. In more modern days if, in personality and preaching, the minister pleases the congregation, the terms of the call may not be too seriously considered. The measure in which Dr. Chapman met his responsibility in the Schuylerville Church

is borne witness to by Mr. De Ridder, who has given us the following brief sketch of the Schuylerville pastorate:

Doctor Chapman at once endeared himself to all of his parishioners, and the church services were attended as never before in its history. He was regarded in the community and by many of the neighbouring churches as the "boy pastor," but his direct simplicity, his candid and orthodox preaching, even at that early stage, gave promise of the great preacher which he was to be. It was often remarked when closing his sermon that the congregation had been held spellbound and was disappointed that the services had come to an end. His particular interest was in the young men of the congregation, and his contact with them was not only from the pulpit and in the church, but also in their homes and their business. He was himself an all-around man of a congenial disposition, ready to enter into and discuss the general affairs of the state and community, yet particularly appreciative of the humorous incidents of life.

I, as a member of the Consistory at that time, and my family were very close to Doctor and Mrs. Chapman, both in the church work and socially outside the church; thus I was in his confidence and knew the man as well as the preacher.

For many years prior to his coming to Schuylerville the church was quite largely under the control, material and spiritual, of a good old deacon of many years' standing, who always took it upon himself to censor and criticize the sermons and prayer-meeting talks of the pastor, but the tact displayed by Doctor Chapman soon convinced the good old deacon that his watchfulness was unnecessary, and to the astonishment of the members of the church he fully concurred almost without question in the innovations that Doctor Chapman made, with one notable exception: the good old deacon held that it was almost a sin for a woman to speak in church, but by the Doctor's usual diplomacy he finally overcame this prejudice, and the deacon would commune with his Maker though the prayer was led by one of the ladies of the meeting.

As was usually the case in country parishes the minister was obliged to own a horse and rig to enable him to call upon members of his congregation who lived outside the limits of the village. The Doctor attended this duty faithfully, but oftentimes it was with no little personal discomfort. On one occasion, a very cold day in winter, Doctor Chapman and I drove nine miles through drifts of snow in order that the Doctor might address a neighbouring church. After the services were over. we were invited to one of the farmhouses for

dinner. Upon gathering around a social board, and grace having been said, we were served with a very poor quality of picked-up codfish and potatoes without dessert. The guests declared their appetites to be very poor, and it afforded much merriment on our way home discussing the hospitality which was genuine on the part of the farmer and his family, but not quite satisfying to the inner man after our arduous journey. However, Doctor Chapman in this case, as was true wherever he preached, had his full reward in the spiritual uplift which those who listened to him received. Even in those early days his evangelistic methods would arouse such a religious fervour that the membership in and attendance at church would show an immediate increase, particularly from among the younger people of the community.

A trip to New York was taken by Doctor Chapman, Doctor Mills, then pastor in a small neighbouring village and later an evangelist of considerable note, and myself. We spent a week or so in the city during which time we visited the McAuley Mission, and on Sunday morning attended Doctor Beecher's Plymouth Church Services; in the afternoon we heard Doctor John Thompson of the Fifth Avenue Church, and that evening Dr. T. DeWitt Talmadge of the Brooklyn Tabernacle: so that the day was filled to overflowing with a great variety of ministerial talent.

Doctor and Mrs. Chapman were both deeply interested in the Sunday School of the church. They had classes and did everything to stimulate and maintain the attendance. I now have in my possession a beautifully bound copy of an Oxford Bible with the inscription on the fly-leaf in Doctor Chapman's handwriting stating the donors who were himself and wife and other officers and teachers of the Sunday School. This Bible was given as a testimonial for the ten years' consecutive service as superintendent, and it is now preserved as one of the most treasured gifts in my possession.

When Doctor Chapman was called to the First Reformed Church of Albany it was over the protest of every member of his Schuylerville congregation, and when he fully determined and did make the change to this larger field of service, it brought the deepest regrets to all and tears to the eyes of many of his congregation.

It is one of my happiest recollections that on Sunday, November tenth, 1918, at Doctor Carson's church in Brooklyn, some members of my family and myself heard Doctor Chapman, now the great evangelist, preach. This was one of his last if not his last sermon.* Doctor

"His last sermon was preached in the First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, New York.

Chapman, immediately after the service, came down to the pew where we were seated and stated that he had recognized us from the pulpit. He was as friendly and interested in us and in the news of his old parishioners as in the days years ago.

The pastorate at Schuylerville was interrupted after two years by a call from the First Reformed Church of Albany to which in his letter Mr. De Ridder refers.

The acceptance of this call by Dr. Chapman was the cause of great grief among the multitude of friends he had made during his brief pastorate at Schuylerville. The Consistory of the church called a meeting on Tuesday, March thirty-first, 1885, and expressed their deep and sincere appreciation of his work by the adoption of a paper as follows:

Whereas, our Pastor, Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, has received a unanimous call to the pastorate of the First Reformed Church of Albany, N. Y., which he is desirous of accepting, and with this in view has tendered his resignation as pastor of this church, therefore,

Resolved, That such resignation be accepted, and that we, as a Consistory, unite with him in an application to the Classis of Saratoga to dissolve his pastoral relations with this church. But we take this action with great reluctance, and only because of the assurances we have received from him that after careful and prayerful consideration of the subject, he is impressed with the belief that in this call to Albany he hears the call of the Master to a wider field of labour and usefulness, and that it becomes his duty to heed it.

Resolved, That we desire to give expression to our high appreciation of Mr. Chapman's labours among us, and the great esteem in which we hold him as a citizen, neighbour, pastor, and friend. We have seen during his two years' pastorate among us the membership of our church increased by over one hundred, and all departments of church work-both spiritual and temporal-greatly improved, and attended, as we believe, with a degree of efficiency and success never exceeded in the entire history of the church. We cannot, therefore, but deeply regret to lose one who has been able to accomplish so much in the brief time he has been with us, and who gives promise of increasing usefulness in the future.