ble doctrines of the Bible." President Appleton's influence was in the same direction. How far he directly put himself under it, theologically, conversing with President Appleton on the great subjects he was investigating, getting him to guide and help his studies, is not known. But he could not be near such a man, he could not hear him preach and lecture, without feeling his influence. He learned, as all who knew President - Appleton did, to look up to him with great reverence. He enjoyed his friendship as long as President Appleton lived. He was with him in his last sickness; and, at the request of the Boards of the College, preached the sermon at his funeral. Mr. Tappan sometimes half lamented, as these years of his tutorship were passing, that he had not gone to Andover. In later life, he sometimes expressed a regret that his education for the ministry had not been more systematic and complete. But it may be doubted whether he would have been willing to exchange the privilege which his tutorship brought him, of intimate knowledge of President Appleton, for that of sitting at the feet of any other man. How much of really formative influence President Appleton exerted upon his theological views, is another question. The truth seems to be, that the formative influences were earlier.. He was, in a manner, brought up theologically. His training and turn of mind prepared him to appreciate and sympathize with President Appleton's cautious, all-sided way of looking at things. As to the conclusions he reached, on some points, at least, they had great distinctness. The deity of Christ he had maintained some years before, in an argument which would have done credit to an older head, in a letter to one of his brothers. The Atonement was the subject of a sermon he wrote during his first year at Brunswick, presenting the evangelical view of that great truth. His letters to his sister show how deeply intrenched in his mind was the conviction that man has a holy God to deal with; that he can be saved, even under the gospel, only on "certain conditions; " that these conditions are nothing less than that radical, thorough change of character denominated repentance, regeneraation, becoming new creatures, etc.; that "such a change is no trifling thing;" "something more than the effect of a naturally amiable temper, the exercise of which may have no more of true virtue in it than the gratification of any instinct ; something more than occasional devotional feelings, as emotions are sometimes called in reference to God, very much like those excited in reference to some magnanimous hero of a novel, being only a transient enthusiasm excited by some unusual eloquence, or perhaps occasioned by some view of God as our . particular benefactor; whereas all genuine love must be founded in a perception of the excellence of its object." These sentences are very characteristic of him who wrote them, of his mode of thinking and preaching through life. He was brought up to think not very favorably of Hopkinsianism. His father, while at West Newbury, had broken a lance with Dr. Samuel Spring, of Newburyport. In his letters, he speaks of Dr. Woods, of Andover, and of his fellowtutor the second year, Mr. Winthrop Bailey, afterward settled in the ministry at Brunswick, in terms indicating that, as Hopkinsians, they were of another school. But no Hopkinsian could maintain such points as those just adverted to with more explicitness than he. In after-life, he cared little for names and schools, espousing the general type of New England theology, but standing rather on the platform of the Bible than on any human system. Some time during the first year, it would seem, of his abode at Brunswick, he became a member of the Congregational Church there. The records of the church, not having been very well kept at the time, do not give the precise ing been mentioned with favor" (as he date. Whether he had fixed upon two years as the utmost period he would spend in the tutorship, is not known. It has already been seen, that, from his early years, he had looked upon the ministry as his vocation in life, and it is presumed he had no intention of long delaying his entrance upon the work. Before the close of the second term, he was agitating the question, whether "to apply for approbation," which he thought he might do "either in the spring or summer vacation." He deferred it till September 11, 1810, when he received " approbation," as a candidate for the ministry, from the Association of Salem and vicinity; Daniel Fuller, Moderator; Abiel Abbot, Scribe. They met at the time in Manchester, in the very room (he thought) which was his grandfather's study. They speak of him as having "exhibited a theological discourse [on the Atonement] to their satisfaction," and express their "entire approbation of him as a person well qualified" for the ministry. 66 . says in his Half-century Sermon) by his "revered and beloved friend President Appleton," he had been invited to preach during the winter vacation at Augusta, then without a minister. His preference would have been (as he writes his sister) to preach "at the Westward;" but, no overtures being made from that quarter, he went to Augusta, preaching there five sabbaths in January and February, and seven more in April, May, and June. There was at that time but one organized religious society in the place. The whole population did not much exceed 1800. The town had some importance as the head of navigation of the Kennebec for coasting vessels, as also the shire town of the county. It has always been regarded as one of the most beautiful towns in Maine, in point of natural situation. Some of its citizens were enterprising men of business. There were quite a number of high intelligence and cultivation. Rev. Daniel Stone, the minister from October, 1794, to June, 1809, was a man of great excellence of private character, but held and preached Arminian views. The Half-way Covenant obtained in the Church. A portion of the members had come in by that door, not necessarily giving evidence of true Christian character; and the Church, it would seem, had never agitated the question of adopting a different course. Many of the people were inclined, if not fully committed, to so-called liberal views; though "the majority" (according to Mr. Tappan's letters) would not have been "suited" with "a gentleman of Boston divinity." Mr. Norton had been one of the candidates, without receiving a call. "Many" also "would be strongly prejudiced against an Andover man." He began his career as a preacher the next day, delivering a Preparatory Lecture at Beverly, the place of Dr. Abbot's residence — the text, "When I am weak, then am I strong." It was the. second sermon written by him. The first that he wrote was on the words, "My kingdom is not of this world," and was delivered (apparently in the sermon form) before the Theological Society, Cambridge, as early as April 24, 1806. The sabbath following his approbation, September 16, 1810, he preached at Ipswich; the next sabbath, part of the day in Cambridge, and part of the day for Mr. Channing in Boston. Returning to Brunswick, he preached five times Mr. Tappan probably owed the favor during the fall term, Thanksgiving Day he found among them, in some degree, being one of them. The last sabbath to the fact, that, both personally and but one of the year, he preached at hereditarily, he stood between these two Bath. parties. But, from the outset, it was no Before this, however, his name "hav- diluted gospel which he dispensed. He did not cover up the truth. He did not try to make it palatable to the worldly mind. It was not in him to do this. His early sermons, like those of preachers generally, differ from his later in not having the same closeness and pungency of application. But he preached the truth as he believed it: he preached it plainly and fully. His views of ministerial obligation, as disclosed in his letters to his sister, were very solemn; and, from the first, he preached, not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth the hearts. God set his seal upon his preaching by causing it to awaken some of his hearers. When the parish had their meeting to consider the question of giving him a call, the vote was in his favor by a majority of only one; and the person who threw this deciding vote was understood to be influenced rather by the wishes of his children, who were earnest members of the Church, than by his own preferences. The Church concurred without a dissenting voice. The call was given in June; but Mr. Tappan did not reply till August. He had come to feel a good deal of interest in the place and the people; he thought that there was an important work to be done there: but his friends at first were averse to his being settled so far from them. Maine seemed to Massachusetts people, then, a long way off; a sort of barbarous country; if it does not seem so still. His respected kinsman before mentioned, Mr. John Tappan, wrote, deprecating his burying his talents in Maine, and urging him to visit Boston, where a pulpit was vacant, which he thought he might be invited to fill. But he made up his mind finally to accept the invitation to Augusta. His reply to Mr. John Tappan, as Mr. T. gives it, was, "that some ministers must go there, where there was a great field of usefulness, and he thought he had a call to cast in his lot among them; and, if I knew any good reason to the contrary, 66 he should be glad to have it stated.". "I said no more," Mr. T. adds, “in opposition to his arguments, but admired the high motives which led him to prefer Augusta to Boston." "My talents and acquisitions," he writes his sister, "are not such as to put me on a level with the clergy of that place, neither are my sentiments suited to that meridian." His mother gave her consent, if he thought it his duty, to accept the call. Dr. Dana wrote in favor of his doing so. Judge Parsons (who held a court at Augusta while he was preaching there) advised him to accept the call, but cautioned him against preaching the doctrines of Calvinism. The only serious difficulty he seems to have felt related to the Half-way Covenant. He gave special attention to this subject after receiving his call. Dr. Dana, in reply to a letter inquiring his views, wrote at length, rather in advocacy of the Halfway Covenant, quoting the Cambridge Platform of 1642, and expressing the opinion that justice had not been done to those who put it forth and who indorsed it. But here the younger man found himself unable to adopt the views of the older. He made up his mind that no one could rightfully be admitted to a Christian Church, and come to the Lord's Table, unless possessing and giving evidence that he was in heart one of Christ's disciples. He thought it only honorable and right to apprise the people at Augusta of the ground he took, before signifying his acceptance of the call. On the first sabbath of August, he preached two sermons on "The Nature and Import of the Duty of confessing Christ before Men," in which he defined his position at large; not indeed directly attacking the Half-way Covenant, but showing plainly enough where he stood. His answer to the call was read August 11th. It was in the affirmative; but to give the people, even now, opportunity to recede, if they chose, he inserted the words, "It will, of course, be understood that I retain those principles and views which I have publicly expressed, and shall feel under obligation practically to conform to them." This declaration, together with the discourses which preceded it, awakened some misgivings; and there was an understanding that the Committees of Church and Parish, consisting of five gentlemen each, of whom the former pastor was one, appointed to call the ordaining council, might proceed or not, as they should deem expedient, after full conference with the pastor elect. A discussion took place in the committee several hours in duration. The majority decided in favor of proceeding. The grounds of this decision are not known by the present writer: whether the majority came really to adopt the views of the pastor elect; or whether the interests of the society, on the whole, were deemed to require his settlement; or whether the matter in question was not one, after all, to which great importance was attached. There is no evidence that the pastor elect receded at all from his ground. It is not unlikely that he gave them to understand, in some way, that he did not propose to meddle with the existing composition of the Church, as he never did. But, in regard to the admission of members, he would seem to have insisted that he must be allowed to act according to the convictions which he had expressed; to which the committees would seem to have given their consent, tacitly if not formally; with an implied understanding also, perhaps, that the Church, with whom, of course, the power of receiving members was lodged, would respect those convictions, and do nothing, so far as this matter was concerned, in opposition to his wishes. Arrangements were made, eventually, for the ordination to take place October 16th. The interval (after the college commencement which terminated his tutorship) he spent in visiting his friends,preaching at Portsmouth, Newburyport, Salem, Marblehead, Beverley, Boston, Ipswich, West Newbury, and Saco. The sabbath before his ordination, for some reason, he chose to spend at Augusta; exchanging with the Dresden minister, who was on the council, the sabbath after. The council took its complexion somewhat from the character of the Church and Society inviting it. The orthodoxy of more than one of its members was doubtful. The nearest ministers, Mr. Gillett of Hallowell, and Mr. Thurston of Winthrop, were not invited. Mr. Channing came from Boston, with Jonathan Phillips, Esq., as his delegate. Dr. Dana was to have been present, but the sickness of a daughter prevented. President Appleton preached the sermon, from John ix. 93: "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." Dr. Jenks, who is the only surviving member of the council, offered the ordaining prayer; Dr. Packard, of Wiscasset, gave the charge to the pastor; and Mr. Parker, of Dresden, the right hand of fellowship. Some interest will be felt, perhaps, in reading the following Confession of Faith, which has been found among Dr. Tappan's papers, and is supposed to have been drawn up for this occasion; or possibly presented both to this council, and to the body from whom he received "approbation." "I believe that there is one God, a Being possessing every natural and moral perfection, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the only proper object of religious homage; that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by his inspiration, and are the only sufficient rule of faith and practice; that man was originally created in the image of God, which consisteth in righteousness and true holiness; that, since the apostasy of our first parents, mankind universally have been in a state of moral degradation; that Jesus Christ, who, being man, is also God over all, blessed forever, has made atonement for the sins of the world, and thus rendered it consistent with divine justice to bestow the blessings of pardon and eternal life upon those who believe; that faith is the assent of the understanding to religious truth, accompanied by feelings suited to the nature of the truth contemplated; that, previously to the renewing operations of the Spirit, all men are alienated from God, opposed to his law, and obnoxious to his wrath; that divine influence is requisite to produce that change of heart, without which none are qualified for the service and enjoyment of God; that although they are encouraged to use the means of grace, yet no assurances are given that any efforts of the impenitent will secure that influence; that true believers do, by patient continuance in the ways of welldoing, seek for, and finally attain, glory, honor, and immortality; that all men will stand before the judgment-seat of Christ; that the wicked will go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal." A Confession of Faith like this, prepared for an association or council, does not always express a man's full belief. It is sometimes written hastily. Points of importance are inadvertently omitted. The candidate understands that it can be corrected or supplemented, if necessary, by verbal statements. It will be observed that this confession is not explicit on the subject of the Trinity, on the divine decrees, and on some other points. But one of these points is the Church, its nature, the qualifications for membership, etc.; on which it is certain that Mr. Tappan had very decided views, which he had openly and decidedly expressed. Rev. David Thurston, now a truly revered man, in his eighty-seventh year, expresses the opinion, that "on some important points of evangelical religion, particularly on the Trinity, personal election, and the like," his views "were not fully established." It may have been so. Nothing, however, has been observed, indicative of the fact, in the papers he has left, unless in the one just quoted. There is a letter of Dr. Dana's, written February 18, 1811, on the subject of the Trinity; but there is nothing in it showing that he regarded Mr. Tappan's mind in special perplexity on that point. If he was not fully established in the belief of that doctrine and the others mentioned, there was in him (as Mr. Thurston says) "a preparedness to receive the truth in love. He was a progressive man. He grew in knowledge of truth and duty, and in grace, from the time of his ordination till his decease." "Thus," he remarks in his Half-century Sermon, October, 1861, "by prayer and the laying-on of hands, was I consecrated in this house, fifty years ago, to the work of the Christian ministry, and to the office of pastor and teacher of this people. Young and inexperienced, being not quite twenty-three years of age, having but little knowledge of God, my fellow-creatures, or myself, I was but ill prepared for such a position. If I had then known as much as I have since learned of the responsibilities and trials of the sacred office, and of my own insufficiency to sustain and encounter them, I could scarcely have ventured to assume such weighty obligations." It is indeed remarkable, both that the people, in all the circumstances of the case, should have been willing to commit themselves to his pastoral care, and that he should have been willing to take just such a charge. It was like him, however, to undertake fearlessly whatever work he believed God had laid upon him. The union of the people impressed his own mind at the time. Only two days before the ordination, he received the following note, signed by the wives of three of the most influential citizens of the place: "The ladies of Augusta, feeling the same union of sentiment toward Mr. Tappan which has influenced the gentlemen to invite him to the care of the Church and Society, and solicitous to express it, request his ac |