HIS ATTRACTIVE MINISTRY.

15

paths of worldly honour and advancement were invitingly open. Success at the bar or in the senate was all but certain. But he esteemed even the reproach of Christ greater riches than the world could give, and laid all his gifts, capacities, hopes, and prospects a freewill offering at the feet of his crucified Lord. Before his ordination as deacon (at the age of twenty-one) he was called by the vestry of Christ Church, Georgetown, District of Columbia, to succeed the Reverend Reuel Keith, their first Rector. He at once entered upon that bright course of ministerial usefulness which continued unobscured for half a century. As a preacher his fine person, graceful manner, and elocution, fervent and forcible style, commanded general admiration, and rendered his ministrations very attractive and acceptable. The physical man corresponded well with the intellectual, and the lovers of oratory found his discourses a rich treat. But they were invested with a power and a charm far exceeding aught conferred by the gifts of nature or the fruits of culture. His aim was not to delight the ear and gratify the tastes, but to arouse the conscience and convert the heart. He appeared before his congregation, not as the finished and able orator, but as the ambassador of the King of kings. He had been moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon him this office and work, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost rested upon his ministry; so that "his speech and his preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." The secret of Mr. McIlvaine's early success was, that he preached with unwonted fervour and faithfulness the unsearchable riches of Christ. His great and glorious theme was a Divine allsufficient Redeemer, saving to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, and bringing present salvation to all who receive Him in confiding faith. This gospel he presented, not only in its doctrinal fulness, but out of a

heart glowing with love to the Redeemer and the redeemed. He spake as one absorbed and penetrated with his sublime and awful subject. The ministry of this servant of Christ was clothed with power because it was full of reality and unction-met the wants of awakened souls-answered great questions stirring in the depths of troubled hearts, and pointed out clearly and distinctly the way of life.'

In one of his papers of Memoranda, Bishop McIlvaine writes, that he was ordained deacon by the venerable Bishop White, in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, on July 4th, 1820, and always spoke of that day as the time of his first ordination; and his letters of orders, signed by Bishop White, bear that date. There appears, however, to be some error as to the exact day, and it will be seen by reference to a note in the Appendix, that possibly June 28th is the true date.

After his ordination, his health being feeble, he did not go to Georgetown till late in August, 1820. During the following August, 1821, while only in deacon's orders, Mr. McIlvaine received a remarkable testimony of confidence from the Vestry of St. Paul's, Philadelphia, by a call to become their assistant minister in the following terms: 'The congregation highly appreciating your piety, zeal, and talents, and strongly desirous of having you for their pastor, dispense with a rector till the time shall come when you will be legally qualified for that office.'

In the following year, 1822, on the 8th of October, Mr. McIlvaine had the happiness to be united to one whom he had known from her childhood,' and to whom he was devotedly attached-Emily Coxe, third daughter of William and Rachel Coxe, of Burlington, whose family had been for more than a century one of great distinction in America. On attaining his twenty-fourth year, he was ordained priest, March 20th, 1823, in St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, by Bishop Kemp.

CHAPLAIN TO THE SENATE.

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Whilst still in deacon's orders, Mr. McIlvaine had the rare honour of being elected 'Chaplain to the Senate of the United States, in the second session of the seventeenth Congress, December 9th, 1822, shortly after his appointment to Christ Church, Georgetown; and he had the further distinction two years after of being again elected Chaplain, December 14th, 1824, the second session of the eighteenth congress;' and was thus probably the youngest clergyman ever elected Chaplain to the Congress of the United States.

Whilst Mr. McIlvaine had charge of Christ Church, in the immediate vicinity of Washington, many of the leading members of Congress frequented his church, and amongst the rest the late Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, then Mr. Canning, the minister from England, who was a regular attendant and communicant. Mr. McIlvaine was anxious at this early period to acquire the ability to speak extempore, as most likely to be useful to him in his ministry, and as it proved to be when so often called upon suddenly to speak or preach, and especially during his laborious Episcopate. To gain this power he began by committing his sermons to memory; but this he soon found to be a great bondage. He then, after carefully studying his subject, adopted the method of preparing some passages in the very words in which he wished to express his thoughts. Whilst preaching on this plan, Mr. Canning, who took a lively interest in the young minister, was kind enough to call upon him, and gave him some valuable hints.

'Young man, you never will succeed if you go on in this way. Prepare your thoughts-have a distinct idea of what you mean to convey to your hearers; and then leave the words to come of themselves.' Upon this excellent advice Mr. McIlvaine immediately acted, and became, as is well-known, one of the most powerful and successful extempore preachers of his time.

Brief as was his ministry at Christ Church, it left an impression there so deep and lasting, that fifty years afterwards that early pastorate was still held in loving remembrance, and honoured by the following Minute of Vestry on the occasion of his death:

'To his people as their pastor, guide, and friend, he endeared himself by the example of his quiet, gentle life, going in and out among them, in their joys and in their sorrows, with that adaptability of character and sympathetic nature which has made his name almost a household word among those who knew him at that time, and by whom relics of his life among us are still preserved. Although but one of those who then constituted his vestry now survives, there are a few still living who rejoice in pleasant memories of the sweet converse held with him as our rector. Such are the blessed traditions of our church, and we hand them down to our successors, that they may know that among the great and good men that have been over us in the Lord we give a high place to Charles Pettit McIlvaine.'

Mr. McIlvaine was only able to remain a short time at Christ Church. My health,' he says, 'having suffered from the climate of Georgetown, I accepted the appointment, proposed and pressed by the Honourable J. C. Calhoun, of Chaplain and Professor of Ethics at the United States Military Academy at West Point. I was appointed January 28th, 1825. I moved my family in the summer of that year. I was connected with the Academy during three years, having resigned the last day of December, 1827.'

'This was an era,' writes Bishop Lee, 'in the history of that institution. The chapel service, which had been looked upon as a weariness, became eventually full of interest. The cadets laid aside their books to listen to the powerful expositions of the Word, and earnest appeals to the conscience. New convictions of the truths

MINISTRY AT WEST POINT.

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of Christianity and their own personal concern therein as immortal beings redeemed by the blood of the cross, thrilled many souls. Individuals came to converse with the chaplain and to ask what they must do to be saved; and then a little group of young converts had courage to meet together openly for prayer. The old days, we are told, never returned. The fruits of this genuine revival were the addition of quite a number to the ministry of our Church, who afterwards occupied conspicuous positions. But these accessions were not the greatest amount of good accomplished. It is said that half the corps became Christian men, many of whom, eminent in military and civil life, adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour. The influence for good thus exerted who can measure?'

A narrative of the remarkable issue of this ministry will be given in the next chapter.

CHAPTER II.

MINISTRY AT WEST POINT, 1825-1827.

THE following account of his ministry at West Point was written by Bishop McIlvaine, February 5, 1863:

'I have often been urged by persons who were acquainted with the leading facts in the remarkable work of grace which God granted to my ministry, at the United States Military Academy, West Point, to write an account of it. Though the remembrance of it, as connected with the peculiar circumstances in which it occurred, has ever since been of the greatest consolation to me, when tempted to depression of mind, as evincing God's acknowledgment of my ministry, and His gracious using of me as His instrument in this wonderful work of grace (to my own great astonishment); I have shrank from the writing, because so much involved myself in the