OF THE

REV. RICHARD FURMAN, D. D.

Or this eminent servant of the Lord, it is difficult to express what is just and proper without the appearance of excessive partiality. To represent him in the ordinary terms of eulogy, or to depict his virtues by any of the common standards of description, would be the direct way to fall short of the truth. The providence of God gives few such men to the world as Dr. Furman. After a long acquaintance with the world, and an intimate knowledge of ministers of the gospel, of various denominations, and of almost every diversity of talent and attainment, I am free to confess, that I have scarcely inet any where the individual of such commanding excellence. The feeling which he inspired in the mind of those best qualified to judge, was not the cold approval of unquestioned merit, but the hearty admiration of true goodness and exalted worth. Where others were great, he was transcendent; and where others were fair and consistent in character, he stood forth lovely and luminous in all the best attributes of man. His genuine goodness was coupled with moral grandeur; so that in viewing him it was not requisite to single out some one quality upon which to fix the estimate of his character, but to contemplate that character in its beautiful and comprehensive integrity, as constituted and formed out of all those elements which give weight and importance to human nature. His endowments of mind were such as to give him a station among those most favoured by the bounty of Providence, and his attainments were such as to secure the re spect of the most intelligent men.

Richard Furman, D. D. was born at Æsopus, in the state of New-York, in the year 1755. His parents removed with

406 him, whilst yet an infant, to the state of South-Carolina, and after some time spent on the sea-coast, ultimately settled at the High Hills of Santee, where his father held the office of Prothonotary, and followed the profession of a surveyor. At this place, then almost a wilderness in comparison of what population and wealth have since done for it, he grew up to manhood under the immediate eye and tuition of his father. By him he was carefully instructed in the knowledge of the English language and mathematics, while his attention was directed to the study of the Scriptures, portions of which from the Old and New Testament, his father daily read in the family. Dr. Furman commenced the work of the ministry about the age of eighteen, at which period of life, on account of the gravity of his character, the extent of his attainments, and the soundness of his piety, the most encouraging hopes of his future usefulness were entertained.

MEMOIR OF the rev. richard furman, D. D.

He entered the service of his divine Master under a deep and permanent conviction of the importance of the sacred office, and with that ardour of piety which gave to his future life a decided direction. The love of souls, the love of Christ, and a benevolence which experimental religion had warmed and ennobled, were united into one sublime passion of his soul, under the predominating power of which he went forth to publish the gospel of peace. From the very first his preaching was marked by good sense, cogent reasoning, searching applications, and powerful appeals to the fears, hopes, and rational motives of those who heard him.

There was in his early ministrations an earnest of that incomparable usefulness and devotion which his after life developed. There was a steady march in his first movements, a regular and determined progression, suitable to the eminence from which he had commenced his life of sacred duty. In this respect he differed from many who have passed their youth in unavailing experiments before they could attain any settled plan of action. His flight was lofty from the first, and free from the eccentricities which too often spoil great minds, he soared at once toward the summit of human worth and Christian dignity. There was a greatness in the very rudiments of his ministry, a majesty in the style of his youthful performances, which agreed well with the sedate lustre of his subsequent life.

The scene of his early labours in the ministry was that

407

MEMOIR OF THE REV. RICHARD FURMAN, d. d. portion of country lying east and north of the rivers Wateree and Santee. In that extended section of South Carolina he preached, and recommended with an ardour and ability that excited universal surprise and admiration, a crucified and all-sufficient Saviour. Many of the churches afterwards united to the Charleston Baptist Association, were founded by his instrumentality, and ever cherished the deepest affection for his person and labours. The early settlers in that region were almost wholly destitute of the requisite provisions for religious instruction. Not only so, but even common morality was a rare commodity. Tavern scenes, night revels, drunkenness, and licentiousness, were so common as to have ceased to shock the minds of any. The influence

of the young Furman's preaching upon these moral wastes, was most salutary and effective. Many of those hardy sons of vice, smitten with conviction under the searching power of his convincing appeals, were rescued from the power of darkness, and brought into the liberty of the sons of God. The aged ministers with whom he was in habits of intercourse, viewing in him an uncommon force and ripeness of judgment, together with the most unassuming demeanour, soon transferred to him the principal place in their associational meetings, and thus yielded to his youth a tribute of respect which had been previously conferred only upon venerated age. They felt and manifested towards him the sentiments of unaffected kindness and esteem.

Like most of our influential Baptist ministers of that day, he was a most decided Whig, and exerted his talents and influence in promoting the cause of the revolution in the then British colonies. The trumpet in his hands gave no uncertain sound in the cause of liberty; and he conscientiously sought the welfare of his country as a part of his duty to the Lord. The British army had at that time invaded SouthCarolina, and, in consequence, the subject of these remarks found it expedient to retire with his family into NorthCarolina and Virginia. This measure was naturally suggested as necessary to his safety, in consequence of the unsparing vengeance with which all those were pursued who were known to favour the cause of the revolution. In this retreat he continued to follow the high avocation of a Christian minister, and to exhibit the feelings and sentiments of the true patriot. The ability with which he enforced the

408 MEMOIR OF THE REV. RICHARD FURMAN, D. D.

principles of sacred truth on the one hand, and the firmness and intelligence with which he asserted the rights of his country on the other, attracted the attention of some of the leading advocates of the revolution. He was afterwards sought and respected as an invaluable acquaintance and friend, by the Pinckneys, and Rutledges, and Sumter, names intimately blended with revolutionary achievements in their native state.

In the year 1787 Dr. Furman accepted a pastoral location in the city of Charleston, South-Carolina. There he moved in the uniformity of well doing. There he continued his residence for the period of thirty-eight years, exemplifying by rich and affecting illustrations, both the active and passive virtues of the Christian name, up to the moment of his death.

History derives both its interest and its accuracy from the manifest changes and transitions in the progress of human affairs. But in the measured tenour of a single life, made up of nameless repetitions of the same acts, there is not to be found that variety which confers interest upon other series of events. Should the moral impression, however, to be derived from individual history be thereby diminished? Is the benignity of the solar ray to be less admired because it is diffused by an order of unvarying succession? Are the stupenduous works of nature to have less respect and consideration because they continue to a thousand generations the same revolutions, stand in the same order, and produce the same results? The character which is formed upon the great model of divine excellence, will indeed partake of the uniform aspect of the pattern, but it will also resemble the pattern in the beauty and grandeur of its features. Dr. Furman, in regard to the offices and duties of his station, differed from other faithful pastors in this respect:-He performed the same ministerial acts that others did, but it was in a manner wholly his own. He preached, prayed, taught the ignorant, consoled the afflicted, visited the destitute and the sick, used hospitality, met and counselled his friends and brethren-all which things an ordinary man might do, but not as he did. What he did, always seemed to be best done; and what he said, seemed to be so seasonable and just, that no one might hope to express it better. It was therefore not so much by the kind of life which he led, that he was raised to the eminence which he attained, as by the degree of supe