Cylchgronau Cymru

1892.] PREGETH. 335 hood, middle life, old age, with bowed hearts, yet with reverent spirit, shall we acknowledge the utterance of the Psalmist to be aprophecy specifically fulfilledinhim. Of him it was and is true, " The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." Benjamin W. Chidlaw was born in the town of Bala, North Wales, July 14,1811, the year in which the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists separated finally from the Es- tablished Church. His father, Benjamin Chidlaw, was a tradesman, and his mother, Mary Williams, a farmer's daoghter. The main facts of his life have been recited by himself in his,book, entitled, "TheStory of my Life," a book which I advise those who have not read, to read at an early day. To use the testimony of another, " It is a grand record, a leaf from experience, a God- given book. Richard Cecil says, God has given us four books—the book of graoe, the book of nature, the book of the world, and the book of providence. Every occurance is a leaf in one of these books. It does not become us to be negligent of any of them." Into the minute details of the life of our friend, time does not permit me to enter. It is suffioient to refer the inquirer to his book for such facts. The few additional rainutes at my disposal will be devoted to a general view of his life, and to a brief analysis of his character and work. There are hinge events in every life, hin- ges upon which swing wide open the doors which lead to opportunity and success. The first hinge event in the life of our friend was his removal to the ünited States in 1821, when a lad of ten years of age. His father, wearied oat with ecclesiastioal tyranny, de- termined to remove to the United States with his family, and began life in a land where tithes and establishments of religion were unknown. It is a commentary upon the change which has come over our beloved land since that far off date of seventy years, that it took the Chidlaw family two weeks travelling from New York City to reach Uti- ca, N. Y., a journey whioh cannow be made in five hours, and that it took them a longer time to remove from Utica to Delaware, O., via Lower Sandusky. Mr. Chidlaw's f'ather died a short time after the arrival of the family at Delaware, but in so dark an hour, help came where help was perhaps not ex- -pected. It is not always possible to deter- mine a woman's power to think and act. The fatherless family was cared for and sup- ported by the mother, a person of marked ability, deep piety, and strong eharacter. The mother with the instinct of a true woman, determinedamong other things that her son shonld have an education. The first willing steps in this direction were taken by young Chidlaw at two of the log school houses at that time characteristic of Ohio. He made a profession of religion in the Radnor Presbyterian Church in the spring of 1829, and during the summer of the same year, resolved to study for the gos- pel ministry. His education was completed by three years of stndy in Athen's College, and one year in Miami University. From the latter institution he graduated in 1833. In April, of the same year, he was taken un- der the care of Oxford Presbytery, and ex- amined at the same time with Joseph G. Monfort, at present the venerable editor of the Herald and Presbyier, and Thomas E. Thomas, afterwards pastor of several pro- minent Presbyterian Churches, and Profes- sor in Lane Theological Seminary. His theological studies were pursued under Dr. Bishop, President of Miami University, and he was licensed to preach the gospel in April, 1835. In 1836 Mr. Chidlaw was or- dained by the Oxford Presbytery pastor of the Congregational Church at Paddy s Run. Sixty years ago the lines between the Con- gregational and the Presbyterian Denomina- tions were not so sharply drawn as they are at present, and ministers passed easily from one church to the other. In 1844 our friend left Paddy's Run to be- come pastor of the Presbyterian churches at Cleves, Elizabethtown and Berea, a relation which continued for a little over a year, and was terminated in 1846, in order that Mr. Chidlaw might enter fully upon the work of the American Sunday School Union. Mr. Chidlaw's connection with this benevolent and beneficent society began in 1836, but prior to 1845 he was only engaged a part of his time in its service. It is noticeable that he was the first commissíoned misBÌonary oí this society, and in its employ he remained