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Reminiscences of Edwin Harwood : Rector of Trinity Church, New

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Reminiscences of Edwin Harwood : Rector of Trinity Church, New F 104 . •N662 T76 1903 v Reminiscences --QF­ THE REV. EDWIN HARWOOD, D. D., Rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn., I Bsg-- r8gs. EDITED BY THE REV. FRANK WOODS BAKER, D. D., Rector of Trinity Church. NEW HAVEN TRINITY PRESS 1903. With the compliments of the CJ?._edo,., Wardens ana Vestrymen of Tl'inity Ch.ul'ch, !J{ew Ha"Hn, Connedicut. , c;w.._) 1~ ./Mf ~~ / /7).~.~'. PREFATORY NOTE. I cannot let these reminiscences of Dr. Harwood go to press without writing a brief preface. It is only just to those who have given time to their preparation to state that they do not, in any sense, pretend to be a biography of the man of whom they treat; that they can, at best, be only sugges­ tive of the power and real strength of scholarship and per­ sonal charm ofDr. Harwood. I think his friends will agree with me that only those whose privilege it has been to sit down in the quiet of Dr. Harwood's study and listen to his conversation, realize where his greatest power lay. He had read widely and thought profoundly on a great variety of topics, and, whether one agreed with him or not, it was an education and a stimulus to hear him discourse on them. He was a master of the art of conversation on subjects worth talking about. He possessed many personal charms, was a thorough gentleman of the good old school, was al­ ways self-possessed and never affected by the nervous rush ofthe day. I shall always esteem it one of the privileges of my life to have been called to the rectorship of Trinity while he was Rector Emeritus. I came to know Dr. Harwood well and to respect him greatly. I can, however, only imagine what he must have been in his prime. The place which Dr. Harwood occupied in the Church at 1 large was conspicuous. At a time when the Church was in danger of running either to the extreme of narrow evangeli­ calism or that of sacramentarianism and of losing sight of her true catholicity, men like Dr. Washburn, Bishop Potter, John Cotton Smith, Philips Brooks and Dr. Harwood stood as giants of force and intellect and demanded that larger views should be held and that she should recognize her true historic heritage and keep herself as charitably and spiritu­ ally broad as thE teaching of her Divine Master. But what Dr. Harwood's position in the Church at large was, the fol­ lowing papers make plain. Like most men Dr. Harwood had his strong and his weak sides. He cared little for ordinary parochial and pastoral duties. They were irksome to him. He loved his books and he loved to preach and he was always ready to impart the treasures ofhis thought to his chosen friends in the seclusion of his study. He was always a staunch friend to theyoung­ er clergy. In an age of over-organization, when most rectors are overwhelmed by the great increase ofnecessary details con­ nected with their office, and are obliged, almost, to steal the time for study, the memory ofthe erudition of such men as Dr. Harwood should serve as a stimulus to greater scholar­ ship and to more earnest and fearless application of the old truths to the ever changing conditions of the times. FRANK wOODS BAKER, Rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn. 2 Sermon preached by Rt. Rev. Chauncey Bruce Brewster, D. D., in Trinity Church, New Haven, on the occasion of the Memoria( Service for Dr. Harwood, Sunday morming, March t 6, t 902. IT was the request of your Rector, which I found myself un­ able to gainsay, that on the occasion of this visitation I should speak ofthe eminent man who was for somanyyears Rector ofthis historic Parish, and who has lately beentaken from the Parish and the Diocese. I could wish that this duty had fallen to some one more competent by reason ofcloser acquaintance in recent years. I can only say that my words this morning do not claimthe dignity ofa memorial sermon and must necessarilybe a very inadequate tribute to one whose memory I should count it a privilege more worthily to honor. As I think ofDr. Harwood there comes to my mind that ancient description of the son of Jesse: "A mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters (in the Revised Version, prudent in speech), and a comely person, and the LoRD is with him."-I Sam. XVI: 18. The first thing one is i:rp.pelled to say is: This was a man. The manliness of him whom we remember, it is worth our while to note. When we remember that ofthe ministers of a : certain school in a former generation there has been record­ ed the observation: "A gently complaining and fatigued spirit is that in which Evangelical Divines are very apt to 3 pass their days," when we observe among the students in some of our theological seminaries a type which would seem more fitting in the candidates for the Girls' FriendlySociety, we are more ready to appreciate this fine example of manli­ ness in the Christian ministry. There was in him no slight­ est suggestion of theeffeminacythat is sometimes associated with religion. As you remember his comeliness of person, that fine type ofmanly beauty that to me seemed endowed with perpetual youth, that head so like the great Thomas Arnold's, that firm and massive lip, that well-knit, muscular frame, that erect carriage; you know also that the outward man was the index ofwhat mannerofman he was inwardly. He was characterized by an undeniable masculinity and strength ofmind and temper and will. His was always a robust vigour of thought. In his sermons and platform ad­ dresses, in his very manner of utterance one might be sen­ sible of a virile tone. There was certain positive directness and down-rightness in his fashion ofspeech and thought. One derived an impression ofhis strength of nature from a certain reticence regarding his deepest feelings and experien­ ces. That which he thought and felt was kept under the lock and key of a masterful will, repressing any full expres­ sion ofmuch that was characteristic within. In intercourse with him one felt the quiet power of self-control. A man of rare personal dignity, he manifested the gravity of a noble seriousness in tone ofconversation and in outward bearing. It was evident that his mind was resolutely set to meditate upon great and worthy things. Dr. Harwood was a typical scholar. Graduated from the University with high honors, he gave his best energies in loyal devotion to the Queen of Sciences, Theology. He had read widely, studied diligently, and thought profoundly. Especially was he a student ofsacred Scripture. From 1854 4 to 1859 he was Professor of the Literature and Interpreta­ tion of the Scriptures in the Berkeley Divinity School. Thence he brought to this parish the treasures of his scholarship. I well remember, as a boy, sitting in this Church, he1ng impressed by his reading of the Scriptures. That office he performed with a reverence and dignity and an accurate touch ofemphasis which brought out the mean­ ing ofevery word ofthat HolyWrit he knew so thoroughly. He was a man of vast reading in theology. That which especially characterized him as a theologian, I should say, was, first, his love of truth, and, secondly, his courageous faith in truth. Devotion to truth was with him a passion. His reverence for the authority of truth made him fearless, that is to say, he was not afraid of the truth and he was not afraid for the truth. Nor did he ever fear to speak out what he believed to be the truth. In theological controversy he was truly "a man of war," a foeman of undaunted prowess. As an example of his virile doggcdn ~ Js and fear­ lessness, let me quote these characteristic words from a pamphlet ofhis regarding a controversial topic: "We have ­ heard lately that this is a closed topic! Pray, will any one I tell me what is closed? How was it closed? When was it closed? Who closed it? It is not a closed, but a very open I topic." The words sound like him, one who has drunk de­ light ofbattle with his peers, "a mighty valiant man." "There is no note How dread an army hath enrounded him." It was impossible that such a man should be content with any narrow theological position. His feet must be set in a large room. He was conspicuous among a number ofprom­ inent Churchmen who moved on out of the old Evangelical party into a larger position, characterized by a tone and temper at once less given to literalism and less emotional, 5 more scholarly and thoughtful, with a wider outlook and broader sympathies. He appreciated the largeness of the spaces ofthe Kingdom of Christ. His was a mind that must r-.. bring truths into relation with each other in a large unity. With him the intellect must have its rights. He belonged to that school ofChurchmanship which approaches Christ on the intellectual side, which stands upon that promise: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." He would have been slow to call himselfa Connecticut Churchman. In his own way, however, he valued the his­ toric and Catholic position of the Church. In early life he had come under the influence ofthe great Dr. Muhlenberg, a seer who had visions ofwhat was for many men yet below the horizon.
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