ART. VII.-BISHOP BOWMAN.

SAMUEL BOWMAN, the son of Captain Bowman, an officer of the Revolutionary War, was born at Wilkesbarre, in the State of Pennsylvania, on the twenty-first of May, in the year of our Lord 1800. His native town is situated on the Susquehanna river, in Luzerne County, in the very heart of the celebrated Valley of Wyoming. The circumstances of his boyhood were well calculated to draw out and develop all the nobler feelings of his character. In point of natural beauty, there is not upon this continent a more charming spot than the Valley of Wyoming. At the beginning of this century, too, the story of its memorable Indian Massacre was comparatively fresh. Many were still living, in the prime of life, who could relate thrilling stories of peril and adventure closely connected with all the magnificent scenery around them. The boy's own father, too, could tell him of the battle of Lexington, in which he was an actor, and could inspire his soul with patriotic fervor by his anecdotes of Washington, then lately dead, of Alexanander Hamilton, and of other heroes and statesmen with whom he was personally acquainted. What wonder is it, then, that young Bowman should have eagerly devoured, as we have heard him say that he did, the odd yet picturesque biographies by our pioneer Plutarch of America, the eccentric Parson Weems? In early life he was a great pedestrian. Often has he described, with admirable glee, his long walks and excursions among the mountains, to visit old hunters, renowned for their exploits among the bears and deer. Mr. Catlin, a fellow-townsman, who has since gained a European reputation by his adventures among the Indian tribes of the Far West, may be named as one who sometimes joined him in these delightful expeditions. It is impossible to estimate the advantages he may have gained, both in physical and spiritual vigor, by this early communion with nature in her wildest and most charming phases. He was always proud of his native valley, and seemed to cherish for it something like a personal affection.

When the subject of our narrative was in his tenth year, Thomas Campbell, then in the height of his celebrity, gave to Wyoming a world-wide reputation, by the publication of his Gertrude. Notwithstanding the poverty of the story and the inaccuracy of its descriptions, that pathetic poem by the Bard of Hope, must have had a considerable influence in calling out the literary taste of such a lad as Samuel Bowman. Primitive

as the Valley then was in some of its social aspects, it numbered among its people an unusual proportion of cultivated persons; and we have heard the late Bishop tell of pleasant reading parties in his boyhood, in which the best current literature of the time was abundantly admired and discussed, from the Sacred Dramas of Hannah More to the Homeric minstrelsy of Walter Scott.

Our young friend had no access, in his youth, to any place of education higher than the Academy of his native town. Here, however, he picked up the rudiments of learning, which by his own diligence were afterwards expanded into a scholarship that might put to shame the attainments of more favored students. In those early days, our Church was not represented in Northern Pennsylvania; and until he was fourteen years old, young Bowman had never joined in that liturgic worship which he afterwards so loved. When Mr. Kemper (now the venerable Bishop of Wisconsin) was a young man assisting Bishop White in Christ Church, Philadelphia, he was sent out on a missionary tour to the west of Pennsylvania. During his absence, Bishop White received a letter from three laymen in Wilkesbarre, one of whom was young Bowman's uncle, asking him to send them an Episcopal minister. The Bishop wrote to Mr. Kemper to go there before his return to Philadelphia. He did so, and officiated to a very large congregation. His sermon was listened to with much attention, and a request was made for its publication, by a minister of one denomination, seconded by another. This was the first time the Church Service had been heard in Wilkesbarre, and Mr. Kemper was the first Church clergyman our young friend had ever seen. Little did he then suppose that he himself would one day be a Bishop, and that the officiating minister wonld preside at his consecration !

He made choice of the Law as his future profession, and set to work diligently to study it. Before, however, his preparation was completed, his attention was drawn to a higher vocation. Though he had always been a high-toned, moral, and even a religious boy, yet the sudden death of his father, by a melancholy accident, had the effect of directing the son's attention, more especially than ever, to his religious duties. So he resolved to abandon the Law, and to become a candidate for the Sacred Ministry.

He was ordained Deacon, by Bishop White, in Christ Church, Philadelphia, on the 25th of August, 1823, and entered on Ministerial duties soon afterwards, by taking charge of two country Churches in Lancaster County. His ordination to the Priesthood took place in 1824, and, in the year following, he accepted a call to Trinity Church, Easton, though he soon returned to his old charge, in Lancaster county. About this time he was married to Miss Susan Stilgreaves, a niece of Mr. Kemper, and a daughter of Samuel Stilgreaves, Esq., who was a prominent lawyer of Easton, and an eminent Layman of our Church.

In the autumn of 1827 he accepted a call to the associate Rectorship of St. James' Church, in the city of Lancaster, a charge which he continued to hold for thirty-four years, and which was terminated only by the hand of death. The immediate predecessors of Mr. Bowman were, the Rev. W. A. Muhlenberg, and the Rev. Levi Silliman Ives. St. James' Parish is one of the oldest in the State, but, at that time, it had not more than fifty communicants. The Rev. Joseph Clarkson was the senior Rector, but he was already growing old, and the charge of the congregation devolved, chietly, on Mr. Bowman, who, in about three years, became sole Rector, by the death of his associate. From the very first entrance on his duties here, Mr. Bowman was highly appreciated and warmly loved by his intimate acquaintances. His commanding personal appearance, his sonorous voice and admirable reading, and still more, his thoughtful and finished discourses from the pulpit, at once drew attention to him, as a Clergyman who had few superiors of his age. But it was a long time before the

community in general began to feel and know the full worth of the man whom they afterwards so loved. Repeated attacks of illness seriously told upon his energies; and a natural humility and bashfulness, which seemed to strangers like coldness and reserve, interfered very greatly, at first, with his usefulness in Lancaster. The repeated bereavements which he was called upon to suffer, and the Christian resignation with which he bore them, first drew the attention of his neighbors; and, what was still more remarkable, each new loss appeared to quicken his energies, and to heighten his capacity for doing good. Year by year, he seemed to feel more and more the need of fresh exertion, as the night drew on, when it would be no longer possible to work. From being at first rather a secluded student, he became by degrees a most active laborer in parish work. His sermons grew less polished and more pointed. His heart warmed and expanded with increasing age, and the poor and the afflicted came to know and to love him, as an unfailing friend. The loss of his first wife occurred about three years after his removal to Lancaster. Her decease, which was a heavy blow, was followed by that of a beloved child, a charming little girl. Only a son and daughter were left remaining. Continuing for about six years a widower, Mr. Bowman married Miss Harriet R. Clarkson, a daughter of the Rev. Joseph Clarkson, the former Rector of the parish. In 1846, he was called to part with his only son, Samuel Stilgreaves. This stroke was particularly trying. Both in appearance and in character, this promising young man bore a striking resemblance to his father. He was in his 20th year. His academical education had been successfully completed, having been begun at Long Island, under Dr. Muhlenberg, and completed at New Haven. He was studying law in Philadelphia, in the office of Mr. Meredith, when some complicated disease of the throat and chest, ended, in a few weeks, his valuable life. The distressed father had the blessed privilege of administering, for the first and the last time, the Holy Communion to his dying boy, who displayed, on his death-bed, such decided marks of genuine religion, as furnished the best consolation and comfort in that trying hour. Some years before this, Mr. Bowman had received, from Ge

neva College, in Western New York, the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1845, Dr. Bowman was voted for as a candidate for Bishop of Pennsylvania, in opposition to Dr. Tyng. He several times received the vote of the Clergy, while Dr. Tyng obtained that of the Laity. The matter was finally settled, to the great joy of Dr. Bowman, by the election of Dr. Alonzo Potter, to whom he wrote at once, urgently pressing his acceptance of the office, and whose firm friend he ever afterwards remained. In 1847, Dr. Bowman was elected Bishop of Indiana, which office he declined, in a letter full of touching humility, and breathing a spirit well worthy of the best ages of the Church. He was afterwards strongly urged to consent to be a candidate for the office of Provisional Bishop of NewYork. Dr. Muhlenberg and Dr. Parks were especially urgent in the matter; but, after a very short deliberation, Dr. Bowman positively refused to allow his name to be used, simply because he did not consider himself suited for the place.

These proofs of the high estimation in which he was held abroad, and which, with the most unfeigned humility, he seemed quite unable to account for, instead of filling his head with projects of ambition, seemed only to draw him more closely than ever to the quiet duties that lay around him. Projects for an Orphan Asylum, for Parochial Schools, a Church Home, and a Free Church, assumed, each day, more definite proportions. They were, one by one, severally entered upon, and enlisted the deep interest, first of himself and family, and then of all his parishioners. Leading off, himself, in contributions for these objects, which were truly princely, in proportion to his means, he showed a wonderful tact, and an ability before wholly unsurpassed, in drawing out the working talent of his people; until, at length, in a very few years, St. James' Church came to be spoken of, by many, as the model parish of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Just, however, as most of these projects had been realized, but before the Free Church had fairly been begun, Dr. Bowman was called upon to lose his faithful and energetic wife, who had long cheered and helped him in all his labors of benevolence. She died, after a tedious and painful illness, in August, 1852. With uncomplaining submission