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SOME MEMORIES OF DR. GIRARDEAU.
BY REV. JAMES E. H. M'NEILLY, D. D.
In the Presbyterian of April 3, there, is an
abstract of Dr. Whaling's line article in the
Union Seminary Magazine, on "Dr. Girardeau
as a Man." I read the original article with
great pleasure, as it recalled to my mind memories
of my association with this grand man
nearly fifty years ago.
I thought that some of those memories misrht
be interesting to others who knew and loved
him; and who appreciated his mighty power
in the pulpit.
THE BEGINNING OF OUR ACQUAINTANCE.
It was May, 18G3, that 1 first met Dr.
Girardeau. We were both chaplains in the
Confederate Army under General Joseph E.
Johnston, operating for the relief of Vicksburg.
I was in a Tennessee Brigade, and General
Evans' South Carolina Brigade had been sent
from Virginia to reinforce us. I heard that Dr.
Girardeau was chaplain of one of his regiments.
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I had just before the war had some correspondence
with him about preaching to negroes, in
which I was deeply interested, and he had
large experience. I found him one of the
most genial, affable, companionable men I had
ever met. Altho' he was thirteen years older
than I, and I had gone from the seminary into
the army, he treated me with as much respect
and deference as if I had been his equal
in age and ability. In the absence of books,
it was my custom to get as much as I could
from every preacher I met. I called it "pumping
the brethren." "With some whom I met the
pumping process was brief. It didn't take
long to reach the bottom and bring up only
stimulus and inspiration.
I never came in measuring distance of the
bottom. I never in so short a time received
from any man such intellectural and spiritual
stimulus and inspiration.
HIS CONVERSATION.
It was our custom when possible, to meet
at some convenient place that was quiet, a little
apart from the camp, after the duties of
the day. And spreading our blankets, we
would sit or lounge on them and talk into the
"wee small hours." 1 had been deeply interested
in Sir William Hamilton's works; and
had read his lectures just before I left the
seminary, especially had I been interested in
his essays on the Absolute and the Unconditioned.
My part of the conversation was to
ask questions, and he poured out the treasures
of his thinking?not only on those subjects on
the relativity of knowledge, on the common
sense philosophy but on the profoundest problems
of theology, "Of providence, foreknowledge,
will and fate.
Fixed fate, free will, knowledge absolute."
Yet there was a modesty the furthest removed
from the self-conceit of Sir Oracle. I remember
on one occasion we were speaking of
some man of ability and great learning, who
seemed to have no opinion of his own on any
subject of discussion, but could give the views
ot every writer on the subject with the impetuosity
of youth. I said to him, "Doctor, don't
you have contempt for a man to whom God
gave such a mind, and who can never make up
his mind on any subject?" His answer, after
a moment was "Well, I find myself so often
mistaken where I was so sure, that I can't
have contempt for anybody who tries to
think." His humor would frequently crop out
in our talk. Once a minister, chaplain of one
of the regiments, came up and joined in our
conversation. He was one whose opinions
were fixed on almost all subjects. He gave us
his views in most positive fashion, and left us
[Li;
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
with quite a self-complacent air. Dr. Girardeau
having listened patiently, turned to me
and two or three others who had come up, and
said with mock gravity: 4<Dar, dat do settle
it." i
After the war while he was in Charleston and
1 had just begun my work in Nashville, he
sent me an invitation from his Presbytery's
Committee of Home Missions to undertake
some work in that Presbytry. He accompanied
if * l-ii "T
it nitti uu urgcui ICHd", SUyillg, JL U1U I1UUgering
for oxie of our old time talks. You
would find our Presbytery the cleverest lot of
fellows in the world, but I don't believe one
of them cares a button for the absolute, and
all they care for is the conditioned."
AS A CORRESPONDENT.
For several years we kept up a desultory
correspondence. He was very slow in answering
my letters. He seemed to feel that writing
was a heavy drudgery. But when a letter (
did come it was not a mere brief scrawl, but
a good, long, delightful opening up of his mind
and heart. His hand writing was beautifully
regular and clear. And he not only wrote his
thought on various things, but he poured out
his affections in warm words of love. By the
way, I trust I will not be counted vain in telling
that whenever we met, as we occasionallv
did after the war, he hugged and kissed me.
Needless to say the greeting was reciprocated 1
with usury. It shows the tenderness of the ,
man's nature.
nis STRONG FEELINGS.
Dr. Girardeau was an intense soul. He
loved with passionate devotion. His affection
for his native State seemed to be a personal
attachment. He loved South Carolina as if
she were a living, breathing personality and
he never uttered her name, but there was a peculiar
intonation, a thrill of the voice. His
heart went out to mountain, plain and stream.
The State was "sacred soil" to him. It would
be impossible to express in writing his feeling '
to his family not merely the affection of nature, i
but a feeling sanctified by his union to them in
jurist, so witn nis love lor Ins Saviour. It
was so deepened and all controlling tnat ne
would have made any ysacrifice, even to life itself
for his sake. His sense of spiritual and
divine things was wonderful. Christ's pres- |
ence with him in his preaching was vividly
realized. His powerful, burning appeals seemed
to come direct from the Lord then present
with his ambassador.
He was also capable of vehement indignation.
He felt deep resentment at the injustice and
the cruelties inflicted on our people. One day
I was walking with him through the camp, and
we nearu some soldiers swearing terribly; not
merely idle profanity, but their "wrath seemed to
flame out from intense feeling. There was
nothing that to me was more utterly hateful ,
than profane swearing. And I spoke to him
about it. I asked him if it did not shock him.
His reply was in substance, "Yes, it is horrible;
and it both shocks and grieves me. But
when I see the ruin that is wrought through
our land by the savagery of our enemies, the
blackened walls of burned homes, the wasted
fields, the women and children turned out to
suffer, I can't wonder that these men feel the
uttermost indignation. And they don't know
how to express it except in these bitter oaths.
Tt is not as great a sin in them as it would be
in you or me."
AS A PREACHER.
It was as a preacher that I most admired
Dr. Girardeau. He had the gifts from nature
that go to the making of an orator?a strong,
vigorous body, a voice of peculiar tenderness
rpfhr?* that yet r?iild r;ntr out loud and
dear, expressive gesture, great earnestness, that I
UTS t May 1, 1912
"lighted his eye and flushed his face with emotion.
Ilis power of clear, close thought and
lucid statement, was reinforced by an imagination
that bodied forth to view, hidden and unseen
things. Added to all absolute faith in the
truth of his message.
It was my privilege to hear him and to hear
of him on various occasions. 1 have heard
that there were occasions when his sermons
were so closely reasoned, so argumentative,
that they failed to impress his audience. I
never heard one of these. I heard him preach
to the soldiers of the brigade. There were
from a thousand to fifteen hundred present.
And they listened with rapt attention through
sermons nearly an hour long. lie did not avoid
the more difficult subjects. One morning he
preached on the atonement?and a large part
of the sermon was on the effect of the atonement
011 other worlds or intelligences than
ours. It was one of the grandest discussions of
the work of Christ in restoring the whole creation
that groans and travails, and in placing
Him as head over principalities and powers to
llis church. Ilis preaching was generally a
bringing of the great fundamental truths of
the Gospel to bear on daily life and duty, ne
was captured and taken to Johnson's Island
in Lake Erie, where lare^e numbers nf r.nnfert.
erate officers were imprisoned. A cousin of
mine, a captain of artillery, was confined there;
and he has told me of the preaching. The prison
was laid off in streets, many of which converged
on a central circle or square. When
Dr. Girardeau preached, which was quite often,
he stood at the centre of the circle and
both it and every street radiating from it were
crowded with eager listeners, Federals and
Confederates as far down as his voice could
be heard. 1 was told that many conversions
were the results of his sermons. Three or four
times he preached in Nashville, during the pastorate
of his classmate and close friend, Dr.
T. A. Iloyt, in the First church. Once during a
series of services he stopped over for a night
on his way to St. Louis, and Dr. Iloyt insisted
on his preaching. The auditorium, the large
basement of the First Church was crowded.
Ilis text was "Him that cometh unto me I
will in no wise cast out;" Jno. 6:37. With
nor f oof simnlioitv oonlra
r ^ ?* "V k>|7Wi\Vj OUbtliig 1UI 111
Christ's willingness and ability to save to the
uttermost. Just before the close of the sermon
the whole congregation rose up and stood,
leaning forward with breathless attention. It
was a marvelous indication of his power.
OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER.
After the surrender of Vicksburg, our army
fell back across Mississippi. We had some severe
fighting at Jackson. And there for several
nights we were busy caring for our wounded,
and I saw little of Dr. Girardeau. When we
fell back to Meridian, Evans' Brigade was
ordered back to General Lee in Virginia. They
were in bivouac around the deDot and I found
him on the platform with his blankets spread
ready to go to bed. He asked me to sit with
him for a while. We got into earnest conversation
on the various subjects that had engaged
our thought before. Especially did we discuss
the prospects of our country. He was not
hopeless, although Vicksburg had fallen, and
Gettysburg had been against us. He was so
confident of the justice of our cause, that he
could not entertain the idea of our failure. It
was about eleven o'clock when we sat down
together. After a while I noticed in the East
what I thought was the moon rising. I remember
that I said "We will have more light
on the subject when the moon gets up." But
to my great surprise in a few minutes the sun
bur.;t upon u: in full orbed splendor. We had