CHAPTER 41THOMAS DRUMMOND
CHAPTER 41THOMAS DRUMMOND The subject of our sketch was born in Manchester, England, in the year 1806, and came to America with his father’s family in 1811. His father sought a home in the west, the El Dorado of the emigrant, whose broad plains and rich soil invite the culture of the industrious yeoman. When quite a youth he devoted himself to the service of the Lord. He was not like many who think it quite sufficient for all the purposes of salvation to give the last sad remnants of their miserable lives to God.
"A flower when offered in the bud, Is no vain, sacrifice."
How precious are the memorials of that heart whose early affections have been given to God! Truly, as saith the inspired one, the ways of Religion "are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace — she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her." In the twenty-third year of his age — being called of God — he entered upon the work of the ministry, and began earnestly and eloquently to plead with sinners to be reconciled to God. After exercising his gifts as a local preacher for the space of a year, and giving full proof of his call by the fruits which attended his labors, he was recommended for admission into the traveling connection, and accordingly received by the Pittsburgh conference in the year 1831. His first appointment was to the Summerfield circuit, in the West Wheeling district, with the Rev. John W. Minor. The next field of labor assigned him was the St. Clairsville circuit, where he continued one year; and at the expiration of his term he was sent to Pittsburgh, with Dr. Martin Ruter for his colleague. The appointment of so young a preacher to a station of so much importance as Pittsburgh, would necessarily lead one to infer that he not only had remarkable gifts, but that he had made astonishing progress in ministerial attainments, and such was the fact. Some preachers at first give but little promise, and develop slowly, yet in the end become learned, talented, and useful, even as stars in the right hand of Jesus, to shine upon the Church and the world. Others at once seem to flash over the horizon of life as the sun when he crosses the threshold of the ocean — first a circle of mellow light, and then a full burst of glory; but whether suns or stars, both have their appointed spheres, and roll on fulfilling their high and holy destiny. In the Church of the apostles there was a Paul, an Apollos, and a Cephas; and the diversity of talent was made to subserve the most important purposes in the erection of the spiritual building.
Drummond had rare and brilliant talents; and though but two years in the conference, and but three a preacher, he was regarded by the appointing power as adequate for so important a post. His next station was Morgantown, in Virginia, where he remained one year with great acceptability and usefulness. At the conference which was held in Washington, in July, 1834, his heart was touched with the wants of the west; and filled with a missionary zeal, he volunteered for Missouri, and was stationed in the city of St. Louis. At that post he labored hard, fulfilling all the duties of a preacher and pastor up to June, 1835, embracing a period little short of a year from the time of his transfer. On the Sabbath before his decease, though somewhat indisposed, he labored with more than ordinary fervor. The dead and the dying were around him; for that dread "pestilence which walketh in darkness and wasteth at noonday," was spreading death and desolation in the ill-fated city. To prepare his hearers for the scourge, and to converse and pray with those who were grappling with the dread monster, taxed all his energies to the utmost. Sabbath evening came; but, alas! the foe had seized the soldier of the cross himself — he was attacked with cholera, and all medical skill and attention were in vain. Monday closed the scene of conflict. The king of terrors aimed at length his fatal dart, and smote the saint; but he feared not the blow. The sting was extracted, and victory over death and hell was gained through faith in Jesus’ blood. Just as his spirit was passing, he said to his weeping friends around him, "All is well! Tell my brethren of the Pittsburgh conference I died at my post. When the brethren met at their holy convocation, which was shortly after, there were weeping eyes and sorrowful hearts; but the message which they had received from the dying soldier cheered them on in the battle of the Lord. One of their number — one of Zion’s sweetest minstrels — touched his lyre, and it lent forth a dirge pleasant but mournful.
"Away from his home and the friends of his youth, He hasted, the herald of mercy and truth; For the love of his Lord, and to seek for the lost; Soon, alas! was his fall — but he died at his post. The stranger’s eye wept, that, in life’s brightest bloom, One gifted so highly should sink to the tomb; For in ardor he led in the van of the host, And he fell like a soldier — he died at his post.
He wept not himself that his warfare was done The battle was fought, and the victory won; But he whispered of those whom his heart clung to most, ’Tell my brethren, for me, that I died at my post.’
He asked not a stone to be sculptured with verse; He asked not that fame should his merits rehearse; But he asked as a boon, when he gave up the ghost, That his brethren might know that he died at his post.
Victorious his fall — for rose as he fell. With Jesus, his Master, in glory to dwell
He has passed o’er the stream and has reached the bright coast, For he fell like a martyr — he died at his post. And can we the words of his exit forget? O! no, they are fresh in our memory yet An example so brilliant shall never be lost, We will fall in the work — we will die at our post." From this poet — the Rev. William Hunter, formerly editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, and author of "Select Melodies " — we have received a sketch embracing some personal recollections of Drummond, which we subjoin:
"Yours of the 17th ult. is before me, asking for recollections of Rev. Thomas Drummond. I had no personal acquaintance with brother Drummond. He was my senior by two or three years in the Pittsburgh conference, and left it for St. Louis at the close of my first year as a probationer. I never saw him but once; that was at the conference in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1834. He came up to me before the conference door — having somehow associated my face and name together, as I had his — and said, in that free and peculiar manner which was characteristic of him, while he seized my hand, ’How are you, Hunter? We need no introduction." he passed into the church, and I am not certain that I ever saw his face again. I left the seat of the conference, perhaps, that day or the next; and he was transferred to Missouri, where he shortly afterward died. From that conference I was sent to Pittsburgh, in company with T. M. Hudson and M. Simpson — now bishop. Thomas Drummond had been there with Doctor Ruter, not the preceding year, but the one before that. I consequently heard much of him, and can testify to the universal esteem in which he was held. Some of the good old members could scarcely cease talking about him. I can not at this date call up particular incidents related to me concerning him, during his labors in Pittsburgh.
I can only state that the general impression made upon my mind by what I heard was, that he was quite a good preacher; studious in his habits, industrious in his pastoral work, and an exceedingly agreeable companion in the social circle. He was a man of very kind feelings, although somewhat free and blunt in his manners. He was not one of those who continually wore a somber countenance, as if to smile was a sin, or a little pleasantry an iniquity to be punished by the judges. He was a cheerful, vigorous, energetic man, doing his duty with a good will, a light heart, and a radiant countenance; yet withal a man who entered deeply into the sorrows of others, visiting the sick and the needy, and ministering both to their temporal and spiritual wants. A poor woman, whom he had visited as a pastor, died happy in the Lord, leaving a little girl with no provision for her comfort. Brother Drummond adopted her as his own — I believe her father was dead also — and made arrangements for her rearing and education; though I think that from the pecuniary burden of this he was relieved by the liberality of the late Mrs. Dumars, of Pittsburgh, in whose bosom beat the kindest heart of woman, and who took the little girl, bringing her up as her own. The little girl used to call herself Mary Ann Cooper Drummond Dumars. She became a member of the Church, and is now a married woman, with a family of her own, and living in comfortable circumstances. This incident will illustrate one trait in brother Drummond’s character his kindness and benevolence — the trait to which, perhaps, he fell a martyr in St. Louis during the cholera visitation there.
"Brother Drummond was the first stationed preacher in the station which I now occupy, Morgantown, Virginia. The parsonage in which I am now writing was built under his superintendence. The trees in the yard were planted by him, from which succeeding preachers, since that time, have eaten fruit. He frequently laid off his clerical coat, and went to work at the parsonage himself; and so well was the financial part of the business managed, that when the work was done there was a dollar over; though some of the credit of this is also due to the well-known liberality of the Church here.
"Here, as in Pittsburgh, I have often heard brother Drummond spoken of in terms of kind remembrance. The families in which he boarded, especially, have a high appreciation of his worth. He was able in the pulpit, faithful in pastoral visitations, diligent in the instruction of the children, assembling them for catechetical exercises. He by no means confined his labors to the village; but had several appointments in the country round about, some of them as many as nine or ten miles out. There is a sweet little church a couple of miles out of town, now called Drummond Chapel, in memory of the fact that he was, perhaps, the first who established preaching in the neighborhood. The only week-day class that we have in the station is a female class, met by the preacher, composed generally of the older ladies of the Church. It was Drummond who formed this class, as he said, for his own especial benefit. There are some of the traces left by him in this, the last station which he occupied in the Pittsburgh conference. I am not aware that there was any great revival in the place during his labors; but the Church was in a healthy and prosperous condition. I am told that he studied law, and passed an examination on it while here. I know not that he intended ever to practice. It is more probable that his object was to qualify himself better for the work of the ministry, by increasing his knowledge of legal science."
How many burning and shining lights have suddenly been quenched in the darkness of death! How melancholy the remembrance that the most talented and deeply devoted in the ranks of the ministry are soonest called away from the walls of our Zion, while we are left to mourn their departure! May we imitate their virtues and aspire after their glorious immortality!