Born: New York, New York, January 2, 1820.Died: Terrace Park, Ohio, December 19, 1888.
Born: New York, New York, January 2, 1820.
Died: Terrace Park, Ohio, December 19, 1888.
AMONG the preachers and writers of the nineteenth century who have plead for a return to primitive Christianity, the subject of this notice stands pre-eminently among the most distinguished. For more than thirty five years he has been connected with the Disciples, and, during the greater portion of that time, has been an earnest, able, and successful advocate of their plea for reformation.
ISAAC ERRETT was born in the city of New York, January 2, 1820. His father was a native of Arklow, county of Wicklow, Ireland, and his mother was a native of Portsmouth, England. His paternal grandfather was shot down in sight of his own house during the Irish rebellion of 1798. His immediate parents were both of Protestant families, and became identified with the Disciples in New York City as early as 1811--the father being an elder in the original Church in that place. Hence, the son was trained from infancy in the principles which he now cherishes, and, in the spring of 1832, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--where his mother had moved soon after the death of his father, who died in 1825--when only a little over twelve years of age, at a time when the Church was without preaching, under the instruction of his mother, he, in company with an older brother, went forward and asked the privilege of baptism. He was baptized by ROBERT McLAREN, one of the elders of the Church.
He now became a diligent student of the Word of God, and, under many embarrassing circumstances, made constant and encouraging progress. From the time he was ten years old, he has been dependent upon his own personal exertions for a living; hence, his respectable education has been gathered, in the midst of toil and care, by dint of untiring, industrious application. While laboring as farmer, miller, lumberman, bookseller, printer, schoolteacher, and editor, he has never ceased to augment his stock of useful knowledge, and to use whatever opportunities he had for the development and discipline of his mental powers.
He commenced preaching in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1840, and soon gave promise of the distinguished position which he has since held as a preacher of the Gospel. He enjoyed the advantages of frequent and intimate association with WALTER SCOTT, THOMAS CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, and most of the early advocates of primitive Christianity in the West; and his association with these men was of incalculable advantage to him, for they not only gave him valuable instruction in the principles of the Reformation, but he was enabled, by coming in frequent contact with them, to draw inspiration from their lives and characters for the great work upon which he had entered.
His ministerial labors have been divided between the work of an evangelist and pastor. He was pastor of a church in Pittsburgh three years; New Lisbon, Ohio, five years; North Bloomfield, Ohio, two years; Warren, Ohio, five years; Muir and Ionia, Michigan, eight years; and Detroit, Michigan, two years. At all these points he was eminently successful, and, besides his regular pastoral labors, did considerable work in the general field. He removed to Warren, Ohio, in 1851, and, while there, was Corresponding Secretary of the Ohio Missionary Society three years; and it was he who first put that society into systematic and active operation. In 1856, he removed his family to Ionia County, Michigan, and, while laboring to build up a congregation at that point, he was prevailed upon to take the Corresponding Secretaryship of the American Christian Missionary Society, which position he held three years, and succeeded in bringing the society to a degree of prosperity which it had never before reached. When he resigned the Secretaryship, he was appointed first Vice-President, and afterward presided at the annual meetings of the Society until 1866, when he was elected President. This, however, he at once declined. In the spring of 1866 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he now resides, and edits the "Christian Standard," a religious weekly published in that city.
Brother ERRETT'S personal appearance is striking and prepossessing. He is about six feet one inch high, has dark auburn hair, light gray eyes, and a well-developed muscular organization. As a public speaker, he has few, if any, superiors. His language is chaste and copious, containing an unusually large percent of Saxon words; his gesticulation easy and natural, but his voice, though well under control, has not volume enough to give full force to his beautiful and stirring thoughts. His writings, like his sermons, are full of strong and rugged points, and are frequently interspersed with brilliant passages of exquisite beauty that will compare favorably with many of the finest word-paintings in the English language.
In the social circle he is companionable, but not a very good conversationalist. He needs the inspiration of an audience, or the quiet solitude of the study, to bring out his full strength; hence, while he is pleasant in company--full of wit and humor--he does not appear there to the best advantage.