Guest Blogger: James Harvey Parmelee (1823-1905)
May I introduce my
guest blogger, James Harvey Parmelee, my great-great grandfather. Born May 4,
1823, in Wilmington, Vermont, he graduated from Waterville College, north of
Montpelier, in 1850, and finished Rochester Theological Seminary, in New York,
in 1853. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1854 in Xenia, Ohio, near
Dayton, and then served as a pastor in northeast Iowa, in West Union (1855-56)
and Charles City (1957-58). On August 22, 1858, he married Mary L. Huntley, of
Vermont; he was 35, and she was 28—almost 29 years old.
During the Civil
War he served in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and they had two children. Frank Mason
Parmelee was born July 18, 1861, in Bloomingdale, Illinois, and my
great-grandmother Stella Luellen Parmelee was born July 10, 1863, in Kenosha. During
the latter part of the war he was an agent for the Christian Commission in
Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the war he served as a pastor in Lacon, Illinois,
near Peoria (1866-69), before returning to his birth area and serving in
Guilford, Vermont (1870-72), and supplying churches near Bernardstown,
Massachusetts (1872-78). In 1887 he officiated at the wedding of his daughter
Stella to Perry Lewis Biddle, and in 1888 he and Mary moved to DeFuniak
Springs, Florida, in the panhandle, where Stella and P.L. had settled. He died
October 22, 1905, at the age of 82.
In 1886, at the age
of 63, he published a small book on a big topic, Problems in Theology, in which he thoughtfully responds as a
theologian to recent scientific discoveries—including, undoubtedly, On the Origin of the Species by means of
Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life, first published in 1859 by Charles Darwin (1809-1882). In his
preface, James Harvey Parmelee writes, “The deeper we draw the waters from the
wells of true philosophy and science, the clearer and purer will be the waters
from the wells of God’s holy book. The Bible and the religion taught therein
have nothing to fear, but much to gain, in the way of exposition and
enforcement, from genuine philosophy and science.”
His conclusion is
as true today as it was over 125 years ago: “The writer is well aware that the
views expressed in this volume differ from those held by many Christians, as
they have been handed down in their form of expression from generation to
generation. But it must be borne in mind that much of the best of truth in Scripture
is expressed in figurative language. The prophecies are full of it. Read Isaiah
and Jeremiah. ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; and a little child shall lead them.’ [Isaiah 11:6] This will never be
literally fulfilled, but it shows the mighty transforming power of the gospel
over [people’s] hearts.
“Christ spoke much
in parables. Underneath the parabolic language lay the real truth. John in the
Apocalypse saw the truth in visions. Inside the drapery of language is the
absolute truth. The more we can divest the truth from the drapery of the
language, the better understanding of the truth we get. But if one cannot
conceive the truth without the drapery, then let [one] hold on to the drapery.
“Christ is present
reigning in his kingdom, and will be more visibly present to the saints after
death. But if one cannot conceive of his presence otherwise than by his
personal coming and presence, then let [one] conceive of it thus, for better so
than not at all, for the saints are now and forever shall be under the eye of
their beloved Lord.
“If one cannot
conceive of a future life otherwise than by a literal resurrection of the body
from the grave, let [one] believe that; better so than not to have a firm
assurance of future life.
“If one cannot
conceive how God can judge all [people] according to the deeds done in the
body, only as [one] conceives of it as taking place on a general judgment day,
and under the process of a civil court with which [one] may be familiar, then
let [one] conceive of it thus, for God will surely judge the world.
“If one cannot
conceive of the retributive justice of God only as [one] conceives of it under
the figure of the ‘gnawing of the worm that dieth not,’ [Isaiah 66:24] and the ‘burning
of the fire which shall not be quenched,’ [Isaiah 66:24] of a ‘lake of fire and
brimstone,’ [Revelation 20:10] of ‘outer darkness,’ [Matthew 8:12] of ‘being
shut out of the holy city,’ [Revelation 22:19] then let [one] hold on to these
figures of speech as literal truth, for this truth is in them, God will surely
and terribly punish the wicked.
“If one cannot
conceive of heaven otherwise than through the medium of a holy city with its
jasper walls, pearly gates, and golden streets, them let [one] cling to a
literal New Jerusalem, for Christ will surely bring the redeemed to glory.
“But let us not
forget that God’s thoughts and ways are as much above ours, as the heavens are
higher than the earth.”
Amen.
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