age began at a very early period. During the
years 1842-5 his father was Sheriff of Somerset Co., N. J., and resided at
Somerville. While there he and his wife were members in communion of the
Second Reformed Dutch Church, of which I was pastor; and from them I heard
frequently of their son John, who was then a student in New Brunswick.

He prosecuted his studies in the College and Theological Seminary with zeal
and success, and was duly licensed, and then, while awaiting the arrival of
the period when he would be sent to join the mission in China, he accepted
the position of assistant to the Rev. Dr. Brodhead, who at that time was
minister of the Central Church of Brooklyn. Here his services were very
acceptable, and the training under such an experienced man of God was of
great value to him. His course was what might have been expected of one
reared in a peculiarly pious household. His father was a cheerful and
exemplary Christian, and his mother was the godliest woman I ever knew.
Her religion pervaded her whole being, and seemed to govern every thought,
word, and deed, yet never was morbid or overstrained. The robust common
sense which characterized her and her husband descended in full measure
upon their son John. His consecration to the mission work was complete,
and his interest in the cause was very deep, but it never manifested itself
in unseemly or extravagant ways.

So far as I can recall, there was nothing particularly brilliant or
original in the early sermons or addresses of the young missionary--nothing
of those wondrous displays of word-painting, imagination, and dramatic
power which have made his brother, Dr. T. De Witt Talmage, famous. But
there was a mental grasp, a force and a fire which often induced the remark
that he was too good to be sent to the heathen, there being many at that
time who labored under the mistake that a missionary did not require to be
a man of unusual ability, that gifts and acquirements were thrown away on a
life spent among idolaters. Still, while this was the case, none of his
friends expected that he would develop such marked and varied power as was
seen in his entire course at Amoy. I remember the surprise with which I
heard the late Dr. Swanson, of London, say from his own observation during
ten years of the closest intercourse at Amoy, that Dr. Talmage was equally
distinguished and efficient in every part of the missionary's work, whether
in preaching the Word, or transla