Colenso's Fallacies: Another Review of the Bishop of Natal
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
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Charles Henry Fowler was a Canadian-American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (elected in 1884) and President of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois from 1872 to 1876.
Background
Charles Henry Fowler was born on August 11, 1837 in Burford (now Clarendon), Ontario, Canada. His father, Horatio Fowler, was of Connecticut ancestry. His mother, Harriet Ryan, was the daughter of the Reverend Henry Ryan, a herculean Irishman who was one of the founders of Methodism in Upper Canada. Having lost his property in the Papineau rebellion, Horatio Fowler sought-asylum with relatives in western New York, and later settled on a farm near Newark, where Charles Henry grew up, and by dint of hard work.
Education
Charles Fowler graduated in 1859 from Genesee College, Lima, New York, where he majored in mathematics, oratory, and mischief, ranking high in each. He then graduated valedictorian from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1861.
Career
After the graduation from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1861, Charles Fowler entered Rock River Conference, and was ordained deacon in 1864 and elder in 1865.
Fowler had been a pastor eleven years in Chicago when the Great Fire threw its glare upon him. In a countrywide campaign for funds to rebuild the burned churches, thousands of Eastern Methodists heard from the lips of this young Westerner the dramatic story of that devouring flame. His reputation was made. From that hour he was always in the Methodist mind when anything of importance was to be said or done.
In 1872 he was in his first General Conference, where he nearly unhorsed the veteran editor of the Christian Advocate. The next year he was elected president of Northwestern University, Evanston, not because of unusual educational equipment, but because there was a big piece of work to be done, and Fowler was the most resourceful man in sight to do it.
In four years he expanded its professional schools, laid far-sighted plans for its future, enlisted the support of powerful Chicago business men, and lifted the young institution to an important place among universities of the Middle West.
In 1874 he was a fraternal messenger from his church to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, carrying the first olive branch after thirty years of separation. His friends idolized him and believed that there was nothing beyond his powers.
As editor of the Christian Advocate (1876 - 80) he carried the circulation to the highest point in its history. As corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society (1880-84), his ubiquity, business capacity, forceful personality, and inspiring oratory, changed the whole missionary outlook of his church.
Every fourth year, in the General Conference, his keen intellect, flashing wit, audacious speech, and strong convictions had full play. In 1884 he was elected bishop.
His official residences were San Francisco (1884-92), Minneapolis (1892-96), Buffalo(1896 - 1904), and New York City(1904-08). In these years he presided over the Methodist Conferences in every part of the United States, and was sent by his colleagues to all the the mission fields, everywhere relieving irritated situations by balm or surgery, and launching advance movements such as the universities of Peking and Nanking in China, and the Methodist church in St. Petersburg. The Nebraska Wesleyan University and the Twentieth Century Forward Movement, which brought $20, 000, 000 into Methodist treasuries, owe their origin to his vision and constructive genius.
His earliest book was Fallacies of Colenso Reviewed (1861), followed several years later by Wines of the Bible (1878). His collected addresses were published as Missions and World Movements (1903) ; Missionary Addresses (1906) ; Addresses on Notable Occasions (1908) ; and Patriotic Orations (1910).
Achievements
One of Charles Henry Fowler's main achievements was in the election as a President of Northwestern University in 1873 and then in the election by the Methodist Episcopal General Conference to be Editor of the Christian Advocate. In 1880 he was elected Missionary Secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1884 he became the third Northwestern University president to be elected a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After his election he traveled to several mission fields and helped found the universities of Beijing and Nanjing in China, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Twentieth Century Forward Movement.
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
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Religion
In his religious denomination Charles Fowler was a Methodist. He was a minister in the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Views
Fowler's knowledge of the work and personnel of the church enabled him to select with extraordinary skill the right man for important administrative positions. Through these years he was a popular preacher, lecturer and occasional orator.
Membership
Fowler was a member of the Missionary Society.
Personality
Fowler chose appealing themes, had a powerful voice and impressive bearing, and his diction combined the quaint, the startling, the humorous, and the majestic.
Connections
Fowler was married in 1868 to Myra A. Hitchcock, daughter of the Rev. Luke Hitchcock, of Chicago, who with a son survived him.
