Spirit-Filled, The Life of
The Rev. James Blaine Chapman, D.D.
By
D. Shelby Corlett
In September of 1937, Dr. and Mrs. Chapman with their sons, Harold and Paul, left on a missionary tour, which kept Dr. and Mrs. Chapman away from the country for about one year. While visiting Egypt on this trip Dr. Chapman was stricken with a severe heart attack. This was the first physical impairment this man of strong physique ever had known, but it was not to be his last. He continued his journey, curtailed as much as possible his activities, and spent over a month among the Nazarenes of Scotland, recuperating from this illness. But he was never to know another period in his life of really robust health.
It was most difficult for him to adjust himself to observing the caution that his physical condition required of him. His wife was constantly watchful of his health lest he should overdo or so tax his strength as to become the victim of further attacks. He too was watchful, but with all the care his good wife and others exercised and with his own discipline, which he relaxed almost unconsciously at times, he suffered other severe heart attacks.
In the fall of 1945, his son Paul, who was then completing his training as a physician, had a noted heart specialist examine his father. The report of the specialist stated that his heart was in a very critical condition because of the several severe attacks he had suffered, that he should exercise the most rigid discipline over himself possible and take time for a prolonged period of rest. Really, the specialist told him to retire from all active work, that by such retirement he would no doubt prolong his life perhaps ten years; whereas if he continued with his activities, even though observing discipline and care, he would perhaps die within six months. Dr. Chapman chose to continue in the active work and to give his full service to God and to the church, and he gave that service for at least twenty-one months after the specialist had warned him concerning his critical condition.
Although he was thus a constant sufferer, very few people knew it. No one would ever detect that the presiding officer of the district assembly, the preacher at the camp meeting, in the conventions, at church dedications, or in regular services of the churches, was under the sentence of death, or that he scarcely knew what it was to go through a day without suffering some from his heart condition.
He was indeed a heroic soldier of the cross, he suffered without complaint nor did he seek the sympathy of others. He insisted upon carrying his full end of the responsibilities of the general superintendency even when his colleagues urged him to lay some of the heavier burdens on their shoulders. He was an example of a true Christian under physical handicaps and in suffering.
The heaviest blow to come upon James B. Chapman was brought by the death of his wife who, after only a brief illness, was taken from him on February 18, 1940, the day of their thirty-seventh wedding anniversary. No wife had been closer to a husband, no companion had contributed more to the success of her husband than had his wife; no couple ever were more devoted to each other than were James B. and Maud Chapman. God had blessed their lives and service together, for his wife had been his constant traveling companion for about eight years, and they had been a great blessing to people all over the world. It was the most difficult task he ever faced to adjust himself to life without her. He did not question the wisdom of God in taking her home, nor did he rebel at life as he was forced to meet it bereft of his companion; but the passing of time seemed to do little to heal the hurt of his heart or to lift the weight of sorrow he bore. Yet he gave some of the best service of his life, and did some of his best writing during these years of bereavement.
He wrote of his wife's death thus: "I watched her die and death was bitter. But she triumphed and a look of peace was left upon her face. I stood there and said in my heart, 'I would not be a wicked man for anything in the world. My sweetheart has gone up to heaven, and I shall see her again some day. I don't know what the future is like, but I know it is better than this, and this has been good. God has taken her to himself. I am bereft and disconsolate. But I have not really lost my wife. She is saved and home with God."
Death and sorrow were not to fill his thoughts to the place of limiting him in his Christian service or heart experience. He turned his attention to life, even though life for him meant the carrying of a broken heart; and said within a few weeks following the death of his wife: "To die is not my goal.
To live is my goal. To live on here as the Father wills, and then to live forever with Him on high."
Another experience which was to bring him considerable concern was the fact that during World War II his oldest son, Harold, was to spend many months in military service in the South Pacific field of activity and to be engaged in some of the fierce battles of that area. He prayed much for Harold during those days and carried a continual burden on his heart for his safety.
Dr. Chapman had a great attachment for his children and their families, for his children were married and had children of their own, and he made their problems and burdens his own. He was a father and a grandfather greatly loved by his children and grandchildren.
Life for him was not to continue in sorrow and suffering alone, for he was to know another of those peculiar turns of God's dealings with him, in bringing into his life a handmaiden of the Lord to share his burdens, to exercise care over his physical well-being, and to bring to him the devotion of a loving companion; for in June of 1942 he was united in marriage to the well-known and much-loved missionary from Africa, Miss Louise Robinson. Although they were destined to live with each other for only five years, yet these were years of happiness and joyous service together in the service of the Lord. There is little doubt but that his marriage to this good woman, through the care she exercised over him in his physical condition and the comfort and joy she brought to him, prolonged his life by several years. It was marriage owned of God and approved by the church everywhere.
Spirit-Filled, The Life of
The Rev. James Blaine Chapman, D.D.
By
D. Shelby Corlett