^>3^1 -iST'' '• 1 •i^.^^;i^ • .. • '^ .♦ ^#^^^ * 1 ih.:* PRINCETON, N. J BX 9211 .N5 U56 1896 University Place Presbyterian Church, New Services commemorative of ^'"'V- the fiftieth anniversary o % ^p ^] ^^ %l^ n fl^ WL^A ShkI l^n '^ >f Sl>x '^-^-'-. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ON UNIVERSITY PLACE. 1845-1805 ^ertJtces Commemorattbe of ^i)t dFiftietj) anni^er0ar^ oftjje ^ntbersttp ^lace ^resftptertan Ct)urc|) jSobembcr 24-28, 1895 uUUUUiii^4i4i*,iiUiUi4Wii,4Ui4i m>m ;>-^--c -5^n;m; Wmtftmttttmttwtwtwtnf ^rcfatorp J^ote. RELIGIOUS corporation under the title of " The Presbyterian Church on ^^i University Place, New York," was formed March 15, 1844. October 26, 1845, it was constituted a church by the first Presby- tery of New York, and fully organized. It consisted of one hundred and fifty-nine mem- bers, m.ost of whom had been connected with the Duane Street Church. Rev. George Potts, D.D., was called to the pastorate and installed November 26th of that year. He continued as minister until his death, September 15, 1864. Rev. Alfred H. Kellogg, his successor, was in- stalled on May 5, 1865, and continued in the pastorate until April 24, 1870, when, at his own request, he was released from the office. 4 The whole number admitted to the cliurch dur- ing this period was 781. The Mercer Street Presbyterian Church was organized October 25, 1835, with twenty -eight members, received from six churches. Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, D.D., the first pastor of the church, was installed November 11, 1835, and resigned his charge February i 7, 1 848. Rev. Joseph C. Stiles, D.D., was installed June 18, 1848, and resigned October 15, 1850. Rev. George L. Prentiss, D.D., was installed April 30, 185 I, and resigned May 3, 185S. Rev. Walter Clarke, D.D., was installed Feb- ruary 16, 1859, and resigned December 26, i860. Rev. Robert R. Booth, D.D., was installed March 6, i86i. The whole number of members admitted to this church was 2026, of whom 749 made profession of faith, and 1277 were received by certificate. On September 16, 1870. the Presbytery of New York ratified an agreement by which the Presby- terian Church on University Place and the Mercer Street Church became one, and by the terms of the union retained the corporate name " The Pres- byterian Church on University Place." The elders and deacons of the two former churches became the elders and deacons of the new or- ganization. Rev. Robert R. Booth, D.D., who for nine years had ministered in the Mercer Street Church, was called to the pastorate of the united church on September 2 2d, and duly installed by the Presbytery of New York, October 30, 1870. He continued in the pastorate until May 28, 1883, when failure of health, which threatened to be permanent, constrained him to resign his charge. Rev. George Alexander was installed pastor January 8, 1884. The whole number of resident members in- cluded in the united church at the time of the union was 716. During the twenty-five years that have elapsed since the union 2484 persons have been admitted to the church on profession of their faith, and 846 by letter from other churches. It will be observed that the fiftieth anniversary of the University Place Church coincides almost exactly with the sixtieth anniversary of the Mer- cer Street Church and with the twenty-fifth anni- versary of the united church. This interesting circumstance determined the character of the celebration recorded in this volume and the order of the programme. Three Members of Session and the same num- ber from the Board of Trustees were appointed a joint committee to make all necessary arrange- ments for the occasion. The last week in October was thought to be too early in the season to secure a general attend- 6 ancc of the congregation, and for that reason it was decided to postpone the exercises for one month beyond the precise date of the anniversary. The programme arranged by the committee was carried out in every respect except that Rev. David J. Burrell, D.D., was unable to attend and address the Sunday-school meeting. His letter of regret will be found in the appendix. Sub-committees on church decoration, on mu- sic, and on entertainment were appointed, and cheerfully fulfilled the parts assigned to them. The young men of the church performed excel- lent service as ushers, and the ladies provided a delightful entertainment at the close of the Tues- day evening meeting. The weather proved to be very stormy and prevented the attendance of many who greatly desired to be there, but the large audiences which gathered at the various services bore testimony to the interest which the occasion excited. The anniversary has for its permanent memorial the beautiful and commodious Jubilee Hall, erected during the previous summer by the generous gifts of the church. C|)c Sn\)(tat(on J 845- I 895 You are cordially invited to participate in the Exercises commemorative of the fiftietlj annitier^art of t\)e ^tt^h^tttim Cfjurcit) on Um\itt^it^ ^iatc am t})c oftl)« Which are to be held in the Church Edifice, corner of University Place and Tenth Street, New -York, November 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th, 1895. Thomas Denny, Chairman, Geo. R. Lockwood, Mrs. Henry J. Raymond. Frederick A. Burrall, M. D., Mrs. William G. Bull. William Turnbull, Mrs. Anson G. Phelps, Mrs. Willard Parker, Mrs. J. W. Wheeler, Committee of SIntaitation. THE PROGRAMME Sabbat!) iHormng. NOVEMBER TWKNTV-FOUKTH, AT I I o'CLOCK. Organ Prelude, . Andante in li flat . W'cly. Anthem, Tc Dcuni Baumbach. doxology. Invocation. Reading of the Law and Choir ) Response : Lord have mercy upon us \ Hymn No. 138.^ Old Testament Lesson. Gloria in Excelsis. New Testament Lesson. Prayer. ( Tenor Solo — Jesus, > Offertory, \ j . ., , } . Tours. ( Lover oj my Soul S Hymn No. 136. Commemorative Sermon by the Pastor. Prayer. Hymn No. 948. Benediction. Postlude, . LLallelujali Chorus . Beethoven. 1 The hymns are all taken from " Laudcs Domini." AT 4 o'clock. Celebration of the Lord's Supper By present and former members of the Church ; The Pastor and Rev. R. R. Booth, D.D., officiatinf AT 8 o'clock. C Jylznuet zn ) Organ Prelude, < a n/r • \ Henry Smart. I A Major ^ ^ Anthem, . . . Agnus Dei . . . Tours. Invocation. Hymn No. 294. Scripture Reading. Prayer. r\^^^^r^ S Alto Solo — O Rest It.. , , , Offertory,^ . ,rr^,.. ,,> Mendelssohn. ( intlieLord\hlijah) ) Address by Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D., Pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Hymn No. 919. Address by Rev. W. R. Huntington, D.D., Pector of Grace Church. rA..^^ S Soprano and Alto — The > ^ Uuet, { ^ > Greatorex ( J^ord is my Ci hep herd > Address by Rev. Edward Judson, D.D., Pastor of Judson Metnorial Church. Hymn No. 1004. Prayer and Benediction. Postlude, . March in F Major . Gounod. NOVEMBER TWENTY -FIFTH, AT 8 o'CLOCK. SERVICE COMMEMORATIVE OF MERCER STREET CHURCH. Organ Prelude, . Andante in F Major . Wely Anthem, . Cantate Do7ni7io in C Buck. Hymn No. 952. Scripture Reading. Prayer. Address by Rev. George L. Prentiss, D.D, f, c \ Glory to Thee, my } ^ , Soprano Solo, < ^ -; , . ,^. , > Cjounod. i God, this Night S Address by Wm. Allen Butler, LL.D. Hymn No. 326. Address by Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D. i I'm a Pilgrim, ) Anthem, < .^ vj i - Marston. ( / m a Stranger ^ Address by Rev. Erskine N. White, D.D. Hymn No. 21 7. Benediction. Organ Postlude, March in D Major, Guilmant. Cuejsiiat Afternoon ♦ NOVEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH, AT 3 o'CLOCK. SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. AT THE CHURCH HOUSE. Hymn. Prayer. Report of the Fifty Years' Work, By the Recording Secretary. Address by Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D.D. Hymn. tea served at four o'clock. AT 8 o'clock. Organ ( Canzo7ietta ) . • , r> • ^- / \\ m. Adrian Smith. rRELUDE, I in G ) Anthem, -^Vw^ Alleluia forth Buck. Invocation. Hymn No. 1059. Scripture Reading. Prayer. _ ( Alto and Bass — ) Duet, < -/v t ^ ■ r i4 i - Buck. I 1 lie Lord IS my tig/it ) THE FIRST QUARTER- CENTURY OF UNIVER- SITY PLACE CHURCH. Address by Rev. Arthur Potts, D.D. Hymn No. 924. THE UNITED CHURCH. Address by Rev. Robert R. Booth, D.D. Hymn No. 925. Benediction. Organ Postlvde, //a llelujal/ C/zorus . Handel. reception and collation. NOVEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH, AT 8 o'CLOCK. COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE. By the Church Sabbath-school, with Deputations from Emmanuel Chapel School and Bethlehem Chapel School. Hymn, Processional, 725. Anthem, by the Choir, O co7ne, let us sing, Tours. Invocation. Responsive Reading. Hymn No. 308. Remarks by the Superintendent of Church Sab- bath-school. Hymn No. 331. Address, Origin and Growth of Emmanuel Chapel School, by Mr. Otis W. Booth. Address, Origin and Groivth of Bethlehem Chapel School, by Rev. Herbert Ford. Hymn No. 729. Address by Rev. Thomas Marshall, D.D. Address by Rev. David J. Burrell, D.D. Hymn No. 1161. Benediction. C ]\^arch tit ) PosTLUDE, \ c M ' ( W"^- Adrian Smith. NOVEMBER 28, AT II o'CLOCK A.M. NATIONAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE. C Largo and Allegro ) Organ Prelude, < ■ r- 7tr ■ ' / Haydn. ( in C Major ') ^ Anthem, Break fot'tJi into joy King. Invocation. Hymn No. 142. Scripture Reading. Prayer. Offerings for the Needy, dispensed fJirough the Two Missions of t lie Church. Anthem, . Harvest Hymn . Hafscom. Hymn No. 123. Sermon, dy the Pastor. Anthem, . . O come, let us sing . . Tours. Prayer. Hymn No. i 161. Benediction. PosTLUDE, . . Alleg7'o ill B fiat . Haydn. Sunday, November 24TH. ^ertice at ii a.tn» Commemorative Sermon by the Pastor. ^ertice at 4 p* n\. Communion. ^ertice at 8 p» m* Addresses by Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. Rev. W. R. Huntington, D.D., Rector of Grace Church. Rev. Edward Judson, D.D., Pastor of the Judson Memorial Church. Sunday Morning. 3^b, (^corge ^[icranber, 2D» 2D., ^a^tot* Remember them that had the rule over you, which spake unto YOU THE word OF GOD ; AND CONSIDERING THE ISSUE OF THEIR life, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and forever. Hebrews xiii. 7-8. (Revised Version). JHIS epistle has neither address nor sig- nature. It is as difficult to fix the precise date of its composition as to determine its authorship. Internal evidences point to the conclusion that it was intended for the church at Jerusalem, the mother church of Christendom, and that it was written shortly be- fore the destruction of the Jewish capital. Nearly half a century had passed since Pentecost. The church was beginning to have a history. Christian memories, Christian traditions, the unwritten biog- raphies of saints and martyrs were beginnings to create a Christian atmosphere. The migrhty spiritual impulse to wliich the church owed its origin had spent something of its energy. The gifts of the spirit had be- come less extraordinary and startling. But a new force was beginning to make itself felt; the inspiring and restraining influence of those who, being dead, are yet eloquent. What a list of worthies that church at Jerusalem had on its muster-rolls! It included the fathers and foun- ders of the faith. Jesus himself had gathered its charter members. The twelve were its first offi- cers. Peter and John were its great preachers; James its first president ; Stephen its proto-mar- tyr. These fathers and founders had for the most part fallen asleep, but the benediction of their lives remained as a priceless legacy. To the sentiment of veneration for the past, for the service and example of the holy dead, the writer of this epistle now appeals. He would bring the church of the present under the spell of her own history, that the examples of her de- parted leaders and teachers might not only min- ister to divine conservatism, but furnish incitement to godly achievement. Very significant is the confession of faith which the apostle links with his pious exhortation : "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day 19 and forever." "The fathers, where are they?" "They are done with hfe below." On the church visible, as on all things earthly, is im- pressed the law of change. Even in the annals of the saintly, "one generation goeth and another Cometh"; but the Saviour, in whom they trusted and in whom they lived, is "the same yesterday, and to-day and forever." Our text thus indicates the double source from which springs the glory of the church and the pledge of its perpetuity — the unchangeableness of her divine Lord and the example of faithful lives brought to a glorious is- sue through faith in Him. The counsel given to the church at Jerusalem deserves to be commended to every church whose founders have gone to their reward. A church, like an individual, is heir of all its past. The cor- porate life of a religious community is shaped by the character and work of its early leaders, and in turn influences the life and work of every one who shares its inspirations. In the days just before us, we are to put our- selves into communion with our spiritual ances- tors. May the church of our affection, like the body that touched the bones of Elisha, spring into newness of life by virtue of contact with the relics of its sires. I must not intrude upon the province of those who are to present its annals in orderly review. 20 Let me simply weave together a few of those scattered memorials which should especially pro- voke us to emulate the faith of them tliat sleep. We have a double ancestry. Two confluent streams contribute to the sum of qualities which constitute the genius of University Place Church. To describe them is a delicate task to perform in the presence of many whose memories run back along these divergent lines of history, which are to-day our common heritage. Fifty years ago this stately edifice, which had been completed during the previous summer, stood on the northern verge of a rapidly expand- ing city. It was almost immediately filled with a compact congregation. Within a month after the organization of the church, it numbered nearly two hundred communicants, most of them for- merly members of the church in Duane street, now the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The Mercer Street Church, two or three blocks away, was just completing the first decade of its exist- ence with a membership roll that had increased from twenty-eight to five hundred. These churches were planted in the midst of a community unex- celled in this or in any other city. Ihey were ot a native stock, American through and through. Some were New Yorkers by birth, some were from the States farther south, but the predominant element was of that New England type which in 21 the first half of the century did so much to estab- lish the commercial supremacy of this imperial city. Dr. Prentiss has said that " the Mercer Street Church then contained many members whose names were known and honored the world over, in spheres of business, professional life, lit- erature, philanthropy, and religion." The same might be said of the congregation that worshiped here. Within an area of half a mile square was an aggregation of people such as no American city can hope to see again within the same com- pass. The seventeen men who comprised the asso- ciation which erected this edifice have all passed away. Of those who, ten years earlier, planned and executed the enterprise of building Mercer Street Church, two survive, whose lives almost span the century — Charles H. Booth, of Englewood, and that Nestor of our civic life, Charles Butler. I leave to others the task of naming and char- acterizing the choice spirits who were the leaders of these two bands. The list includes more than half the founders of Union Seminary, and the leading factors in a half score of other institutions that have blessed the municipality, and extended their influence to the bounds of the earth. Mer- chant princes, whose commerce flioated on every sea, bankers of international repute, governors of the State, who adorned that high office, physi- cians, jurists, journalists, who were leading the 22 thought of their respective professions, — such were the materials that entered into the struc- ture of these households of faith. Each of the two churches bejj^an its life under the guidance of a minister peculiarly fitted, b\' gifts and training, to direct the thinking and Christian activity of such a community. George Potts, the first pastor of University Place Church, a man of northern birth and education, had been called ten years previous from a Mississippi par- ish to the Duane Street Church, where his pas- toral experience had added to the power and reputation which his broad scholarship, command- ing form, superb voice, and courtly bearing had previously established. An old -school Presby- terian of moderate type, without narrowness or acerbity, a man of profound convictions, of gener- ous and tender sensibilities, an eloquent preacher, wise and faithful in pastoral service, he put upon the church, in his twenty years of service, a stamp which his brilliant successor, in the comparatively short ministry of five years, could not essentially modify. Yonder mural tablet, which records the veneration of his people, contains pathetic allu- sion both to his labor and his sorrows: "In the harvest thou shalt rest." " He that goeth forth bearing precious seed and weeping shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him." it may not be easy for the appointed historian 23 of the University Place Church to speak of an- other potent factor in the pastor's home and in the spiritual life of his charge — a daughter, rare and radiant, instinct with spiritual vitality, whose se- raphic voice, pealing forth from the choir loft yon- der, ministered to others what she so largely in- herited herself, "the far-off increment of tears." Thomas H. Skinner, the first pastor of Mercer Street Church, was a man of different mould from his neighbor on University Place. He was a southern man by birth, called from a professor- ship in a New England seminary, a new-school theologian of moderate and irenic type, with splen- did intellectual furnishing, and yet more richly endowed with the graces of the spirit; a man who, wrestling with God, and wrestling with powers of darkness, issued from that struggle transparent, childlike, holy. Horace Bushnell, the most original theologian which this country has produced, said of him: "I have never seen, doubtless I shall never see, knowing him to be such, so holy a man." While he challenged the intellect of his cultured hearers, he captivated their hearts with an unction from the Holy One. The spirit of his ministry is expressed in a peti- tion which one of his students has remembered and preserved : " Oh, Lord, grant that every one of us may save some souls before we die." His face was that of a man who walked with God, 24 and who pleaded with men. Lookinc:^ upon him as he lay coffined, a choice spirit, who still aljides with us, was constrained to say: " Not now, as oft, do I his face behold, The inan of gentle will and courtly mien, The thoughtful student, earnest yet serene. Or preacher, by whose lips God's truth was told, And in such way with him our eyes have seen Days like to that of Pentecost of old ! I see him rather as a little child Aglow with love, and crowned with simplest grace, With faith that fear and doubt had not defiled, And to his loving Lord so reconciled, He dwelt within the smiling of His face. I think in midst of us Christ gave him place. To teach, as once before, that such as he They must become who would his kingdom see." ' An interval of only two or three years sepa- rated his pastorate from that of a man of kindred spirit, who will to-morrow night tell the story of the church he served. It will scarcely be possible for him to speak of those personal histories and experiences which enabled him in the first year of his ministry to put upon that church so lasting an impress. The soil of a southern grave still lay loosely upon the coffin of his only brother, that brilliant and chivalric genius, S. S. Prentiss, of whose oratory Daniel Webster once said, " No- 1 A, D. F. Randolph. 25 body can equal that." In the pastor's own home, that gifted author who has helped so many thou- sands in their "stepping heavenward" was watch- ing the ebbing of a young life, and schooling her heart to say : " Blest child ! dear child ! For thee is Jesus calling ; And of our household thee — and only thee ! Oh, hasten hence ! to His embraces hasten ! Sweet shall thy rest and safe thy shelter be. " Thou who unguarded ne'er has left our threshold, Alone must venture now an unknown way; Yet, fear not !• Footprints of an Infant Holy Lie on thy path. Thou canst not go astray.'' In such valleys of Baca are often found the springs of abiding comfort and power. But we must not linger over the record of those who spoke the word of God to that vanishing generation. We turn to note some of the fruits and issues of their lives. The ardor of their flame kindled many another torch. Of the more than six thousand communi- cants who have held membership in this church and the two former churches during those sixty years, upward of sixty have entered the gospel ministry. Of these I might mention Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D., Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brook- lyn; Rev. George D. Baker, D.D., Pastor of the 4 26 First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia; Rev. Charles H. Baldwin, D.I)., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Amsterdam ; Rev. David J. Burrall, D.I)., Pastor of tlu- Collegiate Re- formed Church of this city ; Rev. Lewis R. Foote, D.D., Pastor of the Throop Avenue Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn ; Rev. Hiram C. Haydn, D.D., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland; Rev. James H. Taylor, D.D., Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Rome ; Rev. Erskine N. White, D.D., Secretary of the Board of Church Erection, not to speak of others scarcely less notable in character and service. In midsummer of last year, a gentleman came forward at the close of the morninpf service and said: "I am a pilgrim and a stranger. I arrived this morning by the steamer from Havre, and have been sitting in the corner of the gallery yonder, where I heard the last sermon before my conversion, and the first sermon after my conver- sion, both on the same day." It was Theodore Monod, the leading spirit and best-known pastor in the Reformed Church of France to-day. As we passed into the chapel, he said : " There I sat while Charlie Lloyd prayed so earnestly for me." We knelt together in the consecrated spot, then parted, and I saw his face no more. Another evidence of evangelistic energy is fur- nished by the history of the home missionary en- 27 terprises which we, as a church, have inherited. Before the University Place Church had been a month in existence, its honorable women, not a few, banded themselves together in a missionary organization which has survived the vicissitudes of a half century, and celebrates its jubilee with undiminished vitality. A little later a mission school was started, which under adverse circum- stances, that would have extinguished any ordi- nary enterprise, has by the sheer energy of pray- erful and unconquerable purpose struggled forth into a wealthy place. Mercer Street Church started upon the same line of effort about five years later, but the move- ment when it came was mighty and significant. Forty-four years ago to-morrow night, that church assembled at the pastor's call to consider the question, " What are our duties in relation to the spiritual necessities of this city and vicinity?" The conclusion reached, after several meetings, was expressed in this resolution : " That it is our duty as a church and congregation to adopt im- mediate and efficient measures for carrying the gospel to the destitute of our city." The charac- ter of that conference may be inferred from the fact that its presiding officer was a statesman who had served in the Federal cabinet as head of the Department of Justice, and afterward of the De- partment of War. That magnificent body of men 28 and women, whose names will be repeated during these commemorative days, devised a compre- hensive scheme of city evangelism, which marks an era in the reliiifious activities of New York. Its permanent result, so far as concerns the pres- ent life of this church, is that crown jewel of our realm, Emmanuel Chapel. But "the field is the world." We glance for a moment at the fruits of a wider evangelism. Twelve or more from the membership of this church have gone forth to foreign missionary service, among the Indians of our own land, in Syria, in Asia Minor, in India, Siam, China, and South Africa. Some have finished their course in faith, others are still enduring hardness as good soldiers of the Cross. Let me cite one example from each of the two former churches. Katharine Parker, a daughter of the most eminent surgeon in the land, enriched with all that wealth and cul- ture and social privilege could bestow, freely sac- rificed it all, and with her husband — also a mem- ber of this church — plunged into the gloom of the Dark Continent, consecrating her life to the task of helping to relieve its awful savagery. The other example I cull from the annals of Mercer Street. George Bowen, reared in afflu- ence, a litterateur, a philosopher, an infidel, was converted with a mighty conversion, and became, by God's grace, one of the most remarkable mis- 29 sionaries of modern times. Of him, Dr. Hanna, the eminent Scotch divine, has said: "He exhib- ited a degree of self-sacrificing" devotion to which there is perhaps no existing parallel in the whole field of missionary labor." As unworldly as John the Baptist, as fervent in spirit as Xavier, his sanc- tity commanded the homage of the heathen in the bazaars of Bombay. Even in his student days he started in Union Seminary a wave of missionary enthusiasm which is to-day breaking on every heathen shore. To later events and actors I may not refer, ex- cept to indicate the origin of that spirit of charity and forbearance and unity which has kept us as a church peaceful and patient amid warring forces and in troublous times. As I have indicated, University Place Church was Old School, con- servative ; Mercer Street Church was New School, and liberal. Twenty-five years ago the surge of city population had left both somewhat de- pleted and threatened with removal or extinction. It was a time when the turbulent passions of civil strife had settled into a great calm, and the power of the Holy Ghost was fusing into oneness the hearts of theologians, whose heads never could agree. God grant that such days may speedily return. The two great denominations, which had stood apart for a generation, touched by a spirit of magnanimity and fraternal confidence, 30 came together with great joy. Under the im- pulse of that heavenly afflatus, University Place Church and Mercer Street Church became one. The story of their union will be told by the one above all others fitted to tell it, the pastor of the Mercer Street Church and of the united church, who with rare skill welded the diverse elements into an enduring fabric, and into whose labors it has been my privilege to enter. Brethren, the past at least is secure. We have been communing — in these days of retrospect we are yet to commune — with the heroic and the holy. Thank God, they are our saints and heroes. When our coward hearts fail us, and our half- con- secrated lives put us to shame, let us remember that their Saviour is our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. New duties, new opportunities, confront us. New grace will be granted us from the fountain of grace. The spir- its of the glorified incite and solicit us; "where- fore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, — " and theirs. Sunday Evening. 9[Dtirc^^ tip tljc HAT mighty dreamer, whose cell in Bed- ford Jail became a second Patmos all aglow with celestial visions, has pictured the heaven-bound pilgrim at one stage of his jour- ney as nearing the doorway of a beautiful man- sion. The King had erected on the roadside this house of rest for the refreshing of travelers to the Celestial City. Beneath its roof-tree there was the solace of genial companionship. Its board was laden with appetizing and invigorating viands. It contained an armory to panoply the traveler for encounter with any who might challenge his ad- vance. From its lofty towers there was an exhil- arating prospect of the gleaming spires and bat- tlements of the far-away city of the King. As we gather to-night within the shelter of these hallowed walls, as our heart-strings vibrate with praise, as our spirits are uplifted with prayer, as our energies are quickened witli the touch of Christian fellowship, allegory passes into reality, and we seem to have met within the hospitable enclosure of the House Beautiful. It is a grateful task which I am charged this eve- ning to perform. As your pastor has already sug- gested, I come to you from the mother church o( New York Presbyterianism, to give her hearty greetings upon the completion of your fifty years of noble service for the Master whom we love. We are not bound to one another by the accident of neighborhood merely. There is a closer than a geographical tie between the " Old First" Church and the Church on University Place. There are fibers of kinship that are stirred when the story of either church is related. There is a flow of the same spiritual blood in our veins. The greeting which I am commissioned to brino- vou to-nijrht comes not only from the mother church of New York Presbyterianism, but from the grandmother church of the Church on University Place. For in the bygone days, of the First Presbyterian Church was begotten the Cedar Street Church, and of the Cedar Street Church was begotten the Church on University Place. It is therefore with peculiar satisfaction that I come from the ancestral home to bear to you our warmest congratulations, and 33 to send you forward with sucli utterances of aus- picious God-speed as it may be in our power to bestow. We congratulate you to-night upon the accu- mulated memories of fifty years. Half a century stores the coffers of a church with a spiritual treasure of recollection passing all price. Half a century of faithful laboring for Christ, of the plant- ing of the seed, of the maturing of the fruit, and of the garnering of the harvest, inscribes upon the tablets of memory a chronicle of deathless in- terest. I doubt not that, as you celebrate this memorial service, to many of you the vanished past becomes clothed with a reality that the actualities of the present cannot possess. Doubtless you are even now listening to the echo of voices that have long since raised the psalm of triumph before the throne. Doubtless, with a clearer vision than that with which you perceive the bodily presence of your friends, you are gazing with fond recollec- tion on faces that are bright and glorious, from having looked upon the unveiled countenance of God. Simply to recall the fact that for the space of fifty years companies of holy men have yearned toward this building as their spiritual Mecca, — that during fifty years a glorious cloud of witnesses for Christ have made this church their worship- place, have enriched its altar with the incense of their prayers, and counted it all honor to expend 5 34 in its service the energy of their lives, — is fit cause for festival rejoicing. Into this edifice have been builded spiritual graces and forces which the symmetry of these arches and the strength of these pillars can only typify. It was said by them of the olden time, that he who would leave behind him an enduring memo- rial, should dig a well. To the Oriental mind, the bringing of a cup of cold water to the relief of thirsty lips was a more monumental achievement than a blazon of imperishable bronze. History being the witness, such are the memorials that have defied time. The great lawgiver sleeps in an unnoted grave, but the traveler through the vale of Shechem may slake his thirst to-day at the well of Jacob. The splendor of the temple which crowned Zion's hill has departed, the de- bris of the past has buried it, but the tourist can still stand with reverent memory where the heal- ing waters of Bethseda are gleaming in the sun- light. And those who are to win immortality of renown, in such a metropolitan mass of humanity as that in which we are embedded, shall be those who bequeath to the aftertime a memory of help- fulness; not those eminent alone for intellectual superiority, not those conspicuous merely for social distinction, but those who, having transfused their life into such an institution as this, have opened a fountain of perennial relief for the thirst of the soul. 35 We congratulate you to-night upon the lesson which you have been teaching to the community for these fifty years. It has been at no little cost that you have founded and maintained at this place a church enginery of this character. The sum total of your altar-gift in dollars, expended through this half century, is a large and command- ing amount. It might raise, in this modern busi- ness age, a question that is no new one, " Why this waste ? " But it is a lesson never untimely, and to our age, and in such a city, of special per- tinence, that a free Gospel is a far different thing from a cheap Gospel. It is no little matter, in the way of municipal culture, for a company of people to persistently invest money in the production of noble and uplifting ideas, to devote hard cash to the perpetuating of lofty sentiment. The very closing in of business upon these down-town re- gions gives to the church that comes to be cen- tered in this maelstrom of materialism which swirls through the metropolis, an opportunity to proclaim with singular emphasis its witness to the imperial worth of the human soul. The very (act that over against the gateway of one of the world's busiest money-markets towers the spire of Old Trinity, affords to that parish an enviable van- tage ground for eloquent testimony to the surpass- ing value of eternal things. Sometimes we look backward to the Old Testament day with an al- 36 most pitying sympathy. Wc say, " How meager were the opportunities of that elder time. How cramped the horizon of spiritual view." Let us remember that from the very heart of that era there comes this throbbing watchword : " How- shall I serve the Lord with that which doth cost me nothing?" Remember the splendors of tab- ernacle and of temple. Remember the fine-twined linen, and the purple and the scarlet curtains, broidered with gold. Remember the carved ivory work, and the vestments crusted with jewels. These things were not for the simple gratification of the aesthetic sense. This people had beheld the majesty of Jehovah when he strode in triumph through the land of Egypt and made desolate the temples of its gods. This people had looked upon the splendor of Jehovah, as He led them in triumph along the floor of a conquered sea. This people had entered with Jehovah into his council-chamber at Sinai, canopied with cloud and paved with sapphire. They needed no visi- ble tokens to shadow forth the divine glory. They knew their King. They planned and toiled to lay before His throne the choicest and costliest outcome of their life. They brought the first fruit of harvest, representing the painstaking care of many months. They set aside for Him the firstlings of the flock, that had become most en- deared to the shepherd heart. They wrought Z7 into a sacrifice for Him the rarest thought of the artist and the utmost cunning of the craftsman. They were fain to make men see that the best they had belonged to God. The passage of the centuries have not rendered the exhibition of this principle needless. Well may your hearts be stirred within you as, remembering to-night that for fifty years, in the face of a popular senti- ment that has come to deify the dollar, and de- fine all earthly success in terms of coin, you have lavished of your wealth freely, generously, and with increasing sacrifice, as the half century went by, to make beautiful and glorious a sanctuary where the Father and his children might hold their tryst. We congratulate you upon the achievement of a fifty years' ministry of help. The atmosphere of a great city is ever quivering with the cry for help. From the sin -sullied that have dragged their garments in the mire, and are troubled when they think of God; from the broken-hearted who moisten their daily bread with tears, and from whom the light of the sun is hid ; from slaves of evil that, bound helplessly in habit's fetters, are cursing themselves and defying their future; from the despairing that have said good-by to hope ; from little children that have been rifled of their heritage, a good name, and have been sent into the world branded with an iniquity not their own, 38 there comes welling forth tliat ceaseless cr)' which long ago went whispering across the waters of the -^gean Sea, " Come and help us. Come, oh come and help us ! " During all the vicissitude of fifty years this doorway has been swung wide open, beckoning the earth-burdened into the calm and peace of heaven. And these vaulted roofs have been the gracious symbol of the quiet and the shelter that are beneath the "shadow of His wing." And these buttressed walls have been a hieroglyphic of that divine fortress into which the beleaguered soul may flee and be safe. And these aisles and pews have betokened that walking and resting in the consciousness of God's pres- ence which is the consummation of created being. There is an indissoluble link between our earthly and our heavenly experience. For many a day has Moses rejoiced in the blessedness of the prom- ised land of God. But never can he forget, even upon the summits of the everlasting hills, that bleak and solitary mountain slope, where the acacia-bush burned with fire, and God spoke with him, as a man talks with his friend. Samuel has been long a dweller in the temple which is on high, but never can Samuel forget that little sleep- ing-closet in the curtained sanctuary at Shiloh, nor that midnight hour when he heard his name spoken by the Lord. Our Lord, by a friendly visit, made the home-room of an humble Bethany family to be 39 more hallowed than the courts of the temple, and by a word he invested a simple platter of bread and cup of wine with a mystic consecration such as never hallowed the cherubim of gold that bowed above the mercy-seat. Therefore, friends beloved, we pray that the blessing of the divine presence may here abide throughout long years to come. May He who walked the paths of Eden in the cool of the day tread these aisles with you and speak with you in messages of thrilling invitation, of solemn warning, and of stimulating encourage- ment. May He who opened the Scriptures to the perplexed hearts of the discouraged disciples drive the shadows from your souls by the reveal- ings of His truth. May the Holy One who mitered with celestial fire the glorious company of the Apostles for their world-work, baptize your hearts with Pentecostal power. May this earthly home of your souls come to more and more foretoken that building divine, that House Beautiful, not made with hands, where communion with God shall be perfected. 3Rc\j. 3M» ISi. J^umington, £D.D. S you say, my dear brother, nothing is more human than to be neighborly, and unless the church has been mistaken all along in its interpretation of one of the most fa- miliar of the parables, nothing is more Christian than neighborliness. Neighborhood lays on us the obligation to "rejoice with them that do re- joice." That is why I am here. We are too apt to associate sympathy with suffering and trouble, but really the duty of sympathy is just as strong when our friends are happy, as when our friends are sad. So I set it down, as I do so man)- other things, to the credit of your pastor, that he not only extended to me this cordial invitation to be present, and asked me in, as it were, to help to keep the feast, but that he realized how glad I 41 should be to fall in with his suggestion, and to ac- cept his hospitality. This church, the Presbyterian Church on Uni- versity Place, and Grace Church across the way, are almost contemporary as regards the life of the buildings in which they worship. Grace Church antedates this church by many years, as an or- ganization, but their edifices go back to almost the same year, if not quite the same. So that we have our semi-centennial on our hands, as you have yours, only with this important difference — that ours is only the anniversary of the edifice. Yours is of that more important event, the genesis of the spiritual house. Fifty years ago two architects, one of them in mature life, and at the zenith of his fame, the other scarcely more than a boy, were busy in putting the finishing touches to the two stately edifices which translated their devout imaginings into form. Richard Upjohn had chosen to build in brownstone. John Renwick had preferred to build in white. But the atmosphere in which these two men lived and had their being were one and the same. They both loved the Gothic lines. They both believed that there was only one ar- chitecture that could express ideas distinctively Christian, and so although in a sense they were doubtless competitors, yet in another sense they made common cause. Since that day, the kindl}- 6 42 hand ol time has softened the whiteness of Ren- wick's church, and tlic chisel of the stone-cutter has, on the other hand, given a lighter hue to Up- john's church. So that there is no longer, between the two edifices, the difference that there once was. Meanwhile, the spiritual house, the house yon- der and this house, have, as your pastor has indi- cated, been growing closer and closer in sym- pathy. What have we in common ? We have many things different. What have we in com- mon ? We believe in one God, the Father, Maker of heaven and earth. We acknowledge one Jesus Christ, who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. We supplicate the in- breathing of one Holy Spirit, who is the giver of life, whose goings forth are from everlasting. Surely there is here a generous area where we, like the early Christians, may feel that we have in a deep and true sense all things in common. But you have referred, Dr. Alexander, to an- other bond of neighborly sympathy, and one which deserves mention. During the eleven years that you and I have been laboring in neighborly fashion, just here in that portion of the city of New York which has come to be known as "the part of the city below Fourteenth street," many souls have immigrated, and nian\' cinirches have emigrated. We are here. God grant that we 43 may stay here. I trust that the five or six churches that occupy the Hne of defense — the crosstown hne of defense — where you and I are stationed, may stay here. Outward conditions may change. Streets may take on a different look. Squares may be scarcely recognizable. Nevertheless, what remains? People remain — people. And it was for people's sake that God sent his Son into the world. I pray God that we may stay here. We are set for the defense of the Gospel. It is singu- lar that so many defenders of the Gospel seem to think that their call is to another part of the town than that in which they found themselves sur- rounded by all the needs, and all the wants, of which the human heart is capable. We have our differences, dear neighbors — our theological differences, our ecclesiastical differ- ences. You have your methods and instrumen- talities for work, and we have ours. But under- neath it all there is that common ground of which I spoke, which means the most. You have referred in your remarks to the preju- dices among the different denominations of Chris- tians, but thank God for the march of religious life in recent years. Presbyterianism represents the Scottish interpretation and conception of Chris- tianity. Anglicanism represents the English con- ception and interpretation of Christianity. It stands to reason that neither shadows forth all the 44 truth, or covers all the facts. Even now the re- ligious intelligence of America is feelini,'^ its way to something better than either, and larger than both. The greatness of England dates from the day of the union of the crowns. It was when the Scot and the Englishman struck hands, and ceased striking swords, that Great Britain became a fact, and Greater Britain loomed in sight. Great, greater, greatest. When shall Greatest Britain swing into our field of vision ? Only when what is best in all the Churches shall have been cast into the treasury of God, and the " United King- dom " of heaven comes with power. \A^:k^^i^^^^ Sbtirci^i^ lip tf)c AM sorry to have broken in upon this service. I could not come before. And I am sorry that I shall have to go very soon to another church, not sorry that I am going to that church, but that I am going to leave this place. I have heard what a glorious day you have had. I am only sorry that I could not share more of it with you. I always avail myself of such an opportunity to meet brethren of other communions than mine. It is when we come to- gether, and see each other, and our hearts beat in unison, that these denominational partitions get very thin. It is when we don't know each other, that we have to each other such an un- favorable look. It is like the Englishman that I heard of once, who was walking in a London fog, 46 and saw an object approaching him that he thought was a monster, but when he got close uj) to it, he found that it was his brother John. And so when we look at each other through these de- nominational mists and fogs, we may appear ver) monstrous to each other, but wiicn we come close together, after all it is just our brother John. It is the mist and the fog that caricature us to each other, and that is why we feel some- times so unkind. It is because we don't know each other. You remember how sad those great words of Tennyson's are, in which he describes King Arthur's last battle : Even on Arthur fell Confusion ; since he saw not whom he fought, For friend and foe were shadows in tlie mist, And friend slew friend, not knowing whom he slew. I want to congratulate this great, noble Church upon its staying quality. What a splendid rec- ord, that of fifty years ! I often think that what Christians in New York, in this great town of ours, need, is just that staying qualit) . I think that the secret of success in any profession is longevity, and good behavior. Just keep alive, go into a gymnasium, eat well, sleep well, hold yourself in hand, outlive your competitors. That is what this town wants. And I am glad that 47 this Church is here to stay, for it has stayed, and it is going to stay, and I am glad that it is going to stay down -town. There is a great difference in fields. God knows that it is hard enough for a church to grow anywhere in New York. There are some fields where the Church seems to grow of itself. But, friends, we have to fight every inch here. High deeds Haunt not the fringy edges of the fight, But the pell-mell of men. Like Uriah of old, we find ourselves here in the forefront of the hottest battle, and I am glad of it. I am glad that you are banded to- gether here for this good work, down in the lower part of this town. There are many things against us. A great number of people leave us, and go up-town, to Brooklyn, that "City of Churches," and to Jersey, and Yonkers, and all about these beautiful suburbs. I don't wonder that they go, but it makes it very hard for the few of us who stay. And there come, in the place of these dear people whom we lose, those who are not friendly to us. We have much against us. Many influences creep over the down-town churches, as in dropsy the water, little by little, creeps up until at last it reaches the vitals, and 48 smothers out the life. So it is witli the ma- terialistic and sacramentarian influences that are submerging our city, unevangelical forces that smother tlie life in us. We hnd ourselves in a great social swamp. The people have a saloon on every corner. \\' e catch their diseases. There is no escape from them. We must subdue them, or they will subdue us. One must be hammer or an- vil. And so, dear friends, I am glad that you are holding out here. I am glad that you have a Pas- tor with a heart set steadfastly, and that you are standing right by him. I rejoice in it. God bless you, and cause his face ever to shine on you. And then, too, I am delighted with the silent, unostentatious character of the work you do. Why, I was walking down Bleecker street the other day, calling on this family and that, and I came along to Bethlehem Chapel. I went up and rang the bell, and they invited me in very kindly. I looked about a little to see what you are doing, and then I saw a little light through a crack, and I said, "What is going on back there? " And they said, "There is a Band of Hope back there." And I counted one hundred and seventy- five children there that afternoon, I'Vida)' after- noon. They had an accomplished, scientific teacher, who was just holding them under a spell. teaching them of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thought. Grand old Church, what a work you are 49 doing! The Lord bless you in it! Remember, he himself bade us be silent sometimes about his miracles. He did not boast. There was nothing- sensational about his methods. Let us not boast about our work. Let us love each other. Let us join hands together, and so let us realize the difficulty of our task, and how we may work for our Lord, and have very little to show for it. Let us love him, for he first loved us. Say not the struggle naught availeth, The labor and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth And as things have been they remain. If hopes are dupes, fears may be liars ; It may be in yon smoke concealed, Your comrades chase, e'en now, the fliers. And, but for you, possess the field. For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main. And not by eastern windows only. When daylight comes, comes in the light; In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly ; But westward, look, the land is bright. I -1SM< REV. THOMAS H. SKINNER. D.D Monday, November 25TH. 8:00 p.m. SERVICE COMMEMORATIVE OF MERCER STREET CHURCH. Charles A. Davison, Presiding. Addresses by Rev. Geo. L. Prentiss, D.D. Hon. Wm. Allen Butler. Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D. Rev. Erskine N. White. f' "f ♦• •»■ Y •«• ♦• "»■ Y "»" "«" "*• "«■ ■«■ ■*■ ■«■ "f ■«■ •«• "«" ■ t" "«• ■»■ "J" •»• r '♦" ■*■ ■*• ■*■ ■» •«■ ■. * »■ 4 t t f i ^* Monday Evening. Charley %, SDa\ji3on, €0(1., prcsibing. SbtircjBfB ftp tifte l^ctj. (George IL* ^rntti?^, D.2>.' THE MERCER STREET CHURCH FROM 1 835 TO 1 858. HOST of grateful memories carry me back to the Mercer Street Presbjterian Church. The seven years between 1851 and 1858, during which I was its pastor, were among the happiest as well as busiest of my life. 1 This address was read by the pastor of the churcli in consequence of the enforced absence of Dr. Prentiss, as indicated in the following letter : "New York, Nov. 24th, 1S95. "My Dear Dr. Alexander: It is tome a keen disappointment that I shall not be able in person to take part with you in the commemorative exercises to-morrow evening. The occasion is sure to be full of interest, and I had set my heart upon being present. But I shall be with you in spirit and in devout good wishes. I send you also a paper, which you will kindly accept in place of the historical .address I hoped to deliver. " I cannot tell you how my heart has been touched and refreshed by the recollections whiili the prc'])arntion of this paper has awakened. The very REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D. D. 53 In many ways it was a remarkable congregation. I do not believe there was, at that time, another in the country that surpassed it in intelligence, in liberality, and weight of character; in the broad catholic spirit which marked its piety, in the strength and beauty of its family life, in rare types of personal worth and loveliness, or in Christian usefulness. The men who founded it, the motives which animated them, the religious state and tem- per of the times, all conspired to make it a shining- light in the world. The working of the voluntary principle in the formation and growth of new congregations is one of the striking features of our American religious life. While a certain uniformity runs through them all, their peculiar traits are apt to be as varied as the faces of the men and women who compose them. In no sphere have personal and social forces fuller play. How the congregations of New York, for example, differ in origin, in tone invitation to participate in your exercises commemorative of the sixtieth anniversary of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, set my thoughts hurrying back into the old church, the old lecture-room and the old homes. The names of Thomas Denny, Geo. R. Lockwood, Mrs. William G. Bull, Mrs. Anson G. Phelps, and Mrs. J. W. Wheeler recall and are associated with the most precious friendships of my pastoral life. " Allow me, dear Dr. Alexander, to send a most affectionate greeting to all those among you who were once members of my own flock ; to con- gratulate your whole congregation upon the signal favor of heaven shown to them in calling you to be their pastor, and to utter the fervent prayer that the fruit of your joint labor in years to come may be even richer, more abundant, and sweeter than they have ever been in the past. " Ever faithfully yours, " {Signed) Geo. L. Prentiss." 54 and temper, in the moral and spiritual atmosphere which envelops them, and in their whole individ- uality! The organization of the disciples of Jesus in the order, fellowship, and obedience of His i4"ospel furnishes matter for endless study and wonder. What a benediction and lasting power for good the earnest, full -orbed disciple becomes in such a Christian brotherhood ! Men of this stamp joined in founding and building up the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church. They were mostly of ripe experience, of wide influence in the community, and noted for wisdom and zeal in the cause of God. Here is the record of their names and of the first steps in the movement: On the 8th day of October, 1835, the following persons, namely, James Boorman, Eli Wainwright, Alfred de Forest, Lowell Holbrook, John L. Ma- son. Norman White, Roderick Curtis, Gordon Burnham, Thomas S. Nelson, Joseph C. Hunting- ton, George A, Bicknell, and Charles Butler, pre- ferred a request to the Third Presbytery of New York to be organized into a church, to be called "The Mercer Street Presbyterian Church," and taken under the care of said Presbytery. The Presbytery granted the request, and the Rev. Erskine Mason, Henry White, and Henr)- G. Ludlow, ministers ; and Abijah Fisher, David L. Lodge, and Rufus L. Nevins, elders, were accordingly appointed a committee to organize the church. 55 The committee met in the lecture-room of the University of New York, and organized the fol- lowing persons into a church, namely: James Boorman, Mary W., his wife ; Eli Wainwright, Mary M,, his wife; Thomas S. Nelson, Mary, his wife; George A. Bicknell, Emeline V. P., his wife ; Gordon Burnham, Marcia, his wife ; and Elizabeth Roff, from the Laight Street Church ; Lowell Holbrook, and Angeline Nelson, his wife, from the Second Avenue Church ; Alfred de Forest from the Brick Presbyterian Church ; Norman White, Mary Abiah, his wife, and Susan P. Dodge, from the Bleecker-street Church ; John L. Mason, and Amelia, his wife, from the North Church ; Joseph C. Huntington, Julia S., his wife, from the Bowery Church ; and Daniel L. D, Huntington from the Third Free Church. Lowell Holbrook, John L. Mason, and Norman White were appointed elders. Lowell Holbrook and John L. Mason were installed, and Norman White was ordained and installed. Around this original nucleus soon gathered and crystallized others of like mind ; among them some young men of mark who had felt the quickening touch of the great revival of the period, and were just entering upon noble careers in the service of the divine Master. Under its chosen leader the new church had hardly been organized when it began to be a great spiritual power, not in New York only, but throughout the country and round 56 the world. This chosen leader was Thomas I lar- vey Skinner. Born in North Carolina, then forty- five years old, Dr. .Skinner was one of the fore- most pulpit orators in the laiui. While yet a theological stripling, as it were, he had been in- stalled co-pastor with Dr. Janeway of the Second Church in Philadelphia, at that time the strongest and most influential Presbyterian church in the United States. For a time his sermons made an extraordinary sensation. The young, both men and women, carried away by passionate love and admiration for him, crowded the places of worship whenever he preached. But many of the older members of the congregation, leaders in society and in business, regarded him as an enthusiast and his methods as wild-fire. A bitter outcry arose against him, and for years he was an object of intense suspicion and hostility among the strong conservatives of the day. It was most interesting, a third of a century later, to hear from his own lips the story of these fierce conflicts between the old orthodoxy and the "new divinity" as it was called. These conflicts were the school in which some of the finest lessons of his piety were learned. After years of most successful labor in a church of his own in Philadelphia, including a brief pas- torate in Boston, he went to Andover as Professor of Sacred Rhetoric. This chair he filled with rare abilit) ; but the pulpit was still his throne. 57 Besides preaching in his turn in the chapel, he preached often on Sunday evening to the two Academies, in which were some four hundred young persons of both sexes. His voice was fre- quently heard, too, in the pulpits of Boston, New- buryport, and other places. He was already well known and greatly admired in New England, and wherever he preached crowds came together to hear him. It was the era of new measures, pro- tracted meetings and revivals, and Dr. Skinner acted on the maxim of proving all things and holding fast that which is good. His own account of a ''protracted meeting" at Newburyport, at which he preached, is very striking : " Newburyport (Whitefield's monument was here) was full of God's special presence. The meet- ing- ended on a Sabbath eveningr. I have not seen a parallel occasion. Male attendants occupied the pews ; females sat in the gallery. I never saw so interesting a mass of men. They were of middle age, very vigorous, healthful, masculine, intelli- gent, as closely packed as possible, not less in number, it was supposed, than a thousand. The large gallery contained nearly as many women. All the ministers, Presbyterians, and Orthodox Congregationalists, were present." He then, after consultation with the ministers, made an address to the assembly, urging immedi- ate acceptance of Christ, and signifying it by 53 standing; up, l>y themselves, when the prayer was offered. When the usual "Let us pray" was spoken, some five hundred men, and nearly as many women, were instantly on their feet. The scene was imposing beyond expression. It was estimated that as the fruit of this protracted meet- ing, about one thousand persons were received into the churches of Newburyport and that neigh- borhood. Thus were his labors in New England, both as professor and evangelist, preparing him for the crowninij work of his life. He came to New York in 1835; on October 25th of that year the church was organized, and on the 8th of November he was installed as its pastor. At his funeral Dr. Henry B. Smith spoke of "the ardent and pungent evangelism, the flam- ing logic, of his memorable service in the Mercer Street church, built by and for him." The words happily describe one quality of this service. But it was memorable for other features not less note- worthy than "the flaming logic" that marked his preaching. The Mercer Street church was called of God to act a very important part beyond its own pale, and I doubt if any other man then liv- ing could have taken Or. Skinner's place, and done his special work in this city. The great schism in the Presbyterian body was soon to oc- cur. The Union Theological Seminary was about to be founded. Dr. Skinner's history, the wei^rht 59 of his personal and ministerial character, his close intimacy and sympathy with Albert Barnes, Ly- man Beecher, Nathaniel W. Taylor, and other leading divines in New England and the Middle States, and his position as pastor of one of the strongest metropolitan churches gave him an al- most unequalled influence throughout the New School body, and also in organizing and shaping the policy of the Union Theological Seminary, as well as sustaining it in its early trials. And now what motives guided him and his people in their work? He himself answered this question in a very impressive sermon preached at the opening of the new church edifice. His text was that beautiful passage in the LXVII. Psalm: " God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us ; that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations." This sermon may serve as a key to whatever was best and most characteristic in Dr. Skinner's ministry : " The present times [he begins] are in many of their appearances and prognostics different from all preceding ones, and from nearly all, in this, that the Church has undertaken to evangelize the world. . . . Christians, to a wide and constantly enlarging extent, are becoming awake to the fact that evangelizing the world is a work which their Saviour has required them to attempt, and one 6o. which, by His aid, will be accomplished. It has accordingly been systematically entered upon. The jjrocess of planting Christian churches and institutions amon