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 Newkirk, Matthew, 
 The memory of the just is 
 blessed 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
/f..//^).^'/6, 
 
THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED." 
 
 A MEMORIAL 
 
 of mjcfe 
 
 OF 
 
 J 
 
 DEC 14 1911 
 
 £6/CAL seuv^- 
 
 MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 PREPARED BY 
 
 HIS ONLY SURVIVING SON, 
 
 MATTHEW NEWKIRK, Jr 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 CLAXTON, REMSEN, AND HAFFELFINGER. 
 
 819 AND 821 MARKET STREET. 
 1869. 
 
COLLINS, PRINTER. 
 705 JAYNE ST. 
 
"And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, 
 WRITE, 
 Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord 
 from henceforth : 
 Yea- — saith the Spirit- 
 That they may rest from their labors, and their 
 works do follow them." 
 
To 
 
 MRS. HETTY MASKELL NEWKIRK; 
 
 who, for nearly twenty-two years, was the devoted 
 
 and faithful wife of the subject of 
 
 this memoir : 
 
 dividing his sorrows — - 
 
 increasing his joys — 
 
 sharing his labors — 
 
 encouraging his efforts — 
 
 comforting his dying moments: 
 
 This humble tribute 
 
 of 
 
 FILIAL GRATITUDE 
 
 is 
 
 most respectfully and affectionately 
 
 DEDICATED. 
 
A NOTE 
 
 EXPLANATORY AND INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 At the suggestion and request of relatives and friends, the 
 work of collecting incidents and facts in the life of Mr. Newkirk 
 and presenting them in this form has been undertaken. The 
 object is not to exaggerate — not to place an undue value upon 
 the character and acts of the deceased, but so to group the 
 striking features, and so to present the prominent efforts, as to 
 encourage and stimulate others, and magnify the grace of God 
 which enabled him to be so faithful and earnest. 
 
 This little volume does not pretend to be a complete and ex- 
 haustive history of the life of Mr. Newkirk. It is simply a 
 tribute of filial affection made from the treasures of a memory 
 filled with blessed reminiscences, and supplemented by the testi- 
 monies of those who knew him well and loved him fondly. It 
 is the memoir of one who introduced religion into all his busi- 
 ness, and whose living and dying energies were consecrated to 
 the service of Christ in His Church. No one can wonder that 
 the memory of such a life is cherished. 
 
 The memorialist humbly asks the indulgence of all who may 
 herein recognize the pen of an admiring and grateful son. 
 
 Philadelphia : 
 
 1 300 Arch Street, 
 
 31 May, 1869. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Baltimore Railroad 
 
 Memorial. 
 
 Ancestral history of Mr. Matthew Newkirk 
 
 Early life 
 
 His mother's death . 
 
 Coming to Philadelphia . 
 
 As a soldier 
 
 First efforts in business 
 
 Marriages 
 
 Mercantile life 
 
 United States Bank . 
 
 Philadelphia, Wilmington, and 
 
 Coal interests . 
 
 Iron interests . 
 
 Financial embarrassments 
 
 Real estate 
 
 Educational 
 
 Temperance 
 
 Religious life . 
 
 Last illness 
 
 Lines by Rev. M. W. Jacobus, 
 
 Funeral .... 
 
 Services at church . 
 Address of the Rev. Alexander Reed, D. D. 
 Tribute from Rev. Dr. John Hall, of the Fifth Ave 
 
 nue Presbyterian Church, New York City 
 Letters of Condolence. 
 
 From Rev. W. H. Green, D. D., Prof, in Theolog 
 cal Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey . 
 
 From Rev. E. P. Humphrey, D. D., Louisville, Ken 
 tucky 
 
 B 
 
 D. D 
 
 LL 
 
 D. 
 
 PAGE 
 17 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 2 3 
 26 
 26 
 
 3 2 
 
 33 
 35 
 36 
 38 
 40 
 
 44 
 
 55 
 60 
 62 
 ^3 
 65 
 
 81 
 
 85 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 From Rev. Theo. Ledyard Cuyler, D. D., Pastor of 
 La Fayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, 
 New York 
 
 From Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D. D., LL.D., Allegheny 
 
 Pennsylvania ...... 
 
 From Rev. Dr. J. F. Stearns, Newark, New Jersey 
 From Rev. Dr. James Denham, of Londonderry, Ire 
 
 land . 
 
 From Mrs. Dr. J . ..... 
 
 From Rev. J. H. Mcllvaine, D. D., Professor in the 
 
 College of New Jersey ..... 
 From Rev. D. A. Cunningham, Pastor of the Spring 
 
 Garden Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia . 
 From Rev. Alfred Cookman, of the Methodist Epis 
 
 copal Church ...... 
 
 From Rev. S. B. Barnitz, Lutheran Church, Wheel 
 
 ing, West Virginia ..... 
 
 Resolutions of Condolence. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the United States, sitting in 
 Albany, New York, May, 1868 . . . . 
 
 Resolutions of the Session of the Central Presbyterian 
 Church of Philadelphia ..... 
 
 Resolutions of the Deacons of the Central Presbyte- 
 rian Church ........ 
 
 Resolutions of the Trustees of the Central Presbyte- 
 rian Church ....... 
 
 Resolutions of the Sanford Sabbath School Associa- 
 tion 
 
 Resolutions of the Presbyterian Board of Publication 
 
 Resolutions of the Board of Domestic Missions of the 
 Presbyterian Church 
 
 Resolutions of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School 
 Association 
 
 Resolutions of the Trustees of the Polytechnic College 
 of the State of Pennsylvania ..... 
 
 Resolutions of the Trustees and Managers of the Cam- 
 den Home for Friendless Children 
 
 90 
 92 
 
 93 
 95 
 
 97 
 
 99 
 
 100 
 
 107 
 108 
 no 
 in 
 
 IJ 3 
 115 
 
 117 
 118 
 
 122 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 The personal and domestic history of indi- 
 viduals is often largely traceable to the family 
 ancestry. The country from which the family 
 has come — the language spoken — the circum- 
 stances which controlled their migration to this 
 land — and their religious faith, are found more 
 or less to have moulded individual character and 
 action. 
 
 MR. MATTHEW NEWK1RK, 
 
 the subject of this memoir, was of a Huguenot 
 family from the south of Holland and the north- 
 ern provinces of France; and, as is well known, 
 the cause of their advent to this new country 
 was a conscientious and unyielding attachment 
 to the Protestant faith. The families of Du Bois 
 and Van Nieukierck sailed about the same time, 
 near the middle of the seventeenth century, for 
 
I 8 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 this country, because they were restricted and 
 persecuted in the maintenance of their religious 
 views and worship. They became intermingled 
 by marriages; and we discover in the genealogi- 
 cal table which has been carefully prepared by 
 some members of one branch, that the great- 
 granddaughter of Louis and Catherine (Blancon) 
 Du Bois, who arrived in 1660 — Elizabeth, mar- 
 ried Garret Newkirk, the grandfather of Mr. 
 Matthew Newkirk. The family name had un- 
 dergone some change, like many others of the 
 same nationality, by resid-ence in this land, and 
 had become simplified so that the Holland birth 
 is hardly to be recognized in it as formerly. 
 This stern and earnest preference for Protestant 
 doctrine, and this determination, which charac- 
 terized the Huguenots, to surrender and sacrifice 
 everything else rather than it has left its impres- 
 sion upon the family, not one of whom has as 
 yet erred from this old Reformed faith. If we 
 will bear in mind this item of history as we 
 review the life of an honored and honorable 
 member of this large family, we will be able to 
 explain and appreciate a Christian character 
 which has been formed under pious care. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 l 9 
 
 Matthew Newkirk, the eighth in a group of 
 nine children given to Cornelius and Abigail 
 (Hanna) Newkirk, was born May 31, 1794, in 
 Pittsgrove, Salem County, New Jersey. He 
 was named after a brother of his father, and 
 was the fourth who bore the same Christian 
 name.* The old homestead, which was a 
 spacious mansion, is, at this time, standing Sub- 
 stantially unaltered, owned and occupied by a 
 member of the family. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 As his parents and all of his brothers and 
 sisters are now dead, we have no sources of 
 information concerning his boyhood. Yet the 
 memory of his surviving relatives recalls many 
 remarks which he occasionally made in refer- 
 ence to his youthful plans and efforts. The 
 little leather-covered trunk in which he saved 
 
 * There remain two who have the same name — Mr. Matthew 
 Newkirk, a merchant of Newark, Ohio, son of Samuel Newkirk, 
 and a faithful and efficient Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church of that place ; and the writer, a Clergyman of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, settled in Philadelphia. 
 
20 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 his earnings — the improvement of his time in 
 labor while other boys were indulging in amuse- 
 ments — his desire for acquiring general and use- 
 ful information, are well remembered. 
 
 His education was limited — being confined to 
 such instructions as could be, at that time, 
 received in a country school, and to such seasons 
 as he could be spared by his father from farm 
 work. However, it is well known, and was a 
 matter of some pride with him, that in what 
 he considered the most practical and needful 
 branches of spelling, reading, and writing, he 
 excelled all others in the classes ; nor excelled 
 without great effort, because there were many 
 who struggled hard to gain the pre-eminence. 
 
 HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. 
 
 In the year 1802 he suffered that irreparable 
 loss, the death of his mother. He was only 
 eight years of age, and she was forty-five years 
 old. Doubtless this event had a great influence 
 upon him and made a change in his after plans. 
 Yet he remained at the old homestead, in the 
 daily pursuits of farm life, giving his help to his 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 21 
 
 father and sisters, and devoting any spare 
 moments to laying up some money for future 
 operations. He was diligent in his little stock- 
 yard and vegetable garden, from which he 
 gathered and sent produce to the Philadelphia 
 market, and thus obtained money to put in his 
 leather trunk. 
 
 COMING TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 In the year 1810, at the age of sixteen years, 
 he came to Philadelphia and went to live with 
 Joseph and Collin Cooper, wholesale drygoods 
 merchants (or jobbers, as that class are now 
 called), doing business at No. 39 North Front 
 Street. With them he remained five years, or 
 until he was twenty one years of age, learning 
 the business in which most of his after life was 
 spent. At first he acted as store boy, opening 
 and cleaning the store; subsequently he became 
 clerk and salesman. 
 
 AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 During the war of 181 2, Mr. Newkirk volun- 
 teered in defence of the country, and with many 
 
22 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 others from this city went, in the year 1815, to 
 Camp Dupont, near Wilmington, Delaware. 
 The English were threatening Philadelphia, 
 having a large fleet and army on the coast. The 
 portion of the forces in which he served was 
 gathered for the special defence of the city and 
 adjacent country. He was a member of the 
 First Company Washington Guards, First Bri- 
 gade, First Division, P. M., in which he was 
 promoted to be Corporal. 
 
 FIRST EFFORTS IN BUSINESS. 
 
 In April, 1816, he made his first independent 
 efforts in mercantile life. Entering into part- 
 nership with his sister Mary at No. 41 North 
 Second Street, he began with a small retail dry 
 goods store, and labored with diligence and suc- 
 cess. This arrangement with his sister con- 
 tinued until her marriage, soon after which the 
 partnership was dissolved. Mr. Newkirk then 
 continued the business on his individual account, 
 and very soon succeeded in securing a consider- 
 able wholesale trade. His active, industrious, 
 and energetic nature helped him to thrive. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 23 
 
 MARRIAGES. 
 
 On May 1, 18 17, he was married to Miss 
 Jane Reese Stroud, a lady of great beauty, who 
 lived only the brief period of twenty-one 
 months, dying with consumption. 
 
 On July 2, 1 821, he was married to Marga- 
 ret, daughter of George Heberton, Esq., a lady 
 of great personal attraction and of superior 
 Christian character. To them were born eight 
 children, four of whom died in early life ; of 
 the four who lived to maturity the eldest, Geo. 
 Heberton, died September 22, 1861, Mary Jane 
 Oliver followed him the next month (October 
 21), William Henry, the next in generation, 
 departing this life March 11, 1864, and Mat- 
 thew, the youngest, alone survives. 
 
 MERCANTILE LIFE. 
 
 About this time (1821) Mr. Newkirk formed 
 a partnership with William Y. Heberton, his 
 brother-in-law, under the firm of " Newkirk & 
 Heberton/' and carried on a wholesale and retail 
 jobbing trade at No. 95 Market Street. 
 
24 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 In 1824 this partnership was dissolved, Mr. 
 Heberton forming other business connections 
 and Mr. Newkirk continuing on his individual 
 account at the old store. Just then he proposed 
 to Mr. Charles S. Olden (since Governor of New 
 Jersey), with whom he had been acquainted for 
 several years, that he should delay for a few 
 months going to Nashville, Tennessee, where 
 Mr. Olden contemplated commencing business, 
 and remain with him a short time, as by his 
 separation from Mr. Heberton he was destitute 
 of needed assistance. This proposition was 
 accepted. Mr. Olden remained, and in the 
 summer of 1825 became a partner with Mr. 
 Newkirk — the former carrying on the business 
 in the city of New Orleans, where the firm had 
 a branch store, and the latter directing it in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Business partnerships were formed subse- 
 quently with Messrs. John B. Stryker, Francis 
 Hoskins, Ferdinand and Colson Hieskell, and 
 others. During his entire mercantile life he 
 took a special interest in young men, introducing 
 them into the commercial world and encourag- 
 ing them to form habits of industry and 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 25 
 
 economy. Some who were considered by their 
 acquaintances to be unsafe and useless became 
 under his training faithful and valuable men of 
 business. 
 
 In 1839 he retired from active business, and 
 closed his interest in the store, in order to find 
 improvement for the enfeebled health of his 
 wife in European travel. But her decline and 
 death (on November 23, 1841) changed this 
 plan, and he never saw the country with which 
 he had made himself very familiar by extensive 
 reading. 
 
 It was not possible for one of such an active 
 mind and industrious habits to remain unoccu- 
 pied. And, therefore, his subsequent life was 
 filled with duties and engagements quite as 
 arduous and urgent as any work to which he 
 had previously applied his abilities. The with- 
 drawal from a mercantile house, and the intrust- 
 ing of it to those who had been educated to it 
 by him, gave him the opportunities of devoting 
 himself more generally to public, charitable, 
 and religious affairs. In July, 1846, he mar- 
 ried Miss Hetty M., daughter of Edward 
 Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, who was a faith- 
 
26 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ful helper in all his labors, and who now sur- 
 vives him. 
 
 UNITED STATES BANK. 
 
 One of the earliest public undertakings of Mr. 
 Newkirk was in connection with the United 
 States Bank. During a part of its eventful ex- 
 istence he acted as a prominent and efficient 
 Director of it. Hon. Nicholas Biddle, being an 
 intimate and devoted friend, and at the same 
 time President of the Bank, influenced him to 
 take a large interest in this institution. Thus he 
 became acquainted with many prominent public 
 persons, such as Hon. Amos Lawrence and 
 George Peabody, Esq., and especially with the 
 Hon. Daniel Webster, who made his deposit in 
 this bank, and who intrusted Mr. Newkirk with 
 the management of his interest in it. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, WILMINGTON, AND 
 BALTIMORE RAILROAD. 
 
 Perhaps the most extensive enterprise in 
 which he engaged was the construction of the 
 Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Rail- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 2J 
 
 Road. In reference to this enormous under- 
 taking I will subjoin the words of Mr. Benja- 
 min H. Latrobe (Chief Engineer of the Road at 
 the time), who has kindly furnished me, in a 
 letter, an interesting account of the work. 
 . "The entire line between Baltimore and 
 Philadelphia was built under the charters of four 
 different companies, and no little skill was 
 required on his part to harmonize their action. 
 The one next to Baltimore, with which I was 
 connected, gave him no trouble in that respect, 
 for he furnished every dollar of the capital which 
 it cost, and his word was consequently law here. 
 The section of the route between the Susque- 
 hanna and Wilmington was more difficult to 
 manage, as the Wilmington people had contri- 
 buted largely to its construction from their more 
 immediate interest in it, and there were some 
 opinionated persons among the directory at that 
 place. Between Wilmington and Philadelphia 
 the work was carried on under your father's 
 immediate and undisturbed control, and with 
 consequent vigor. During the entire progress 
 of the construction of the whole line of one 
 hundred miles in length, which was accom- 
 
28 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 plished in little more than two years, your 
 father paid frequent visits to every part of it, 
 infusing his own spirit into every operation, pro- 
 viding the ample means required to carry it on, 
 and directing their effective expenditure. His 
 position as a Director of the United States Bank, 
 and his personal relations with its distinguished 
 President, Mr. Biddle, were necessarily of great 
 assistance to him in the financial part of the 
 undertaking ; and had the vast money resources 
 of that ill-fated institution been invested in no 
 worse way than this, it would probably have still 
 survived and flourished. 
 
 "My intercourse with your father during the 
 two years of my connection with his work was 
 of course very frequent, and always most agree- 
 able. . . . Although not an Engineer himself, 
 and making no pretension to a knowledge of 
 either the science or the practical details of the 
 profession, his shrewd good sense and sound 
 judgment constantly suggested hints in regard 
 to matters connected with the working of the 
 road when completed, which were of much 
 assistance to those who had the planning of it ; 
 for it must be remembered that this was a verv 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 20. 
 
 early day in the railway history of the country, 
 the Baltimore and Ohio, called the Pioneer, 
 having been opened with horse-power to Har- 
 per's Ferry only the year preceding that in 
 which your father took the eastward extension 
 to Philadelphia in hand. It was to his fore- 
 sight and ready appreciation of the superior 
 adaptation of the 8 -wheel passenger car to Ameri- 
 can railways that its early adoption on this line, 
 followed by its universal use on this continent, 
 was mainly due. My recommendation of it was 
 at first stoutly opposed by the Wilmington Di- 
 rectory, and it was facetiously compared to * the 
 car in which cattle were carried on the English 
 railways/ Your father, however, unmoved by 
 unsound argument and sneers, sustained my 
 report in its favor, and although the cars built 
 at Wilmington were at first of the old 4-wheel 
 pattern they were soon stuck together, two by 
 two, and so made like those with 8-wheels. 
 The leading features of the famous ferry-boat, 
 * the Susquehanna,' at Havre de Grace, were 
 also suggested by your father, and made (until 
 the last two years, when it was replaced by a 
 bridge) the passage of that formidable river as 
 
30 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 safe and easy in all seasons as it had been dan- 
 gerous and difficult in former times. The union 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Philadel- 
 phia railways in one central station was also pro- 
 posed by your father, and it was an unfortunate 
 day when, after years of successful co-operation 
 in this way, they were subsequently separated. 
 
 " If I am not misinformed, the system of 
 ' checking baggage' owes its original suggestion to 
 your father ; and I have not forgotten the occa- 
 sion when, in consequence of some disaster on 
 the road, the trunks of the passengers became so 
 confusedly mixed that no one could identify his 
 own property, it was your father who proposed 
 that property should be proved by the applica- 
 tion of the Keys. This he himself mentioned 
 to me the last time I had the pleasure of meet- 
 ing and speaking with him of those past occur- 
 rences of common interest to us both. 
 
 " As my intimate acquaintance with your father 
 grew thus altogether out of our connection with 
 the work referred to, my reminiscences of him 
 relate almost entirely to that part of his life as a 
 public man ; and in speaking of him in that 
 connection I have been obliged to speak of 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 3 1 
 
 myself in a rather egotistical way ; the main 
 object being to give him the credit so richly his 
 due as the chief promoter and I might almost 
 say (with reverence to the higher sense in which 
 the words are used in Scripture) ' the author and 
 finisher' of that great public enterprise which 
 connected at that early day two of the great cities 
 of the seaboard upon the shortest and best route 
 of which the country admits. To his character 
 and career as a merchant and man of business, a 
 philanthropist and a Christian, there can be no 
 want of witnesses to testify in a manner that will 
 perpetuate his memory for the instruction and 
 example of others. " 
 
 It is only necessary to add that Mr. Newkirk 
 was the first President of this important road, 
 which is still the only railway communication 
 between the largest eastern cities and the city of 
 Washington, A marble monument erected in 
 testimony of his great enterprise and success in 
 this work may still be seen standing on the line 
 of the road at Gray's Ferry, on the west bank of 
 the Schuylkill River, below the city of Philadel- 
 phia. And besides the improvements in cars, to 
 which Mr. Latrobe refers, it should be said that 
 
3 2 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Mr. Newkirk suggested and introduced other 
 conveniences for travellers, and as he believed 
 inaugurated the " express" system. 
 
 In this connection it is proper to mention that 
 Mr. Newkirk purchased and held for many 
 years the popular summer resort known as 
 " Brandy wine Springs" situated six miles from 
 Wilmington, Delaware. His family cottage at 
 this place was always filled with friends and 
 prominent invited guests; and the many families 
 who resorted to the hotel there for the summer 
 found it doubly attractive through his constant 
 efforts to furnish enjoyment and benefit. 
 
 COAL INTERESTS. 
 
 The Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad and 
 Coal Company owes much of its present prospe- 
 rous condition to Mr. Newkirk's energy and 
 perseverance in seeking to open the vast coal 
 fields of Pennsylvania. He was long connected 
 with this company, and devoted himself to the 
 development of the resources of the land in 
 Schuylkill County. The people of Tamaqua and 
 its neighboring districts will remember his inte- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 33 
 
 rest in their social and religious improvement, 
 and his success in establishing a public reading 
 room for the colliers and a church for their 
 higher benefit. 
 
 IRON INTERESTS. 
 
 About the year 1854, Mr. Newkirk associated 
 himself with a number of prominent and 
 wealthy merchants of this city for the purchase 
 of the large iron manufacturing works at Johns- 
 town, Pennsylvania. At that time the furnaces 
 were out of blast, and the establishment had 
 well nigh suspended operations. To revive such 
 immense works, and to carry them on at full 
 power, required a great outlay of money and 
 constant oversight. Mainly through his exer- 
 tions the necessary amount for the early opera- 
 tions of the Cambria Iron Company was raised. 
 Indeed much was contributed by himself and 
 loaned upon his securities that the enterprise 
 might not fail. 
 
 This was not a speculation. So many advan- 
 tages were to be found in Johnstown ; such 
 resources of iron ore and coal, such tracts of 
 3 
 
34 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 timber, such facilities for transportation by rail 
 and by water, that Mr. Newkirk's prompt and 
 far-sighted ability discovered a most desirable 
 and valuable opportunity to develop that region, 
 afford employment to the laboring classes, and 
 obtain remunerative returns for money thus in- 
 vested. 
 
 It was a vast undertaking for one who had 
 now reached threescore years. Still the ability 
 and perseverance displayed in the revival of this 
 old business, and its reorganization upon a larger 
 and. more liberal scale, exhibit an interesting and 
 important element of his character. No real or 
 apparent difficulty or sudden embarrassment 
 daunted him. He was confident of the ultimate 
 and abundant success of the undertaking. 
 
 In the year 1857, a fire occurred and destroyed 
 the main rolling mill, thus taking the employ- 
 ment from several hundred workmen, and 
 bringing distress into their families. In this 
 emergency Mr. Newkirk was not discouraged, 
 but urged a rebuilding of the principal mill on 
 a more extensive scale. The subsequent history 
 of the Cambria Iron Company and its profitable 
 remuneration of those who have been interested 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 35 
 
 in it were subjects of gratulation to Mr. New- 
 kirk. He lived to see his prophecies fulfilled, 
 and said often that in the not far-off future it 
 would necessarily become, under judicious man- 
 agement, more safe and profitable than it had 
 ever yet proved. 
 
 FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS. 
 
 About the year 1858 the money market was 
 very stringent, and loans of money called for 
 heavy rates of interest. The whole country was 
 disturbed by the general want of business confi- 
 dence. Nor did Mr. Newkirk escape this em- 
 barrassment. While he did not immediately 
 suffer from it, he found that his large invest- 
 ments in this company (which demanded heavy 
 sums to defray its current expenses and did not 
 yield profits for some time after its organization), 
 so crippled and distressed him that he felt 
 obliged, in all honor, to protect those to whom 
 he was indebted. In this crisis of his affairs he 
 sought eminent legal counsel, and upon their 
 earnest advice resorted to an assignment of his 
 property into the hands of a young man hitherto 
 
36 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 unknown to him, but an attorney-at-law most 
 confidently recommended as a prudent and effi- 
 cient administrator of his affairs. In the course 
 of two years all his judgment notes which had 
 been issued previously were satisfied, and the 
 remainder of his estate was transferred to the 
 absolute control and management of Mr. New- 
 kirk. While he would have preferred not to 
 have made this assignment, and was convinced 
 that he could have more profitably disposed of 
 his own property, he did it in order to prove his 
 anxiety for a complete and equitable arrange- 
 ment with all his creditors. 
 
 REAL ESTATE. 
 
 It was always a settled conviction with Mr. 
 Newkirk that real estate is the safest financial 
 investment. Accordingly he purchased large 
 tracts of land in different States. At one time 
 he was possessor of real estate in eleven States of 
 the Union, besides being landlord of perhaps 
 more dwelling houses in the city of Philadelphia 
 than any other citizen. In the year 1836 he 
 purchased the large lot at the southwest corner 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 37 
 
 of Arch and Thirteenth Streets (Philadelphia), 
 upon which he built the handsome marble resi- 
 dence where he resided many years and finally 
 died. The external appearance, which was such 
 a remarkable variation from the ordinary two 
 and three story brick houses of that day, and 
 the convenient internal arrangements exhibited 
 his architectural taste and skill. Although 
 erected more than thirty years ago it is still a 
 modern residence, and it would be difficult even 
 now to make any improvement on it.* 
 
 Mr. Newkirk was a member of the Commit- 
 tee of the Select Council of Philadelphia to 
 erect Girard College ; and here also he exhibited 
 his architectural ability. He was ever the friend 
 of public improvements. When the Fairmount 
 Park was planned, he urged the city councils to 
 be liberal in making it worthy of the city and 
 attractive to strangers. In aid of it he contri- 
 buted largely both in money and in some of his 
 real estate which lay adjacent. 
 
 * It is the first private residence in this city, we have been 
 informed, in which gas was introduced throughout the building. 
 
38 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 Although he never enjoyed a complete school 
 education, he was a warm advocate and friend 
 of all literary institutions. For thirty-four years 
 of his life he was an active Trustee of the Col- 
 lege of New Jersey, at Princeton, New Jersey, 
 where two of his sons were graduated. And at 
 the recent election of the Rev. James McCosh, 
 D. D., LL.D., of Queen's College, Belfast, Ire- 
 land, to the Presidency of that honored institu- 
 tion, Mr. Newkirk being the oldest living 
 trustee presided at the meeting of the trustees, 
 and had the gratification of seeing this eminent 
 scholar elected with great unanimity. 
 
 He was, also, a strong friend of La Fa- 
 yette College, contributed largely towards it 
 during its eventful career, and rejoiced in its 
 later successful history. 
 
 The Polytechnic College of the State of Penn- 
 sylvania almost owes its existence to Mr. New- 
 kirk's liberality and energy. Giving for many 
 years the use of a large building for the benefit 
 of this scientific school, and acting as its presi- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 39 
 
 dent for the sixteen years from its organization 
 until the day of his death, it is not strange that 
 he should be mentioned in the resolutions of its 
 trustees as "an illustrious and indefatigable co- 
 operator and friend of the public improvements 
 of Pennsylvania and of the sister States ;" and 
 that the cadets of this college should act as an 
 escort at the funeral of their friend and bene- 
 factor. 
 
 For years he acted as the President of 
 the Female Medical College of Philadelphia, 
 advocating the complete medical education of 
 women for their own sex, for practice in female 
 seminaries, and for foreign missionary work. 
 And when the college was united with another 
 similar institution, he was asked to accept the 
 Presidency of the Eclectic Medical College, but 
 declined. 
 
 To prove his interest and his firm belief in 
 this plan he educated, at his own expense, a lady 
 who practised medicine with great success until 
 her death. 
 
4° 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 During forty years of his life he gave his 
 cordial and earnest support to the cause of tem- 
 perance. As President of the "Pennsylvania 
 State Temperance Society" he exerted himself 
 with his characteristic energy and devotion in 
 holding public meetings throughout the city and 
 State. The fewness of the friends of the cause 
 did not deter him from laboring for its extension. 
 From his first adoption of these principles he 
 abolished in his counting-room the old habit, 
 which was in practice among merchants, of 
 offering wines and liquors to wholesale pur- 
 chasers. And we remember hearing him say 
 that one morning when he had poured out the 
 contents of his decanters, and had resolved to 
 abandon this injurious custom, the clerks 
 humorously tied a piece of crape around the 
 neck of the empty bottle. 
 
 His views on temperance were reduced to the 
 most unvarying practice, so that whoever might 
 be his guest, the only beverage offered would be 
 water, coffee, or lemonade. Rev. Theo. Led- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 4 1 
 
 yard Cuyler, D. D., long a personal friend of 
 Mr. Newkirk, has so well recorded this strong 
 element of his character that I take the liberty 
 of introducing here an article contributed by 
 him to " The National Temperance Advocate." 
 
 "A MODEL TEMPERANCE MAN. 
 
 "The temperance cause has sustained a sad loss 
 in the death of Matthew Newkirk, Esq., of 
 Philadelphia. He died at a ripe old age, on the 
 31st of May — his seventy-fourth birthday. He 
 was the oldest elder of the Central Presbyterian 
 Church; and, from his living in a marble house, 
 he used to be playfully styled the ' marble elder.' 
 
 " For many years he was the President of the 
 Pennsylvania State Temperance Society, and to 
 his dying day he loved the good cause 'with all 
 his heart, and mind, and strength/ He num- 
 bered the celebrated Henry Clay among his most 
 intimate friends. Thirty years ago, Mr. Clay 
 came to visit Mr. Newkirk, and spent several 
 days with him. His entertainer invited a large 
 company of the leading lawyers and bankers and 
 merchants of the city to spend an evening with 
 old ' Harry of the West.' A splendid supper 
 
42 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 was provided by brother Newkirk for his dis- 
 tinguished guests. All the luxuries of the 
 market and the confectioner were on his bounti- 
 ful table ; but not one drop of wine or brandy I 
 
 "Instead of intoxicating poisons, Mr. Newkirk 
 provided plenty of coffee and lemonade and 
 Fairmount water. There was a great deal of 
 cracking jokes that evening among the aristo- 
 cracy, about the ' cold-water party ;' and some 
 took up their coffee and tea, and drank each 
 other ' good health' with great gusto. The 
 next morning, when Mr. Newkirk went down 
 town, his friends met him, and said, 6 Well, 
 Newkirk, we have not got up so bright, and felt 
 so well after a party, in many a year. No head- 
 aches this morning ! We believe in cold-water 
 frolics; they don't leave any bills to pay next 
 morning.' 
 
 "This total abstinence entertainment to Henry 
 Clay was quite the town talk in Philadelphia, 
 and it produced a very happy influence. Would 
 that more men of social standing would follow 
 such a noble example! But the very fact that 
 this case attracted so much attention is a lament- 
 able proof of the general prevalence of the oppo- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 43 
 
 site practice. A temperance entertainment in 
 the so-called 'aristocratic' circles is as rare as a 
 glass of 'pure wine/ or a can of unadulterated 
 milk from a city milkman. 
 
 " The grog-shops are the finishing-offplaces of 
 the inebriates who begin their evil habits at the 
 social board. Every host who provides strong 
 drink for his guests is (unwittingly, perhaps) 
 a drunkard-manufacturer! The 'woe' pro- 
 nounced on him 'who putteth the bottle to his 
 neighbor' rests on his head. Of that terrible 
 woe, our honored and beloved brother Newkirk 
 died guiltless. We sympathize with the tempe- 
 rance workers of the Keystone State in the loss 
 of a man who carried his total abstinence into 
 his home, his church, and his social relations." 
 
 Mr. Newkirk allied himself with the benevo- 
 lent and charitable institutions of the city, and 
 gave much time and money to their support. 
 Nearly every afternoon of the week was spent at 
 the meeting of some society. The resolutions 
 of condolence with his bereaved family sent to 
 them after his burial and inserted at the close of 
 this volume, represent some of these institutions. 
 
44 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Advancing life with its infirmities obliged him 
 to resign many of these honorable positions. 
 He was not willing to remain as an officer or 
 member of a committee or society, when he 
 could not perform his allotted part. 
 
 His views upon the great question of protec- 
 tion to home industry and public manufactures 
 were very decided, having been early formed 
 and never altered. He did not hesitate to assert 
 that such protection is demanded by the most 
 vital interests of every branch of labor and every 
 section of our country. 
 
 In the late civil war his sympathies and gifts 
 were heartily and earnestly and freely given to 
 the support of the government. And yet he 
 rejoiced in being permitted to see the termina- 
 tion of the fratricidal strife, and the glorious 
 triumphs of the nation. 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 This was the most interesting as well as the 
 most important department of Mr. Newkirk's his- 
 tory. His strict integrity, his extensive benefi- 
 cence, his hearty sympathy with every good 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 45 
 
 work are all explained by his Christian faith and 
 principle. Religion entered as a very prominent 
 element into all his affairs. 
 
 Educated with strict care by Christian parents, 
 he was taught to become a regular attendant 
 upon divine worship, and to consider religion as 
 of supreme concern. And these first impressions 
 were never obliterated. In his early mercantile 
 career, though he was not a member of the 
 church, he was punctually present at Sabbath 
 services, and at the two weekly meetings (on 
 Wednesday and Friday evenings) of the Presby- 
 terian church. He has been heard to say that 
 for twenty-five years he was absent from only 
 two evening services. Even in "the busy sea- 
 sons" of his mercantile life, he would make 
 every other engagement yield to the more 
 important obligations of the house of God; 
 and though it might be necessary for him to 
 return to the store after the religious meeting, 
 he would make the temporal subservient to the 
 spiritual. 
 
 In the year 1821 he was the subject of deep 
 religious convictions. These were received from 
 hearing Rev. James Wilson, D. D., Pastor of the 
 
46 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 First Presbyterian Church read a hymn on 
 death, in which the following verses occurred : — 
 
 " When clammy sweats through ev'ry part 
 Show life's retreating to the heart; 
 Its last resistance there to make 
 And then the breathless frame forsake ; 
 
 "When vast eternity's in sight; 
 The brightest day, the blackest night ; 
 One shock will break the building down 
 And let thee into worlds unknown. 
 
 "Oh, come, my soul, the matter weigh! 
 How wilt thou leave thy kindred clay, 
 
 And how the unknown regions try 
 And launch into eternity ?" 
 
 He made a profession of religion December 
 13, 1832, in the Central Presbyterian Church 
 of Philadelphia, which had been organized that 
 year, and was worshipping in the Whitefield 
 Academy on Fourth Street. The duty of con- 
 necting himself with the church was urged upon 
 him by the late Rev. James W. Alexander, D. D., 
 who, on that occasion, rode with Mr. Newkirk 
 in his carriage to church. Dr. Alexander was 
 insisting upon an immediate connection with 
 the church, to which Mr. Newkirk replied that 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 47 
 
 he did not think that he could consistently take 
 such an important step while he was engaged in 
 an active and extended mercantile business — the 
 two, a profession in the one and practice in the 
 other seemed contradictory and inconsistent. 
 After he had sought thus to evade his duty, and 
 obtain reasons for excusing his neglect, Dr. 
 Alexander turned to him and asked, " What is 
 that to thee? Follow thou me!" (John xxi. 22.) 
 It was a critical season, but the decision was 
 made in favor of an open and cordial dedication 
 of himself to God and His service. 
 
 Mr. Newkirk's entire religious life was in con- 
 nection with the Central Presbyterian Church 
 (corner Eighth and Cherry Streets). He was 
 Secretary of the congregational meeting at its 
 organization in May, 1832. On January 26, 
 1834, he was elected a Ruling Elder in that 
 church ; on October 2, he was made a Deacon ; 
 and from the first election for Trustees on Feb- 
 ruary 5, 1833, to the time of his death he acted 
 in this office. 
 
 He was connected with the Sabbath school as a 
 teacher previous to his profession of religion, 
 but he was elected and acted as superintendent 
 
48 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 of the female department from the year 1841 
 until 1867, when the schools of the church were 
 reorganized and reconstructed, and he was 
 unanimously chosen to be the general superin- 
 tendent of the infant, intermediate, and adult 
 departments. In 1868 he felt that the infirmi- 
 ties of age unfitted him for the active duties of 
 his office, and asked the teachers to accept his 
 resignation. This they refused to do, insisting 
 upon his continuance in the office with the aid 
 of an assistant. Only two Sabbaths, however, 
 was he permited to act in this capacity — death 
 interrupting his plans and calling him to rest 
 from his labors.* 
 
 Mr. Newkirk was devoted to all the interests 
 of the Central Church, contributing in every 
 possible way within his ability to the comfort 
 and relief of its pastors — assisting in the improve- 
 ments of the church building and advancing 
 
 * He gave special prominence to instruction in the Westmin- 
 ster Shorter Catechism, not only in his household, but in his 
 Sabbath school. And one year his offer of a handsome copy of 
 the Holy Bible to any teacher or scholar who would commit to 
 memory and recite correctly the Shorter Catechism, was re- 
 sponded to by more than one hundred and forty persons. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 49 
 
 money towards the defraying of necessary ex- 
 penses. In December, 1867, he took a lively 
 interest in the alteration of the lecture-room, 
 suggesting and overseeing the changes, so that 
 he exhausted himself and contracted cold, from 
 which he suffered greatly. 
 
 But he did not confine himself in his Christian 
 labors to the sphere of his own congregation. 
 The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church appointed him one of its trustees in 
 1833, which office he filled till death. In 1838 
 he was chosen treasurer of the General Assembly, 
 in which capacity he served twelve years. 
 
 He was an incorporator and trustee of the Board 
 of Publication, and served for a time in the Board 
 of Education. But he felt deepest interest in the 
 Board of Domestic Missions, where he gave the 
 longest service, the most faithful attention, and 
 the most zealous care. The importance of the 
 work in our rapidly populating western field 
 interested him in proposing plans for the obtain- 
 ing of money to carry forward the operations. 
 Only those who were daily witnesses of his 
 anxiety and toil, and those who were recipients 
 of his bounties can understand the remark that 
 4 
 
5° 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 he engaged in this work of the Lord with as 
 much earnestness and zeal as though it were his 
 own private business. On two occasions, when 
 the board was suffering from financial embar- 
 rassment, he succeeded in relieving it. At one 
 time he negotiated a loan with a prominent 
 bank, and had each missionary paid in full with 
 the checks issued by the bank. His policy was 
 broad, liberal, and aggressive — relying on the 
 church to answer every sincere appeal made in 
 the Master's name, and relying on the great 
 Lord of the vineyard to furnish the requisite 
 laborers.* When he died, our home mission- 
 aries lost a sympathizing friend and a liberal 
 supporter. I cannot refrain from appending 
 extracts of letters received from some of the 
 faithful missionaries on our western frontiers ; 
 Writes one, he is "the same dear friend from 
 
 * From an examination of the records of the Board of Domes- 
 tic Missions I gather these interesting facts: Mr. Newkirk was 
 elected a member of this board on May 31, 1834, and served in 
 it until his death on May 31, 1868. He was a member of the 
 Executive Committee all of this time, excepting in the years 1859 
 and 1867; and acted as Recording Secretary from 185 6-1 85 g, 
 and from 1861 until his resignation of this office in 1867. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 5 1 
 
 whom we have heard encouraging words and 
 received material aid more than once. We too 
 have lost a friend in him. And so I believe will 
 many another missionary and missionary's wife 
 feel wherever they shall read the tidings of his 
 departure. An Apostle said of one, * She hath 
 been a succorer of many, and of myself also.' 
 So will it be said of him. The careworn laborer 
 in many a distant field will pause and sigh as he 
 hears that another such helper has gone." 
 
 Another writes : " God gave Mr. Newkirk a 
 high place in the church, and made him greatly 
 useful in the cause and kingdom of His dear 
 Son, and now He has but taken him to a large, 
 though free and gracious reward." Others have 
 written expressive of their sense of personal 
 affliction and bereavement in his death. 
 
 He felt it a privilege to contribute towards 
 the erection of church buildings in new fields, 
 and to the support of feeble church organiza- 
 tions in old ones. Many a minister can testify 
 to the cheerful manner in which he made a sub- 
 scription, when asked, to his church. In truth, 
 wherever he tarried he inquired about the reli- 
 gious privileges of the community, and aided 
 
r 2 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 largely in their maintenance. We need only 
 refer to his gifts to the Presbyterian Churches at 
 Tamaqua and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where 
 he had coal and iron interests. At the Brandy- 
 wine Springs (near Wilmington, Delaware), 
 where he spent twenty successive summers with 
 his family, he always provided preaching on the 
 Sabbath for the guests of the hotel, by sending 
 to Philadelphia and procuring the services of 
 some of its clergymen. 
 
 When he learned that in the town of Pitts- 
 grove, New Jersey (where he was born), the 
 congregation were sadly in need of a lecture 
 room and session house, he gave authority to the 
 trustees to erect, at his expense, such a building 
 as would be necessary and comfortable for their 
 use, which was done, without any dictation on 
 his part as to the size or cost of the structure. 
 
 Mr. Newkirk was a true friend and liberal 
 supporter of the Sabbath school cause, acting as 
 President of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath 
 School Association for a year, and urging for- 
 ward with his wonted earnestness the great work. 
 This association held their annual convention in 
 Pittsburg, in May and June, 1868 — made fre- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 53 
 
 quent and touching references to and prayers for 
 their dying and soon deceased President, and on 
 the day and hour of the funeral postponed their 
 regular business to engage in appropriate services. 
 And it was a beautiful and undesigned coincidence 
 that at the same time his funeral services were 
 held in this city they sang the same hymn which 
 was sung over his coffin — " I would not live 
 alway." They also sang his familiar and chosen 
 hymn — "Sweet hour of prayer," the closing 
 words of which always conveyed to his mind 
 such a happy idea that he would repeat and call 
 attention to them : — 
 
 "And shout, while passing through the air, 
 Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer." 
 
 That is the end of prayer ; then praise begins! 
 
 His Christian hospitality was a striking feature 
 of his character. He was very fond of giving 
 social entertainments to prominent civil and re- 
 ligious personages, and his residence was the 
 resort of a great number of distinguished men. 
 For many years past there have been in this city 
 few public religious assemblies, the delegates or 
 representatives of which have not received a 
 
54 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 welcome, and many found a home at his resi- 
 dence. He would entertain as many as his 
 house could accommodate, and would sometimes 
 even inconvenience members of his own house- 
 hold in order to provide for strangers. Nor was 
 it only on special occasions that he thus had 
 visitors. He kept an open door of hospitality 
 for many who came unexpectedly and who 
 knew of his genial and liberal spirit. 
 
 The last public entertainment which he gave 
 was at his residence on the occasion of the meet- 
 ing in Philadelphia of the Committees of the 
 Presbyterian General Assemblies on Reunion 
 (March 13, 1868). The clergymen and elders 
 invited came in large numbers ; but even then 
 Mr. Newkirk was hardly able, from failing sight, 
 to distinguish the faces, and in his declining 
 health he could scarcely speak a welcome to his 
 guests. Yet, notwithstanding these infirmities, 
 he enjoyed the communion of these Christian 
 brethren, and expressed his hope that a safe and 
 satisfactory basis for the reunion of the branches 
 of the Presbyterian Church would, under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, be soon reached. 
 
 All such gatherings were marked with appro- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 55 
 
 priate religious services, such as he considered 
 were becoming in a Christian family. Said one 
 who knew him long and intimately, " Mr. New- 
 kirk never trifled" — while always cheerful and 
 entering most heartily in every entertainment, he 
 never was betrayed into levity. 
 
 LAST ILLNESS. 
 
 It will be generally conceded, what the most 
 experienced physicians have often pronounced, 
 that Mr. Newkirk was gifted with a remarkably 
 strong constitution to endure the labor, fatigue, 
 excitement, and changes of a varied life. In- 
 dustrious and earnest in all his work, he was 
 withal strictly temperate and even abstemious. 
 When very dangerously ill at New Orleans in 
 1 835 with dysentery, he was urged to use brandy 
 and other alcoholic stimulants, but he absolutely 
 and persistently refused, and preferred a simpler 
 remedy which proved beneficial. Thus he pre- 
 served his natural vigor. Yet with advancing 
 years he could not resist the constant wear upon 
 his strength. His friends noticed the begin- 
 nings of physical failure. The quick firm foot- 
 
56 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 step became tottering and uncertain — the eye 
 which was so bright and keen to discern persons 
 and objects grew dim — the brain which was so 
 active in plans and projects began to feel the 
 effects of constant exercise — and he was obliged 
 to acknowledge that he was declining. Still 
 he did all that he could for the cause of the 
 Master. The last years were the ripest and 
 richest. 
 
 If he could not then accomplish much by his 
 own direct efforts, he was desirous of directing 
 and stimulating others. On the morning of 
 Sabbath, the 17th day of May, he attended the 
 Sabbath school of which he was the General 
 Superintendent. So feeble was he that he was 
 obliged to ride to the church and to rest several 
 times before he could ascend the stairs to his 
 room ; yet with this weakness and imperfect 
 vision he conducted the opening exercises, and 
 in a remarkably earnest manner urged the 
 teachers to greater diligence and devotion, 
 adding that he had determined to re-enter the 
 service with renewed zeal. It was his last visit 
 to that school, which he had so long and faith- 
 fully served. His charge to increased effort in 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 57 
 
 behalf of the souls of the children became, in 
 God's Providence, his Valedictory. 
 
 On the night of Thursday, May 21, he was 
 suddenly attacked with a violent disorder in the 
 stomach, and when his medical attendants were 
 summoned to give him relief, it was readily per- 
 ceived that at his age, with the unfavorable 
 symptoms of increasing blindness and pain in the 
 head, the bodily tenement which was broken 
 and tottering, could not much longer endure. 
 The physicians indeed were successful in arrest- 
 ing and curing this disorder, but soon discovered 
 that he was suffering from that most alarming 
 disease, the softening of the brain. Death 
 appeared inevitable. Mr. Newkirk was aware 
 of his situation, but was not at any moment 
 alarmed at the prospect. When interrogated as 
 « to his feelings and hopes, he expressed himself 
 most decidedly as resting simply upon the merits 
 of that Divine Redeemer whom he had known, 
 and loved, and served so many years. His faith 
 was strong, and his mind peaceful. 
 
 He loved to converse with those who called. 
 And it afforded him great delight to sing or pray 
 with those who would engage with him in 
 
58 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 these exercises. To every one of the family he 
 addressed words of comfort and blessing ; and 
 the last words which he uttered, were "God 
 bless the church" — "God bless the world !" 
 Then as the disease progressed he became weak 
 and unable to speak. And thus he lingered until 
 on Sabbath, May 31 — his seventy-fourth birth- 
 day — -just as the clock struck six in the evening, 
 his last faint breath was drawn — and he was 
 dead! He lived to spend that anniversary day, 
 the last day of spring, with his loved household, 
 and as the night came on, he went to that land 
 where the Sabbath never ends, and the congre- 
 gation ne'er breaks up. Such was his life — and 
 such his death ! the one holy, the other happy. 
 In concluding this memoir, I venture to 
 affirm that of few men it can be said, in review- 
 ing their lives, what we can honestly say of Mr. 
 Matthew Newkirk — that with his limited edu- 
 cational privileges, his humble beginning, and 
 his unaided labors he accomplished an immense 
 amount of practical good, and helped a great 
 number of weak and weary disciples, and inau- 
 gurated a grand system of beneficent agencies. 
 What the Hon. John M. Clayton, Senator from 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 59 
 
 Delaware, said of him is strikingly true — " Mr. 
 Newkirk will be known as a public benefactor 
 when his enemies are forgotten. " One monu- 
 ment would not be sufficient to commemorate 
 his virtues and his services. 
 
 And now, father, farewell : Thou hast been 
 faithful to me — a guide of my youth — a coun- 
 sellor of my manhood — an example for my life. 
 Bearing thy name, I will cherish thy memory ; 
 and I only ask that the mantle of thy faithful, 
 laborious, zealous life for Jesus may fall on him 
 who, alone of all thy children, survives to call 
 thee blessed. 
 
 Though dead, thou dost speak to us — through 
 all the agencies thou didst set in motion — as one 
 who was pre-eminently — 
 
 " Not slothful in business ; 
 Fervent in spirit ; 
 SERVING THE LORD." 
 
60 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 The following verses were written at the bed- 
 side of Mr. Newkirk, as he lay dying : — 
 
 LINES BY REV. M. W. JACOBUS, D. D., LL.D. 
 
 Like as a golden shock of corn is ripely gathered home, 
 
 Like as the full-orb'd King of Day comes glowing down the dome, 
 
 So, laden full of years and fruits, the veteran sinks to rest ; 
 
 The foot-sore pilgrim falls asleep upon the Saviour's breast. 
 
 His day of death is brought to pass upon his day of birth, 
 
 A second natal day is his, as he falls back to earth ; 
 
 Though four beyond " threescore and ten''' his earthly birthdays ran, 
 
 'Tis only now that he attains the highest birth of man. 
 
 Born by a spiritual birth, near twoscore years ago, 
 
 He 's born by a celestial birth, among the angels now ; 
 
 Born to a heritage of bliss, beyond the reach of pain, 
 
 Where sickness, care, and sorrowing toil, shall ne'er be his again. 
 
 A Sabbath birthday ! fittest, best, to be his day of death, 
 
 The Saviour's Rising day, for him to breathe his dying breath — 
 
 This Sabbath rest of earth, for him to enter into joy ; 
 
 The long week's labors done, to go where praise his powers employ. 
 
 Last day of Spring! when sowing time has wholly pass'd away, 
 When seeds cast in the furrow, shoot towards their harvest-day ; 
 When all the bleak winds, blown at length, have sigh'd them to a 
 
 calm, 
 And Summer comes, with fruits and flow'rs, for Nature's happy 
 
 psalm. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 6 I 
 
 Give him his choice of all the days, to have his life depart, 
 A Christian life, so brimming full, with works of hand and heart, 
 Spring's latest day on earth, to land upon the summer shore — 
 Spring's parting Sabbath day, to reach the Sabbath evermore. 
 
 Better to such an one the day of death, than day of birth, 
 The day of ent'ring Heaven, than the day of ent'ring earth ; 
 Better this putting off, than putting on, the coat of mail, 
 The day of coming into port, than day of setting sail. 
 
 While in the temple that he lov'd, ye worship well to-day — 
 He joins the church around the throne, to worship there for aye ; 
 He lies in state, and round the bed ye do not well to weep, 
 So God, with ministries unknown, gives His beloved sleep. 
 
 Just at the hour when lab'ring men come home from busy toil, 
 Their work laid down, their wages reap'd in products of the soil ; 
 Just when the sweet Spring Sabbath sun has come, at length, to set, 
 Without a sigh or struggle, the great summons he has met. 
 
 Farewell, the city and the church, the home he cherish'd long; 
 Farewell, the poor and the distress'd, whose tears he turn'd to song ; 
 Farewell, the widow'd, orphan'd, crush'd, whose many woes he 
 
 bore ; 
 Farewell, the Sabbath School belov'd, he'll never enter more. 
 
 He's found the City of his God — the Home above the skies ; 
 He's greeted now by many whom he bid that Home to prize, 
 And, with the children whom he joy'd to gather to the fold, 
 He'll sing Hosannas to the Lamb, with raptures all untold. 
 
62 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 The Spring already whispers of the Resurrection morn, 
 When in that glorious Spring of Life, he shall again be born, 
 When the expectant creature earth shall render up her trust, 
 And the enfranchised spirit shall reclaim its hallow'd dust. 
 
 The funeral of Mr. Matthew Newkirk took 
 place from his residence on Wednesday morn- 
 ing, June 3, 1868, at 10 o'clock. 
 
 Appropriate passages of Scripture were re- 
 peated, and a prayer was offered at the house by 
 the Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D. D., LL.D. 
 
 The procession moved in the following order 
 to the Central Presbyterian Church (Eighth and 
 Cherry Streets). 
 
 1. Polytechnic College students. 
 
 2. Clergymen of different Evangelical churches 
 
 (about twenty in number). 
 
 3. The officiating clergymen : Rev. A. Reed, 
 
 D. D., accompanied by Rev. Drs. John 
 Maclean, W. Henry Green, and Charles 
 W. Shields, of Princeton, New Jersey. 
 
 4. The elders of the church as pall-bearers. 
 
 5. The colored men-servants of the family. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 63 
 
 6. The family and relatives (in carriages). 
 
 7. The deacons and trustees of the church. 
 
 8. The teachers of the Sabbath schools. 
 
 9. Societies and associations with which Mr. 
 
 Newkirk was connected. 
 
 10. A large number of citizens. 
 
 The services at the church were as follows: — 
 
 Voluntary on the organ — (Dirge). 
 
 Singing by the choir — " Come, ye disconsolate." 
 
 Prayer by Rev. John Maclean, D. D., President 
 of Princeton College. 
 
 Reading selections from the Scriptures, by Rev. 
 J. M. Crowell, D. D. 
 
 Singing — " I would not live alway." 
 
 Address by Rev. Alexander Reed, D. D. — Pastor. 
 
 Singing — "How blest the righteous when he 
 dies." 
 
 Remarks by Rev. Prof. W. H. Green, D. D.— 
 Ex-pastor of the church. 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Prof. C. W. Shields, D. D.— Ex- 
 pastor of the Second Church. 
 
 Benediction by Rev. Dr. Green. 
 
 Singing by the choir — " Unveil thy bosom." 
 
64 A MEMORIAL OF MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 (The lid of the coffin was then removed, and 
 those who were present passed around it and 
 took a last look at the deceased.) 
 
 The interment took place at Laurel Hill 
 Cemetery. At the grave Dr. Reed offered a 
 prayer, and Dr. Maclean pronounced the bene- 
 diction. 
 
 "And so He giveth His beloved sleep." 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Rev. ALEXANDER REED, D. D. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 [The Rev. Alexander Reed, D. D., made the following 
 address, which is given just as it was delivered, without having 
 been revised or altered.] 
 
 Less than two short months ago we were 
 gathered here, amid similar scenes, for the same 
 sad service. Here lay an elder of the church, 
 and just yonder sat another elder, among the 
 mourners ; and he now lies here ! 
 
 Two venerable servants of God — office-bearers 
 in this house — overseers for this fold — intimately 
 identified with this church through its entire 
 history — universally known as our most active 
 and efficient co-workers — both asleep! both gone 
 from us to glory within sixty days ! " The 
 fathers — where are they?" 
 
 It is not strange we weep to-day. We are 
 desolate and sad — very, very desolate ! We come 
 like orphan children into this place this morn- 
 
68 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ing; for "since the fathers fell asleep" all around 
 seems dreary and full of gloom. Truly as a 
 family of mourners — enduring "sorrow upon 
 sorrow," we sit to-day again around the coffin. 
 
 Then we sorrowed over the departure of Mr. 
 Barnes — a father and brother beloved in the 
 Lord ; and to-day ', one who was born about two 
 months sooner, and taken away by a better birth 
 two months later, lies before us — whose name is 
 a household word wherever this church of God 
 is known. 
 
 Then Dr. Green, his former pastor and yours, 
 clearly and tenderly, with a loving heart, re- 
 viewed that character and life so eminently pure 
 and true and zealous ; and to-day it is my sad 
 privilege to remind you briefly concerning this 
 life now ended, and recount a little, as we linger 
 here, the goodness of God to him and to us as He 
 made use of him. Not that I would glorify our 
 departed friend and father — oh no! — but I would 
 "magnify the grace of God which was in him," 
 which made him what he was that was admira- 
 ble. It is of the grace of God as here exhibited, 
 of which I speak to you. 
 
 On the last day of spring 1794 Matthew New- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 69 
 
 kirk was born in Pittsgrove, New Jersey. After 
 sixteen years of country life with his parents, 
 Cornelius and Abigail H. Newkirk, he came to 
 this city in the year 18 10, and for more than 
 half a century has been identified with Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 In business he was pre-eminently successful ; 
 and amid all the changes of fortune of an event- 
 ful life never lost his buoyancy of spirit or in- 
 domitable energy. 
 
 He occupied many important stations and 
 posts of responsibility, as I learn more and more 
 from the public prints. He was the first Presi- 
 dent of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and 
 Baltimore Railroad ; a Director of the United 
 States Bank ; and one of the city Council Com- 
 mittee to erect Girard College. 
 
 Mr. Newkirk was also very active in promot- 
 ing the moral, literary, and religious interests of 
 the community. He was for a long time identi- 
 fied with the temperance reform, and President 
 of the State Society. For a period of years he 
 gave the use of a public hall for free preaching 
 — especially for the benefit of young men. 
 
 At the time of his death he was President of 
 
7° 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Associa- 
 tion, the oldest Trustee of Princeton College, 
 and the President of the Polytechnic College of 
 this State. 
 
 He was also interested in the boards of our 
 church — most of them from their organization 
 — giving part of an afternoon almost every week 
 to some of their different meetings and commit- 
 tees. 
 
 But it is in his character as a Christian that 
 we find the most suitable points for contempla- 
 tion on an occasion such as this. 
 
 All other relations cease with the coffin, but 
 those which bind a man to his Creator, God, 
 and Saviour only attain their full fruition when 
 eternity begins. 
 
 Our beloved friend and father was an avowed 
 follower of Christ for almost thirty-six years. 
 His first religious impressions date far beyond 
 this, but his public consecration of himself to 
 Christ was in this organization (before this 
 edifice was erected), in the Academy building 
 December 13, 1832. Once in his earlier life 
 his spirit was deeply moved by the words of a 
 hymn read in the evening service of the First 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 7 1 
 
 (Presbyterian) Church by the venerable Dr. 
 Wilson — especially the words: — 
 
 1 'My soul, the minutes haste away; 
 Apace comes on th' important day, 
 When in the icy arms of death 
 I must give up my vital breath. 
 
 "When vast eternity's in sight; 
 The brightest day, the blackest night ; 
 One shock will break the building down 
 And let thee into worlds unknown." 
 
 But the immediate instrumentality God used for 
 his being brought into the fold was not a ser- 
 mon, but a conversation with the Rev. Dr. 
 James W. Alexander in a .carriage on the way 
 to church, when, in answer to all questions and 
 doubts and excuses, the Dr. earnestly replied : 
 "What is that to thee? follow thou me!" This 
 was the turning point in his spiritual history. He 
 resolved now, like Joshua — "let others do as 
 they may, as for me and my house, we will 
 serve the Lord." 
 
 His dearly loved friend and Pastor, Mr. San- 
 ford, often urged upon him "the great ques- 
 tion," but his favorite apology was that being 
 
72 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 intensely engaged in business life he feared he 
 would be inconsistent and thus do harm. 
 
 But God led him to see the fallacy of such 
 reasoning, and to cast himself solely upon Divine 
 grace ; and he was sustained and upheld to the 
 last. 
 
 For, while he had his infirmities and sins, 
 against which to battle — and none more con- 
 scious of them than he or more ready to confess 
 them — yet, nevertheless, by the grace of God he 
 was enabled to maintain a consistent, earnest, 
 devoted, Christian life to the end of the pil- 
 grimage. 
 
 Any one who reflects a moment will appre- 
 ciate the statement that no man can be guilty of 
 being eminently successful in this world in any 
 department of life, without incurring the envy 
 and enmity and usually the cruel censure of 
 other less fortunate strugglers. 
 
 Whether statesman or soldier, merchant or 
 even minister at the altar — if he conspicuously 
 succeeds — he will inevitably and certainly bring 
 upon himself the tongue of slander and sinister 
 defamation. The world furnishes no exception 
 to this law. Mr. Newkirk was not an exception, 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 72 
 
 any more than the blessed Master he served; yet 
 few men have lived, amid the heat and strife of 
 so long and so prominent a life, vastly diversi- 
 fied, who have closed a record so universally 
 approved. Never " slothful in business/' but 
 " fervent in spirit," he endeavored to " serve the 
 Lord." Abundant in labors in secular life, it is 
 no figure to say that one-third of his thoughts and 
 almost as much of his life work was given to the 
 cause of Christ in the world; and this zeal never 
 ceased, until dissolution began, and the tired 
 exhausted body claimed relief in the sleep of 
 death. 
 
 But the occasion forbids that I should ex- 
 tendedly analyze his Christian character and life 
 to-day. 
 
 While kindred and friends from various places 
 and varied positions in life, in their regard for 
 him we bury to-day, are gathered here; yet it 
 is chiefly as a church we are assembled now 
 around this bier. As a church we have sus- 
 tained a loss ; a void is here, that I fear will be 
 vacant long. We are a church of mourners here, 
 and, therefore, in regard to his relation to this 
 his long-loved church permit me to utter a few 
 
74 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 words as we commune together concerning our 
 common sorrow. 
 
 He loved this Central Church. He was Secre- 
 tary of the meeting which organized it, just 
 thirty-six years ago. And the last prayer I 
 heard him offer on his bed of death was for the 
 continued blessing of God upon this church. 
 He was always one of its trustees, long the 
 President of the Board ; and one of the first Elders 
 and first Deacons. And to say that he has done 
 more work in the service of this church than any 
 man, living or dead, is no unjust pre-eminence; 
 all conversant with the facts will readily admit it. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century his place 
 at both the Wednesday and Friday evening ser- 
 vices was never vacant, unless illness or absence 
 from the city rendered attendance impossible. 
 No grief, no loss, no "pressure of business" kept 
 him from the place of prayer. Though fre- 
 quently so busy as to be obliged to return for 
 long hours of work at his store or office after 
 service, yet business was no excuse for absence 
 from the sanctuary ; no calamity even was made 
 a plea. He had given himself to the Lord, and 
 that sleepless omniscient eye alone knew how 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 75 
 
 faithfully he strove to keep his vows. Religion 
 was no form with him, but a living reality; and 
 earnest in all things he was earnest in this. 
 
 In the Sabbath schools he was a laborious and 
 successful workman. Although connected with 
 the Sabbath school of the Second Church more 
 than forty years ago, he did not enter the schools 
 of this church at its first organization; but from 
 the day he did enter it, until he lay down to die, 
 his zeal and toil and devotion knew no cessation, 
 not even a relaxing, until God said, "It is 
 enough, come up higher !" 
 
 What memories are awakened in many full 
 hearts here to day, when that loved upper room 
 and its scenes are recalled ! How he labored 
 there ! How he exhorted, and advised, and 
 stimulated, and warned, and encouraged there ! 
 What laudable pride he took in the character 
 of that school ! How heartily he disapproved 
 of apathy or laggard interest on the part of any 
 teacher or pupil ! How nobly he " magnified his 
 office" as a model superintendent! It was no 
 reluctant duty-driven service, but a whole-hearted, 
 cheerfully-accepted privilege ; and he honored 
 the post as it honored him. 
 
76 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 It was said of the pulpit of godly Baxter : 
 "There Baxter wept!" and of the lamented Dr. 
 Payson it is said, one of his people pointed to 
 the pulpit and remarked, "There Payson 
 prayed !" So of that school room it may be 
 told, " There Matthew Newkirk served 7" 
 
 And of later years few knew how often he 
 was obliged to rest again and again on those long 
 stairs, as he feebly climbed his way thither and 
 there to work. And the last time he stood there, 
 a fortnight ago, only one perhaps knew that he 
 was led there faint and almost blind ; and then, 
 in " those last words" how he urged renewed 
 diligence, and zeal, and ardor, and referred to 
 himself as about to begin afresh with more life 
 and vigor than ever. The scene — the sequel 
 render the words remarkable ; may they never 
 be forgotten ! It was like the dying soldier 
 leader falling at the front — crying to his com- 
 rades, "On! on! on! hold up the banner! press 
 on in the fight !" 
 
 Ah, yes, our Sabbath schools lost a noble 
 leader this week when he died ! The church 
 has lost heavily in every department of her wor- 
 ship and work. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 77 
 
 I need not speak of his abundant aid in all the 
 finances of the church. There is not time, nor 
 is it in place to-day. He loved this church with 
 an ardor that has often astonished the apathetic 
 and indifferent. He could much more easily 
 bear a personal reflection than one upon this 
 church. He could scarcely forget it, or forgive 
 it; as he once expressed it, "it was an almost 
 unpardonable sin to attempt to wrong that 
 church. ,, He loved these walls ; and surely he 
 verified the Psalmist's words: "Pray for the 
 peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love 
 thee." And are not these words also truly appli- 
 cable and most appropriate : — 
 
 " For her my tears shall fall ; 
 For her my prayers ascend ; 
 To her my cares and toils be given, 
 Till toils and cares shall end." 
 
 Yes, this was all true of him. For in the last 
 extended conversation I had with him on that 
 bed of death he remarked, with deepest emotion, 
 " Next to my family, that dear church has the 
 first place in my heart." 
 
 The present flourishing condition of the 
 
78 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 church, the revival of God's work, the unprece- 
 dented large membership and attendance, its 
 entire freedom from debt, and its present bene- 
 ficence gave him profound comfort and gratifi- 
 cation to his last conscious hour. 
 
 And now his work is ended ! He has left 
 this lower sphere and service. He has gone up 
 higher, to join the elders who preceded him and 
 all " the elders round the throne." And he 
 leaves this work in your hands and mine. 
 
 His matchless and unwearied service for the 
 Master in our church, as elsewhere, is all of the 
 past. He has surely done what he could. 
 
 Seized suddenly by violent inflammatory dis- 
 ease in the night of Thursday, May 21st, the 
 wisest medical skill could not resist God's mes- 
 senger ; and after an illness of ten days — full of 
 years and full of labors — he " fell on sleep," and 
 is now " gathered to his fathers." So severe 
 were his sufferings at times, and so excessive the 
 prostration that conversation with him could not 
 be at any time very extended. But enough was 
 spoken to give abundant assurance of his confi- 
 dent hope — of his being safely sheltered by the 
 " Rock of Ages," his long-loved Saviour. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 79 
 
 At the close of a prayer by his pastor, he led 
 the singing of one verse of the hymn — 
 
 "Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, 
 With all Thy quickening powers, 
 Kindle a flame of sacred love 
 In these cold hearts of ours." 
 
 At another time, when asked, "Are you dread- 
 ing death ?" he earnestly replied, " Not at all, 
 not at all; I gave myself to Jesus long, long ago; 
 and I hope I am not mistaken!" 
 
 It was an impressive coincidence that he died 
 not only on his seventy -fourth birthday, the last 
 day of spring, but also that it was the Holy Sab- 
 bath, and just as the clock was striking six — the 
 hour when workmen close their labors, toil ends, 
 and rest begins. 
 
 His life toil is ended — the worker is released. 
 He worked while the day lasted and the night 
 has come. The great bell of eternity has rung 
 and he has gone home to rest ! The endless 
 rest is his ! a long, bright, blessed Sabbath day 
 that shall not end. 
 
 Friend and father, farewell ! We'll meet you 
 on the other shore ! 
 
80 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 We, my brethren, still remain to toil. We 
 shall go home also, but not now. Here we 
 must work and wait. 
 
 "One little hour ! and then the glorious crowning — 
 The golden harp-strings and the victor's palm, 
 One little hour ! and then the Hallelujah ! 
 Eternity's long, deep, thanksgiving psalm !" 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 8 I 
 
 The Rev. Dr. John Hall, of the Fifth Avenue 
 Presbyterian Church, New York city, preached 
 in the Central Presbyterian Church of Phila- 
 delphia, when the feeling of congregational 
 bereavement was still strong and fresh. His 
 subject was Christian activity, having its source 
 in the love of God and its power in living faith. 
 In the application of the principles he had en- 
 forced and illustrated from the Scriptures he 
 said : — 
 
 " My brethren of this congregation ! I feel 
 that I may speak to you with confidence on this 
 subject, for God has already been speaking to 
 you in His providences. He has come into your 
 midst, and taken one from among you who 
 appeared to me to act on these principles with 
 conspicuous fidelity ; one whose efforts were not 
 casual and spasmodic, but sustained and con- 
 stant ; one whose zeal did not pass away with 
 the ardor of youth, but who bore fruit in old 
 age ; one who maintained to advanced years the 
 6 
 
82 A MEMORIAL OF MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 fervor and joyful eagerness of his earlier time, in 
 the Sabbath school and every other congrega- 
 tional labor, and in a wide range of activity out- 
 side. He is here no more. You will not again 
 see his form among you. Measuring your feel- 
 ings that have grown with long years by mine 
 that are founded on a comparatively brief 
 acquaintance, I can conceive how you feel. 
 
 "But my object is not to awaken mere human 
 tenderness, but to enforce on conscience the 
 claims of duty. Who will step into the vacant 
 space? Who will hasten to fill up the ranks? 
 Brethren, beloved, who of you will be baptized 
 for the dead?" 
 
LETTERS 
 
 CONDOLENCE. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 [N. B.— I take the liberty of inserting extracts of letters sent 
 to the family after the decease of Mr. Newkirk, because they 
 express the judgments of others upon his character, work, and 
 life — an d give such estimates of him as would seem not only in- 
 delicate, but even partial and prejudiced if expressed by the 
 author.] 
 
 From the Rev. W. H. Green, D. D., Prof, in 
 Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. 
 Ex-pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 Princeton, 
 June s, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 I had no opportunity to see or speak with 
 you when I was in the city, and could not say 
 to you how deeply I sympathize in your deep 
 
86 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 affliction, which is a public loss no less than a 
 private and domestic sorrow. I could never 
 sufficiently express my own personal indebted- 
 ness to Mr. Newkirk for his uniform kindness 
 to me from the moment of our earliest acquaint- 
 ance. His counsel and his aid, his generous 
 support, his thoughtful considerateness, his 
 kindly attentions during the term of my resi- 
 dence in the city were invaluable to me and laid 
 me under untold obligations. His importance 
 to the Central Church as an Elder, a Trustee, a 
 Superintendent of the Sabbath school, his effi- 
 ciency in sustaining it and advancing its interests 
 and the greatness of the loss it has sustained in 
 his removal, the loss in fact to the boards of our 
 church, and to the whole Christian community, 
 and to every benevolent and holy enterprise you 
 know full as well as I. 
 
 His personal relations to myself were most 
 kindly to the last. We remember his last visit 
 to Princeton (April 28, 1868), when he partici- 
 pated in the election of the future President of 
 the College, with peculiar pleasure. We urged 
 him to make his stay with us. This he declined 
 on account of the superior convenience of lodg- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 87 
 
 ing with Dr. Maclean, which was nearer the 
 place of meeting. But he dined with us. And 
 the cordiality of his whole manner, the gene- 
 rous warmth with which he pressed us to visit 
 him in the city, and the lively interest he mani- 
 fested, deeply touched our hearts. I noticed 
 then with pain his growing feebleness ; and 
 could not but fear that he was gradually failing. 
 I had no suspicion, however, that the end was 
 so nigh as it has proved to be. May the God 
 of all grace and of all comfort sustain you in 
 your deep affliction, in that darkness and loneli- 
 ness so peculiar to just such a bereavement as 
 this, which nothing but His own heavenly light 
 can irradiate, and His own blessed companion- 
 ship alone can cheer. With the deepest and 
 most tender sympathy, 
 
 I am, yours truly, 
 
 W. HENRY GREEN. 
 
88 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 From Rev. E. P. Humphrey, D. D. 
 
 Louisville, Kentucky, 
 'June 10, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 Will you allow me to take a place among 
 the many thousands of God's people who unite 
 in blessing the memory of your venerable hus- 
 band? I counted him as among my most 
 honored and valued friends. But what is more, 
 the whole church to which he belonged and 
 which he served so faithfully, throughout the 
 whole land, counted him as one of its standard 
 bearers, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost. 
 It would be useless for me to point out to you 
 the sources from which you may take abundant 
 consolation in this bereavement. Great is your 
 loss— how much greater his gain ! 
 
 That the great Head of the church may 
 minister to you the grace of consolation, and 
 every grace springing from the hope, and look- 
 ing unto the renewal of life eternal is the fer- 
 vent wish of thousands. As one of these I 
 Your faithful friend, 
 EDWARD P. HUMPHREY. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 89 
 
 From Rev. Theo. Ledyard Cuyler, D. D., 
 Pastor of La Fayette Avenue Presbyterian 
 Church, Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 136 Oxford Street, Brooklyn, 
 June 4, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 For many a day I have not read the 
 announcement of the death of any friend with 
 as much sadness as I felt to-day when I heard 
 that your beloved husband is no more. 
 
 I recall now the pleasant hours I spent with 
 him in past years, and the evening last winter 
 when we sat up till midnight to talk over those 
 great questions of religion and reform in which 
 he felt so deep an interest. God has taken away 
 no more faithful servant than he from His 
 bereaved Church for a long time; your husband 
 has indeed gone as u a shock of corn fully ripe" 
 to his rest and his reward. 
 
 Accept my most heartfelt sympathies in your 
 bereavement, and present them to my brother 
 and co-worker, Mr. Matthew Newkirk, Jr. 
 May he long be spared to preach Jesus ! 
 
 I have just sent a brief sketch of Mr. New- 
 
90 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 kirk to our " National Temperance Advocate" 
 in New York. Amid the many who mourn 
 the departure of your honored husband, to none 
 will his memory be more bright and sacred than 
 to Your friend and his, 
 
 THEODORE L. CUYLER. 
 
 From the Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D. D., LL.D., 
 inclosing the letter of Rev. Dr. J. F. Stearns, 
 Moderator, and the Resolutions of the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in session 
 at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1868. 
 
 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, 
 June 8, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 I beg the liberty to inclose to you the 
 accompanying letter received from Rev. Dr. J. 
 F. Stearns, Moderator of the General Assembly 
 (New School). I addressed to him a telegram 
 of our dear Mr. Newkirk's death which he 
 promptly announced to the Assembly. He has 
 also expressed his personal esteem for our de- 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 9 1 
 
 parted one and his sympathy for you and yours 
 in very admirable terms. 
 
 I have inclosed to you the Resolutions passed 
 by the State Sabbath School Convention assem- 
 bled in Pittsburg, in accordance with a despatch 
 which I sent of the news to the President of 
 the County Association here. Besides the Reso- 
 lutions, the most express and special tributes 
 were paid to the deceased president, by promi- 
 nent members from different parts of the State; 
 and at the hour of his funeral, the convention 
 joined in singing " I would not live alway" while 
 it was sung, you remember, at the church in the 
 funeral service. It is truly gratifying to his 
 family and connections that such reverent 
 respect was, and is,, paid to his precious memory. 
 
 I preached yesterday morning in reference to 
 him from the text in Revelations xiv. 13: "And 
 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, 
 Write, Blessed are the dead," &c. 
 Fondly yours, 
 
 M. W. JACOBUS. 
 
92 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Newark, New Jersey, 
 June 3, 1868. 
 My dear Sir. 
 
 Your telegram announcing the decease 
 of our esteemed and valued friend, Matthew 
 Newkirk, Esq., was received with sadness, and I 
 took a mournful pleasure in complying with 
 your request. It certainly required no apology, 
 for he had numerous friends everywhere. To 
 myself one of the pleasantest features of my con- 
 nection with the Board of Trustees (Princeton 
 College), has been the opportunity it afforded 
 for frequent intercourse with one so wise, so 
 warm-hearted, so genial, so devoted to the inte- 
 rests intrusted to us, so eminent in all the quali- 
 ties of the truly Christian gentleman. 
 
 Please express, when you have opportunity, 
 my warmest sympathies to Mrs. Newkirk, and 
 the bereaved son and daughter. If it is sad to 
 part with one so valued, it is cheering to reflect 
 that after a life of distinguished fidelity he is 
 safe home in the house of his heavenly Father. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 J. F. STEARNS. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 93 
 
 From Rev. Dr. Denham, of Londonderry, 
 Ireland. 
 
 Derry, 
 August, 6, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 On Monday last I returned home after 
 an absence of four months, during which time 
 I have been laid aside from work under the hand 
 of that all wise and loving Master who has a 
 sovereign right to say to any or all His servants, 
 " go and work," or " cease from working." A 
 few days before my return I had a newspaper 
 with the beautiful and appropriate lines written 
 by Dr. Jacobus inclosed, which announced the 
 sad loss you have sustained in the removal of him 
 with whom you had journeyed for so many years 
 through the weary wilderness of this world. 
 Since the return of my beloved wife and myself 
 from your great and highly favored country oft 
 have we been speaking of its institutions and its 
 people, but of none more frequently or with 
 more pleasure and feelings of gratitude than of 
 our friends in Philadelphia, and very specially 
 of yourself and your venerable and noble hearted 
 
94 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 husband. Often during the past year has it been 
 my privilege to address meetings in which I was 
 expected to give details of the work which I 
 saw carried on for Christ and His cause in 
 America, and on such occasions, when speaking 
 of the labors undertaken, especially by the lay 
 members of the churches, my memory almost 
 invariably called up the benevolent countenance 
 and the untiring zeal of the venerated and be- 
 loved patriarch in whose hospitable mansion it 
 was our privilege to abide while in your city, 
 and who, under the power of Christian love, 
 while directing and managing the important 
 work of so many active teachers in your great 
 Sabbath school, seemed to forget or not to feel 
 the weakness or weariness usually experienced 
 in old age. Now His Master's voice has been 
 heard saying, " Come up hither," and we may 
 at least try and conceive of the unutterable joy 
 with which his emancipated spirit replied, " I 
 come — I come." Though enjoying one of the 
 happiest homes on earth, made largely so by 
 your loving care, yet better than any on earth 
 are the mansions of which Christ once said, " I 
 go to prepare them for my disciples." And, 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 95 
 
 now, dear sister, while I know you mourn, it is 
 not, thanks be to our Redeeming God, as those 
 who have no hope ; but you can look on in full 
 assurance that you shall meet again with him 
 you loved so long, and will love forever, and 
 with whom you will take part in songs even 
 sweeter than you sang together on earth. 
 
 I am ever your grateful friend, and brother in 
 Christ, 
 
 JAMES DENHAM. 
 
 2 Timothy iv. 22. 
 
 From Mrs. Dr. J, 
 
 Dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 June 6, 1868. 
 
 . . . . My dear bereaved friend ! how can 
 words express my feeling for your loss, and my 
 heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow ? The 
 void made in your home, I know, is irreparable; 
 nothing earthly can ever fill it ; but think what 
 he was, what he accomplished — though it makes 
 
96 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 your loss the greater, does it not make your con- 
 solations more exceedingly abound ? Oh, his 
 gain! " Well done, good and faithful servant; 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Can we 
 even conceive the fulness of his joy — satisfied, 
 for he has " awaked in his Saviour's likeness." 
 We cannot mourn for him, but we may mourn 
 for ourselves. I ask the privilege of mingling 
 my tears with yours, for I do indeed feel bereaved. 
 I shall ever cherish with gratitude the memory 
 of my sojourn with you last fall. How much 
 I saw Mr. Newkirk, and how much I learned 
 to love him ! How lovely was his Christian 
 home character; how strong and unwavering his 
 love for the Saviour's cause ; how generous his 
 hospitality ; how ardent and helpful his sympa- 
 thy for the poor and the distressed ; how tender 
 his interest in woman, her weakness, her suffer- 
 ings, her wrongs ! In no one else have I ever 
 seen this trait so beautifully developed, and it 
 seemed to me then as the finishing touch to his 
 Christian symmetrical character. I cannot think 
 of him as dead. I remember him as the patient 
 Christian, suffering under the infirmities of the 
 flesh ; and now I love to think of him as a 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK 
 
 97 
 
 "redeemed saint" among the "hundred and 
 forty and four thousand" having the Father's 
 name written in their foreheads and singing 
 that song, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." 
 "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, 
 that they may rest from their labors, and their 
 works do follow them." 
 
 With sincerest love and sympathy, yours, 
 
 S. H. J. 
 
 From Rev. J. H. Mcllvaine, D. D., Profes- 
 sor in the College of New Jersey. 
 
 Princeton, 
 June 5, 1868. 
 My dear Madam. 
 
 It is with sincere and deep grief that I 
 have learned of the decease of Mr. Newkirk. 
 .... It was my earnest hope that Mr. New- 
 kirk would rally from his physical depression of 
 this winter, and enjoy many more years of his 
 7 
 
98 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 useful and honored life. But God's ways are not 
 our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. One 
 great and unspeakable consolation is that as the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are His 
 ways higher than our ways and His thoughts 
 than our thoughts. No doubt God took His 
 servant to Himself at the very moment of time 
 when it was best for him that he should go. 
 He had enjoyed a long and distinguished life, 
 such as few men have ever had. Especially was 
 it distinguished for devotion to the Master and 
 His cause. I think it was impossible to know 
 your honored husband and not be assured that 
 the ruling passion of his life was the desire to 
 promote the interests of the Kingdom of God 
 on earth. This desire seemed to animate him 
 in all his plans and activities ; and in order to 
 realize it, he brought to bear all the powers of 
 his extraordinary mind. Among all the traits of 
 his rich and varied character, none was so strik- 
 ing as that of Christian activity, directed and 
 controlled by mental abilities of remarkable 
 power. I think if we could separate from the 
 church of God all that has been accomplished 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 99 
 
 by your husband, directly and indirectly, we 
 should hardly know it as the same church. . . 
 
 I am faithfully yours, 
 
 J. H. McILVAINE. 
 
 From Rev. D. A. Cunningham, Pastor of the 
 Spring Garden Presbyterian Church, Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Dear Madam. 
 
 It can be truly said of him (Mr. 
 
 Newkirk), " Blessed are the dead who die in the 
 Lord ; they rest from their labors, and their 
 works do follow them." I was present at the 
 last commencement of Princeton College, and 
 Mr. Newkirk and I came home together. I 
 shall never forget the delightful Christian con- 
 versation we had ; and he seemed to me then 
 like a shock of corn fully ripe for the garners of 
 glory. He spoke about many things in his own 
 Christian experience — also, about the interests of 
 the College, and the precious revivals that had 
 
lOO A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 been in old " Nassau Hall" — also about the joy 
 it afforded him that his son had given himself to 
 the ministry of reconciliation. Little did I 
 think then that before the next commencement 
 he would be in the land of " Beulah," the home 
 of the redeemed. We shall miss him in our 
 church courts on earth, in our benevolent insti- 
 tutions, and in the generous warm-hearted hos- 
 pitality which he ever manifested to the minis- 
 ters of the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Thanks 
 be unto God for the life and labors of such a 
 faithful servant on earth. 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 DAVID A. CUNNINGHAM. 
 
 From Rev. Alfred Cookman, of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware, 
 June i, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 I have just seen the announcement of the 
 death of your dearly beloved husband. He was 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. ioi 
 
 one of my kindest and best friends. Whenever 
 or wherever I met him he had some encourag- 
 ing or affectionate word to express. My recol- 
 lections of him are peculiarly pleasant. Sharing 
 then the sense of bereavement that is so gene- 
 rally felt, I obey a Christian impulse in express- 
 ing to you my high appreciation of his many 
 virtues, and my deep sympathy for you and 
 yours in this hour of unprecedented trial. . . 
 
 . . Your husband's life was a great success. 
 As I think of it I cannot withhold the senti- 
 ment, "Well done! good and faithful servant !" 
 In the front rank of the sacramental host — a 
 veteran in the service of salvation's captain — 
 always true to his colors, he was faithful to 
 the last, and died with the armor on, covered 
 with the glory that cometh down from God. 
 Susanna Wesley said, " When I am dead let my 
 children gather 'round my bed and sing a Psalm 
 of praise." Oh, as I remember the blessed past 
 and glorious future of your precious husband, 
 my cherished friend, I cannot refrain from the 
 exclamation, "Glory to the Father and to the 
 Son and to the Holy Ghost." 
 
 You are highly favored among women — to 
 
102 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 have been the companion of such an husband. 
 
 If it is possible I want to be present on Wed- 
 nesday morning and drop a tear to the memory 
 
 of one of the best of men 
 
 Your Christian brother, 
 
 ALFRED COOKMAN. 
 
 From the Rev. S. B. Barnitz, of the Lutheran 
 Church. 
 
 Wheeling, West Virginia, 
 July 23, 1868. 
 My dear Mrs. Newkirk. 
 
 If ever the consolations of the gospel 
 abounded in view of death, they do to you, and 
 you are enabled to rejoice amid your tears. 
 With Paul, Mr. Newkirk could say : " To me 
 to live is Christ, and to die is gain;" for his 
 whole life was devoted to Christ in an unwonted 
 degree for this age of the world — and I know 
 that " to die" has been to him infinite " gain." 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 103 
 
 All his life he was laying up treasure in Heaven 
 — " durable riches and righteousness" — and now 
 he has gone to possess and enjoy them. Death 
 has only gotten the body, and that only for a short 
 season — the Spirit has gone to be " forever with 
 the Lord." You sorrow not as those without 
 hope, for the " Pilgrim" has gone to be " with 
 Christ" which is " far better" than to remain 
 here amid the groaning and travailing of a 
 burdened creation. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
 man the things that God hath prepared for them 
 that love him." Those things Mr. Newkirk is 
 now glorying in, and we may rather envy him 
 than seek to bring him back. We " shall go 
 to him ; but he shall not return to us !" . . 
 . . . The members of the " Newkirk class" 
 of my mission school are doing well. 
 
 With true sympathy, I am very truly yours in 
 Christ, 
 
 SAMUEL B. BARNITZ. 
 
RESOLUTIONS 
 
 CONDOLENCE 
 
RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the General Assem- 
 bly of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 States of America, sitting in Albany, New York, 
 May, 1868. 
 
 " Resolved, That this Assembly has heard with 
 deep emotion the announcement of the death of 
 Matthew Newkirk, Esq., of Philadelphia; an 
 eminent and distinguished Christian gentleman, 
 who has during a long and useful life, rendered 
 great and valuable services to our church, as a 
 Trustee of the General Assembly, a Director in 
 the Theological Seminary at Princeton, and as 
 an officer and member of several of the Boards 
 of the church." 
 
 " Resolved, That the Stated Clerk send a copy 
 of this minute to the family of the deceased." 
 
108 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 A true extract from the minutes of the Gene 
 ral Assembly, Monday, June i, 1868. 
 
 ALEXANDER T. McGILL, 
 
 Stated Clerk, 
 
 Resolutions of the Session of the Central 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes. 
 
 As a session sorely bereaved, we here record 
 our expression of profound sorrow occasioned by 
 the death of our venerable and venerated brother 
 Matthew Newkirk. Within two brief months 
 he has been called to follow our equally beloved 
 brother, Rufus L. Barnes, into the heavenly 
 home of eternal peace. 
 
 We have truly endured "sorrow upon sorrow" 
 in this second sad bereavement. Yet we mourn 
 with hope ; we are not ignorant concerning 
 them which are asleep ; we are confident that 
 our loss is their eternal gain, and we bow sub- 
 missive to the will of the Great Head of the 
 church, who alone determines the period, as well 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 109 
 
 as the place, in which his servants shall serve 
 him. 
 
 In Matthew Newkirk we ever recognized the 
 ardent active laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. 
 His brotherly kindness, his energy, his wisdom, 
 his devotion, his promptitude, his earnestness, 
 and his long-continued and unabated zealous 
 service in this church, in all departments of its 
 work and worship during his entire Christian 
 life, shall be ever cherished by us in affectionate 
 remembrance, and intensify the grief we expe- 
 rience in his death. 
 
 And we devoutly pray that grace may be 
 given those of us who remain, proportionate 
 to our increased duties and responsibilities, and 
 that a double portion of God's Spirit may be 
 granted us, that we may be faithful overseers — 
 that we may imitate that which was admirable 
 in our departed brethren, and follow them as 
 they followed Christ, admonished thus deeply 
 and doubly that we too shall soon be called to 
 give an account of our stewardship. 
 
 GEORGE C. LANCASTER, 
 
 Clerk pro tem. 
 Alexander Reed, 
 
 Moderator. 
 
IIO A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Resolutions of the Deacons of the Central 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Deacons of the 
 Central Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, 
 held on the first day of June, 1868, the follow- 
 ing preamble and resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted : — 
 
 Whereas : it has pleased an all wise and 
 merciful Providence to remove from the scene 
 of his earthly labor to his heavenly reward our 
 friend and brother in Christ, Matthew Newkirk, 
 for so many years a ruling elder in this church, 
 be it therefore 
 
 Resolved, 1st. That in this solemn dispensation 
 of Divine providence we recognize the voice 
 of the great Head of the Church, calling us to 
 renewed earnestness and zeal, in the works of 
 faith and labors of love, which were so strik- 
 ingly characteristic of our Christian friend and 
 brother. 
 
 Resolved, 2d. That his record in connection 
 with this church, as one of its founders and as 
 an office bearer for more than thirty years, is that 
 of an earnest and faithful servant of our common 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. i i i 
 
 Lord, and co-laborer in his vineyard. And 
 while we bow with unquestioning submission to 
 this afflictive dispensation, yet we cannot but 
 feel that, in the death of Mr. Newkirk, our 
 church and Sabbath school suffer a loss which 
 we fear it will be difficult to repair. 
 
 Resolved, 3d. That to his bereaved family we 
 extend our deepest sympathies, and commend 
 them to the tender and unfailing care of Him 
 who is the God of the widow and the Father of 
 the fatherless. 
 
 Resolved, 4. That these resolutions be entered 
 
 on the minutes of this board, and a copy of the 
 
 same be presented to the family of the deceased. 
 
 WILLIAM N. ATTWOOD, 
 
 President. 
 M. C. Cadmus, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Resolutions of the Trustees of the Central 
 Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees 
 of the Central Presbyterian Church, held on 
 
112 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Monday evening, June ist, 1868, the following 
 Preamble and Resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted : — 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased the* Great Head of the 
 Church to call away the venerable President of 
 this Board, who has been identified with the 
 Central Presbyterian Church since its organiza- 
 tion, and to whose faithful and efficient labors 
 and unbounded liberality it is largely indebted 
 under God for its present position of influence 
 and power ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we recognize the value of his 
 services in the cause of Christ, and his devotion 
 to the interest of this Church, and his wisdom, 
 prudence, and sound judgment in all our deli- 
 berations. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Matthew 
 Newkirk, the Central Presbyterian Church has 
 lost an efficient officer and faithful friend, whose 
 best powers of heart and mind, sanctified to the 
 work of his Master, were cheerfully devoted to 
 promoting its welfare. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect for the 
 memory of our late President, we attend the 
 funeral in a body. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. I I 3 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of this Preamble and 
 Resolutions be presented to the widow and 
 family, with an expression of our deep sympathy 
 in their sad bereavement. 
 
 M. P. HUTCHINSON, 
 President. 
 Thomas Allman, 
 
 Secretary pro tern. 
 
 Resolutions of the Sanford Sabbath School 
 Association. 
 
 At a meeting of the Sanford Sabbath School 
 Association, of the Central Presbyterian Church, 
 held June 3, 1868, the following Preamble and 
 Resolutions were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Whereas: It has pleased God to remove from 
 our midst our beloved and honored Superin- 
 tendent, Mr. Matthew Newkirk, who for many 
 years was untiring in his work and labor of love 
 amongst us; devoting his time, talents, and 
 means in promoting the growth, efficiency, and 
 welfare of our Sunday school ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we recognize the hand of our 
 8 
 
I 14 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Heavenly Father in this afflictive dispensation of 
 His providence, and bow submissively to His 
 will. 
 
 . Resolved, That we, as Teachers of the Sanford 
 Sabbath School Association sincerely and de- 
 voutly thank our Heavenly Father for His good- 
 ness and loving kindness to us in raising up and 
 giving to us, for so long a time, one who so 
 faithfully counselled and cherished us ; who 
 cheered and encouraged us and our dear scholars 
 with words of kindness and of love, and who 
 was ever ready to lend a helping hand in every 
 time of need; and in every way zealous and 
 earnest in seeking our comforts^, our happiness, 
 and our good. 
 
 Resolved, That we will esteem it our precious 
 privilege, according to the grace of God given 
 to us, to seek more and more to cultivate a spirit 
 of earnest devotion to the Master, in the work 
 which He has given us to do in the Sunday 
 school ; and that to this end we will cherish in 
 loving hearts the counsels we have received from 
 our departed Superintendent ; praying that God 
 would bless them to us, and through us, to those 
 committed to our care. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. I I 5 
 
 Resolved, That we convey to Mrs. Newkirk 
 and the other members of the family our sincere 
 and heartfelt sympathy in the great loss which 
 they have sustained ; and commending them to 
 the God of all grace and consolation, whom 
 they love and serve, trust they will in their ex- 
 perience, have verified to them the words of the 
 Lord Jesus — " I will not leave you comfortless." 
 
 ALEX. REED, 
 
 President. 
 Wm. Jas. Attwood, 
 Secretary. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Presbyterian Board 
 of Publication. 
 
 The following minute was adopted by the 
 Presbyterian Board of Publication, at its annual 
 meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 1868. 
 
 Resolved, That the Board, while bowing sub- 
 missively to the behests of infinite goodness and 
 wisdom, which have within a few years taken 
 away so many of its old and attached members, 
 hereby expresses its deep emotions of sorrow at 
 
I 1 6 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 the removal by death, on Sabbath the 31st ult., 
 at the good old age of seventy-four years, of 
 Matthew Newkirk, Esq., of this city, who was 
 one of the original corporators of the Board, 
 and had been one of its members from its begin- 
 ning until now. Always a fast and generous 
 friend of the institution, he had assiduously 
 sought to promote its interests, and by his 
 uniform warmth of heart and courtesy of 
 manner, had greatly endeared himself to his 
 associates who now mourn his loss, as well as to 
 the entire Presbyterian church to which he had 
 given no small share of his cares and labors. 
 
 Resolved, That the Corresponding Secretary 
 communicate a copy of this Minute to the 
 family of the deceased, and another copy to the 
 Presbyterian. 
 
 A true copy. 
 
 WILLIAM E. SCHENCK, 
 
 Corresponding Secretary. 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. I I J 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Board of Domes- 
 tic Missions of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Domestic Mis- 
 sions, held at the Mission House, on the tenth 
 inst., the following minute was adopted, ordered 
 to be published, and a copy sent to the family 
 of the deceased. 
 
 Whereas: It has pleased God to remove from 
 this world our late highly-esteemed associate, 
 Mr. Matthew Newkirk, who was for many suc- 
 cessive years a member of the Board ; a faithful 
 member of its Executive Committee ; and the 
 President of the Board of Trustees ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That this Board records its grateful 
 testimony to the long and useful service which 
 was rendered to it, and through it to the King- 
 dom of Christ, by His venerable servant now 
 departed. And that while we bow with sub- 
 mission to that sovereign will which has taken 
 him from us, we remember with thankfulness 
 to God, the many years of active zeal and 
 enterprise, during which he was enabled to 
 serve the church through this Board. He was 
 punctual in his attendance, liberal and aggres- 
 
 8* 
 
I I 8 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 sive in his views, thoughtful and kind in his 
 sympathy with every faithful missionary, and 
 always anxious to increase the efficiency of the 
 Board, and our country with the tidings of Sal- 
 vation. 
 
 Resolved, That we tender our sympathies to 
 the bereaved family of Mr. Newkirk in this the 
 day of their sorrow. 
 
 Philadelphia, Augtist n, 1868. 
 
 (Signed) JAS. M. CROWELL, 
 
 ALEX. REED, 
 C. W. ADAMS. 
 
 Resolutions of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath 
 School Association. 
 
 "Memorial Resolutions." 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased God in his unerring 
 wisdom to take unto Himself his friend and ser- 
 vant, the beloved President of this Association, 
 Matthew Newkirk : 
 
 Resolved, That while we cannot but have a 
 keen sense of loss in being deprived of such an 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. I I 9 
 
 efficient, careful, and thorough helper, especially 
 at this point in the Sabbath school history of the 
 State, we yet bow in humble reverence to the 
 Divine Will. 
 
 Resolved, That we cherish the example of our 
 departed brother, in his unaffected piety; in the 
 gentleness, simplicity, and purity of his Christian 
 character ; in his untiring activity in the Chris- 
 tian life ; in his tender love for little children ; 
 in his abounding hospitality to all the friends of 
 Christ, without distinction, and unstinted liber- 
 ality in the promotion of the Sabbath school 
 work. 
 
 Resolved, That cherishing his good name as a 
 precious legacy, we will, God helping, go for- 
 ward in the work to which for more than half 
 a century he gave himself with such unselfish 
 devotion. 
 
 Resolved, That we tender to the widow and 
 relatives of our beloved brother deceased, our 
 loving sympathy, and pray that the consolations 
 of Christ may be abundantly ministered to them 
 in this hour of their trial. 
 
 Also, Resolved, subsequently, that an engrossed 
 copy of the above He presented to the family of 
 
120 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 the deceased ; and, also, that they be read as far 
 as possible by the Superintendents to all the Sab- 
 bath schools of the State. 
 
 True extract from the Minutes. 
 
 GEO. A. PELTZ, 
 
 President. 
 Attest — I. Newton Baker, 
 
 Secretary of the Fourth Annual Convention 
 of the Pennsylvania Sabbath School Association. 
 
 Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
 June 3, 1868. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Trustees of the 
 Polytechnic College of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 At a meeting of the Trustees of the Polytech- 
 nic College of the State of Pennsylvania, held on 
 the third day of June, A. D. 1868, the follow- 
 ing Preamble and Resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 Whereas, By the recent decease of Matthew 
 Newkirk, Esq., the distinguished President of 
 the College since its organization, A. D. 1853, 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 121 
 
 this Board feel that they have lost a most active 
 and efficient colleague, and the community a 
 kind, laborious, and generous friend ; therefore, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, That by his demise not only has the 
 College been deprived of one of its earliest, most 
 zealous, and most liberal supporters, but the cause 
 of technical and industrial education of an appre- 
 ciative, earnest, and devoted advocate. 
 
 Resolved, That by his demise an indefatigable 
 and illustrious co-operator has been taken from 
 and lost to the founders and friends of the Public 
 Improvements of Pennsylvania, and of the sister 
 States. 
 
 Resolved, further, That Prof. Alfred L. Ken- 
 nedy, M. D., and the Secretary of this Board be 
 and hereby are appointed a Committee to tender 
 the bereaved widow and family of the deceased, 
 the deep sympathy and condolence of this Board 
 in their affliction, and also to present them with 
 a suitable copy of this, and the foregoing Reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 JOHN McINTYRE, 
 
 Secretary of the Board. 
 
122 A MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Trustees and 
 Managers of the Camden Home for Friendless 
 Children. 
 
 Whereas, We are called upon to consider the 
 sad event of the death of Matthew Newkirk, 
 Esq., which occurred on last Sabbath evening, 
 the 31st ult. : 
 
 And Whereas, he was an honored and beloved 
 member of the Board of Trustees, and for the 
 first two years after the organization of the 
 Home, its earnest and efficient presiding officer; 
 therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That while we reverently submit to 
 and acknowledge the dispensation which has 
 taken by death our revered and highly esteemed 
 friend and associate, Matthew Newkirk, it is, 
 nevertheless, our duty and privilege to give ex- 
 pression to our unfeigned sorrow in the bereave- 
 ment which we have been called to experience. 
 
 Resolved, That while humbly acquiescing in 
 God's righteous providence in the removal of 
 one of our number so influential for good, it is 
 also a proper time to give expression to our 
 gratitude that we were permitted to enjoy his 
 
MATTHEW NEWKIRK. 
 
 I2 3 
 
 wise and hearty co-operation in the organization 
 and successful establishment of this Institution. 
 
 Resolved, That we deeply and sincerely sym- 
 pathize with Mrs. Newkirk in her sad bereave- 
 ment, and invoke on her behalf Divine conso- 
 lation and the abiding assurance that her 
 Heavenly Father will, through all of life's 
 future journey, sustain and cheer her with His 
 presence and love. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of this Minute, properly 
 engrossed and signed, be presented to Mrs. New- 
 kirk. 
 
 Unanimously adopted in Special Joint Meet- 
 
 ing, 
 
 June 6, 1868. 
 
 Signed by the Board of Trustees and the 
 Board of Managers.