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 THE 
 
 Union Theological Seminary 
 
 CITY OF NEW YORK: 
 
 HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 OF ITS FIRST FIFTY YEARS. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE LEWIS PRENTISS. 
 
 To cTTtetKes v/xwv yvwcr^>7Tw iraa-iv dv^pcuTroi?. 'O Kvpio<; cyyvs. 
 
 Phil. iv. 5. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH AND CO. 
 
 i88q. 
 
Copyright, 1889, 
 By Anson D. F. Randolph and Co. 
 
 UntbcrsttD Press: 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 " I "HIS volume, prepared by request of the Board of 
 Directors and Faculty of the Union Theological 
 Seminary in the City of New York, contains the ad- 
 dress, a portion of which was delivered at the Semi- 
 centenary of the Institution, on December 7, 1886, 
 and also biographical sketches of the men whose names 
 as Founders, Directors, Benefactors, and Professors are 
 identified with its history. I regret that, owing to pro- 
 tracted ill health, as well as to difficulty in obtaining 
 the requisite material for many of these sketches, the 
 publication of the work has been so long delayed, and 
 that for the same reason it falls far short of what I 
 desired to make it. 
 
 Not long after the celebration. President Hitchcock, 
 who took a deeper interest in it than any one else, 
 suddenly departed this life ; a loss soon followed by 
 that of two of the oldest Directors. It seems fitting 
 that some notice of them also should appear in this 
 volume, although the record of their death belongs 
 to the second, and not the first, half-century of the 
 Seminary. 
 
 New York, September 24, 1889. 
 
 IV1130145 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Theological Seminaries in the United States .... 3 
 II. Origin and Design of the Union Theological Seminary 5 
 
 III. The Founders of the Union Theological Seminary as 
 
 PLANNED AND ORGANIZED 8 
 
 IV. The Seminary equipped and opened for Instruction. — Its 
 
 E.-vRLY Trials and Struggle for Existence 20 
 
 V. Early Ecclesiastical and Theological Position of the 
 
 Seminary 34 
 
 VI. Development of the Seminary in its Scope and Teaching 
 
 Force 4.4. 
 
 VII. Successive Endowment Efforts. — Later Financial His- 
 tory. — Departed Friends and Benefactors. — Removal 
 
 of the Seminary 52 
 
 VIII. Departed Professors, and what the Seminary owes to 
 
 them CO 
 
 IX. The Library, its Growth and Needs. — Some Lessons of 
 the Semi-centennial Catalogue. — National and Mis- 
 sionary Character of the Seminary. — Its Alumni . . 73 
 X. Present Condition of the Seminary. — Its Relation to 
 
 the Past and the Future S3 
 
 Note A. The Course of Study 88 
 
 Note B. Professorships, Lectureships, Fellowships, etc. . . 94 
 
^ CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 KoTE C. Extracts fkom the Sermon entitled "The Union 
 
 Theological Seminary" 
 
 Note D. The Treasures of the Library 
 
 Note E. Alumni who have been engaged in the Foreign Mis- 
 
 ... 107 
 sioNARY Service 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF FOUNDERS, DIRECTORS, 
 BENEFACTORS, AND PROFESSORS. 
 
 I Founders, Directors, and Benefactors 109-240 
 
 . . 243-274 
 II. Professors 
 
 . . 285 
 INDEX 
 
part MvQU 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 
 
 Delivered in Adams Chapel, 
 December 7, 1886. 
 
FIFTY YEARS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 I. 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 n^HE Theological Seminary in tins country may 
 be regarded as one of the characteristic institu- 
 tions of American Christianity. It is mainly the 
 growth of our own soil during the present century. 
 There are in the United States not less than one 
 hundi'ed and forty schools of divinity, only two or 
 three of which date further back than 1800, and 
 more than half of which have been organized within 
 the last forty years. These schools represent all 
 Protestant denominations, as well as the Church of 
 Rome, and they are found in every part of the 
 Union. In them the spiritual guides and teachers 
 of the American people are chiefly trained ; not only 
 ministers of the Gospel in the strictest sense, whether 
 bishops, pastors, or evangelists, but editors of the 
 
4 THE UXIOX THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 religious press, college presidents and professors, 
 secretaries of ecclesiastical boards and other associ- 
 ations for advancing the kingdom of God on earth, 
 are mostly graduates of these institutions. It is not 
 too much to say that our theological seminaries, to 
 a very large extent, have in their keeping the most 
 precious interests of faith, piety, and sacred learning 
 in the United States. While differing radically as 
 to polity and doctrine, they are nearly all agreed in 
 asserting the divine origin and claims of Christianity, 
 the ruling authority of the Holy Scriptures, the spirit- 
 ual nature and destiny of man, as also the vital con- 
 nection between his character and manner of life here 
 and his eternal well-being. Their influence in tlie 
 whole domain of belief and conduct is both formative 
 and controlling. In the matter of education for the 
 ministry they show a revolution like that which has 
 taken place in other great spheres of professional train- 
 ing. The divinity schools of the last century were 
 mostly in the studies and parishes of eminent theolo- 
 gians, who at the same time were often country pas- 
 tors, — such men, for example, as Bellamy, Smalley, 
 Hopkins, and Emmons in New England; the divinity 
 schools of the present are in or near the great centres 
 of population, where the throbbing, busy life of the 
 nation is going on ; they are permanent institutions of 
 sacred learning. 
 
 I 
 
ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 
 
 II. 
 
 ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF THE UNION THEOLOGICAL 
 SEMINARY. 
 
 We celebrate to-day the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
 Union Theological Seminary. In reviewing- its his- 
 tory I shall touch only briefly upon the points so 
 fully treated by my colleague, President Hitchcock, 
 in his address at the dedication of these buildings 
 two years ago. It is not my business to '' gild refined 
 gold." The character of an institution, like that of 
 an individual, is apt to be determined in its origin 
 and early years. Certainly, this has been the case 
 with the Union Seminary. It is now essentially what, 
 fifty years ago, it was intended to be. It has, indeed, 
 grown and prospered far beyond the hopes of its 
 founders ; but it has grown and prospered largely 
 along the lines they marked out, and in the spirit in 
 which it was planned. The time and the circum- 
 stances of its beginning were alike fortunate, — I 
 should rather say, providential. Had it been estab- 
 lished seven or eight years earlier, as almost happened, 
 it would have been in direct antagonism to another 
 seminary. Had it been established, on the other 
 hand, a few years later, its design would in all proba- 
 bility have been far less catholic, if not distinctly par- 
 tisan. In a letter dated New York, June 5, 1827, the 
 
6 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Rev. Dr. John Holt E-ice of Prince Edward County, 
 Viro-inia, one of the best and wisest men in the Pres- 
 byterian Church of that day, makes this striking 
 statement : — 
 
 While all the brethren appear to regard me with great 
 personal affection, neither of the parties are entirely cordial 
 to me. The Princeton people apprehend that I am approxi- 
 mating to Auburn notions ; and the zealous partisans of New 
 England divinity think me a thorough-going Princetonian. 
 So it is ! And, while there is much less of the unseemly bit- 
 terness and asperity which brought reproach on the Church 
 in past times, I can see that the spirit of party has struck 
 deeper than I had ever supposed. And I do fully expect that 
 there will be either a strong effort to bring Princeton under 
 different management, or to build up a new seminary in the 
 vicinity of New York, to counteract the influence of Princeton. 
 One or the other of these things will assuredly be done before 
 long, unless the Lord interpose and turn the hearts of the 
 ministers. 
 
 In another letter, dated June 15, he writes : — 
 
 I should not be surprised if, next year, we should hear of a 
 seminary for the vicinity of New York. I cannot tell you in 
 a letter all that I have learned here, but you shall know when 
 I see you. 
 
 Dr. Rice does not name the ministers who, he says, 
 contemplated building up a new seminary to counter- 
 act the influence of Princeton. It is plain, however, 
 that he could not have had in mind the most of those 
 who eight years later took part in founding this insti- 
 tution ; for they were not then settled in New York. 
 
ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 7 
 
 The period between 1827 and 1836 abounded in 
 trouble to the Presbyterian Church. More and more 
 the theological atmosphere became charg-ed with sus- 
 picion and bitterness. Old quarrels grew sharper than 
 ever. New quarrels sprung up. During these years 
 the controversies about " New^ Divinity," " New Haven 
 Theology," ''New England Divinity," "New Meas- 
 ures," "Protracted Meetings," "Ecclesiastical Boards," 
 " Voluntary Societies," and the like, were in full 
 blast. The memorable trials of George Duffield, 
 Albert Barnes, and Lyman Beecher for heresy belong 
 to the same period. These controversies and heresy 
 trials — to say nothing here of the slavery question 
 — aroused passions that wrought powerfully in two 
 ways ; while hastening the di\dsion of the Presby- 
 terian Church, they at the same time impressed not 
 a few thoughtful and good men, especially among 
 the laity, with a deep feeling of the evil effect of 
 such strife upon the interests of Christian piety and 
 evangelism, — a feeling intensified by the great re- 
 vivals of 1829-33. To men of this class the heated 
 discussions of the day were exceedingly distasteful. 
 "The evangelical men," wrote Dr. Rice in 1829, "are 
 disputing, some for old orthodoxy, and some for new 
 metaphysics." 
 
 But meanwhile the conflict waxed more violent. 
 Among the advocates of " old orthodoxy " some were 
 very dogmatical and overbearing in their tone; the 
 advocates of " new metaphysics," on the other hand, 
 
8 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 were tempted to retort in a spirit anything but con- 
 ciliatory. Nor was the strife confined to the pulpit 
 and the religious press : it invaded meetings of Pres- 
 bytery, Synod, and General Assembly, and became 
 at length a determined struggle for ecclesiastical su- 
 premacy. Two years before this struggle culminated 
 in the great disruption of 1838, the Union Seminary 
 was planned and organized. But although built up 
 in troublous times, it was as a training school and 
 rallying point for men of peace, not of war. 
 
 It is the design of the founders to provide a Theological 
 Seminary in the midst of the greatest and most growing com- 
 munity in America, around which all men of moderate views 
 and feelings, who desire to live free from party strife, and to 
 stand aloof from all extremes of doctrinal speculation, practical 
 radicalism, and ecclesiastical domination, may cordially and 
 affectionately rally. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 AS PLANNED AND ORGANIZED. 
 
 Such was the design of the founders, as described 
 by themselves. Who were the founders of the Union 
 Theological Seminary? Fortunately, its official rec- 
 ords furnish a clear answer to the question. And it 
 seems to me only right that on this occasion these rec- 
 ords should be allowed to speak for themselves. Here 
 are the minutes of the earliest formal meeting : — 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 9 
 
 New York, October 10, 1835. 
 At a meeting of a few gentlemen convened, by mutual un- 
 derstanding, at the house of Knowles Taylor, Esq., to take 
 into consideration the expediency of establishing a Theologi- 
 cal Seminary in the city of New York. 
 Present: 
 Knowles Taylor, Esq. Rev. Absalom Peters, D. D. 
 
 Richard T. Haines, Esq. Rev. Henry White. 
 
 Abijah Fisher, Esq. Rev. William Patton. 
 
 AVilliam M. Halsted, Esq. Rev. Erskine Mason. 
 
 Marcus Wilbm-, Esq. 
 
 Opened with prayer. 
 
 Knowles Taylor was called to the chair, and the Rev. 
 Erskine Mason was appointed Secretary. After a free in- 
 terchange of views upon the subject, it was unanimously 
 
 Resolved, That it is expedient, depending on the blessing 
 of God, to attempt to establish a Theological Seminary in 
 this city. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed as a " Committee 
 of Ways and Means" to take this subject into further consid- 
 eration, with power to call a meeting as soon as they shall be 
 able to report. 
 
 Messrs. K. Taylor, R. T. Haines, and W. M. Halsted were 
 appointed this committee. 
 
 Adjourned. Concluded with prayer. 
 
 Erskine Mason, Secretary. 
 
 The second meeting was held on October 19, 1835, 
 when in addition to those ah-eady named there were 
 present Fisher Howe, John Nitchie, Lowell Holbrook, 
 James C. Bliss, M. D., and Cornehus Baker. Again 
 Knowles Taylor was called to the chair, and the 
 Eev. Erskine Mason was appointed Secretary. The 
 Committee of Ways and Means having reported 
 
10 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 progress and been continued, the minutes proceed as 
 follows : — 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to draft an exhibit 
 of the reasons calling for the contemplated institution, and 
 also an outhne of a plan of instruction to be pursued. The 
 Rev. Messrs. Mason, Peters, Patton, Wliite, and John Nitchie, 
 Esq., were appointed as this committee. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to suggest the 
 best mode of organizing a board of directors for this institu- 
 tion. Messrs. Taylor, Nitchie, Baker, and Halsted, and Rev. 
 Dr. Peters, were appointed this committee. Adjourned to 
 meet on Monday, 26th instant, at 7^ o'clock, at the house of 
 Knowles Taylor, Esq. 
 
 Concluded with prayer. 
 
 Erskine Mason, Secretary. 
 
 Let me speak briefly of these men and of their 
 qualifications for the task before them. 
 
 Absalom Peters stands first among the four minis- 
 ters of the Gospel. He belonged to an old Puritan 
 stock, learned in his boyhood, on a New Hampshire 
 farm, how to endure hardness, and grew up in such 
 physical soundness and vigor that until more than 
 threescore and ten years old he is said never to have 
 known a sick day. The high reputation which he 
 enjoyed at this time may be inferred from the fact, 
 that on the retirement of Dr. Griffin, in 1836, Dr. 
 Peters Avas chosen to succeed him as President of 
 Williams College. Upon his declining the call, Mark 
 Hopkins was appointed. He possessed a keen in- 
 tellect, strong will, patient energy, and uncommon 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTION. H 
 
 administrative ability, combined with literary culture, 
 good learning-, and whole-hearted zeal for the advance- 
 ment of Christ's kingdom in the w^orld; nor was he 
 without a touch of the poetical temperament. In the 
 ecclesiastical conflicts of fifty years ago, he took rank 
 among the leaders. Had he devoted himself to a mili- 
 tary career, as at one time he intended, his name 
 might have become famous as a general ; and he was 
 equally fitted to win a foremost place at the bar, on 
 the bench, or in political life. Cool, sagacious, fear- 
 less, and master of his case, he was well qualified to 
 cope on the floor of the General Assembly, as he did 
 in the stormy sessions of 1836-37, with such debaters 
 as John and Robert J. Breckenridge and William S. 
 Plumer. 
 
 The opponents of voluntar}^ societies and of New 
 England ideas regarded Dr. Peters with no little 
 dislike, as well as fear. At the '* nod of the arch- 
 magician,'' as he was called, votes were suj^posed to 
 be given or withheld in the General Assembly. I 
 remember how in my boyhood the changes were 
 rung upon his name as an adroit ecclesiastical man- 
 ager and wire-puller. He was equalled by few men 
 of his generation, I doubt if any one surpassed him, 
 as an organizer and advocate of Home Mission work 
 in the United States ; and the same qualities that 
 made him so useful as a founder and early secretary 
 of the American Home Missionary Society, rendered 
 him invaluable as one of the founders of the Union 
 
12 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Theological Seminary. He was on the committee to 
 set forth the design of the institution, and propose a 
 plan of instruction ; he was a member of the com- 
 mittee on organization, and he was chairman of the 
 committee which prepared the constitution. This 
 Seminary is bound to hold the name of Absalom 
 Peters in lasting honor. 
 
 Henry White is the second name. He was at this 
 time pastor of the Allen Street Presbyterian Church, 
 to which he had been called in 1828. I shall have 
 occasion to speak of him later as a Professor in the 
 Seminary. His services as one of its founders were 
 of the utmost value. There can be no doubt that, in 
 the various meetings and consultations which issued 
 in its establishment, he exerted a constant, wise, and 
 shaping influence. He possessed an uncommonly 
 sound judgment, was at once prudent and sagacious, 
 had great tenacity of purpose, and enjoyed in a high 
 degree the confidence of the laymen who were enlisted 
 in the movement. Several of them were his intimate 
 friends and elders in the Allen Street Church. 
 
 William Patton is the third name. He was a 
 man of large and generous views, strong in his con- 
 victions of right and duty, as well as bold in asserting 
 them ; a natural enemy of wrong, oppression, and 
 intolerance : one of the earliest and ablest advocates 
 of the temperance reform ; an ardent patriot, whether 
 at home or abroad, and a firm believer in the provi- 
 dential mission and destiny of the American people. 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 13 
 
 He suggested the assembling of the convention wliieh 
 in 1846 organized in London the Evangelical Alli- 
 ance, and went himself as a delegate from America 
 to that convention. As one of the founders of this 
 institution, he is in a special manner entitled to our 
 remembrance to-day. If not the first to suggest a 
 theological seminary in the vicinity of New York, 
 he seems to have been the first to suggest one in 
 New York itself. In a letter to the Rev. Edwin F. 
 Hatfield, D.D., written in 1876, he relates that Dr. 
 Peters called upon him one day to consult him as to 
 the best disposition of some funds, which Mr. H., a 
 well known gentleman, held in his hands and desired 
 to appropriate to a good object. 
 
 I at once said, "Let the funds be given to commence a theo- 
 logical seminary in this city," for I had been thinking on this 
 subject. Dr. Peters said, " That will never do, it is no place 
 for a seminary," and made a number of objections. I then 
 argued the matter with him, to prove tliat a great city is 
 exactly the place, as furnishing enlarged and available means 
 of support to the indigent, by teaching singing in churches, 
 playing on organs, etc. ; also means of practical usefulness, 
 while studying, bringing the student away from the cloistered 
 life of the colleges and seminaries in the country, and intro- 
 ducing them into the masses of men among whom they must 
 work as ministers ; that it would be a good trial of their piety 
 and fidelity, and that, if any failed, it would be better to have 
 them fail then than later. I so far overcame Dr. Petcrs's ob- 
 jections as to name the plan to Mr. H,^ "We called in the 
 
 ^ Mr. II., however, seems not to have regarded it with favor, for the 
 funds in his hands were never obtained. 
 
14 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 counsel of R. T. Haines, Wm. M. Halsted, and perhaps C. O. 
 Halsted. The result was the determination to raise $75,000, 
 that is, 115,000 a year for five years, as an experiment ; and 
 if, at the end of this time, the experiment was not successful, 
 then to close up, but if successful, to go on. 
 
 Dr. Patton adds, that he personally secured 850,000 
 of the original subscription, by application to moneyed 
 men, and by argument convincing them of the desira- 
 bleness of the plan. To show his confidence in the 
 scheme he himself subscribed $500. He was active 
 also in all the early meetings ; his views were defi- 
 nitely embodied in the preamble to the constitution 
 of the Seminary, and for many years he was a most 
 efficient member of its Board of Directors. 
 
 Erskine Mason is the fourth name. His father was 
 the renowned Dr. John M. Mason, the friend of Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, an eminent divine, and one of the 
 first pulpit orators of the age. To Erskine Mason, 
 then thirty-one years old, was assigned the task of 
 giving written expression to the views and aim of the 
 founders of the Seminary. Nor was there, perhaps, 
 another man in the Presbyterian Church better quali- 
 fied for the task by training, solid sense, intelligent 
 zeal for the cause of Christian truth and learning, 
 freedom from theological partisanship, greatness of 
 soul, and the habit of taking wide, far-reaching out- 
 looks in the interest of the Gospel. 
 
 Notwithstanding his modesty and reserve, he 
 swayed men's minds alike by innate force of charac- 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 15 
 
 ter and by the strength of his judgment. Such mas- 
 ters in the law as Chancellor Kent and George Wood 
 of New York, and Randall and Meredith of Pennsyl- 
 vania, were glad to take counsel with him in the legal 
 discussion and contest that followed the disruption; 
 and there was no one, we are told, to whose advice they 
 and his brethren paid so much of respectful deference. 
 The preamble to our constitution, as I have intimated, 
 was prepared by him ; and although aided in com- 
 mittee by Drs. Patton, Peters, and White, and that ex- 
 cellent layman, John Nitchie, it must yet be regarded 
 as essentially his work. Its tone of wise moderation, 
 its dignity and condensed vigor of thought and ex- 
 pression, and its whole spirit, are characteristic of him. 
 '' Nothing, my brethren, is great in this world but the 
 kingdom of Jesus Christ : nothing but that, to a spir- 
 itual eye, has an air of permanency." This grand sen- 
 timent, uttered in one of his sermons, inspired him in 
 setting forth the design of the new seminary. 
 
 Such were the four ministers to whom we owe to- 
 day so large a debt of grateful recognition. One of 
 them was a native of New Hampshire, and one of 
 Pennsylvania ; the other two were natives of New 
 York. All four had pursued their theological studies 
 at Princeton, either wholly or in part. Two of them 
 were at the time pastors ; one, secretary of the Cen- 
 tral American Education Society; another, secretary 
 of the American Home Missionary Society ; while all 
 were deeply imbued with the spirit of home and 
 
16 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 world-wide evangelism, which so signally marked the 
 times. 
 
 Associated with these eminent clergymen as found- 
 ers of the Union Theological Seminary were some of 
 the most prominent Christian laymen of New York 
 and Brooklyn. 
 
 Knowles Taylor stands first in the list. It is 
 praise enough to say of him, that before reaching 
 the age of thirty he had been an intimate friend 
 and correspondent, as well as trusted counsellor, of 
 Dr. John Holt Rice, of Virginia. Dr. Rice's memoir 
 of his brother, James Brainerd Taylor, — a young 
 man of extraordinary piety and zeal to win sods 
 for Christ, — is doubtless known to many of you. 
 Years before, Mr. Taylor had taken a lively interest in 
 the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, contrib- 
 uting liberally toward its endowment, and becoming 
 familiar, through the letters and conversation of Dr. 
 Rice, with the claims and importance of such institu- 
 tions. He was, I think, one of the founders, and 
 almost from the first had been the treasurer of the 
 American Home Missionary Society. The first formal 
 meeting of those interested in the question of estab- 
 lishing a theological seminary in New York, as we 
 have seen, was held at his house. 
 
 The name of Richard T. Haines follows that of 
 Knowles Taylor. In mentioning this honored name, 
 I am tempted to stop and ask myself the question, 
 whether without Richard T. Haines the Union Theo- 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTIOX. 17 
 
 logical Seminary in New York would ever have ex- 
 isted, — whether, at all events, it would have long 
 continued to exist. And if the name of William 
 M. Halsted be joined to his, the question would not 
 be a fanciful one. These two noble men — partners 
 in business and partners in the service of Christ — 
 were pillars of strength to the infiint institution. As 
 their liberality and wisdom helped to found it, so 
 through years of poverty and trial they joined hands 
 in sustaining it. They were among the most solid 
 merchants of New York; their house remained up- 
 right even amidst the financial cyclone of 1837; and 
 the qualities that gave them their steadfast position in 
 the mercantile world — the same persistent energy, 
 prudence, and fidelity — were exercised in behalf of 
 the Union Seminary. For thirty years Mr. Haines was 
 President of its Board of Directors ; for five and thirty 
 years one of its most judicious and efiicient friends. 
 From the moment when Drs. Patton and Peters to- 
 gether sought his counsel to the day of his death, his 
 devotion to it knew no change except to grow stronger. 
 Mr. Halsted was Treasurer of the Seminary from its 
 beginning until 1845 ; and in this caj^acity watched 
 over its interests as if they had been his own. 
 
 Abijah Fisher was already well known in the re- 
 ligious and benevolent circles of New York. From 
 the first he was a Director of the Seminary, and as 
 such rendered it faithfid service for nearly a quarter 
 of a century. 
 
18 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Marcus Wilbur was a warm-hearted Christian mer- 
 chant, — an elder in the Bleecker Street Presbyterian 
 Church. I have a pleasant remembrance of him as, 
 twenty years later, my own parishioner and friend. 
 But his connection with the founding of Union Semi- 
 nary was very slight. His name occurs but once in 
 its records. 
 
 At the second meeting, when the two committees 
 on the design and plan of instruction of the con- 
 templated institution, and on its organization, were 
 appointed, five additional laymen, as we have seen, 
 took part in the proceedings. One of them, Fisher 
 Howe, was a member of the Board of Directors from 
 the beginning until his death, in 1871, — a period of 
 thirty-five years. Tlie Seminary had no truer friend. 
 In manifold ways he rendered it important service. 
 He had the instincts of a scholar, and was in special 
 sympathy with the spirit of investigation in all de- 
 partments of Biblical study and research. Of liim, and 
 of John Nitchie, James C. Bliss, and Cornelius Baker, 
 I shall speak elsewhere. Lowell Holbrook appears to 
 have taken no further part in the movement. 
 
 I have briefly sketched the men who originated and 
 planned this school of divinity. But it had still other 
 founders, — tlie men who, approving of the plan, 
 adopted it as their own and helped to carry it into 
 efi'ect. This brings us to the organization and actual 
 establishment of the Seminary. No sooner was the 
 plan completed than other leading Presbyterian min- 
 
FOUNDERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 19 
 
 isters, tog-ether with other leading laymen of New 
 York and Brooklyn, were invited to join in the move- 
 ment. The most of them accepted the invitation, and 
 were present at one or all of the next three meetings. 
 Among' this number were such clergymen as Thomas 
 McAuley, Thomas H. Skinner, Ichabod S. Spencer, 
 William Adams, John C. Brlgham, Asa D. Smith, and 
 Henry Gr. Ludlow ; and such laymen as Charles But- 
 ler, Caleb 0. Halsted, John L. Mason, Norman White, 
 and Anson G. Phelps. 
 
 At the fourth meeting, held on November 3, after 
 a free interchange of views, it was again '' Resolved 
 unanimously that it is expedient, depending on the 
 blessing of God, to attempt to establish a theological 
 seminary in this city." At this meeting the committee 
 on organization was empowered to nominate suitable 
 persons for directors of the new institution. 
 
 At the fifth meeting, held on November 9, the re- 
 port of the committee on the best mode of organizing 
 a Board of Directors having been made and adopted, 
 the following clergymen, nominated by this committee, 
 were elected Directors ; namely, Thomas McAuley, 
 Thomas H. Skinner, Henry Wliite, E. Mason, I, S. 
 Spencer, Absalom Peters, William Patton, William 
 Adams, E. P. Barrows, H. A. Rowland, W. W. Phillips, 
 and John Woodbridge. Drs. Phillips and Woodbridge 
 declined ; all the rest accepted. 
 
 At this same meeting the Committee of Ways and 
 Means reported that '' the establishment of the Semi- 
 
20 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 nary would involve an expense of $65,000, or $13,000 
 per annum for five years, supporting during that 
 period all the Professors, and at its expiration leaving 
 a building and a library entirely free from debt." 
 A subscription paper was thereupon presented to the 
 meeting, and the sum of $31,000 was subscribed. 
 
 At the sixth meeting, held on November 16, Dr. 
 Gardiner Spring, pastor of the Brick Church, then in 
 the height of his influence and usefulness, was elected 
 a Director ; but after attending the next meeting, he 
 declined the appointment. 
 
 The following laymen were also elected; namely, 
 Knowles Taylor, R T. Haines, William M. Halsted, 
 Micah Baldwin, Cornelius Baker, Charles Butler, John 
 Nitchie, Fisher Howe, Joseph Otis, Leonard Corning, 
 and Abijah Fisher. Later, Caleb 0. Halsted, Pelatiah 
 Perit, and Zechariah Lewis were added to the number. 
 These ten clergymen and fourteen laymen constituted 
 the first Board of Directors ; no others were appointed 
 until 1837. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE SEMIXARY EQUIPPED AND OPENED FOR INSTRUCTION. 
 ITS EARLY TRIALS AND STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 
 
 One of the most interesting documents in our ar- 
 chives is the original subscription-book. The first 
 four names are Knowles Taylor, William M. Halsted, 
 Richard T. Haines, and Cornelius Baker, against each 
 
ITS EQUIPMENT AND OPENING. 21 
 
 of which stands the sum of $5,000, — a hirge sum in 
 those days. Other names follow, that were widely 
 known and honored then, and some of which are far 
 more widely known and honored now ; such names 
 as Charles N. Talbot, S. S. Howland, George and Na- 
 thaniel Griswold, Russell H. and Rufus Nevins, Anson 
 G. Pheli^s, William E. Dodge, Charles Butler, Thomas 
 H. Skinner, Henry White, William Patton, George P. 
 Shipman, W. AV. Chester, Norman White, P. Perit, F. 
 Howe, David Leavitt, Leonard and Jasper Corning, 
 John G. Nelson, Gurdon Buck, L. Holbrook, T. Mc- 
 Auley, Joseph Otis, John L. Mason, Z. Lewis, E. 
 W. Morgan, Alfred Edwards, G. T. Robhins, Abijali 
 Fisher, Frederick N. Marquand, and Joseph Brewster. 
 The subscriptions were to be binding upon reaching 
 $60,000. Fifty thousand dollars had been secured 
 when the great fire occTUTed, on the night of De- 
 cember 16, 1835, by which more than five hundred 
 buildings in the wealthiest section of the town and 
 $17,000,000 of property were destroyed. In spite of 
 this appalling calamity the steadfast purpose of the 
 founders remained unshaken. At a meeting held on 
 January 11, 1836, the Committee of Ways and Means 
 reported: "Notwithstanding the late calamity which 
 has befallen our city in the destruction of so large an 
 amount of property by fire, the subscription in aid of 
 the Seminary is now binding, amounting to the sum 
 of $61,000." 
 
 On the evening of January 18, 1836, the first meet- 
 
22 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 ing of the Board of Directors was held at the house of 
 tlie American Tract Society, in Nassau Street. At this 
 meeting- it perfected its own organization by the choice 
 of officers for the year, appointed its committees, and 
 proceeded forthwith to business. The name of the 
 new institution was "The New York Theological 
 Seminary." Of the measures which were taken to 
 give it a "local habitation," I borrow the following 
 interesting account from Dr. Hatfield's Early Annals 
 of Union Theological Seminary, published in 1876. 
 
 A plot of ground, two hundred feet square, between Sixth 
 and Eighth Streets, extending from Greene to Wooster Streets, 
 four full lots on each street, was selected. It formed a part 
 of the property of " the Sailors' Snug Harbor," which shortly 
 before had been located in the old Randall mansion on Broad- 
 way, above Ninth Street. It was subject to an annual ground- 
 rent of eight hundred dollars. The lease was purchased for 
 eight thousand dollars. The locality was well up town, quite 
 on the outskirts of the city. Population had been speeding 
 from what was then familiarly known as Greenwich Village, 
 along the Hudson River, northward ; and, in like manner, 
 along the Third Avenue, on the eastern side of the city. A 
 few improvements had been made along the Bloomingdale 
 Road from its junction with the Bowery Road, at Seventeenth 
 Street, to the House of Refuge, which stood at the starting- 
 point of the old Boston Road, on the westerly side of the 
 present Madison Square, extending to the present Broadway, 
 and covering the site of the Worth Monument. Union Place, 
 now Union Square, had just been opened, at the forks of 
 Broadway and the Bowery, but was still unimproved. Eighth 
 Street, and a few of the parallel streets above, opened but a 
 few years before, were beginning to exhibit some evidences of 
 
ITS EQUIPMENT AND OPENING. 23 
 
 substantial improvement. With these exceptions, vacant lots, 
 unpaved streets, primitive roads and lanes, open fields, and 
 country seats, many of them highly cultivated and of con- 
 siderable extent, covered the island to the north, as far as 
 the ancient Dutch village of Harlem. The New York of tluit 
 day scarcely extended above Tenth Street, the original termi- 
 nus of Broadway. Beyond was the open country. 
 
 The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church, some ten years before, had been erected far 
 out of the city, and near it, on Twentieth Street, an Episco- 
 pal chapel (St. Peter's) of small capacity had been erected 
 in 1832. Old " St. Mark's " occupied its present site on 
 Tenth Street, near Second Avenue. Two or three mission 
 stations, in advance of the population, were struggling for a 
 foothold in the outlying districts. Excepting these, not a 
 church edifice of any description was to be found on the 
 island, below the villages of Bloomingdale and Harlem, above 
 Tenth Street. A new Presbyterian church had just been 
 erected in Mercer Street, near Eighth Street, which for many 
 subsequent years was the " Up-town Church " of the denomi- 
 nation. The stately structure erected for the University of 
 the City of New York, on the block below the new purchase, 
 had just been occupied in part, but was not fully completed. 
 Wooster Street had just been extended to Fourteenth Street, 
 and the part above the University widened and called Jackson 
 Avenue, — a name shortly after exchanged for University 
 Place. The location was deemed quite eligible, near enough 
 to the business portion of the city, and sufficiently remote 
 for a quiet literary retreat. 
 
 The next step was to secure a permanent corps 
 of instructors. For the chair of Theology the Rev. 
 Justin Edwards, D. D., was chosen ; and for the 
 chair of Biblical Literature, Prof. Joseph Addison 
 
24 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Alexander, of Princeton. Both appointments were 
 declined. The Rev. Henry \Yhite, pastor of the Al- 
 len Street Church, was then called to the Theological 
 chair ; and Dr. Thomas McAuley to that of Pastoral 
 Theology and Church Government, with the position 
 of President of the institution. The chair of Biblical 
 Literature was now offered to Prof. George How, of 
 the Tlieological Seminary at Columbia, S. C. ; and 
 upon his declining, Edward Robinson, D. D., formerly 
 of Andover, Mass., received and accepted the ap- 
 pointment. Several clerical members of the Board 
 consented to act as Professors Extraordinary. Late in 
 November, the recorder was authorized to announce 
 to the public that on Monday, the 5tli of December, 
 1836, the Seminary would be opened for instruction. 
 On tliat day, accordingly, thirteen young men ap- 
 peared at the house of the President, No. 112 Leonard 
 Street, and were duly enrolled as students of divinity. 
 For two years the institution was necessarily more or 
 less "peripatetic." "Now," says Dr. Hatfield, "the 
 young gentlemen are seen Avending their way to the 
 house of the President, in Leonard Street; the day 
 following they have gathered at the residence of Prof. 
 White, No. 80 Eldridge Street; the third dny finds 
 them at the rooms of the Presbyterian Education 
 Society, No. 116 Nassau Street, drinking in the erudi- 
 tion of Prof. Robinson ; or, in his absence, profiting 
 by the genial instructio.ns of the scholarly George 
 Bush, at his study, No. 115 Nassau Street; and again 
 
ITS EQUIPMENT AND OPENING. 25 
 
 they are to be found g-atliered about tlie polished and 
 enthusiastic Skinner, in his quiet retreat in the chapel 
 of the Mercer Street Church." 
 
 But, in spite of these disadvantages, ten additional 
 students were enrolled in the course of the first year. 
 At the close of the second year fifty-six names were 
 on the Seminary roll. At the opening- of the third 
 year, the catalogue, now for the first time printed, 
 showed a total of ninety-two students, thirty-two of 
 them Juniors. Thus in about three j^ears from the 
 earliest meeting at the house of Knowles Taylor, 
 October 10, 1835, the new Seminary had grown into 
 the third institution of its kind in the land, only Ando- 
 ver and Princeton outranking it. Sudden growth, 
 however, is not always healthy growth. The Union 
 Seminary owes, perhaps, quite as much to the sharp 
 trials as to the brilliant success which attended its 
 early years. Let us dwell a little here u^^on these 
 trials. They were such, essentially, as almost always 
 mark the beginning of a great work for Christ and 
 the Church. Bitter as they were at the time, we can 
 now look back upon them as a wholesome discipline 
 to the youthful institution. Dr. Hatfield thus refers 
 to them : — 
 
 The plans having at length been completed and approved, 
 contracts were made for the erection of a Seminary building on 
 University Place, and of four Professors' houses in the rear, 
 on Greene Street. Early in March, 1836, the work was fairly 
 begun, but with utterly inadequate resources. The original 
 
26 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 subscription liad reached nearly seventy thousand dollars ; but 
 the first instalment, payable June 1, 1836, had yielded scarcely 
 more than ten thousand dollars, four fifths of which had been 
 required for the purchase of the lease ; the ground rent and 
 assessments absorbed nearly three fourths of the small re- 
 mainder, leaving almost no provision for the payment of the 
 salaries of the three Professors, the purchase of books, and 
 other current expenses. The great fire had crippled quite a 
 number of the patrons of the Seminary, and the prospects for 
 the second instalment, in June, 1837, were anything but 
 promising. Whence were the funds for building purposes to 
 be derived ? Only from loans. Further subscriptions, to any 
 considerable extent, were out of the question. The times 
 were now adverse in the extreme for new enterprises. Mr. 
 Van Burcn had just succeeded to the Presidency. The excit- 
 ing era of land speculations had come to an end. The com- 
 monwealth of trade and commerce had lost confidence in 
 the policy of the general government. Credit was destroyed. 
 Trade was prostrate. The great manufactories were sus- 
 pended. The demand for labor ceased. An era of bank- 
 ruptcy set in. Merchants and bankers, after a while, yielded 
 to the storm. House after house went down in hopeless 
 ruin. A tremendous panic ensued. The land was convulsed. 
 Every bank in the city of New York on the 10th of May, and 
 immediately after every bank in the land, suspended specie 
 payments. It was no time to borrow, no time to build. It 
 is not strange, therefore, that the Directors of the Seminary 
 resolved, April 26, 1837, " to suspend the erection of the 
 buildings until they shall possess the means which will en- 
 courage them to resume the task." As if to add to the dis- 
 tractions of the times and the embarrassments of the Board, 
 the Presbyterian General Assembly, at its meeting in May, at 
 Philadelphia, was led into heated and angry discussions, and 
 convulsed with party strife. The excision of a portion of its 
 constituency scattered the brands of discord all over the land, 
 
UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY PLACE. 
 
EARLY TRIALS. 27 
 
 kindling the flames of contention throughout the denomina- 
 tion. ... It was a year of deep discouragement, and passed 
 away with but little relief. The second instalment of the sub- 
 scription had produced less than eight thousand dollars, and 
 the prospects for the following year were even less hopeful. 
 From two of the warm friends of the Seminary, however, 
 at the close of the year, loans amounting to twenty-seven 
 thousand dollars, secured by mortgage on the grounds and 
 prospective buildings, were obtained, and the work of con- 
 struction resumed.^ 
 
 It is worthy of note, that during this period of 
 financial disaster and discouragement the invaluable 
 Van Ess Library, of which I shall speak later, was 
 purchased. The new Seminary building was dedicated, 
 with approj^riate ceremonies, December 12, 1838. On 
 the 27th of March, 1839, the Legislature passed an 
 act incorporating the institution under the name of 
 The Union Theological Seminary in the City of 
 New York.^ 
 
 The institution entered upon its fourth year by en- 
 rolling fifty -five new students, the most of whom had 
 
 1 The Early Annals of Union Theological Seminary, pp. 12, 13. 
 
 2 Dr. Hatfield thinks that this name was "given it at Albany, to dis- 
 tinguish it, jirobably, f rom the Episcopal Seminary of Twentieth Street, — 
 a name not desired, much less chosen, by the Board, but prophetic of the 
 position that the institution has ever since maintained." Dr. Hitchcock, 
 on the other hand, in his Dedicatory Address, in 1884, expressed the opin- 
 ion that it was sent up from New York, and "was meant to be a monu- 
 mental protest against the unhappy rending of the Presbyterian Church in 
 1837, as also both a prayer and a prophecy against it." I am myself also 
 of the opinion that the name originated with the founders; and, fur- 
 ther, that it was suggested by that of the Union Theological Seminary 
 in Virginia, which some of them were familiar with and had helped to 
 establish. 
 
28 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 to be provided with lodgings outside of the Seminary 
 building. This was beyond the strongest hopes of its 
 friends. Nobody could now say that New York was 
 not at least a very attractive place to young men pre- 
 paring for the sacred office. But while the number 
 of students who flocked to the Seminary surpassed 
 the largest expectation of its founders, tlie latter 
 found themselves wholly at fault in their financial 
 plan and arrangements. Not more than fifty thou- 
 sand dollars of the original subscription had proved 
 available, while more than this amount had been 
 expended at the end of the tliird year of instruc- 
 tion. It was necessary, therefore, to resort to loans, 
 for which not only the buildings, but the Van Ess 
 Library, were mortgaged. The last instalment of tlie 
 subscription would hardly suffice to meet the current 
 expenses, and for the 3'ears beyond no provision what- 
 ever had been made. In this exigency the Board of 
 Directors appointed a financial agent, and then, call- 
 ing together the pastors of the city and vicinity who 
 were in sympatliy w^ith the movement, invited them to 
 open to him their pulpits and to aid him in soliciting 
 funds. They resolved to do so, and in the course of 
 the winter a fruitless attempt was made to raise fifty 
 thousand dollars. By February, 1840, the Treasurer, 
 William M. Halsted, had advanced over and above 
 the loans more than sixteen thousand dollars, while 
 eight thousand five hundred dollars had been re- 
 ceived from the sale of one of the four Professors' 
 
EARLY TRIALS. 29 
 
 houses. So dark was the prospect, that even the ques- 
 tion of abandoning- the enterprise beg-an to be agi- 
 tated; and had not its friends been men of stron<r 
 faith, abounding in liope, and determined in purpose, 
 such woukl doubtless have been the result. For two 
 years the salaries of the Professors had been mostly 
 unpaid, and one of them, the Professor of Theolog-y, 
 Dr. Hatfield relates, " was compelled to borrow nearly 
 a year's salary, then to convert his home into a board- 
 ing--liouse, to become the stated supply of a pulpit, 
 and at length to enter upon a voluntary agency for the 
 solicitation of money to pay his very moderate salary." 
 By the most vigorous efforts, a sufficient sum had been 
 pledged by subscription, at the close of the term in 
 May, 1840, to justify the Board "in continuing the 
 Seminary in operation for the ensuing year." It was 
 continued, however, with the utmost difficulty ; for the 
 debt grew larger day by day, while the resources of 
 the institution were every day growing smaller. 
 
 Toward the close of 1840 it was determined to taise, 
 if possible, a permanent fund. For this pm-pose a sub- 
 scription, payable on the attainment of pledges to the 
 amount of Sl20,000, was opened. One subscription 
 of S25,000, two of $1,250, eleven of $1000 each, and 
 others, amounting in all to $90,000, were received, 
 when, to the grief and dismay of the friends of the 
 Seminary, the whole movement collapsed. Pesort 
 was now had to new expedients. In addition to an- 
 nual collections in the churches, " agents were sent 
 
30 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 out through the country, soliciting funds, in gifts of 
 one dollar and upwards, from the people at their 
 homes, in their warehouses and workshops, on their 
 farms and in their factories." Thus the struggle for 
 existence was kept up for two or three years longer. 
 But at length it became quite evident that such expe- 
 dients could not save the institution. 
 
 We pass now to the second period of our early 
 financial histor}^, namely, that of tentative, partial 
 endowment. In September, 1843, a public meeting 
 of the friends of the Seminary was called, and an 
 appeal made for the sum of $25,000 to endow the 
 chair of Theology. The success of this appeal gave 
 the institution its first permanent fund. But to col- 
 lect the subscriptions to this fund, to pay off a floating 
 debt of nearly $20,000, and to meet current expenses, 
 required very strenuous exertions for years to come. 
 Earlv in 1844 it was proposed to transfer the insti- 
 tution to Brooklyn. Several residents of that city, on 
 condition of such transfer, offered to contribute ample 
 funds to erect there a Seminary building and three 
 dwelling-liouses for the Professors. The Board of 
 Directors declined the generous offer ; but the fact of 
 its having been made indicates in what straits they 
 found themselves. 
 
 During this period of struggle for existence the 
 friends of the Seminary were cheered by the legacy 
 of Mr. James Roosevelt, which they regarded as a 
 special favor of Providence. ''A grandson of this 
 
EARLY TRTALS. 31 
 
 eminent citizen had been carefully trained for the 
 priesthood of the Episcopal Church, and duly or- 
 dained. Having- served in the ministry, first at Har- 
 lem, N. Y., and then at Hagerstown, Md., he became 
 so thorough a ritualist that nothing would content 
 him but the Papacy, which presently he espoused. 
 After a brief novitiate at St. Sulpice, in Paris, he was 
 ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1842 
 by the late Archbishop Hughes, whose secretary he 
 became in 1846. Shortly after this latter date his 
 venerable grandfather died, and it was found that, in 
 consequence of this change of faith, the inheritance, 
 valued at about $30,000, originally designed for the 
 grandson, had been devised to Union Theological 
 Seminary in the city of New York. This bequest was 
 contested, successfully at first ; but the provisions of 
 the will were finally sustained by the Court of Ap- 
 peals. The contestant is now the Roman Catholic 
 Archbishop of Baltimore, Most Rev. James R. Bay- 
 ley, D. D., and his forfeited patrimony has done excel- 
 lent service in sustaining this Protestant seminary." ^ 
 
 Before passing from our early financial trials I will 
 give, even at the risk of some repetition, the following 
 vivid reminiscences, kindly furnished me by the Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Directors, Charles Butler, LL. D., 
 our only surviving founder. 
 
 The period from 1837 to 1850 was one of extraordinary 
 financial difficulty and vicissitudes, — unparalleled, indeed, in 
 1 The Early Annals of Union Theological Seminary, pp. 18, 19. 
 
32 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 the history of the country. The existence of the Seminary 
 during all these years was a struggle with poverty and the 
 difficulties inseparable from poverty. The silver lining to 
 the cloud which hovered over us, dark and threatening, es- 
 pecially from 1837 to 1812, was visible only to the eye of 
 faith ; and while faith with some was weak and often wearied, 
 yet with others in the Board at this time it was not only 
 hopeful, but brilliant even in the darkest hour. I can recall 
 in memory, but cannot describe, the feeling which pervaded 
 and was reflected in the countenances of members when 
 called together to consider what could be done to meet im- 
 pending exigencies. These meetings were generally attended 
 by the Professors as well, and were always opened and closed 
 with prayer. There was a close bond of union between the 
 Faculty and the members of the Board. The tender sym- 
 pathy which comes ever from sharing one another's bui'dens 
 marked their deliberations, and was evidenced in all that was 
 said and done. Prayer and supplication for Divine support 
 and guidance were not wanting. Nor were they fruitless. 
 
 At a period of the greatest darkness, on the 1th of Janu- 
 ary, 1812, the Directors were in session, and a communication 
 came to them from Mr. James Boorman, in which he agreed 
 to contribute the sum of two thousand dollars annually for 
 three years, to support a Professor, and offered further im- 
 mediately to pay two thousand dollars, which he desired, 
 irrespective of the conditions imposed by his subscription, 
 should be applied at once to the salary of Dr. Robinson, 
 then largely in arrears. This was the first and largest annual 
 subscription ever made for the support of the Seminary by 
 any one of its friends up to this time, and the effect was 
 most encouraging alike to Directors and Professors. Six 
 years later, Mr. Boorman initiated the movement for the ap- 
 pointment of Dr. Skinner to the chair of Sacred Rhetoric, 
 and by personal effort secured the means to cover his salary 
 of 82,000 a year for a period of five years, in advance of tlie 
 
EARLY TRIALS. 33 
 
 appointment. Toward this he himself subscribed !5^1,000 a 
 year for the period named, and the balance was made up by 
 three other persons, all members also of the Mercer Street 
 Church ; viz. Anson G. Phelps, Sen., $500 ; Eli Wainwright, 
 $250 ; Mrs. Arthur Bronson, 8250. 
 
 In April, 1850, at a meeting of the Finance Committee at 
 the house of Caleb 0. Halsted, the estimate required for the 
 annual support of the Seminary, including the salaries of four 
 Professors and one Assistant, was $10,900, and the estimate 
 of available assets, or resources, was $9,400, from all sources. 
 Of this sum $4,000 was counted on from the Mercer Street 
 Church ; $2,400 from the Roosevelt legacy, which had just 
 been decided in favor of the Seminary ; and the balance of 
 $3,500 it was hoped might be collected from friends and all 
 the other Presbyterian churches. As the result of the delib- 
 erations at this meeting, it was resolved to open a subscrip- 
 tion to raise the sum of $11,000 annually for five years; but 
 the risk and uncertainty of such a plan, involving the very 
 existence of the Seminary, were so obvious, that early in 
 1852 the Directors resolved if possible to secure an endow- 
 ment which would provide for the salaries of the Professors, 
 then fixed at the moderate sum of $2,000 a year, and other 
 indispensable expenses. 
 
 I cannot close these reminiscences without an expression 
 of the feeling of regard and affection, often too deep for ut- 
 terance, which I have always cherished in memory of two of 
 my associates in the Board, who, in those early years of trial 
 and disappointment, were conspicuous in bearing the burden 
 and heat of the day. I refer to William M. Halsted and 
 Richard T. Haines. The demand for means to sustain the 
 institution during this period of extraordinary commercial 
 disaster and ruin was constant and pressing; and but for 
 the support rendered by these two noble men in money and 
 credit, it must inevitably have failed. I do not exaggerate 
 the importance of the aid which they rendered. I was one 
 
34 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 of the Finance Committee, and in constant intercourse with 
 them. My associate Directors of the period, if living, would, 
 I am sure, unite with me most cheerfully in bearing testi- 
 mony to the unfaltering patience and fortitude with which 
 the pecuniary burden was carried by them, at great inconve- 
 nience and sacrifice. That it was so borne by them was not 
 only from a conviction of its necessity to avert bankruptcy, 
 but from a deeper feeling ; namely, that on it depended the 
 maintenance of an institution, founded in faith and hope, for 
 the training of ministers, and to advance the Redeemer's 
 kingdom throughout the world. In other words, they were 
 prompted by Christian zeal and piety, for which they were so 
 distinguished in their lives. 
 
 Such are some of the pecuniary trials which the 
 Seminary passed through during the first eighteen 
 years of its existence. Of its financial history during 
 the rest of the half-century I shall speak later. 
 
 V. 
 
 EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL POSITION 
 OF THE SEMINARY. 
 
 It will be next in place to speak of the early 
 ecclesiastical and theological position of the Seminary. 
 This position was the natural result of the providen- 
 tial training of its founders, and of the circumstances 
 in the midst of which they found themselves. They 
 were, as we have seen, men of high standing and large 
 influence, both in the Presbyterian Church and in the 
 
EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION. 35 
 
 whole Christian community. Without exception tliey 
 seem to have been inspired by two ideas: first, the 
 New Testament idea of the church as a company of 
 faithful people, vitally united to Christ, living for Him, 
 and doing His work in the world ; secondly, by what 
 I may call the American religious idea, namely, that 
 our country, by heritage and of right, belongs to 
 Christ, and that it is the first business of His Church, 
 by the power and preaching of the Gospel, to bring 
 every part of it into obedience to Him. This most 
 urgent business they believed to be greatly hindered 
 by the contentious and divisive spirit that ruled the 
 hour. They were "men of moderate views and feel- 
 ings, who desired to live free from party strife." This 
 desire was strengthened by the trials for heresy of 
 Lyman Beecher and Albert Barnes, wdiich had been 
 going on while they themselves were conferring to- 
 gether respecting the establishment of a new theologi- 
 cal seminary. Dr. Beecher was admired and honored 
 by them as the champion of orthodoxy in its memora- 
 ble contest with Unitarianism, as the bold assailant of 
 intemperance, and, just then, as the Christian patriot 
 who, on the verge of old age, had left one of the first 
 pulpits in New England and himself gone out as a 
 laborer in the Great Valley of the West, thus setting 
 an example that surpassed even his own eloquent pleas 
 in enforcing the claims of home evangelism. 
 
 The case of Albert Barnes came home still closer to 
 the founders of this Seminary. Of some of them he 
 
36 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 was the intimate personal friend. They regarded him 
 as an eminently useful servant of Christ, — meek, 
 upright, and God-fearing, — whose preaching had 
 been signally blessed in the conversion of souls. His 
 Notes on the New Testament had also endeared him, 
 not to them only, but to their families and to thou- 
 sands of Cln-istian people, as a devout and very help- 
 ful hiterpreter of Holy Scripture. And yet he was 
 now under suspension " from the exercise of all the 
 functions proper to the Gospel ministry." Several 
 of them, I think, had again and again supplied his 
 pulpit while his own voice in it was silenced. Is it 
 strange that their ideal of a theological seminary 
 was one around which all men, who desired to stand 
 aloof from the extremes of "ecclesiastical domina- 
 tion," might cordially rally? 
 
 These statements will serve to explain, on the one 
 hand, the original autonomy of the Union Theological 
 Seminary, — its independence of ecclesiastical control ; 
 and, on the other hand, the fact that, after the dis- 
 ruption of the Presb3^terian Church, it belonged to 
 all intents and purposes to the New School branch, 
 although never directly subject to its authority. Not 
 only was it in full sympathy with the New School 
 churches of New York and vicinity, but it was sus- 
 tained by their contributions, and in the persons of 
 its Professors was represented in New School Pres- 
 byteries, Synod, and General Assembly. It was, 
 however, wholly independent, I repeat, of direct ec- 
 
EARLY THEOLOGICAL POSITION. 37 
 
 clesiastical control ; and so it continued until 1870. 
 At that time, in the interest of reunion and of lar^-er 
 freedom of otlier Theological Seminaries, whose Pro- 
 fessors had heretofore been chosen by the General 
 Assembly, it generously relinquished a portion of its 
 own autonomy.^ 
 
 The same causes that fixed thus the early eccle- 
 siastical position of the Seminary determined also its 
 theological character. Its founders, ministers and lay- 
 men alike, were practical men, with definite practical 
 ends in view. Not one of them regarded himself, or 
 w^as regarded by the Christian public, as a theologi- 
 cal leader ; not one was noted as a religious partisan. 
 What interested them far more than the local con- 
 troversies and speculations of the day was the pro- 
 gress of the kingdom of God at home and abroad. For 
 this they praj^ed and labored continually. For this 
 
 1 The action of the Board of Directors was as follows. It memorial- 
 ized the General Assembly of 1870 to this effect, viz. : " That the General 
 Assembly may be pleased to adopt as a rule and plan, in the exercise of 
 the proprietorship and control over the General Theological Seminaries, 
 that, so far as the election of Professors is concerned, the Assembly will 
 commit the same to their respective Boards of Directors, on the following 
 terms and conditions: First, That the Board of Directors of each Theo- 
 logical Seminary shall be authorized to appoint all Professors for the 
 same. Second, That all sucli appohitinents shall be reported to the 
 General Assembly, and no such appointment of Professor shall be con- 
 sidered as a complete election, if disapproved by a majority vote of the 
 Assembly." 
 
 The Directors further declared : " If the said plan shall be adopted by 
 the General Assembly, that they will agree to conform to the same, the 
 Union Seminary in New York being, in this respect, on the same ground 
 with other Theological Seminaries of the Presbyterian Church." 
 
 The plan was adopted by the General Assembly at Philadelphia, 
 June 1, 1870. 
 
38 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 they gave liberally of their money, time, and influ- 
 ence. This had been their chief object in establishing 
 the new Seminary. New York stood foremost as a 
 centre of American evangelism. It was the head- 
 quarters of the American Bible Society, the Ameri- 
 can Tract Society, the American Home Missionary 
 Society, and other national agencies for the spread 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 New York was also a religious publishing centre 
 for the whole country. In this respect the previous 
 decade had formed a new era in its history. Not to 
 speak of the numerous and excellent volumes issued 
 by the American Tract Society, select works of some 
 of the ablest Puritan divines of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, like Howe, Baxter, and Flavel, were reprinted; 
 the complete works of President Edwards appeared ; 
 the writings of Robert Hall and Isaac Taylor, who 
 represented the old Calvinistic evangelical fjiith of 
 England with such originality and literary power, 
 were republished. These last-named authors, who 
 had little in common with current ecclesiastical and 
 doctrinal disputes, were widely read by laymen as 
 well as ministers, and did much, no doubt, to give 
 tone and character to the religious sentiments which 
 animated the founders of this institution. The same 
 may be said of Albert Barnes. If they did not agree 
 with all his views, they none the less admired the 
 pious good sense, clearness, ability, and reverence 
 with which he unfolded the meaning of the inspired 
 
EARLY THEOLOGICAL POSITION. 39 
 
 oracles ; and they sympathized heartily with his beau- 
 tiful Christian spirit. It is to be remembered, too, 
 that The Observer and The Evangelist were already 
 established, circulated far and wide, and i)Owerfully 
 influenced opinion in the Presbyterian Church on tlie 
 various questions — whether relating- to faitb, morals, 
 or policy — by wliich it was agitated. 
 
 Already, too, New York showed signs of becoming 
 a seat of theological culture. In January, 1834, Leon- 
 ard Woods, Jr., a member of its Third Presbytery 
 and a young New Englander of rare gifts, had started 
 The Literary and Theological Review, which aimed to be 
 an organ, at once liberal and conservative, of the best 
 thought of the age. The first three volumes of this 
 Review, published before its editor was transferred 
 to a chair in the Bangor Theological Seminary, con- 
 tain articles that now, after fifty years, are fresh and 
 instructive. Among its contributors w^ere such men 
 as President Humphrey, Dr. Sprague of Albany, Drs. 
 Leonard Woods and Skinner of the Andover Semi- 
 nary, Prof. C. E. Stowe, D. R. Goodwin, now Pro- 
 fessor in the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School at 
 Philadelphia, the Rev. C. S. Henry, S. G. Howe of 
 Boston, Cyrus Hamlin, Leonard Withington, Enoch 
 Pond, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and others tlien or 
 since well known throughout the country. Such were 
 some features of the immediate environment in time 
 and place and ruling influences, that helped to decide 
 the early theological position of the Seminary. 
 
40 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 But in order to understand tins position fully, we 
 should also consider it in the light of certain general 
 facts in the history of American Presbyterianism. 
 From the first, that history had been deeply affected 
 by two leading tendencies. Both alike went back 
 to the Long Parliament, which ordered and adopted, 
 and to the Westminster Assembly, which framed, our 
 standards. But while they had in so far a common 
 origin, they differed not a little in character and in 
 their development in this country. One had wrought 
 chiefly through the Scotch, or Scotch-Irish, element in 
 our population ; the other, rather through the Puritan 
 or New England element. For the most part, their 
 natural affinities and vital points of agreement caused 
 them to coalesce and work in harmony, as in the first 
 American Presbytery. But now and then they came 
 into bitter conflict. Twice the antagonism between 
 them issued in a violent rupture; once in 1741, and 
 again in 1838. Tlie points of controversy in 1741, it 
 is true, differed materially, as well as in name, from 
 those of 1838 ; still the same leading tendencies, 
 modified by special causes, are clearly discernible. 
 In 1741 it was ''Old Side" and ^' New Side," "Old 
 Lights" and "New Lights"; in 1838, " Old School " 
 and "New School." 
 
 In both cases, it was largely a conflict between 
 new and old, — between the progressive and conser- 
 vative spirit ; and in both cases the ruling tendencies 
 still wrought largely through the Scotch-Irish and 
 
EARLY THEOLOGICAL POSITION. 41 
 
 the Puritan or New England elements. And then 
 fifty years ago, let us remember, the Presbyterian 
 Church and the churches of New England were in 
 much closer relations with each other than they are 
 to-day. They had co-operated for a quarter of a cen- 
 tury in the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions ; they co-operated in the American 
 Home Missionary Society, in the Central American 
 Education Society, and in other national Evangelistic 
 agencies. Look over the annual reports of these so- 
 cieties between 1830 and 1836, or read the addresses 
 made at their anniversaries in this city during- that 
 period, and you will be struck with the fact that 
 a state of thing-s then existed of which few vestio^es 
 now remain. The sharp disputes and differences of 
 opinion about measures and policy, about orthodoxy 
 and about slavery, alluded to at the beginning of this 
 address, long since culminated, spent their force, and 
 passed away. In order, however, to understand the 
 early history of tins Seminary, they must be con- 
 stantly kept in mind. 
 
 In view of this brief exposition, it is not difficult 
 to answer the question. How happened it tliat Union 
 Seminary, established two years before the disrup- 
 tion of 1838, was so emphatically on the New School 
 side ? For the simple reason, I reply, that its Pres- 
 byterianism was mainly of the type that had been 
 shaped by Puritan and New England influcnices. 
 These influences had been most potent in founding 
 
42 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 and building up the churches upon whose sympathy 
 and support the Union Seminary so long depended 
 for its very existence ; and, naturally, the same in- 
 fluences decided its doctrinal position. Of its original 
 clerical Directors, a single one only found himself, 
 after the division, in the Old School connection; and 
 he had recently come from a Congregational pas- 
 torate in New England, and was in full accord with 
 the motives and design of the Seminary. Its close 
 affinity with New England at that time may be illus- 
 trated by the fact, that in choosing its first Professor of 
 Systematic Theology the Board of Directors selected 
 as candidates two such men as Heman Humphrey, 
 President of Amherst College, and Justin Edwards, 
 afterwards President of Andover Seminary ; and that 
 later, upon the death of Dr. White, Mark Hopkins, 
 then President of Williams College, was unanimously 
 elected as his successor. 
 
 But when I speak of the influence of New England 
 and of New England ideas, it is, of course, in no 
 mere sectional, or partisan, sense; I mean an influ- 
 ence that had incorporated itself with the organic life 
 of American Presbyterianism ; as when, for example, 
 in the person of one of its greatest representatives, 
 Jonathan Dickinson, a son of Massachusetts and a 
 graduate of Yale College, it framed the Adopting Act 
 of 1729, aided in founding the College of New Jersey, 
 and asserted so strenuously what Dr. John Holt Rice 
 called "a sound orthodoxy without any cramping 
 
EAliLY THEOLOGICAL POSITION. 43 
 
 irons or hoops about it." In this sense the Puritan 
 and New England influence had been a great power 
 in moulding tlie theological sentiment of American 
 Presbyterianism all through the eighteenth century 
 and the first third of the nineteenth; and its power 
 was never more distinctly or more wisely manifested 
 than in our own early history. Nor can we be 
 too thankful to-day that from the first it wrought 
 rather as a power than as a special theological school 
 or creed. The Seminary formulated no creed of its 
 own. The only system of doctrine to which it bound 
 either itself or its teachers, it held in common with 
 the Old School ; namely, the system contained in the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith. It simply inter- 
 preted that system in its own way; and its own way 
 was in the main according to the type of Calvinism 
 taught by such men as Jonathan Dickinson, Jonathan 
 Edwards, Bellamy, Hopkins, and the first President 
 Dwight, modified by later American divines, and 
 also, more or less, by the writings of Andrew Fuller, 
 Robei't Hall, John Foster, and the Evangelical school 
 of the Church of England. The following is the 
 pledge required of its Professors, touching both doc- 
 trine and polity: — 
 
 I believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament 
 to be the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and 
 practice ; and I do now, in the presence of God and the Di- 
 rectors of this Seminary, solemnly and sincerely receive the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith as containing the system 
 
44 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures. I do also, in like 
 manner, approve of the Presbyterian Form of Government ; 
 and I do solemnly promise that I will not teach or inculcate 
 anything which shall appear to me to be subversive of said 
 system of doctrines, or of the principles of said Form of Gov- 
 ernment, so long as I shall continue to be a Professor in the 
 Seminary. 
 
 VI. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEMINARY IN ITS SCOPE AND 
 TEACHING FORCE. 
 
 No careful reader of the preamble to the consti- 
 tution of the Seminary can fail to be impressed with 
 the practical wisdom, good sense, largeness of views, 
 and devotion to the cause of sacred learning, as well as 
 the pious zeal, which inspired its founders. They had 
 studied and discerned clearly the signs of the times. 
 It was their *' design to furnish the means of a full 
 and thorough education in all the subjects taught in 
 the best Theological Seminaries in the United States ; 
 also, to embrace therewith a thorough knowledge of 
 the Standards of Faith and Discipline of the Presby- 
 terian Church." But in order to realize this high 
 ideal, time and experience were needed. It could 
 not be extemporized. We have seen what financial 
 difficulties stood in its way at the very outset, and 
 for many following years. But while the ideal of 
 the founders, in the nature of the case, could not at 
 
DEVELOPMENT IN SCOPE. 45 
 
 once be realized, they never lost sight of it. From 
 the first it has been a ruling purpose, alike of tlie 
 Board of Directors and of the Faculty, as far as 
 possible, to make the Union Theological Seminary 
 perfect and entire, wanting nothing. When I said, 
 therefore, at the beginning of this sketch, that tlie 
 institution is essentially what fifty years ago it was 
 intended to be, I meant that its growth has been in 
 substantial accordance with the original design and 
 spirit of its founders. But this does not imply that 
 they made no mi^stakes, or that they foresaw distinctly 
 the working and outcome of their plan in all its details. 
 They were modest men, and the last to claim for them- 
 selves any such pre-eminence. One has only to com- 
 pare their design in the matter of students with their 
 design in the matter of instruction and training, in 
 order to perceive that they were as short-sighted in 
 the former as they were wise and far-sighted in the 
 latter. The second section of the preamble to the 
 constitution, for example, reads as follows : — 
 
 This institution (while it will receive others to the advan- 
 tages it may furnish) is principally designed for such young 
 men in the cities of New York and Brooklyn as are, or may 
 be, desirous of pursuing a course of Theological Study, and 
 whose circumstances render it inconvenient for them to go 
 from home for this purpose. 
 
 In view of the history of the institution during half 
 a century, how strange, how almost ludicrous, all this 
 sounds in our ears ! Hardly were its doors open. 
 
46 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 when young men began to flock to it from every 
 quarter. Its situation, as well as its principles and 
 spirit, made it at once a school of divinity, not for 
 New York and Brooklyn chiefly, but for tlie whole 
 land. 
 
 It must ever be regarded as a special favor of 
 Providence, that the great department of Biblical Lit- 
 erature was intrusted to the man better fitted than 
 any other in the country to organize and shape it. 
 Dr. Robinson's letter of acceptance seems to have 
 been written with special reference to its " bearing 
 upon the future influence and interests of the Semi- 
 nary." What could be more admirable in this respect, 
 or more prophetic, than the following passages ! 
 
 The constitution properly requires every Professor to de- 
 clare that he believes " the Scriptures of tlie Old and New 
 Testament to be the word of God, the only infallible rule of 
 faith and practice." This is placing the Bible in its true posi- 
 tion, as the only foundation of Christian Theology. It follows 
 as a necessary consequence, that tlie study of the Bible, as 
 taught in the department of Biblical Literature, must lie at 
 the foundation of all right theological education. To under- 
 stand the Bible, the student must know all about the Bible. 
 It is not a mere smattering of Greek and Hebrew, not the 
 mere ability to consult a text in the original Scriptures, that 
 can qualify him to be a correct interpreter of the word of life. 
 He must be thoroughly furnished for his work, if he be ex- 
 pected to do his work well. A bare enumeration of the par- 
 ticulars that fall within the department of Biblical Literature 
 will show that it covers a wider field than is generally sup- 
 posed. To it, properly, belong full courses of instruction in 
 
DEVELOPMENT IN SCOPE. 47 
 
 the Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldcc languages, and also, as aux- 
 iliaries, in the Syriac, Arabic, and other minor dialects ; in 
 Biblical Introduction, or the History of the Bible as a whole, 
 and its various parts, its writers, its manuscripts, editions, 
 etc. ; in Biblical Criticism, or the history and condition of the 
 text ; in Biblical Hermeneutics, or the theory and principles 
 of Interpretation; in Biblical Exegesis, or the practical appli- 
 cation of those principles to the study and interpretation of 
 the sacred books ; in Biblical Antiquities ; and, further, a sep- 
 arate consideration of the version of the Seventy, as a chief 
 source of illustration for both the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 I do not make this enumeration in order to magnify my 
 own department, — far from it ; but rather to lead your minds 
 to see and inquire, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " 
 Certainly it does not lie within the power of any one man, 
 whoever he may be, to do justice to all these important topics. 
 But there must be to every great undertaking a day of small 
 things ; there must be months and even years of weakness, 
 though yet of growth; and my object in these remarks will be 
 accomplished if they serve to draw your attention to the im- 
 portance of the general subject, and thus prepare the way for 
 further action, whenever God in his providence shall seem to 
 render it expedient. 
 
 The Seminary was not only highly favored in ob- 
 taining for the chair of Biblical Literature a Christian 
 scholar of the very first grade, but it was much fa- 
 vored also in securing the services of able assistants in 
 the same department dming Dr. Robinson's absence 
 in the Holy Land, and in later years. Our list of 
 histructors in Sacred Literature between I80G and 
 1874 contains the names of some eminent Oriental 
 scholars ; such names as George Bush, Isaac Nord- 
 
48 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 heimer, Elias Riggs of Constantinople, and Cornelius 
 Van xVllen Van Dyck of Beyrout.^ 
 
 No department in the Seminary has been so en- 
 larged as that of Sacred Literature, nor has any one 
 developed in greater power. Upon the death of Dr. 
 Robinson, in 1863, William Greenough Thayer Shedd 
 was appointed to the chair. Upon his transfer, in 
 1874, to the chair of Systematic Theology, he was 
 succeeded by Philip Schaff, who in 1870 had been 
 made Professor of Theological Cyclopaedia and Chris- 
 tian Symbolism, to Avhich Hebrew was added in 1873. 
 
 1 I cannot refrain from adding a few words respecting three of our 
 instructors iu Sacred Literature, who long since passed away from earth. 
 They were scholai-s of the best quality and much beloved by the stu- 
 dents. I refer to Xordheiraer, Turner, and Hadley. 
 
 Isaac Xordheimer (1838-42) came here from Germany about fifty 
 years ago. He was a Jew, and warmly devoted to the faith of his fathers. 
 I have the pleasantest personal recollections of him, having spent many 
 months under his tuition in the study of Hebrew and German. Later, 
 I passed several years at the Universities of Halle and Berlin, but never 
 found a teacher who surpassed him in skill and enthusiasm. His early 
 death I have always regarded as an almost irreparable loss to the cause 
 of Oriental learning in this country. His Hebrew Grammar shows 
 what might have been expected of him, had he not been cut down in 
 the flower of his days. He lived with a younger sister in the Univer- 
 sity building, and was as simple-hearted and affectionate as a child in 
 all his ways. 
 
 William "Wadden Turner (1843-52) was a model of good and 
 patient scholarship, noted alike for his modesty and his learning, and 
 his name would no doubt have been far more widely known had not he 
 too been cut off prematurely. 
 
 Henry Hamilton Hadley (1858-64) was a representative of the 
 finest type of Yale scholarship and character. For several years he was 
 my parishioner; and I shall never forget the lovely Christian traits that 
 endeared him to all his friends. His patriotic ardor cost him his life. 
 He went " to the front " in the service of the Christian Commission, 
 and there fell a victim to the cause of the Union as truly as any soldier 
 on its battle-fields. 
 
DEVELOPMENT IN TEACHING FORCE. 49 
 
 In 1875 Charles Augustus Briggs became Professor 
 of Hebrew and Cognate Languages. The chair of 
 Biblical Philology was created in 1879, and Francis 
 Brown was appointed to give instruction in it. It thus 
 appears that the original department, which Dr. Rob- 
 inson organized and for nearly a quarter of a century 
 conducted with such ability, consists now of three 
 different chairs ; no one of which, I may add, is per- 
 haps less exacting than that of Biblical Literature 
 fifty years ago. 
 
 The chair of Systematic Theology has remained 
 essentially the same from the days of Dr. White. 
 His successor, appointed in 1851, was James Patriot 
 Wilson, now the venerable and honored pastor of the 
 South Park Church, Newark, N. J. In October, 1853, 
 Dr. Wilson resigned, and Professor Smith was trans- 
 ferred to the chair. In January, 1874, Dr. Smith 
 resigned, and Professor Shedd was ajjpointed to suc- 
 ceed him. 
 
 The chair of Church Histor}^ was first occupied by 
 Henry Boynton Smith, in the autumn of 1850. Up 
 to that time Church History had been taught either 
 by a Professor Extraordinary, or by a temporary in- 
 structor. On the transfer of Dr. Smith to the Pro- 
 fessorship of Systematic Theology, Roswell D wight 
 Hitchcock was called to the vacant chair. 
 
 A chair of Pastoral Theology was established in 
 1836, and Dr. McAuley appointed to fill it. After 
 his retirement, in 1840, instruction on the subject was 
 
 4 
 
50 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 given by Professors Extraordinary until 1848, when 
 Thomas Harvey Skinner was chosen Professor of 
 Sacred Rhetoric, Pastoral Theology, and Church Gov- 
 ernment. In 1873 William Adams was appointed 
 to the Presidency of the Seminary, and also to the 
 chair of Sacred Rhetoric. In the same year George 
 Lewis Prentiss became Professor of Pastoral The- 
 ology, Church Polity, and Mission Work. Mission 
 Work, if I mistake not, was then for the first time 
 engrafted upon the regular curriculum of theological 
 study in this country. Upon the death of Dr. Adams, 
 in 1880, Professor Hitchcock was appointed to succeed 
 him in the Presidency of the Seminary, and Thomas 
 Samuel Hastings was called to the chair of Sacred 
 Rhetoric. This meagre sketch will serve to show 
 how greatly the teaching force of the institution has 
 been enlarged since 1836. For twelve years the 
 Seminary had two Professors only, if we except Dr. 
 McAuley's brief connection with it in the chair of 
 Pastoral Theology. The two have increased to seven ; 
 wdiile the scope of instruction has constantly widened 
 Avitli its growing power.^ 
 
 ^ This does not always appear in the mere titles of the different chairs. 
 Upon the accession of Dr. Hastings, for instance, to the Professorship of 
 Sacred Rhetoric, instruction in Pastoral Tlieology was transferred to him 
 from the Skinner and iMcAlpin chair; while to this chair has been added, 
 from time to time, instruction in Catechetics, Apologetics, and Christian 
 Ethics. The " Course of Study," as given in our Catalogue for 1886-87, 
 will best indicate these changes and additions. It will be found in Note A, 
 p. 88. In Xote B, p. 94, will be found the names of the different Pro- 
 fessorships, together with the times and manner of their endowment. 
 
THE LECTURESHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS. 51 
 
 Nor is tlie enlargement of the cuiTiciilum all that 
 has been done to add to the scope and efficiency of 
 instruction in the Seminary. Since 18GG, valuable 
 courses of Lectures have been given to the students 
 on the Morse Foundation, upon the Relations of Sci- 
 ence and Religion ; on the Ely Foundation, upon 
 the Evidences of Christianity; and on the Parker 
 Foundation, upon topics connected with Phj'sical and 
 Mental Hygiene. Besides these, special courses have 
 been given upon Missions, Preaching, the Method 
 of Preparation for Preaching, the Relation of Civil 
 Law to Ecclesiastical Polity, Property and Discipline, 
 Hymnology, and various other subjects. Among the 
 Lecturers have been Rev. Albert Barnes, President 
 McCosh, the Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, Prof. Calderwood 
 and Prof. Bruce of Scotland, Prof. Arnold Guyot, 
 Justice William Strong of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, Dr. Willard Parker, Prof. Theodore AY. 
 Dwiglit, Prof. Cooke of Harvard University, and other 
 eminent divines, scientists, and physicians. Excellent 
 instruction in Sacred Music has been provided almost 
 from the beginning; and since 1865 Elocution, under 
 accomplished teachers, has formed a part of the regular 
 course of study and training. 
 
 In 1876 the Philadelphia Fellowship was estab- 
 lished, and in 1877 the Francis P. Schoals Fellowship. 
 These fellowships are perhaps even more important 
 than the lectureships in their bearing on the use- 
 fulness of the Seminary and upon theological educa- 
 
52 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 tion. We owe them mainly to the wise foresight and 
 influence of Dr. Adams.^ 
 
 YII. 
 
 SUCCESSIVE EXDOWMEXT EFFORTS. LATER FINANCIAL 
 
 HISTORY. DEPARTED FRIENDS AND BENEFACTORS. 
 
 REMOVAL OF THE SEMINARY. 
 
 The original plan of the founders of the Seminary 
 contemplated, as we have seen, no proper endowment. 
 On becoming pastor of the Mercer Street Presbyterian 
 Church, five and thirty years ago, it so chanced that 
 my first appeal to my people for money was on occa- 
 sion of an annual collection in behalf of the Union 
 Theological Seminary; and, to my sui-prise, I had 
 learned that of the money thus raised a large por- 
 tion would go toward j^aying the salaries of three of 
 the Professors. I determined, therefore, to preach a 
 sermon on the claims of the Seminary, and to urge 
 its immediate endowment.^ The response to my ap- 
 peal demonstrated that the friends of the Seminary 
 
 1 Some account of the three Lectureships, the two Fellowships, the 
 Instructorships in INIusic and Elocution, and the Hitchcock Prize in 
 Church History, will be found iji Note B, p. 95. 
 
 2 The Union Theological Seminary: a Sermon delivered in the Mercer 
 Street Church on Sabbath Morning, October 19, 1851. 
 
 The sermon was published at the request of Charles Butler, Caleb O. 
 Halsted, David Hoadley, and other Directors of the Seminary, who were 
 present; and also by desire of the Synod of New York and New Jersey, 
 before which it was preached later in October. Some extracts from it 
 will be found in Note C, p. 97. 
 
SUCCESSIVE ENDOWMENT EFFORTS. 53 
 
 were prepared already for a new departure. A few 
 months later, on the evening of February 9, 1852, 
 they met at the house of Mr. Charles Butler, No. 15 
 East Fourteenth Street, to inaugurate an effort for its 
 immediate and full endowment. This meeting took 
 place in accordance with a unanimous resolution of the 
 Board of Directors. Long and painful experience had 
 at length convinced them that the plan of the institu- 
 tion, financially considered, was radically defective. 
 Strange to say, its founders really believed that, once 
 fairly started on its career, with suitable buildings, 
 library, and teachers, it might thenceforth safely de- 
 pend for support upon the annual contributions of its 
 friends in the churches of New York and Brookljm. 
 Established for the specific purpose of educating for 
 the sacred ministry pious young men of these two 
 cities, they hoped that the general sympathy with its 
 object, and personal interest in it, would furnisli from 
 year to year all the funds necessary to carry it on. 
 This, I say, was a radical error of the founders; an 
 error rendered more serious by their not considering 
 that the proper function of a theological seminary is 
 not only to train young men for the ministry by 
 giving them thorough instruction in all branches of 
 divinity, but also to be itself a living, perennial centre 
 of theological learning, science, and power ; and that, 
 in order to fulfil this last all-important function, it 
 must depend not merely upon popular sympathy and 
 annual contributions, but upon sources of supply 
 
54 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 unaffected bj fluctuations of business and the chan- 
 ging- moods of the hour ; in other words, upon solid, 
 permanent endowments. 
 
 The meeting at Mr. -Butler's formed a vital turning- 
 point in the history of the Seminary. After a com- 
 parison and interchange of views, it was unanimously 
 agreed that without delay vigorous measures should 
 be taken for placing the institution on a sure founda- 
 tion. In pursuance of this decision the Board ap- 
 pointed a special committee, to which the whole 
 matter of an endowment was intrusted. On the 22d 
 of March, 1852, the committee issued a circular to the 
 effect " that the Directors of the Seminary, believing 
 that the time had come when the institution should be 
 placed on a permanent basis, have resolved to take 
 measures with a view to secure its adequate endow- 
 ment." This circular was accompanied by a copy of 
 the Sermon already mentioned, and also by a very 
 forcible Statement and Appeal, addressed to the friends 
 of the Seminary, which, at the request of the com- 
 mittee, had been prepared by Professor Smith. 
 
 The institution owed much already to its financial 
 agents, particularly to the Rev. Gideon Noble Judd 
 (1839-41), the Rev. Lubin Burton Lockwood (1843- 
 50), and the Rev. George Franklin Wiswell. It was 
 specially fortunate in obtaining the services of the 
 Rev. Joseph S. Gallagher as its financial agent at this 
 time. Had the whole land been searched through, 
 one better adapted to the task could hardly have 
 
SUCCESSIVE ENDOWMENT EFFORTS. 55 
 
 been found. Mr. Gallagher had served for years 
 as a gallant officer in the United States Army; he 
 was a man of affairs, prudent, clear-sighted, fully im- 
 pressed with the importance of the object, and a 
 Christian gentleman. He soon obtained access to 
 men of wealth, who contributed quite as much, per- 
 haps, from confidence in him and his judgment, as 
 from interest in the object itself. In a little more 
 than a year the sum of Si 00, 000 had been raised. 
 A few years later another $100,000 was also secured 
 by him. In 1865 Dr. Hatfield became financial agent, 
 and through his persistent, wise efforts the additional 
 sum of $150,000 for endowment and scholarships 
 was subscribed. Another appeal for $300,000, made 
 through the same agency from 1870 to 1872, was also 
 sustained.^ Then came the princely gift of $300,000 
 by Mr. James Brown; and still later, in 1880, that 
 of Governor Morgan for a fire-proof library building 
 and a library fund. Governor Morgan's further gifts, 
 and those of Morris K. Jesup, Daniel Willis James, and 
 Frederick Marquand, which furnished the means of 
 erecting our halls of instruction, our dormitory, and 
 this chapel, followed not very long after. What a 
 change from those early poverty-stricken years of trial, 
 struggle, and hope deferred ! 
 
 1 This sum included i$2.'),000 subscribed by Mr. David Hunter Mc Alpin, 
 and .$25,000 subscribed by Mr. William E. Dodge, Mr. Charles Butler, 
 Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, Mr. Enoch Ketcham, together with other friends 
 of Dr. Prentiss and old friends of Dr. Skinner, to endow the " Skinner 
 and McAlpin Professorship of Pastoral Theology, Mission Work, and 
 Church Polity." 
 
56 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 And what motives, what considerations of public 
 duty, wrought this change I Substantially the same 
 Christian motives and the same high considerations 
 of public duty which animated the founders of the 
 Union Seminary. Our benefactors have understood 
 perfectly what they were doing, and why they Avere 
 doing it. In his letter to Dr. Adams, dated March 29, 
 1880, offering to establish a fund of $100,000 for the 
 erection of a new library building and for the im- 
 provement, increase, and support of the library, Gov- 
 ernor Morgan begins by saying, "I desire to show 
 my appreciation of the usefulness of the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary, and to aid in the great work that 
 it is now doing for the country." Allow me further 
 to illustrate my meaning by an extract from another 
 letter of Governor Morgan's. When he gave this 
 8100,000, it occurred to me that he might be inter- 
 ested in reading the appeals which the Board of 
 Directors issued in furtherance of the endowment 
 effort of 1852. Accordingly, I sent him the two 
 pamphlets published at that time. In a letter, dated 
 New York, January 4, 1882, Governor Morgan writes 
 as follows : — 
 
 I had the pleasure, a few days since, of receiving your valued 
 favor, and also two pamphlets, one containing " an Appeal," 
 and the other " a Sermon " preached by you about thirty years 
 ago, setting forth the condition and the advantages of the 
 Union Theological Seminary in New York. . . . There is not 
 an expression in either pamphlet which I do not approve. I 
 thank you from the bottom of my heart for presenting this 
 
SUCCESSIVE ENDOWMENT EFFORTS. 57 
 
 vastly important subject in its true light. Although both of 
 the papers were written fully thirty years ago, they seem ])er- 
 fectly applicable to the present state of affairs. The manner 
 in which they presented the advantages of a great city, like 
 this, for theological education, ought to have impressed the 
 public very favorably then ; and although I had not your 
 documents, nor any others, to guide me, yet the same idea 
 controlled me when I commenced to aid our Seminary. 
 
 I have always thought, and I still think, that New Yorkers, 
 of all others, ought to do something for a good institution, 
 like the Union Seminary, in their own city. ... I am con- 
 vinced now, more than ever, that my judgment in this respect 
 has not been at fault. 
 
 Our friends and benefactors have been moved to 
 help us as Governor Morgan was moved, — not so 
 much by personal appeals as by a sense of public 
 duty, and tlieir high opinion of the Seminary. TJie 
 institution liad won their confidence by its usefulness 
 and the spirit by which it was governed ; and so they 
 were impelled to identify themselves with its sacred 
 interests. I do not doubt that the same cause will 
 raise up for it generous helpers in the years to come. 
 Its best financial agency will still be the visible evi- 
 dence that it is doing the work of God in our own 
 land and in all the world. 
 
 As we sit to-day under the shadow of the magnifi- 
 cent tree planted and nurtured by our friends and 
 benefactors who have " crossed the flood," we are 
 all, I am sure, in the mood to thank God for what 
 thev did, and for what they were. Of some of them 
 
58 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 I have spoken already, because their names are so 
 identified with all our early and our later annals that 
 it is not possible to talk about the origin and growth 
 of the Seminary without talking about tliem. I wish 
 there w^ere time on this occasion to speak of otliers, 
 whose services, although now less widely known, were 
 not less real, nor in some cases less vitally connected 
 with its prosperity. 
 
 Gladly too would I speak of some of the living 
 benefactors to whom we owe so much ; not to please 
 them, for they have a better reward, but to give vent 
 to the grateful emotions that fill our hearts. Of one 
 of them, indeed, it would be a wrong not to speak ; 
 and my words, I know, will find a cordial response in 
 all your breasts. Yet I am puzzled whether to speak 
 of Iiim as my own dear and honored friend for five 
 and thirty years, or as one of the founders and for 
 half a century one of the most loyal, wise, and gen- 
 erous friends of this Seminary. I think God has 
 spared him to more than fourscore years, to the end 
 that in his person we might see with our eyes to-day 
 what sort of men planned and reared this temple of 
 sacred learning. In your name, in the name of the 
 Faculty, in the name of the Board of Directors, I 
 congratulate the venerable President of the Board on 
 being permitted to keep with us this semi-centennial 
 anniversary. God bless him ! 
 
 Before passing from our financial history, let me 
 speak of the removal of the Seminary to this place. 
 
SUCCESSIVE ENDOWMENT EFFORTS. 59 
 
 As long ag-0 as 1869, tlie Board of Directors had de- 
 termined to leave University Place and go up town. 
 After much inquiry and discussion, lots were secured 
 on Avenue St. Nicholas, between 130th and 133d 
 Streets. It is one of the most attractive sites on the 
 island, and its purchase was regarded at the time, by 
 the friends of the institution, as nothing less than a 
 special favor of Providence. Elaborate and costly 
 plans were procured, and it was expected that in a 
 couple of years the beautiful height would be crowned 
 with the finest seminary buildings in the country. 
 But before sufficient means for erecting them had 
 been obtained, the great panic of 1872-73 came, and 
 the whole movement was abandoned. Althoug-h at 
 the time a severe disappointment, the result was, per- 
 haps, a fortunate one, and saved the institution from 
 grave financial embarrassment. After a delay of ten 
 years, during which various additions and improve- 
 ments were made to the old building in University 
 Place, the question of removal up town w^as again 
 agitated. In April, 1881, this site was obtained, and 
 on December 9, 1884, these new buildings were dedi- 
 cated, in services that will not soon be forgotten by 
 any who took part in them. " The present location," 
 to repeat the words of Dr. Hitchcock's Address on the 
 occasion, " is apparently for many decades, if not for 
 all time. This commanding site, so near the centre of 
 the island, is in little danger of losing its advantages. 
 Right behind us is the grand Central Park; close 
 
60 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 around us are hospitals, schools, and galleries of art, 
 the trophies and adornments of an advancing civiliza- 
 tion. But this institution of sacred learning which we 
 dedicate to-day, interpreter of God's word, herald of 
 God's grace, outranks them alL" 
 
 VIII. 
 
 DEPARTED PROFESSORS, AND WHAT THE SEMINARY 
 OWES TO THEM. 
 
 The power of a theological seminary, whether in 
 training up young men for the ministry, or as a centre 
 of sacred learning, depends mainly upon the charac- 
 ter of its teachers. No wealth of endowment, no 
 advantages of situation or equipment, no soundness 
 in the faith, can supply the place of living men, who 
 are thoroughly furnished for their work by the best 
 gifts and discipline of both nature and grace. There 
 are but few spheres of human activity or influence in 
 which the very highest qualities can be so effectively 
 used. The ideal of a theological teacher is the ideal 
 of Christian manhood in the whole intellectual and 
 moral life. Something of this seems to have been in 
 the thought of the founders of this Seminary, when, 
 in the preamble to its constitution, they avowed it 
 to be tlieir aim and hope, with the blessing of God, to 
 call forth and enlist in the service of Christ "genius," 
 as well as "talent, enlightened piety, and missionary 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. 61 
 
 zeal." The greatest and most variously gifted man in 
 the history of the Church, the man who more than 
 any other laid the foundations of Christendom, was a 
 theological teacher. Theological teachers were the 
 leaders of European thought and opinion in the 
 Middle Ages. The greatest man in the Protestant 
 annals was a professor of divinity in the little town 
 of Wittenberg. Great theologians are indeed rare 
 products of any soil, in any age ; but for that very 
 reason, when they do appear, they are all the more 
 to be prized. This Seminary has been signally fa- 
 vored in the character of the men who once filled its 
 chairs of instruction, but are now at rest in God. If 
 not all endowed with genius, they were all endowed 
 with such manifold talents, learning, and graces of 
 the Spirit as fitted them, each and all, for their pecu- 
 liar tasks. 
 
 Of Hexey White I have spoken already, as one of 
 the founders of the Seminary. Dr. White may not 
 have been a great or a very learned divine, but he 
 was acute, clear-headed, judicious, modest, and de- 
 vout, — a man of uncommon practical wisdom, apt to 
 teach, beloved by the students, highly esteemed by 
 the Board of Directors, and universally regarded as 
 sound in the faith. These qualities specially fitted 
 him to take the chair of Systematic Theology at 
 a tim.e when suspicion was abroad, and the whole 
 Presbyterian Church seemed a battle-field of warring 
 schools and passions. 
 
62 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 For organizing- and conducting the department of 
 Biblical Literature, there was not, I repeat, on this side 
 of the Atlantic, a man better qualified than Edward 
 Robinson. His understanding and his scholarship 
 were equally solid. He regarded genuine, thorough 
 work as a cardinal virtue ; and he illustrated this vir- 
 tue in all his teaching and in all his investigations, 
 whether about a Hebrew root, or the site of some 
 memorable scene or place in the Holy Land. Sooner 
 than tamper with truth in great things or small, he 
 would, I believe, have cut off his right hand. He 
 abhorred pretentious and loose scholarship as a down- 
 right immorality. His early accession to the Faculty 
 of the Union Seminary was itself a rich endowment 
 of the chair of Biblical Literature. I first saw him 
 in Berlin, going in and out, like one of them, among 
 the renowned Gelehrte of that famous University. 
 Neander and Karl Ritter were his intimate and admir- 
 ing friends. He was then on his way home from the 
 Holy Land, laden with the treasure of his invaluable 
 jResearches. In later years he was my parishioner, 
 and I learned to know and honor him for his simple- 
 hearted piety and manly e very-day virtues, as well as 
 for his learning. Dean Stanley's tribute to his mem- 
 ory, in the address entitled An American Scholar, de- 
 livered to our students on October 29, 1878, brings out 
 very happily some of the traits by which he impressed 
 himself so strongly upon the early character of this 
 institution. Here is an extract from that address : — 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. G3 
 
 My first acquaintance with American theological literature, 
 I might almost say, my first acquaintance with American lit- 
 erature at all, was in reading the works of a Professor of 
 Union Seminary. I mean the Biblical Researches of Dr. Rob- 
 inson. They are amongst the very few books of modern 
 literature of which I can truly say that I have read every 
 word. I have read them under circumstances which riveted 
 my attention upon them, — while riding upon the back of a 
 camel in the desert, — while travelling on horseback through 
 the hills of Palestine, — under the shadow of my tent, when I 
 came in weary from the day's journey. These were the scenes 
 in which I first became acquainted with the work of Dr. Rob- 
 inson. But to that work I have felt that I and all students of 
 Biblical literature owe a debt that never can be effaced. . . . 
 Dr. Robinson, I believe it is not too much to say, was the first 
 person who ever saw Palestine with his eyes open as to what 
 he ought to see. Hundreds and thousands of travellers had 
 visited Palestine before, — pilgrims, seekers after pleasure, 
 even scientific travellers ; but there was no person before his 
 time who had come to visit that sacred country with all the 
 appliances ready beforehand which were necessary to enable 
 him to understand what he saw ; and he also was the first 
 person who came there with an eye capable of observing, and 
 a hand capable of recording, all that with these appliances he 
 brought before his vision. 
 
 The appointment of Thomas H. Skinner to the 
 chair of Sacred Rhetoric was not less fitting than that 
 of Dr. Robinson to the chair of Biblical Literature. 
 He had been a Director of the Seminary, and identi- 
 fied with its history from the first. The prayer for 
 God's blessing upon its organization had been nttered 
 by his lips. But for his powerful aid and that of the 
 
64 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, of which he was 
 pastor, it would probably have perished in its in- 
 fancy. The position to which he was called required 
 the highest type of personal and Christian character, 
 large pastoral experience, a thorough acquaintance 
 with the art of preaching and the care of souls, the 
 best literary and theological culture, in union with 
 generous sympathies and an unfailing spirit of broth- 
 erly kindness and charity in dealing with the doubts, 
 the trials, and the imperfections of young men pre- 
 paring for the sacred office. 
 
 Dr. Skinner possessed all these qualifications in a 
 very unusual degree. For a third of a century he 
 liad been one of the first preachers and sacred orators 
 in the land; as a pastor and guide of souls he had 
 few equals ; he was an accomplished scholar, enthusi- 
 astic in the pursuit and discussion of theological truth, 
 and able to excite similar enthusiasm in others ; his 
 piety was full of spiritual depth and unction, and he 
 was a model of the Christian gentleman. He had, 
 moreover, discharged the duties of this very chair, for 
 several years, in the leading seminary of New Eng- 
 land, besides having written and published a number 
 of admirable essays on subjects connected with it. 
 His intercourse with his pupils, both in and out of the 
 class-room, was not merely that of a teacher ; it was 
 also the fellowship of a friend and brother in Christ. 
 He invited them, one by one, to visit him at his home ; 
 he manifested an affectionate personal interest in their 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. 65 
 
 fortunes ; he sympathized tenderly Avith them in their 
 mental struggles, cheered them in their despondency, 
 was very patient and considerate toward their faults, 
 and helped them by his prayers and with the lessons 
 of his own experience to get the victory over their 
 religious doubts and perplexities. For this how many 
 of them, now scattered through the earth, bless God 
 at every remembrance of him ! AVlien called to the 
 service of the Seminary, he had reached almost three- 
 score years ; but the enthusiasm with which he gave 
 himself up to his work never waned to the last, nor 
 did the strength and charm of his Christian exam- 
 ple. He retained m old age full possession of all 
 his powers, and they were beautified by the very in- 
 nocence and simplicity of childhood. I never saw an 
 instance of the two extremes of life, its fresh sweet 
 daw^n and its late sober eve, blending in fairer colors. 
 " How calmly he sat in his stall in the cathedral of 
 life, with the banner of Christ's love over his head, 
 w^^iting for the service to be over, that he might say 
 with all his heart, Amen ! " ^ 
 
 The coming of Henry Boynton Smith to New York 
 w^as an event in the history, not of the Union Theo- 
 loirical Seminary onlv, but of the Presbvterian Church. 
 He came after long deliberation, and deeply imj^ressed 
 wdth both the importance and the difficulties of the 
 position. Some of his most influential friends protested 
 
 1 Dr. William Adams. 
 
66 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 strongly against his leaving New England. I remem- 
 ber well the sharp conflict of mind through which he 
 passed on reaching the final decision. No man ever 
 took so grave a step less blindly. His keen eye almost 
 by intuition seized and comprehended the situation, — 
 its strength and its weakness. In a letter to me, dated 
 Amherst, September 17, 1850, he wTites: — 
 
 I go to New York in full view of all tiie uncertainties 
 and diffieuhies of the position. The literary character of the 
 Seminary is slight, its zeal in theological science is little, the 
 need of a comprehensive range of theological studies and of 
 books thereto has got to be created. Its theological position 
 is ,not defined. It stands somewhere between Andover and 
 Princeton, just as New School Presbyterianism stands between 
 Congregationalism and the consistent domineering Presby- 
 terianism, and it will be pressed on all sides. Whether it is 
 to be resolved into these two, or to be consolidated on its 
 own ground, is still a problem. These things will make 
 one's position a little more free, but at the same time they 
 will make it more arduous. I am going there to work, — to 
 work, I trust, for my Master. 
 
 His inaugural address on Church History revealed 
 to many a student of divinity a new realm of truth, 
 as well as a new method of learning trutli, while it 
 elicited from tlie best scholarship of the country ex- 
 pressions of approval and delight scarcely less striking 
 than those which greeted his address at Andover, tw^o 
 years before, on the " Relations of Faith and Philos- 
 ophy." " Your orations," Mr. George Bancroft wrote 
 to him, '' are admirable. I know no one in the country 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. CY 
 
 but yourself wlio could have writteu them. In Cluu-ch 
 History you have no rival in this hemisphere." 
 
 Dr. Smith's transfer, in 1854, to the chair of Syste- 
 matic Theology met with strenuous opposition in the 
 Board of Directors and also in the Faculty. Nobody 
 else, it was said, could fill his place in the chair of 
 Church History. But admirable as he was in that 
 department, theolog-y pure and simple was really his 
 forte ; and I think he knew it. Here all his gifts, 
 both natural and supernatural, original or acquired, 
 had ample scope, and wrought in perfect unison ; — 
 his acuteness and mental grasp, his power of scientific 
 analysis and clear, discriminating statement, his genial, 
 quaint humor, his vast learning, his familiarity with all 
 philosophy as well as all divinity, his fine literary 
 culture, his spiritual insight, his pious humilit}' and 
 reverence, his absolute allegiance to the truth and 
 kingdom of Christ, his Lord. Hence the variety 
 and catholicity, as well as strength, of his influence 
 as a theological teacher. No susceptible mind could 
 long be subjected to this influence without feeling 
 itself in an atmosphere of true light. 
 
 Some, who did not know him well, used to wonder 
 how this quiet, unpretending scholar could come liere 
 from New England, and begin forthwith to wield such 
 an influence in the New School Presbyterian Church. 
 Nothing is easier to explain. He brought with him 
 the ideas and principles which had called that Church 
 into separate existence, had inspired its early struggles. 
 
68 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 East and West, and largely constituted its proper 
 strength ; while at the same time his New England 
 and German training had kept him free from the dis- 
 turbing passions and prejudices engendered by the 
 great division. If he had been a vain, conceited man ; 
 if he had not been a very prudent, far-sighted man, 
 self-poised, reticent, wise as a serpent and harmless as 
 a dove, thoroughly loyal to the obligations of his new 
 position, and, above all, to the Divine Master, — if he 
 had not been all this, the fact that he not only at 
 once became a power, but so soon began to Avield a 
 shaping influence, in the New School Presbyterian 
 Church, would be hard to explain in a way creditable 
 to either party. As it was, I repeat, nothing is easier 
 to explain. In three months Prof. Smith found him- 
 self as much at home and in his element in New York, 
 as he had been in Andover or in Amherst. The lead- 
 ing ministers of the Church of his adoption welcomed 
 him to its fellowship and service. Such men as 
 Skinner, Cox, and Adams, Asa D. Smith, Hatfield, 
 Albert Barnes of Philadelphia, and many others like 
 them, were men after his own heart. He soon learned 
 to love and honor them ; and it was beautiful to see 
 how soon they learned to love and trust, and, in grave 
 matters both ecclesiastical and theological, even look 
 up to him. Before he came, some of them had their 
 doubts and fears ; he had studied in Germany, and 
 had publicly testified his reverence for the name of 
 Schleierraacher At the time of his nomination in 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. G9 
 
 the Board of Directors, the oddress at Andover con- 
 taining- this testimony was brought forward, and tlie 
 question raised of his entire soundness in the faith. 
 His Christological views had also excited some mis- 
 giving. Shortly after his election, he wrote from 
 New York : — 
 
 Last evening I spent wholl}', till eleven o'clock and after, 
 with Dr. Wliite, talking over the whole Semhiary and matters 
 thereto belonging. He was rather curious about some of my 
 theological opinions, and we got into a regular discussion of 
 two hours on the person of Christ, in which he claimed that 
 I advocated something inconsistent with the Catechism, and 
 I claimed that he taught what was against the Catechism, 
 which was rather a hard saving against an old-established 
 professor of theology. However, it was all very well and 
 kind on both sides, and did not prevent his urging my coming 
 here. 
 
 But no sooner was he on the ground and at work 
 tlian doubts and fears, so far as any such still existed, 
 began to give way ; and before he passed from the 
 chair of Church History to that of Systematic Theol- 
 ogy, he had become, I believe, as firmly rooted in the 
 confidence and affection of the New Scliool ministers 
 and laymen of Ncav York and vicinity — to say noth- 
 ing of the Church at large — as if he had spent his 
 whole life among them. In the matter of church 
 polity, he held that, notwithstanding the difference of 
 forms and rule, the ecclesiastical principles of Pres- 
 byterianism and of the old Congregationalism of New 
 England were essentially the same j as to other jioints, 
 
70 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 he was still among Calvinistic ministers of the moder- 
 ate type, — a type at once conservative and liberal, — 
 and among Christian men and women of the New 
 Testament type. But Avliile Prof. Smith's theology 
 brought him into cordial sympathy and fellowship 
 with the great body of New School ministers, it was 
 at the same time so independent, so catholic, and so 
 mediatory in its spirit, that it brought him into ever- 
 growing sympathy with many Old School ministers ; 
 thus preparing the way for the all-important part 
 assigned him by Providence in initiating and helping 
 to accomplish the great reunion of 1869. 
 
 Of William Adams there is no need that I speak 
 at all to many here present ; nor can T say anything 
 that must not seem feeble in comparison with what 
 their own memories will say at the bare mention of 
 his name, for he was their old pastor, their revered 
 teacher, their dear friend. And yet, few as have been 
 the years since his departure, they separate him as by 
 a generation from those now passing through the Semi- 
 nary. The last day of August, 1880, when he left us 
 for the Church above, seems far back in the past. But 
 if it were many times as far, the distance could only 
 serve to render more distinct and impressive the image 
 of that remarkable man. Wliat a unique personality 
 was his ! How many fine elements of both nature 
 and grace combined to form it ! Wliat ripe experi- 
 ence, what fervor of spirit, what broad, Christ-like 
 
THE WORK OF DEPARTED PROFESSORS. 71 
 
 sympathies, what tenderness, what refi"esliiii<^- outflow 
 of devout feeling-, what fehcity of thought and ex})i'es- 
 sion ! A di'ive with him through the Central Park, 
 an evening with him in familiar talk, a little journey 
 with him as companion, — each was an event in one's 
 ordinary life. 
 
 For four and forty years Dr. Adams was a Director 
 and steadfast friend of the Seminary ; for seven years 
 its President and Professor of Sacred Rhetoi'ic. Great, 
 varied, and far-reachin2r as was his usefulness durinof 
 his long pastorate, these seven closing years embraced 
 the crowning work of his life. No other man in the 
 Presbyterian Church could have accomplished what 
 he did in this brief period. The Seminary reaped the 
 consummate fruit of his labors and his influence. No 
 other minister in New York had so wide an acquaint- 
 ance, or so many friends among its leading Christian 
 laymen ; no one else by reason of age and service 
 stood so high in the public esteem. He was by gen- 
 eral consent one of our most eminent citizens, and 
 the foremost representative of the Presbyterian clergy- 
 He could, therefore, as President of the Seminary, 
 speak for it with extraordinary force of appeal. Witli- 
 out dwelling here upon the manner in which he ful- 
 filled in it the office of teacher, or upon his many 
 otlier claims to our gratitude, we are indebted to him 
 and his influence for the mnnificent gift of 8300,000 
 by Mr. James Brown for the full endowment of the 
 chairs of instruction, — the wisest and most consid- 
 
72 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 erate, as well as largest, gift ever made to tlie insti- 
 tution ; for Governor Morgan's gift of $100,000 to 
 erect a fire-proof library building and serve as the 
 nucleus of a library fund ; and also for this beautiful 
 chapel, reared to his memory by his old friend and 
 parishioner, Mr. Marquand. 
 
 I have spoken of departed Professors. I wish it 
 were proper for me to speak with equal freedom of 
 my beloved colleagues, to whom the precious interests 
 of the Seminary are now intrusted. My age and long 
 connection with the institution will justify me, I trust, 
 in saying this much : that truer or better men have 
 never sat in its chairs of instruction, or toiled and 
 prayed for its prosperity. Each in his own way, and 
 according to the measure of the gift of God, and all 
 in such hearty union and concert as becomes Christian 
 scholars, they have labored and are laboring to accom- 
 plish the design of its founders. They need, it is true, 
 no praise of mine ; and yet why should I not be al- 
 lowed to say what, I am sure, is in the thoughts and 
 hearts of so many before me I 
 
THE LIBRARY, ITS GROWTH AND NEEDS. 73 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE LIBRARY, ITS GROWTH AND NEEDS. — SOME LESSONS 
 
 OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CATALOGUE. NATIONAL 
 
 AND MISSIONARY CHARACTER OF THE SEMINARY. 
 
 ITS ALUMNI. 
 
 Our Library contains about 55,000 volumes, 47,000 
 pamphlets, and 183 manuscripts. Its history forms 
 one of the most striking chapters in the annals of the 
 institution. The famous Van Ess collection was its 
 nucleus. How that collection came into our posses- 
 sion is related by Dr. Hatfield in The Early Annals 
 of Union Theological Seminary. Having- dei)icted the 
 financial trials which marked the second year of the 
 Seminary, he proceeds as follows : — 
 
 Thus far very httle had been, or could have been, done in 
 the way of securing that indispensable acquisition, a theologi- 
 cal library. An empty treasury, and heavy indebtedness for 
 stone and mortar, gave small promise for the desired attain- 
 ment. A kind Providence, long years before, however, had 
 anticipated this very want. One result of the bloody conflicts 
 that desolated the fairest portions of Europe at the beginning 
 of the present century, and particularly of the Peace of Lune- 
 ville, February 9, 1801, was the secularization of the terri- 
 tories of the prelates, and the sequestration of the property 
 of religious houses in Germany, taking effect early in 1803. 
 Among the sufferers by this spoliation was the Benedictine 
 monastery of St. Mary, at Paderborn. Anticipating this event, 
 
74 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 the fraternity appropriated individually so much of the com- 
 mon property as could be divided among them. The monastic 
 library had been the growth of centuries. At the time of the 
 Reformation, a collection had been made of the controversial 
 literature of the period, mostly in the original editions. Some 
 six hundred works of this description, large and small, had 
 thus found their way into a small apartment, the door of 
 which was marked with the words " Libri Prohibiti," of which 
 the key was kept by a monk whose family name was Leander 
 Van Ess. This collection, with other volumes, fell to the 
 share of this trusted brother, then about thirty years of age. 
 Not long afterwards he became the Roman Catholic Professor 
 of Divinity in the ancient University of Marburg. An ardent 
 thirst for learning had characterized him from boyhood. To 
 the study of the original Scriptures he gave himself with in- 
 tense interest. He was thereby led, through divine grace, 
 into the liberty of the children of God. He became a devout 
 and devoted follower of the Lamb of God. Full of his new- 
 found joy, he longed to impart of his spiritual wealth to his 
 countrymen. He set himself, therefore, to make a careful 
 and accurate version of the Bible, particularly of the New 
 Testament, into the vernacular. He gathered Bibles, poly- 
 glots, lexicons, concordances, commentaries, the Latin and 
 Greek Fathers, the decrees of councils and popes, church 
 histories, and other similar literary treasures, including a 
 large collection of Incunabula, the rare issues of the earliest 
 period of the art of printing, — in all, with what he had saved 
 from the wreck at Paderborn (more than 13,000 volumes), 
 about 6,000 separate works. He translated the New Testa- 
 ment into German, published it in 1810, and, by the aid of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, put into circulation, prin- 
 cipally among the Roman Catholics of Germany, with the hap- 
 piest spiritual results, 523,000 copies of the New Testament, 
 and more than 10,000 Bibles. Grown old and infirm, he 
 retired at length from the University of Marburg to the quiet 
 
THE LIBRARY, ITS GROWTH AND NEEDS. 75 
 
 little town of Alzey, in Hesse-Darmstadt, west of the Rhine, 
 about equidistant from Mayence and Worms, and offered his 
 great library for sale, for 11,000 florins. 
 
 Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, just returned from Europe, was 
 advised of the fact. In a letter from Lane Seminary, to Dr. 
 Robinson, April 3, 1837, he advised the purchase of this'unique 
 collection by the New York Theological Seminary. Terrible 
 as were the times. Dr. Robinson, on his departure for Europe 
 and the Holy Land, in July, was instructed to obtain the re- 
 fusal of the collection. After a careful examination of the 
 books by Mr. Philip Wolff, of Erlangen University, (a brother 
 of Mrs. Gurdon Buck of this city,) the purchase was effected, 
 in April, 1838, for 10,000 florins. It had cost Dr. Van Ess 
 50,000 florins. Its whole cost to the Seminary, when it 
 arrived in October, all charges paid, was $5,070.08. It was 
 received just in time to find its way into the alcoves of the 
 library room of the new building. It has served as an inval- 
 uable nucleus around which to cluster tlie needful volumes 
 of the more modern press. It is a treasure, rare and pecu- 
 liar, whose riches have as yet been but partially explored. If 
 lost, it could not possibly be replaced. ^ 
 
 To tins original nucleus have been added, from time 
 to time, special collections, together with many tliou- 
 sands of separate volumes and pamphlets, until we 
 have one of the best theological libraries in the coun- 
 try. For this result we owe a large debt of gratitude 
 in particular to the skill, labors, and scholarly devo- 
 tion of three former Librarians, Dr. Edward Robinson 
 (1841-1850), Dr. Henry B. Smith (1850-1876), and 
 
 1 An article on the Van Ess collection, entitled " Treasures of a New- 
 York Library," appeared in The Evening Post of Mav 8, 1888. It was 
 written by Prof. T. F. Crane, of Cornell University. The larger portion 
 of this very interesting article will be found in Note D, p. 101. 
 
76 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Dr. Charles A. Briggs (1876-1883). In almost all 
 departments of bibliography they were at home ; in 
 some of the most important they were accomplished 
 experts. Several of the special collections to which 
 I have referred bear the names of old friends of the 
 Seminary, having been given to it by tlieir surviv- 
 ing families. In this way the very valuable libraries 
 of Dr. Hatfield and Dr. Gillett became a part of our 
 own. It has been enriched also by additions from 
 the collections of Edward Robinson, David D. Field, 
 John Marsh, Henry B. Smith, William Adams, and 
 others. 
 
 Three of its departments have been endowed ; two 
 of them by David H. McAlpin, namely, the " McAlpin 
 Collection," and the " Gillett Collection," named after 
 his life-long friend, the late Rev. Dr. E. H. Gillett ; 
 and the third, the " Henry B, Smith Memorial Library 
 of Philosophy," by the Professors and iVlumni of the 
 institution. The McAlpin Collection is particularly 
 rich in Westminster Assembly literature. This depart- 
 ment contains not a few works that could hardly be 
 replaced, — Puritan catechisms before those of West- 
 minster, for example; nor, taken as a whole, can its 
 equal probably be found under one roof, anywhere 
 outside of the British Museum. 
 
 It is safe to say that but few even of the Directors 
 of the Seminary have any adequate conception of the 
 treasures of theological literature and learning hidden 
 away in our alcoves. And yet, good as it is, our 
 
THE LIBRARY, ITS GROWTH AND NEEDS. 77 
 
 Library ought to be far better. Its deficiencies and 
 its needs are still great. Notwithstanding Governor 
 Morgan's gift, an additional library fund of $100,000 
 would be a veritable god-send to the institution. Ev- 
 ery one of its teachers is more or less thwarted in his 
 work because the book he wants to read or consult 
 is so often sought for in vain. To me it is a matter 
 of endless wonder, that men of wealth, who believe 
 in the power of books, take delight in giving, and de- 
 sire to do good in the most enduring way, do not put 
 more of their money into so precious a reservoir of 
 knowledge, both human and divine, as the Library of 
 the Union Theological Seminary. Such a reservoir is 
 an inexhaustible fountain of good influences. The 
 time is not, I trust, so very far distant when every 
 lover and investigator of sacred truth, from fiu- and 
 near, will be able here to find whatever he may want 
 in the way of books, be he a Protestant, a Roman 
 Catholic, or a Jewish scholar. 
 
 In addition to the Library we have a Museum, which 
 bids fair to become one of our most attractive and 
 valuable possessions. It includes Biblical and Chris- 
 tian antiquities, rare manuscripts, characteristic speci- 
 mens of mediaeval and early Reformation books and 
 pamphlets, together with objects illustrative of Mis- 
 sionary life and w^ork. 
 
 The Semi-Centennial Catalogue of the Seminary, 
 prepared with so much care by tlie present Librarian, 
 is full of instructive facts bearing upon the history 
 
78 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 and working power of the institution. I must con- 
 tent myself with calHng your attention to a few of 
 them. Tlie first thing that strikes us is the fact, tliat, 
 instead of belonging to the cities of New York and 
 Brooklyn, as was expected by the founders of the 
 Seminary, the most of its students have come from 
 New England, from the rural districts of New York, 
 from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, from the South, 
 and West, and farthest Northwest, — in a word, from 
 all quarters of the land, and even from beyond the sea. 
 The graduating class of 1837, for example, consisted of 
 a sinofle student, and he was a native of Massachusetts. 
 The class of 1838 contained nine students, and of these 
 three came from Connecticut, three from the interior of 
 New York, one from New Jersey, one from Vermont, 
 none from Brookl}^, and one only from New York 
 City. The class of 1839 contained thirty; of these 
 ten were natives of Massachusetts, two of Connecti- 
 cut, one of Rhode Island, one of Vermont, one of New 
 Hampshire, six of the interior of New York, one of 
 Pennsylvania, one of New Jersey, one of Ireland, two 
 only of Brooklyn, and four of the city of New York. 
 The class of 1840 numbered twenty-eight; of these 
 fourteen came from the interior of New York, six 
 from Connecticut, two from Massachusetts, two from 
 Vermont, one from Pennsylvania, one from Scotland, 
 two from the city of New York, and none from 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 The class of 1850 numbered forty-five ; of these 
 
THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CATALOGUE. 79 
 
 eighteen came from the interior of New York, five 
 from Connecticut, fom' from Massachusetts, two from 
 New Hampshire, four from Vermont, one from New 
 Jersey, one from Pennsylvania, one from IlHnois, 
 three from Tennessee, one from Michigan, one from 
 Kentucky, one from Bohemia, two only from the city 
 of New York, and one from Brooklyn. The class of 
 18G0 numbered fifty-three; of these eight came from 
 Massachusetts, five from Connecticut, three from New 
 Hampshire, one from Rhode Island, one from Ver- 
 mont, two from Ohio, one from Michigan, one from 
 Illinois, four from Pennsylvania, three from New 
 Jersey, one from Virginia, one from the District of 
 Columbia, one from New Brunswick, one from Scot- 
 land, one from Schleswig-Holstein, one from France, 
 nine from the interior of New York, nine from New 
 York City, and none from Brooklyn. 
 
 Let us now take a class graduating in the midst of 
 the civil war, that of 1863. It numbered fifty; of 
 these eleven came from the interior of New York, 
 three from Massachusetts, three from Vermont, four 
 from New Hampshire, two from Maine, two from 
 Connecticut, three from Oliio, three from Pennsyl- 
 vania, one from Maryland, one from Virginia, three 
 from New Jersey, two from Tennessee, one from Ala- 
 bama, one from Scotland, one from Persia, one from 
 Greece, one from England, three from Brooklyn, and 
 four from New York City. The class of 1870 num- 
 bered sixty-one ; of these fourteen came from Ohio, 
 
80 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 fourteen from the interior of New York, two from 
 Massachusetts, three from Pennsylvania, one from Wis- 
 consin, three from New Jersey, one from South Caro- 
 lina, two from Connecticut, two from Vermont, four 
 from Michigan, two from Indiana, one from Kentucky, 
 two from Scotland, one from Ireland, one from France, 
 one from Rhenish Prussia, one from Canada, one from 
 Syria, one from Brooklyn, and four from New York 
 City. 
 
 Passing on to 1885, we find a class of forty-nine, 
 distributed as follows : two from Vermont, two from 
 Massachusetts, one from Rhode Island, ten from the 
 interior of New York, eight from Pennsylvania, two 
 from New Jersey, one from Nova Scotia, two from 
 Indiana, two from Illinois, three from Ohio, two from 
 Missouri, one from Texas, one from Louisiana, one 
 from Virginia, one from the Indian Territory, one from 
 Maryland, one from Austria, one from Germany, one 
 from Brooklyn, and six from the city of New York. 
 
 At first, almost none came from west of the Alle- 
 ghanies, none from beyond the Mississippi, and few 
 from Pennsylvania or the South. The founders as 
 little dreamed, in 1836, that they were establishing a 
 theological seminary for the whole Union, rather than 
 for New York City and Brookljm, as they dreamed 
 that in less than fifty years the whole Union would 
 extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores, and 
 be covered with a network of tens of tliousands of 
 miles of railroad, on which students would be able 
 
THE ALUMNI. 81 
 
 to travel hither from Texas, from Oregon, or from 
 Cahfornia as easily, and almost as quickly, as from 
 adjoining cities. 
 
 The number of students matriculated from the be- 
 ginning has been 2,230. Of these 2,040, or over 91 
 jier cent, were college-bred; 1,856, or over 83 per 
 cent, were actually ordained to the Gospel ministry ; 
 and 164, or 1\ per cent, went into the Foreign Mis- 
 sion field/ As nearly as can be ascertained, 1,774 of 
 the whole number matriculated are still living. It 
 would be interesting to know how many of our stu- 
 dents received aid from the churches, and to what 
 extent they were aided, in preparing for the ministry. 
 There can be no doubt that a large majority of them 
 owed their education, in whole or in part, to such aid ; 
 and to this class belong many of the most honored 
 names on the roll of American pastors, missionaries, 
 and theological teachers during the last half-century. 
 These names would, perhaps, surprise some of those 
 who look with disfavor upon the old methods of 
 helping pious youth in their preparation to preach 
 the Gospel, or who are inclined to consider theological 
 students as a class inferior in personal quality, energy, 
 and mental stamina to the students of our other jiro- 
 fessions and callings in life. 
 
 The glory of a theological seminary is its alumni ; 
 and in unison with this sentiment we have desired 
 
 1 Tn Note E, p. 107, will be found the names of our Alumni who have 
 entered the Foreign Mission field, together with their places of labor. 
 
82 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 that the celebration of our Serai-Centenarj might be 
 as far as possible a family observance. None can 
 gather around the old hearthstone with just the feel- 
 ings of those who were reared and once worshipped 
 there. Most heartily do we welcome you, brethren 
 of the alumni, who are with us to-day, and only wish 
 we could bid all who are absent welcome also. What 
 an assembly would the more than seventeen hundred 
 and threescore living alumni of the Seminary form, 
 if from the different parts of our own land, and of 
 pagan lands, where, standing in their lot and place, 
 they serve the Divine Master, we could summon them 
 all hither to take part with us in this glad reunion ! 
 What crowns of glory would encircle the heads of 
 not a few of them ! Wliat forms bent low by the 
 burden and heat of the long day ! What counte- 
 nances marred by trouble and suffering, yet transfig- 
 ured by the peace of God ! What youthful enthusiasm 
 going forth to its work, or, after years of toil, ripened 
 into the meek wisdom of experience and the full as- 
 surance of hope ! What learning, Iniman and divine ! 
 What gifts of speech in the tongues both of men and 
 of angels ! In a word, what a noble company it would 
 be of true-hearted faithful men, young and old and 
 middle-aged, who adore Jesus Christ, live for Him, 
 and look forward with joy to His appearing! God 
 bless them, wherever they are ! 
 
RELATION OF THE SEMINARY TO THE PAST. 83 
 
 X. 
 
 PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SEMINARY. ITS RELATION 
 
 TO THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. 
 
 I HAVE given thus a hasty sketch of the origin and 
 growth of the Seminary. Before closing, let me say 
 a word of its present, as related to its past and its 
 future. Fifty years have wrought great changes in 
 every department of human affiiirs, — in society, in 
 government, in business, in literature, in science and 
 philosophy, and in religious thought ; in other words, 
 during all these fifty years God has been busy in the 
 world, still unfolding and carrying forward His eter- 
 nal plan. It would be strange indeed, therefore, if 
 the Union Theological Seminary all this time had not 
 undergone a change, and that for the better. Wher- 
 ever there is spiritual life and power, there will also 
 be spiritual progress. 
 
 In 1836 the Presbj^terian Church, though visibly 
 one, was agitated by bitter controversies about policy 
 and doctrine. Two years later, it was rent in twain 
 from top to bottom. The Union Seminary found itself 
 on the New School side. After more than thirty years 
 of separate existence, — each going meanwhile its own 
 way, and caring for its own interests, — the severed 
 branches were happily reunited. As a reunited Church 
 
84 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 we have walked together in such peace for more than 
 half a generation, that the very memories of the strife 
 and division have almost faded out. Old School and 
 New School are antiquated names; they designate the 
 honest differences of good men and good Presbyte- 
 rians in a former age. And with the old party names, 
 the old antipathies, prejudices, and misunderstandings 
 have also been buried in oblivion. In that better 
 country, where, resting from their labors, and in the 
 goodly fellowship of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, 
 evangelists, and saints of all ages, they follow the 
 Lamb whithersoever He goeth, how little Robert J. 
 Breckinridge and Absalom Peters, Lyman Beecher 
 and Joshua L. Wilson, Albert Barnes and George 
 Junkin, Charles Hodge and Thomas H. Skinner, 
 William Adams and James W. Alexander, or Henry 
 B. Smith and that eminent servant of Christ who has 
 just passed so suddenly within the veil, Archibald 
 Alexander Hodge, — how little do these glorified spir- 
 its trouble themselves about the points of either Old 
 School or New School theology whicli they once 
 deemed so important ! And even here on earth, al- 
 though our eyes are not illumined like theirs by the 
 beatific vision, we can yet see plainly enough that on 
 both sides there was more or less of truth and rig^ht, 
 and on both sides more or less of error, mistake, 
 and passion, — as was to be expected of poor fallible 
 mortals. 
 
 But while so many doctrinal speculations and burn- 
 
WHERE DOES THE SEMINARY NOW STAND? 85 
 
 ing questions of fifty years ng-o have vanished away, 
 how many new ones have sprung into existence and 
 are chimoring for both a hearing and a decision ! 
 Where does the Union Theological Seminary stand in 
 relation to these ! I thirdv I may answer confidentl}^, 
 with the hearty assent of my honored colleagues, that 
 its position is still in harmony with the spirit of its 
 revered founders, — those men of ''moderate views 
 and feelings, who desired to live free from party strife, 
 and to stand aloof from all extremes of doctrine and 
 practice." But moderation, as they understood and 
 practised it, was not apathy, or neutrality, or timidity 
 touching Christian truth and duty ; it was the patient 
 forbearance, candor, self-restraint, and kindly temper 
 that have their root in humility and depth of convic- 
 tion ; it was the sweet reasonableness that is born of 
 faith in the power and ultimate triumph of the divine 
 ideas and principles of God's Word. It was what 
 Paul meant when he wrote, " Let your moderation be 
 known unto all men ; the Lord is at hand." Armed 
 with such Christian moderation, both of opinion and 
 feeling, the Union Seminary is neither affrighted nor 
 tlu'own off its balance by the hardest problems of the 
 hour, whether in science or religion, — whether they 
 relate to the origin, nature, and eternal destiny of 
 man, or to the wonderful works and ways of God in 
 creation and providence, or to Jesus Christ and His 
 gospel. On these questions, and all other questions 
 that puzzle the will and task the intellect of the age, 
 
86 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 this Seminary is ready to adopt as its own the words 
 of Lord Bacon : — 
 
 Let no man, upon a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill- 
 applied moderation, think or maintain that a man can search 
 too far, or be too well studied in the book of God's Word, or 
 in the book of God's works, — divinity or philosophy ; but 
 rather let men endeavor an endless progress and proficience 
 in both ; only let men beware that they apply both to charity, 
 and not to swelling; to use, and not to ostentation ; and 
 again, that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these 
 learnings together. 
 
 As to the future of the Union Theological Semi- 
 nar}^, I for one believe assuredly that it is destined to 
 perform a great part in the coming struggles, labors, 
 and triumphs of our free American Christianity, and 
 of the Gospel in all the earth. How otherwise can we 
 interpret the marks of providential design and favor 
 which are stamped so indelibly upon its entire history ? 
 And to the end that it may rise to the height of its 
 vast opportunity, let us pray earnestly that those who 
 have charge of it, whether as directors or teachers, and 
 those who shall have charge of it hereafter, may be 
 true men, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. May 
 it please God to endue them plenteously with the 
 spirit, not of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a 
 sound mind. May it please Him also to impart more 
 and more to our Christian laymen whom He has over- 
 whelmed with worldly goods a magnanimous, free- 
 hearted devotion to the interests of His kingdom, — 
 especially to the grand object for promoting which 
 
THE FUTURE OF THE SEMINARY. ' 87 
 
 this institution was founded It was, to use their own 
 words, because they were '' deeply impressed with the 
 claims of the world upon the Church of Christ to fur- 
 nish a competent supply of well-educated and pious 
 ministers of the Gospel, that a number of Christians, 
 clerg-ymen and laymen in the cities of New York and 
 Brooklyn, after several meeting-s for consultation and 
 prayer, resolved unanimously, in humble dependence 
 upon the grace of God, to attempt the establishment 
 of a theological seminary in the city of New York." 
 
 The history of the Union Theological Seminary, 
 during fifty years, shows what has grown out of their 
 attempt, made thus in humble dependence upon Divine 
 grace. If, ftiithful to the trust connnitted to us, we, 
 and those who shall take our places, continue to be 
 animated by the same liigli motives and the same 
 humble dependence upon the grace of God, our next 
 half-century, I do not doubt, will surpass even that 
 which is just closed in the record of eminent useful- 
 ness, by " calling forth and enlisting in tlie service of 
 Christ, and in the work of the ministry, genius, talent, 
 enlightened piety, and missionary zeal ; and by quali- 
 fying many for the labors and management of the 
 various religious institutions, seminaries of learning, 
 and enterprises of benevolence which characterize the 
 present times." So may we and our successors be 
 worthy followers of the noble men who through faith 
 and patience founded and built up this school of sacred 
 and inspired theology. 
 
88 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 THE COURSE OF STUDY. 
 
 The Course of Theological study in the Union Theological 
 Seminary, New York, occupies three years, of two terms each, and 
 Students are admitted on a pledge to complete a full course, here 
 or elsewhere, unless unavoidably prevented. 
 
 In most of the departments the Students are required to write 
 essa3's on the more important topics of the Course. Lectures are 
 given in the Parker Lectureship on the laws of Health, with spe- 
 cial reference to its connection with religious experience ; in the 
 Morse Lectureship, on the relation of the Bible to the Sciences ; 
 and in the LJly Lectureship, on the Evidences of Christianit}', 
 Lectures are also given on the relation of the Civil Law to Eccle- 
 siastical Polity, Discipline, and Propert3', by Lecturers selected for 
 the purpose on account of their special eminence in the respective 
 departments. Ever^' public exercise is opened with prayer. De- 
 votional exercises are held every day in the Chapel, at 5 o'clock 
 p. M., conducted by the Faculty-. A daily prayer-meeting is main- 
 tained by the Students. 
 
 On the first Monday of each month, the hour from 4 to 5 o'clock 
 p. M. is appropriated to the exercises of " The Society of Inquiry 
 concerning Missions," and on the third Monday the same hour is 
 devoted to a general meeting for religious Conference and Prayer. 
 
 The Junior Class. — First Term. 
 
 PROPEDEUTICS. — Lectures on Theological Encyclopfedia, Method- 
 ology, and Bibliography, once a week by Prof. Schaff. 
 
 PHILOLOGY. — 1. Introductory Hebrew Grammar, with Exercises in 
 Reading and Writing Hebrew, five times a week with Prof. Brown 
 until December. 
 
 2. Grammar of New Testament Greek, with reading in the Gospel 
 of Matthew, once a week with Prof. Brown. 
 
 EXEGESIS. — L Historical and Critical Introduction to the New Tes- 
 tament, once a week with Prof. Schaff. 
 
 2. The Higher and Lower Criticism of the Old Testament, twice 
 a week with Prof. Briggs. 
 
THE COURSE OF STUDY. 89 
 
 3. Exposition of select chapters of the Old Testament, five times 
 a week with Prof. Bkown during December. 
 
 4. Exposition of the Gospel of Mark, twice a week with Prof. 
 Browx. 
 
 The Greek Gospels of Matthew and Mark entire are assigned, and 
 will be required in the Examination at the close of the Term. 
 
 MISSION WORK. — Its Aim, Principles, and Claims, with outlines 
 and biographical sketches of its history, twice a week with Prof. 
 Pkkntiss. 
 
 THE ADVANCED CLASS IN HEBREW (1) enters at once upon 
 Hebrew Exegesis with Prof. Bkiggs twice a week. They read selec- 
 tions from the Historical Books of the Old Testament and from the 
 Mishna illustrating the several periods of the Hebrew language. 
 They also (2) meet Prof. Brown once a week for grammatical drill 
 and exercises in the unpointed Hebrew Text. Students entering this 
 class are excused from the Introductory Course with Prof. Brown ; 
 but they are required to present a certificate from the Institute of 
 Hebrew, or from their Hebrew Professor, showing that they have sub- 
 stantially completed the Inti-oductory Hebrew course. Otherwise 
 they must submit to an Entrance Examination. 
 
 SACRED MUSIC. — Instruction is given by Prof. Herman to all the 
 Students in graded classes throughout the Course. 
 
 The Junior Class. — Second Term. 
 
 PHILOLOGY. — 1. Exercises in Hebrew Etymology and Syntax, with 
 
 sight-reading once a week with Prof. Brown. 
 
 2. Grammar of New Testament Greek, with reading in the Gospel 
 
 of Luke, once a week with Prof. Brown. 
 EXEGESIS. — 1. Exposition of selections from the Pentateuch, twice a 
 
 week with Prof. Brown. 
 
 2. Exposition of the later Historical Books, with especial reference 
 to their illustration from Assyrian and Babylonian history, twice a 
 week with Prof. Brown. 
 
 3. Exposition of the Gospel of John, twice a week with Prof. 
 
 SCHAFF. 
 
 The Greek Gospels of Luke and John entire are assigned for class- 
 room work or private reading. 
 
 THE ADVANCED CLASS IN HEBREW has critical exercises in 
 Hebrew Text twice a week with Prof. Briggs, and is excused from 
 Exegesis, Course 1 (Pentateuch). 
 
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. — The Religion of Israel, with a discussion of 
 the principal institutions and laws, twice a week with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 HISTORY. —The Life of Christ, with references to Schurer, Robinson, 
 Neander, Edersheim, Andrews, and Farrar, twice a week with Prof. 
 Hitchcock. 
 
90 THE UXION THEOLOGICAL SEMIXARY. 
 
 APOLOGETICS. — Christ and His Apostles as defenders of the truth. 
 A sketch of the history of Apologetics. Grounds of the Christian 
 evidence. Strength of Unbelief in our day and the best way to meet 
 it. Lectures twice a week by Prof. Prentiss. 
 
 VOCAL CULTURE. — The Class is divided into sections, and each sec- 
 tion will have exercises once a week with Prof. Roberts for the 
 development, strengthening, and management of the voice, and in 
 the principles of Expression in Elocution as applied to the reading of 
 extracts in Prose and Verse. 
 
 The Middle Class. — First Term. 
 
 EXEGESIS. — Hebrew Poetry: Exposition of selections of various kinds 
 of poetry from the earlier periods of Hebrew History, once a week 
 with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 The Psalter : Its Poetry, Structure, and Exposition, twice a week 
 with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 Exposition of the Book of the Acts, and the Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, twice a week with Prof. Schaff. The Epistles to the Thessa- 
 lonians are assigned, and will be required in the Examination. 
 
 HISTORY. — The Apostolic Church, with references to Xeander, Schaff, 
 Conybeare and Howson, Lewin, and Farrar, twice a week with Prof. 
 Hitchcock. 
 
 DOGMATICS. — Theological Introduction: Method, Nature, and Defini- 
 tion of Theological Science. Bihlioloff/j: Revelation and Inspiration, 
 Authenticity, Credibility, and Canonicity of the Scriptures. Theology 
 (proper): Nature and Detinition of God; Innate Idea of God; Ar- 
 guments for the Divine Existence; Trinity in Unity. Lectures four 
 times a week by Prof. Shedd. 
 
 CATECFIETICS. — The Christian instruction of the young, and their 
 preparation for Church ordinances, with special reference to the "West- 
 minster Catecliisms, including also a History of Religious Nurture 
 and of the Sunday School, twice a week with Prof. Prentiss. 
 
 VOCAL CULTURE. — Exercises in the reading of the Scriptures and 
 Hymns. Each section of the Class once a week with Prof. Roberts. 
 
 HOMILETICS. — Introductory instruction as to methods of pulpit prep- 
 aration, with practical exercises, once a week with Prof. Hastings. 
 
 The Middle Class. — Second Term. 
 
 EXEGESIS. — Hebrew Poetry : Exposition of selections from the later 
 periods of Hebrew Poetry, twice a week with Prof. Briggs, includ- 
 ing portions of Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. 
 
 Exposition of the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Ephesians, the 
 Colossians, the Philippians, and Philemon, twice a w^eek with Prof. 
 Schaff. 
 
THE COURSE OF STUDY. 91 
 
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. — Theolotry of the Old Testament, twice a 
 week with Prof. Bkiggs. 
 
 DOGMATICS. — T/icoZo^r// (proper): Divine Attributes, Decrees, Crea- 
 tion, Providence, Miracles. AiUhropolor/)/ : Man's Creation, Primitive 
 State, Probation, Apostasy, Original Sin. Lectures four times a 
 week by Prof. Shedd. 
 
 CHRISTIAN ETHICS. — The Moral Principles of Christianity, and 
 their Application to Human Life and Conduct, twice a week with 
 Prof. Prentiss. 
 
 HOMILETICS. — Lectures with Practical Exercises, twice a week with 
 Prof. Hastings. 
 
 VOCAL CULTURE. — Exercises in Pulpit and Platform Speaking. 
 Each section of the Class once a week with Prof. Roberts. 
 
 The Senior Class. — First Term. 
 
 EXEGESIS. — Expo.sition of select portions of the Prophets, with special 
 reference to the development of the Messianic idea, twice a week 
 with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, and of selections from the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, and from the Apoca- 
 lypse, twice a week with Prof. Schaff. 
 
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. — The Old Testament doctrine of Redemp- 
 tion, once a week with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 HISTORY. — The General History of the Christian Church from the 
 death of the Apostle John, with reference to Gieseler, Neander, Ilagen- 
 bach, Winer, and Schaffo Special prominence is given to the secular 
 environment of the Church, and to the development of Doctrine. 
 The Ancient Church, four times a week with Prof. Hitchcock. 
 
 DOGMATICS.— C/im/o/o(7^; Christ's theanthropic Person, Divinity, 
 Humanity; Soteriologi/ : Christ's mediatorial Offices; Vicai'ious 
 Atonement. Lectures twice a week by Prof. Shedd. 
 
 HOMILETICS. — The composition and delivery of sermons with practi- 
 cal exercises. Sermons to be delivered by each Student both in 
 private and before the class. Exercises twice a week with Prof. 
 Hastings. At least two sermons must be submitted by each mem- 
 ber of the class to the Professor for private criticism during the 
 year. 
 
 PASTORAL THEOLOGY. — The Calling, Qualifications, and Work of 
 the Christian Pastor. Hyjnnology and Psalmody. Lectures once a 
 week by Prof. Hastings. 
 
 VOCAL CULTURE. — Exercises in Pulpit and Platform Speaking. 
 Each section of the Class once a week with Prof. Roberts. 
 
92 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 The Senior Class. — Secoxd Term. 
 
 BIBLICAL THE0L03Y. — The various types of Theology in the writ- 
 ings of the New Testament, and their comprehension in a higher 
 unity, twice a week with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 HISTORY. — The General History of the Christian Church continued. 
 The Medicecal and Modern Church, four times a week with Prof. 
 Hitchcock. 
 
 SYMBOLICS. — Comparative Theology: exposition of the doctrinal dif- 
 fei-ences of the various Churches, twice a week with Prof. Schaff. 
 
 DOGMATICS. — Solerioloqjj : Regeneration, Conversion, Justification, 
 Sanctification; Esckatoloc/?/ : Intermediate State, Second Advent, 
 Resurrection, Final Judgment, Heaven, Hell. Lectures twice a week 
 by Prof. Shedd. 
 
 HOMILETICS. — The composition and delivery of Sermons with prac- 
 tical Exercises, once a week with Prof. Hastings. Private criticism 
 and preaching before the Class. 
 
 PASTORAL THEOLOGY. — Lectures once a week; and Exposition of 
 the Pastoral Epistles, once a week, with Prof. Hastings. 
 
 CHURCH POLITY. — The New Testament idea and constitution of the 
 Church of Christ: How far the ecclesiastical polities of later ages 
 embody the same. Denominational organizations : How far justifi- 
 able. Presbyterianisra. The Sacraments. Lectures once a week 
 by Prof. Prentiss. 
 
 The Cognate Oriental Languages. 
 
 All the studies in this department are optional. 
 
 The class in Biblical Aramaic will study the Grammar of that lan- 
 guage with selections from the Aramaic of the Bible, in the second term, 
 with Prof. Brown. 
 
 Those who have already studied Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic may 
 unite with the S/riac and Arabic classes, which are organized in alter- 
 nate years (1885-86, Syriac; 1886-87, Arabic), so that in regular order 
 the three classes may pursue Biblical Aramaic, Syrias, and Arabic. The 
 Syriac class will study Syriac Grammar, and read selections from the 
 Peshitto version in the first term, and read selections from Bar-Hehraeus 
 and Ephraem Syriis in the second term with Prof. Briggs. The Arabic 
 class will study the Arabic Grammar, and read selections from the version 
 of Saadia in the first term, and read selections from the Koran, in con- 
 nection with a more particular study of Arabic Syntax, in the second 
 term with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 There will be two Assyrian classes, composed of those who have already 
 studied Hebrew and two of the Cognates. The one will study the Assy- 
 rian Characters and Grammar, and read selections from the historical 
 Inscriptions, during the second term, with Prof. Brown. The second 
 
THE COURSE OF STUDY. 
 
 93 
 
 class will consist of those who have already passed through the first class 
 They will read selections from the historical and mytliological Inscrip- 
 tions and the Syllabaries. Lectures will also be given on Babylonian 
 and Assyrian Literature, and on the relation of the Assyrian language to 
 the Akkadian and Sumerian. This course will be extended throu-rh both 
 terms with Prof. Bkown. ° 
 
 Schedule of Lectures for 1886-87. — Second Term. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Monday, 
 
 Tuesday, 
 
 Wednesday, 
 
 Thursday, 
 
 Friday, 
 
 Hours. 
 
 11 
 3 
 4 
 
 Juniors. Middlers. 
 
 Prof. Hitchcock. Prof. Prentiss. 
 " Brown. « Shedd. 
 
 Conference Meeting. 
 
 
 Hitchcock. 
 Brown. 
 
 SCHAFF. 
 
 Prentiss. 
 
 Briggs. 
 
 Brown. 
 
 SCHAFF. 
 
 Brown. 
 Briggs. 
 
 Prentiss. 
 
 Brown. 
 
 Brown. 
 
 Prof. Prentiss 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 " Schaff. 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Schaff. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 Seniors. 
 Prof. Schaff. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Schaff. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 " Hitchcock, 
 
 " Hitchcock. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Hitchcock. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Prentiss. 
 
 " Hitchcock. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 Class in Biblical Aramaic, Mondays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Brown. 
 
 Class in Arabic, Mondays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 Class in Assyrian I., Tuesdays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Brown. 
 
 Class in Assyrian II., Thursdays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Brown. 
 
 Class for Juniors advanced in Hebrew, Mondays, 3 to 4 p. m., Tuesdays 
 2 to 3 p. M., with Prof. Briggs. ' ' 
 
 Vocal Culture, daily, in sections: Juniors, 9 to 10 a.m., Middlers, 10 
 to 11 A. M., with Prof. Roberts. 
 
 Sacred Music, all classes, Thursdays, 7:30 p. m.. 
 
 Schedule of Lectures for 1887-88. — First Term. 
 
 Days. Hours. Juniors. Middlers. 
 
 ( 11 Prof. Prentiss. Prof. Hitchcock. 
 
 Monday, j 3 " Brown. " Shedd. 
 ^ 4 Conference Meeting. 
 
 r 11 " Prentiss. Prof. Hitchcock. 
 
 Tuesday, ? 3 " Brown. " Shedd. 
 
 ' 4 " Brown. " Briggs. 
 
 Seniors. 
 Prof. Schaff. 
 " Hastings. 
 
 " Schaff. 
 " Briggs. 
 " Shedd. 
 
94 
 
 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 
 Juniors. 
 
 
 Middlers. 
 
 Seniors. 
 
 
 (^1 
 
 Prof 
 
 '. SCHAFF. 
 
 Prof 
 
 '. Prentiss. 
 
 Prof. Hitchcock. 
 
 Wednesday, 
 
 ^ 
 
 " 
 
 Bkown. 
 
 " 
 
 Shkdd. 
 
 " Hitchcock 
 
 
 I 4 
 
 " 
 
 Briggs. 
 
 " 
 
 Shaff. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 
 (^^ 
 
 " 
 
 ScHAFF. 
 
 " 
 
 Briggs. 
 
 " Hitchcock. 
 
 Thursday, 
 
 ^ 
 
 " 
 
 Brown. 
 
 " 
 
 Shedd. 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 
 I 4 
 
 " 
 
 Brown. 
 
 " 
 
 Prentiss. 
 
 " Hastings. 
 
 
 0'^ 
 
 " 
 
 Briggs. 
 
 " 
 
 SCHAFF. 
 
 " Hitchcock. 
 
 Friday, 
 
 3 
 
 " 
 
 Brown. 
 
 " 
 
 Hastings, 
 
 " Briggs. 
 
 
 I 4 
 
 « 
 
 Brown. 
 
 " 
 
 Briggs. 
 
 " Shedd. 
 
 Class in Syriac, Mondays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Briggs. 
 
 Class in Assyrian II., Fridays, 2 to 3 p. m., with Prof. Browx. 
 
 Class for Juniors advanced in Hebrew, Thursdays, 2 to 3 p.m., with 
 Prof. Brown; and Mondays and Wednesdays, 3 to 4 p. m., with Prof. 
 Briggs. 
 
 Vocal Culture, daily, in sections: Seniors, 9 to 10 A. M., and Middlers, 
 10 to 11 A. M., with Prof. Roberts. 
 
 Sacred Music, all classes, Thursdays, 7: 30 p. m. 
 
 EXAMINATIOXS. 
 
 The Academic year consists of two terms : the first beginning with the 
 third Wednesday of September and ending with the Christmas holidays: 
 the second beginning immediately after those holidays, and ending with 
 the Tuesday next preceding the second Thursday of May. Examinations 
 will be held during the last week of each term upon the studies then 
 completed. These examinations are conducted by the Faculty with the 
 co-operation of Committees of the Directors and of the Alumni of the 
 Seminary. The Presbytery of New York is represented by a Committee 
 of examination at the Intermediate examination, the Synod of New York 
 at the Final examination. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 THE PROFESSORSHIPS. 
 
 Six Professorships have been endowed, as follows : — 
 
 I. The Roosevelt Professorship of Systematic Theology was 
 endowed in 1851, under the will of Mr. James Roosevelt, with 125,000, 
 which in 1874 had become $34,000, to which Mr. James Brown in that 
 year added S46,000, making the whole endowment $80,000. 
 
 II. The Davenport Professorship (originally of Sacred Rhetoric, 
 but since 1873) of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages was en- 
 
PROFESSORSniPS, LECTURESHIPS, ETC. 95 
 
 dowed in 1853 by Mr. James Roorman (who died in 1SG6) with S25,000 
 to which Mr. Brown added $55,0U0, making the whole endowment 
 $80,000. 
 
 III. The Washburx Professorship of Church History was en- 
 dowed in 1855 by Mrs. Jacob Bell (who died in 1878) with .1f25 000 to 
 which Mr. Brown added $55,000, making the whole endowment $80,000. 
 
 IV. The Baldwin Professorship op Sacred Literature was 
 endowed in 1865 by Mr. John Center Baldwin (who died in 1870) with 
 $25,000, which was afterwards increased to $65,000, to which Mr. Brown 
 added $15,000, making the whole endowment $80,000. 
 
 V. The Brown Professorship (originally of Hebrew and the Cognate 
 Languages, but since 1873) of Sacred Rhetoric was endowed in 1805 
 by Mr. John A. Brown, of Philadelphia (who died in 1872), and his 
 brother, Mr. James Brown, of New York, with $25,000, to which in 1874 
 Mr. James Brown added $55,000, making the whole endowment $80,000. 
 
 VI. The Skinner and McAlpin Professorship of Pastoral 
 Theology, Church Polity, and Mission AVork, was endowed in 
 1872, by Mr. David Hunter McAlpin, and a few other friends of Dr. 
 Skinner and Dr. Prentiss, with $50,000, to which Mr. Brown added 
 $30,000, making the whole endowment $80,000. 
 
 THE LECTURESHIPS. 
 
 The Ely Lectureship, on "The Evidences of Christianity," was 
 founded, May 8, 1865, by Mr. Z. Stiles Ely, of this citv, by the 
 gift of Ten Thousand Dollars, in memory of his brother, \he Rev 
 Elias P. Ely. 
 
 The Morse Lectureship, on " The Relations of the Bible to the Sci- 
 ences," was founded, May 20, 1865, by the late Prof. Samuel F. B. 
 Morse, LL. D., by the gift of Ten Thousand Dollars, in memory of 
 his father, the Rev. Jedediah Morse, D. D. 
 
 The Parker Lectureship, designed to furnish Theological Students 
 with such hygienic instructions as may be specially useful to them 
 personally and as pastors, was endowed in 1873 by Willard Parker, 
 M. D., LL. D., with $2000. 
 
 THE FELLOWSHIPS. 
 
 Two Fellowships, of Ten Thousand Dollars each, have been en- 
 dowed for the purpose of encouraging special merit in the pursuit of 
 higher Theological culture. The one is known as " The Philadelphia 
 Fellowship," endowed by " A Friend of the Seminary"; the other as 
 " The Francis P. Schoals Fellowship," endowed by the friend whose 
 name it bears. The income of these Fellowships is appropriated to the 
 
96 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 support of incumbents, for two years each, in prosecuting special studies, 
 either in this country or in Europe, under the direction of the Faculty. 
 
 The income of the two Fellowships ($600 each) is appropriated subject 
 to the following terms and conditions : — 
 
 1. No person shall be eligible as Fellow who has not been a member of 
 this Seminary, and of the same class, for the full course of three years. 
 
 2. Those only shall be appointed Fellows, annually or otherwise, accord- 
 ing to the discretion of the Faculty, who have made such proficiency in 
 the original languages of the Bible and in general Theological scholarship 
 as to warrant their appointment. 
 
 3. Those accepting appointments as Fellows must agree to prosecute 
 their studies, in this or other countries, for two years each, under the 
 direction of the Faculty and to their satisfaction, reporting to them 
 semiannually. 
 
 Fellows of Uniox Theological Seminary. 
 
 1877. Francis Brown. 
 
 1878. Samuel Franklin Emerson. 
 
 1879. Edward Lewis Curtis. 
 
 1880. Charles Ripley Gillett, 
 
 1881. Frank Edward Woodruff. 
 
 1882. Harry Norman Gardiner. 
 
 1883. George Holley Gilbert. 
 
 1884. Edward Caldwell Moore. 
 188.5. Oliver Joseph Thatcher, 
 188(). Robert Ferguson. 
 
 1887. Howard S. Bliss. 
 
 1888. Hervey D. Griswold. 
 
 1889. Owen H. Gates. 
 
 THE INSTRUCTORSHIP. 
 
 " The Harkness Instructorship in Vocal Culture and in 
 Elocution" was endowed by a gift of $40,000 by " A Friend in the West 
 Presbyterian Church " in this city, to which is added the sum of -^10,000, 
 formerly contributed for a similar purpose, making the whole endowment 
 S50,000. 
 
 THE HITCHCOCK PRIZE IN CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 In accordance with a recommendation in the will of the late President, 
 the Rev. Roswell Dwight Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., his family has 
 endowed " The Hitchcock Prize in Church History," by the gift 
 of Twenty-five Hundred Dollars. The income of this Endowment is 
 
SERMON IN MERCER STREET CHURCH. 97 
 
 to be paid at or before Christmas in each year to such member of the 
 Senior Class as, in the entire course in this Seminary, shall have attained 
 the highest excellence in Church History and kindred subjects. Each 
 competitor for this prize must submit to the Faculty an essay upon one 
 of such topics as may be assigned. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMOX ENTITLED "THE UNIOX 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY." 
 
 Having considered the twofold office of a school of divinity, — 
 that of cultivating sacred science and that of training young men 
 for the ministry of the Gospel by instructing them in the principles 
 and facts of this science, — I proceeded to speak thus of the special 
 claims of the Union Seminary : — 
 
 The sum and substance of what I have to say can be uttered in a few 
 words; and you will excuse me, I am sure, if they are spoken plainly, and 
 with the emphasis of a strong conviction, — a conviction formed long 
 before I became your pastor. This institution of sacred learning ought 
 to be endowed generously, permanently, and without delay. Its char- 
 acter, position, wants, and capabilities all entitle it to this service from 
 the Christian community. The character of Union Seminary is eminently 
 catholic, in the true sense of the word; it is at once liberal and conserva- 
 tive. There is nothing that I am aware of in its history, nothing in its 
 associations, nothing in its general policy, nothing in its temper, which 
 should make this institution cleave inordinately to the past or to the 
 future, — which should render it unstable in the ways of old truth, or un- 
 willing to greet new truths with a friendly welcome ; nothing which com- 
 mits it to any party, or prevents its cordial relations with all parties who 
 love the Gospel and Christian union. It stands in special connection 
 with our own branch of the great Presbyterian family; but it numbers 
 on its Board of Directors, and among its warmest friends, influential 
 members of the other branch; while it seeks its professors and attracts its 
 students as readily from the old Puritan body of New England, as if its 
 predilections were all Congregational. If you will have an institution 
 occupying as catholic a ground as the distracted state of the Church in 
 our day seems to permit, I do not know how you can well come nearer to 
 such a plan than have the founders of the Union Seminary. Its main 
 advantages are as accessible and useful to a Baptist, a jNIethodist, an 
 Episcopalian, or a Congregationalist, as to a Presbyterian; and students 
 
 7 
 
©8 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 of all these and of other denominations have availed themselves of them. 
 Let it be understood, that in what I have said, or may say, I cast no 
 reflection upon any other seminary. All honor to Princeton, and Lane, 
 and Auburn, and Andover, and Bangor, and New Haven, and others, of 
 whatever name, that are doing the Master's work ! 
 
 Such is the character of the institution; and its position appears to me 
 no less desirable. On this point there will doubtless be diversities of 
 opinion. Very grave objections may easily be raised against a great city 
 as the seat of a college where young men are trained in the preparatory 
 discipline of a professional life. The distractions and temptations which 
 surround them bear, certainly, an unfavorable aspect toward studious 
 and moral habits. But the case of those who have passed through their 
 collegiate course, and are in direct training for the ministry, is quite 
 different. Tliey may fairly be presumed to have well established prin- 
 ciples of intellectual and religious conduct, — to be, in good measure, 
 above both the temptations and the distractions of city life. It can 
 hardly be denied, on the other hand, that precisely for them there are 
 advantages to be derived from several years' residence in a metropolis 
 like this, advantages of a specific and general nature, which cannot easily 
 be found elsewhere. All admit that the schools and hospitals of Paris, 
 Vienna, and Berlin afford to the medical student facilities for combined 
 study and observation which are unrivalled. He can learn and see more 
 there in one year, than he could in many years of ordinary advantages. 
 So, New York affords, or might afford, to the candidate for the min- 
 istry unequalled opportunities of combining practical with theoretical 
 study. . . . The pulpit, the church, the courts of justice, the popular 
 assembly, the platform, the institutions of public charity and philan- 
 thropy, the fashionable streets and avenues, the crowded thoroughfares 
 and marts of trade, the infected lanes and alleys, the wharves and ferries, 
 the emigrant ship, — these are only a part of those ever-open books 
 which he who runs may read, and which, " to him that understandeth," 
 are fraught with lessons of the gravest meaning. 
 
 Without stopping, then, to discuss the point, I do not hesitate to ex- 
 press it as my own conviction, that the city is to be preferred to the 
 country as a place for training ministers. The larger portion of them 
 come from the country, and return thither again. Three years of city 
 life, without in the least damaging their piety, will tend to teach them 
 lessons, and supply them with observations, which they will find most 
 useful during their whole subsequent career. These remarks, as I have 
 intimated, seem to me to apply with especial force to New York. It is 
 the great centre of American life and enterprise; and a young man of 
 piety, intelligence, and susceptibility can hardly pass three years in the 
 midst of it without some enlargement of view concerning his solemn 
 work and duties as a Christian teacher and free citizen of this vast 
 Republic. 
 
SERMOX IN MERCER STREET CHURCH. 99 
 
 As the seat, too, of a liberal and profound theological culture, New 
 York ought to stand foremost in the land. She ought for her own sake. 
 There is, perhaps, no other power, after the Word preached, which would 
 do more to preserve her Christian influence, wealth, and enterprise from 
 falling a prey to the show, self-aggrandizement, and other vices incident 
 to the predominance of a commercial spirit. She ought, for the sake of 
 our country and the world. Let a wise, tolerant Christian theology 
 flourish here, and it would diffuse a beneficent radiance over the land, 
 and even among pagan nations. The position, then, of the Union Semi- 
 nary is unsurpassed, both for the training of ministers and the cultivation 
 of sacred learning. For this reason its founders planted it in the city of 
 New York. 
 
 Let me now speak of its wants. These are many, important, most 
 reasonable, and, in my judgment, challenge the immediate attention of 
 its friends. It wants, first of all, to be assured of its own existence; it 
 wants an endowment. \i is not seemly, it is a reproach and dishonor to 
 the Christian community, that such an institution, where the pious young 
 men of the Church are training to become her pastors, her divines, and 
 her missionaries to the heathen, should be begging its bread, — should sub- 
 sist on her precarious charities. No denomination that has any genuine 
 self-respect will allow such an anonjaly long to exist, if there be the 
 means of preventing it. Permanent institutions like this ought to be 
 exempt from conmiercial revulsions and the fluctuations of trade. If we 
 cannot give them an assured and independent existence on any other 
 terms, we had better do it even by mortgaging our church edifices. The 
 tree is far more important than its fruit; the fountain than its passing 
 streams. I repeat, the Union Seminary wants to be assured of its exist- 
 ence, but it wants a gi-eat deal more: it wants the means of making that 
 existence honorable, vigorous, efficient; commensurate with the work it 
 is called to do; worthy of, not a practical satire upon, the Christian lib- 
 erality of this great and opulent city. It wants the means of so enlarging 
 its accommodations that it can at once proffer a hearty invitation to two 
 hundred young men; and. when they come, can welcome them to rooms 
 fitted for the abode, not of poor children, not of youthful operatives, but 
 of Christian gentlemen who are soon to be your religious teachers and 
 guides. It wants thousands of volumes added to its library, that not 
 merely its Professors and students, but the pastors and Christian scholars 
 of this city and vicinity, and of the lantl, may be able to investigate all 
 branches of theological knowledge without the trouble and expense of a 
 voyage to Europe. The man who had the means, and whose heart God 
 should enlarge and dispose to meet this want, — to expend a hundred 
 thousand dollars in creating, around the present nucleus, a theological 
 library worthy of New York, of our Calvinistic churches, and of the times 
 we live in, — that man would build for himself a monument as enduring 
 
100 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 as the eternal hills! If it were permitted to indulge in idle wishes, I 
 would wish with all my heart I were such a man! How fragrant would 
 be his memory, centuries hence, when oblivion shall have utterly consumed 
 the noisy heroes and great men of the passing day! 
 
 Tliis Seminary wants to make immediate and ample provision for the 
 support of its Professors. It has searched for them through the land; has 
 called them from positions of the highest influence, despoiling other insti- 
 tutions and great congregations of their jewels to enrich itself; and now 
 is only able to afford them a compensation less than they might command 
 in the humble pastorate of many a New England village! Who fancies 
 such men will consent, or will be suffered, to remain where they are, in 
 this centre of Christian wealth, performing the weightiest functions in 
 the Church of God, teaching her teachers, and guarding her faith, unless 
 they are adequately supported, — unless their pecuniary necessities are 
 promptly and liberally met? It now only needs to be whispered abroad 
 that they are discontented, and a score of churches, colleges, and other 
 seminaries would be eager to obtain them. 
 
 I have thus stated some of the more pressing claims of this institution, 
 or rather, I honestly think, claims of religion, of an educated ministry, 
 of home and foreign missions, — in a word, of the cause of truth and 
 righteousness, as expressed through this institution. 
 
 I have the clearest conviction that the Union Seminary is capable of 
 doing a great work for Christ and the Church. It has already done 
 much; not a few of the most useful ministers in the land, not a few of 
 our best missionaries among the heathen, are its alumni. Already, too, 
 has it made invaluable contributions to the higher theological literature 
 of the age. But I trust it has a still nobler career in the future. I look 
 forward to the time when young men of piety and generous endowments 
 shall flock to it, in thousands, from all quarters of the Republic, — from 
 California and Oregon, and the islands of the sea even; when its library 
 shall be the resort of Cln-istian scholars from neighboring towns and 
 cities; when its professorships shall be multiplied so as to embrace one 
 for each great branch of sacred loi'e; when it shall be the pride and 
 glory of our churches, and its treasury be continually enriched by the 
 princely donations of the living and the dying; when, in a word, it shall 
 be such a nursery of men of God, and such a citadel of holy faith, as the 
 voice of Providence commands us to build up in this emporium of the 
 New World. 
 
THE TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY. 101 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 THE TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY. 
 
 The fact is, that this country is not so unprovided with the means for 
 the study of any subject as the baffled scholar may sometimes suppose. 
 The difficulty is in discovering just where the materials are. In Europe, 
 what is not contained in the national libraries is to be found in the great 
 private collections, most of them of considerable age, the contents of which 
 are fairly well known. Here, however, the number of private collectors 
 of books is so large, and their libraries are so constantly changing hands, 
 that any dependence upon private resources must be abandoned. Some 
 years ago the Athenceum contained an interesting series of letters devoted 
 to the private collections of ancient sculpture in England, and much new 
 and valuable material was brought to light. The writer has often thought 
 what a wealth of rare and useful books such a series of articles on the 
 private libraries in America would reveal. The sale catalogues from 
 time to time give glimpses of this wealth, and curiously enough do they 
 confirm the " fata habent libelli." The writer saw at a recent sale the 
 manuscript of a work he had once visited Europe to consult in a printed 
 edition. This unconscious proximity to valuable stores of material is 
 beautifully likened by Mr. Justin Winsor, in an address to be mentioned 
 again in a moment, to the rushing by unobserved of Gabriel's boat in 
 "Evangeline," while the maiden lay screened by the palmettos. The 
 writer may be pardoned for referring to his own experience in this matter, 
 for it is probably that of many other scholars, and may serve to encour- 
 age some disheartened student. Some years ago he began some re- 
 searches in a certain field of mediaeval literature, contained almost wholly 
 in manuscripts or early printed books. In pursuit of these studies he 
 had visited various libraries of England and the Continent, not supposing 
 for a moment that he could find in this country any of the needed works. 
 One day a friend sent him a pamphlet containing an account of the pub- 
 lic exercises on the completion of the library building of the University 
 of- Michigan. In it was the charming address by Mr. Justin Winsor, 
 referred to above. Speaking of the inadequacy of public collections of 
 all sorts to preserve a world's literature, he said: "In the fifty or sixty 
 years which followed the first work of the press, and within the fifteenth 
 century, it is usually reckoned there were at least 16,000 volumes printed 
 at all the presses of the forty-two cities which are known to have had 
 printing-offices. It is not an unfair estimate to place the average edition 
 of those days at 500 copies, and this would give a round 8,000,000 of in- 
 cunabula, — cradle books, — of which the number which have come down 
 
102 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 to us is comparatively small. Of this 8,000,000 I doubt if there are more 
 than a very few thousand on this continent. I do not regard the possible 
 excess in some of the libraries of Spanish America, when I say that the 
 largest number which I know in this part of the world is the 400 or 500 
 which belong to the Union Theological Seminai-y of New York." 
 
 This was the first intimation the writer had had of the existence of a 
 great collection of incunabula in this country, and it was indeed a strik- 
 ing example of the hidden Evangeline, for not only had he passed times 
 without number the door of the well-known building in University Place, 
 but he had not infrequently shared the room of a college friend who was 
 a student within its walls, and soundly slept just over those precious in- 
 cunabula. It is needless to say that he seized the first opportunity to 
 examine the library, and it is this unequalled collection of rare books 
 which he purposes to describe at some length, in the hope that it may 
 prove as useful to other scholars as it has been to himself. ... A Semi- 
 nary building, begun in March, 1837, was completed in 1838, just in time 
 to receive the most valuable library which has ever been brought to this 
 country. 
 
 The library had, before it reached this land, an interesting history, 
 which must be known in order to appreciate its worth. We will begin 
 our story with Charlemagne, although in a moment we shall have to 
 go still farther back. This monarch after his Saxon conquests founded 
 the Bishopric of Paderborn, whose first Bishop, Hathumar, we find in- 
 stalled as early as 795. The most famous of the early bishops was the 
 great Meinwerk (1009-36), the favorite of the Emperor Henry II. The 
 bishopric in the course of time became an independent ecclesiastical 
 principality. The second thread of our story takes us back to the foun- 
 dation of the Benedictine Order by St. Benedict of Xursia, in 515. The 
 order was introduced into Germany from England in the eighth century, 
 and at some time unknown to the writer there was established the Bene- 
 dictine monastery of ]\larienmiinster, a few miles from Warburg, in the 
 diocese of Paderborn. This establishment was characterized, like all 
 others of that order, by its love for literature, and its library no doubt 
 was the object of the fond care of the monks. At the time of the Refor- 
 mation a collection of the controversial literature of the period was made, 
 about 600 volumes in number, mostly in the original editions. These 
 books were kept in a separate room, the door of which was marked with 
 the inscription, " Libri Prohibiti." The key to this door was once kept 
 by a monk, whose name in the world was Johann Ileinrich Van Ess, but 
 who was known in the cloister as Brother Leander. He was born a few 
 miles away, in the town of Warburg, February 25, 1770, and received his 
 early education in the Dominican Gymnasium of that place. In 1790 he 
 entered as a novice Marienmiinster. He was ordained priest in 1796, and 
 from 1799 on he managed from the abbey the parish of Schwalenburg, a 
 league away, in the principality of Lippe. 
 
THE TREASURES OF TUB LIBRARY. 103 
 
 Meanwhile, events were occurring in Europe wliich were to change en- 
 tirely the destiny of young Van Ess. The brilliant success of the French 
 Republic in its military operations was crowned by the treaties of Canipo 
 Forniio (1797) and Luueville (1801), by virtue of which France took 
 Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine. The German princes who lost 
 their States by this cession of territory were to be recompensed by pos- 
 sessions within the Empire, and for this purpose the great ecclesiastical 
 principalities were secularized and divided among them. Paderborn fell 
 to the share of Fj'ussia, and became an hereditary principality. This was 
 in 1803, although Prussia, with characteristic promptness, had taken pos- 
 session the year before (August 3, 1802). The sequestration of the 
 monastic propei-ty followed as a matter of course. The monks of JNIari- 
 enmimster endeavored to save from the wreck as much of their common 
 property as possible, and divided the precious library among themselves. 
 To Brother Leander fell the " Libri Prohibiti " and others. He still had 
 his parish of Schwalenburg to administer, and there he remained until 
 1812, when, by the influence of the Superintendent of Instruction of the 
 kingdom of Westphalia, he was called by a royal decree (July 30, 1812) 
 to the position of extraordinary professor of Catholic theology in the 
 University of Marburg, and curate in the same town, which bore with it 
 the office of director of the famous seminary for teachers. 
 
 Van Ess was fated to suffer all the vicissitudes of his native land. In 
 1813 the kingdom of Westphalia came to a sudden end, and its numerous 
 constituent parts reverted to their former governments. ]\Iarburg was 
 now in the Electorate of Hesse, and in 181-1 Van Ess was called by that 
 government to the chair of an extraordinary professor and teacher of 
 canon law. The "Deutsche Biographie " says his academic activity in 
 ]\Iarburg was naturally not important, but he was greatly liked there as a 
 preacher. In 1818 he was made doctor of theology and of the canon law. 
 He was retired at his own request in 1822, and lived first at Darmstadt, 
 then at Alzey and other places, dying October 13, 1847, at Affolderbach 
 in the Odenwald. His library had naturally increased with his university 
 work, and with the great interest of his life, the circulation of the Scrip- 
 tures among the people. He translated with others the Old and New 
 Testaments (the printing of which was later forbidden by the Pope) from 
 the original tongues, and co-operated first with the Catholic Bible Society 
 of Regensburg, and, after its dissolution, with the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society, whose agent he was until 1830, when he ceased so to act 
 in consequence of a resolution of that Society to circulate no more Bibles 
 containing the Apocrypha. Van Ess held very decided views regarding 
 the Latin translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate, w^hich he held 
 was not binding upon Catholics who could make and road translation? 
 from the original text. Besides his translations he prepared editions of 
 the Septuagint (1821), the Vulgate (1822-21, in 3 vols.), and of the Greek 
 Testament with the Vulgate (1827) For his labors in this field he in- 
 
104 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 creased bis already valuable library with versions of the Bible, polyglots, 
 lexicons, concordances, commentaries, the Latin and Greek fathers, the 
 decrees of councils and popes, church history, and other similar literary 
 treasures, including a large collection of incunabula, — in all, with what 
 he had saved from the wreck at Marienmiinster, about 6,000 separate 
 works in 13,000 volumes. Ten years before his death he offered his 
 library for sale for the sum of 11,000 florins. . . . 
 
 The student who enters the beautiful room in the new building of the 
 Seminary (1200 Park Avenue), where these precious books have found a 
 worthy home, cannot fail to be struck with awe when he reflects that to 
 bring that collection there required the co-operation of St. Benedict of 
 Nursia, Charlemagne, and Napoleon! Nay, the curious speculator upon 
 historic problems may add as a fourth factor the American Revolution 
 (in its influence on France) ; and in that case there is a certain appro- 
 priateness in the library of Van Ess finding a final resting-place in this 
 country. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the trustees and 
 Faculty, who in that time of depression, and while the institution was 
 still an experiment, incurred such a heavy expense. It must be remem- 
 bered that at that time it was no every-day occurrence to purchase the 
 library of a deceased German scholar. 
 
 It is a difficult task to give an idea of the original Van Ess collection. 
 No separate catalogue of it ever was made, nor has it been kept apart 
 from the later acquisitions, except so far as the early printed books are 
 concerned. There is an excellent card catalogue (by authors' names) of 
 the entire library, and the accomplished librarian, the Rev. C. R. Gillett 
 (whose many favors the writer would gratefully acknowledge), has made 
 for his own use a list of the incunabula. The writer of this article has 
 personally examined and catalogued some hundred and twenty-two of the 
 incunabula belonging to the departments in which he is more particularly 
 interested (mediaeval fiction, stories contained in collections of sermons, 
 and the like). It is greatly to be desired that some munificent friend of 
 the institution should make provision for the printing of a catalogue which 
 will reveal the wealth of the collection, and be of use to scholars in all 
 parts of the land. 
 
 It is manifestly impossible in this limited space to give any idea of the 
 general character of the library of the Seminary, in much of which the 
 writer is not at all interested, although as a graduate of Princeton, with 
 vivid recollection of his Sunday tasks, he ought at least to mention the 
 unrivalled collection of works relating to the AVestminster Assembly and 
 the Shorter Catechism. To return, however, to the point from which we 
 started, — mediaeval ecclesiastical literature and history, — the library 
 possesses such great works as the ' Acta Sanctorum ' (in the original 
 edition, Antwerp, Brussels, and Tongerloo); ' Bibliotheca maxima vete- 
 rum patrum,' ed. Despont; Gallandius, 'Bibliotheca grfeco-latina vete- 
 rum patrum ' ; Martene and Durand, ' Veterum scriptorum amplissima 
 
THE TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY. 105 
 
 collectio,' and 'Thesaurus anecdotonim novus'; D'Achery, ' SpicilegiuiP,' 
 etc. The department of literary history is well represented by works like 
 Oudin's ' Conimentarius,' Bellarmin-Labbe, Ziegelbauer, Ceillier, Dupin, 
 Fabricius, IMiraeus, Trithemius, etc. 
 
 ^\'e must not linger here, but say a few words in regard to the early 
 printed books, 'i'he part consisting of Bibles and Liturgical works, bre- 
 viaries, missals, etc., the writer has not had time to examine, but un- 
 doubtedly many rare and valuable works are therein contained. Among 
 the rest may be mentioned no less than four of the great medieval collec- 
 tions of stories : Bromyard, Thomas Cantipratanus, Johannes Junior 
 (' Scala Cell'), and 'Speculum Exemplorum' (Cologne, 1485), four works 
 which it is safe to say can be found in only one other library in the 
 country, and that a private one. Of sermons there are ; Blony, Bernardi- 
 nus de Bustis, Johannes von Paltz (' Celifodina '), Gritsch (' Quadfa- 
 gesimale,' l-iSl, 1490, and s. 1. et a.), Haselbach, Herolt (■ Sermones 
 discipuli super epistolas dominicales,' s. a. et 1.), Leonardus de Utino 
 (Ulm, 1478), Lochmair ('Sermones,' 1516, full of illustrative stories), 
 Meffreth (' Hortulus reginae,' 1487), Michaele Carchano (' Quadragesi- 
 male,' Venice, 1487-92), Michaelis de Hungaria, George Morgenstern 
 ('Sermones Disertissimi,' Leipsic, 1502), Paulus Florentinus (' Quadra- 
 gesimale,' Milan, 1479), Robert Caraczoli ('Sermones Dormi Secure'). 
 Konrad von Brundelsheim, better known as Soccus (some say because he 
 hid out of modesty his sermons in his shoes or hose, where they were not 
 found until after his death). Jacobus de Voragine (the author of the 
 'Legenda Aurea,' of which there are numerous early printed editions), 
 etc. Among treatises much used in sermon-writing are . Hollen's ' Pre- 
 ceptorium' (1484, 1489), Nyder's ' Preceptorium ' (1481, 1496) Peral- 
 dus's ♦ Summa virtutum et vitiorum ' (1487); Rampigollis's ' Aureum 
 Repertorium ' (s. 1. et a.); Raynerus of Pisa, ' Pantheologia ' (several 
 defective copies); Petrus de Natalibus, ' Catalogus Sanctorum ' (Lyons, 
 1519, woodcuts), etc. 
 
 A few additional interesting works may be mentioned here at random : 
 St, Bridget's ' Revelationes ' (Nurenburg, 1517); Boethius, ' De consolat. 
 phil.' (Cologne, 1493); Abbot Joachim, ' Vaticinia ' (Venice, 1589, Lat. 
 and Ital., curious cuts) ; Petrarch, ' De remedys (sic) utriusque fortunae' 
 (defective), ' De Vita Solitaria' (Basel, 1496), with several others of Pe- 
 trarch's works; 'Speculum Spiritualium ' (Paris, 1510, an interesting 
 work containing illustrative stories) ; Vincent of Beauvais is represented 
 by his 'Speculum Doctrinale ' (s. a. et 1.), 'Speculum Naturale ' (s. a, 
 et 1.), and ' Speculum Morale' (s. a. et 1.), etc. 
 
 There are a few early editions of the classics : Catullus, ' Carme hexa- 
 metrum nuptiale Edylion ' (s. a. et 1.) ; ' Ilistoriae Augustae Scriptores,' 
 Venice, Aldus, 1516 (a rare book); Martial, Leipsic, 1498 (also rare); 
 Seneca, 'Epistolae,' etc. (s. a. et 1.), 'Proverbia secundum ordinem al- 
 phabeti ' (8 leaves; see Panzer, TX. 3:35, 1140 c). To tiiese may be added : 
 
106 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 Cato, ' Moralia instituta'; Josephus, ' De antiquitatibus ac de bello Ju- 
 daico,' Venice, 1510 (also a Gei'raau trans., Strasbourg, 1553); a German 
 translation of Frontinus, Mainz, Johann Schoffer, 1533 ; Perotti, ' Gram- 
 matica' (see Panzer, I. 200, 313). 
 
 The library also has a number of curious works on Oriental history, 
 such as M. Crusius, ' Turcograeciae libri octo,' Basel, 1584; Haython, 
 'Liber Historiarum Partium Orientis,' Haganau, 1529 (originally written 
 in French; see Potthast, I. 360) ; Laonicus Chalcocoudylas, ' De origiue et 
 rebus gestis Turcorum libri decern,' Basel, 1556 (translated from Greek 
 original, extends from 1298-1462, and, as Potthast says, is "instructive 
 and entertaining "). ' Tractatus de Moribus condictionibus et nequicia 
 Turcorum' (s. 1. et a , incomplete at end; see Panzer, IV. 203, 1239). 
 Also of historical interest is ' Romischer Kayserlicher Maiestat Regi- 
 ment; Camergericht : Landtfridt uund Abschiedt uff dem Reichstag zu 
 Wormbs,' etc. Mainz, Johann Schoffer, 1521, 18 leaves, sm. fol. ; and of 
 Reformation interest, Savonarola's exposition of the Ixxx. Psalm in an 
 old German translation, printed at Leipsic in 1542. 
 
 We have left for the last two interesting works; one is the account of 
 the Revelation falsely attributed to Methodius of Tyre, but which prob- 
 ably belongs to another ]\Iethodius, Patriarch of Constantinople in 1240. 
 It was a favorite work in the early days of printing, the earliest edition 
 bemg of Augsburg in 1475. The Seminary library has not that, but a 
 later one, more valuable on account of its many curious woodcuts; the 
 title is, ' Methodius primum Olimpiade et postea Tyri civitatum episco- 
 pus. . . . De revelatione facta ab angelo beato Methodic in carcere de- 
 ten to,' Basel, 1504 (Panzer, VI. 178, 29). The other book, assuredly one 
 of the ' Libri Prohibit!,' takes us back to the troublous times of the 
 Anabaptists in Holland, and to a character stranger than anything in 
 fiction, the player, painter, and prophet, David Jorisz (or, as the name is 
 usually written, David-George). This impostor published in 1542 his 
 famous 'Book of Wonders,' intended to support his claim to be the sec- 
 ond Christ. The book made a profound sensation throughout Europe. 
 The copy in the Seminary library is not the first edition, but a later one, 
 corrected by the author, and bears the title : ' Wonder-boeck : waer in 
 dat van der Werldt aen vei-floten gheoperbaert is. Opt nieuw ghecori- 
 geert unde vermeerdert by den Autheur selve. Int jaer 1551.' 
 
 The writer earnestly hopes that the above necessarily inadequate ac- 
 count of the Van Ess collection will revive the memory of a forgotten 
 scholar, and make his beloved library better known to American students. 
 May it also serve to dispel the vague notion that early printed books are 
 rarely found in this country. This notion seems still to linger even in 
 the professional mind, for while this article was in preparation the writer's 
 eye fell on the annual report of the State Librarian of an adjoining 
 
 State, wherein he read : " The library is particularly indebted to for 
 
 Philip Melancthon's copy of Livy, printed at Basel, in Switzerland, in 
 
ALUMNI IN MISSIONARY SERVICE. 107 
 
 1535. It is supposed to be the oldest printed book in America except 
 the celebrated Gutenberg Bible of 1457, purcliased by Mr. Brayton Ives 
 of New York for !§15,U00." JNIay this singular State Librarian some 
 day find his way as a visitor into the Library of the Uuion Theological 
 Seminary. 
 
 NOTE E. 
 
 ALUMNI OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WHO ARE 
 OR HAVE AT ANY TIME BEEN ENGAGED IN THE 
 FOREIGN MISSIONARY SERVICE. 
 
 183S. Samuel Robbins Brot^n China and Japan. 
 
 1843. Henry Martyn Scudder India. 
 
 Elipualet Whittlesey Sandwich Islands. 
 
 1845. William Ware Howland Ceylon. 
 
 1846. EuROTAs Parmelee Hastings Ceylon. 
 
 " William Lyman Richards China. 
 
 1847. George Bowen India. 
 
 " Joseph Gallup Cochran Persia. 
 
 " Seneca Cummings China. 
 
 " Samuel Goodrich Dwight Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " Joshua Edwards Ford Syria. 
 
 " Henry Kinney Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " Samuel Dexter Marsh South Africa. 
 
 " Cyrus Taggart Mills China and Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " Hohannes der Sahagyan ....... Pastor in Turkey. 
 
 " TowNSEND Elijah Taylor Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " William Wood India. 
 
 1848. Andrew Abraham South Africa. 
 
 " Jacob Best West Africa. 
 
 •' Oliver Crane Syria and Turkey. 
 
 " Edward Mills Dodd Turkey and Asia Miuor. 
 
 " John Welch Dulles India. 
 
 " Justin Wright Parsons Turkey and Asia IMinor. 
 
 1849. George Whitefield Coan Persia. 
 
 " George Washington Dunmore Syria and Turkey. 
 
 1849. Dwight Whitney Marsh Turkey. 
 
 1850. William Woodbridge Eddy Syria. 
 
 " Homer Bartlett Morgan . . . Asia Minor, Turkey, and Syria. 
 
 " Epaminondas James Pierce West Africa. 
 
108 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 1850. Samuel Audley Rhea Persia. 
 
 Seth Bradlet Stone South Africa. 
 
 1851. William Pkatt Bakker India. 
 
 Eli Cokwin Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Andrew Tully Pratt Syria. 
 
 Joseph Walworth Sutphen Turl^ey. 
 
 1852. Jasper Newton Ball Syria and Turkey. 
 
 Edward Toppin Doane Micronesia and Japan. 
 
 IS 5 3. Eli AS Levi Boing Choctaw Indians. 
 
 Edwin Goodell Smyrna. 
 
 Charles Finney Martin Egypt. 
 
 1854. Albert Graham Beebee Turkey. 
 
 Varnum Daniel Collins Brazil. 
 
 Jerre Lorenzo Lyons Syria. 
 
 Sanford Richardson Armenia. 
 
 Jacob William Marcussohn . Turkey. 
 
 Charles Casey Starbuck West Indies. 
 
 1855. Henry Harris Jessup Syria. 
 
 Tillman Conkling Trowbridge Turkey. 
 
 Allen Wright Choctaw Indians. 
 
 1856. Jackson Green Coffing Syria. 
 
 Charles Harding India. 
 
 Charles McEwen Hyde Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Michael D. Kalopothakes Greece. 
 
 George Hills White Mesopotamia. 
 
 1857. Theodore Luin Byington Turkey. 
 
 Edward W. Chester India. 
 
 Chauxcy Lucas Loomis West Africa. 
 
 James Quick Ceylon. 
 
 1858. Joseph Kingsbury Green Turkey. 
 
 1859. Thomas Lyford Ambrose Persia. 
 
 Edwin Cone Bissell Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Walter Halsey Clark West Africa. 
 
 Henry Nitchie Cobb Persia. 
 
 Thornton Bigelow Penfield India. 
 
 Amherst Lord Thompson Persia. 
 
 Charles Pinney Winship West Africa. 
 
 Simeon Foster Wocdin China. 
 
 18G0. Henry Watkins Ballantine India. 
 
 Philip Berry Syria. 
 
 Henry Martyn Bridgman South Africa. 
 
 Lysander Tower Burbank Assyria. 
 
 David Stuart Dodge Professor in Syria. 
 
 1861. Lyman Dwight Chapin ... China. 
 
 " Samuel Jessup Syria. 
 
ALUMNI IN MISSIONARY SERVICE. 109 
 
 1861. Moses Payson Parmelee Anucuia. 
 
 " George Edward Post Syria. 
 
 1862. Ja.ues Mc Kinney Alexander ...... Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " George Whiteuill Chamberlain Brazil. 
 
 " John Thomas Gulick North China. 
 
 1S63. George Lacon Leyburn Greece. 
 
 " Theodore Strong Pond East Turkey. 
 
 1361. Samuel Russell Baker Labrador. 
 
 " Walter Harris Giles Turicey. 
 
 " Chauncey Goodrich China. 
 
 1865. Thomas Gairdner Thurston Sandwich Iskmds. 
 
 1866. Edwin Augustus Adams Bolicniia. 
 
 " Samuel Swain Mitchell Syria. 
 
 1S67. Alpheus Newell Andrus East Turkey. 
 
 Lewis Bond, Jr Turkey. 
 
 " "William Edwin Locke West. Turkey. 
 
 " Charles Chapin Tracy Turkey. 
 
 1868. Albert Warren Clark Austria. 
 
 " Thomas Lafon Gulick Spain. 
 
 " Frank Thompson Sandwich Islands. 
 
 1869. Robert Hoskins India. 
 
 " Merrill Nathaniel Hutchinson Mexico. 
 
 " Edward Riggs Turkey. 
 
 1870. Edward Gibbs Bickford Turkey. 
 
 " Peter Zaccheus Easton Persia. 
 
 " Arthur Henderson Smith China. 
 
 1871. GusTAVUs Albertus Alexy Spain. 
 
 " Oscar Joshua Hardin Syria. 
 
 " John Henry House Turkey. 
 
 Edwin Rufus Lewis Syria. 
 
 " Prank Alphonso Wood Syria. 
 
 1872. Marcellus Bowen Turkey. 
 
 " Leander William Pilcuer Cliina. 
 
 1873. Isaac Baird Odanali, Wis. 
 
 " John Gillis Indian Territory. 
 
 " Samuel Whittlesey Howland Ceylon. 
 
 " Myron Winslow Hunt China. 
 
 1874. Thomas McCullock Chrystie West Indies. 
 
 " Charles Lemon Hall Dakota. 
 
 " Charles Leaman China. 
 
 1875. David Stayer Syria. 
 
 " Charles Cummings Stearns Turkey. 
 
 1876. George Larkin Clark 
 
 " George Alfred Ford Syria. 
 
 " Samuel Lawrence Ward Persia. 
 
110 THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 
 
 1877. Thomas Theron Alexander Japan. 
 
 " William Scott Ament North Cliina. 
 
 " James Edward Tracy India. 
 
 " Thomas Clay Winn Japan. 
 
 1878. Charles William Calhoun Syria. 
 
 " Joseph Clark Thomson Cliina. 
 
 1879. Justin Edwards Abbot India. 
 
 " William Nesbitt Chambers East Turkey. 
 
 " IIiRAM Hamilton Mexico. 
 
 " Junius Herbert Judson China. 
 
 " Isaac Heyer Polhemus Mexico. 
 
 1880. William Martin Brown Brazil. 
 
 " Albert Andrew Fulton Cliina. 
 
 " James Woods Hawkes Persia. 
 
 " John Savillian Ladd Bulgaria. 
 
 " IloLLO Ogden Mexico. 
 
 " Willie Herbert Shaw North China. 
 
 " Wellington Jervis White China. 
 
 1881. Arthur Wodehouse Marling West Africa. 
 
 " Robert Thomson Roumelia. 
 
 1882. Charles David McLaren Siam. 
 
 " William Carter Mekritt Sandwich Islands. 
 
 " Prank Vandermater Mills China. 
 
 " Gilbert Reid . China. 
 
 " James Elcana Rogers Persia. 
 
 1881. Charles Abbot Dwight Turkey. 
 
 " James Prancis Garvin ... - Chili. 
 
part B>tm\r}, 
 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 FOUNDERS, DIRECTORS, BENEFACTORS, 
 AND PROFESSORS. 
 
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 I. 
 
 FOUNDERS, DIRECTORS, AND BENEFACTORS. 
 
 Absalom Peters, D. D., (1836-1842,) traced his descent 
 directly from a brother of the famous Rev. Hugh Peters, who 
 came to New England in 1635, was settled as pastor of the 
 First Church in Salem, Mass., returned to London on behalf 
 of the Colony in 1641, where he warmly espoused the cause of 
 Cromwell, and was beheaded on the restoration of Charles the 
 Second. His memory was for a long time much maligned in 
 English history, but has been earnestly vindicated by Carlyle 
 and by the Rev. Charles W. Upham, one of his successors 
 in the pastorate of the First Church in Salem. The father 
 of Absalom, General Absalom Peters, was a native of He- 
 bron, Conn., and a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1780. 
 On leaving college, he immediately joined the Revolutionary 
 army, and was engaged in the closing struggles of the "War 
 of Independence. Later, he became a leading citizen, and 
 filled various offices, military, legislative, and judicial, in his 
 adopted State. In 1782 he married Mary Rogers, daughter 
 of Nathaniel Rogers, of Leominster, Mass., who claimed to 
 be a lineal descendant from John Rogers, the martyr, burned 
 at Smithficld in 1555. Tliey raised to maturity a family of 
 nine children, of whom Absalom, the fourth son, was born at 
 Wentworth, N. H., September 19, 1793. 
 
114 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 In 1866 Dr. Peters published a poem, entitled Birth-day 
 3Iemorial of Seventy Years, with a brief introduction by his 
 friend, Dr. Ray Palmer. In notes to this poem he gives some 
 interesting recollections of his early life. When a child of six 
 years, the news of the death of Washington made an indelible 
 impression upon him. Referring to it here, he says : — 
 
 Time has had no tendency to efface the scene. Child as I was, 
 I was by no means unprepared to be deeply affected by the an- 
 nouncement, and the manner of it was dramatic and exciting. My 
 mother was busy at her household cares, and myself and the 
 younger children at hand, when my father came in with an expres- 
 sion of sorrow which I had not befoi-e witnessed, and said, with 
 trembling voice and tearful e^-e, "I bring heavy tidings ; Wash- 
 ington is dead." He then read the account from a newspaper 
 bordered with broad blackened lines of mourning. The effect was 
 memorable. Ko death had yet occurred in my father's family, and 
 this was the first that brought mourning to our home. The name 
 of AVashington was a household word, and a home sorrow was that 
 produced by his death. My father, by virtue of his office, wore 
 the prescribed badge of mourning thirty days, and the oft-repeated 
 expressions of grief and condolence with neighbors and friends 
 impressed me with a sense of the great bereavement which I could 
 never forget. So will the death of President Lincoln be remem- 
 bered, and still more effectively, by the children of the present 
 generation. 
 
 The spirit of the Revolution was still all-pervading, and had 
 a moulding influence upon the character of the boy. He thus 
 writes : — 
 
 I well remember the pride of conscious manliness witli which, 
 as captain, at the age of eleven and twelve j-ears, I trained a 
 company of sixt}' boys, with wooden guns, myself declced with the 
 trappings of mv father's Continental uniform, suited to my size. 
 With special impression of our military importance, at a Fourth of 
 July celebration, I formed them in " hollow square," with arms 
 at rest, to receive the commendation of the regimental colonel in 
 a special address. Such scenes were among the most inspiring 
 and invigorating of my earlj' years. 
 
ABSALOM PETERS. 115 
 
 Absalom was trained up in the r;trict principles of Puritan 
 faitli and piety. He early accc|)ted the teachings of the " New 
 England Primer" as his rightful heritage. His parents were 
 both well educated, wise, and judicious ; and so, notwithstand- 
 ing the disadvantages and scanty religious privileges of a 
 new settlement, he enjoyed the best of all schooling, that of 
 a Christian home. To his mother he felt especially indebted 
 for his good principles. A woman of rare self-possession, 
 dignity, and grace, her influence was full of salutary restraint, 
 and of allurement to what was pure and virtuous. 
 
 It Avas a rule with General Peters to allow his boys, at the 
 age of sixteen, to choose their course of life, and to seek the 
 education required to answer its ends. Absalom chose a mil- 
 itary life, and an education at West Point. While awaiting 
 ■ an appointment as cadet, he went to Troy, N. Y., and was 
 employed as a clerk in the store of his oldest brother, then 
 a mercliant in that city. Here, through the daily read- 
 ing of the Bible given him by his mother on leaving home, 
 and under the zealous ministry of Elder Webb, a Baptist 
 clergyman, he was led to devote himself to the service of God. 
 He now determined to become a preacher of the Gospel ; 
 with this view he returned home, and, after the requisite pre- 
 paratory course, entered Dartmouth College, in 1812. Gradu- 
 ating in 1816, he was engaged for a short time as a teacher in 
 this city, and in the autumn of that year entered the Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Princeton. There, " under venerable 
 and beloved professors," to use his own words, he pursued 
 his studies until May, 1819, when he was licensed to i)reach 
 the Gospel by the Presbytery of New York. His first sermon 
 was preached in the old Brick Church, corner of Nassau and 
 Beekman Streets, to the congregation of tlie Rev. Dr. Gardi- 
 ner Spring. After his license, he was employed as a home 
 missionary by the Synod of Albany, and labored for a time 
 within its bounds. In August of the same year he was in- 
 vited to the First Church in Bennington, Vt., as a stated sup- 
 
116 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ply. It was at that time a very difficult field, but his labors 
 proved so acceptable, that, after a few months, the church 
 and society gave him a unanimous call to become their pastor. 
 He was ordained and installed on July 5, 1820. After a 
 very successful pastorate of nearly five and a half years, he ac- 
 cepted the call of the " United Domestic Missionary Society " 
 to become its secretary, and as such to aid in the organiza- 
 tion of the American Home Missionary Society. His dismis- 
 sion took place on December 14, 1825. The American Home 
 Missionary Society was formed in May, 1826, and Mr Peters 
 was appointed its first corresponding secretary, which office 
 he held, by successive elections, until he resigned it in the 
 autumn of 1837. 
 
 These twelve years he regarded as the most useful and 
 effective of his life. I doubt if any other man in the coun- 
 try did so much for its evangelization during those years as 
 Absalom Peters. His labors were remarkable alike in ex- 
 tent and power. He was the principal agent of the society 
 in organizing and compacting its system, and extending its 
 arrangements to combine, in one united effort and agency, 
 all denominations of Evangelical Christians who could be 
 persuaded thus to unite, irrespective of their sectarian pecu- 
 liarities, in a vigorous and persistent national endeavor to 
 supply all the waste places of the land with a faithful and 
 competent ministry of the Gospel. During his term the 
 society tripled its income, and quadrupled the number of 
 its missionaries. He travelled in nearly all the States and 
 Territories of the Union, a distance of perhaps three times 
 the circumference of the globe, mostly on steamboats and 
 by stages, everywhere making friends to the cause, and 
 stirring up the churches to new zeal and liberality. He 
 projected and edited the Home Missionary and Pastor's 
 Journal, and the first twelve annual reports of the society 
 were written by his own hand. One must read this magazine 
 and these reports in order to understand either the tireless 
 
ABSALOM PETERS. 117 
 
 energy or the enthusiasm with vliich he gave himself uj) to 
 the Home Mission cause. An extract from the Annual Re- 
 port lor 1828 will show with what a prophetic eye he looked 
 into the future : — 
 
 As the field enlarges, they are multiplied who are ready to go in 
 and possess it ; and soon, it may be expected, they who dwell on the 
 Alk'ghanies, and the increasing millions of the valley of the Mis- 
 sissi[)pi, will join their voices with ours in i)roclaiming the words of 
 eternal life to the inhabitants of the Rocky Mountains and the 
 valleys beyond. Another generation will scarcely have passed 
 awa}- before all this may be realized, and a stone may be set up on 
 the shore of the Western Ocean, and our children's children that 
 dwell there may write upon it, Ebenezer, and read the interpreta- 
 tion thereof in their mother tongue : Hitherto the Loud hath 
 HELPED us. 
 
 Some forty years later, not many days before his dej)arturc, 
 Dr. Peters witnessed the fulfilment of these glowing anticipa- 
 tions, as the booming of cannon and the ringing of bells 
 announced the completion of the Pacific Railroad. The par- 
 tial failure of his vocal organs, which required rest from pub- 
 lic speaking, was a main cause of his resignation. But until 
 1844 he remained a member of the executive committee of 
 the society, and participated in its w^cekly councils. 
 
 It was during his twelve years of service as Home Mission- 
 ary secretary and editor, that Dr. Peters became involved in 
 the ecclesiastical and theological conflicts then agitating the 
 Presbyterian Church. He w^as one of the strongest advocates 
 of the principles and operations of voluntary societies, and 
 one of the ablest defenders of Albert Barnes on the floor of 
 the General Assembly. He also took a leading part in op- 
 posing the Exscinding Act, in the Assembly of 1837. '• If Dr. 
 Beman was the great polemic of the New School i)arty. Dr. 
 Peters was its skilful and fertile strategist, — a sprightly de- 
 bater, always self-possessed, full of anecdote and humor, of 
 imperturbable good nature and inexhaustible resources. With 
 
118 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 a perfect command of the rules of order, and a practical judg- 
 ment that never failed him, understanding both himself and 
 his opponents, he rendered himself so formidable upon the 
 floor of the Assembly, that a leader of the opposition once 
 offered to exchange six of his own retainers for Dr. Peters, if 
 he would come over to that side ! " ^ 
 
 Dr. Peters's own reflections upon this part of his public life 
 are excellent : — 
 
 These conflicts, I can trul}' sa}', have never been sought by me. 
 On the contrary, I have ever shrunk from their responsibilities, and 
 would gladly have avoided them. But the necessity of similar 
 conflicts I now regard as often unavoidable in the life of every 
 earnest man who is called to bear a leading part in the accomplish- 
 ment of great things for the kingdom of Christ. I have therefore 
 no reason to regret that such conflicts have fallen to my lot. What- 
 ever of personal sacrifice the^- may have involved has been more 
 than repaid b}' the consciousness of high resolves of duty, and of 
 fealty to Him who judgeth righteously. To Him also I have learned 
 to look for the forgiveness of whatever may have been wrong in the 
 spirit of my advocacy even of a good cause, and patiently to wait 
 for the vindication of motives and purposes, which even Christian 
 men of opposing opinions are often slow to recognize. 
 
 In his defence of Mr. Barnes, in the General Assembly of 
 1836, against the charges of the Synod that had silenced him 
 for heresy, Dr. Peters considered that he was maintaining the 
 cause at once of ecclesiastical liberty and of a sound theology. 
 While a sincere Calvinist, his Calvinism was of the New Eng- 
 land type, and brought him into sympathy with what he re- 
 garded as " improvements," and more Scriptural, as well as 
 more reasonable, statements of the old doctrine. On the 
 questions then in dispute respecting sin, ability, the nature 
 and extent of the atonement. Divine sovereignty, grace, faith, 
 and the way of salvation, his views were very decided, and 
 such as he thought best represented the true spirit and prin- 
 ciples of the Gospel. 
 
 1 Eev. Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, LL. D. 
 
ABSALOM PETERS. 119 
 
 For several years after retiring from the service of the 
 Home Missionary Society, Dr. Peters devoted himself to liter- 
 ary work. In January, 1838, he assumed editorial charge of 
 The American Biblical Hepositori/, succeeding Edward Robin- 
 son and B. B. Edwards ; and in 1841 he commenced the ])ub- 
 lication of The American Eclectic, a bi-monthly, ])lanned by 
 himself. In 1842 he relinquished his editorial labors to en- 
 gage in a financial agency for the Union Theological Seminary. 
 He was also elected Professor of Homilctics and Pastoral The- 
 ology in that institution, but declined the appointment. On 
 the 20th of November, 1844, he was installed pastor of the 
 " First Church of Christ " in Williamstown, Mass. Here he 
 labored with fidelity and success for eight years. In 1852 he 
 undertook a financial agency for Williams College, and two 
 years later resigned his pastorate. He was now sixty-one 
 years old, and, owing to scrivener's paralysis and some other 
 infirmities, felt that he ought to retire to private life. Bat 
 the event proved that he had mistaken the symptoms of de- 
 cline. Fifteen years of health and usefulness were still hefore 
 him. In 1856 he commenced The American Journal of Edu- 
 cation and College Revieiv. He also contributed to other 
 periodicals and to the religious press, besides supplying pul- 
 pits in different places. He wrote during this period, with 
 his left hand and with great labor and care, a volume to be 
 entitled Co-operative Christianity : the Kingdom of Christ in 
 Contrast with Denominational Churches; but it has never 
 been published. 
 
 The last few years of his life were passed very happily 
 in New York. In the poem already mentioned, he thus re- 
 fers to the changes which time had wrought during his 
 absence : — 
 
 The moving throngs, by boat and car, 
 The squadrons hastening to the war. 
 The crowds at rural gay retreats. 
 In marts of business, or in streets, 
 Of bustling city trade and show, 
 
120 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Where restless millions come and go, 
 With hosts of idlers, poor and vain, 
 And thousands toiling hard for gain; 
 Thronged churches and conventions grave, 
 Lost souls or commonwealths to save; 
 And men in all the walks of life — 
 Their competitions keen and rife — 
 Of human kind the surging tide, 
 The shady and the sunny side; 
 Save here and there an old man gray — 
 And oft the young politely say 
 Kind words to old men, I see — ■ 
 Else all, alas ! were strange to me. 
 
 Still, while 3"et lingering on the stage, he found con- 
 stant delight in the new generations, whether known or 
 unknown : — 
 
 I live in them, as sire in son, 
 
 And joy in all their doings, done 
 
 For man's advancement, and the praise 
 
 Of Him who giveth length of days. 
 
 Nor would I fail to sympathize 
 
 With all that's good and just and wise. 
 
 Though wrought by younger lives than mine, 
 
 Increasing they as I decline. 
 
 He died in the peace of God, May 18, 1869, in the seventy- 
 sixth year of his age, beloved and honored by all who knew 
 him. A few years before his death he projected the beautiful 
 Woodlawn Cemetery, on the line of the Harlem Railroad, 
 and, as actuary of the company, devoted much of his time to 
 the superintendence of the work. As an organizer and secre- 
 tary of the American Home Missionary Society, as one of the 
 founders of the Union Theological Seminary, and as projector 
 of the Woodlawn Cemetery, — not to speak of other services, 
 — his name is sure to be kept in lasting remembrance. This 
 sketch may be fitly closed in his own words : — 
 
 It is characteristic of every enterprise which has God for its 
 author to hold on its way. When the Holy Spirit moves the 
 friends of Christ to co-operate with Himself in accomplishing any 
 
WILLIAM P ATT ON. 121 
 
 one of the eternal purposes of His love, He confers upon their 
 influence a permanence answerable to that of its object. As God 
 works in them to will and to do of His good pleasure, they work ; 
 and when the}' die, the Spirit that wrought in them still lives, and 
 constrains others to enter into their labors. Thus the enterprise 
 goes on. Its object is as immutable as its author ; and though 
 the}' that serve in its accomplishment do not continue by reason 
 of death, their instrumentality becomes perpetual by the successive 
 efforts of others, influenced and blessed by the same Spirit. 
 
 William Patton, D. D., (1836-1849,) was born in Phil- 
 adelphia, August 23, 1798. Like so many other eminent 
 ministers in our Presbyterian annals he was of Scotch-Irish 
 descent. His father, Colonel Robert Patton, came in youth 
 to this country, was an officer in the army of the Revolution, 
 and served under Lafayette. Soon after the close of the 
 war he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia, then the 
 leading post-office in the country, and this position he con- 
 tinued to hold until his death in 1814, a period of about 
 thirty years. He was a man of solid worth and universally 
 esteemed. On the side of his mother, Cornelia Bridges, Dr. 
 Patton could trace his ancestry, in one direction, to the family 
 of Oliver Cromwell, and in another to the noble families of 
 Chandoss, Culpepper, and Fairfax, of Virginia and England. 
 In his nineteenth year he united with the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Philadelphia, then under the pastoral care of that 
 distinguished divine, the Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D. Grad- 
 uated at Middlebury College in 1818, he studied theology for 
 about a year at Princeton, and was then licensed to preach by 
 the Addison Congregational Association of Vermont, in June, 
 1819. Shortly after, he married Mary Weston, then residing 
 with her brother, Captain Abijah Weston, in the city of New 
 York. She was a woman of admirable qualities, a true help- 
 meet in his pastoral work, and the mother of his ten children. 
 
 On leaving Princeton, the youthful preacher came to New 
 York, and of his own accord entered upon the work of an 
 
122 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 evangelist. Going to what was then the very edge of the 
 town, north of Canal Street, he hired a small school-house for 
 use on Sundays at his own expense, and notified the people of 
 the neighborhood that religious services might be expected. 
 On the first Sabbath in March, 1820, he rang the bell, and 
 called in an audience of seven persons, to whom he preached. 
 Out of this humble beginning grew the Central Presbyterian 
 Church, whose history forms so important a chapter in the 
 later religious annals of Xew York. On the 7th of June, 1820, 
 Mr. Patton was ordained by the same body that had licensed 
 him to preach. The church was organized January 8, 1821, 
 of four members only ; May 7, 1822, a neat brick edifice on 
 Broome Street, near Broadway, built through his efforts, was 
 opened for worship; and June 21, 1822, he was installed as 
 pastor. Here he labored with signal success for twelve years. 
 During this period five hundred and sixty-four persons united 
 with the church on public confession of Christ, — an annual 
 average addition of forty-two. The church was noted far and 
 near for its liberality, its activity in various forms of Christian 
 work, and for the revivals with which it was blessed. Harlan 
 Page was one of its ciders, and superintendent of its Sunday 
 School. 
 
 But Dr. Patton's influence reached beyond his own congre- 
 gation. He took a leading part in organizing the American 
 Home Missionary Society, and later, in 1831, the Third Pres- 
 bytery of New York. In 1834 he was persuaded to accept an 
 appointment as secretary of the Central American Education 
 Society, William Adams coming from Xew England to succeed 
 him in the pastorate of the Broome Street Church. For three 
 years he gave himself up to the cause of ministerial education 
 with characteristic energy and enthusiasm, winning for it 
 great favor among the churches. It was at this time, when 
 his whole soul was aglow with the thought of training up 
 laborers and sending them forth into the Lord's harvest, that 
 he suggested a theological seminary in this city, and took so 
 
WILLIAM P ATT ON. 123 
 
 important a part in founding it. He was deeply interested, 
 also, in the establishment of the University of the City of New 
 York, in which his brother Robert, the eminent Greek scholar, 
 was a Professor. On the resignation of Dr. Henry G. Ludlow, 
 as pastor of the Spring Street Presbyterian Church, Dr. Pat- 
 toii, now in his fortieth year, was invited to succeed him. He 
 accepted the call, and was installed October 11, 1837. It is a 
 curious indication of the difference between the New York of 
 fifty years ago and the New York of to-day, that he was called 
 with the tacit understanding that ho should move in from the 
 country, although at that time he was living in his own house, 
 and " the country " reached no farther out than Ninth Street, 
 between University Place and Broadway. 
 
 This second pastorate lasted ten years and was not less 
 remarkable than the first for its abundant fruits. Ninety- 
 six persons were added to the church on confession during 
 the first six months, and one hundred and twelve as the 
 result of a great awakening in 1840. Many of the young 
 men of the church were persuaded by him to devote their 
 lives to the sacred ministry. After a brief pastorate in the 
 Hammond Street Congregational Church, Dr. Patton gave 
 himself up to literary work, to occasional preaching, chiefly 
 in or near New Haven and Hartford, and to voyages to the 
 Old World. In his latest years he crossed the ocean annu- 
 ally, to visit a married daughter who resided in London. He 
 spent a good deal of time in England, where he was intimate 
 with leading Independent ministers, whose pulpits he often 
 occupied, and by whom lie was highly esteemed. A warm 
 friendship existed between him and the Rev. John Angell 
 James of Birmingham, who once stated publicly, that for the 
 character and success of his ministry he had been more in- 
 debted to the early influence of his friend. Dr. Patton of New 
 York, than to any other human cause. Dr. Patton was a firm 
 believer in special seasons of religious awakening, and labored 
 earnestly, especially by republishing President Edwards's and 
 
124 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Mr. Finney's writings on the subject, to promote such revivals 
 in Great Britain. He was a man of strong catholicity of 
 spirit, and took a deep interest in everything looking towards 
 closer union among the followers of Christ. In a letter on 
 the subject to Rev. John Angell James, dated March 28, 1843, 
 he wrote : — 
 
 It appears to me that the time cannot be distant when it will 
 be most proper to call a convention of delegates from all Evan- 
 gelical Churches, to meet in London, for the purpose of setting 
 forth the great essential truths in which they are agreed. I know 
 of no known object which would awaken deeper interest than such 
 a convention. It would command the attendance of some of our 
 strongest men from all evangelical denominations, and the result 
 would be a statement of views which would have the most blessed 
 effect. Such an invitation should, with propriety, come from your 
 side of the water. But if ^-ou think it desirable to have certain 
 men here unite in it, I have no doubt I could procure a goodly list 
 of names to an}' paper you and your brethren might send over. 
 The convention might be held in Jul}- of 1845, in London. Dele- 
 gates could come from the Evangelical Churches of the Continent, 
 of America, of Scotland, Ireland, etc. The document calling that 
 meeting should be well drawn up, clearl}' setting forth the object 
 of the convention, as lifting up a standard against papal and 
 prelatical arrogance and assumption., and embodying the great 
 essential doctrines xohich are held in common by all consiste?it 
 Protestants. Peculiarities of church order to be excluded. I am 
 persuaded that such a conv^ention would meet with the hearty con- 
 currence and co-operation of a vast multitude. It would exhibit 
 to the world an amount of practical union among Christians of 
 which they little dream. It would greatl}' strengthen the hearts of 
 God's people, and would promote a better state of feeling among 
 the denominations. I trust, my dear brother, that you will act in 
 this matter, and, before you are called home to your rest and re- 
 ward, strive to secure such a meeting. 
 
 Open a correspondence with Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Wardlaw, and 
 others of Scotland, with prominent men among the Baptists, Meth- 
 odists, Moravians, and other denominations. Sir Cullen Eardly 
 Smith will go heart and soul with you. Now may our beloved 
 Lord, who prayed that His disciples might be one, graciously 
 
WILLIAM PATTON. 125 
 
 guide you and others in this matter, and make you instruments of 
 great good ! Should such a document be published on A'our side 
 of the water, calling such a convention, our ecclesiastical meetings 
 would sanction it, and our religious papers would forward it. The 
 convention need not be together more than ten days, at most ; but 
 the result would be blessed for all future time. 
 
 Mr. James, in publishing the letter, added : " The subject 
 of tliis letter is of momentous consequence ; it presents a 
 splendid conception of the human mind." The convention, 
 as is well known, was held at London in August, 1846, 
 and there organized the Evangelical Alliance. Drs. Lyman 
 Beecher, Skinner, Cox, and Fatten were among the American 
 delegates. 
 
 Dr. Patton was a clear and forcible writer, quick, fresh, and 
 suggestive in thought, and knew well how to reach the popular 
 mind. In 1833 he recast an English commentary called The 
 Cottage Bible, made a substantially new work of it, and issued 
 it in two royal octavo volumes. More than one hundred and 
 seventy thousand copies of this family commentary had been 
 sold in this country up to the time of his death. He also 
 published The Cottage Testament. Dissatisfied with the hymn- 
 books then in use, he united with Thomas Hastings in com- 
 piling The Christian Psalmist, which had a wide circulation. 
 Two of his books were first published in England by the 
 Religious Tract Society ; namely, The Judgment of Jerusa- 
 lem, and Jesus of Nazareth ; Who tvas He ? What is He not ? 
 His last work, a volume of over six hundred pages, is enti- 
 tled, Bible Principles illustrated by Bible Characters. 
 
 Dr. Patton was in full sympathy with the reformatory spirit 
 of the age. Strong antislavery principles came to him as a 
 heritage from his father, who declined the offer of President 
 Madison to make him Postmaster General, because unwilling 
 to remove his family to a slaveholding community. His 
 patriotism, too, was inherited from his father, who, as a 
 Revolutionary hero, put country above party and self, and 
 
126 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 when made postmaster of Philadelphia refused to appoint any 
 of his sons to a clerkship, and on his dying bed forbade them 
 to apply to be his successor, saying the office should now go 
 to another family. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Dr. 
 Patton, who was then in England, joined with other Ameri- 
 cans abroad in purchasing a Whitworth battery for the Union 
 forces. Besides writing articles for the English daily papers 
 in explanation and defence of the North, he published in 
 London a pamphlet entitled, The American Crisis, or The 
 True Issue : Slavery or Liberty. And he amazed, as well as 
 affronted, many of his English friends, by assuring them that 
 every dollar of American property on the high seas destroyed 
 by Confederate cruiser's fitted out in England would be paid 
 for ultimately by the British government. 
 
 Dr. Patton became a temperance reformer at the very outset 
 of his ministry. His own account of the matter deserves 
 to be given, as throwing light upon his strong character and 
 upon the drinking usages of New York sixty years ago : — 
 
 M}- interest in the cause of temperance was awakened by the 
 evidence which crowded upon me as a pastor, in the c\t\ of New 
 York, of the aboundings of intemperance. The use of alcoholic 
 drinks was then universal. Liquor was sold by the glass at almost 
 ever}' corner. It stood on ever}' side-board, and was urged upon 
 every visitor. It was spread upon every table, and abounded at 
 all social gatherings. It found a conspicuous place at nearlv every 
 funeral. It ruled in every work-shop. Many merchants kept it in 
 their counting-rooms, and offered it to their customers who came 
 from the interior to purchase goods. Men in all the learned pro- 
 fessions, as well as merchants, mechanics, and laborers, fell b}' this 
 destroyer. These and other facts so impressed vay mind, that I 
 determined to make them the subject of a sermon. Accordingly, 
 on the Sabbath evening of September 17, 1820, I preached on the 
 subject from Romans xii. 2, "Be not conformed to this world," 
 etc. After a statement of the facts which proved the great preva- 
 lence of intemperance, I branded distilled liquors as a poison, 
 because of their effects upon the human constitution ; I urged 
 therefore that the selling of them should be stopped. The sermon 
 
WILLIAM PATTON. 127 
 
 stated, that, whilst the drunkard is a guilty person, the retail seller 
 is more guilt}', the wholesale dealer still more guilty, and the dis- 
 tiller, who converts the staff of life, the benevolent gift of God, 
 into the arrows of death, is the most guilty. Tlien followed an 
 appeal to professors of religion engaged in the traffic to abandon 
 it. These positions were treated with scorn and derision. A por- 
 tion of the retail dealers threatened personal violence if I dared to 
 speak again on this subject. 
 
 During the week, a merchant, who had found one of his clerks 
 in haunts of vice, in a short paragraph in a daily paper exhorted 
 merchants and master mechanics to look into Walnut Street, Cor- 
 ker's Hook, if the}" would know where their clerks and apprentices 
 spent Saturday' nights. This publication determined me, in corn- 
 pan}' with some dozen resolute Christian men, to explore that sink 
 of iniquity. This we did on Saturday night, September 23, 1820. 
 "We walked that short street for two hours, from ten to twelve 
 o'clock. 
 
 On our return to my study we compai-ed notes, and became 
 satisfied of the following facts. On one side of Walnut Street 
 there were thirty houses, and each one was a drinking place with 
 an open bar. There were eleven ball-rooms, in which the music 
 and dancing were constant. We counted on one side two hundred 
 and ten females, and at the same time, on the other side, eighty- 
 seven, — in all, two hundred and ninety-seven. Their ages varied 
 from fourteen to forty. The men far outnumbered the women, 
 being a mixture of sailors and landsmen, and of diverse nations. 
 Many of them, both men and women, were fearfully drunk, and all 
 were more or less under the influence of liquor. We were deeply 
 pained at the sight of so many young men, evidently clerks or 
 apprentices. The scenes of that night made a permanent impres- 
 sion on my mind. They confirmed my purpose to do all in my 
 power to save my fellow-men from the terrible influences of intoxi- 
 cating drinks. I began promptly, and incorporated in a sermon 
 the above and other alarming statistics of that exploration, which 
 I preached on the evening of Sabbath, September 24, 1820, notice 
 having been given of the subject. The text was, Isaiah Iviii. 1 : 
 " Cry aloud and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet," etc. 
 My first topic was the duty of ministers fearlessly to cry out 
 against prevailing evils. The second topic was the sins of the 
 day, particularly Sabbath desecration and drunkenness, with their 
 
128 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 accessories. After a statement of facts and other arguments, my 
 appeal was made to the Scriptures, which are decided and out- 
 spoken against intemperance. The house was crowded with very 
 attentive listeners. No disturbance took place. 
 
 Dr. Patton, in the days of his power, was a very earnest 
 and effective preacher. The arguments, illustrations, and ap- 
 plication of his discourses were alike fitted to make a strong 
 and lasting impression. He was singularly happy in preach- 
 ing to children, for whom he had a great love. On the plat- 
 form, at the crowded religious anniversaries of fifty years 
 ago, he was a ready and favorite speaker. He had a quick 
 sense of humor, and it gave zest both to his public addresses 
 and to his familiar conversation. In intercourse with his 
 ministerial brethren, especially at "Chi Alpha," — a clerical 
 circle which he aided in forming, — he was always genial and 
 helpful. He made it a matter of conscience to be prompt and 
 faithful in fulfilling all engagements. An anecdote may serve 
 to illustrate this trait, as also his earnestness of purpose as a 
 preacher : — 
 
 It was a very stormy Sunday in winter, when the snow lay some 
 two feet deep on the sidewalks. Making his wa}' to the church 
 through drifts, he found but a single auditor, in addition to the 
 sexton, and he a stranger seated in a front seat of the gallery. 
 Dr. Patton was tempted to hold no service ; but, on second 
 thought, he reasoned that this stranger deserved a reward for his 
 presence, and that God might have brought him there for special 
 good. So the usual form of service was complied with, except the 
 singing, and the sermon fully preached. At first, the auditor 
 seemed surprised, and uneasily leaned forward, to see who might 
 chance to be sitting below ; but, catching sight of no one, he sur- 
 rendered himself to the sermon with marked attention. At the 
 close, he hastened out before the preacher could accost him ; but 
 a few days later he called at the house for conversation, saying 
 that he could not rid his mind of the truth heard on the Lord's 
 day. He soon united with the church, was a useful member for 
 many 3'ears, and then removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was 
 well known in religious circles as an active Christian. 
 
WILLIAM PATTON. 
 
 129 
 
 It is not strange that a man like Dr. Patton, so frank, so 
 fearless, and so large-hearted, should have had devoted friends 
 outside the pale of his own church and creed. After his 
 death, a learned Jewish Rabbi, Dr. J. Wecksler, published 
 one of the warmest tributes to his memory. Here is an 
 extract from it : — 
 
 This noble man has been called to bis eternal home. When the 
 sad intelligence reached me at the Far West, I could but shed a tear 
 of sorrow at the loss I sustained by the death of my true friend. 
 . . . Dr. Patton was a man of profound convictions, and I differed 
 with him on many religious subjects, but never an unkuid word 
 was spoken by him. I spent many happy hours in his companj', 
 freely and frankly discussing questions of vital importance, but we 
 parted always as true friends. Whenever I paid him a visit, he 
 read to me many pages of manuscript for m^^ opinion. Very fre- 
 quently I had to criticise many views, but he always listened pa- 
 tiently, often exclaiming, '^ I am not too old to learn." He was 
 anxious to hear real Jewish questions discussed. There was some- 
 thing especially remarkable in Dr. Patton ; it was his vigorous 
 expression, his pointed remarks, on any occasion. AVhere others 
 failed, he hit the nail at the first stroke. He possessed courage and 
 energ}', and expressed his opinions of right and wrong, without 
 caring the least whether the}' were popular or not. He was a 
 God-fearing man, kind and aftectionate as a father, true and sincere 
 to his friends, just and upright to all. Peace to his ashes. 
 
 Dr. Patton died at his home in New Haven, September 9, 
 1879, in the eighty-second year of his age. Always bright and 
 cheery, he was interested to the very last in all the events of 
 the day, and as full of hope for the triumph of the Gospel at 
 fourscore as he had been in the enthusiasm of early manhood. 
 
 An extract from his letter of resignation to the Board of 
 Directors of the Union Theological Seminary, together with 
 one from the Board's reply, will fitly close this sketch. The 
 letter is dated January 2, 1849. 
 
 I am induced to take this step, not because of any diminution of 
 interest in the Seminary. From the beginning hitherto, it has had 
 m}' warmest affections, and most cordially have I devoted time and 
 
130 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 labor and contributions to its welfare. The evidences of its use- 
 fulness never were more abundant, and my ardent desire is that it 
 ma^' long continue a blessing to the churches of our blessed Lord. 
 
 But as I have changed ni}' ecclesiastical relations by becoming 
 the pastor of a Congregational church, and as tlie Seminary was 
 founded as a Presbyterian institution, and has thus far been con- 
 ducted in strict harmony with the views of its founders by the 
 election only of members of the Presbyterian Church to the Board 
 of Directors, I feel that it would be indelicate, to say the least, if 
 not positively wrong, for me to hold on to my present connection 
 with the Board, having been elected a member as a pastor of a 
 Presbyterian church. . . . Allow me further to express my personal 
 attachment to the respective members of the Board, as also to the 
 gentlemen composing the Faculty, and to assure them all that it will 
 ever rejoice m}- heart to hear of the prosperity' of the Seminar}'. 
 
 The Board expressed their feelings on the occasion in a 
 minute, of which the following is a part : — 
 
 "Without entering at all into the question whether the change 
 which has taken place in your ecclesiastical relations necessitated 
 this act on your part, the Board feel that you have acted, as 3'ou 
 affirm, under a solemn sense of duty, and that, in accepting your 
 resignation, they do it with great reluctance. They recognize in 
 you one of the earliest and most devoted friends of the Seminary, 
 — one who has stood by it in days of difficulty and peril, and by 
 whose counsels and efforts, in connection with others, it has, by the 
 blessing of God, been enabled to take its place among the very 
 first institutions of the kind in our land. The Board, therefore, 
 part with you from their counsels with sincere and deep regret ; 
 and desire to express to 3-ou the feelings of affectionate confidence 
 and esteem which they cherish toward you. And they rejoice in 
 the assurance you give them that the Seminary, which has shared 
 so largely in the benevolent desires of your heart, and which has 
 been aided so materially by your labors, will still be cherished by 
 3'ou, and that it will continue to find in you the same devoted friend 
 that it ever has found in the past. 
 
 Erskine Mason, D.D., (1836-1851,) the youngest child of 
 Dr. John M. and Anna Lefferts Mason, was born in the city 
 
ERSKINE MA SOX. 131 
 
 of New York, April 16, 1805. He was named in honor of 
 the Rev. Dr. Erskine of Edinburgh, from whom his fatlier re- 
 ceived much kindness while a student of divinity in that city. 
 An uncommonly bright, spirited boy, he early showed a mental 
 vigor and a stability of character which foretokened the com- 
 ing man. When his father became President of Dickinson 
 College, Erskine accompanied him to Carlisle and entered the 
 institution at an advanced standing. In the autumn of 1822, 
 his eldest brother, James, a pious youth of remarkable promise 
 and much beloved, died after a brief illness. When the bier, 
 on which lay his body, was taken up by his companions to be 
 borne to the grave, the heart-stricken father, as by an uncon- 
 trollable impulse, spoke : " Softly, young men, tread softly, 
 ye carry a temple of the Holy Ghost!" The impression 
 produced by this event was profound, and led to a great 
 spiritual awakening in the College. Of the students then 
 converted, not less than fifteen devoted themselves to the 
 ministry of the Gospel. Among this number were Erskine 
 Mason, George W. Bcthune, and other noted preachers of 
 the last generation. 
 
 Graduating in 1823, Erskine Mason spent a large part of 
 the next year in studying theology under the direction of his 
 cousin, the Rev. Dr. Duncan of Baltimore. Joining the 
 Middle class of the Seminary at Princeton in 1825, he com- 
 pleted his studies there. Licensed to preach by the Second 
 Presbytery of New York, and ordained on October 20, 1826, 
 by the same Presbytery, he was installed as pastor of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in Schenectady on May 3, 1827. Here he 
 quickly showed a power in the pulpit, — a power of luminous 
 and deep thought, — which, to use the words of President 
 Nott, " appeared wonderful in so young a man. He was greatly 
 beloved by his people, highly esteemed by the citizens gener- 
 ally, and his removal from the place was regretted by all, and 
 by none more than by the officers and members of Union 
 College." 
 
132 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 One of the most accomplished ministers of that day was 
 the Rev. Matthias Bruen, at once the founder and first pastor 
 of the Bleecker Street Presbyterian Church in this city. Mr. 
 Bruen died, lamented by good men throughout the land, on 
 December 6, 1829, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. Mr. 
 Mason accepted a unanimous call to become his successor, 
 and was installed on September 10, 1830. Here he contin- 
 ued to labor, for more than twenty years, to the close of his 
 life. Dr. William Adams, his biographer, thus refers to this 
 period : — 
 
 The Bleecker Street Church was then quite above the centre of 
 the cit}' population, that tide of removal and growth which has 
 since made such prodigious advances scarcel}' having commenced. 
 An " up-town church," however, afforded accommodations and at- 
 tractions to those who soon began to change their residence, and 
 such was the abilit}' displayed by the pastor in Bleecker Street, that 
 it was not long before that church was entireh' filled ; and for man}^ 
 years after it occupied a position which gave it pre-eminent advan- 
 tages over all other churches of the same denomination in the city. 
 Nothing of opportunit}' was lacking on the one part, and nothing 
 of talent, diligence, and success on the other. The congregation 
 was large and intelligent, and everything encouraged that purpose 
 which the pastor had formed to devote himself to the one thing of 
 studious, careful, and excellent preparation for the pulpit. Others 
 might grasp at a different prize, and select a different path, but the 
 composition and delivery of good sermons was the object for which 
 his taste, talent, and judgment of usefulness best qualified him. 
 From that occupation he never suffered himself to be diverted. 
 Before he had lost the impression of one Sabbath, he had begun 
 the preparation for another. Thus he never lost the hcadwa}' he 
 had gained. Adhering to the counsel of our great dramatist, 
 " Stick to yom- journal course, the breach of custom 
 Is breach of all," 
 
 he has left a thousand sermons — not to speak now of their intel- 
 lectual and theological excellences — written entire in the perfection 
 of penmanship, as the proofs of the wise and faithful manner in 
 which he occupied the pulpit. . . . Because of this was he deficient 
 as a pastor ? Who of his people ever knew a substantial sorrow or 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 EKSKINE MASON. I33 
 
 necessity without bis presence and aid? Did age ever complain of 
 disrespect, or grief of bis want of sympathy, or suffering tbat be 
 refused a balm? While the pulpit was the throne of his strength, 
 who could speak, out of it, more wisely than he ? If he sometimes 
 appeared to be taciturn, who shall forget that silence, in its place, 
 is wisdom as well as speech, — that modesty is a beautiful property 
 of greatness, and that he talks to the best purpose who sa3s the 
 right thing at the right time and in the right manner? 
 
 An anecdote, related by Dr. Adams, will illustrate the 
 effect of his preaching : — 
 
 His preaching was argumentative and logical. Commencing 
 with some obvious truth, which all would admit, he advanced step 
 by step, carrying one conviction after another by a process of 
 demonstration which would admit of no escape, till he reached that 
 conclusion, in the application of which he poured out the fulness 
 and fervor of his religious pathos. A distinguished civilian, skilled 
 in diplomacy and an adept in letters, invited once by a friend, a 
 parishioner of Dr. Mason, to hear him preach, sat in the corner of 
 the pew, at first somewhat listless, then alert, and following the 
 argument with intense interest, till his countenance betrayed the 
 emotion which was working in his heart, exclaimed on leaving the 
 church, "Well, I know not what you who are accustomed to this 
 may think ; as for myself, I never heard such preaching before. 
 As Lord Peterborough said to Fenelon at Cambray, ' If I stay 
 here longer, I shall become a Christian in spite of m3"self."' 
 
 Dr. Mason, although retiring and reserved in his manners, 
 was still a leader in the affairs of the church. He took a 
 prominent and very decided part in maintaining the New 
 School position in the troubles that led to the disruption of 
 1838, and, as a counsellor of his brethren, in the movements 
 that followed. Often a member, for eight years he w^as the 
 stated clerk of the General Assembly. To use again the 
 words of Dr. Adams : — 
 
 In the judicatories of the Church, he was willing that others 
 should conduct the debate ; but when the matter in hand was be- 
 coming involved, and perplexity and trouble were likely to ensue. 
 
134 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 how often, like a pilot in a difficult passage, by the introduction of 
 some resolution, or the suggestion of some amendment, did he 
 contrive the ver}^ relief which was needed, extricating the subject 
 from all embarrassment, and leading the minds of all to an issue of 
 complete harmony-. The records of our ecclesiastical bodies will 
 prove that this eulogy on the soundness of his judgment is not 
 exaggerated ; and when he died, the general impression throughout 
 the Church was that a standard-bearer had fallen. 
 
 Dr. Mason was invited to other important pulpits of the 
 denomination, as also to the Presidency of the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary ; but nothing could draw him away from 
 his beloved Bleecker Street flock. In 1846 he passed some 
 time abroad. Until a few months before his death he had 
 hardly known the meaning of ill-health. He entered into 
 the joy of his Lord, May 14, 1851, in the forty-seventh year 
 of his age. 
 
 A volume of his sermons, entitled A Pastor's Legacy, with 
 a memoir by his friend, Dr. William Adams, was published 
 in 1853 
 
 Knowles Taylor (1836-1842) was born at Middle Had- 
 dam, Conn., on January 21, 1795. His parents, Colonel Jer- 
 emiah Taylor and Lucy Brainerd Taylor, were members of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, and greatly respected in the 
 circle of their acquaintance. He came early to New York, 
 established himself in business here, and in 1835 ranked 
 among the leading merchants of the town. At that time 
 he was a ruling elder in the Bleecker Street Presbyterian 
 Church, which he had helped to found, and a w^arm personal 
 friend of its pastor. Dr. Erskine Mason. All the recollec- 
 tions of Knowles Taylor which I have been able to obtain, 
 whether furnished by those associated with him in the walks 
 of business or in works of benevolence, agree in depicting 
 him as an admirable example of Christian excellence, — gen- 
 erous, whole-souled, a true gentleman, a lover of good men. 
 
KNOWLES TAYLOR. 135 
 
 and thoroughly devoted to the cause of the Divine Master. 
 Alike in prosperous days and in days of adversity, at home 
 or abroad, he showed liimself a loyal disciple of Jesus, and 
 abounded in the sweet charities of the Gospel. No one took 
 a deeper interest in the great benevolent organizations and 
 movements of that day. He Avas one of the founders and 
 almost from the first had been the treasurer of the American 
 Home Missionary Society. Years before, the subject of edu- 
 cation for the sacred ministry attracted his special attention. 
 He had contributed liberally towards the endowment of the 
 Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, and learned by his 
 intercourse with Dr. Rice to appreciate the claims and im- 
 portance of such institutions. 
 
 Largely by his instrumentality, the Little Scholarship of 
 $2,500, and, later, the New York Professorship of $20,000, in 
 that Seminary, had been founded. The following extract from 
 one of Dr. Rice's letters to him, written early in 1828, will 
 throw light upon the state and temper of the times, and show 
 also how his relation to that great and good man helped to 
 prepare him for the part he was to take, seven years later, in 
 the founding of this institution. 
 
 I look back to our co-operation in obtainhig the New York Pro- 
 fessorship with peculiar pleasure. This pleasure is derived from 
 two sources. First, there is most manifest evidence of the pres- 
 ence and blessing of God in this thing. Who but God could have 
 accomplished a work of this sort? When I consider the strength 
 of local prejudices which unhappily prevail in our country, and the 
 mighty current of feeling which had long been running in favor of 
 other objects, and, of course, the difficulty of exciting an interest 
 for a new enterprise of magnitude, I do not see how any one can 
 help exclaiming, " See what God hath wrought ! " And it is de- 
 ligiitful to tlie pious mind to be engaged in a work which is clearly 
 God's. To Him be all the glory ! But, in the next place, this 
 enterprise has offered a fine opportunity for the exercise of Chris- 
 tian friendship. , . . When tlie heart is filled with pure, fervent fra- 
 ternal love, there is a taste of heaven on earth. Yes, my brother, 
 
136 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 we shall look back with pleasure on the days when we labored to- 
 gether in this field of God's harvest. . . . When you become an 
 old gray-headed elder, and meet in the General Assembly the men 
 who received their education at our Seminary, and hear them mag- 
 nify the word of God, and see that they are sound, faithful J^ible 
 preachers, you will rejoice and bless God for what you see and 
 hear. But it is time to tell you about Philadelphia. . . . Some 
 are not as fuU^' cordial as I could wish, because they know that I 
 will not be a partisan. One excellent ])rother told me that he sus- 
 pected me of being too much of a Yankee. But I will not turn 
 my course for any suspicions. I will acknowledge as brethren 
 those who love the Lord Jesus, of all parties, and I will co-operate 
 zealously and heartily with any who aim to promote the truth as it 
 is in Jesus. Our Seminary shall be based on the Bible ; and we 
 will know no isms there but Bibleism. I am sure that the Bible 
 will afford good support to sound Presbyterianism, and if it will 
 not, why, let Presbyterianism go. 
 
 How much in this letter applies, almost literally, to our 
 own early history ! The first formal meeting of those inter- 
 ested in the question of establishing a theological seminary in 
 New York, as we have seen, was held at the house of Mr. 
 Taylor, and he presided over it. He also served on sev- 
 eral of the committees of organization, and was one of the 
 first Board of Directors. An extract from a letter of Mrs. 
 Thomas A. Rich, of Boston, dated January 4, 1887, will not be 
 here out of place. 
 
 In the New YorJc Observer, December 16, 1886, I read with 
 great interest your address at the fiftieth anniversary of the Union 
 Theological Seminary, especially your allusions to Knowles Taylor. 
 He was my father. In 1835 I was a little girl, but well remember 
 seeing the chairs in our parlor for the meetings of which you speak. 
 It is pleasant to know that my father is not entirely forgotten ; and 
 if it will not tax your time too much, I should be very glad to hear 
 from you more about him. I was baptized by Dr. Erskine Ma- 
 son, and taken by him, later, into the membership of the Bleecker 
 Street Church, while my father was absent in Europe. I can re- 
 member how I loved Dr. Mason in his place. 
 
 In 1869, it was my privilege to aid in forming the " "Woman's 
 
RICHARD rOWNLEY HAINES. 137 
 
 Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church," 
 in the Tremout Street Church, Boston, I was tlie treasurer of the 
 society for ten years, and its first annual meeting was held in my 
 parlors. I was pleased to know that I had followed, somewhat, in 
 m}- father's steps. 
 
 In a letter dated a week later, Mrs. Rich writes : — 
 
 Many thanks for your quick response to my note. I cannot add 
 much to j'our account of m}' father. While travelling in his own 
 carriage through the country, he was in the habit of distributing 
 tracts by the roadside, and sometimes in the cottage of the laboring 
 man, giving with them a word of cheer and encouragement. When 
 his means were but meagre compared with the affluence of former 
 3'ears, he would place a five or ten dollar gold piece in the hands of 
 those he thought more need}- than himself. The New York Jour- 
 nal of Commerce, in an editorial notice, written at the time of his 
 death, thus refers to this trait : " We remember him as one of the 
 princely merchants of New York, and as an earnest Christian 
 laborer. He gave liberally of his wealth, and was foremost in 
 ever}' Christian chai'ity. Besides many large public charities, he 
 gave to individuals in many ways, of which his family knew noth- 
 ing until after his death." My father died at Dr. Howe's Ferry, on 
 the Tuolumne River, California, October 7, 1850. 
 
 Richard Townley Haines (1836-1870) was born at Eliza- 
 beth, N. J., May 21, 1795, and early established himself in 
 business in this city. At the age of twenty-four he united 
 with the Reformed Dutch Church in Garden Street. Some 
 years later he joined Henry White, then just beginning his 
 ministry, in building up the Allen Street Church, changing 
 his residence for this purpose to East Broadway. He became 
 an elder of this church. In 1840 he joined the Mercer Street 
 Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. Skinner was then pastor, 
 and in 1845 he removed to his native town, where he died, 
 August 21, 1870, at the age of seventy-five. For forty-five 
 years he was an active member, and for twenty-seven years 
 chairman of the executive committee of the American Tract 
 Society. A man of calm, penetrating, weighty judgment, 
 
138 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 modest and unassuming in all his ways, he exerted an influ- 
 ence for good in his day and generation which cannot easily 
 be measured. I have spoken in the Address of his inestima- 
 ble services to the Union Theological Seminary, as one of its 
 founders, and as a life-long Director and friend. In a letter 
 dated May 3, 1886, Mrs. Haines thus refers to his connection 
 with the Seminary : — 
 
 My own earliest recollection is of seeing him, while he was as j'et 
 a stranger to me, watching the masons and carpenters at work on 
 the old University Place building. After my marriage I soon found 
 that the Rev. Dr. Henry White was one of our most frequent vis- 
 itors ; and sometimes he would come, when his pale face and whole 
 appearance showed him to be ill. Evening after evening, in our 
 sitting room, at 37 Clinton Place, would the two good men talk over 
 together the affairs of the Seminary ; oftentimes, with such anxious 
 countenances as to suggest the thought of some heav}' personal 
 trouble. The real trouble was " want of money to meet expenses." 
 But I could not share their fears. I said God had given them the 
 students and the wonderfully competent Professors, and surely He 
 would provide the third factor of success. And in what a marvel- 
 lous way it has so come to pass ! 
 
 The following minute on the death of Mr. Haines will show 
 how he was regarded by the Board of Directors : — 
 
 Mr. Haines's connection with this Board dated from the beginning 
 of its history. It was owing in large part to his earnest and effi- 
 cient efforts that this Seminary was undertaken. He was one of 
 its founders, and to the day of his death continued to be one of its 
 most devoted friends and patrons. Through all the period of its 
 financial embarrassment and threatened extinction, his faithful ser- 
 vices and wise counsels were among the most efficient means of 
 rescuing the institution from ruin and establishing it on a firm foun- 
 dation. An original member of its Board, and one of its corpora- 
 tors in 1836, he was chosen President of the Board in 1840, and 
 for a period of thirty years was annually re-elected to the same 
 office, presiding over its deliberations with impartiality, dignity, 
 urbanity, and wisdom. The Board take a mournful pleasure in re- 
 cording their deep sense of his great worth as an enterprising and 
 
WILLIAM M. HALSTED. 139 
 
 successful merchant of the strictest integrity ; as a fellow citizen of 
 large and generous impulses ; as an humble, devout, and eminently 
 faithful follower of Christ and office-bearer in tlie Church ; as a 
 liberal contributor to all good causes, and especially to that of min- 
 isterial education ; as a projector, founder, and untiring friend and 
 supporter of this Seminary ; and as an associate dearly beloved 
 and greatly mourned. He rests from his labors and his works do 
 follow him. 
 
 William M. Halsted (1836-1851) was a native of Eliza- 
 beth, N. J. At the age of fourteen he was a clerk in New 
 York ; at twenty-one he commenced business, and at thirty- 
 one became senior partner in the firm of Halsted, Haines, & 
 Co. He soon came to be known as a trusted counsellor in the 
 circles of philanthropy and religion. He was a director of the 
 American Home Missionary Society and the American Tract 
 Society, a member of the Assembly's Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions, and an elder of the University Place Presbyterian 
 Church. His Christian character had uncommon solidity and 
 strength. He seemed to be penetrated with a profound sense 
 of the reality and saving power of the Gospel, and of his own 
 duty as a disciple of Jesus to help diffuse its blessed influence 
 far and wide. Distrustful of his ability to perform this duty 
 by direct personal appeal or effort, he was the more diligent 
 to do it in other ways, particularly by the distribution of good 
 books. When a volume struck him as specially excellent, 
 many copies of it would go from his hand to relatives, friends, 
 or acquaintances, wherever he hoped salutary impressions 
 might be made. On reading the Life of Dr. Justin Edwards, 
 for example, he presented a copy to each student in the Semi- 
 nary ; and so of the Life of Rev. Richard Knill, and I know 
 not how many other works. At the beginning of every year 
 he looked into his income, and as he judged to be liis duty sent 
 donations to important objects, sometimes committing funds 
 to the theological professors, the city missionary, or others, to 
 be distributed at their discretion. Although laid aside by ill- 
 
140 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 health during the later years of his life, his chamber was kept 
 bright and fragrant by devout exercises, holy fellowship, and 
 those sweet fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ 
 to the praise and glory of God. 
 
 Mr. Ilalsted died on November 20, 1863, in the seventy- 
 sixth year of his age. 
 
 Abijah Fisher (1836-1859) was born in 1786, and spent 
 the most of his life in New York and Brooklyn. Like Haines 
 and Halsted and Otis, and so many other men of business in 
 his day, he was a leader in religious and evangelistic work. 
 In his fine appearance and courtly manners he typified the 
 Christian gentleman of the old school. The elements of his 
 character seemed to partake of both the eighteenth and the 
 nineteenth century. He was never so happy as when engaged 
 in some scheme for the benefit of others. For many years he 
 sustained the office of an elder in the Brick and Bleecker Street 
 Presbyterian Churches, and afterward in the First Presby- 
 terian Church in Brooklyn. For more than thirty years he 
 was chairman of the executive committee of the American 
 Home Missionary Society, and attached his official signature 
 to nearly every commission that was given in that long period. 
 I have already spoken of him as one of the founders of the 
 Union Theological Seminary. He died at the residence of 
 his son, in Bridgeport, Conn., on May 28, 1868, in the eighty- 
 third year of his age. 
 
 Cornelius Baker (1836-1840) was one of the founders of 
 the Seminary, and one of its largest original donors. For the 
 following interesting sketch of tliis excellent man I am in- 
 debted to his eldest surviving daughter. 
 
 My father was born at Rahway, N. J., Decetnber 15, 1792. 
 When about twenty years old, he came to New York and entered 
 upon a mercantile career. In 1826 he joined the Laight Street 
 Church, then under the pastoral care of Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D. 
 
CORNELIUS BAKER. 141 
 
 Six 3-ears later, he was persuaded it was his duty to leave that 
 church, which was then flourishing and in which he had served as 
 deacon for some j-ears, to join others in forming a new church, 
 which was called "The Free Presbyterian Church of New York." 
 Here he served as an elder, Dr. Joel Parker being the chosen 
 pastor. 
 
 In 1839, owing to reverses in business and impaired health, he re- 
 moved to New Jersey, where he lived for the remainder of his days, 
 though after a time, his health being improved, he returned to ac- 
 tive business in New York, and retired onl}- about a year before his 
 death. He went to Europe in the summer of 1867, whither some 
 of his family had preceded him, in the hope that the change would 
 benefit his health, but from the time of his arrival there his strength 
 graduall}' failed him. He reached Montreux, Switzerland, in the 
 autumn of 1867, where, after rallying and relapsing several times, 
 he sank peacefully asleep at the Hotel de Cygne, on the 30th of 
 March, 1868, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His remains 
 now rest in the beautiful cemetery at Clarens, near Montreux, 
 on the slope of the mountain which rises above the shores of the 
 Lake of Geneva. A suitable tablet marks the spot where his 
 body lies. 
 
 During all his life, he was noted for his uprightness, his integ- 
 rity, his large-heartedness and benevolence, and during the greater 
 part of his life, for his Christian activit}' and readiness to assist in 
 schemes for the advancement of education. He was a great reader, 
 and for a man who had not the early advantages given to the 
 youth of the present day he was remarkably well informed. He 
 always kept abreast of the times, and held advanced views. He 
 was a most loyal citizen, and was in favor of the abolition of 
 slavery when it was unpopular, and not alwa3's safe, to be an Abo- 
 litionist, even in the North. 
 
 He voted for Fremont and for Lincoln, and was an ardent and 
 enthusiastic Republican during the war. He always felt that the 
 South was wrong, and that the cause of the North must succeed 
 in the end. Even during the darkest days of the war, he never 
 despaired. 
 
 His wife was Miss Jenette Ten E3-ck Edgar, daughter of Major 
 William Edgar of Edgarton, N. J. They were married earl}' in 
 life, and had thirteen children, several of whom died in childhood. 
 Four daughters now survive him ; one is the wife of Mr. John S. 
 
142 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Kenned^^ another the wife of Rev. A. F. Sehauffler, D. D., and two 
 are unmarried. 
 
 He died about eight o'clock in the morning. The sad intelligence 
 was transmitted by cable, and the announcement of his death ap- 
 peared in the New York evening papers of the same day, the 30th 
 of March, 1868. This circumstance attracted a good deal of atten- 
 tion and elicited many comments at the time, cable messages being 
 at that time very rare, and if not the first, it was one of the first 
 instances in which the cable had been used for such a purpose. 
 
 Joseph Otis (1836-1844) was born at Norwich, Conn., July, 
 1768, and died there early in 1854, in the eighty-sixth year of 
 his age. He was a descendant of John Otis, who came with 
 his family from Glastonbury in the southwest part of England 
 to Hingham, Mass., as early as 1635. He came in company 
 with his pastor, the Rev. Peter Hobart, a stanch Noncon- 
 formist, and twenty-nine associates, who settled in the same 
 town. James Otis, " the patriot " of the Revolution, and other 
 distinguished Americans of the name of Otis, were also 
 among his descendants. 
 
 Joseph Otis was trained to commercial pursuits. At the 
 age of twenty-one he started for himself near Charleston, S. C. 
 In 1796 he established himself in New York, and became one 
 of its foremost men of business. His position, integrity, en- 
 terprise, and success secured for him universal respect and 
 confidence. For many years there was scarcely a merchant 
 of distinction in the city with whom he was not personally 
 acquainted. About fifteen years before his death he retired 
 to his native town, where he spent an honored and beautiful 
 old age in fulfilling the varied offices of a good citizen and a 
 generous, warm-hearted disciple of Jesus. The Otis Library 
 of Norwich — a public library designed for rich and poor alike 
 — is an enduring memorial at once of his munificence and 
 of the wise judgment with which he distributed his gifts. A 
 benevolent public spirit seems to have marked the family. It 
 was Deacon Otis of New London, a cousin of Deacon Joseph 
 
JOSEPH OTIS. 143 
 
 Otis of Norwich, who some years ago bequeathed $1,000,000 to 
 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 Mr. Otis's New York life was full of Christian usefulness. 
 He was one of the founders of the Cedar Street Presbyterian 
 Church, of which Dr. J. B. Ilomeyn became the first minister. 
 He took an active part also in establishing and building up 
 the Duane Street Presbyterian Church, of which he was a rul- 
 ing elder. With Davie Bethune, Richard Yarick, William Col- 
 gate, Ebenezer Cauldwell, and George P. Shipman, he attended 
 the first meeting, held at the house of Mr. Yarick, to devise 
 and adopt measures for giving Sunday school instruction. 
 He took a very effective part in the establishment of the 
 Seamen's Friend Society, the Seamen's Bank for Savings, and 
 other institutions created for the social elevation and religious 
 improvement of this long-neglected class. All those societies 
 which aim to propagate the Gospel throughout the world found 
 in him a liberal and constant supporter. He watched their 
 growth with deep interest, and cheered his old age with the 
 thought that in the vigor of his Christian manhood he had 
 been privileged to participate in the labors and sacrifices 
 which initiated these noble charities. 
 
 It would require a little volume to give all the details of 
 Mr. Otis's benevolence. In its extent and in the variety 
 of its objects it was remarkable. Nor was it confined to 
 great public objects. He loved to do good in ways unknown 
 to the world. His sympathies were as considerate as they 
 were tender and generous. He specially delighted in giving 
 aid and comfort to ministers of the Gospel, who by reason of 
 meagre salaries, ill-health, or domestic troubles, felt the sting 
 of pecuniary embarrassment. He deserved to be called the 
 minister's friend. When he made provision for a public 
 library in his native town, he also provided to have a pastor's 
 study on the second floor of the same building, to be held in 
 trust for the use of the pastor of the church of which he died 
 a member. Later, he endowed a pastoral library as a per- 
 
144 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 manent fixture of the study. Many a time did he forward his 
 check to order, for twenty-five, fifty, or a hundred dollars, to 
 some clergyman at a distance whose necessities had come to 
 his knowledge. When his last will was opened, it was found 
 that small sums, of from two hundred to two hundred and 
 fifty dollars, were directed to be paid to several of his clerical 
 acquaintances. To his own pastor he was like a father, as 
 well as friend. No wonder that his name is familiar still as a 
 household word in his native town ! 
 
 I cannot better close this notice than by giving an extract 
 from a letter of the Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, D. D., dated 
 New York, April 24, 1854: — 
 
 My acquaintance with the late Mr. Joseph Otis began soon 
 after I came to this city to take the pastoral charge of the Mercer 
 Street Church, and I continued to enjoy his society and friendship 
 until he removed to Norwich. Repeatedly' we were companions 
 in travel, and residents together in the same quiet and beautiful 
 retreat in the mountains of Virginia. Our intercourse with each 
 other was intimate and confidential, and it has left on me a very 
 distinct and very agTceable impression of his individuality as a man 
 and a Christian. We often talked of matters relating to ourselves, 
 but my memory as to details in his history does not enable me to 
 give any recital of them, or to verify by reference to them the esti- 
 mate which I formed of him from frequent conversations with him, 
 and especially from our very pleasant sojourn together during the 
 months of one or two summers. 
 
 This most worthy and amiable man outlived his generation. 
 There are few among the living of those who knew him best in 
 the days of his strength and activity. He was for several years 
 a member of the same church with the holy and amiable Elder 
 Markoe, between whom and himself there was a special friendship, 
 and in some of the prominent traits of their religious character a 
 degree of resemblance. They were both men of a kind and gentle 
 spirit, of courtesy of manners, of singular sincerity and purity. 
 The piety of both was at the same time deeply spiritual and seri- 
 ous, and yet remarkably free from every form of moroseness and 
 austerity. They adorned religion by a strict and lovely walk be- 
 fore the church and the world. It was always refreshing to look 
 
JOHN NITCHIE. 145 
 
 on the face of Mr. Otis. It had a benign, friendh', affectionate 
 aspect, even when his heart was sorrowful, and when his sorrow 
 expressed itself in tears. And his natural and gracious amiability 
 was not a weakness, nor was weakness its associate. He was a 
 man of a penetrating and sound judgment ; of sharp discrimination 
 between true and false, good and evil, whether in things or persons. 
 His charity covered a multitude of sins, but it did not cover hypoc- 
 risy or false professions. He was unsectarian, — a catholic indeed, 
 
 — yet he discerned between essentials and unessentials, and had 
 no fellowship with the preachers of "another Gospel." 
 
 With the passive virtues — patience, resignation, meekness, 
 gentleness — he combined an aggressive and energetic zeal, and 
 took an active part in the management and labors of Christian 
 benevolence. At the Salt Sulphur Springs in Virginia he was the 
 means of erecting a chapel, in which it was my privilege to preach 
 the opening sermon. His liberality was without pretension, but 
 it was generous, judicious, considerate, and effective. He was a 
 sincere friend, a lover of good men, a lover of hospitality, a Chris- 
 tian gentleman. It is a comfort to me to recall the image of this 
 lamented man. 
 
 Although his official connection with the Union Theological 
 Seminary was early severed by removal to Norwnch, Mr. Otis 
 never lost his interest in the institution. His largest legacy, 
 after that to the Otis Library, was in its favor. 
 
 John Nitchie (1836-1838) was born in the city of New 
 York, in 1783. A graduate of Columbia College, he studied 
 law and was admitted to its practice when only about twenty 
 years of age. For many years he was a member of the South 
 Reformed Dutch Churcli, then worshipping in Garden Street. 
 He was also an elder of that church. While engaged in his 
 profession he was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen, 
 
 — a real honor in those days, — and at the time of the last 
 war with Great Britain was particularly active in providing 
 the means of defence by which New York was protected from 
 hostile invasion. In 1819 Mr. Nitchie gave up a full practice 
 and flattering prospects as a lawyer, and accepted the appoint- 
 
 10 
 
146 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ment of general agent of the American Bible Society, Later, 
 he became its assistant treasurer, and then its treasurer. By 
 his counsels, contributions, and personal efforts, he also ren- 
 dered important service to other religious and humane insti- 
 tutions. He was especially interested in Home Missions ; and 
 from 1809, when he took part in forming the Assistant New 
 York Missionary Society, to his death, on January 3, 1838, when 
 he was a member of the executive committee of the American 
 Home Missionary Society, he stood forth an untiring friend 
 and supporter of the cause. In 1832, moving to the upper 
 part of the city, he connected himself with the Allen Street 
 Presbyterian Church, and was eminently useful as an acting 
 elder in it. In conjunction with his pastor, the Rev. Henry 
 White, he took an active part in organizing the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary. He was then a little past fifty, of noble 
 person, modest, gentle, clear-headed, of lively sensibility, and 
 wholly devoted to Christ and the Church. On the occasion 
 of his decease, Dr. White, then a Professor in the Seminary, 
 delivered a sermon entitled The Memory of the Just, which 
 contains a fine delineation of his character. The following is 
 an extract from this sermon : — 
 
 His mind was capacious ; his views were large and comprehen- 
 sive. His talents, however, were much more of the practical than 
 of the abstract kind ; he manifested little taste for speculation upon 
 abstruse and difficult questions. He was a wise and safe counsellor ; 
 on subjects of great interest he seldom made an important mistake. 
 It was this that qualified him to receive so extensively as he en- 
 jo3'ed it the confidence of the community' at large, and especially 
 of the religious community, and that gave such weight to his opin- 
 ions in deliberative bodies. It is doubted whether the services 
 of any other layman in our cit}', in connection with anj' important 
 object, were esteemed more valuable than his. He was prominently 
 engaged in devising and executing those extensive plans b}' which 
 the American Bible Society has shed its benign influence throughout 
 the length and breadth of our own land, and into many portions of 
 foreign lands ; and scarce!}' an}' valuable enterprise was determined 
 
FISHER HOWE. 147 
 
 on, by any of the leading benevolent institutions among us, witliout 
 being first submitted for his opinion. 
 
 The large and discriminating mind of Mr. Nitchie was richly 
 stored with the treasures of information and thought. His educa- 
 tion was originally thorough and solid ; he had a great thirst for 
 knowledge ; his opportunities were uncommonly good, and his ex- 
 perience and observation were extensive ; and these, connected with 
 his various reading, — particularly upon religious subjects, and 
 most of all the Bible, — furnished him with a fund of important 
 information, altogether rarely to be met with. Plis knowledge of 
 tlie Scriptures, particularly his critical acquaintance with the origi- 
 nal language of the New Testament, was probably more minute, 
 accurate, and extensive than that of almost any other individual, 
 layman or clergyman, in our community. . . . Mr. Nitchie was 
 no partisan ; the spirit of controversy he regarded as the great- 
 est evil with which the Church is visited ; and he could not be 
 prevailed on to take part in contention. He was strictly "a 
 moderate man," opposed to the extremes, and especially to the 
 violence, of any part\'. His quick sense of justice, however, 
 led him unequivocally to condemn that spirit which of late has 
 wrought so disastrously in the Church, even to her dismemberment. 
 But while such were his views, he held them with great liberality 
 and indulgence toward his brethren of every name. 
 
 Fisher Howe (1836-1871) was born at Rochester, N. H., 
 September 3, 1798, and died at his home in Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 November 7, 1871. After a successful business career he de- 
 voted his later years largely to favorite literary pursuits. In 
 1850 he travelled extensively in the East, and upon his 
 return prepared for the press a valuable work, entitled, Ori- 
 ental and Sacred Scenes, from Notes of Travel in Crreece, 
 Turkey, and Palestine (New York, 1854). The work was 
 reprinted the same year in London, with maps and colored 
 engravings. Mr. Howe also published a very striking little 
 volume on the True Site of the Cross, a subject to which he 
 was said to have devoted years of study. It appeared just as 
 he was dying, and his last charge to his children was that they 
 should bring it to the attention of Christian scholars who are 
 
148 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 interested in the topography of Bible lands. A new edition of 
 this essay was issued in 1888. It received warm praise from 
 various quarters. In The Century magazine for November, 
 1888, Mr. Howe's devoted friend and aforetime pastor. Dr. 
 Charles S. Robinson, expresses the desire that he may be re- 
 garded " as the one who first gave out the orderly argument 
 to establish what good men now believe is ' the true site of 
 Calvary.' " 
 
 Mr. Howe was for many years a ruling elder in the First 
 Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. He took a deep interest in 
 everything that concerned the cause of the Divine Master, 
 whether at home or abroad. He rejoiced in doing good both 
 to the bodies and the souls of men, and was a true Christian 
 philanthropist. For over a third of a century he served in 
 the Directory of the Union Theological Seminary, and should 
 be held by it in honored remembrance as one of its founders 
 and most faithful friends. He was a man of gentle manners, 
 mild and considerate in his judgment, of a beautiful spirit, 
 and a whole-hearted, loving disciple of Jesus. 
 
 Pelattah Perit (1836-1857) was born in Norwich, Conn., 
 June 23, 1785. His ancestors were Huguenots. In 1798 
 he entered Yale College, and there came under the powerful 
 religious influence of President Dwight. When his class 
 entered, only one of its sixty or more members avowed him- 
 self to be on the Lord's side, and that one died before the end 
 of the tliird year of their course. In March, 1802, a great 
 spiritual awakening took place, and on the Sabbath before the 
 Commencement in that year twenty-four of the graduating 
 class sat together at the table of the Lord in the college 
 church. Of this number Pelatiah Perit was one. He in- 
 clined to study for the ministry, but, following an early bent 
 received during several years passed in the home of his mater- 
 nal grandfather, Pelatiah Webster, a prominent merchant and 
 financier of Philadelphia, he decided upon a mercantile career. 
 
THOMAS MCA U LEY. 149 
 
 After a few years he became a member of the eminent firm of 
 Goodhue & Co., in this city. Mr. Perit was a man of very 
 attractive personal qualities, a public-spirited citizen, warmly 
 interested in all forms of philanthropic and Christian work, 
 and greatly esteemed and honored by the whole community. 
 From 1853 to 1863 he was annually re-elected President of 
 the New York Chamber of Commerce, was many years presi- 
 dent of the Seamen's Bank for Savings, and filled positions of 
 importance in other financial institutions. He was an officer 
 of the American Tract Society, the American Bible Society, 
 the American Board of Foreign Missions, the Seamen's Friend 
 Society, the Seamen's Retreat and Sailor's Snug Harbor, the 
 New York University, and an active as well as generous 
 friend of other religious, literary, charitable, and humane in- 
 stitutions of the city. For more than twenty years he was a 
 Director of the Union Theological Seminary. The closing 
 days of his life were passed in New Haven, where he died, 
 March 8, 1864, in the eightieth year of his age. The follow- 
 ing extract from a notice of his death recalls a scene closely 
 associated with his memory : — 
 
 One of the most delightful annual festivals in the cit;* was that 
 at which he was accustomed to entertain the little inmates of the 
 Orphan Asylum adjoining his beautiful country seat at Blooming- 
 dale. There, on the breezy lawn, would he spread a feast of straw- 
 berries and cream, and other delicacies of the season, to which the 
 orphans were invited. It was a pleasant sight to see Mr. Perit 
 moving about among them, a child himself in the simplicity of his 
 disposition, and overflowing with happiness because his little neigh- 
 bors were happ3\ His love of children, and especially the unfor- 
 tunate and outcast, was boundless ; and nowhere will his death 
 cause a sincerer grief than in the school-rooms and the work-shops 
 and the play-grounds attached to the juvenile institutions of the 
 city, to which he came so often a smiling and generous visitor. 
 
 Thomas McAuley, D. D., LL. D., (1836-1845,) was born 
 in 1777, and graduated at Union College in the class of 1804. 
 
150 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 He served as tutor and lecturer in the institution until 1814, 
 when he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natu- 
 ral Philosophy. Having been licensed and ordained to preach 
 the Gospel, he became, in 1822, pastor of the Rutgers Street 
 Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. Of his labors 
 here Dr. Gillett says : — 
 
 Rarely has any one had more occasion to rejoice over a successful 
 pastorate than Dr. McAuley while in charge of this church. By 
 no means remarkably eloquent or profound, he was a man of ready 
 utterance, and from a mind richly stored with Scriptural knowledge 
 and far from lacking in the lore of the scholar he poured forth 
 with the freshness and fervor of pastoral fidelit}' those expositions 
 of truth which were at once instructive and edifying. The charms 
 of his genial spirit, racy humor, conversational tact, and warm 
 S3'mpathy almost idolized him in the hearts of his people.^ 
 
 In 1827 Dr. McAuley accepted a call to the Tenth Presby- 
 terian Church in Philadelphia. In 1833 he returned to New 
 York, and was installed pastor of the Murray Street Presby- 
 terian Church, as the successor to Dr. William D. Snodgrass. 
 Several years later, the church, taking with it the church edi- 
 fice, removed to Astor Place, where it was generally known as 
 the Eighth Street Church. In 1845 Dr. McAuley resigned the 
 pastoral office. He died on May 11, 1862, in the eighty-sixth 
 year of his age. He was a scholarly man, of excellent gifts 
 both as preacher and pastor, a model of Christian courtesy 
 and kindness, and, until his faculties became impaired by fail- 
 ing health and old age, an honored leader in the Presbyterian 
 Church. He took a prominent part in the eventful Assembly 
 of 1837, and no other member surpassed him in wise, gentle, 
 and Christian speech. I met him about that time, and have 
 never lost the impression made upon me as a boy by his affable 
 and gracious manners. 
 
 Dr. McAuley was one of the founders of the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary, one of its first Directors, and for four years 
 
 1 History of the Presbyterian Church, Vol. II. p. 245. 
 
ELIJAH PORTER BARROWS. 151 
 
 its President, as also its Professor of Pastoral Theology. He 
 took a deep interest in the institution, and rendered it, in its 
 early years, varied and important service. 
 
 Henry Augustus Rowland, D. D., (1836-1845,) was born 
 at Windsor, Conn., in 1804, graduated at Yale College in 1833, 
 and, having studied theology at the Andover Seminary, was 
 first settled in the ministry at Fayetteville, N. C, in 1830, and 
 in 1834 became pastor of the Pearl Street Church, New York 
 City. In 1843 he accepted a call to Honesdale, Pa., and, after 
 laboring there for some years, was settled as pastor of the 
 Park Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J., where he died in 
 1860. Dr. Rowland was the author of the following works : 
 On the Common Maxims of Infidelity (New York, 1850-52) ; 
 The Path of Life (1851-55) ; Light in a Dark Valley (1852); 
 and The Way of Peace (1853). He also published many sin- 
 gle sermons and wrote a good deal for the religious press. 
 He was a man of attractive presence, genial, warm-hearted, 
 zealous for Christian truth, and much beloved. 
 
 Elijah Porter Barrows, D.D., (1836-1837,) was born at 
 Mansfield, Conn., January 5, 1807 ; graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in 1826 ; was a teacher in Hartford for several years ; in 
 1835 became pastor of the First Free Presbyterian Church in 
 the city of New York, and after a short service here accepted 
 a call to the chair of Sacred Literature in "Western Reserve 
 College. In 1853 he was appointed Professor of the Hebrew 
 Language and Literature in Andover Theological Seminary. 
 Here he remained till 1866. In 1869-70 he gave instruction 
 in Sacred Literature in the Union Seminary. In 1872 he ac- 
 cepted a call to the same department at Oberlin, Ohio, where 
 he died, in 1888, highly esteemed by all who knew him. 
 
 Dr. Barrows contributed various articles to the Bihliotheca 
 Sacra. He also wrote A Memoir of Eustin Juchon (1852), 
 
152 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Companion to the Bible (1869), and Sacred Creography and 
 Antiquities (1872). 
 
 IcHABOD S. Spencer, D. D., (1836-1849,) was born in 
 Rupert, Vt., February 23, 1798. Graduating at Union Col- 
 lege in 1822, he became for three years principal of the Gram- 
 mar School in Schenectady, and then studied theology with 
 Rev. Andrew Yates, D. D., Professor of Moral Philosophy in 
 Union College. In 1825 he accepted a call to be principal of 
 the Academy in Canandaigua, N. Y., where, as before at Sche- 
 nectady, he gained high distinction as a teacher. Licensed to 
 preach in 1826, he was installed two years later over the 
 Congregational Church in Northampton, Mass., as colleague 
 with the Rev. Solomon Williams. In 1832 he accepted a call 
 to the Second Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, N. Y., where 
 he continued until his death, November 23, 1854. Dr. Spen- 
 cer was a man of power, both as a preacher and as a writer. 
 In his widely circulated work entitled, A Pastor's Sketches, or 
 Conversations with Anxious Inquirers respecting the Wag of 
 Salvation, he shows a knowledge of the human heart, a 
 spiritual discernment, a sympathy with religious perplexities, 
 and a skill in guiding troubled souls to Christ, which are 
 remarkable. 
 
 Dr. Spencer was a Director in the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary for thirteen years, and for four years he served it as Pro- 
 fessor Extraordinary of Biblical History. He belonged to the 
 Old School, and partly for this reason, perhaps, was thought 
 by many, at least in his later years, to be hostile to the New 
 School institution. Referring once to this impression in a 
 conversation with his biographer, the Rev. Dr. Sherwood, he 
 declared it to be entirely unfounded : " I have carefully 
 watched the history and workings of this new Seminary, and 
 while there are things about it that I cannot approve, yet I 
 do not hesitate to say it turns out the best preachers of 
 any seminary in the land. I have assisted in the examination 
 
CALEB OLIVER HALSTED. 153 
 
 and licensure of many of its students, and I have followed 
 and watched their progress in the ministry, and I say to you 
 they are among the best trained, most practical and success- 
 ful preachers that we are raising up in this generation." 
 
 Zechariah Lewis (1836-1840) was born in Wilton, Conn., 
 January 1, 1773, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., on November 
 14, 1840. He was a graduate of Yale College, and became a 
 Presbyterian minister, but, owing to ill4iealth, early retired 
 from the profession. For many years he w^as editor of the 
 New York Commercial Advertiser. He took an active part 
 in some of the most important religious and benevolent move- 
 ments of his time that centred in New York. He was presi- 
 dent of the New York City Tract Society and a leading member 
 of the American Tract Society. Ministerial education spe- 
 cially interested him. From its commencement he was a 
 director of the Princeton Theological Seminary ; and his 
 name is first on the roll of lay Directors of the Union The- 
 ological Seminary. He seems to have enjoyed in an un- 
 common degree the confidence and esteem of the Christian 
 community. His influence, both personal and editorial, was 
 of the best kind, and he exerted it effectively in favor of every 
 good cause. 
 
 Caleb Oliver Halsted (1836-1860) was a native of New 
 Jersey. He came to New York in early life, and established 
 himself in business here. For a number of years he was a 
 dry goods merchant in William Street. My first acquaint- 
 ance with him was in 1852, when he resided in Second Ave- 
 nue, near the Historical Society building. He was then, and 
 continued until his death, on October 7, 1860, president of 
 the Manhattan Company. He was a leading member of the 
 University Place Church, of which the Rev. Dr. Potts was 
 at that time pastor. 
 
 Mr. Halsted was one of the most devoted, judicious, and 
 
154 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 influential friends of the Union Theological Seminary, and his 
 interest in it continued unabated to the last. I had occasion 
 to confer with him repeatedly on important matters pertain- 
 ing to the institution, and remember well how earnestly and 
 wisely he sought its welfare. The following is an extract 
 from a minute of the Board, prepared by Prof. Henry B. 
 Smith : — 
 
 In the death of Caleb O. Halsted we deplore the loss of a wise 
 counsellor, a generous benefactor, and a steadfast friend ; of one 
 who was a member of this Board from its earliest organization, 
 and who always rendered efficient aid in carrying this Seminary 
 successfully through all its difficulties and struggles. Having 
 known the deceased in his public and private relations, we re- 
 joice in bearing testimony to his Christian faithfulness in the 
 midst of the cares of business ; to his worth as a man and as a 
 friend ; to his devotion to all the great interests of Christ's 
 Church ; and especially to his constant zeal in promoting the 
 cause of Christian and ministerial education. 
 
 Leonard Corning (1836-1842) was born in Hartford, Conn., 
 April 30, 1798, and died on the 25th of November, 1844. He 
 established himself in business in New York, and for a num- 
 ber of years was a leading member of the Pearl Street Presby- 
 terian Church. Several years previously to his death he had 
 lived in New Orleans as head of the banking firm of L. Cor- 
 ning & Co. His high standing in the Christian community 
 is shown by his election as one of the first Directors of the 
 Union Theological Seminary. 
 
 David Magie, D.D., (1837-1840,) was born in the vicinity 
 of Elizabeth, N. J., March 13, 1795. His ancestors were of 
 Scotch origin, noted for their solid virtues, their earnest pi- 
 ety, and their strong attachment to Presbyterianism, David 
 in his boyhood was inured to the hardships of a farmer's 
 life. He had but little chance for reading or study, until his 
 conversion, during a great revival in 1813, when he resolved 
 
SELAH B. TREAT. 155 
 
 to devote himself to the ministry of the Gospel, His pastor, 
 the excellent Dr. McDowell, taught him Latin, and was his 
 wise counsellor and friend. He entered the Junior class in 
 the College of New Jersey in the fall of 1815. After grad- 
 uating with honor, he entered the Theological Seminary at 
 Princeton, studied there a year, spent two years as a tutor 
 in the College, and was then licensed to preach. On April 
 24, 1821, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth. Here he labored with zeal, 
 fidelity, and success for the space of nearly forty-five years. 
 He died on May 10, 1865, beloved and venerated by his people, 
 and by the whole Christian community. 
 
 Ansel Doan Eddy, D. D., (1837-1856,) was born at Wil- 
 liamstown, Mass., October 15, 1798. He graduated at Union 
 College in 1817 ; studied theology at Andover ; and was first 
 settled as a pastor over the Presbyterian Church in Canan- 
 daigua, N. Y. Later he accepted a call to the First Presby- 
 terian Church in Newark, N. J., and still later organized the 
 Pai'k Church in that city. He also labored as a pastor in 
 Chicago and Wilmington, 111., and then at Seneca Falls, N. Y. 
 He died on February 7, 1875. In 1843 Dr. Eddy was elected 
 moderator of the General Assembly. He was a man of fine 
 presence, of facile mind, and of varied gifts. 
 
 Selah B. Treat (1837-1843) was born at Hartford, Conn., 
 February 19, 1803 ; graduated at Yale College, 1824 ; studied 
 law and practised at Penn Yann, N. Y., but decided to aban- 
 don his profession and devote himself to the sacred ministry. 
 He studied theology at Andover, and in 1836 was ordained as 
 pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J. ; in 
 1840 he resigned, and became editor of the Biblical Reposi- 
 tory and American Eclectic. In 1843 he was appointed home 
 secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for For- 
 
156 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 eign Missions, in which office he continued until his death, 
 March 28, 1877. For the following sketch of his character 
 I am indebted to the Rev. Alexander McKenzie, D. D,, of 
 Cambridge, Mass. : — 
 
 Mr. Treat is best known in his relations with the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in which he filled 
 the office of Home Secretary for many years. He was admirably 
 fitted for the place and its varied duties. The breadth of his mind, 
 his calm judgment, his exact thinking and precise speaking, with 
 his knowledge of men and of affairs, qualified him for the large 
 trust which was committed to him. His legal training and prac- 
 tice were of service in this work. He held the ample confidence 
 of men. He was not lavish of praise, but he liked to commend 
 that which he approved, and was read}' to enrich his favor with 
 wise counsel. Those who were not quickly drawn to him by a 
 warmth of manner, learned to esteem the sincerity of his friendship 
 and to value the honestj' of its expression. He was a man of 
 strength, of fidelity, of large usefulness, and his name is held in 
 honor by all who knew him. 
 
 Samuel Hanson Cox, D. D., LL. D., (1837-1873,) was 
 born at Rahway, N. J., August 25, 1793, His parents, whose 
 memory he never ceased tenderly to cherish, belonged to the 
 Society of Friends, and he was trained up in its principles. 
 But while a student of law at Newark, N. J., he passed 
 through severe struggles of mind on the subject of religion, 
 and at length, in September, 1813, renounced Quakerism, was 
 baptized, and united with the Second Presbyterian Church of 
 that place. Soon after, he gave up the study of law for that 
 of divinity, and in October, 1816, was licensed by the Pres- 
 bytery of New York to preach the Gospel. 
 
 Soon after his licensure Mr, Cox was recommended for em- 
 ployment in the service of the Young Men's Missionary Society 
 of New York, a strong association composed of young men 
 from all the Evangelical churches of the city. Some of the 
 leading members of the society, however, strenuously opposed 
 
SAMUEL HANSON COX. 157 
 
 his appointment, on the ground of unsoundness in the faith ; 
 and after sharp and prolonged discussion he was rejected bj a 
 decided vote. Thereupon the minority, led by the pastor of 
 the Brick Church, the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., proceeded 
 at once to organize a new society, — the New York Evan- 
 gelical Missionary Society of Young Men. This incident had 
 so important a bearing, not only on the future career of Mr. 
 Cox, but upon missionary policy in the Presbyterian Church, 
 and it throws so much light upon the state of theological 
 opinion at the time, that I cannot help quoting the following 
 passages from the defence of their action by the minority, 
 written apparently by Dr. Spring. 
 
 An event of so much notoriet}' as the secession of more than one 
 hundred young men from an institution whose professed object is 
 the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot, at first view, 
 be regarded but with sentiments of regret. At an age of the world 
 when the A'arious denominations of Christendom begin to feel that 
 they have attached too much importance to the things in which 
 they differ, and not enough to those in which they agree, — when 
 the dissemination of the Gospel is the great and common cause 
 whicli unites the affections, the pra3-ers, and the exertions of the 
 great family of beUevers, and in the promotion of which they 
 already- begin to find a grave for their part}' spirit and sectarian 
 prejudices, — nothing but considerations of commanding influence 
 can justify a disjunction of missionary labors. Charit}^ suffereth 
 long ; but there is a point beyond which Christian forbearance can- 
 not be extended, and when the wisdom that cometh from above 
 demands a struggle, not onh* to extend the Redeemer's kingdom 
 abroad, but to maintain its independence at home. 
 
 Considerations of this imperative character did exist, and led to 
 the organization of this infant institution. The name of Mr. Cox 
 was mentioned with diffidence and solicitude. No objection was 
 made to his talents or piety. It was too well known to be dis- 
 puted, that, in both these particulars, he enjoyed no small share of 
 public confidence. The majority of the committee had, however, 
 unhappily associated with the name of Mr. Cox certain religious 
 sentiments which they deemed unsound, and which they supposed 
 to be inconsistent with the character of a useful missionary. It 
 
158 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 was not to be concealed that, in the great outlines of truth, his 
 views accorded rather with those entertained b}' Calvin, Edwards, 
 Bellamy, Scott, Smalley, Dwight, Pierce, Ryland, Fuller, and in- 
 deed with the great body of the Christian world in this period 
 of enlightened piet}', than with the incoherent and unintelligible 
 dogmas with which local intolerance seems resolved to burden 
 the Church of Christ. If not to believe that we actually sinned 
 in Eden six thousand years before we were born ; if not to believe 
 that the inability of the unregeuerate to comply' with the terms of 
 salvation is the same as their inability to pluck the sun from his 
 orbit ; if not to believe that the depravity of man destroys his ac- 
 countability ; if not to believe that the atonement is made exclu- 
 sively for the elect ; if not to believe that the elect are invested 
 with a title to eternal life on principles of distributive justice, 
 while destitute of z-enewing and sanctifying grace ; if not to believe 
 that the Christian's love of God is founded in selfishness as com- 
 pletely as the miser's love of gold ; — if want of assent to these re- 
 pulsive notions disqualifies a man for the missionar}- service, then 
 doubtless Mr. Cox is disqualified. But if a cordial adherence to 
 the truth that through the sin of Adam all mankind are sinners 
 from the first moment of their own existence ; that the inability of 
 the unregenerate, though absolute, inculpates rather than excuses 
 them ; that, notwithstanding his apostasy, man is still a free agent, 
 and accountable for his character ; that the atonement is unlimited 
 in its nature, and limited only in its application ; that the salvation 
 of the elect is not of debt, but of grace ; that all holj' aflTection, 
 though caused b}' the Divine Spirit, is founded on the Divine excel- 
 lence rather than the Divine favor ; — if a firm belief and cordial 
 reception of these glorious truths qualifies a man for the ministry 
 of reconciliation, then the rainorit}' have every reason to concur 
 in the unanimous opinion of the Presbytery of New York that 
 Mr, Cox is qualified. 
 
 On July 1, 1817, he was ordained and installed as pastor 
 of the Presbyterian Church at Mendham, N. J. In 1820 he 
 accepted a call to the Spring Street Church in the city of 
 New York, where he was installed in December of that year. 
 A new house of worship having been erected on the corner of 
 Laight and Varick Streets, the larger part of the congregation 
 removed there with their pastor in 1825, and were afterwards 
 
SAMUEL HANSON COX. 159 
 
 known as the Laight Street rrcsbjterian Clmrcli. In 1834 
 Dr. Cox was called to the Auburn Theological vSeminary, as 
 Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology. In 1837 
 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y. Here he remained for seventeen years, laboring 
 with eminent success, and taking a leading part in religious 
 and ecclesiastical affairs. He twice visited Europe, — in 
 1833, and again in 1846. In 1854, owing to the failure of 
 his voice, he resigned his charge, and moved to Oswego. 
 The closing years of his life were passed in retirement at 
 Bronxville, N. Y., where he died on October 2, 1880, in the 
 eighty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 Dr. Cox was a most interesting and remarkable man. 
 There were times when his eloquence and the grandeur of 
 his thoughts carried captive all who heard him. Had his 
 judgment equalled his other mental forces, he would have 
 been one of the yery first of American preachers and theo- 
 logians. His intellect was charged with vital energy, and 
 disported itself in endless coruscations of wit and fancy. 
 What could be finer than the exordium of his speech at the 
 anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in May, 
 1833 ? Reaching London as a delegate from the American 
 Bible Society at the last moment, he had entered Exeter Hall 
 after the meeting was begun, and in the midst of an address 
 which bitterly denounced American slavery. He was an- 
 nounced as the next speaker, and instantly took possession of 
 the audience. His personal appearance was highly attractive : 
 his face beamed with intellectual radiance, and the first words 
 he uttered riveted the attention of the vast assembly : — 
 
 My lord, twenty days ago I was taken by the tug "trercnles" 
 from the quay in New York to the good ship " Samson," lying in 
 the stream. Thus, my lord, — going from strength to strength, 
 from mythology to Scripture, — by the good hand of the Lord I 
 was brought to your shores just in time to reach this house, and 
 to enter in the midst of the denunciations of my beloved coun- 
 
160 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 tiy that have fallen from the lips of the gentleman who just 
 sat down. He has reproached that country for the existence of 
 slavery, which I abhor as much as he. But he did not tell you 
 that, when we revolted from your government, one of the rea- 
 sons alleged was the fact that your King had forced that odious 
 institution upon us in spite of our remonstrances, and that the 
 original sin rests with you and your fathers. . . . And now, my 
 lord, instead of indulging in mutual reproaches, I propose that the 
 gentleman shall be Shem and I will be Japheth, and, taking the 
 mantle of charity, we will walk backward and cover the nakedness 
 of our common ancestor. 
 
 In tlie circle of his ministerial brethren, whom he esteemed 
 and loved, Dr. Cox seemed always to be in the happiest mood. 
 His talk and his manner were equally delightful. To meet 
 him in the famous " Chi Alpha," which he founded and which 
 was so dear to his heart, or to see and hear him in the 
 society of Albert Barnes, William Patton, Thomas H. Skinner, 
 William Adams, and other old friends who had stood by his 
 side in the sharp conflicts of 1836, 1837, and 1838, was worth 
 journeying a thousand miles. He had all the simplicity and 
 artless ways of a child ; and yet, in standing up for what he 
 regarded as the claims of truth and duty, he showed himself 
 every inch a man, without fear or favor. In 1834 his advo- 
 cacy of the cause of the negro exposed him to the rage and 
 violence of a pro-slavery mob. He may not have spoken 
 always with prudence, but he always spoke out of a heart 
 glowing wdtli the love of freedom and justice. He had re- 
 nounced the religious doctrine and customs of the Friends, 
 but the spirit of humanity, wliich impelled the followers of 
 George Fox to bear such faithful witness against social evil 
 and wrongdoing, was strong within him, and found constant 
 expression in the pulpit, on the platform, and in the daily 
 intercourse of life. 
 
 Dr. Cox had a singularly retentive memory, and would often 
 recite page after page from the writings of Cowper, Sir Walter 
 Scott, and other favorite poets, equally to the wonder and 
 
SAMUEL HANSON COX. 161 
 
 delight of his friends. He was aii accomplished Latin scholar, 
 spoke the language with fluency, and was as fond of interlard- 
 ing what he wrote with Latin phrases and quotations, as old 
 Burton in his " Anatomy of Melancholy." His sympathies 
 and antipathies were exceedingly strong, in relation both to 
 opinions and to authors and their works. Among theologians 
 Calvin and Edwards were the objects of his unbounded admi- 
 ration ; and but few ministers in the country, probably, were 
 so familiar with the writings of the former in the original 
 Latin as Dr. Cox. His " Interview " with Dr. Chalmers, for 
 whom his admiration was also very great, contains a striking 
 illustration of his minute acquaintance with Calvin. On such 
 subjects as High-Church Episcopacy, the Exscinding Acts of 
 1837, and Hopkinsianism, — not to mention others, — he could 
 hardly retain his speech within reasonable limits. His im- 
 pulses were very quick, sometimes erratic, and not infrequently 
 found vent in extravagant words ; but back of them all and 
 beneath them all was a heart glowing with the piety and chari- 
 ties of the Gospel. Dr. Cox's chief productions were, Quaker- 
 ism not Christianity, or Reasons for Renouncing tlie Doctrine 
 of Friends, — a large volume of nearly seven hundred pages, 
 published in 1833 ; and Interviews, Memorable and Useful, 
 from Diary and Memory reproduced, published in 1853. 
 Both works are characteristic at once of his strength and 
 his weakness. A copy of the former, which he sent me at 
 Now Bedford from " Rusurban," nearly forty years ago, I 
 still keep in memory of his long and faithful friendship. 
 
 For thirty-six years Dr. Cox was a member of the Board 
 of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary. He served 
 on many important committees, and exerted no small influ- 
 ence in shaping and giving character to the institution. In 
 its darkest days he was always full of hope and good cheer. 
 Although not one of its founders, he was an intimate friend 
 of most of the founders, and in full sympathy with its spirit 
 and design. For several years he acted as Professor Extraor- 
 11 
 
162 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 dinary of Biblical and Ecclesiastical History. This depart- 
 ment of instruction afforded ample scope for his multifarious 
 learning and his characteristic powers of memory and of 
 fresh, stimulating thought. The service, too, was a labor of 
 love, for he received no pay. In a letter to Professor Smith, 
 dated November 18, 1850, he thus refers to some lectures on 
 Church History which he was then delivering; — 
 
 We are glad you are coming, especially I, 3'our 2^^'0 hac vice 
 locum tenens. I have endeavored only to herald you and prepare 
 the way before you by outline and generality, not ambiguity, re- 
 specting the grand vertebral column of history, its osteology, and 
 loca major a. The students have been very attentive, and I have 
 endeavored to affect them with a sense of the sine qua non impor- 
 tance to ministers of its thorough and scientific acquisition. Dr. 
 Skinner has condemned himself to be one of m}- hearers at every 
 lecture. I go on the principle that premises must be before induc- 
 tions, and hence that, without knowing facts, dates, places, men, 
 relations, and some circumstances, thej' are not prepared for phi- 
 losophizing as historians. Hence I teach them the elements, the 
 what, where, when, who, why, how, and the connections, con- 
 sequences, antecedents, and motives, as well as we can know 
 them, in order to their masterly use of them in their subsequent 
 lucubrations. 
 
 I remember hearing one of Dr. Cox's lectures on Biblical 
 history. It was delivered in the vestry of the First Pres- 
 byterian Church in Brooklyn, the class crossing the river to 
 meet him there. On the walls of the room hung maps and 
 diagrams for illustration. He spoke without notes. His 
 lecture was absolutely unique ; nor was there, probably, an- 
 other man in the United States who coidd have delivered it. 
 If not exactly scientific, it yet showed a scholarly enthusiasm 
 and a grasp of the significance of very ancient history, not 
 common in that day. I say " very ancient," for his subject 
 carried him far back toward the beginning of the human race. 
 He unfolded and illustrated its varied aspects in a very won- 
 derful manner. In recallina; this lecture I am reminded of 
 
ANSOy G RE EXE PHELPS. 163 
 
 another on early Old Testament history which I once heard 
 from the celebrated Professor Gorres of Munich, also a man 
 of brilliant but eccentric genius. He too, like Dr. Cox, went 
 back to the days when there were giants in the earth, and 
 found at work in them, as he thought, the same laws and 
 spiritual forces that control the great movements of society 
 in our own age. 
 
 Anson Greene Phelps (1838-1853) was born at Sims- 
 bury, Conn., March 27, 1781. His father served in the army 
 throughout the Revolutionary war, much of the time as an 
 officer under General Greene, after whom Anson was named. 
 His father died soon after his birth, and at eleven years of age 
 he lost his mother, a woman of rare piety and excellence, 
 whose memory he cherislied to old age with tender affection 
 and reverence. On the death of his mother he went to live 
 with the Rev. Mr. Utley, with whom he remained a number 
 of years, learning a trade. At the age of eighteen, during a 
 powerful awakening under the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Hal- 
 lock, he was converted, and, removing soon after to Hartford, 
 united with the church of which the Rev. Dr. Strong, one of 
 the most eminent divines of the day, was then pastor. About 
 1815 he established himself in business in this city, joining 
 the Brick Church, of which he was for many years an efficient 
 elder. Later, he filled the same office in the Mercer Street 
 Presbyterian Church. His life in New York was identified 
 with its commercial and religious history. He died, November 
 30, 1853, in the seventy- third year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Phelps was a man of very strong, original, and marked 
 character. Self-reliance, an iron will, solid judgment, a saga- 
 cious power of combination and forecast, indomitable perse- 
 verance, shrewd common sense, a physical constitution capable 
 of immense labor and endurance, — these were among his lead- 
 ing traits. But he possessed others of a gentler nature, and 
 all of them were tempered and restrained by earnest religious 
 
164 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 principles. He was a genuine Christian philanthropist of the 
 most catholic type. The interests of the colored race, both in 
 this country and in Africa, were especially near his lieart. The 
 great evangelistic movements of the age, whether at home 
 or abroad, had in him one of their most devoted and liberal 
 friends. He used to thank God for the privilege of living in 
 such a glorious day. The Union Theological Seminary has 
 reason to cherish his memory, not only as one of its early 
 Directors and patrons, but also as the first of a whole family 
 circle of Directors and benefactors extending now to the third 
 generation. 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes (1840-1870) was born at Rome, 
 N. Y., December 1, 1798. Having pursued his preparatory 
 studies at Fairfield Academy, Connecticut, he entered the 
 Senior class of Hamilton College, and graduated there in 
 July, 1820. He early imbibed sceptical sentiments, and in- 
 tended to devote himself to the legal profession. The reading 
 of Dr. Chalmers's famous article on the evidences of Chris- 
 tianity overcame his doubts ; and not long after, he passed 
 through a religious crisis which issued in a purpose to study 
 for the sacred ministry. He went through a four years' course 
 in the Princeton Theological Seminary, and on February 8, 
 1825, was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian 
 Church in Morristown, N. J. 
 
 Five years later he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian 
 Church in Philadelphia as successor to the Rev. James Patriot 
 Wilson, D. D., and was installed on June 25, 1830. Referring 
 to this period, nearly thirty years later, he says : — 
 
 I came here a 3'oung man, with but little experience, with no 
 personal acquaintance with the manner and habits of a great city, 
 and with no such reputation as to make success certain. I never 
 preached before the congregation when I was called to be its pas- 
 tor. I came at that early period of life, and with that want of ex- 
 perience, to succeed the most learned, able, and eloquent preacher 
 
ALBERT BARNES. 165 
 
 ill the Presbj-terian Church ; a man occupying a position in this 
 communitj- which no other man occupied ; a man whose opinions 
 secured a degree of respect which few men have ever been able to 
 secure. I came to take charge of one of the largest and most 
 influential congregations in the land. I came when I was full}' 
 apprised that I must encounter from without a most decided and 
 formidable opposition to the views which I had cherished, and 
 to the doctrines which I had expressed. I found my venerable 
 predecessor alread}', by anticipation, my friend. He defended 
 my views. He indorsed my opinions. He exerted his great influ- 
 ence in the congregation in my favor, commending me in every 
 way b\' his pen and his counsel to the confidence and affection of 
 the people to whom he had so long ministered. For six months, 
 the time during which he lived after I became the pastor of the 
 church, he was my friend, my counsellor, my adviser, my exam- 
 ple ; he did all that could be done hy man to make my ministry 
 here useful and happj-. 
 
 For more than a third of a century Mr. Barnes continued to 
 labor in the First Church with extraordinary zeal, fidelity, and 
 success. It would be hard to say whether his diligence were 
 greatest in the pulpit or in the use of the pen. He w^as truly 
 a marvel of industry. To this, under God, he ascribes all his 
 success in life. " I had nothing else to depend on but this. I 
 had no capital when I began life ; I had no powerful patron- 
 age to help me ; I had no natural endowments, as I believe 
 that no man has, that could supply the place of industry ; and 
 it is not improper here to say, that all that I have beer able 
 to do in this world has been the result of habits of industry 
 which began early in life, which were commended to me by 
 the example of a venerated father, and which have been and 
 are an abiding source of enjoyment. . , . Whatever I have 
 accomplished in the way of commentary on the Scriptures is 
 to be traced to the fact of rising at four in the morning, and 
 to the time thus secured which I thought might properly be 
 employed in a work not immediately connected with my pas- 
 toral labors. Tliat habit I have pursued now for many years ; 
 rather, as far as my conscience advises me on the subject, 
 
166 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 because I loved the work itself than from any idea of gain or 
 of reputation, or, indeed, from any definite plan as to the work 
 itself." All his commentaries on the Scriptures were written 
 between four and nine o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Mr. Barnes's name will always be associated with a very 
 eventful chapter in the history of American Presbyterianism. 
 His trial for heresy, his suspension from the exercise of the 
 ministerial office by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1835, and 
 the reversal of the action of the Synod by the General Assem- 
 bly of 1836, were events closely connected with the great 
 disruption of 1838. Other causes, both ecclesiastical and sec- 
 tional, conspired to produce the result; but so far as it grew 
 out of doctrinal differences, Mr. Barnes more than any other 
 man represented the New School side. His temper and con- 
 duct were admirable ; amidst all the bitter and irritating 
 experiences which he passed through, from the moment of 
 receiving the call to Philadelphia until restored to his pul- 
 pit by the General Assembly in 1886, he bore himself with 
 a quiet dignity, courage, meekness, and fidelity to his con- 
 victions befitting the Christian sage. After the division he 
 was universally recognized as a foremost leader of the New 
 School branch. It trusted his counsels, and in 1851 chose 
 him moderator of the General Assembly. Not a little of what 
 was best in its history it owed to him. His influence helped 
 largely to mould its antislavery sentiment, its strong position 
 in favor of temperance reform, its theological temper and be- 
 lief, — in a word, its whole spirit and character as a church. 
 Mr. Barnes's influence as a Christian teacher and philanthro- 
 pist was also widely felt by other denominations throughout 
 the country. In his day and generation he ranked, like his 
 illustrious contemporary, Dr. Channing, among the moral in- 
 structors of the American people. Honorary degrees of D. D. 
 and LL. D. were conferred upon him in token of the general 
 esteem ; but his modesty, if not his conscience, led him in 
 every instance to decline their use. He was still known, and 
 
ALBERT BARNES. 167 
 
 will be known in coming time, simply as Albert Barnes. Ilis 
 active ministry in Philadelphia continued unbroken until 1867, 
 when, owing to a failure of sight, he resigned his charge, and 
 was made Pastor Emeritus. But he delighted to preach still, 
 which he did often in the House of Refuge, of which he was 
 a manager. On the 24th of December, 1870, he passed sud- 
 denly to his eternal rest. It was a blustering winter's day, 
 and he walked a mile to visit a bereaved family, but had 
 scarcely seated himself, when, falling back in his chair, he 
 expired without a groan. The feeling excited by his depart- 
 ure is well expressed in a letter of Dr. Skinner, who, a few 
 weeks later, followed him to a better world : — 
 
 You doubtless know that I was at the funeral of Albert Barnes. 
 Brother, I was never present at such obsequies. I never took part 
 in carrying a man like Brother Barnes to his burial. He has not 
 left his equal among us. He is the object of my profound admira- 
 tion. What a model of industry, of meekness, of patience, of 
 Christian simplicity and dignity, was this very extraordinary man ! 
 Well, Brother, we hope soon to see him again. 
 
 I have spoken of Mr. Barnes as a temperance reformer. His 
 own account of his position on this subject is full of interest: — • 
 
 I have mentioned that I adopted the most rigid views on the 
 subject of temperance. I embraced the principle of entire absti- 
 nence from all that can intoxicate. I have adhered to that principle. 
 For thirty years I have rigidly abstained from even wine, except as 
 prescribed by a physician, and using it then most rarel}'. I have 
 never kept it in my family ; I have never provided it for my friends ; 
 I have declined it when it has been placed before me, and when I 
 have been present where others, even clergymen, have indulged in 
 its use. I have never concealed my sentiments on the subject ; 
 and in thus abstaining, in all the circles where I have been, whether 
 of religious men or worldly men, at home, at sea, abroad, I have 
 seen only a marked respect for my sentiments. However much I 
 may have differed in practice from those with whom I have been, 
 I have never known one thing done or said to give me pain, nor 
 have I found that men, wliatever might be their own practice, have 
 
168 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 been uny the less disposed to show me respect on account of my 
 views. I now approve the course, and, if I were to live my life 
 over again, I see nothing in this matter which I would wish to 
 change. I am persuaded that the principle has all the importance 
 which I have ever attached to it. I have lost nothing by it ; I have 
 gained much. 
 
 I look with equal satisfaction and approbation over my public 
 efforts in the cause of temperance. It was m}' lot to begin my 
 ministry in a region of country whei-e the usual customs on this 
 subject prevailed, and where alcoholic drinks were extensively 
 manufactured and sold. Within the limits of my pastoral charge, 
 embracing a district not far from ten miles in diameter, there were 
 nineteen places where the article was manufactured, and twenty 
 where it was sold. I considered it my duty early to call the atten- 
 tion of my people to the subject. I presented my views, in succes- 
 sive discourses, plainly and earnestly. I appealed to their reason, 
 to their conscience, to their reUgion. I showed what I understood to 
 be the doctrine of the Bible on the subject, and stated the influence 
 of the practice on the happiness of families, and on the peace, the 
 order, and the morals of the connnunity, and its influence in pro- 
 ducing pauperism, wretchedness, crime, and death. The appeal 
 was not in vain. I found early in my ministry, even where habits 
 had been long established, where property was involved, and where 
 sacrifices would be required on their part in adopting my views, 
 that men would listen to the voice of reason and the voice of God. 
 I had the happiness to know that, in eighteen out of the twenty 
 places where intoxicating drinks were sold, the trafhc was soon 
 abandoned ; and I saw in seventeen out of nineteen of those places 
 where the poison was manufactured the fires go out to be rekindled 
 no more. I had a proof thus early in my ministry, which has been 
 of great value to me since, of the fact that truth may be presented 
 to the minds of men so as to secure their approbation, even when 
 great pecuniary sacrifices must be made, and when it would lead to 
 important changes in the customs and habits of society. 
 
 Mr. Barnes's career as an author began soon after he en- 
 tered the ministry. Among his works are Notes, Explana- 
 tory and Practical, on the New Testament, on Isaiah and the 
 Psalms ; Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery ; The 
 Church and Slavery ; The Way of Salvation ; The Atonement, 
 
ALBERT BARNES. 169 
 
 in its Relations to Laiv and Moral Government ; Evidences of 
 Christianity in the Nineteenth Century ; Prayers adapted to 
 Family Worship ; Miscellaneous Essays and Reviews ; Life at 
 Threescore ; and Life at Threescore and Ten. The two works 
 last mentioned are charming pieces of autobiography, full of 
 the optimism of the Gospel. " I shall close my eyes in death," 
 says Mr. Barnes in Life at Threescore and Ten., " with bright 
 and glorious hopes in regard to my native land, to the Church, 
 and to the world at large." Some of these works, particularly 
 the Notes on the New Testament, had an immense circulation 
 in Great Britain as well as at home, and thus served to endear 
 his name to tens of thousands of Christian men and women in 
 that countrv. 
 
 My own recollections of Mr. Barnes are vivid and full of 
 pleasantness. He had a countenance marked in an unusual 
 degree by moral thoughtfulness, benignity, sweetness, refine- 
 ment, and manly dignity. I never heard him speak in loud 
 or excited tones. The gentleness of his Divine Master had 
 made him great, — great in calm self-possession and self-for- 
 getfulness, in the meekness of wisdom, in humility, and in the 
 serene assurance of faith. He seemed to shrink instinctively 
 from the ostentatious ways and noisy demonstrations which 
 sometimes mar the character, and even the piety, of good 
 men. No one was so surprised at the great popularity of 
 his writings as he was himself. 
 
 My last recollection of him recalls an interesting occasion. 
 During the first meeting of the General Assembly of the re- 
 united Church at Philadelphia, in May, 1870, it was proposed 
 that those members who were so inclined should go in com- 
 pany and pay their respects to Mr, Barnes. The proposition 
 was cordially received, and on the appointed evening a large 
 number of the commissioners, both lay and clerical, found 
 themselves together under the roof of the venerable servant 
 of God whose name in earlier years, to not a few of them, 
 had been associated with grave theological error and trials for 
 
170 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 heresy. It was a beautiful and touching scene. Mr. Barnes, 
 who had looked with no little distrust upon the reunion 
 movement, appeared to be deeply moved and gratified. The 
 expression of high Christian esteem and confidence by so 
 many eminent Old School ministers and laymen was too cor- 
 dial and emphatic to allow its sincerity to be doubted ; it gave 
 unmistakable proof that in the reunited Presbyterian Church 
 the prejudices and animosities of former days had passed 
 or were fast passing away. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that no memoir of Albert Barnes 
 has yet been given to the public. He was a very interesting, 
 as well as a great and good man. I know of no one, among 
 his contemporaries in the Christian ministry of this country, 
 whose life and character were marked by more original traits, 
 nor any one whose example better deserves to be studied by 
 students of divinity. It might not, perhaps, be wise for them 
 to copy some of his literary methods and habits ; but his 
 patient industry, his passion for truth, especially the truth 
 as it is in Jesus, his moral courage in forming and avow- 
 ing his own convictions, his candor and fairness in dealing 
 with the convictions of others, his meekness and lowliness of 
 mind, his reverence for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, 
 his delight in the pulpit, that " most attractive and sacred 
 place on earth," his devotion to the cause of humanity in all 
 its phases, his scrupulous regard to the smallest claims of 
 duty, — how worthy are these of careful imitation ! A faith- 
 ful account of his life would present some striking scenes. 
 What could be more becoming and Christ-like than his de- 
 meanor, as well as his speech, during his trial for heresy, 
 and while under suspension from the ministry ? What more 
 unique, or picturesque, than the story of liis Notes, Explana- 
 tory and Practical, to the New Testament and portions of the 
 Old Testament, which appeared between 1832 and 1868 ? I 
 recall nothing quite like it in American ministerial biography. 
 What touching incidents occurred in the famous church study 
 
ALBERT BARNES. 171 
 
 where in the early morning those books were written ! Mr. 
 Barnes thus alludes to these morning hours: 
 
 In the recollection now of the past portions of my life, I refer to 
 these morning hours, — to the stillness and quiet of my room in 
 this house of God when I have been permitted to "prevent the 
 dawning of the morning " in the study of the Bible, while the in- 
 habitants of this great city were slumbering round about me, and 
 before the cares of the day and its direct responsibilities came on 
 me, — to the hours which I have thus spent in a close contempla- 
 tion of divine truth, endeavoring to understand its import, to re- 
 move the difficulties that might pertain to it, and to ascertain its 
 practical bearing on the Christian life, — I refer, I say, to these 
 scenes as among the happiest portions of my life. If I have had 
 any true communion with God in my life ; if I have made any 
 progress in Christian piety ; if I am, in any respect, a better man 
 and a more confirmed Christian than I was when I entered the 
 ministry ; if I have made any progress in my preparation for that 
 world on wliich I must at no distant period enter ; and if I have 
 been enabled to do you any good in explaining to you the word of 
 God, — it has been closely connected with those calm and quiet 
 scenes where I felt that I was alone with God, and when my mind 
 was thus brought into close contact with those truths which the 
 Holy Ghost has inspired. I look back to those periods of my life 
 with gratitude to God ; and I could not do a better thing in refer- 
 ence to my younger brethren in the ministry than to commend this 
 habit to them as one closely connected with their own personal 
 piety, and their usefulness in the world. 
 
 Some time before his death a friend of mine chanced to call 
 upon Mr. Barnes while he was engaged in burning up his old 
 sermons, and she still preserves several which her entreaty 
 saved from the flames. The incident is so characteristic 
 and so pathetic, that I cannot refrain from giving it in Mr. 
 Barnes's own words : — 
 
 My hair had begun to turn gray. My sight had so failed that 
 I could not read what I had written in my earlier years. Old age 
 was coming upon me, and I was admonished that I must at no dis- 
 tant period pass away, and be seen no more among the living. I 
 
172 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 should no more be seen in my familiar walks ; I should no more 
 again enter the dwellings of my people, to speak to them of the 
 Saviour and of heaven, to gather the children around me, and try 
 to interest them in the old pastor, and thus to interest them in re- 
 ligion itself. I should no longer endeavor to minister consolation 
 to those that mourn, and to the sick and dying ; I should no more 
 enter my pulpit, to me that most attractive and sacred place on 
 earth, and seek to persuade men to turn to God. What shall be 
 done with my old sermons ? In a long pastorate, for I had spent 
 my ministr}' mainly among the same people, they had accumulated 
 on m\ hands, and I could number thein by hundreds. They were 
 becoming almost useless to myself, and soon the}' would be wholly 
 so. What should be done with them ? Old sermons are among the 
 most useless of all kinds of lumber when the man that wrote them 
 is dead, and there is nothing that is more difficult to dispose of. 
 They are not like old newspapers, useful to the grocer ; the family 
 of an old pastor does not like to burn them ; the}- cannot be used 
 again by those who come after him ; no bookseller will print them 
 and no one would buy them if they were printed. What would 
 probably become of mine when I am dead ? My people, though 
 they had heard them with some degree of interest, would regard 
 them as of no value if the}' were distributed among them, and what 
 would be done with them ? I could not doubt they would be likely 
 to lie in some dusty corner of some old garret, encumbering the 
 world, until moths and mice should consume the yellow leaves, 
 and at last, tired with seeing them, some duster and sweeper of 
 the garret would resolve to get them out of the way, and commit 
 the fragments of what had cost me so much labor and prayer 
 to the flames. 
 
 My sermons had been written with great care, and many of them 
 were ready for the press. I had folded and ruled my paper ; I had 
 with my own hands stitched them together with as much skill as 
 a bookbinder would have done. Nay, I had actually employed a 
 bookbinder to prepare little sermon-books of suitable size, and 
 with a suitable cover, and had valued myself on the neatness of 
 my manuscript ; for that portion of my audience that occupied the 
 galleries could look down upon my sermon as I carefully laid it 
 in the open Bible, and I had a conscious pride in the feeling that 
 my sermon was in entire keeping with the other arrangements in 
 the sanctuary. But what should be done with them now? Ire- 
 
ALBERT BARNES. 173 
 
 solved to burn them, and thus to save all trouble to my friends 
 when I should have gone to my long resting-place. I took a day 
 for the purpose, and I committed them in instalments of a dozen 
 or more to the flames. 1 watched them as they were slowly con- 
 sumed. They were not martyrs, for they could not feel the flame, 
 but it was a kind of martyrdom of myself. The end of life was 
 really coming. The beginning of the end was near. I saw them 
 " into smoke consume away." 
 
 Mr. Barnes was appointed a Director of the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary soon after its establishment, and continued 
 such until his death, thirty years later. During all these 
 years he was a model of punctuality and faithful service, 
 coming on from Philadelphia oftentimes, at no little inconve- 
 nience, to attend the meetings. In 1867 he delivered the first 
 course of lectures on the Ely Foundation. They were upon 
 the Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century, and 
 were afterwards published. 
 
 The following is an extract from the minute of the Board 
 of Directors on occasion of Mr. Barnes's death, prepared by 
 his old friend. Dr. Adams : — 
 
 Wise in counsel, assiduous and decided in action, persevering 
 and stead}' in the pursuit of his objects, his devotion to the intei'- 
 ests of this beloved Seminar}- and the cause of education for the 
 Christian ministry in general has been, from flrst to last, warm, 
 constant, and effective. Sacred literature has lost in him one of 
 its brightest ornaments, and the Church one of her strongest pil- 
 lars. Without a particle of sectarian exclusiveness, he was firmly 
 and cordially attached to the great truths of the Bible, as embod- 
 ied in the Presbyterian standards, and lived and labored for his 
 own Church as one deeply convinced of its excellence. No man 
 preached with more fulness and heartiness its distinguishing prin- 
 ciples, according to what he understood to be their true import and 
 intent. Called in his early manhood, in troublous times, to the 
 forefront of a contest none the less perilous from the fact that good 
 men on both sides were the combatants, it is much to sa}' of him 
 that he bore his part with a firmness, dignit}', and independence, 
 coupled with the meekness of wisdom, which never suffered him to 
 
174 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 be irritated to recrimination, nor driven on eitlier side to extremes. 
 The Bible, wliose sacred contents he has done so much to expound, 
 not only to his own countrymen, but to the people of other lands, 
 was ever the guide of his thinking and the law of his conduct and 
 character. By his eminent abilities, his extensive acquirements, 
 his untiring diligence, his bright example, his conscientious ad- 
 herence to the truth, his affectionate sj-mpath}' for all humanit}-, his 
 ardent desire for the salvation of his fellow-men, his purity and 
 the simplicity of his aims, his devout walk with God, he has con- 
 tributed largely, during a life of more than threescore years and ten, 
 to the advancement of all the best interests of humanit}' and the 
 honor of his Master's cause. 
 
 Asa D. Smith, D.D., LL. D., (1841-1864,) was born at 
 Amherst, N. H., September 21, 1804. At the age of seven- 
 teen, while living at Windsor, Yt., he began a Christian life, 
 and not long after decided to devote himself to the ministry 
 of the Gospel. After a course of preparatory study at Kim- 
 ball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., he entered Dartmouth 
 College in 1826, and graduated there in 1830. While in 
 college he was distinguished alike for high scholarship and 
 for Christian zeal and influence. Upon his graduation he 
 spent a year in teaching, as Principal of the Academy at 
 Limerick, Me., and then went to Andover, where he pursued 
 his theological studies. He belonged to the class of 1834. 
 
 In November, 1834, he was ordained and installed pastor 
 of the " Brainerd Church " in the city of New York. This 
 church had been organized by the Third Presbytery on Feb- 
 ruary 9th in the same year. Here he labored with great 
 diligence and success for several years, when his people re- 
 moved to a new edifice erected by them at the corner of 
 Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue, and were afterwards 
 known as the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church. In 
 1863 he accepted a unanimous call to the presidency of Dart- 
 mouth College, and was inaugurated on November 18 in that 
 year. He died at Hanover, August 16, 1877. 
 
ANTHONY P. HALSEY. 175 
 
 Dr. Smith was one of the best and weightiest men of his 
 generation. Whether regarded as a pastor, as a leader, or as 
 an educator, he made a strong and lasting impression. For 
 wellnigh a third of a century his power was felt, not in the 
 pulpit only, but in almost all departments of the benevolent 
 and Christian work of New York. In his own congregation, 
 aided by such elders as William E. Dodge, David Hoadley, 
 Christopher R. Robert, and William A. Booth, he devised and 
 carried out the most effective plans of usefulness. In the 
 Presbytery and in the benevolent committees of the Church 
 his counsels were of the utmost value. Sound judgment and 
 untiring zeal for the cause of the Divine Master were equally 
 his characteristics. I served with him in the Directory of the 
 Union Theological Seminary, and in other important associa- 
 tions, and never failed to be struck with his practical wisdom, 
 public spirit, and unwavering loyalty to what he considered 
 the claims of truth and righteousness. His eminent services 
 as President of Dartmouth College belong to the history of 
 that institution. 
 
 Anthony P. Halsey (1841-1863) early became connected 
 with the Bank of New York, and served it with fidelity forty- 
 seven years as clerk, teller, cashier, vice-president, and presi- 
 dent. His name is entitled to a place among the best friends 
 of the Union Theological Seminary. He succeeded William 
 M. Halsted as its treasurer, and held the office until his death, 
 in November, 1863. Mrs. Halsey says, in a letter to the Board 
 written shortly after his death : — 
 
 He was always deeply interested in the cause of Christian educa- 
 tion. During the last twenty years of his life, the Union Seminary 
 occupied a large portion of his thoughts and prayers. He has 
 considered the Professors and Directors among his best friends ; 
 he both loved and respected them. The students had also his 
 sympathy and prayers. A large number of the graduates have 
 been intimate friends in our family. May God continue to bless 
 and prosper the institution ! 
 
176 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 David Leavitt (1841-1846) was born in Bethlehem, Conn., 
 August 27, 1791. After a long business life in New York, Mr. 
 Leavitt built a home for himself at Great Barrington, Mass., 
 where he passed some twenty years in dignified ease and re- 
 tirement. For the following slvetch I am indebted to the Rev. 
 Henry M. Booth, D. D., of Englewood, N. J. 
 
 The parents of David Leavitt were possessed of considerable 
 property, so that he entered upon life with many advantages. 
 When but a lad, however, he became a clerk in a village store, and 
 before he had reached manhood had made his way to New York, 
 where he was soon engaged in business for himself. He was in- 
 dustrious, energetic, and bold, apparently slirinking from no mer- 
 cantile ventures and usually succeeding in whatever he undertook. 
 His were the merchant's instincts. He had a genius for trade, 
 which rapidly advanced him to prominence among the business men 
 of the growing city. After he had established himself firmly in com- 
 mercial circles, he gave attention to banking, and was widely and 
 favorablv known as a financier. The American Exchange Bank, 
 one of the largest institutions in the country, was controlled by 
 him for many of his active 3'ears, and his name was then a power 
 in Wall Street as well as throughout the United States. Before he 
 retired from business he had accumulated a large fortune, which he 
 had been using, and continued to use, in promoting many of our 
 most important public works. He w^as also a regular and a liberal 
 contributor to the various educational, philanthropic, and religious 
 enterprises which were originated and developed by the men of his 
 generation. 
 
 After he became a resident on Brooklyn Heights, in 1827, he 
 was an active ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church, whose 
 present substantial house of worship was built under his direction, 
 and whose distinguished pastor, the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox, D. D., 
 was brought to Brooklyn through his influence. 
 
 In his retirement at Great Barrington, Mass., Mr. Leavitt spent 
 many happ}' 3'ears dispensing a generous hospitality, and watching 
 with serene composure the progress of events in wdiich he had afore- 
 time been a leader. He was a man of commanding presence and 
 courtl}- manners. His erect form, with long white hair and broad- 
 brimmed hat, was readil}' recognized as he passed through Wall 
 Street. He wore a white cravat about his neck, and dressed in 
 
JAMES a BLISS. 177 
 
 ministerial black, so tliat he was <>ftcn mistaken for a elcrg3'man. 
 He was indeed the clergyman's friend, as well as the friend of every 
 one who needed his assistance ; and many are the pleasant incidents 
 which the old merchants still relate of his personal helpfnlness. 
 
 He died peacefully in New York City, on the 30th of December, 
 1879, at the ripe age of eighty-eight years. 
 
 James C. Bliss, M. D., (1842-1855,) was born in JBcnning- 
 ton, Vt, January 3, 1791. Having commenced the study of 
 medicine, he came to New York in the winter of 1811-12 
 and entered the oflfice of Dr. Borrowe, became resident house 
 surgeon of the New York Hospital, and graduated at the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1815. He then en- 
 tered on the long and successful career which placed him 
 among the foremost members of his profession in this city. 
 He held important offices in numerous medical, scientific, hu- 
 mane, and charitable institutions ; and performed an amount 
 of gratuitous service in the families of clergymen and the offi- 
 cers of religious societies, and among the destitute and suffer- 
 ing, which made him a benefactor of the whole community. 
 
 His religious life began in childhood, and developed with 
 uncommon vigor, intelligence, and power. For many years 
 he served as an elder in the South Dutch Church, and later in 
 the Bleecker Street and Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church. 
 He early took an active part in the New York Young Men's 
 Missionary Society and the New York Religious Tract Society. 
 Of the latter he became corresponding secretary in 1821, and 
 within about one year prepared for the press of the society, 
 chiefly by labors at night after the professional services of the 
 day, no less than seventy-five children's tracts, by the circula- 
 tion of which its operations were soon more than doubled. 
 He urged strongly the importance of nationalizing the insti- 
 tution ; and the first meeting for consultation and prayer on 
 the subject was held at his house, at the corner of Broad and 
 Garden Streets, in February, 1825. When the American 
 Tract Society was at length formed, he was among its most 
 12 
 
178 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 devoted friends. As a member of its distributing and execu- 
 tive committees, he labored for more than thirty years with 
 the utmost zeal and fidelity. The records of the executive 
 committee show that, notwithstanding unavoidable absences 
 to meet professional calls, and his own occasional attacks of 
 sickness, he was present at 375 out of 416 stated and special 
 meetings of this committee. For twenty-eight years he was 
 secretary of the committee, and kept its minutes. On his 
 death-bed he expressed his gratitude that he had been per- 
 mitted to associate with such men of God as Milnor, Willett, 
 Stokes, Timothy B,. Green, and others like them, in the service 
 of the Master. He died in the peace and triumph of Chris- 
 tian faith, on July 31, 1855. Although not one of its founders, 
 he was a devoted friend and influential Director of the Union 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
 James Woods McLane, D.D., (1842-1864,) was born at 
 Charlotte, N. C, May 22, 1801. He graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in the class of 1828 ; studied theology at Andover ; 
 was ordained in 1835 ; and later became pastor of the Madi- 
 son Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. 
 Here he labored eight years, when he was called to the First 
 Presbyterian Churcli in Williamsburg, N. Y., where he con- 
 tinued until failing health led him to resign. He died on 
 February 26, 1864. Dr. McLane was an able, scholarly man, 
 positive and imcompromising in his opinions, intensely hostile 
 to all innovations upon the old orthodoxy, especially to every- 
 thing that he thought savored of " German theology," and 
 very decided in maintaining his own position. He was an 
 earnest preacher, a faithful pastor, and an eminently good 
 man. He served the Union Seminary as its Recorder for a 
 score of years. He was greatly esteemed by his brethren ; 
 and those who attended his funeral cannot have forgotten the 
 singularly beautiful and edifying address which Dr. William 
 Adams delivered on the occasion. 
 
CYRUS PORTER S^^TH. 179 
 
 Cyeus Porter Smith (1844-1.848) was born at Hanover, 
 N. H., April 5, 1800. Like so many New England boys who 
 have won their way to eminence in the various spheres of life, 
 he worked on his father's farm, and attended the district 
 school in the winter. In 1824 he graduated from Dartmouth 
 College, having supported himself while there by teaching 
 during the winter. He studied law with Chief Justice T. H. 
 Williams, of Hartford, Conn., and was admitted to practise in 
 1827. He had a remarkable voice, and sustained himself, 
 while pursuing his legal studies, by teaching music and sing- 
 ing. In his singing school at Bristol, Conn., he first met the 
 lady who became his wife, Lydia Lewis Hooker, a direct de- 
 scendant of Rev. Thomas Hooker, " father of the Connecticut 
 churches." 
 
 In September, 1827, he came to Brooklyn, with little money 
 and no friends, and for seven months he never saw a client 
 nor made a dollar by his profession. But this did not dis- 
 courage him. He soon became the choir-master of the First 
 Presbyterian Church, in which position he continued thirty- 
 two years. He was a member of that church for fifty years, 
 served it as a deacon and elder, and for forty years was 
 chairman of its board of trustees. 
 
 Mr. Smith's lire was closely connected with the life and 
 growth of the town. In 1833 he was chosen clerk of the 
 Board of Trustees of the Village of Brooklyn, and Corporation 
 Counsel of Brooklyn from 1835 to 1839. In 1839 he was 
 chosen Mayor by the Aldermen, and at the first election by 
 the people in 1840 he was again chosen, holding the office 
 until 1842. In 1856 and 1857 he was a State Senator. For 
 thirty years (1838-1868) he was a member and president of 
 the Board of Education. He was also an original incorpo- 
 rator of the Greenwood Cemetery Association, and a trustee 
 until his death. In connection with General Robert Nichols 
 he founded a hospital, which is now the City Hospital, and in 
 which he was a trustee to the time of his death. He was also 
 
180 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 a trustee of the Polytechnic and Packer Institute, of the House 
 of Refuge on Randall's Island, and of various other institu- 
 tions. He died on February 13, 1877. 
 
 Rev. William B. Lewis (1844-1849) was born on July 29, 
 1812, and died, after a lingering illness, on December 27, 1849. 
 He was pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, 
 N. Y. He had the reputation of being a critical and exact 
 scholar in the original languages of the Bible, a theologian 
 of clear thought, a devout man, and a faithful minister of 
 Christ. 
 
 Horatio X. Brinsmade, D. D., (1844-1851,) was born at 
 New Hartford, Conn,, December 28, 1798. Graduating at 
 Yale College in 1822, he at once entered Princeton Seminary, 
 where he spent nearly a year, and then went to Hartford and 
 completed his theological studies under the care of the Rev. 
 Joel Hawes, D. D., teaching at the same time, and for several 
 years later, in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in that city. He 
 was licensed to preach in 1824 by the North Congregational 
 Association of Hartford, and ordained by the same body as an 
 evangelist in 1828 ; in 1831 he began to preach at Collinsville, 
 Conn., serving for two years a Congregational church which 
 was organized there in 1832. In February, 1835, he was in- 
 stalled over the First Congregational Church at Pittsfield, 
 Mass. After laboring here for six years he accepted a call 
 to the Third Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J., where he 
 remained twelve years. His next pastorate was at Beloit, 
 Wis., where he continued until 1861. He then returned to 
 Newark, and gathered a new congregation, which he served 
 until 1872. He died at Newark, on January 18, 1879. Dr. 
 Brinsmade was a man of large and generous views, full of 
 zeal for the kingdom of Christ, an earnest, spiritual preacher, 
 a model pastor, greatly beloved, and signally useful in his day 
 and generation. 
 
DAVID HOADLEY. 181 
 
 Samuel W. Fisher, D. D., LL. D., (1846-1848,) was born 
 in Morristown, N. J., April 5, 1814. He graduated at Yale 
 College in 1835, and studied theology at Princeton for two 
 years, and for another year at the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary. In 1839 he was settled at West Bloomfield, in 1843 
 became pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church at Albany, 
 and in 1846 was installed over the Second Presbyterian Church 
 in Cincinnati, where he labored successfully eleven years. In 
 1858 he accepted a call to the presidency of Hamilton Col- 
 lege, and in 1867 resumed the pastoral work in Westminster 
 Church, Utica. After several years of broken health, he died, 
 on January 18, 1874, at College Hill, Ohio. Dr. Fisher was a 
 man of marked and varied ability, positive in his convictions, 
 with a lofty sense of right and duty, full of glowing zeal for 
 the cause of humanity, an eloquent speaker, and a most ear- 
 nest preacher of the Gospel. 
 
 David Hoadley (1846-1873) was born at Waterbury, 
 Conn., February 13, 1806. A few years later his father re- 
 moved with the family to New Haven. It was the desire of 
 his parents that he should go to college and then enter one of 
 the professions ; and with this end in view he pursued a course 
 of preparatory study at New Haven, and for a year at Phillips 
 Academy, Andover, Mass. Owing, however, to a frail consti- 
 tution and impaired health, he changed his plan of life, and 
 decided upon a business career. He became a clerk in the 
 drug store of Hotchkiss and Durant, remaining in New Haven 
 until 1827, when he started for New York in quest of fortune. 
 Here he entered, as a partner, the firm of Frisby and Ely. At 
 twenty-four he was left at tlie head of the house. He then 
 associated with himself Mr. George D. Phelps, and, later, Mr. 
 John W. Fowler, when the firm became widely known under 
 the name of Hoadley, Phelps, &, Co. In 1848 he retired from 
 the drug business. After serving for some years as vice- 
 president of the American Exchange Bank, he accepted the 
 
182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 presidency of the Panama Railroad, a position which he held 
 for eighteen years. During the last eight years of his life he 
 resided at Englewood, N. J., where he died on August 20, 1873, 
 lamented by the whole community. 
 
 Mr. Hoadley combined in an unusual degree the qualities 
 which make a man strong and efficient in the world of busi- 
 ness, personally beloved, and useful as a member of society. 
 His religious, like his natural character, was very attractive ; 
 his humility and his solid worth were equally conspicuous ; 
 and both as a private member, and for more than a third 
 of a century a ruling elder, of the Presbyterian Church, he 
 enjoyed the confidence and affection alike of his pastor and 
 all his brethren. For years he was associated with William 
 E. Dodge, Christopher R. Robert, and others like them, in the 
 session of the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church, during 
 the pastorate of Dr. Asa D. Smith. His service in the Direc- 
 tory of the Union Theological Seminary continued for twenty- 
 seven years. On the occasion of his death, the Board ex- 
 pressed its " gratitude to God that one so pure, so gentle and 
 faithful," had been spared to the world so long. 
 
 Edwin F. Hatfield, D.D., (1846-1883,) was born at Eliza- 
 bethtown, N. J., January 9, 1807. He graduated from Middle- 
 bury College, Vermont, in the class of 1829 ; studied theology 
 for two years at Andover, and then accepted a call to the pas- 
 torate of the Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo. In 
 1835 he became pastor of the Seventh Presbyterian Church 
 in the city of New York, succeeding the Rev. Elihu W. Bald- 
 win, who had been appointed President of Wabash College, 
 Indiana. The Seventh Church was organized on March 27, 
 1818, and, under the faithful ministry of Dr. Baldwin, had 
 grown strong and prosperous. Dr. Hatfield continued its pas- 
 tor until 1856. During this period he received to its fellow- 
 ship 1,556 persons on confession, and 662 persons by letter. 
 Several remarkable seasons of awakening attended his labors. 
 
EDWIN F. HATFIELD. 183 
 
 He was a preacher of deep spiritual earnestness and power, 
 and great crowds flocked to hear him. In 1856 he was in- 
 stalled over the North Presbyterian Church, near Thirty-first 
 Street. In 1863, owing to loss of health, he retired from the 
 pastorate. Dr. Hatfield was an accomplished ecclesiastic, 
 perfectly versed in all the affairs of the church. From 1846 
 until his death he was stated clerk of the General Assembly 
 of the Presbyterian Church, first of the New School branch 
 and then of the reunited body. He was also a member oi 
 the Reunion Committee of 1866. The General Assembly that 
 met at Saratoga in 1883 elected him as its moderator, and, 
 although in his seventy-seventh year, he discharged the duties 
 of the position with the readiness and energy of a man of 
 fifty. This honor fitly crowned his long and invaluable ser- 
 vices to the church which he loved. He died at Summit, 
 N. J., on September 22, 1883. 
 
 Dr. Hatfield was a frequent contributor to the religious 
 press, and the author of 3Iemoir of J^liJm W. Baldwin, D. D. ; 
 The History of EUzahetli, N. J. ; The Church Hymn-Book 
 with Tunes; and other works. After his death appeared. 
 The Poets of the Church, a Series of Biographical Sketches of 
 Hymn Writers, with notes on their hymns. His large library, 
 presented by his children to the Union Theological Seminary, 
 was especially rich in the department of hymnology. His 
 connection with the Seminary as a member of its Board of 
 Directors continued thirty-seven years. For ten years he 
 filled the office of its Recorder. Of his labors as its financial 
 agent, I have spoken elsewhere.^ 
 
 In 1876, on its fortieth anniversary, he delivered a very 
 
 1 In a mimite of the Board of Directors, adopted January 1.3, 1875, in whicli 
 they express to Dr. Hatfield their tlianks for liis services as special financial 
 agent of the Seminary, these services are said to have been the moans by 
 which "the initial steps were taken in tliat work of endowment, vvhicii has 
 since been carried on to a complete success." This is a mistake, the initial 
 steps having been taken, as stated in the Address, through the agency of Mr. 
 Gallagher. 
 
184 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 valuable historical discourse, afterwards published under the 
 title, The Early Annals of the Union Tlieological Seminary 
 in the City of New York. While Dr. Hatfield cherished an 
 ardent affection for the Presbyterian Church, his affection for 
 the Church of Christ was stronger still. His life in New 
 York extended over nearly half a century, and was filled with 
 usefulness. He had a happy home, his old age was serene 
 and cheerful, and he died, as he had lived, in the peace of God. 
 Among the pleasantest recollections of my pastoral life are 
 hours spent with him in his library, where companionship 
 with books was constantly brightened by the loving compan- 
 ionship of his wife and children and friends. 
 
 Francis Peoples Schoals (1847-1850) showed his interest 
 in this Seminary by endowing the Fellowship which bears his 
 name. One who knew him well writes to me as follows : — 
 
 Francis P. Schoals was for many years connected with the Spring 
 Street Church under the pastorates of Drs. Patton and Campbell. 
 Here he was well known by bis consistent Cliristian character. An 
 active business man, his success always marked tlie increase of his 
 benevolent gifts. His sympathies were generous and broad, and so 
 his gifts were widely diffused. While not known in pubUc life, he 
 is still to be numbered among the public's benefactors, for he never 
 drew back from personal service, and had a " conscience for giv- 
 ing." Like many of his contemporaries, he " builded better than 
 he knew," and in not a few private circles, as well as in public 
 institutions, he will be long remembered, not only for what he gave, 
 but for what he was. 
 
 John Center Baldwin (1848-1870) was born at Danville, 
 Yt., on March 29, 1800, and died at Orange, N. J., on April 
 21, 1870. He belonged to one of the oldest and most noted 
 New England families. Its records go back to 1500, and 
 abound in worthy and distinguished names. A younger 
 brother of John C, Henry Porter Baldwin, was twice elected 
 
JOHN CENTER BALDWIN. 185 
 
 Governor of Michigan, and later succeeded Zachary Chandler 
 as United States Senator from that State. While still young, 
 John moved to Brimlield, Mass., where he made public con- 
 fession of Christ, and entered upon his business life. His 
 mercantile career was chiefly in the cities of Baltimore and 
 New York. Starting without means of his own, by industry, 
 prudence, and rigid economy he soon laid the foundations of 
 an estate which enabled him to become one of the most mu- 
 nificent and useful philanthropists of his day. In a sermon 
 on The Influence of the Dead upon the Living, preached by 
 Dr. William Adams, his pastor for a third of a century, first 
 in the old Broome Street Church and then in the Madison 
 Square Presbyterian Church, he is thus referred to: ^ — 
 
 Within a few days a member of this church, a man of such mod- 
 est habits that he would have shrunk from the public mention of 
 his own name, Mr. John C. Baldwin, has been removed by death. 
 For more than thirty years, as his pastor, I have known hira as an 
 humble, unpretending, sincere Christian. After all he had done in 
 dispensing chanty after the ordinai-y manner of our times through- 
 out his life, fifteen years ago he set himself resolutel}^ about the 
 matter of executing his own wiU. Convinced of the great impor- 
 tance of our colleges, our seminaries, our hospitals and asylums, 
 and all agencies connected with humanity, learning, and religion, 
 he distributed his property among them according to a most intelli- 
 gent judgment. Not to mention gifts to kuidred and friends, for 
 whom he has done all that kindness could suggest, he has within 
 the period of time I have mentioned given to public institutions in 
 our citv and countrj', within my own knowledge, between eight and 
 nine hundred thousand dollars. Think now how this man of infirm 
 health, long struggling with disease, has perpetuated his life and 
 influence on earth. And this, you will observe, was not the dis- 
 position of property on compulsion, when death was about to wring 
 from his hands what he could hold no longer, but the action of one 
 resolved to be liis own executor, instead of leaving his recorded 
 will to contingencies and uncertainty and foilurc. 
 
 In another notice of Mr. Baldwin's death, also written prob- 
 ably by Dr. Adams, occurs this passage : — 
 
186 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 The influence of this good man, from the seed planted in very 
 many of our educational and philanthropic institutions, will be felt 
 for ages in the moral and spiritual instruction of the j'outh of our 
 land, as well as in the healing mercies of the afflicted. He lived to 
 see much fruit of his good works. Those who have known him for 
 the last five 3'ears have witnessed a life which seemed prolonged 
 onlj' for the purpose of illustrating a true Christian stewardship of 
 propert}'. His benevolence was of a kind which did not require to 
 be bunted out. He would often send for the secretary of some 
 board, and pa}' over to him a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars, 
 besides sending the same amount to some other charitable insti- 
 tution. After he had only strength enough to sit up in his bed 
 and count out coupons or sign checks, and make his brief memo- 
 randa while some one held his inkstand, serenely contemplating 
 his own end as likelj' to come at any time, he appeared onl}- anxious 
 to dispose of his earthl}' substance in such a way as to accomplish 
 most for truth and humanit}-. Had one so feeble clung to his pos- 
 sessions as an idol, the}^ would have been a sad mockery of his 
 increasing weakness ; but as he employed them, they were the ver}' 
 sinews of moral power. From his silent sick-room he sent forth 
 influences which made glad the waste places far and wide. 
 
 It is estimated that Mr. Baldwin dispensed, chiefly before his 
 death, considerably over a million of dollars. He gave more 
 than one hundred thousand dollars to the Union Theological 
 Seminary, and was the founder of its " Baldwin Professor- 
 ship of Sacred Literature." I find it stated that he gave 
 twenty thousand dollars to endow the presidency of Wabash 
 College ; that he contributed ten thousand dollars to Hamil- 
 ton College, and that to Middlebury, Williams, Hamilton, and 
 Wabash Colleges he bequeathed not less than one hundred 
 and twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 I served with Mr. Baldwin on important committees of the 
 Board of Directors, and formed the highest opinion of his 
 character and his wisdom. He was indeed a true philanthro- 
 pist, deeply impressed with the feeling that life is a sacred 
 trust, and anxious to make the most of it in furtherance of 
 Christian truth and righteousness in the world. It is very 
 
JONATHAN B. CONDIT. 187 
 
 pleasant to pay this tribute to the memory of so modest and 
 good a man. 
 
 Rev. W. H. Bidwell (1850-1857) was born at Farmington, 
 Conn., June 21, 1798. Graduating at Yale College in 1827, 
 he studied theology there, and in 18B3 became pastor of the 
 Congregational Church at Medfield, Mass. In 1838, his voice 
 failing him, he resigned and removed to Philadelphia, where 
 he started the American National Preacher, which he con- 
 tinued to publish for nineteen years. From 1843 to 1855 he 
 was editor and proprietor of The New York Evangelist. In 
 1846 he became proprietor of the Eclectic Magazine and Bib- 
 lical Repository, and in 1860 of the American Theological 
 Review. After the war, he was appointed by Mr. Seward 
 United States special commissioner to visit various points in 
 Western Asia. He died on September 11, 1880. Mr. Bidwell 
 showed no little skill and versatility in his various literary 
 undertakings. He was of an excellent spirit, and as an editor 
 did good service to the cause of truth and piety. 
 
 Jonathan B. Condit, D.D., (1848-1851,) was born at 
 Hanover, N. J., December 16, 1808. He pursued both his 
 collegiate and theological studies at Princeton. In 1830 he 
 was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Newark. He 
 served successively as pastor of the Congregational Church 
 at Longmeadow, Mass. ; as Professor of Rhetoric in Am- 
 herst College ; as Pastor of the Second Parish in Portland, 
 Me.; as Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, New- 
 ark, N. J.; as Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral 
 Theology in Lane Seminary (1851-1855) ; and as Professor of 
 the same branches in Auburn Theological Seminary (1855- 
 1874). In 1861 he was elected moderator of the New School 
 General Assembly. He died at Auburn, January 1, 1876, in 
 the sixty-eighth year of his age. Dr. Condit was a man of 
 
188 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 very attractive qualities, a gifted preacher, a thoughtful, culti- 
 vated theologian, and a faithful servant of Christ. 
 
 Joseph C. Stiles, D. D., (1848-1852,) was born in Savan- 
 nah, Ga., December 6, 1795. Graduating at Yale College in 
 1811, he studied law at Litchfield, Conn., and entered upon 
 a professional career in his native town, which promised to 
 be brilliant and successful. In 1822 he left the law for the 
 study of divinity, which he pursued at Andover Theological 
 Seminary. Ordained in 1826, he labored for eight or nine 
 years as an evangelist, chiefly at his own charges, in the low 
 country of Georgia and in Florida, reviving old churches and 
 organizing new ones. In 1835 he removed to Kentucky, and 
 spent nine years in the West, taking an active part in the 
 exciting theological debates then the order of the day, as 
 well as preaching the Gospel. In 1814 he became pastor of 
 what was then the ShockoeHill Presbyterian Church, at Rich- 
 mond, Va. Four years later he accepted a call to the Mercer 
 Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. His 
 health failing, he resigned and returned to the South as gen- 
 eral agent of the American Bible Society. In 1853 he took 
 charge of the South Church, New Haven, Conn. Later, he 
 organized and devoted himself for several years to the service 
 of the Southern Aid Society, whose object was to help feeble 
 churches in the Slave States. During the closing years of 
 his life he labored as an evangelist in Georgia, Virginia, Ala- 
 bama, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, and Maryland. He died 
 on Marcli 27, 1875, in the eightieth year of his age. 
 
 Dr. Stiles was a splendid specimen of Christian manhood, 
 whole-souled, courageous, unselfish, of indomitable energy, yet 
 gentle, tender-hearted, and full of loving sympathies. As a 
 popular preacher and evangelist, he stood in the front rank. 
 At times the effect of his eloquence was marvellous ; for it 
 combined in an uncommon degree intellectual power, impas- 
 sioned feeling, and that spiritual unction which comes of inti- 
 
JOHN ALFRED DAVENPORT. 189 
 
 mate communion with God and a deep personal experience of 
 His saving grace and love in Jesus Christ. 
 
 John Alfred Davenport (1851-1858) was born in Stam- 
 ford, Conn., June 24, 1783. He sprang from one of the oldest 
 and most honored Puritan stocks in New England, being a 
 lineal descendant of the Rev. John Davenport, the founder and 
 patriarch of New Haven. His father. Major John Davenport 
 of Stamford, was a Revolutionary patriot, and for many years 
 one of the Representatives of Connecticut in the American 
 Congress. The name of his grandfather, Colonel Abraham 
 Davenport, " a rough diamond " as he was often styled, is 
 famous in Connecticut annals. Governor Trumbull and Gen- 
 eral Washington always consulted him in the most trying 
 days of the Revolutionary war. His public spirit, his con- 
 siderate and large-hearted benevolence, his culture, good sense, 
 sagacity, and plain, homely virtues, rendered him one of the 
 remarkable men of his time. 
 
 President Dwight, in his Travels, gives two instances 
 of Colonel Davenport's extraordinary firmness. The 19th 
 of May, 1780, was long remembered as " the Dark Day." 
 Candles were lighted in many houses ; the birds were silent 
 and disappeared ; the fowls retired to roost. The Legislature 
 of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very 
 general opinion prevailed that the day of judgment was at 
 hand. The House of Representatives, being unable to trans- 
 act their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the 
 Council was under consideration. When the opinion of 
 Colonel Davenport, one of its members, was asked, he an- 
 swered, " I am against an adjournment. The day of judg- 
 ment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there 
 is no cause for an adjournment ; if it is, I choose to be found 
 doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be 
 brought." This is the incident so happily commemorated 
 by Whittier in his poem entitled Abraham, Davenjyort: — 
 
190 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 And there he stands in memory to this day, 
 Erect, self-poised, a rugged face, half seen 
 Against the back-ground of unnatural dark, 
 A witness to the ages as they pass, 
 That simple duty hath no place for fear. 
 
 The other instance took place at Danbury, at the court of 
 Common Pleas, of which he was Chief Justice. This vener- 
 able man, after he was struck with death, heard a considerable 
 part of a trial ; gave the charge to the jury ; and took notice 
 of an article in the testimony which had escaped the attention 
 of the counsel on both sides. He then retired from the bench, 
 and was soon after found dead in his bed. Of his country 
 and of all its great interests, adds President Dwight, he was 
 a pillar of granite. 
 
 With such an ancestry, it is no wonder that John Alfred 
 Davenport was himself a man of marked traits. And his 
 whole training had been fitted to bring out and strengthen 
 these native traits. He entered Yale College in 1802, — a 
 year memorable in the religious history of the institution, as 
 well as his own. Among his fellow students were Jeremiah 
 Evarts, Pelatiah Perit, and others, who in their day became 
 eminent in business and in public life. Dr. Dwight's acces- 
 sion to the presidency was one of the most important events 
 in its annals. A great spiritual awakening followed his com- 
 ing. At the administration of the Lord's supper on Sep- 
 tember 1, 1801, there was not a single undergraduate among 
 the communicants. A year later, twenty-five members of the 
 graduating class, with many from the other classes, sat down 
 together at the table of the Lord. One third of the class, 
 which numbered fifty-six, became ministers of the Gospel. 
 John A. Davenport was one of those who at this time began 
 to follow Christ. 
 
 Upon his graduation he came to New York, and for fifty 
 years was known among the prosperous merchants of the 
 city. His first pastor in New York was the Rev. Dr. John 
 
JASPER CORNING. 191 
 
 M. Mason, one of the most powerful preachers of the age. 
 When Dr. Mason removed from the city, Dr. McElroy became 
 his pastor ; afterwards the Rev. Mr. Christmas of the Bowery 
 Church, — in which, as a ruling elder, he spent some of the 
 most useful years of his life. Later he joined the Bleecker 
 Street Presbyterian Church, serving it as an elder ; and later 
 still removed to Brooklyn, where he helped to found the South 
 Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev, Samuel T. Spear was 
 for many years pastor. He served as an elder in this church 
 also, was one of its strong pillars, contributed liberally to its 
 pecuniary support, and to the end of his life took a deep 
 interest in its prosperity. His closing days were tranquilly 
 passed at New Haven, where he died on October 11, 1864, in 
 the eighty-second year of his age. 
 
 Jasper Corning (1851-1852) was born in Hartford, Conn., 
 December 15, 1792. He was trained in the common school, — 
 that nursery of so many of the most useful sons of New Eng- 
 land, — and while yet a boy entered as a clerk the dry goods 
 store of David L. Dodge. In 1811 he came to New York as 
 clerk in the house of Pratt and Smith, Pearl Street. Under 
 these employers he was trained to be a model business man, 
 accurate, prompt, and faithful in the least, no less than in the 
 greatest things. In 1813 he became deeply exercised on the 
 subject of personal religion, and after frequent conference with 
 his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, united with the Brick 
 Church. In 1817 he went to Buffalo to reside. Later he made 
 this brief record : " I tried while there to do something in the 
 service of my blessed Master. I super-intended the first Sun- 
 day school establislied in that village, and the first west of the 
 Genesee River." After residing for several years in Charles- 
 ton, S, C, and then in New Orleans, and devoting himself in 
 both cities to earnest Christian work, he came to Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., where as an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, 
 then under the care of the Rev. Dr. Spencer, he was widely 
 
192 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 known and esteemed. In 1851 Mr. Corning removed to this 
 city, and connected himself with the Madison Avenue Pres- 
 byterian Church, of which he also .became a most exemplary 
 and efficient ruling elder. One of his pastors, the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Bannard, testifies that he was unwearied in relieving 
 the poor and visiting the afflicted ; like Job, he was " eyes to 
 the blind and feet to the lame, while he caused the widow's 
 heart to sing for joy." He took a deep interest also in all 
 forms of evangelistic work, and was for years treasurer of 
 the American Home Missionary Society. His punctuality and 
 integrity of character as a business man were proverbial. 
 The Rev. Dr. Scott, who had been his pastor in New Or- 
 leans, said at his funeral : " Wall Street has lost one of its 
 purest and most honored names ; and I verily believe, if it had 
 been necessary to call ten righteous men to save the city, 
 Jasper Corning would have been one of them." Mr. Corning 
 died in the peace and hope of the Gospel, on November 16, 
 1869, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. 
 
 Alfred E. Campbell, D. D., (1852-1859,) was born in 
 Cherry Valley, N. Y., in January, 1802. Graduating at Union 
 College in 1820, he pursued his theological studies at Prince- 
 ton, and was then settled successively at Worcester, Newark, 
 Palmyra, Ithaca, and Cooperstown. At the last place he 
 labored with much acceptance for twelve years. In 1848 he 
 became pastor of the Spring Street Church in the city of 
 New York, and in 1858, secretary of the American and 
 Foreign Christian Union. He died on December 28, 1874. 
 Dr. Campbell was a genial, warm-hearted man, kind, sym- 
 pathetic, beloved by his ministerial brethren, and a useful 
 servant of Christ in his day and generation. 
 
 Joseph Fewsmith, D.D., (1852-1888,) was born in Pliila- 
 delphia, January 7, 1816. Graduating at Yale College in 
 1840, he studied theology under Dr. Laurens P. Hickok at 
 
I 
 
 JOSEPH FEWSMiriL 193 
 
 Western Reserve College, became pastor of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Church at Valatic, N. Y., in 1841, and in 1843 of 
 the Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Va. In 1848 he was 
 appointed to the chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in 
 the Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1851 he accepted a call 
 to the Second Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J., where he 
 remained in active service until his death, on June 22, 1888. 
 He was one of the founders of the German Theological Semi- 
 nary at Bloomfield, N. J. ; was long president of the Board of 
 Church Erection ; and a Director for thirty-six years of the 
 Union Theological Seminary. The character of this emi- 
 nently wise and good man is very happily delineated in the 
 following tribute to his memory by the Rev. W. C. Stitt, D. D., 
 of New York : — 
 
 It was more in the balance of many excellent qualities than in 
 the prominence of an}- single trait, that we can find the reason for 
 his undoubted eminence in his profession. With a dignified carriage 
 and pleasing presence, a voice that was grateful to the ear and 
 especially adapted to tlie solemn utterance of sacred truth, a piety 
 undoubted, a robust common sense, a delicate and sensitive re- 
 gard to the refinements and courtesies of life, an excellent mind, 
 well stored and trained, and a sympathetic nature, he had ele- 
 ments of success combined in a wav to secure it. As a preacher, 
 he was simple, solid, solemn, earnest, spiritual, edifying, clinging 
 closely to the cross and its tenderest teachings. He often so im- 
 pressed his people by a sermon in the ordinary course of his minis- 
 trations, as to convince them of its usefulness in a printed form, 
 and to force them to call for its publication. In public prayer he 
 was full of unction. As a pastor, he reached his highest eminence, 
 knowing when to speak and what to sa}' to families in their sorrows 
 and trials, to individuals in their temptations, business worries, 
 and various burdens. In times of religious interest his power was 
 felt in the whole community ; and the absolute confidence always 
 felt in his sincerity, opened the door wide to his influence in pra^'er 
 and speech in his own church or in union services elsewhere. In 
 the conduct of funeral services perhaps Dr. Fewsmith had no su- 
 perior. In purit}' of taste, in the variety of his utterance, in his 
 perfect tact and his wise self- restrained fidelity to God's word, in his 
 
 13 
 
194 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 power to search the conscience without personal offence, and above 
 all, in the deep spirituality of his consolation of the bereaved, he 
 was an acknowledged master. 
 
 On occasions he would abandon his manuscript, and the quiet 
 dignity of delivery which usually accompanied it, and flame forth 
 with a nobility of diction, power of thought, and intensity of emo- 
 tion, which made us feel that he had a vocation to the extem- 
 poraneous form of preaching which he ought to have heard and 
 heeded. His culture was so complete, his vocabulary so full and 
 chaste, his taste so perfect, his Ufe so prayerful and earnest, his 
 voice so well controlled, and so powerful and pathetic under the 
 stress of strong emotion, that we cannot but feel that it was a 
 mistaken judgment on his part, or an unfortunate timiditj- of tem- 
 perament, that prevented his becoming what lay within the scope 
 of his gracious and natural endowments, namel}-, one of the best 
 extemporaneous preachers of the day. 
 
 His dying was ideal. On the evening of June 21, the session 
 of the Second Presbyterian Church wailed on him and acquainted 
 him with a resolution the}' had passed to extend his vacation until 
 October 1st, in the hope that his health would be recruited, and 
 his wonted tone recovered. He was much pleased, but cheerfully 
 added that he hoped to resume his duties earlier than the date 
 named. The next morning, while dressing, he was attacked b}'- 
 apoplexy, and clasping his wife's hand and uttering the words " God 
 be with you ! " he passed in a few minutes into the rest of heaven. 
 After a long pastorate among a people who prized him as the best 
 of men, after building a magnificent sanctuary in the last year of 
 his ministry, after entering a new parsonage built with a view to 
 his personal comfort, in the fulness of his j-ears, without iniinful 
 decay of body or mind, he suddenly is not, for God has taken him 
 with his harness on. He is missed and mourned not only by the 
 church he served, but also hy Christians of every name and by 
 citizens of ever}' class in the city of Newark. 
 
 Dr. Fewsmitli's last public service to the Seminary was 
 giving the charge to Professor Schaff upon his inauguration 
 as the successor of Dr. Hitchcock in the chair of Churcli His- 
 tory. Like all his public utterances, it was sensible, appro- 
 priate, and in excellent taste. Asa member of the Board of 
 Directors he was a model of punctuality and faithful service. 
 
JAMES BOORMAN. 195 
 
 James Boorman (1852-18GG^ was born in Kenf, Enjjland, 
 in 1783. In 1795 he came to this country and was appren- 
 ticed to Davie Bcthune, a noted mercliant of that day and 
 father of the celebrated divine and pulpit orator, Dr. George 
 W. Bethune. In 1805, on coming of age, he was taken into 
 partnership with Mr. Betlmne. Eight years later, in 1813, 
 the partnership was dissolved, and he founded the firm of 
 Boorman and Johnston. For a long time after its forma- 
 tion, this house enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the Dundee 
 trade. At a later period, it introduced the iron of Sweden 
 into the American market, and for many years stood at the 
 head of the iron trade of New York. It carried on also 
 large dealings in Virginia tobacco. For more than half a 
 century it ranked among the most stable, prosperous, and 
 honored firms in the city. In 1839 Mr. Boorman founded the 
 Bank of Commerce, and his name stands first on the list of 
 the original board of directors of that institution. For many 
 years he was one of the most active and influential members 
 of the Chamber of Commerce. But his greatest service and 
 achievement were in the planning and construction of the 
 Hudson River Railroad. This work is an enduring monu- 
 ment of his sagacity, enterprise, and perseverance. There was 
 at the time no railroad connection between this city and the 
 State capital, and the North River was closed, on an average, 
 more than one hundred days each year. It is doubtful if any 
 other New York merchant could have carried tlirough this 
 formidable undertaking with the indomitable energy and de- 
 termination which Mr. Boorman put into it. He was one of 
 the original corporators, and for a long time president, of the 
 Hudson River Railroad Company. In 1855 he retired from 
 business witli a record unspotted by any suspicion of other 
 than upright dealing. He departed this life on the 24th of 
 January, 1866, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Boorman commenced his Christian life wliile a member 
 of the Laight Street congregation, then under the pastoral 
 
196 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 care of the Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox. I once heard from the lips 
 of Dr. Cox a deeply interesting account of his conversion. 
 He was a man of great self-restraint, undemonstrative, and 
 not easily moved. But his exercises of mind on this occasion 
 stirred him to the depths of his being : he confessed himself 
 a lost sinner, and accepted Christ as his Saviour with the 
 ingenuousness and simj)licity of a child ; and his whole sub- 
 sequent course showed how sincerely and thoroughly he gave 
 himself up to the service of God. Accustomed to take large 
 views in the sphere of business and worldly affairs, he carried 
 the same habit of mind into religion. His charities embraced 
 the principal organizations of benevolence, both in the city 
 and country ; they were numerous, constant, discriminating, 
 and often on a very liberal scale. He was one of the earliest 
 members of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, and con- 
 tinued in its fellowship until his death. Its successive pastors 
 were sustained and cheered by his steadfast friendship, his 
 wise counsels and his unfailing generosity. He was very con- 
 servative in his sentiments, both theological and political, — 
 more so at times than his minister; but while decided in his 
 own views, he respected an honest difference of opinion and 
 was a parishioner to be trusted and leaned upon. He was 
 especially conservative on the subject of slavery, and looked 
 with strong disfavor upon the whole Abolition movement, 
 as well as its leaders and supporters. This was owing in 
 part, no doubt, to his early and intimate business relations 
 with the South. The so-called " Southern Aid Society," of 
 which he was president, was largely sustained by his lib- 
 erality. He did not cease to cherish to the last the memory 
 of his old friends in Virginia. No sooner was the war over 
 than his charities began again to flow South. In a letter to 
 the Rev. Dr. Read of Richmond, dated only a few weeks be- 
 fore his death, he writes : — 
 
 Your application to me for aid in rebuilding the place of worshii) 
 of the " United Presbyterian Church," which was destroyed by fire 
 
JAMES BOOKMAN. 197 
 
 on the evacufition of the cit}' hy W\o. Con fode rate army, has led my 
 mind vividly back to reminiscences of the mercantile men who 
 occupied that field at the beginning of the present century, and of 
 many of their successors in later years, to whose patronage and 
 confidence as their commercial agent here 1 am in no small de- 
 gree indebted for my success in the pursuit to which Providence 
 directed me. 
 
 Referring to the pleasure with which he had subscribed 
 fifteen hundred dollars to aid in rebuilding the church edifice, 
 he adds : — 
 
 The desolation of your beautiful city must have left many of 
 your population in destitution and want ; permit me, therefore, to 
 hand you the enclosed check for one thousand dollars to your or- 
 der, with the request that you, in conjunction with your trustees, 
 will apply it, as need and opportunit3- offer, to the relief of such 
 subjects of want as your discretion may dictate. 
 
 I have spoken in the Address of the Davenport Professor- 
 ship which he founded. The following extract from a letter 
 to the Board of Directors, dated April 25, 1853, affords a 
 beautiful comment upon his motive in founding it : — 
 
 There are few families in which the inestimable benefits of Gos- 
 pel nurture have been more practically developed than in that of 
 the Rev. John Davenport, the first minister of New Haven. Mrs. 
 Boorman is descended from him in a direct fine. I have for some 
 time past had a desire to evince mj' respect for and veneration of 
 the name by some permanent testimonial of the grateful sense I 
 have felt to the kind Providence which brought me in connection 
 with it. I think the present a fitting opportunity'. I therefore 
 propose to raise my subscription to the endowment fund of the 
 Seminary now in progress to the sum of twent\' thousand dollars, 
 on condition that my contribution of one thousand dollars per 
 annum during the last five years, be deemed by the Board of Direc- 
 tors such a compliance with Art. VI. as to entitle me to exercise 
 the privilege of naming a Professorship. 
 
 By his marriage Mr. Boorman was brought into peculiarly 
 close relations with Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, for whom his 
 
198 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 esteem and affection were very great. To this esteem and 
 affection the Union Theological Seminary is in no small 
 degree indebted for his strong and effective interest in its 
 prosperity. 
 
 Anson G. Phelps, Jr., (1852-1858,) was born in the city 
 of New York, October 18, 1818. He was the fifth child and 
 only son of Anson G. Phelps and Olivia, his wife. At the 
 age of eight years he was placed in the school of the Rev. Mr. 
 Stebbins at West Haven, Conn. In 1830 he was sent to the 
 school of Mr. Ely of South Hadley, Mass. He became much 
 attached to this spot, the picturesque beauty of the scenery 
 making upon him a vivid impression. He regarded South 
 Hadley also as the birthplace of his new life in Christ. In 
 1833 he accompanied his parents on a visit to Europe. After 
 his return, at the age of fifteen, he entered his father's office, 
 and began a mercantile career. But he never engaged in it 
 with enthusiasm. Other interests lay nearer his heart and 
 occupied much of his thought and time. He was passion- 
 ately devoted to music, which he studied at home and abroad. 
 He had a special delight in the organ, which he played upon 
 often late into the night. He delighted also in books, and 
 collected a fine libraiy of his own. At its organization, in 
 1835, the family became connected with the Mercer Street 
 Presbyterian Church, then under the pastoral care of Dr. 
 Skinner. In 1840, in consequence of ill-health, Anson revis- 
 ited Europe, and remained abroad a year. A part of the time 
 was spent in France, and in travel through the East. Wher- 
 ever he went, he sought out the libraries and heard all the 
 best music. The old church music, to which he devoted spe- 
 cial study, entranced him. Indeed, had he simply followed 
 his own impulse, he would willingly have remained abroad for 
 years, giving himself up to the culture and gratification of his 
 aesthetical tastes. On returning to his native land, he resumed 
 his place in the firm of Phelps, Dodge, & Co. In November, 
 
ANSON G. PHELPS, JR. 199 
 
 1845, he was married to Miss Jane Gibson, of New York, a 
 union full of blessing to him. 
 
 For some time after his return from Europe, Mr. Phelps's 
 religious life seemed to be in a state of eclipse. He passed 
 through a season of great spiritual apathy and trial. But 
 when, by the blessing of God, he at length emerged from it, 
 his path was thenceforth like " the shining light that shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day." The last ten years of 
 his life were marked by a pious zeal and self-devotion of the 
 rarest type, and were crowded with usefulness. He became 
 known all over the land, and even beyond the sea, as a Chris- 
 tian philanthropist. He passed away from earth very sud- 
 denly, on May 18, 1858. The funeral services were held in 
 the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church on May 20, and such 
 eminent ministers of Christ as the Rev. Drs. Thomas DeWitt, 
 Asa D. Smith, George W. Bethune, and William Adams took 
 part in them, and gave expression to the sentiment of mingled 
 affection and sorrow which pervaded the community. Mr. 
 Phelps's benevolence, like his piety, was of the most catholic 
 sort, and embraced so large a number of objects that it would 
 require no little space barely to enumerate them. But his 
 services to the Union Theological Seminary deserve special 
 mention in this sketch of his life. The following account is 
 taken from a memoir written by his friend, Prof. Henry B. 
 Smith, and printed not long after his death. 
 
 In 1851 it became necessary to make decided efforts to relieve 
 the Seminary from pecuniary embarrassments. Dr. Prentiss and his 
 church were thoronghly enlisted in this work ; that chnrch from first 
 to last has been as a staff to this institution, ever ready to help it 
 in its emergencies, and contributing about one third of its perma- 
 nent endowment. Mr. Phelps, not only by his money, but also by 
 his active efforts, largely aided in securing this result. He gave in 
 all, during his life, not less than eighteen thousand dollars, besides 
 occasional aid to temporary objects. He was a member of the 
 committee appointed in February, 1852, at a meeting called at 
 
200 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 the house of Charles Butler, Esq., to procure an endowment of 
 one hundred thousand dollars for the Institution, and obtained sev- 
 eral large subscriptions to it. When it was found that seven thou- 
 sand dollars were needed to complete the amount and make the 
 subscription binding, he promptly- added thirty-five hundred dollars 
 to his original subscription. The sum was made up, and the largest 
 donor then added three thousand dollars to his subscription. All 
 the students' rooms in the Seminary were furnished at his sole 
 charge. The second subscription, begun in 1856, to raise the en- 
 dowment to two hundred thousand dollars, was started at his house ; 
 to this he subscribed five thousand dollars. To the Library- and to 
 the students he made occasional donations of books. At the period 
 of the severe mercantile pressure of 1857, when the students were 
 in great need, and when he himself was pressed by numerous en- 
 gagements, he gave during the winter about fifteen hundred dol- 
 lars for their relief, and for the furnishing of their rooms. The 
 annual bills for repairs sometimes passed through his hands, and 
 he would not allow them to go to the treasurer. A casual allusion, 
 in a report upon the Librar}', to the need of a fire-proof building 
 for the security of this invaluable collection (the Van Ess), led him 
 at once, as appears from the dates, with cliaracteristic promptitude, 
 to put into his will a noble bequest of tliirty thousand dollars for 
 that object. ... To the annual collection in the Mercer Street 
 Church for the current expenses of the institution, he also made 
 liberal contributions. In him the Seminary deplores the loss of one 
 of its best and wisest friends. The Rev. Joseph S. Gallagher, to 
 whom the Seminary is under such invaluable obligations for his wis- 
 dom and energy in completing its endowments, says : " My labor in 
 connection with the Seminary is self-denying and trying to my sen- 
 sibilities ; and I owe more to the sympathy, counsel, encouragement, 
 and aid of Mr. Phelps, for whatever success I have had, than it is 
 possible to describe. I never had occasion to solicit his benefac- 
 tions, for they were always volunteered with the greatest clieerful- 
 ness. I admired him as a Christian philanthropist, as a man of great 
 discrimination and solid judgment, and I loved him as a friend and 
 a brother. His example will doubtless do much to stimulate others 
 to good works. A friend of mine, who, though personally unac- 
 quainted with him, greatly admired him, soon after his death saw 
 his name on a subscription book for five hundred dollars, and, after 
 writing beneath it, ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,' 
 
AN SOX G. PHELPS, JR. 201 
 
 subscribed a like amount. At the close of the Seminary term in 
 May, 1858, only a week or two before his lamented death, I called 
 to thank him for his liberal benefactions, saying I did not know how 
 we should have got through the year without him, when he replied 
 with great seriousness and humility, ' O, my friend, if 1 should be 
 taken away, God would raise up others, who would do far more for 
 this object than I have ever been able to do.' On this occasion 
 he advised me to take some recreation the ensuing summer, that 
 I might be prepared in the autumn to resume the etlbrts to com- 
 plete the endowment, (which had been suspended for a year on 
 account of the monetary crisis of 1857,) saying that he would 
 make an additional subscription of five thousand dollars, and hoped 
 that a friend he named would do the same. This was my last 
 interview with him. God indeed took him away, — took him to 
 Himself; and God has indeed raised up others to complete the 
 work which lay so near his heart." 
 
 At the time of his death, he was framing large plans for future 
 beneficence. One of these cherished projects was that of provid- 
 ing for the Union Theological Seminary, not only the completion 
 of its endowment, but also ampler accommodations for its growing 
 numbers. He had conferences with several of its friends about its 
 removal to a more eligible site, where suitable halls and rooms 
 might be provided, and had said, that, if the ground were given by 
 others, he would take it upon himself, b}* personal efforts, to see 
 to the erection of the edifices. ... To many of his friends, it will 
 be of interest to know that the institution to which he made the 
 largest bequest in his will was the very first to enlist his Christian 
 sympathy and liberality, after the quickening of his religious life. 
 The first collection made in the church, subsequently to this, was 
 in aid of the Union Theological Seminary. And it is characteristic 
 of him, that not even his wife knew what he had given until acci- 
 dentally informed of the fact by a third person. ''He was soon 
 afterwards invited to attend a meeting in behalf of the Seminary 
 at the Rev. Dr. Skinner's ; before he left home he spent some time 
 in prayer, and when he bade me good by, he asked me if I would 
 not pray for the success of the meeting while he was gone. He 
 has taken a deep interest in the Seminary ever since, rarely failing 
 to mention it in his prayers." These constant prayers testify to, 
 and in part explain, the deep interest he felt in this institution, 
 which had a foremost place in his affections. 
 
202 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 I cannot close this sketch of a dear friend of my own, as 
 well as a friend of the Union Seminary, without putting again 
 on record, still unchanged, a part of the tribute which I laid 
 upon his grave nearly thirty years ago. The character of 
 Anson G. Phelps, Jr. is one of the jewels of our history. 
 
 It has pleased Almighty God suddenly to take from us one who 
 was equally an ornament and a pillar of our strength. None knew 
 him but to honor and love him ; while those who knew him best 
 loved and honored him with an uncommon affection. They were 
 themselves scarcely aware of its great depth and fervor until it 
 pursued him across the immense chasm of the grave. He was one 
 of those rare beings wliose existence is a constant benediction, but 
 who move on through life with such noiseless steps, who speak and 
 act in a wa}' so unpretending, that, when the}' are gone, the world 
 is astonished to find out what a treasure it possessed in them. He 
 "put a strange face on his own perfection." Nobody thought so 
 little of him as he did of himself. Nobody has been so surprised 
 at the exalted eulogies pronounced upon him as he would have been, 
 had they been foretold to him. He shrank from mere publicity, 
 as the sensitive plant shrinks from the rude touch. He avoided 
 observation as eagerly as most men run after it. At the voice of 
 friendly praise and affection, I have seen his countenance tinged 
 with that delicate, pleased, half-blushing expression which delights 
 one in the face of a simple-hearted girl. I never knew a man whose 
 conduct was a fairer illustration of the sacred precepts, which bid 
 us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, 
 to esteem others better than ourselves, and in the performance 
 of our good deeds not to sound a trumpet before us, nor to let 
 our left hand know what our right hand doeth. Obedience to 
 these and similar precepts was with him instinctive. It seemed to 
 cost him no more effort than it costs the lark to sing, or the stars 
 to shine. 
 
 Hardly another man of his age, in this city or in this whole land, 
 was so identified with some of our most important Christian inter- 
 ests ; and yet it would have been next to impossible to make him 
 believe it. Hardl}' another man of his age among us gave to re- 
 ligious and philanthropic objects with so princely a hand ; and yet I 
 do not suppose he prided himself upon his charities one iota more 
 
WALTER SCOTT GRIFFITH. 203 
 
 than the poor widow, who, all ui^aware that the Son of God was 
 looking on, cast into the treasury her two mites, which make a 
 farthing. Nor was his piety towards God at all behind his benev- 
 olence to man, and his modest estimate of himself. He was a true 
 saint. He loved the person and the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 with an affection which overmastered every other. ... He was still 
 a .young man. Less than twoscore j^ears enclosed his mortal exist- 
 ence, and little more than ten years sufliced him to run his brilliant 
 course of Christian usefulness. . . . His home, especiall}' his rural 
 home, was the place where alone all the finer ti'aits of his character 
 were to be seen. There his cultivated taste, his gentle domestic 
 virtues, his love of nature, and the whole ideality of the man, shone 
 in all their lustre. His passion for the countrN' was like that of the 
 artist or the poet. He would sit bj' the hour on some favorite spot 
 overlooking the splendid scenery of the Hudson, and seem to 
 absorb into his ver3^ soul the glories of creation. There alone, or 
 hand in hand with his almost inseparable companion, he would 
 wander over his wide acres, sit down under the old trees, and muse 
 in silent wonder upon the things which are unseen and eternal. 
 
 Walter Scott Griffith (1855-1870) was born in the city 
 of New York, July 22, 1808, of a Welsh father and a Scotch 
 mother. At two years of age he was carried into pioneer life 
 by the removal of his parents to the interior of' the State. 
 Early thrown upon his own resources, he matured rapidly, and 
 evinced from the first traits which later distinguished him. 
 On leaving home he went to Rochester, where he passed sev- 
 eral years, first as a clerk in a grocery store, and then as a 
 wholesale grocer and forwarder, in company with his fatlier 
 and two uncles. Later he gave up his business at Rochester, 
 and at length established himself in New York, making his 
 family home in Brooklyn. In 1860 he organized the Home 
 Life Lisurauce Company of Brooklyn, with an office in New 
 York ; became its president, and so remained until his death. 
 His administration of its affairs was successful, and brought 
 prosperity to it from the first. He Twas connected as an officer 
 with numerous public institutions of Brooklyn and New York, 
 
204 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 and in them all was regarded as a clear-headed, prudent, ca- 
 pable, and trustworthy man. He organized the New York 
 Corn Exchange, writing its charter, serving as its vice-presi- 
 dent, and as chairman of its most important committees. He 
 occupied a highly lionorable position in the New York Cham- 
 ber of Commerce, was for many years on its executive com- 
 mittee, and also one of its vice-presidents. 
 
 Mr. Griffith was a man of vigorous and striking intellectual 
 qualities. His memory and perceptive powers were quite re- 
 markable. He seemed as familiar with localities, for example, 
 of which he had merely read descriptions, as if he had often 
 travelled over them. He was heard to describe the battle of 
 Gettysburg, giving small details of the face of the country, 
 and showing where different divisions of the national army 
 were placed, so vividly as at once to force the inquiry, " How 
 can you possibly remember so minutely, from having merely 
 seen it at the time of the engagement ? " But he was never 
 at Gettysburg. 
 
 In the great Brooklyn Park of several hundred acres, full 
 of varied scenery, he knew and spoke of all the roads and 
 walks, conversed about each noticeable clump of trees, the 
 bridges, the little knolls and glens, with perfect ease and 
 familiarity ; but though long a member of the Park Commis- 
 sion, and giving much time to his duties as commissioner, 
 secretary, and one of its auditing committee, he knew all 
 these from maps and conversation merely. Strange to say, 
 he was only once within the Park limits, and was then after 
 a brief stay driven away by a shower. 
 
 Mr. Griffith was an easy and effective speaker, and used the 
 pen also with skill. Had he enjoyed the advantages of a col- 
 legiate education, he would no doubt have made a still deeper 
 mark upon his generation. His religious life began during a 
 great awakening in Rochester, in 1830, under the preaching of 
 that remarkable servant of God, the Rev. Charles G. Finney. 
 His conversion, like that of so many under the preaching of 
 
WALTER SCOTT GRIFFITH. 205 
 
 Mr. Finney, was very thorough, and wrought with power on 
 his whole subsequent career. He was connected with the 
 Bleecker Street Presbyterian Church in this city ; then, suc- 
 cessively, with the South, Westminster, and First Presbyterian 
 Churches in Brooklyn ; and, last, with the Church of the Pil- 
 grims. By weight of character and talent, if not always in 
 official position, he was a leader in all of them. Although a 
 man of iron will, very determined, and at times perhaps too 
 severe in his moral judgments, his strong and somewhat 
 austere character was adorned with the finest personal quali- 
 ties. In the family, he was a pattern of unselfishness ; the 
 feelings of each and every one were to be consulted before his 
 own ; children and servants he treated with like unvarying 
 courtesy and kindness. Old servants would come back to him 
 for advice and help. An incident is told of his reaching a 
 seaside hotel, where his family spent the summer, in the very 
 early morning. He would not disturb them, but, sitting on the 
 veranda with his paper, saw an Irish nurse taking up water 
 from the sea for a child's bath, and noticed that as she stooped 
 her dress dipped in the water. It was the movement of an 
 instant for him to leave his seat and his reading, offer to 
 bring the water for her, then carry pailful after pailful, until 
 she had enough. His courtesy to others, particularly to 
 women, was chivalric, and was the same in the hurry of 
 business as in leisure. His clerks said that he never spoke a 
 hasty or impolite word to them. The interests of those who 
 came to him in want were his own. 
 An army chaplain wrote : — 
 
 I have in a hundred eases advised the widows and heirs of de- 
 ceased soldiers to call on Mr. Griftith for advice, counsel, and help. 
 In every case the}' were given with an urbanit)* and kindness that 
 at once set the applicant at ease, and gave the assurance, " I am 
 in the presence of a friend." It was no sacrifice or self-denial to 
 Mr. Griffith to be patient ; it was his nature. He could condescend 
 to men of low estate, and do a favor without humbling the recipient. 
 
206 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 After mj' return to the cit}-, I found in this clear servant of the Lord 
 Jesus a valued friend in ni\- labors in the homes of the poor and 
 destitute, and among the unfortunate in the prisons. 
 
 This tender and helpful sympathy, especially for the fami- 
 lies of deceased soldiers, was born in part of his own bereave- 
 ment. His son, Walter Livingston Griffith, lieutenant in the 
 90th New York Volunteers, died of yellow fever in the service 
 at Key West, himself a sacrifice that he might be faithful to 
 sick men in hospitals. During the war for the Union, though 
 previously a conservative on the slavery question, j\Ir. Grif- 
 fith's whole soul flamed out in support of the government, 
 and in succor to those whose friends had gone to fight for 
 it. As secretary of the War Fund of King's County, he was 
 full of wise suggestion and energy. It obtained from the 
 county over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in war- 
 rants, without a penny's charge to the three thousand re- 
 cipients, raised six regiments of troops, and in other ways 
 showed its devotion to the national cause, all largely through 
 his influence and labor. He was widely known and loved as 
 president of the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Com- 
 mission. In Sabbath school and other church work he did 
 excellent service. In conjunction with his pastor, the Rev. 
 Dr. Samuel T. Spear, he devised and carried through the 
 Church Erection Fund of one hundred thousand dollars, going 
 to the General Assembly once and again for the purpose of 
 furthering this object. He was for fifteen years an efficient 
 Director of the Union Seminary. 
 
 He took a profound interest in foreign missions, and was 
 for many years a corporate member of the American Board. 
 When the Board, in 1856, decided to enlarge its prudential 
 committee by the addition of two members from the Presby- 
 terian Church, Mr. Griffith was selected as one of the two ; 
 the other being Dr. Asa D. Smith, and, on his removal to 
 Hanover, Albert Barnes. During Mr. Griffith's last illness, 
 which was very brief, his friend, the Rev. Henry Ward 
 
WILLIAM E. DODGE. 207 
 
 Beecher, called on him, and said, " Well, my brother, I hear 
 you are walking in the light." " No," was the reply, " not 
 in the light, but in the twilight. They say I am going to 
 die, but I have not heard the blaster's voice. And though I 
 am filled with sweet peace, and am ready to go if He calls 
 me, there is none of the noonday brightness of the Sun of 
 Righteousness which I expected at this hour. I hoped to 
 hear my Lord call me, and then I should leave all and run 
 to meet Him. Now I am only listening and waiting. Life 
 looks very sweet to me. I am not anxious to go, but am 
 ready to meet His dear will." Mr. Beecher prayed with him, 
 and, expressing the hope of meeting beyond the river, they 
 shook hands with as much cheerfulness as if in expectation 
 of an interview on the morrow. 
 
 To his pastor, Dr. Storrs, who came in later, and also prayed 
 with him, Mr, Griffith said he had no doubts, no fears : " I 
 knoiv whom I have believed." Still he seemed surprised 
 and not a little disappointed that his soul did not overflow 
 with greater sensible joy and triumph. But, as is so often 
 the case with dying saints, the burden of the flesh pressed too 
 heavily upon the spirit for that. He passed away quietly 
 on November 24, 1872.i 
 
 William E. Dodge, (1856-1883,) son of David Low and 
 Sarah Cleveland Dodge, was born on September 4, 1805, at 
 Hartford, Conn,, and died in New York on February 9, 1883. 
 His remarkable career as a merchant and philanthropist is 
 too well known to need more than a brief notice here. He 
 participated in almost all the great benevolent and national 
 movements of his day that centred in New York, and in not 
 a few of them he was a leader. Take him for all in all, 
 it is doubtful if the whole country furnished at the time an- 
 
 1 I am indebted for this sketch mainly to an interesting article on the life 
 and character of Mr. Griffith in the Cotujregalional Quarterly for April, 1874, pre- 
 pared by H. H. McFarland. 
 
208 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 other instance of such abundant, long continued, and fruitful 
 activity in so many different spheres of Christian beneficence 
 and reform. The versatility of his efforts for the best good 
 of his fellow men was as striking as their extent and per- 
 sistency. He saw how closely the progress of the kingdom of 
 God is connected with secular and social causes ; and this im- 
 pelled him to that catholicity and largeness of view which 
 marked both his charities and his personal efforts. He pos- 
 sessed in a very unusual degree the true enthusiasm of hu- 
 manity. His joy in seeing the work of God go forward in 
 the world was unbounded; and nothing so pleased him as 
 to have a hand in it. He cherished a profound conviction of 
 the reality and desirableness of " revivals of religion"; he 
 constantly prayed for them; and when he found himself in the 
 midst of one, his whole mind and heart were stirred by the 
 spiritual excitement and gladness of the scene. The evan- 
 gelistic labors of such men as Nettleton, Finney, and Moody 
 and Sankey, had his warmest sympathy and approval. It 
 would be hard to say which was nearest his heart, the cause 
 of home missions, foreign missions, education for the Gospel 
 ministry, the elevation of the colored race, temperance, or the 
 rescue and religious training of the neglected paganized chil- 
 dren of the land ; all alike were the objects of his special 
 interest, his efforts, and his untiring benefactions. His gifts 
 of money were almost numberless, both great and small, and 
 reached to the ends of the earth. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was a member of the Board of Directors of the 
 Union Theological Seminary for twenty-seven years. The 
 following is an extract from a minute of the Board on tlie 
 occasion of his death : — 
 
 Broad in his sympathies, wise in his counsel, proinpt, liberal, 
 and untiring in his contvibntions, the institntion owes him a debt 
 of gratitude that can never be repaid. His sudden death, to him 
 a swift and blessed translation for which he was wholly ripe, is to 
 us who survive him a bitter bereavement and an irreparable loss. 
 
ALFRED CHARLES POST. 209 
 
 . . . The city, the coiintiy, and this whole generation are afflicted 
 b}' his departure, and yet enriched by his example. 
 
 A very discriminating and faithful memorial of Mr. Dodge's 
 life and services, prepared by his son, the Rev. David Stuart 
 Dodge, was published by Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. 
 
 Alfred Charles Post (1856-1886) was born in the city of 
 New York on January 3, 1806. He graduated at Columbia 
 College in the class of 1822 ; early became connected, as at- 
 tending and consulting surgeon, with various hospitals and 
 institutions of the town, and in 1851 was appointed Professor 
 of General Surgery in the medical department of the Uni- 
 versity of the City of New York, — an office which he con- 
 tinued to fill with distinguished ability for more than a third 
 of a century. He died, his eye still undimmed, on February 7, 
 1886, in the eighty-first year of his age. 
 
 Dr. Post was widely known as one of the most eminent sur- 
 geons of New York. His reputation stood high also as a 
 teacher, and helped to draw students to his lectures from all 
 parts of the country. He was a man of great singleness of 
 eye, devoted to his profession, and generous as well as skil- 
 ful in practising it, an earnest disciple of Jesus, exemplary 
 as a ruling elder in the church, and a large-hearted philan- 
 thropist. For thirty years he served the Union Theological 
 Seminary as a Director and he contributed liberally to pro- 
 mote its interests. As his pastor for many years, I have 
 occasion to remember him with gratitude, as well as esteem 
 and affection. To the extraordinary surgical skill of Dr. 
 Gurdon Buck, assisted by his own, I once owed my life. 
 These two noble men, both ruling elders in the Cliurch 'of 
 the Covenant, were like brothers in their helpful sympathy 
 and friendship. 
 
 Norman White (1857-1883) was born at Andovcr, Conn., 
 on August 8, 1805, being a lineal descendant of John White, 
 
 14 
 
210 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 one of the first settlers of Hartford, Conn. He began his 
 career as a New York merchant in 1827, and it extended 
 through more than half a century. He was interested in 
 various branches of trade, particularly in the manufacture of 
 paper, and for several years was president of the Mercantile 
 National Bank. During all this period he took a prominent 
 part in the philanthropic and religious associations and move- 
 ments of the time. In 1851, when I became his pastor, he 
 was a ruling elder in the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church. 
 I soon learned to esteem and lean upon him, as a man of 
 earnest piety, uncommon wisdom, and a true friend. For 
 more than forty years he filled the office of ruling elder, dur- 
 ing his later years in the Brick Church. He was long a lead- 
 ing manager and also vice-president of the American Bible 
 Society, and to his influence, sagacity, and indefatigable 
 efforts that Society is largely indebted for its present site 
 and house. But Mr. White's most important public service 
 was in connection with the New York Sabbath Committee. 
 Of this service his friend, the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, long the 
 secretary of the Committee, writes me as follows : — 
 
 I first became acquainted with Mr. Norman White at the Na- 
 tional Sabbath Convention held at Saratoga in August, 1863, a 
 few weeks after the battle of Gettysburg. President Hopkins of 
 Williams College, Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton, Dr. Willard 
 Parker of New York, and myself, were invited to deUver addresses 
 on the various aspects of the Sabbath question. A 3'ear afterwards 
 I was called to New York as corresponding secretary of the New 
 York Sabbath Committee, of which Mr. White was chairman from 
 its organization in 1857. During the four j-ears of my official con- 
 nection with this noble Committee, whicli is composed of Christian 
 laymen of various denominations, I saw him almost every day at 
 the office in the Bible House. He was no mere figure-head, but 
 the most active meml)er of the Committee, and did more for the 
 cause of Sabbath observance than any man in this country. He 
 was constantly devising schemes for extending the usefulness of 
 the Committee. The best reform measures which it carried out 
 were chiefly due to his indomitable energy and practical wisdom. 
 
NORMAN WHITE. 211 
 
 Such are the prohibition of news cr3ing, nois}' processions, theatri- 
 cal performances, and the liquor traffic on Sundays. He watched 
 over the execution of Sunday- laws. He was in frequent communi- 
 cation with the police department, with the editors of the leading 
 city papers, and with the Legislature at Albany', to secure their co- 
 operation in the interest of public order and quiet on the day of 
 civil and religious rest. He had an eye on the German population, 
 arranged with the aid of the leading ministers several effective 
 German mass meetings in Cooper Institute for the promotion of 
 Sunday observance, and made me preach in nearly every German 
 pulpit of New York and Brooklyn on the Sabbath question. If 
 funds for special expenses were needed, he collected himself the 
 greater part from a few of his friends. He did all this in a quiet 
 and modest wa}'. He never put his name in front if he could help 
 it. Everjbody had unbounded confidence in his integritj', disin- 
 terestedness, and sound judgment. His judiciousness was almost 
 proverbial. He was a perfect Christian gentleman, a liberal philan- 
 thropist, and one of the most useful laymen of his day. He was 
 wholly devoted to the Church, the Bible, and the Sabbath, which 
 he justly regarded as the three chief pillars of American Christian- 
 ity'^ and civilization. 
 
 Early in its history Mr. "White became interested in the 
 Union Theological Seminary. For a quarter of a century he 
 was a member of its Board of Directors, and for twelve years 
 its vice-president. The following is an extract from a min- 
 ute adopted by the Board on occasion of his death, which 
 occurred on June 13, 1883 : — 
 
 While energetic in action, he was eminentl}' sagacious in coun- 
 sel. In difficult emergencies his advice was alwa3's sought, and 
 had great weight. It may be said with perfect truth that both in 
 the church and in society he was characterized by the same union 
 of boldness and wisdom. He was prompt in every good cause, and 
 during his long Christian life was one of the most influential lay- 
 men which this city has produced. 
 
 Joel Parker, D. D., (1857-1869,) was born in Bethel, Vt., 
 on August 27, 1799. He graduated at Hamilton College in 
 1824, and studied theology at the Auburn Seminary. In 
 
212 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 February, 1827, he was ordained pastor of the Third Presby- 
 terian Church in Rochester, N. Y. In 1830 he became pas- 
 tor of the Dey Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New 
 York ; from 1833 to 1838 he was pastor of the First Church, 
 New Orleans, and from 1838 to 1840 of the Broadway Taber- 
 nacle, New York City. In 1840 he was appointed President 
 of the Union Theological Seminary, and its Professor of Sacred 
 Rhetoric. Two years later he accepted a call to the Clinton 
 Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. Here he remained 
 until 1852, when he returned to New York to become pastor 
 of the Bleecker Street Church. In 1862 he was installed 
 over the Park Church in Newark, N. J., where he continued 
 until 1868. He died in New York on May 2, 1873. 
 
 Dr. Parker was a man of strong individuality, with a clear 
 head and a warm heart, very decided in his convictions, able, 
 earnest and bold as a preacher, and successful in winning 
 many souls for Christ. In tlie earlier years of his ministry, 
 especially, few of his contemporaries equalled him in the gift 
 of popular and effective speech, whether in the pulpit or on 
 the platform. In the great revivals that marked the period 
 he ranked among the leaders. 
 
 Walter Clarke, D. D., (1859-1861,) was born in Middle- 
 town, Conn., on April 5, 1812. Having graduated at Yale 
 College in 1837, he studied medicine, then law, and at length 
 divinity. His first pastorate was at Canterbury, Conn. ; in 
 1844 he accepted a call to the South Church in Hartford, 
 where he labored for fourteen years with great success ; in 
 1858 he succeeded Dr. Prentiss as pastor of the Mercer Street 
 Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. His last pas- 
 torate was in the First Church at Buffalo, where he died on 
 May 22, 1871. Dr. Clarke was a strong man, and gifted with 
 various talents, both in and out of the pulpit. He was es- 
 pecially happy and useful in his ministry at Hartford, where 
 he numbered among his contemporaries and friends those 
 
JOSEPH HOW LAND. 213 
 
 eminent servants of Christ, Joel Hawes and Horace Bushncll. 
 At Buffalo also, where the last eleven years of his life were 
 spent, he was much honored and beloved for his work's sake. 
 
 Joseph Rowland (1860-1874) was bom in New York, De- 
 cember 3, 1834. He was a lineal descendant of that " godly 
 man and ancient professor in the ways of Christ," John How- 
 land, who signed the memorable compact in the cabin of the 
 Mayflower shortly before the landing at Plymouth, The name 
 of his father, Samuel Shaw Howland, who, as one of the well 
 known firm of Howland and Aspinwall, stood fifty years ago 
 among the foremost merchants of the city, is on the first sub- 
 scription roll of the Seminary for a thousand dollars. This is 
 noteworthy from the fact that he belonged to a Dutch Reformed 
 congregation. Joseph was educated partly at home and partly 
 abroad. While yet a boy, he had formed for himself the ideal 
 of a life to be lived in the service of God and his fellow men ; 
 and no contact with the world and its cares or its pleasures, 
 no prosperity, no adversity, ever dimmed or turned aside his 
 clear vision and steadfast purpose. At one time he contem- 
 plated studying for the ministry. In a letter to me dated 
 May 30, 1856, having expressed the fear that he must give up 
 his cherished plan, he adds : — 
 
 The effects of recent comparatively light studies, and a true 
 realization of the severity of the preparation I should require, have 
 shown me my physical unfitness for the work. The idea of preach- 
 ing Christ's Gospel was the greatest thing I could propose to my- 
 self. Perhaps it will be better for me to be obliged to work in 
 what I consider a lower sphere. I know God will do His own good 
 will, and lead me to do His work in some wa}-, if I truly and rightly 
 desire it. A genial industrious fife, full of all the good my hand 
 finds to do, — fruitful, and yet free from the unremitted labors, tax- 
 ing both body and mind, of the ministry, — seems to me to be the 
 way before me. 
 
 Marrying at the age of twenty-one, he went abroad with his 
 wife and passed several years in foreign travel. In 1859 he 
 
214 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 settled down in Matteawan, building for himself there one of 
 the finest country-seats on the banks of the Hudson. Upon 
 the outbreak of the Rebellion, he forsook his beautiful new 
 home, and enlisted in the service of his country as Adjutant 
 of the 16th Regiment of New York State Volunteers ; later, 
 he was Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff of General Slo- 
 cum's Brigade, and afterwards Colonel of the 16th Regiment. 
 At the bloody battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862, he re- 
 ceived a severe wound, but continued to direct the movements 
 of the regiment until it left the field. 
 
 In this engagement, besides its Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel, 
 the regiment lost in killed and wounded 2G0 men, rank and file, 
 fully one quarter of its effective force on that day. No battle- 
 scarred veteran ever bore himself with higher valor, or inspired his 
 command with more heroic bravery, than did Colonel Howland on 
 this occasion. Brave without rashness, he was at his post, where 
 danger was thickest. With an intrepidity that seemed to def}' 
 death, he led his men on the field, and remained with them so long 
 as there was hope.^ 
 
 For his gallantry on this occasion Colonel Howland was 
 brevetted Brigadier-General. But though disabled, his influ- 
 ence, his money, and his whole soul were still given to his 
 country. In 1865 he was elected treasurer of the State of 
 New York, and as such took part in drafting the trust deeds 
 of Cornell University ; also, in the organizing and building of 
 the Hudson River Hospital for the Insane, of which he was a 
 manager for fifteen years. 
 
 His devotion to the best interests of Matteawan is shown 
 in such lasting monuments as the Tioronda chapel, dedicated 
 in 1865 to education and the worship of God ; the public 
 library, which bears his name, opened in 1872 ; the Presbyte- 
 rian church, in the building of which his liberality, taste, and 
 active sympathy were largely exercised ; and the Highland 
 Hospital, which he founded. For years he was the faithful 
 
 ^ Colonel J. J. Seaver. 
 
JOSEPH STEELE GALLAGHER. 215 
 
 superintendent of the TioronUa Sunday school, and swayed 
 all hearts with the mild sceptre of his love. At the age of 
 twenty-five he was elected a Director in the Union Theologi- 
 cal Seminary, — by many years the youngest man who ever 
 received that honor. I happen to know, through Prof. Henry 
 B. Smith, between whom and himself there existed the warm- 
 est friendship, tiiat he year after year supported several stu- 
 dents in their Seminary course, contributing thus tliousands 
 of dollars, and yet I doubt if five persons in the world knew 
 anything about it. This may serve to show the spirit by 
 which he was ruled, not only in his munificent gifts and chari- 
 ties, but in all his relations to society and the clmrch, whether 
 public or private. He was, in truth, one of the most attractive 
 characters I have ever known. A friend, who was also for 
 years his pastor, writes : — 
 
 Amidst all that unspeakable beaut}', where God and nature and 
 man had done so much to glorify what we beheld, the most beauti- 
 ful thing of all was that lovely human character ; so refined, so 
 unselfish, so pure, so devoted to man and so consecrated to God, 
 so nearly perfect, so unique, that the only description is the name 
 Joseph Rowland.^ 
 
 General Rowland died at Mentone, in France, on April 1, 
 1886. Almost his last words, and they struck the key-note of 
 his life, were : " We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship 
 Thee, we give thanks to Thee^ 
 
 Rev. Joseph Steele Gallagher (1863-1876) was born on 
 October 25, 1801, in New York City. During his school days 
 he had the instruction of Mr. Mattaniah Nash, a good mathe- 
 matician and astronomer, as well as classical scholar, who 
 favored his more advanced pupils with lessons in astronomy 
 and the use of a good telescope. In January, 1818, when 
 only sixteen, the youth received from Colonel Barclay, the 
 commissioner of Great Britain under the fifth article of the 
 
 ^ Dean Bartlett, of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School at riuladelpliia. 
 
216 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Treaty of Ghent for fixing the boundary line between Canada 
 and the United States, the place of assistant to the British As- 
 tronomer, Dr. Tiaik. He remained in this service till 1820, 
 when he was appointed by President Monroe Second Lieuten- 
 ant of Artillery in the United States Army, and was first sta- 
 tioned at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor. In May, 1822, 
 while stationed at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., he came under the 
 influence of a devoted Christian lady. Shaken in his then 
 sceptical opinions by a little tract on the inspiration of the 
 Bible, and asking her for a fuller treatise upon the subject, 
 she procured for him Letters to a Young Officer on Christian 
 Education, etc., by Olynthus Gregory, LL. D., Professor of 
 Mathematics in the Royal Woolwich Military Academy, an 
 author whose mathematical works he had studied, and who 
 must, he felt, as a mathematician have solid ground for his 
 convictions. His earnest study of this book convinced him 
 of his obligation to read and obey the Word of God, as he 
 would do in case of any commands from military authority, 
 and he persisted for months in reading the Bible with fidelity, 
 but, as he thought, with little spiritual interest, though made 
 to feel profoundly that he had no sympathy with the mind of 
 God. At last, after a night resolutely spent in confession 
 and prayer, in which he became deeply distressed by a sense of 
 guilt and darkness, Romans iii. 19-28, fastened on his mem- 
 ory by many readings, came vividly to mind, and was so clear 
 to his apprehension that he seemed suddenly to emerge into 
 full light and hope. With characteristic promptness he com- 
 municated his experience the very next day to his fellow ofli- 
 cers, and also endeavored to explain to each one of a body of 
 prisoners under his charge the way of salvation. He began 
 then to employ his life-long gift of introducing with rare 
 felicity the subject of religion in personal intercourse of the 
 most varied character. Henceforward, too, he always com- 
 bined with military duty that of a Christian officer religiously 
 to instruct and influence his soldiers. In 1823, when in 
 
JOSEPH STEELE GALLAGHER. 217 
 
 command on Bedloc's Island, New York harbor, lie established 
 a Bible class in the fort. Mrs. David Codvvisc, with whom his 
 long and intimate friendship then began, obtained from the 
 Ladies' Bible Society a gift of one hundred Bibles for his use. 
 
 In his subsequent military life, at St. Augustine, Sackett's 
 Harbor, Bangor, and elsewhere, his Christian efforts were un- 
 remitting. He ordinarily held two religious services on Sun- 
 day, with prayer-meetings in the week, and also organized 
 societies for promoting temperance. 
 
 Being convinced of the value of established religious in- 
 struction for soldiers, and wishing due sanction for his own 
 procedure, he early communicated his views to Mr. Calhoun, 
 then Secretary of War, in a personal interview in 1824, and 
 received his " cordial approval of judicious efforts for the 
 moral and religious improvement of the army." His friend, 
 Major-Gen. E. P. Gaines, also gave him his hearty sympathy 
 and support. Lieutenant Gallagher was promoted in 1831 to 
 the captaincy of a company at Fort Gratiot, at the outlet of 
 Lake Huron, and, after considerable arduous duty at that fron- 
 tier, was ordered with his command to active service against 
 the Sac and Fox Indians, led by Blackhawk. During that 
 campaign he was on the staff of General Scott, and had much 
 personal intercourse with him. As a testimony to General 
 Scott's humane and Christian principles, he relates that the 
 General laid before him, in private, the terms of a treaty he 
 was about concluding with the Indians, asking his judgment 
 especially on the moral aspects of the provisions, and saying, 
 " I am desirous of making a treaty with these conquered tribes 
 that an American may hear recited in London or Paris with- 
 out a blush." Captain Gallagher was promoted to the adju- 
 tancy of his regiment in 1833, served as such till 1835, when 
 he resigned his commission in order to enter the ministry. 
 He received from General Scott a letter expressing earnest 
 regret at his decision to leave the army, but accepting it, offer- 
 ing the provision that it take effect after a year's furlough, in 
 
218 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 consideration of his long and faithful service with very slight 
 indulgence of that kind. 
 
 Mr, Gallagher had for some time carried on special theo- 
 logical studies as his duties allowed, especially improving the 
 period of his command at Bangor, Me., to study Hebrew 
 with Professor Talcott of the Theological Seminary there. 
 After further studies at Andover and Princeton Theological 
 Seminaries, he became the pastor of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church in Orange, N. J., in October, 1837, and labored there 
 with characteristic assiduity and marked success till 1850, 
 when he resigned his charge and took a season of rest and 
 travel. In March, 1852, he was elected by the Directors of 
 the Union Theological Seminary special agent to obtain an 
 adequate endowment. In March, 1853, he had secured sub- 
 scriptions to the amount of one hundred and three thousand 
 dollars, and in a second effort, ending in 1859, arduous and 
 long continued, (for the era of large single gifts had not then 
 arrived,) he raised the endowment to two hundred and thirty 
 thousand dollars. He acted for some years as general agent 
 of the Seminary, until in 1863, on the death of Mr. Halsey, he 
 was elected Director and Treasurer, with the additional title 
 of General Secretary. Those positions he held till May 10, 
 1874, when from serious failure of health he felt constrained 
 to resign them all. After a long period of declining health, 
 he died in Bloomfield, N. J., on April 13, 1879.1 
 
 Hanson Kelly Corning (1863-1878) was born in Hart- 
 ford, Conn., in 1811, and died in New York on April 22, 1878. 
 He was for a long period engaged as a merchant in the 
 Brazilian trade. It is said that he imported the first cargo 
 of india-rubber that was brought into this country. Having 
 been greatly prospered in his business, Mr. Corning employed 
 
 1 This sketch was prepared by Mr. Gallagher's son-in-law, Professor Packard 
 of Princeton College, at the request of Dr. Hitchcock, and is printed in the Ap- 
 pendix to the Address of the latter at the dedication of the new Seminary 
 
 buildings in 1884. 
 
HANSON KELLY CORNING. 219 
 
 his largo means in promoting such causes as commended 
 themselves to his clear judgment. He took a special inter- 
 est in the evangelization of Brazil, where he had resided for 
 several years. He was a man of uncommon worth, a Chris- 
 tian gentleman, and noted for his good worlvs. He passed 
 several of the later summers of his life at Manchester, Vt. 
 The venerable Dr. Wickham of that place, now in his ninety- 
 third year, writes mo concerning him : — 
 
 When a little past middle life Mr. Corning retired from active busi- 
 ness. The home of his family had been in Brooklyn ; but remov- 
 ing to New York, into the neighboi'hood of the Brick Presbyterian 
 Church, he became a member of that church during the pastorate 
 of Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, and sustained this relation for the re- 
 mainder of his life. Having acquired wealth, he became noted for 
 his judicious liberality in dispensing it. His ears were ever open 
 to appeals in behalf of institutions of Christian benevolence and 
 objects of charit}', and he was ready with heart and hand to 
 respond to the same, where the claims for aid were in his view 
 satisfactory. He was naturally a diffident man and one of few 
 words, but yet of sound judgment, and a wise adviser of those who 
 sought his counsel, whether young or old. The apostolic injunc- 
 tion, " Ready to distribute, willing to communicate," was one 
 which he conscientiousl}' obeyed, and when, at the age of sixt}-- 
 seven, he was called away by death, all that knew him felt that 
 a good and useful man had gone to his reward, and that his re- 
 moval was a loss to mankind. 
 
 The following is an extract from a minute of the Board 
 of Directors on the occasion of his death, prepared by the 
 Eev. Dr. Adams : — 
 
 Mr. Corning felt a personal concern in the prosperity' and use- 
 fulness of Union Seminary, and manifested it not only in the dis- 
 charge of his duties as one of its managers, but by frequent visits 
 of inspection, whereby he became acquainted with its wants. To 
 these he was ever ready to respond. Plis frequent and generous 
 gifts to the Library, as well as to the private libraries of the students, 
 will long keep his memory fresh in the minds of many ministers of 
 the Gospel. 
 
220 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 WiNTHROP Sargent Oilman (1870-1875) was bom at 
 Marietta, Ohio, March 28, 1808. His father, Benjamin Ives, 
 and his grandfather, Joseph Oilman, had at the close of the 
 Revolution associated themselves with the Ohio Company, 
 and in 1788 had removed to the new Northwest Territory 
 from Exeter, N. H., the original home of the Oilmans in 
 America. Joseph Oilman, who had not long after his ar- 
 rival been appointed Judge of the Territory by Washington, 
 died in Ohio in 1806 ; and in 1813 his son, Benjamin Ives, 
 having acquired a good estate and desirous of securing the 
 advantages of a city in the education of his children, returned 
 to the East, choosing Philadelphia as his home. The subject 
 of this sketch was then five years old, the youngest of a circle 
 of nine brothers and sisters. 
 
 In 1823 he began his commercial career as clerk with the 
 firm of Mactier and Company of New York, in which his 
 brother Robert was a partner. In 1827, when but nineteen 
 years old, he made a journey to the West, intrusted by Mr. 
 Mactier with the entire responsibility of large purchases, 
 sales, and shipments of provisions along the Ohio and Mis- 
 sissippi rivers. Two years later he determined to begin an 
 independent career in the region thus familiarized to him. 
 St. Louis was then " a straggling French and American town 
 of about 6,000 inhabitants." Alton, Illinois, was a rough 
 site amid woods, with but one occupied house, past which the 
 young merchant rode on his first visit without a suspicion 
 that ho had reached his destination ; here nevertheless he 
 resolved to start in business. He afterwards wrote thus to 
 one of his children : — 
 
 When my goods readied St. Louis, I embarked with them on a 
 tiny steamboat for Alton, twenty-two miles distant, taking also pine 
 lumber necessary for my counter and shelves. I arrived there, after 
 some five or six hours' paddling, about midnight. It was lonely 
 enough, for it rained, and after covering my goods with the pine 
 boards I crept under the same shelter myself. ... I was full of 
 
WINTHROP SARGENT OILMAN. 221 
 
 life and enthusiasm, and enjo3-ed tlie novel order of things. Traders 
 were scarce, and such as offered to purchase produce largely, as I 
 did, still scarcer. Man}- farmers with their hogs and cattle, man}'- 
 hunters with their furs and peltries, came from Morgan and Sanga- 
 mon counties sixt}' to eighty miles to trade with the young New 
 Yorker who was ready to buy their produce. . . . Northern Illinois 
 was then unsurve\-ed, Indians roamed over it, and game abounded. 
 80 plentiful were the deer that I could usuallj- start them up within 
 a mile of our residence. 
 
 Here Mr. Oilman remained in successful business for sev- 
 eral years, at first alone, and later forming with his brother 
 Arthur and Captain Benjamin Godfrey the firm of Godfrey, 
 Oilman, & Co. ; here his religious life first had outward ex- 
 pression through his uniting with the church ; here also he 
 became identified with the cause of temperance, as chairman 
 of the Illinois State Temperance Society ; and here, on De- 
 cember 4, 1834, he married Miss Lippincott, a daughter of 
 the Rev. Thomas Lippincott, one of the first ministers of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois. 
 
 It was Mr. Oilman's warehouse at Alton that was stormed 
 by a mob in the memorable " Lovejoy Riot " of November 7, 
 1837, the first tragedy in the long conflict which ended in the 
 abolition of slavery, — an event which, though long forgotten 
 save by students of the fall of the slave power, caused at the 
 time, according to The Boston Recorder of that day, " a burst 
 of indignation which has not had its parallel in this country 
 since the battle of Lexington in 1775." 
 
 In consequence of the expression of anti-slavery sentiments 
 in the columns of his religious newspaper, the Rev. Elijah 
 P. Lovejoy had been violently persecuted in St. Louis and 
 Alton, and one after another of the presses used in printing 
 the paper had been destroyed. At a meeting of the citizens 
 of Alton to consider the subject, Mr. Oilman was the only 
 one of a committee appointed to prepare resolutions who pro- 
 tested against their containing the recommendation to Mr. 
 Lovejoy to leave the town. In his opinion, the right of free 
 
222 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 speech was here involved and should be vindicated. When, 
 notwithstanding all warnings, Mr. Lovejoy persisted in send- 
 ing for a new press to replace one just destroyed, Mr. Gilman 
 offered his warehouse for its safe keeping. The "Lovejoy 
 Riot " was the storming of the warehouse the following night 
 by a large mob, and its defence, under the sanction of the 
 mayor of the city, by a party of twenty citizens, among them 
 Mr. Lovejoy and Mr. Gilman. The result was the death of 
 Mr. Lovejoy and of one of the attacking party, the wounding 
 of several others, the firing of the warehouse, and the capture 
 and destruction of the press. Mr. Gilman writes : — 
 
 The five years at Alton after the Lovejoy riot were years of 
 trial, but also of joy. I was a great Bible student, and enjoyed 
 the precious revivals of religion of those days. Although in a 
 dull place and suffering the disadvantages of the lack of enlarged 
 social intercourse, we had warm Christian friends, a sweet little 
 family circle to interest us and to care for, so that we could bide 
 God's time for something better, and stay our souls on hope. 
 
 In 1843 Mr. Gilman removed to St. Louis, where he be- 
 came one of the elders of the Second Presbyterian Church 
 and superintendent of its large Sunday school. As his prop- 
 erty increased the question of its right use became one of 
 absorbing interest to him, and the conception of systematic 
 beneficence as the duty correlative to the right of property 
 never afterward left his mind. His offer in 1848, through the 
 American Tract Society, of a prize of two hundred dollars for 
 the best essay on systematic beneficence led to the publication 
 by the Society of three such essays, of one of wliich many 
 copies were distributed by Mr. Gilman throughout the country. 
 This interest in beneficence, both theoretical and practical, 
 was one of his strongest traits. He had no deeper or more 
 constant impulse than to give liberally of his sympathies, his 
 personal efforts, and his substance to all who were in need, in 
 aid of every charitable work, and for the advancement of the 
 cause of Christ. 
 
WINTHROP SARGENT OILMAN. 223 
 
 In 1849, Mr. Gilman returned to this city, and entered with 
 his sons into the banking business under the firm name of 
 Gilman, Son, & Co. In New York he was at first connected 
 with the church then under the pastoral care of Dr. James 
 W. Alexander, and a few years later joined the Brick Church, 
 of which at the time of his death he was the senior elder. 
 During the pastorate of Dr. James 0, Murray, Mr. Gilman 
 united with him and the late Mr. Daniel Lord in preparing 
 a collection of hymns known as the Sacrifice of Praise, which 
 continued for a number of years in use in that and other 
 churches. On the founding of the Presbyterian Hospital by 
 Mr. James Lenox, Mr. Gilman was selected as one of its first 
 board of trustees; he also became a Director of the Union 
 Theological Seminary, and a member of the Presbyterian 
 Board of Church Erection. He was many times a commis- 
 sioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ; 
 and in 1870, after the Reunion, the Assembly appointed him 
 chairman of the committee formed to raise a fund of five 
 millions of dollars in commemoration of that event. Into 
 this work he threw himself with his accustomed ardor, the 
 efforts of the committee resulting in a thank-offering by 
 the reunited Church of over seven millions. He was later 
 appointed by the Assembly chairman of its committee on 
 benevolence and finance, holding that office until the com- 
 mittee was discharged from its duties, in 1874, and devoting 
 to his labors therein an enthusiastic energy very remarkable 
 in view of his growing physical frailness. 
 
 In 1871, Mr. Gilman passed his first summer in the house 
 on the Hudson, twenty miles from New York, which was to 
 be the home of his remaining years. Those quiet years in 
 a charming seclusion, amid a joyous circle of children and 
 children's children, were among the happiest of his long life. 
 They were full of intellectual and spiritual activity, marked 
 by ardent solicitude for the welfare of those dear to him, and 
 by the warmest interest in all good causes, above all the cause 
 
224 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 of the Church he loved so well. He had always been a devoted 
 student of Shakespeare, and a wide reader of general poetic 
 and religious literature ; and in the numerous commonplace- 
 books which, though extending over a period of nearly sixty 
 years, were in large part written toward the close of his life, 
 he left the record of a rich and varied spiritual experience. 
 His was a nature in which strong religious feelings, the ten- 
 derest sympathies, and the most delicate poetic tastes, were 
 happily balanced by a vigorous delight in activity and a keen 
 interest in practical life. He died at Palisades, N. Y., after a 
 short illness, on the 3d of October, 1884, in the seventy-seventh 
 year of his age.i 
 
 Zephantah Moore Humphrey, D. D,, (1874-1875,) was born 
 at Amherst, Mass., on August 30, 1824. He graduated at 
 Amherst College ; studied theology at Andover ; was pastor 
 of churches at Racine and Milwaukee, Wis., from 1850 to 
 1859 ; the First Presbyterian Church, Chicago, from 1860 
 to 1868; of Calvary Church, Philadelphia, from 1868 to 1875; 
 and was Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity 
 in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, from 1875 to 1881. 
 He was moderator of the General Assembly which met in his 
 old church at Chicago, in May, 1871. He died on November 
 13, 1881. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey's connection with the Union Theological 
 Seminary, although very brief, was yet long enough to leave 
 the pleasantest impression. He was seen at once to be a man 
 worthy of the honored name he bore. The blood of several 
 very old and vigorous New England family stocks ran in his 
 veins, and he seems to have inherited their best traits. His 
 father, Heman Humphrey, for many years President of Am- 
 herst College, was one of the strongest, wisest, and most influ- 
 ential men of his generation. His Grandmother Humphrey 
 
 1 For the sketch of this very interesting and admirable man I am chiefly 
 indebted to two of his surviving children. 
 
ZEPHANIAH MOORE HUMPHREY. 225 
 
 was Hannah Brown, a lineal descendant of Peter Brown, who 
 came over in the Mayflower. She was sister of Captain John 
 Brown, of West Simsbury, Conn., the father of John Brown of 
 Ossawatomie. When the latter was in the Virginia prison, 
 under sentence of death and awaiting execution, President 
 Humphrey wrote him a letter of fraternal counsel and com- 
 passion. He addressed him as his cousin, and received an 
 affectionate reply, full of the spirit of mingled sweetness, 
 firmness, and love. Zephaniah's mother was Sophia Por- 
 ter, a sister of the Rev. Noah Porter, D. D., for more than 
 threescore years a Congregational minister in Farmington, 
 Conn., and the honored father of a highly honored son. 
 
 But Dr. Humphrey was strong in himself, as well as in 
 ancestral virtues. No one could be with him long without 
 perceiving tliat he stood upon his own foundation. Whatever 
 hereditary traits entered into his make, they were all assim- 
 ilated and tempered by his individual quality. The general 
 impression made by him, whether in private or in public, was 
 that of uncommon gentleness, self-poise, and quiet, patient 
 energy ; but there were also latent in his nature elements of 
 great boldness and decision of character. This is well illus- 
 trated by an incident whicli occurred during his Chicago pas- 
 torate. One night he was awakened by his wife from a sound 
 sleep to find a burglar creeping about the room. He sprang 
 from his bed and grappled with the man in the darkness, and 
 held him by so firm a grasp that he could not release himself. 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Humphrey had started a light in the room, 
 and became an eyewitness to the scene. The burglar had 
 drawn a knife, and was saying that all he wanted now was to 
 get away, that he did not wish to injure Mr. Humphrey if he 
 were allowed to escape, but he would not be captured. Still, 
 Mr. Humphrey clung to him ; together they struggled, the bur- 
 glar backing toward the hall and stairway. When this was 
 reached, by a sudden wrench the thief liberated himself from 
 Mr. Humphrey's grasp, and ran, followed by Mr. H. ; but 
 15 
 
226 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 when he was half-waj down the stairs, the burglar turned and 
 struck Mr. Humphrey with his knife, saying, with an oath, 
 " I will not be followed." Pausing long enough to see that 
 the blood which had started from elbow to wrist was from 
 a slight wound, Mr. Humphrey again pursued the thief, but 
 could not catch him, as he quickly escaped through a base- 
 ment window, which, at the time of his stealthy entrance, he 
 had left open for that purpose. Here was something akin to 
 the pluck of sturdy John Brown. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey with his wife and children passed the sum- 
 mer of 1870 in Dorset, Yt., where I had the opportunity to 
 know and admire him as a scholar of fine culture and varied 
 attainments, a gifted preacher, a lover of nature, skilled in 
 the use of both the telescope and the microscope, a genial com- 
 panion, and a man of very attractive domestic, personal, and 
 Christian character. A 3Iemorial Sketch, prepared by his 
 brother-in-law, the Rev. David Torrey, D. D., of Cazeno- 
 via, N. Y., together with Five Selected Sermons, was pub- 
 lislied by J. B. Lippincott and Company in 1883. To this 
 charming volume I am indebted for the principal matter of 
 my own sketch. 
 
 Alexander Yan Rensselaer, (1875-1878,) fifth son of 
 Stephen Yan Rensselaer of Albany, the last of the Patroons, 
 was born in 1825, and died on May 8, 1878, Graduating at 
 Yale College, he studied medicine at the University of Penn- 
 sylvania and in Edinburgh, and later spent several years in 
 foreign residence and travel. After his father's death he 
 returned home, and at length settled in New York, where for 
 more than a quarter of a century he was prominent in the hu- 
 mane and Christian charities of the city. No small portion of 
 his time, indeed, was freely given to service in the public insti- 
 tutions of philanthropy and religion with which he was offi- 
 cially connected. Engaged in no active business of his own, 
 he became a servant of the whole community, and labored 
 
HENRY I VI SON, 227 
 
 with unselfish devotion in carino; for its crippled, blind, sick, 
 and neglected members. When he died, flags were displayed 
 at half-mast on the lodging-houses of the News Boys, who 
 had learned to love him. Mr. Van Rensselaer inherited his 
 excellent father's traits. He was a man of simple habits, of 
 great purity of character, and of earnest piety. For many 
 years he was an active member of the Fifth Avenue Pres- 
 byterian Church. He belonged to a class of Christian citizens, 
 not small in New York, whose public spirit and disinterested 
 labors are among the best sources of its moral strength and 
 prosperity. 
 
 Henry Ivison (1876-1884) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, 
 December 25, 1808, and died in New York, December 3, 1884. 
 He was the founder, and until his retirement in 1880 the 
 head, of what was said to be the largest school-book publish- 
 ing house in the world. When twelve years old he came 
 with his parents to the United States, and was apprenticed to 
 William Williams of Utica, then the largest bookseller west 
 of Albany. Some years later he opened a bookstore of his 
 own in Auburn, N. Y., where one of his earliest customers 
 was William H. Seward, then Governor of the State. After 
 sixteen years in Auburn he removed to New York City, where 
 his career was very successful. The firm of Mark H. New- 
 man & Co., established in 1846 and of which he was a mem- 
 ber, published Sanders's Readers, beginning with a primer 
 and grading upward five volumes. The work had an im- 
 mense circulation. In 1866 Mr. Ivison said they never put to 
 press less than 100,000 copies of Sanders's Pictorial Reader. 
 He at length bought out the entire interest of the concern 
 and took in as partner H. F, Phinney, of Cooperstown, son-in- 
 law of J. Fenimore Cooper. Later the firm was Ivison, 
 Blakeman, Taylor, & Co. During the last years of his life 
 Mr. Ivison had a summer home at Stockbridge, Mass., and 
 took great delight in it. He was a man of solid worth and 
 
228 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ability, warmly attached to the old faith and forms of Presby- 
 terianism, yet liberal, large-hearted, and an earnest follower 
 of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 George William Lane (1878-1883) was born near Red 
 Mills, in the neighborhood of Lake Mahopac, N. Y., on Jan- 
 uary 8, 1818. While still a boy he came to this city and 
 entered upon a business career which made him one of its 
 leading merchants. For thirty years he was a member of the 
 Chamber of Commerce, and in May, 1882, that body elected 
 him its President. He was actively connected with a number 
 of the important financial institutions of New York, and 
 promiment in its religious and philanthropic work. He took 
 a leading part in the establishment of the Madison Square 
 Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder and trustee. 
 A very warm friendship subsisted between him and the Rev. 
 William Adams, D. D., who leaned upon him as a pillar of 
 strength. 
 
 He was also interested in the promotion of good government, and 
 especially in efforts to secure an honest administration of the city 
 of New York. He worked efficiently in the Committee of Sevent3', 
 by which a fraudulent system of municipal affairs was exposed and 
 frustrated. At the urgent request of his friend, Mayor Havemeyer, 
 he accepted the office of chamberlain of the cit}-, and continued in 
 it from May, 1873, to February, 1875. With great reluctance, in 
 the summer before his death he consented to become a member of 
 the Croton Aqueduct Commission, and the arduous responsibilities 
 of this position weighed heavily upon hira. 
 
 In all these important stations he maintained the confidence of 
 his colleagues and associates, as the numerous tributes testif}' 
 which were called out b}' his death. Although his disposition was 
 that of a modest, retiring man, who never wished preferment, his 
 strong convictions, excellent judgment, and abundant public spirit 
 were so well known that his counsel was constantl}' sought. It 
 was freely given to all who asked it. There are few men in an}^ 
 community whose opinions are so trustworth}' as were Mr. Lane's, 
 either in public or in private affairs. He had a large measure of 
 
JAMES DUNCAN WILSON. 229 
 
 that sagacity which sees the end from the beginning, combined 
 with that instinctive sense of justice and righteousness which does 
 not hesitate in forming a purpose, nor swerve from a chosen course 
 because of its unpleasantness or want of popularity.^ 
 
 Mr. Lane died very suddenly at his home in New York, on 
 December 30, 1883. The following is an extract from the 
 minute of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological 
 Seminary on the occasion of his death : — 
 
 Prudent, wise, modest, firm, we shall miss him in the conduct 
 of the every-day work of this institution, and especially as a strong 
 man to lean upon in time of difficult}-. Warmly attached to the 
 church in which he was a worshipper and to its pastors, and rev- 
 erencing the men and their office, he was keenh- alive to the bless- 
 ing and power of a thoroughl}- educated ministry, and threw his 
 whole heart into the work of this Seminary, with an appreciation 
 of its importance, and an intelligence worthy of our institution. 
 Ma}' his mantle fall upon all of us ! 
 
 James Duncan Wilson, D. D., (1881-1888,) was born at 
 Spring Mills, Penn., on April 3, 1836, and died in New York 
 on May 14, 1888. He graduated at Amiierst College in the 
 class of 1858, and studied divinity at the Union Theological 
 Seminary in the city of New York, graduating in the class of 
 1862. On July 1, 1863, he was ordained as pastor of the 
 Spring Street Presbyterian Church, where his labors were 
 signally blessed. He had a special gift for attracting young 
 people, persuading them to become Christians, and then teach- 
 ing them to work for their Master. In 1869 he accepted a 
 call to the Central Presbyterian Church, which removed from 
 Broome Street to Fifty-seventh Street near Eighth Avenue. 
 Here he continued to the close of his days, endearing himself 
 more and more to his people, to the community, and to his 
 ministerial brethren, as a faithful servant of Christ. He 
 passed away, after a lingering and painful illness, in the very 
 midst of his usefulness. I saw him often in his sick-chamber 
 1 President Gilman of Johns Hopkins University. 
 
230 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 during the winter preceding his death. Although the victim 
 at times of most excruciating pain, he was still a picture of 
 cheerful patience, resignation, and hope ; and being myself 
 ill, these visits did me good like a pleasant medicine. He 
 spent much of his time in reading, or in being read to ; and 
 our talks about books, as well as our talks about this life and 
 the life to come, I recall with real delight. He was very fond 
 of science, as well as literature, was a keen observer of nature, 
 and interested himself in all that was going on in the world. 
 I remember two very entertaining evening talks he gave to 
 the " Chi Alpha " circle ; one on bees, and the other on the 
 progress of Russia in the East. 
 
 Charles Washington Baird, D. D., (1886-1888,) was born 
 at Princeton, N. J., August 28, 1828 ; he graduated at tlie 
 University of the City of New York in 18-18, and at the 
 Union Theological Seminary in 1852. After serving as 
 chaplain of the American Chapel at Rome, Italy (1852-54), 
 he was settled over the Reformed Dutch Church on Bergen 
 Hill, N. J. In 1861 he became pastor of the Presbyterian 
 Church of Rye, N. Y., where he died on February 10, 1887. 
 
 Dr. Baird inherited some of the best traits of his honored 
 father, the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., who did so much to 
 acquaint European Christians with religion and religious life 
 and methods in this country. He was an accomplished 
 scholar, a devoted, faithful minister of the Gospel, and a man 
 greatly beloved by his people and by the whole community. 
 For several years Dr. Baird was necrologist of the Seminary, 
 and his notices of departed alumni, prepared with no little 
 labor, were models in their kind. He published some valu- 
 able books on Presbyterian Liturgies ; also. Chronicle of a 
 Border Toivn, History of Bedford Church, and History of the 
 Huguenot Emigration to America, 2 vols., 1885. The last 
 named work was received with much favor by the American 
 public, and won high praise from foreign critics. 
 
JAMES PATRIOT WILSON. 231 
 
 J.iMES Patriot Wilson, D. D , (1856-1889,) was born in 
 Philadelphia on December 25, 1809. He belonged to an old 
 Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock, and on his father's side was 
 in the fifth generation of ministers in this country. One of 
 his maternal ancestors was in the band of thirteen men who 
 shut the gates of Derry against the soldiers of King James 
 the First. The patriotism of the family was emphasized by 
 his middle name, first given to his father by the Rev. Dr. 
 Matthew Wilson of Lewes, Delaware, eminent both as a phy- 
 sician and a clergyman, and noted as an ardent Whig of tlie 
 Revolutionary period. 
 
 James Patriot Wilson, the father, born at Lewes on Feb- 
 ruary 21, 1769, was among the remarkable men of his gen- 
 eration. Begiiming his career as a great lawyer, he ended it 
 as perhaps the foremost Presbyterian minister in the country. 
 While a young man he had been a religious sceptic ; but a 
 series of distressing afflictions, one of which was the assas- 
 sination of an only brother, brought him to serious reflection, 
 and ultimately to a full conviction and cordial acceptance of 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. He was licensed to preach in 
 1804, and not long after was ordained as pastor of the united 
 congregations of Lewes, Cool Spring, and Indian River, — 
 the same to which his father had ministered. In May, 1806, 
 he was called, at the instance of his early and constant friend, 
 the celebrated physician, Benjamin Rush, to the First Pres- 
 byterian Church in Philadelphia. Accepting the call by tlic 
 advice of his presbytery, he continued its minister for nearly 
 a quarter of a century, when, on account of infirm health, he 
 resigned, and retired to his farm, about twenty miles from 
 Philadelphia. He died there, in the triumph of faith, on 
 December 9, 1830. His grave is near that of the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Tennent, founder of the famous "Log College," in the 
 burying-ground of Neshaminy church. Not long before his 
 departure he said to a friend, " I have been looking the case 
 between God and myself over and over, and over again, and 
 
232 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 though I see enough to justify God in casting me off, a thou- 
 sand times and more, the conviction of my interest in Christ 
 is so firm that I cannot make myself afraid ; the only thing 
 I fear is that I have not fears enough." 
 
 Dr. Wilson was one of the most learned men of his day. 
 In important branches of ecclesiastical and theological lore 
 no other American clergyman of the period probably equalled 
 him. He had a special passion for patristic study, even rec- 
 ommending to his people from the pulpit, not long before his 
 death, that as they had opportunity they should familiarize 
 themselves with this department of knowledge. 
 
 Like many other distinguished men, Dr. Wilson had his 
 odd and peculiar ways. He could not bear, he once said, to 
 receive the least gift without making some return. He once 
 refused, for instance, to accept some oranges from an old lady 
 of his congregation, saying, in his usual style of regal plural- 
 ity, " We can buy oranges when we wish for them." Not long 
 after, at his own house, he offered the same lady a fine apple 
 from his mantel-piece, but she, shrugging up her shoulders, 
 declined receiving it, saying, " We can purchase apples when 
 we wish for them." Dr. William Patton, one of his flock, 
 used to relate some amusing anecdotes of his idiosyncrasies 
 in the pulpit. Once, perceiving some mischievous tendencies 
 in one of his sons, sitting in a pew near the pulpit, he stopped 
 abruptly in his discourse and said, " Samuel, go home, — go 
 home," — motioning at the same time with his hand towards 
 the door. When speaking of Nicodemus, as referred to in 
 the third chapter of John, he would uniformly say, " There 
 was a gentleman of the Pharisees, called Nicodemus." And 
 when commenting on the parable of the ten virgins he used 
 to call them the " ten young ladies^ Mr. Barnes, his suc- 
 cessor in the First Church of Philadelphia, thus describes his 
 preaching : — 
 
 On the only occasion on which I ever heard him preach, several 
 circumstances struck me as remarkable. His personal appearance 
 
JAMES PATRIOT WILSON. 233 
 
 was highly iuipressive. He was very pale, and apparently feeble. He 
 sat ill the pulpit, and, as he was accustomed to do, used a large laii. 
 He had a very dignified air, and his whole manner was calm, col- 
 lected, and solemn. What first arresteil my attention particularly 
 in his pulpit performances was the manner in which he read the 
 Scriptures. It was a chapter in the Gospel of John. His reading 
 was accompanied by brief explanatory remarks. 1 thought it the 
 most clear and interesting exposition of the Bible I had ever wit- 
 nessed. It was so simple, so plain, so striking, that at the time it 
 occurred to me that he could better prepare a commentary for the 
 use of Sunday schools than any man I had ever met with. His 
 sermon was equally clear, impressive, and solemn, and what was 
 most remarkable about it was a very clear and beautiful exposition 
 of the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which he quoted 
 from memory, and commented on as accurately as if he had had the 
 chapter before him. He used no notes of any kind. His preach- 
 ing at first seemed to be merel}' conversational. He sat and talked 
 to the people before him, as a gentleman might be expected to do 
 in his own parlor. Soon, however, I forgot entirely the man, — his 
 fan, his sitting, and his somewhat singular habit of lifting up and 
 down his watch-chain. I became wholly absorbed in what he was 
 saying, and to me it was then of no importance what he was doi7iff, 
 or whether he made man^^ gestures or none. I have never in my 
 life found myself more absorbed in the subject on which a public 
 speaker was discoursing than I was on this occasion. And what 
 was true of myself seemed to be true of the entire congregation. 
 
 Dr. Sprague, in his invaluable Annals of the American Pul- 
 pit, says of Dr. Wilson : — 
 
 He was in person above the middle height, and had a countenance 
 rather grave than animated, and expressive at once of strong benev- 
 olent feeling and of high intelligence. In the ordinary intercourse 
 of society, his manners were exceedingly bland, though he was as 
 far as possible from any approach to the courtier. He was affable 
 and communicative, and generally talked so sensibl}', or so learnedly, 
 or so profoundly, that he was listened to with earnest attention. He 
 had certain peculiarities that would sometimes excite a smile, but 
 they would not diminish anybody's respect for his character. I 
 saw him a few times in private, and he struck me as a model of 
 a Christian philosopher. He was uniformly gentle, urbane, and 
 
234 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 obliging, and rarely spoke without uttering something that I could 
 wish to remember. I heard him preach one sermon, and it was 
 throughout as consecutive and condensed as the demonstration of 
 a problem of Euclid. I am confident that I never heard another 
 preacher who tasked m}^ powers of attention and reflection so much ; 
 the loss of a sentence or two would have greatly marred the im- 
 pression of the entire discourse. He spoke without notes and with 
 great deliberation, but with as much correctness as if every word 
 had been written. On a blank leaf of his cop}' of Henr}- Ware's 
 tract on Extemporaneons Preaching., he has left the following 
 testimony over his signature: "I have preached twenty years, 
 and have never written a full sermon in my life, and never read 
 one word of a sermon from the pulpit, nor opened a note, nor com- 
 mitted a sentence, and have rarely wandered five minutes at a time 
 from m}' mental arrangement previously made." 
 
 I have dwelt thus long upon the character of Dr. Wilson 
 the father, because in his day he represented in the Presby- 
 terian Church with more weight than perhaps any other man 
 the moderate and catholic spirit which a few years later was 
 embodied in the Union Theological Seminary ; and also be- 
 cause some of the most influential founders and early direc- 
 tors of the institution had either been trained by him, or as, in 
 the cases of Thomas H. Skinner and Albert Barnes, were sus- 
 tained and defended by his powerful influence in their break 
 with the intolerant, domineering temper, as also with certain 
 favorite theological notions and shibboleths, which marred 
 more or less of the current Calvinistic orthodoxy. He had 
 no superstitious devotion either to ecclesiastical rules or to 
 mere human formulas of belief. Alike in his churchmanship 
 and in his divinity he was very independent and liberal ; he laid 
 great stress upon the ethical side of Christian life and doc- 
 trine ; and in his -whole being he was so simple, so high-souled, 
 and such a wise as well as ardent lover of truth, that those 
 who came within the charmed circle of his teaching and of 
 his grand personality felt the touch of a power that wrought 
 in them for higher and larger aims all the rest of their days. 
 
JAMES PATRIOT WILSON. 235 
 
 It is quite clear to me that, liad Dr. Wilson never lived, the 
 Union Theological Seminary would have been built upon less 
 solid, generous, and broad foundations. 
 
 The following tribute to the son of this great and good man. 
 Dr. James P. Wilson of Newark, N. J., appeared shortly after 
 his death. It was written by his old friend and neighbor, the 
 Rev. Dr. W. J. R. Taylor, of that city : — 
 
 "In a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in bis season," 
 this venerable and beloved man of God has " come to his grave." 
 It may be almost as literally said of him as of Moses at the time 
 of his departure, that "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force 
 abated," up to the stroke of his last and short illness. Few even 
 of those who knew him suspected that upon his tall, erect, and 
 noble frame, and upon his whitening head, the crown of fourscore 
 3'ears had settled. His physical faculties and intellectual powers 
 were so little impaired, that to the last he performed his pastoral 
 service, and preached as well as ever, and worked for the Church 
 at large with unabated zeal and spiritual power. But suddenly the 
 end has come, and all that knew his name say, " How is the strong 
 staff broken and the beautiful rod ! " On the Friday before his 
 death, he returned from a trip to his summer cottage at Lake 
 George to prepare for vacation in that delightful resort, but smit- 
 ten with fatal disease, which was aggravated b}' previous over- 
 exertion in parochial and other church work connected with the 
 Bloomfield Theological Seminary, and preparations for the meeting 
 of the General Assembl}' in New York. From the first attack he 
 believed it to be his last sickness, and after six days of increasing 
 suffering and failing of heart and flesh he entered into rest. With 
 characteristic humility, he said little of his personal experiences, 
 3'et to those who were with him he left precious testimony of " the 
 patience and the faith of the saints." . . . Dr. Wilson's early educa- 
 tion was mostl}' conducted by his father, or under his special care. 
 At the age of ten he corresponded in Latin with his father, whose 
 classical attainments and habits were such that he " had not only 
 read all the Greek and Latin fathers, but almost lived among them." 
 At twelve j-ears of age he entered the University of Pennsylvania, 
 but was fully prepared, and graduated with his class in 182G. After 
 his conversion, which was several years later, he studied for the 
 
236 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ministry under his father's instructions, and was licensed to preach 
 the Gospel b^' the Presbytery of Philadelphia. At one time, it is 
 said, his ambition was to become a soldier, and he always admired 
 the best forms of military life and achievement. But God meant 
 him to be "a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 
 His first settlement was as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at 
 Neshaminy, Pa., and later he ministered to the Coates Street Pres- 
 byterian Church in Philadelphia. In 1847 he became President of 
 Delaware College at Newark, Del., where he remained about three 
 years. Afterwards he was called to the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary in the city of New York, where he taught Systematic The- 
 ology until October, 1853, when he accepted the call of the newly 
 organized South Park Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J., to 
 which he gave thirty-six years of his consecrated life and efllcient 
 ministry. During all this period he was also actively engaged in 
 various lines of work for the institutions of the Church, and of the 
 city which was honored by his long and useful pastorate, and abun- 
 dant labors for the public good. He built his very life into his 
 church, and a real " master builder" he was. And it may be truly 
 said that the best human thing in that church was his faithful min- 
 istry, with his sanctified learning, eloquence, wisdom, and tact, his 
 godly life and good example, and his absolute fidelity to the ever- 
 lasting Gospel. His strong personality impressed itself upon the 
 whole communit}'. He was original and modestly oracular, utterl}' 
 fearless and outspoken upon all questions of the time that required 
 his advocacy or opposition, and yet with the courage of a prophet 
 he had the tenderness of a belove'd disciple. With overflowing 
 humor and ready wit, he never lost his dignity, and while inspir- 
 ing the respect of all men, he was attractive to little children, and 
 was as gentle as a nurse among his people, whether in sorrow or 
 in joy. 
 
 Dr. Wilson was a born leader in the Church, and stood in the 
 forefront of the temperance and other social reforms. His public 
 spirit and Christian patriotism in peace and in war-time never 
 lacked honest and active manifestation, even against the greatest 
 popular prejudice and opposition. In theology he was a moderate 
 Calvinist, like his father, and was prominently identified with the 
 New School Presbyterians from the division to their reunion with 
 the Old School in 18G9. With many other eminent men of both 
 Schools, he was opposed to the reunion ; but when it was happily 
 
JAMES PATRIOT WILSON. 237 
 
 accomplished, he gave it his best services to the end of his honored 
 and blessed ministry. He hated strife, and was pre-eminently a 
 peacemaker ; and it was doubtless and chiefly for these reasons 
 that he chose his way through the ecclesiastical controversies of 
 his time. 
 
 Dr. Wilson died on May 22, 1889. My own recollections of 
 him are very pleasant. We came to New York about the 
 same time, and during his connection with the Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary, as one of its Professors, he and his family 
 were members of my congregation. I soon learned to esteem 
 and love him, as a man of rare modesty and solid excellence, 
 and our friendship never grew cold. For a third of a century 
 he was a Director of the Union Seminary. He took a lively 
 interest in its welfare, and was not often absent from a meet- 
 ing of the Board. He had the greatest admiration for his 
 successor in the chair of Systematic Theology, Dr. Henry B. 
 Smith, and always seemed to delight in expressing it. His 
 last services as a member of the Board were in preparing a 
 touching minute on the death of Dr. Fewsmith, and in giving 
 the charge to the Rev. Dr. Vincent upon his inauguration as 
 Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature. 
 
 The death of Dr. Wilson rendered vacant the last of three 
 seats in the Board of Directors which had been occupied for 
 a third of a century by a remarkable triumvirate of Newark 
 pastors, the first two of whom were Jonathan F. Stearns, 
 elected in 1850, and Joseph Fewsmith, elected in 1852. All 
 three were men of uncommon gifts ; and by their very long 
 and faithful service, their ripe experience, their tried wisdom 
 and soundness of judgment, their catholic spirit and sweet 
 human sympathies, as well as by their piety towards God 
 and their likeness to Jesus Christ, they added weight to the 
 character of the city in which they la])orcd, and of the wliole 
 Church which was so favored as to number them among its 
 ministers. 
 
 Who can begin to estimate the good influences which 
 
238 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 flowed, and will continue to flow, far and wide, from the 
 lives of these three men ? They were three in varied graces 
 and individuality of character and of work ; but they were 
 one, and of one heart and one mind, in striving together 
 so long, side by side, for the faith and furtherance of the 
 Gospel. What a beautiful friendship was theirs ! How they 
 loved and trusted each other during all those more than three 
 and thirty years ! The very sight of them, as they used to 
 take their places together so punctually at the meetings of 
 the Board of Directors of Union Seminary, was a benediction. 
 
 MR. JAMES BROWN. 
 
 James Brown was born at Ballymena, Antrim County, Ire- 
 land, February 4, 1791. In 1800 his father, Alexander Brown, 
 came to the United States and settled in Baltimore. James 
 was then at school in England, but later followed his father 
 to this country. In 1811 the firm of Alexander Brown and 
 Sons was established in Baltimore. In 1815 James joined 
 his brother William, afterward Sir William Brown, who was 
 at the head of a branch of the house in Liverpool. Three 
 years later he returned and became a partner with his brother 
 in the Philadelphia firm of John A. Brown &, Co. In 1825 
 he came to New York, and the next year established here the 
 firm of Brown Brothers & Co., since so well known and hon- 
 ored the world over. In 1838, on the retirement from busi- 
 ness of John A. Brown, he became the head of the house in 
 this country. He died in New York on November 1, 1877, in 
 the eighty-seventh year of his age. To his warm friendship 
 for Dr. Adams the Seminary owes the gift of three hundred 
 thousand dollars, with the condition that " the income should 
 be applied only to the payment of professors' and teachers' 
 salaries." " I have long felt," he wrote to Dr. Adams, " that 
 the salaries of the professors are quite too small, and hence 
 the views I take on that subject." 
 
JAMES BROWN. 239 
 
 On the dc<ath of Mr. Brown the following minute was 
 placed upon the records of the Faculty : — 
 
 The Faculty of Union Theological Seminary have been deeply 
 touched by the departure from this life of their aged and honored 
 friend, Mr. James Brown ; and they desire to put on record an ex- 
 pression of their feelings in view of this event. As an eminent 
 citizen, as a merchant whose name was known and higldy esteemed 
 throughout tlie commercial world, as a Christian man and philan- 
 thropist, and as a munificent patron of Union Seminary, the death 
 of Mr. Brown will receive due notice, and his virtues be fully- 
 commemorated elsewhere. But lie stood in peculiar relations to 
 the Faculty of this institution. He was more than their personal 
 friend, he was their benefactor and the benefactor of their suc- 
 cessors in the years to come. With a wisdom and foresight only 
 equalled by his generosity, he lifted all our chairs out of their 
 straitened and uncertain financial condition and planted them upon 
 the sohd ground of a liberal, secure, and permanent endowment. 
 He thus freed us, and those who shall hereafter take our places, 
 from exposure to the worrying cares and discomforts which, un- 
 happily, are too often the portion of professors in our higher in- 
 stitutions of learning. In paying, therefore, a special tribute to 
 the memory of this excellent and noble man, we are paying a debt 
 of gratitude, as well as of esteem and affection. We shall not cease 
 to remember him and his great service to this Seminary. Nor shall 
 we cease to remember with pleasure those closing Sabbath hours, 
 when, under his own roof, we one after another joined with him 
 and his household in Christian worship. What a beautiful picture 
 he presented of serene, happy, God-fearing old age, as in the 
 midst of his children and children's children he sat thus, awaiting 
 the coming of his Lord ! What an unspeakable benediction was 
 death to him, and in dying what a lasting benediction lie has left 
 behind to those who mourn his loss ! We tender them our sym- 
 pathy in their bereavement, but still more do we congratulate them 
 upon all the precious and hallowed memories that still bind them 
 to the departed, and through him to a better country. 
 
240 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 GOVERNOR MORGAN. 
 
 Edwin Denison Morgan was a descendant of James Mor- 
 gan, who emigrated from Wales to Boston in 1636. and in 
 1650 removed to Pequot, now New London, Conn. Edwin 
 was born at Washington, Mass., on February 8, 1811. In 
 1828 he began his mercantile career with a clerkship in Hart- 
 ford. In 1836 he established himself in New York, and in a 
 few years won a position among its leading merchants. He 
 took much interest in politics, and from 1849 to 1853 was 
 a State senator. In 1859 he was elected Governor of New 
 York, and filled the office with the same prudence and ability 
 that distinguished him as a man of business. During the 
 Civil War some 220,000 men were raised, equipped, and sent 
 by him into the field. From 1863 to 1869 he represented 
 New York in the Senate of the United States. The Secre- 
 taryship of the Treasury was offered him by President Lin- 
 coln, and also by President Arthur. He died on February 
 14, 1883, in the seventy-third year of his age. 
 
 Governor Morgan's first gift to the Union Seminary was 
 one hundred thousand dollars for the Library ; he then gave 
 another hundred thousand dollars toward the land on which the 
 present buildings stand ; and in his will he left the institution 
 two hundred thousand dollars more. Dr. Hitchcock speaks of 
 his religious character as of the most sincere and solid type, 
 adding: "Towards the end of his busy life he waked up to the 
 great privilege of Christian beneficence, keenly regretting that 
 he had lost so much time, and so many opportunities of ser- 
 vice." On this point, as also upon several striking features 
 of his strong character, the following letter from Mr. Cady, 
 the distinguished architect, throws a clear light. 
 
 Alpine, N. J., July 11, 1889. 
 My dear Dr. Prentiss, — 
 
 In sending 3-011 some account of my impressions of Governor 
 Morgan, let me say thut they were gained during the last two j-ears 
 
EDWIN DENISON MORGAN. 241 
 
 of his life, when my relations were quite intimate with him in devis- 
 ing and carrying out the scheme for " Morgan Hall," his noble 
 gift to Williams College. 
 
 As this was the first enterprise of the kind in which he had been 
 engaged, and I a new acquaintance, — introduced to him by Presi- 
 dent Carter, — he proceeded at first with much caution, weighing 
 carefully each practical detail, and considering its bearing upon 
 the welfare of the College. He took pains, notwithstanding his 
 extensive personal business, to satisfy himself as to the value and 
 probable results of various schemes and modifications, and let 
 nothing pass him without closest scrutiny. Later, when his confi- 
 dence was gained, he exercised the same care in mastering matters 
 of detail, but with the difference that he now gave greater weight 
 to professional opinions and advice, and spoke very fully of his 
 aims and desires. One could not come thus in contact with him 
 without being strongly impressed with the force and real greatness 
 of the man. An interview was a tonic, — as invigorating as the 
 mountain breeze, — and I never left him without feeling greatly 
 stimulated b}' it. 
 
 As the Williams building progressed, his personal interest and 
 pleasure in it constantly' increased. One day, after speaking of 
 his new-found enjoyment, he said: "I see now clearly that it 
 has been the greatest mistake of my life that I have not engaged 
 in this kind of thing before ; it is one of the greatest pleasures I 
 have ever experienced. And what a host of opportunities I have 
 lost ! If men of means could only realize what gratification is to 
 be derived in this wa}', worthy and deserving objects would be 
 fairly besieged with clamorous donors." A number of times he 
 expressed his deep regret at not having realized earlier in life the 
 pleasure to be derived from judicious giving. 
 
 Whatever Governor Morgan undertook he carried out most 
 thoroughly, and in the matter of Morgan Hall he set aside a sura 
 sufficient for the completion and equipment of the building, and, 
 realizing the uncertainty of life, added a clause to his will making 
 the whole secure in event of his death. Further than this, fearing 
 that unforeseen contingencies might arise requiring an additional 
 sum to complete it, he added twenty thousand dollars for such 
 emergencies. 
 
 The building was, however, completed substantially for the sura 
 originally contemplated, and the Governor, greatly pleased, directed 
 16 
 
242 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 President Carter to use the additional sum for a fund to keep the 
 building and grounds in order. 
 
 His interest in this work led him to consider seriously several 
 other schemes of the kind, when he was suddenly- called from 
 earthl}' activities to enter into rest. 
 
 It should be mentioned, that, with his dignity and strong in- 
 tellectual force, he was a man of a sincerely affectionate dis- 
 position. All who knew him intimately- found that his death 
 occasioned a deep sense of loss, — one that comes only where the 
 affections have been touched, and heart has made its impression 
 on heart. 
 
 Very siucerel}' yours, 
 
 J. Cleveland Cady. 
 
EDWARD ROBINSON. 243 
 
 11. 
 
 PROFESSORS. 
 
 Edward Robinson was born in Soiithington, Conn., on 
 April 10, 1794. He came of an old New England stock, and 
 inherited some of the best Puritan qualities, both mental and 
 moral. His father, the Rev. William Robinson, graduated at 
 Yale College in the class of 1773, and in 1780 was settled as 
 pastor of the Congregational Church in Southington, where 
 he died, on August 15, 1825, at the age of seventy-one. In a 
 biography of him, prepared by his son Edward and printed for 
 private distribution in 1859, he is depicted as a man of the 
 type of his eminent contemporaries, Drs. Dwight, Bellamy, 
 and Smalley, — a man of uncommon intellectual vigor, solid- 
 ity, and strength of character, as also of great business energy 
 and public spirit. He was a very thrifty farmer, as well as an 
 able preacher, carried on a grist-mill and saw-mill, and be- 
 came the wealthiest man in Southington. Edward Robinson's 
 mother, a pious, sensible, and excellent woman, was Elizabeth 
 Norton, of Farmington. Being of a slender constitution and 
 unable to do hard work on the farm, Edward was apprenticed, 
 when sixteen years old, to a Mr. Whittlesey, of Southington. 
 
 But his passion for knowledge soon showed that business 
 was not his calling, and in 1812 he entered Hamilton College, 
 where his maternal uncle, Seth Norton, was a Professor. He 
 ranked as the first scholar of his class through its whole 
 course and in every department of study. Graduating in 
 1816, he entered the law office of James Strong at Hudson, 
 N. Y., but soon aftef accepted a tutorsliip in Hamilton Col- 
 lege, and for a year gave instruction in mathematics and 
 Greek. In the autumn of 1818 he was married to Eliza 
 
244 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Kirkland, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the mission- 
 ary to the Oneida Indians, and sister of the celebrated John 
 Thornton Kirkland, President of Harvard College. By her 
 death in less than a year after their marriage, he was left in 
 possession of a valuable farm, which she had inherited from 
 her father. Here he continued to reside till the autumn of 
 1821, when he went to Andover, Mass., in order to publisli 
 there an edition of eleven books of the Iliad. The work ap- 
 peared in 1822. 
 
 At Andover he quickly came into intimate relations with 
 Moses Stuart, by whose influence he was appointed, in the 
 autumn of 1823, Instructor in Hebrew. Professor Stuart was 
 then at the height of his remarkable career as a Biblical 
 scholar; but Edward Robinson soon won for himself a name 
 in the same department, which, if not as brilliant, was full 
 of the largest promise. In 1826 he resigned his position at 
 Andover, and went abroad for purposes of enlarged philo- 
 logical study. He remained abroad four years, passing the 
 time chiefly at Halle and Berlin, but visiting also France, 
 Switzerland, Italy, and the northern countries of Europe. Not 
 a few of the most illustrious scholars, theologians, and philos- 
 ophers of Germany were then living, — some of them in the 
 very zenith of their power and fame. With Tholuck and Gese- 
 nius at Halle, and with Neander and Ritter at Berlin, not to 
 mention others, Mr. Robinson became closely acquainted. His 
 residence in Germany not only opened to him vast treasures 
 of Biblical learning, and familiarized him with her language 
 as well as her methods of study and her solid scholarship, 
 but it led also to an event that shaped his whole future do- 
 mestic life. On the 7th of August, 1828, he was married to 
 Therese Albertine Louise, the youngest daughter of Staats- 
 rath von Jacob, for many years Professor in the University of 
 Halle. She had already attained literary distinction, and was 
 destined to attain still greater, in both her native and adopted 
 country. Mr. Robinson returned to the United States in 1830, 
 
EDWARD ROBTNSON. 245 
 
 and soon after was appointed Pj-ofessor Extraordinary of Sa- 
 cred Literatnre, and Librarian, in the Theological Seminary 
 at Andover. In this position he remained three years, when, 
 in consequence of the breaking down of his health, he resigned 
 and took up his abode in Boston. During these three years 
 in Andover he performed an amount of literary labor truly 
 astonishing, more especially in founding and editing The Bib- 
 lical Repository. Nearly one half of all the articles in tlie 
 first four volumes of that invaluable work were written by his 
 own hand. In an advertisement to the fourth volume, dated 
 Boston, October 1, 1834, he writes : — 
 
 With the present volume the labors of the undersigned as editor 
 of the Biblical Repository close. As its founder and conductor, 
 he has now for four years devoted his best time and talents to the 
 work, and has been cheered in his progress by the high approbation 
 of eminent Christian scholars and divines in this and foreign lands. 
 But this approbation has been won, and the work hitherto sus- 
 tained, at an expense of time and labor for which nothing in the 
 shape of adequate remuneration has been received by the editor, 
 further than the consciousness of not having labored in vain. 
 Under these circumstances, and bowed down with broken health, 
 he feels it to be a duty which he owes to himself, to his family-, and 
 perhaps to the churches, to withdraw from the station which he has 
 hitherto occupied as tlie conductor of a public journal. 
 
 In thus retiring from this more public station, it is by no means 
 his intention to abandon the field of labor in which it has so long 
 been the business and solace of his life to hold a humble place. 
 But whether his days shall be prolonged for the completion of other 
 works illustrative of the Bible, or whether his race of life be soon 
 to close, he would ever say. Thy will, O God, be done ! 
 
 Happily, nearly thirty more years of life were to be given 
 him for the "completion of other works illustrative of the 
 Bible," as well as for inestimable service in helping to organ- 
 ize the Union Theological Seminary. In 1836 appeared his 
 translation of Gesenius's Hebrew Lexicon. The same year 
 his G-reek and English Lexicon of the New Testament, one of 
 his greatest contributions to Biblical science, was published. 
 
246 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with its publication he was called to 
 the chair of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological 
 Seminary. His letter to the Board of Directors, announcing 
 his acceptance of their call, is one of the most important 
 documents connected with the early history of the institution. 
 It is dated New York, January 20, 1837, and the larger part 
 of it is here given : — 
 
 Gentlemen : Having been for some months hi this city for the 
 purpose of obtaining information as to the plan and prospects of 
 the Seminary under your charge, and having received on ever}' 
 hand the most frank and full communications, I am now ready, 
 after prayerful and careful consideration, to give an answer to the 
 letter of your committee announcing that you had unanimously 
 elected me to the office of Professor of Biblical Literature in the 
 Seminary. 
 
 It has been to me a matter of high gratification to find that the 
 Seminar}', in its rise and future prospects, rests upon the sinews of 
 Christian enterprise and piety in the cit}' of New York ; that it is 
 the nursling of the churches in the city, and as such will, if de- 
 serving, be borne in their arms, and cherished in their warm affec- 
 tions. Thus founded and nurtured, if it be conducted in the same 
 spirit, there can be no doubt, to a believing mind, tliat God will 
 make it the instrument of great good, and crown it with abundant 
 prosperity. The great principles of faith and practice on which 
 the Seminary is founded have my full and cordial assent ; and it 
 has thus far been, as it will hereafter be, the desire and effort of my 
 life to inculcate those principles, and extend their influence so far 
 as God shall give me opportunity. 
 
 In aid of this great object, permit me here to offer a few sug- 
 gestions in reference to the department to which you have called me, 
 which are chiefly the result of personal experience, and may have, 
 perhaps, a bearing upon the future influence and interests of the 
 Seminary. 
 
 The constitution properly requires every Professor to declare 
 that he beUeves "the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 
 to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and prac- 
 tice." This is placing the Bible in its true position, as the only 
 foundation of Christian theology. It follows as a necessar}' con- 
 sequence, that the study of the Bible, as taught in the department 
 
EDWARD roblxson: 247 
 
 of Biblical Literature, must lie at the foundation of all right theo- 
 logical education. To understand the Bible, the student must 
 know all about the Bible. It is not a mere smattering of Greek 
 and Hebrew, not the mere abilit}- to consult a text in the original 
 Scriptures, that can qualify him to be a correct interpreter of the 
 word of life. He must be thoroughly furnished for his work, if he 
 be expected to do his work well. A bare enumeration of the par- 
 ticulars that fall within the department of Biblical Literature will 
 show that it covers a wider field than is generally supposed. To it 
 properly belong full courses of instruction in the Hebrew, Greek, 
 and Chaldee languages, and also, as auxiliaries, in the Syriac, 
 Arabic, and other minor dialects, in Biblical Introduction, or the 
 History of the Bible as a whole, and its various parts, its writers, 
 its manuscripts, editions, versions, etc., in Biblical Criticism, or the 
 history and condition of the text, in Biblical Ilermeneutics, or the 
 theorj' and principles of interpi-etation, in Biblical Exegesis, or 
 the practical application of those principles to the study and inter- 
 pretation of the sacred books, in Biblical Antiquities, and, further, 
 a separate consideration of the version of the Sevent}', as a chief 
 source of illustration for both the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 I do not make this enumeration in order to magnify my own de- 
 partment, — far from it, — but rather to lead your minds to see and 
 inquire, "Who is sufficient for these things? " Certainly it does 
 not lie within the power of any one man, whoever he may be, to do 
 justice to all these important topics. But there must be in every 
 great undertaking a day of small things, there must be months and 
 even 3'ears of weakness, though 3'et of growth, and m}' object in 
 these remarks will be accomplished if thej' serve to draw 3'our 
 attention to the importance of the general subject, and thus pre- 
 pare the way for further action, whenever God in his providence 
 shall seem to render it expedient. 
 
 In this connection, permit me to suggest whether it may not in 
 due time be advisable to connect with the Seminarj- a popular 
 class for Biblical instruction, intended particularly' to prepare pious 
 young men as teachers of Bible classes and in Sabbath schools. 
 On the general subject of a Librarj', it is here only proper to re- 
 mark, that a full apparatus of books in ever}* department of the- 
 ology is of course indispensable to the prosperity of the institution. 
 In particular, the Library should also contain a complete series of 
 the works of the Fathers, so called, in the best editions, and with 
 
248 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 proper apparatus, and also the best editions of every Greek and 
 Roman writer, with the necessary' aids for their elucidation. There 
 is not a page of any Greek writer which does not in some way 
 yield illustration to the sacred text, and the same is true also, in a 
 modified sense, of all the Roman writers. 
 
 Another thing which has often struck me as of great importance 
 in connection with an institution of this kind is the power of the 
 press. At the present time there are in this countr}' quite a num- 
 ber of theological works, the manuals and text-books of our theo- 
 logical seminaries, which have been and can be priuted oxAy at a 
 single press in the whole land, and that connected with a sister 
 seminary. The influence which that press has thus exerted, and 
 must still exert, is obvious to all ; and I am aware of no external 
 aid more powerful than this to build up and extend both the theo- 
 logical and literary reputation of a seminar}'. At a comparativel}' 
 small expense founts of Greek and Oriental type may be procured, 
 which can easily be so placed in connection wath the institution, or 
 under its control, as to accomplish great effects without further 
 expense or hazard to the Seminary. 
 
 There remains a single point which is personal to myself. It is 
 known to some of you that I am connected b}- family ties with 
 Europe, and that it has been my purpose to visit that continent 
 during the present year. This purpose m}' duty to my familj- com- 
 pels me not to forego, while 3'et m}' visit tliither might be rendered 
 available to the Seminary in the purchase of books for the Library, 
 and in the establishment of such correspondence and agencies as 
 should greatly facilitate the procurement of them in future. At the 
 same time, I have for 3'ears connected with the idea of this voyage 
 the hope and intention of visiting Palestine, with reference to the 
 preparation of a Biblical Geography, a work much needed in our 
 theological seminaries. Nor can I doubt that such a visit would 
 increase in a high degree my feeble qualifications as a teacher of 
 the Bible. 
 
 He then says tliat, in order to carry out his purpose of visit- 
 ing Europe, leave of absence " for a period not exceeding one 
 academic year " would be requisite ; it being understood that a 
 suitable person should be employed, at his charge, to perform 
 the duties of the department during his absence, and that his 
 time while in Europe should be at the disposal of the Board 
 
EDWARD ROBINSON. 249 
 
 as far as they might wish to avail themselves of it for any ob- 
 jects connected with the Seminary. His letter closes thus : 
 
 Should you deem it compatible with the interests of the Semi- 
 nary that I take the office under this condition, I am ready to 
 throw myself heart and soul into the work, and exert to the utmost 
 all the feeble powers which God has given me, trusting that in 
 co-operation with ray respected colleagues, and with the blessing of 
 God upon His own work, an institution may be raised up wliich, 
 by its happy influence upon the churches of this city and of our 
 land, shall repay a hundred-fold into the bosoms of its founders 
 the cares and exertions and sacrifices which they have been called 
 to make in its behalf. 
 
 In accordance with the condition mentioned in this letter, 
 Dr. Robinson set sail for the Old World, July 17, 1837, and, 
 leaving his family in Berlin, proceeded at once to the East. 
 Early in 1838, accompanied by the Rev. Eli Smith, an hon- 
 ored missionary of the American Board, he entered upon the 
 task of thoroughly exploring the Holy Land. In October he 
 rejoined his family at Berlin, where he remained nearly two 
 years, busied in preparing for the press his Biblical Researches. 
 In 1841 this great work appeared simultaneously here, in 
 England, and in Germany. It was greeted with universal ap- 
 plause. In 1842 the Royal Geographical Society of London 
 awarded him a gold medal, and the University of Halle hon- 
 ored him, as Dartmouth College had done in 1831, witli the 
 degree of D. D. Two years later, he received the degree of 
 LL. D. from Yale College. In the autumn of 1851 the Board 
 of Directors, unsolicited, voted him leave of absence for a 
 second exploring tour in Palestine. Setting out in December 
 of that year, he visited Berlin, landed in Beirout early in April, 
 1852, accomplished the new exploration, and reached New 
 York again on the 27th of October. In 1856 the results of 
 this journey appeared in a new volume of Researches} Dr. 
 
 1 This volume contains the following Dedication : "To Charles Bctler, 
 Esq., of New York, the Earnest Promoter of Christian Lcarninfj and of Chris- 
 tian Enterprise, a Friend of many Years' Standing, to whose Encouragement 
 
250 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Robinson projected another great work on the Holy Land, to 
 be entitled Biblical Creography ; but although fully planned 
 and actually begun, ill health and the failure of his eyesight 
 prevented its completion. In May, 1862, he went abroad for 
 the purpose of consulting Dr. Graefe of Berlin, the renowned 
 oculist. But the end was rapidly drawing near. He returned 
 to New York about the middle of November, and on Tuesday 
 evening, January 27, 1863, quietly passed away from earth, in 
 the sixty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 A little volume, published by 'Anson D. F. Randolph in 
 1863, contains warm and just tributes to his memory by two 
 of his colleagues.^ I give a single extract from the remarks 
 of Prof. Henry B. Smith : — 
 
 Francis Bacon tells us that there are three kinds of workmen : 
 spiders, who spin all from their own bowels ; ants, who simply col- 
 lect ; bees, who collect and work over. Dr. Robinson is to be 
 ranked among the latter of these classes, having left something 
 well worked over for the benefit of mankind. He was emphati- 
 cally a working man, seduced neither by tlie pleasures of imagina- 
 tion nor by the subtleties of metaphysical refinement. A "large 
 roundabout common sense" characterized all he did and said; an 
 inflexible honesty presided over his investigations. Of himself and 
 his own works he rarely spoke unless solicited, and then briefly ; 
 but he was always ready to impart what he knew, that he might 
 increase the sum of knowledge. Attached to the faith in which 
 he was bred, he was never a polemic ; he never took pai't in eccle- 
 siastical agitations ; he stood aloof from doctrinal controversy, and 
 ever showed a truly catholic and magnanimous spirit. 
 
 In person he was built upon a large and even massive scale ; 
 with broad shoulders and muscular limbs, that denoted capacity for 
 great endurance and toil ; crowned with a head of unusual volume, 
 a broad and open forehead, with perceptive powers predominant ; 
 a shaggy eyebrow, a full bright piercing eye, though usually 
 
 anrl Aid in this Second Journey to the Holj' Land the Author has been greatly 
 indebted, This Volume is gratefully dedicated." 
 
 1 The Life, Writings, and Character of Edward Robinson, D. D.. LL. D., 
 read before the New York Historical Society, by Henry B. Smith, D.D., and 
 Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D. Published by Request of the Society. 
 
HENRY WHITE. 251 
 
 shaded through infirmit}-; and altogether giving the impression, 
 even to a casual observer, of a man of weight and mark. ... In 
 his character, habits, associations, and sympathies, he was ever}' 
 whit an American, and loved his country more the more he knew 
 of other lands. He died in the midst of the perils and darkness 
 caused by the " weight of armies and the shock of steel" ; but he 
 did not doubt the final triumph of the cause of liberty and law. 
 
 Henry White, D. D., was born in Durham, N. Y., on June 
 19, 1800. His early years were spent mostly in laboring on 
 Ills father's farm. In the winter he attended tlie district 
 school, and at the age of seventeen began himself to teach. 
 When about eighteen he passed through a sharp spiritual 
 conflict, which at length issued in Christian peace and hope. 
 Soon after, he united with the Presbyterian Church in Cairo, 
 a few miles from his native place. He was fitted for college 
 in the Academy at Greencastle, N. Y., then under the care of 
 Mr. Andrew Huntington, and joined the Junior class in Union 
 College in 1822. The following extract from a letter of the 
 Eev. Dr. J. D. Wickham, of Manchester, Vt., dated December 
 17, 1886, touches upon this period of his life : — 
 
 My first acquaintance with Dr. White was when he had com- 
 menced a course of studj' preparatory for college, with a view to 
 entering the Christian ministr}-. This was in Greencastle, N. Y. 
 The venerable Pastor Ilotchkiss of that place introduced him to me 
 as a 5'oung man of high promise, who needed and should have help 
 in obtaining an education for the work of preaching the Gospel. 
 I was at that time an agent of the Presbyterian branch of the 
 American Education Society, having been engaged for this service 
 b}- the Rev. Drs. Richards and Ililher, the committee for agencies. 
 It may interest you to read a memorandum then made regarding 
 one who in the course of time was to be the first Professor of Sys- 
 tematic Theology in the Union Theological Seminary. It is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Henry "WTiite of Cairo, N. Y. For two years a member of Green- 
 castle Academy. He wishes to enter the Junior class in Union College. 
 Characterized by Rev. Mr. Ilotchkiss as a pious, discreet, and excellent 
 young man, highly esteemed iu this place, called a very good scholar 
 
252 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 by his instructors, not brilliant, but judicious and accurate. Was ex- 
 amined by Professors of Union College and recommended to the Amer- 
 ican Education Society two years ago. His father is poor, but endeavors 
 to help him to a part of his clothing. Upon acquaintance am much 
 interested in the young man. What shall he do? 
 
 The above is my memorandum made in 1822. Having a few- 
 days before been told by the Eev. Dr. Porter, then pastor of the 
 Presb3-terian Churcli in Catskill, that a Ladies' Education Societ}' 
 in his congregation would be willing to appropriate their funds 
 to some worth V 3'oung man preparing for the ministr}', I wrote to 
 him about Mr. White. The result was that his expenses were 
 borne by that society till he bad finished his college course. 
 When, therefore, our acquaintance was renewed by Mr. White's 
 call to the pastorate of Allen Street Church, I was accustomed to 
 help him in emergencies by preaching in his pulpit, and on one 
 occasion bj- taking part in a course of lectures to his people on 
 Church History. We met as old friends as often as we found 
 ourselves together at the assembling of Chi Alpha. 
 
 Mr. White was especially distinguished, during his college 
 course, in the departments of mathematics and philosophy, 
 and graduated with high honor in 1824. Having studied 
 theology at Princeton for two years, he was licensed to 
 preach by the Presbytery of Columbia, in 1826. Soon after, 
 he undertook an agency for the American Bible Society in 
 the South. In 1828 he accepted a call to the Allen Street 
 Church in this city, and was installed as its pastor. Having 
 taken an active part in founding the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary, he was elected to be its first Professor of Systematic 
 Theology. On the death of Dr. Richards he received a call 
 to the same chair in the Auburn Theological Seminary ; but 
 he declined the call, and continued his labors in this institu- 
 tion until his death, which occurred on August 25, 1850. To 
 the last moment his self-possession and peace of mind re- 
 mained undisturbed. In response to an inquiry of his physi- 
 cian he exclaimed : " Oh the unspeakable preciousness of the 
 atonement by the blood of Christ ! I have preached it for 
 years, and taught others to preach it, and now I know its 
 
HENRY WHITE. 253 
 
 worth." A few extracts from a warm and discriminating 
 tribute to his memory, written by his friend, Dr. Asa D. 
 Smith, will show what manner of man he was, both as a 
 pastor and theological teacher : — 
 
 For more than fifteen years I was intimately associated with 
 him, — at first as a co-presbyter, and one of his nearest ministerial 
 neighbors, and much of the time afterwards as one of the Direc- 
 tors in the Seminary in wliich he attained such eminence as a tlieo- 
 logical teacher. During most of the last years of his life, my 
 relations with him were still more peculiar, — almost those of a co- 
 pastor. I Ivnew him well, and sorrowfully feel that, while I had 
 few such friends to lose, there remain to the Church few such men 
 in the list of her public servants. 
 
 As to his personal appearance, Dr. White was of medium height 
 and of rather spare form. He had a very keen eye, a loft}-, expan- 
 sive forehead, and in all respects a contour and cast of countenance 
 indicative of intellect and energy of character. The furrows of 
 thought and care in his face, and the premature and unusual white- 
 ness of his hair, made him appear much older than he really was. 
 Though but fift}' at his death, a stranger, judging from the venera- 
 ble aspect he presented in the pulpit, would have pronounced him 
 at least sixt}'. His personal habits were marked by great plain- 
 ness and simplicity, yet he was ever afl^able and courteous. He 
 had naturally a strong, discriminating mind, well balanced and 
 abounding in practical wisdom. He was not of that class who, 
 however profound in professional matters, as to all common things 
 are mere children, and need to be kept in leading strings. A rare 
 counsellor he was, as well in regard to life's minor matters as to its 
 weightier concernments. He was a man of great decision, — not 
 hasty in laying his plans, but, when thej- were once adopted, stead- 
 fast and immovable. I have seldom met with a man who held to 
 deliberately formed purposes with so tenacious a grasp. He had 
 great directness and transparency of character ; he was at a great 
 remove from low intrigue, and from all disingenuous or dishonest 
 management. Sagacious he was indeed, skilled in men as well as 
 books ; he knew better than most how to approach most felicitously 
 our many-sided humanity ; he knew what a Roman poet has called 
 the "tempora mollia fandi." He was in all points reliable; ^ou 
 knew not only where to find him, but where he would remain. 
 
254 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 As a preacher he was eminently thoughtful, clear, convincing, 
 and pungent. Professor of theology though he was, deeplj' versed 
 in metaphysical subtleties, yet all who were accustomed to hear 
 him can bear witness how plain and scriptural, how suited to min- 
 ister, not to " vain jangling," but to " godly edifying," were his 
 topics and his treatment of them. His career as a pastor was 
 very successful. With the tenderest interest do the members of 
 the Allen Street Presbyterian Church still recur to the scenes of 
 his ministry among them. As nearly as I am able to ascertain, 
 not far from four hundred persons were, during the eight years 
 of his pastorship, received into the church, about one hundred and 
 ninety of them on profession of their faith. 
 
 As a teacher of theology'. Dr. White had peculiar and almost 
 unrivalled excellence. His system was eclectic, but yet origi- 
 nal and independent, — the result of his own cai-eful examination 
 and profound analysis. He loved the old paths of God's Word. 
 Though he called no man master, his system was Calvinistic in its 
 great outlines ; yet to him it was greater praise to call it Biblical. 
 And eminentl}" skilled was he in unfolding it to his pupils. Re- 
 markable especiall}- was his tact in setting their own minds at 
 work, and then meeting, by a single condensed statement, by a sin- 
 gle but clear distinction, b}' a familiar but luminous illustration, 
 whatever difficulty their awakened intellects might be troubled 
 with. Great and almost irreparable is his loss to our Seminary. 
 He was its first Professor, he began with its beginning, he had 
 personal experience of all its trials, and the point of prosperity 
 which the institution has in so short a time reached is in no small 
 degree ascribable to his great ability, his unwearied labor, and his 
 ready and ample sacrifices. As children for a father, so mourn 
 the students for him. 
 
 Thomas Harvey Skinner, D. D., LL.D., was born near 
 Harvey's Neck, N. C, on March 7, 1791. He entered the 
 College of New Jersey in 1807, joining the Junior class. 
 On leaving college he began the study of law in the office 
 of his brother, at Edenton, N. C. ; but upon his conversion, 
 shortly after, he decided to exchange the study of law for 
 that of divinity. To this end he went to Princeton, and later 
 to Elizabethtown, where he became a theological pupil of the 
 
THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 255 
 
 Rev. Dr. John McDowell, a leading Presbyterian pastor of 
 that day. He was licensed to preach on December 16, 1812, 
 and ordained co-pastor with Dr. Jancway of the Second Pres- 
 byterian Church, Arch Street, Philadelphia, on June 10, 1813. 
 In 1816 he accepted a call to the Fifth Presbyterian Church 
 in Locust Street, and was installed over it on December 1. 
 A few years later a new house of worship was erected in Arch 
 Street, near Tenth, and dedicated on June 8, 1823, Dr. Miller 
 of Princeton preacliing the sermon. Here he labored with 
 remarkable power and success. Early in 1828 he accepted a 
 call to Boston ; but the climate proved unfriendly, and at the 
 earnest entreaty of his old flock in Arch Street he returned to 
 Pliiladelphia and resumed his pastorate there. In 1832 he 
 consented to take the chair of Sacred Rhetoric in the Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Andover. In October, 1835, the Mercer 
 Street Presbyterian Church, New York, was organized, and 
 Dr. Skinner was invited to become its pastor. He accepted 
 the call, and this was his last and in some respects most im- 
 portant pastorate. It continued for thirteen years, and was 
 fruitful in the highest degree. I doubt if any other man then 
 living could have taken his place and done his work in New 
 York. The great schism in the Presbyterian Church was 
 soon to occur. The Union Theological Seminary was about 
 to be founded. Dr. Skinner's history, his uncommon weight 
 of personal and ministerial character, his wide acquaintance 
 and intimacy with leading men in New England and the 
 Middle States, and his position as the pastor of one of the 
 strongest metropolitan churches, gave him an influence in 
 the New School body, and in sustaining as well as shaping 
 the course of the Union Seminary, which nobody else could 
 have wielded. To him, indirectly at least, the institution was 
 indebted for the legacy of Mr. James Roosevelt, an honored 
 member of his Mercer Street flock, for the twenty thousand 
 dollars bequeathed to it by one of his old Philadelphia friends, 
 Mary Fassitt, and for the various gifts of Mr. James Doorman ; 
 
256 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 all of which helj^ed so effectually to rescue it from its financial 
 troubles. 
 
 We come now to the closing period of his public life. He 
 resigned his pastoral charge early in 1848, and in March 
 of that year was inaugurated Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, 
 Pastoral Theology, and Church Government in the Union 
 Theological Seminary. In this position he labored without 
 interruption for almost a quarter of a century. On Febru- 
 ary 1, 1871, in the eightieth year of his age, he passed away 
 from earth. His funeral took place on Saturday, February 4, 
 at the Church of the Covenant. It was a scene never to be 
 forgotten by those who witnessed it. The following is an ex- 
 tract from Dr. Henry B. Smith's address on the occasion : 
 
 Our Seminary owes as much to Dr. Skinner as to any other 
 man ; in some respects, espeeiall}- in its spiritual power and his- 
 tor}', it owes more to him than to any other man. I am to saj- a 
 few words on what he was to us, and of our special loss. A theo- 
 logical seminary needs to be poised upon a spiritual centre ; not 
 only to be rooted in Christ the Head, but also to centre in some 
 visible impersonation of the spiritual power of a living Christian 
 faith, animating its members by example and by word. That was 
 the position which our venerable senior Professor held (all uncon- 
 sciousl}' to himself) to both the Facultj* and the students of this 
 institution. 
 
 Few men whose lives are so long spared are what he was. He 
 never outlived his enthusiasm for anything good and true, even 
 though it might be new. On the themes that interested him he 
 would light up to the last with the fervor of ^'outh. In his higher 
 mental powers he did not seem to grow old. Now and then the 
 brightness of his e^'e was dimmed, his hearing became a shade less 
 acute, his abstraction from external things was somewhat more 
 noticeable ; but his intellect remained clear and active ; his soul 
 gi'ew larger with his growing years, and the scope of his spiritual 
 vision was widened as he mounted higher and higher. How easily 
 he surpassed us all in spiritual discernment ! 
 
 And this was what distinguished him : while hving in the world, 
 he lived above the world. I have never known a more unworldl}' 
 character. He was absorbed by a higher life. The so called fas- 
 
THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 257 
 
 cinations and distractions of this teeming metropolis were no temp- 
 tations to him ; he was among them, but not of them ; they just 
 glanced off from his untarnished shield. And even in the Church 
 he could never understand manoeuvring and ecclesiastical politics ; 
 he knew so little about such b^'-means that he was really amazed 
 at them. He just thought and said what seemed true, and did 
 what seemed right, and all the rest was no concern of his ; some- 
 bod}' would take care of it. And he was so single-minded that, 
 had the necessit}- come, he would, I doubt not, have marched to 
 the stake singing the song of victor3\ He believed in another 
 life. In Plato's immortal description of the cave and the light, 
 he tells us that the dwellers in the cave when they come to the 
 light seem to others to be dazed. There is always a kind of ab- 
 straction about great thinkers, poets, and divines. Common peo- 
 ple cannot quite see through them. They speak from a larger 
 view, and to a greater audience, than that of their own generation. 
 Mutely they appeal to a coming tribunal. And so our departed 
 friend was at times engrossed and absorbed in the high subjects of 
 Christian thought. He pondered them by day and by night. He 
 saw them from the mount of vision. Pie described them in glow- 
 ing periods. His fellowship was with the Father and the Son. If 
 he thought and spoke less of the things of time, it was because, 
 like Paul, he was rapt in a higher sphere, — where " God's glory 
 smote him in the face." He was to the last a reader, a student, 
 and a thinker. No student in the Seminary had a keener relish 
 for hard work than he, or found more to learn. Until within two 
 or three years he was alwa3's rewriting his lectures and even his 
 sermons. His most carefull}' prepared work, his Discussions in 
 Theology., an admirable book, was published only three years ago. 
 Some of the essays in it are not only complete in their anatomy, 
 but are finished with the refined art of a sculptor. The same 
 volume also defines his theological position. In seeking for truth 
 he never seemed to ask, What is the view of m}' side? but. What 
 is the truth itself? He did not take his definitions from an}' man. 
 Cordially attached to the theology of the Reformed Churches, he 
 was always willing to merge lesser differences for the sake of the 
 unity and prosperity of the Church. 
 
 His Seminar}- duties were not official tasks ; he loved his work, 
 and it grew upon him. His lectures on Church Government, and 
 Sacred Rhetoric, and the Pastoral Office, were wrought out with 
 17 
 
258 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 comprehensive thought and care. To the very last he read all new 
 works on these subjects, though he did not find in them much that 
 was new to him. But he praised man}' a book, and many a ser- 
 mon, rather from the fulness of his own vision than from what 
 others could find in them. 
 
 All true human greatness is also humble ; it does not seem to 
 seek its own. With his acknowledged superiorit}-, how deferential 
 was our brother to others, even to men of low estate ! It was 
 sometimes embarrassing to us to find that he was not aware of his 
 own superior position. He was among us as one that serveth. 
 There was about him a certain grace of manner, an old-time chiv- 
 alry of tone (now almost a tradition), towards those less and 
 younger and weaker than himself, which showed tlie true nobilit}' 
 of his soul. It came from his high sense of personal honor, which 
 made him honor all men. He was magnanimous, because he was 
 humble. 
 
 And what a helper and friend he was ! His personal affections 
 were unswerving. When 1 came here, he took me b}' the hand, 
 and its cordial pressure was never relaxed. When the pastor of 
 this church succeeded him in the ministry, no one greeted him 
 and no one has clung to him as did he. He was never weary of 
 talking of his old friends at home in North Carolina, — of Dr. 
 Wilson, and Brother Patterson, and Albert Barnes, with whom he 
 was united in life, and by death not long divided, — of his teachers 
 and classmates in Nassau Hall. What he was as a husband and a 
 father, — dearest of all earthl}' names, — the\' only fully know who 
 to-daj- mourn most deepl}- and are most deeply comforted. 
 
 A thousand of his pupils, all over our countrj' and in manj' a 
 distant land, mourn with us his loss ; and many thousands to 
 whom he preached the Gospel will sorrow for him who led them to 
 Christ, and by his own life showed the way. 
 
 As a teacher in the Presbyterian Church he was cordially at- 
 tached to its doctrine and government. But this did not exclude, 
 it rather favored, his love for the whole body of Christ. It not 
 only gave him zeal for our auspicious reunion, but enlarged his 
 love for all who profess and call themselves Christians. His char- 
 ity could not be bounded by the confines of ixx\y sect. He believed 
 more fully in the invisible than in the visible Church. He loved 
 all the brethren and labored for all men. 
 
 His power and influence as a theological teacher were also in- 
 
THOMAS HARVEY SKINNER. 259 
 
 creased by his keen sense of the in^ior and dignity of his own pro- 
 fession. In this he was not humble, for he spake from a high call- 
 ing. Necessity was laid upon him. No student could doubt that 
 he really felt, Woe is unto me and to you, if we do not preach the 
 Gospel, for eternity is here at stake. No one could doubt that he 
 trul}' believed the ministry of the Gospel to be the highest and the 
 most serviceable office which man can fill, that of an ambassador 
 for Christ, at the service of all men for their spiritual welfare. 
 
 His personal power was also enhanced, year b}' year, with the 
 increase of his spiritual life ; while the outward man was perishing, 
 the inward man was renewed day b}' day. lie became more and 
 more a living epistle, a gospel of God's grace, known and read of 
 all men. Vexed and perplexing questions were merged in a higher 
 life. Revealed facts took tlie place of the doctors of the schools, 
 and with advantage. 
 
 Thus he lived and grew day by day, in his serene and hallowed 
 old age, towards the measure of the stature of a perfect man in 
 Christ Jesus. Was he, then, a saint on earth? He was called to 
 be a saint, and he was always fulfilling his calling, not counting him- 
 self to have attained, but ever pressing onward. Upon the whole, 
 I think he was as saint-like a man as any of us have ever seen. 
 
 So he lived on, with his wiry and flexible frame, mind and body 
 active to the last. Every succeeding winter we have thought 
 might be too much for him. But he bore up bravely till he 
 touched the verge of fourscore years. The shadows of his life 
 lengthened, but he saw not the shadows, for his face was turned to 
 the light. Ten days ago I met him at the Seminary for the last 
 time, and his grasp was as firm and his look as warm as ever, 
 though even then he said, " I cannot long be with 3'ou." He 
 went out into the piercing cold, its rigor seized upon him ; its fatal 
 grasp could not be loosened. His time had come ; his Master 
 called, and he was always ready. Of death he had no fear, 
 though he sometimes said that he shrank from dying. But at last 
 even this natural fear passed away, and he could say with a full 
 heart : 
 
 " Welcome the hour of full discharge, 
 Which sets my longing soul at large, 
 Unbinds ray chains, breaks up my cell. 
 And gives me with ray God to dwell." ^ 
 
 1 Henry Boynton Smith, his Life and Work, pp. 452-460. 
 
260 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Henry Boynton Smith, D.D., LL.D., was born at Portland, 
 Me., on November 21, 1815. At the age of fifteen he entered 
 Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1834. His theologi- 
 cal studies were pursued at Bangor and Andover, and, later, 
 at the Universities of Halle and Berlin. While in Germany 
 he devoted himself with enthusiasm to philosophy and church 
 history, as well as to divinity. At Halle his relations with 
 Tholuck and Ulrici were especially intimate ; they loved and 
 treated him as a younger brother. In Berlin he was often 
 a welcome guest at the house of Neander. His teachers, 
 indeed, seemed to regard him less as their pupil than as their 
 friend and equal. With some of the younger theologians — 
 Kahnis and Godet, for example — he formed ties of friend- 
 ship, which remained fresh to the day of his death. After 
 his return to the United States, he served for a year as an 
 instructor in Bowdoin College. In 1842 he was ordained 
 as pastor of the Congregational Church in West Amesbury, 
 Mass. In this little village he spent five pleasant years, 
 winning more and more the love of his people, and here 
 began his happy domestic life. From 1845 to 1847 he also 
 gave instruction in Hebrew at Andover. In 1847 he be- 
 came Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Amherst 
 College. His work here, though short, was full of good and 
 lasting fruit. 
 
 In 1850 he received a unanimous call to the chair of Church 
 History in the Union Theological Seminary. After long delib- 
 eration and not without a severe struggle of mind he accepted 
 the appointment. He entered the Presbyterian Church to be- 
 come one of its most honored teachers and leaders ; but his 
 filial affection for New England continued strong to the last. 
 It was, however, a period of ecclesiastical as well as theological 
 change, transition, conflict, and readjustment ; suspicion and 
 jealousy were in the air, and loyalty to new was sometimes 
 mistaken for disloyalty to old relations. Dr. Smith did not 
 escape the trial — and a very sharp trial it was — of being 
 
HENRY BOYNTON SMITH. 261 
 
 sometimes represented as unfaithful to New England. He 
 was the more tried, because a number of his most intimate 
 friends were charged with the same offence. He defended 
 both his friends and himself in a series of articles in The 
 Neiu York Evangelist, and there the matter ended. This was 
 the only painful incident of his experience in passing from 
 a Congregational to the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 In 1854 he was transferred from the chair of Church His- 
 tory to that of Systematic Tlieology. Four years later he 
 revisited Europe. The war for the Union stirred him to the 
 depths of his being, and called forth in its defence some of the 
 most powerful articles he ever wrote. He was deeply exer- 
 cised also on the subject of the reunion of the Presbyterian 
 Church, and by the sermon entitled Christian Union and 
 Ecclesiastical Reunion, preached by him at Dayton, Ohio, in 
 1864, as retiring moderator of the General Assembly, struck 
 the key-note of that great movement. In 1866 he made a 
 third visit to the Old World, going in the interest of the 
 Evangelical Alliance. Toward the close of 1868 his health 
 became so much impaired that he had to abandon all work 
 and flee for his life. Early in 1869 he went abroad with his 
 family, and spent a year and a half in Germany, in Italy, and 
 in the lands of the Bible. Returning in 1870, better, yet not 
 well, he resumed his work in the Seminary. But toward the 
 close of 1873 he was prostrated by a new attack of disease, and 
 on the 13th of Januaiy, 1874, lie resigned his chair. He was 
 at once made Professor Emeritus, and afterwards Lecturer 
 on Apologetics. During the next tliree years he carried on 
 the struggle for life with extraordinary resolution. In the 
 autumn of 1876 his strength had so rallied that the Board of 
 Directors appointed him to deliver the Ely Lectures on the 
 Evidences of Christianity. He was in the midst of his prepa- 
 ration for a course on Evolution when death overtook him. 
 He entered into rest on Wednesday morning, February 7, 1877, 
 in the sixty-second year of his age. " His last public utterance 
 
262 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 was in the prayer meeting at the Church of the Covenant, on 
 the evening of November 1st, 1876. The subject for the even- 
 ing was one of the Pilgrim Psalms, the 122d : ' Jerusalem 
 is builded as a city that is compact together. Pray for the 
 peace of Jerusalem.' He rose, and taking up the thought of 
 what Jerusalem had been to the Church of all ages since its 
 foundation, he dwelt upon the love and longing which had 
 gone out to it from the hearts of the pilgrims in its palmy 
 days, from beneath the willows of Babylon, from prince and 
 devotee and Crusader, touching here and there upon salient 
 points in its history, until, with the warmer glow of emotion 
 stealing into his tremulous voice, he led our thoughts to the 
 Jerusalem above, — the Christian pilgrim's goal, and the rest 
 and perfect joy of the weary. The talk was like the gem in 
 Thalaba's mystic ring, — a cut crystal full of fire. Perhaps 
 something of his own weariness and struggle crept uncon- 
 sciously into his words, and gave them their peculiar depth 
 and tenderness." ^ 
 
 Professor Smith's funeral took place in the Church of the 
 Covenant on the afternoon of February 9th. The assembly 
 was such as is seldom seen in this country, representing what 
 was highest and best in American scholarship. In a letter 
 to me, dated February 10, the late Henry W. Bellows, D. D., 
 the distinguished Unitarian minister, thus refers to " the 
 great and glorious scholar " by whose bier he had just been 
 standing : — 
 
 The depth and breadth of Professor Smith's theology and piety, 
 the unaffected charity of his sympathies, his modesty under the 
 crown of learning and philosophy which he so manifestly wore, his 
 entire freedom from low ambition of place or name, his gajety of 
 heart in weary invalidism, and the vigor of his soul so set off by 
 the frailty of his body, — all these rare and precious characteristics 
 I with thousands of others who have a nearer right to avow them 
 shall ever cherish and lament to lose. How it belittles our sense 
 of human recognition and estimation to think how feebly the gen- 
 1 Dr. Marvin K. Vincent. 
 
HENRY BOYNTON SMITH. 263 
 
 eral public knows what a treasure has dropped from the world, and 
 how poor it leaves the church and the scholarship of America ! 
 Excuse nij- seeking this means of relieving my own sorrow, and 
 of making you the receiver of this feeble testimony to the worth 
 and dignity of the honored saint we have just buried.^ 
 
 In a letter to Professor Briggs of the Union Seminary, Dr. 
 Dorner of Berlin thus referred to Dr. Smith : — 
 
 Sehr schmertzlich hat mich der Tod von Henry 13. Smitli beriihrt. 
 Ich habe ihn als einen der ersten, wenn nicht als ersten Ameri- 
 kanischen Tlieologen der Gegenwart angesehen ; festgegriindet in 
 christlichen Glauben, frei und weiten Herzens und Blickes, philo- 
 sophischen Geistes und fiir systematische Theologie ungewohnlich 
 begabt. 
 
 Here is an extract from a letter of Professor Godet, of 
 Neuchatel, to Mrs. Smitli : — 
 
 La premiere fois que nous nous sommes rencontres, c'ctait a, 
 Berlin, chez notre pere spirituel, I'excellent Neander. J'ai appris 
 alors a connaitre en lui I'un des jeunes Chretiens les plus aimables, 
 I'un des gentlemen les plus Chretiens que j'ai jamais rencontres. 
 Plus tard j'ai eu la joie de revoir M. Smith en Suisse. Devenus pro- 
 fesseurs I'un et I'autre, nous causames naturellement de theologie, 
 et j'appris alors a connaitre I'un des esprits les plus profonds, les 
 plus judicieux et les plus perspicieux que j'ai jamais rencontres. II 
 dominait chaque sujet et me dominait en en parlant. En appre- 
 nant la mort de cet homme eminent, j'ai eu le sentiment bien pro- 
 fond : Voila un citoyen rentre dans sa patrie ! 
 
 I will add one other tribute, that of Dr. Francis L. Patton, 
 now President of Princeton College, in his address at the 
 dedication of the new buildings of the Union Theological 
 Seminary, December 9, 1884 ; — 
 
 Speaking of the Reunion, however, reminds me that some time 
 ago I printed a sentence which has been quoted several times since 
 
 1 Professor Smitli was warmly attached to Dr. Bellows. As the steamer 
 was on the point of sailing, in 1869, he handed me his card with a few farewell 
 words written upon it in pencil, saying, " If I never come back, give this to 
 Dr. Bellows." After his death I sent it to Dr. Bellows, who was deeply touched 
 by the incident. 
 
264 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 for no other reason, I am sure, than its transparent truthfulness. 
 I said that '^Henr^' B. Smith was the hero of Reunion." So he 
 was ; and if this were his onl}- glor^-, this in the minds of some 
 men were glor}' enough. But this was not his onl}- glor3'. The last 
 generation had three Presbyterian controversialists in the sphere of 
 dogmatic theolog_y : William Cunningham, Charles Hodge, Henry 
 B. Smith. Each supreme in his special department, and Henry B. 
 Smith, we do not hesitate to say, was a monarch in the sphere of 
 historico-philosophieal discussions pertaining to theology. I beg 
 Dr. Hitchcock's pardon. I have called Dr. Smith a controversialist. 
 Perhaps I ought not to have done it, in view of what we heard this 
 morning. I know that the theology of Union Seminary is irenic. 
 But I could not help thinking, when Dr. Hitchcock told us so this 
 morning, that if Dr. Smith was irenic when he wrote his review of 
 Draper, and his criticism of Mill, and his refutation of Whedon, I 
 would have given anything to see him when he was roused. 
 
 I wish that my friend Dr. Hodge were in my place, for I should 
 like you to know what a representative dogmatician thinks of Dr. 
 Smith's systematic theology. I will not attempt to give his esti- 
 mate of that work, but I am telling no secret when I sa}' that the 
 students of Princeton Seminary are in the habit of reading this 
 volume in connection with Dr. Charles Hodge's S3'stematic The- 
 ology, and that they do it under the advice of their Professor. I 
 may be allowed to say a word in regard to the recently pub- 
 lished volume of Apologetics, as it falls within m}- own depart- 
 ment. It is a fragment, they say ; in one sense a fragment, and 
 yet in another not. The foundations of the building are not the 
 building ; and we have here the foundations of a cathedral the like 
 of which does not exist. The plans and specifications of the ar- 
 chitect are not the building, yet they have a completeness of their 
 own ; and in this volume we have the defences of Christianity 
 sketched by a great architectural genius with a comprehensiveness 
 which, I think I may soberly say, cannot be duplicated by anything 
 in the literature of Apologetics. 
 
 Professor Smith was an indefatigable worker both in and 
 outside of the theological chair. While at West Araesbury 
 he did much in the way of translations from the German for 
 the Bihliotheca Sacra. In 1859 he founded The American 
 Theological Review, which in 1863 became united with The 
 
HENRY BOYNTON SMITH. 265 
 
 Preshyterian Revieto under the '"itlc of The American Pres- 
 byterian and Tlieological Review. This again, in 1871, was 
 united with The Princeton Repertory, under the name of 
 The Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Revieiv. A good 
 deal of his best literary work consisted of articles in these 
 Reviews, and of occasional addresses. The volume entitled 
 Faith and Philosophy (1877) is composed chiefly of such 
 articles and addresses. Among them are The Relations of 
 Faith and Philosophy (1849) ; Ohurch History as a Science 
 (1851) ; The Idea of Christian Theology as a System (1854) ; 
 and The Reformed Churches of Europe and America (1855). 
 
 In 1859 he published a History of the Church of Christ in 
 Chronological Tables (folio). He also edited a revised trans- 
 lation of Gieseler's Church History (4 vols., 1859), and of 
 Hagenbach's History of Christian Doctrine. After his death 
 appeared Lectures on Apologetics (1882) ; Introduction to 
 Christian Theology (1883) ; and System of Christian Theology 
 (1884) ; all edited with great care and ability by one of his 
 old pupils, the late William S. Karr, D. D., Professor of The- 
 ology in Hartford Theological Seminary, 
 
 Of Professor Smith's personal and social qualities, his 
 manly simplicity, his unpretending modest ways, his genial 
 sympathies, his quiet mirth, his quaint humor, his love of 
 books and all good fellowship, his catholic spirit, his high- 
 toned sense of truth and justice, his patriotic zeal, his kindly 
 interest in young men and readiness to serve them, his devo- 
 tion as a friend, his sweet domestic affections, — of all these 
 there is no room to speak here. But the memory of them, 
 and of that library, with which some of tlicm are indissoliibly 
 associated, how very pleasant it is ! " Who can forget that 
 room, walled and double-walled with books, the baize-covered 
 desk in the corner by the window, loaded with the fresh philo- 
 sophic and theologic treasures of the European press, and the 
 little figure in the long gray wrapper seated there, — the 
 figure so frail and slight that, as one of his friends remarked, 
 
266 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 it seemed as though it would not be much of a change for him 
 to take on a spiritual body, — the beautifully moulded brow, 
 crowned with its thick, wavy, sharply parted, iron-gray hair, 
 the strong aquiline profile, the restless shifting in his chair, 
 the nervous pulling of the hand at the moustache, as the 
 stream of talk widened and deepened, the occasional start 
 from his seat to pull down a book or to search for a pam- 
 phlet, — how inseparably these memories twine themselves 
 with those of high debate, and golden speech, and converse on 
 themes of Christian philosophy and Christian experience ! " ^ 
 In 1881, Henry Boynton Smith, his Life and Work, edited 
 by his wife, was published by A. C. Armstrong and Son. It is 
 a most worthy and beautiful tribute to his memory. 
 
 William Adams, D.D.,LL.D., was born at Colchester, Conn., 
 January 25, 1807. His early studies were pursued at Phillips 
 Academy, Andover, of which his father, John Adams, LL. D., 
 was the principal. He graduated at Yale College in the class 
 of 1827, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1830. His 
 first pastorate was over the Congregational Society in Brigh- 
 ton, Mass. In 1834 he accepted a call to the Broome Street 
 (later the Central) Presbyterian Church in New York. In this 
 important field he labored with great success until 1853, when 
 the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, so closely associ- 
 ated with his name, was formed. Here he labored for twenty 
 years ; and they were years crowded with spiritual prosperity 
 and usefulness. Both as a preacher and pastor his influence 
 was powerful, far-reaching, and full of blessing. No Presby- 
 terian minister in the country stood higher in the confidence 
 and esteem of his own denomination, or of the Christian pub- 
 lic. In 1852 he was chosen moderator of the New School 
 General Assembly, and some years later took a leading part 
 in the discussion and negotiations which issued in the re- 
 union of the Presbyterian Church. In 1873 he accepted the 
 
 1 Dr. Marvin R. Vincent. 
 
WILLIAiM ADAMS. 267 
 
 appointment of President of the Union Theological Seminary, 
 and Professor of Sacred Rhetoric. He died at his summer 
 home, Orange Mountain, N. J., August 31, 1880. Dr. Adams 
 was a frequent contributor to the religious press. He was 
 also the author of the following volumes : 2^he Three Gar- 
 de7is ; Eden; Gethsemane and Paradise, or Man's Ruin; Re- 
 demption ; and Restoration (1856); Thanksgiving ; Memories 
 of the Day and Helps to the Habit (1865) ; Li the World and 
 not of the World (1867); Conversations of Jesus Christ with 
 Representative Men (1868). The second work mentioned is, 
 perhaps, the most characteristic, as well as the most striking 
 and attractive, of his books. He had marvellous skill in pic- 
 turing and reproducing the family gathering, with the joyous 
 domestic scenes and sweet grateful memories that rendered 
 the old Thanksgiving festival such a red-letter day to the chil- 
 dren of New England. 
 
 Dr. Adams was among the foremost preachers of his time. 
 His printed sermons show his vivid apprehension of the sav- 
 ing truths of the Gospel, his evangelical fervor, his pastoral 
 tenderness and wisdom, his power as an expounder of the in- 
 spired oracles, his devout spirit, and his whole-hearted zeal for 
 the cause and kingdom of Christ ; and yet there was an influ- 
 ence and a charm about the man himself, which his printed 
 sermons only partially reflect. He was very gifted in saying 
 the right word on special occasions. His address of welcome 
 at the opening meeting of the Evangelical Alliance on Octo- 
 ber 2, 1873, may serve as an instance. He knew how to speak 
 comfortably to the bereaved and sorrowing, to speak a word 
 in season to him that was weary, and to melt all hearts by 
 the scriptural warmth, aptness, and pathos of his utterance. 
 His platform addresses were sometimes marvels of felicitous 
 thought and illustration. I have heard few men who seemed 
 to me to equal him in this respect. In the spring of 1864 I 
 accompanied him on a visit to the Army of the Potomac, just 
 before its march into the Wilderness. On our way from 
 
268 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Washington to the front, we found ourselves in the same car 
 with General Grant, who invited us to attend the review of 
 General Hancock's Corps on the following day. We did so, 
 and remained with the army over the Sabbath, Dr. Adams 
 preaching at head-quarters. Not long after our return home 
 he spoke at the annual meeting of the American Tract Soci- 
 ety, May 11, 1864, on the resolution, "That the salvation of 
 our soldiery demands, and the blessing of God upon past effort 
 justifies, increased faith and zeal and labors for the Army and 
 Navy of the United States." His address is so characteristic, 
 so interesting, and at the same time recalls so vividly one of 
 the most anxious and eventful periods in the whole history of 
 the war for the Union, that I cannot help giving it almost 
 entire : — 
 
 I feel that there is but one object now in all our thoughts, the 
 army of the country, — our own fellow citizens, our own brothers, 
 our own children, who are toiling, fasting, fighting, bleeding, dy- 
 ing, for our sakes. In fact, such is the crisis that we have reached, 
 and the amount of suffering, suspense, and agony with which our 
 hearts are wrung, that all ordinary topics and forms of discourse 
 seem stale and insipid. And it would better suit my own feelings 
 if, instead of talking one to another, we should pour out our swollen 
 emotions before our common Father, as best in accordance with the 
 solemn sympathies of this hour. 
 
 I suppose that I have some peculiar emotions in regard to the 
 reports that come to us, meagre as yet, but enough to excite our 
 utmost sohcitude in the midst of all our hopes, because I have re- 
 cently had my eye upon that magnificent Army of the Potomac, 
 and have mingled with its oflacers and men. Their faces are very 
 distinct now to my eye, and my hand has not yet lost the warm 
 pressure from the gallant Sedgwick and Wadsworth, which they 
 gave me when, in the name of the Christian ministry and all these 
 Christian churches, I invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon 
 tliem and their cause. 
 
 It is but a few days ago, just when they were striking tents and 
 ready for marching, that I was at the front ; and the Lieutenant- 
 General of the army courteously provided me with the means of 
 seeing the major part of the army pass in review before me, with 
 
WILLIAM ADAMS. 269 
 
 its magnificent cortege of officers. T have seen some great masses 
 of troops in the Old World. I remember one holiday review, three 
 or four 3'ears ago, of thirty thousand ritlemen in Hyde Park, Lon- 
 don. But that was all show ; this was solemn work. Not a word 
 was said as that splendid body of men ])assed by their com- 
 mander, regiment after regiment, brigade after brigade, division 
 after division, hour after hour, — men seasoned for their work, 
 whose physique was most imposing, and who had all the actual ap- 
 purtenances and equipments of war. And the feeling lay solemnly 
 upon the heart that they were upon the eve of an eventful crisis, 
 when many of them who were in the pride of life and health 
 would sleep on the earth that was waiting to be saturated with 
 their blood. 
 
 I preached at head-quarters just two Sabbaths ago, the ver}' last 
 service that was held there. Just conceive of an audience com- 
 posed entirely of one class, — not an old man, not a civilian, not a 
 woman, not a child, but armed men ; the commander in chief with 
 all his staff, the officers of the army, and the great compan}- of 
 soldiers ; and this just on the eve of a great movement ! I am told 
 that that was the last sermon preached there ; the tent was struck 
 shortly- after, and preparations were made for the march. You 
 can imagine what would be the emotions of a Christian minister in 
 such a presence as that, and what he would chiefly speak of. I 
 did not forget to say to them that they wei-e remembered at the 
 throne of grace, and that there never was a gathering in our Chris- 
 tian churches where they were not commended to God in prayer ; 
 and that they might be sure that man}' a gentle hand, unequal to 
 the wielding of any other weapon than the sword of the spirit, in 
 the closet would be wielding it for their defence and their blessing. 
 I told them in the plainest terms the great truths of the Gospel, 
 what pertained to their personal salvation ; and feeling that appro- 
 priateness was the first law of discourse, I told them of the dan- 
 gers to which they were going, and what was their onlj- protection. 
 How, if the}' would adopt the habit of ejaculatory prayer, whether 
 at the head of a column, running across the field in the discharge 
 of some commission, or in the ranks exposed to the deadly hail, 
 there was a way in which they could prav ; that the channel of 
 communication was opened between their hearts and God, and that 
 death could not overtake them so quick but that the}' could lift 
 their hearts to that Saviour who had brought them what was better 
 
270 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 than valor, better than life itself, — His own blessing and salvation. 
 I shall never forget the scene, the feeling that there was but a step 
 between many of them and death. O what suspense there is in 
 all our hearts with regard to personal friends, knowing not what 
 shall be reported to us when the veil shall lift ! When called to 
 pronounce the blessing upon them, I could hardl}' master my own 
 powers of articulation in an hour of such solemnit}'. 
 
 And now in regard to the army, where this society, it seems, has 
 been ver}' active in all its various agencies during the past season. 
 Very few persons know what an army really is, and I confess that 
 I had no conception of one m^'self. We have been accustomed to 
 think that it was some compact body of men, that could be 
 brought together in an hour or two, as we see at a parade or 
 review in our own city. I speak of one army, the Army of the 
 Potomac. This hall will hold, I suppose, not more than a thou- 
 sand people, if as many, seated ; but what would j'ou think of a 
 hundred such congregations ! 
 
 I know that that Army of the Potomac, which we thought of as 
 such a compact bod}', to be trundled hither and thither, as civilians 
 would have it, at the word of command, — and nothing is more 
 absurd than the criticisms and suggestions which are frequently 
 made b}^ civilians in regard to this whole subject, — this army when 
 I saw it covered a space of one hundred square miles ! Instead of 
 being compact, it was a congeries of villages of tents all over the 
 country ; and if you jumped upon the railroad for sixty or sevent}^ 
 miles, 3'ou had it upon your right hand and upon your left all the 
 while. In reply to my question, as to how long it would take in 
 case of an assault to bring that army together compactly, I was 
 surprised to hear the response of the Lieutenant-General, that it 
 would take twenty-four hours. What a field is this for Christian 
 effort ! 
 
 Now as to its peculiar constitution. It is composed of the very 
 flower of the country, men of one class, in the full vigor of life ; 
 and now I speak of it before that army was in motion, for then the 
 agencies of this society were moved with the greatest activity for 
 its spiritual advantage. How can I depict the scene to you ? Sup- 
 pose we go over to the extreme right, to the head-quarters of the 
 gallant Sedgwick of the Sixth Corps, and see the series of six 
 villages of tents. There is a regiment I single out in my mind. 
 Do you wish to know how they live ? They have made for them- 
 
WILLIAM ADAMS. 271 
 
 selves cabins out of mud and logs of wood, lined with canvas, and 
 they are very comfortable, with a fire-place in them. These cabins 
 are laid out in streets, a street for the oflicers and a street for each 
 company ; and they aim to keep them perfectly neat. When the 
 soldiers are in this condition, — not in motion, not drilhng, but 
 waiting, — can you conceive of circumstances better adapted for 
 religious instruction ? I think not. They are away from home ; 
 they have a great deal of leisure, the hours of the day are all dis- 
 tributed with strict regularity ; and there are very many hours when 
 they have entire leisure, and then is the time when they can be 
 approached with the greatest effect. 
 
 I remember seeing the mail come in to that particular regiment, 
 and shortly after the newsboy on his mule, laden down with all 
 sorts of publications. With what rapidity they were bought up ! 
 But oh ! could you see the eagerness with which these letters were 
 taken and read ! I thought that one of the best things we could do 
 was to write to the soldiers as often as possible, and to send them 
 cheerful and interesting publications. 
 
 I enter one of these tents, which gives an idea of all the others. 
 There are seats across. On the canvas ai-e pasted the publications 
 which have been received and read. There you will find the Amer- 
 ican Messenger pasted up where it is easy to be read. I remember 
 sleeping one night in a soldier's tent, where I counted twelve copies 
 of a certain number of Harper's Weekly, which contained a very 
 beautiful and impressive picture of "The Soldier's Return to his 
 Home," with the father, mother, wife, and children coming forth to 
 greet him. These pictures indicate what one feeling is uppermost 
 in the soldier's heart ; and I then saw that a good picture is a 
 good sermon, though I never thought so much of it before. 
 
 I have always felt that the arts minister very much to morals and 
 religion, when they leave a picture upon the imagination. The 
 New Testament is full of word pictures ; and blessed be the art 
 that can put them upon canvas and present them to the human ej'e. 
 Those pictures given in our publications are not so much waste 
 paper. They are impressive sermons, and they have spoken com- 
 fort and given spiritual instruction, I have no doubt, to many of 
 those who occupy the tent of the soldier. And as to the agencies 
 employed, the}^ are very man}- and very successful. I speak par- 
 ticularly in regard to the chaplains of the army. There can be no 
 question that, in the first instance, there were a class of men, unde- 
 
272 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 serving of the position, who went for the name and for emolument ; 
 but these, I believe, have been weeded out ; and never have I seen 
 a more deA'^oted, earnest, and successful band of Christian minis- 
 ters than the chaplains with whom I came in contact in the Army 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 In most of the encampments "the boj's" have built a little 
 chapel. I wish I could daguerreotN-pe the scene that was before me 
 the first night I reached that camp where I preached. The drum 
 and bugle gave notice. The chapel was built of logs, the inter- 
 stices filled with mud, but all clean and nice. In the corner was a 
 large fire of sweet-spruce boughs, and slabs had been prepared for 
 seats. It was very easy to preach to such an audience as that, their 
 faces turned up to you and their ears drinking in the words of 
 truth and soberness. I preached twice ; but it was the Spirit of 
 God preached through us and by us ; and evidences clear as day 
 there were of His power upon those consciences. These men were 
 ready and anxious for services ; they came around you and talked 
 with you about religion ; not merely about home, but about the 
 wa}' to be saved. One chaplain says, Let me introduce you to 
 this man, and that man, — Captain this, and Captain that, — who 
 then told me the circumstances of their conversion. One was 
 coming from the grave of a companion in a snow-storm, when he 
 began to think, as he never had before, about the salvation of 
 his soul. There has been in these tents a great deal of prayer, 
 a great deal of reading of the Scriptures, a great deal of serious 
 seeking for the truth, and a great deal of serious, rapid action in 
 the way of conversion during the past winter. And all those dis- 
 tinctions that we make so much of in our time of peace and leisure 
 are quite forgotten. 
 
 I wish you could see a communion season there. I remem- 
 ber the staff of a general officer with whom I was quartered. It 
 consisted of one representing the Protestant Episcopal Church; 
 another was a communicant of the Baptist body, and another in 
 the Presbyterian Church, and another in the Methodist Church; 
 all forming one family, and sitting together at the celebration of 
 the Lord's supper. 
 
 These army chaplains have peculiar opportunities for getting 
 access to the minds of their men. They are brave men. Some 
 of them have been in all the exposures of the camp. I was in 
 immediate intercourse with one who has been with his regiment 
 
WILLIAM ADAMS. 273 
 
 since the first Bull Run fight.^ lie has been with the surgeons, 
 unnecessarily exposing his own person. I heard of certain feats 
 of great gallantr}' upon his part, which showed that there is a 
 good deal of affinity between pluck and faith. He had left a 
 position of much influence and usefulness, and would go with his 
 men into almost any exposure in order to get their confidence, 
 and to show that his heart was witli them. I have seen "the 
 boys " come into his tent, and heard him talk with them ; and 
 he told me that before every action these men would come to , 
 him and give him their mone}- to take care of, and they would 
 ask him to write to their friends a word about the result, if any- 
 thing should happen. I know that at one engagement, after it 
 was all over, he pinned cards on to forty-two men of his regi- 
 ment who had fallen, and wrote as many letters to their homes, 
 to tell their friends of the circumstances of their death. I do not 
 •wonder that General Howard, a praying man himself, said on a 
 public occasion, in regard to that regiment, " I would rather have for 
 any service that regiment with three hundred men and that chap- 
 lain, than a full regiment of eleven hundred men without him." 
 
 And I am happy to say that there are ver}' many pious officers in 
 the arm}', — men who feel for the spiritual condition of their com- 
 mands, are accustomed to pray for them and with them, and who 
 know also how to preach to them with great point and efliciency. 
 I shall not soon forget the scene I witnessed in the tent of one of 
 the chief officers of that i^.rmy of the Potomac. When ten o'clock 
 p. M. came, he closed his tent and said, " At this hour ni}' wife and 
 daughters are reading a certain portion of the New Testament, 
 and a certain collection of hymns which we have agreed upon ; 
 and so we will read them together now." He was a man who 
 knew how to pray, and his valor was such as comes from faith 
 in God. 
 
 Dr. Adams stood in very close and affectionate relations 
 with not a few of his most distinguished contemporaries in' 
 various spheres of life ; such men as Professor Moses Stuart of 
 Andover, Dr. Schauffler, the eminent missionary, Dr. IMuhlen- 
 berg, Albert Barnes, Isaac Taylor, author of The Natiiral His- 
 tory of Enthusiasm, Professor Morse, the famous inventor, 
 
 1 Referring to his brother, the Rev. Jolin R. Adams, chaplain of a Maine 
 regiment. 
 
 18 
 
274 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Daniel Webster, General Scott, and General George B. McClel- 
 lan. The last was for some time a member of the Madison 
 Square Church, and had the greatest love and admiration for 
 its pastor. Their summer homes for several years adjoined 
 each other on Orange Mountain. The beautiful friendship 
 between them was almost like that of brothers. 
 
 Dr. Adams's services to the Union Theological Seminary 
 were most abundant during the last seven years of his life ; 
 but they had been many and invaluable during the seven and 
 thirty preceding years, in whicli he had been one of its Direc- 
 tors, one of its ever watchful friends, and repeatedly one of 
 its Professors Extraordinary. 
 
 RoswELL DwiGHT HiTCHCOCK, D. D., LL. D., was born at 
 East Machias, Me., on August 15, 1817. He graduated at 
 Amherst College, Mass., in 1836; in 1838 he entered Andover 
 Theological Seminary, which he left the next year to accept 
 the appointment of tutor at Amherst ; in 1842 he returned 
 to Andover as resident licentiate, and continued his studies 
 there until 1844, preaching meanwhile in Maine and Massa- 
 chusetts. In November, 1845, he became pastor of the First 
 Congregational Church in Exeter, N. H., and with the ex- 
 ception of a year abroad, spent chiefly in study at Halle and 
 Berlin, labored there until 1852, when he was appointed Pro- 
 fessor of Natural and Revealed Religion in Bowdoin College, 
 Brunswick, Me. Three years later, in 1855, he accepted a 
 call to the chair of Church History in the Union Theological 
 Seminary, where he labored for thirty-three years, during 
 the last seven of which he also filled the office of President 
 of the institution. In 1866, his health having become seri- 
 ously impaired, he went abroad, and visited Italy and Greece. 
 In 1869-70 he visited Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine; and in 
 1884 he went abroad once more, visiting Spain, Norway, and 
 Scotland, where he received the Doctorate of Divinity from 
 the University of Edinburgh. On the 16th of June, 1887, he 
 
RO SWELL D WIGHT HITCHCOCK. 275 
 
 suddenly passed away from earth, at his country homo, near 
 Fall River, Mass. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock was a very gifted man. His genius and tal- 
 ents, his culture, and his power of expression, were happily 
 matched. He was a brilliant thinker ; what he knew he knew 
 thoroughly ; while in clearness, manly energy, point, and cu- 
 rious felicity of utterance, he had few equals among all his 
 contemporaries. I hardly ever heard him speak, whether in 
 the pulpit, from the platform, at the meeting for religious con- 
 ference, or in the circle of his ministerial brethren, without 
 being pleasantly surprised, as well as instructed and edified. 
 He was never confused or obscure, and always said something 
 worth hearing. Being an orator, he made great use of the 
 metaphor, but his metaphors were so apt and luminous as to 
 surpass in effect the closest logic. Indeed, his rhetoric often- 
 times was simply logic in a flame. Such mastery of beautiful 
 and impressive speech does not come of itself ; it is a growth 
 and the fruit of earnest studies. In Dr. Hitchcock's case we 
 are able to trace much of this fine growth back to its source. 
 He was early touched by the new intellectual movement which 
 pervaded New England during the fourth and fifth decades of 
 this century. At Amherst, both as student and tutor, at An- 
 dover, and at Exeter, he felt its power, and drank in its spirit. 
 The so called Transcendentalism of the period, whether as rep- 
 resented in the writings of Emerson and his friends, or in the 
 writings of Coleridge, exerted a shaping influence upon his 
 opinions, as also upon his style of thought and speech. For a 
 while, indeed, it seemed to some as if he were drifting quite 
 away from the old doctrines, both in theology and in literature. 
 He chafed a good deal under what he regarded as the set, nar- 
 row formulas of much of the current orthodoxy, while at the 
 same time he was far from accepting all the new views. 
 
 At Andover he belonged to a circle of young men of marked 
 ability and independence, whose dissatisfaction with the ex- 
 isting state of things in Congregationalism inclined some of 
 
276 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 them to enter the Episcopal Church, and others to a radical 
 departure from the reigning schools. Of the former class 
 was the late Dr. Edward A. Washburn, the distinguished 
 preacher and scholar ; the latter class had one of its strongest 
 representatives in Roswell D. Hitchcock. The freedom and 
 boldness with which he challenged old opinions and broached 
 new ones touching important points of Christian belief, gave 
 occasion to no little suspicion and evil report. He was widely- 
 regarded as infected with " Transcendental " errors, a serious 
 matter in those days. Nor can it be denied that, after his 
 settlement at Exeter and his visit to Germany in 1847-48, his 
 sentiments and temper of mind underwent a decided change 
 in the conservative direction. The Rev. Dr. Asa Cummings, 
 one of the most influential religious editors of New England, 
 writing to a friend in 1853, thus refers to this point : " His 
 visit to Europe, and what he saw there, had an effect con- 
 trary to what was probably anticipated. ' As poison oft the 
 force of poison quells,' the Transcendental things he wit- 
 nessed there seem to have expelled what was abnormal in 
 his own views." 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock's call to the Union Theological Seminary 
 was preceded by some incidents, which should not be alto- 
 gether ignored in this sketch of his life, for they teach a very 
 valuable lesson. On the transfer of Dr. Smith to the depart- 
 ment of Systematic Theology, he was naturally solicitous 
 about his successor in the chair of Church History ; and 
 it was by him that Professor Hitchcock of Bowdoin College 
 was suggested as the right man for the place. Inquiries were 
 at once set on foot by the nominating committee, of which 
 Dr. Adams was chairman, and with a result so highly satis- 
 factory that Professor Hitchcock's name was unanimously 
 presented to the Board. An extract from a single letter in 
 response to these inquiries, will be read with interest in the 
 light of the past third of a century. The letter is dated No- 
 vember 9, 1853, and was written by an eminent scholar and 
 
ROSWELL DWIGIIT HITCHCOCK. 211 
 
 divine, President at the time of one of the colleges of New- 
 England : — 
 
 After more than a yeav of famiUar and pleasant intercourse with 
 Professor Hitchcock, and many evenings of friendly theological 
 conversation, I have formed a very high opinion of his personal 
 and social character, of his intellectual activity and grasp, and of 
 his theological thoroughness. In his dogmatic discussions I have 
 always observed a decided historical tendency, — much beyond what 
 is usual in these days. I have been particularly struck with his 
 familiar and accurate acquaintance with the facts, the doctrines, 
 and the great teachers, both of the earlier periods of the Christian 
 Church and of the times of the Reformation, — with the importance 
 he attached to such an acquaintance, his high appreciation of such 
 themes, and his genuine interest in such inquiries. 
 
 Of his qualities as a preacher, I have had but little opportunity 
 to form a direct and independent judgment. But what I have 
 seen and heard unequivocally confirms in my own mind the uni- 
 versal voice of those who have had the pleasure of hearing him 
 oftener. I think there can be no doubt, from his reputation in his 
 old parish at Exeter, as well as from his reputation at Brunswick 
 and wherever else he has preached, that he is one of the most ad- 
 mirable sermonizers and one of the most eflfective and popular 
 preachers in the country. 
 
 In short, I regard him as a good man, with a great heart and a 
 comprehensive mind, genial in his temperament, sound in his the- 
 ology, thorough in his scholarship, ready and eloquent in speech, 
 particular!}' apt in giving instruction, and, as I have said, with a 
 special propension to historical views and investigations in con- 
 nection with Christian doctrine, and a remarkable accurac}' and 
 fulness in the results of his researches. 
 
 Of m}^ personal acquaintance among Congregationalists or Pres- 
 byterians, I know of no man not yet tried in the department who 
 is in m}' judgment so admirably fitted for the chair of Ecclesiastical 
 History as Professor Hitchcock. I hesitate not to say that, if you 
 get him, you get a great treasure. 
 
 Strangely enough, in the face of such testimony as this 
 from some of the weightiest men in New England, a number 
 of leading members of the Board and the senior member of 
 the Faculty, — excellent men, of large influence, and devoted 
 
278 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 friends of the Seminary — strongly opposed the appointment. 
 In this exigency Professor Hitchcock withdrew his name in 
 the following manly letter: — 
 
 BowDoiN College, March 28, 1854. 
 To the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary: 
 
 Gentlemen, — In permitting my name to go before j'ou some 
 weeks ago as a candidate for the vacant chair of Church History- in 
 your Seminary, I yielded to what appeared to be the leading of 
 Providence, asking only for myself that I might know what the 
 will of God was concerning me. 
 
 But the opposition which this nomination has met with, and, as 
 I judge, is likely to meet with, is now an indication to me that I 
 had better remain undisturbed in my present position, especially 
 since the students and the friends of our College in the State at 
 large have interposed in the matter, and remonstrated so earnestly' 
 against my removal. It is due to these friends and to myself that 
 I be no longer a candidate for your vacant Professorship. By 
 awaiting further action on your part, even if the chances were that 
 this action would be favorable, I should only compromise my own 
 reputation in the seeming to covet an appointment which I have 
 never sought. I hasten, therefore, to anticipate all further discus- 
 sion of my merits, by withdrawing my name from the canvass. 
 
 To have been thought of by so intelligent and so Christian a 
 body of men for such an office, promising so large a usefulness, is 
 an honor for which I thank you. But far above all personal con- 
 siderations is my desire that you may have harmonious counsels, 
 and so conduct the affairs of the important institution over which 
 you preside as to advance most surely and most signally the king- 
 dom of our common Lord. 
 
 Yours in Christian affection, 
 
 RoswELL D. Hitchcock. 
 
 " All 's well that ends well." I refer to this incident the 
 more freely, because a year later Professor Hitchcock was 
 unanimously called to the chair, and those who had strenu- 
 ously opposed his election when first nominated were in the 
 end numbered among his warm friends and admirers. 
 
 An extract from a notice of Dr. Hitchcock's acceptance, 
 written by me at the time, may not be here out of place. 
 
RO SWELL DWIGUT HITCHCOCK. 279 
 
 The chair which Professor Hitchcock is called to fill will hereafter 
 be designated as the Washburn Professorship of Ecclesiastical His- 
 tor}-. This name is given b}' the Christian lad3^ whose munificence 
 has endowed it, in honor of her lamented brotlier, the late Rev. 
 Samuel Washburn, pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Clmrch in Bal- 
 timore. It is intended as a family memorial, and has, we under- 
 stand, long since been in contemplation. We cannot imagine a 
 more excellent way of embalming the name of the departed ; nor 
 can we think of one which would have been more grateful to his 
 feelings, could he have foreseen it. We had the pleasure of know- 
 ing Mr. Washburn long and well. He was a fearless, earnest, 
 whole-souled Christian man. His memory is most affectionately 
 cherished in the hearts of his people at Baltimore ; and we are sure 
 that the}', in common with all his old friends here and in New 
 England, will hail with great satisfaction this enduring tribute to 
 his worth. It is peculiarly fitting that Professor Hitchcock should 
 be the first occupant of the endowed chair ; for he and Mi-. Wash- 
 burn were intimate and warmly attached friends. Could the per- 
 sonal wishes of the latter have been consulted, his choice would, 
 without doubt, have been that of the Board. 
 
 We have deemed it not improper to make these explanations ; for 
 they reflect honor upon all the parties concerned. Would that 
 many Christian ladies whom God has endowed with wealth might 
 thus perpetuate the names of sainted friends, by identifying them 
 with institutions sacred to Christ and the Church ! Such monu- 
 ments are, in no small degree, "exempted from the wrong of 
 time." They remind us of the beautiful fiction mentioned by Lord 
 Bacon : " One of the poets feigned that at the end of the thread or 
 web of every man's life there was a little medal containing the 
 person's name, and that Time waited upon the shears, and, as soon 
 as the thread was cut, caught the medals and carried them to the 
 river of Lethe ; and about the bank there were many birds flying 
 up and down, that would get the medals and carry them in their 
 beaks a little while, and then let them fall into the river ; only 
 there were a few swans, which, if the}- got a name, would carry it 
 to a temple where it was consecrated."^ 
 
 1 The founder of the chair was Mrs. Jacob Bell, of New York. She was a 
 native of Minot, Maine, and, like her brother, possessed uncommon force and 
 decision of character. For some years she was a member of the Seventh Pres- 
 
280 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock had been in New York but a short time when 
 both in the pulpit and on the platform his services were in 
 constant demand, and for a third of a century his popularity 
 continued unabated. On accepting the call of the Union Semi- 
 nary he wrote to me : "I shall go to New York with all my 
 heart. God help me to do something after I get there!" 
 These words express the spirit which marked his career dur- 
 ing the next third of a century. Always busy, he was busy 
 to the very last. " Blessed is that servant whom his lord, 
 when he cometh, shall find so doing." Who ever charged 
 him with being an idler in his Master's vineyard ? It is to be 
 regretted that he gave to the world so few fruits of his study 
 in permanent form ; but he seemed to have little ambition for 
 literary distinction; his ideal was high and exacting, while 
 his intellectual modesty caused him to shrink from the re- 
 sponsibility of authorship. But if his publications were few, 
 his influence as a Christian scholar was large and potent. 
 Who that listened to his patriotic addresses during the war 
 for the Union will ever forget their eloquence, or the luminous 
 skill with which he unfolded those vital principles of free- 
 dom, nationality, and moral order that lay at the foundation 
 of the great contest ? In some of the most important pulpits 
 of New York and Brooklyn, his power as an interpreter and 
 advocate of the central truths of Christianity, in their appli- 
 cation both to the individual and to society, cannot easily be 
 overestimated. How many through his presentation and en- 
 forcement of these truths first learned to cast away their 
 prejudices against Orthodoxy and the spiritual faith of the 
 Gospel ! How many others were led to deeper, more cheer- 
 
 byterian Church, then under the pastoral care of Dr. Hatfield, and, later, of the 
 Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church under the ministry of Dr. James W. Alex- 
 ander. She was a Ciiristian woman of generous, broad sympathies, became 
 much interested in the Union Seminary, and took great satisfaction and delight 
 in watching Dr. Hitchcock's brilliant career, as well as in his warm friendship. 
 She died in 1878. 
 
ROSWELL DWIGIIT HITCHCOCK. 281 
 
 ing, and more fruitful views of the truth as it is in Jesus ! 
 Hearing Dr. Hitchcock preach, twenty or thirty years ago, 
 was a memorable event, if not a turning point, in the re- 
 ligious life of hundreds of men and women. 
 
 But it was as a teacher and guide of students of divinity 
 that liis influence reached its greatest power. He attracted 
 them, gained their love and admiration, and moulded their 
 sentiments by an irresistible charm. His method of instruc- 
 tion was easy and direct; his statements were of crystal clear- 
 ness ; and the sympathetic glow which the subject kindled 
 in his own mind diffused itself instantly to the minds of his 
 hearers. At times, when one of his higher moods was upon 
 him and made itself felt in voice, manner, and language, the 
 effect was magnetic. Then one saw that he was a born 
 teacher. He had the rare gift of condensing, so to say, a 
 whole mass of thought and feeling into a single sentence, 
 and that in a way to intensify the distinctness, as well as 
 force, of both. Sometimes he would do this by an apt meta- 
 phor ; sometimes by a peculiar skill in the choice and collo- 
 cation of words. These striking sentences often occurred in 
 his most familiar talks to the students. Whether they came 
 of premeditation, or were improvised, — the sudden inspira- 
 tion of a full mind, — 1 cannot say. He was scrupulously 
 exact in giving dates and in the minutest statements of fact ; 
 and the same intellectual virtue would of itself induce much 
 care and forethought in even familiar talks concerning Chris- 
 tian truth and life. A " slipshod " manner of speaking about 
 divine things seemed alien to his very nature ; he could not 
 endure it. He believed in the lasting power of a good im- 
 pression, and this led him often to throw his whole soul into 
 brief casual addresses, if so be the truth thus uttered might 
 bear fruit unto life. 
 
 On the evening of December 6, 1887, an impressive ser- 
 vice in memory of President Hitchcock was held in the Adams 
 Chapel. A discourse by Dr. Shcdd, giving a careful, discrimi- 
 
282 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 nating estimate of his life and character, was followed by- 
 brief addresses from Professor George P. Fisher of New 
 Haven, Professor Francis L. Patton of Princeton, and the 
 Rev. Dr. Parkhurst of New York. 
 
 This sketch cannot be closed more fitly than in the words 
 of Professor Schaff, spoken at his inauguration, on September 
 22, 1887, as Dr. Hitchcock's successor in the chair of Church 
 History : — 
 
 We meet under a cloud, as we did seven years ago at the death 
 of Dr. Adams, whose memory is still fresh and green in our hearts. 
 But let us now, as then, look at the silver lining of that cloud. 
 Our late leader fell, like his predecessor, "on the field of battle 
 with his armor on." This is the coveted death of the heroes of 
 war. Wh}^ not also of the heroes of peace? To die at threescore 
 years and ten, on the summit of usefulness, in full vigor of mind, 
 surrounded by those nearest and dearest, at a moment's warning, 
 yet fully prepared, — this is a crowning mercy of God, granted to 
 few of his chosen servants. It is an approach to the translation 
 of Enoch and the ascension of Elijah. 
 
 Well may we envy the fate of Dr. Hitchcock, whose brilliant 
 career ended in a glorious sunset. He is at rest ; he wears the 
 crown ; he sees face to face. All problems of history are solved for 
 him in the sunshine of God's eternal wisdom and love. 
 
 " He is gone, but we remain 
 In this world of sin and pain." 
 
 While we rejoice for him, we mourn for ourselves. Where and 
 when shall we find a man of genius, learning, and eloquence so 
 happily blended and consecrated to the service of religion, — a 
 man of equal brilliancy and power in the chair, in the pulpit, and 
 on the platform, — a man who had the same curiosa felicitas 
 verhorum., the facult}' of clear, crisp, terse, startling expression, 
 of coining, without effort or art, sentences like so man}' pieces 
 of refined gold? He always spoke like a book, and could spare 
 himself the trouble of writing books. His executive ability and 
 success as President are embodied in these monumental buildings, 
 which are at the same time his own monument for generations to 
 come. 
 
 The workmen die, the work must go on. The same wise Provi- 
 
f 
 
 EOS WELL DWIGIIT HITCHCOCK. 283 
 
 dence which has watched over this institution from the beginning 
 will not forsake it in the future. Extraordinary work is carried ou 
 by extraordinary men, ordinary work by ordinary men ; but, what- 
 ever the work, God expects all his servants to be faithful ; and it 
 is neither genius nor talent, but laithfulness in their use, which 
 has the promise of reward. Trust in God, and keep your armor 
 on, and victory is insured. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Academic Year, 94. 
 
 Adams Chapel, memorial service, 281. 
 
 Adams, John R., chaplain, 273. 
 
 Adams, William : early interest in Sem- 
 inary, 19; presidency, 50, 71 ; fore- 
 sight, 52 ; letters to, 56, 238 ; tribute 
 to Skinner, 65; welcome to Smith, 
 68; character, 70-72; biography of 
 Mason, 132-134 ; friend of Cox, 160 ; 
 tribute to Barnes, 173; to McLane, 
 178; to Baldwin, 185, 186; Phelps's 
 funeral, 199 ; on Coming's death, 219 ; 
 Lane's friendship, 228 ; biographical 
 sketch, 266-274 ; birth, education, 
 pastorates, influence in the church, 
 266 ; professorship, 267 ; books and 
 preaching, 267 ; army address, 268- 
 278; friends, 273, 274; services to 
 Seminary, 274 ; death, 281. 
 
 Alexander, James W., 84, 223, 280. 
 
 Alexander, Joseph Addison, 23, 24. 
 
 Allen Street Church, 12, 24, 146, 252, 
 254. 
 
 Alton, Illinois, 220-222. 
 
 Alumni : glory of a seminary, 81, 82 ; 
 missionary list, 107-110. 
 
 American Bible Society, 38, 146, 188, 
 252. 
 
 American Biblical Repository, 119. 
 
 American Christianity : characteristic 
 institution, 3; triumphs, 86; three 
 pillars, 211. 
 
 American Eclectic Magazine, 119. 
 
 American Educution Society, 15, 251, 
 252. 
 
 American Home Missionary Society, 
 15, 16, 38, 116, 117, 120, 122, 135, 139, 
 140, 146, 192. 
 
 American Journal of Education, 119. 
 
 American Presbyterianism : divisions, 
 40,41; New England influence, 42- 
 44. 
 
 American Presbyterian Review, 265. 
 
 American Theological Review, 187,204, 
 265. 
 
 American Tract Society, 22, 38, 137, 
 139, 149, 153, 177, 178, 222, 268, 
 
 Anti-slavery: Patton's attitude, 125, 
 126; Cox's speech, 159, 160; contest 
 in Illinois, 221, 222. 
 
 Apologetics : lectures, 50, 90 ; lecture- 
 ship, 261 ; volume, 264. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bacox, Francis : quoted, 86, 250 ; le- 
 gend, 279. 
 
 Baird, Charles Washburn : career, an- 
 cestry, necrologist, 230. 
 
 Baird, Robert, 230. 
 
 Baker, Cornelius : a Seminary founder, 
 9; early meetings, 10, 18; director, 
 20; biographical sketch, 142-144. 
 
 Baldwin, Elihu W. : pastorate. 182; 
 memoir, 183. 
 
 Baldwin, John Center: birth and edu- 
 cation, 184 ; career, 185 ; deatii and 
 generosity, 185, 186. 
 
 Baldwin Professorship, 95, 186, 237. 
 
 Bancroft, George, quoted, 66, 67. 
 
 Barclay, Colonel, 215, 216. 
 
 Barnes, Albert: trial, 7, 35; Bible 
 notes, 36, 170; lectures, 51 ; defend- 
 ers, 117, 118, 234 ; friend of Cox, 100 ; 
 birth and education, 164 ; pastorate, 
 164, 165; Presbyterianism, 166, 167; 
 temperance, 167, 168 ; authorship, 
 168, 169 ; character, recollections, 
 169 ; study, 171 ; age, 171, 172 ; burn- 
 ing his sermons, 172, 173; relation 
 to Seminary, 173 ; death, 173, 174 ; re- 
 lation to the American Board, 200 ; 
 anecdote, 232 ; Skinner's friendship, 
 258; Adams's intimacy, 273. 
 
 Barrows, Elijah Porter: director, 19; 
 sketch of, 151, 152 
 
 Bartlett, Dean, quoted, 215. 
 
286 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bayley, James R., contestant, 31. 
 
 Beeclier, Henry Ward, 207. 
 
 Beeclier, Lyman, 7, 35, 125. 
 
 Bell, Mrs Jacob, 95, 279, 280. 
 
 Bellamy, Joseph, 4, 43, 158, 243. 
 
 Bellows, Henry W., 262, 263. 
 
 Bethune, George W., 131, 195, 199. 
 
 Bible : investigations involved, 46, 47 ; 
 relation to science, 95; Bibleism, 136; 
 relation to Bresbyterianism, 173, 174. 
 
 Bible History, professorship, 152, 162. 
 
 Bible House, 210. 
 
 Bible Lands, 147, 148. 
 
 Biblical Geography, 248, 250. 
 
 Biblical Literature: elections to pro- 
 fessorship of, 24 ; Eobinson, 62, 63, 
 247, 248 ; exacting study, 49. 
 
 Biblical Philology, chair created, 49. 
 
 Biblical Repository, 155, 245. 
 
 Biblical Theology, 89, 91, 92. 
 
 Bidwell, W. H., biographical sketch, 
 187. 
 
 Bleecker Street Church, 18, 132, 134, 
 136, 140, 177, 191, 205, 212. 
 
 Bliss, Howard S., fellow, 96. 
 
 Bliss, James C. : a Seminary foimder, 
 9, 18 ; biographical sketch, 177, 178. 
 
 Boorman, James : gifts, 32, 197, 255 ; 
 biographical sketch, 195-198 
 
 Booth, Henry M., 176, 177. 
 
 Brazil, evangelization of, 218, 219. 
 
 Breckinridge, John, 11. 
 
 Breckinridge, Robert J., 11, 84. 
 
 Brewster, Joseph, 21. 
 
 Brick Church, 20, 115, 140, 157, 163, 
 191, 210, 218, 223. 
 
 Briggs, Charles Augustus : appoint- 
 ment, 49 ; librarian, 75, 76; lectures, 
 88-94 ; letter to, 263. 
 
 Brigham, John C, 19. 
 
 Brinsmade, Horatio N., biographical 
 sketch, 180. 
 
 Bronson, Mrs. Arthur, 33. 
 
 Brooklyn: proposed transfer of Semi- 
 nary to, 30 ; Seminary interest, 45, 46, 
 53; First Church, 140, 148, 159, 162, 
 176, 179 ; Second Church, 152, 191 ; 
 growth, 179; Third Church, 180. 
 
 Broome Street Church, 122, 185, 266. 
 
 Brown, Alexander, 238. 
 
 Brown, Francis : appointment, 49 ; 
 fellow, 96; lectures, 88-94. 
 
 Brown, James : gifts, 55, 71, 94, 95 ; 
 biographical sketch, 238, 239. 
 
 Brown, John, 225, 226. 
 
 Brown, John A., 95, 2.38. 
 
 Brown, Sir William, 238. 
 
 Brown Professorship, established, 95. 
 
 Bruce's Lectures, 51. 
 
 Bruen, Matthias, 132. 
 
 Buck, Gurdon, 21 ; surgical skill, 209. 
 
 Bush, George, 24, 47. 
 
 Bushnell, Horace, 213. 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., gift, 55. 
 
 Butler, Charles : Seminary founder, 
 19, 52, 53; directorship, 20; sub- 
 scriptions, 21, 55 ; reminiscences, 31 ; 
 meeting, 54 ; endowment, 200 ; dedi- 
 cation to, 249. 
 
 c. 
 
 Cady, J. Cleveland, letter, 240-242. 
 
 Calderwood's Lectures, 51. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, 217. 
 
 Campbell, Alfred E., biographical 
 sketch, 192. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas. 113. 
 
 Carter, President, 241, 242. 
 
 Catechetics, 60, 90. 
 
 Central American Education Society, 
 41, 122. 
 
 Central Church, 229. 
 
 Chalmers, 124, 161, 164. 
 
 Channing, William Ellery, 166. 
 
 Chester, W. W., 21. 
 
 Chi Alpha : formation, 128, 160 ; talks, 
 230 ; meetings, 252. 
 
 Christian Ethics, 50, 91. 
 
 Christian Symbolism, 48. 
 
 Christian Theology, foundation, 46, 47. 
 
 Church, New Testament definition, 35. 
 
 Church History : first professor, 49 ; 
 address, 66, 67 ; Smith, 69, 260, 261 ; 
 chair, 95 ; proficiency, 97 ; Cox, 162, 
 163; Schaff, 194,282; White, 252; a 
 science, 265 ; Hitchcock, 274-278. 
 
 Church Polity, 60, 55, 92, 95. 
 
 Civil Law, lectures, 88. 
 
 Civil War: Patton, 126; Baker, 141; 
 Howland, 214 ; Morgan, 240 ; visit to 
 the army of the Potomac, 267, 268 ; 
 address, 268-273 ; all sects on the 
 staff, 272. 
 
 Clarke, Walter, biographical sketch, 
 212,213. 
 
 Classes, residence of members of, 78-81. 
 
 Codwise, Mrs. David, 217. 
 
 Coleridge's Works, 275. 
 
 Colgate, William, 143. 
 
 College of New Jersey, 43, 155, 254. 
 
 Condit, Jonathan B., biographical 
 sketch, 187, 188. 
 
 Conference Meetings, 93. 
 
 Congregationalism : relations to Sem- 
 inary, 42 ; position, 66 ; similarity to 
 New School Presbyterianism, 69. 
 
 Cooper, James Fenimore, 227. 
 
 Cornell University: Crane, 75; trust 
 deeds, 214. 
 
 Corning, Hanson Kelley : biographical 
 sketch, 218, 219. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 287 
 
 Corniner, Jasper, 21 ; biographical 
 sketch, 191, 192. 
 
 Corning, Leonard : director, 20 ; bio- 
 graphical sketch, 154. 
 
 Course of Study : changed, 50, 51 ; 
 outlines, 88-94. 
 
 Covenant, Church of, 209, 256, 262. 
 
 Cowper, William, quoted, 160. 
 
 Cox, Samuel Hanson : biographical 
 sketch, 156-163 ; parentage and edu- 
 cation, 156 ; ordination and work, 
 158; London speecli, 159, 100; per- 
 sonal attractiveness, 160 ; memory, 
 160, 161 ; relations to Seminary, IGl- 
 163 ; character, 162, 163 ; church re- 
 lations, 176, 196. 
 
 Crane, T. F., treasures of the library, 
 75. 
 
 Cross, true site of, 147, 148. 
 
 Cummings, Asa, quoted, 276. 
 
 Curtis, Edward Lewis, fellow, 96. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dark Day, 189. 
 
 Davenport, Abraham, anecdotes, 189, 
 190. 
 
 Davenport, John Alfred, biographical 
 sketch, 189-191. 
 
 Davenport Professorship, 94, 95, 197. 
 
 Derry Siege, 231. 
 
 DeWitt, Tliomas, 199. 
 
 Dey Street Church, 212. 
 
 Dickinson College, 131. 
 
 Dickinson, Jonathan, influence of, 42, 
 43. 
 
 Dodge, David L., 191. 
 
 Dodge, David Stuart, tribute to his 
 father, 209. 
 
 Dodge, William E. : gifts, 21,55; bio- 
 graphical sketch, 207-209. 
 
 Dogmatics, lectures, 90-92. 
 
 Dorner, of Berlin, letter, 263. 
 
 Duffield, George, trial, 7. 
 
 Dwight, Theodore W., lectures, 51. 
 
 Dwight, Timothy: Calvinism, 43; in- 
 fluence, 148; theology, 158; Travels, 
 189, 190 ; revival, 190; a type, 243. 
 
 E. 
 
 Early Annals : site, 22 ; disasters, 
 27; library, 73; trials, 31, 32; au- 
 thor, 184. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Boards, 7. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Polity, lectures, 88. 
 
 Eddy, Ansel Doan, biographical sketch, 
 
 155. 
 Edwards, Jonathan : works, 38, 123, 
 
 124; Calvinism, 43; a theological 
 
 favorite, 161. 
 Edwards, Justin : appointment, 23, 42 ; 
 
 Life, 139. 
 Elocution, 51, 62, 90. 
 Ely, Z. Stiles, 95. 
 Ely, of South Hadlcy, 198. 
 Ely Lectureship : founded, 51 ; lec- 
 tures, 88, 95, 173, 261. 
 Emerson, Kalpli Waldo, 275. 
 Emerson, Samuel Franklin, fellow, 96. 
 Evangelical Alliance, 13, 125, 201, 267. 
 EvangeUne, an illustration, 100, 101. 
 Evarts, Jeremiah, 190. 
 Evidences of Christianity : lectures, 
 
 51, 88, 95; Chalmers, 164; Barnes, 
 
 173. 
 Examinations, 94. 
 Exegesis, 88-91. 
 Exscinding Act, 117, 161. 
 
 Faith, relation to philosophy, 66, 67, 
 
 265. 
 Fassitt, Mary, gift, 225. 
 Fellows, list of, 96. 
 Fellowships, 52, 95, 96. 
 Fene'lon, anecdote, 133. 
 Ferguson, Robert, fellow, 90. 
 Fewsmith, Joseph; biographical sketch, 
 
 192-194; birth and^ education, 192; 
 
 pastorate, 193 ; character, 193, 194 ; 
 
 relation to Seminary, 194 ; death, 
 
 237. 
 Field, David D., 76. 
 Fifth Avenue Church, 227, 280. 
 Financial Cyclone, 17, 26. 
 Finney, C. G. : on revivals, 124 ; con- 
 versions, 204, 205, 207. 
 Fisher, Abijah : a Seminary founder, 9 ; 
 
 character and position, 17 ; director, 
 
 20 ; biographical sketch, 140. 
 Fisher, George P., 282. 
 Fisher, Samuel W., biographical 
 
 sketch, 181. 
 Foreign Missions, alumni in, 81, 107- 
 
 110. 
 Fourth Avenue Church, 177. 
 Fourteenth Street Church : pastor, 174 ; 
 
 workers, 182. 
 Fox, George, 160. 
 Francis P. Schoals Fellowsliip, 95. 
 Frelinghuysen, Theoilore, 39. 
 Fuller, Andrew, 43, 168. 
 
288 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gallaghkk, Joseph Steele : agency, 
 54, 55, 218 ; eiulowment, 183, 200 ; 
 biographical sketch, 215-'218. 
 
 Gardiner, Harry Norman, fellow, 96. 
 
 Gates, Owen H., fellow, 96. 
 
 General Assembly : relation to Semi- 
 nary, 37 ; trial and defence of Barnes, 
 117, 118; wise speech, 150; reunited, 
 169. 
 
 General Theological Seminary, 23. 
 
 German Theological Seminary, 193. 
 
 German Theology, 178, 244. 
 
 Geseniiis, 244, 245. 
 
 Gieseler's AVorks, 265. 
 
 Gilbert, George HoUey, fellow, 96. 
 
 Gillett, Charles Ripley : fellow, 96 ; li- 
 brarian, 104. 
 
 Gillett Collection, 76. 
 
 Gilman, Wintlirop Sargent; biographi- 
 cal sketch, 220-224; ancestry, 220; 
 commercial career, 220, 221 ; free 
 speech, 221, 222; Bible study, church 
 relations, 222; New York life, 223; 
 old age, 223, 224 ; death, 224. 
 
 Godet, 260, 263. 
 
 Goodwin, D. R., 39. 
 
 Gorres, of Munich, 163. 
 
 Graefe, of Berlin, 250. 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S., 268, 270. 
 
 Greek : Seminary study, 46, 47, 49; 
 lectures, 86, 89 ; Bible, 247, 248. 
 
 Greene, General, 163. 
 
 Greenwood Cemetery, 179. 
 
 Gregory, Olynthus, 216. 
 
 Griffin,"Edward Dorr, 10. 
 
 Griffith, Walter Scott: biographical 
 sketch, 203-207 ; birth and ancestry, 
 203 ; public offices, 203, 204 ; work, 
 speaking, 204, 205; army, 205, 206; 
 sympathy, 206 ; missions, 206, 207. 
 
 Griswold, George, 21. 
 
 Griswold, Hervey D., fellow, 96. 
 
 Griswold, Nathaniel, 21. 
 
 Gutenberg Bible, 107. 
 
 Guyot, Arnold, lectures, 51. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hadlet, Henry Hamilton, 48. 
 
 Hagenbach's Works, 265. 
 
 Haines, Richard Townley : a Seminary 
 founder, 9; character, 16, 17; bio- 
 graphical sketch, 137-139. 
 
 Hall, Robert, 38, 43. 
 
 Halsey, Anthony P. : biographical 
 sketch, 175. 
 
 Halsted, Caleb Oliver : interest in Semi- 
 nary, 19, 52 ; director, 20 ; biographi- 
 cal sketch, 153, 154. 
 
 Halsted, William M. : a Seminary 
 founder, 9 ; early meeting, 10 ; di- 
 rector, 20 ; loan, 28 ; library, 33 ; 
 biographical sketch, 139, 140. 
 
 Hamlin, Cyrus, 39. 
 
 Hancock, General, review, 268. 
 
 Harkness Instructorship, 96. 
 
 Harper's Weekly, picture, 269. 
 
 Harvard College, 244. 
 
 Hastings, Thomas Samuel : appoint- 
 ment, 50; lectures, 90-04. 
 
 Hatfield, Edwin F. : letter to, 13 ; 
 Annals, 22-27 ; name of Semi- 
 nary, 27 ; its debts, 29 ; agency, 55 ; 
 welcome to Smith, 68 ; on library, 
 73 ; gift, 76 ; biographical sketch, 
 182-184. 
 
 Hawes, Joel, 180, 213. 
 
 Health, lectures, 88, 95. 
 
 Hebrew : study, 46, 47 ; professorship, 
 48, 49, 94, 95 ; Robinson's researches, 
 62; lectures, 88, 92-94; advanced 
 class, 89 ; poetry and history, 90 ; 
 Bible, 247 ; Smith's teaching, 260. 
 
 Henry, C. S., 39. 
 
 Henry B. Smith Memorial Library, 
 76. 
 
 Herman, Professor, lectures, 89. 
 
 Hickock, Laurens P., 192, 193. 
 
 Hitchcock, Roswell Dwight: address, 
 5, 59, 60 ; character, 17 ; on name of 
 Seminary, 27; appointment, 49; 
 presidency, 50; tril)Ute to Morgan, 
 240 ; Life of Robinson, 250 ; biogra- 
 phy, 274-283. 
 
 Hitchcock Prize, 52, 96. 
 
 Hoadley, David : interest in Seminary, 
 52; biographical sketch, 181, 182. 
 
 Hodge, Archibald Alexander, 84. 
 
 Hodge, Charles. 84, 210, 264. 
 
 Holy Land, Robinson's researches, 47, 
 62, 63, 248, 250. 
 
 Home Missionary and Pastoral Jour- 
 nal, established, 116. 
 
 Hooker, Thomas. 179. 
 
 Hopkins, Mark, 10, 42, 210. 
 
 Hopkins, Samuel, 4, 43, 161. 
 
 Howard, General, 273. 
 
 Howe, Fisher : a Seminary founder, 9, 
 18; director, 20; biographical sketch, 
 147, 148. 
 
 Howe, S. G., 39. 
 
 Hovvland, John, in the Mayflower, 
 213. 
 
 Howland, Joseph : biographical sketch, 
 213-215. 
 
 Hughes, Archbishop, 31. 
 
 Humphrey, Heman, 39, 42, 224. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 289 
 
 Iluniplirey, Zephaniah Moore : bio- 
 graphical sketcli, 224-226. 
 Hymnology, 51, 91. 
 
 Instrdctorships, 52, 96. 
 Intemperance, assailed by Beoclier, 35. 
 Ivison, Henry, biographical slietch, 
 227, 228. 
 
 James, Daniel Wilms, 55. 
 
 James, John Angell, letter to, 123-125. 
 
 Jesup, Morris K., 55. 
 
 Judd, Gideon Noble, agent, 54. 
 
 Junkin, George, 84. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kahnis, 260. 
 
 Karr, William S., 265. 
 
 Kennedy, John S., 141, 142. 
 
 Kent, Cliancellor, 15. 
 
 Ketcham, Enoch, 55. 
 
 Kingdom of God, relation of theological 
 
 seminaries to, 4. 
 Kirkland Family, 24-3, 244. 
 
 Lafayette, 121. 
 
 Lane, George William, biographical 
 sketch, 228, 229. 
 
 Lane Seminary, 98, 187, 224. 
 
 Leavitt, David, biographical sketch, 
 176, 177. 
 
 Lectureships, 51, 52, 95. 
 
 Lenox, James, 224. 
 
 Lewis, William B., biographical sketcli, 
 180. 
 
 Lewis, Zechariah, biographical sketch, 
 153. 
 
 Library : number of books, 73 ; special 
 collections, 75, 76 ; tliree librarians, 
 75, 76; three departments emlowed, 
 76 ; value, 76 ; needs, 77 ; reservoir 
 of broad scholarship, 77 ; plea for 
 endowment, 99 ; treasures, 101-107 ; 
 history of tlie Van Ess collection, 
 102-104 ; room, 104 ; special works, 
 104-106 ; early prints, 105 ; early 
 classics, 105, 100; Oriental books, 
 106; two interesting works, 106; 
 error criticised, 107 ; needs and gifts, 
 200. 
 
 Litc-ary and Theological Review, 
 
 started, 39. 
 Liturgies, Presbyterian, 230. 
 Lockwood, Lubin Burton, agency. 51. 
 Log College, 231. 
 Long Parliament, 40. 
 Lord, Daniel, 223. 
 Lovejoy Kiot, 221, 222. 
 Ludlow, Henry G., 19, 123. 
 Luther, Martin, as a theologian, 61. 
 
 M. 
 
 Madison, President, 125. 
 
 Madison Square Church : Adams, 185, 
 
 266; Lane, 228; McClellan, 274. 
 Magie, David : biographical sketch, 
 
 154, 155. 
 Marburg University, 74. 
 Marquand, Frederick, 55. 
 Marsh, John, 76. 
 Mason, Erskine : a Seminary founder, 
 
 9; character and influence, 14-16; 
 
 director, 19 ; biographical sketch, 
 
 130-136. 
 Mason, John L., 19, 21. 
 Mason, John M., 14, 130, 131, 190, 191. 
 Mayflower, 225. 
 McAlpin, David Hunter : gifts, 55, 76 ; 
 
 endowment of chair, 95. 
 McAlpin Collection, 76. 
 McAuley, Thomas, 19, 21, 24,49,50; 
 
 biographical sketch, 149-151. 
 McClellan, George B., 2-3. 
 McCosh's Lectures, 51. 
 McDowell, John, 155, 255. 
 McKenzie, Alexander, tribute to Treat, 
 
 156. 
 McLane, James Woods, biographical 
 
 sketch, 178. 
 Mercer Street Church, 23, 25, 33, .52, 
 
 66, 64, 144, 163, 188. 196, 210, 212, 
 
 255. 
 Midiilebury College, 121, 182, 186. 
 Mill, John Stuart, 264. 
 Miller, Samuel, 255. 
 Milnor, James, 178. 
 Mission Work : professorship of, .50, 65, 
 
 95; Alumni engaged in, 107-110. 
 Moody and Sankey, 208. 
 Moore, Edward Caldwell, fellow, 96. 
 Morgan, Edwin Denison : gifts, 55-57, 
 
 72 ; library, 77 ; biographical sketch, 
 
 240-242. 
 Morgan, E. W., 21. 
 Morse Lectureship, 51, 88, 95. 
 Morse, Sanujel F. B., 95, 273. 
 Murray, James ()., 22-3. 
 Musical instruction, 52. 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 N. 
 
 Neander, 62, 89, 90, 244, 260, 263. 
 
 Nelson, John G., 21. 
 
 Nesliaminy : cemetery, 231 ; church, 
 2:J6. 
 
 Nertleton, the Revivalist, 207. 
 
 Mevins, Rufus, 21. 
 
 Nevins, Russell H., 21. 
 
 Newark Pastors, remarkable triumvi- 
 rate of, 237. 
 
 New England: clerical education, 4; 
 divinity, 6, 7; ideas, 11; Puritan 
 element, 40, 41, 97 ; influence upon 
 Presbyterianism, 42, 4.j. 
 
 New Lights, 40. 
 
 New School Presbyterianism : relation 
 to Seminary, 36, 41, 83; Old School 
 and New School, antiquated names, 
 84. 
 
 New Testament : Barnes's commen- 
 tary, 36, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171. 
 
 New York City : need of Seminary, 
 6, 13 ; laymen, 16 ; fire, 21 ; local 
 changes, how settled, 22, 23; pro- 
 gressive churches, 36 ; place for a 
 theological seminary, 98, 99; a great 
 religious centre, 38, 153; interest in 
 Seminary, 45, 46, 136 ; duty, 56, 57 ; 
 rapid growth, 123; drinking, 126- 
 128: Otis's acquaintance, 142; Lew- 
 is, 153 : Davenport, 190, 191 ; Cor- 
 ning, 191 ; Griffith, 203,204 ; Dodge, 
 207, 208; White, 210; Van Rens- 
 selaer, 226 ; Lane, 228 ; Christian citi- 
 zens, 227; publications, 227; Mor- 
 gan, 240 ; piety and enterprise, 246 ; 
 Hitchcock, 280. 
 
 Nitchie, John : a Seminary founder, 
 9, 10, 18 ; on committee, 15 ; di- 
 rector, 20; biographical sketch, 145- 
 147. 
 
 Nordheimer, IsaaCj 47, 48. 
 
 0. 
 
 Old Age, 119, 120, 169, 171, 172. 
 
 Old Lights, 40. 
 
 Old Orthodoxy, 7, 8. 
 
 Old School Presbyterianism : relation 
 to Seminary, 42, 43 ; Smith, 70 ; name 
 outgrown, 84 ; ministers, 170 ; re- 
 union, 236. 
 
 Oriental Languages : professorship, 47, 
 48, 94, 95 ; lectures, 92, 93. 
 
 Otis, Joseph, 20 ; biographical sketch, 
 142-145. 
 
 Otis Library, 142. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paderborn Monastery, 73-75. 
 
 Page, Harlan, 122. 
 
 Parker, Joel, 141 ; biographical sketch, 
 :^1 1,212. 
 
 Parker Lectureship, 51, 88, 95. 
 
 Pastoral Theology : professorship of, 
 24, 49, 50, 55, 95, 119, 193, 256, 257. 
 
 Patristic Studies, 232, 235. 
 
 Patterson, Brother, 258. 
 
 Patton, Colonel, patriotism, 121. 
 
 Pal ton, Francis L., addresses, 263, 282. 
 
 Patton, William : a Seminary founder, 
 9, 10; character and position, 12-14; 
 biographical sketch, 121-130; ances- 
 try and education, 121 ; preaching, 
 121, 122 ; offices, 122 ; metropolitan 
 pastorate, 123; catholicity, 124, 125; 
 literary qualities, anti-slavery, 125 ; 
 heredity, 125, 126 ; temperance, 126- 
 128 ; one hearer, 128 ; friends out- 
 side, death, Jewish tribute, 129 ; res- 
 ignation, 129, 130 ; friend of Cox, 
 160 ; pastorate, 184 ; anecdotes of 
 Wilson, 232, 233. 
 
 Paul, a theologian, 61. 
 
 Perit, Pelatiali, 20, 21 ; biographical 
 sketch, 148, 149. 
 
 Peterborough, Lord, quoted, 133. 
 
 Peters, Absalom : a Seminary founder, 
 9, 10 ; standing, 10-12 ; debates, 13 ; 
 committee, 15; director, 19; bio- 
 graphical sketch, 113, 121; ancestry, 
 113; childhood, 114; poetry. 114, 119; 
 education, 115 ; church, 116 ; mis- 
 sionary work, 116, 117; conflicts, 
 117, 118; retirement and literary 
 work, 119; death, 120; influence, 
 120, 121. 
 
 Peters, General, 113-115. 
 
 Phelps, Anson G. : interest in Semi- 
 nary, 19 ; sketch, 163, 164. 
 
 Phelps, Anson G., Jr. : biographical 
 sketch, 198-203; birth, education, 
 health, business, 198; death, 199; 
 memoir, 199-202; character, 202, 
 203. 
 
 Philadelphia Fellowship, 51, 95. 
 
 Physical and Mental Hygiene, 51. 
 
 Plato, quoted, 257. 
 
 Plumer, William S., 11. 
 
 Pond, Enoch, 39. 
 
 Porter, Noali, 252. 
 
 Post, Alfred Charles, biographical 
 sketch, 209. 
 
 Prentiss, George Lewis: appointment 
 to a chair in the Seminary, 50 ; ser- 
 mon, 97-100 ; on Hitchcock, 278, 279. 
 
 Presbyterian Church : Rice, 6 ; trou- 
 bles, 7 : Mason, 14, 133 ; interest ia 
 
INDEX. 
 
 291 
 
 Seminary, 19 ; disputes 26, 27 ; lead- 
 ers, 34 ; disruption, 30 ; opinions in- 
 fluential, 39; progress, 40, 41 ; type, 
 41; faith and standing, 44; battle- 
 field, 61 ; Smith, 65, 260, 261 ; Adams, 
 71, 260 ; contentions, 83 ; reunion, 
 83, 84 ; relations to Seminary, 97, 
 98; Peters, 117, 118; Patton, 121, 
 122, 129, 130; Biblical foundation, 
 136 ; Haines, 139 ; Fislier, 140 ; 
 Baker, 141 ; McAuley, History, 150; 
 policy, 157; Barnes, 166; Hatfield, 
 183, 184 ; relation to American 
 Board, 206 ; foremost minister of, 
 231 ; moderate and catholic spirit, 
 234 ; schism, 255 ; Skinner, 258 ; 
 three controversialists, 265. 
 
 Princeton Review, 265. 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary : ideas, 
 6; Union Seminary founders there, 
 15; age, 25; Peters, 115; Patton, 
 121 ; Mason, 131 : Lewis, 153 ; Magie, 
 155 ; Barnes, 164 ; Brinsmade, 180 ; 
 Fisher, 181; Campbell, 192; Gal- 
 lagher, 218 ; White, 252 ; Skinner, 
 254 ; Systematic Theology, 264. 
 
 Professors, increased, 50. 
 
 Professorships, list, 94, 95. 
 
 Protestantism, general views, 124. 
 
 Protracted Meetings, 7. 
 
 Puritanism : stock, 10 ; literature, 38, 
 76 ; element in New England, 40-43 ; 
 predilections, 97 ; tlie Davenports, 
 189 ; the Robinsons, 243 ; principles, 
 115. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quakerism, renounced, 156, 160, 161. 
 
 R. 
 
 Randall, of Pennsylvania, 15. 
 
 Randolph, A. D. F., publications, 250. 
 
 Reformation : books, 77 ; history, 277. 
 
 Relation of Civil Law to Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Polity, Property and Discipline, 
 lectures on, 51. 
 
 Relations of Science and Religion, 15. 
 
 Religious Influences, 3, 4. 
 
 Revolution : Peters family, 114; affect- 
 ing a library, 104; Patton family, 
 121, 125, 126; Otis family, 142; 
 Phelps family, 163 ; Davenport 
 family, 189. 
 
 Rice, John Holt: letters, 5, 6, 7, 1-35, 
 136 ; advice, 16 ; definition of Ortho- 
 doxv, 42, 43. 
 
 Rich, Mrs. Thomas H., letters, 136, 137. 
 
 Riggs, Elias, 48. 
 
 I Ritter, Karl, 02, 244. 
 
 Robert, Christopher R., 175, 182. 
 j Robinson, Charles S., tribute to Howe, 
 I 148. 
 
 Robinson, Edward : appointment, 24 ; 
 fitness, 40, 47; death, 48, 250; de- 
 partment organized, 49 ; character 
 and honors, 62, 03 ; Biblical Keposi- 
 tory, 119; biographical sketch, 243- 
 251 ; ancestry, editorship, health, 243 ; 
 marriages, 243-245 ; liomc and for- 
 eign study, 244 ; Andover, and lit- 
 erary service, 245; letter, 246-249; 
 travel, 249; new books, 249, 250; 
 Biblical Researches, 249 ; physique, 
 2.50, 251. 
 
 Robinson, William, 243. 
 
 Rogers, John, descendants, 11.3. 
 
 Roman Catholicism : seminaries, 3 ; a 
 convert, 31 ; library, 73, 74. 
 
 Roosevelt, James : legacy, 30, 31, 33 ; 
 chair, 94, 255. 
 
 Rowland, Henry Augustus : director, 
 19; biographical sketch, 151. 
 
 Royal Geographical Society, medal, 
 249. 
 
 Rush, Benjamin, 231. 
 
 s. 
 
 Sabbath Committee, 210, 211. 
 
 Sacred Literature, 48, 95, 151. 
 
 Sacred Music, 51, 89. 93, 94. 
 
 Sacred Rhetoric: Skinner, 32, 50, 03, 
 255-257; Adams, 71; chair, 94, 95; 
 Parker, 212 ; Adams, 207. 
 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor, 22, 149. 
 
 Sanders's Readers, 227. 
 
 Schaff, Piiilip : appointment, 48; lec- 
 tures, 88, 90-94 ; inauguration, 194 ; 
 tribute to White, 210; on his prede- 
 cessor, 282, 283. 
 
 Schauffler, A. F., 142,27.3. 
 
 Schedule of Lectures, 93, 94. 
 
 Schleiermacher, 68. 
 
 Schoals, Francis Peoples : fellowship, 
 51 ; biographical sketch, 184. 
 
 Scotch Irish in America, 40 ; Pattons. 
 121 ; Presbyterianism, 154 ; Wilsons, 
 229. 
 
 Scott, Thomas, theology, 154. 
 
 Scott, Walter, quoted, 160. 
 
 Scott, Winfield, 217, 21S, 274. 
 
 Seaman's Friend Society : founded, 
 143; Perit, 149. 
 
 Seaver, J. J., tribute to Howland, 214 
 
 Second Advent of Christ, 92. 
 
 Sedgwick, General, 268, 270. 
 
 Semi-centennial, 5, 82. 
 
 Septuagint, 247. 
 
292 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Seward, William H., 187, 227. 
 
 Shakespeare, studied, 224. 
 
 SheJd, William Greenough Thayer: 
 appointment, 48, 49 ; lectures, 90-94 ; 
 sermon, 281, 282. 
 
 Sherwood, Doctor, 152, 153. 
 
 Shipman, George P., 21, 143. 
 
 Skinner and McAlpin Professorship : 
 founded, 50 ; endowed, 55, 95. 
 
 Skinner, Thomas Harvey : interest in 
 Seminary, 19; entimsiasm, 25; ap- 
 pointment, 32, 50: friends, 55; chair 
 and influence, 63-65; Evangelical Al- 
 liance, 125 ; Mercer Street, 137 ; no- 
 tice of Otis, 144, 145 ; friendship with 
 Cox, 160 ; a listener, 162 ; on Barnes, 
 167; close relations with Boorman, 
 197, 198 ; as pastor, 198 ; house, 201 ; 
 defended bj' Wilson, 2.34 ; biographi- 
 cal sketch, 254-259; birth and edu- 
 cation, 254, 255 ; ministerial career, 
 255 ; professorship, 256-259 ; prepar- 
 atory care, 257, 258 ; greatness, kind- 
 ness, pupils, church views, 258; 
 preaching, 258, 259 ; power, old age, 
 death, 259. 
 
 Smith, Asa D. : interest in Seminary, 
 19 ; welcoming H. B. Smith, 68 ; bio- 
 graphical sketch, 174, 175; char- 
 acter, 175 ; pastorate, 182 ; relation 
 to missions, 206; tribute to White, 
 253, 254. 
 
 Smith, Cyrus Porter, biographical 
 sketch, 179, 180. 
 
 Smith, Eli, travels, 249. 
 
 Smith, Henry Boynton : appointment, 
 49 ; appeal, 54 ; arrival and charac- 
 ter, 65-70; decision, G6; address, 6G, 
 67; transfer, 67, 261, 276; training 
 and welcome, 68; views questioned, 
 69; librarian, 75; tribute to Halsted, 
 154; tribute to Phelps, 197-201; to 
 Howland, 215; Wilson's regard, 237 ; 
 Life of Robinson, 250; Skinner ad- 
 dress, 2.56-259 ; biographical sketch, 
 260-266; birth, education, travels, 
 pastorate, 260; professorships, 260, 
 261 ; age and illness, 261 ; last pub- 
 lic words, 261, 262; funeral, 262; 
 eulogistic letters, 262-264; literary 
 worker, 264, 265; qualities, 265. 
 
 Society of Inquiry Concerning Mis- 
 sions, 88. 
 
 Southern Aid Society, 188, 196. 
 
 Spear, Samuel T., 191, 206. 
 
 Spencer, Ichabod S. : interest in Semi- 
 nary, 19; biographical sketch, 152, 
 153. 
 
 Sprague, William Buel, 39; Annals, 
 233, 234. 
 
 Spring, Gardiner, nomination and de- 
 
 fence of Cox as a home missionary, 
 
 1.56-158. 
 Spring Street Church: Fatten, 123; 
 
 Cox, 158; Campbell, 192; Wilson, 
 
 229. 
 Stanley, Dean, on Robinson, 62, 63. 
 Stearns, Jonathan F., one of three 
 
 memorable Newark directors, 237. 
 Stiles, Joseph C, biographical sketch, 
 
 188, 189. 
 Stitt, W. C, quoted, 193, 194. 
 Storrs, Richard S., 51, 207. 
 Stowe, Calvin E., 39, 75. 
 Strong, William, lectures, 51. 
 Stuart, Moses, 244, 273. 
 Students from all quarters, 78-81. 
 Sunday Schools : earliest, 143, 191 ; 
 
 Gallagher, 216, 217; Gilman, 222; 
 
 commentary, 233. 
 Systematic Theology : first professor, 
 
 42 ; White, 61 ; Smith, 67, 69 ; Wil- 
 son, 237; White, 251, 252; Smith, 
 
 261. 
 
 T. 
 
 Talbot, Charles N., 21. 
 
 Taylor, Isaac, 38, 273. 
 
 Taylor, James Brainerd, Memoir, 16. 
 
 Taylor, Knowles : a Seminary founder, 
 9 ; early meetings, 10, 25 ; character 
 and influence, 16, 134 ; director, sub- 
 scription, 20 ; biographical sketch, 
 134-137 ; birth and ancestry, 134 ; 
 business, 134, 135 : generosity, 135; 
 connection with Virginia, 135, 136 ; 
 daughter's testimony, 136, 137. 
 
 Taylor, W. J. R., eulogy on Wilson, 
 235. 
 
 Teachers, importance of character, 60. 
 
 Tennent, William, grave, 231. 
 
 Thanksgiving, red-letter day, 267. 
 
 Thatcher, Oliver Joseph, fellow, 96. 
 
 Theological Cyclopedia : chair, 48 ; 
 lectures, 88. ' 
 
 Theological Seminaries in the United 
 States, 3, 4. 
 
 Theology : great teachers, 61. 
 
 Tlioluck : relation to Robinson, 244 ; to 
 Smith, 260. 
 
 Thompson, Joseph P., on Peters, 118. 
 
 Toilers, three kinds, 251. 
 
 Torrey, David, 226. 
 
 Transcendentalism, 275, 276. 
 
 Treat, Selah B. : biographical sketch, 
 155, 1.56. 
 
 Triumvirate of Newark Ministers, 237. 
 
 Trumbull, Jonathan, 189. 
 
 Turner, William Wadden, 48. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 293 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulrici, of Halle, 200. 
 
 Union College: McAuley, 149, 150; 
 Spencer, 152 ; Eddy. 155 ; Campbell, 
 192 ; White, 251, 252. 
 
 Union Square, laid out, 22. 
 
 Union Theological Seminary : origin 
 and design, 5-8; fiftieth anniversary, 
 standing, prosperity, hirth-date, 5 ; 
 anticipated and planned, G ; troublous 
 times, 7 ; rallying point of peace, 
 declaration of design, 8 ; founders, 
 8-20, 113-240; first meeting, 9; 
 second meeting, 9, 10 ; resolutions, 
 10; Peters's invaluable service, 11- 
 13 ; plan of instruction, 12, 18 ; 
 Whites sound judgment, Patton's 
 wide views, 12 ; a trust fund, 13 ; 
 financial experiment, 13, 14 ; Mason's 
 modest strength, 14, 15 ; preamble 
 to constitution, 14, 15, 44 ; maturity 
 of four projectors, 15 ; lay helpers, 
 16-19 ; Taylor's house, 1(3, 25 ; 
 Haines and Halsted indispensable, 
 16, 17, 3.3, .34 ; Fisher's faithfulness, 
 17 ; Howe's long service, 18; other 
 founders, 18, 19; fourth meeting, di- 
 rectors, 19 ; fifth meeting, subscrip- 
 tion paper, 19, 20 ; sixth meeting, 
 first Board of Directors, Spring's 
 declination, 20 ; equipment, opening, 
 early struggles, 20-34 ; original sub- 
 scription-book, 20, 21 ; great fire, 21 ; 
 first Board meeting, 21, 22 ; name 
 adopted, location on University Place, 
 22 ; professorial corps, 23 ; Edwards, 
 23; Alexander, 23, 24; White, 24, 
 49; McAuley, 24, 49, 50; Robin- 
 son, 24, 46, 47 ; opened, 24 ; classes 
 held in different places, 24, 25 ; stu- 
 dents enrolled, comparative age of 
 school, sharp trials, 25 ; building 
 contracts, 25, 26 ; subscription de- 
 pleted for salaries and books, causes 
 of suspension of work, 26 ; denomi- 
 national divisions, 26, 27 ; special 
 gifts, 27 ; library purchased, name 
 changed, 27 ; fourth year, new ap- 
 plicants, 27, 28 ; lodgings, mortgage, 
 scarcity of money, 28 ; treasurer's 
 loans, 28, 29; houses sold, dark 
 prospects, increasing debt, new 
 pledges, the fund a failure, new 
 methods, 29 ; agents, 29, .30 ; second 
 financial period, partial endowment, 
 proposed removal, 30; cheering leg- 
 acy, 30, 31 ; contested, but finally 
 obtained by the Seminary, 31 ; di- 
 rectors and professors closely united, 
 Skinner appointed, large gift, 32 ; 
 
 Boornian's generosity, 32, 33 ; now 
 subscriptions, endowment decided 
 upon, 33 ; early ecclesiastical and 
 theological position, 34-44 ; natural 
 result, 34 ; standing of founders, 34, 
 35 ; moderate views, 35 ; heresy 
 trials, 35, 36 ; autonomy and inde- 
 pendence. New School S3'mi)athy, 30, 
 37; concession to General Assembly, 
 37 ; practical tiieology, environment, 
 37-39 ; theological culture in New 
 York, 38, 39 ; national and race ele- 
 ments, 40 ; affected by ruptures and 
 disputes, 40, 41 : New School ele- 
 ments, 41,42; New England ideas, 
 
 42, 43; creed, 43 ; professors' pledge, 
 
 43, 44 ; development in scope anil 
 force, 44-52; effort after perfection, 
 
 44, 45 ; far-sighted designs, 45; Bible 
 foundation, 46, 47 ; instructors dur- 
 ing Robinson's absence, 47, 48; 
 SchaflTand Shedd, 48; Sacred Liter- 
 ature, 48, 49 ; Systematic Theology 
 and Church History, 49 ; Briggs, 
 Smith, Hitchcock, 49 ; Pastoral 
 Theology, 49, 50; Professors Ex- 
 traordinary, Adams, Hastings, 50; 
 curriculum enlarged, 50, 51 ; Ely, 
 Parker, and Morse Foundations, 
 special courses, 51 ; fellowships es- 
 tablished, 51, 52 ; efforts for endow- 
 ment, 52-55 ; meeting at Butler's, 
 53, 54 ; turning point, circular, new 
 financial agents, 54 ; Gallagher's and 
 Hatfield's success, scholarships, funds 
 secured, princely gift, Skiimer's pro- 
 fessorship, 55; Morgan's offer, 56, 
 57 ; confidence inspired, magnificent 
 tree, 57 ; benefactors, 58 ; location 
 removed, 58, 59 ; departed profes- 
 sors. 60-72 ; living teachers, 72 ; 
 growth of Library, 73-77 ; lessons of 
 Semi-centennial Catalogue, 77 ; stu- 
 dents from many places, 78-81 ; ser- 
 vice to youth, 81 ; alumni the glory 
 of a Seminary, 81, 82 ; present condi- 
 tion, 83 ; changes in fifty years, 83, 
 87 ; peace restored, new questions, 
 
 85 ; moderation, 85, 8(i ; future work, 
 
 86 ; help invoked, 80, 87 ; present 
 course of study, 88-94 ; Junior Class, 
 88-90; Middle Class, 90, 91 ; Senior 
 Class, 91, 92 ; Oriental Languages, 
 92-94; professorships, 94, 95; lec- 
 tureships, 95 ; fellowships, 95, 96 ; 
 fellows, instructorship, 90 ; prize, 90. 
 97 ; catholicity, 97 ; municipal ad- 
 vantages, 98, 99; wants, 99, 100; 
 capability, 100; treasures of library, 
 101-107; list of missionaries, 107- 
 110; a staff, 199; fire-proof build- 
 
294 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 insr, 200; ampler accommodations, 
 201 ; pillar of strength, 202 ; a 
 blessed presence, 238; important 
 letters, 246-249, 277, 278; moral 
 indebtedness to Dr. Skinner, 256 ; 
 the workmen die, but the work must 
 go on, 282, 283. 
 
 University of the City of New York, 
 23, 128," 209, 230. 
 
 University Place : selected, 22, 23 ; 
 left, 59. 
 
 Upham, Charles W., 113. 
 
 Van Bceen, Martin, 26. 
 
 Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Allen, 48. 
 
 Van Ess, Joliann Heinrich (Leander), 
 Libri Prohibiti, 74, 102-107. 
 
 Van Ess Library : purchased, 27 ; mort- 
 gaged, 28 ; nucleus, 73 ; history, 73- 
 75; contents, 101-107; Phelps's no- 
 ble bequest, 200. 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Alexander: biograph- 
 ical sketch, 226, 227 ; education and 
 travel, 226 ; benevolence, 227. 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Stephen, last Patroon, 
 226. 
 
 Varick, Richard, 143. 
 
 Vincent, Marvin R. : inauguration, 237; 
 tribute to Smith, 265, 266. 
 
 Virginia : theological seminary, 16, 27; 
 Taylor's interest, 135. 
 
 Vocal Culture : exercises in, 90-94 ; in- 
 structorship established, 96. 
 
 Voluntary Societies, 7. 
 
 w. 
 
 Wabash College, 182, 186. 
 
 Wainwright, Eli, gift, 33. 
 
 Ware, Henry, quoted, 234. 
 
 War Fund, 206. 
 
 Washburn, Edward A., 276. 
 
 Washburn Professorship : established, 
 95 ; endowed, 279. 
 
 Washburn, Samuel, memorial, 279. 
 
 Washington, George: death of, 114; 
 friendship for Davenport, 189. 
 
 Webb, Elder, 11-5. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, 274. 
 
 Wecksler, J., tribute to Patton, 129. 
 
 West, growth of the, 80. 
 
 Western Reserve College, 151, 193. 
 
 Westminster Confession and Cate- 
 chisms : upheld by Presbyterians, 40, 
 43. 76; works relating to, 104. 
 
 Whedon, Smith's review of, 264. 
 
 White, Henry: a Seminary founder, 9, 
 10 ; character and position, 12, 61 ; 
 committee, 15 ; subscription, 21 ; ap- 
 
 pointment, 24 ; death, 42, 252 ; suc- 
 cessor, 49; discussion, 69; joined 
 with Haines, 137, 138; Allen Street 
 Church, 146; eulogy on Nitchie, 
 146, 147; biographical sketch, 251- 
 254 ; conversion, 251 ; education, 
 251, 2-52 ; devotion to Seminary, 252 ; 
 physique, 2-53 ; memorial tribute, 253, 
 254 ; preaching and teaching, 254. 
 
 White, Norman, 19, 21 ; biographical 
 sketch, 209-211; tribute, 210; phi- 
 lanthropy, 210, 211. 
 
 Whittier, John Greenleaf, Davenport 
 poem, 189, 190. 
 
 Wickham, J. D. : on Corning, 219; 
 letter, 251. 
 
 Wilbur, Marcus, 9, 18. 
 
 Williams, William, bookseller, 227. 
 
 Williams College, 10, 42, 186, 210, 241. 
 
 Wilson, James Duncan : biographical 
 sketch, 229, 230 ; birth, education, 
 pastorate, 229; illness and death, 
 229, 230. 
 
 Wilson, James Patriot, Senior: dis- 
 tinction, 121; pastorate, friendship 
 with Barnes, 164, 165 ; career, 231 ; 
 death, 231, 232; learning and eccen- 
 tricity, 232; preaching, 232-234; 
 influence, 234, 235; friendship with 
 Skinner, 258. 
 
 Wilson, James Patriot, Junior : service 
 to Seminarv, 49 ; biographical sketch, 
 231, 235-238; ancestry, 231; death, 
 235, 237; education, eulogy, 235; ill- 
 ness, 2.35, 236; pastorates, 236; 
 leader, 236, 237 ; recollections, 237 • 
 influence, 237, 238. 
 
 Wilson, Joshua L., 84. 
 
 Wilson, Matthew, 231. 
 
 Winsor, Justin, on libraries, 101, 102. 
 
 Wisewell, George Franklin, agent, 54. 
 
 Witliington, Leonard, 39. 
 
 Wolff, Philip, 75. 
 
 Wood, George, 15. 
 
 Woodruff, Frank Edward, fellow, 96. 
 
 Woods, Leonard, 39. 
 
 Woods, Leonard, junior, 39. 
 
 Yale College : Dickinson, 42 ; re- 
 vival, Perit, 148 ; Rowland and 
 Barrows, 151; Lewis, 1.53; Treat, 
 1.55; McLane, 178; Brinsmade, 180; 
 Fisher, 181; Bidwell, 187; Stiles, 
 188; Davenport, 190; Fewsmith, 
 192; Clarke, 212; Van Rensselaer, 
 226 ; the Robinsons, 243, 249; Adams, 
 266. 
 
 Young Men's Missionary Society, 156, 
 157. 
 
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