History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 54

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 54

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George Peabody selected Mr. Burnap as one of the trustees of the Peabody Insti- tute; the only clergyman so honored. He was a zealous member of the Maryland Historical Society, and read contributions at its meetings.

Godfroy, who designed the Battle Monu- ment, was the architect of Mr. Burnap's church, which was modeled after the Pan- theon at Rome. Its acoustic qualities were abominable. A writer in 1843 said: "We offer no apology for denouncing such stupidity in architectural arrangement. Surely preaching never entered into the ideas of the architect." Mr. Burnap's reputation as a pulpit orator suffers greatly by reason of the immense disadvantages under which he is compelled to utter his thoughts. The consequence is, strangers taking their seats at points remote from the preacher, would not preserve their patience five minutes, unless a previous knowledge of the man as a writer rendered them se- cure of being well repaid for a somewhat forced taxation of attention. The defects have been somewhat remedied, but not wholly, since Mr. Burnap's time. That up- right man died suddenly September 8, 1859, mourned as a loss to the community.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

REV. JOHN GLENDY, D. D., was born near Londonderry, Ireland, June 24, 1755; he graduated at the University of Glasgow. Mr. Glendy became offensive to the Brit- ish Government by denouncing its policy towards Ireland, and troops were sent to his home to arrest him. He fled to the house of a poor woman whom he had be- friended. The soldiers pursued him there, but he eluded their search. They went off to renew the hunt, and he fled in an oppo- site direction, but at last tired of fleeing, he surrendered himself. He was found guilty by a jury, but his life was spared and he was exiled. He reached Norfolk in an old unseaworthy vessel in 1799, and remained some months in that town. He supplied the two congregations of Staunton and Bethel, in Augusta county, for two years. About this time he was the guest of Presi- dent Jefferson, and delivered a sermon in Washington which was greatly admired. While on a visit to Baltimore he preached in a Presbyterian church, the pulpit of which had been rendered vacant by the death of Doctor Allison. Mr. Glendy be- came a candidate for the vacancy, but was defeated by Rev. James Inglis.

In 1803 the Second Presbyterian Church was formed, and Mr. Glendy became its pastor. He was plunged in gloom by the death of his wife in 1804, a sorrow which was intensified by the death of a daughter and a son shortly afterwards.

He was chaplain to the House of Repre- sentatives in 1806, and to the Senate in 1815 and 1816. In 1822 the University of Maryland conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

In 1826 the infirmities of life began to press upon him, and he was provided with

a colleague in the person of Rev. John Breckenridge, and shortly afterwards he ceased his pulpit ministrations.

He died in Philadelphia at the house of his daughter on the 4th of October, 1832, seventy-seven years of age. His remains were interred in Baltimore.

Mr. Glendy's sermons were "torrents of Irish eloquence," and "his voice was as sweet as the harp of David." He was mag- netic in personal intercourse and "fond of saying agreeable things." He was not without eccentricities and indulged in pleasantries. In all respects he was a gen- uine Irishman.

Being exiled from his home caused him to be every where received with welcome arms in this country. The doors of the best society were opened to him, and through them he passed and repassed.

When the British troops menaced Balti- more in 1814, he stood upon his steps as the militia marched by; with tearful eyes, clasping his hands he prayed God's bless- ings upon them, and to give them the vic- tory.

REV. JOHN MASON DUNCAN was born in Philadelphia about the year 1788. He was educated at schools in his native city and in New York City. He commenced his min- istrations in Baltimore as a Presbyterian divine, his church being on the corner of Fayette and Aisquith streets. Mr. Duncan, who was a director in the Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, preached a sermon to the students and got out of the beaten path of strict orthodoxy. The Synod held a meet- ing in his church and dissolved his pastoral relations with his congregation. The pew holders dissented and resolved that his re- lations to them "be not dissolved." This

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brought on litigation by certain pew hold- ers, who voted "nay," to possess the church edifice. They were represented in Court in 1827 by Roger B. Taney, who by man- damus undertook to recover control of the church on Fayette street. William Wirt was the counsel of the defendants, and for them won their case. The church of Mr. Duncan ever since its withdrawel from the Presbyterian Synod has been known as the Associated Reform Church of Baltimore.

Mr. Duncan's views of theology en- gendered a controversy with a Rev. Mr. Miller, to whom he addressed letters in vindication of his beliefs. He also published the following books: "Creeds," and "Moral Government." His writings, according to Mr. J. E. Snodgrass, "indicate a habit of close thinking and an unusual strength of mind. They display, like his sermons, great boldness of conception and expression."

Mr. Duncan was an orator; his voice was full of power; he believed in the liberal use of gestures. He warmed up in his analogi- cal discourses effectively. His sarcasm was overwhelming, and his assaults on vile politicians were sufficient to make them "blush to think themselves men." Such shortcomings he once characterized as "the politics of hell and damnation." In these days of money purchase of place he would have been constantly anathematizing such offenses.

Mr. Duncan remained with his congre- gation until his death many years ago.

REV. JOHN LEYBURN, D. D., was born in Virginia; he was a student at the Wash- ington College and graduated at Princeton, and afterwards pursued a course of theol- ogy in Union Seminary, Virginia, and Columbia, South Carolina. He was li-

censed to preach by the Presbytery of Lex- ington, Va., and first preached in Gainesville, Ala. He was successful in his ministrations and left the congregation in a flourishing condition with a handsome church edifice. His next field of labor was the Tabb Street Church, Petersburg, Va. He again was the instrument of building an imposing church, one of the handsomest in Virginia. The General As- sembly elected him Secretary of the Board of Publication, which required him to take up his residence in Philadelphia, where he had charge of the publication of religious and Sabbath-school literature. He united with Rev. William Inglis, D. D., in the publication of the "Presbyterian," having charge of its editorial column.

In 1860 he made a tour of the Old World, visiting Syria and Palestine. His letters to his paper had a large circulation, and were an unfailing source of pleasure to those who read them. When at the Jordan, the Arabs, while he and his party were en- joying a bath, swooped down to the point at which their clothing was heaped, gather- ed it up and fled to the fastness of the mountains. There being no shops near at hand, where ready-made clothing could be procured, the situation was not the most agreeable

When Mr. Leyburn returned home in 1861, the country was in the throes of that celebrated struggle, which left its impress for good on the pages of the world's his- tory. He threw all his sympathies with the Southern cause and gave offense to many of his Philadelphia friends. He moved South, and was elected Secretary of Do- mestic Missions, and subsequently of Pub-

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lications, of the Presbyterian Church, South.

When the war closed he visited New York. He was invited to preach two ser- mons at the Associated Reform Church in Baltimore. The congregation was at a low ebb and hastening to a crisis in its affairs. Those who heard him were pleased with him, and he received and accepted a call to its pastorate. At once a transformation was wrought, the pews became crowded, young men and strangers worshiped when he preached. His sermons were solemn expo- sitions; his denunciation was rapid his voice monotonous, but far from unpleasant. He had gifts of rich copious speech, abounding in warnings, and could utter a prayer with effect, so as to leave an abid- ing impression. He served this last church until his armor was worn out with the rust of old age. A few years since, this warrior of the cross lay down in tranquil slumber. His grave is in Greenmount Cemetery.

ROBERT J. BRECKENRIDGE was a native of Kentucky. He was born March 8, 1800, a Princeton graduate and a graduate in law also. He practiced his profession for years and frequently opposed Henry Clay in the trial of cases. He served in both branches of the Kentucky Legislature and was de- feated for Congress. After his defeat he was deeply anxious concerning spiritual matters; he professed a change of heart and joined the Presbyterian Church. His brother John was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, corner of Lloyd and Baltimore streets, until 1832, when he died. Robert was chosen his successor, and ac- cepted the call to the church, where he re- mained until 1845.

His mode of preaching was plain and

practical. "He commenced in a low and rather drawling manner, but he soon be- came fired with his theme. The flashes of his piercing eye denoted a brain of unusual energy and activity." He spoke from copi- ous notes, but never used metaphor or rhetoric. "If eloquent it was the eloquence of a mind upborn by the magnitude or sub- limity of the subject."

While pastor of the Second Church, he became embroiled in a controversy with Catholics, and carried on a heated discus- sion with them. He was sued for an al- leged libel on Colonel McGuire.

Mr. Breckenridge wrote a series of ar- ticles entitled "The Restoration of the Bible to the Schools," also "The Coloniza- tion Cause." He published the following books, "Papism in the XIX Century," "Memoranda of Travel," and "Spirit of the XIX Century." A critic friendly to hini wrote: "His sentences are formed without regard to accepted rules of Belles Letters- indeed some time in apparent contempt of all rules." His punctuation was often to- tally destructive of his meaning for one not accustomed to his writings. The same critic wrote of him on another point: "When engaged in a personal controversy the destructiveness of his missiles is almost irresistible, and many an unlucky adversary has realized in Doctor Breckenridge's satire all the power of a very Paixhan gun."

Mr. Breckenridge, on leaving the Second Church, went to Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, became its president, and after two years returned to Kentucky, and was pastor of Presbyterian Church and Superintendent of Education. He fre- quently made a visit to his old flock, and stood behind the pulpit and preached to

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them. When war sought to sunder the Union, the great and influential Brecken- ridge family of Kentucky was divided in sentiment. At the head of its loyal ele- ment stood the Rev. Robert J. Brecken- ridge. He was a delegate to the Republi- can Nominating Convention at Baltimore in 1864, and was made its temporary presi- dent. He ceased to preach a few years be- fore his death, and became professor of Polemic Theology in a seminary at Dan- ville. He died on the 27th of December, 1871, and sleeps beneath the soil on which he was born.

REV. HENRY SCHEIB, once pastor of Zion (German) Independent Church of Baltimore, and an educator of rank and prominence, was born July 8, 1808, at Backarack on the Rhine. He attended the Reform School of the town and was after- wards sent to a Latin school, where, with the acquisition of that language, he com- bined other clerical studies. He was subse- quently entered as a scholar at the gymna- sium at Krenznach, while there mastering the Hebrew. After six years he advanced to the University of Bohn, and during 1830 he graduated as a theological student. The money expended on his education was a small amount, as his parents were poor. Unable to find a pulpit in his native land, he sailed for America, where he soon after- wards arrived, landing in New York in April, 1835.

In September, Mr. Scheib preached tem- porarily in Zion's Church, and in October following, in 1835, he became its pastor. The church was not a happy family when he assumed the pastorate, being rent with dissensions; but he was fortunate in re- storing the congregation to harmony.

The secular school connected with the church was in a bad condition; he im- proved its morals and gave to it tone and reputation. He caused to be erected new and commodious school quarters. So that it became eventually one of the famous in- stitutions of learning in Baltimore.

In 1839, Mr. Scheib was married to Miss Lisette D. Isenbrandt. He died in Balti- more in the latter part of 1897.

Mr. Scheib's belief was a religion "of freedom and love, opposed to force and fear; the worship of the Father in spirit and truth, and the Christianity of Jesus Christ as a teacher."

He preached extemporaneously, aided by a retentive memory. He had a fluent command of language. He was graceful in movement, earnest and powerful in de- livery.

Mr. Scheib was an artist, he had an ear for music and loved the beautiful; he was fond of his friends and of his family. He passed away calmly and peacefully at a patriarchal age, revered and respected.

STEPHEN P. HILL was called to the Baptist Church on the corner of Sharp and Lombard streets in the year 1834. He was born in Salam, Mass., in 1811, and graduated at Brown University in 1829, when he entered upon a course of theology at Newton Institute near Boston, where he remained three years. The remarkable fact in his life is, that he commenced his min- istry when sixteen years of age. After fin- ishing his divinity studies he was called to the First Baptist Church in Haverhill, Mass., in 1832. An affection of the lungs caused him to retire to South Carolina in 1834, where the climate was congenial. In the same year he received

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and accepted a call to the Sharp and Lom- bard street church.

When he took charge of the "Rotunda Church," as some persons called it, he had a building to preach in capable of seating upwards of fifteen hundred persons, and a membership of eighty people. It was not long before that condition. of things was reversed, and he had a membership of five hundred and was preaching to a well- filled house. The baptism of a large num- ber of people on occasions for such ser- vices, attracted crowds. As many as twenty-eight have been known to be im- mersed in succession.

His Sabbath-school grew and prospered, and the room was filled to the number of six hundred, including teachers and scholars. He formed auxiliary schools on the outskirts of the city.

Mr. Hill had a pleasant delivery; his sentences were perfect. The following ex- tract from a sermon on theatre going is a specimen of his style. "There is the thief, and what made him such? The love of pleasure led him into expenses beyond his means. The theatre was found to be a scheme of extravagance. In order to sup- port it, he had recourse to the mean and debasing expedient of theft. Suppose he is a merchant's clerk. He puts his hands in the desk of his employer, with many a smiting blush of shame, and sharp pang of conscience at first, but once done, his virtue is weakened; the temptation re- turns, and he advances from one act of transgression to another, until he has formed a corrupted character of injustice, dishonesty and fraud. He is a confirmed thief."

Mr. Hill was a poet; he loved to dwell

with the Sacred Nine beneath the shade of evening's blush, or in the wakeful hours of the glowing morning. His soul kindled at the voice of the birds in the groves or the fields, and the perfumery of flowers were the wafted incense of nature on the altar of its God.

He sang of the "Triumphs of Truth;" of the "Unlimited Progression of Mind." The first of these poems was delivered be- fore the Rhetorical Societies of Newton Theological Institute in 1839, and the last before the Literary Societies of Brown University.

REV. RICHARD FULLER, D. D., althoughi born in Beaufort, S. C., April 22, 1804, resided so long as pastor of a Baptist church in this city, that he became assimi- lated as one of its people. He graduated at Harvard University in 1824. His next step was to fit himself for the bar. He was, a year after his matriculation at Harvard, admitted to practice law, and proved him- self to possess the necessary requisites. In 1831 a revival of religion was in progress, and among those who bowed their heads to conviction was Richard Fuller. He united with the Baptist Church of Beau- fort, relinquished a practice worth $5,000 a year, and took a charge composed largely of colored people and a sprinkling of whites. He was a slave-holder, and num- bers of the bondsmen attended his church. The day he was ordained he celebrated that event by baptizing over one hundred col- ored persons.

He and Doctor Weyland, of Brown Uni- versity, discussed "whether the Scriptures permitted the relation of master and slave?" Fuller said "yes," Wayland said "no." A great many letters were written by the dis-

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putants, and, as is usual in such cases, both sides won the victory.

During the year 1846, the Seventh Bap- tist Church of Baltimore, the church then being on Calvert street, invited Mr. Fuller to become its pastor. He conditionally ac- cepted; his proviso being, that they would somewhere else select a lot and build an edifice. His terms were complied with, and the temple that so long resounded to his expansive voice, on the corner of Saratoga and Paca streets, was ushered into exist- ence. He began his labors in 1847; and until his death he stood in the front rank of preachers as brave as a lion but gentle as a woman. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he levelled his guns at vice and evil, warned and admonished youth to keep out of slippery paths, and did not avoid dis- cussions when the opportunities presented themselves. In after life he said to a friend, "I used to be fond of controversies, but I am not so any longer; I gave them up long ago." On the completion of Eutaw Place Baptist Church, in 1871, Doctor Fuller be- came its pastor, and while serving that peo- ple, fell asleep in October, 1876.

He was buried in Greenmount Ceme- tery, where an imposing monument with striking inscriptions has been reared.

He was an able debater, a brilliant preacher, a true and faithful friend. He had a fine presence and a superb voice; his carriage was easy and graceful. He looked right at you, and on his firm face was a smile that prevented his features from be- ing stern and immovable.

REV. DANIEL EVANS REESE was born in Baltimore in 1812. He belonged to the Methodist Protestant Church, and was of a family prolific of preachers. No other

family in Maryland produced as many, and probably none other in the United States. Several of his brothers were preachers, Rev. John S. was a step-brother, Rev. Levi R. chaplain to Congress, and Rev. E. Yates was widely known for his distin- guished gifts.

It was reported that when Rev. E. Yates Reese edited the "Methodist Protestant," a subscriber entered his sanctum and intro- duced himself as "Mr. Reese."

"Are you a relation of mine?" inquired the Editor. "A distant relation, I believe," was the reply.

"Are you a preacher?" was next asked. "No;" replied the stranger, "but I have a brother who is."

"I knew it," exclaimed the Editor, smil- ing, "for I never yet heard of a branch of the family that didn't produce at least one preacher!"

In his youth Daniel Reese was appren- ticed to Jacob Daley, ornamental painter, who had in his business career more than one apprentice indentured to him to learn a trade who left him before being accom- plished in the art to preach. Daley be- longed to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was in no good humor with the Methodist Protestant "seceders," as they were called, yet he surrendered Daniel Reese and cancelled his bond when he was nineteen years of age to enable him to preach in the Methodist Protestant Church. During his first eleven years' service he re- ceived little for preaching, so that his grow- ing family caused him to locate and em- bark in school teaching. He was success- ful, and in three years paid off the indebt- edness he had curtailed while serving poor appointments without adequate remunera-

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tion. He returned to the pastorate and was stationed at Fayette and Asquith streets, where he succeeded in building a new church. Mr. Reese served his denomina- tion long and faithfully and ranked among her efficient servants.

BISHOP JOHN EMORY was one of the distinguished Bishops of the M. E. Church. He was born in Queen Ann's county, Maryland, 11th April, 1789. He studied law and was admitted to the bar before coming of age. On the 18th of August, 1806, the current of his life was changed; he was converted and dedicated to the church. He abandoned the practice of law and when twenty years of age was received into the Pennsylvania Conference, over which Bishop Asbury presided. His first appointment was on Caroline Circuit, Md. He continued in such fields of service until 1813. At the conference held in 1813, he was appointed to Union Station, Philadel- phia, a most important charge at that time. He was elected to the General Conference that met in Baltimore, May, 1816, and con- tinuously to General Conferences there- after until 1828. In 1817 Bishop McKen- dree invited him to visit the New York and New England Conferences in his company, which he did.

At the Philadelphia Conference, 1818, he was transferred to the Baltimore Confer- ence and stationed at Foundry Church, Washington. At this time he studied He- brew under "a distinguished Hebrew Orientalist, Dr. J. Horwitz." Finishing his term in Washington, he was transferred to Annapolis, and in 1820 the General Con- ference sent him as delegate to the British Conference in England. On his return, and while stationed at Annapolis, he was

frequently in Baltimore to preach and de- liver addresses. In 1822 he was stationed in Hagerstown, but remained there only a short time, his health-never good-was impaired, and he accepted the presidency of the Asbury College in Baltimore. How- ever, before he entered upon his new duties he was called to New York to accept the book agency of his church. The General Conference of 1832 elected Mr. Emory a Bishop, and he was so consecrated. He selected Baltimore as his place of residence and settled his family in that city. Dur- ing the intervals when not presiding over conferences he was at his home in Balti- more, preaching in the churches of his de- nomination and enjoying the associations of her people. He once made preaching excursions through the Peninsula lying be- tween the Chesapeake and the Atlantic, and a second through the lower counties of Maryland. His death was sudden, on the 16th of December, 1835. He was proceed- ing to Baltimore in his carriage and was thrown out and his skull fractured, with fatal results. His body was removed from a tavern, where he had breathed his last, to Baltimore, and after his funeral deposited along side of that of Asbury, in the crypt beneath the Eutaw Street Church pulpit.

Subsequently, with the bodies of Bishop Asbury, George and Waugh, they were de- posited in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Bishop Emory was in many respects one of the greatest of Methodist Bishops. He was the defender of that faith. Equipped with a fine education received at Wash- ington College, Charlestown, he used his accomplishments to the best advantage. He lived in an age of controversies and was foremost in them, but always courteous

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and persuasive. His clear legal mind showed itself in all his numerous writings. His great work was his "Defense of the Faith of Our Fathers." It is yet a stand- ard authority, and is likely to remain so.

His gentle angel-like spirit, goodness of heart and refinement of disposition, won praise from every one's lips. He was modest and unassuming. His Alma Mater bestowed upon him a D. D. He did not decline it "fearing that there might be more of pride in its rejection than of vanity in its acceptance." In the publication of his works he never used it; they always ap- peared as written "by John Emory." He was evidently of the opinion of the late Dr. Thomas Guard, the celebrated Irishman, who preached in Baltimore City for several years. Seeing D. D. attached to the name of this and that other clergyman, he rubbed his hands together and exclaimed, "My! My! I can't understand it, why in England it means something, and no man has that title but those noted for great scholarship." Emory in that respect, and all others, was worthy to be a Doctor of Divinity.

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Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344