USA > New Jersey > A history of Baptists in New Jersey > Part 51
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Mr. Richardson bought a farm of Deacon Wilson about two miles north of Sandy Ridge meeting house and moved the school to its new location. Mr. McClurg had been principal and Mr. J. F. Brown follow- ed him. Principal Brown resigned in 1833 and Mr. W. E. Lock fol- lowed. Pecuniary embarrassment occurred to Mr. Richardson and he was much discouraged by a movement of the Philadelphia pastors to found the Haddington School in Pennsylvania. In 1833-34, Mr. Rittenhouse closed the school." While it lived, it prospered and but for the vain attempt to establish Haddington would have lived long to bless its vicinity. Mr. Wilson adds: "No one can say the school was a failure. It accomplished its mission and ceased to be, that is all. So I think it is with what we call failures."
"Providence designs certain ends to be attained and when these are secured, the instrumentality is laid aside or merged into something else and takes on another form." This is a cheering view. Nothing good is lost, even though the good man is forgotten, he has his reward from Him who does not forget. William V. Wilson and brother, the Larrison brothers and their sister, Judge Buchanan, E. C. Romine and C. E. Young had an awakening and an impetus for their life work, it may be in this school. Mr. Richardson accomplished great re- sults even though the sunset of his enterprise was shut in with clouds. Let his name be enrolled with Sheppard, Allison, Eaton, the Teasdales and Honeywell, as a chosen benefactor of his country and of his race. In May, 1836, the Sussex County Baptists made an effort to educate their youth. The brothers, Thomas and John Teasdale, bought at Newton, "the pot wine house and the Academy adjoining it," as a home for a higher Institute of learning.
The purpose was good; the plan to attract students well laid, but the lack of financial resources had its usual result. Educational institutions cost a good deal of money, neither can they be carried on without an annual expenditure more than their income from students. Well intentioned schemes which ought to succeed, fail for want of finan-
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cial support. Joseph Sheppard, pastor at Salem was one of a committee appointed in 1811, by the convention that formed the New Jersey Association to report plans for such an Institute. Their report im- plying alliance with Pennsylvania seemingly met the present need and under the influence of Mr. Sheppard, an organization was formed at Salem in 1826. A building was erected for its use. Prosperity attended it for several years. Finally, however, it shared the fate of unendowed schools and suspended. The Central Education Society of Philadelphia located a school at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1833.
Revs. Samuel Aaron and H. K. Green were principals. Two men could not be more unlike. Mr. Aaron was nervous, quick and hot, but just; Mr. Green was passive, deliberate and languid; Mr. Aaron was a law maker; Mr. Green made innumerable allowances for youth. Mr. Aaron was revered by the students. He had no superior as a teach- er, if indeed, an equal. Coming into a recitation, he would start every faculty of the students into lively exercise and make them conscious that under his leadership, they had been delving in the richest mines. Mr. Green, though a scholar whose repute none could question, would at times take a nap in hearing a recitation as the writer well knows. There was a theological class at Burlington numbering possibly fifteen. One was Daniel Kelsay, son of Pastor Robert Kelsay of Cohansie. Another, William V. Kelsay. Mr. Wilson had gone from Sandy Ridge to Haddington; from there to Burlington; from thence to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he graduated.
He is believed to be the only survivor of Sandy Ridge, Hadding- ton and Burlington and now President of the Board of Peddie Insti- tute with which he has been identified from its beginning. In 1835, a committee appointed by the New Jersey Association to examine the Burlington school reported: "The buildings are commodious; the apparatus extensive and select; the library of the highest scientific and literary character and the professors fully competent for their duties." The school continued till about 1840, having the usual ex- perience of schools sustained by divided interests. The time had come when in 1865, the unrest in New Jersey on account of the edu- cational conditions of the Baptist people revolted against the influences which had brought the denomination to the low estate to which it had fallen; like to that of one of old, when he exclaimed: "they made me the keeper of vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept." In the meantime, many changes had come to pass in the minds of men who had always objected to any home movement, claiming an imaginary obligation to Hamilton and to Lewisburg. Some of these had died. Others had been changed. Scores of new pastors had
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come into the state, to whom such a plea was silly. Many men of ample means were in our churches, who were ashamed of a condition, which compelled our youth to go abroad for education or to attend Pedo Baptist schools. These and the incoming pastors comprehended the situation: our wealth; our losses; alliances outside by which our home interests were paralyzed. Such considerations brought home to our churches the chief and crying need of the day and time. Ac- cordingly, at a meeting of the New Jersey Baptist Convention at Bor- dentown in 1863, Rev. J. C. Hyde offered the following:
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to take into consideration the desirableness and propriety of making arrangements immediately for establishing a literary institution under the patronage of our denom- ination in New Jersey.
That resolution was adopted and a committee appointed con- sisting of the following brethren: John C. Hyde, Horatio J. Mulford, Rufus Babcock, D.D., Greenleaf S. Webb, D.D., Levi Morse, William D. Hires, Bergen Stelle, Daniel M. Wilson and Nelson Dunham, of New Brunswick. At the same session of the Convention (See Min. of 1863, pp. 10, 11) this committee made their report in the following words and with the following recommendations:
First. We report that it is desirable to establish such a school so soon as can be done.
Second. That it is feasible when the sum of $10,000 shall have been subscribed, at some suitable place, for the purpose of making a beginning.
Third. That the thing is timely; when the above condition shall have been complied with.
Fourth. That it is preferable to denominate the institution, "A Literary and Scientific Institution for Both Sexes."
Fifth. That we recommend the appointment by the State Con- vention of a committee to promote this object.
1st. By deciding the suitableness of any place at which the sum of $10,000 shall be raised.
2nd. By determining as to the adequacy of the amount sub- scribed.
3rd. By advising and co-operating with a local committee of the place complying with the above conditions in raising the necess- ary funds, and making such arrangements as they, in their judgment, may deem proper. Both committees shall, in conjunction, consti- tute an executive, with discretionary powers.
This report was accepted, and the committee was continued with power to increase their number.
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The next year-1864-at the annual meeting in Flemington, N. J., it was officially reported that Hightstown had complied with the conditions named; i. e., the raising of $10,000, and that already a High School there was in successful operation, and the following resolution was offered by Rev. I. Butterfield; then pastor of the Church at Hightstown. (Min. 1864, p. 8).
Resolved, That the efforts of brethren to establish a first-class school to be located at Hightstown and to be under the control of Baptists meet the hearty approval of this body and that we pledge to it our cordial support.
Whatever may have been the thoughts of men as to the previous action or as to the wisdom of the selection of a location the decision of the New Jersey Baptist State Convention at that meeting perma- nently located the institution at Hightstown. This was really and practically the origin of Peddie Institute. Thus you perceive that the entire action of the State Convention in 1863 at Bordentown and in 1864, at Flemington, is given in the above extracts from its minutes. Possibly having in mind the action of the convention at its session. The Hightstown Baptist church on the next Lord's Day, November 1st, 1863, on motion of Rev. J. E. Rue, voted to remodel their old brick house of worship, for social meetings below and for school uses above. On January 30th, 1864, the church granted the use of the upper room without rent to their pastor, Rev. L. Smith, for a school room. A private school was kept there for about six months.
In the year 1864, two brothers, Messrs. Haas, opened a private school in the upper room of the old church building. They remained till 1867. The decision at Flemington located the school at Hights- town and although the school of the Haas brothers was a private school it. may be regarded as an incipient beginning of Peddie Institute. A Board of Trustees had been chosen at Hightstown in 1864, it is supposed but it included only citizens of the village, but additional information made it necessary that Baptists of the state were essential and at a subsequent election in 1866, such were chosen. Hon. D. M. Wilson of Newark was made President of the Board. Enoch Allen, treasurer and Rev. J. C. Hyde, general and financial agent of the Board. Mr. Hyde collected thirty thousand dollars for the erection of the building and its foundations were laid on the site in Hightstown which a com- mittee elected by the Board recommended. It seems that before the erection of the building Mr. Hyde had moved to Hightstown, and seeing the ugly factory structure being built, decided that it was an unfit home for the school he had in mind and took measures to get other plans.
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Mr Wilson, when he saw the new plans, clapped his hands and exclaimed: "We have got it!" "We have got it!" "Put that old fac- tory picture out of sight!" The architect, Mr. Poland of Trenton, in giving the plans of the present building to Mr. Hyde, said: "This design will cost you forty thousand dollars more than the former plan." Happily the new Board could comprehend the values of beauty and of proportion and chose the expenditure of this large advance, rather than the disgrace of a continuous nuisance. Had the first factory structure been built, it would not have been worth redemption in 1877, when the sheriff held the papers for its sale. A promise had been made by the Board that the donor of the largest sum for the schools would be entitled to name it.
On September 11th, 1871, Hon. Thomas Peddie of Newark, paid into the Treasury of the Institute, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars and the Board voted to name the school Peddie Institute. Since then, it has been known by that name. The foundation walls had been unimproved by a superstructure. About 1868, readiness to contribute for the completion of the building was shown and the enterprise was accomplished in the fall of 1869, and the building was dedicated with memorable services. But a great debt was incurred of nearly seventy-five thousand dollars .. The writer attended a meet- ing of the Board immediately after the exercises of dedication, when a committee reported that only the books of the general agent were intelligible. The manner of their keeping had been very indifferent and inquiry for the sum of the indebtedenss was wholly useless and given up in despair.
Affairs passed on till in 1877, then the burden of debt was un- endurable. At an annual meeting that year, additional claims for thousands of dollars were made. Eleven only were present of the Board. Men who gave thousands of dollars to the school said "it was no use," and pastors were as much discouraged and said: "the school and its property must go."
A member asked: "If this property was offered to you for twenty thousand dollars, would you buy it?" "Yes," was the unanimous response. Again he asked: "If this property is worth that much to buy, is it not worth that much to keep?" An adjournment was made to Newark. Rev. William V. Wilson was called to the rescue and gathered enough to cancel all debts and personally paid claims of thousands of dollars on his own responsibility. To avoid future de- mands for debts from the obscure past, the Board arranged to sell the property to one of its members and re-incorporate as Peddie Insti- tute. A motive for this was, that the books of the Institute had been
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so kept as to allow almost any claim and there was no security against fallacious thousands of dollars.
Mr. Peddie had, at various times, given before his death, fifty thousand dollars to the school and bequeathed in his will, fifty thousand dollars additional. In 1890, the endowment had increased to seventy thousand dollars and Mrs. Peddie devised in her will, one hundred thousand additional endowment, constituting Peddie Institute, one of a few academies of foremost rank in our country. This sketch ought not to omit reference to the Longstreet family of Holm- del. The mother, Mary Holmes Longstreet, was a descendant in the second generation of Obadiah Holmes, Sr., the Massachusetts martyr. She left a legacy to Peddie Institute, each of her daughters did so, and Jonathan and Mary built the Longstreet library building. Miss Mary, now living in 1903, also equipped the Laboratory at a cost of one thousand dollars.
The influence and fruitage of little things has an illustration in the origin of this Library. By the death of a daughter, a legacy came to the Institute. The Board decided to cast it into the bottomless pit of debt. The pastor at Holmdel protested and prevailed to get a part of it set apart for a "Longstreet Library." As an instance of the poverty of the Board, it was objected that the Institute could not provide shelves for the books bought. Whereupon, the pastor at Holmdel suggested that if a design of the cases for books were sent to him, he hoped to prevail with the remaining children, Jonathan and Mary to pay for them. This was done and the "Longstreet Library building and books, is the fruit.
The educational Institute fever broke out anew in the West New Jersey Association in 1865, and the following resolution was adopted:
WHEREAS, Many brethren of this Association are feeling the im- portance of having an Academy or High School located within the bounds of this Association, under the control of our own denomination, and
WHEREAS, Some of the churches have referred to this matter in their letters, therefore,
Resolved, That a special committee to consider and to report on the subject during the present session of this body.
The committee reported:
Resolved, That in the judgment of this body, the time has come when a High School for the education of both sexes should be estab- lished within the bounds and under the exclusive direction of the West New Jersey Baptist Association.
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Resolved, That a committee be appointed to carry out the objects embraced in the foregoing resolution, who shall act as trustees till the next meeting of the Association.
A committee of fifteen members of the Association was appointed. From various items it was learned that the school was named, "The South Jersey Institute," and was incorporated and located at Bridgeton. Plans for a building and twenty-five thousand dollars were reported in 1868 by the trustees. The building was completed in December, 1870, at a cost of sixty one thousand, five hundred dollars, leaving an indebtedness of thirty-five thousand dollars. Deacon H. J. Mulford gave the grounds, twenty acres. The school opened October 5th, 1870, with eleven students. The number, ere long increased to forty- seven. An annual increase was maintained till in 1890, the school num- bered two hundred and fifteen. In 1891, an effort was made for an endowment of fifty thousand dollars, and the amount was completed in 1897. The American Education Society donating ten thousand dollars of the sum. A cheering feature of the school has been the permanency of its principal, Mr. Trask. He resigned in 1899, having administered its affairs for thirty years and won universal and in- creasing respect for his attainments and management in all of this period. He also shared in the confidence and appreciation of all associated with him. New Jersey Baptists have thus maintained their early characteristic of advanced educational proclivities. A serious hindrance to local growth in educational facilities has been lack of concentration, whereby Baptist churches failed in mutual helpfulness that might have remedied the calamity of the removal of Hopewell school. Another reason, was the calls for help from New Jersey by both Pennsylvania and New York to relieve their straits.
Lewisburg would hardly have been, but for the aid of New Jersey and Hamilton (now Colgate) was asserted by President Kendrick, Prof. Eaton and Mr. Edmunds, to have exhausted its resources in New York State. Care for these schools cost New Jersey Baptists large sums and enwrapped their attention from home needs. The Honeywell and Allison schools served them for awhile and made them content. Other movements in the state also relieved them of re- sponsibility. Hamilton was not founded till 1820, nearly seventy years after Hopewell and forty-two years after both the Allison and Honeywell were begun and nine years after New Jersey was free to act in her own behalf, 1811. Lewisburg was not undertaken till 1840 and it is a question if the proposal would have been countenanced, but for the purpose of Eugenio Kincaid, whom the writer recalls, was determined to awaken Pennsylvania Baptists to a consciousness of
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their chiefest need. The early colonial government of New York and of New Jersey being under the Holland government, had advantage of other colonies in that its administration was in alliance with edu- cational movements. Not only the government, but the population, Quakers, Swedes and Hollanders, were moved with a like impulse to educate, thus population and government were in hearty sympathy.
CHAPTER LX.
TEMPERANCE AND ANTINOMIANISM.
Literally temperance is abstinence from excess, whether it be eating, drinking, style, dress, pleasures, amusement or business. Such is the Bible idea as expressed in I Cor. 9:25, "And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." Self restraint is the law of attainment. Felix possibly trembled most under Paul's appeal for "temperance." His self conceits shrink his unrighteousness to the narrowest limit. But intemperance of passion and of appetite was an every day offense. Latterly, temperance is applied to abstinence from intoxicants, including its sale and manufacture.
In October, 1788, Baptists were represented by the Philadelphia Association, having delegates from New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Delaware and Maryland. They adopted the following resolution:
"Resolved, This Association taking into consideration the ruinous effects of the abuse of distilled liquors throughout this country, we take this opportunity of expressing our hearty concurrence with our brethren of other religious societies in discountenancing the use of them in the future, and earnestly entreat our brethren and friends to use all of their influence to that end, both in their own families and neighborhood."
This meeting of the Association included fifty-four churches, of which twenty-four were in New Jersey. Apparently, the action was unanimous, It was needful to use gentle words in the resolution, for the habit of the use of intoxicants was universal. Ministers and children, wives and daughters were regarded with suspicion if they declined indulgence in the universal habit. It is historically stated that: "The Morristown church, from its organization in 1752, to the present, has battled with this monster evil, being a temperance society on Gospel principles;" an explanatory statement being made in this connection; "A wholesome discipline was exercised and most promi- nent among causes of discipline was intemperance." Had the same minutia of record prevailed in other churches, the same could have been said of them. It was true of both Hightstown and of First Cam- den.
The drinking of alcoholic liquors was a universal vice. The first record of action on the subject of temperance came to us from early times, was that at First Cape May church in 1771, and it was: "The
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church concluded in 1771, that no member should by any means sign a tavern license." This was going to the root of the question. There is also, in the minute book of the church, this disciplinary action, indicating the reality of the convictions of the members. In 1775, members "came to the meeting, and some of the members, not having freedom to sit down, by reason of divers reports of drinking strong drink to excess, was desired not to sit at communion, till that affair could be sifted." This means prompt discipline upon "reports of excess." The members of First Cape May Baptist church were quite up to the Temperance ideas of nearly a century later. Of the churches, First Bridgeton Baptist church, under the pastoral care of Rev. J. C. Harrison in April 1831, adopted a rule making total abstinence a test of membership. Bordentown in 1832, "resolved that entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits be and is hereby, declared to be a con- dition of membership and communion with this church." The church was at this time destitute of a pastor and this action could not be, owing to his influence. The action of the church and from other sources of information is known to have been unanimous.
Rahway Baptist church organized in March, 1833, was the first Baptist church constituted on the basis of total abstinence as a con- dition of membership. This church was also pastorless and the de- termination of its constituents to make it exclusively a temperance body was wholly their own. In 1834, Second Cape May and Vincen- town Baptist churches were organized with the condition of total abstinence as a term of membership. The earliest associational action, was by the West New Jersey Association in 1830, in which the churches were "recommended to unite their efforts to discontinue the use of ardent liquors and to advise their members to abstain from retailing distilled spirits." Four years later, 1834, the churches were advised "to exclude persons who persisted in the sale, use and manufacture of intoxicants." New Jersey Baptist churches were in a majority in the New York Association in 1851, when that body acted for the first on temperance.
Pastor D. T. Hill of First Plainfield introduced the subject; Pastor Dodge of Piscataway was appointed a committee to whom the matter was referred and he offered the following: "This Association * * entreat all of our brethren to observe a total abstinence from ardent spirits." This amiable protest was such as was anticipated from Pastor Dodge. New things and ways in religious matters were not congenial to him. At this time, many ministers and pastors were indulging in the moderate use of liquors, especially in the country churches, where the farmers made their own drinks and the temperance
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cause was promoted by kindly words of suggestion. Habit, custom and the usages of social life are bonds of steel, even though there were few families to which the curse of intemperance had not come with its awful blight. To-day, if any Baptist church (except anti- nomian churches) should allow the use of intoxicants to its members it would be universally disfellowshipped. The first temperance sermon known to have been preached in Monmouth County was in "the Upper Meeting house" (Holmdel) by Pastor T. Roberts of the Middletown Baptist church from I Cor. 10:15, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say." A deep impression was made by the discourse and many from then adopted the practice of total abstinence.
Pastor W. D. Hires nurtured the convictions of the "Upper Con- gregation" and it became one of the stanch influences of Monmouth County for temperance. The sermon of Mr. Roberts and the influence of his successors on "The Lower and the Upper Congregations," explains the wide difference of their ideas of temperance. Two large colonies went out from the "Lower Congregation" at Middletown village on acount of their divergence from the majority on the temperance question. One became Second Middletown church and a total absti- nence church. The other was constituted the Port Monmouth church also a total abstinence church. From about 1835 to 1845 the tem- perance forces in New Jersey attained a very positive influence, both in the political field and with the state officials.
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