USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > First church in Newark : historical discourses, relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark; originally delivered to the congregation of that church during the month of January, 1851 > Part 18
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The result was, that during the period of the sepa- ration, the prosperity of the Synod of New York far exceeded that of its elder sister of Philadelphia. While the latter remained nearly stationary, the for- mer rapidly extended itself ; so that in 1753 they could speak of a great number of congregations which had put themselves under their care in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, besides large settlements both in North and South Car- olina, where numerous congregations were in process of formation under their auspices .* Nor was the effort for re-union, hopeless as it seemed for a long period,
* Minutes of the Synod of New York, p. 255, note.
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MR. BURR'S INFLUENCE IN THE SYNOD.
ultimately frustrated. Times changed, and some of the men changed; and party spirit being allayed, measures began to be seen on both sides in their true light; the offensive protest was disowned by the party that had acted upon it, and the two Synods came to- gether under the most favorable prospects in the year 1758, seventeen years after the ejection of the New Brunswick Presbytery and thirteen years after the formation of the Synod of New York.
The history of the proceedure of this Synod and its results is a worthy example, for all time of the spirit and action to be maintained in seasons of division be- tween brethren, especially for those who deem them- selves the aggrieved party. The history of the Pres- byterian Church scarcely furnishes a brighter specimen of Christian zeal, evangelical fervor, practical wisdom, mild and charitable firmness, and ecclesiastical pros- perity than is presented by this same New Side Church, during the thirteen years of its separate organization.
In the measures proposed by this body, Mr. Burr exercised a prominent influence. After the death of Mr. Dickinson, which occurred in the earliest part of this period, he might perhaps be regarded as its leader ; if leaders could be spoken of in a body, whose general average of ability and influence was so high. It may be regarded as an indication of his position and of the relative importance of his congregation, owing chiefly however to the presence of the college here, that, during the period of seven years, from September, 1750, to 1757, the annual meeting of the Synod con- vened in Newark five times; and at one of the two
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SECULAR PROSPERITY OF NEWARK.
remaining meetings of that body, Mr. Burr presided over it as its moderator. In efforts for the reunion of the Church, he was particularly active, though he died just before its actual accomplishment.
During the ministry of Mr. Burr, the secular pros- perity of the town of Newark was beyond all former precedent. Every branch of industry, trade, manufac- tures, and agriculture, received a new impulse. The population increased in numbers, and advanced in wealth and respectability .* The presence of a flour- ishing Latin school and of a college, increasing yearly in importance, and sending forth graduates to the num- ber of fifteen or twenty in a year, must have made it a literary centre for the whole region, and given a pow- erful spring to intellectual cultivation. Few men could have carried on the work of the ministry in such cir- cumstances, amidst so many cares, without serious det- riment to the spiritual interests of the congregation. But Mr. Burr was a man of uncommon powers and uncommon devotion and activity ; and though it can hardly be supposed that during the latter period of his ministry, the spiritual improvement of the people ad- vanced proportionably to their external prosperity, we hear no complaints of any neglect of their souls' interests on his part; and their attachment to him re- mained to the last unabated.
But the very causes to which they owed their elevation, were, all this while, preparing for them a bitter disappointment. The College seems never to
* Manuscript History by Dr. Macwhorter.
199
MR. BURR'S DISMISSION.
have been regarded as located permanently in Newark. As early as the year 1751, a proposition was enter- tained for its removal to Princeton. Then, shortly after, overtures were made from the people of New Brunswick to have it established there. But various obstacles and delays interposed, till at length, Prince- ton having been fixed upon as the place of permanent location, buildings were erected, and the institution was removed in the autumn of 1756 .** A year earlier, Mr. Burr had resigned his pastoral charge, finding its duties incompatible with the increasing cares of his office as President. It was a severe stroke to the people. The opposition was earnest, and the disputes bitter. It was alleged on the one side, that the rela- tion between pastor and people was as inviolable as the marriage covenant, and on the other, that the greatest usefulness to the cause of Christ generally, must always determine whether or not it should be continued. But the result was, that the candid and judicious part of the congregation becoming satisfied that the proposed measure was right, however afflictive. to them, gave their consent.+ And thus ended a min- istry which, for spiritual and temporal results com- bined, has certainly no superior in the whole history of this favored congregation. The entire period of Mr. Burr's residence in Newark, including his candidacy, was twenty years, during eighteen of which he was the regularly installed pastor of the Church.
Mr. Burr was small in stature, and of a delicate
* Dr. Green's Discourses, note, p. 307. + Century Sermon by Dr. Macwhorter, p. 2.
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
frame, but was capable of great effort. "To encounter fatigue," says Governor Livingston, "he had a heart of steel, and for the dispatch of business the most amazing talents." " As long as an enterprise appeared not absolutely impossible, he knew no discouragement ; but in proportion to its difficulty, augmented his dili- gence, and by an insuperable fortitude, frequently accomplished what his friends and acquaintances deemed utterly impossible."*
In his private intercourse, he was modest, easy, courteous and obliging. Affable in conversation, can- did in his friendship towards good men of all classes and denominations-" a perfect master of the art of pleasing in company"+-his presence threw a charm over every social circle. Perfectly free from all pedantry, his learning would scarcely be suspected unless a special occasion called it forth, and when it did, "every one was astonished how a person so im- mersed in books had acquired so large a share of ease in converse and freedom of behavior." " In him every- thing was agreable, because every thing was natural, and he had the secret to be intimately familiar with- out degrading the dignity of his high function. At proper times he would indulge moderately in humor, and render himself innocently facetious, though he sel- dom aimed at wit, and there was a mild dignity in all his deportment." "As he had not studied the philoso- phers without sacrificing to the graces, so neither in
* Funeral Eulogium, p. 8. The Rev. skill and amazing dispatch manage a va- Caleb Smith bears the same testimony. riety of affairs." See Funeral Sermon. "He had a genius wonderfully adapted to + Rev. Caleb Smith's Funeral Sermon. the busy scenes of life, and could with
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
the sallies of humor did he ever forget the character of a divine." "His open, benevolent, and undissem- bling heart inspired all around him with innocent cheerfulness, and made every one who knew him court his engaging society."*
With his brethren in the ministry he was a special favorite, occupying the highest place in their respect and affection. He took a peculiar interest in young candidates for the sacred office, and so high was the general estimation of his judgment in this particular, that vacant churches were accustomed to apply to him from a great distance to direct them in the selection of their pastors. His acquaintances were numerous, and his correspondence extensive, both in this country and in Europe. Firm and steady to his principles, he was yet eminently free from exclusiveness and bigotry. "He prized religion as an inestimable jewel, whose real value was neither enhanced nor diminished by the casket in which it was deposited. Hence he loved and revered the sincere and exemplary of every communion, and particularly cultivated a strict correspondence with several of the greatest ornaments of the church established in England, who in their turn treated him with the highest affection and respect."+
Temperate even to abstemiousness, he was a lover of hospitality ; and possessing ampler means than most of his brethren, he distinguished himself as a bountiful giver.
Both his eulogists agree in representing him as a
* Livingston's Eulogium, p. 7. Rev. Caleb Smith's Funeral Sermon.
+ Livingston's Eulogium, p. 10. See also Funeral Sermon by Rev. C. Smith.
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
judicious aad warm hearted patriot. " Amidst all the cares of his academical functions," says Governor Liv- ingston, "he thought, and studied, and toiled, and planned for the common weal. He had a high sense of English liberty, and detested despotic power as the bane of human happiness. With him the heresy of Arius was not more fatal to the purity of the Gospel than the positions of Filmar to the dignity of man or the repose of States. Of our excellent constitution he entertained the justest idea, and gloried in the privi- leges of a Briton as much as he lamented their prosti- tution and abuse. If any thing ever ruffled the seren- ity of his mind besides the prevalence of vice, it was the adverse fortunes and disastrous situation of his country." Mr. Smith observes that "he had much of that patriotic spirit which is ornamental even to a Christian minister," but that from prudential motives he " very cautiously intermeddled in any matters of a political nature." He speaks of him as a great friend of liberty, civil and religious.
As a correspondent of the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge, he used his influence with great assiduity for the instruction of the heathen aborigenes, "and thought no labor, no difficulty too great in the prosecution of so important an enterprise."
Notwithstanding his great fondness for classical studies, and the various miscellaneous avocations into which his relations to the College necessarily led him, Mr. Burr attained to no inconsiderable eminence as a theologian. "His human literature," says his distin- guished eulogist, "like an obsequious handmaid, was
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
ever ready to set off and embellish his mistress, divinity." "He was greatly a master," says another, " of systematical, casuistical and practical divinity, and he understood polemical, but cared not much to wield the sword of religious controversy."" The Bible he read by turns, both as a critic and for purposes of de- votion.
"In the pulpit he verily shone out as a star of the first magnitude." "He was fluent, copious, sublime and persuasive." "His language was intelligible to the meanest capacity, and above the censure of the greatest genius. His invention was not so properly fruitful as inexhaustible, and his eloquence equal to his ideas."+ When his leisure would allow, he generally wrote out
* The writer has now in his possession, Emlyn's Inquiry with a dedication 'to a specimen of his manner and ability in the Clergy of all denominations,' about thirty years since in this town, [Boston. ] No reply was then made to it, and the controversy ended for a time. It is re- published now with the hope that it may be attended with similar consequences. Extracts from Mr. Emlyn's Inquiry were printed here some time since; and it was doubted by the friends of the doctrine of Christ's real Divinity, whether it was best to make any reply to a book which controversial divinity, viz., a pamphlet of sixty closely printed pages, entitled, "The Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, maintained in a letter to the dedicator of Mr. Emlyn's 'Inquiry into the Scripture account of Jesus Christ,' inscribed to the Reverend Clergy of all denominations in New England ; wherein Mr. Emlyn's ob- jections are fairly answered, and shewn to have no validity. By the late Reverend Aaron Burr, President of the College of has been so often answered. Their doubts New Jersey.
"JOHN i: 1. In the beginning was the word-and the word was God.
"JOHN XX: 28. And Thomas said unto Him, My Lord and my God.
"JOHN iii: 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God-because He laid His life for us.
"JOHN V: 20. Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
"Boston : reprinted, Edward E. Powers, just to say, that it is as gentlemanly and in Court street. MDCCCXCI."
The advertisement of this reprint in- forms us that " the following pamphlet was occasioned by the re-publication of Mr. ingston.
upon this subject and their disinclination to revive a controversy generally pursued with too much warmth and bitterness have retarded this publication .- The es- tablished character of the author will ren- der any commendations of the work un- necessary, and a perusal of it will we doubt not give pleasure to every candid reader."
Of the character of this pamphlet it is christian in its tone, as it is cogent in ar- gument.
t Funeral Eulogium by Governor Liv-
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
his discourses at large, but he had a remarkable talent for extemporaneous preaching. Samuel Davies, who heard him preach a valedictory sermon to the candi- dates for the first degree in the College, from the text, " Now my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thee," says, he "was amazed to see how readily good sense and accurate language flowed from him extem- pore." "His sermon," he adds, "was very affecting to me, and might have been so to the students."* In his gestures he was easy and natural, and there was an air of mild gravity and genuine benignity in his aspect. His voice was clear and musical, his matter solid, and his skill in finding and entering the avenues of the heart seldom surpassed. Pungent and searching in his application of truth, he was yet in an eminent degree soothing and consolatory, and it was only when he saw the sinful soul humbled and penitent before God that he turned to expatiate upon the riches of redeem- ing love and presented the free offer of salvation from the cross of Christ.
" What he preached in the pulpit he lived out of it. His life and example were a comment on his sermons, and his engaging deportment rendered the amiable character of the Christian still more attractive and lovely." "His piety eclipsed all his other accom- plishments. He was," says his admiring eulogist, " steady in his faith, unfluctuating in principle, ardent in devotion, deaf to temptation, open to the motives of grace, without pride, without ostentation, full of
* See Davies' Journal, in Foote's Sketches of Virginia.
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
God, evacuated of self, having his conversation in heaven, seeing through the veil of mortality the high destiny of man, breathing a spiritual life, and offering up a perpetual holocaust of adoration and praise."
His superior character and accomplishments are thus summed up by the pen of that distinguished civilian, from whose eloquent eulogium I have already so largely drawn. "To have all the qualifications that render a man amiable or great, to be the object of delight wherever one is known, to possess learning, genius and sublimity of soul; can there be a greater blessing to the world ? To exert those shining endowments for the benefit of mankind, and employ a great and ele- vated spirit only in doing great and diffusive good- can a nobler use be made of the happiest talents ? Amidst such striking colors in so degenerate an age, who can mistake the picture of the excellent deceased, whose memory these pages are intended to celebrate." "Can you imagine to yourself a person modest in prosperity, prudent in difficulty, in business indefati- gable, magnanimous in danger, easy in his manners, of exquisite judgment, of profound learning, catholic in sentiment, of the purest morals, and great even in the minutest things-can you imagine so accomplished a person without recollecting the idea of the late PRESI- IDENT BURR ?"
Language so highly eulogistic may be supposed to require some qualification, on the part of the reader. But the fact that such a man as Livingston should have felt himself justified in using it, affords strong presumption that it is not greatly exaggerated. In
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CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT BURR.
fact there is scarcely a shade of coloring in the com- mendation bestowed by it if we except the style, which is not fully sustained by more than one contemporary authority. The following obituary notice taken from the Pennsylvania Gazette, and probably written by the illustrious editor of that venerable journal, is as decisive in its testimony as it is terse and simple in its phraseology. "Sept. 29, 1757-Last Saturday died the Reverend Mr. Aaron Burr, President of the New Jersey College, a gentleman and a Christian, as univer- sally beloved as known; an agreeable companion, a faithful friend, a tender and affectionate husband, and a good father; remarkable for his industry, integrity, strict honesty and pure undissembled piety; his be- nevolence as disinterested as unconfined; an excellent preacher, a great scholar, and a very great man."*
* Pennsylvania Gazette Sept. 29, 1757, No. 1501. "Printed by B. Franklin, Post- master, and D. Hall, at the new printing office near the Market."
The following more extended obituary notice I copy from the New York Mercury, where it appeared Monday, October 10th, 1757.
" Nassau Hall, New Jersey, September 29th, 1757.
"On Monday last was interred the Rev. Mr. Aaron Burr, President of this College. He died on the 24th inst., in the 41st year of his age. His funeral was attended by several ministers, all the students, and a large number of the neighboring inhabit- ants. Universal was the grief on the melancholy occasion ; and the loss of so valuable a man diffuses a general sorrow among all ranks of people. He was born at Fairfield, in Connecticut, and descended from one of the most considerable families in New England. His education he had at Yale College, in New Haven, and was reputed one of the best scholars in his class.
He offered himself to an examination as a candidate for the Dean's bounty, and was adjudged worthy to enjoy that benefaction. About the year 1736 he settled in the minis- try at Newark, and in his sacred functions was equally laborious and successful. On the death of the Rev. Mr. Dickinson, in the year 1747, he took upon him the charge of the College of New Jersey, which then consisted of about eight students, though at the time of his death the number, by the blessing of Heaven, on his unparal- leled industry, was augmented, including the grammar school, to upwards of eighty. While the College funds were insufficient to support a president, he served without a salary in that arduous station for the space of three years. He was a gentle- man of great judgment, sagacity and eru" dition. In his temper open, generous, familiar and humane. In conversation› as the subject required, solemn or face- tious, and in both entertaining and in- structive. Of such disinterested and dif- fusive benevolence, as even to conciliate
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PRESIDENT BURR'S DEATH.
The glowing eulogy of William Livingston, sup- ported by the plain unvarnished statements of Caleb Smith, and endorsed by the weighty testimony of Benjamin Franklin, seems to have little more to be desired in attestation of the genuine merit of the sub- ject of its commendation.
Mr. Burr's life was prolonged only one year after he left Newark. He never presided at a Commencement exercise at Princeton. In the month of August, 1757, being then in a feeble state of health, he made a hasty visit to his father-in-law, at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and returning, hastened to Elizabethtown on some bu- siness with the Government relating to the interests of the College. Here he learned that his esteemed
malice and repress the efforts of detrac- tion. For quickness of apprehension and vivacity of spirits, the admiration of all his acquaintance. A learned and pro- found divine, amiably candid in his reli- gious sentiments, and in the pulpit fluent sublime and persuasive. In his pastoral character, venerable and serious, but his seriousness so far from gloomy or austere, discovered a perpetual fund of that heartfelt joy, which results from real goodness and tranquillity of conscience. His sermons, in which he blended imagination with judgment, and joined elegance to solidity, were wonderfully adapted to reform the taste, to mend the morals, and to win the heart. By his pupils he was beloved as a friend, and like a father revered and hon- ored. In promoting the prosperity of the seminary over which he presided, he was discouraged by no disappointment, but of unwearied assiduity and inflexible resolu- tion. By his pious instruction and exam- ple, his affectionate addresses and gentle discipline he initiated the students as well into the school of Jesus, as into the litera- ture of Greece and Rome, and enured even youth in the full luxury of blood to fly the infectious world, and tread the paths of
virtue. But the rest of his accomplish- ments were shaded and eclipsed by the still brighter lustre of his more resplendent piety. With an ardent affection for his divine Master, and an exemplary conform- ity to the unerring pattern, he crowned all his other amiable qualities, and exalted the great man into the greater Christian. After a life so gloriously spent, well might he
" Even in the terrors of expiring breath, Welcome the friendly stroke, and live in death.'
"In him the Churches have lost a distin- guished divine, the College a learned and faithful head, the poor a liberal, benefi- cent friend, his lady the best of husbands, and the commonwealth an incorruptible patriot.
"The Reverend Mr. Jonathan Edwards is chosen to succeed him in the president- ship, a gentleman of whose piety and learning the public has frequently had the amplest attestations.
" Yesterday being the day of commence- ment, twenty-five of the students who had been before examined and approved, were admitted to their degrees in the Arts."
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PRESIDENT BURR'S DEATH.
friend, the Rev. Caleb Smith, of Newark Mountain, had just been bereaved of his wife. He hastened to mourn with and console him; and having no time to prepare a sermĂ´n, preached extemporaneously a funeral discourse from the words, " Willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."* Still suf- fering from indisposition, he made a journey to Phila- delphia on business for the College, in that sultry season, and returned home, exhausted with fatigue and already the subject of an intermittent fever, only to meet a new demand upon his exertions. His old friend, the generous patron of the institution over which he presided, Governor Belcher, had just deceased, and he was expected to do honor to his memory in a funeral sermon. "You will not think it strange," says his ex- cellent wife, after his decease, "if it has imperfections, when I tell you that all he wrote on the subject, was done in a part of one afternoon and evening, when he had a violent fever on him, and the whole night after, he was irrational." Completing his preparations, he rode forty miles to Elizabethtown, and preached the discourse before a vast assembly, on Lord's day, Sept. 4. "It grieved his friends," says Mr. Smith, "to be- hold the languor of his countenance, and observe the failure of his harmonious delivery, not having strength for that clear utterance, or spirit for that free, lively, animated address, with which he used to entertain and charm an audience." He returned home, and his dis-
* In the Life of President Edwards, p. 565, this service is spoken of as having reference to a death in the family of his successor. But the date corresponds to
that of the death of Mrs. Smith; and Mr. Smith himself speaks of it in such a man- ner as to leave no room for doubt.
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DEATH OF PRESIDENT BURR.
order soon taking the form of a nervous fever, termin- ated his life on the 24th of September, 1757. He left the College in a flourishing condition, and died in the very midst of a most powerful display of Divine grace in the conversion of great numbers in that institution. It was a fearful stroke to the whole community.
On his death-bed, Mr. Burr had given direction that no unnecessary parade should be made at his funeral, and no expenses incurred beyond what Christian de- cency would require. The sum necessary for the ex- penses of a fashionable funeral, which by this order would be saved, he directed should be given to the poor, out of his estate. His funeral was attended amidst a large concourse of lamenting friends, and his remains were interred at Princeton on the 24th of September, 1757.
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