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 19
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Mrs. Burr survived her husband less than a year, and died April 7, 1758. They left two children-a daughter and a son-both born during their residence in Newark, and both, it is presumed, baptized within the pale of this Church. The former was married to the Hon. Tappan Reeve, of Litchfield, Conn., and the latter, having obtained almost the highest rank in the nation-the heir of his father's accomplishments, but not of his virtues-lies buried at the feet of that illus- trious and sainted man, where, in filial reverence, he had desired that his remains should be deposited.
The tomb-stone of Mr. Burr bears the following in- scription, which I copy, with the translation of it, from a pamphlet entitled "History of the College of New Jersey, by a Graduate." It is said to have been pre-
14
210
EPITAPH.
pared by the Hon. William Smith, and revised by the Rev. Messrs. Jacob Green and Caleb Smith :
M. S. Reverendi admodum viri, AARONIS BURR, A. M., Collegii Neo-Caesariensis Praesidis, Natus apud Fairfield, Connecticutensium, IV Januarii, A. D. MDCCXVI. S. V. Honesta in eadem Colonia Familia oriundus, Collegio Yalensi innutritus, Novarcae Sacris initiatus, MDCCXXXVIII. Anno circiter vigini pastorali Munere Fideliter functus, Collegii N. C. Praesidium MDCCXLVIII accepit, In Nassoviæ Aulam sub Finem MDCCLVI translatus, Defunctus in hoc vico XXIV Septembris, A. D. MDCCLVII. S. N. ÆEtatis XLII. Eheu quam brevis ! Huic Marmori subjicitur, quod mori potuit ; Quod immortale, vindicarunt Coeli- Quaeris viator qualis quantusque fuit ? Perpaucis accipe. Vir corpore parvo ac tenui, Studiis, vigiliis, assiduisque laboribus, macro, Sagacitate, Perspicicacitate, Agilitate, Ac Solertia, (si fas dicere,) Plusquam humana, pene Angelica. Anima ferme totus. Omnigena Literatura instructus, Theologia praestantior : Concionator volubilis, suavis et suadus : Orator facundus. Moribus facilis candidus et jucundus, Vita egregie liberalis ac benficus : Supra vero omnia emicuerunt Pietas ac Benevolentia. Sed ah ! quanta et quota Ingenii, Industriae, Prudentiae, Patientiae, Caeterarumque omnium virtutum Exemplaria. Marmoris Sepulchralis Angustia Reticebit. Multum desideratus, multum dilectus, Humani generis Deliciae.
211
EPITAPH.
O ! infandum sui Desiderium, Gemit Ecclesia, plorat Academia : At Coelum plaudit, dum ille Ingreditur In Gaudium domini Dulce loquentis, Euge bone et fidelis Serve ! Abi viator tuam respice finem.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY of a most venerable man, AARON BURR, A. M., President of the College of New Jersey.
He was born of a good family at Fairfield, Conn., on the 4th of January, A. D. 1716, O. S. He was educated at Yale College. Commenced his ministry at Newark, in 1738. He performed the pastoral office with fidelity about 20 years. Accepted the Presidency of the College of New Jersey, in 1748. Being transferred to Nassau Hall at the close of 1756, he died in this village, on the 24th of September, A. D. 1757, N. S. Beneath this marble is laid, all of him that could die ; His immortal part, Heaven has claimed- Do you ask, Stranger, what he was ? Hear in a few words :
He was a man of a small and weak body, spare with study, watching and constant labors,-
He had sagacity, penetration, quickness and despatch, (if it be lawful to say so,) more than human, almost Angelic. He was skilled in all kinds of Learning. In Theology he excelled. He was a fluent speaker, pleasing and persuasive. An accomplished Orator. In his manners, easy, frank and cheerful ; In his life, remarkably liberal and beneficent. His Piety and Benevolence outshined all other qualities. Ah, how numerous and how excellent were his examples of Genius, Industry, Prudence, Patience, and all other virtues,- The narrow sepulchral marble refuses to speak them. Greatly regretted, and much beloved, he was the delight of human kind. O, the unspeakable regret.
212
REV. JOHN BRAINERD.
The Church groans, Learning laments ; But Heaven applauds, while he enters into the joy of his Lord, and hears, well done good and faithful servant. Stranger, go and remember thy latter end.
Immediately after the dismission of Mr. Burr, the pulpit began to be supplied by the Rev. John Brain- erd. He was a younger brother of David Brainerd, born at Haddam, Conn., and graduated at Yale Col- lege in 1746. Entering the ministry about the time of his brother's death, the patrons of the mission turned their eyes towards him as the most suitable person to succeed to that service. The name of Brain- erd was already fragrant in the Church, and beloved by the simple children of the forest ; and it was doubt- less an unspeakable satisfaction to the dying missionary to commit his ignorant charge to the care of one in whom he had the fullest confidence, and loved, as his own lips testified in death, " the best of any creature living."*
John Brainerd continued in this service with little or no interruption until about the year 1755, when the occurrence of a war with France, making intercourse with the savages dangerous and difficult, induced the " correspondents" to suspend the mission ; and, the health of Mrs. Brainerd being then very infirm, he was dismissed from his charge, and removed with his family to Newark. Whether he was formally in- stalled as the pastor of this Church, and, if so, at what precise time, may be difficult to determine with cer-
* Memoirs of Brainerd. (Edwards' Works, vol. x, p. 412.)
213
REV. JOHN BRAINERD.
tainty ; for the records of the Church and Presbytery being both lost, those of the town of Newark, on which we have relied hitherto, do not cover the eccle- siastical affairs of this period. From those of the Synod, and from other corroborating circumstances, the most satisfactory conclusion is, that he took the pastoral charge of the congregation almost imme- diately after he left the mission. President Edwards found him here in the autumn of 1755, preaching as a "probationer for settlement," in which capacity he had been employed " ever since Mr. Burr's dismission from that place on account of his business as President of the College. At a meeting of the Synod, held in Newark, " the day after Commencement," in the au- tumn of 1756, he was appointed with several others to supply, for a few months, some destitute congrega- tions in North Carolina ; but, for reasons not stated, did not fulfill that commission. The next Spring a commissioner from the congregation at Newark ap- peared in the Synod, and "asked for some supplies in their destitute condition," which request was granted. And as, in the year following, viz., in the Spring of 1758, it is on record that "the Synod does appoint the Pres- bytery of New York to supply Newark during the whole of the time of Mr. Brainerd's absence from them,"+ we infer that the destitute condition of this Church at that time must have been owing to the absence of Mr. Brainerd, on whose services they were regarded as having a claim, and for whose return they
* Works, vol. i, pp. 553-4. New York ed., 1830.
+ Minutes, pp. 275-283
214
MR. BRAINERD'S REMOVAL.
2
were waiting in expectation. The graves of two of his little children, buried here the following autumn, attest the presence of his family, probably his own, at that pe- riod .* The circumstances of his leaving Newark, to re- turn to his mission, are even more explicit. "Mr. Brain- erd applied to the Synod for advice," say the Minutes, under date of May, 1759, " whether it was his duty to leave his present charge at Newark and resume his mission to the Indians." "Arguments on both sides were fully heard," and the decision arrived at was, that "though he had a very comfortable settlement at Newark, yet the Synod, through an earnest desire to promote the kingdom of Christ among these poor In- dians, advised him to give up these temporal advan- tages, and settle as a missionary among these poor In- dians ;" "with which advice," it is added, "he readily and generously complied." In coming to this decision the Synod declare themselves "tenderly affected with the case of the Newark congregation," whose happy and hopeful settlement seems to have been frustrated by this act of Christian duty.t
The only doubt thrown over this matter, arises from the fact that Dr. Macwhorter, in his historical notices, never mentions the ministry of John Brainerd; and what is still more singular, though the latter was re-
* Their tombstones, which were stand- ing not long since, bear the following in- scriptions :
" Miss Sophia Brainerd, elder daughter of the Rev. John Brainerd, died Sept. 8th, 1758, in the 6th year of her age."
" David Brainerd, only son of the Rev. John Brainerd, died Sept. 14th, 1758, in the 2d year of his age."
Monumental Inscriptions, p. 167.
+ Minutes of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, pp. 294-299. It is add- ed, under date of May 18, 1759: "Mr. Brainerd being removed from New York, it is ordered that Messrs. Woodruff, Ket- tletas, Darby and Cummings supply there each one Sabbath, if need be."
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MINISTRY OF MR. BRAINERD.
leased from his charge, with the affectionate condolen- ces of the Synod towards a bereaved congregation, on the 18th of May, and the former succeeded to the same charge in the month of June following, yet the whole matter is completely ignored. You would not gather from the three distinct narratives written by Dr. M., the slightest hint that John Brainerd ever spent a Sabbath in Newark. On the contrary, the whole period occupied by his ministry-a period of nearly four years-is represented as one of unhappy contention, mutual recrimination, and division between rival candidates. "Some blamed the Presbytery," he says, " for taking away their minister; others reflected upon their neighbors for consenting to his dismission, and by one means and another, they were divided among many candidates, until their mortifications and uneasinesses subsided by time, and they quietly united to call their present minister, who preached his first sermon here June 28th, 1759."* One of two conclu- sions seem inevitable. Either the Minutes of the Synod of New York are not reliable, or the historian, who wrote many years after the facts referred to took place, must have forgotten events of which he was al- most an eye-witness in his early youth. That there was a close relation of some sort between Mr. Brainerd and this people, during the period just now designated, cannot be doubted ; and, notwithstanding the difficulty which I have stated, my judgment inclines strongly to the conclusion that he was, for a short time at least,
* Century Sermon, p. 22.
216
REV. ALEXANDER MACWHORTER.
the regular pastor of this Church .* Mr. Brainerd's ministry was unquestionably a short one. He returned to the care of the Indian mission, and continued in that service during the whole or nearly all the remain- der of his life. In the year 1754 he was chosen a trustee of the College of New Jersey ; was moderator of the Synod in the year 1762, and sustained from time to time important offices connected with that body. He died, March 21, 1781, at Deerfield, Cumberland county, N. J., and " lies buried under the middle aisle of the old parish church there, where he last minis- tered, and where a slab of marble shows his epitaph."+
The next pastor of this Church was the Rev. Alex- ander Macwhorter, who was born in the county of Newcastle, in the State of Delaware, July 15, 1734, O. S. His ancestors emigrated from Scotland, and set- tled in the North of Ireland, where both of his- grand-parents on the maternal side, perished by Papal violence in the great Irish massacre in 1641, during the civil wars of Charles the First. His grand-mother, then an infant, escaped from the scene of butchery by being hid by her nurse, and was the only survivor of the entire family.#
His father, Hugh Macwhorter, was a linen merchant in the north of Ireland, whence he emigrated with his family to America about the year 1730, and, settling
* In this opinion I do but concur with that of the late Dr. Archibald Alexander, in the "Log College," p. 76, and of Dr. Hodge in his "History of the Presbyterian Church," the latter of whom expressly calls Mr. Brainerd "the pastor of the Church in Newark," p. 347.
+ 1.etter from Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D. D., of Philadelphia.
# See Dr. Griffin's Funeral Sermon. " They were hanged," says Dr. G., "on a tree before their own door." See also Life- of Dr. Rogers, by Dr. Miller.
Alex. Mawhorter
217
EARLY LIFE.
in Delaware upon a large farm, became an elder in the Church afterwards under the care of Rev. Mr. Rodgers, since known as Dr. Rodgers, of New York." The eldest son, Alexander, a youth of great promise, both for talents and piety, who had spent two years at the University of Edinburgh, and had now nearly completed his stud- ies for the ministry, dying a few years after the emi- gration, his name was transferred to the youngest son, who was born about the time of his brother's death.
" The first time," says Dr. Miller, " that Mr. Rodgers, after entering on his pastoral charge, assembled the children of a particular district in his congregation, to catechise them, it was at the house of Hugh Macwhor- ter, a wealthy and respectable farmer in his neighbor- hood. The children were so numerous that a room of ordinary size would not contain them, and it was thought best to collect them in a spacious barn, on the farm, near the dwelling-house of Mr. Macwhorter." Among the rest, came young Alexander, the youngest son of the worthy elder, to present himself to the kind notice of his youthful pastor, and to be catechised by him in that barn. "The prudence, the good sense, the readiness in reply, and the highly promising character which this youth exhibited, first drew the attention, and afterwards the special regard and friendship of Mr. Rodgers, and laid the foundation of an affection- ate union between them to the end of life."+
Alexander Macwhorter was the youngest of eleven children, and was trained by his excellent parents in
* The name of Hugh McQuarter ap- pears in the minutes of the Synod in 1738.
+ Mem. of Dr. Rogers, p. 71, 72.
218
CONVERSION AND EDUCATION.
the principles and duties of piety. It was their prac- tice to devote the Sabbath evenings especially to the religious instruction of the children, and Alexander had often been taken alone into the woods or into some private apartment, to hear the fervent and tear- ful entreaties, and join in the importunate prayers of parental love and solicitude.
At the age of fourteen, he, with three cther chil- dren, all of whom lived and died in the faith in which they had been nurtured, was left, by the death of their excellent father, to the sole care and training of their widowed mother; and immediately after this, the whole family removed to North Carolina. Here he first awoke to a full consciousness of his religious needs, under the influence of a sermon from a "New Light" preacher by the name of John Brown, after- wards for many years a minister in Virginia, the theme of which was the second verse of the seventh Psalm .* Deep and long continued were his convictions of sin and his dread of the wrath of God. "He used," says Dr. Griffin, " daily to repair to a copse of pines near his brother's house, where he resided, and there, to use his own expressive words, 'would dash himself on the ground, looking for the earth to open and swallow him up.' " But it was not till after he had left North Car- olina and returned to the neighborhood of his native place, in order to pursue his education-a period of two or three years-that he found peace by believing in Christ. This was while he was at a public school at
* "If he turn not, he will whet his sword: he hath bent his bow and made it ready."
.
219
ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY.
West Nottingham, Cecil county, Maryland, under the care of the Rev. Samuel Finley, afterwards President of the College of New Jersey, with whose Church he was soon after received into communion.
Mr. Macwhorter entered the College of New Jersey at Newark, in the year 1756, at the age of 22 years, joining the Junior class ;* and, the College having been removed to Princeton in the autumn of that year, he received his first degree during the following summer, a few days after the decease of President Burr, and was one of the first class that were graduated in the College at that place. True to his filial affections, young Macwhorter was now about to return to North Carolina, and take counsel concerning his future course with that aged parent, to whose early maternal faith- fulness he owed so much of his character and promise. But Jane Macwhorter was no more; and on receiving the afflicting news he abandoned the design. Having completed his studies in divinity, under the direction of the Rev. William Tennent, of Freehold, N. J., he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, then sitting at Princeton, in the month of August, 1758.
The schism in the Presbyterian Church had just been healed, by the amicable union of the two Synods into one body, by the name of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia.+ At the second meeting of this body, in
* " Thus," says Dr. Griffin, "he began his public career in science in the very place which was destined to be the scene of his future usefulness. The ground on which his youthful feet trod was reserved to be the resting place of his weary limbs
after the labors of more than half a cen- tury." (Funeral Sermon, p. 11.)
t This Synod held its first meeting at Philadelphia, May 22, 1758, and Rev. Gil- bert Tennent was choses as its first Mod- erator. The articles of agreement on
220
ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY.
May, 1759, the same meeting which decided on Mr. Brainerd's removal from Newark, Messrs. Macwhorter, Kirkpatrick and Latta were appointed to preach, for several months each, to destitute congregations in Vir- ginia and North Carolina; and that no failure in the mission might take place, the Synod gave peremptory orders that the young men should be at their posts at a specified time, and that the Presbyteries with which they were connected, should " take care that these gen- tlemen fulfill their appointment, and neither prescribe nor allow them employment in our bounds, so as to disappoint this, our good intention." **
which the union was formed, are too long to be inserted here, but deserve care- ful study in connection with the history of the Presbyterian Church. The object, as stated in the preamble, was "the compro- mising those differences which were agi- tated many years ago with too much warmth and animosity," "the healing of breach, that so its hurtful consequences may not descend to posterity," "that all occasion of reproach may be removed," that we may carry on the great designs of religion to better advantage, "to prevent future breaches of like nature, &c. The first and second articles are the following : " I. Both Synods having always approved and received the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Cate- chisms as an orthodox and excellent sys- tem of Christian doctrine founded on the Word of God, we do still receive the same as the Confession of our Faith, and also adhere to the plan of worship, government and discipline contained in the Westmin- ster Directory, strictly enjoining it on all our members and probationers for the min- istry, that they preach and teach accord- ing to the form of sound words in said Con- fessions and Catechisms, and oppose all errors contrary thereto."
"I[. That when any matter is deter- mined by a major vote, every member
shall either actively concur with, or pas- sively submit to such determination ; or if his conscience permit him to do neither, he shall, after sufficient liberty modestly to reason and remonstrate, peaceably with- draw from our communion without at- tempting to make any schism ; provided always that this shall be understood to ex- tend only to such determinations as the body shall judge indispensible in doctrine or Presbyterian worship."
As to the "protest" of 1741, the Synod of Philadelphia declare "that they never judicially adopted the said protest, nor do account it a synodical act, but that it is to be considered as the act of those only who subscribed it."
To guard effectually against any renewal of hostility, the Synod close the agree- ments with the following item: "that all former differences and disputes are laid aside and buried, and that no further in- quiry or vote shall be proposed in this Synod concerning these things; but if any member seek a synodical inquiry, or declaration about any of the mat- ters of our past differences, it shall be deemed a censurable breach of this agree- ment, and be refused, and he be rebuked accordingly."-Minutes, pp. 285-88.
* Minutes, p. 293.
221
INSTALLATION AT NEWARK.
Accordingly Mr. Macwhorter, with his classmate, Mr. Kirkpatrick, was ordained at Cranberry, by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, July 4th of the same year .* But the ordinances of divine Providence over- ruled even the strict and peremptory orders of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia; for the congre- gation in Newark being now vacant, Mr. Macwhorter was employed to preach for them for a single Sabbath, and at once all eyes were fixed on him for the future pastor. At the very meeting of the Presbytery at which he received ordination, with a view to his dis- tant mission, commissioners from Newark presented their urgent request for his services, and Mr. Tennent lending his influence in their favor, the plan of the mission was suspended; and on the reception of a united call from the people, he was installed during that same summer, at the age of twenty-five years, as the pastor of this Church.+ In the minutes of the Synod at their next meeting, the only notice taken of this disregard of their stringent order, is the very quiet record that "Mr. Macwhorter's reasons for not going to Virginia, according to the appointment of the Synod last year, were sustained."}
Mr. Macwhorter was married in the month of Octo- ber, 1758, shortly after he received license to preach, to Mary Cumming, daughter of Robert Cumming, Esq., of Freehold, N. J .. a respectable merchant, high sheriff of the county of Monmouth, and related by marriage
* Funeral Sermon by Dr. Griffin, p. 14. He preached his first sermon here, June + Minutes, p. 293. Funeral Sermon. 28, 1759.
# Minutes, p. 292.
222
CONTENTION BETWEEN CHURCHES.
to the family of his revered instructor, Rev. William Tennent .* They had five children, viz. : Mary, mar- ried to Samuel Beebe, merchant of New York; Ann, married to Rev. George Ogilvie; Alexander Cumming, counselor at law, in Newark; John, counselor at law in the same place, who died suddenly a few months be- fore his father ; and Hugh Robert, who died in infancy.
We have already noticed the violent contentions. which arose during the ministry of Mr. Webb, in con- sequence of the introduction of Episcopacy into this hitherto Puritan community. But "this pious bustle," says Dr. Macwhorter, "was not altogether about reli- gious principles."+ Pecuniary claims were also involved in it, and the question, who were the rightful owners of the Church property, was the subject of no little jealousy at the period in which he commenced his min- stry.
There were now four distinct congregations within the limits of Newark, besides parts of others, and all of them, since the incorporation of the Trustees of this Church, legally distinct from the town.
Two of the new congregations, namely, the Moun- tain Society and the Church of England, as they were then designated, laid claim to an equal portion with
* Funeral Sermon by Dr. Griffin. Dr. second marriage with Miss Noble, daugh- G. adds, "Robert Cumming, Esq., was ter by a former husband of Mrs. Tennent. twice married. By the first marriage he By her he had four children : the eldest was Catharine, married to the Rev. Philip Stockton; the second was Ann, married to the Rev. William Schenck; the third was John Noble, now General Cumming, of this town; and the fourth was Peggy, who died unmarried." had three children; the eldest was Alex- ander, who was a minister of the Gospel for several years in the city of New York, and afterwards in the Old South Church in the town of Boston, where he died, 1763; the second was Lawrence; the third was Mary, (Mrs. Macwhorter.) He formed a
+ Manuscript History.
223
PARSONAGE PROPERTY.
the First Church in the inheritance, which as they af- firmed, had descended from their common ancestors. The congregation of the First Church, on the contrary, maintained that they were the only rightful and legal representatives of the old Town of Newark, considered in its ecclesiastical capacity ; and, since the grant from the Proprietors, under which the land came into their possession, was expressly that of so much land "for each parish," and they, being the only parish then ex- isting in the town, had availed themselves of its pro- visions ; and since the deed, securing the lands in the hands of trustees, "for the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the old settlers of the town of Newark," was in pursuance of that grant, those who continued with the old congregation had the exclusive right to the property.
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