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 23
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INSTALLATION IN NEWARK.
vicinity of Newark. The people of Orange, where he preached during a part of this period, and where fifty persons were added to the Church under his ministra- tions, were desirous of inviting him to become their pas- tor, but on the reception of a call from the First Church in Newark, his pastoral relation to the Church in New Hartford was dissolved, and he was installed as col- league pastor with Dr. Macwhorter, by the Presbytery of New York, on the 20th of October, 1801, in the thirty-second year of his age. Dr. Macwhorter pre- sided, Dr. McKnight preached a sermon from 2 Cor. ii: 16, the last clause, and Dr. Rodgers gave the charge to the people .*
Dr. Griffin took the charge of this congregation in the full spirit of a new era in the Church's history, which he fully believed began to dawn about the time of his entrance upon the ministry, and was des- tined to culminate only in the meridian of millenial glory. This belief he lost no opportunity of express- ing in the strongest terms. "In the year 1792," said he, "three series of events commenced, which needed not a fourth to fill the earth with the knowledge of glory of the Lord. First, the series of missionary and charitable efforts. The first missionary society in modern times was established that year, in Kittering, in England. Secondly, the series of revivals of reli- gion. The first in this continuous succession, com- menced that year. I had the privilege of witnessing it myself, and know assuredly that no intermission has
* Minutes of the Presbytery of New York.
266
ANIMATING PRESAGES.
occurred from that day to this. Thirdly, the series of judgments intended to destroy the nations which had given their power and strength to the beast." "These three series," said he, in 1817, "have been widening and rising higher during every year." That year, " 1792," was a year from which to reckon dates in his computations of the progress of religion, all his life. You might know the year of our Lord, in which many of his most celebrated public discourses were written, from the number of years, mentioned as having passed since the commencement of the great and glorious change which seemed to fill all his anticipations. Add the number mentioned to the number 1792, and you have uniformly the exact date in the ordinary compu- tation.
The consideration of this fact, as it seems to me, is indispensible to a correct understanding of the true character of this illustrious man's career as a Christian minister. This belief acting upon a lively imagination, an enthusiastic temperament, a powerful intellect and an affectionate and devoutly pious heart, is the true key to many of the peculiar excellencies, and to what some may be disposed to mention as the peculiar de- fects of his character and actions. It nerved his strength, it fired his eloquence, it animated his hopes anew, when his heart would otherwise have sunk under discouragement, it made him bold in discarding obsolete customs, and regardless of trifling difficulties, in carrying into effect what he considered as the best measures for the conversion of men, and the advance- ment of the kingdom of Christ. In the ardor of
267
ANIMATING PRESAGES.
youthful inexperience, it may have sometimes led him to place too low an estimate upon the labors of those who went before him. It led him to speak of his own history and experience; not so much in the spirit of self exaltation, as in order to testify in the ears of all men, to what his own eyes had seen of the wonder- ful works of God.
The present is not the time or the place to discuss the correctness of this belief, nor to show how it came to pass that the hopes of those good men that shared it have experienced a degree of disappointment. Un- questionable it is, that the period to which it had reference, was distinguished by a most remarkable series of efforts, having in view the spread of the gos- pel through the world ; and a most remarkable series of religious impulses in which, from place to place, the Spirit of God seemed marching in his strength, and pouring out without measure his converting influences. With these impulses Dr. Griffin's whole ministry was in an eminent degree identified. His own new birth lay among the very beginnings of them, and one of the earliest decisive manifestations of their power, as he supposed, was in his own father's house. "I saw the darkness," said he, "before the dawn." "I saw the field of death before the bones began to move." No sooner did he begin to preach, than converts began to be numbered by hundreds. This was the case in New Salem, when he was preaching there before his ordination. It was the case in East Hartford during his ministry of five years in that place, and in Orange,
268
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES.
where he spent the winter just before his invitation to Newark.
Nor was the case different after he became the pas- tor of this Church. His ministry here, though barren of external incidents, was exceedingly rich in spiritual fruits. I have already spoken of a revival of religion, which occurred during the next year after he entered upon his pastoral duties. It continued two years, and about a hundred and thirty persons were in conse- quence of it added to the Church on profession, of whom one hundred were received in the course of twelve months. We shall notice other cases of the same kind as we proceed.
In the Spring of 1803, Dr. Griffin's own mind was the subject of some memorable religious experiences. " As I was walking in the streets of Newark," says he, " pondering upon my sins, a flash of light came across my mind, sending home a conviction of sin which in- stantly deprived me of hope. The following dialogue then took place with myself: "Well, go to Christ as you direct others to do. But He is away beyond the hills, and I cannot get to him. Well, ask Him to bring you to him. But the prayers of the unregen- erate cannot ascend above the clouds. I have nothing to stand upon to begin." "I felt then," says he, "to- tally undone, helpless and hopeless. I died then as Paul did on the plains of Damascus. Instantly the scene changed. I was composed in a moment, and seemed to lie down at God's feet, and rest every issue on His will without a struggle." "This," he said, speaking of the case long afterwards, " I have learned
269
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARDS.
from the reflections of seven and twenty years, to call the dernier resort." The event changed the whole character of his experiences and preaching, and made them permanently, as he declares, "more full of Christ."
About this time Dr. Griffin was in the habit of making preaching tours in the neighborhood of New- ark, and even to a considerable distance in the sur- rounding region, leaving the pulpit, I presume for the time, in the care of his venerable colleague. In one of these excursions, he met with Mr. Richards, who sub- sequently became his successor, and with him spent the night in pleasant and mutually profitable religious conversation. Mr. Griffin expressed doubts as to his own piety, and lamented that he always found it diffi- cult for him to feel that he deserved eternal punish- ment. Richards replied, that Christians obtain this sense by seeing that God is so unspeakably lovely, that no conceivable punishment is great enough for sinning against Him; and that he had himself seen God's holiness, purity and justice to be so glorious, that it appeared that if men should never commit an outward sin, they would deserve to be eternally damned for not loving him." In the course of this conversation, Griffin obtained a new view of the divine holiness, its "purity, grandeur, awfulness and sweetness." "I saw," says he " that I had been search- ing for deliverance on the wrong side of the room, in seeking a sense of the evil of sin, from examining what I had done, rather than what God is." Then they turned to discourse upon the atonement. Griffin again unburdened his heart, and spoke of a difficulty he had
270
THE PARSONAGE HOUSE.
found in apprehending Christ as a proper substitute. Whereupon Richards disclosed to him a distressing conflict which he had formerly had on that point, and which was quieted by a transporting view of Hebrews vii: 26; "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." At this, the agitation of Griffin's mind become relieved, and he fell asleep. " When I awoke," he adds, "that same glorious High Priest was before me, just as He is expressed in He- brews vii: 26." Such was the early Christian inter- course of these two eminent brethren in the ministry, whose labors in the capacity of sower and reaper in the same field, were destined to mingle their results in the world of blessedness. And what influence even this casual conversation may have had, in shaping the character, and determining the eternal state of hun- dreds in this congregation, will be known only by the disclosures of the last day.
The present parsonage house, on Mulberry street, was built about this time, for the accommodation of the junior pastor and his family. The old one was a stone building of two stories high, and stood upon the west side of Broad street, a little below the corner of William street. The date of its erection I have not been able to determine. The land on which the present house stands was purchased of the Rev. Aaron Burr, about the time he left Newark, and up to the time now referred to, had been used as a pasture for cattle. In the days of Mr. Griffin and his immediate successors, the grounds about the house were exten-
271
REVIVAL OF 1807.
sive, and the garden spacious. The house was first occupied in the summer of 1804, of which event I find the following notice in the pastor's journal, in the form of a prayer for the divine blessing: "O God, may this new habitation be.the scene of peace and of heavenly communion for years to come. Here, in retirement from the world, may we cultivate the sweets of do- mestic enjoyment and the calm delights of religion, while we enjoy the innocent amusements of the gar- den, and contemplate the beauty of Thy works." The garden alley in which he was accustomed to walk, he endeavored to consecrate, as he tells us, to divine med- itation .*
During the ministry of Mr. Griffin, as in that of his predecessors, there was no Sabbath School, and no lecture room for the accommodation of week day meetings. The pastor catechised the children in the church, in school houses, or at their homes, and prayer meetings were held in similar circumstances. The weekly evening lecture had not then been established.
In the Spring of 1807 commenced a very powerful effusion of divine influences. A deep impression had been made upon the congregation, by the death of Dr. Macwhorter, and it was confirmed and made more intense through the labors of the Rev. Gideon Black- burn, who preached here several times with great ear- nestness. Nothing extraordinary appeared however, till early in September. The Friday previous to the administration of the Lord's Supper, was observed as
* Several large trees now standing on are a venerable weeping willow in front of the parsonage ground, are said to have the house, and a tall and partly decayed been set out by Dr. Griffin. Among them magnolia tree in the garden.
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REVIVAL OF 1807.
a day of special fasting and prayer, in which the con- gregation at Orange joined. The attendance on the meeting on that occasion was unusually full, and the services of the Sabbath were peculiarly solemn. The next morning, as appears from the account given by Judge Boudinot, in almost every house into which the pastor entered in making his customary visits, the family appeared like Cornelius of old, ready to receive the word of truth, and soon melted into tears. "It was not long," says the same eminent authority, " be- fore the blessed work pervaded every part of the so- ciety. No age was exempted. We have had instances of persons, between sixty and eighty, some of whom had led moral lives, and trusted they were going to heaven, who were brought to see that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." God also in his sovereign mercy, was pleased to ordain praise from the mouth of infants. The pas- tor maintained frequent lectures during the week, be- sides meetings of private societies in different parts of the village. His pastoral visitations were frequent, and productive of signal benefit. "This work," said he, "in point of power and stillness, exceeds all that 1 have ever seen." Judge Boudinot testified to the same fact. " Although our church has been crowded," says he, "I have frequently shut my eyes for the experiment, and I should not have known that there was a person in the house but the speaker and myself, from any thing I heard." "Our opposers," he adds, "have been outrageous. Some have attributed it to human means, although I believe there never was an awakening in
273
DR. GRIFFIN'S REMOVAL.
which there was less reason for human boasting or pride to rest upon. Our blessed Saviour seemed to take the work into His own hands, to wear the crown and receive all the glory."
Among the means of carrying on the work of piety, in use at this time, was a society of Christian laymen, formed just at the beginning of the events referred to, for the purpose of united prayer for the Divine blessing on the labors of the pastor, and called, in al- lusion to the upholding of Moses's hands during the war with Amalek, "the Aaron and Hur Society." Nor was the sacred influence confined to a single congrega- tion. It was felt in Orange and Newark at the same time, and during the month of March, 1808, ninety- seven persons joined the Church in Newark, and seventy-two that in Orange. The whole number added to this Church in consequence of that revival is sup- posed to be between one hundred and fifty and two hundred persons.
But Dr. Griffin's ministry in this Church, recent as it was, was now drawing to a close. As early as the year 1805, he had been invited to leave his post, for the purpose of taking charge of the First Reformed Dutch Church in Albany ; but that call, though it cost him no little doubt and perplexity, he at length judged it his duty to decline. But now, two invitations, hav- ing both peculiar claims, pressing themselves simulta- neously upon his attention-the one to the chair of Pulpit Eloquence in the Theological Seminary in An- dover, and the other to become the stated preacher in the new church in Park street, Boston-the path of
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274
FAREWELL SERMON ..
duty seemed plain ; and, having first obtained the con- sent of his people, he was released from his pastoral charge in April, 1809, and took a solemn leave of his flock in a farewell sermon on the 28th of May follow- ing. The text, from which he preached on this occa- sion, was Acts xx: 32-"And now, brethren, I com- mend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." "I had hoped," he says, " to be permitted to go hand in hand with you to the grave, to attend some of my brethren in their chambers of death, to die at last in your arms, to be buried among my dear Church, and to rise with them in the resurrection. One year ago, I thought nothing but death could divide us. But God had a different purpose. You have seen it, and owned it, and submitted to it, with a spirit of meekness which has done honor to your Christian profession. Through the whole of this trial, you have given me no other reproaches but your tears. From you, as a congrega- tion, I have never received a single act of unkindness. On the contrary, you have protected me when I have been assailed ; you have spread yourselves before me as a shield; you have carried me in your arms to the throne of grace. . If I forget this kindness, let my right hand forget its cunning."
During the eight years of his ministry in this con- gregation, less than two of which he was the sole pas- tor, sixty-two persons were received into the Church from other Churches, and three hundred and seventy- two on a profession of their faith. When he came
275
SUBSEQUENT LIFE.
here, the Church consisted of two hundred and two members, one hundred and forty of whom were alive when he left it. During his ministry, the number had more than doubled, including, when he took his dis- mission, five hundred and twenty-two persons.
The subsequent career of Dr. Griffin belongs to other histories than that of this congregation. But his old people did not forget him, nor he them, when he was removed from their connection. When the tongue of slander assailed him, in the high and perilous station to which he was transferred, they came warmly to his rescue, bore their testimony to the excellence of his character, assured him of their continued affection and confidence, reminded him of the calumnies which had been borne by other servants of Jesus, and even their Lord himself, and bade him not be discouraged, but set his face like a flint and hold out to the end. And when, in the providence of God, he returned to New- ark to occupy another pulpit and stand in other and somewhat delicate relations to them, both they and their new pastor maintained towards him the kindest feelings, and enjoyed with him the most fraternal in- tercourse.
Dr. Griffin left Newark, May 29th, 1809, carrying with him five young men who had consecrated them- selves to the work of the ministry under his influence, and were now desirous of availing themselves of his instructions in his new sphere of service. He was in- augurated to the office of Professor in Andover, on the 21st of June, and held that station two years, preaching at the same time on the Sabbath to the
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276
DEATH OF DR. GRIFFIN.
church in Boston. But finding it impossible to fulfill the duties of both offices, he resigned his Professorship and was installed as pastor of the Park street Church, Boston, July 31st, 1811. In the summer of 1815, he left Boston, and became the pastor of the Second Pres- byterian Church in this city, where he remained about six years. In October, 1821, he assumed the Presi- dency of Williams College, whose duties he discharged with eminent success about fifteen years. And now, the evening of life drawing on, he returned to Newark, to which he still looked amidst all his changes, as the home of his affections ; and, becoming an inmate of his eldest daughter's family,* he passed the little remnant of his days in domestic love and cheerfulness, and died in hope, November 8, 1837, in the 68th year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached in this house, by the Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York, to a very large assem- bly, and his remains lie, by the side of those of his ex- cellent wife, who went to her rest just before him, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, on the borders of Newark.
Dr. Griffin's character, both as a man and a minister, has been drawn by an able hand, and to that picture I
* Since writing the above, I have occa. acquaintance. Her piety was sinoere and sion to record the lamented death of this fervent, and her works of benevolence un- excellent and accomplished lady. She was tiring. It was by efforts of Christian kindness in ministering to a dying stran- ger that she contracted the disease which closed her valuable life. Her funeral so- lemnities were attended in the house where she had so long been accustomed to worship, and a numerous concourse of friends testified by their tears how greatly and how extensively she was beloved. Dr. Griffin left two daughters, the younger born at Orange, N. J., April 4, 1801, and married at Williamstown, Mass., to Dr. Lyndon A. Smith, Nov. 20, 1823. Removing with her husband to Newark in 1827, she soon after connected herself with the First Presbyterian Church, of which she contin- ued a devoted and eminently useful mem- ber till her decease, Jan. 11, 1852. The genius and intellectual attainments of Mrs. Smith were of a high order. Gentle, un- of whom married to the Rev. Robert assuming, warm-hearted, and uucensori- Crawford of North Adams, Mass., is still living. ous, she was eminently endeared to all her
277
CHARACTER OF DR. GRIFFIN.
must refer you .* He was a man of large stature, both in body and mind, his person being in height six feet. and three inches, and in every respect finely propor- tioned. His reasoning powers were acute, his imagina- tion soaring, his elocution impressive. In his habits of study and action, he was systematic and persevering, always endeavoring to perform well whatever he un- dertook. In the social circle, he was easy and com- panionable. In the ordinary intercourse of life, kind, generous, uncensorious and forgiving. He was simple- hearted and unsuspecting as a child; and with a warm and sanguine temper, together with a much better un- derstanding of human nature in its broad general fea- tures, and of the ordinary avenues to the human heart and conscience, than knowledge of the ways of the world and the sophistries of artificial life, he sometimes adopted measures which gave offence when he did not dream of it, and was exposed to uncharitable construc- tions in his most guileless and innocent actions. Hence he had some warm friends, and some bitter enemies. In his religious intercourse as a pastor, Dr. Griffin had a remarkable facility. He attached great importance to pastoral visitations. I have already referred to his success in this department of service, during the great revival. Judge Boudinot speaks of it as having been more blessed than his public sermons. A distinguished manufacturer in this city,+ who sat under his ministry while he was pastor of the Second Church, has told me that he used to insist on having all the apprentices
* See memoir of Dr. Griffin, by Dr. Sprague, of Albany.
+ William Rankin, Esq.
278
REV. JAMES RICHARDS.
in his large establishment called in, when he came to the house on a pastoral visit, and would converse spe- cially with them all, one after another, on the subject of personal religion. But it was in the pulpit, and as a preacher chiefly, that Dr. Griffin attained the highest eminence. His voice was remarkably flexible, and was perfectly under his own control. On the deep guttural tones, it thrilled you like the pedal notes of an organ ; yet it could soften, with perfect ease, to suit the sentiment to be expressed, into the gentlest and most soothing utterances. His style was free, not ex- act; and though he wrote his discourses, his manner in the pulpit was unembarrassed, and his gestures fre- quent and effective. There is said to have been great inequality in his ordinary discourses, as indeed there is in those which have been given to the public. But his preaching was ever glowing with divine truth earnestly expressed, and in his best efforts there was much to justify even the strong expression which has been ap- plied to him-" the prince of American preachers."
The removal of Dr. Griffin from Newark, in 1809, did not leave the flock to which he had ministered, without a shepherd. Already his successor was on the ground with his family, and prepared to assume the charge as soon as he should relinquish it.
The Rev. James Richards was the next pastor of this Church. He was born at New Canaan, Conn., October 29, 1767. He was the son of James Richards, a farmer of excellent character, and a descendant of Samuel Richards, who came to this country from Wales, during the reign of Queen Anne. His mother
1
James Richavos
279
MR. RICHARDS'S EARLY LIFE.
was Ruth Hanford, a most excellent Christian woman, and peculiarly skilled, it is said, in the management of her children. She was a woman of vigorous intellect, and many commanding as well as endearing qualities. James was the eldest of nine children; feeble in body during his childhood, but remarkable even then for his fondness for study. When only thirteen years of age, he undertook the charge of a common district school, and with such success, as to secure the offer of the same post for the second time. It was his early wish to obtain a public education; but as his father was not prepared to encourage and sustain the attempt, he ap- prenticed himself at the age of fifteen to the business of cabinet and chair-making, together with house paint- ing, in which capacity he labored for a short time in a cabinet maker's shop in the city of New York.
Mr. Richards had been religiously educated, and like Griffin, was the subject of deep religious impres- sions in his childhood. But at the age of nineteen, convictions of sin broke in upon him, as he relates,
in the midst of mirth and levity. The pangs of his soul were very sharp for three days, after which he obtained relief in the apprehension of an all-suffi- cient Saviour, from reading the impressive sentiments of the thirty-eighth Psalm, as paraphrased by Dr. Watts. He was made to see, as he testifies, his own impotence, whereas before, he had been accustomed to suppose the whole matter of conversion was in his own hands; and was alarmed in view of the enmity which he now felt in his heart towards God. But at length his heart melted, and the salvation which he before
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