USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > Raritan > Forty years at Raritan : eight memorial sermons with notes for a history of the Reformed Dutch churches in Somerset County, N.J. > Part 21
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The snecessor of Dr. Janeway was Rev. Samnel B. How, called May 18th, 1832. He came from the Presbyterian Church, where he
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had been a laborious and efficient pastor for several years. He was born in the city of Burlington, New-Jersey ; graduated from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1811, and from the Princeton Theologienl Seminary in 1813. His first settlement was at Salisbury, in Penn- sylvania, from 1813 to 1815. Then he became the pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Trenton until 1821, when he came as pastor to the Presbyterian church in New-Brunswick; remaining for two years. In 1823, he accepted a call from an independent church in Savannah, Georgia, and remained in the South until 1827. He labored then as a missionary in North street, New-York, endeavoring to raise up a new congregation under the Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Dutch Church ; then he became president of Dickinson College ; but returned finally to New-Brunswick on a call from the Dutch church, and labored there for twenty-one years. His health failed, and he resigned in 1861, and died in. 1868. Dr. How was a scholar and a polished gentleman, old school in his theology; a doctrinal, but energetic preacher. He naturally venerated the past and loved to read the writings of the reformers. He loved them so much that he had no patience-perhaps this was a fault -= with pre- tensions to new things. When the discussion on slavery opened, he took the ground that in itself it was not sinful. He had been in the South, and sympathized with the Christian people there .. He knew well how conscientious and beautiful the character of many of them was; and it revolted all his feelings of justice and propriety to hear the bitter denunciations heaped upon them by men who were not worthy to unloose the latchet of their shoes; and like a noble man, as he was, he defended them earnestly and like a Christian gentle- man.
Dr. How was a ripe and cultivated scholar. His reading was ex- tensive, and his classical and belles-lettres attainments eminent. He was a powerful preacher, and gave to his hearers the very marrow and fitness of the Gospel.
During his ministry in New-Brunswick the church was blessed with a most gracious and glorious revival, the result of which was the addition of 137 individuals to the communion of his church; and more than 500 in all the churches in the city. Dr. How wrote and published an account of it, in which he says for several years pre- vious it (the church) had been peaceful and prosperous, and had steadily improved in its spiritual interests. The events which he thinks tended to prepare the way for the deep religious impressions
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which resulted in that gracious work were the cholera in 1832, and the tornado which swept through the city in June, 1835, laying whole streets in ruins and destroying several lives. "In May, 1839, the whole congregation seemed to be affected with a religious awe ; religious meetings began to be thronged, conversions became nu- merous, and the whole city was moved to think and to pray; and yet there was no confusion, no disorder, no wild, misguided zeal-all was serious, solemn, calm, devout, and affecting." It was indeed a blessed work ; a pure revival of religion in Christian hearts, accom- panied by the effectual conversion of many souls to God.
Dr. How resigned his call in the end solely on account of failing health and physical infirmities, June 14th, 1861. Rest seemed at first to revive him ; he preached occasionally, but finally he rested from his labors, falling asleep in Jesus on the 1st day of March, 1868.
The following inscription is engraved on his tomb :
REV. SAMUEL B. HOW, D.D.
Born at Burlington, New-Jersey, October 14th, in the year of our Lord 1795, died at New-Brunswick, New-Jersey, March 1st, A.D. 1868. Beloved and lamented. Erected by the congregation in memory of their former beloved pastor.
The Rev. R. H. Steele became his successor, and still continues to serve the church with comfort to himself and profit to the people.
SIX-MILE RUN.
IN early days the first inhabitants in the district of Six-Mile Run worshiped in the church at Three-Mile Run, and formed a constituent portion of that congregation. On the 12th day of April, 1717, at a congregational meeting convened in that church, it was resolved, "in order to prevent disturbance and contention, and thereby to es- tablish peace in the church," first, that the church, edifice should belong to the church of Lawrence Brook, (New-Brunswick;) and secondly, and the most important to the interests of the people at Six- Mile Run, " that Pieter Kinne be appointed elder and Elbert Stoot- hoff deacon for that part of the congregation which was near. Six, Mile Run." This is properly the origin and organization of the Six- Mile Run church. The action grew out of the natural course of things. A town had grown up around "the Ferry" and along the river, and its interests and convenience required public religious services there. It had come to pass that the building at Three-Mile
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Run was mislocated, and both the eastern and western portions of the congregation were no longer properly accommodated by the ser- vices held in that house. It was prompted, also, by other things. Arrangements were in contemplation to obtain a minister to preach the Gospel to all the settlements in Somerset County, and as early as the next year they were perfected, and a call sent to Holland to obtain such a person. In this action Six-Mile Run was associated with Raritan, North-Branch, and Three-Mile Run, or, as it was already called, " the Church of the River and Lawrence Brook." This call brought T. J. Frelinghuysen from Holland.
Another part of the resolution referred to contemplated the erec- tion of a church edifice for the accommodation of the people set off from Three-Mile Run, and arrangements were begun immediately to effect this work. The house thus built was located on the road running along the south side of the Six-Mile Run brook-a mile east of the present church. It was a plain building, fronting the road, and longe. in front than in depth, with a place for the pulpit oppo- site the front door, and resembled a barn more than it did any thing now called a church. It was never finished, having simply weather- boarding, a roof, and a floor, and instead of seats, the people used the chairs from their wagons, or else stood during service. The exact date of its erection can not now be ascertained, but it was pro- bably soon after the meeting in 1717 noticed above. It was, after the Three-Mile Run church, the -first in that vicinity, and continued to be the place of public worship until 1766. The present register of baptisms at Six-Mile Run commences 1787. The minutes of con- sistory, with the first register, were burnt in the house of David Nevins, Esq., clerk of consistory, in 1796. The loss is irreparable, and ents ns off from a knowledge of many things in the history of this church previous to this date which might have been important and interesting.
The following names embrace the heads of families in Six-Mile Run during the time of T. J. Frelinghuysen : Koert Van Voorhees, Isaac Haenrooncot, J. Perrine, Cornelis Cornel, R. Merril, Peter Schenck, Gerret Veghten, Isaac Symonse, Hendrik Van Dyke, Jako- bus Van Voorhees, Tobias Nevius, Aric Van Arsdalen, Jakobus Strycker, Cornelis Van Arsdalen, Abram Van Arsdalen, Jeremias Douty, Theodorus' Montfort, Fredrik Van Lieuw, Jan Pijet, Jesse Van Arsdalen, Jochem Gulick, Elbert Stothoff, Cornelis Tunise, Johannes Stryker, Fredrik Ferdon, Jacobus Wyckoff, Abraham
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Vandoren, Benjamin Tailor, Christofel Van Arsdalen, Martynus Voorhees, Jan Van Voorhees, Nichlos Veghten, Daniel Van Vleet, Samuel Polen, Albert Schenk, Lucus Van Voorhees, Marten Polen, Johannis Vonk, John Van Arsdalen, Christ. Davidts, Nys Hagaman, Jan Fyne, Cor. Stothoff, E. Suydam, Johannes Bennet, Cornelis Wyckoff, Alexander Beert, Dirck Williamse, Jan Sutphin, Hendrik Schenk.
From 1720 to 1748 the history of the church at Six-Mile Run is largely involved in the other churches forming Mr. Frelinghuysen's associate charge. It shared in the prosperity produced by his evan- gelical preaching, and also in the sentiments of opposition created by it. All that will probably ever be known of the occasion, the ani- mus, and the unfortunate influence of these difficulties, has already been related in other connections, or will be as we pass in review the history of the other churches. We know, at least, of nothing re- quiring special attention in this connection except that, on the 19th of May, 1734, Rev. Vincentius Antonides, of Long Island, lent him- self to the encouragement of Mr. Frelinghuysen's opponents in a most irregular and improper way, by ordaining a consistory for Three-Mile Run, some of whom were residents in Six-Mile Run con- gregation. The elders of this consistory were Simon Wyckoff and Hendrick Vroom, and the deacons, Simon Van Wincklen and Den- nis Van Duyn. This movement was connected with the design of calling another minister from Ilolland to serve the dissenting party, which we have already noticed in our account of the church of New- Brunswick. They were very much scandalized by its being said that Rev. W. Budde had " lifted up his hands to heaven," when informed of the course of those who opposed the Coetus, especially the effort to settle Fryenmoet at the North-Branch.
When Frelinghuysen died, in 1748, Six-Mile Run united with New- Brunswick (as the church then had begun to be calle 1) in making a call on the candidate Johannes Leydt, and again her history is in- volved in this associated charge for thirty-five years, bringing us to the date of his death.
In John Frelinghnysen's time the following additional names of families occur: Joseph Folkerse, Benjamin Emans, Johannes Wyt- neght, Nicholas Boerum, Nicklas Willemse, Lamert Dorlandt, Jo- hannes Pouelse, Gerret Veghten, Nicolas Jonsen, Peter Van Zandt, James Pruyn, Abraham Lott, Johannes Vonk, Bergun Broka, Mar- tyies Hooglandt, Cornelius Van Houten, Peter Van Nest, Leffert
.
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Waldron, Johannes Van Pelt, Jan Sperling, Rem Gerretse, Jonitan Stout, Jan Vanderveer, Abraham Riemer, Jacobus Leek, Isaac Sne- diker, Hendrik Cortelyou, Peter Berrien, Peter Pomyea, Jan Harri- son, William Van Tilburgh, Petrus Nevius, Jost Duryea, Jurias Van Cleef, Michal Van Buren, Alexander Beert, Abram Simonson, Jan Terhunen, Corns. De Hart, William Dannelsen, Abram Van Doren, Jacobus Vandervoort, Syme Kinne, Jokem Gulick, Corns. Van Han- gelen, Joseph Brouwer, Isaac Snediker, Jonathan Provost, Peter Juricks, Ferdinandus Schureman, Johannes Groenendyke, Johannes Coevert .*
During the pastorate of Leydt, in 1766, Six-Mile Run built a new church, and located it in the village, a few yards south of the Somer- set court-house. This court-house was erected previous to the year 1724, and the courts of Somerset County were held in it until 1752 or -later, and then Millstone became the county seat. The exact time of the transfer is not ascertained, but it was made previous to 1766.
The church in its form and size was like that in the city of New- Brunswick in Dr. Condict's time, a picture of which is given in Steele's Memorial, page 94. It was inclosed with shingles and painted red, except the front, which was white. It was ceiled with boards and never painted inside. Its roof had four sides, terminating in a cupola, on which a cock was elevated as the vane. It stood until the year 1817, when it was removed to make room for the present church edifice. A beautiful and interesting scene was en- acted over the raising. The frame was prepared in a grove 150 yards distant. The plate on the south-east side was carried by the young ladies of the congregation-all dressed in white, with their parasols over their heads-from the grove, and laid in its place beside the foundation, to be put in its place by the people who were raising the other parts of the frame. It was an appropriate expres- sion of the deep interest they felt in the erection of the house in which God was to be worshiped and Christianity preached.
In 1753, June 7th -- principally through the influence of Rev. Mr. Leydt -- a charter was procured from Jonathan Belcher, Governor of New-Jersey, for the five united churches, New-Brunswick, Raritan, Six-Mile Run, Millstone, and North-Branch. It does not seem, how-
* We owe these lists to Ralph Voorhees, Esq., of Middlebush, whose extensive researches have brought olden things to light in various ways.
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ever, ever to have been really put in force. We give a copy in the appendix.
Leydt's death, in 1783, brings us to the close of the Revolution. Fc resulted in producing a change in both the congregations of which he had been pastor.
New-Brunswick now ventured on the attempt to maintain a pastor for herself alone, and left Six-Mile Run to seek a connection with Millstone, which had taken the name of New-Millstone, but finally Hillsboro, and had been occasionally supplied by Leydt.and Harden- bergh from New-Brunswick. Then they had the whole services of Mr. Foering, and for a short time those of Solomon Froeligh. This union, again, grew out of natural causes. The congregations were contiguous. The war had wasted the strength and resources of both, and neither felt able to maintain a pastor alone. The agree- ment included an equal proportion of the money and of the services, only Six-Mile Run stipulated that two thirds of the services should be in the Dutch language and one third in the English, while Mill- stone alternated, having an equal one half of each. The call was given to John M. Van Harlingen, a native of Millstone, a son of Mr. Ernestus Van Harlingen, the brother of the pastor of the same name, who had been settled at Harlingen or Sourland. He was born in 1761, graduated at Queen's College in 1783, studied theology under Dr. Livingston, and was licensed in 1786. He continued in this united charge, residing in the village of Millstone until 1795. The writer has the recollection of once seeing and hearing Mr. Van Harlingen preach. He was a thin, spare man, rather below the ordinary stature, spoke in a fine but feeble voice, kept his eyes fixedly on the Bible before him, but had no manuscript to read, and never made a single gesture during the whole time of the delivery of his sermon. A relative of his has written of him to the following effect : "From early childhood it is said he was exceedingly fond of books, and spent most of his life in their exclusive society." After the relinquishment of his first united charges he never settled again, although he labored abundantly in assisting his brethren and supply- ing vacant pulpits by classical appointments. He was very quiet' and reserved in his disposition, and was seldom known to laugh or even to smile. His conversation was instructive, and his preaching solid and evangelical, but not popular. After his retirement from the pastorate he translated Van der Kemp's sermons on the Heidel- bergh Catechism, which were published in 1810 in two volumes.
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For several years previous to the establishment of the theological professorate at New-Brunswick he had been accustomed to receive young men at his residence, and instruct them in Hebrew and eccle- siastical history, with a view to their licensure. In 1812, the General Synod appointed him professor of those branches in the theological seminary. He accepted the chair of Hebrew, and agreed to instruct temporarily in church history; but his career of usefulness was ent short by death June 16th, 1813, in the fifty-second year of his age, and he was buried in the yard adjoining the Millstone church. His loss was deeply felt by the church and her institutions of learning." -- P. D. V. C.
He is said to have been an industrious student, and extensively read in the science of theology. His sermons were well arranged and full of important thought, but his mode of delivering them pre- vented them from making any deep impression at the time. He spoke almost as if he was unconscious of the presence of his andi- ence, or, rather, his diffidence was so extreme as to prevent him from looking them in their faces. The result was that, although Christians heard him patiently, and sometimes even with pleasure, those who did not share in their feelings of reverence for religion and love for the truth did not feel themselves to have been much pro- fited. Yet his ministry was blessed evidently, and that blessing is attested by the number who united with the church, on confession of their faith, in both his congregations.
The Rev. Dr. I. N. Wyckoff says: "I remember Mr. Van Harlin- gen as a tall, thin man, somewhat stooping in his attitude, with what would be termed a downcast look, seldom turning his eyes to the right or left as he deliberately proceeded on his way. From the fact that he was a bachelor, and withal a close student, and had no one but himself to be responsible for his wardrobe, his clothes were neither of the newest fashion nor very indicative of facquaintance with a brush. Ile resided, during my knowledge of him, in the paternal mansion, in the village of Millstone. There, in a retired room, he had his study furnished with the utmost plainness, but con- taining what seemed to me a most wonderful and useless amount of books. A great many of them were heavy tomes bound in vellum, and in the Dutch language. In that study it was my privilege to attend on his kind instructions for some months, and there I had my introduction to the mysteries of the dead languages. He was an eminently modest and diffident person. This was strikingly mani-
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fested in the fact that, in examining his class in their lessons, he scarcely ever looked up in our faces. Deeply learned himself, he was not the best teacher, because he was too diffident to venture a criticism, and too kind to rebuke our inattention. In later years, when he was professor of Hebrew in the theological seminary of the Dutch church, he was highly approved as a proficient in that lan- guage.
"As a preacher, I can now see him standing in the pulpit, in rather a stooping posture, with his hands on the two corners of the bible- board, and his eyes on his notes, or on the Bible, and without a variation of attitude or the semblance of a gesture, pronouncing his clear and well digested sermon, almost in a monotone, from the be- ginning to the end. He could and did preach both in the Dutch and English languages. The lovers of systematic doctrine and Christian experience highly esteemed his discourses. ITis translation of Van' der Kemp's sermons, which is one of the formulas of the Dutch church, was made at the suggestion of many of his brethren in the ministry,. and, I believe, by a formal request of the synod; and is a monument of industry and scholarship.
" Mr. Van Harlingen was very remarkable for his meditative habits and entire abstraction from ordinary surrounding objects and occur- rences. Many anecdotes illustrative of this characteristic are told in the neighborhood, of which I may venture to mention a single one. The good pastor always rode on horseback. At the church he had a particular post, to which he uniformly fastened his horse. On one oc- casion, some mischievous boys, as was supposed, had substituted an- other man's horse in the place of his, and, amidst the merriment of the urchins, the worthy pastor, apparently full of the sacred message he had just delivered to the congregation, without remarking the change, unfastened his neighbor's dashing steed, and would have had a most expeditious, and perhaps dangerous ride, had not the mistake been cor- rected in time to prevent all disastrous consequences ; but he carried a piece of chalk in his pocket afterward, and uniformly marked the saddle under the flap, to prevent similar mistakes occurring to him in . future.
"The great excellence of the character of this good man was his deep, fervent, experimental piety. He was manifestly one of those Christians who live above the world. With a sufficient patrimony to make all attention to pecuniary gain unnecessary, he employed his whole time in sacred studies, spiritual conversation and private devo-
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tions. The savor of his godliness is like ointment poured forth, and still exhales its fragrance in the region where he lived and died." *
We have felt a just pride in being able to give so much and such earnest testimony to the excellence of one who in his life attracted but little of the world's regard. He was a great man in obscurity, and a good man without fame; and he deserves more to be kept in remembrance than many, even of his own profession, who have filled a large space in contemporary records. He rests from his labors and is not, for God took him.
From 1795 until 1797 the church of Six-Mile Run remained with- out a pastor; but in that year it again united with Millstone in call- ing the candidate James Spencer Cannon. He continued to serve the united congregations until 1807, when Millstone withdrew from the connection, and Six-Mile Run enjoyed the whole of his services until he was, in 1826, chosen professor of ecclesiastical history in the Theological Seminary at New-Brunswick, in which responsible situa- tion he died.
Dr. Cannon was born in the Island of Curacoa, West-Indies, January 28th, 1776. He was of Irish extraction, and his father, Wil- liam Cannon, was a sea-captain. His mother's name was Ruth Spencer, born in Rhode Island, of Scotch parents. She died in Baltimore, and is interred in the Friends' burying-ground. Upon the death of their mother, the father placed his three sons, of whom James was the youngest, in the academy of Dr. Peter Wilson, at Hackensack, N. J. Captain Cannon afterward sailed for Charleston, South-Carolina, in a vessel commanded by Philip Freneau, the poet. In a violent storm he was lost at sea by being thrown overboard by the jib-boom. He left some property for his children, but from some unexplained cause it never came into their possession. James Brevort, Esq., of Hacken- sack, acted the father's part for James, and provided entirely for the ·expenses of his education.
* The following inscription is found on his tomb : Sacred to the memory of JOHN M. VAN HARLINGEN, Professor of the Hebrew Language and of Ecclesiastical History in the Theological School of the Dutch Reformed Church. He departed this life on June 16th, 1813, in the 52d year of his age. An humble Christian and Minister of the Gospel, without affectation ; He was an Israelite in whom there was no guile.
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When Dr. Wilson was chosen professor in Columbia College, James Cannon was transferred to the care of Rev. Alexander Miller ; and by his diligence and studious habits laid the foundation of his future attainments.
In the spring of 1794, he commenced the study of theology under Dr. Solomon Froeligh. After two years, in 1796, he transferred his attendance to Dr. Livingston, in order to be able to obtain a profes- sorial certificate, entitling him to examination before classis. In July of the same year, after a thorough examination, he was licensed to preach the Gospel. The same year he became the pastor of the unit- ed congregations of Six-Mile Run and Millstone. He continued to serve these churches for ten years, and then Six-Mile Run alone for nineteen years more. In 1826, he was elected professor in the Theo- logical Seminary. and died July 25th, 1852. Dr. Cannon has been characterized by two of his friends, Dr. John Proudfit in Sprague's Annals, and Dr. G. Ludlow, in Corwin's Manual, to which we refer our readers for fuller accounts.
" Few men ever succeeded in rendering themselves more generally acceptable to their associates, or more interesting and instructive to their juniors, than Dr. Cannon. His social qualities were of the most admirable kind. Dr. John Ludlow once said of him, 'I would give all I am worth to possess Dr. Cannon's parlor talents.' In his inter- conrse with strangers, no less than with his familiar acquaintances, there was a dignity, urbanity, and suavity which won all classes of minds alike. No man ever went from his presence, even though the interview had lasted only for a few moments, without feeling that he had been in the society of no ordinary man.
" In his private intercourse with friends there was a happy medium observed between the austere and the mirthful, the grave and the cheerful, which gave it an almost irresistible charm. That playful humor which always accompanies a kind heart rendered him a most entertaining companion, while his extensive reading and ripe expe- rience made him an instructive one. We have known few men who had a larger fund of anecdotes suitable to every occasion at command, ' or who could relate them with better effect ; but then, like the man himself, they were always instructive, elevated, and pure-never for a moment compromising his character as a Christian gentleman, or his high calling as a minister of Christ; while, at the same time, the happy play of wit and the rich vein of humor often carried his audi- tors to the highest pitch of relish and enjoyment. In fact, his con-
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