USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 20
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In October, 1827, the celebrated JOSEPH LANCASTER established his residence here, and opened a school. In the next year a girls' school
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was taught by Mrs. Lancaster. For a quarter the public schools were under their joint direction. Their contract was to teach eighty children for one year, and supply books and stationery, for two hundred and seventy-five dollars.
In October, 1828, the Synod, meeting in Trenton, united in a general convention, which assembled in the church, Chief Justice Kirkpatrick presiding, and the present Chief Justice Green being Secretary. A project for raising forty thousand dollars in two years, for erecting school-houses and supplying teachers and missionaries through the State, was recommended, as were also the objects of the "General Sab- bath Union," the American Temperance Society, and the Sunday- school enterprise. In November, 1817, a convention met at Trenton and formed a State Society for the suppression of vice and the pro- motion of good morals, principally by aiding the civil authorities in executing the laws, and by diffusing a knowledge of the statutes and their penalties.
VII.
Copy of an inscription on a stone in the pavement of the church- porch :
"To perpetuate the memory and the modest worth of Mrs. MARY DUNBAR, this marble is placed over her grave, a tribute of the grateful and affectionate remembrance of her pupils, whom for three suc- cessive generations as school-mistress she had taught in this city. Ever attentive to the pious nurture of her pupils in private, and to the duties of religion in public, she closed an exemplary and useful life, December 9, A.D. 1808: aged 76 years."
.
REV. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D.
CHAPTER XXI.
JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D .- JOHN W. YEOMANS, D.D. -JOHN HALL, D.D.
1829-1859.
The successor of Mr. Smith was the Rev. JAMES WAD- DEL ALEXANDER; who graduated at the Princeton College in 1820; entered the Seminary 1821; was licensed 1825; installed at Charlotte Court House, Virginia, 1827, and over the Trenton Church, February 11, 1829. On the last occasion Dr. A. Alexander presided, Dr. Miller preached (Matt. 4:19), Rev. Eli F. Cooley and Henry Perkins gave the charges.
The services of this pastorship began January 10, 1829, and terminated October 31, 1832; during which period fifty-one new communicants were received, and thirty others on certificate. Dr. Alexander having complied with a request which I made of all the ex-pastors surviving at the time of preparing this volume, for such reminiscences of their residence here as would come within the scope of my work, I gladly incorporate his letter in this stage of the narrative.1
"NEW YORK, February 10, 1859.
"MY DEAR FRIEND: The retrospect of my ministerial life brings to view so many defects, and such unfruitfulness, that I have never been able to take pleasure in numbering up sermons preached, visits made, and members added; nor have I any anniversary or autobiographical discourses to which I could refer. At your request, however, I can not refuse to give you a few reminiscences of my connection with the church of which you are the pastor.
"A great intimacy subsisted between my father and our predecessor, the REV. JAMES F. ARMSTRONG, and the friendship between their re
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spective descendants continues to this day. Mr. Armstrong had been the friend of Witherspoon, Smith and Kollock. He was laid aside from preaching by a disabling and distressing rheumatism, before I ever entered his delightful and hospitable house-rich in good books, good talk, and good cheer-where old and young were alike made welcome and happy. But this brought me acquainted with Trenton, with that family, and especially with Chief Justice EWING, by whose means and influence, more than any other, I was afterwards led to settlement among them. The family of Mr., afterwards Judge, Ewing, was the home of my childhood and youth; which led that distinguished and excellent man to look upon my early performances in the pulpit with undue partiality. By him, and by the late General SAMUEL R. HAMILTON, who was a Princeton man, my name was brought before the congregation, and I was installed as their pastor, by a committee of Presbytery, on the eleventh day of February, 1829. I had, however, begun my labors with them on the tenth of January, when I preached from I Cor. II : 28. My strictly pastoral labors ended on the last day of October, 1832. when I preached from Ezekiel 16 : 61, 62; though I continued to supply the pulpit until the end of the year. My term of settlement may therefore be called four years. The records of the Church session will show the number of accessions to the communion of the church; these were few. There was nothing like a revival of religion during my continuance with them, and it was cause of painful thought to me that my labors were so little owned to the awakening of sinners. Neither am I aware that there was any remarkable addition to the number of hearers. But the people were forbearing and affectionate towards their young and inexperienced minister, who for most of the time was feeble in health, and was sub- jected, as you know, to some unusual afflictions in regard to his early children.
"In those days we worshipped in the old church, which was suffici- ently capacious, with one of the old-time high pulpits. The congrega- tion had been trained to habits of remarkable punctuality and atten- tion. Notwithstanding some inroads of new measures during the previous period, under the labors of a so-called Evangelist, the church was as sound and staid a Presbyterian body as I have ever seen. It comprised some excellent and experienced Christians, and among these the valued elders whose names you have recorded. Good Mr. Mc- Neely was slow but sure; an upright man, of more kindness than appeared at first; of little vivacity, and no leaning towards risks or innovation. Mr. Voorhees and Mr. Samuel Brearley came later into the session; both, in my judgment, judicious and godly men. Mrs. ARMSTRONG, the venerable relict of the pastor first named, does not belong particularly to my part of the narrative, except that she chose to treat me with the regard of a mother for a son. She was then in health and strength, and lived to exhibit a dignified, serene, and beauti-
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ful old age. Having come of a distinguished family, the Livingstons of New York, she never ceased to gather around her fireside some of the most elegant and cultivated society. Her conversation, though quiet, was instructive, turning often upon the heroes of the Revolu- tion. She was, I think, at Princeton during the battle; indeed she was a native of that town. From that excellent family I received support and encouragement of the most useful and delicate kind, during a time of manifold trials. My term of service was marked by no striking external events, no great enlargement, excitement, or disaster. The long-suffering of God was great towards a timid and often dis- heartened servant, who remembers the period with mingled thankful- ness and humiliation.
"At this time the Trenton church contained some excellent speci- mens of solid, instructed, old-school Presbyterianism. I shall never forget the lessons which it was my privilege to receive from aged and experienced Christians, who must often have looked with wonder and pity on the young minister who undertook the responsible task of guiding them. The dying scenes which a pastor beholds in his early years make a deep impression; and I recall some which were very edifying, and which attested the power of the doctrines which had been inculcated. Among my most valued parishioners was a man in humble life, who has lately gone to his rest, I mean JAMES POLLOCK. At a later day he was most wisely made an elder. At that time he lived in a small house on Mill Hill, and worked as a dyer in one of the woolen factories on the Assanpink. His figure was somewhat bent, and his hands were always blue, from the colors used in his trade. But his eye was piercing and eloquent; his countenance would shine like a lantern from the light within; and the flame of his strong and impassioned thought made his discourse as interesting as I ever heard from any man. He had the texts of Scripture, as many Scotchmen have, at his finger ends, and could adduce and apply pas- sages in a most unexpected manner. The great Scottish writers were familiar to him. I think his favorite uninspired volume was Ruther- ford's 'Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself.' I lent him Calvin's Institutes, which he returned with expressions of high admira- tion for Mr. Caulvin. His acquaintance with the reformation his- tory of his native land, in both its great periods, was remarkable, being such as would have done credit to any learned clergyman. Unlike many who resembled him in attainment, Mr. Pollock was inwardly and deeply affected by the truths which he knew. His speech was always seasoned with salt, and I deemed it a means of grace to listen to his ardent and continuous discourse. He was certainly a great talker, but without assumption or any wearying of competent hearers. His dialect was broad, west-country Scotch, for he was from Beith, in Ayrshire; and while I was resident his sense of the
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peculiarity kept him from praying in the meetings, though none could otherwise have been more acceptable. Having from my childhood been used to Scotch Presbyterians, and knowing how some of the narrower among them will stickle for every pin of the covenanted tabernacle, and every shred and token, as if ordained in the decalogue, I was both surprised and delighted to observe how large-minded Mr. Pollock was, in respect to every improvement, however different from the ways of his youth. I have witnessed his faith during grievous illnesses, and I rejoice to know that he was enabled to give a clear dying testimony for the Redeemer whom he loved. Such are the men who are the glory of our Presbyterian churches.
"During the term of my incumbency it is remarkable that the two persons who had most influence in congregational affairs were not communicants, though they were closely connected with all that occur- red in the church; these were Chief Justice EWING and Mr. SOUTHARD, afterwards Secretary of the Navy. It deserves to be noted, among the traits of a Presbyterianism which is passing away, that Judge Ewing, as a baptized member of the church, always pleaded his rights, and once in a public meeting declared himself amenable to the disci- pline of church courts. (Discipline, chap. i, ยง 6, page 456.) There is good reason to believe that he was a subject of renewing grace long before his last illness in 1832. During this brief period of suffer- ing he made a distinct and touching avowal of his faith in Christ.
"Judge Ewing is justly reckoned among the greatest ornaments of the New Jersey bar. His acquaintance with his own department of knowledge was both extensive and profound, closely resembling that of the English black-letter lawyers, who at this moment have as many imitators at the New Jersey bar as anywhere in America. He was eminently conservative in Church and State; punctual in adherence to rule and precedent, incapable of being led into any vagaries, sound in judgment, tenacious of opinion, indefatigable in labor, and incor- ruptibly honest and honorable, so as to be proverbially cited all over the State. In a very remarkable degree he kept himself abreast of the general literature of the day, and was even lavish in regard to the purchase of books. He was a truly elegant gentleman, of the old school; an instructive and agreeable companion, and a hospitable entertainer. He deserves to be named in any record of the church, for I am persuaded that there was no human being to whom its interests were more dear. As the warm and condescending friend of my boyhood and youth, he has a grateful tribute from my revering affection.
"In one particular the people of Trenton were more observant of our Form of Government (see chap. xxi) than is common. When from any cause there was no one to preach, the service was nevertheless carried on by the elders, according to the book, and a sermon was
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read. The reader on these occasions was always Mr. Ewing, and the discourse which he selected was always one of Witherspoon's; the choice in both cases being significant. I have often been led to con- sider how much better this is, for instance in country congregations, than the rambling away to hear some ignorant haranguer, perhaps of an erroneous sect, or the listening to a frothy exhortation from some zealous and forward brother, without gifts and without au- thority.
"The name of Dr. FRANCIS A. EWING, son of the Chief Justice, naturally occurs to our thoughts here. Space is not allowed for that extended notice which might elsewhere be proper, for the Doctor's was a character well deserving close study. Though a professional man by title, he was in fact and of choice much more a man of letters and a recluse student of science. His attainments were large and accurate, though made in an irregular way, and though he never seemed to others to be studying at all. In the classical languages, in French, in the natural sciences, and in all that concerns elegant literature and the fine arts, he was singularly full and accurate. In matters of taste he was cultivated, correct, and almost fastidious. Music was his delight, and he was equally versed in the science and the art. It was after the term of my pastorship that he developed his skill as an organist, but at a much earlier day he devoted himself for years to the gratuitous instruction of the choir; and though I have heard many noted precentors, I can remember none who had greater power of adaptation and expression. Though his own voice was slender and uninviting, he long made his influence felt in ren- dering all that was musical subservient to the spirit of worship.
"Dr. Ewing professed his faith in Christ during my years of min- istry. His early religious exercises were very deep and searching, and the change of his affections and purposes was marked. He had peculiarities of temper and habit which kept him much aloof from general society, and thus abridged his influence. His likes and dis- likes were strong, and if he had more readily believed the good will of others towards himself, he would have been more useful and more happy. I should sin against truth if I did not say that towards me he was for forty years a warm, forbearing, tender, and at times most efficient friend. I have been with him at junctures when it was im- possible not to detect, through all his extraordinary reserve, the work- ings of a heart agitated and swayed by gracious principle.
"SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD was also a member of the congregation, and a friend of all that promised its good. More sprightly and versatile than Mr. Ewing, he resembled a tropical tree of rapid growth. Few men ever attained earlier celebrity in New Jersey. This perhaps tended to produce a certain character which showed itself in good-natured egotism. Mr. Southard was a man of genius and eloquence, who made
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great impressions on a first interview, or by a single argument. He loved society, and shone in company. His entertainments will be long remembered by the associates of his youth. It is not my province to speak of his great efforts at the bar ; he was always named after Stock- ton, Johnson, and Ewing, and with Frelinghuysen, Williamson, Wood and their coevals. Having been bred under the discipline of Dr. Fin- ley, at Basking Ridge, he was thoroughly versed in Presbyterian doc- trine and ways; loving and preferring this branch of the Church to the day of his death. Defection from its ranks gave him sincere grief, as I am ready more largely to attest, if need be. In those days of his prime, Mr. Southard was greatly under the salutary influence of the Chief Justice, who was his Mentor; I think he felt the loss of this great man in some important points. So earnestly and even tenderly did he yield himself to divine impressions, that his friends confidently ex- pected that he would become a communicant. During this period he was an ardent advocate of the Temperance Society, then in its early stage. I remember attending a meeting at Lawrenceville, in company with my learned friend, the present Chief Justice, where Mr. Southard, following Mr. Frelinghuysen, made an impassioned address in favor of abstinence and the pledge. In regard to religious things, the change to Washington did not tend to increased solemnity or zeal. I have been informed that Mr. Southard felt the deep impression of divine truth at the close of his days. As a young minister, I received from him the affectionate forbearance of an elder brother, and I shall always cherish his memory with love.
"Before closing this hurried letter of reminiscences, let me note that the ruling elders during my day were Robert McNeely, Nathaniel Bur- rowes, John Voorhees, and Samuel Brearley, all good and believing men, and all gone to the other world. The Trustees were Messrs. Rose, Chambers, Ewing, Burroughs, and Fish; of whom likewise all are gone, except my esteemed friends, Messrs. Burroughs and Fish.
"Before taking my pen from the paper, let it be permitted to me to give expression to a feeling of personal regard to the late Mrs. Rice and her family, under whose roof my years of early ministry in Tren- ton were passed. She was a woman of a meek and quiet spirit, and was honored and beloved, during a long life, for the benignity of her temper and the kindliness of her words. Juliette Rice, her daughter, was a person who in some circumstances would have become distin- guished. To sincere piety she added more than usual cultivation, delicacy of taste, refinement of manners, and a balance of good qualities which elevated her to a place among the most accomplished and even the exclusive. Under the disadvantage of a deafness almost total, and a pulmonary disease which slowly wasted her away, she manifested a sweet, uncomplaining disposition, and a steady faith in Christ. Amidst the kindnesses of these good people I spent the first months of my
REV. JOHN WILLIAM YEOMANS, D.D.
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married life, and welcomed the tender mercies of God in our first-born son, long since taken to be with the Lord.
"Thus I end my rambling letter, (which, by-the-by, is only the last article of an epistolary series extending through forty years,) and am, as always,
"Your faithful friend,
"JAMES W. ALEXANDER.2 "The Rev. Dr. HALL."
For nearly two years after Mr. Alexander's removal the pulpit was supplied by transient ministers. Among those who were most frequently engaged were the Rev. Asahel Nettleton and Truman Osborn. The minutes of Presbytery for 1834 and 1835 show that efforts were then proposed by some of the congregation for enlarging the means of religious instruction, either by employing an Evangelist or the erection of a Free Church. An "Evangelical Society" had been formed which sustained Mr. Osborn as a mission- ary in Trenton, Morrisville and Millham, but after his de- parture, and the settlement of a pastor, things gradually returned to their old channel.
On the sixteenth March, 1834, the Rev. Symmes C. Henry, of Cranbury, was chosen pastor, but he declined the call. On the sixth of June, following, the Rev. JOHN WILLIAM YEOMANS was elected, being then pastor of a Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Yeomans is a graduate of Williams College (1824) and of the Andover Seminary.3 He was duly received by Pres- bytery, and on the seventh October, 1834, was installed. In that service the Rev. David Comfort presided, the Rev. J. W. Alexander preached (from I Cor. II : I) and Drs. B. H. Rice and A. Alexander gave the charges. The actual ministry of Dr. Yeomans is to be dated from September II, 1834, to June 1, 1841, when he entered on the Presidency of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. To his energy and influence not less than to the enterprise of the congregation is owing the erection of the commodious church which is now occupied by the congregation. The corner-stone of
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the new building was laid May 2, 1839, and services were held for the first time on the Lord's day, January 19, 1840.4 On the afternoon of that day Dr. How preached, and Dr. A. Alexander administered the Lord's Supper. On that occasion also three elders and three deacons were ordained.5 In the evening the Rev. J. W. Alexander preached.
In the April of 1837 a church was organized by a commit- tee of Presbytery in Bloomsbury, then a suburb of Trenton, and the place of worship was the building erected by those who followed the Rev. Wm. Boswell in his secession from the regular Baptist denomination, and which was vacated upon his death in 1833. This mission was diligently con- ducted for a year by the Rev. Charles Webster,6 begin- ning on the second Sabbath of 1837, and was then sus- pended until the present "Second Church" of Trenton was formed there.
Dr. Yeomans had a seat in the General Assembly of 1837, when the decisive acts were adopted which resulted in the division familiarly known as the Old School and New School-the latter portion forming a distincct organi- zation. No disturbance was produced in the Trenton con- gregation by this revolution; with entire unity it remained in the ancient fraternity of the churches of the New Bruns- wick Presbytery. In the letter written at my solicitation, Dr. Yeomans, after mentioning separately the elders already introduced in this chapter as composing the session of his time, thus proceeds :
"As then constituted, the session was in all respects the most inter- esting one I have ever known. It was a great pleasure and benefit to be with them in our frequent meetings (sometimes held every week). I remember those brethren with grateful respect and love, and for their services in the Church can commend them, as I have always done, for an example.
"The erection of the new house of worship was an interesting occa- sion for that congregation. The whole process was conducted in a manner and spirit unusually commendable. The congregation felt the awakening enterprise of their venerable city, and the moment the
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business of the place showed signs of revival, they were ready to conduct the motion into their measures for religious improvement. The building of the church fairly led the way to the construction of tasteful architecture in the place. The Court House was built at the same time, but the draft of the Church helped to determine the form of that; and the row of cottages beyond the canal, and some other handsome dwellings which followed in the course of improve- ment, were built by the men who came there to build the church.
"I shall never forget the cordial and earnest way the Trustees and others of the congregation, and indeed the whole body, engaged in the work. I have scarcely known a people who resolved to appro- priate so much to the erection of a house of worship in proportion to their means at the time. They went through the work without one case of personal disaffection arising out of their proceedings, and their zeal and labor have since proved a great blessing to them and to others. It is also a gratification to remember the harmony and energy with which, when they got ready, they paid off the debt; and with what liberality they have supported their minister, and con- tributed to the extension of Christian influence in their growing and important city. I consider the history of that house of worship, from first to last, a very great credit to the congregation.
"We had during my ministry there no occasion which was signal- ized as a revival. The accessions to full communion were, if I rightly remember, more or less at every sacramental celebration of the Sup- per. Sometimes, perhaps the records will show, twenty or thirty in a year ; perhaps even on a single occasion twenty.7
"It was probably one of the defects of my labors there, that they were attended with so few striking results. But many are far more decisive than I am inclined to be, in aiming at the kind of awaken- ings which are frequent in some parts of the Church, and published with so much avidity in the papers. But the fact in the history of my ministry in Trenton is as stated above. The duties of the pulpit, though very imperfect, were performed with very few interruptions through the period; and the excellent spirit and active co-operation of the session were a great help to the efficacy of the divine ordi- nances.
"Among the signs of improvement which appeared during that term, was that of increased attention to the baptism and religious training of children. The subject, when brought up in public instruc- tion and private conversation, appeared acceptable and profitable. In following up the labors of Brother Alexander there, I recollect no evidence of improvement with more interest than that. As to general progress, the growing activity and intelligence of the leading members of the congregation, together with the increase of their number, would enable any discerning observer to foresee the progress made there
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