USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > The Record of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, N.J. : v. 1-5 Jan. 1880-Dec. 1885, pt 1 > Part 48
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He was, too, a man of more than ordinary ability. He delivered a speech at Morris- town, in the old church, upon the Fourth of July 1828, which met with such decided ap- probation from his fellow citizens that a copy of it was requested for publication, and it was afterwards printed and no doubt has been preserved by some citizens who knew the author.
Dr. Condict was remarkable for his gen- iality of temperament, his great conversa- tional powers, his kindly wit and gentle humor. His wit sparkled and enlivened, but never wounded ; he delighted in humor, but he never descended ; his jests were ini-
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mitable, but they never were uttered at the expense of another. His anecdotal treasury was filled to overflowing, and was always ready to respond to any draft upon it, but it was always bright and pointed, always new and never wearied nor disgusted.
He had several children, two of whom sur- vive, Dr. Nathan W. Condict, named for his maternal grand-father and Mrs. Martina Brandagee, now living at Utica, N. Y. One of his daughters married the Rev. George Bush, the eminent scholar ; another married a Mr. Hall, a successful lawyer in Washing- ton, D. C. ; another became the wife of Mr. James Cook, and his youngest is now the widow of the Rev. John Brandagee, formerly Rector of an Episcopal Church in Utica. Three of his sons were physicians, Silas L., Nathan W., and Lewis, Jr., a young man of great promise, who died in early manhood.
Dr. Condict was an ardent patriot and served his country, not from love of office, but from patriotic sentiments. It was in his time no easy task to be in public life, and especially a member of Congress. Wash- ington was then much farther removed from Morristown than is St. Louis at the present. The position of Congressman then carried with it banishment from home and family for an indefinite time. Dr. Condict remained long in office and devoted to the performance of his duties as a public servant, the best energies of his nature as well as the best years of his life. His family was large, and while he was in office, needed a father's rule. But his excellent wife was equal to the task, and her sons and daughters, a goodly number they were, hardly felt the removal of the father's protection, for in the mother they found combined the love and tenderness of the mother, and the strict and guiding rule of the father. She was a slender, delicate woman, but one of those rare souls whose presence in any household was a blessing. Her sympathies were alert for all, her bene- factions were not for home and family alone, but were for the poor and needy, and, though illy able from feeble health to take a very ac- tive part, she never failed at the call of duty, from whatever place it might come. The Church benefitted by her gentle ways, the poor were the recipients of her benefac- tions, and in all public matters where woman's aid was needed, either by the way of life.
counsel or action, she never failed to respond. She lived to see her children grow up around her and then died a Christian's death, loved by all. His second wife was a Miss Elmendorf, of Somerset County, a woman of marked ability. Mrs. Brandagee was her only child.
In person Dr: Condict was tall and com- manding. His manners were simple and unpretending, his judgment excellent, his intellect cultivated ; he was decided in his views in politics and on all other subjects which he was called upon to discuss, but he never obtruded his opinions offensively upon others. In times when party politics raged high and his fellow citizens sometimes indulged in acrimonious debates, too often verging upon anger and violence, he calmed passion by a pleasant word, a kindly remark or a jest which provoked laughter and cleared away the frown and quelled the threatened tumult. His oration, to which reference has been made, was not delivered ; at a union celebration, but was pronounced . at the request of a political party, who that year celebrated the national anniversary, separate from their political opponents. It ( was a time of the utmost rancor, when party lines were drawn to their utmost tension. But in his oration there is manifested no bit- terness, no rancor; nothing was uttered by him which could possibly injure the feelings of the most wilful of political antag- onists. It was calm, cool, but decided in its statement of his opinions on public affairs, and a dispassionate discussion of political matters to which any one, no matter what might have been his party sentiments, could " have listened and been pleased. Dr. Condict was then a member of Congress, and his constituents had a right to ask from him a statement of his views upon the politics of i the day and it may well be supposed that un- der the circumstances which surrounded him ' and his audience, he might have given voice to utterances which would have inflamed his hearers and stirred up to still worse demon- stration, the demon of party strife. But he refrained from any such desecration of the day, and while not hesitating to speak firmly and boldly, yet through the whole speech ran that kindly feeling so dominant in his : character and which so pervaded his whole
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A letter written by Dr. Condit, has been placed in the possession of the editor of the RECORD by William L. King Esq., to whom # belongs, by whose permission it is here copied.
It is in an excellent state of preservation, every word is legible, the hand writing is beautiful, the paper is of the old fashioned, unglazed, rough, character, so common in those days.
It is presented to the readers of the RE- CORD for the purpose of calling their atten- bon to several facts which it illustrates ;- The present facilities of the postal system of the country ; the enormous growth of the Republic in the eighty years and more which have elapsed since the letter was written, and the quaint, formal style adopted by the writer. The letter, to which this was an an- swer, reached Morristown, one month after it was dated. The north western Territory ! How few of the present day can appreciate what is meant by that designation, or the momentous part it played in the terrible struggle in the Republic over slavery, or the influence which the celebrated ordinance of 1787 had in determining that contest. Cin- cinnati was then but an outpost on the very outside of civilization ; it had less than a thousand inhabitants.
MORRIS TOWN, Dec. 30th, 1797. DEAR SIR :- I rec'd your's of the 18th Sept. in about one month from its date, and at that time did not imagine I should have de- layed answering it so long, but unavoidable circumstances have prevented till now.
It affords me infinite satisfaction to hear of your prosperity in that Country which though young and uncultivated is rendered by nature one of the finest in the world in points of fertility, and climate. With pro- priety it may be termed the "Land of Canaan," if not the "garden of Eden" or an- cient paradise of which we read. Had I set- tled my affairs in Jersey before I set out on my journey, I am convinced, I should not have returned, but have remained there to this day. The distance is so great and my friends here were so opposed to my settling there, that I was induced to pitch my tent in Jersey, where perhaps I shall spend my days. I have compleated my house, and find
my prospects flattering. I am yet free from matrimonial shackles, and at present do not see much prospect of being encumbered with them. The married folks tell me I want nothing but a wife to compleat my happiness, and I in return, remind them of the fox that lost his tail in a trap, and wish- ed it to become fashionable to go without tails. Parson Richards and his family live in the house with me, and I board with him. I endeavor to enjoy myself as I pass through life, as well as circumstances will admit, remembering that we cannot take the world with us when we die. * * * No remarkable occurences have happened among your acquaintances here since your departure, except the marriage of Samual Arnold to Miss Jackson of Rockaway. They have moved to Albany and are doing very well. Sylvester Russell is now practis- ing law and lives next door to me. * I saw Judge Symmes in the beginning of the fall or latter end of summer when passing through this Town on his way to Detroit. * *
* As to news we have none worth communicating. Political parties and dis- putes run high and apprehensions have been entertained that we should be involved in war with France but I hope we shall avoid it by prudent measures. Insults are more easily pocketed than bloody noses, though neither of them are very desirable. Do you ever visit Judge Symmes and family? If you do, please to present my respects to Mrs. Symmes and Mrs. Harrison, with whom I had some acquaintance in Jersey and Miami. * * With best wishes for your health and prosperity I remain Dear Sir your sincere friend and humble servant. LEWIS CONDICT.
MR. DAN'L C. COOPER.
This letter is addressed, in the excellent hand writing of its writer, " Mr. Daniel C. Cooper. Cincinnati, North Western Ter- ritory." Mr. Cooper, the gentleman to whom it was written, had then recently re- moved from Morristown, to what was then a new and untried Country. He afterwards went to Dayton, Ohio, and was for many years identified with that City, and died at an advanced age, leaving a large property to be inherited by his heirs. The State of Ohio was not then known, nor was the name, Ohio, given distinctively, to any ex-
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tent of country. The North Western Ter- ritory embraced an undefined extent of Country, which has since then given birth to many great western states. The Judge Symmes spoke of in this letter, is best known as the author of the idea, hardly re- nembered, at the present, that the earth was hollow and that its centre could be reached, possibly through a hole at the North Pole called " Symmes's hole." The Mrs. Harrison, also mentioned, was, pro- bably, the wife of General William Henry Harrison, who was then Governor of the North West Territory and afterwards became President of the United States. He had married before that . time the daughter of Judge Symmes. Judge Symmies, himself, was a Jerseyman, a native of Sussex County.
ALBERT BARNES.
The following interesting reminiscences of the Rev. Albert Barnes are from the pen of the venerable Rev. William Sterling, now living at Williamsport, Pa. Mr. Sterling was for ten years a co-presbyter with Mr. Barnes, and for thirty years a member of the same Synod.
The readers of the RECORD will feel much indebted to Mr. Sterling for his most inter- esting article. It presents Mr. Barnes in some lights, which would not, probably, ap- pear in any ordinary biography.
The occasion of the trial to which Mr. Sterling refers, which resulted in the depo- sition of Mr. Barnes, was a sermon preached by him, entitled, " The Way of Salvation." The sermon gave great offence to the branch of the Presbyterian Church, then called the Old School, of which the Rev. Dr. Junkin was a prominent supporter. At that time party spirit raged very high between the two branches of the Church. Mr. Barnes was considered as one of the leaders, if not the leader of the new school. Like Paul, before his conversion, his opponents deemed they were doing God service in bringing him to trial as a heretic.
The action was at first successful ; Mr. Barnes was deposed from the ministry, but the finding of the Synod of Philadelphia was over-ruled by the General Assembly, and Mr. Barnes restored, never again to be molested.
Any person having a copy of the sermon
referred to, or a paper containing a history of the trial, will confer a very great obliga- tion by loaning them to the Editor of the RECORD. They will be carefully preserved and returned at once.
REMINISCENCES OF REV. ALBERT BARNES.
Rev. William Durant.
DEAR BRO .:- I am sorry to say that I can call to mind few reminiscences of Rev. Al- bert Barnes that would be of general inter- est. As a student, and a preacher, and a commentator on the Scriptures, his reputa- tion is world-wide. But, in private life, he was a grave man, of few words, and rarely spoke of himself or his experiences.
The first time I ever saw Mr. Barnes was on a Sabbath evening in the fall of 1835. I had just graduated at Princeton Seminary, and had accepted a call from the Church of Reading. On my way to my field of future labor, I stopped a few days in Philadelphia that I might make the acquaintance of some of the members of the Third Presbytery with which my church was connected ; and also that I might consult with them in re- gard to my ordination and installation at an early day as pastor of that church.
My stay in the city extended over the Sabbath. Now it so happened that on that very week the Synod of Philadelphia at its meeting in York had suspended Mr. Barnes " from all the functions of the Gospel min- istry." The brethren of the 3d Presbytery had just returned from the meeting of Synod deeply troubled and sore at heart. Indeed, all the city was moved ; and little else was thought about or talked about, but the proceedings of Synod in the case of Mr. Barnes. I learned that it had been ar- ranged that Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D.D., was to officiate in the vacant pulpit on Sabbath evening, and make a full statement to the congregation of the action of Synod in the case of their deposed pastor. Of course I went to the church, though it was a very in- clement night. The house was crowded to its utmost capacity. I got, with some diffi- culty, a seat in the aisle. Presently the friend, who had accompanied me to the church, drew my attention to a gentleman sitting in the pew with his family directly opposite me, and whispered, " That is Mr.
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Barnes." He was in a bent position, with his chin resting on the top of his umbrella. I watched him closely during the long and painful recital of the proceedings of Synod up to the last crowning act of the drama- his deposition from the gospel ministry. During the whole time, Mr. Barnes never changed his position, nor even raised his head. The whole audience were in an in- describable state of excitement, and many of them in tears. On almost every coun- tenance around me were written indignation and sorrow and distress, too deep for utter- ance. The feeling was general that a great and most grievous wrong had been done to an able minister of the gospel and a right- eous man ; in whom they all trusted and whom they admired and loved as their faith- ful friend and pastor. But what I remarked and wondered at was the perfect control of Mr. Barnes over his own deep emotions. When the audience was dismissed, I got a glance at his face as he rose and prepared to retire. It was calm and peaceful and heaven- ly. He seemed to me to have been sustained that evening by the immediate presence of his God -- to have been borne up by the as- surance that the Master, whom he loved and served, would take care of him, and over- rule the trial, through which his servant was passing, to his own great glory. That evening I learned to love Albert Barnes. The impression then made .upon my mind and heart, by his demeanor and the holy light that I saw shining in his countenance, I never lost.
Rev. Gideon N. Judd, D.D., Correspond- ing Secretary of the American Home Mis- sionary Society, afterwards told me that he boarded in the family of Mr. Barnes at the time of his trial, and through the entire winter of his suspension from the ministry ; and that he never heard him utter one un- kind word against any of those men who had caused him so much pain and humilia- tion ; that he rarely, if ever, alluded to the action of Synod, by which he was set aside from his pastoral work. Mr. Judd added that when the General Assembly had re- versed the action of Synod, and restored him to his standing in the ministry, Mr. Barnes quietly resumed his duties, making no reference to what he had suffered from the Synod ; and that the only time he ever
heard him refer to the matter in public was near the close of a doctrinal sermon, which he preached some considerable time 'after- wards, when he simply said, "These are my views of these doctrines ;- it was for holding these views that I was deposed from the ministry by the Synod of Phila- delphia." That was all.
In the Autumn of 1839, Presbytery held its stated meeting at Allentown. After the adjournment, we returned in extra stages to Philadelphia.
I was so fortunate as to get a seat in the same coach with Mr. Barnes. In the course of the day, Rev. Anson Rood said, " Bro. Barnes, I have a question I would like to ask you. In closing your defence before the General Assembly at Pittsburgh, you said that nothing had taken place during. the long trial in Presbytery, and again in Synod, nor yet in that General Assembly that had at all lessened your respect for Dr. Junkin, or weakened your confidence in his piety. Now what I want to know is this. Is your opinion of Dr. Junkin still unchanged, or have you had any reason to modify it ?"
Mr. Barnes sat silent for a few moments, during which he seemed to be weighing carefully the answer he would put into words. At length he said "I owe a great deal to Dr. Junkin. I think he has added ten years to my lite. I was laboring too hard, and must in a short time have broken down entirely. But that winter's rest from my pulpit duties has proved most beneficial so that I have felt like another man ever since." That was his answer. Of course it left us to our own conjectures as to whether his views of Dr. Junkin's character had not undergone some modification ; but if they had, he did not say so. He would suf- fer no word to pass his lips, that could by any igenuity be construed as implying a doubt in his mind in regard to the perfect honor, and integrity, and purity of motives of the man who had been so long his most determined, and persevering, and ruthless prosecutor. If any thing had come to the knowledge of Mr. Barnes since the trial, to cast a painful doubt over his mind as to the holy principles and ends of his opponent, he would bide the fact from all the world : he would not reveal even in confidence, and
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by a single hint to his warmest friends and brethren, the existence of that doubt, or the grounds he bad for changing his opinion of the man in any degree.
In regard to Mr. Barnes's views of punctu- ality, I have some very distinct recollections. At all our meetings of Presbytery and Synod he would insist most strenuously that no business however pressing should interfere in the least degree with our appointments for devotional exercises. They must not be deferred on any account whatever, but com- mence at the precise moment specified in the notice that had been given to the peo- ple. Any proposal to defer these services for a short time, until the business on hand should be disposed of, would draw him to his feet at once ; and he would press the point that the notice that the religious ser- vice would begin at that hour was equivalent to a promise made to God and to the con- gregation, which we had no right to break. Let business wait ; but the people assem- bled for the devotional services must not be kept waiting after the appointed hour.
And this view of punctuality to appoint- ments I have some reason to know he con- stantly carried out in his own congregation. On one occasion I was in the city on Wed- nesday, and he invited me to lecture for him that evening, stating the hour at which the meeting commenced. I was a few minutes late, owing to the tea arrangements of the family with which I was staying. The bell stopped ringing when I was a little more than a square from the church gate. When I entered the house I found that the ser- vices had already begun. At the close of the meeting I apologized to Mr. Barnes for my tardiness, and said I was afraid I had given him reason to fear that I was going to disappoint him. His reply was, " The meet- ing always begins at the last stroke of the bell. This my congregation understand and expect." And then he added, " If you had not come to-night it would have put me to no inconvenience. I never attend any ser- vices in my church without being fully pre- pared to conduct it myself, no matter who has engaged to conduct it for me."
Chester County, some twelve or fifteen miles from Philadelphia. He went out in his own carriage and found the road exceed- ingly bad-rough, stony and cut up into deep ruts. It was a long, tedious ride, and he arrived at the place of his appointment very sore and weary, his horse, his carriage and himself well bespattered with Chester County mud. Now, before leaving his study he had selected the 122 Psalm, Ist part C. M., to be sung at the opening of the service. But when he opened the book and turned to it, his eye fell upon the second verse, " I love her gates; I love the road." No, no ; that would not do. He had discovered nothing to love in the road he had travelled to Zion that day. He could not sing, "I love the road," neither could the congrega- tion honestly and heartily sing it, covered as they were with the dirt it had cast upon them as they came over it. That Psalm, beautiful as it was, could never have been intended to be sung in that place, in such a state of the public road. So he made another selection to be sung that contained no allu- sion to the road.
l furnish you this just as I heard it from one of the Philadelphia brethren a short time after the incident occurred. The inten- tion of the narrator was to show the almost painful delicacy of Mr. Barnes' conscience, even in little things. Perhaps it was only his sense of the incongruity.
In a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Mr. Barnes, extending over a period of thirty-five years, from 1835 to his death in 1870, I found only constantly increasing reasons to esteem and love him, as a kind brother, a conscientious man, a meek and humble servant of Jesus. I never heard a harsh or hasty or unkind word fall from his lips. I never saw him lose his temper, even for a moment. I never witnessed in him any indulgence in silly jesting or unseemly levity. He was " always an example to his brethren, in word, in conversation, in char- ity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." He never forgot his calling as an ambassador of God, nor lost sight of the example of his divine Master. As Hle who had called him was holy, so was he holy in all manner of con- versation. He was at all times and in all places the same humble and meek and de-
As illustrative of the very peculiar scru- pulousness of his conscience, let me give you an incident. Mr. Barnes had agreed to preach on a certain occasion at a place inl vout man of God, leaving upon all around
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him the deep and abiding impression of his heavenly temper and spirit. Even those who took the strongest ground against him on account of certain doctrinal views, ac- knowledged his deep and sincere piety. Let me give you a single example of such acknowledgment, and it is not the only one I could adduce.
Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., was, as you know, one of his decided and conspicuous doctrinal opponents. But even he, when the whirlwind of excitement had not yet fully passed, bore the most earnest and em- phatic testimony to the deep and fervent piety of Mr. Barnes. On one occasion,-I think shortly after the restoration of Mr. Barnes to the ministry,-Dr. Green was visiting a relative in the State of New York. One afternoon a young minister, who was also a visitor in the same house, was talk- ing to the Doctor about the heresies of Mr.
Barnes. Somewhat abruptly the young man asked him if he thought it possible that such a man as Barnes could get to Heaven-evidently expecting a negative
answer. The Doctor was walking back and forth across the parlor floor. After the question was asked, he still kept on to and fro on the floor for a time without making any reply and seemed to be absorbed in solemn reflection. At length the old Doctor stopped before his interrogator, and said most solemnly,-" Young man, if you and I are permitted to sit at the feet of Mr. Barnes in Heaven, we will have reason to bless God to all eternity. I never for a moment doubted his piety. I believed him to be unsound on certain doctrines, and on that ground I have opposed him. But his hon- esty and sincerity, and deep piety before God I never for a moment doubted. On the contrary, I consider him one of the best men in my knowledge." I got this years ago from my own dear brother, who was present on the occasion and heard the whole conversaiton.
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