USA > New York > New York City > A history of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the city of New York > Part 33
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9.00, Session meeting.
It has often been regretted that Dr. Babcock never wrote a book, but it is not strange that in a life as full as his, and as exhausting to both mind and spirit, there was no room for that kind of undertaking. "Do not talk to me about such a thing as publica- tion," he is reported to have said to one who urged him to prepare a volume of sermons for the press, "I have no hankering for going down to posterity in half calf. But if I ever do [write a book], it must be some time when I have broken a leg."
The year of Dr. Babcock's ministry in the Brick Church was momentous rather than eventful, yet even in that short time important results had begun to appear. He had in particular seized from the be- ginning upon the work which had developed in the Christ Church House, as a great opportunity which the Brick Church had only begun to improve. His pastorate was but three months old when he had se- cured the appointment of a special committee to consider the general subject of the enlargement of the work on the West Side. The Church House, though only a year old when he came, had already proved inadequate to meet the demands of the work, and Dr. Babcock soon determined in his own mind that the first definite task of his ministry along the line of material progress should be the securing of new and larger quarters.
* Here is given the name of his host or guest.
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Dr. Babcock's personal participation in the life of the two affiliated churches was one of the wonders of his ministry. He gave to them not only his interest, his counsel, his direction, but personal service. He was known as a friend by the people in the congrega- tion and by the children in the Sunday-school. Large as his own parish was, he found time and strength to carry his welcome ministry into many of the homes of the two other parishes, whenever there was special need of such help as he could give. The Church of the Covenant was glad to remember afterward that some of her young men, who became good servants of the Lord Jesus, were moved to the definite consecration of their lives by Dr. Babcock's personal influence. *
The hopefulness of the Christ Church work was greatly increased when in January, 1901, Mr. Farr, until then assistant minister of the Brick Church, accepted the Christ Church pastorate. f He had himself been one of the prime movers, as we have seen, in the development of the newer activities connected with that church, while his relation to the Brick Church was peculiarly close, and the confidence of the Brick Church officers and people was given to him without reserve. His going, it is true, left Dr. Babcock alone, but Dr. Babcock was one of those who most strongly urged him to take up the larger work, when it appeared that the people of Christ Church had set their hearts upon calling him. With his installation began a new era of prosperity for the whole work on West Thirty-fifth Street, and the ques- tion of providing the new buildings seemed to be de-
* "Year Book," 1901-1902, p. 152.
+ Mr. Wightman had resigned in the preceding November.
t
JAMES M. FARR
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A GOLDEN YEAR
ferred only until Dr. Babcock should feel that the first necessary foundations of his own ministry were laid.
The other most important beginning made during this year in the work of the church concerned par- ticularly the men of the congregation. In November, 1900, "it was decided that the Pastor's Aid Society, which had done such good work for so many years, should be replaced by an entirely new association with similar aims but with broader scope. It was voted that this newly formed society should be called 'The Men's Association of the Brick Church,' and a regular organization was effected." In itself this statement does not seem very significant, but behind it were two facts which indicated that something far more than a new "organization" had been created. First, a man of peculiar ability for this particular work had been found to take the leadership, Mr. Henry L. Smith, who still holds the office of president, and with it the esteem and affection of the many men who have shared in the work of the Men's Association since the time of its origin. And second, Dr. Bab- cock gave, without stint, his help to make the enter- prise a power in the church. He was always the moving spirit of its meetings. To meet him there personally was enough incentive to bring a roomful of men together, and besides that, he always had something unusual, inspiring, characteristic, to say, or to propose in the way of practical Christian work. At these meetings men were made to feel that genuine Christianity ought to be a force in the world, and that they themselves might help to make it so. *
* Dr. Babcock, in the first of the series of letters to be mentioned pres- ently, said of the Men's Association. "I have deeper roots there than you
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With such auspicious beginnings as these that have been described, and with an amount of blessing and strength imparted to individual lives which it would be impossible to calculate, the first year of Dr. Bab- cock's ministry drew to its close-the first year which was also to be the last. We have the record of his own gratitude and hope, as he stood at the end of it, in the pastoral letter, published according to cus- tom in the Year Book, and called by him "A per- sonal message from the pastor." It bore the date January 1st, 1901.
"I cannot realize," he says, "that it has been only a year since I began to work with you, so many changes have come-changes so deep and prophetic -so many new vistas opened, so many friendships begun. It seems in the review like a happy little life- time. The year's experiences are not among the things behind to be forgotten, but to be held in loving remembrance, to stir us and spur us to reach forth to things that are before, the better things, please God, yet to be. Attainments are for new attempts, and every goal should be a point of departure. Every blessing is a call of God, and every gift, an appeal. New light is to inspire new loyalty, and mountain peaks to give wider horizons. 'A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's Heaven for ?'
"Oh, let his goodness lead us to repentance! Let a grateful review mean a loving rededication! If the mercies of God have blessedly beset us, let us not
think-for no organization in the church has meant so much to me in the way of friendship, nor made me so hopefully aware of power-patent and latent." "Letters from Egypt and Palestine," p. 2.
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build 'Three tabernacles,' and abide, but rather like Paul, thank God at 'Three Taverns,' and take courage, pushing on to fight a better fight, and keep the faith more loyally.
"Thoughts of the New Century may stir us, but such thoughts have short roots. Let us look over the shoulder of Time to the face of the Eternal, past the years to him who is 'the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever,' and for his sake let us make this the best of all our years."
It was already known at this time that a month and a half later Dr. Babcock was going away for the purpose of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a party of old friends connected, like himself, with Auburn Seminary. The plan had been formed before he was called from Baltimore, and it had been arranged that his coming to New York should not interfere with it. Perhaps even then he realized, in some measure, how great the need of rest would be after a year in his new work; and certainly the wisest of his friends, as the time drew near, were glad for his sake that he was going.
On February 24th, 1901, he set sail, and the very next day came back a letter from him, by the pilot, addressed to the Men's Association. It was in ful- filment of a promise which he had made, to send a letter now and then to be read at the meetings, and which he, with characteristic generosity, fulfilled by sending, not "brief, kindly letters of remembrance, as was expected," but a record of his entire journey. Nor did the men of the church receive the only tokens of. his remembrance. From Palestine he sent cards of pressed flowers of the Holy Land to the three
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Sunday-schools, fourteen hundred of them, one for each scholar and teacher in the schools.
News arrived in due course of the prosperous and delightful sojourn in Egypt and in Palestine, includ- ing many an allusion in the letters of Dr. Babcock's companions to the joy of travelling with him, of sharing his love of life and his love of men and his love of God. From Constantinople he himself wrote speaking of his expected return in good health before the end of May. Then, on May 15th came a cable message from Naples telling of his illness there. He had been attacked by gastric fever, that strange, insidious disease, whose effects are some- times as incalculable as they are disastrous. Three days later came the tragic news of his death.
To the Brick Church the shock of grief and loss was indescribable. But it seemed as though the whole city, almost the whole land, shared the sorrow. Many, like the people of the Brown Memorial Church of Baltimore, had stood as close to him as the Brick Church people had, and thousands who had never stood close to him in any formal relation, but who had found in him comfort or courage, the help of a friend and of a messenger from God, were affected by a truly personal grief. It did not seem possible that he who had given life to so many could be dead.
And he was not. Even in the Brick Church, which seemed bereft indeed without his visible presence, he was a continuing power. It was soon evident that for those whom he had awakened to a new life with God and a new life for men, his going was like a challenge. What they had hoped to do with his help, they must now do alone, that was all.
CLASSES IN BASKET-WEAVING AND CARPENTRY, CHRIST CHURCH HOUSE
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A GOLDEN YEAR
Even the definite undertakings that he had planned or dreamed were not to fall to the ground. In the memorial service, by which at once his people of the Brick Church sought to honor his memory, it was grateful to them to speak of him, to tell and to hear what he had done for many different lives, to read the last of those letters which he had faithfully writ- ten from the lands of his travels. But the part of that service which was felt to be really worthy of it was the announcement that some one-no name was given, and none has been given to this day-had contributed $50,000 toward that extension of the Christ Church work which Dr. Babcock had been planning to un- dertake on his return. *
From January 14th, 1900, till February 24th, 1901, was the length of Dr. Babcock's active ministry in the Brick Church. It hardly seemed possible that a man could have made himself so deeply loved or done so much good in his Master's name in that brief time. The officers of his church, coming together to express as best they could their sense of what he had been to them, were moved by the strangeness of this thought, and by the pity of it, but most of all by the glory of it.
"The active pastorate of Dr. Babcock," they said, "lasted but little over a year. He came to us under circumstances strikingly indicative of the guidance of the good hand of God. He was the unanimous choice of officers and people. There was no second choice, nor was there an instant's hesitation as to his being the man we needed. The Presbytery of New
* The funeral was held in the Brick Church on June 12th. A memorial tablet was erected in January, 1903.
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York, too, was so convinced that Dr. Babcock's great heart and devoted service were needed in this city, that they adopted the unusual course of ap- pointing a committee to urge upon him the accept- ance of our call. Even then his coming would have been wellnigh impossible, but for the influence of the divine Spirit strengthening him to sever heart-ties stronger than bands of steel; convincing him that sacred duty beckoned him away from all the asso- ciations of an ideal home and devoted people and a great work well maintained, to come among strangers; to enter a harder field; to assume heavier responsi- bilities. . . .
"He came to us-a man! 'Greatheart,' in every sense! Tall, strong, full of life, with an eloquence all his own; with that subtle influence we call 'per- sonal magnetism,' for want of a better name. He came trusting us, and holding nothing of himself in reserve-accepting us with all the trust and sim- plicity of a child. Although he went in and out among us for the brief space of a single year, he has left an indelible mark upon the church, the Presby- tery, and the city. His arduous duties were performed with supreme devotion, and, withal, so systematically that it was well said of him he would have been suc- cessful as the head of the greatest business organiza- tion.
"But it is not our crowded services nor the mag- nificent successes, with even greater audiences, at the Ecumenical Conference, or People's Institute, that most clearly marked him as a man of God in the highest sense of the term. These count for much, and many have been the souls won for the Master
CLASSES IN KITCHEN GARDEN AND COOKING, CHRIST CHURCH HOUSE
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without more personal contact than the divine influ- ence emanating from his pulpit presence; but his greatest work has been upon individual lives, to whom he has ministered in season and out of season, by day and by night, imparting to the feeblest some- thing of his own vitality and faith, demonstrating by his very look his love of God and assured trust in him. .
"The sense of our loss is too recent, the shock of the blow too great for measured words. We can only bow before the insoluble mystery of his death at forty-two, in the midst of so great a work and the greater need for such a man as he. But we can at least turn away in humility from a contemplation of the Providence which has bereft us, and with one accord unite in thanks to God that this church was permitted to have such leadership and we such a friendship through all too short a year."
CHAPTER XXV
THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT: 1902-1908
"And there it is unto this day."-1 Chronicles 5 : 9.
"A church including just the elements that have been united in this congrega- tion, and standing on the crest of the hill here in the centre of this great city-in the whole western hemisphere where could you find a better site for God's house? There may be sermons in bricks as well as 'sermons in stones,' and our prayer is that the sermon preached here, by our lives, and by every material par- ticle of this structure, may be always the true evangel, so that, of the endless pro- cession moving past our doors, many, when they look upon this house of prayer. may get some clearer sense of the divine goodness and some stronger impulse toward holiness and service."-WILLIAM R. RICHARDS, Pastoral Letter, December, 1902.
D R. VAN DYKE, like a true friend, came back to the church in her time of need. His old parishioners, feeling that for a time it was impossible to think about a new pastor, grate- fully accepted his offer, in December, 1901, to serve them as minister-in-charge until such time as they should secure a successor to Dr. Babcock, and to aid them in that undertaking by his counsel and influence. *
Under his guidance, strengthened by his familiar presence, by his example of loyalty to the church, by the inspiration of his preaching, strong as of old, and by the evidence, soon supplied, that the church was in no danger of falling to pieces, the first feeling
* Dr. van Dyke's duties at Princeton made it impossible for him to preach at the second service on Sunday or at the mid-week meetings, or to perform the routine duties of a pastor. He was therefore authorized to employ an assistant. The Rev. Shepherd Knapp served him in that capacity, and continued under the new pastor until 1908.
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THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT 475
of depression and discouragement was gradually dispersed. * The finding of a new pastor was taken up in earnest, and before long the church came to the assurance that it had found him.
But would he come? It was a repetition of the situation in regard to Dr. Babcock in Baltimore. The Rev. William Rogers Richards, D.D., had been for eighteen years pastor of the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, New Jersey, and rarely have the members of a congregation had such a deep and universal attachment for their pastor as that which bound the Plainfield people to Dr. Rich- ards. They loved him as a man. His preaching sat- isfied them like bread. He was a true part of their whole life, civic and social as well as philanthropic and religious. f Only in answer to a call of supreme importance would they hear for a moment of his leaving them, and his refusal again and again to con- sider calls to churches in New York and elsewhere had given his people ground for hope that the im-
* It was during his term of service as minister-in-charge that Dr. van Dyke was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, held in New York in the spring of 1902, and in that capacity contributed largely to the suc- cessful revision of the Westminster Confession which was carried at that time.
ยก In the "Brick Church Year Book" for 1902-1903, was quoted the fol- lowing estimate of the character of Dr. Richards and his work in Plainfield, by one who had known him for many years: "I consider his chief charac- teristics to be great intellectual power, stimulated by wide reading and study, and the ability to think clearly and closely, and to express himself in striking and appropriate English. Dr. Richards is by nature modest and retiring, but when intimately known he is found to be warm-hearted, sympathetic, and generous to a fault. He is not only a minister of the gospel, but a good citizen, interested in all questions of a public nature. It was his custom at Plainfield always to attend and take an active part in the primaries of his party. He was for some years a member of the Board of Education of Plainfield, rendering good service, and is now a member of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church,"
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perative summons, which both he and they must answer, would not come.
In May, 1902, came the call from the Brick Church, and with it the following personal letter from Dr. van Dyke to Dr. Richards, which was, however, as will be evident, addressed as much to the people as to their minister. "The meeting last night," Dr. van Dyke said, "was large, enthusiastic, and absolutely unani- mous in calling you to the Brick Church. There is no doubt in any mind that you are the man for the place, and no hesitation in any heart about asking you to come. . We know the value of your present work, the mutual attachment between you and the Plainfield Church, the many ties of love that hold you where you are. The tie by which we would draw you to New York is the tie of duty-clear and strong. The cause of Christ needs you here. The strongest Presbyterian church in America, standing in the great city where its influence is most needed, asks you to come to it and lead it forward. The call is affectionately and respectfully addressed to the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church as well as to you. We do not imagine that your people can think of giving you up without great sorrow, but we want you, if it can be so brought about by the Spirit of Wisdom and Love. . . . Our prayer is that the Holy Ghost may guide you in the decision of this matter and my hope is that the appeal of duty may lead you to us."
On the very Sunday when this letter was laid before the Plainfield congregation, Dr. Richards preached a sermon upon Moses' two calls to Hobab. "You see," said he, "Moses first urges Hobab to come with
THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT 477
Israel for Hobab's own sake: 'Come thou with us and we will do thee good'; to which Hobab answers, 'No.' And then Moses urges him to go for Israel's sake: 'Come to us,' he says, 'we need you,' . and it appears that he accepted this second invita- tion." The sermon as it went on, was applied to the call of men into Christian discipleship, but its bear- ing upon the special problem in practical Christian- ity, which pastor and people were then together fac- ing, was evident. * On neither side was it at that time determined what the answer to the call of the Brick Church ought to be, but the principle by which the decision was to be reached was here clearly set forth, and it was adopted without hesitation by both Dr. Richards and his parishioners. The call was ac- cepted.
On October 26th, 1902, Dr. Richards was in- stalled. Dr. van Dyke, whose service of the Brick Church might now be said to have been extended to nearly twenty years, handed to the new pastor the keys of the church, and the people thanked God for his mercies in bringing them across the troubled sea of the last year to this desired haven.
In certain interesting particulars, Dr. Richards' preparation had resembled that of two of his prede- cessors. Like Dr. Spring he was of strong New Eng- land ancestry, and was born in Massachusetts. t Like him he had been educated at Yale and Andover, and had then studied for the law. He resembled
* The sermon and Dr. van Dyke's letter were both printed in the "Brooklyn Eagle."
t In 1853 in Boston, where his father was pastor of the Central Con- gregational Church.
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him, moreover, in his irenic spirit combined with a strong sense of the historic continuity of the Chris- tian faith. At the same time he was known to be in cordial sympathy with the modern movements of thought. It was evident that he was one who would make for peace and the generous cooperation of dif- ferent types of men, and therefore for the steady and solid progress which these conditions render possible .* Like Dr. van Dyke, on the other hand, his first pas- torate had been in a Congregational church; } and, like him, he had become one of the most popular preachers in the various college pulpits of the Eastern States. The undergraduates looked forward to his coming because he understood them-shared their enthusiasm for athletics, for one thing-and be- cause his sermons were interesting, and perhaps most of all, for the reason that he invariably used his power and his opportunity to speak to them of the things that are most worth while. He was able, not only to hold the attention of college boys, but to ex- ert a real moral and religious influence upon them. To the people of the Brick Church there was a pleas- ant familiarity in such qualities as these.
But not many Sundays had passed before the con- gregation made an interesting discovery, by which Dr. Richards' unlikeness to what had gone before began to seem as important as his likeness to it. They discovered that there are at least three ways of preaching great sermons. They had known before
* These qualities were to prove especially valuable in his most arduous and important service as moderator of the New York Presbytery at a criti- cal period of its history.
t In Bath, Maine, where he was minister from October, 1879, to June, 1884.
WILLIAM R. RICHARDS
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that there were two ways. They were familiar with what they would have called "Dr. van Dyke's way" and "Dr. Babcock's way," and consciously or un- consciously, they had been wondering which of these two ways Dr. Richards would follow. But he fol- lowed neither. He had a way of his own. He had a singular skill-all the more singular for its quiet simplicity-in drawing a truth out of the old, famil- iar words of Scripture, into the light of present reality, and then unfolding it slowly to the mind of his hearers as the heat of the sun slowly unfolds a flower.
The first effect was an absorbing intellectual inter- est; but before the hearer was well aware, he found that through the opened door of his mind the truth had entered in and laid hold upon his will. He had reached out to grasp it as a truth and found himself gripped by it as a duty. The applications of the sermon's principle to the concerns of daily life and to the vital problems of the time were so varied, so apt, so unescapable, and withal so simple and direct, and of such practical significance, that the message of Sunday became at once the guide of week-day living. It was found that Dr. Richards, by his quiet, orderly, and concrete method of exposition, had the rare power to show that the most spiritual truth is at the same time the most practical; and this power per- haps was in no way more strikingly evidenced than by the fact that, though he was recognized as a dis- tinctly intellectual preacher, yet more than once it happened, as it had in the case of Dr. Babcock, that families were drawn into permanent relation to the church because the young people of the household
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had expressed unusual interest in Dr. Richards' sermons. *
In the organization of the church's activities, the coming of the new pastor was speedily followed by several interesting and significant developments. It was felt that conditions then existing in the church itself would warrant, and the needs of the neighbor- hood demanded, a larger use of the church as a place of worship, that therefore its doors should no longer be closed for the greater part of the time, simply because no service happened to be in progress, and, moreover, that the number of the services themselves should be increased.
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