USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 2 > Part 12
USA > New York > New York City > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 2 > Part 12
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In social intercourse he is a most courtly man. He belongs to the old school of gentlemen, and his demeanor has the greatest pro- priety and polish about it on all occasions. Ilis dress is strictly of the clerical order - i. e., a single-breasted frock coat, and turned-up collar, with white cravat, the suit being black.
Bishop Potter is an agreeable speaker. He has a voice which is of sufficient volume, though not by any means powerful. His utterances are calm and dignified, and evidently the offspring of a gentle Christian spirit. His arguments are in the plainest language, and they are urged with the earnestness of one fully appreciating his responsibility as a religious teacher, and personally interested in the welfare of every human soul.
As a scholar, he ranks with the ablest in his denomination. IIe has found no models in superficial men. He abhors anything like charlatanism, and has won his own way by steps of severe applica- tion, and obtained honors which are only the proper reward of hon- orable success and a conscientious ambition.
In the sterling parts of character, in all the practices of a pure and godly life, and in a dignified and proper sense of his Episcopal functions, Bishop Potter stands a pre-eminent example to the world. He is a good and valuable man, in the fullest meaning of the term. Universally popular in his denomination among both clergy and laity, exerting his eminent talents and diligent labors with the great- est success in one of the most wealthy and intelligent dioceses of the American Episcopal Church, he occupies a position alike honorable to himself and beneficial to the cause of religion.
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REV. HENRY C. POTTER, D. D., RECTOR OF GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. HENRY C. POTTER is the son of the late Right Rev. Alonzo Potter, Bishop of Pennsylvania, and was born at Schenectady, New York. He was educated at the Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia, and at the Theological Seminary of Virginia, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1857. He was ordained deacon in the same year, and called to Christ Church, Greensburgh, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until May, 1859. At this period he accepted a call to St. John's church, Troy, New York. In 1862 he was called to Christ Church, Cincinnati, but declined. In the spring of 1863 he was tendered the presidency of Kenyon Col- lege, Ohio, and in November of the same year the rectorship of St. Paul's Church, Albany, both of which invitations he declined. In May, 1866, he accepted a call to be " Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, Boston, on the Greene Foundation," where he remained until May, 1868, when he became rector of Grace Church, Broadway, New York.
He has published "Thirty Years Renewed," "Our Threefold Victory," " Young Men's Christian Associations and their Work," " The Church and the Children," " The Religion for To-day," and other sermons and essays. He received his degree of D. D. from Union College in 1865
Grace Church is one of the old and wealthy Episcopal organiza- tions of New York. Worship was held in former times in a very fine structure which stood on the corner of Broadway and Rector street, a little farther down than Trinity Church. The church was an imposing building, and, when that part of the city was the abode of the wealth and fashion of New York, was regarded as a great ornament, and largely attended by intelligent and influential people. The late Bishop Wainwright was the rector for many years. At
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length a removal to the upper part of Broadway was determined upon, and a location was selected near the corner of Tenth street. At that period this portion of Broadway and the neighboring streets were occupied with private residences, and the idea of the locality being invaded by business was never thought of. A building, which was then regarded as the most elegant and costly in the United States, was constructed, and it at once became the fashionable church of New York. It is probably still the wealthiest congregation of the city, but it is beginning to suffer in attendance from being so far down town. At an early period, and in building the new church, the congregation was much assisted by Trinity Church in the dona- tion of valuable real estate. Rev. Dr. Thomas HI. Taylor was the rector for many years, and remained in charge until his death.
Dr. Potter is above the medium height, finely proportioned, and of an erect, graceful bearing. He has a large head, with delicate and intellectual features. His face is ruddy and healthful looking, and his whole appearance gives the impression of a man vigorous and ready for any carnest work. He has a quiet dignity of manner, but is courteous and affable with all. His countenance is very winning, for it has not only the light of a superior intelligence, but it has amiability and goodness as well. You see that he is a man of mental power, and one who is well calculated to be a guide and teacher for other men. But there is a kindness in the calm glance of his eyes, a softness and gentleness in his tone and address, and a geniality and blandness in his manners which show that he is a person of a true and noble heart. He is a man for hard work, strict attention to ministerial duty, an eager, laborious student in the most extensive fields of learning. But he is never so much absorbed in his profes- sional labors that he fails to give evidence of those traits of character which display the sentiment and sympathies of the tender heart. Some men in the midst of an active public carcer become indifferent to the cultivation of the emotions. They grow severe and rigid in their habits of life and opinions, and look upon the heart as a very weak spot in the human organization. There are other public characters, however, and Dr. Potter is one of them, who always show that they are under control of the heart not less than the head. They exhibit it in a larger share of humanity, in drawing nearer to their fellow- men in all personal relations, and in giving force and substance to an actual brotherhood of mankind.
All who come in contact with Dr. Potter find him intellectually
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able, but at the same time emphatically a man of soul. Keen and far-reaching as he is in mind, he is likewise gentle and loving in all his emotions. Gather as he may the rich stores of learning, he is not satisfied unless he can spare to others the equally precious treas- ures of a heart open to every sorrow and made gladsome by every joy. His words are always kind, and his sympathy is always sincere. You see all this in his amiable and benevolent countenance, and you are made to feel it in his warm and unselfish actions. If you go to him to learn your moral and religious duty, he thus instructs you, by his example and teachings, in the practice of the cardinal virtues which render all sorrow and all joy mutual to sympathetic hearts.
Dr. Potter ranks among the most eminent men of the younger portion of the Episcopal clergy. His intellectual attainments are extensive and thorough, and his natural qualities in this particular are of such an order that he is fitted to become one of the soundest and most brilliant thinkers of his time. He excels as a polished and forcible writer. He has easy flow of thought, which is full of vigor and comprehensiveness. It is also characterized by a great deal of manly feeling. There is nothing like insipid sentimentality about what he writes, but it is glowing with the love of a heart which is ever beating in tenderness for his tempted and sin-laden race.
He has marked powers as a pulpit orator. His presence is com- manding, and remarkable for all that grace and impressiveness which a fine person and priestly habiliments can impart. His style of ad- dress is composed and orderly, and with just sufficient animation to give it effectiveness without giving it too much demonstrative- ness. His voice is rich and fully under his control, and his gesticu- lation is always appropriate.
A man of these agreeable personal qualities and of these broad and useful talents is certainly the one who can be the most success- ful in a parish like that of Grace Church. All that he has to do is to give full scope to his great abilities, and let eloquence, learning, and a pure, consistent life do their proper work. The cultivated and influential people to whom he preaches can and will appreciate these qualities, and they have the spirit and the means of every kind to give his labors the most complete and enduring success.
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REV. HENRY POWERS,
PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAII, (UNITARIAN,) NEW YORK.
EV. HENRY POWERS was born at Hadley, Massacnu- setts, December 28th, 1833. His early studies were at home, and at the district school and academy. He was graduated at Yale College in 1857, and in theology at the East Windsor Theological Institute in 1860. Having accepted a call to the Second Congregational Church of West Springfield, Massachusetts, he was ordained and installed in October, 1860. IIe remained with this congregation about four years, and then went to Danbury, Connecticut, as pastor of the Second Congregational Church, where he remained about four years. On January 11th, 1869, he was called to become the pastor of the Elm Place Congregational Church, Brooklyn. Mr. Powers commenced his labors on the first Sunday in February, and was duly installed March 3d, of the same year. He remained in this pastorshiv three years, resigning February 1st, 1872. On Sunday, November 24th, 1872, he was installed pastor of the Second Congregational Unitarian Church, otherwise Church of the Messiah, New York, as the successor of the Rev. George H. Hep- worth. Some months previously Mr. Powers had publicly announced his change of belief to that of the Unitarian sect.
Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood was called to the Church of the Messiah, in 1849, who remained until about 1869. He was succeeded by Mr. Hepworth in June 1869, who resigned in 1872. After occupying a church on Broadway for many years, the congregation dedicated their present magnificent structure on the corner of Thirty-fourth street and Park avenue, in April, 1867.
Unitarianism was introduced in New York city as early as Jan- uary, 1794, by a Mr. John Butler, in a series of lectures. The first sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Channing, in a private house, April 25th, 1819. This was the origin of the Church of All Souls, of which Dr. Bellows is pastor, and which was incorporated Nov.
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REV. HENRY POWERS.
15th, 1819, as the First Congregational Unitarian Church of New York City. The Rev. William Ware was its first pastor, from 1821 to 1836.
Mr. Powers has a tall and slender figure. He shows an energetic and somewhat impulsive and nervous activity at all times. His head and face are small, but they have very marked characteristics. The whole expression of the face is intellectual, and the full high brow is especially noticeable in this connection. It is readily to be seen that he is a man of large and active brain power. His countenance also shows decision and earnestness, a love of honor and truth, and a genial and cheerful temperament. He has light complexion and hair, and wears whiskers and a moustache. Ilis eyesight has been affected by close study, and he wears spectacles constantly His manners are friendly and candid, and -his conversation is animated and interest- ing.
He is a man between whom and other men there is never the slightest barrier to good feeling and brotherly love. Fair, frank, un- suspicious in his own character and feelings, he throws himself with- out reserve or hesitation upon like characteristics in others. If you have them not he will awaken them; for his good-nature, his kind- ness of manner, and his friendliness of sentiment will thaw a heart of ice. He has very little, if any, policy ; he is free and unguarded in his opinions, and his sincerity toward you cannot be doubted. Under these circumstances, and with these peculiarities of character, he wins friendship and love, and he, at the same time, kindles your heart and mind to a realization of the same fond impulses which draw him to every man as a friend and brother. If there are studied rules of deportment, and if there are words which must be measured to suit the drift of human policy, he knows nothing about them, and, in fact, despises them. In his contact with men he is as simple as a child. The laugh that is in him must come out, and the tear that has bubbled from his heart he is not ashamed to let fall. He aims to be natural to the heart's true impulses, and to be honest in language and in deed. He requires no study from the observer, for every word and every action is a truth-teller of his character and nature. Of a character humble and devout, and noble and true ; of a nature simple and trusting, and just and loving. In genial social attributes, and in simplicity and sincerity of character, lic is a marked example among men.
Mr. Powers is no ordinary preacher. He has a mind of his own
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REV. HENRY POWERS.
on theological matters, and his sermons show the original thinker in a striking degree. IIe has gone deep in his scholarly investiga tions, and he has delved to dispute as well as to learn. He grapples with abstruse questions with the nerve and intelligence of an older scholar, and those who hear or read his meditations, are profoundly impressed with his learned conclusions. Hence all his sermons are scholarly productions. They show thought and feeling. "They have a beauty and a force of diction which are very captivating in them- selves : but it is their originality, their strong and logical arguments, and their thorough infusion of Christian love and hope, which so greatly impress the hearer. He is eloquent and at times impassioned. Fancy, at his bidding, takes a wide flight in all its realm of beauty, and his earnest and ardent heart gives the glow of feeling and sincerity to every word. But he makes this but incidental to the performance. His power of mind is thrown into the argument, and he levels his shafts at the mind of the listener. He wishes not so much to melt the heart as to instruct and convinee the reason. Consequently he is an intellectual preacher in the fullest sense, giv- ing time and thought to the preparation of his sermons, and seeking to make them something more than a mere part of the church exercises. And he succeeds pretty well in this. He sends his hearers away with material for many an after hour of reflection. He gives the rules for moral and religious government, but more especially he incites them to an intellectual view of human destiny and salvation.
A hard worker with his physical and mental energies, and seek- ing a wide and beneficent influence in the theological world, he is gathering strength which will undoubtedly place him in the foremost rank of the popular preachers and thinkers of his times. At no distant day he also designs to take the field of theological author- ship.
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REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D. D., :
LATE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF TIIE COV- ENANT, (PRESBYTERIAN,) NEW YORK.
EV. Dr. GEORGE L. PRENTISS was born at Gorham, Maine, May 12th, 1816. ITis carly studies were at the academy of his native place, then under the charge of Rev. Reuben Mason, a noted Congregational minister of that day. Having entered Bowdoin College, he was graduated in 1835. During the two years following he was engaged as an assistant teacher in the Gorham Academy and in a visit to the Southwest, where he had a brother, the celebrated statesman and orator, S. S. Prentiss. In 1838 he went abroad and passed between three and four years in study and travel. About two years were occupied in a theological course at the universities of Halle and Berlin. Returning to the United States, he was licensed as a Con- gregational minister by the Cumberland Association of Ministers, in 1844, and ordained and installed in the spring of 1845 at the New Bedford Trinitarian Church. He remained in this position until the autumn of 1850, when he transferred his labor to the Second Pres- byterian Church of Newark, New Jersey, for a short period. On April 30th, 1851, he took charge of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, in New York, where he remained until May 3d, 1858, when ill-health obliged him to resign his pastorship. The congregation made a liberal provision for him, and he went abroad, spending two years in Switzerland, France and England. During the winter of 1859-60 he officiated at the American Chapel in Paris. He returned to the United States in the autumn of the latter year.
He now determined to found a new church of the New School Presbyterian faith in the upper part of New York, and commenced his services on the last Sunday in November, 1860, in the chapel of the Home of the Friendless, in East Twenty-ninth street, and subse- quently held them at Dodworth Studio Hall, corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-sixth street. On March 21st, 1862, the Church of the
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REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS D. D.
Covenant was organized, and in November, 1863, the corner-stone of a church edifice was laid on the corner of Park Avenue and Thirty-fifth street. Here a magnificent stone structure has been erected, which in beauty of external and internal design, spacious- ness and general completeness, is equal to any church in the city. The cost of the site, building and organ was about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The church was dedicated April 30th, 1865.
The congregation has erected a Memorial Chapel on Forty-second street, near Second avenue. It is for a mission work, and intended as a memorial of the union of the Old and New School branches of the Presbyterian church. The building embraces a reading-room, library, and class-rooms, and cost thirty thousand dollars.
Dr. Prentiss received his degree of D. D. from Bowdoin College about 1854. He is the author of a memoir of S. S. Prentiss, and has published a variety of sermons and addresses. Ile accepted the chair of Theology in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, at Chicago, having been elected by the General Assembly, but subsequently declined it. On the 27th of April, 1873, he preached a farewell sermon before his congregation, having accepted a recently endowed chair of Pastoral Theology, Church Polity and Missionary Work, in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
We take the following eloquent extract from an address deliv -. ered before the Association of the Alumni of Bowdoin College, August 8th, 1861 :
"This great American system of liberty and social order, like our mother tongue, is a marvellous composite of old and new. It is enriched by the spoils of all time. Hardly any great State, ancient or modern, but has contributed something to its generous and fair proportions. What would it be if bereft of all it owes to the legislation of Moses and the Hebrew Scriptures ; to the democratic spirit, literature, and heroic examples of Greece ; or to the laws' and jurisprudence of republican and imperial Rome? It strikes its roots deep into mediaval and early Christian ages. The best polities of modern Europe helped to form it. The fountain from which it drew, and still draws, its holiest principles and inspiration, is the New Testament.
"Never since the beginning of the world was a people allowed ampler scope freely to avail itself of all the lights of history, and all the aids of reflection, in constructing a system of national polity; and never had a people a richer experience of its own, or a more invaluable body of existing laws and institutions wherewith to give harmony, strength, and perpetuity to the new structure. For, undoubtedly, the power which above all others inspired and shaped our republican system was the old Anglican liberty which our fathers brought with them across the ocean. This, together with the institutions which have given it its marvellous vitality and
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REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D. D.
strength in the mother country, such as municipal and local self-government, the town meeting, the county court, popular suffrage and representation, the com:non law, the constable, trial by jury, the local church, the college, the Puritan Sabbath, and the old English Bible-this was and is the noblest substance of our national life. It is a mistake to suppose that our liberty is the fruit of the Revolutionary war. In that war we fought for and won our independence ; but our most important liberties are a venerable heirloom of the Anglo-Saxon race. They were won for us at Runnymede, and on many a later field renowned in the annals of British free- dom. They were among those 'true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties' of the people of England, asserted and claimed in their memorable Bill of Rights. Our Declaration of Independence was virtually a re-assertion of these same 'ancient rights and liberties.' The Articles of Confederation were an attempt to combine and establish them in a 'perpetual union,' and finally the Constitution of the United States organized them into our present system of national government. But, al- though the substance of our liberties was the most precious inheritance which the infant nation brought with it, I need not say how greatly they were increased and invigorated under the hardy discipline of the colonial period and during the terri- ble trials of the War of Independence, or how, when the time was fully ripe, they were at length perfected in the great Constitution under which we now live. This Constitution was the work of men pre-eminent for public wisdom, zeal, prudence, and magnanimity-men deeply versed in the philosophy of government,
" 'Looking before and after-'
"Long reflection, aided by much study and experience, had endowed them with a political sagacity almost intuitive ; and in all this they only represented the en- lightened popular instincts of the country. A more upright, single-hearted, admirable body of patriots never sat in council. They were worthy to be presided over by Washington.
" ' Great men were then among us ; hands that penned, And tongues that uttered wisdom ; better none. * * * * *
*
They knew how genuine glory was put on ; Taught us how rightfully a nation shone In splendor.' "
Dr. Prentiss is above the medium height, rather spare, erect, and full of activity. His head is more long than round, with a thin face, and small, well-molded features. His forehead is particularly con- spicuous from its heighth and breadth, and shows him to be a man of large mental capacity. He has small, deep-set, light eyes, of a gentle expression, but which have a great deal of fire and decision in them when the feelings are called into action. IIe exhibits consider- able reserve and dignity, but he is readily approachable to all, and is not wanting in genial and social characteristics.
Dr. Prentiss is a man of most extensive learning, and, in fact, one of the ablest American minds of the day. His studies have been varied, and his researches have had that enlarged scope which
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REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D. D.
men give to them only when sustained by tireless energies and the clear, grasping mind. Whatever he has done in the way of learning has been done thoroughly, and now in the prime of his life he is recognized as a profound thinker, not only on theological, but all the learned and current subjects of the day.
When you see him in the pulpit, you are struck with his digni- fied, intellectual appearance, but he no sooner speaks than you begin to doubt his having anything more than ordinary ability. His voice at first is weak, and has a very decided lisp, and altogether he seems a man but little calculated to address a public andience with effect. But as you listen you become aware that his discourse is a composi- tion written with unusual care, and in which there is great choiceness and force of language; and then as he warms with his theme his voice has more power, and the lisp almost disappears. His argu- ments are those not merely of a man thoroughly versed in his sub- ject, but of one bold enough to say what he thinks and feels ; and, while there are constant passages of smoothly worded and inspiring eloquence, there is likewise full evidence that every word has been weighed to give it the most complete force of moral and religious expression. In truth, his discourse is found to have everything of literary ability in it, as its delivery has much that is of the highest order of oratorical excellence; but the strength and power of the appeal comes, after all, less from these than from its solemn moral and religious tonc.
The question with regard to Dr. Prentiss, as with every other public man, is what has he contributed, by his talents and toil, to the benefit of his race? The answer is the marked success of a ministry of a quarter of a century, culminating in the founding of one of the largest and most opulent churches of New York, and such contributions of thought to the theologieal, political, and secu- lar literature of his time as will maintain their place for generations living and yet to come.
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