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 13
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 13
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
448
REV. THOMAS S. PRESTON, PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. ANN, (CATIO- LIC,) NEW YORK.
EV. THOMAS S. PRESTON was born in the State of Connecticut, in 1824. IIe was graduated with distin- guished honors at Trinity College, Hartford, and was or- dained a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1846. Subsequently he was assistant minister at the Church of the Annunciation (Dr. Seabury's), New York City, and at St. Luke's Church, of which the well-known Rev. Dr. John M. Forbes was then the rector.
At that period the Episcopal Church in this country was greatly agitated by the sectarian movement of Dr. Pusey of England. Va- rious prominent clergymen were led to embrace Catholicism, and among these were both the subject of this notice and Dr. Forbes, who were received into the communion of the Roman Catholic Church in 1849. In 1850, Mr. Preston was ordained a priest and appointed as assistant pastor at the St. Patrick's Cathedral. In 1855 he was appointed Chancellor of the diocese, a position which he still holds.
Dr. Forbes had been appointed pastor of St. Ann's Church ; but in 1859, he withdrew from the Church of Rome, and returned to the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church. In 1861 Father Preston was appointed to St. Ann's, and for twelve years has discharged the duties with remarkable efficiency, in connection with those of Chan- cellor. Finding a few years since that the Church and school build- ings, on Eighth street and Fourth Avenue, did not provide sufficient accomodation for the wants of the important parish, he effected the purchase of the Temple Emanuel, of the Jewish congregation to which it belonged, in Twelfth street, with other property in the rear. The building was altered and improved, and a fine school building erected. The congregation is numerous and flourishing.
The history of the Roman Catholic sect in the city of New York
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REV. THOMAS S. PRESTON.
may here be briefly given. As early as 1629, there were Catholics on Manhattan Island. However, in 1696, a census taken by the Mayor to see how many of the faith were in the city, discovered only nine persons. Very severe laws were enacted against the Catholics, as well as the Quakers, Jews, and other sects. Some of the imported negro slaves are said to have been Catholics. John Ury, who was executed for participation in the celebrated Negro Plot to burn the city in 1741, was charged with being a Catholic priest, a crime not less criminal in the province. Hc was a schoolmaster of before ir- reproachable character, and was convicted on very shallow testimony. Governor Clark wrote a letter, stating that the Spaniards were send- ing Jesuits into the country, disguised as schoolmasters and dancing- masters, to create revolt among the negroes, and advised the con- viction of Ury. This man undoubtedly died the first religious martyr in the New World. An old chronicler says, " Roman Catholics, and the cry of ' Church and State in danger' were often witnessed on clec- tion and other occasions in New York, also ' high and low Church' were resounded. 'No bishop' could be seen in capitols, on fences, etc. A man did not dare to avow him a Catholic, it was odious ; a chapel then would have been pulled down."
The French Jesuit missionaries from Canada, preached among each tribe of the great Five Nations of Indians in the province of New York, and converted thousands of them. In 1683, under Governor Dougan, a Catholic, the desires of the people for a popular govern- ment were gratified. The first general assembly was convoked, and the rights of religious belief were guaranteed. Dougan also founded a college and brought English Jesuits thereto. Under him also an Irish colony settled in New York. In 1777, owing to the influence of John Jay, an article was inserted in the State Constitution declar- ing that no Papist could be naturalized. The first Catholic Church, St. Peter's, was built in 1786 on Barclay street, when there were some two hundred Catholics in the city. For thirty years St. Peter's was the only Catholic Church, when St. Patrick's Cathedral was built on the corner of Mott and Prince streets. In 1820 Christ Church on Ann street became a Catholic Church, then the Reformed Presbyterian on Chamber street, the Universalist on Astor place. and then the Presbyterian on the same strect. In 1826, the number of Catholics had increased to thirty-five thousand, who had the ser- vices of four priests. The See of New York was erccted in 1808, and raised to the dignity of an Archbishopric in 1850. The first
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REV. THOMAS S. PRESTON.
Bishop, Right Rev. Luke Congannon, O. P. was consecrated April 24th, 1808, and died January 3d, 1810. Right Rev. John Connolly, O. P. was consecrated Bishop November 16th, 1814, and died July, 1825; Right Rev. John Dubois, D. D., was consecrated October, 1826, and died January, 1842 ; Most Rev. John Hughes, D. D., was consecrated Co-Adjutor Bishop January 7th, 1838, created first Archbishop 1850, and died Jan. 3d, 1864. The present Archbishop, Most Rev. John Mc Closkey, D. D., was consecrated Co-Adjutor to Right Rev. John Hughes, D. D., transferred to the diocese of Albany May 21st, 1847, and succeeded to the See of New York May 6th, 1864. In 1840 the number of churches in the city was seven, in 1850 eighteen, in 1860 twenty-nine, and in 1873 forty-one. At the last named date there were more than one hundred priests officiating in the city, and two hundred and twenty-nine in the whole diocese, and between four and five hundred thousand worshipers attended the city churches.
Father Preston has published several religious and devotional works. Among these may be mentioned "Controversy of Reason and Revelation," "Lectures on Christian unity," and a volume of sermons.
It has never been doubted by those who are aware of the ability of the man, that the Protestant Church lost much in both clerical schol- arship and efficiency by the secession of Father Preston. This has also been fully established by what he has accomplished in the com- munion of Rome. He has not been satisfied to be simply a worker in the line of his priestly duties, but he has become one of the most ag- gressive and learned champions of her faith. True and humble in his servitude to her doctrines, and the obligations imposed upon him, joyous and zealous in his convictions, though a convert from Protest- antism, he has made use of his learning as a theologian most effect- ually, for the upholding of her tenets, and the enlargement of her flocks.
He writes with the ease and force which come from natural gifts, learning, and personal sympathy with his theme. He always is the master of his subject, and his sincere and ardent feelings are not less involved and expressed. As a preacher he is eloquent and devout. He speaks in tenderness, and with the glow of enthusiasm, but with positiveness of assertion. Indifferent to all labor, he is one of the most far-seeing and industrious of the whole priesthood in New York. He has a round head, with regular features; in his manners he is plain and frank, and in his temperment he is cheerful and hopeful.
451
REV. JOSEPHI H. PRICE, D. D.,
RECTOR OF ST. STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. JOSEPH H. PRICE was born in Boston. He was graduated at Brown University, Providence, in 1825, and pursued a theological course privately in Boston, with Bishops Doane and Alonzo Potter, then rectors of churches in that city. He was ordained a deacon of the Epis- copal church in 1829, and priest in 1830. About two years were spent in missionary labor in different parts of Massachusetts, and in the temporary supply of the pulpits of St. Paul's Church, Salem, and Grace Church, Providence. An invitation to Gardiner, Maine, and another to Portland, were declined during the same period. After being assistant of Dr. Hawk, at, St. Thomas', New York, he accepted a call to St. Paul's, Albany, about 1833, where he remained three years and a half. In July, 1837, he became rector at St. Stephen's Church, New York, which is his position at this time. St. Stephen's parish was organized in 1805, by persons who withdrew from Zion Church, then in Mott street, and selected for their first rector a Mr. Shoebeck. The late Bishop Moore, of Virginia, was also rector for some five years. Some years since the church, an ancient looking brick building on the corner of Broome and Chrystie s reets, was sold. The congregation now worship in an edifice purchased by them, in West Forty-sixth street, in 1873, of the church of the Advent, the two congregations becoming united.
Dr. Price is an active man in his denomination, and belongs to what is known as the high church party. A warm partisan of the late Bishop Benj. T. Onderdonk, he is still a disbeliever in the charges for which that prelate was suspended. He was president of the diocesan convention of 1861, and represented the diocese in the general convention of 1863. He has been president of the Missionary Committee, and is now chairman of the Standing Committee, and trustee of the Episcopal General Theological Seminary, vice-president
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REV. JOSEPH H. PRICE, D. D.
of the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society and Tract Society, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Church Book Society. His degree of D. D. was received from Columbia College.
Dr. Price is above the average height, and of venerable appearance. His head is one of the round, trim-looking sort, with silver-gray hair, well-marked features, and a most agreeable countenance. He looks as he is, a man of intelligence, frank, unassuming manners, and a good heart. He is social and cheerful, showing that neither the frosts of age nor the experience of a prolonged life have in any manner affected spirits naturally genial. When he meets you he has a pleasant smile and a warm grasp of the hand, and even a stranger can feel no reserve with him. Then there is such freedom from all disguise in his sentiments, and he is so chatty and kindly, that he secures not only attention, but regard. A conscientious Christian in all his habits and intercourse, he is not lacking in the due practice of those other qualities which best display the gentleman and man.
Dr. Price's sermons are excellent moral lessons. His delivery is rapid, and his voice is loud. He is almost without gesture of any kind. As a teacher of truths, and as a guide in all the proprieties of morals and religion, as well as a genial associate in the private walks of life, he is greatly valued.
453
1
REV. SAMUEL IRENAEUS PRIME, D. D., EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK OBSERVER.
EV. DR. SAMUEL IRENÆUS PRIME was born at Ballston, Saratoga County, New York, November 4th, 1812. He is an elder brother of the well-known author, William C. Prime. At the age of thirteen years he entered Williams College, and was graduated in 1829. Having concluded a course at the Princeton Theological Seminary, he became a member of the Presbyterian church ; but, in 1840, from ill-health, was obliged to abandon regular preaching. He then became associated in the editorial charge of the New York Observer, one of the chief organs of the Presbyterian denomination. For more than thirty years his able pen has been employed editorially, and as a literary contributor and traveling correspondent in this paper. His contributions, under the signature of "Irenæus," have had great pop- ularity, and under his management the Observer has taken the rank of one of the leading religious journals, and been also noted for its conservative political views. In 1855, he published "Travels in Europe and the East," in two volumes, and a work on Switzerland. These works were the results of an extended journey in Europe and Asia, in 1853. Ile is also the author of several volumes of a religious character, including " Thoughts on the death of Little Children," and "The Power of Prayer." The last named is a sketch of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting, in New York, and has been translated into several European languages. More recently he has traveled exten- sively in other directions, and written another fascinating volume, entitled "The Alhambra and the Kremlin-The South and the North of Europe." Another recent book is called "Under the Trees." IIe was Chairman of the Committee having charge of the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in New York, in 1873, and
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REV. SAMUEL IRENEUS PRIME, D. D.
much of the success of that great Christian gathering was due to his efforts. In May, 1874, he was elected one of the Vice Presidents of the American Tract Society in the place of the Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, deceased.
During all the years of his retirement from the active ministry, Dr. Prime has occasionally preached, sometimes, indeed, supplying the pulpits of absent ministers for a considerable period. His learn- ing and literary gifts make his sermons highly attractive, and his services have been eagerly sought for in the manner stated. But his chief popularity has arisen from his writings in the Observer, and his books. In the first his style is clear and vigorous, with the intro- duction of an exquisite humor in some of his lighter articles; and in the second he writes with most brilliant descriptive powers, mak- ing every scene and object as vivid as apt and graceful language can depict it, and treating all moral and social questions with a deep, philosophical reflectiveness.
In appearance he is about of the medium height and sparely made. His head is of the intellectual type, with a face of exceeding amiabil- ity. His manners are unassuming and polite, and he is of an unusually cheerful, genial disposition. He is fond of social life, especially with high-bred and Christian people, and on such occasions is the life of the cirele. The country and flowers, and children, and everything that is beautiful and pure, attract and delight him. His far-off travels, his rambles at home, his association with the high and learned of al- most all lands, his scholarly attainments, and his literary talents, are all matters which serve to give a charm and influence to his society. Those who know him intimately, esteem and love him, while by the public at large he is regarded as one of the strong men for all good works.
455
REV. JAMES M. PULLMAN,
PASTOR OF THE SIXTHI UNIVERSALIST CHURCHI, NEW YORK.
EV. JAMES M. PULLMAN was born at Portland, Chatauque county, New York, August 21st, 1836. ITis early academie studies were under Rev. Dr. French, at the Albion Academy, Albion, Orleans county. He studied theology at the St. Lawrence Divinity School, at Canton, where he was graduated in 1861. Having accepted a call to the First Universalist Church of Troy, he was ordained and installed to its pastorship in May, 1862. His ministrations were very successful in this field, and he remained in it for six years and eleven months. About this period the Sixth society of New York was obliged to give up their pastor, the Rev. Elbridge Gerry Brooks, who had ae- cepted a position in connection with the Board of Missions, and Mr. Pullman received a call to this church. He accepted, and entered upon his duties in March, 1868.
Universalism was first preached in the city of New York by Rev. John Murray, in September, 1770, which had then a population of fifteen or eighteen thousand. He preached in the Baptist Meeting House on " Golden Hill," somewhere in the vicinity of the present Gold street. It is stated that he had large congregations, and on his re- turn to preach again in the following year was received with great enthusiasm. He made a third visit, but declined to remain perma- nently. After the close of the revolution, two eminent physicians of the city, Dr. Joseph Young and Dr. William Pitt Smith, published books against the doctrine of endless misery. In 1793 the first Universalist periodical ever published in America was issued in New York, called The Free Universal Magazine, of which two numbers were issued in New York, and two afterward in Baltimore.
Prior to 1800, Rev. Edward Mitchell, a seceder from the Metho- dists, established a new congregation called "The Society of United Christian Friends," who held to the doctrine of the final salvation of
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REV. JAMES M. PULLMAN.
all mankind, but were never in actual fellowship with the Univer- salist denomination. At first they worshiped in Vandewater street : and subsequently a church was created for their use in Magazine (now Pearl) street, between Broadway and Chatham street. This was the first church ever built in the State of New York dedicated to the service of God as the Saviour of all men. Mr. Mitchell preached with success, and a large church was erected at the corner of Duane street and City Hall Place. Mr. Mitchell died in 1835, and the Society then called Rev. Mr. Pickering; but it declined in num- bers, and finally became extinct.
This Mr. Mitchell was an eloquent man, and his preaching was one of the sensations of that day. In a Fast-day sermon preached during the prevalence of the yellow fever, in 1822, by the celebrated Rev. Dr. Samuel II. Cox, then a minister of the city, he gave as one reason for the prevalence of the fever that " Universalism was in its meridian in New York," and said "there were thousands who be- lieved but would not avow it: that the preachers were murderers of men's souls, making men the most profligate while living and the most desperate sinners when they die." One of Mr. Mitchell's ser- mons was sent to the Doctor, with a request that he would examine it, and point out everything he might find in it "calculated to bring down the wrath of God upon the city." The sermon was returned with the leaves uneut, and in the same envelope in which it was sent, with these words upon it: " Procul, O procul, este profant !" which means, " Far away, O far away, ye profane!"
In June of the same year Mrs. Marie Townsend was excommuni- cated from Dr. Spring's Brick Presbyterian Church on account of her faith in Universalism. The Session passed the following sen- tence :
" Whereas, Marie Townsend had been, by sufficient proof, convicted of persever- ing disbelief of the doctrines of the everlasting punishment of the wicked, and, after inuch admonition and prayer, obstinately refusing to hear the Church, and hath manifested no evidence of repentance; therefore, in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, this Session pronounce her to be excluded from. the communion of the Church."
Dr. Spring pronounced the excommunication from the pulpit on the following Sunday in these words :
" It has become my painful duty to announce that Marie Townsend, a member of this church, has for two years past persevered in denying the doctrine of the ever- lasting punishment of the wicked, and has presented her children for dedication at a place of pretended worship, where the doctrine is taught that the wicked shall be saved as well as the righteous."
457
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REV. JAMES M. PULLMAN.
In the summer of 1823 the Second Society of United Christian Friends was formed, and they erected a church on the corner of Prince and Orange streets. Rev. Nehemiah Dodge, a convert from the Baptists, had charge of this congregation ; and after him Rev. Abner Kneeland, of Philadelphia, who afterward went over to a desperate infidelity. In 1829, a small body of seceders from Mr. Mitchell's and Knecland's congregations formed a society, and pur- chased a little chapel in Grand strect, opposite the head of Division street. Rev. Dr. Sawyer, now eminent in the Universalist denomina- tion, but then just out of college, became the pastor of this Society in April, 1830, it having only elcven members. In 1831, Philo Price started the Christian Messenger, which ruined him. The paper is still in existence, and is called the Christian Ambassador. In 1832, Dr. Sawyer hired a church in Orchard street, which was after- wards purchased by his congregation. The Third Society, now wor- shiping in Bleecker street, originated in 1834, and the first meetings were held in a little church in Sixth avenue, opposite Amity street. Later, the Fourth Society, now Dr. Chapin's, was organized, and after several removals a church on Fifth avenue was crected. The Fifth Society was organized in the neighborhood of the Dry Dock, and was finally located in a church in Fourth street, near Avenue C, but is now disbanded.
The Sixth Universalist Society, or Church of Our Saviour, now under the pastorship of Mr. Pullman, was organized in 1851, with a few members. In 1852, the Rev. Nelson Snell was called as the first pastor. The first preaching was in a hall corner of Eighth avenue and West Twenty-fifth street, but the congregation pur- chased a church and adjoining dwelling-house in Twenty-fourth street, near Ninth avenue, for $6,500. This church was occupied January 23d, 1853, and on the 23d of June following was rcorganized with twenty members. Mr. Snell resigned after a pastorship of more than two years, and was succeeded by the Rev. Asher Moore, who remained three years. In July, 1858, the Rev. J. II. Shepherd became the pastor, but resigned after a pastorate of one year. Dur- ing his term of service a church in West Twentieth street was pur- chased, and after being refitted at considerable expense, was opened for worship on Sunday, May 22d, 1859. Mr. Brooks succeeded Mr. Shepherd, and received installation on the first Sunday of November, 1859. He remained with the congregation eight years, and during this time the congregation increased, and a church edifice in West
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REV. JAMES M. PULLMAN.
Thirty-fifth street, near Sixth avenue, was purchased and occupied. The church in Twentieth street was sold in 1856, and for nearly a year the society worshiped in Everett Hall, corner of Broadway and Thirty-fourth street. They expected to have bought ground and built a church, but at length the Episcopal Church of the Resurrec- tion (Rev. Dr. Flagg's), and rectory adjoining, were purchased for the sum of thirty-four thousand dollars, and soon after taken possession of. In 1873 this property was sold, and a new church is to be built.
The prosperity of this and the other Societies of the denomina- tion, shows that the Universalists have come forth from the back streets and dingy halls of former times. They no longer go to their places of devotion with every man's finger pointed at them as the accursed of the city. They have built churches on the grand avenues and best streets ; they have social influence and wealth, and they have learned and eloquent ministers. These ministers, too, are no longer mere enthusiasts, seeking notoriety or martyrdom through the ad- vocacy of an unpopular belief, but they are men educated to their calling, and able to defend what they preach from a standpoint of scholarship. They have schools, colleges, and universities, and, in a word, they have command of all of those facilities which are necessary for the permanency and success of their sect, as one of the religious bodies of the land. To reach this position it has taken in New York, one hundred years of fidelity to principle, of moral heroism under discouragement, and of social ban and martyrdom.
Mr. Pullman is a representative man in organizing and conduct- ing the religious work of his denomination. His energy and practi- cal judgment, pre-eminently fit him for t':ese duties. In 1869 he organized and become President of the Universalist Young Men's Christian Association, of New York, which has Library and Read- ing Rooms in Sixth avenue. He was elected in the same year Secre- tary of the General Convention, the body which directs the affairs of the denomination at large.
Mr. Pullman is of the medium height, and well-proportioned. He has a good-sized head, and regular, rather handsome features. His eyes are clear, with a modest glance; and his whole face shows him to be a person of genial and kindly characteristics. His man- ners are natural and unaffected. He does not dress at all in the clerical style, and he might as readily pass for a merchant as a divine. In fact, the avoidance of everything to call him personally into
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REV. JAMES M. PULLMAN.
notice is one of the rules of his life. He is a warm-hearted man, a good husband, a gentle father, and has all those ardent and sym- pathetic feelings of the heart which lend such a charm to social ties and interminglings. IIe earries smiles and cheerfulness wherever he goes ; and there are few men who are more warmly regarded in per- sonal friendship than himself.
He is a hard worker in the ministry. Universalist ministers have in no sense an easy office. They must study hard, and be ready at all times to meet the assaults which learning, and ignorance as well, make upon their faith. Mr. Pullman is one of the kind who is al- ways ready for the enemy, and always at his post expecting him. His mind is clear, fertile, and active, and his powers of argument and explanation are strong and comprehensive, and well suited to the task of expounding the Scriptures. In conversation and public speaking he has a pleasant and winning voice, and his manners are always gentle and fascinating. His people bceome strongly attached to him, and even strangers are always favorably impressed. He is a faithful pastor, and is held in high esteem by his ministerial brethren for his talents and conscientious labors.
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