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 16
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 16
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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
Warm-hearted and genial as the man, versatile and thorough in his accomplishments as the scholar, successful and of growing fame as the minister, Dr. Robinson holds a well-deserved place as one of the most appreciable and talented inen of the day. The experienced shepherd of a numerous and precious flock, he is ever alert in works of faithfulness and faith, and ever binding more closely the bonds of personal friendships and public approbation.
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Yours Incl. 1. . Michael
REV. J. EDSON ROCKWELL, D. D.,
LATE PASTOR OF THE CENTRAL PRES- BYTERIAN CHURCH, BROOKLYN.
EV. J. EDSON ROCKWELL, D. D., was born at Salisbury, Vt., May 4th, 1816. IIe humorously says that he was in Vermont just long enough to be born there, Hudson, in the state of New York, having been the home of his early life. He was graduated at Amherst College in 1837, and at the New York Theological Seminary in 1841. In October of the same year he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Valatia, New York, in connection with the New School Presbytery of Columbia. He remained with this charge until called to the Hanover street New School Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, Delaware, where he commenced his duties March 21st, 1847. Nearly five years later, on the 13th of February, 1851, he was installed pastor of the Central Old School Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, then located in Willoughby street. The congregation, after many trials, in which they were continually called upon to appreciate the cheerful hope and untiring energy of their pastor, were enabled to build a tasteful and spacious edifice in Schermerhorn street, seating one thousand persons, which was dedicated December 10th, 1854. The cost of the whole property was about thirty-four thousand dollars. When Dr. Rockwell entered upon his duties, the congregation num- bered only one hundred and twenty members, while thirteen years later the number was four hundred and sixty, and during the same time nearly six hundred had joined, three hundred of whom were admitted on profession of faith. His degree of D. D. was received from Jefferson College, in 1859. After eighteen years of ministerial labor, half of which had been devoted to the Central congregation, impaired health induced him to obtain leave of absence, and on the 7th of May, 1859, in company with his wife and a mutual friend, he took his departure for Europe, where he passed five months in travel. He spent some time in ministering to the soldiers in the field, in the
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REV. J. EDSON ROCKWELL, D. D.
service of the Christian Commission. Several years since Dr. Rock- well became pastor of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, Staten Island, N. Y., where he has passed a happy and useful pastorate.
Dr. Rockwell is a constant contributor to the religious and secular press. He has published several works-viz: "Sketches of the Pres- byterian Church ;" " Young Christian Warned ;" "The Sheet Anchor," a little book for sailors; "The Visitor's Questions," a Sun- day-school book; "Scenes and Impressions Abroad;" "Seed Thoughts ;" and "The Diamond in the Cage." The last named is the fruit of thirty years of labor among Sunday School children. During a period of eight years the "Sunday School Visitor," a publi- cation of the Presbyterian Board, was edited by Dr. Rockwell. He has also published a variety of occasional sermons and addresses, among which may be mentioned " A Plea for the Eldership ;" "The Day at Hand," an address; "Christ Walking on the Waters ;" " A Plea for the Sailor."
We make the following extracts from the address entitled "The Day at Hand," delivered before the Synod of New York, by its ap- pointment, in the Scotch Church, New York, October 23d, 1862 :
"Amid much that is dark, and surrounded by scenes of peril and trial, we may yet look out upon the great fields of Christian labor, and feel that the signs of the times are giving promise of good. In all the history of the past, the church has never had so much to encourage her. God's people have never seen so much to strengthen their faith, and to call forth their full and united efforts for the extension of the Kingdom of Christ. The Bible is now translated into every tongue, and is waiting to be sent to every creature, with all its precious messages of mercy. More than forty-eight millions of copies of the Holy Scriptures have been published during the present century, which are being circulated, not alone by all the varied agencies in Christian lands, but by more than sixteen hundred missionaries, and more than six- teen thousand native preachers and teachers, who have been converted to God, and educated for his service, from the midst of heathen degradation. Divine Providence has, in the most wonderful-and often in the most unlooked-for manner-removed out of the way obstacles which seemed to be insurmountable in the progress of Christian missions, so that there is now free access to every part of the heathen world. The silence of the remotest sea is now broken by the plash of the steamer, the herald of civilization, and the agent of Christian nations, in bearing their influence to every land and nation. Commerce and the intrepid zeal of science have broken in upon African wilds and Asiatic solitudes, and opened to the world vast regions, peopled with teeming millions, which have been hitherto unvisited and unknown. The walls of China are broken down ; Japan is opening to the Gospel; Africa is already feeling the influence of commerce in elevating her people, and is opening vast mines ot wealth hitherto unknown, which will attract to her shores not the ships of the slave- trader, but merchant fleets engaged in honorable and civilized traffic, under whose influence that mighty continent may regain her ancient prestige, when Carthage was
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REV. J. EDSON ROCKWELL, D. D.
the empire of commerce, and Egypt the mother of science. Mahomedan prejudices against Christian nations are fast going away before the influence of national inter- communion, and the fierce fanaticism with which the Turkish and Persian and Moorish nations have met the advances of Christian kindness and courtesy is yield- ing before the advance of light and truth, while amid the millions of the Papal world there is going on a wondrous change, which is rapidly opening their minds to the blessings of civil and religious liberty."
The following extract, descriptive of the Bay of Naples, from "Scenes and Impressions Abroad," will show how happy the author has been in delineating his observations of travel :
"The beautiful indentations of the shore which forms the Bay of Naples com- merces on the north, at the Cape of Miseno, and, sweeping round in a most graceful curve towards the east and south, terminates at the Capo Della Campanella, making a circuit of thirty-five miles.
" As our ship rounds the northern headland, there come rapidly into view beauti- ful and bold shores, covered with Italian villas, palaces, gardens, and convents, until the whole of this magnificent bay bursts upon the view, and presents a scene which has, perhaps no equal, and which no pen can describe. Almost in the centre of this glorious picture, Vesuvius, its head wreathed by the dark clouds of smoke which ceaselessly roll up from its crater, rises majestically from a lovely valley. As the eye sweeps round the beautiful coast, it takes in a series of villages and hamlets, peeping out from groves of orange, citron, and olive trees, while behind them the distant hills rise in graceful outlines, and mountains, softened by distance and mellowed by the indescribable glow of an Italian atmosphere, shut in the lovely scene.
"Turning from this picture, to which words do no justice, we catch our first view of the city of Naples, which lies upon a smaller indentation of the bay. Dashing by lines of forts and castles, through fleets of small vessels, with the peculiar Oriental model of the Mediterranean, which are lying quietly at anchor, just as the morning bugle is arousing the soldiers of the castles, and the guns of the ships of war are thundering over the waters, we come to anchor under the range of one of the batteries, and opposite the custom-house of Naples. During the long hours we spend in waiting for the return of our passports, which have been sent on shore to the police, we amuse ourselves by watching the small boats which surround the ship, filled with fruit or other edibles, or laden with musicians who have all the airs of opera singers, and who have come out to pick up a few pence for their performances. At last the officers of the government are satisfied, and we are permitted to debark. Small boats now swarm about the vessel like leeches, and the boatmen tender their services most pertinaciously."
Dr. Rockwell is about the medium height, and equally propor- tioned. He has an active step, and his whole manner bespeaks him to be a person of quick impulses, and earnest, practical energy. His severe labors of the ministry and occasonal ill-health have given him the look of his full age. Intercourse with him, however, shows his spirits to have the buoyancy and elasticity of youth, and his resolution is as rigid as his hopefulness is inspiring. His eyes are clear, calm, and particularly expressive of kind and Christian sympathies, to which
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REV. J. EDSON ROCKWELL, D. D.
is added a flitting smile of surpassing gentleness. The brow is broad, high, and full, and there is a contraction between the eyes, outward evidences of the habit of severe and constant thought. All the features are prominent, while uniform, and the entire face is not less striking from physical than intellectual attractiveness.
Dr. Rockwell is a man of fine abilities, and ranks with the most distinguished men of his denomination. His mind is largely stored with the gains of a comprehensive and unremitting student-life, be- sides which he is a most intelligent and critical observer of daily life. There is nothing speculative about him, nothing which has not as well a practical, common-sense basis, as one laid in truth, morality and religion. Inflexible in principle, pure and exalted in design, just and liberal in his judgment, he deceives no man with sophistries any more than personally he heeds the temptations of evil. Frank and truthful in his nature, he brings everything in culture and in life to the test of the honest heart, and no other standard. Nobly conspicuous with this trait, and beloved for it, he proclaims his doctrines of faith, and leads trusting souls to redemption.
His style of preaching is plain in matter and manner, though always marked by animation and a degree of eloquence. He uses well-worded, expressive sentences, often made most touchingly tender by pathos and pastoral love. He gesticulates a great deal, but with excellent taste and effect. The Presbyterian ministry has men more showy in declamation, and enjoying a larger share of public attention than Dr. Rockwell, but the whole Christian ministry cannot produce one more upright and faithful. Gifted with talents and adorned with virtues, he is found to be only proud of his place among those who meekly bear the cross.
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REV. EBENEZER P. ROGERS, D. D., PASTOR OF THE SOUTHI REFORMED CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. EBENEZER P. ROGERS is a native of the City of New York, and over fifty years of age. He was called to the South Reformed Church, New York, from a Presbyterian church in Albany about twelve years since. The South Church was originally located in Exchange Placc, than called Garden street, in the extreme Southern portion of the city, and some two miles and a half from the present location. The Rev. Dr. Matthews was the first pastor, having as his colleague the Rev. Dr. Hutton. A considerable representation of the wealth and influence of the day was to be found in the congregation. The great fire of 1835 swept away the church edifice, and the congregation became greatly agitated, and finally divided on the question of build- ing on a site up-town. At length an arrangement was made, by which the property was divided, and a portion of the congregation, bearing the old name, built a church on the corner of Murray and Church streets, and forty-nine other members, with the two pastors; organized a new congregation in the Chapel of the University, and subsequently erected a very fine edifice on Washington Square, where Dr. Hutton still officiates. After some years the Murray Strect con- gregation sold their building, and erected a new church on the corner of Fifth avenue and Twenty-first street, nearly a mile beyond the site of their former co-members, on Washington Square, which had been considered too far up-town. Such, in fact, in a few years had been the up-town movement of the people that up-town churches had be- come again down-town churches. The edifice of the South Church is a tasteful and spacious brick structure, and occupies one of the most accessible, and at the same time select localities for a building of the kind in New York. The Rev. Dr. Macauley, the younger, was the pastor for a number of years, and on his retirement, Professor
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REV. EBENEZER P. ROGERS, D. D.
Hitchcock officiated for some time, until Dr. Rogers was called. The congregation has largely increased under Dr. Rogers' ministration, and now ranks with the most numerous of the city. A few years since Dr. Rogers made an extended tour in Europe. He is one of the six members of the Publishing Committee of the American Traet Society.
He is about the medium height, well-proportioned, erect, and altogether of an imposing figure. His head is round and intellectual, and his face is amiable and cheerful in its expressions. He is a man of great courtesy of manners, but of an ever-present and sometimes formal dignity. His clerical and learned character appears to you at once, and is thoroughly supported under all circumstances. Some men are exactly suited by nature for their calling, and Dr. Rogers is one of these. The gravity of manners, the solemnity of speech, and the true deportment of the clergyman, are fully exhibited by him. The height and breadth, the model and portrait of the clerical character are perfectly fitted in every respect, and he stands not only worthy of all credit in his own person, but an example to his brethren. IIe seems and acts the divine scholar and teacher with an ease which is natural to him, and in a manner which gives force and impressiveness to his teachings and example.
Dr. Rogers preaches a plainly worded and practical sermon. He evidently feels that preaching imposed upon him one self-evident duty, and that is to call sinners to repentance. Should his sermons be examined for correctness and beauty of the language, as to the force and clearness of the arguments,-and generally as an carnest, prayerful appeal of the Christian teacher, they will be found entitled to all praise. They meet the highest requirements of preaching, and are, undoubtedly, conducive to great good.
Dr. Rogers has much animation in the pulpit, both in voice and gesture. He becomes much absorbed in his theme, and he speaks with the full fervor of his voice and devout convictions. Many of his gestures are particularly vehement, such as uplifting his hands toward heaven, etc. His voice has full compass, but is somewhat wanting in smoothness and mellowness .. He is an active man in his church, and exerts a large influence in all the religious organizations with which he is connected. He shows great judgment in all his efforts, and personally takes no heed of the utmost degree of pains- taking toil.
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REV. STEALY B. ROSSITER, PASTOR OF THE NORTHI PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. STEALY B. ROSSITER was born at Berne, Albany County, New York, May 22d, 1842. He was graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1865, and at the Union Theological Seminary, New York, in 1869. His ordination to the ministry was in connection with the Albany Presbytery, but he accepted a call to the Congrega- tional church at Elizabeth, New Jersey. He remained in this pastorship until June 16th, 1859, when he came to the North Presbyterian Church of New York, over which he was installed Sep- tember 21st, 1873.
A church of eight males and eight females was organised June 27th, 1847, by Rev. Thomas II. Skinner, D. D., assisted by Rev. Wm. Adams, D. D., and the Rev. W. Roosevelt. It received the name of "The North Presbyterian Church in the city of New York." The congregation became a religious incorporation in due form September 13th, 1847. Preaching had been for some time held in the chapel of the Institution for the Blind, then in one of the rural districts of the city. A free lease of four full lots of ground on the south side of Thirty-second street, between the Eighth and Ninth avenues, was obtained from Mr. James Boorman, for seven years from May 1st, 1848, which was subsequently extended to nine years. A temporary house of worship was completed in April fol- lowing, at a cost of $3,200. It was a frame building, about forty by sixty feet, with a short central tower in front. It contained seventy- five pews, and had a front gallery. The house was built in the open field, on a hill-side, known formerly as "Strawberry Hill." The first public worship took place April 13th, 1849. The congregation prospered, and in 1856 measures were taken to erect a more substan- tial and commodious house of worship. By the noble munificence
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REV. STEALY B. ROSSITER.
of Mr. James Boorman, the congregation was, on the 1st of May fol. lowing, put into frec and full possession of four full lots of ground, ninety-eight feet nine inches by one hundred fect, on the northcast corner of Ninth avenue and Thirty-first street. The corner-stone was laid June 19th, 1856, and the lecture-room was opened for reli- gious services November 16th of the same year. The new church was completed and opened for public worship March 29th, 1857, and cost, with the organ and other furniture, $45,759 28. It is built of stone, nincty-one by sixty-six fect, with a tower projection of four feet, and a central spire rising to the height of one hundred and eighty-two feet. The interior is finished in fresco. It has one hun- dred and fifty-two pews on the main floor, and sixty on the side- galleries, which will accommodate one thousand adult persons. The organ gallery is in front, and disconnected from the others. The house is lighted at night from the ceiling. The old church was sold to the Northwest Presbyterian church for $600, and soon after re- moved to Fiftieth street, ncar Broadway.
Rev. Washington Roosevelt was the first pastor of the North Church, remaining from 1849 to 1856, when he was suceceded by Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, who remained a number of years. The Rev. Thomas Street was next called, and served a very efficient pas- torship, until compelled by impaired health to resign in May, 1873. Mr. Rossiter found the church still strong in membership, and its usefulness promises to continue under his own ministry.
Mr. Rossiter is rather over the medium height, sparely propor- tioned, and ereet. He has fair hair and complexion. The face is small, but the upper portion of the head is well developed, and shows brain-power. His manners are frank and courteous. He is undoubt- edly, a man of a great deal of modesty and good judgment in regard to all his actions. As a preacher he cxcels in the fervor of feeling which marks the thoroughly religious mind and heart. He speaks fluently, while his agreeable voice and well-chosen gestures give force and effect to every word that he utters. But the most noticeable feature of his preaching is its earnest and affectionate appeal to the uneon- verted. As a man and a minister his sole ambition is to save souls. The glow of his eloquence and the logic of his arguments, all arise from this one impulse, and hence he preaches at once with sincerity and effectiveness.
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REV. JAMES H. RYLANCE, D. D.,
RECTOR OF ST. MARK'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. JAMES HI. RYLANCE was born in the city of Manchester, England, June 16th, 1826. He was gradu- ated at King's College, London, in 1858. He took holy orders as deacon in 1861, and priest in 1862, in the dio- cese of Westminster. IIe was first settled at St. Paul's Church, Southwark, London, and remained there about two years. At the solicitation of the late Bishop Mellvaine, Dr. Rylance then came to the United States, and, having transferred his ecclesiastical connection to the diocese of Ohio, became rector of St. Paul's Church, Cleveland, where he labored for three years and eight months. He then went to St. James' Church, Chicago, re- maining the same length of time. At Easter, 1871, he entered upon his present rectorship of the ancient parish of St. Mark's, New York. He is an associate of King's College, having the title of A. K. C., and in 1867 received the degree of D. D. from the Western Reserve University. He wrote and published in England " Preachers and Preaching; " a critique by a " Dear Hearer," and was a contributor to the Homilist, published in London. He has also published vari- ous sermons ; more recently he has delivered before his congregation several series of very able lectures on religious topics.
" The Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Mark in the Bowery, in the city of New York," its original and legal title, has an inter- esting history. The ground is a part of the bouwery, or farm, owned by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch rulers of New York, which covered a greater portion of the present Eleventh and Seventeenth wards, and a section of the Sixteenth. He was a Chris- tian man, and a member and ruling elder of the Reformed Dutch de- nomination, and on this site erected a chapel for the accommodation of his family, and the few residents in the neighborhood. Stuy vesant arrived in 1647, but it is not known when the chapel was built. The earliest date connected with its existence is 1660. When the Rev. Henry Selyus came out from Holland to be the Dutch
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minister in New York, Governor Stuyvesant arranged for him to preach a portion of the time in the chapel ; and other clergymen who came over, did the same thing. A vault was built under the chapel, which is the Stuyvesant family burial-place to this day. After the decease of the Governor and his wife, the chapel was unoccupied, and fell into decay. In 1793, Mr. Peter Stuyvesant, the great-grand- son of the Governor, took means to induce the vestry of Trinity Church to organize a new parish, and build a church on this site. He offered to contribute eight hundred pounds, and a lot of land one hundred and fifty feet in width, and one hundred and ninety in length. On the 19th of July, 1795, the vestry of Trinity Church agreed to raise five thousand pounds for the proposed building. The corner-stone was laid on the 25th of April, 1795, and the church was consecrated by Bishop Samuel Provoost on the 9th of May, 1799. On the 27th of August, of the same year, the Trinity Vestry appointed trustees, to whom a conveyance was made of the church and land, in trust for the congregation, when organized. The first sale of pews took place October 2d, 1799, and the election of a vestry was on the 18th of the same month. The revenues of the church did not support it, and financial assistance was again asked of Trinity Church. This corporation, November 8th, 1800, deeded thirty lots of land in the city to St. Mark's Church, which produced twelve hundred and fifty dollars a year. In 1804, fifty- seven pews in St. Mark's brought a total yearly rental of only $562.50, and in 1828, sixty-eight pews rented for only $943. The number of communicants in 1804 was about twenty. A steeple to the church was built in 1826, and several important alterations and repairs took place from 1834 to 1836. In 1803 Mr. Peter Stuy- vesant gave lots on Eleventh street for a parsonage, and in 1804, ground for a cemetery. A record, bearing date of July 20th, 1804, shows that pew No. 9, was reserved for the use of Mr. Stuyvesant and his family and descendants forever free of charge for rent. On the outer eastern wall of the edifice is a tablet bearing the follow- ing inscription : "In this vault lies buried Peter Stuyvesant, late Captain-General and Commander in Chief of Amsterdam in New Netherlands, now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands. Died in August, A. D. 1682, aged eighty years."
On the 15th of February. 1800, the Rev. John Callahan was called to the rectorship, and accepted, but he died in a short time from an accident. The Rev. William Harris was called December 23d, 1801, and served until November 14th, 1816, about fifteen
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REV. JAMES H. RYLANCE, D. D.
ycars, when he resigned, by reason of the duties of President of Columbia College, to which he had been previously elected, re- quiring all of his time. On December 3d, 1816, the Rev William Creighton was called, and remained the rector for nearly twenty years, until May 5th, 1836. The Rev. Dr. Henry Anthon was called December 17th, 1836, and was the rector until his death, many years later. In May, 1861, the Rev. Dr. Alexander II. Vinton became the rector, and remained a number of years. For an inter- val there was no regular rector, when, in 1871, the Rev. Dr. Ry- lance accepted a call to the parish. The church is still pleasantly located, and attended by many of the old families.
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