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 23
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 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
562
REV. JESSE B. THOMAS.
sixty by forty feet erected, which the congregation continued to oc- cupy for about ten years. Having secured a lot in Nassau street, near Fulton street, for $7,000, in 1834, the recently occupied edifiee of the congregation, eighty by sixty feet, was constructed, at a cost of $17,000. The building vacated was sold to an Episcopal congre- gation. Rev. W. C. Hawley, or Holly, was the first pastor. In 1841, Rev. Dr. J. L. Hodge became the pastor, and thus remained during eleven years. IIe temporarily supplied the pulpit for a year subsequently. Rev. Henry M. Gallaher then become the pastor, and served for several years. Just prior to the coming of Mr. Tho- mas, the church edifiee was destroyed by fire, but the united con- gregation has the house of the Pierrepont street congregation for its place of meeting.
Mr. Thomas is something above the medium height, equally proportioned, and altogether of a firm, substantial.looking figure. He stands erect, with his head well up, and readily gives you the idea that his solid, thoughtful steps are not more of the physical than mental. Ilis head is of fair size, with regular, intelligent fea- tures. He has a pale complexion, and rather a serious, half-sad cast of countenance. In his manners he is quiet and undemonstra -. tive, though in every sense cordial. His predominant characteristic is religious seriousness. In boyhood and manhood it has been the same. Beyond everything else of interest, beyond all worldly con- siderations, the one fascination -- the one ever-present thought-the one full and complete comfort of his heart has been religion. It is not that he presumes to that intense sanctity which inen of ardent piety are apt to assume, nor is it that he fails to assimilate with those who are not as seriously impressed as himself. Without falling into the error of such a course, his conduct simply shows, at all times and to all men, that he is a religious man, and that he seeks to be true to his profession, while wholly averse to being deemed a paragon, or even an example. In a word, he is the correct-bearing Christian, without the affectation of saintship. Understanding full well the folly of the self-sufficient Pharisee, he walks before men in the hu- mility, but hopefulness, of the poor sinner. Observe him, and you will say that he is a God-fearing, devout man, but never that he is presumptuous in his godliness. Talk with him, and you will say that he is ever seeking religious topics, but never that it is for any other purpose than to unfold to other eyes the heavenly glories upon which his own are meekly fixed. In early boyhood he made a pub-
563
REV. JESSE B. THOMAS.
lic profession of his faith, and has never faltered in it. But those who remember him in that day can well attest that it was a con- scientious act. Feeling truly re-born, renewed and re-made, as he arose from the baptismal waters, still, when again among his young companions, he bore himself as if happier rather than holier. When at the bar, he was a licensed minister and a thorough-going Chris- tian, and yet he never made any parade of these things, while he always made them influential, in and out of his profession, when it could be done. Thus is it that his life has been rendered little less than remarkable. Attaining to great virtues, he has never seemed to be aware of it; living the impersonation of all his professions, he has never dcemed it anything unusually meritorious. Always a teacher and example, as well by his practice as his precepts, he has claimed to be nothing beyond the dilligent learner of truth and the humble follower of upright men.
Mr. Thomas has a style of preaching somewhat uncommon in the modern pulpit. Giving himself simply a thoughtful prepara- tion, he preaches entirely extempore. IIc thinks that the custom of analysis of evidence and the necessity of off-hand speaking, with which he was familiarized while at the bar, has served him a good purpose in his ministry. A mental examination of his text, without the process of writing out his argument, fits him to discuss it. When he enters the pulpit he has the whole subject fully in his mind, but the language which is to be used is left to the spur of the moment. Hence his sermon has all the characteristics of an im- promptu effort, and is altogether extemporaneous. There is a force and feeling about it which written discourses seldom possess. His language is exceedingly fluent and well chosen, and the sermon has the arrangement of topics and the multiplied heads of argument usual to those produced in the study. Borne away by the strength of his emotions and on the wings of his ardent fancy, he indulges in impassioned picturings; but they are, after all, illustrations of the argument, which never falters to the end. He is slightly dramatic. At such periods he moves from side to side of his pulpit, talking with that freedom from hesitation and embarrassment, and with those acceptable gestures which best show the orator. Ilis voice is a pleasant one, and falls naturally into the most effective modula- tions. With conspicuous worth and character, he not only brings to his profession large mental capacity, but certainly great attractive- ness as a public speaker.
564
REV. HUGH MILLER THOMPSON, D. D., RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH, (EPISCOPAL,) NEW YORK.
EV. DR. HUGH MILLER THOMPSON was born in Londonderry, Ireland, June 5th, 1830. He was brought to the United States when six years old, and lived first in New York city, and then in Cleveland, Ohio. Up to eighteen years his studies were pursued privately. In 1852 he was graduated in Theology at the Seminary at Nashotah, Wis- consin. Ile was made a deacon of the Episcopal church in Decem- ber, 1852, and priest in 1856, by Bishop Kemper, at St. John's Church, Portage City, Wisconsin, which was his first rectorship. After this he went to St. Matthews, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, and in 1859 for one year to Grace Church, Galena, Illinois. In 1860, he accepted the professorship of Church History at Nashotah, where he remained until 1871. During the same time he was an assistant at St. Paul's Church, Milwaukee. He then became rector of St. James', Chicago, remaining two years. On the 1st of January, 1872, he commenced the duties of his present rectorship, at Christ Church, Fifth Avenue, New York.
Christ Church congregation formerly worshiped in Eighth street, but a number of years since purchased the magnificent edifice now occupied by them on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth street. Dr. F. C. Ewer was the rector for a long period, and on his resignation Dr. Thompson was called. The income of the Church at this date is some twenty-five thousand dollars. There are professional and boy choirs of fine voices, and the service is rendered with great beauty and impressiveness. The large sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars is expended for music. At the regular services the pews and aisles are crowded with worshipers.
For twelve years Dr. Thompson was editor-in-chief of the Amer- ican Churchman, the leading Episcopal paper of Chicago and the Northwest. The paper was finally removed to Hartford, Connecticut,
565
-
REV. HUGH MILLER THOMPSON,. D. D.
Dr. Thompson remaining the editor for one year. In April, 1872, he became editor of the Church Journal of New York. He has pub- lished various books and sermons. The volumes are, "Unity and its Restoration :" "Sin and Penalty," (several editions issued); " First Principles," (thirty thousand sold); " Absolution ;" and a collection of miscellaneous writings under the title of "Copy." He has also contributed to the Continental Monthly.
Dr. Thompson is of the average height, with a compact figure. Mental strength is joined with the amplest physical resources. He works with unwearying thought and energy, thinking of neither time nor toil in reaching ends for the good of his charch and society. We quote the following description of him, from a communication written to a New York journal :
"Dr. Thompson has been called 'the Beecher of Episcopacy,' but no two men, with strong points of resemblance, could be more unlike. Up to within a year Dr. Thompson's life has been that of a student, a thinker, and a writer. He has few superiors in the land as a deeply read scholar and a man of large and liberal knowledge. Comparatively young, no man has wielded anything like his influ- . ence in molding opinion in the Episcopal church in these latter days. But it was not known except to a few in New York, that in addition to his qualities as a man of learning, a writer, and a rea- soner, Dr. Thompson also possessed the gifts of a rare popular eloquence. IIe preaches from the altar steps, without note or com- ment. He is gifted generously with the physical basis of oratory- an athletic frame; a broad deep chest; a handsome strong face; a leonine head, covered with disordered masses of coal black, curling hair, and lightened by a pair of deep brown eyes, with that sad, poetical, far away look so peculiar to Irish eyes. His birth may account as well for the impassioned headlong flow of an eloquence at once fiery and tender, fierce and full of pathos, delivered with a voice that sweeps all the gamut of human feeling."
In all private and public relations Dr. Thompson is well calcu- lated to exercise the utmost influence. Socially, he is a genial, sincere, and friendly man, drawing every one toward him, while in his publie duties he is totally without ostentation, and evidently only an humble Christian. Hence, the charm of his character and the influence of his teachings penetrate not only through the social and church circle in which he moves, but they go out to the widest limits of the community.
566
REV. ALEXANDER R. THOMPSON, D. D.,
PASTOR OF THE NORTHI REFORMED CHURCH, BROOKLYN.
EV. DR. ALEXANDER R. THOMPSON was born in the city of New York, October 18th, 1822. He was grad- uated at the New York University in 1842, and at the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1845. In July of 1845 he became assistant minister of the Central Reformed Church, Brooklyn, but in January, 1846, was installed over the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, N. J., where he remained eighteen months. For five months he was engaged in a mission work in the eastern section of Brooklyn. under the care of the Board of Missions of the Dutch Church. He gathered a small congrega- tion, and lots were purchased, and a frame building, for church pur- poses, was erected, on the corner of Washington and Gates avenues. This property at length fell into the hands of the Baptists, who have erected a large church on the site; and, in fact, Dr. Thompson's movement resulted in the formation of several congregations of dif- ferent denominations, all of which are now in a flourishing condi- tion.
In March, 1848, Dr. Thompson became pastor of the Reformed Church at Tompkinsville, Staten Island, and thus continued until September, 1851. He then organized a new church at Stapleton, Staten Island, and was its pastor for eight years. In 1859 he went to the South Congregation Church, where he remained three years, but did not dissolve his connection with the Classis of the Reformed Church. He next became the colleague of the late Rev. Dr. George W. Bethune, at the Reformed Church in West Twenty-first street, New York, in March, 1862, and on the death of that distinguished clergyman, at Florence, Italy, later in the same year Dr. Thompson
567
REV. ALEXANDER R. THOMPSON, D. D.
succeeded to the pastorship, in which he remained many years. On Sunday, December 28th, 1873, he was installed as the pastor of the North Reformed Church, Brooklyn, where he is now conducting his usual efficient work.
During his ministry he has declined calls to Maine, Albany, Ro- chester, Indianapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Brooklyn (seven times), and New York (six times.) He received the degree of A. M. from Princeton Theological Seminary, in 1845, and the degree of D. D. from the New York University, several years since. In the summer of 1872, he went by the Pacific Railroad to California, and traveled extensively in that State.
Dr. Thompson is of a tall person, pale complexion, and has quite a heavy growth of red whiskers. He is a man of restless, nervous ac- tivity in both the physical and mental nature. His head is long, with marked prominence in the intellectual portion. He has calm, pleasant eyes, and altogether a most expressive face. He talks with a great deal of animation, and cheerfulness of tone, and is not only very genial, but very interesting. In truth, he has a natural fitness for his ministerial work. There is no such thing as being on the footing of a stranger with him. You assume social, genial, and even intimate relations with him at the very outset of your acquaintance. Are you cheerful, his face is radiant with smiles, and he yields him- self to the influence of your own spirit. Are you sad, his own heart and lips are touched with: kindred sympathies. Are you amid the scenes of religion, his holy thoughts kindle you with inspiration. There is nothing sufficiently formal in his bearing to be called dig- nity, but he is always personally impressive. His tall, wiry frame- his pale, intellectual face-his gentle, speaking eyes-his hearty cordiality, instantly present him to the perceptions as a man of no ordinary character. And it is the same with all that he says. He converses with little apparent reflection, and with no effort to make any particular exhibition of wisdom, but you readily discover in these impulsive, off-hand sentences the most solid and practical opin- ions. He has always been a hard worker in the pastoral life. Full of enthusiasm in whatever he sets out to do, which is half the battle, he toils joyously, and generally triumphantly. When others hesi- tate, he pushes forward more boldly, and when others despair, he is upheld by confidence. Meek in all else, for his principles, and in the path of his duty, he stands lion-hearted. An early convert to the religious faith, it grew and strengthened with his maturing life,
568
REV. ALEXANDER R. THOMPSON, D. D.
until he preaches it with not only the power of learning, but the in- spiration of blissful hope.
Dr. Thompson writes an able and elegant sermon. His vigorous, and at the same time, highly imaginative mind, displays itself on paper in language at onee the most foreible and refined. The same emotional fervor, which ever links his feelings with his comprehen- sion in conversation, appears in every word. His sincerity eannot any more be doubted than the striking beauty of his style can fail to be appreciated. His delivery is peculiar and very effective. It is original in many respects, and eccentric in some particulars, but as a whole has a powerful effeet upon the hearer. He has a voice of much fullness and strength, but it is entirely under his control, and is increased or depressed with equ: 1 facility. Indeed, his eloquence gains no little of its power from the manner in which his voiee ranges all along the scale of sound, rising from soft mellow tones into loud, emphatic utteranees, and then again falling away into tender whis- pers. Ile moves about the pulpit a great deal, and gesticulates constantly, and sometimes vehemently. Learned, eloquent, pathetic, and it may almost be said strangely impressive, he justly has a very high reputation in the ministry.
569
--
REV. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D. D.,
LATE PASTOR OF THE TABERNACLE CONGRE- GATIONAL CIIURCII, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON was born in Phila- delphia, August 7th, 1819. He was graduated at Yale College in 1838, and studied Theology at Andover Col- lege and New Haven. In November, 1840, he was ordained pastor of the Chapel street Congregational Church, New Haven, where he remained five years. He removed to New York in April, 1845, having accepted a call to the Broadway Tabernacle Church. While in New Haven, Dr. Thompson originated The New Englander, a Congregational quarterly review, and he was also one of the founders of the Independent. In 1852 he devised the plan of the Albany Congregationalist Convention, which was the means of giving unity and efficiency to that denomination. He has performed most acceptable services as manager of the Ameri- can Congregational Union, and of the American Home Missionary Society. Ile sailed for Europe and the East in 1852, and passed two years exploring Palestine, Mount Sinai, Egypt, and other Oriental countries. After his return he gave much attention to Oriental studies, especially Egyptology, and published a great deal on the subject in "The North American Review," "Bibliotheca Sacra," "Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society," "Smith's Dictionary of Biblical Geography and Antiquities," and the revised edition of "Kitto's Cyclopedia of Biblical Litera- ture."
He received the degree of D. D. from Harvard University, in 1856. His publications are numerous, including extensive works, sermons, and addresses. These may be named-" Memoirs of Timothy Dwight," "Lectures to Young Men," " Hints to Employers," "Memoir of David IIale," " Foster on Missions, with a Preliminary Essay," "Stray Meditations," revised edition, entitled " The Believer's Refuge," " The Invaluable Possession," "Egypt, Past and Present,"
570
REV. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D. D.
" The Early Witnesses," "Memoir of David T. Stoddard," " The Christian Graces," "Love and Penalty."
Dr. Thompson was compelled by ill health to resign his pastor- ship in 1872. It caused the deepest regret to his congregation, who testified their esteem in every possible manner. A liberal pecuniary settlement was made upon him. He went immediately abroad to resume his Oriental travels and researches. Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Liverpool, England, was then called. In 1873 Dr. Thompson delivered a series of lectures in Berlin.
Dr. Thompson is a person of good proportions, thin visage, and has straight dark hair and whiskers. He is a student of incessant application. His studies extend to many branches out of the range of theology, but which present fascinations to him because difficult, and as they go to make up completeness in scholarship. Astonished by the variety and extent of his reading and research on subjects of a profound character, you are still more surprised to find that he is familiar with the current and lighter literature fresh from the press. Everywhere he gathers knowledge or entertainment, working like a bee, and reproducing the varied views of others in his own writings as illustrations, and sometimes accompanied with most elaborate criticism. ITis occasional addresses in particular are of the highest order of literary merit. There are few who discuss subjects in a mode so original and interesting. His thoughts are new, clear, and vigorous, never sinking into common-place, failing in interest, or losing in eloquence. In the first sentence he attracts you, and when he comes to the last has still your delighted ear. His sermons, as well as these addresses, are polished compositions, replete with the evidence of a practiced and ready pen. Ile is an impressive speaker. He confines himself quite closely to his notes, but speaks with great emphasis and power.
The doctor is very enthusiastic on the subject of the Oriental countries. His travels in the East were performed with the ardor of a Christian pilgrim to sacred shrines. To awful Mount Sinai, to the memorable baptismal waters of the Jordan, and to the banks of the wondrous Nile, he wandered, filled with unspeakable veneration. He studied the lands thoroughly, and came back to the United States an authority in their geography and profound in their history. While his energies are fully linked with the glorious progress and mighty achievements of his own day, still he gives largely of his student hours to unveiling the mysteries with which time has be-
571
REV. JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D. D.
clouded so much connected with the countries of antiquity. He thinks that there can be no greater triumph for the American scholar than to make clearer and broader the light which Oriental and European minds have already imparted to the subject. Already claiming this triumph, but seeking yet greater results, he never grows tired of his necessarily laborious investigations. Along the way once crowded with the hosts of Israel, in the path sprinkled with a Saviour's blood, and amidst the monuments of Egyptian greatness, the scholar, born in a new-found world, seeks the renown which is to inscribe his own name in imperishable history.
572
-
-
REV. JOHN THOMSON, D. D.,
PASTOR OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. JOHN THOMSON was born at St. Andrews, in Scotland, January 7th, 1819. He was graduated at the University of St. Andrews in 1841, and was licensed to preach on the 5th of August the next year, by the Presbytery of St. Andrews, of the Established Church of Scotland. For several years he resided in the south of Eng- land. He performed the duties of a missionary of the Presbytery . of London, by which body he was ordained to the ministry March 28th, 1844. In 1843, on the separation of the Free Church from the Established Church, the subject of our notice had cast his lot with the former. During the spring of 1845, he settled as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Alnwick, Northumberland, England, where he remained until 1848. He then removed to St. John's, New Brunswick, at which place he organized a Free Church congregation, and built the first church of the kind in the lower provinces. In 1850 he received and declined a call to the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church in Grand street, New York; but the invitation being renewed in the following year, he accepted it, and was installed in June, 1851. This congregation was organized in Nassau street in 1784, when Mr. Hamilton was pastor. They subsequently worshiped on the corner of Grand and Mercer streets, but after the installation of Dr. Thomson removed to the edifice on the corner of Grand and Crosby streets, which was purchased of the Presbyterian congrega- tion under the pastorship of Rev. Dr. McElroy. A few years since the congregation sold the Grand street property for largely over one hundred thousand dollars, and erected a fine edifice on Thirty-fourth street, near Sixth avenue and Broadway.
They are largely composed of old country people, and number about one hundred families and some four hundred members. In 1861 Dr. Thomson accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church at
573
1
REV. JOHN THOMSON, D. D.
Galt, in Canada West, then the largest church of the denomination in that section of the country. In May, 1864, he returned to his former people in New York, and still remains with them. His degree of D. D. was received from Princeton Seminary in 1854. He has published various sermons and addresses, some of which have attracted considerable attention abroad. We may mention that Dr. Thomson's manuscript sermons are little less than chirographic curiosities. So minute and careful is the writing that in some in- stances an entire sermon only covers a single letter sheet. How such cramped and delicate writing is deciphered in a public delivery is quite astonishing. Most of the clergy, like other public speakers, prepare their manuscripts in a bold, clear hand, and some sermons have fallen under our observation which were written in letters of not less than half an inch long.
Dr. Thomson is of the medium height, and rather full though not ungraceful proportions. He is muscular, and altogether of the strong, well-knit, substantial frame so common among the Scottish race. His head is large and round, with a fine intellectual develop- ment and a countenance expressive of rigid decision of character, but at the same time of much Christian frankness. It is just such a face as martyrs wear-one of those that power and dungeons and fagots could not soften in a single expression of firmness and devotion to duty, and still one that is always radiant with the beams of a Heaven-inspired kindness. You will say in an instant, from these features, here is a man for great resolution, for sincerity, and zeal of purpose, and true heroism under difficulties, and, after all, with a heart as gentle as a woman's, and a love as pure and as faithful as hers. He is a deeply pious man and an unflinching Christian, and while in the practice of his faith he knows but one plain, strict, severe line of duty, he is also taught by it a meekness and sympathy of heart which are quite as much the rule of his life. His manners are polite and his conversation is free, but he has in both a seriousness" natural to a person as thoroughly absorbed as himself in the ministe- rial work. His thoughts have but one tendency, and that is to the most earnest and continued contemplation of religion. IIe is out- spoken in his opinions, and has considerable of that bluntness which is also a Scotch characteristic.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.