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 7
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 7
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"Nor, again, have we felt compelled to rear this hall because the Protestant faith has been unknown or inoperative here. France has been the theatre, the great battle-field in the war against Papal error. From the days of Claude, Archbishop of Turin, and from the days of Vaudois, who kept the faith of the Gospel so purely in the Swiss valleys, even in the eighth century, the struggle for primitive truth, extending across the borders of this empire, has been going on until there is scarcely a section of it which has not been drenched with the blood of Protestant martyrs. The most notable wars of France have been religious wars, carried on between a tyrannical court hierarchy and the defenders of a pure gospel, while the blots-the historic blots-upon the renown of this empire, most damnable and in- effaceable, are the persecutions and massacres which in times past have made it a Golgotha, and turned its imperial capital into a human slaughter-house. The stories of the Waldensian persecutions and of the murderous intolerance which pursued the Huguenots are among the most familiar in the Christian homes of America ; ror is it unknown there that within the last half-century at one period there were two hundred and fifty Protestant ministers proclaiming the Gospel in France, while at the present time there are French evangelical divines whose labors and living words are held in admiration and honor. Alas! that the results of their labors, so far as visible at this day, should be only as the glimmering of a dying flame, sending but a dim ray athwart the almost universal gloom."
Dr. Morgan is of a tall, large person, and of strikingly erect carriage. His shoulders are broad, and all his proportions are 385
REV. WILLIAM F. MORGAN, D. D.
ample and full, while there is nothing disproportionate or wanting in gracefulness. Ile moves with a firm, stately tread, exhibiting a great deal of courtliness and dignity. At the same time there is an ever-present amiability in his countenance, and a natural gen- tleness of speech, which quickly remove any restraint which his for. mality of manners may occasion. Chesterfield himself was not a better model of high-toned breeding than the Doctor. In private life and in all his public acts he is a pattern of propriety in this respect. He is as scrupulous in little matters as in great things, and in all his proceedings presents a brilliant example of the thor- oughi-bred American gentleman. Never parting with the lofty dig- nity which becomes hin so well, the humblest and the proudest alike find him equally courteous and kind. Failing in no partieu- lar to sustain his own individual claim to respect and consideration, he is quite as punctilious in forgetting nothing which is due from himself to others. IIence intercourse with him, on the part of all classes, has all that charin which springs from true polish of manners and character. He is a man of large and tender sympathies, of strict conscientiousness of life, and of a deep rather than ostentatious piety. His mind is usually elastic and buoyant, and his heart has that valuable phase of cheerfulness which, while it is never particu- larly exuberant, can never be altogether extinguished. He is genial, fond of choice companionship, and not less the ornament than the delighted participant in cultivated gatherings.
Dr. Morgan has the most acceptable qualifications as a public speaker. His presence is commanding and impressive; he is elo- quent, and his voice is clear and mellow. Coming from his lips, and said in his peculiar way, even simple expressions and common-place thoughts have a strange and new attraction, while his more studied passages permeate and thrill with wonderful power. He has not a great deal of gesture, and his whole manner of delivery is composed and dignified ; but his words are infused with those twin clements of oratorical effectiveness-the heart's sincerity and the mind's utmost grasp of thought. Chasteness, poetry, and beauty of sentiment and expression are all called into service ; but it is the heart, speaking from its truth and tenderness, and the master intellect, beating down error and doubt, that in this instance give the greatest influence to the speaker. Eloquence is not only decked in its charms, but armed with its omnipotence.
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Celemonice
REV. CHARLES WILLIAM MORRILL, RECTOR OF ST. ALBAN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. CHARLES WILLIAM MORRILL was born at Saco, Maine, July 23d, 1831, and baptized in Trinity Episcopal Church, on the 18th of the following September. His great grand-father was the Rev. Moses Morrill, a grad- uate of Harvard College, in 1737, at the early age of fifteen years, who was ordained September 29th, 1742, minister in the town of Biddeford, Maine, (then including the present Saco). Mr. Morrill was intimate with Sir William Pepperell, the chief landholder and a conspicuous patriot during the revolutionary struggle. In Folsom's "History of Saco and Biddeford " we find the following statement: " This gentleman (Rev. Moses Morrill), in the language of one intimately acquainted with him at that period, 'was a superior man ; of a deportment noble and dignified, seldom equaled, and never surpassed in this quarter. To this was added a capacity fully corre- sponding ; intelligent, easy of access, and communicative, he ranked high as a scholar, as a divine, and as a statesman. In such a melan- choly season as our struggle for independence, considering the general weakness or ignorance of the people, the value of such a man was incalculable. So deep an interest did he take in that all-important concern, as a statesman, he spared no pains to guide every one into the right way, nor did he fail in this. To his long standing there, and the confidence of the people in him was it owing in a great measure, that the principles of independence were easily disclosed and gener- ally embraced.' "
The early studies of the Rev. Charles William Morrill were principally at the Thornton Academy in his native town. By reason of some difficulty with his eyes, he gave up, until he was twenty years of age, all idea of studying for any profession. As he recovered about that period, he determined to prepare for the priesthood. After careful study, under the direction of the Rev. M. P. Stickney, of
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Boston, he entered the General Episcopal Theological Seminary, New York, from which he was graduated in 1859. He was made deacon at Trinity church, New York, by Bishop Potter, in July of that year, and preached his first sermon on the same day at Trinity church. He then took charge of Christ Church at Hudson, New York, for a period of nine months, the rector being most of the time absent. Later he officiated temporarily at different places on the Hudson river; and at length was called to the rectorship of St. Mary's Church, Cold Spring, where he was made priest by Bishop Potter, in October, 1861. In February, 1865, he accepted the rectorship of St. Alban's parish, New York, and entered upon his labors in March of the same year.
St. Alban's parish was organized as a free church in 1862, by a few young men connected with Calvary parish, who were engaged in a missionary work in the upper portion of the city. They soon leased a small wooden church, on East Fiftieth street, where services were held for the space of about three years. The Rev. W. A. W. Maybin was the accomplished rector for the greater part of this period, and, after his resignation, the sheep, being without a shepherd for some months, naturally scattered. Upon coming into the rectorship, Father Morrill applied himself with great energy in the revival of the parish ; sufficient money was raised to purchase three lots on Forty- seventh street, between Lexington and Fourth avenues, where a brick chapel was erected, the whole expenditure amounting to about thirty-five thousand dollars, nearly all of which has been paid. The chapel was duly opened in November, 1865, and in the autumn of 1870 was enlarged, to meet the requirements of the increased attend- ance, at a cost of about ten thousand dollars. From 1865 up to the present time some ninety thousand dollars have been expended for all purposes. The communicants have increased from forty to one hundred and seventy-five ; and the average attendance on Sunday is about four hundred. There are two daily services every week day, five on Sunday, and several services on all holy days ; the seats being always frec.
St. Alban's Church, under its present rector, was the first on this side of the Atlantic to exhibit a complete and harmonious Catholic ceremonial, with all suitable adjuncts and ornaments of divine ser- vice, and naturally drew to it the attention not only of the members of the Episcopal communion, but also of the public at large. Its fame has extended over the United States, and it is well known in
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REV. CHARLES WILLIAM MORRILL.
the mother country. The discussion of the high and low church question, with which it is well known the English church has been for years much torn, had occupied all branches of the Episcopal church and the denominational journals of this country; but no previous effort had been made to practice the disputed ritual itself. At the same time St. Alban's is just as strictly an Episcopal church as " Trinity " or "St. George's," and is just as much under the juris- diction of the Bishop of New York, as they. Its rector claims that he has only moved a little faster than most of his brethren in pro- moting the "beauty of holiness," but without consciously violating any law of Anglo-Catholicism. While to the Protestants these ceremonials seem a modified form of the worship in the Roman Catholic churches, nevertheless they are claimed to be a revival of forms which were practiced in the Reformed Church of England at its earliest period. It is only simple justice to Father Morrill to say that he disavows, with emphasis, any sympathy with Popery as such. He professes to accept the Book of Common Prayer, and to stand on the same denominational platform with the most eminent of the clergy of his communion at home and abroad.
It must be admitted that very many Episcopal parishes have made great strides in ritualism since the opening of St. Alban's; and, gener- ally, the movement is gaining strength. The teachings of Dr. Pusey and others have had their weight upon both the Episcopal clergy and laity of the United States. The battle which is raging in England is going on here, but in a much more quiet and non-belligerent manner.
The services as seen at St. Alban's are worthy of some descrip- tion. A large cross rises above the altar, and on either side are groups of candles, making about fifty in all. The vestments of the celebrant are of satin, lace, and other stuff's, and of rich colors, and conspicuously embroidered with the figure of the cross. The boy choristers wear cassocks of blue or black, with cotta; the crucifer's cassock being of purple; the acolytes generally wear scarlet; their vestment being the rochet. The services commence with the entrance from the front of the church of a procession of the clergy and choristers, bearing a large cross and symbolic banners. Most of the ceremonials are conducted while the celebrant has his face to the altar, and the cross is never passed without bowing the head. The clergy frequently cross themselves, as do the congregation, who also bow before the cross on entering. Before proceeding with his sermon
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the rector crosses himself. Incense is used, and every part of the ceremonials is made thoroughly impressive.
Father Morrill is under the medium height, and of round, full person, with a large round head. His face has a placid, amiable ex- pression ; and, while extremely serious in its repose, is light and glow- ing in the animation of conversation and public speaking. His eyes are small, but have a very observing gaze, and his broad forehead shows that there is more than ordinary brain power within. His manners are particularly courteous and genial, and his conversation is unrestrained, vivacious, and fascinating. IIe is a studious person, looking deeply and thoroughly into all subjects; and probably there is not in the Episcopal pulpit a man of his years who has more of the substantial qualifications of a scholar than himself. He is a thinker rather than a dreamer. His conversation, when it takes the line of argument, is extremely logical and full of scholarly and practical illustrations, and at all times is remarkable for attractiveness. His sermons are thoughtful productions, written in plain, forcible, and eloquent language, and perfect and exhaustive in argument, from his own standpoint of belief. ITis attitude in the pulpit is composed and devout, and his voice is always soft and sympathetic.
Father Morrill will continue to draw to himself, in his position of rector of St. Alban's church, a great deal of attention from his own and all other religious denominations, and he will be found fully able to maintain his ground. He is evidently entirely conscientious in his efforts, and he has both the intellect and the energy necessary in a man who is seeking to establish radical innovations in established re- ligious forms. His scholarship, which, with a mind of so much vigor, must become greatly enlarged, and his tact and eloquence, will do much in carrying forward his work. The seed which he has planted, and is so assiduously nourishing, will no doubt yield an abundant harvest. The "signs of the times " all point to this result, while no one can witness the patient faith and works of Father Morrill without regarding him with the highest respect.
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REV. WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG, D. D.,
PASTOR AND SUPERINTENDENT OF ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG is the eldest great grandson of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, founder of the Lutheran Church in America, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, September 16th, 1796. He was grad- uated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1814. Having pre- pared himself for the ministry of the Episcopal Church, he was ordained deacon in 1817, and three years afterward priest, by Bishop White. On his first ordination he became assistant to the rector (Bishop White) of the united churches of Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James', Philadelphia, in which position he remained three years. In 1821 he became rector of St. James' Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Here he was chiefly instrumental in establishing the first public school in the State out of Philadelphia. In 1828 he founded a Christian High School at Flushing, Long Island, which afterward became St. Paul's College. Of these institutions he was principal and rector until 1846, some eighteen years. In 1846 he be- came rector of the free church of the Holy Communion, in the City of New York, erected by his sister, Mrs. Mary A. C. Rogers, as a memorial of her deceased husband.
On St. Luke's Day, 1846, Dr. Muhlenberg called the attention of his congregation to the want of a Church Hospital, in the City of New York. Half of the morning collection, usually appropriated to the support of the church, was laid aside for this purpose. The smallness of the sum, only thirty dollars, provoked a smile from the clergyman who preached in the afternoon, who asked of Dr. Muhlen- berg : " When do you expect your hospital to be built ?" "Never," he replied, "if I never make a beginning." From this veritable " mite," however, at length came a fund of one hundred thousand dollars; and then a second hundred thousand, with which means an edifice for the hospital was built. The corner-stone was laid by
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Bishop Wainwright, in May, 1854 ; the chapel was opened for divinc service on Ascension Day, 1857, and the hospital was opened for the reception of patients, with religious services, and a sermon by the Rev. Samuel Cooke, D. D., on Ascension Day, May 13th, 1858. The site is on Fifty-fourth street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It is so constructed that the centre building is a chapel, and opening from it in the side wings are hospital wards, by which arrangement the religious services can be heard by all the patients in their beds. The hospital is sustained by the benevolence of the Episcopal de- nomination, but persons of all sects are entitled to its benefits. During 1871 about one thousand patients were admitted. The ex- penditures for the year were $59,091 75. There are forty-five charity beds made permanent by endowment, and twenty provided for by annual subscription. A children's ward is one of the features. Through the benevolence of a number of wealthy citizens a large endowment fund has been subscribed.
In 1857, Dr. Muhlenberg became the first pastor and superin- tendent of St. Luke's Hospital, a position which he still holds. He remained the nominal rector of the Church of the Holy Communion until a comparatively recent date. In 1843 he organized the first Protestant Sisterhood in this country, who are in charge of St. Luke's Hospital, and a day-school connected with the Church of the Holy Communion. He has now entered upon what he considers the con- cluding work of his life in founding a Christian Industrial Commun- ity, known as St. Johnsland, located on the north shore of Long Island, in Suffolk County, about forty-five miles from the city of New York. It consists of a property of nearly five hundred acres, with the necessary buildings for the purposes contemplated in the plan. The objects are to provide cheap and comfortable homes, together with the means of social and moral improvement, for de- serving families from among the working classes; to maintain a home for aged men in destitute circumstances ; to care for friendless children and youth, especially cripples; to assist indigent boys and young men who desire literary education, with a view to the Gospel ministry. Through the untiring efforts of Dr. Muhlenberg, and the liberal Christian benevolence of many of his friends, the institution has been placed on a permanent basis of constantly increasing use- fulness. A home for crippled and destitute children, costing over seven thousand dollars ; an old man's liome, costing thirty thousand dollars; and a church edifice, costing eleven thousand dollars-all
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REV. WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG, D. D.
of these sums being the gifts of three individuals-have been erected. A stercotype foundry is a source of revenue, doing work for some of the best publishing houses of New York Up to May, 1871, the expenditures and receipts amounted to about one hundred and sixty- six thousand dollars.
Dr. Muhlenberg is a man of fine poetic ability, and has written various hymns and other pieces, which have attracted a wide atten- tion. A National Thanksgiving Hymn was a patriotic offering dur- ing the late war, which was generally sung in the New York churches. As early as 1824 lie composed a hymn which is in every hymn-book, and is not excelled in religious fervor by any in the English language. The first verse is as follows :
" I would not live alway: I ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way; The few lurid mornings that dawn on us here, Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer."
Dr. Muhlenberg is about the average height, well-proportioned, and unusually active for his years. He has a large, roun I head, with regular, intellectual features, and a profusion of silver-gray hair. His presence is dignified and venerable, and his manners are in- variably courteous and kindly. He is neither a man of self- reliance nor assurance, but of such modesty of manners as are found in few public men. And yet look at the works of his life ! Congregations built up, institutions of learning and charity founded, sisterhoods of benevolent women and industrial religious communi- ties organized, are the grand and successful practical efforts to which he has devoted himself. Who has done more-nay, who has done so much ? Still, all this has been accomplished so calmly, and almost silently, that the world generally hardly knew of it. Some men would have made a noise, thrown into the schemes an energy which would have perhaps drawn half its power from the know- ledge that the public eye was upon the movement, and achieved success by pure force of character. Dr. Muhlenberg has achieved his by the soft graces of character, by pre-eminent virtues, and a pious life. Men and women have loved him, and hence they have aided him in his educational, religious, and benevolent enterprises. His reliance has been in the power of truth and the providence of God, and his own part has been more to guide the expression of individual benevolence than to compel any man or woman to do their duty. As a successful philanthropist, he is peculiar in the
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REV. WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG, D. 1).
means which he has employed. They are means consonant with his own gentle, unassuming nature, but are not those on which men most depend for success.
Dr. Muhlenberg is a fervent and interesting speaker. His de- livery has little that is excitable about it, but there is a warmth of sincerity and a reverential regard for holy truths which impart much impressiveness to it. He appears the truly pious man, caring not to give prominence to the individual, but prayerfully solicitous for the eternal welfare of his race.
His services at St. Luke's Hospital are particularly impressive. They are in the hearing and almost the presence of the sick and the dying, who are in the wards of the hospital. He has been with them at their bedsides, he knows their physical extremity and their moral wants, and he speaks to meet the case of many such a one. He is the pastor of these sick people. Going from ward to ward, from bed to bed, with words of kind inquiry, of hopefulness, and of religious counsel, they soon learn to appreciate a nature so benev- olent, self-sacrificing, and noble. His venerable presence is striking, and his words and manners are the most gentle imaginable. All these circumstances make him no ordinary character, as far as the patients are concerned; and when he stands in the sacred desk, within their hearing, and puts forth the appeal for them and to them, he speaks with a visible emotion himself, and it is felt by his sick hearers as well, and, indeed, in a less degree, by all present. It is in all respects a service which those who attend are not likely to forget, and probably none in the city are more beneficial in their results.
Dr. Muhlenberg is certainly a happy illustration of the Christian and benevolent character. His whole life has been one of practical service in behalf of his fellow-men. He neither claims the relaxation from effort due to a man of his venerable years, nor is he satisfied without giving these efforts the widest possible range. The good which he has done and the virtues of his life justly entitle him to the highest place in the estimation of his fellow-men. Unobstrusive, making no parade whatever of his works, he is one of the most earnest and efficient philanthropists of his time.
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REV. JAMES O. MURRAY, D. D.,
ASSOCIATE PASTOR OF THE BRICK PRESBY- TERIAN CHURCHI, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. JAMES O. MURRAY was born at Camden, South Carolina, November 27th, 1827. His father was a merchant at that place. After pursuing his carlier studies at Springfield, Ohio, he entered Brown University, where he was graduated in 1850. Ile was graduated in theology at An- dover in 1854, and was ordained and installed during the same year over the First Congregational Church at South Danvers, Massa- chusetts, and remained in this pastorship for six years and a half. HIe then went to Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, to the Prospect Street Congregational Church, where he officiated four years. Having ac- cepted a call to the associate pastorship with Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, at the Brick Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue, corner of Thirty-seventh street, New York, he commenced his duties in Febru- ary, 1865. His immediate predecessor in the associate pastorship was the Rev. Dr. William G. T. Shedd.
The Brick Church formerly occupied the triangular piece of land bounded by Beekman and Nassau streets and Park Row, now occu- pied by the Daily Times, and other large buildings, and is one of the oldest organizations of the country. The lot was obtained from the congregation by the Wall street Presbyterian Church, the first organ- ization of the sect in New York, and a church erected upon it, which was dedicated in January, 1768. During the revolutionary war the building was used by the British as a prison and hospital for prison- ers of wars, and was the scene of great sufferings on the part of the patriots. The church was re-opened in June, 1784. The edifice was known as the "Brick Meeting," and when the congregation removed to their present eligible location they reproduced the veritable build- ing in material and external form, but in immensely increased pro- portions. It is one of the most spacious and costly church edifices in the city. There is a great arched recess for the pulpit, with a 395
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