USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > Manual, catalogue and history of the Lafayette St. Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, N.Y. > Part 22
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After a prayer by Rey. Mr. Calkins, D. D., the hymn "Rock of Ages " was sung by the choir and congregation, and the services closed with the benediction by Rev. Mr. Hopkins.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
The following brief biographical sketch has been derived from various sources :
Rev. Grosvenor Williams Heacock, D. D., was born in Buffalo, N. Y., August 3, 1821. He was the fifth son of Reuben B. and Abby P. Heacock. His mother was sister of Seth Grosvenor, of New York City, founder of the Grosvenor Library.
Dr. Heacock was graduated from Western Reserve College, in 1840, and from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1844.
He preached his first sermon in the old Park Church, now Lafayette Street Church, June 8, 1845. He accepted an unanimous call to the pastorate of the Church, and was installed October 19, 1845, Rev. Dr. Spencer, of Brooklyn, preach- ing the sermon (see page 176). He was married June 13, 1848, to Miss Nancy Rice Stone, daughter of Jesse Stone, formerly of Brooklyn.
In 1859, availing himself of a leave of absence from his congregation, he spent three months in Europe. In 1869, with consent of his own congregation, he accepted an invitation from the Howard Church (then Dr. Scudder's) in San Fran- cisco, California, to supply its pulpit for three months. (See page 132.)
In 1872 his health was so impaired that his people proffered him an extended leave of absence, in the meantime continuing his salary and supplying his pulpit. In November, of that year, he embarked for Europe with his family, and remained abroad about twenty months, passing through England, France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and the Holy Land. Visiting Jerusalem, Damascus and various places of interest in Asia Minor and Turkey, he returned by way of the Danube, attended the World's Exposition at Vienna, and finally rejoined his family in Switzerland.
He arrived home, in apparently restored health, June 12, 1874, and was warmly welcomed by his people .* (See page 141.)
He immediately entered upon the discharge of his pastoral duties, with a zeal and energy that led his people to hope that his health and strength were firmly re-estab- lished. But their expectations were doomed to disappointment. The hidden disease that had so long preyed upon his system, again mastered him, and he found himself incapable of the amount of labor he longed to perform. He struggled manfully against his increasing infirmities, till, at last, stricken down in his pulpit, he was compelled to close a most noble and useful ministry.
This, his only pastorate, he had grandly filled for nearly thirty-two years, during which he had received repeated calls to larger and wealthier churches in St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, and other cities, with offers of a much larger salary. But love for
*The following are the opening remarks by Elder John Otto on that occasion, which were omitted from Paper " C," through inadvertence, and are copied from the Express, of June 13, 1874 :
" The occasion of our coming together this evening, brethren and friends, is one of unusual joy to this Church and Congregation, and evidently not devoid of interest to the community, as evinced by the presence of this goodly company, including, as it does, the representatives of every class and every Christian communion in this city. As we pass through life we are often, in the Providence of God, called upon like Job's friends to sit down by the side of the afflicted ' to weep with those that weep.' But to-night that same Providence permits us to indulge in tones of exultation ' to rejoice with those that do rejoice,' because of the safe return of our beloved Pastor and his family, home again after a long and unlooked-for separation, and after many and varied wanderings over land and sea.
We will now with glad and grateful hearts and voices sing a hymn of welcome."
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the city of his birth, and the Church of his youth, together with the prayerful con- viction that here he could do more for his Master than elsewhere, caused him to reject these attractive offers, and he lived, labored and died in the city of his birth.
A fitting tribute to his memory and summary of his character may be found in the following extracts :
From the Buffalo Daily Courier :
Dr. Heacock was a man of rare natural gifts, a born orator, and as big-hearted and generous as he was intellectually clear and bold. He was a radical by tempera- ment, but broad in his views and charitable to the utmost, both in sentiment and practice. He was a man of courage, and, although ordinarily urbane, courteous and sympathetic, he was a lion when aroused, and smote what he conceived to be the wrong with a might that was resistless. He was immensely magnetic, and his oratory, whether in the pulpit or on the rostrum, was positively persuasive, or was charged with a fire that was all-consuming. He was largely emotional and readily excited emotional feeling in others. He was a clear, vigorous reasoner : his illus- trations were always happy and telling ; but it was when his logic was on fire that he appeared the oratorical Titan lie truly was. His heart seemed capable of an all- embracing love, and his devotion to his family, his congregation and friends was grand in every sense. He was a man of remarkably quick intuitions ; he generalized with facility ; and, although the imagination had not the ascendancy in his character, it was active and sure in its workings. He might not at all times be resplendently brilliant, but he could when he would-which was always when the occasion de- manded it-make his thoughts glow as if on flame, or burn at a white heat. He was a glorious pulpiteer, and it mattered not whether one fell in with his argument or not, he was fascinating just the same. Simple-minded, straightforward and sincere he always was, and determined to discharge all his duties to the utmost, at whatever cost to his personal comfort or means. He was liberal to a fault, hearty and unaffected in his manliness, and a loveable man in every way. In his death our community sustains an irreparable loss, and it may be truly said of Dr. Heacock that " we shall not look upon his like again."
From the Commercial Advertiser, May 7th :
In a sense in which it has never been said before, our great Buffalonian is dead ! Grosvenor Heacock belonged to Buffalo by birth, by the associations of his youth, by the relationships of his own home-altars, and by that manhood and professional career which began here, which he never would transfer elsewhere, and which was here concluded among a people that loved him and in the city that honored him, and of whose moral and intellectual life he was a crowning glory.
Dr. Heacock was his own original, a type of a class which rarely appears in our age of material ambitions. He was a man of moral enthusiasms, with an eloquence which overleaped the bounds of logical methods, and bore all who came under its spell into the deepest currents of sympathy and resolve. There is no American of our time with whom we can compare him. The period of the Revolution furnished the nearest parallel in James Otis; but in temperament, in moral passion, in self- consecration to humanity, and in that power of persuasion which is irresistible as the ocean currents, we can think of no one he so closely resembled as Wilberforce. Had he been in his place he would have acted his part. The hater of oppression and wrong, the lover of liberty and right, fearless, loveable as infancy, and sweet with all gentleness in private life, who can doubt that had his been a parliamentary career during the struggle against the foreign and colonial slave trade, he would have carved his name as deep in the century as did the great Englishman whom, in his moral and Christian character and in his genius, he so much resembled ?
He was born for revolutionary times, and in this respect he was happy in the opportunity of his life. He entered upon his professional career when the drama which culminated in civil war was opening. He was in its first act if not in its first scene. We have read descriptions and heard personal recitals by eye-wit- nesses, of his first revelation, on a national theatre, of his powers. It was at a
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session of a New-School General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, the special occasion, a discussion of the slavery question. The conservative element in the Assembly was strong and gaining the ascendancy. The alarmed radicals called upon Dr. Heacock to oppose it. He accepted the leadership, and his speech was one of the events in the national controversy. His triumph was complete ; the Assembly was borne to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. His national reputation dates from that hour, and from that day until his failing health forbade such impor- tunity, he had repeated calls to pulpits in every section of the free States.
He had all the elements of a commanding orator. He had a majestic presence, a voice musical as a lute, which was modulated to every phase of sensibility and to every degree of passion. He had a moral nature ever sensitive to duty, to honor and to manhood. Wrong he might be in his premise, illogical in his methods, but his moral nature, always supreme, guided every thought and act of his life. He had a deep sympathy with the sorrows and sufferings of his fellow-men. He broke no bruised reed, he wept with those that wept, and bore in his heart every sadness that sought his confidence. He was a fearless man ; moral courage had in him its com- plete incarnation. All these elements united to a warm imagination, and a passion which, profoundly as it might seem to sleep, was, on occasion, roused as the sea when lashed by the tempests, combined to make him a consuinmate orator.
Like all men of his temperament, he was unequal. He required the occasion and the personal conditions for the exercise of his highest power. He was grand in his simplicity ; careless of fame, unpretending, exacting nothing, yielding everything but principle to friendship and courtesy ; generous, appreciative and loving-he was a true representative of the nobility of God. His presence was an atmosphere and an inspiration. The tone of private and public life was elevated and purified wherever he moved. In this sense, Buffalo has met a loss greater than she knows. " Native here and to the manner born," there was conceded to him a power no suc- cessor can ever command. His leadership was undisputed.
Clarke, Lord, Heacock, have in rapid succession been summoned away. The keen, incisive intellect of the one, the polemic power of the other, and the splendid genius of the last of the Triumvirate gave supreme renown to the Buffalo pulpit. They had distinct individualities and mental characteristics. Yet their very diversity constituted a rare unity of moral and intellectual power.
Sadly we follow to the grave the man whose nature and gifts have reflected so much honor upon his native city, and whose unconscious influence will survive when all its material glory shall have faded away. J. O. P.
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ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL.
On Monday the 7th, the Elders, Board of Trustees, Pulpit Committee, and a committee of the Ladies' Association met in the chapel for the purpose of making arrangements for the funeral of our Pastor.
The Trustees voted to pay the funeral expenses.
A Committee on Floral Decorations, viz .: William B. Olver, Thomas Struthers, Mrs. Loran L. Lewis and Mrs. Nathaniel Brown, was appointed.
Mr. Charles G. Brundige was requested to prepare a Memorial Letter to the bereaved family, which was read and approved at the annual meeting of the Society.
Also a Committee of Arrangements, consisting of Henry Childs, Henry H. Hale, George L. Squier, Willard M. Knight, Samuel N. Lawrence and Seth Mason, was appointed to perfect and carry out all the necessary arrangements in relation to the funeral and memorial services.
Resolutions of respect and sympathy were passed at the regular session of the Ministers' Meeting, also by the Buffalo City Sunday School Association, at a meet- ing called for that purpose.
His Honor Mayor Becker, in a special message to the Common Council, expressed the public sense of the great loss the city had sustained ; in response to which the Council passed appropriate resolutions.
On the day of the funeral, Judge Sheldon adjourned the Superior Court, " as a token of respect to the memory and virtues of our departed fellow-citizen."
At a special meeting of the Young Men's Association of Lafayette Street Church, held on Monday night, in the chapel, Edward N. Brush, M. D., Frederick Howard and Edwin G. Sawn were appointed a committee to prepare a suitable Memorial to be presented to the bereaved family.
Brief addresses, expressive of great affection for the departed, and deep sorrow at his death, were made by Willard W. Brown, Isaac G. Jenkins, Seth W. Warren, Edward N. Brush, M. D., George A. Swales, Charles H. Baker, John Gowans, Edwin G. Sawn, John R. Linen, Edwin N. Long, William Y. Cobb, James Lynd, and Charles J. Crittenden.
The Cordon of Temperance of the Church met on Tuesday evening, in the chapel, and took fitting action by appointing committees on Floral Offerings, Memorial, Funeral Attendance, and one to confer with the Committee of Arrange- ments.
The Young People's Bible Class furnished a floral tribute, consisting of the word " Victory," which was placed above the cross given by the Cordon of Temperance, on the wall back of the pulpit. Beautiful floral tributes were also furnished by the Session, by the Ladies' Association, by the Sunday School, and the Milnor Street Sunday School, as well as by numerous friends.
May 9th, Wednesday evening-The Regular prayer-meeting, which was largely attended, was opened by singing and prayer, when Elder John Otto, our senior elder, expressed the feeling of our whole people in the following beautiful and appropriate words :
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ADDRESS BY JOHN OTTO, ESQ.
We are without a Pastor ! He is not, for God hath taken him. We shall never again hear his voice in sermon or prayer. We shall never again see him here. We may look upon the tenement of clay which he once inhabited ; we may look upon that which once was, temporarily, the abode of his soul-but the tenant has departed. He has gone, and gone forever, from our mortal sight. He who so recently walked these streets like other men, now walks the streets, the golden streets, of the New Jerusalem ; and he who once was literally a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, now " sees the face of God and is at rest."
Sometimes this seems to me a dream, but then, again, I am fully awake to the mournful reality.
We shall miss our Pastor. We shall miss him from these familiar scenes in which he so loved to be, when we gather here to pray. We shall miss him in the sanctu- ary, when we see another standing in his place. We shall miss him in social life, which he so animated and enlivened with his presence. We shall miss him when we are in trouble and distress. We shall miss him most of all in the chamber of sick- ness and in the chamber of death. We shall miss him everywhere and always, for no one can ever take his place, either here, or in our homes, or in our hearts.
As the neighbors of unhappy Moab were called upon to weep and lament, "how is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod," so may we call upon those about us to lift up the voice of lamentation as they may behold or consider our desolation -- a desolation which has cast its dark shadow into every heart, and which will be only the more fully and justly estimated. and measured and more deeply felt with every passing year of mortal life.
I have known our Pastor intimately for a longer period of time than I have known any one except my sainted mother. Not by his own selection, but because of busi- ness necessity and our church relations, we have met and counseled with each other almost daily, unless prevented by absence from the city, for nearly thirty years. Blessed necessity that brought us so frequently and so closely together ! and conferred upon me the inestimable advantage and high privilege of such companionship.
In the presence of this mournful dispensation, I cannot summon to my aid words adequate to discover to others either a sense of my personal bereavement or my admiration for his splendid abilities and beautiful Christian character as illustrated in his life. Intellectually the peer of any, he was as simple as a child. With the strength, the stature and the understanding of a man, he had also the tender-heart- edness and loving nature of a woman. He was a bow of strength to the weak, and an angel of light to those in darkness. Self-denying and self-forgetful, he halted at no sacrifice to serve another. He was always on the right side. He was kept from making great mistakes because he had no selfish ambitions to subserve. He sought not honor of man-he only sought the honor of God, and the good of man. Like his Master he went about doing good ; he was always about his Father's business.
He has been to me, and I am not ashamed to confess it, what a mother's breast is to the head of a grieved and sobbing child. He has spoken to me such words of tenderness and strength as no other man ever spoke, and, as I think, no other man ever can speak. When he came to my aid he came in power, and I felt it. As I have thought of the future, and of the perils that were incident to it, I knew that
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whatever disaster might befall me, I had in his love a treasure which could not be reft from me, and in his friendship a friend who, whatever others might do, would never forsake me. I do not, however, speak for myself alone; my brethren, in this that I have said, I also speak for you. All that my Pastor was, or could be, to me, he was and would be to each of you.
But at such a time as this, words seem poor and mean. Deeds, not words, are the summons of the hour. Let us then renewedly consecrate ourselves to God, and to works of Christian love and labor, as we may have opportunity to do them. Let us bear about with us in the world more of the impress of his spirit. Let us follow him as he followed Jesus, and then, at last, when we come to die, praying as he prayed, " Let me rest." "Let me rest ;" there will come to us in answer to our prayer a voice, "Enter into rest." God help us in this our time of need ; God bless us and sanctify unto us this our great affliction.
W. M. Knight also spoke, substantially as follows:
DEAR FRIENDS : I cannot let this occasion pass without offering my poor tribute of respect to the name and memory of our beloved Pastor. We have met to-night under circumstances that are special and peculiar to us. Some of us, many of us, have never known but the one Pastor, and, as has been said before, " this Church has never known but one Pastor ; that Pastor has never known but one flock."
This, our dear Pastor, has been taken from us, in what to many would have been the prime of manhood. His broad, noble life has been spent for us-for his flock- for this people he loved so well. We mourn his loss to-night, and his life, as a sweet and fragrant memory, will linger with us-will dwell in our inmost, in our holiest thoughts forever.
The seven hundred stars which are, or are to be, set in our dear Pastor's crown of rejoicing, will attest through all the " mighty roll of the eternal ages" to his faithful and devoted work, his tender love for all, and to the magnificent and beautiful character of him we mourn to-night.
Seven hundred souls brought to Christ in his own Church, to say nothing of, per- haps, as many more through his ministry, who have connected themselves with other churches; to say nothing of help and cheer to the seven hundred who before, under other ministrations, and in other churches, had found their Saviour ; to say nothing of the good he has imparted to others who still wait. But the seven hundred are peculiarly his, to deck as brilliants of the night his star-gemmed diadem for- ever ! Seven hundred stars-some but faintly glimmering perhaps-clustering around that noble brow, resplendent with the brightness of the heavenly glory !
We are to look upon that brow for the last time to-morrow ; but let it not be with weeping eyes. Let us not think of the sad, sad decay, but up and beyond, to that blest home in glory, whither he has gone. He will rise before us no more, to offer his beautifully-touching prayers, or to urge us on to duty by his earnest, faithful words. His tongue is stilled in death ! His voice is hushed forever on earth ! but its tones linger with us yet-will linger with us through all time.
God's will be done ! Our dear Pastor has been taken from us in the midst of his .usefulness, and, as I said, in the full prime of manhood. We mourn his loss. The churches of our city and land mourn his loss. The city, the community, humanity mourns his loss ; for he was ever the champion of the oppressed and the down- trodden ; ever the friend of the poor and the distressed, and of all the sin-darkened
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millions of earth, for the dear Saviour's sake ; ever a comforting friend to the sor- rowing, to the bereaved and mourning ones.
When a great occasion called for a great champion he was always ready to respond, and was always equal to the occasion-grand, noble, tender and loving.
I say we all mourn his loss. What shall we say of that dear household, sitting now with burdened hearts amid their great sorrow. Hearts bleeding at every pore -wounded, crushed into the depths of a woe and sorrow that were unbearable were it not that the abounding Grace of Christ is able to lift from off the bruised and bleeding heart, the burden even of such a great and crushing sorrow.
He has gone to join the great company of the blessed in heaven. I believe our dear Pastor has greeted with a heavenly smile all his dear flock who went before him to the mansions in glory, as they, with glad songs of rejoicing, welcomed him home.
We mourn not for the dead. They are in the midst of blessed companionships ; they are at rest ; they are in peace ; they are receiving the glad plaudit " well and faithfully done." We mourn for the living in their great sorrow. They are yet in trial, in gloom, resting under the dark shadow of a great affliction ; and the only silver lining to the cloud that hangs so heavily is that the loved one is basking in the great sunlight beyond.
The following account of the funeral, which took place on Thursday, May 10th, is copied from the daily papers of the city :
THE FUNERAL.
The funeral took place yesterday afternoon from the family residence on Main street and at the church. The obsequies were more than usually solemn and impres- sive. Several of the flags of the city were floated at half mast in honor of the dis- tinguished dead, and the public interest in the services, showed, if any evidence was necessary, how strong a hold the dead minister had upon the affections of the people.
At the family residence, No. 988 Main street, the remains reposed in the drawing- room, in an elegant casket which was covered with black cloth and trimmed with silver. The plate bore the inscription : "Grosvenor Williams Heacock, Pastor of Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church. Born August 3, 1821 ; died May 6, 1877."
A numerous assemblage of the relatives and near friends of the deceased gathered at the house early in the afternoon, where a brief service was held. At a quarter before two o'clock the exercises were opened by the Rev. A. T. Chester, D. D., who announced the hymn,
" Father, Whate'er of Earthly Bliss,"
which was sweetly sung by a quartette composed of Miss Sara Barker, Miss Ella D. Barker, Mr. John Lapey, and Mr. James W. Bixby. Rev. Dr. Hopkins, of the Auburn Theological Seminary, offered an appropriate and affecting prayer, after which Rev. Grosvenor Hopkins, of Hamilton College, announced, and the quartette choir sang, the hymn,
" Burst Ye Emerald Gates, etc."
This simple service concluded, the casket, with its covering of floral offerings, was borne to the hearse by the following bearers: Elders-George L. Squier, S. N. Lawrence, Charles H. Baker, John Otto; also, Edwin A. Shaw, Edward Bristol, Samuel H. Fields, Nathaniel Brown. The clergy, leading in solemn procession, followed by the bearers in honor : Board of Trustees-Henry Childs, C. M. Horton, Henry H. Hale, John L. Alberger, Loran L. Lewis, Alexander Brush, Willard W. Brown, John Gowans, Joseph P. Dudley ; also, Chas. G. Brun- dige, Superintendent Lafayette Street Sunday School, John R. Linen, from Milnor Street 'Sunday School, Willard M. Knight, from Lafayette Street Sunday School,
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and by the mourners and friends. All entered carriages in waiting, and at a quarter past two, the procession moved slowly down Main street to Lafayette Street Church, where the principal services were to be held.
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