The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York : historical and biographical sketches of its first fifty years, Part 12

Author: Prentiss, George Lewis, 1816-1903
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York : A.D.F. Randolph
Number of Pages: 322


USA > New York > New York City > The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York : historical and biographical sketches of its first fifty years > Part 12


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CALEB OLIVER HALSTED (1836-1860) was a native of New Jersey. He came to New York in early life, and established himself in business here. For a number of years he was a dry goods merchant in William Street. My first acquaint- ance with him was in 1852, when he resided in Second Ave- nue, near the Historical Society building. He was then, and continued until his death, on October 7, 1860, president of the Manhattan Company. He was a leading member of the University Place Church, of which the Rev. Dr. Potts was at that time pastor.


Mr. Halsted was one of the most devoted, judicious, and


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influential friends of the Union Theological Seminary, and his interest in it continued unabated to the last. I had occasion to confer with him repeatedly on important matters pertain- ing to the institution, and remember well how earnestly and wisely he sought its welfare. The following is an extract from a minute of the Board, prepared by Prof. Henry B. Smith : -


In the death of Caleb O. Halsted we deplore the loss of a wise counsellor, a generous benefactor, and a steadfast friend ; of one who was a member of this Board from its earliest organization, and who always rendered efficient aid in carrying this Seminary successfully through all its difficulties and struggles. Having known the deceased in his public and private relations, we re- joice in bearing testimony to his Christian faithfulness in the midst of the cares of business ; to his worth as a man and as a friend ; to his devotion to all the great interests of Christ's Church ; and especially to his constant zeal in promoting the cause of Christian and ministerial education.


LEONARD CORNING (1836-1842) was born in Hartford, Conn., April 30, 1798, and died on the 25th of November, 1844. He established himself in business in New York, and for a num- ber of years was a leading member of the Pearl Street Presby- terian Church. Several years previously to his death he had lived in New Orleans as head of the banking firm of L. Cor- ning & Co. His high standing in the Christian community is shown by his election as one of the first Directors of the Union Theological Seminary.


DAVID MAGIE, D. D., (1837-1840,) was born in the vicinity of Elizabeth, N. J., March 13, 1795. His ancestors were of Scotch origin, noted for their solid virtues, their earnest pi- ety, and their strong attachment to Presbyterianism. David in his boyhood was inured to the hardships of a farmer's life. He had but little chance for reading or study, until his conversion, during a great revival in 1813, when he resolved


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to devote himself to the ministry of the Gospel. His pastor, the excellent Dr. McDowell, taught him Latin, and was his wise counsellor and friend. He entered the Junior class in the College of New Jersey in the fall of 1815. After grad- uating with honor, he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, studied there a year, spent two years as a tutor in the College, and was then licensed to preach. On April 24, 1821, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth. Here he labored with zeal, fidelity, and success for the space of nearly forty-five years. He died on May 10, 1865, beloved and venerated by his people, and by the whole Christian community.


ANSEL DOAN EDDY, D. D., (1837-1856,) was born at Wil- liamstown, Mass., October 15, 1798. He graduated at Union College in 1817 ; studied theology at Andover ; and was first settled as a pastor over the Presbyterian Church in Canan- daigua, N. Y. Later he accepted a call to the First Presby- terian Church in Newark, N. J., and still later organized the Park Church in that city. He also labored as a pastor in Chicago and Wilmington, Ill., and then at Seneca Falls, N. Y. He died on February 7, 1875. In 1843 Dr. Eddy was elected moderator of the General Assembly. He was a man of fine presence, of facile mind, and of varied gifts.


SELAH B. TREAT (1837-1843) was born at Hartford, Conn., February 19, 1803; graduated at Yale College, 1824; studied law and practised at Penn Yann, N. Y., but decided to aban- don his profession and devote himself to the sacred ministry. He studied theology at Andover, and in 1836 was ordained as pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J .; in 1840 he resigned, and became editor of the Biblical Reposi- tory and American Eclectic. In 1843 he was appointed home secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for For-


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eign Missions, in which office he continued until his death, March 28, 1877. For the following sketch of his character I am indebted to the Rev. Alexander Mckenzie, D. D., of Cambridge, Mass. : -


Mr. Treat is best known in his relations with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in which he filled the office of Home Secretary for many years. He was admirably fitted for the place and its varied duties. The breadth of his mind, his calm judgment, his exact thinking and precise speaking, with his knowledge of men and of affairs, qualified him for the large trust which was committed to him. His legal training and prac- tice were of service in this work. He held the ample confidence of men. He was not lavish of praise, but he liked to commend that which he approved, and was ready to enrich his favor with wise counsel. Those who were not quickly drawn to him by a warmth of manner, learned to esteem the sincerity of his friendship and to value the honesty of its expression. He was a man of strength, of fidelity, of large usefulness, and his name is held in honor by all who knew him.


SAMUEL HANSON COX, D. D., LL. D., (1837-1873,) was born at Rahway, N. J., August 25, 1793. His parents, whose memory he never ceased tenderly to cherish, belonged to the Society of Friends, and he was trained up in its principles. But while a student of law at Newark, N. J., he passed through severe struggles of mind on the subject of religion, and at length, in September, 1813, renounced Quakerism, was baptized, and united with the Second Presbyterian Church of that place. Soon after, he gave up the study of law for that of divinity, and in October, 1816, was licensed by the Pres- bytery of New York to preach the Gospel.


Soon after his licensure Mr. Cox was recommended for em- ployment in the service of the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York, a strong association composed of young men from all the Evangelical churches of the city. Some of the leading members of the society, however, strenuously opposed


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his appointment, on the ground of unsoundness in the faith ; and after sharp and prolonged discussion he was rejected by a decided vote. Thereupon the minority, led by the pastor of the Brick Church, the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., proceeded at once to organize a new society, - the New York Evan- gelical Missionary Society of Young Men. This incident had so important a bearing, not only on the future career of Mr. Cox, but upon missionary policy in the Presbyterian Church, and it throws so much light upon the state of theological opinion at the time, that I cannot help quoting the following passages from the defence of their action by the minority, written apparently by Dr. Spring.


An event of so much notoriety as the secession of more than one hundred young men from an institution whose professed object is the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot, at first view, be regarded but with sentiments of regret. At an age of the world when the various denominations of Christendom begin to feel that they have attached too much importance to the things in which they differ, and not enough to those in which they agree, - when the dissemination of the Gospel is the great and common cause which unites the affections, the prayers, and the exertions of the great family of believers, and in the promotion of which they already begin to find a grave for their party spirit and sectarian prejudices, - nothing but considerations of commanding influence can justify a disjunction of missionary labors. Charity suffereth long ; but there is a point beyond which Christian forbearance can- not be extended, and when the wisdom that cometh from above demands a struggle, not only to extend the Redeemer's kingdom abroad, but to maintain its independence at home.


Considerations of this imperative character did exist, and led to the organization of this infant institution. The name of Mr. Cox was mentioned with diffidence and solicitude. No objection was made to his talents or piety. It was too well known to be dis- puted, that, in both these particulars, he enjoyed no small share of public confidence. The majority of the committee had, however, unhappily associated with the name of Mr. Cox certain religious sentiments which they deemed unsound, and which they supposed to be inconsistent with the character of a useful missionary. It


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was not to be concealed that, in the great outlines of truth, his views accorded rather with those entertained by Calvin, Edwards, Bellamy, Scott, Smalley, Dwight, Pierce, Ryland, Fuller, and in- deed with the great body of the Christian world in this period of enlightened piety, than with the incoherent and unintelligible dogmas with which local intolerance seems resolved to burden the Church of Christ. If not to believe that we actually sinned in Eden six thousand years before we were born ; if not to believe that the inability of the unregenerate to comply with the terms of salvation is the same as their inability to pluck the sun from his orbit ; if not to believe that the depravity of man destroys his ac- countability ; if not to believe that the atonement is made exclu- sively for the elect; if not to believe that the elect are invested with a title to eternal life on principles of distributive justice, while destitute of renewing and sanctifying grace ; if not to believe that the Christian's love of God is founded in selfishness as com- pletely as the miser's love of gold ; - if want of assent to these re- pulsive notions disqualifies a man for the missionary service, then doubtless Mr. Cox is disqualified. But if a cordial adherence to the truth that through the sin of Adam all mankind are sinners from the first moment of their own existence ; that the inability of the unregenerate, though absolute, inculpates rather than excuses them ; that, notwithstanding his apostasy, man is still a free agent, and accountable for his character ; that the atonement is unlimited in its nature, and limited only in its application ; that the salvation of the elect is not of debt, but of grace; that all holy affection, though caused by the Divine Spirit, is founded on the Divine excel- lence rather than the Divine favor; - if a firm belief and cordial reception of these glorious truths qualifies a man for the ministry of reconciliation, then the minority have every reason to concur in the unanimous opinion of the Presbytery of New York that Mr. Cox is qualified.


On July 1, 1817, he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Mendham, N. J. In 1820 he accepted a call to the Spring Street Church in the city of New York, where he was installed in December of that year. A new house of worship having been erected on the corner of Laight and Varick Streets, the larger part of the congregation removed there with their pastor in 1825, and were afterwards


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known as the Laight Street Presbyterian Church. In 1834 Dr. Cox was called to the Auburn Theological Seminary, as Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology. In 1837 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Brook- lyn, N. Y. Here he remained for seventeen years, laboring with eminent success, and taking a leading part in religious and ecclesiastical affairs. He twice visited Europe, - in 1833, and again in 1846. In 1854, owing to the failure of his voice, he resigned his charge, and moved to Oswego. The closing years of his life were passed in retirement at Bronxville, N. Y., where he died on October 2, 1880, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.


Dr. Cox was a most interesting and remarkable man. There were times when his eloquence and the grandeur of his thoughts carried captive all who heard him. Had his judgment equalled his other mental forces, he would have been one of the very first of American preachers and theo- logians. His intellect was charged with vital energy, and disported itself in endless coruscations of wit and fancy. What could be finer than the exordium of his speech at the anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in May, 1833 ? Reaching London as a delegate from the American Bible Society at the last moment, he had entered Exeter Hall after the meeting was begun, and in the midst of an address which bitterly denounced American slavery. He was an- nounced as the next speaker, and instantly took possession of the audience. His personal appearance was highly attractive : his face beamed with intellectual radiance, and the first words he uttered riveted the attention of the vast assembly : -


My lord, twenty days ago I was taken by the tug " Hercules" from the quay in New York to the good ship "Samson," lying in the stream. Thus, my lord, -going from strength to strength, from mythology to Scripture, -by the good hand of the Lord I was brought to your shores just in time to reach this house, and to enter in the midst of the denunciations of my beloved coun-


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try that have fallen from the lips of the gentleman who just sat down. He has reproached that country for the existence of slavery, which I abhor as much as he. But he did not tell you that, when we revolted from your government, one of the rea- sons alleged was the fact that your King had forced that odious institution upon us in spite of our remonstrances, and that the original sin rests with you and your fathers. ... And now, my lord, instead of indulging in mutual reproaches, I propose that the gentleman shall be Shem and I will be Japheth, and, taking the mantle of charity, we will walk backward and cover the nakedness of our common ancestor.


In the circle of his ministerial brethren, whom he esteemed and loved, Dr. Cox seemed always to be in the happiest mood. His talk and his manner were equally delightful. To meet him in the famous " Chi Alpha," which he founded and which was so dear to his heart, or to see and hear him in the society of Albert Barnes, William Patton, Thomas H. Skinner, William Adams, and other old friends who had stood by his side in the sharp conflicts of 1836, 1837, and 1838, was worth journeying a thousand miles. He had all the simplicity and artless ways of a child ; and yet, in standing up for what he regarded as the claims of truth and duty, he showed himself every inch a man, without fear or favor. In 1834 his advo- cacy of the cause of the negro exposed him to the rage and violence of a pro-slavery mob. He may not have spoken always with prudence, but he always spoke out of a heart glowing with the love of freedom and justice. He had re- nounced the religious doctrine and customs of the Friends, but the spirit of humanity, which impelled the followers of George Fox to bear such faithful witness against social evil and wrongdoing, was strong within him, and found constant expression in the pulpit, on the platform, and in the daily intercourse of life.


Dr. Cox had a singularly retentive memory, and would often recite page after page from the writings of Cowper, Sir Walter Scott, and other favorite poets, equally to the wonder and


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delight of his friends. He was an accomplished Latin scholar, spoke the language with fluency, and was as fond of interlard- ing what he wrote with Latin phrases and quotations, as old Burton in his " Anatomy of Melancholy." His sympathies and antipathies were exceedingly strong, in relation both to opinions and to authors and their works. Among theologians Calvin and Edwards were the objects of his unbounded admi- ration ; and but few ministers in the country, probably, were so familiar with the writings of the former in the original Latin as Dr. Cox. His "Interview" with Dr. Chalmers, for whom his admiration was also very great, contains a striking illustration of his minute acquaintance with Calvin. On such subjects as High-Church Episcopacy, the Exscinding Acts of 1837, and Hopkinsianism, - not to mention others, - he could hardly retain his speech within reasonable limits. His im- pulses were very quick, sometimes erratic, and not infrequently found vent in extravagant words ; but back of them all and beneath them all was a heart glowing with the piety and chari- ties of the Gospel. Dr. Cox's chief productions were, Quaker- ism not Christianity, or Reasons for Renouncing the Doctrine of Friends, - a large volume of nearly seven hundred pages, published in 1833; and Interviews, Memorable and Useful, from Diary and Memory reproduced, published in 1853. Both works are characteristic at once of his strength and his weakness. A copy of the former, which he sent me at New Bedford from "Rusurban," nearly forty years ago, I still keep in memory of his long and faithful friendship.


For thirty-six years Dr. Cox was a member of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary. He served on many important committees, and exerted no small influ- ence in shaping and giving character to the institution. In its darkest days he was always full of hope and good cheer. Although not one of its founders, he was an intimate friend of most of the founders, and in full sympathy with its spirit and design. For several years he acted as Professor Extraor-


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dinary of Biblical and Ecclesiastical History. This depart- ment of instruction afforded ample scope for his multifarious learning and his characteristic powers of memory and of fresh, stimulating thought. The service, too, was a labor of love, for he received no pay. In a letter to Professor Smith, dated November 18, 1850, he thus refers to some lectures on Church History which he was then delivering :-


We are glad you are coming, especially I, your pro hac vice locum tenens. I have endeavored only to herald you and prepare the way before you by outline and generality, not ambiguity, re- specting the grand vertebral column of history, its osteology, and loca majora. The students have been very attentive, and I have . endeavored to affect them with a sense of the sine qua non impor- tance to ministers of its thorough and scientific acquisition. Dr. Skinner has condemned himself to be one of my hearers at every lecture. I go on the principle that premises must be before induc- tions, and hence that, without knowing facts, dates, places, men, relations, and some circumstances, they are not prepared for phi- losophizing as historians. Hence I teach them the elements, the what, where, when, who, why, how, and the connections, con- sequences, antecedents, and motives, as well as we can know them, in order to their masterly use of them in their subsequent lucubrations.


I remember hearing one of Dr. Cox's lectures on Biblical history. It was delivered in the vestry of the First Pres- byterian Church in Brooklyn, the class crossing the river to meet him there. On the walls of the room hung maps and diagrams for illustration. He spoke without notes. His lecture was absolutely unique; nor was there, probably, an- other man in the United States who could have delivered it. If not exactly scientific, it yet showed a scholarly enthusiasm and a grasp of the significance of very ancient history, not common in that day. I say " very ancient," for his subject carried him far back toward the beginning of the human race. He unfolded and illustrated its varied aspects in a very won- derful manner. In recalling this lecture I am reminded of


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another on early Old Testament history which I once heard from the celebrated Professor Görres of Munich, also a man of brilliant but eccentric genius. He too, like Dr. Cox, went back to the days when there were giants in the earth, and found at work in them, as he thought, the same laws and spiritual forces that control the great movements of society in our own age.


ANSON GREENE PHELPS (1838-1853) was born at Sims- bury, Conn., March 27, 1781. His father served in the army throughout the Revolutionary war, much of the time as an officer under General Greene, after whom Anson was named. His father died soon after his birth, and at eleven years of age he lost his mother, a woman of rare piety and excellence, whose memory he cherished to old age with tender affection and reverence. On the death of his mother he went to live with the Rev. Mr. Utley, with whom he remained a number of years, learning a trade. At the age of eighteen, during a powerful awakening under the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Hal- lock, he was converted, and, removing soon after to Hartford, united with the church of which the Rev. Dr. Strong, one of the most eminent divines of the day, was then pastor. About 1815 he established himself in business in this city, joining the Brick Church, of which he was for many years an efficient elder. Later, he filled the same office in the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church. His life in New York was identified with its commercial and religious history. He died, November 30, 1853, in the seventy-third year of his age.


Mr. Phelps was a man of very strong, original, and marked character. Self-reliance, an iron will, solid judgment, a saga- cious power of combination and forecast, indomitable perse- verance, shrewd common sense, a physical constitution capable of immense labor and endurance, -these were among his lead- ing traits. But he possessed others of a gentler nature, and all of them were tempered and restrained by earnest religious


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principles. He was a genuine Christian philanthropist of the most catholic type. The interests of the colored race, both in this country and in Africa, were especially near his heart. The great evangelistic movements of the age, whether at home or abroad, had in him one of their most devoted and liberal friends. He used to thank God for the privilege of living in such a glorious day. The Union Theological Seminary has reason to cherish his memory, not only as one of its early Directors and patrons, but also as the first of a whole family circle of Directors and benefactors extending now to the third generation.


REV. ALBERT BARNES (1840-1870) was born at Rome, N. Y., December 1, 1798. Having pursued his preparatory studies at Fairfield Academy, Connecticut, he entered the Senior class of Hamilton College, and graduated there in July, 1820. He early imbibed sceptical sentiments, and in- tended to devote himself to the legal profession. The reading of Dr. Chalmers's famous article on the evidences of Chris- tianity overcame his doubts ; and not long after, he passed through a religious crisis which issued in a purpose to study for the sacred ministry. He went through a four years' course in the Princeton Theological Seminary, and on February 8, 1825, was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, N. J.


Five years later he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia as successor to the Rev. James Patriot Wilson, D. D., and was installed on June 25, 1830. Referring to this period, nearly thirty years later, he says : -


I came here a young man, with but little experience, with no personal acquaintance with the manner and habits of a great city, and with no such reputation as to make success certain. I never preached before the congregation when I was called to be its pas- tor. I came at that early period of life, and with that want of ex- perience, to succeed the most learned, able, and eloquent preacher


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in the Presbyterian Church ; a man occupying a position in this community which no other man occupied ; a man whose opinions secured a degree of respect which few men have ever been able to secure. I came to take charge of one of the largest and most influential congregations in the land. I came when I was fully apprised that I must encounter from without a most decided and formidable opposition to the views which I had cherished, and to the doctrines which I had expressed. I found my venerable predecessor already, by anticipation, my friend. He defended my views. He indorsed my opinions. He exerted his great influ- ence in the congregation in my favor, commending me in every way by his pen and his counsel to the confidence and affection of the people to whom he had so long ministered. For six months, the time during which he lived after I became the pastor of the church, he was my friend, my counsellor, my adviser, my exam- ple ; he did all that could be done by man to make my ministry here useful and happy.


For more than a third of a century Mr. Barnes continued to labor in the First Church with extraordinary zeal, fidelity, and success. It would be hard to say whether his diligence were greatest in the pulpit or in the use of the pen. He was truly a marvel of industry. To this, under God, he ascribes all his success in life. " I had nothing else to depend on but this. I had no capital when I began life ; I had no powerful patron- age to help me ; I had no natural endowments, as I believe that no man has, that could supply the place of industry ; and it is not improper here to say, that all that I have beer able to do in this world has been the result of habits of industry which began early in life, which were commended to me by the example of a venerated father, and which have been and are an abiding source of enjoyment. ... Whatever I have accomplished in the way of commentary on the Scriptures is to be traced to the fact of rising at four in the morning, and to the time thus secured which I thought might properly be employed in a work not immediately connected with my pas- toral labors. That habit I have pursued now for many years ; rather, as far as my conscience advises me on the subject,




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