The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York : historical and biographical sketches of its first fifty years, Part 13

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 13


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because I loved the work itself than from any idea of gain or of reputation, or, indeed, from any definite plan as to the work itself." All his commentaries on the Scriptures were written between four and nine o'clock in the morning.


Mr. Barnes's name will always be associated with a very eventful chapter in the history of American Presbyterianism. His trial for heresy, his suspension from the exercise of the ministerial office by the Synod of Philadelphia in 1835, and the reversal of the action of the Synod by the General Assem- bly of 1836, were events closely connected with the great disruption of 1838. Other causes, both ecclesiastical and sec- tional, conspired to produce the result; but so far as it grew out of doctrinal differences, Mr. Barnes more than any other man represented the New School side. His temper and con- duct were admirable; amidst all the bitter and irritating experiences which he passed through, from the moment of receiving the call to Philadelphia until restored to his pul- pit by the General Assembly in 1836, he bore himself with a quiet dignity, courage, meekness, and fidelity to his con- victions befitting the Christian sage. After the division he was universally recognized as a foremost leader of the New School branch. It trusted his counsels, and in 1851 chose him moderator of the General Assembly. Not a little of what was best in its history it owed to him. His influence helped largely to mould its antislavery sentiment, its strong position in favor of temperance reform, its theological temper and be- lief, -in a word, its whole spirit and character as a church. Mr. Barnes's influence as a Christian teacher and philanthro- pist was also widely felt by other denominations throughout the country. In his day and generation he ranked, like his illustrious contemporary, Dr. Channing, among the moral in- structors of the American people. Honorary degrees of D. D. and LL. D. were conferred upon him in token of the general esteem ; but his modesty, if not his conscience, led him in every instance to decline their use. He was still known, and


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will be known in coming time, simply as Albert Barnes. His active ministry in Philadelphia continued unbroken until 1867, when, owing to a failure of sight, he resigned his charge, and was made Pastor Emeritus. But he delighted to preach still, which he did often in the House of Refuge, of which he was a manager. On the 24th of December, 1870, he passed sud- denly to his eternal rest. It was a blustering winter's day, and he walked a mile to visit a bereaved family, but had scarcely seated himself, when, falling back in his chair, he expired without a groan. The feeling excited by his depart- ure is well expressed in a letter of Dr. Skinner, who, a few weeks later, followed him to a better world : -


You doubtless know that I was at the funeral of Albert Barnes. Brother, I was never present at such obsequies. I never took part in carrying a man like Brother Barnes to his burial. He has not left his equal among us. He is the object of my profound admira- tion. What a model of industry, of meekness, of patience, of Christian simplicity and dignity, was this very extraordinary man ! Well, Brother, we hope soon to see him again.


I have spoken of Mr. Barnes as a temperance reformer. His own account of his position on this subject is full of interest :-


I have mentioned that I adopted the most rigid views on the subject of temperance. I embraced the principle of entire absti- nence from all that can intoxicate. I have adhered to that principle. For thirty years I have rigidly abstained from even wine, except as prescribed by a physician, and using it then most rarely. I have never kept it in my family ; I have never provided it for my friends ; I have declined it when it has been placed before me, and when I have been present where others, even clergymen, have indulged in its use. I have never concealed my sentiments on the subject ; and in thus abstaining, in all the circles where I have been, whether of religious men or worldly men, at home, at sea, abroad, I have seen only a marked respect for my sentiments. However much I may have differed in practice from those with whom I have been, I have never known one thing done or said to give me pain, nor have I found that men, whatever might be their own practice, have


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been any the less disposed to show me respect on account of my views. I now approve the course, and, if I were to live my life over again, I see nothing in this matter which I would wish to change. I am persuaded that the principle has all the importance which I have ever attached to it. I have lost nothing by it; I have gained much.


I look with equal satisfaction and approbation over my public efforts in the cause of temperance. It was my lot to begin my ministry in a region of country where the usual customs on this subject prevailed, and where alcoholic drinks were extensively manufactured and sold. Within the limits of my pastoral charge, embracing a district not far from ten miles in diameter, there were nineteen places where the article was manufactured, and twenty where it was sold. I considered it my duty early to call the atten- tion of my people to the subject. I presented my views, in succes- sive discourses, plainly and earnestly. I appealed to their reason, to their conscience, to their religion. I showed what I understood to be the doctrine of the Bible on the subject, and stated the influence of the practice on the happiness of families, and on the peace, the order, and the morals of the community, and its influence in pro- ducing pauperism, wretchedness, crime, and death. The appeal was not in vain. I found early in my ministry, even where habits had been long established, where property was involved, and where sacrifices would be required on their part in adopting my views, that men would listen to the voice of reason and the voice of God. I had the happiness to know that, in eighteen out of the twenty places where intoxicating drinks were sold, the traffic was soon abandoned ; and I saw in seventeen out of nineteen of those places where the poison was manufactured the fires go out to be rekindled no more. I had a proof thus early in my ministry, which has been of great value to me since, of the fact that truth may be presented to the minds of men so as to secure their approbation, even when great pecuniary sacrifices must be made, and when it would lead to important changes in the customs and habits of society.


Mr. Barnes's career as an author began soon after he en- tered the ministry. Among his works are Notes, Explana- tory and Practical, on the New Testament, on Isaiah and the Psalms; Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery ; The Church and Slavery ; The Way of Salvation ; The Atonement,


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in its Relations to Law and Moral Government ; Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century ; Prayers adapted to Family Worship ; Miscellaneous Essays and Reviews ; Life at Threescore ; and Life at Threescore and Ten. The two works last mentioned are charming pieces of autobiography, full of the optimism of the Gospel. "I shall close my eyes in death," says Mr. Barnes in Life at Threescore and Ten, " with bright and glorious hopes in regard to my native land, to the Church, and to the world at large." Some of these works, particularly the Notes on the New Testament, had an immense circulation in Great Britain as well as at home, and thus served to endear his name to tens of thousands of Christian men and women in that country.


My own recollections of Mr. Barnes are vivid and full of pleasantness. He had a countenance marked in an unusual degree by moral thoughtfulness, benignity, sweetness, refine- ment, and manly dignity. I never heard him speak in loud or excited tones. The gentleness of his Divine Master had made him great, -great in calm self-possession and self-for- getfulness, in the meekness of wisdom, in humility, and in the serene assurance of faith. He seemed to shrink instinctively from the ostentatious ways and noisy demonstrations which sometimes mar the character, and even the piety, of good men. No one was so surprised at the great popularity of his writings as he was himself.


My last recollection of him recalls an interesting occasion. During the first meeting of the General Assembly of the re- united Church at Philadelphia, in May, 1870, it was proposed that those members who were so inclined should go in com- pany and pay their respects to Mr. Barnes. The proposition was cordially received, and on the appointed evening a large number of the commissioners, both lay and clerical, found themselves together under the roof of the venerable servant of God whose name in earlier years, to not a few of them, had been associated with grave theological error and trials for


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heresy. It was a beautiful and touching scene. Mr. Barnes, who had looked with no little distrust upon the reunion movement, appeared to be deeply moved and gratified. The expression of high Christian esteem and confidence by so many eminent Old School ministers and laymen was too cor- dial and emphatic to allow its sincerity to be doubted ; it gave unmistakable proof that in the reunited Presbyterian Church the prejudices and animosities of former days had passed or were fast passing away.


It is much to be regretted that no memoir of Albert Barnes has yet been given to the public. He was a very interesting, as well as a great and good man. I know of no one, among his contemporaries in the Christian ministry of this country, whose life and character were marked by more original traits, nor any one whose example better deserves to be studied by students of divinity. It might not, perhaps, be wise for them to copy some of his literary methods and habits; but his patient industry, his passion for truth, especially the truth as it is in Jesus, his moral courage in forming and avow- ing his own convictions, his candor and fairness in dealing with the convictions of others, his meekness and lowliness of mind, his reverence for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, his delight in the pulpit, that "most attractive and sacred place on earth," his devotion to the cause of humanity in all its phases, his scrupulous regard to the smallest claims of duty, - how worthy are these of careful imitation! A faith- ful account of his life would present some striking scenes. What could be more becoming and Christ-like than his de- meanor, as well as his speech, during his trial for heresy, and while under suspension from the ministry ? What more unique, or picturesque, than the story of his Notes, Explana- tory and Practical, to the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament, which appeared between 1832 and 1868? I recall nothing quite like it in American ministerial biography. What touching incidents occurred in the famous church study


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where in the early morning those books were written! Mr. Barnes thus alludes to these morning hours : -


In the recollection now of the past portions of my life, I refer to these morning hours, -to the stillness and quiet of my room in this house of God when I have been permitted to "prevent the dawning of the morning " in the study of the Bible, while the in- habitants of this great city were slumbering round about me, and before the cares of the day and its direct responsibilities came on me, - to the hours which I have thus spent in a close contempla- tion of divine truth, endeavoring to understand its import, to re- move the difficulties that might pertain to it, and to ascertain its practical bearing on the Christian life, - I refer, I say, to these scenes as among the happiest portions of my life. If I have had any true communion with God in my life; if I have made any progress in Christian piety ; if I am, in any respect, a better man and a more confirmed Christian than I was when I entered the ministry ; if I have made any progress in my preparation for that world on which I must at no distant period enter; and if I have been enabled to do you any good in explaining to you the word of God, -it has been closely connected with those calm and quiet scenes where I felt that I was alone with God, and when my mind was thus brought into close contact with those truths which the Holy Ghost has inspired. I look back to those periods of my life with gratitude to God ; and I could not do a better thing in refer- ence to my younger brethren in the ministry than to commend this habit to them as one closely connected with their own personal piety, and their usefulness in the world.


Some time before his death a friend of mine chanced to call upon Mr. Barnes while he was engaged in burning up his old sermons, and she still preserves several which her entreaty saved from the flames. The incident is so characteristic and so pathetic, that I cannot refrain from giving it in Mr. Barnes's own words : -


My hair had begun to turn gray. My sight had so failed that I could not read what I had written in my earlier years. Old age was coming upon me, and I was admonished that I must at no dis- tant period pass away, and be seen no more among the living. I


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should no more be seen in my familiar walks; I should no more again enter the dwellings of my people, to speak to them of the Saviour and of heaven, to gather the children around me, and try to interest them in the old pastor, and thus to interest them in re- ligion itself. I should no longer endeavor to minister consolation to those that mourn, and to the sick and dying ; I should no more enter my pulpit, to me that most attractive and sacred place on earth, and seek to persuade men to turn to God. What shall be done with my old sermons? In a long pastorate, for I had spent my ministry mainly among the same people, they had accumulated on my hands, and I could number them by hundreds. They were becoming almost useless to myself, and soon they would be wholly so. What should be done with them? Old sermons are among the most useless of all kinds of lumber when the man that wrote them is dead, and there is nothing that is more difficult to dispose of. They are not like old newspapers, useful to the grocer ; the family of an old pastor does not like to burn them ; they cannot be used again by those who come after him ; no bookseller will print them and no one would buy them if they were printed. What would probably become of mine when I am dead? My people, though they had heard them with some degree of interest, would regard them as of no value if they were distributed among them, and what would be done with them? I could not doubt they would be likely to lie in some dusty corner of some old garret, encumbering the world, until moths and mice should consume the yellow leaves, and at last, tired with seeing them, some duster and sweeper of the garret would resolve to get them out of the way, and commit the fragments of what had cost me so much labor and prayer to the flames.


My sermons had been written with great care, and many of them were ready for the press. I had folded and ruled my paper ; I had with my own hands stitched them together with as much skill as a bookbinder would have done. Nay, I had actually employed a bookbinder to prepare little sermon-books of suitable size, and with a suitable cover, and had valued myself on the neatness of my manuscript; for that portion of my audience that occupied the galleries could look down upon my sermon as I carefully laid it in the open Bible, and I had a conscious pride in the feeling that my sermon was in entire keeping with the other arrangements in the sanctuary. But what should be done with them now? I re-


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solved to burn them, and thus to save all trouble to my friends when I should have gone to my long resting-place. I took a day for the purpose, and I committed them in instalments of a dozen or more to the flames. I watched them as they were slowly con- sumed. They were not martyrs, for they could not feel the flame, but it was a kind of martyrdom of myself. The end of life was really coming. The beginning of the end was near. I saw them " into smoke consume away."


Mr. Barnes was appointed a Director of the Union Theo- logical Seminary soon after its establishment, and continued such until his death, thirty years later. During all these years he was a model of punctuality and faithful service, coming on from Philadelphia oftentimes, at no little inconve- nience, to attend the meetings. In 1867 he delivered the first course of lectures on the Ely Foundation. They were upon the Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century, and were afterwards published.


The following is an extract from the minute of the Board of Directors on occasion of Mr. Barnes's death, prepared by his old friend, Dr. Adams : -


Wise in counsel, assiduous and decided in action, persevering and steady in the pursuit of his objects, his devotion to the inter- ests of this beloved Seminary and the cause of education for the Christian ministry in general has been, from first to last, warm, constant, and effective. Sacred literature has lost in him one of its brightest ornaments, and the Church one of her strongest pil- lars. Without a particle of sectarian exclusiveness, he was firmly and cordially attached to the great truths of the Bible, as embod- ied in the Presbyterian standards, and lived and labored for his own Church as one deeply convinced of its excellence. No man preached with more fulness and heartiness its distinguishing prin- ciples, according to what he understood to be their true import and intent. Called in his early manhood, in troublous times, to the forefront of a contest none the less perilous from the fact that good men on both sides were the combatants, it is much to say of him that he bore his part with a firmness, dignity, and independence, coupled with the meekness of wisdom, which never suffered him to


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be irritated to recrimination, nor driven on either side to extremes. The Bible, whose sacred contents he has done so much to expound, not only to his own countrymen, but to the people of other lands, was ever the guide of his thinking and the law of his conduct and character. By his eminent abilities, his extensive acquirements, his untiring diligence, his bright example, his conscientious ad- herence to the truth, his affectionate sympathy for all humanity, his ardent desire for the salvation of his fellow-men, his purity and the simplicity of his aims, his devout walk with God, he has con- tributed largely, during a life of more than threescore years and ten, to the advancement of all the best interests of humanity and the honor of his Master's cause.


ASA D. SMITH, D. D., LL. D., (1841-1864,) was born at Amherst, N. H., September 21, 1804. At the age of seven- teen, while living at Windsor, Vt., he began a Christian life, and not long after decided to devote himself to the ministry of the Gospel. After a course of preparatory study at Kim- ball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., he entered Dartmouth College in 1826, and graduated there in 1830. While in college he was distinguished alike for high scholarship and for Christian zeal and influence. Upon his graduation he spent a year in teaching, as Principal of the Academy at Limerick, Me., and then went to Andover, where he pursued his theological studies. He belonged to the class of 1834.


In November, 1834, he was ordained and installed pastor of the "Brainerd Church " in the city of New York. This church had been organized by the Third Presbytery on Feb- ruary 9th in the same year. Here he labored with great diligence and success for several years, when his people re- moved to a new edifice erected by them at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue, and were afterwards known as the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church. In 1863 he accepted a unanimous call to the presidency of Dart- mouth College, and was inaugurated on November 18 in that year. He died at Hanover, August 16, 1877.


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Dr. Smith was one of the best and weightiest men of his generation. Whether regarded as a pastor, as a leader, or as an educator, he made a strong and lasting impression. For wellnigh a third of a century his power was felt, not in the pulpit only, but in almost all departments of the benevolent and Christian work of New York. In his own congregation, aided by such elders as William E. Dodge, David Hoadley, Christopher R. Robert, and William A. Booth, he devised and carried out the most effective plans of usefulness. In the Presbytery and in the benevolent committees of the Church his counsels were of the utmost value. Sound judgment and untiring zeal for the cause of the Divine Master were equally his characteristics. I served with him in the Directory of the Union Theological Seminary, and in other important associa- tions, and never failed to be struck with his practical wisdom, public spirit, and unwavering loyalty to what he considered the claims of truth and righteousness. His eminent services as President of Dartmouth College belong to the history of that institution.


ANTHONY P. HALSEY (1841-1863) early became connected with the Bank of New York, and served it with fidelity forty- seven years as clerk, teller, cashier, vice-president, and presi- dent. His name is entitled to a place among the best friends of the Union Theological Seminary. He succeeded William M. Halsted as its treasurer, and held the office until his death, in November, 1863. Mrs. Halsey says, in a letter to the Board written shortly after his death : -


He was always deeply interested in the cause of Christian educa- tion. During the last twenty years of his life, the Union Seminary occupied a large portion of his thoughts and prayers. He has considered the Professors and Directors among his best friends ; he both loved and respected them. The students had also his sympathy and prayers. A large number of the graduates have been intimate friends in our family. May God continue to bless and prosper the institution !


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DAVID LEAVITT (1841-1846) was born in Bethlehem, Conn., August 27, 1791. After a long business life in New York, Mr. Leavitt built a home for himself at Great Barrington, Mass., where he passed some twenty years in dignified ease and re- tirement. For the following sketch I am indebted to the Rev. Henry M. Booth, D. D., of Englewood, N. J.


The parents of David Leavitt were possessed of considerable property, so that he entered upon life with many advantages. When but a lad, however, he became a clerk in a village store, and before he had reached manhood had made his way to New York, where he was soon engaged in business for himself. He was in- dustrious, energetic, and bold, apparently shrinking from no mer- cantile ventures and usually succeeding in whatever he undertook. His were the merchant's instincts. He had a genius for trade, which rapidly advanced him to prominence among the business men of the growing city. After he had established himself firmly in com- mercial circles, he gave attention to banking, and was widely and favorably known as a financier. The American Exchange Bank, one of the largest institutions in the country, was controlled by him for many of his active years, and his name was then a power in Wall Street as well as throughout the United States. Before he retired from business he had accumulated a large fortune, which he had been using, and continued to use, in promoting many of our most important public works. He was also a regular and a liberal contributor to the various educational, philanthropic, and religious enterprises which were originated and developed by the men of his generation.


After he became a resident on Brooklyn Heights, in 1827, he was an active ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church, whose present substantial house of worship was built under his direction, and whose distinguished pastor, the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox, D. D., was brought to Brooklyn through his influence.


In his retirement at Great Barrington, Mass., Mr. Leavitt spent many happy years dispensing a generous hospitality, and watching with serene composure the progress of events in which he had afore- time been a leader. He was a man of commanding presence and courtly manners. His erect form, with long white hair and broad- brimmed hat, was readily recognized as he passed through Wall Street. He wore a white cravat about his neck, and dressed in


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ministerial black, so that he was often mistaken for a clergyman. He was indeed the clergyman's friend, as well as the friend of every one who needed his assistance ; and many are the pleasant incidents which the old merchants still relate of his personal helpfulness.


He died peacefully in New York City, on the 30th of December, 1879, at the ripe age of eighty-eight years.




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