The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York : historical and biographical sketches of its first fifty years, Part 16

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 16


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At the time of his death, he was framing large plans for future beneficence. One of these cherished projects was that of provid- ing for the Union Theological Seminary, not only the completion of its endowment, but also ampler accommodations for its growing numbers. He had conferences with several of its friends about its removal to a more eligible site, where suitable halls and rooms might be provided, and had said, that, if the ground were given by others, he would take it upon himself, by personal efforts, to see to the erection of the edifices. . .. To many of his friends, it will be of interest to know that the institution to which he made the largest bequest in his will was the very first to enlist his Christian sympathy and liberality, after the quickening of his religious life. The first collection made in the church, subsequently to this, was in aid of the Union Theological Seminary. And it is characteristic of him, that not even his wife knew what he had given until acci- dentally informed of the fact by a third person. "He was soon afterwards invited to attend a meeting in behalf of the Seminary at the Rev. Dr. Skinner's ; before he left home he spent some time in prayer, and when he bade me good by, he asked me if I would not pray for the success of the meeting while he was gone. He has taken a deep interest in the Seminary ever since, rarely failing to mention it in his prayers." These constant prayers testify to, and in part explain, the deep interest he felt in this institution, which had a foremost place in his affections.


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I cannot close this sketch of a dear friend of my own, as well as a friend of the Union Seminary, without putting again on record, still unchanged, a part of the tribute which I laid upon his grave nearly thirty years ago. The character of Anson G. Phelps, Jr. is one of the jewels of our history.


It has pleased Almighty God suddenly to take from us one who was equally an ornament and a pillar of our strength. None knew him but to honor and love him; while those who knew him best loved and honored him with an uncommon affection. They were themselves scarcely aware of its great depth and fervor until it pursued him across the immense chasm of the grave. He was one of those rare beings whose existence is a constant benediction, but who move on through life with such noiseless steps, who speak and act in a way so unpretending, that, when they are gone, the world is astonished to find out what a treasure it possessed in them. He " put a strange face on his own perfection." Nobody thought so little of him as he did of himself. Nobody has been so surprised at the exalted eulogies pronounced upon him as he would have been, had they been foretold to him. He shrank from mere publicity, as the sensitive plant shrinks from the rude touch. He avoided observation as eagerly as most men run after it. At the voice of friendly praise and affection, I have seen his countenance tinged with that delicate, pleased, half-blushing expression which delights one in the face of a simple-hearted girl. I never knew a man whose conduct was a fairer illustration of the sacred precepts, which bid us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, to esteem others better than ourselves, and in the performance of our good deeds not to sound a trumpet before us, nor to let our left hand know what our right hand doeth. Obedience to these and similar precepts was with him instinctive. It seemed to cost him no more effort than it costs the lark to sing, or the stars to shine.


Hardly another man of his age, in this city or in this whole land, was so identified with some of our most important Christian inter- ests ; and yet it would have been next to impossible to make him believe it. Hardly another man of his age among us gave to re- ligious and philanthropic objects with so princely a hand ; and yet I do not suppose he prided himself upon his charities one iota more


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WALTER SCOTT GRIFFITH.


than the poor widow, who, all unaware that the Son of God was looking on, cast into the treasury her two mites, which make a farthing. Nor was his piety towards God at all behind his benev- olence to man, and his modest estimate of himself. He was a true saint. He loved the person and the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ with an affection which overmastered every other. . . . He was still a young man. Less than twoscore years enclosed his mortal exist- ence, and little more than ten years sufficed him to run his brilliant course of Christian usefulness. . . . His home, especially his rural home, was the place where alone all the finer traits of his character were to be seen. There his cultivated taste, his gentle domestic virtues, his love of nature, and the whole ideality of the man, shone in all their lustre. His passion for the country was like that of the artist or the poet. He would sit by the hour on some favorite spot overlooking the splendid scenery of the Hudson, and seem to absorb into his very soul the glories of creation. There alone, or hand in hand with his almost inseparable companion, he would wander over his wide acres, sit down under the old trees, and muse in silent wonder upon the things which are unseen and eternal.


WALTER SCOTT GRIFFITH (1855-1870) was born in the city of New York, July 22, 1808, of a Welsh father and a Scotch mother. At two years of age he was carried into pioneer life by the removal of his parents to the interior of the State. Early thrown upon his own resources, he matured rapidly, and evinced from the first traits which later distinguished him. On leaving home he went to Rochester, where he passed sev- eral years, first as a clerk in a grocery store, and then as a wholesale grocer and forwarder, in company with his father and two uncles. Later he gave up his business at Rochester, and at length established himself in New York, making his family home in Brooklyn. In 1860 he organized the Home Life Insurance Company of Brooklyn, with an office in New York; became its president, and so remained until his death. His administration of its affairs was successful, and brought prosperity to it from the first. He was connected as an officer with numerous public institutions of Brooklyn and New York,


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and in them all was regarded as a clear-headed, prudent, ca- pable, and trustworthy man. He organized the New York Corn Exchange, writing its charter, serving as its vice-presi- dent, and as chairman of its most important committees. He occupied a highly honorable position in the New York Cham- ber of Commerce, was for many years on its executive com- mittee, and also one of its vice-presidents.


Mr. Griffith was a man of vigorous and striking intellectual qualities. His memory and perceptive powers were quite re- markable. He seemed as familiar with localities, for example, of which he had merely read descriptions, as if he had often travelled over them. He was heard to describe the battle of Gettysburg, giving small details of the face of the country, and showing where different divisions of the national army were placed, so vividly as at once to force the inquiry, " How can you possibly remember so minutely, from having merely seen it at the time of the engagement ?" But he was never at Gettysburg.


In the great Brooklyn Park of several hundred acres, full of varied scenery, he knew and spoke of all the roads and walks, conversed about each noticeable clump of trees, the bridges, the little knolls and glens, with perfect ease and familiarity ; but though long a member of the Park Commis- sion, and giving much time to his duties as commissioner, secretary, and one of its auditing committee, he knew all these from maps and conversation merely. Strange to say, he was only once within the Park limits, and was then after a brief stay driven away by a shower.


Mr. Griffith was an easy and effective speaker, and used the pen also with skill. Had he enjoyed the advantages of a col- legiate education, he would no doubt have made a still deeper mark upon his generation. His religious life began during a great awakening in Rochester, in 1830, under the preaching of that remarkable servant of God, the Rev. Charles G. Finney. His conversion, like that of so many under the preaching of


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Mr. Finney, was very thorough, and wrought with power on his whole subsequent career. He was connected with the Bleecker Street Presbyterian Church in this city ; then, suc- cessively, with the South, Westminster, and First Presbyterian Churches in Brooklyn ; and, last, with the Church of the Pil- grims. By weight of character and talent, if not always in official position, he was a leader in all of them. Although a man of iron will, very determined, and at times perhaps too severe in his moral judgments, his strong and somewhat austere character was adorned with the finest personal quali- ties. In the family, he was a pattern of unselfishness ; the feelings of each and every one were to be consulted before his own ; children and servants he treated with like unvarying courtesy and kindness. Old servants would come back to him for advice and help. An incident is told of his reaching a seaside hotel, where his family spent the summer, in the very early morning. He would not disturb them, but, sitting on the veranda with his paper, saw an Irish nurse taking up water from the sea for a child's bath, and noticed that as she stooped her dress dipped in the water. It was the movement of an instant for him to leave his seat and his reading, offer to bring the water for her, then carry pailful after pailful, until she had enough. His courtesy to others, particularly to women, was chivalric, and was the same in the hurry of business as in leisure. His clerks said that he never spoke a hasty or impolite word to them. The interests of those who came to him in want were his own.


An army chaplain wrote : -


I have in a hundred cases advised the widows and heirs of de- ceased soldiers to call on Mr. Griffith for advice, counsel, and help. In every case they were given with an urbanity and kindness that at once set the applicant at ease, and gave the assurance, "I am in the presence of a friend." It was no sacrifice or self-denial to Mr. Griffith to be patient ; it was his nature. He could condescend to men of low estate, and do a favor without humbling the recipient.


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After my return to the city, I found in this dear servant of the Lord Jesus a valued friend in my labors in the homes of the poor and destitute, and among the unfortunate in the prisons.


This tender and helpful sympathy, especially for the fami- lies of deceased soldiers, was born in part of his own bereave- ment. His son, Walter Livingston Griffith, lieutenant in the 90th New York Volunteers, died of yellow fever in the service at Key West, himself a sacrifice that he might be faithful to sick men in hospitals. During the war for the Union, though previously a conservative on the slavery question, Mr. Grif- fith's whole soul flamed out in support of the government, and in succor to those whose friends had gone to fight for it. As secretary of the War Fund of King's County, he was full of wise suggestion and energy. It obtained from the county over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in war- rants, without a penny's charge to the three thousand re- cipients, raised six regiments of troops, and in other ways showed its devotion to the national cause, all largely through his influence and labor. He was widely known and loved as president of the Brooklyn and Long Island Christian Com- mission. In Sabbath school and other church work he did excellent service. In conjunction with his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Samuel T. Spear, he devised and carried through the Church Erection Fund of one hundred thousand dollars, going to the General Assembly once and again for the purpose of furthering this object. He was for fifteen years an efficient Director of the Union Seminary.


He took a profound interest in foreign missions, and was for many years a corporate member of the American Board. When the Board, in 1856, decided to enlarge its prudential committee by the addition of two members from the Presby- terian Church, Mr. Griffith was selected as one of the two; the other being Dr. Asa D. Smith, and, on his removal to Hanover, Albert Barnes. During Mr. Griffith's last illness, which was very brief, his friend, the Rev. Henry Ward


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Beecher, called on him, and said, " Well, my brother, I hear you are walking in the light." "No," was the reply, " not in the light, but in the twilight. They say I am going to die, but I have not heard the Master's voice. And though I am filled with sweet peace, and am ready to go if He calls me, there is none of the noonday brightness of the Sun of Righteousness which I expected at this hour. I hoped to hear my Lord call me, and then I should leave all and run to meet Him. Now I am only listening and waiting. Life looks very sweet to me. I am not anxious to go, but am ready to meet His dear will." Mr. Beecher prayed with him, and, expressing the hope of meeting beyond the river, they shook hands with as much cheerfulness as if in expectation of an interview on the morrow.


To his pastor, Dr. Storrs, who came in later, and also prayed with him, Mr. Griffith said he had no doubts, no fears: "I know whom I have believed." Still he seemed surprised and not a little disappointed that his soul did not overflow with greater sensible joy and triumph. But, as is so often the case with dying saints, the burden of the flesh pressed too heavily upon the spirit for that. He passed away quietly on November 24, 1872.1


WILLIAM E. DODGE, (1856-1883,) son of David Low and Sarah Cleveland Dodge, was born on September 4, 1805, at Hartford, Conn., and died in New York on February 9, 1883. His remarkable career as a merchant and philanthropist is too well known to need more than a brief notice here. He participated in almost all the great benevolent and national movements of his day that centred in New York, and in not a few of them he was a leader. Take him for all in all, it is doubtful if the whole country furnished at the time an-


1 I am indebted for this sketch mainly to an interesting article on the life and character of Mr. Griffith in the Congregational Quarterly for April, 1874, pre- pared by H. H. McFarland.


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other instance of such abundant, long continued, and fruitful activity in so many different spheres of Christian beneficence and reform. The versatility of his efforts for the best good of his fellow men was as striking as their extent and per- sistency. He saw how closely the progress of the kingdom of God is connected with secular and social causes ; and this im- pelled him to that catholicity and largeness of view which marked both his charities and his personal efforts. He pos- sessed in a very unusual degree the true enthusiasm of hu- manity. His joy in seeing the work of God go forward in the world was unbounded; and nothing so pleased him as to have a hand in it. He cherished a profound conviction of the reality and desirableness of " revivals of religion"; he constantly prayed for them; and when he found himself in the midst of one, his whole mind and heart were stirred by the spiritual excitement and gladness of the scene. The evan- gelistic labors of such men as Nettleton, Finney, and Moody and Sankey, had his warmest sympathy and approval. It would be hard to say which was nearest his heart, the cause of home missions, foreign missions, education for the Gospel ministry, the elevation of the colored race, temperance, or the rescue and religious training of the neglected paganized chil- dren of the land; all alike were the objects of his special interest, his efforts, and his untiring benefactions. His gifts of money were almost numberless, both great and small, and reached to the ends of the earth.


Mr. Dodge was a member of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary for twenty-seven years. The following is an extract from a minute of the Board on the occasion of his death : -


Broad in his sympathies, wise in his counsel, prompt, liberal, and untiring in his contributions, the institution owes him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. His sudden death, to him a swift and blessed translation for which he was wholly ripe, is to us who survive him a bitter bereavement and an irreparable loss.


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ALFRED CHARLES POST.


. . . The city, the country, and this whole generation are afflicted by his departure, and yet enriched by his example.


A very discriminating and faithful memorial of Mr. Dodge's life and services, prepared by his son, the Rev. David Stuart Dodge, was published by Anson D. F. Randolph & Co.


ALFRED CHARLES POST (1856-1886) was born in the city of New York on January 3, 1806. He graduated at Columbia College in the class of 1822; early became connected, as at- tending and consulting surgeon, with various hospitals and institutions of the town, and in 1851 was appointed Professor of General Surgery in the medical department of the Uni- versity of the City of New York, - an office which he con- tinued to fill with distinguished ability for more than a third of a century. He died, his eye still undimmed, on February 7, 1886, in the eighty-first year of his age.


Dr. Post was widely known as one of the most eminent sur- geons of New York. His reputation stood high also as a teacher, and helped to draw students to his lectures from all parts of the country. He was a man of great singleness of eye, devoted to his profession, and generous as well as skil- ful in practising it, an earnest disciple of Jesus, exemplary as a ruling elder in the church, and a large-hearted philan- thropist. For thirty years he served the Union Theological Seminary as a Director and he contributed liberally to pro- mote its interests. As his pastor for many years, I have occasion to remember him with gratitude, as well as esteem and affection. To the extraordinary surgical skill of Dr. Gurdon Buck, assisted by his own, I once owed my life. These two noble men, both ruling elders in the Church of the Covenant, were like brothers in their helpful sympathy and friendship.


NORMAN WHITE (1857-1883) was born at Andover, Conn., on August 8, 1805, being a lineal descendant of John White,


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one of the first settlers of Hartford, Conn. He began his career as a New York merchant in 1827, and it extended through more than half a century. He was interested in various branches of trade, particularly in the manufacture of paper, and for several years was president of the Mercantile National Bank. During all this period he took a prominent part in the philanthropic and religious associations and move- ments of the time. In 1851, when I became his pastor, he was a ruling elder in the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church. I soon learned to esteem and lean upon him, as a man of earnest piety, uncommon wisdom, and a true friend. For more than forty years he filled the office of ruling elder, dur- ing his later years in the Brick Church. He was long a lead- ing manager and also vice-president of the American Bible Society, and to his influence, sagacity, and indefatigable efforts that Society is largely indebted for its present site and house. But Mr. White's most important public service was in connection with the New York Sabbath Committee. Of this service his friend, the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, long the secretary of the Committee, writes me as follows : -


I first became acquainted with Mr. Norman White at the Na- tional Sabbath Convention held at Saratoga in August, 1863, a few weeks after the battle of Gettysburg. President Hopkins of Williams College, Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton, Dr. Willard Parker of New York, and myself, were invited to deliver addresses on the various aspects of the Sabbath question. A year afterwards I was called to New York as corresponding secretary of the New York Sabbath Committee, of which Mr. White was chairman from its organization in 1857. During the four years of my official con- nection with this noble Committee, which is composed of Christian laymen of various denominations, I saw him almost every day at the office in the Bible House. He was no mere figure-head, but the most active member of the Committee, and did more for the cause of Sabbath observance than any man in this country. He was constantly devising schemes for extending the usefulness of the Committee. The best reform measures which it carried out were chiefly due to his indomitable energy and practical wisdom.


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Such are the prohibition of news crying, noisy processions, theatri- cal performances, and the liquor traffic on Sundays. He watched over the execution of Sunday laws. He was in frequent communi- cation with the police department, with the editors of the leading city papers, and with the Legislature at Albany, to secure their co- operation in the interest of public order and quiet on the day of civil and religious rest. He had an eye on the German population, arranged with the aid of the leading ministers several effective German mass meetings in Cooper Institute for the promotion of Sunday observance, and made me preach in nearly every German pulpit of New York and Brooklyn on the Sabbath question. If funds for special expenses were needed, he collected himself the greater part from a few of his friends. He did all this in a quiet and modest way. He never put his name in front if he could help it. Everybody had unbounded confidence in his integrity, disin- terestedness, and sound judgment. His judiciousness was almost proverbial. He was a perfect Christian gentleman, a liberal philan- thropist, and one of the most useful laymen of his day. He was wholly devoted to the Church, the Bible, and the Sabbath, which he justly regarded as the three chief pillars of American Christian- ity and civilization.


Early in its history Mr. White became interested in the Union Theological Seminary. For a quarter of a century he was a member of its Board of Directors, and for twelve years its vice-president. The following is an extract from a min- ute adopted by the Board on occasion of his death, which occurred on June 13, 1883 : -


While energetic in action, he was eminently sagacious in coun- sel. In difficult emergencies his advice was always sought, and had great weight. It may be said with perfect truth that both in the church and in society he was characterized by the same union of boldness and wisdom. He was prompt in every good cause, and during his long Christian life was one of the most influential lay- men which this city has produced.


JOEL PARKER, D. D., (1857-1869,) was born in Bethel, Vt., on August 27, 1799. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1824, and studied theology at the Auburn Seminary. In


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February, 1827, he was ordained pastor of the Third Presby- terian Church in Rochester, N. Y. In 1830 he became pas- tor of the Dey Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York ; from 1833 to 1838 he was pastor of the First Church, New Orleans, and from 1838 to 1840 of the Broadway Taber- nacle, New York City. In 1840 he was appointed President of the Union Theological Seminary, and its Professor of Sacred Rhetoric. Two years later he accepted a call to the Clinton Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. Here he remained until 1852, when he returned to New York to become pastor of the Bleecker Street Church. In 1862 he was installed over the Park Church in Newark, N. J., where he continued until 1868. He died in New York on May 2, 1873.


Dr. Parker was a man of strong individuality, with a clear head and a warm heart, very decided in his convictions, able, earnest and bold as a preacher, and successful in winning many souls for Christ. In the earlier years of his ministry, especially, few of his contemporaries equalled him in the gift of popular and effective speech, whether in the pulpit or on the platform. In the great revivals that marked the period he ranked among the leaders.


WALTER CLARKE, D. D., (1859-1861,) was born in Middle- town, Conn., on April 5, 1812. Having graduated at Yale College in 1837, he studied medicine, then law, and at length divinity. His first pastorate was at Canterbury, Conn .; in 1844 he accepted a call to the South Church in Hartford, where he labored for fourteen years with great success ; in 1858 he succeeded Dr. Prentiss as pastor of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. His last pas- torate was in the First Church at Buffalo, where he died on May 22, 1871. Dr. Clarke was a strong man, and gifted with various talents, both in and out of the pulpit. He was es- pecially happy and useful in his ministry at Hartford, where he numbered among his contemporaries and friends those


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JOSEPH HOWLAND.




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