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 18
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ZEPHANIAH MOORE HUMPHREY.
was Hannah Brown, a lineal descendant of Peter Brown, who came over in the Mayflower. She was sister of Captain John Brown, of West Simsbury, Conn., the father of John Brown of Ossawatomie. When the latter was in the Virginia prison, under sentence of death and awaiting execution, President Humphrey wrote him a letter of fraternal counsel and com- passion. He addressed him as his cousin, and received an affectionate reply, full of the spirit of mingled sweetness, firmness, and love. Zephaniah's mother was Sophia Por- ter, a sister of the Rev. Noah Porter, D. D., for more than threescore years a Congregational minister in Farmington, Conn., and the honored father of a highly honored son.
But Dr. Humphrey was strong in himself, as well as in ancestral virtues. No one could be with him long without perceiving that he stood upon his own foundation. Whatever hereditary traits entered into his make, they were all assim- ilated and tempered by his individual quality. The general impression made by him, whether in private or in public, was that of uncommon gentleness, self-poise, and quiet, patient energy ; but there were also latent in his nature elements of great boldness and decision of character. This is well illus- trated by an incident which occurred during his Chicago pas- torate. One night he was awakened by his wife from a sound sleep to find a burglar creeping about the room. He sprang from his bed and grappled with the man in the darkness, and held him by so firm a grasp that he could not release himself. Meanwhile Mrs. Humphrey had started a light in the room, and became an eyewitness to the scene. The burglar had drawn a knife, and was saying that all he wanted now was to get away, that he did not wish to injure Mr. Humphrey if he were allowed to escape, but he would not be captured. Still, Mr. Humphrey clung to him ; together they struggled, the bur- glar backing toward the hall and stairway. When this was reached, by a sudden wrench the thief liberated himself from Mr. Humphrey's grasp, and ran, followed by Mr. H .; but
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when he was half-way down the stairs, the burglar turned and struck Mr. Humphrey with his knife, saying, with an oath, " I will not be followed." Pausing long enough to see that the blood which had started from elbow to wrist was from a slight wound, Mr. Humphrey again pursued the thief, but could not catch him, as he quickly escaped through a base- ment window, which, at the time of his stealthy entrance, he had left open for that purpose. Here was something akin to the pluck of sturdy John Brown.
Dr. Humphrey with his wife and children passed the sum- mer of 1870 in Dorset, Vt., where I had the opportunity to know and admire him as a scholar of fine culture and varied attainments, a gifted preacher, a lover of nature, skilled in the use of both the telescope and the microscope, a genial com- panion, and a man of very attractive domestic, personal, and Christian character. A Memorial Sketch, prepared by his brother-in-law, the Rev. David Torrey, D. D., of Cazeno- via, N. Y., together with Five Selected Sermons, was pub- lished by J. B. Lippincott and Company in 1883. To this charming volume I am indebted for the principal matter of my own sketch.
ALEXANDER VAN RENSSELAER, (1875-1878,) fifth son of Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany, the last of the Patroons, was born in 1825, and died on May 8, 1878. Graduating at Yale College, he studied medicine at the University of Penn- sylvania and in Edinburgh, and later spent several years in foreign residence and travel. After his father's death he returned home, and at length settled in New York, where for more than a quarter of a century he was prominent in the hu- mane and Christian charities of the city. No small portion of his time, indeed, was freely given to service in the public insti- tutions of philanthropy and religion with which he was offi- cially connected. Engaged in no active business of his own, he became a servant of the whole community, and labored
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HENRY IVISON.
with unselfish devotion in caring for its crippled, blind, sick, and neglected members. When he died, flags were displayed at half-mast on the lodging-houses of the News Boys, who had learned to love him. Mr. Van Rensselaer inherited his excellent father's traits. He was a man of simple habits, of great purity of character, and of earnest piety. For many years he was an active member of the Fifth Avenue Pres- byterian Church. He belonged to a class of Christian citizens, not small in New York, whose public spirit and disinterested labors are among the best sources of its moral strength and prosperity.
HENRY IVISON (1876-1884) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, December 25, 1808, and died in New York, December 3, 1884. He was the founder, and until his retirement in 1880 the head, of what was said to be the largest school-book publish- ing house in the world. When twelve years old he came with his parents to the United States, and was apprenticed to William Williams of Utica, then the largest bookseller west of Albany. Some years later he opened a bookstore of his own in Auburn, N. Y., where one of his earliest customers was William H. Seward, then Governor of the State. After sixteen years in Auburn he removed to New York City, where his career was very successful. The firm of Mark H. New- man & Co., established in 1846 and of which he was a mem- ber, published Sanders's Readers, beginning with a primer and grading upward five volumes. The work had an im- mense circulation. In 1866 Mr. Ivison said they never put to press less than 100,000 copies of Sanders's Pictorial Reader. He at length bought out the entire interest of the concern and took in as partner H. F. Phinney, of Cooperstown, son-in- law of J. Fenimore Cooper. Later the firm was Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, & Co. During the last years of his life Mr. Ivison had a summer home at Stockbridge, Mass., and took great delight in it. He was a man of solid worth and
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ability, warmly attached to the old faith and forms of Presby- terianism, yet liberal, large-hearted, and an earnest follower of the Lord Jesus.
GEORGE WILLIAM LANE (1878-1883) was born near Red Mills, in the neighborhood of Lake Mahopac, N. Y., on Jan- uary 8, 1818. While still a boy he came to this city and entered upon a business career which made him one of its leading merchants. For thirty years he was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in May, 1882, that body elected him its President. He was actively connected with a number of the important financial institutions of New York, and promiment in its religious and philanthropic work. He took a leading part in the establishment of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder and trustee. A very warm friendship subsisted between him and the Rev. William Adams, D. D., who leaned upon him as a pillar of strength.
He was also interested in the promotion of good government, and especially in efforts to secure an honest administration of the city of New York. He worked efficiently in the Committee of Seventy, by which a fraudulent system of municipal affairs was exposed and frustrated. At the urgent request of his friend, Mayor Havemeyer, he accepted the office of chamberlain of the city, and continued in it from May, 1873, to February, 1875. With great reluctance, in the summer before his death he consented to become a member of the Croton Aqueduct Commission, and the arduous responsibilities of this position weighed heavily upon him.
In all these important stations he maintained the confidence of his colleagues and associates, as the numerous tributes testify which were called out by his death. Although his disposition was that of a modest, retiring man, who never wished preferment, his strong convictions, excellent judgment, and abundant public spirit were so well known that his counsel was constantly sought. It was freely given to all who asked it. There are few men in any community whose opinions are so trustworthy as were Mr. Lane's, either in public or in private affairs. He had a large measure of
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JAMES DUNCAN WILSON.
that sagacity which sees the end from the beginning, combined with that instinctive sense of justice and righteousness which does not hesitate in forming a purpose, nor swerve from a chosen course because of its unpleasantness or want of popularity.1
Mr. Lane died very suddenly at his home in New York, on December 30, 1883. The following is an extract from the minute of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary on the occasion of his death : -
Prudent, wise, modest, firm, we shall miss him in the conduct of the every-day work of this institution, and especially as a strong man to lean upon in time of difficulty. Warmly attached to the church in which he was a worshipper and to its pastors, and rev- erencing the men and their office, he was keenly alive to the bless- ing and power of a thoroughly educated ministry, and threw his whole heart into the work of this Seminary, with an appreciation of its importance, and an intelligence worthy of our institution. May his mantle fall upon all of us !
JAMES DUNCAN WILSON, D. D., (1881-1888,) was born at Spring Mills, Penn., on April 3, 1836, and died in New York on May 14, 1888. He graduated at Amherst College in the class of 1858, and studied divinity at the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, graduating in the class of 1862. On July 1, 1863, he was ordained as pastor of the Spring Street Presbyterian Church, where his labors were signally blessed. He had a special gift for attracting young people, persuading them to become Christians, and then teach- ing them to work for their Master. In 1869 he accepted a call to the Central Presbyterian Church, which removed from Broome Street to Fifty-seventh Street near Eighth Avenue. Here he continued to the close of his days, endearing himself more and more to his people, to the community, and to his ministerial brethren, as a faithful servant of Christ. He passed away, after a lingering and painful illness, in the very midst of his usefulness. I saw him often in his sick-chamber
1 President Gilman of Johns Hopkins University.
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during the winter preceding his death. Although the victim at times of most excruciating pain, he was still a picture of cheerful patience, resignation, and hope; and being myself ill, these visits did me good like a pleasant medicine. He spent much of his time in reading, or in being read to; and our talks about books, as well as our talks about this life and the life to come, I recall with real delight. He was very fond of science, as well as literature, was a keen observer of nature, and interested himself in all that was going on in the world. I remember two very entertaining evening talks he gave to the " Chi Alpha " circle ; one on bees, and the other on the progress of Russia in the East.
CHARLES WASHINGTON BAIRD, D. D., (1886-1888,) was born at Princeton, N. J., August 28, 1828; he graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1848, and at the Union Theological Seminary in 1852. After serving as chaplain of the American Chapel at Rome, Italy (1852-54), he was settled over the Reformed Dutch Church on Bergen Hill, N. J. In 1861 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rye, N. Y., where he died on February 10, 1887.
Dr. Baird inherited some of the best traits of his honored father, the Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., who did so much to acquaint European Christians with religion and religious life and methods in this country. He was an accomplished scholar, a devoted, faithful minister of the Gospel, and a man greatly beloved by his people and by the whole community. For several years Dr. Baird was necrologist of the Seminary, and his notices of departed alumni, prepared with no little labor, were models in their kind. He published some valu- able books on Presbyterian Liturgies ; also, Chronicle of a Border Town, History of Bedford Church, and History of the Huguenot Emigration to America, 2 vols., 1885. The last named work was received with much favor by the American public, and won high praise from foreign critics.
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JAMES PATRIOT WILSON.
JAMES PATRIOT WILSON, D. D., (1856-1889,) was born in Philadelphia on December 25, 1809. He belonged to an old Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock, and on his father's side was in the fifth generation of ministers in this country. One of his maternal ancestors was in the band of thirteen men who shut the gates of Derry against the soldiers of King James the First. The patriotism of the family was emphasized by his middle name, first given to his father by the Rev. Dr. Matthew Wilson of Lewes, Delaware, eminent both as a phy- sician and a clergyman, and noted as an ardent Whig of the Revolutionary period.
James Patriot Wilson, the father, born at Lewes on Feb- ruary 21, 1769, was among the remarkable men of his gen- eration. Beginning his career as a great lawyer, he ended it as perhaps the foremost Presbyterian minister in the country. While a young man he had been a religious sceptic; but a series of distressing afflictions, one of which was the assas- sination of an only brother, brought him to serious reflection, and ultimately to a full conviction and cordial acceptance of the truth as it is in Jesus. He was licensed to preach in 1804, and not long after was ordained as pastor of the united congregations of Lewes, Cool Spring, and Indian River, - the same to which his father had ministered. In May, 1806, he was called, at the instance of his early and constant friend, the celebrated physician, Benjamin Rush, to the First Pres- byterian Church in Philadelphia. Accepting the call by the advice of his presbytery, he continued its minister for nearly a quarter of a century, when, on account of infirm health, he resigned, and retired to his farm, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. He died there, in the triumph of faith, on December 9, 1830. His grave is near that of the Rev. Wil- liam Tennent, founder of the famous "Log College," in the burying-ground of Neshaminy church. Not long before his departure he said to a friend, "I have been looking the case between God and myself over and over, and over again, and
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though I see enough to justify God in casting me off, a thou- sand times and more, the conviction of my interest in Christ is so firm that I cannot make myself afraid; the only thing I fear is that I have not fears enough."
Dr. Wilson was one of the most learned men of his day. In important branches of ecclesiastical and theological lore no other American clergyman of the period probably equalled him. He had a special passion for patristic study, even rec- ommending to his people from the pulpit, not long before his death, that as they had opportunity they should familiarize themselves with this department of knowledge.
Like many other distinguished men, Dr. Wilson had his odd and peculiar ways. He could not bear, he once said, to receive the least gift without making some return. He once refused, for instance, to accept some oranges from an old lady of his congregation, saying, in his usual style of regal plural- ity, " We can buy oranges when we wish for them." Not long after, at his own house, he offered the same lady a fine apple from his mantel-piece, but she, shrugging up her shoulders, declined receiving it, saying, “ We can purchase apples when we wish for them." Dr. William Patton, one of his flock, used to relate some amusing anecdotes of his idiosyncrasies in the pulpit. Once, perceiving some mischievous tendencies in one of his sons, sitting in a pew near the pulpit, he stopped abruptly in his discourse and said, " Samuel, go home, - go home," - motioning at the same time with his hand towards the door. When speaking of Nicodemus, as referred to in the third chapter of John, he would uniformly say, " There was a gentleman of the Pharisees, called Nicodemus." And when commenting on the parable of the ten virgins he used to call them the "ten young ladies." Mr. Barnes, his suc- cessor in the First Church of Philadelphia, thus describes his preaching : -
On the only occasion on which I ever heard him preach, several circumstances struck me as remarkable. His personal appearance
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JAMES PATRIOT WILSON.
was highly impressive. He was very pale, and apparently feeble. He sat in the pulpit, and, as he was accustomed to do, used a large fan. He had a very dignified air, and his whole manner was calm, col- lected, and solemn. What first arrested my attention particularly in his pulpit performances was the manner in which he read the Scriptures. It was a chapter in the Gospel of John. His reading was accompanied by brief explanatory remarks. I thought it the most clear and interesting exposition of the Bible I had ever wit- nessed. It was so simple, so plain, so striking, that at the time it occurred to me that he could better prepare a commentary for the use of Sunday schools than any man I had ever met with. His sermon was equally clear, impressive, and solemn, and what was most remarkable about it was a very clear and beautiful exposition of the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which he quoted from memory, and commented on as accurately as if he had had the chapter before him. He used no notes of any kind. His preach- ing at first seemed to be merely conversational. He sat and talked to the people before him, as a gentleman might be expected to do in his own parlor. Soon, however, I forgot entirely the man, - his fan, his sitting, and his somewhat singular habit of lifting up and down his watch-chain. I became wholly absorbed in what he was saying, and to me it was then of no importance what he was doing, or whether he made many gestures or none. I have never in my life found myself more absorbed in the subject on which a public speaker was discoursing than I was on this occasion. And what was true of myself seemed to be true of the entire congregation.
Dr. Sprague, in his invaluable Annals of the American Pul- pit, says of Dr. Wilson : -
He was in person above the middle height, and had a countenance rather grave than animated, and expressive at once of strong benev- olent feeling and of high intelligence. In the ordinary intercourse of society, his manners were exceedingly bland, though he was as far as possible from any approach to the courtier. He was affable and communicative, and generally talked so sensibly, or so learnedly, or so profoundly, that he was listened to with earnest attention. He had certain peculiarities that would sometimes excite a smile, but they would not diminish anybody's respect for his character. I saw him a few times in private, and he struck me as a model of a Christian philosopher. He was uniformly gentle, urbane, and
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obliging, and rarely spoke without uttering something that I could wish to remember. I heard him preach one sermon, and it was throughout as consecutive and condensed as the demonstration of a problem of Euclid. I am confident that I never heard another preacher who tasked my powers of attention and reflection so much ; the loss of a sentence or two would have greatly marred the im- pression of the entire discourse. He spoke without notes and with great deliberation, but with as much correctness as if every word had been written. On a blank leaf of his copy of Henry Ware's tract on Extemporaneons Preaching, he has left the following testimony over his signature: "I have preached twenty years, and have never written a full sermon in my life, and never read one word of a sermon from the pulpit, nor opened a note, nor com- mitted a sentence, and have rarely wandered five minutes at a time from my mental arrangement previously made."
I have dwelt thus long upon the character of Dr. Wilson the father, because in his day he represented in the Presby- terian Church with more weight than perhaps any other man the moderate and catholic spirit which a few years later was embodied in the Union Theological Seminary ; and also be- cause some of the most influential founders and early direc- tors of the institution had either been trained by him, or as, in the cases of Thomas H. Skinner and Albert Barnes, were sus- tained and defended by his powerful influence in their break with the intolerant, domineering temper, as also with certain favorite theological notions and shibboleths, which marred more or less of the current Calvinistic orthodoxy. He had no superstitious devotion either to ecclesiastical rules or to mere human formulas of belief. Alike in his churchmanship and in his divinity he was very independent and liberal; he laid great stress upon the ethical side of Christian life and doc- trine ; and in his whole being he was so simple, so high-souled, and such a wise as well as ardent lover of truth, that those who came within the charmed circle of his teaching and of his grand personality felt the touch of a power that wrought in them for higher and larger aims all the rest of their days.
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JAMES PATRIOT WILSON.
It is quite clear to me that, had Dr. Wilson never lived, the Union Theological Seminary would have been built upon less solid, generous, and broad foundations.
The following tribute to the son of this great and good man, Dr. James P. Wilson of Newark, N. J., appeared shortly after his death. It was written by his old friend and neighbor, the Rev. Dr. W. J. R. Taylor, of that city : -
" In a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season," this venerable and beloved man of God has " come to his grave." It may be almost as literally said of him as of Moses at the time of his departure, that " his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated," up to the stroke of his last and short illness. Few even of those who knew him suspected that upon his tall, erect, and noble frame, and upon his whitening head, the crown of fourscore years had settled. His physical faculties and intellectual powers
· were so little impaired, that to the last he performed his pastoral service, and preached as well as ever, and worked for the Church at large with unabated zeal and spiritual power. But suddenly the end has come, and all that knew his name say, " How is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod !" On the Friday before his death, he returned from a trip to his summer cottage at Lake George to prepare for vacation in that delightful resort, but smit- ten with fatal disease, which was aggravated by previous over- exertion in parochial and other church work connected with the Bloomfield Theological Seminary, and preparations for the meeting of the General Assembly in New York. From the first attack he believed it to be his last sickness, and after six days of increasing suffering and failing of heart and flesh he entered into rest. With characteristic humility, he said little of his personal experiences, yet to those who were with him he left precious testimony of " the patience and the faith of the saints." ... Dr. Wilson's early educa- tion was mostly conducted by his father, or under his special care. At the age of ten he corresponded in Latin with his father, whose classical attainments and habits were such that he " had not only read all the Greek and Latin fathers, but almost lived among them." At twelve years of age he entered the University of Pennsylvania, but was fully prepared, and graduated with his class in 1826. After his conversion, which was several years later, he studied for the
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ministry under his father's instructions, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. At one time, it is said, his ambition was to become a soldier, and he always admired the best forms of military life and achievement. But God meant him to be " a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
His first settlement was as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Neshaminy, Pa., and later he ministered to the Coates Street Pres- byterian Church in Philadelphia. In 1847 he became President of Delaware College at Newark, Del., where he remained about three years. Afterwards he was called to the Union Theological Semi- nary in the city of New York, where he taught Systematic The- ology until October, 1853, when he accepted the call of the newly organized South Park Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J., to which he gave thirty-six years of his consecrated life and efficient ministry. During all this period he was also actively engaged in various lines of work for the institutions of the Church, and of the city which was honored by his long and useful pastorate, and abun- dant labors for the public good. He built his very life into his church, and a real " master builder " he was. And it may be truly said that the best human thing in that church was his faithful min- istry, with his sanctified learning, eloquence, wisdom, and tact, his godly life and good example, and his absolute fidelity to the ever- lasting Gospel. His strong personality impressed itself upon the whole community. He was original and modestly oracular, utterly fearless and outspoken upon all questions of the time that required his advocacy or opposition, and yet with the courage of a prophet he had the tenderness of a beloved disciple. With overflowing humor and ready wit, he never lost his dignity, and while inspir- ing the respect of all men, he was attractive to little children, and was as gentle as a nurse among his people, whether in sorrow or in joy.
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