The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York : historical and biographical sketches of its first fifty years, Part 22

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 22


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I remember seeing the mail come in to that particular regiment, and shortly after the newsboy on his mule, laden down with all sorts of publications. With what rapidity they were bought up ! But oh ! could you see the eagerness with which these letters were taken and read ! I thought that one of the best things we could do was to write to the soldiers as often as possible, and to send them cheerful and interesting publications.


I enter one of these tents, which gives an idea of all the others. There are seats across. On the canvas are pasted the publications which have been received and read. There you will find the Amer- ican Messenger pasted up where it is easy to be read. I remember sleeping one night in a soldier's tent, where I counted twelve copies of a certain number of Harper's Weekly, which contained a very beautiful and impressive picture of "The Soldier's Return to his Home," with the father, mother, wife, and children coming forth to greet him. These pictures indicate what one feeling is uppermost in the soldier's heart; and I then saw that a good picture is a good sermon, though I never thought so much of it before.


I have always felt that the arts minister very much to morals and religion, when they leave a picture upon the imagination. The New Testament is full of word pictures ; and blessed be the art that can put them upon canvas and present them to the human eye. Those pictures given in our publications are not so much waste paper. They are impressive sermons, and they have spoken com- fort and given spiritual instruction, I have no doubt, to many of those who occupy the tent of the soldier. And as to the agencies employed, they are very many and very successful. I speak par- ticularly in regard to the chaplains of the army. There can be no question that, in the first instance, there were a class of men, unde-


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serving of the position, who went for the name and for emolument ; but these, I believe, have been weeded out ; and never have I scen a more devoted, earnest, and successful band of Christian minis- ters than the chaplains with whom I came in contact in the Army of the Potomac.


In most of the encampments "the boys" have built a little chapel. I wish I could daguerreotype the scene that was before me the first night I reached that camp where I preached. The drum and bugle gave notice. The chapel was built of logs, the inter- stices filled with mud, but all clean and nice. In the corner was a large fire of sweet-spruce boughs, and slabs had been prepared for seats. It was very easy to preach to such an audience as that, their faces turned up to you and their ears drinking in the words of truth and soberness. I preached twice ; but it was the Spirit of God preached through us and by us ; and evidences clear as day there were of His power upon those consciences. These men were ready and anxious for services ; they came around you and talked with you about religion ; not merely about home, but about the way to be saved. One chaplain says, Let me introduce you to this man, and that man, - Captain this, and Captain that, - who then told me the circumstances of their conversion. One was coming from the grave of a companion in a snow-storm, when he began to think, as he never had before, about the salvation of his soul. There has been in these tents a great deal of prayer, a great deal of reading of the Scriptures, a great deal of serious seeking for the truth, and a great deal of serious, rapid action in the way of conversion during the past winter. And all those dis- tinctions that we make so much of in our time of peace and leisure are quite forgotten.


I wish you could see a communion season there. I remem- ber the staff of a general officer with whom I was quartered. It consisted of one representing the Protestant Episcopal Church ; another was a communicant of the Baptist body, and another in the Presbyterian Church, and another in the Methodist Church ; all forming one family, and sitting together at the celebration of the Lord's supper.


These army chaplains have peculiar opportunities for getting access to the minds of their men. They are brave men. Some of them have been in all the exposures of the camp. I was in immediate intercourse with one who has been with his regiment


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since the first Bull Run fight.1 He has been with the surgeons, unnecessarily exposing his own person. I heard of certain feats of great gallantry upon his part, which showed that there is a good deal of affinity between pluck and faith. He had left a position of much influence and usefulness, and would go with his men into almost any exposure in order to get their confidence, and to show that his heart was with them. I have seen "the boys " come into his tent, and heard him talk with them; and he told me that before every action these men would come to him and give him their money to take care of, and they would ask him to write to their friends a word about the result, if any- thing should happen. I know that at one engagement, after it was all over, he pinned cards on to forty-two men of his regi- ment who had fallen, and wrote as many letters to their homes, to tell their friends of the circumstances of their death. I do not wonder that General Howard, a praying man himself, said on a public occasion, in regard to that regiment, " I would rather have for any service that regiment with three hundred men and that chap- lain, than a full regiment of eleven hundred men without him."


And I am happy to say that there are very many pious officers in the army, - men who feel for the spiritual condition of their com- mands, are accustomed to pray for them and with them, and who know also how to preach to them with great point and efficiency. I shall not soon forget the scene I witnessed in the tent of one of the chief officers of that Army of the Potomac. When ten o'clock P. M. came, he closed his tent and said, " At this hour my wife and daughters are reading a certain portion of the New Testament, and a certain collection of hymns which we have agreed upon ; and so we will read them together now." He was a man who knew how to pray, and his valor was such as comes from faith in God.


Dr. Adams stood in very close and affectionate relations with not a few of his most distinguished contemporaries in various spheres of life ; such men as Professor Moses Stuart of Andover, Dr. Schauffler, the eminent missionary, Dr. Muhlen- berg, Albert Barnes, Isaac Taylor, author of The Natural His- tory of Enthusiasm, Professor Morse, the famous inventor,


1 Referring to his brother, the Rev. John R. Adams, chaplain of a Maine regiment.


18


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Daniel Webster, General Scott, and General George B. McClel- lan. The last was for some time a member of the Madison Square Church, and had the greatest love and admiration for its pastor. Their summer homes for several years adjoined each other on Orange Mountain. The beautiful friendship between them was almost like that of brothers.


Dr. Adams's services to the Union Theological Seminary were most abundant during the last seven years of his life ; but they had been many and invaluable during the seven and thirty preceding years, in which he had been one of its Direc- tors, one of its ever watchful friends, and repeatedly one of its Professors Extraordinary.


ROSWELL DWIGHT HITCHCOCK, D. D., LL. D., was born at East Machias, Me., on August 15, 1817. He graduated at Amherst College, Mass., in 1836; in 1838 he entered Andover Theological Seminary, which he left the next year to accept the appointment of tutor at Amherst; in 1842 he returned to Andover as resident licentiate, and continued his studies there until 1844, preaching meanwhile in Maine and Massa- chusetts. In November, 1845, he became pastor of the First Congregational Church in Exeter, N. H., and with the ex- ception of a year abroad, spent chiefly in study at Halle and Berlin, labored there until 1852, when he was appointed Pro- fessor of Natural and Revealed Religion in Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. Three years later, in 1855, he accepted a call to the chair of Church History in the Union Theological Seminary, where he labored for thirty-three years, during the last seven of which he also filled the office of President of the institution. In 1866, his health having become seri- ously impaired, he went abroad, and visited Italy and Greece. In 1869-70 he visited Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine; and in 1884 he went abroad once more, visiting Spain, Norway, and Scotland, where he received the Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh. On the 16th of June, 1887, he


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suddenly passed away from earth, at his country home, near Fall River, Mass.


Dr. Hitchcock was a very gifted man. His genius and tal- ents, his culture, and his power of expression, were happily matched. He was a brilliant thinker; what he knew he knew thoroughly ; while in clearness, manly energy, point, and cu- rious felicity of utterance, he had few equals among all his contemporaries. I hardly ever heard him speak, whether in the pulpit, from the platform, at the meeting for religious con- ference, or in the circle of his ministerial brethren, without being pleasantly surprised, as well as instructed and edified. He was never confused or obscure, and always said something worth hearing. Being an orator, he made great use of the metaphor, but his metaphors were so apt and luminous as to surpass in effect the closest logic. Indeed, his rhetoric often- times was simply logic in a flame. Such mastery of beautiful and impressive speech does not come of itself ; it is a growth and the fruit of earnest studies. In Dr. Hitchcock's case we are able to trace much of this fine growth back to its source. He was early touched by the new intellectual movement which pervaded New England during the fourth and fifth decades of this century. At Amherst, both as student and tutor, at An- dover, and at Exeter, he felt its power, and drank in its spirit. The so called Transcendentalism of the period, whether as rep- resented in the writings of Emerson and his friends, or in the writings of Coleridge, exerted a shaping influence upon his opinions, as also upon his style of thought and speech. For a while, indeed, it seemed to some as if he were drifting quite away from the old doctrines, both in theology and in literature. He chafed a good deal under what he regarded as the set, nar- row formulas of much of the current orthodoxy, while at the same time he was far from accepting all the new views.


At Andover he belonged to a circle of young men of marked ability and independence, whose dissatisfaction with the ex- isting state of things in Congregationalism inclined some of


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them to enter the Episcopal Church, and others to a radical departure from the reigning schools. Of the former class was the late Dr. Edward A. Washburn, the distinguished preacher and scholar; the latter class had one of its strongest representatives in Roswell D. Hitchcock. The freedom and boldness with which he challenged old opinions and broached new ones touching important points of Christian belief, gave occasion to no little suspicion and evil report. He was widely regarded as infected with "Transcendental " errors, a serious matter in those days. Nor can it be denied that, after his settlement at Exeter and his visit to Germany in 1847-48, his sentiments and temper of mind underwent a decided change in the conservative direction. The Rev. Dr. Asa Cummings, one of the most influential religious editors of New England, writing to a friend in 1853, thus refers to this point : "His visit to Europe, and what he saw there, had an effect con- trary to what was probably anticipated. 'As poison oft the force of poison quells,' the Transcendental things he wit- nessed there seem to have expelled what was abnormal in his own views."


Dr. Hitchcock's call to the Union Theological Seminary was preceded by some incidents, which should not be alto- gether ignored in this sketch of his life, for they teach a very valuable lesson. On the transfer of Dr. Smith to the depart- ment of Systematic Theology, he was naturally solicitous about his successor in the chair of Church History; and it was by him that Professor Hitchcock of Bowdoin College was suggested as the right man for the place. Inquiries were at once set on foot by the nominating committee, of which Dr. Adams was chairman, and with a result so highly satis- factory that Professor Hitchcock's name was unanimously presented to the Board. An extract from a single letter in response to these inquiries, will be read with interest in the light of the past third of a century. The letter is dated No- vember 9, 1853, and was written by an eminent scholar and


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divine, President at the time of one of the colleges of New England : -


After more than a year of familiar and pleasant intercourse with Professor Hitchcock, and many evenings of friendly theological conversation, I have formed a very high opinion of his personal and social character, of his intellectual activity and grasp, and of his theological thoroughness. In his dogmatic discussions I have always observed a decided historical tendency, - much beyond what is usual in these days. I have been particularly struck with his familiar and accurate acquaintance with the facts, the doctrines, and the great teachers, both of the earlier periods of the Christian Church and of the times of the Reformation, -with the importance he attached to such an acquaintance, his high appreciation of such themes, and his genuine interest in such inquiries.


Of his qualities as a preacher, I have had but little opportunity to form a direct and independent judgment. But what I have seen and heard unequivocally confirms in my own mind the uni- versal voice of those who have had the pleasure of hearing him oftener. I think there can be no doubt, from his reputation in his old parish at Exeter, as well as from his reputation at Brunswick and wherever else he has preached, that he is one of the most ad- mirable sermonizers and one of the most effective and popular preachers in the country.


In short, I regard him as a good man, with a great heart and a comprehensive mind, genial in his temperament, sound in his the- ology, thorough in his scholarship, ready and eloquent in speech, particularly apt in giving instruction, and, as I have said, with a special propension to historical views and investigations in con- nection with Christian doctrine, and a remarkable accuracy and fulness in the results of his researches.


Of my personal acquaintance among Congregationalists or Pres- byterians, I know of no man not yet tried in the department who is in my judgment so admirably fitted for the chair of Ecclesiastical History as Professor Hitchcock. I hesitate not to say that, if you get him, you get a great treasure.


Strangely enough, in the face of such testimony as this from some of the weightiest men in New England, a number of leading members of the Board and the senior member of the Faculty, -excellent men, of large influence, and devoted


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friends of the Seminary - strongly opposed the appointment. In this exigency Professor Hitchcock withdrew his name in the following manly letter : -


BOWDOIN COLLEGE, March 28, 1854. To the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary :


GENTLEMEN, - In permitting my name to go before you some weeks ago as a candidate for the vacant chair of Church History in your Seminary, I yielded to what appeared to be the leading of Providence, asking only for myself that I might know what the will of God was concerning me.


But the opposition which this nomination has met with, and, as I judge, is likely to meet with, is now an indication to me that I had better remain undisturbed in my present position, especially since the students and the friends of our College in the State at large have interposed in the matter, and remonstrated so earnestly against my removal. It is due to these friends and to myself that I be no longer a candidate for your vacant Professorship. By awaiting further action on your part, even if the chances were that this action would be favorable, I should only compromise my own reputation in the seeming to covet an appointment which I have never sought. I hasten, therefore, to anticipate all further discus- sion of my merits, by withdrawing my name from the canvass.


To have been thought of by so intelligent and so Christian a body of men for such an office, promising so large a usefulness, is an honor for which I thank you. But far above all personal con- siderations is my desire that you may have harmonious counsels, and so conduct the affairs of the important institution over which you preside as to advance most surely and most signally the king- dom of our common Lord.


Yours in Christian affection,


ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK.


" All's well that ends well." I refer to this incident the more freely, because a year later Professor Hitchcock was unanimously called to the chair, and those who had strenu- ously opposed his election when first nominated were in the end numbered among his warm friends and admirers.


An extract from a notice of Dr. Hitchcock's acceptance, written by me at the time, may not be here out of place.


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The chair which Professor Hitchcock is called to fill will hereafter be designated as the Washburn Professorship of Ecclesiastical His- tory. This name is given by the Christian lady whose munificence has endowed it, in honor of her lamented brother, the late Rev. Samuel Washburn, pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church in Bal- timore. It is intended as a family memorial, and has, we under- stand, long since been in contemplation. We cannot imagine a more excellent way of embalming the name of the departed ; nor can we think of one which would have been more grateful to his feelings, could he have foreseen it. We had the pleasure of know- ing Mr. Washburn long and well. He was a fearless, earnest, whole-souled Christian man. His memory is most affectionately cherished in the hearts of his people at Baltimore ; and we are sure that they, in common with all his old friends here and in New England, will hail with great satisfaction this enduring tribute to his worth. It is peculiarly fitting that Professor Hitchcock should be the first occupant of the endowed chair ; for he and Mr. Wash- burn were intimate and warmly attached friends. Could the per- sonal wishes of the latter have been consulted, his choice would, without doubt, have been that of the Board.


We have deemed it not improper to make these explanations ; for they reflect honor upon all the parties concerned. Would that many Christian ladies whom God has endowed with wealth might thus perpetuate the names of sainted friends, by identifying them with institutions sacred to Christ and the Church! Such monu- ments are, in no small degree, "exempted from the wrong of time." They remind us of the beautiful fiction mentioned by Lord Bacon : " One of the poets feigned that at the end of the thread or web of every man's life there was a little medal containing the person's name, and that Time waited upon the shears, and, as soon as the thread was cut, caught the medals and carried them to the river of Lethe ; and about the bank there were many birds flying up and down, that would get the medals and carry them in their beaks a little while, and then let them fall into the river ; only there were a few swans, which, if they got a name, would carry it to a temple where it was consecrated."1


1 The founder of the chair was Mrs. Jacob Bell, of New York. She was a native of Minot, Maine, and, like her brother, possessed uncommon force and decision of character. For some years she was a member of the Seventh Pres-


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Dr. Hitchcock had been in New York but a short time when both in the pulpit and on the platform his services were in constant demand, and for a third of a century his popularity continued unabated. On accepting the call of the Union Semi- nary he wrote to me : "I shall go to New York with all my heart. God help me to do something after I get there!" These words express the spirit which marked his career dur- ing the next third of a century. Always busy, he was busy to the very last. "Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing." Who ever charged him with being an idler in his Master's vineyard ? It is to be regretted that he gave to the world so few fruits of his study in permanent form ; but he seemed to have little ambition for literary distinction ; his ideal was high and exacting, while his intellectual modesty caused him to shrink from the re- sponsibility of authorship. But if his publications were few, his influence as a Christian scholar was large and potent. Who that listened to his patriotic addresses during the war for the Union will ever forget their eloquence, or the luminous skill with which he unfolded those vital principles of free- dom, nationality, and moral order that lay at the foundation of the great contest ? In some of the most important pulpits of New York and Brooklyn, his power as an interpreter and advocate of the central truths of Christianity, in their appli- cation both to the individual and to society, cannot easily be overestimated. How many through his presentation and en- forcement of these truths first learned to cast away their prejudices against Orthodoxy and the spiritual faith of the Gospel ! How many others were led to deeper, more cheer-


byterian Church, then under the pastoral care of Dr. Hatfield, and, later, of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church under the ministry of Dr. James W. Alex- ander. She was a Christian woman of generous, broad sympathies, became much interested in the Union Seminary, and took great satisfaction and delight in watching Dr. Hitchcock's brilliant career, as well as in his warm friendship. She died in 1878.


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ing, and more fruitful views of the truth as it is in Jesus ! Hearing Dr. Hitchcock preach, twenty or thirty years ago, was a memorable event, if not a turning point, in the re- ligious life of hundreds of men and women.


But it was as a teacher and guide of students of divinity that his influence reached its greatest power. He attracted them, gained their love and admiration, and moulded their sentiments by an irresistible charm. His method of instruc- tion was easy and direct; his statements were of crystal clear- ness ; and the sympathetic glow which the subject kindled in his own mind diffused itself instantly to the minds of his hearers. At times, when one of his higher moods was upon him and made itself felt in voice, manner, and language, the effect was magnetic. Then one saw that he was a born teacher. He had the rare gift of condensing, so to say, a whole mass of thought and feeling into a single sentence, and that in a way to intensify the distinctness, as well as force, of both. Sometimes he would do this by an apt meta- phor ; sometimes by a peculiar skill in the choice and collo- cation of words. These striking sentences often occurred in his most familiar talks to the students. Whether they came of premeditation, or were improvised, - the sudden inspira- tion of a full mind, - I cannot say. He was scrupulously exact in giving dates and in the minutest statements of fact ; and the same intellectual virtue would of itself induce much care and forethought in even familiar talks concerning Chris- tian truth and life. A " slipshod " manner of speaking about divine things seemed alien to his very nature; he could not endure it. He believed in the lasting power of a good im- pression, and this led him often to throw his whole soul into brief casual addresses, if so be the truth thus uttered might bear fruit unto life.


On the evening of December 6, 1887, an impressive ser- vice in memory of President Hitchcock was held in the Adams Chapel. A discourse by Dr. Shedd, giving a careful, discrimi-


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nating estimate of his life and character, was followed by brief addresses from Professor George P. Fisher of New Haven, Professor Francis L. Patton of Princeton, and the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst of New York.


This sketch cannot be closed more fitly than in the words of Professor Schaff, spoken at his inauguration, on September 22, 1887, as Dr. Hitchcock's successor in the chair of Church History : -


We meet under a cloud, as we did seven years ago at the death of Dr. Adams, whose memory is still fresh and green in our hearts. But let us now, as then, look at the silver lining of that cloud. Our late leader fell, like his predecessor, "on the field of battle with his armor on." This is the coveted death of the heroes of war. Why not also of the heroes of peace? To die at threescore years and ten, on the summit of usefulness, in full vigor of mind, surrounded by those nearest and dearest, at a moment's warning, yet fully prepared, - this is a crowning mercy of God, granted to few of his chosen servants. It is an approach to the translation of Enoch and the ascension of Elijah.




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