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 8
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THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
creased his already valuable library with versions of the Bible, polyglots, lexicons, concordances, commentaries, the Latin and Greek fathers, the decrees of councils and popes, church history, and other similar literary treasures, including a large collection of incunabula, - in all, with what he had saved from the wreck at Marienmünster, about 6,000 separate works in 13,000 volumes. Ten years before his death he offered his library for sale for the sum of 11,000 florins. . . .
The student who enters the beautiful room in the new building of the Seminary (1200 Park Avenue), where these precious books have found a worthy home, cannot fail to be struck with awe when he reflects that to bring that collection there required the co-operation of St. Benedict of Nursia, Charlemagne, and Napoleon! Nay, the curious speculator upon historic problems may add as a fourth factor the American Revolution (in its influence on France); and in that case there is a certain appro- priateness in the library of Van Ess finding a final resting-place in this country. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the trustees and Faculty, who in that time of depression, and while the institution was still an experiment, incurred such a heavy expense. It must be remem- bered that at that time it was no every-day occurrence to purchase the library of a deceased German scholar.
It is a difficult task to give an idea of the original Van Ess collection. No separate catalogue of it ever was made, nor has it been kept apart from the later acquisitions, except so far as the early printed books are concerned. There is an excellent card catalogue (by authors' names) of the entire library, and the accomplished librarian, the Rev. C. R. Gillett (whose many favors the writer would gratefully acknowledge), has made for his own use a list of the incunabula. The writer of this article has personally examined and catalogued some hundred and twenty-two of the incunabula belonging to the departments in which he is more particularly interested (mediaval fiction, stories contained in collections of sermons, and the like). It is greatly to be desired that some munificent friend of the institution should make provision for the printing of a catalogue which will reveal the wealth of the collection, and be of use to scholars in all parts of the land.
It is manifestly impossible in this limited space to give any idea of the general character of the library of the Seminary, in much of which the writer is not at all interested, although as a graduate of Princeton, with vivid recollection of his Sunday tasks, he ought at least to mention the unrivalled collection of works relating to the Westminster Assembly and the Shorter Catechism. To return, however, to the point from which we started, - mediaval ecclesiastical literature and history, - the library possesses such great works as the 'Acta Sanctorum' (in the original edition, Antwerp, Brussels, and Tongerloo); ' Bibliotheca maxima vete- rum patrum,' ed. Despont ; Gallandius, ' Bibliotheca græco-latina vete- rum patrum '; Martène and Durand, 'Veterum scriptorum amplissima
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THE TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY.
collectio,' and ' Thesaurus anecdotorum novus'; D'Achery, ' Spicilegium,' etc. The department of literary history is well represented by works like Oudin's ' Commentarius,' Bellarmin-Labbe, Ziegelbauer, Ceillier, Dupin, Fabricius, Miraeus, Trithemius, etc.
We must not linger here, but say a few words in regard to the early printed books. The part consisting of Bibles and Liturgical works, bre- viaries, missals, etc., the writer has not had time to examine, but un- doubtedly many rare and valuable works are therein contained. Among the rest may be mentioned no less than four of the great mediaval collec- tions of stories : Bromyard, Thomas Cantipratanus, Johannes Junior (' Scala Celi'), and ' Speculum Exemplorum' (Cologne, 1485), four works which it is safe to say can be found in only one other library in the country, and that a private one. Of sermons there are : Blony, Bernardi- nus de Bustis, Johannes von Paltz (' Celifodina '), Gritsch (' Quadra- gesimale,' 1481, 1490, and s. l. et a.), Haselbach, Herolt (' Sermones discipuli super epistolas dominicales,' s. a. et l.), Leonardus de Utino (Ulm, 1478), Lochmair ('Sermones,' 1516, full of illustrative stories), Meffreth (' Hortulus reginae,' 1487), Michaele Carchano (' Quadragesi- male,' Venice, 1487-92), Michaelis de Hungaria, George Morgenstern (' Sermones Disertissimi,' Leipsic, 1502), Paulus Florentinus (' Quadra- gesimale,' Milan, 1479), Robert Caraczoli (' Sermones Dormi Secure'), Konrad von Brundelsheim, better known as Soccus (some say because he hid out of modesty his sermons in his shoes or hose, where they were not found until after his death), Jacobus de Voragine (the author of the ' Legenda Aurea,' of which there are numerous early printed editions), etc. Among treatises much used in sermon-writing are : Hollen's ' Pre- ceptorium ' (1484, 1489), Nyder's ' Preceptorium ' (1481, 1496) , Peral- dus's 'Summa virtutum et vitiorum ' (1487); Rampigollis's 'Aureum Repertorium ' (s. l. et a.); Raynerus of Pisa, ' Pantheologia ' (several defective copies) ; Petrus de Natalibus, 'Catalogus Sanctorum ' (Lyons, 1519, woodcuts), etc.
A few additional interesting works may be mentioned here at random : St. Bridget's 'Revelationes ' (Nurenburg, 1517); Boethius, 'De consolat. phil.' (Cologne, 1493); Abbot Joachim, ' Vaticinia ' (Venice, 1589, Lat. and Ital., curious cuts) ; Petrarch, ' De remedys (sic) utriusque fortunae ' (defective), ' De Vita Solitaria ' (Basel, 1496), with several others of Pe- trarch's works; 'Speculum Spiritualium ' (Paris, 1510, an interesting work containing illustrative stories); Vincent of Beauvais is represented by his ' Speculum Doctrinale' (s. a. et l.), 'Speculum Naturale ' (s. a. et l.), and ' Speculum Morale ' (s. a. et l.), etc.
There are a few early editions of the classics : Catullus, ' Carme hexa- metrum nuptiale Edylion ' (s. a. et l.); ' Historiae Augustae Scriptores,' Venice, Aldus, 1516 (a rare book) ; Martial, Leipsic, 1498 (also rare) ; Seneca, 'Epistolae,' etc. (s. a. et l.), ' Proverbia secundum ordinem al- phabeti ' (8 leaves ; see Panzer, IX. 335, 1140 c.). To these may be added :
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THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
Cato, ' Moralia instituta'; Josephus, ' De antiquitatibus ac de bello Ju- daico,' Venice, 1510 (also a German trans., Strasbourg, 1553); a German translation of Frontinus, Mainz, Johann Schöffer, 1533; Perotti, ' Gram- matica ' (see Panzer, I. 200, 313).
The library also has a number of curious works on Oriental history, such as M. Crusius, 'Turcograeciae libri octo,' Basel, 1584; Haython, ' Liber Historiarum Partium Orientis,' Haganau, 1529 (originally written in French; see Potthast, I. 360); Laonicus Chalcocondylas, ' De origine et rebus gestis Turcorum libri decem,' Basel, 1556 (translated from Greek original, extends from 1298-1462, and, as Potthast says, is " instructive and entertaining "). 'Tractatus de Moribus condictionibus et nequicia Turcorum' (s. l. et a, incomplete at end; see Panzer, IV. 203, 1239). Also of historical interest is ' Romischer Kayserlicher Maiestat Regi- ment : Camergericht: Landtfridt uund Abschiedt uff dem Reichstag zu Wormbs,' etc. Mainz, Johann Schöffer, 1521, 18 leaves, sm. fol .; and of Reformation interest, Savonarola's exposition of the lxxx. Psalm in an old German translation, printed at Leipsic in 1542.
We have left for the last two interesting works; one is the account of the Revelation falsely attributed to Methodius of Tyre, but which prob- ably belongs to another Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople in 1240. It was a favorite work in the early days of printing, the earliest edition being of Augsburg in 1475. The Seminary library has not that, but a later one, more valuable on account of its many curious woodcuts; the title is, 'Methodius primum Olimpiade et postea Tyri civitatum episco- pus. . . . De revelatione facta ab angelo beato Methodio in carcere de- tento,' Basel, 1504 (Panzer, VI. 178, 29). The other book, assuredly one of the 'Libri Prohibiti,' takes us back to the troublous times of the Anabaptists in Holland, and to a character stranger than anything in fiction, the player, painter, and prophet, David Jorisz (or, as the name is usually written, David-George). This impostor published in 1542 his famous 'Book of Wonders,' intended to support his claim to be the sec- ond Christ. The book made a profound sensation throughout Europe. The copy in the Seminary library is not the first edition, but a later one, corrected by the author, and bears the title: 'Wonder-boeck : waer in dat van der Werldt aen verfloten gheoperbaert is. Opt nieuw ghecori- geert unde vermeerdert by den Autheur selve. Int jaer 1551.'
The writer earnestly hopes that the above necessarily inadequate ac- count of the Van Ess collection will revive the memory of a forgotten scholar, and make his beloved library better known to American students. May it also serve to dispel the vague notion that early printed books are rarely found in this country. This notion seems still to linger even in the professional mind, for while this article was in preparation the writer's eye fell on the annual report of the State Librarian of an adjoining State, wherein he read : "The library is particularly indebted to - for Philip Melancthon's copy of Livy, printed at Basel, in Switzerland, in
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ALUMNI IN MISSIONARY SERVICE.
1535. It is supposed to be the oldest printed book in America except the celebrated Gutenberg Bible of 1457, purchased by Mr. Brayton Ives of New York for $15,000." May this singular State Librarian some day find his way as a visitor into the Library of the Union Theological Seminary.
NOTE E.
ALUMNI OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WHO ARE OR HAVE AT ANY TIME BEEN ENGAGED IN THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SERVICE.
1838. SAMUEL ROBBINS BROWN China and Japan.
1843. HENRY MARTYN SCUDDER . . India.
ELIPHALET WHITTLESEY Sandwich Islands.
1845. WILLIAM WARE HOWLAND . Ceylon.
1846. EUROTAS PARMELEE HASTINGS
WILLIAM LYMAN RICHARDS
1847. GEORGE BOWEN
JOSEPH GALLUP COCHRAN
Persia.
SENECA CUMMINGS
SAMUEL GOODRICH DWIGHT
Sandwich Islands.
JOSHUA EDWARDS FORD
Syria.
HENRY KINNEY
Sandwich Islands.
66 SAMUEL DEXTER MARSH
CYRUS TAGGART MILLS . . South Africa.
Pastor in Turkey. Sandwich Islands.
66 WILLIAM WOOD India.
1848. ANDREW ABRAHAM
JACOB BEST. West Africa.
66 OLIVER CRANE
EDWARD MILLS DODD .
Turkey and Asia Minor. India.
JOHN WELCH DULLES .
JUSTIN WRIGHT PARSONS . Turkey and Asia Minor. Persia. 1849. GEORGE WHITEFIELD COAN
66 GEORGE WASHINGTON DUNMORE
Syria and Turkey.
1849. DWIGHT WHITNEY MARSH Turkey.
1850. WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE EDDY
Syria.
HOMER BARTLETT MORGAN
Asia Minor, Turkey, and Syria.
EPAMINONDAS JAMES PIERCE West Africa.
China.
China and Sandwich Islands.
HOHANNES DER SAHAGYAN
South Africa.
Syria and Turkey.
TOWNSEND ELIJAH TAYLOR
Ceylon. China.
India.
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THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
1850. SAMUEL AUDLEY RHEA Persia.
.6 SETH BRADLEY STONE . South Africa.
1851. WILLIAM PRATT BARKER . India.
ELI CORWIN Sandwich Islands.
66 ANDREW TULLY PRATT Syria.
JOSEPH WALWORTH SUTPHEN . Turkey.
1852. JASPER NEWTON BALL . Syria and Turkey.
EDWARD TOPPIN DOANE Micronesia and Japan.
1853. ELIAS LEVI BOING . . Choctaw Indians.
66 EDWIN GOODELL Smyrna.
66 CHARLES FINNEY MARTIN
Egypt.
1854. ALBERT GRAHAM BEEBEE
Turkey.
66 VARNUM DANIEL COLLINS Brazil.
66 JERRE LORENZO LYONS Syria.
66 SANFORD RICHARDSON Armenia.
66 JACOB WILLIAM MARCUSSOHN Turkey.
66 CHARLES CASEY STARBUCK . West Indies.
1855. HENRY HARRIS JESSUP . Syria.
66
TILLMAN CONKLING TROWBRIDGE . Turkey.
ALLEN WRIGHT . Choctaw Indians.
1856. JACKSON GREEN COFFING Syria.
66 CHARLES HARDING India.
CHARLES MCEWEN HYDE . Sandwich Islands.
MICHAEL D. KALOPOTHAKES Greece. 66 GEORGE HILLS WHITE
1857. THEODORE LUIN BYINGTON Turkey.
EDWARD W. CHESTER India.
CHAUNCY LUCAS LOOMIS
West Africa.
66 JAMES QUICK
Ceylon.
1858. JOSEPH KINGSBURY GREEN
Turkey.
66 EDWIN CONE BISSELL
Sandwich Islands.
66 WALTER HALSEY CLARK
West Africa.
HENRY NITCHIE COBB
. Persia.
THORNTON BIGELOW PENFIELD AMHERST LORD THOMPSON . Persia.
India.
CHARLES FINNEY WINSHIP West Africa.
66 SIMEON FOSTER WOODIN
China.
1860. HENRY WATKINS BALLANTINE PHILIP BERRY .
Syria.
HENRY MARTYN BRIDGMAN
South Africa.
LYSANDER TOWER BURBANK Assyria.
66 DAVID STUART DODGE .
Professor in Syria.
1861. LYMAN DWIGHT CHAPIN
. China.
66 SAMUEL JESSUP Syria.
Mesopotamia.
1859. THOMAS LYFORD AMBROSE
Persia.
India.
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ALUMNI IN MISSIONARY SERVICE.
1861. MOSES PAYSON PARMELEE . Armenia.
GEORGE EDWARD POST . Syria.
1862. JAMES MCKINNEY ALEXANDER Sandwich Islands.
GEORGE WHITEHILL CHAMBERLAIN . Brazil.
JOHN THOMAS GULICK . . North China.
1863. GEORGE LACON LEYBURN . Greece.
THEODORE STRONG POND East Turkey.
1864. SAMUEL RUSSELL BAKER Labrador.
WALTER HARRIS GILES
Turkey.
CHAUNCEY GOODRICH China.
1865. THOMAS GAIRDNER THURSTON
Sandwich Islands.
1866. EDWIN AUGUSTUS ADAMS Bohemia.
SAMUEL SWAIN MITCHELL
Syria.
1867. ALPHEUS NEWELL ANDRUS
East Turkey.
LEWIS BOND, JR. Turkey.
66 WILLIAM EDWIN LOCKE
. West Turkey.
66 CHARLES CHAPIN TRACY
Turkey.
1868. ALBERT WARREN CLARK Austria.
66 THOMAS LAFON GULICK Spain.
Sandwich Islands.
1869. ROBERT HOSKINS India.
MERRILL NATHANIEL HUTCHINSON .
Mexico.
EDWARD RIGGS Turkey.
1870. EDWARD GIBBS BICKFORD Turkey.
Persia.
China.
1871. GUSTAVUS ALBERTUS ALEXY .
Spain.
66 OSCAR JOSHUA HARDIN
Turkey.
66 EDWIN RUFUS LEWIS
Syria.
FRANK ALPHONSO WOOD
Syria.
1872. MARCELLUS BOWEN
LEANDER WILLIAM PILCHER
China.
1873. ISAAC BAIRD Odanah, Wis.
JOHN GILLIS Indian Territory.
SAMUEL WHITTLESEY HOWLAND Ceylon.
66 MYRON WINSLOW HUNT China.
1874.
THOMAS MCCULLOCK CHRYSTIE
West Indies.
66 CHARLES LEMON HALL Dakota.
China.
1875. DAVID STAVER
CHARLES CUMMINGS STEARNS Turkey.
1876. GEORGE LARKIN CLARK
66 GEORGE ALFRED FORD
Syria.
66 SAMUEL LAWRENCE WARD Persia.
Syria.
JOHN HENRY HOUSE
Turkey.
66 CHARLES LEAMAN
Syria.
66 PETER ZACCHEUS EASTON .
ARTHUR HENDERSON SMITH .
66 FRANK THOMPSON.
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THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
1877. THOMAS THERON ALEXANDER Japan.
66 WILLIAM SCOTT AMENT North China.
JAMES EDWARD TRACY India.
THOMAS CLAY WINN . Japan.
1878. CHARLES WILLIAM CALHOUN
Syria.
66 JOSEPH CLARK THOMSON . China.
1879. JUSTIN EDWARDS ABBOT India.
66 WILLIAM NESBITT CHAMBERS East Turkey.
HIRAM HAMILTON . Mexico.
JUNIUS HERBERT JUDSON , China. 66 ISAAC HEYER POLHEMUS Mexico.
1880. WILLIAM MARTIN BROWN ALBERT ANDREW FULTON China.
, Brazil.
JAMES WOODS HAWKES .
Persia.
66 JOHN SAVILLIAN LADD
Bulgaria.
ROLLO OGDEN Mexico.
WILLIE HERBERT SHAW
North China.
66 WELLINGTON JERVIS WHITE
China.
West Africa.
1881. ARTHUR WODEHOUSE MARLING ROBERT THOMSON Roumelia.
1882. CHARLES DAVID McLAREN Siam. WILLIAM CARTER MERRITT Sandwich Islands.
FRANK VANDERMATER MILLS .
China.
66 GILBERT REID . China.
JAMES ELCANA ROGERS . Persia.
1884. CHARLES ABBOT DWIGHT Turkey.
JAMES FRANCIS GARVIN Chili.
Part Second. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
FOUNDERS, DIRECTORS, BENEFACTORS, AND PROFESSORS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
I.
FOUNDERS, DIRECTORS, AND BENEFACTORS.
ABSALOM PETERS, D. D., (1836-1842,) traced his descent directly from a brother of the famous Rev. Hugh Peters, who came to New England in 1635, was settled as pastor of the First Church in Salem, Mass., returned to London on behalf of the Colony in 1641, where he warmly espoused the cause of Cromwell, and was beheaded on the restoration of Charles the Second. His memory was for a long time much maligned in English history, but has been earnestly vindicated by Carlyle and by the Rev. Charles W. Upham, one of his successors in the pastorate of the First Church in Salem. The father of Absalom, General Absalom Peters, was a native of He- bron, Conn., and a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1780. On leaving college, he immediately joined the Revolutionary army, and was engaged in the closing struggles of the War of Independence. Later, he became a leading citizen, and filled various offices, military, legislative, and judicial, in his adopted State. In 1782 he married Mary Rogers, daughter of Nathaniel Rogers, of Leominster, Mass., who claimed to be a lineal descendant from John Rogers, the martyr, burned at Smithfield in 1555. They raised to maturity a family of nine children, of whom Absalom, the fourth son, was born at Wentworth, N. H., September 19, 1793.
8
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
In 1866 Dr. Peters published a poem, entitled Birth-day Memorial of Seventy Years, with a brief introduction by his friend, Dr. Ray Palmer. In notes to this poem he gives some interesting recollections of his early life. When a child of six years, the news of the death of Washington made an indelible impression upon him. Referring to it here, he says : -
Time has had no tendency to efface the scene. Child as I was, I was by no means unprepared to be deeply affected by the an- nouncement, and the manner of it was dramatic and exciting. My mother was busy at her household cares, and myself and the younger children at hand, when my father came in with an expres- sion of sorrow which I had not before witnessed, and said, with trembling voice and tearful eye, "I bring heavy tidings ; Wash- ington is dead." He then read the account from a newspaper bordered with broad blackened lines of mourning. The effect was memorable. No death had yet occurred in my father's family, and this was the first that brought mourning to our home. The name of Washington was a household word, and a home sorrow was that produced by his death. My father, by virtue of his office, wore the prescribed badge of mourning thirty days, and the oft-repeated expressions of grief and condolence with neighbors and friends impressed me with a sense of the great bereavement which I could never forget. So will the death of President Lincoln be remem- bered, and still more effectively, by the children of the present generation.
The spirit of the Revolution was still all-pervading, and had a moulding influence upon the character of the boy. He thus writes : -
I well remember the pride of conscious manliness with which, as captain, at the age of eleven and twelve years, I trained a company of sixty boys, with wooden guns, myself decked with the trappings of my father's Continental uniform, suited to my size. With special impression of our military importance, at a Fourth of July celebration, I formed them in "hollow square," with arms at rest, to receive the commendation of the regimental colonel in a special address. Such scenes were among the most inspiring and invigorating of my early years.
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ABSALOM PETERS.
Absalom was trained up in the strict principles of Puritan faith and piety. He early accepted the teachings of the "New England Primer " as his rightful heritage. His parents were both well educated, wise, and judicious ; and so, notwithstand- ing the disadvantages and scanty religious privileges of a new settlement, he enjoyed the best of all schooling, that of a Christian home. To his mother he felt especially indebted for his good principles. A woman of rare self-possession, dignity, and grace, her influence was full of salutary restraint, and of allurement to what was pure and virtuous.
It was a rule with General Peters to allow his boys, at the age of sixteen, to choose their course of life, and to seek the education required to answer its ends. Absalom chose a mil- itary life, and an education at West Point. While awaiting an appointment as cadet, he went to Troy, N. Y., and was employed as a clerk in the store of his oldest brother, then a merchant in that city. Here, through the daily read- ing of the Bible given him by his mother on leaving home, and under the zealous ministry of Elder Webb, a Baptist clergyman, he was led to devote himself to the service of God. He now determined to become a preacher of the Gospel ; with this view he returned home, and, after the requisite pre- paratory course, entered Dartmouth College, in 1812. Gradu- ating in 1816, he was engaged for a short time as a teacher in this city, and in the autumn of that year entered the Theo- logical Seminary at Princeton. There, "under venerable and beloved professors," to use his own words, he pursued his studies until May, 1819, when he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of New York. His first sermon was preached in the old Brick Church, corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets, to the congregation of the Rev. Dr. Gardi- ner Spring. After his license, he was employed as a home missionary by the Synod of Albany, and labored for a time within its bounds. In August of the same year he was in- vited to the First Church in Bennington, Vt., as a stated sup-
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ply. It was at that time a very difficult field, but his labors proved so acceptable, that, after a few months, the church and society gave him a unanimous call to become their pastor. He was ordained and installed on July 5, 1820. After a very successful pastorate of nearly five and a half years, he ac- cepted the call of the " United Domestic Missionary Society " to become its secretary, and as such to aid in the organiza- tion of the American Home Missionary Society. His dismis- sion took place on December 14, 1825. The American Home Missionary Society was formed in May, 1826, and Mr Peters was appointed its first corresponding secretary, which office he held, by successive elections, until he resigned it in the autumn of 1837.
These twelve years he regarded as the most useful and effective of his life. I doubt if any other man in the coun- try did so much for its evangelization during those years as Absalom Peters. His labors were remarkable alike in ex- tent and power. He was the principal agent of the society in organizing and compacting its system, and extending its arrangements to combine, in one united effort and agency, all denominations of Evangelical Christians who could be persuaded thus to unite, irrespective of their sectarian pecu- liarities, in a vigorous and persistent national endeavor to supply all the waste places of the land with a faithful and competent ministry of the Gospel. During his term the society tripled its income, and quadrupled the number of its missionaries. He travelled in nearly all the States and Territories of the Union, a distance of perhaps three times the circumference of the globe, mostly on steamboats and by stages, everywhere making friends to the cause, and stirring up the churches to new zeal and liberality. He projected and edited the Home Missionary and Pastor's Journal, and the first twelve annual reports of the society were written by his own hand. One must read this magazine and these reports in order to understand either the tireless
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ABSALOM PETERS.
energy or the enthusiasm with which he gave himself up to the Home Mission cause. An extract from the Annual Re- port for 1828 will show with what a prophetic eye he looked into the future : -
As the field enlarges, they are multiplied who are ready to go in and possess it; and soon, it may be expected, they who dwell on the Alleghanies, and the increasing millions of the valley of the Mis- sissippi, will join their voices with ours in proclaiming the words of eternal life to the inhabitants of the Rocky Mountains and the valleys beyond. Another generation will scarcely have passed away before all this may be realized, and a stone may be set up on the shore of the Western Ocean, and our children's children that dwell there may write upon it, Ebenezer, and read the interpreta- tion thereof in their mother tongue : HITHERTO THE LORD HATH HELPED US.
Some forty years later, not many days before his departure, Dr. Peters witnessed the fulfilment of these glowing anticipa- tions, as the booming of cannon and the ringing of bells announced the completion of the Pacific Railroad. The par- tial failure of his vocal organs, which required rest from pub- lic speaking, was a main cause of his resignation. But until 1844 he remained a member of the executive committee of the society, and participated in its weekly councils.
It was during his twelve years of service as Home Mission- ary secretary and editor, that Dr. Peters became involved in the ecclesiastical and theological conflicts then agitating the Presbyterian Church. He was one of the strongest advocates of the principles and operations of voluntary societies, and one of the ablest defenders of Albert Barnes on the floor of the General Assembly. He also took a leading part in op- posing the Exscinding Act, in the Assembly of 1837. " If Dr. Beman was the great polemic of the New School party, Dr. Peters was its skilful and fertile strategist, - a sprightly de- bater, always self-possessed, full of anecdote and humor, of imperturbable good nature and inexhaustible resources. With
118
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a perfect command of the rules of order, and a practical judg- ment that never failed him, understanding both himself and his opponents, he rendered himself so formidable upon the floor of the Assembly, that a leader of the opposition once offered to exchange six of his own retainers for Dr. Peters, if he would come over to that side !" 1
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