USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Allegheny in Allegheny County > Recollections of seventy years and historical gleanings of Allegheny, Pennsylvania > Part 17
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The lapse of ten years' experiment ; buildings unfinished ; a faculty incomplete in number ; an inadequate salary, relatively less than he had been receiving, depending solely upon the
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voluntary support of contributors, whose zeal had become weakened, -these offered but feeble inducements to one of his learning and foresight, in no need of assuming a position of so much embarrassment, except as it appealed to his sense of duty and faith in God. His willingness to serve under this condition of affairs is an honorable exponent of his character.
To his fidelity and indomitable perseverance in contending with embarrassments for over fifteen years, does the Church owe in a great measure the preservation of the life of the insti- tution. By his zeal and faith he inspired the drooping energies of its friends, who would have probably yielded to the force of circumstances had it not been for the interest he manifested in it.
The steadily increasing number of the students confirmed the high estimation in which he was held by the friends of the seminary.
Circumstances having unfortunately arisen during the year 1840, which left him alone and without aid in the faculty, and for a time reduced the number of the students as well as increased the embarrassments, his earnest spirit and abiding faith in an over-ruling Providence gave him assurance of its continuance and final triumph.
His first important literary production was a volume of " Letters on Church Government," a work of merit, and greatly esteemed as a masterly effort. His acknowledged talents and skill in this direction from the first were greatly appreciated, and gave him a prominence in the ecclesiastic courts of the highest importance.
He was noted for his administrative ability as a pastor and moderator of the sessions of the church ; and no opinions were more favorably received than his in the sessions of the pres- bytery, synod, and General Assembly.
His private as well as his ministerial character was marked by no selfishness : charitable in his judgment, he was indul- gent to the weakness and short-comings of others. Those who were intimate with him, admired him for the excellency of his character.
As a pastor, he was firm and true to his obligations, guiding
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the way to consistent action, striving to do justice to all. His success as a theological teacher, and minister of the gospel, was the result of unity of purpose and perseverance.
He died in Allegheny on the eighteenth day of March, 1874. We close this imperfect record of his virtues and usefulness, with the earnest hope "that our last end may be like his."
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REV. JOSEPH KING.
REV. JOSEPH KING was born in Kinsman, Trumbull County, O., July 9, 1831. In his youth he was left without any of the appliances of wealth ; thrown entirely upon his own resources, he was subjected to many privations and severe trials ; yet nev- ertheless, by patience and indomitable perseverance these were overcome, and became the means of developing a strong char- acter.
The money expended in acquiring an education was earned by his own efforts, in laboring on the farm, and by teaching.
In the eighteenth year of his age, having mastered the com- mon branches of an English education, he entered the college at Bethany, W. Va., from which he received his academic degree of A.B. in 1855.
His early religious training was in the tenets of the Presby- terian church, and he had but a limited knowledge of the Disci- ples, or the peculiar doctrines entertained by them, until he had arrived at the age of twenty-one; at this period of his life, he was exceedingly exercised in seeking the way of salvation, was brought to believe in the tenets of this organization, and was immersed in Mahoning County, O., in 1852.
After graduating at college, the first year of his ministry was spent at Warren, O., the next three in the State of New York in connection with the Williamsville Classical Institute. Upon leaving the Institute, he devoted himself to regular ministerial labor, and was chosen pastor of the church in New Lisbon, O., which he served acceptably for four years. He then removed to the city of Allegheny, and took charge of the church in that place, where he has labored successfully for several years.
His general appearance marks him as a man of equitable temper and large benevolence, yet he is, nevertheless, decided and firm.
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His teachings are principally practical : his discourses appeal to the conscience of his hearers rather than to their suscep- tibility to oratorical power.
He possesses very little imagination, and is not, in the popu- lar sense of the term, an orator. His success in the ministry, nevertheless, demonstrates the fact that he wields an influence greater than that which belongs to the most gifted speakers. In all his relations, he is noted for his broad and liberal views, as well as for his labor for the promotion of Christian unity. Wherever he has labored, the divine blessing has attended his teaching.
Mr. King takes a great interest in the cause of education, has been elected for many years a school director from the Second Ward, Allegheny, and during most of the time served as president of the Board of Controllers, being noted for his profound judgment and impartial rulings.
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REV. LUTHER HALSEY, D.D., LL.D.
THE subject of this sketch was born in Schenectady, N.Y., Jan. 1, 1794.
His father, also named Luther, had received in his youth a careful and liberal education. He became an officer in the American army of the Revolution. In the early years of the war he was reckless and exceedingly profane.
As adjutant, he was one day forming the battalion. Dis- pleased at something, he burst into blasphemy fearful for force and significance of expression. A soldier called "Wicked Tom," because of his notorious profanity, was seen by the adjutant to tremble, and was overheard to remark, "It makes my blood run cold to hear our adjutant swear."
The comment startled the officer. What was there in his profanity that shocked even "Wicked Tom " ?
He began to reflect, and perceived that familiar acquaintance with the Bible and its doctrines enabled him to use, instead of the preposterous profanity of uninstructed men, expressions loaded with the logic and rhetoric of the word of God. His education under Christian influences had done this for him. It had taught him to swear rationally! The skill with which he wove maledictions condemned him. He felt himself to be one of the chief of sinners, a transgressor whose early privileges and light left him without excuse, and aggravated his wickedness. He became a changed man, and was remarkable thenceforth for Christian faith, courage, and devotedness. He was pre-emi- nently a man of prayer. He believed in the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, and did not for a moment doubt his willing- ness to accept, and renew by his Spirit, the children of those who believed his promises, and commanded their households in his fear.
Adjutant Halsey had the unspeakable satisfaction of seeing
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all his children who arrived at mature years decidedly religious men and women. He lived to see four of his sons graduate at college, and enter the ministry. Of these, Luther was the eldest and the most distinguished.
After the war, Adjutant Halsey engaged in teaching. While the subject of this sketch was still young, the father removed to Whiteborough, in Oneida County, near Utica, N.Y. A few years later he became the principal of the academy at New- burg, on the Hudson. Here Luther, having graduated mean- while from Union College, was for a brief time his father's assistant. Before 1816 he had studied medicine and law in New-York City, and theology under the Rev. J. Johnston, D.D., of Newburg, and in that year began to preach as stated supply of the Presbyterian church of Blooming Grove, Orange County, N.Y.
On the Ist of January, 1818, he married a young widow, Mrs. Anna G. Smith, daughter of Mr. George Gardner of Newburg.
The same year, or the year before this, he was installed pas- tor of the church already mentioned. His ministry at Bloom- ing Grove was to an extraordinary degree useful. He soon became widely known, not for talents and unction only, but for learning also.
Excessive labors in a great revival with which the Lord blessed his church, impaired Mr. Halsey's health. The rupture of a blood-vessel made retirement from the pulpit impera- tively necessary. In 1824, while his health was still precari- ous, he was called to the chair of natural history and chemistry in Nassau Hall, Princeton, N.J. He fulfilled the duties of this position until 1829, when the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church elected him professor of ecclesiastical history and church polity in the Western Theological Semi- nary at Allegheny, Penn. Dr. Janeway was his colleague there for a short time, and afterward the celebrated Dr. Nevin, who, a few years later, joined the German Reformed Church. No interval of distance or time, no denominational diversity of views, could alienate these brethren from each other's affection. Dr. Nevin preached Dr. Halsey's funeral sermon.
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HISTORICAL GLEANINGS OF ALLEGHENY.
From Allegheny, Professor Halsey removed, in 1837, to Auburn, N.Y., to perform, in the theological seminary there, the duties of a similar office.
In July, 1843, while he was still at Auburn, he received from Mr. Michael Allen of Pittsburg, a letter, in which occur some sentences that may interest members of the Second Presby- terian Church of Allegheny, formerly called the Manchester Church. I will quote :-
"I have had a long talk with friend Sampson1. A church expressly intended for you will be finished on or before the Ist of October next, seventy feet by forty-three ; Gothic windows eleven and a half feet high ; vestibule twenty feet ; a gallery in front for singers ; eighty-eight pews all complete ; every dollar paid before the church is opened ; Dr. Herron to preach the opening sermon. You see, all is cut and dry for work. Is not this noble for such a small place? But you have some good material at work. All done by a few. I do not think that such an offer should be refused, as it will just place you on your own farm, and in the midst of your best friends, who will endeavor to make you comfortable. Should you refuse it, I well know that the disappointment will go beyond any thing it would be in my power to express."
Dr. Halsey became the first pastor of that church, after some delay, but remained with it only a short time. In 1846 he yielded to Mrs. Halsey's impression that her health would be benefited by residence in the East, and removed to Perth Amboy, N.J.
In 1848 he was in New-York City, delivering a course of lec- tures to the students of the Union Theological Seminary. There he continued until he was induced by friends and ad- mirers to remove in 1851 to Washingtonville, in Orange County, N.Y., where he preached as stated supply of the Presbyterian Church for many years. Here his congregation included some of the descendants of those who were his parish- ioners in his first pastorate, Washingtonville being but a few miles from Blooming Grove.
For the last ten years of his life, his home was at Hammon-
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ton, N.J. He and Mrs. Halsey spent much time, however, at the house of Mrs. Halsey's son, Mr. Charles G. Smith, near Pittsburg, Penn. There, on the 22d of February, 1874, more than three years after the death of her son, died Mrs. Halsey, after having been confined to her room for many months by partial paralysis. This affection did not act upon her brain or her spirits. Until the end approached, she enjoyed with even unusual zest the society of her friends, and such literary pursuits as had been, from her childhood, her delight. She was an extraordinary woman. She could repeat word for word, when over fourscore years of age, whole poems of the English classics. Many of her own compositions survive her, and give evidence of both taste and scholarship. Of her poeti- cal productions, perhaps none is superior to verses inscribed " To Lyra," and published in " Putnam's Monthly " for August, 1854. The best known of her prose works is a "Life of Elizabeth Fry." She read six languages besides her own. Her aversions and attachments were equally positive. Persons she disliked were not often encouraged to cultivate her acquaintance. The relatives and friends whom she loved, found her devotion entire and lasting. She had good judgment in all matters of busi- ness. Well had it been for her husband to commit to her the management of all his financial affairs ! She was deeply inter- ested in all works of Christian benevolence. I am told she was among the first to suggest the founding of an orphan-asy- lum in Allegheny City, and that she designed its seal, - a nest full of young, open-mouthed birds. She was earnestly interested in all her husband's work, and was supremely desirous to have all whom she loved become true Christians. For more than fifty-six years was she the devoted wife of Dr. Halsey. Her death, and the death in February, 1880, of Mrs. Smith, whom he loved as if she had been his own daughter, caused him to feel the profound loneliness of earth. Very few who had been his friends in the years of his youth and prime then survived.
After the removal of Mrs. Smith from her old homestead, Dr. Halsey had spent a time with one of his grandsons, and then retired to his farm near Hammonton, where he lived with his nephew and tenant, Mr. Abram H. Van Doren. He died
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in Norristown, Penn., on the 29th of October, 1880, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He had been called, but a few days before, to attend the funeral of Mrs. Job F. Halsey ; had taken cold, and, being extremely weak, was unable to rally.
The personal appearance of Dr. Halsey was impressive. He was fully six feet in height ; had very lively eyes of deepest blue, the well-curved brows of which were often knit with an expression of profound thoughtfulness, and were surmounted by a lofty and grandly developed forehead ; had brown hair that narrowly missed being auburn ; and a mouth very firm when the face was in repose, but very mobile when he was excited by conversation, or interested in any topic that touched his feel- ings. Ordinarily he was grave and very dignified. In this dignity, there was nothing assumed. It was the result of an ambitious and chivalric nature, earnestness of character, and intellectual force, and was perfectly consistent with the great kindliness of countenance that invariably attracted little chil- dren to him. His grandson, the Rev. George G. Smith of Ten- nent, N.J., thus speaks of him : -
"My first distinct recollection of him takes me back to 1842 or 1843. My parents were living at Dr. Halsey's place below Manchester, where Mr. Bennett lives now. The house was then quite in the country. On a summer afternoon, a stern- wheel steamer that plied between Pittsburg and Beaver 'slowed up' opposite our house, and sent a boat ashore. The steamer was probably the 'Lake Erie' or the 'Beaver,' and made, as nearly all boats did in those days, with every escape of the steam, a tremendous noise, that awakened echoes among the hills for miles on both sides of the Ohio River. I was soon called to the parlor, and led into the presence of a tall, slender gentleman, dressed in black, whose high white cravat, deep, manly voice, thoroughly Christian suavity, and kind notice of me, a little boy, captivated me at once."
Dr. Luther Halsey had come from Auburn to visit his friends in Pittsburg.
He was a man of great learning. I was familiar with his habits of study for more than thirty years. He rose early, and
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spent more than twelve hours, on an average, each day in close, careful reading of the best books that discriminating scholar- ship could select. He had a wonderful memory, and readily recollected the substance of all he read. It is not strange, therefore, that such work as he did in the study gave him com- mand of whatever had been written that was best worth remem- bering in the departments of learning in which he was specially interested.
A justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and a number of distinguished ministers of the gospel, met at the house of a prominent Presbyterian pastor of Baltimore, were discussing the character and attainments of John Quincy Adams soon after the death of that celebrated scholar. They agreed that America had lost her most learned citizen. "Who is the most learned man left ?" asked one of the party. The judge promptly answered, "The Rev. Luther Halsey is now the most learned man known to the public in the United States." In this opinion, all the ministers concurred.
The older citizens of Allegheny remember well the Rev. Dr. Page of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a man of rare erudi- tion. He and Dr. Halsey rode in the same carriage from Maple Grove, the home of the late Rev. A. D. Campbell, D.D., to Allegheny Cemetery, attending Dr. Campbell's funeral. A few days later I met Dr. Page. He said eagerly concerning Dr. Halsey, "He is a wonderful man! A wonderful man! The best-read man I have met for twenty years !"
" He is so full of learning," said Dr. Melanchthon W. Jacobus, "you have only to tap him on any subject, and the stream will . . flow."
Near the end of his life, Dr. Halsey, while on a visit to Nor- ristown, Penn., was in company with the Rev. J. Grier Ralston, D.D., and Cornelius Baker, M.D., intimate friends of his brother, Dr. Job F. Halsey.
Dr. Baker, who has repeatedly mentioned to me his impres- sion of the extraordinary learning of Luther Halsey, related an incident that particularly struck him.
Dr. Ralston was a scholar and an educator. He knew that Dr. Halsey had once been professor of chemistry in Princeton
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College, and inquired whether he kept abreast of the progress of that science. Dr. Halsey, with his usual modesty, felt that he did not, and confessed as much.
"The two talked chemistry," said Dr. Baker, "until Dr. Halsey had drawn out of Dr. Ralston all the latter knew upon the subject, and had overlapped that with evidence of wider and more thorough acquaintance with the science than even Dr. Ralston, learned as he was, possessed."
His knowledge of ecclesiastical history, and of the history of America, was certainly not surpassed by that of any other man of his day.
He bought books to read them. If I mistake not, the num- ber of Dr. Halsey's books, packed and catalogued at Washing- tonville, in 1867 or 1868, to be sent to the Allegheny Seminary, exceeded three thousand volumes. He had long before that time given several thousand volumes to the same institution, and thousands more to different relatives and friends. Nearly all of these, excepting books of reference, he had thoroughly read and digested.
In the pulpit, Dr. Halsey was orthodox, instructive, and elo- quent. Wendell Phillips was not more eloquent than Dr. Hal- sey sometimes was in extemporaneous efforts. He was either formally called or privately invited to become the pastor of many of the strongest churches in the land. He was sought by Dr. Payson's congregation in Portland, Me., after the death of that distinguished man, and by the First Presbyterian churches of Utica, N.Y., and Princeton, N.J., as well as by prominent churches in Washington City, and in other centres of intelligence and influence. John Quincy Adams was among those who tried to induce him to go to the national capital.
Dr. Halsey excelled any other man I have ever met in respect of the power he possessed to illuminate a subject by accurate and simple exegesis, and practical adaptation to the minds of his hearers. Many a time in cottage prayer-meetings in Orange County, N.Y., and in the lecture-room of the Second Presby- terian Church in Allegheny, Penn., have I heard from his lips such sweet and edifying conversational comment and discourse upon some passage of Scripture as charmed the scholar, and
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enlightened and comforted the illiterate. The late Rev. L. L. Conrad was accustomed to say he had never met any one else who equalled Dr. Luther Halsey in a prayer-meeting talk. No other has ever seemed to me to approach him in ability to nour- ish God's people by running comment upon a chapter, or upon several consecutive verses of Scripture. It was his belief, that no other kind of preaching was so profitable as this exposition of so much of some portion of the Bible as brought out clearly a prominent topic of thought, and its various relations to the minds and spiritual wants of men. To find the central truth of a parable, a miracle, a narrative, a doctrinal statement, and then to irradiate this by bringing to a focus upon it all the con- verging lines of light revealed by the Holy Spirit in the passage and context, this was his aim in an expository lecture.
His religious character was sincere and exalted, and his habits of devotion and self-examination insured close knowledge of his own heart and of human nature. He endeavored to live in continual remembrance of the presence, precepts, and service of his Lord. A quotation from a memorandum written by him for his own benefit and guidance while he was at Blooming Grove, N.Y., will illustrate the principles, methods, and motives of his ministry.
"Live to-day just as if you were to die to-morrow. Pingo in æternum. Live more directly and exclusively for eternity. Let me think, feel, speak, study, act, all for eternity.
"I. The first ministerial qualification is to have a heart warm with desire after the glory of God and the salvation of perish- ing immortals. It makes the mind fertile, the tongue eloquent, the labor light, and is the surest pledge of a spiritual harvest among the people of one's charge.
"2. The Scripture is the best storehouse for arguments, illustrations, etc. Compose my sermons by the word of God.
"3. Find the subject sabbath evening, think it over through the week, and complete the preparation before the next sab- bath. Let the morning of the sabbath be spent in devotion, and attention to personal religion.
"4. In my sermons, specially regard the practical applica- tion, and endeavor to adapt it to every class of hearers. Let
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no one go away disappointed, unimproved. It may be his last opportunity !
" 5. If my sermons are not suited to promote my spiritual improvement, they will not benefit my hearers. Always first preach them to myself.
"6. Visit the sick and dying once a week. They are lonely, discouraged, and decaying, and in need. Visit the tempted and despairing often. Visit persons who are removing, or who are only transient guests. This may be my only time. We sep- arate forever ! Visit the concerned and awakened often. Theirs is a strife with Satan. Go or send until they are con- firmed. Visit the aged and infirm, and those confined within doors. Carry to them the ordinances. They cannot come. Visit those who are under the discipline of the church, to reclaim them while there is hope, and save Christ's kingdom from continued reproach. Visit the active and apt, to set them upon particular duties while the opportunity lasts.
"N.B. Visit straightway every individual member of the con- gregation for the spiritual good of each, so that to each one personally may be addressed, once at least in his life, the message of reconciliation.
"7. Take special notice of the religious improvement of the children of the congregation. Pray with them, exhort them, induce them to read, catechise them, inquire whether parents restrain and instruct them. See that the church pays special regard to orphans. Youth is a season of critical importance.
"8. Poor widows must be sought out, visited, comforted. Strangers must be looked after.
"9. Blacks must be. particularly provided for. They have no friend but me. (Harry said, 'Nobody prays for me !')
"IO. Let me remember, in all companies and places, that I am a servant of God, a minister of the gospel, officially charged with the salvation of men."
Socially he was one of the most agreeable and delightful of men. He was a repository, an encyclopædia of facts and anec- dotes ; and when he was in company that was congenial, his conversation was wonderfully interesting, brilliant, and profit- able. His table-talk was often very sprightly and spicy. He
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made all literature tributary to his purpose to inform and please his friends. By the magic wand of memory, he would com- mand into the presence of the company any noted character of history, to speak and act again for the entertainment or in- struction of mankind.
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