USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Allegheny in Allegheny County > Recollections of seventy years and historical gleanings of Allegheny, Pennsylvania > Part 18
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I have sat in the society of the celebrated Thomas Marshall of Kentucky, when his brain was stimulated only enough to make it specially active, and have heard him exert himself by the hour to entertain an intelligent circle of college-men. His conversation was not only less instructive, it was less brilliant, than Dr. Halsey's often was.
Frequently when his mind was active, the doctor would pace a room diagonally from corner to corner, his hands under the tails of his coat, or thrust under his study-gown behind. Then was the time to engage him in talk. When he retired to his library, after tea, and lighted his pipe, if you could catch him before he opened his book, he was ready for a long conversa- tion on topics that occupy the thoughts of scholars or earnest- minded men. The faster he talked, the faster did he smoke, until the blue wreaths encircled his head, and at times half closed his flashing eyes.
His habit of smoking was not formed in boyhood. He was too conscientious and obedient in his youth to do what his father disapproved. While engaged in the severe labors of special services at Blooming Grove, his health suffered from too much preaching. He was attacked by hemorrhages. His physician counselled him to smoke. So repugnant was tobacco to him, that, as Mrs. Halsey assured me, he was nearly two weeks smoking his first cigar. He became an inveterate smoker.
Often he questioned the rightness of indulging himself in the habit. The fact that physicians recommended the use of tobacco, and the fact, also, that it had become a condition upon which he was dependent for quiet nerves and successful C study, determined the issue. He smoked the hour before he is died.
Whatever good the pipe may have done him, it did him I far more harm. To-day physicians and ministers ought to
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know better than to prescribe or follow the habitual use of tobacco.
Dr. Halsey was entirely free from the ostentation of learn- ing. The simplicity of his manners, and his Christian regard for man as man, often led illiterate people to imagine that his reputation for extensive and profound learning was much exaggerated.
" He's a very plain mon," said an Irish gardener. " He jist talks aboot wur-rums on the cabbage-leaves, an' caterpillars on the ellums, an' sech like."
"Didn't he tell me all about how to make soft-soap!" com- mented the house-maid.
His knowledge of all the mechanical and agricultural arts ; of animals and their habits and diseases ; of soils, and the best kinds of treatment for clay, or loam, or slate-land ; of the methods of cultivation approved and practised in many differ- ent countries ; of insects injurious to vegetation, and of insect- ivorous birds; in short, of all that could interest and help farmers, -made him specially welcome to their homes.
He always contrived, everywhere, to season conversation with grace, as with salt, and was accustomed, after a visit to a family in his parish, to have the household called together to listen to a chapter of the Bible, and to be led by him in prayer.
He was thoroughly in sympathy with all real progress, believing with Tennyson, that, -
" Through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."
So, too, was he heartily in sympathy with young men. He entered enthusiastically into their plans, and encouraged them in study and work. Many are alive to-day who would gladly send, from the four quarters of the globe, testimony to the advantage they derived while students in college or seminary, or while under Dr. Halsey's care in his own household, from his brotherly and fatherly counsels and cheer.
He was a patriot. His descent and his studies intensified his
C love of country. For sixty years he clung to the purpose of writing a history of the United States, which should make suit-
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able and constant recognition of God's providence, guiding and controlling the affairs of the nation. He left an immense mass of unfinished manuscripts, and inexpansible notes for the book - the results of incredible labor. No one can make any such use of these as he designed to make.
Here it may be well to ask why Dr. Halsey wrote and pub- lished so little. I think that only those intimately acquainted with the man can give the answer. Desire for perfection deterred him. His ideal was too high ever to be wrought out. He would not write until he had thoroughly mastered the sub- ject. He was so learned as to know, that, while ever learning, he had never attained absolute knowledge of any subject of investi- gation. He would learn more, more, MORE, ALL! He studied incessantly, but never achieved, never could have achieved, what he aimed at. Appalled at the greatness of the work he had conceived, when over fourscore years of age he let the pen fall from a hand unnerved by a glimpse at that which, like God himself, is unsearchable -the immensity of knowledge. He wronged the future by so doing. No other man can do so well what he could have accomplished.
I think his dear namesake, pupil, and friend, the Rev. Luther Halsey Gulick, now in China, could shed much light upon this philosophy of Dr. Halsey's unfruitfulness as an author. No one now living was better acquainted with Dr. Halsey's methods of study.
Although he did not write the proposed history, he did very often deliver at celebrations of the Fourth of July, and on other suitable occasions, remarkable historical addresses. I wonder whether any aged member of the Cincinnati Society, to which he belonged, can give the public some report of Dr. Halsey's reminiscences of characters conspicuous in the mili- tary and civil service of the country in the first period of its history ? In Norristown, Penn., numbers of members of the First Presbyterian congregation retain vivid impressions of the extraordinary excellence and eloquence of a patriotic dis- course delivered by Dr. Halsey in that town.
As a man of business, Dr. Halsey was lamentably deficient. His heart and mind were too much absorbed in his studies,
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and he was too unworldly, incautious, and visionary, to deal wisely with financial affairs. No man had more physical or moral courage than he had, yet he would allow any poltroon or fool to overreach him in business. This was not the worst of the ill: not only did he often suffer unnecessary loss of property - he was sometimes led to attribute to roguery on the part of others, the inevitable consequences of his own indefiniteness and carelessness. He would give vague direc- tions, and, when these were misunderstood, would sometimes charge mistakes to wilful dishonesty. I fear he once wronged in this way certain brethren who entered with him into a plan to publish a religious newspaper in New-York City. He honestly believed they understood certain moneys advanced by him to be a loan. His own vagueness allowed them to honestly think the payment an investment in stock. So good men were set at variance. One of his relatives, who greatly admired his talents, learning, and piety, said, respecting his unfitness to manage affairs, "He is all right for heaven, but is not worth a cent for earth !" Yet the God in whom he trusted, so overruled his mismanagement, that real estate, part of which was swamp-land below Allegheny City, purchased by him when he was in his prime, did, by its enhancement from the growth of the town, secure to him a sufficient support for the years when he was too old to perform regular pas- toral duty. The Marine Hospital stands upon part of that property.
What a man is to his own household and relatives, is the truest test of his character. Those who dwelt at any time in his family circle have the fullest and most delightful impression of Dr. Halsey's magnanimity, unselfishness, courage, fortitude, industry, learning, loyalty to Christ, and devotion to his service. He never had son or daughter of his own ; but he loved little children, dandled them on his keees, and bore them as little kings aloft upon his shoulders as, often and long, he paced the room at tea-time. He made himself their playmate, and liked to have the hand of a little child in his as he took, when he lived in the country, his walk at dewy sunrise. He was never so absent-minded as to disregard the inconsequent prattle of
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the little ones. Any child that happened to be visiting at his house was as the doctor's shadow wherever he moved.
He had the most reverential regard for woman. From the depths of his pure heart he honored her, and his demeanor toward her was that of a most chivalrous and Christian knight.
He was not merely tolerant of the innocent amusements of young people : he encouraged them. As a boy and young man, he was fond of shooting and fishing. He had many stories to tell of the days when he used to shoot wild turkeys and pas- senger pigeons in the State of New York.
His presence in the household cheered like sunlight. His equanimity had a calming, peace-breathing power. Old and young went to him naturally with glad tidings or with any anx- iety or grief. He had unselfish sympathy for all.
In bringing to a conclusion this inadequate sketch of the life and character of a truly good and great man, it is well to notice last his implicit and triumphant faith in God. No one could be long in his company without perceiving that he habitually lived under the power of things unseen and eternal. To him, God and heaven were realities, - the one his Father, the other
his home. To spend a sabbath evening with him in his old age was to enter the vestibule of the upper temple. So high and holy was his joy in the Lord, that his household and friends often seemed to attend him to the summits of the "Delectable Mountains," to catch enrapturing glimpses of the land which to those that are of the earth, earthy, is very far off, and through the telescope of his faith to see "the King in his beauty." Now he sees him as he is, and is like him.
An aged and beloved sister of Dr. Halsey is still living near Springfield, in the State of Ohio ; and many nephews and nieces love and cherish his memory.
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REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY, D.D.
JOB FOSTER HALSEY was born in Schenectady, N.Y., July 12, 1800. He was the youngest brother of the Rev. Luther Halsey, D.D., LL.D.
Job F. Halsey studied theology with his brother Luther, and was licensed by the Hudson-river presbytery in 1820. Subse- quently he spent three years in the theological seminary at Princeton, N.J., at the same time rendering his brother, Dr. Luther Halsey, important aid in preparing his illustrations for the lectures delivered by the latter as professor of chemistry and natural history in the College of New Jersey, Princeton.
The pulpit of the Tennent Church, near Freehold, N.J., hav- ing become vacant by the death of Dr. Woodhull, Job F. Hal- sey was invited to preach there, and was ordained and installed the pastor of that church, June 1, 1826.
While he was settled here, he married Miss Elizabeth Parker Brinley, whose strong Christian character, systematic habits, and mental vigor, Dr. Halsey was ever ready to credit with in- fluences which helped and balanced him through all his life thereafter.
Here, also, he began the work which issued in supplying those destitute of it in the United States with the Bible.
First he induced the Monmouth-County Bible Society to supply the county. Then he brought about such action on the part of the Nassau-Hall Bible Society as resulted in sup- plying the State of New Jersey with the word of God in the short space of two years. Moreover, the society undertook, at his suggestion, to raise forty thousand dollars to be applied to the teaching of those who could not read the Scriptures. After he removed to Albany, N.Y., as agent over sixteen coun- ties of that State for the Sunday School, Tract, and American Bible Societies, he induced the Washington-County Bible
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Society to agree to raise five thousand dollars to aid the parent society, on condition that at its next anniversary it would un- dertake to supply the United States within two years. This it did.
On the failure of his health, Dr. Halsey removed to Pitts- burg, Penn., where his brother Luther had been called to serve as professor of ecclesiastical history and church polity in the Western Theological Seminary.
For a time Dr. Job F. Halsey supplied the First Presbyterian Church of Allegheny every other sabbath. In 1830 or 1831 he was called to be its pastor. The congregation then wor- shipped in a small frame-building. I believe that Dr. Halsey was still pastor of that people when the brick church, after- ward destroyed by fire, was erected on Beaver Street (now Arch Street).
In 1835, his health failing, he accepted a professorship in Marion Manual-Labor College, Missouri; and during the ab- sence of its president, the Rev. Dr. Potts, he taught and grad- uated the first class of that institution.
There he lost his voice, and, turning his back upon Missouri, removed to Perth Amboy, N.J., where he opened the Raritan Seminary for young ladies. Here, as principal, he spent twelve years in teaching.
While educating there the two daughters of his old friend, the Rev. David Nelson, M.D., he was instrumental in inducing that gentleman, who had been, while a practising physician, an undisguised infidel, to write his celebrated work, "Nelson on Infidelity," now owned and published by the American Tract Society. The entire manuscript was sent to Dr. Halsey by mail in letters from Marion, Mo., and Quincy, Ill. He carried it through the press at New York, Mrs. Halsey correcting the proof-sheets. Some years before his death, Dr. Nelson told Dr. Halsey that he had a list of over three hundred persons who had been recovered from infidelity by this book.
In 1848 Dr. Halsey's voice was so far restored that he was able to preach again; and he became pastor of the church in West Bloomfield, N.J., now called Mont Claire. There he remained until a large stone church was nearly completed, when
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he was compelled to leave on account of the loss of the health of his wife.
In 1856 he received and accepted a call from the First Pres- byterian Church of Norristown, Penn., of which he was pastor until July 12, 1880, and from that date until his death "pastor emeritus."
So far, I have made free use of material given by Dr. Halsey to the late Rev. J. G. Ralston, D.D., of Norristown, and used by the latter in his " Historical Sketch of the First Presbyte- rian Church" of that place.
His pastorate at Norristown was eminently successful. Dr. Ralston's description of Dr. Halsey in 1876 is worthy of being transcribed word for word. "As a man," wrote he, " Dr. Halsey has a commanding presence, a courteous manner, and a kind heart. As a Christian, he is gentle, devout, and evidently sin- cere. As a minister, he is earnest, and sometimes even impet- uous. His style is unpretentious, although studied ; while his orthodoxy is undoubted. Christ and Him Crucified finds a place in all his sermons. Now, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, he still preaches with unusual vigor."
A more beautiful and even glorious exemplification of Chris- tian faith, joy, and triumphant hope than Dr. Job F. Halsey presented in the last years of his life, it has never been my privilege to behold. I spent the interval from December, 1880, to June, 1881, under his roof. He was then in his eighty-first year. His tall form was not bowed by age. His blue eyes, which habitually beamed with serenity and charity, could also on occasion flash with fires of enthusiasm, as he addressed the presbytery, or his own congregation, upon some theme that kindled his zeal. His voice was deep, rich, and strong. He was gentle and loving. In his home his presence was like a benediction. To sit in the light of his peaceful and blissful countenance was an honor and a blessing to be remembered through one's life. He was unselfish to a degree which no words can express. His Christ-like life was to very many per- sons the most beautiful and irrefutable evidence of the divine origin of Christianity. Looking unto Jesus, he had been trans- formed into his image. He loved little children, and they
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delighted to play and bask in the sunlight of his presence. His death on the 24th of March, 1882, was like a translation. Having contracted a cold, and feeling unwell, but not seriously ill, he retired early in the evening to rest. His only surviving child, Mrs. J. J. Borie, went, with the affection of a devoted daughter, to his room before bed-time, and found him dead. As he lay in his coffin, dressed as he had been accustomed to appear in the pulpit, his dignified, placid, and happy face seemed to be the countenance of one who had laid down to pleasant dreams. He was buried beside his beloved wife at Perth Amboy, N.J.
The inscription upon his memorial tablet in the First Pres- byterian Church of Norristown, Penn., closes with this most appropriate quotation : -
"He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." - AcTs xii. 24.
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REV. JOHN TAYLOR PRESSLY, D.D.
JOHN TAYLOR PRESSLY was born in South Carolina, in the Abbeville District, March 28, 1795. His ancestors were esteemed the best and most influential citizens of his native State. His parents were distinguished for their intelligence and religious proclivities. In such a home, where Christian instruction and Christian example were combined, in furnish- ing the best of influences, the subject of our brief sketch was born, and grew up to manhood. Every member of the family -including three brothers who became ministers of Christ, and two others who became distinguished physicians, and two sisters, one of whom became the wife of a minister, the other of a physician - gave to the world an honored Christian life.
The subject of our sketch was esteemed the central figure of the family circle, and became the most distinguished.
Having espoused the cause of religion in early life, and mani- fested a love of study, he gave promise of his after-eminence in piety and learning.
He connected himself with the Cedar-spring Church of the Associate Reformed Synod of the South, and commenced his studies in a classical school in the immediate vicinity of his home. He subsequently entered Transylvania University, Ken- tucky, where he graduated in 1812, in the eighteenth year of his age.
During his novitiate, he consecrated himself to the gospel ministry, and, in view of this, determined to acquire the best theological training the country could afford. For this purpose he entered the seminary in New York, then under the charge of the celebrated John Mitchell Mason, D.D.
Having completed the full course of three years' study, he was licensed as a ministerial probationer by the Associate Reformed Presbytery of South Carolina, in the spring of 1815.
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For a year he devoted himself to missionary work, travelling on horseback through several of the Southern States, and as far north as Pennsylvania and New York.
He often, in after-years, referred to his missionary tour, es- pecially to the fact of passing through Allegheny, then a forest, and but sparsely inhabited, and which was destined, in the providence of God, to be his future home and the field of his life's labors, and took pleasure in recalling that his journey led him to cross the spot upon which his family residence was afterwards erected.
Returning to his Southern home in the summer of 1816, he re- ceived a call to assume the pastoral charge of the church in which he was reared, baptized, and had made a profession of religion.
Having accepted the call, he was ordained and installed its pastor, July 3 of the same year.
For a period of over fifteen years these happy relations were maintained, and he would have gladly spent the remainder of his days in this congenial field. Providence, however, had other and more important work for him to do.
Although pained to sever his connection with a loving people, yet the call was so clear, conclusive, and to his mind impera- tive, that he felt it his duty to obey. He became celebrated, not only for his eloquence as a Christian minister, but as one eminently qualified to educate others in the gospel ministry. In recognition of his superior abilities in this respect, the mem- bers of his own synod had tendered to him the appointment of professor of theology : this he declined to accept, not seeing his way clear to do so. Subsequently, to wit, on the tenth day of October, 1831, the Associate Reformed Synod of the West elected him to the chair of theology in the seminary at Pittsburg, which had been rendered vacant by the decease of its first professor, the Rev. Joseph Kerr, D.D.
The proceedings which resulted in his election, and the causes that led to it, were so manifestly the work of Providence, that he was convinced that the call was directed from above. He at once commenced preparations to enter upon the new work; and on the fifth day of January, 1832, he arrived in Pitts- burg with his family, having, in the brief space of two months,
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decided to change the sphere of his life's work - dissolved his connections with a loving and beloved people, broken up his home, disposed of his property, and made the long and tedious journey from South Carolina to his new field of labor. He entered upon his labors the following week.
His eminent fitness for the work was fully recognized, widely known, and added a new attraction to the merit of the institu- tion. Such was its fame, that students were drawn to it from all parts of the church, north and south.
In addition to his theological duties, he supplied with marked acceptance several of the vacant pulpits in the vicinity, from two of which he received calls to become their pastor, which he declined.
On the 26th of October, 1832, he received a call from the church of Allegheny, which he held under considera- tion until the following meeting of presbytery .. In the mean time, in response to the request of the congregation, he commenced to labor among them as stated supply on the first day of December, 1832, and continued in that capacity until the following April, when he formally accepted the call, and was, on the 27th August of the same year, installed pas- tor. The Rev. Mr. Cahan delivered the sermon, and the Rev. Mr. Weir made the installation prayer. Thus were consti- tuted relations between pastor and people which continued for thirty-eight years, or until the close of his life, and which proved to be one of the most successful pastorates of modern times.
Possessed of an imposing and stately personal appearance, and endowed with health and great physical strength, he moved with a dignity that commanded attention and admiration wher- ever he appeared. Endowed by nature with a strong mind, and well trained for the performance of mental work, and methodi- cal in the arrangement of his duties, his labors were abundant and richly productive.
He brought to his work a large experience, and gave to it his whole heart and force of character.
His style of oratory was of that kind that carries conviction to the heart of the truth of the doctrines advocated.
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He avoided the sensational in his style of delivery. It was the simple, clear, and earnest declaration of one who knew and felt the object of his teachings to be the salvation of souls.
His great power as a preacher may be attributed to the clear- ness of conception and expression which characterized his man- ner of delivery in the presentation of his subject.
His fine personal appearance, strong, sonorous, and well- modulated voice, and suave and dignified manners, gave to his delivery a powerful and lasting effect.
Faithful as a pastor, he was also a tender and sympathizing friend, ever on the alert to do good by counselling the weak and despondent, and soothing the sorrows of the sick and afflicted. In his personal efforts to carry out his benevolent plans, he was warmly aided by his excellent wife.
He was united in marriage to Miss Jane Hearst at Cedar Spring, South Carolina, his native place, July 4, 1816. They had nine children. Mrs. Pressly was born June 10, 1793. En- dowed in an eminent degree with all the social and Christian qualifications, she was admired for her modest and unassuming demeanor. Active and zealous in doing good, yet she shrank from the slightest public recognition. She was the light and joy of her own home, and also the welcome visitor in the homes of the members of the congregation. Possessed of a cheerful and happy disposition, a countenance glowing with benevolence, and animated with good nature, she fully exemplified the vir- tue of the scriptural declaration, "A soft answer turneth away wrath." None were better qualified to assuage the sor- rows of a broken heart, and cheer the despondent : to bind up the one, and encourage the other, was her constant aim. Her genial presence and loving words were well calculated to secure the confidence, and win the affections, of all with whom she came in contact. Her whole heart and life were dedicated to the service of God, to her husband and his people in the Lord. Her home was the central object in the congregation, where the meek and lowly received as cheerful a welcome as the rich and honorable. She lived respected, and died lamented, in the city of Allegheny, April 4, 1873.
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