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Library 1994.CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP.
A
FAREWELL SERMON
DELIVERED IN THE
FOURTEENTH STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
NEW TOEK,
SABBATH MOKJNLNO, .NOV. 15, 1863.
REV. ASA D. SMITH, D. D.
NEW YORK:
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH,
No. 683 BROADWAY.
1 86 3.
3>Printed by E. O. JENKINS,
20 North William Street.New York, November 17, 1863.
Dear Pastor:
Having* listened, with deep interest, to your Farewell Discourse, delivered
last Sabbath, and desiring that its record of your pastoral labors with this
Church be put in permanent form for distribution among the people, the Session,
in behalf of the Church, request you to favor them with a copy of the manu-
script, for publication.
WILLIAM A. BOOTH,
JOHN McCHAIN,
LUCIUS HART,
OLIVER R. KINGSBURY,
JOSEPH F. JOY,
STEPHEN CUTTER,
SALEM H. WALES,
WILLIAM T. BOOTH,
EDWARD C. CHAPIN.
► Elders.
New York, December 5, 1863.
To 1he Session of the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church,
Dear Brethren:
The Sermon of which you speak was prepared, as you know, under an extra-
ordinary pressure of cares and engagements, connected with the transition to
which Providence had called me. Yet, as containing facts of interest to the
congregation, and simple utterances of an affection which can never die, I submit
it to your disposal.
Yours most truly,
ASA. D SMITH.SERMON.
Give an account of thy stewardship/'—Luke xvi, 2,
The parable from which these words are taken, has
been one of the vexed places of Scripture, both to
ancient and modern commentators. It has had various,
discordant, and often, as we judge, erroneous interpre-
tation. Both the variety'and the error have resulted, in
great part, from the undue magnifying of particulars—
the mere back ground of a vivid and impressive picture
—and the consequent disparagement of the few great
lessons which our Lord designed to teach. For our
present purpose, we need not so much as approach the
rocks which have so often proved fatal. We are called
to no extended and minute explication of the parable.
We only fasten, as the clause in hand leads us to do,
on certain principal thoughts—thoughts, which if they
include not the culminating point or moral of the pas-
sage, do at least underlie it, while they are variously
and abundantly set forth in all the Word of God. We
shall consider, in the first place, the relation presented
in the text, and in the second place, the responsibility6
connected therewith. We shall find both these points,
as we proceed, quite relevant to the present occasion.
For myself, I could scarce pursue, this morning, any
other line of thought. As the fast falling sands of time
have been bringing me near to this day, not of gloom
but of tender solemnity, ever have these words been
ringing in my ears : “ Give an account of thy steward-
ship.”
I. The text suggests to us, it has been observed, a
relation. I need not say, it is a relation of man to
his God. What we are and what we owe, in this view,
the Scriptures set forth in divers forms. They employ,
largely, figurative phraseology, derived sometimes
from natural objects, but ofteiier from our social rela-
tionships. No one representation would grasp the
complex whole. Now the plastic clay gives its simili-
tude ; now the rod of the smiter; now the branch
drawing life from the vine ; now the flock led by the
shepherd. Rising to a higher plane, man is represented
as a subject, as a servant, as a pupil, as a son ; nay, in
the fullness of his exaltation by grace, as a king and a
priest unto God. In the text we have a different fig-
ure, derived primarily from domestic life in the days of
our Lord, but not unfamiliar to modern times. It is
that of stewardship. The steward is one to whom his
master’s gpods are intrusted ; who has the care and dis-
position of them, in some sense as if they were his own,
while yet they are not his own; while he is bound to1
hold and use them as his master’s, and with an eye
evermore to his pleasure and advantage. A beautiful
example of this we have—the first the Bible gives us—
in the faithful Eliezer of Damascus.
No figure could better exhibit one of our most im-
portant spiritual relations. We are all stewards of
God. Whatever we are, whatever we possess, lies
within the compass of our trust. We ourselves are not
our own ; God has in us the most absolute proprietor-
ship. We are to glorify Him in our bodies and our
spirits which are his. Whatever faculties we rejoice in—;
physical, mental, moral—from the lowest level of sense
up to the loftiest range of the reason ; whatever outward
possessions are ours—of lands, tenements, securities,
hoarded treasures ; whatever influence we possess, flow-
ing out through the various natural and social channels ;
whatever opportunities are afforded us, ordinary and
extraordinary ; everything which we can grasp and
wield, as a means to an end ; though we call them ours,
are all really God’s, and are just as truly to be used
for Him, as the goods in your agent’s hands are to be
disposed of as you direct, and with supreme regard to
your benefit. You may not have acknowledged this
relation, you may have studiously ignored it; but it
exists nevertheless—it is one of the fixed facts of the
universe. You disregard it at your peril; nay, in
peril of your own best good as well for time as for
eternity. There is one point in which the likeness be-
tween the earthly and the heavenly stewardship par-8
tially fails. “ In worldly things,” as Trench has well
said, “ there is not, and there never can be, such abso-
lute identity of interests between a master and a ser-
vant, that a servant dealing wholly with reference to
his own interests, would at the same time forward in
the best manner his lord’s. But our interests as ser-
vants of a heavenly Lord, that is, our true interests,
absolutely coincide in all things with his ; so that when
we administer the things committed to us for Him, then
we lay them out for ourselves, and when for ourselves,
for our lasting and eternal gain, then also for Him.” A
blessed stewardship this—why should it ever seem oner-
ous to us ?—in which as we lose we gain, as we give
we receive, as we deny and even forget, we immeasur-
ably enrich ourselves!
Life is to all, it has been said, a stewardship ; it is
so, peculiarly and preeminently, to the Christian. To
the goods of nature committed to him, far more valu-
able spiritual goods have been added. Redeemed from
the curse of the law, and adopted into the family of
God, he is an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus
Christ. He has treasures of grace inestimable in pos-
session—not to speak of the greater in reserve : par-
don, peace, communion with God and with his people,
the privilege of prayer and of praise, the word and the
ordinances, with all the manifold opportunities of Chris-
tian usefulness. It is a solecism to say that all this,
though for himself in part, is for himself alone. It is
for others largely, and so for God. If he is in the9
vineyard, it is that he may work there. If the light
of grace is kindled in him, it is that others may see it,
and so honor its Author. If he sings for joy along his
upward way, it is that dull ears may be won by the
strain. If he has power in prayer, it is not merely
that he may draw about himself God’s good angels, but
that he may prevail to the breaking of the prisoners’
chains and the raising of the dead in sin from their
graves. Freely he has received, eternity alone will.
show how largely ; and the divinely appointed motto
of his life-career is, “ freely give.” In the closet, in
the family, in the church, in the world ; in largesses
of intercession, of exhortation, of more eloquent ex-
ample ; of gold and silver, which while it perishes
may yet save the perishing; he is to be ever giving.
So Peter said : “As every man hath received the gift,
even so minister the same one to another.” God could
save souls without us, either directly or by other agents.
But it is the plan of his kingdom to make every sub-
ject of it his instrument, his almoner, and so his stew-
ard. Let us be grateful for a function which the
blessed angels might covet.
To reach the highest form of Christian stewardship,
however, we must turn to the Gospel Ministry. For
so apprehending it, we have specific Scripture warrant.
“ Who then,” said our Lord, with special reference to
his ministers, “ is that faithful and wise steward, whom
his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give
them their portion of meat in due season?” “ Let a10
man so account of us,” said Paul to the Corinthians,
“ as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
of God. Moreover,” he adds, “ it is required in stew-
ards that a man be found faithful.” And again he
says to Titus : “A bishop must be blameless, as the
steward of G-od.” Preeminently apt, in this relation,
is the figure of the text. The Minister of the Gospel
is in a high and peculiar sense G-od’s agent. Most
weighty is the trust committed to him. Most precious
are the blessings, which, in the name of the Master, it
is his to dispense. There is scarce room for hyperbole
in this regard. Were his every word to drop a pearl
upon his pathway, and his every footstep to reveal
shining grains of gold ; were his breath to infuse health
into every breeze, and the glance of his eye to clothe
the hills and the valleys with verdure and fruitage;
were the robes and the crowns of an earthly royalty at
his disposal, could he give to every man a continent as
a kingdom ; it would be but a poor service compared
with that to which, as a “steward of the mysteries of
God,” his ordination vows set him apart,
II. Such, both in a general and special view, is the
relation presented in the text. Pass we next to glance
at the responsibility connected with it. “ Give an ac-
count of thy stewardship.” Under God’s government,
there is responsibility everywhere. As he appoints
our course, so he watches it. Something within tells us
ever, what the Bible confirms, that there is a reckoningli
before us. And the record for it, however heedless
we may be, conscience is ever preparing.
“ See, from behind her secret stand,
The sly informer minutes every fault.”
We are all hastening to the dread judgment-day, when
every one of us must give account of himself to God.
And death shall, in some sense, anticipate that day.
As the silver cord is breaking, how terrible to the
worldly, how solemn even to the Christian, is the voice,
rising above all farewell utterances : “ Give an account
of thy stewardship.” May the grace of God prepare
us all to hear it, Nay, it comes to us daily, sounding
out from eternity, sounding up from the depths of our
own souls. It is well to have frequent settlements with
ourselves, preparatory to the final settlement. It is
well to pause at those landmarks in life’s journey,—
which God has appointed, we doubt not, for that very
purpose,—and “ talk with our past hours.” It is well
to review our stewardship, at the close of the day, the
week, the year. A like retrospect is wise and profit-
able at the terminus, so far as we can mark it, of each
of those great stages into which our earthly course is
divided ; as of childhood, of youth, of middle-life.
And when any special service has been completed, or
any important connection has come to a close, no
thoughtful soul can help hearing, as if God uttered it
to him in particular, the very injunction on which we
have deemed it meet to dwell this morning.12
I close to-day a Pastorate, my first and only one,
which has continued, by the grace of God—taking no
note here of a merely formal re-arrangement—more
than twenty-nine years. An occurrence of this sort is
a rare one in these changeful times, especially in this
most changeful city of ours. In the pulpits ecclesias-
tically connected with this, both in New York and
Brooklyn, there remains not a single incumbent whose
installation here preceded my own. That of one only,
the beloved Pastor of the Madison Square Church, was
but a few days later. I refer to this fact of continu-
ance, with thankfulness indeed, but not, I trust, in the
way of self-complacency. For if aught of credit is due to
any human agency, I would ascribe it to that kindness
of my people which has borne with my many infirmities,
and that prompt and effective cooperation which has
enabled me to bear the burdens and grapple with the
difficulties, which, in this surging sea of life, meet every
Minister of Christ. You will pardon, I am sure, in
the review of a Pastorate so protracted, and in such
a field of labor, something of detail; and you will
allow me, in an hour so marked by tender memories
and associations, to speak with the freedom of a father
surrounded by his children. Life can bring me no
other such service.
It was on the 12th day of October, 1834, that, in the
dew of my youth, fresh from the Theological Seminary,
I began my labors in this city. I was called to a church
which had been recently organized, chiefly through the18
agency of the late lamented Dr. Charles Hall, the
“Brainerd Church,” in the eastern part of the city.
That church had its origin in the Great Revival of reli-
gion which from 1830 to 1835 blessed our city and our
land. It grew, I may add, out of the peculiar type of
piety engendered then. For though true religion is
ever, in essence, one and the same, it has various forms
and manifestations. The period was one of great personal
activity on the part of God’s people. The spirit of a
holy propagandism thrilled their hearts. It gave new
life to old believers ; young converts caught it—apt as
they ever are to be moulded, under God, by the exist-
ing Church. It was not enough, Christians felt, to enjoy
church privileges themselves 5 they were moved with
compassion for the multitudes perishing around them.
Diffusion, and not concentration or monopoly, was the
order of the day. Nor was the evangelic impulse
limited to itinerant efforts, however wise, to extemporary
neighborhood arrangements ; it took the higher form of
church extension. To a greater degree, perhaps, than
at any subsequent period, the local church was held to
be not a mere personal convenience, an appendage and
an auxiliary of wealth and fashion, but a power for
Christ—the chief organic force for the extension of His
kingdom. It was held that Christian men and women
were here, not simply or mainly for purposes of plea-
sure or of worldly thrift,—not chiefly for their own
religious enjoyment,—but for the conversion of the city.
Not that all so felt, but the sentiment had unwonted14
currency. It was deemed by many just as fitting that
personal and domestic arrangements should be shaped
by this great purpose, and that changes of residence,
attended even with sacrifice, should be made to achieve
it, as that missionaries should arrange for the breaking
up of home ties, and for weary voyages to distant bar-
baric regions. So, while the tract distribution was
pushed vigorously forward, and divers improvisations
of Christian love were attempted, not a few excellent
members of the old strong congregations, left their plea-
sant places in the beautiful crowded sanctuary, either
to strengthen feeble churches where they were needed,
or to establish new ones. It were well if there were
more of this spirit, to say the least, at the present day.
Without it, I am sure, the Kingdom of Christ can never
be fully established here. Nay, it may be doubted if
there can be any adequate substitute for those old
methods. Certain it is, that not a few of those who
have stood ever since as pillars in the churches, were
reared into strength and beauty by the reflex influence
of just those processes of evangelism.
The Brainerd Church was organized February 9th,
1834, by the Third Presbytery of New York, with only
sixteen members. At the outset of the enterprise,
several gentlemen, with their families, prominent in the
churches to which they had belonged, were induced to
connect themselves with it. A majority of them were
from the Laight Street Presbyterian Church, then under
the pastoral care of the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D.,15
whose white hairs are still among us as a crown of
glory. This step of theirs was the result, mainly, of an
appeal from Dr. Hall. On the 13th of January, 1833,
just after the services of the new congregation were
commenced, he wrote me as follows: “On Christmas
Day, I sat down and drew up a statement and appeal
in behalf of a large section of the city, peculiarly favor-
able to evangelical effort, and addressed it to four good
men, telling them the sacrifices they would have to make
in coming to take hold of the work of building up a
church there, and then told them to decline if they dare!
Well, our good people have been praying ever since,
and I have strong hope that two of the four will, at a
considerable expense of convenience, money, and dear
old associations, remove their residences to that section
of the city, and bear the burden of the congrega-
tion.” I have never seen that appeal; I know not that
it is in being now; but I have seen its precious fruit,
whereof many a golden sheaf has already been gathered
into God’s garner above.
As the call of the Brainerd Church came to me, in my
Senior year at Andover, I had also a call from the old
Federal Street Church of Newburyport, beneath whose
pulpit the bones of Whitefield repose. I was, for a
time, in a strait betwixt two. My decision in favor
of the New York pulpit, I attribute largely to the
prayers and the personal influence of one of the first
Elders of the Brainerd Church, their messenger on the
occasion. My first sermon as Pastor elect, on the day16
already mentioned, was on that clause in the 13th
chapter of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians: “Charity
hopeth all things.” The specific theme was, “The ten-
dency of love for souls to awaken hope respecting their
salvation.” I shall be excused, as I pass on, for men-
tioning the passages preached on at particular junctures.
My heart inclines me to do so. Imperfect enough, in
review, have my discourses ever seemed to me, but fra-
grant has always been the memory of the texts. I was
ordained by the Third Presbytery of New York, Sab-
bath evening, November 2d, 1834. The Sermon was
by the late Dr. Henry White, on the passage : “And
hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation.” The
Charge to myself was by the Rev. Dr. Cox ; the Charge
to the people, by the Rev. Dr. John Woodbridge.
Our temporary place of worship, though the best we
could secure, was a most incommodious one. It was an
upper room, at a noisy corner of Essex and Stanton
Street, over a place of low traffic. The Sabbath School
children, at first, were seated so near the pulpit, I re-
member, that their partially suppressed whispers were
blent often with the voice of the preacher. But I
learned to bear it—nay, almost to love it. Perhaps
there was something formative in the fact; for the voices
of children, even of the neglected and the outcast, have
lingered sweetly on my ears ever since. A lowly
sanctuary it was ; but I am sure that no sculptured
column or vaulted roof, no enamel or tracery of finely
arched windows, no long-drawn aisle, or lofty tower, or17
spire piercing the skies, would have added to the charm
with which, as seen through the vista of departed years,
memory invests it.
God blessed us there. His people were refreshed,
and as is wont to be the case in such circumstances,
were singularly bound together. Said a plain member
of the church, now in heaven: “We all went out at
one door.” Souls were awakened and converted ;
and so evident and precious were the various tokens of
the Spirit’s presence, that when, after the lapse of nearly
a year, we held our last service there, it was with
hearts overflowing with gratitude. I preached then from
the text: ‘‘According to my earnest expectation and my
hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with
all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be
magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by
death.” *
A convenient and pleasant church edifice had been
commenced in Rivington Street, the cost of which, when
completed, was about $28,000 ; and it was so far ad-
vanced on the 27th of September, 1835, that we took
possession of the spacious Lecture-Room. It was on
our Sacramental Sabbath, and the text that morning
was, “The glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them.” The church was dedicated on the 17th of the
following January. A recent illness compelled me to
forbear preaching myself on that occasion. The first
sermon was by the Rev. Dr. Edwik F. Hatfield, then
my neighbor; whose own pulpit, from which physical
218
infirmity has obliged him to withdraw, I am, by a
touching coincidence, to declare vacant this evening.
Allow me to give my reverend brother’s text, as it
seems, on review, to have been both admonitory and
prophetic : “ And of Zion it shall be said, This and that
man was born in her.”
That church we occupied, the Lord prospering in
all respects our humble endeavors, until Sabbath, May
11, 1851. Our leaving, briefly explained, was on this
wise. For some years previous, that northward ten-
dency, inevitable in our city as that of the needle to
the pole, had been drawing our members to points con-
siderably above the church. It had been growing more
difficult to maintain there a competent working force.
A foreign population, besides—various, but predomi-
nently German—had been flowing into the neighbor-
hood, and gradually displacing the native element. It
was at length concluded to remove to some point where
a new church was needed ; and that there might be no
loss, but rather a gain to the cause of city evangeliza-
tion, it was determined to devote our old edifice to the
gathering of a German congregation. As we proposed
to select a site in the vicinity of Fourteenth Street and
Second avenue, the Sixth Street Church, which had at
various times meditated the erection of a new edifice
for itself, decided at length to unite with us. It was
judged best, for divers prudential reasons, to have a
new organization. So on the 18th of May, 1851, the
“Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church ” was formed,19
with a membership numbering two hundred and seventy-
four ; of whom one hundred and ninty-five were from
the Brainerd Church, seventy-nine from the Sixth Street
Church. A considerable portion of the members of the
Brainerd Church, unable to remove, united with con-
gregations near them. One neighboring congregation,
at least, of history and spirit akin to our own, the
Allen Street, received thus, I am happy to remember,
a desirable accession of strength. In the old Rivington
Street edifice, a German church was soon formed, and
there worshipped for years ; the same that now occu-
pies the house relinquished by the Sixth Street Church.
In the Rivington Street Church the Gospel is now
preached by an excellent Minister of the Reformed
Presbyterian Connection.
The corner stone of this edifice was laid, with appro-
priate services, Juty 22, 1850. I had fears, at first,
that we had gone a little too far up town, for the lots
around were mainly vacant; yet we trusted the popula-
tion would reach us in due time. We took possession
of our Lecture-Room, Sabbath morning, May 18,1851.
My last discourse in the Rivington Street church, was
from the text: “ Because thou hast been my help,
therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.”
My first here was on the words : “Always abounding
in the work of the Lord.” The church was ready for
occupancy, and was dedicated to the worship of Al-
mighty God, Sabbath, January 22, 1851. The text of
the dedicatory sermon was : “For the palace is not for20
man but for the Lord God.” The whole cost of the
edifice, with all its furniture, at a price for the lots little
more than half what they would have since commanded,
was not far from $60,000. There was a moderate debt
upon it at first, which was soon extinguished, leaving it,
I rejoice to say, as it now stands, without a penny of
incumbrance. With the upbuilding around us, our
sanctuary was gladdened by a constant incoming ; an
increase so rapid that, at one time, the Trustees had
under serious consideration a plan for the enlargement
of our accommodations. The blessing of the Great
Head of the Church has been ever upon us ; and we
are here to-day, after an occupancy of our house for
twelve and a-half years, to utter, amid starting tears,
the voice of thanksgiving. I could think of no better
text for my last discourse in the Lecture-Room, than,
“ Thine is the glory.”
In this series of years, during one of which I was
kept from the pulpit by ill health, I have preached to
my own people 2,915 times. Sermons delivered abroad,
on exchange and otherwise, not including addresses of
various kinds, would raise the aggregate much above
3,000. In but one previous year has my home record
shown so large a number of discourses as during that
preceding the last summer vacation. Of the manner
of my stewardship in this regard, it becomes me to
speak but briefly. With the deepest sense of my own
unworthiness, I may yet say, “I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” What21
doctrine I have proclaimed, you well know. I have
insisted chiefly on .the utterly ruined state of man by
nature, his alienation from God, and his just exposure •
to the curse of the law ; on the redemption provided
for him in his helplessness—the vicarious atonement
of the God-man, and the renewing and sanctifying work
of the divine Spirit. I have loved to take my stand
beneath the shadow of the Cross, and hold out to
perishing men, as written in the blood of the Son of
God, the Gospel promise. My doctrinal views have
undergone no essential change ; only I think, in the
lapse of years, the name of Christ has seemed more
and more precious to me, his person and his work more
and more central, all-sufficient and glorious. With an
increasing confidence and joyfulness, in spite of all cob-
webs of metaphysics and all protests of unbelief, have I
proclaimed a free salvation. The fullness there is in
Christ has more and more revealed itself to me, as
meeting all the needs both of saint and sinner. To
preach it has been more and more self-rewarding.
And were I asked now to sum up my doctrine of salva-
tion, which is the sum of all doctrine, I would sa}7,
Jesus Christ, all and in all—the same yesterday, to-day
and forever. Out of this root, I have sought to educe
all good practice, urging upon believers a simple living
in and to Christ, a consecration of heart, mind, time,
treasure, all, to his service ; especially, a ready dili •
gence and a fervent zeal in seeking the salvation of
men. I have preached, as both the word and the ex-22
ample of the Good Shepherd bid me, the duty we owe
the young—in-the family, in the Sabbath School, in the
lanes, and streets, and cellars, and garrets of our city.
On Gospel grounds I have argued for all good reforms ;
for the staying of intemperance, of profaneness, of Sab-
bath desecration; for the breaking of every yoke.
And when the storm of civil war burst upon our land,
I did not hesitate, planting myself on the teachings of
the New Testament, to plead the cause of the im-
periled Republic.
But I may not enlarge. My imperfect labors, sec-
onded ever by those of my people, have not been un-
blest. While we have rejoiced habitually in the morn-
ing and evening dews, and the gentle showers, God has
granted us at times the great rain of his strength.
Blessed revivals of religion have marked our history,
one of the most precious of which gladdened our last
, church year. The aggregate of admissions to the com-
munion over which I have watched — not including
those who united with us, in the new enterprise, from
the Sixth Street Church-—is 1,398 ; 627 of them, or an
average of over 21 a year, on profession of their faith.
Of these about 40 have entered the Gospel ministry,
some of whom have labored in the missionary fields of
our own land, and others have gone far hence to the
Gentiles. During my pastorate in Rivington Street, the
aggregate of our pecuniary contributions, including the
expenditures on the edifice, was, in round numbers,
$103,000. The annual average since the doors of this23
church were opened—not including the cost of the
church-edifice—has been something more than $11,500.
I will only add to these details, that there have prob-
ably been connected with the various Sabbath Schools
under our care, not less, on a moderate estimate, than
from ten to fifteen thousand different scholars. To com-
pute the good that has been accomplished through this
form of Christian effort—much of it apparent, but more
beyond the reach of present observation—were
about as impossible as to give statistics of the dew-
drops.
The long period of ministerial stewardship at which
I have been glancing has been marked by various
changes. There has been change in the City. I came
to a population of 250,000 ; I leave little less than a
million. The up-town region in 1834 was in the neigh-
borhood of Bleecker and Bond Street; in 1863 it is from
Thirtieth to Fiftieth Street. There has been corre-
sponding progress in trade, in manufactures, in art, in
finance, in literature, in wealth, in luxun7. Would I
could be as sure of a progress in goodness. There has
been, as I have already hinted, change in the Churches.
To speak only of our own denomination, when I came to
the city, the earnest, wise, laborious Baldwin was in the
Seventh Church ; the clear-sighted and noble-hearted
White in Allen Street; the amiable and spiritually-
minded Norton in Prince Street; the fervent Downer
in the West Church ; the accomplished and eloquent
Mason in Bleecker Street. They are all now before the24
throne of God. Of the twenty-nine persons who were
members of the Brainerd Church at my ordination, but
three are now enrolled in this. Of the Elders who
were with me in the first months of my ministry, but
one remains—of the Deacons not one. The children I
have baptized have brought their own children to me
for baptism. The boy on whose head, I laid, in his
first septenary, the hand of pastoral blessing, now sits
in the Session. How do such changes admonish us,
that we have here no continuing city 1
The approach of the hour of parting has been a sore
trial to me. A thousand memories, both solemn and
tender, have conspired to make it so. I have thought
of our dead, who, though not with us, seem still to be
of us—of Harlan Page, and Brewster, and( Leavitt, -
and Sargeant, and Colby, and Dodge, beloved office-
bearers, with others of mature years; of young men
and maidens whom we have borne to the grave; of
precious lambs, surrendered with many tears, though
at the bidding of the Good Shepherd. I have recalled
the harmony that has marked our whole history—not
a feud in it all—no, not one ! I have thought of the
uniform kindness I have experienced at your hands—
both I and all who have pertained to me ; kindness
which has never flagged ; which has cheered me when
I was weary, which has watched at my pillow when I
was sick ; which sent me, a worn invalid, over the
great and wide sea, and waited long and patiently for
the recuperation of my wasted energies ; which has had25
patience with all my shortcomings ; which, now that I
must leave you, overwhelms me with such manifestations,
so delicate, so thoughtful and so generous, as almost break
my heart. Yet duty is clear ; so I judge, and you do
not question my uprightness in the matter. For your
confidence in that regard, I am deeply grateful. And
all your love will but constrain me ever to pray, that in
the world where the ties of affection are never broken,
you may receive God’s own free reward of a faithful
stewardship.
Though I leave this particular charge, it is with no
abatement, you will believe me, of my interest in the
Church of Christ. I have somewhere read of a great
German scholar, that he was wont to study, with a
view, through his window, of the noble Cathedral of his
native town. It happened, however, at length, that the
extended branches and thickened foliage of an interven-
ing tree, hid from his eyes the magnificent structure.
His spirits strangely drooped then ; his ardor in com-
position flagged ; he could prosecute his once loved
work no longer. And it was only as the leafy screen
was removed, and the venerable pile revealed itself to
him again, that the old inspiration returned, and he
could ply his task as aforetime. So—I may be per-
mitted to say—wherever the Providence of God may
place me, it will be only as, from my study window, I
can see that spiritual edifice, the Church of the Living
God—compared with which every human fabric dwindles
into insignificance,—towering in mingled beauty and26
sublimity heavenward, that I can prosecute joyfully and
hopefully the work committed to me.
What remains now, but that I speak as your Pastor,
the “ word that makes us linger ? ” Farewell, then, my
dear people. Farewell, yon study, where so many
busy, sacred, solemn, anxious, joyful hours have been
spent ; where I have communed on spiritual things, and
knelt at the throne of grace, with not a few now before
me—with not a few who have come to me as inquirers
for the way of salvation. Farewell, yon Lecture-
Room, where I have preached and prayed so often, and
have witnessed, with you, such manifestations of Gfod’s
saving grace. Farewell to this Pulpit, which has been
dearer to me than any throne earth could offer. Fare-
well, ye Elders, with whom I have taken such sweet
counsel, and ye Deacons so faithful. Farewell—may I
not say it ?—to the gray-haired Sexton, so true to his
trust; who has been with me through almost my whole
Pastorate ; who has called me so often to the funeral
service, and whose own dead I have aided him to
bury out of his sight. Farewell to the Women “ that
have labored with me in the Gfospel ”—to the Young
Men, who have been such ready helpers—to the Maidens,
not less alert in all Christian fidelity. Farewell to the
dear Children—the precious, precious lambs, whom I
have sought, in some humble way, to bear in my bosom.
Farewell to the Young Converts, whom I have wel-
comed so gladly to the fold. Farewell to those whom
I have not been able to win unto Christ—oh, let me winthem now ! So far as the Pastoral relation is concern-
ed, farewell to you all—farewell, till we render up to-
gether our final account. God grant that we may all
be prepared to render it with joy and not with grief,
and so be united, to part no more, in the services and
the praises of the Church triumphant!HYMN,
Written for the occasion, hy a Lady of the Congregation, and
Sung at the close of the Service.
At Bethany the Saviour wept;
His pitying love He still doth keep,
E’en while He sends the cruel stroke,
Which parts the shepherd from the sheep.
Back roll the years that long have fled,
Billed with the faithful Pastor’s care —
Hallowed with memories of the dead;
Fragrant with praises and with prayer.
Great God, before Thy piercing eye,
The past but yesterday appears;
Brief as the shadow of a dream,
Before Thee stand our future years.
Grant us one prayer — When time is o’er,
Boom in the heavenly pastures keep,
And there, where partings grieve no more,
Unite the shepherd and the sheep.APPENDIX.
In giving to the press the manuscript submitted to them
by their late Pastor, the Session of the Fourteenth Street
Church deem it proper to subjoin the following documents,
as historically connected with it,
I.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONGREGATION.
Adopted at a Meeting held Tuesday Evening, Oct. 18, 1868.
Our much esteemed and beloved Pastor, Rev. Asa D. Smith,
D. D., having been unanimously elected to the Presidency of Dart-
mouth College, and having, after careful and prayerful considera-
tion, decided that duty requires him to accept the appointment, and
having requested the Session to concur with him in calling a meet-
ing of the congregation to unite with him in a request to the
Presbytery to dissolve his pastoral relations to this church; it was
on motion
Resolved, That we recognize with gratitude the good hand of
God in giving and continuing so long with us so able, faithful,
and devoted a Pastor, under whose ministrations such uninter-
rupted harmony has prevailed, and so large a number, by the
blessing of the Holy Spirit, have been added to the Church.
Resolved, That while we recognize the sacredness of the ties
that bind an affectionate Pastor and confiding people to each other,
especially when these ties have been cemented by many years of
mutual confidence and affection, and while we believe that such
ties should not be sundered, except for the most urgent reasons,
we also recognize our obligations to the Great Head of the Church,
to hold ourselves and our Pastor subject to the call of duty.
Resolved, That we shall ever cherish a deep interest in our Pas-30
tor, and shall follow him with our prayers, that he may he emi-
nently useful in the new and important sphere to which he has
been called.
Resolved, That in concurrence with the request of our Pastor,
we unite with him in requesting a meeting of the Presbytery to
consider the expediency of dissolving his pastoral relation to this
congregation ; and that a Committee of Three be appointed to
represent this body at the meeting of the Presbytery.
The Committee appointed in accordance with the last Resolu-
tion, consisted of Messrs. William A. Booth, Charles Taylor,
and Orson D. Munn.
n.
ACTION OF THE THIRD PRESBYTERY OF NEW YORK
Ox the Application of Rev. Asa D. Smith, D. D., for a Dissolution of
his Pastoral Relation to the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian
Church and Congregation, Nov. 9th, 1863.
The Rev. Asa D. Smith, D. D., informed the Presbytery that
he had, in due form, been notified of his unanimous election to
the Presidency of Dartmouth College; and that the most ur-
gent representations had been made to him, by the Trustees of
the College, and other distinguished friends of Education, in rela-
tion to the desirableness of his acceptance of the appointment;
that, after much consultation, and the most earnest and prayer-
ful consideration, he had been led to the conclusion that the
call was of God; and that, therefore, he was constrained to re-
quest a dissolution of his pastoral relation to the Fourteenth
Street Church and Congregation.
Mr. William A. Booth appeared and was recognized as a Com-
missioner from the Church and Congregation, and presented a
copy of their proceedings, at a meeting on the 13th ult., duly
called; from which it appeared that, with much and painful re-
luctance, they had united with their Pastor in referring his re-
quest to the judgment of the Presbytery.
Whereupon, after the fullest expression of opinion and feeling,
it was Resolved:31
1.	That the Presbytery have heard with deep regret the re-
quest of Rev. Dr. Smith, and desire to place on record their
high appreciation of his great usefulness in the position that he
has so long and honorably held as a Pastor; first, in connection
with the Brainerd Church, from its organization in 1834,
and then with the Fourteenth Street Church, into which the for-
mer Church was resolved in 1851, a period of more than twenty-
nine years, during which he has commended himself to the nu-
merous brethren who have been associated with him in the Pres-
bytery, as a ripe scholar, a sound and able theologian, a devout
and consistent Christian, an eminently acceptable and successful
preacher of the Gospel, a laborious and faithful pastor, a prudent
and sagacious counsellor, a true patriot, a lover of good men, and
the ardent friend and ready advocate of the cherished enterprises
of the Church of Christ for the relief of the oppressed, the eleva-
tion of the degraded, the reform of the vicious, the help of the
unfortunate, and the advancement of good morals and true re-
ligion both at home and abroad.
2.	That deeply impressed as they are, with the importance of
the pastoral relation, and the great desirableness of its perma-
nency, the Presbytery cannot but regard the position, to which
their brother has now been called, as opening before him, in some
respects, a much wider field of usefulness than the pastorate of a
single congregation; and they judge that he has been wisely
guided, in determining to seek a release from his present charge,
in order to accept of the appointment, so worthy of him, and so
urgently pressed upon him; and the Presbytery, in giving their
reluctant consent to his removal, cannot but anticipate for him,
should a kind Providence prolong his life and health, as we hope
and pray, a Presidential career of honorable and eminent distinc-
tion and service.
3.	That the Church and Congregation, whom he has so long
and faithfully served, and to whose warmest and best affections
he has so commended himself, have acted a truly noble part, in
yielding so uncomplainingly to the convictions of their Pastor, and
consenting to part with him for the greater good of the Redeem-
er’s cause; and are entitled to the warmest sympathy of the
Presbytery, which is most fully accorded to them, with the most
fervent prayer and the hope that the Great Head of the Church
will ere long, for his Great Name’s sake, bestow upon them, a pas-82
tor after his own heart, who will esteem it both a duty and a privi-
lege to walk in the footsteps of his honored predecessor, and
prove to them and theirs a rich and lasting blessing.
4. That, in accordance with these views, the request of Rev.
Asa D. Smith, D. D., be granted, and his pastoral relation to the
Fourteenth Street Church and Congregation be dissolved from
and after the 15 th in st.
Rev. Drs. E. F. Hatfield and S. D. Burchard were appointed
to preach and declare the pulpit vacant.
III.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CENTRAL SABBATH SCHOOL
Of the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church, at its Morning
Session, New York, Nov. 15th, 1868.
Whereas, In the providence of God, our beloved Pastor is
about to remove from this Church to another field of labor,
therefore,
Resolved, 1, That we, as a Sabbath School, desire to unite with
the Church in expressing our heartfelt sorrow, in view of that
Providence which directs the separation, while, at the same time,
we would bow with humble resignation to its will.
Resolved, 2, That our most hearty thanks are due to the blessed
Saviour, for continuing our dear Pastor so long in this Church,
for his watchful and tender care over the lambs of the flock, for
his unwearied efforts to bring them into the fold of the Great
Shepherd, and for all the success with which that Great and Good
Shepherd has crowned those efforts.
Resolved, 3, That the ties of affection which bind us to him and
to his dear family, cannot be impaired by the lapse of time, nor
by the distance of separation, but will remain strong and enduring
when all earthly relations shall have been severed.
Resolved, 4, That we will not forget to pray to our Heavenly
Father, that, in their new home, His blessing may continue to
rest upon them.
CHARLES FANNING,
Superintendent.