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 A thirty years' pastorate with some a^ 
 
 3 1924 006 774 388 oim....i 
 
A 
 
 THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE 
 
 WITH SOME ACCOUNT OK 
 
 THE PULPIT, THE PPEACHER, AND THE PEOPLE, 
 
 AS CUMIil.Kll l-'KOM THE I'RI ICEEDINGS CONNECTED 
 WITH THE KESICNAITON' OK 
 
 REV. THEODORE LEDYARD CUYLER, D.D. 
 
 I.ak Paslor of Lafnyille Aveiuie Presbyterian Chiircli. 
 
 I'KIN'IED A'|- THE RE(,iUEST i IK THE CUNi; REC ATH )N. 
 
 BROOKLYN, 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I-AGE 
 
 Chapter I. — The Resignation Announced. " " ■ " 5 
 
 Chapter IT. — The Regular Annual Meeting of Congregation. - 20 
 
 Chapter III. — The Valedictory Sermon. - - - - 26 
 
 Chapter IV. — The Letter of Resignation, and Special Meeting of Con- 
 gregation called to consider the same. - - 41 
 
 Chapter V. — The Reception to Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler. - - - 49 
 
 Chapter VI. — Dr. and Mrs, Cuyler " At Home." - - 115 
 
A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, of 
 Brooklyn, was founded in i860, and its first and only 
 regular pastor during its existence as a church organiza- 
 tion, has been the Rev. Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, D.D. 
 Dr. Cuyler's face and figure and history are so familiar 
 to his congregation, to the community and, indeed, to 
 the country, that it seems almost superfluous to give here, 
 any, even the slightest, account of his remarkable career; 
 and yet the Committee entrusted with the preparation of 
 this little volume (intended only to relate some of the 
 incidents connected with the closing days of his pas- 
 torate), think it would be incomplete without some 
 reference to the private life of one whose public services 
 have been so prominent in religious literature and 
 especially in the later history of the Presbyterian Church 
 in America. There is an abundance of material from 
 which to compile a most interesting memoir; the difficulty 
 is to select from the mass and compress into the small 
 limits allowable in this publication, the many important 
 facts concerning Dr. Cuyler. 
 
6 A THIRTY YEARS PASTORATE. 
 
 Many of the most interesting features in his history 
 are embodied in the preface of a volume, entitled "Right 
 to the Point" (the title itself being a very exact descrip- 
 tion of Dr. Cuyler), by Mary Storrs Haynes, and pub- 
 lished in the "Spare Minute Series," by D. Lothrop & Co., 
 Boston. It consists of pithy paragraphs " from the 
 writings of Dr. Cuyler," and contains a graceful introduc- 
 tion from the pen of his dear and distinguished friend, 
 Rev. Dr. Newman Hall, LL.B., of London, who alludes 
 to him as the intimate friend who welcomed him to 
 his home and pulpit, on his first visit to America — "with 
 whom I have rambled among the ruins of Rome, and the 
 historic scenes of rural England — beside whom I have 
 sat at many religious meetings, and sometimes with those 
 who vindicated the cause of American unity and freedom 
 in the dark days of the civil conflict." " No Clergyman," 
 Mr. Hall continues, " from the United States has been 
 more cordially received in the pulpit of London or on 
 the platform of Exeter Hall ; and none has reached a 
 wider circle of readers in Great Britain during the last 
 five-and-twenty years. His face greets me every morning 
 in my study, with its honest, eager look, and his letters, so 
 vivid and picturesque, have bridged the Atlantic for me 
 almost every week." 
 
THE RESIGN A HON ANNOUNCED. 7 
 
 This is pleasant reading to Dr. Cuyler's friends in 
 America, and all who know him, or have received one of 
 his characteristic letters, can appreciate the appropriateness 
 of Dr. Hall's words. It would be delightful to quote 
 further from the " Introduction," but we proceed to cull 
 from Mrs. Haynes preface the more personal and practical 
 allusions to our friend and late Pastor. 
 
 " Theodore Ledyard Cuyler," writes Mrs. Haynes, 
 " was born at Aurora, on the Cayuga Lake, N. Y., January 
 10, 1822. His father, B. Ledyard Cuyler, was a lawyer of 
 brilliant promise, who died when his only son was four 
 years old ; the venerable mother died in 1887. His 
 ancestry were from Holland on the one side, and from the 
 Huguenots on the other. Young Cuyler graduated at 
 Princeton College at the age of nineteen, and spent 
 several months in Great Britain, visiting favorite authors 
 and seeking out historic haunts. Rejecting strong 
 temptations, both to the bar and to the pursuits of 
 literature, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, 
 and was licensed to preach in April, 1846. After three 
 years of service at Burlington, N. J., he became the first 
 pastor of a new Presbyterian Church at Trenton, which 
 proved very successful. Called to New York City in 
 1853 — immediately after his marriage to Miss Annie E. 
 Mathiot, of Ohio — he was installed over the Market Street 
 
8 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Reformed Dutch Church, and soon became one of the 
 most popular preachers to young men in the great 
 metropohs. Every week he appeared on the platform of 
 public meetings in the advocacy of various enterprises 
 and moral reforms. His favorite movement, for the 
 promotion of temperance, he defended before legislative 
 bodies and popular assemblies, and has always given to it 
 the aid of his vigorous pen. Doctor Cuyler has one of 
 the indispensable elements for success — a great faculty for 
 hard work. Few men are as unwearied and as un- 
 weariable as he. In i860, a newly organized Presbyterian 
 Church in Brooklyn invited him to become its first pastor. 
 He accepted the invitation, and the spacious Lafayette 
 Avenue Church edifice was reared — which has been the 
 scene of his pulpit labors for thirty years. He soon built 
 up, by his untiring zeal, one of the largest and most 
 powerful churches in his denomination. Incessant pas- 
 toral visitation during the week has never prevented him 
 from studious and careful preparation for his pulpit; he 
 once informed the writer that he had ' lost but two 
 Sabbaths from sickness during his whole life.' 
 
 " A small, spare man, with dark hair (growing gray 
 now) and eyes, and a full oratorical mouth — attired in a 
 pulpit robe — he stands before his audience, with no 
 attempts at the 'sensational ' in style or delivery. His 
 
THE RESIGN A TION ANNOUNCED. 9 
 
 voice is versatile and commanding ; sometimes low and 
 melodious as a flute, it often swells into a volume which 
 sweeps and sways the largest assemblies. On this 
 flexible instrument his feelings have full play. Striking, 
 but simple declarations of Bible-truth — lucid statements 
 as the strongest form of argument — a rare art of putting 
 things, a heartfelt tone of sympathy, delicate felicities of 
 expression, all are infused with a solemn sincerity which 
 is the evident atmosphere in which his soul lives, moves, 
 and has its being. ' I believe., therefore have I spoken,' is 
 written on every feature and every tone. 
 
 " No shadow of doubt as to the plenary inspiration of 
 God's word, or as to the truth of evangelical doctrines has 
 ever disturbed him ; the positiveness of his faith and 
 utterances has ever been an element of his power as a 
 religious teacher. The gospel of Jesus Christ is to him 
 always and everywhere not only much, but everything. 
 Yet this staunch orthodoxy has never interfered with a 
 wide Christian Catholicity. ' Out of the eater came forth 
 meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness," when 
 an ' Old School ' Presbyterian Seminary gave its pulpit 
 commission to Theodore L. Cuyler. 
 
 " Although so indefatigably devoted to the interests 
 of his own flock, he has become most widely known by 
 his immensely numerous contributions to the leading relig- 
 
lo A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 ious journals. The late Bishop Haven pronounced him 'the 
 most popular writer on experimental religion in America.' 
 
 " His fixed rule has been for over thirty years never 
 to allow a week to pass without the preparation of one or 
 more articles for the press. He has contributed over one 
 thousand articles to the New York Evangelist, four 
 hundred and eighty to the Independent, and many hun- 
 dreds more have been scattered through the columns of 
 the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist, the Christian 
 AT Work, the Chicago Advance, the Christian Intel- 
 ligencer, the Illustrated Weekly, Sunday School 
 Times, National Temperance Advocate and several 
 other influential journals. Many of these contributions 
 have been republished in London and Edinburgh, and 
 thence have passed by translation into various languages 
 over the continent. A handsome volume of selections has 
 appeared in Dutch and five volumes in Swedish. 
 
 " Doctor Cuyler has achieved that difficult newspaper 
 feat, a thoroughly readable religious article, achieved by a 
 full heart, a full hand, and a Je ne sais quoi, that certain 
 something which — call it talent or genius — enables its 
 possessor to say with an aptness of expression that gives 
 enjoyment and edification to every reader. 
 
 " President Lincoln once said to him, ' I used to keep 
 up with you every week in the Independent.' And in 
 
THE RESIGN A TION ANNOUNCED. 1 1 
 
 frontier settlements his pithy pieces are read aloud at 
 devotional meetings. This happy faculty of adaptation 
 with tongue or pen to all sorts and conditions of men, 
 received a good illustration when the venerable Washing- 
 ton Irving, after hearing him address a company of children, 
 came up and whispered in his ear, ' My friend, I ^vould 
 like to be one of your parishioners.' 
 
 " During the heats of midsummer no object is more 
 familiar to the visitors in Congress Park, Saratoga, than 
 the slight, wiry figure of the Pastor of Lafayette A.venue 
 Church ; the same man who is read by sailors and frontier 
 settlers, has preached over one hundred of his practical 
 discourses to thronged auditories in that cosmopolitan 
 centre of Summer resort. 
 
 " The principal volumes which Doctor Cuyler has 
 published are his Heart Life, the Empty Crib, the Cedar 
 Christian, Pointed Papers for the Christian Life, 
 Thought Hives, God's Light on Dark Clouds, Way- 
 side Springs and Newly Enlisted. These have all 
 been printed in England. He has also published a sketch 
 book of travel. From the Nile to Norway, and a great 
 number of tracts on various topics." 
 
 Those who know Dr. Cuyler will at once recognize 
 the truthfulness of the above portraiture by Mrs. Haynes, 
 and those who do not have that pleasure — if any such there 
 
12 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 be in this community — may, by reading it, easily discover 
 "what manner of man" he is. "Tact," it has been said, "is 
 better than talent;" Dr. Cuyler, in an eminent degree, 
 possesses both, as well as a great genius for work and 
 organization. Some of his characteristic traits are admir- 
 ably set forth by the Rev. T. Chalmers Potter, now of 
 Cedar Falls, Iowa, but once a member of Lafayette 
 Avenue Church and an active worker in the Young 
 People's Association. He was ordained, and preached 
 his first sermon in that Church, and is, therefore, as he 
 says in his letter to the Presbyterian " qualified to speak 
 of some things at least which we know." 
 
 " First of all," Mr. Potter writes, " if any man's heart 
 was ever in his work of preaching and pastorship, it seems 
 to me his is. From morning to night he gives himself to 
 it, and sees everything only as it may be used by the 
 gospel of our Saviour. He has avoided the scholastic 
 method of preaching ' smart ' sermons, and striven to 
 present a direct and simply pointed gospel. After suffi- 
 cient study upon the setting of the truth, that he may get 
 the pith of a subject intellectually, he then brings all his 
 energies to the practical bearing of it upon character. 
 
 " Again : he has the faculty of getting his people at 
 work. By faculty we do not mean occult power. He is 
 a worker, and soon interests them in what must be done. 
 
THE RESIGNATION ANNOUNCED. 13 
 
 He was always present at the Monday evening meeting of 
 his Young People's Association. The first one we ever 
 attended gave us the key to his hold upon young disci- 
 ples. At the close, introducing us to some of the officers 
 and others, he said, ' Now put him to work this very 
 week.' We never forgot that, and can almost hear his 
 voice now. A better than the phonograph is here. 
 
 " Again : he gets the praying members to take the 
 burden of the prayer meeting. He never led it himself, 
 and the large number always present did not come ' to 
 hear Dr. Cuyler.' It was the spirit and work of a bee 
 hive. He enforced three minute prayers and remarks. 
 We have seen a dozen on foot at once to speak or pray. 
 Never shall we forget how he would not allow a windy 
 visitor to kill the meeting. 
 
 " After having requested the leader to ring the bell, 
 and again having asked him to call the brother to order 
 but without success, he gave out a hymn while the 
 verbose old fellow was waxing eloquent; the organ began, 
 and the whole audience joining in the song, the visitor 
 was compelled to sit down in disgust. 
 
 " Dr. Cuyler has made a study of adaptability. You 
 never can talk with him, even in a crowd, without feeling 
 that he has studied your case and had you specially on 
 his mind. It is a shrewd concession to the vanity of even 
 
14 ^4 THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 the average Christian. But as no harm results, and as he 
 does good to himself in this way, he uses this means also 
 of doing good to you. It may be the smallest thing of 
 joy or sorrow, but he will mention it. And yet, he has 
 two thousand other church members to look after and 
 think about, beside many others whom parents and 
 friends are continually bringing and laying upon his 
 heart. You will go home saying to yourself, ' He remem- 
 bers all about that and knows just how I feel. How 
 much he has helped me by those words dropped in the 
 nick of time ! How kind to think of me so particularly 
 when he has so many others. I cannot help loving him 
 for it' 
 
 " Dr. Cuyler has always been a fearless preacher. 
 No one man, nor any number of men, can deter him from 
 saying what he knows is right. He will come out 
 squarely upon those questions that trouble every town or 
 city pastor. We heard him say once from the pulpit, 
 ' You ask me whether it is wrong to attend the theatre. 
 I tell you plainly that the only safe side of a theatre is the 
 outside.' 
 
 " Moreover : Dr. Cuyler has cultivated the ability to 
 edify people through the press. For these many years 
 now, he has had thousands of weekly readers and 
 thousands more who read whatever they see reprinted. 
 
THE RESIGN A TION ANNOUNCED. 15 
 
 The distinguishing feature of his preaching, as well as 
 writing, is his pointed mode of address. Every sentence 
 counts and one cannot keep him out of his heart. Old 
 truths are dressed so that you think they were never as 
 handsome before. 
 
 " His gift comes not of greater ability than many 
 others possess. But there is not an idle pound in his 
 little body. It is work, and steadily keeping at it, that has 
 enabled him to remain at the front. More and more are 
 we satisfied that there is a way of putting things in 
 religious print which makes them read. He has striven 
 for this gift so well that every brief paragraph (his articles 
 are uniformly short) speaks of more to follow, and you 
 read on, being convinced and led willingly and admir- 
 ingly toward good things. 
 
 " We will mention one more trait of character in 
 Dr. Cuyler, which should cause every minister to love him 
 even if he never saw him. It is, that he holds the calling 
 and office of a preacher of the Lord Jesus to be that to 
 which nothing else in this world is comparable. He 
 received this from his honored and now sainted mother, 
 as all who ever knew her will agree. She thought so, 
 and took him to Princeton that he might be made a 
 minister. But like most other candid men who have had 
 God-fearing mothers, he does not fail to acknowledge his 
 
1 6 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 debt, and honor all good womankind for their beneficent 
 influence in religious things. At the fifteenth anniversary 
 of his installation, fifteen years ago, he turned, when 
 speaking of his labors, to his wife, who stood beside him 
 on the platform, and said, looking her full in the face, 
 ' Wife of my heart, many daughters have done nobly, but 
 thou hast excelled them all.' " 
 
 Dr. Cuyler, in his valedictory sermon, included in 
 this volume, alludes to the embarrassment he experienced 
 in choosing a profession, and states that "a single hour in 
 a village prayer-meeting turned the scales." The prayers 
 of " his honored and now sainted mother " may also have 
 influenced his decision ; from his birth her prayer had 
 been that he might become a preacher of the everlasting 
 gospel. In her heart she dedicated her infant to the 
 Lord, desiring for him the honor of being a faithful 
 minister in Christ in however humble a sphere, rather 
 than of occupying any other position, however lucrative 
 and distinguished. Her first gift to him was a pocket 
 Bible, which he was able to read at four years of age. 
 Certainly these prayers and this untiring devotion on her 
 part must have had in the end, the desired effect ; but the 
 immediate cause of his decision was the " five minutes in 
 a prayer-meeting." " How came I to be a minister? " Dr. 
 Cuyler asks, and he himself answers the question: the 
 
THE RESIGNATION ANNOUNCED. 17 
 
 answer is worth repeating. " All my ancestors," as he 
 relates the story, "were lawyers. My grandfather was a 
 lawyer, my father was a lawyer, and my father-in-law, that 
 was to be, was a lawyer. I had about made up my mind 
 to enter the office of William M. Meredith, in Philadel- 
 phia. Soon after I came back from Europe, where I went 
 when a young man, I went to Ludlowville, on Lake 
 Cayuga, to visit an uncle. While there I was asked to 
 go to a prayer meeting. While abroad I had gotten out 
 of the spiritual atmosphere, but I was glad to go to this 
 meeting. It was at the house of Benjamin Joy, where 
 about thirty persons were gathered. Presently, Captain 
 Joy said, ' Theodore, you had better say something ! ' I 
 spoke about five minutes. Afterwards one young lady 
 came up and thanked me for what I had said ; and a 
 young man also came, and I talked to him about Christ, 
 and he told me I had done him some good. As I drove 
 home that afternoon along the lake, when I got to a 
 certain point, this thought flashed across my mind : ' If 
 five minutes did a little good, why not preach all the 
 time ? ' That five minutes changed my whole life ! They 
 turned me from the bar into the pulpit, and started me in 
 the path where I stand to-day, and I thank God for it ! " 
 
 And to this all the congregation will say Amen ! 
 But with him, they, wonderingly, ask " IF/iy not preach all 
 
1 8 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 the time ? " Doubtless, Dr. Cuyler will continue to preach 
 as long as he lives, but not regularly and statedly, and, 
 alas! not for us! On Sunday, February 2d, Dr. Cuyler 
 preached as usual, in his usual impressive and attractive 
 way, to his usual large and attentive audience. There 
 was nothing in the text, nothing in the sermon, nothing in 
 his manner to indicate the blow he was about to inflict 
 upon his people. At the conclusion of the sermon, he 
 stood silent in the pulpit for a few moments, and then, 
 with a perceptible quaver in his voice, said : 
 
 Nearly thirty years have elapsed since I assumed the pastoral charge of 
 Lafayette Avenue Church. In April, i860, it was a small band of 140 mem- 
 bers. By the continual blessings of heaven upon us that little flock has grown 
 into one of the largest and most useful and powerful churches in the Presby- 
 terian denomination. This church now has 2,330 members ; it is the third in 
 point of numbers in the United States. It maintains two mission chapels, has 
 1,600 in its Sunday schools, and is now paying the salaries of three ministers 
 in this city and of two missionaries in the South. For several years it has led 
 all the churches of Brooklyn in its contributions to foreign, home, and city 
 missions ; and it is surpassed by no other in wide and varied Christian work. 
 Every sitting in this spacious house has its occupant ; our morning congrega- 
 tions have never been larger than they are this Winter. This church has 
 always been to me like a beloved child. I have given to it thirty years of hard 
 and happy labor ; and it is now my foremost desire that its harmony may 
 remain undisturbed and its prosperity may remain unbroken. 
 
 For a long time I have intended that my thirtieth anniversary should 
 be the terminal point of my present pastorate. I shall then have served this 
 beloved flock for an ordinary human generation, and the time has now come 
 
THE RESIGN A TION A NNO UNCED. 1 9 
 
 for me to transfer this most sacred trust to some one who (in God's good 
 providence) may have thirty years of vigorous work before him and not behind 
 him. If God spares my life to the first Sabbath of April it is my purpose to 
 surrender this pulpit back into your hands. And I shall endeavor to co-operate 
 with you in the search and the selection of the right man to stand in it. 
 
 I will not trust myself to-day to speak of the pang it will cost me to 
 sever a connection that has been to me one of unalloyed harmony and 
 happiness. When the proper time comes we can speak of all such things ; 
 and in the meanwhile let us continue on at the blessed Master's work and leave 
 our future entirely to His all- wise and ever-loving care. On the walls of this 
 dear church the eyes of the angels have always seen it written : " I the Lord do 
 keep it ; I will water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night 
 and day." 
 
 It only remains for me to say, that, after forty-four years of uninter- 
 rupted ministerial labors, it is but reasonable to ask for some relief from a strain 
 that may soon become too heavy for me to bear. 
 
 The announcement was sudden, unexpected ! The 
 entire congregation were astonished, nay, astounded ! 
 Some wept, others were incredulous ; others again, lin- 
 gered around the pulpit to inquire if it could possibly be 
 true ; all went away sad and sorrowful ! 
 
20 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 No formal action was taken by the Congregation 
 on the announcement made by Dr. Cuyler on Sunday, 
 February 2d, inasmuch as the regular Annual Meeting 
 was to be held on the twelfth day of that month. Accord- 
 ingly, pursuant to the call read from the pulpit on the 
 three preceding Sabbaths, the Lecture Room was crowded 
 with an anxious throng on the evening of that day. 
 
 The meeting was called to order by the clerk of the 
 last Annual Meeting; and, on motion. Elders W. W. 
 Wickes and A. G. Van Cleve were elected to preside, and 
 Dr. William Jarvie was elected clerk. 
 
 Mr. C. B. Pearson led the meeting in prayer, after 
 which the minutes of the last Annual Meeting were read 
 and approved. 
 
 Mr. W. W. Goodrich, President of the Board of 
 Trustees presented the Annual Report of that body. 
 The report called attention to the anticipated resignation 
 of the pastor, and urged the desirability of raising a sum 
 of money as a testimonial of our appreciation, esteem, 
 and love, to be given to Dr. Cuyler upon the termination 
 of his pastorate. 
 
THE RESIGN A TION ANNO UNCED. 2 1 
 
 The short address delivered by Dr. Cuyler, after the 
 conclusion of his sermon on July 2d, as recorded in the 
 previous chapter, was then read by the clerk. 
 
 Notwithstanding the positive character of Dr. Cuyler's 
 notice of withdrawal, there were many, within and outside 
 of the Church, who doubted its genuineness. Neither 
 the community nor the congregation could realize the 
 fact; but all doubts were dispelled when Mr. J. N. Beach 
 read the following communication from Dr. Cuyler: 
 
 February 12, 1890. 
 
 To MY BELOVED 1=E0PLE CONVENED IN ANNUAL MEETING : 
 
 There are two or three things which I ought — with all candor and 
 affection — to say to you this evening. 
 
 Firstly : The announcement which I made to you on Sabbath morning, 
 February 2d, was the result of careful deliberation. \\'hile the surrender of 
 yonder beloved pulpit and the severance of my pastoral relation will cost me 
 tenfold more suffering than it can cost any of you, yet I feel sure that the step 
 I am taking is right. Every day confirms me in this assurance. It is best for 
 me. In the end, it will be best for the church, if, with united hearts, you all 
 stand true and faithful to her sacred interests. 
 
 Secondly : Let me say that I am most deeply touched by the tender and 
 loving expressions of your attachment to your spiritual shepherd for nearly 
 thirty years. But the best proof you can give of your love for me is to love 
 Lafayette Avenue Church all the more. If any of my dearest friends should 
 (from a mistaken idea of loyalty) desert their posts of duty here, it would 
 cause me the intensest pain and would embitter all the remaining days of my 
 life. I entreat you all, therefore, to do what I am trying to do— and that is to 
 subordinate all personal feeling to the best interests of our church. 
 
2 2 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Thirdly : I would suggest that you should appoint a large and carefully 
 selected committee, who shall take into immediate consideration the provision 
 for the pulpit at the termination of my pastorate in April. I shall be happy to 
 confer and co-operate with such a committee in their efforts to secure another 
 pastor at the earliest possible day. 
 
 My heartfelt prayer is that the Divine Spirit may shed upon you both his 
 light and his love — so that the harmony of our beloved church may remain 
 undisturbed and its prosperity may remain unbroken. 
 
 God bless you all. I remain in the love and service of the Lord Jesus 
 Christj 
 
 Your affectionate pastor, 
 
 Theodore L. Cuyler. 
 
 Mr. Beach then made the following remarks : 
 
 All who heard this announcement made from the pulpit will readily 
 recall the shock it occasioned us. Dr. Cuyler knew it would be so. The dear, 
 blessed man would have spared us this had it been practicable. He loves us, 
 he knows we love him ; he never has, and he never will intentionally cause any 
 one of us a single moment's unnecessary pain or anxiety. For obvious reasons 
 he had to decide this question for himself. He could not invite us into his 
 counsels. Had he have gone for advice to any of us in this room to-night, 
 while I speak for myself, I am sure I but reflect the sentiments of this entire 
 church when I say, we could not have given him the calm, unselfish, unim- 
 passioned judgment, which he himself had exercised. We would simply have 
 thrown our arms around him and exclaimed, it cannot, it must not be ! In the 
 sanctity of his own happy home, surrounded by those who know him best and 
 who love him with a love to which ours is but an approximation, he, in the 
 decision of this question, passed through an experience, a strain of mind and 
 
THE RESIGNATION ANNOUNCED. 23 
 
 heart which we can scarcely comprehend, and one through which I trust he 
 may never again be called to pass. Seeking the direction of the Divine Spirit, 
 hand in hand and heart in heart with that gentle loving one who has all these 
 years been his safe counsellor, who has been the joy of his heart and home, and 
 who has made that home such an one to him that it has helped him to be all 
 that he now is to us, he there reached the unalterable decision which has 
 convened us here to-night. And now, just at this juncture, we have a plain 
 duty, a simple act of justice to perform toward this dearly beloved pastor of 
 ours. He having declared it to be his purpose to " make the thirtieth anniver- 
 sary of his settlement here, the terminal point of his present pastorate," and, 
 in addition to his announcement made from the pulpit on Sunday morning, 
 February 2d, having reiterated the same in the public press, and again in the 
 letter just read in your hearing, thus assuring us we " must not mistake the 
 finality of his decision." 
 
 In view of this fact and in token of our appreciation of thirty years of 
 faithful, loving service, on the part of such a pastor as has rarely been given to 
 any people — a service rendered with an eye single to the glory of God and the 
 welfare of this church ; 
 
 In further token of our recognition of the fact that Dr. Cuyler has 
 declined our repeated offers of increased salary and has ever turned a deaf ear 
 to loud and persistent calls to enter the popular lecture field, and to engage in 
 purely intellectual pursuits, which would have secured to him worldly renown 
 and pecuniary emoluments, he, with rare fidelity, preferring to have it written 
 of him simply, Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, founder, faithful and beloved pastor 
 of Lafayette Avenue Church, than to be the possessor of untold wealth or 
 fame ; therefore be it 
 
 Resolved : That in order to relieve Dr. Cuyler of all anxiety as to his 
 future income, and to secure to him the immunity from care in that direction 
 to which he is justly entitled, it is the bounden duty and coveted privilege of 
 this church and congregation to present to him a substantial sum of money. 
 
24 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 and that ample opportunity be given to every person connected with the con- 
 gregation to take part in this labor of love. It is the least we can do, and let 
 us do it in a manner worthy of Lafayette Avenue Church and of this noble 
 object. 
 
 Resolved : That a committee be here appointed, representing the three 
 official boards of the Church, the Sunday-Schools, the Young People's Asso- 
 ciation, and the Congregation at large, whose duty it shall be to arrange the 
 details for securing this fund, and to fix upon the time and mode of presentation. 
 
 Resolved : That this committee shall be notified by the clerk of this 
 meeting of their appointment, and be requested to organize for work at the 
 earliest possible date. 
 
 The resolutions were received with applause. 
 
 Mr. Daniel W. McWilhams spoke in support of the resolutions, saying 
 that Dr. Cuyler had shown great discretion in the method of his decision. " If 
 he had come to us for advice," said Mr. McWilliams, "the scenes would have 
 been simply heart-rending. Dr. Cuyler has shown great wisdom. Later, we 
 shall doubtless meet and adopt resolutions expressing in fitting terms our 
 appreciation of our pastor's qualities ; but before that time there is something 
 still more pressing that we ought to do and shall love to do. We should put a 
 downy pillow under his head for the comfort of his coming years." 
 
 Mr. Michael Snow said he never knew a man who found his way so 
 readily to the hearts of all ages and conditions of men as Dr. Cuyler. He 
 indorsed Mr. Beach's resolutions and offered, as an additional resolution, the 
 following : 
 
 Resolved : That a Committee of five, consisting of Joseph Fahys, G. H. 
 White, Ira E. Thurber, C. B. Pearson, and William Jarvie be appointed to 
 nominate two committees — one to seek a new pastor, and another, the one pro- 
 vided for in Mr. Beach's resolution. 
 
THE RESIGN A TION ANNOUNCED. 25 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 The committee provided for in the last resolution 
 retired and reported the following named persons to serve 
 upon the committees : 
 
 Committee to Seek a new Pastor. 
 
 D. W. McWILLIAMS, COLL J. TURNER, 
 
 W. W. GOODRICH, J. N. BEACH, 
 
 MICHAEL SNOW, WILLIAM MUMFORD, 
 
 GRENVILLE PERRIN, JACOB L. GOSSLER, 
 
 SYLVESTER E. BERGEN, EDGAR FORMAN, 
 
 A. G. VAN CLEVE. 
 
 Co7nmittee on FimcL for Dr. Cuyh 
 
 er. 
 
 JOHN N. BEACH. D. N. HOUGHTALING, 
 
 T. T. BARR, R. W. PATTERSON, 
 
 G. L. PEASE, A. H. PORTER, 
 
 E. C. PATTERSON, A. B. CHANDLER, 
 
 N. P. COLLIN, J. H. HART, 
 
 W. H. H. CHILDS, C. V. SMITH, 
 
 WILLIAM JARVIE. W. S. SILLCOCKS, 
 
 JOSEPH FAHYS, C. W. HAND, 
 J. T. UNDERWOOD. 
 
 Both committees were authorized to fill vacancies 
 and to add to their number, if deemed by them desirable. 
 
26 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 
 VALEDICTORY SERMON, 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D. 
 April 6, i8qo. 
 
 The Congregation of Lafayette Avenue Church will 
 long remember the Easter Sunday of 1890, when 
 Dr. Cuyler delivered the closing sermon of his long 
 pastorate. The day was bright and beautiful ; the Church 
 was crowded; pews and chairs, even the standing room, 
 were fully occupied, while many would-be auditors were 
 turned away. Over the pulpit the floral figures 
 "i860 — 1890," marked the period of the pastor's service 
 there, and a profusion of flowers adorned pulpit and 
 platform. Dr. Cuyler spoke with unusual fervor and 
 emotion; his sermon was the story of his life-work for 
 the Master. He said: 
 
 Let me invite your attention this morning to the nineteenth and twentieth 
 verses of the second chapter of Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians : 
 
 " For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye 
 in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 
 
 " For ye are my glory and joy." 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 27 
 
 These words were written by the most remarkable man in the annals 
 of the Christian Church. Fresh interest is attached to them from the fact 
 that they are part of the first inspired epistle that Paul ever wrote. Nay, 
 more. The letter to the Church of Thessalonica is probably the earliest as to 
 date of all the books of the New Testament. Paul was then at Corinth, 
 about fifty-two years old, in the full vigor of his splendid prime. His spiritual 
 son Timothy brings him tidings from the infant church at Thessalonica that 
 awakens his solicitude. He yearns to go and see them, but he cannot ; so he 
 determines to write to them ; and one day he lays aside his tent-needle, seizes 
 his pen, and when that pen touches the papyrus sheet, the New Testament 
 begins ! The apostle's great, warm heart kindles and blazes as he goes on, 
 and at length bursts out in this impassioned utterance : " Ye are my glory 
 and joy." Paul, I thank thee for a thousand things, but for nothing do I thank 
 thee more than for that golden sentence. In these thrilling words, the greatest 
 of christian pastors, — rising above the poverty, homelessness and scorn that 
 surrounded hnn, reaches forth his hand and grasps his royal diadem. No 
 man shall rob the aged hero of his crown. No chaplet worn by a Roman 
 conqueror in the hour of his proudest triumph rivals the coronal that Pastor 
 Paul sees flashing before his eyes. It is a crown blazing with stars — every 
 star an immortal soul plucked from the darkness of sin into the light and 
 liberty of a child of God. Poor is he ? He is making many rich. Despised 
 is he ? He wouldn't change places with Csesar. Homeless is he ? His 
 citizenship is in Heaven, where he will find myriads whom he can meet and 
 say to them : "Ye, ye are my glory and joy." 
 
 Sixteen centuries after the tent-maker of Tarsus uttered these words, 
 John Bunyan, the brazier of Bedford, re-echoed them when he said ; "I have 
 counted as if I had goodly buildings and lordships in the places where my 
 spiritual children were born. My heart has been so wrapt up in this excellent 
 work that I accounted myself more honored of God than if He had made me 
 emperor of all the world, or the lord of all the glory of the earth, without it. 
 He that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways doth save a soul from 
 death ; and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." 
 
28 A THIRTY YEARS PASTORATE. 
 
 Now, the great apostle expressed what every faithful ambassador of 
 Christ constantly enjoys, when in the thick of the Master's work. His are 
 the joys of acquisition. His purse may be scanty, his dwelling may be humble, 
 the field of his labor may be so obscure that no bulletins of his achievements 
 are ever proclaimed to an admiring world ; difficulties may beset him, and 
 discouragement bring him to his knees ; but I tell you that obscure, toiling 
 man of God has joys vouchsafed to him that a Frederick or a Marlborough 
 never knew on the field of bloody triumph, or a Rothschild never dreams of 
 in his mansions of splendor, nor an Astor amid his coffers of gold. Every 
 nugget of fresh truth discovered makes him happy as one that has found great 
 spoil ; every attentive auditor is a delight ; every look of interest on a human 
 countenance flashes back to illuminate his own. Above all, when the tears of 
 penitence course down a hearer's cheek, and a returning soul is led by him to 
 the feet of Jesus, there is joy in Heaven over a repentant wanderer, but there 
 is also a joy in that minister's heart too exquisite to utter. Then he is 
 repaid in full measure, pressed down, running over into his bosom. Con- 
 verted souls are the jewels in the caskets of faithful parents, teachers and 
 pastors. They shall flash in the diadem which the Righteous Judge shall give 
 them in that great day. Ah, it is when an ambassador of Christ sees an army 
 of young converts and listens to the first utterances of their new-born love, 
 and when he presides at a communion table and sees his spiritual offspring 
 gathered around him, 
 
 ' ' More true joy that faithful pastor feels, 
 Than Cresar with a Senate at his heels." 
 
 Samuel Rutherford, of Scotland, only voiced the yearnings of every true 
 pastor's heart when he exclaimed, "Oh, how rich were I if I could obtain of 
 my Lord the salvation of you all. \Vhat a prey had I gotten to have you all 
 caught in Christ's net. My witness is above that your heaven would be two 
 heavens to me, and the salvation of you all as two salvations unto me." Yet, 
 my beloved people, when I recall the joys of my forty-four years of public 
 ministry, I often shudder at the thought of how near I came to losing them. 
 During many months my mind was balancing between the pulpit and the 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 29 
 
 attractions of a legal and political career. A single hour in a village prayer 
 meeting turned the scale. But perhaps behind it all a beloved mother's prayers 
 were moving the mysterious hand that touched the poised balance and made 
 souls outweigh silver and eternity outweigh time. Would that I could lift up 
 my voice this morning and reach every academy, college and university on 
 this broad continent. I would say to every gifted Christian youth : "God and 
 humanity have need of you — have need of you. He who redeemed you by 
 His precious blood has a sovereign right to the best brains and the most 
 persuasive tongues and the highest culture. Why crowd into the already 
 overcrowded professions?" The only occupation in America that is not over- 
 done is the occupation of serving Jesus Christ and saving souls. I do not 
 affirm that a Christian cannot serve his Master in any other sphere or calling 
 than the gospel ministry ; but I do affirm that the ambition for worldly gain 
 and worldly honors is sluicing the very heart of God's Church and drawing out 
 too much of the Church's best blood into their greedy outlet ; and I fearlessly 
 declare that when the most splendid talents have reached the loftiest round on 
 the ladder of promotion, that round is many leagues lower than a pulpit in 
 which a consecrated tongue proclaims a living Christianity to a dying world. 
 What Lord Eldon from the bar, what Webster from the Senate Chamber, what 
 Walter Scott from the realms of romance, what Darwin from the fields of 
 science, what monarch of Wall street or Lombard street can carry his laurels 
 or his gold up to the judgment seat and say, "These are my joy and crown"? 
 The laurels and the gold will be dust— ashes. But if ever so humble a servant 
 of Jesus Christ as your pastor can point to the gathered flock arrayed in white 
 before the Celestial Throne, then he may say, " What is my hope, or joy, or 
 crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of Christ at His coming?" 
 Good friends, I have told you what aspirations led me to the pulpit as 
 the place in which to serve my Master. I thank Christ, the Lord, for putting 
 me into the ministry. The forty-four years I have spent in that office have 
 been unspeakably happy. Many a far better man has not been as hapjjy, from 
 causes beyond control. He may have had to contend with feeble health, as I 
 never have ; or a despondent temperament, as I never have ; or have struggled 
 
30 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 to maintain a large household on a slender purse ; he may have been placed 
 in a stubborn field, where the gospel-plow was shattered to pieces on flinty 
 hearts. From all such trials a kind Providence has delivered your pastor. My 
 ministry began in a very small church. For that I am thankful. Let no young 
 minister covet a large parish at the outset. The clock that is not content to 
 strike one will never strike twelve. In that little parish at Burlington, N. J., 
 I had opportunity for the two most valuable studies for any minister, God's 
 book and individual hearts. My next call was to organize and serve an infant 
 church in Trenton, N. J., and for that I am thankful. Laying the foundation 
 of a new church affords capital tuition in spiritual masonry, and the walls of 
 that fold have stood firm and solid for forty years. The crowning mercy of 
 my Trenton ministry was this, that one Sabbath, while I was watering the flock, 
 a goodlier vision than that of Rebecca appeared at the well's mouth, and the 
 sweet sunshine of that presence has never departed from the pathway of my 
 life. To this hour the prosaic old capital of New Jersey has a halo of poetry 
 floating over it, and I never go through it without waving a benediction from 
 the passing train. The next stage in my life journey was a seven years' 
 pastorate in the Market Sireet Church in the City of New York. To those 
 seven years of hard and happy labor I look back with grateful joy. The 
 congregation swarmed with young men, many of whom have risen to promi- 
 nence in the commercial and religious life of the great Metropolis. The name 
 of Market Street is graven indelibly on my heart. I rejoice that the quaint 
 old edifice still stands and welcomes every Sabbath a congregation of landsmen 
 and of sailors. During the year 1858 occurred the great revival, when a 
 mighty wind from Heaven filled every house where the people of God were 
 sitting, and the glorious work of that revival kept many of us busy for six 
 months, night and day. 
 
 Early in the year i860 a signal was made to me from this side of the 
 East River. It came from a brave little band, then known as the Park 
 Presbyterian Church, who had never had any installed pastor. The signal at 
 first was unheeded, but a higher than human hand seemed to be behind it, 
 and I had only to obey. That little flock stood like the man of Macedonia, 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 31 
 
 saying, "Come over and help us," and after I had seen the vision, immediately 
 I decided to come, assuredly concluding that God had called me to preach the 
 Gospel unto them. This morning my memory goes back to that chilly, stormy 
 April Sabbath when my labors began as your first pastor. About two hundred 
 and fifty people, full of grace and grit, gathered on that Easter morning to see 
 how God could roll away stones that for two years had blocked their path with 
 discouragement. My first message many of you remember. It was, " I 
 determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified." Of that little company a large majority have departed. Many 
 of them are among the white-robed that now behold their risen Lord in glory. 
 Of the seventeen church officers, elders, deacons and trustees then in ofiice, 
 who greeted me that day, only four are living, and of that number only one, 
 Mr. Albion P. Higgins, is now a member of this congregation. I wonder how 
 many there are here this morning that gathered before my pulpit on that 
 Easter Sunday thirty years ago. As many of you as there are present that 
 were at that service thirty years ago will do me a favor if you will rise in your 
 pews. 
 
 (About fourteen persons rose.) 
 
 God bless you ! If it hadn't been for you this army would never have 
 been here. Ah ! we had happy days in that low-roofed, modest chapel, when 
 this old love was young ! Outdoors, the tempest of civil war was raging, with 
 Lincoln's steady hand at the helm. We got our share of the gale ; but we set 
 our storm-sails, and every one that could handle a rope stood at his or her 
 post. Just think of the money contributions that small church made during 
 the first year of my pastorate — $20,000, not in paper, but in gold ! 
 
 That little band in that chapel were not only generous in gifts, but 
 fervent in spirit, and it was under the gracious shower of a revival blessing 
 that we removed into this edifice on the sixteenth of March, 1862. The sub- 
 sequent history of the church was published so fully at the notable anniversary, 
 five years ago, that I need only recapitulate the chief head-lands in a very few 
 sentences. In 1861, Mr. William Wickes started a mission school, which 
 afterward grew into the present Cumberland Street Church. In 1866 occurred 
 
32 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 that wonderful work of grace that resulted in the addition of three hundred 
 and twenty souls to our membership, one hundred of them heads of families. 
 As a thank-offering to God for that rich blessing the Memorial Mission School 
 was established^ which was soon organized into the Memorial Presbyterian 
 Church, now on Seventh Avenue, under the excellent pastorate of my Brother 
 Nelson. During the winter of 1867, a conference of gentlemen was held in 
 yonder study, which set on foot the present Classon Avenue Church, where my 
 Brother Chamberlain ministers with equal effectiveness. Our own Olivet 
 Mission was organized in 1874. It will always be fragrant with the memory 
 of Horace B. Griffing, its first superintendent. The Cuyler Chapel was opened 
 on Atlantic Avenue in March, 1886, by our Young People's Association, who 
 are maintaining it most vigorously. The little Corwin Mission on Myrtle 
 Avenue was established by a member of this church. It perpetuates his name, 
 and is largely sustained by members of this church. Of all the efficient, 
 successful labors of the I^afayette Avenue Temperance Society, The Women's 
 Home and Foreign Missionary Society, the Benevolent Society, the Cuyler 
 Mission Band, the Daughters of the Temple, and other kindred organizations, 
 I have not time or space to speak this morning. But I must repeat now what 
 I have said in years past, that the two strong arms of this church are its 
 Sabbath School and its Young People's Association. The former has been 
 kept well up to the ideal of such an institution, which is that of a training 
 school of young hearts for this life and a life to come. God's blessing has 
 descended upon it like the morning dew. Of the large number of children 
 and teachers who have been enrolled in its classes, seven hundred and thirty 
 have been received into membership with this church alone, on confession of 
 faith in Christ, to say nothing of those who have joined elsewhere. Warmly 
 do I thank and heartily do I congratulate our beloved brother, Daniel W. 
 McWilliams, and his faithful corps of teachers, and the Superintendent of the 
 primary department and her corps of assistants, on the seals which God has 
 set upon their loving work. As they contemplate the army of children whom 
 they have guided to Jesus, they, too, can exclaim, "What is our joy or crown 
 of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the Lord ? " 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 33 
 
 If the Sabbath School lias wrought good service, so has the well-drilled, 
 well-weaponed Young People's Association. The fires of devotion have never 
 gone out on the altar of their Monday evening gathering. For length of date 
 and numbers of membership combined, probably it surpasses all similar Young 
 People's Associations in our country. About three thousand names have been 
 on its muster-roll, and of this number twelve have set their faces toward the 
 gospel ministry. Oh, what a source of joy to me that I leave that Association 
 in such a high condition of vigor and prosperity. No church can languish, no 
 church can die, while it has plenty of young blood in its veins. 
 
 What has been the outcome of these thirty years of happy pastorate ? 
 As far as the results can be tabulated, the following is a brief summary. 
 During my pastorate here I have preached about two thousand seven hundred 
 and fifty discourses ; have delivered a very large number of public addresses 
 in behalf of Sunday-Schools, Young People's Associations, the Temperance 
 Reform and kindred enterprises for advancing human welfare. I have officiated 
 at six hundred and eighty-two marriages. I have baptized nine hundred and 
 sixty-two children. The total number received into the membership of this 
 church during this time has been four thousand two hundred and three. Of 
 this number, one thousand nine hundred and twenty have united by a con- 
 fession of their faith in Jesus Christ. An army, you see, an army of nearly 
 two thousand souls, have enlisted under the banner of King Jesus and taken 
 their sacramentum or vow of loyalty before this pulpit. What is our crown of 
 rejoicing? Are not even they in the presence of Christ at His coming? 
 
 It is due to you that I should commend your liberality in gifts to God's 
 treasury. During these thirty years, about $640,000 have been contributed 
 for ecclesiastical and benevolent purposes, and about $700,000 for the mainte- 
 nance of the sanctuary, its woiship and its work. Over a million and a 
 quarter of dollars have passed through these two channels. The successive 
 Boards of Trustees have managed our financial affairs carefully and efficiently. 
 The architecture of this noble edifice is not disfigured by any mortgage. 
 I hope it never will be. 
 
34 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 There is one department of ministerial labor that has had a peculiar 
 attraction to me and afforded some peculiar joys. . Pastoral work has always 
 been my passion. It has been my rule to know everybody in this congregation, 
 if possible, and seldom have I allowed a day to pass without a visit to some of 
 your homes. I fancied that you cared more to have a warm-hearted pastor 
 than a cold-blooded preacher. To carry out thoroughly a system of personal 
 over- sight, to visit every family, to stand by sick and dying beds, to put one's 
 self into sympathy with aching hearts and bereaved households, is a process 
 that has swallowed up time, and I tell you it has strained the nerves pro- 
 digiously. Costly as the process has been, it has paid. If I have given 
 sermons to you, I have got sermons from you. The closest tie that binds us 
 together is that sacred tie that has been wound around the cribs in your 
 nurseries, the couches of your sick chambers, the chairs at your fireside, and 
 even the coffins that have borne away your precious dead. My fondest hope 
 is that, however much you may honor or love my successor in this pulpit, you 
 may evermore keep a warm place in the chimney-corner of your hearts for the 
 man that gave the best thirty years of his life to your service. 
 
 Here let me bespeak for my successor the most kind and reasonable 
 allowance as to pastoral labor. Do not expect too much from him. Very few 
 ministers have the peculiar passion for pastoral service that I have had ; and if 
 Christ's ambassador, who shall occupy this pulpit, proclaims faithfully the 
 whole counsel of God, and brings a sympathetic heart to your houses, don't 
 criticize him unjustly because he may not attempt to make twenty-five thousand 
 pastoral visits in thirty years. 
 
 House to house visitation has only been one hemisphere of a pastor's 
 work. I have accordingly endeavored to guard the door of yonder study so 
 that I might give undivided attention to the preparation for this pulpit. You 
 know, my dear people, how I have preached and what I have preached. Amid 
 many interruptions, I have honestly handled each topic as best I could. The 
 minister that foolishly runs races with himself is doomed to an early suicide. 
 All that I claim for my sermons is that they have been true to God's book and 
 the cross of Jesus Christ, have been generally simple enough for a child to 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 35 
 
 understand, and have been preached in full view of the judgment seat, I 
 have aimed to keep this pulpit abreast of all great moral reforms and human 
 progress, and the majestic marchings of the kingdom of King Jesus. The 
 preparation of my sermons has been an unspeakable delight. The manna fell 
 fresh every morning, and it had to me the sweetness of angel's food. Ah, 
 there are many sharp pangs before me ! None will be sharper than the hour 
 that bids farewell to yonder blessed and beloved study. For twenty-eight 
 years it has been my daily home — one of the dearest spots this side of Heaven. 
 From its walls have looked down upon me the inspiring faces of Chalmers, 
 Charles Wesley, Spurgeon, Lincoln, and Gladstone, Adams, Storrs, Guthrie, 
 Newman Hall, and my beloved teachers, Charles Hodge and the Alexanders 
 of Princeton. Thither your infant children have been brought on Sabbath 
 mornings, awaiting their baptism. Thither your older children have come by 
 hundreds to converse with me about the welfare of their souls. Thither have 
 come all the candidates for admission to the fellowship of this church, and 
 have made there their confession of faith and their espousals to Christ. Oh, 
 what blessed interviews with inquirers have been held there ! What sweet and 
 happy fellowship with my successive bands of elders, some of whom have 
 joined the general assembly of the redeemed in glory. That hallowed study 
 has been to me sometimes a Bochim of tears, sometimes a little Patmos, and 
 sometimes a Hermon, when the vision was of " no man save Jesus only." And 
 the work right there has been a far wider one, for a far wider multitude than 
 these walls contain this morning. I have written there nearly all the hundreds 
 of articles which have gone out through the religious press, over this country, 
 over Great Britain, over Europe, over Australia, Canada, India and New 
 Zealand. During my ministry I have published about three thousand two 
 hundred of these articles. Many of them have been gathered into books ; 
 many of them translated into Swedish, Spanish, Dutch and other foreign 
 tongues. They haye made the scratch of a very humble pen audible through 
 Christendom. A consecrated type may be more powerful than a consecrated 
 tongue. I devoutly thank God for having condescended to use my humble 
 pen for the spread of His gospel, and I purpose with His help, to spend much 
 
36 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 of the brief remainder of my life in preaching His glorious gospel through the 
 Press. 
 
 I am sincerely sorry that the necessities of this hour seem to require so 
 personal a discourse this morning ; but I must hide behind the example of the 
 great apostle that gave me my text. For, as he reviewed his ministry among 
 his spiritual children of Thessalonica, I may be allowed to review mine among 
 you, standing here this morning under such peculiar circumstances. For these 
 thirty years have been to me years of unbounded joy. Sorrows I have had, 
 when death paid four visits to my house ; but the sorrow taught me sympathy 
 with the griefs of others. Sins I have committed— too many of them; your 
 patient love has never cast a stone to wound me. The faults of my ministry 
 have been my own. The successes of my ministry have been largely due, 
 unto God, to your co-operation : above all, to the amazing goodness of our 
 Heavenly Father. 
 
 Looking at my long pastorate squarely in the face, I think I can honestly 
 say that I have been no man's man. I have never courted the rich or wilfully 
 neglected the poor. I have never blunted the sword of the spirit lest it should 
 cut your consciences, or concealed a truth that might save a soul. 
 
 In no large church is there perfect unanimity of tastes as to preaching. 
 I do not doubt there are some here that are quite ready for the experiment of a 
 new voice in this pulpit, and perhaps there may be some who are lusting after 
 the fat quails of elaborate or philosophic discourse ; for during thirty years I 
 have tried to feed you on "nothing but manna." Whatever the difference of 
 taste, you have always stood by me, true as steel. This has been your spiritual 
 home, and you have loved your home. You have drank every Sabbath from 
 your own well ; and though the water of life has not always been passed up to 
 you in a richly embossed silver cup, it has drawn up the undiluted gospel from 
 the inspired fountain-head. To hear the truth, heed the truth, to back up the 
 truth with prayer and toil, has been the delight of the staunchest members of 
 this church. Oh, the children of this church are inexpressibly dear to me. 
 There are hundreds here to-day that never had any other home or ever knew 
 any other pastor. I think I can say that ''every baptism has baptised us into 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 2,7 
 
 closer fellowship, every marriage has married us into closer union, every 
 funeral that bore away your beloved dead only bound us more strongly to the 
 living." Every invitation from another church — and I have had some very 
 attractive ones that I never told you about — every invitation from another 
 church has always been promptly declined ; for I long ago determined never 
 to be pastor of any other than Lafayette Avenue Church. What is my joy or 
 crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye — ye — in the presence of Christ at His 
 coming ? 
 
 Why, then, sunder a tie that is bound to every fibre of my inmost heart ? 
 I will tell you. I will answer it frankly. There must be no concealments or 
 false pretexts between us. In the first place, as I told you two months ago, I 
 had determined to make my thirtieth anniversary the terminal point of my 
 present pastorate. I determined not to outstay my fullest capacity for the 
 enormous work demanded here. The extent of that demanded work increases 
 every twelve month. The requirements of preaching twice every Sabbath, 
 visiting a vast number of families directly or indirectly connected with this 
 church, attending funeral services, conferring with committees about Christian 
 work of various kinds, and numberless other duties — all these requirements 
 are prodigious. Thus far, by the Divine help, I have carried that load. My 
 health to-day is as firm as usual, and I thank God that such forces of heart 
 and brain as He has given to me are unabated. The chronic catarrh that long 
 ago muffled my ears to many a strain of sweet music, has never made me too 
 deaf to hear the sweet accents of your love. But I understand my constitution 
 well enough to know that I could not carry the undivided load of this great 
 church a great while longer without the risk of breaking down, and there must 
 be no risks run with you or with myself. 
 
 I also desire to assist you in transferring this magnificent vessel to the 
 next pilot whom God shall appoint ; and I wish to transfer it while it is well- 
 manned, well-equipped and on the clear sea — the clear sea of an unbroken 
 financial and spiritual prosperity. No man shall ever say that I so far presumed 
 on the generous kindness of this dear church as to linger here until I had 
 outlived my usefulness. For these reasons I present to-day my resignation of 
 
38 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 this sacred, precious charge. It is my honest desire and purpose that this day 
 •must terminate my present pastorate. For presenting this resignation I am 
 alone responsible before God, before this church, and before the world. When 
 you shall have accepted my resignation, the whole responsibility for the welfare 
 of this beloved church will rest on your shoulders entirely — not on mine. My 
 •earnest prayer is that you may soon be directed to the right man to be your 
 minister, to one who shall unite all hearts and all hands in carrying forward 
 the high and holy mission to which God has called you. He will find in me, 
 not a jealous critic, but a hearty ally in everything that he may regard for the 
 welfare of this church. As for myself, I do not propose to sit down on the 
 veranda and watch the sun of life wheel downward in the west. The labors 
 of the pen and of a ministry at large will afford me no lack of employment. 
 The welfare of this church is inexpressibly dear to me — nothing is dearer this 
 side of Heaven. If, therefore, while this flock remains shepherdless and in 
 search of my successor I can be of actual service to you in supplying at any 
 time this pulpit or performing pastoral labor, that service, beloved, shall be 
 performed cheerfully. Thank God, the only thought with all of us, is this 
 church, this church. This Church ! I call no man my friend ; you shall call 
 no man your friend, that does not stand by the interests of Lafayette Avenue 
 Church. It is now called to meet a great emergency. For the first time in 
 twenty-eight years this church is subjected to a severe strain. During all these 
 years you have had very smooth sailing. You have never been crippled by 
 debt ; you have never been distracted with quarrels ; and you have never been 
 without a pastor in your pulpit or in your home when you needed him. And I 
 suppose no church in Brooklyn has ever been subjected to less strain than 
 this one. 
 
 Now you are called upon to face a new condition of things, perhaps a 
 -new danger— certainly a new duty. The duty overrides the danger. To meet 
 that duty you are strong in numbers. There are two thousand three hundred 
 and fifty names on your church register. Of these, many are young children, 
 many are non-residents who have never asked a dismission to other churches : 
 but a great army of church members, three Sabbaths ago, rose up before that 
 
VALEDICTORY SERMON. 39 
 
 sacramental table. You are strong in a holy harmony. Let no man, no 
 woman break the ranks ! You are strong in the protection of that great 
 Shepherd who never resigns and never groweth old. " Lo ! I am with you 
 always," " Lo ! I am with you always," " Lo ! I am with you always," seems 
 to greet me this morning from every wall of this sanctuary. I confidently 
 expect to see Lafayette Avenue Church move steadily forward with unbroken 
 column, led by the Captain of our salvation. All eyes are upon you. That 
 eye that never slumbers nor sleeps is watching over you. If you are all true 
 to conscience, true to your covenant, true to Christ, the future of this dear 
 church may be as glorious as its past. And when another thirty years have 
 rolled away it may still be "Ein feste burg," — a strong-built tower of the truth, 
 on which the smile of God shall rest like the light of the morning. By as 
 much as you love me, I entreat you not to sadden my life or break my heart 
 by ever deserting these walls or letting the fire of devotion burn down on these 
 sacred altars. 
 
 Yonder clock warns me to close. This is one of the most trying hours 
 of my whole life. It is an hour when tears are only endurable by being rain- 
 bowed with the memory of tender mercies and holy joys. When my feet 
 descend those steps to-day this will no longer be my pulpit. I surrender it 
 back, before God, into your hands. 
 
 One of my chiefest sorrows is that I leave some of my beloved hearers 
 out of Christ. Oh, you have been faithfully warned here ; you have been 
 lovingly invited here, and once more, as though God did beseech you by me, 
 I implore you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God ! This dear pulpit — 
 whose teachings are based on the Rock of Ages — will stand long after the lips 
 that now address you have turned to dust. It will be visible from the judg- 
 ment seat ; and its witness will be that I determined to know not anything 
 among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To-day I write the last page 
 in the record of thirty bright, happy, heaven-blest years among you. What 
 is written is written. I shall fold up the book and lay it away with all its 
 many faults, and it will not lose its fragrance while between its leaves are the 
 pressed flowers of your love. When my closing eyes shall look on that record 
 
40 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 for the last time I hope to discover there only one name — the name that is 
 above every name — the name of Him whose glory crowns this Easter morn 
 with radiant splendors — the name Jesus Christ, King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords. And the last words I utter in this sacred spot are, — Unto Him that 
 loved and loosed us from our sin with His precious blood, and can make us a 
 kingdom and priesthood unto God ; and unto God, the Father, be all the praise 
 and thanks and dominion and glory, forever and ever, Amen. 
 
 At the conclusion of the service the people thronged 
 about the pulpit, and when Dr. Cuyler came down the 
 steps, his old parishioners and friends pressed forward to 
 grasp his hand. The Doctor repeatedly declared he 
 would not say good-bye, as he expected to be with them 
 for a long time to come. But for some time it was im- 
 possible to restrain the feelings of those present. Many 
 of the men gave way more completely than the women, 
 sobbing and burying their faces in their hands. Some of 
 the oldest veterans, recognized as men of granite, were 
 among those to give most forcible demonstration to their 
 grief The scene became so impressive, that the Doctor, 
 feeling the se\'erity of the strain, hastened from the church 
 to his study. 
 
SPECIAL MEETING. \\ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A special meeting of the Congregation was held in 
 the Sunday-School Hall, on Friday evening, April 1 1, 1890, 
 pursuant to a call read from the pulpit the previous 
 
 Sabbath. 
 
 The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock and 
 organized by the election of Elders W. W. Wickes and 
 Edgar C. Patterson to preside, and William Jarvie as clerk. 
 
 Mr. D. W. McWilliams led in prayer, after which the 
 following communication from Dr. Cuyler, resigning the 
 Pastorate of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, was 
 read: 
 
 Brooklyn, April g, 1890. 
 To THE Lafayette Avenue Church and Congregation. 
 
 My Beloved Friends : — On the first Sabbath of February, I announced 
 my intention to terminate my long and happy pastorate on the first Sabbath of 
 April, and I accordingly now lay before you my resignation of the sacred trust 
 committed to me thirty years ago. 
 
 The spectacle of a Pastor in the full possession of vigorous health 
 resigning the charge of a great, prosperous and loving church is almost 
 without precedent. But the reasons which have led me to this decision were 
 presented to you last Sabbath morning with entire and unreserved candor. 
 
42 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 They doubtless approve themselves to your heads as they do to mine — although 
 our hearts may rebel against the sundering of a tie so sweet, so sacred and so 
 strong. 
 
 But you will be only fulfilling my most conscientious wishes if you will 
 accept this resignation in the same spirit in which it is sent. Having done this, 
 I fervently pray that you may be soon guided by the Divine direction to the 
 choice of my successor. 
 
 It is most desirable that you should not be driven to any precipitate 
 action in a matter of such deep and vital importance. Therefore, in order to 
 relieve you of anxiety and to afford opportunity for wide search and full 
 deliberation, I shall be happy to do all that is in my power to supply such 
 pulpit or pastoral service as you may desire. The first consideration — yes, the 
 only consideration with you and with me must be the welfare of our beloved 
 Church. To the sacred and precious interests of this church let us consecrate 
 ourselves afresh — and our Blessed Master will not leave us without His all-wise 
 guidance and His grace. 
 
 Allow me to suggest that you appoint a Committee who shall go with me 
 before our Brooklyn Presbytery at the proper time and ask their formal 
 dissolution of the pastoral relation. But this act, my beloved people, will not 
 disturb the indissoluble bond of heart-affection which shall outlast even this 
 life, and be perpetuated in heaven. 
 
 May the sweet sunshine of Christ's love fill all our hearts, and may His 
 " everlasting arm " ever sustain us ! 
 
 Commending you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to 
 build you up more and more and to give you an inheritance among those who 
 are sanctified, 
 
 I remain, with love unquenchable, 
 
 Your fellow servant of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 
 THEODORE L. CUYLER 
 
SPECIAL MEETING. 43 
 
 Elder W.W.Wickes then read the following address: 
 
 Dear Friends, Members and Pew Holders of the Lafayette Avenue 
 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 It was my privilege and honor to be chosen one of the Committee to 
 present " the call" to Dr. Cuyler more than thirty years ago, to the (then) Park 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 I well remember his first sermon to us ; his text was, " I determine to 
 know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified." How faithful 
 he has been to that declaration of Paul, you can testify. 
 
 I was also chosen one of the Building Committee of our beautiful church 
 edifice, then legally named the " Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church," 
 which we occupied for the first time March i6, 1862. 
 
 During all these years I have been happy in my church duties, but 
 to-night, because of my senior eldership, and because I have for thirty years 
 worked side by side with my dear Pastor, I am called upon to preside at this 
 meeting, which has been called to listen to and act upon his resignation. 
 
 These thirty years have occasionally seen differences of opinion between 
 us, but, after passing through the study-doors, they were forgotten and never 
 referred to again. The heart ache that this hour gives to me you may imagine, 
 the void can never be filled. 
 
 As a Pastor, how can we express to him our admiration? Is there a 
 family among us, that has had any great joy or sorrow, that he has not shared? 
 He knew all the congregation, as also their children, and could call them all by 
 name, and was ever ready to take them by the hand with a cheery word and 
 pleasant smile. He was always seeking new church work that would take hold 
 of the hearts and minds of his people ; he leading them with such earnestness 
 and zeal, that his people could not but follow, which has always placed this 
 church in the van of working churches. It has been as "a city set upon a 
 hill," not only in this community, but it has beeii as a light and example for 
 , all other churches in our land. 
 
 The contributions for benevolent objects, $640,000.00, show that he has 
 been faithful in securing for the different Boards of our church a noble sum to 
 
44 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 enlarge Christ's kingdom in our own and foreign lands, comforting and 
 relieving many poor, sorrowing hearts. 
 
 He has incited us to the organization and support of Sunday-Schools as 
 well as new Churches, in our own community, and the preaching to the poor 
 through our City Mission and Tract Society by large contributions from our 
 people. 
 
 Our Sunday-School has been a nursery of the Lord, from which multi- 
 tudes of children have been transferred to the gardens of the Church, there 
 to bear fruit unto Eternal Life. 
 
 The Young People's Association, which he planned, started, watched over 
 and cared for so constantly, has been the right arm of the church. The young 
 men and women among us have taken a special and active interest in the work, 
 and very many thrmigh'its instrumentality have been brought to know and love 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a training school for church work and 
 activity, and continues in a remarkable manner to hold the young people 
 together in christian life. 
 
 How many parents there are among us, that have reason to bless God 
 that their children have been brought up under his instruction and his Godly 
 example and life, and surrounded with such religious privileges as we have had 
 under his pastorate. 
 
 Brethren, did not our hearts burn within us, as we listened the last 
 Sabbath to his parting words, so grandly, yet modestly recounting the work that 
 had been accomplished through his efforts, and, as he said, of that of his 
 people, did we not all feel the greater sorrow, that he must leave us. I have 
 seen this Church's growth as others of you have, and we are still growing, as 
 shown by the large additions at our late Communion Service. But he feels 
 that it is best for him, and also especially for the future good and welfare of 
 this Church, now while it is in the height of its prosperity, that he should 
 leave us this great work to carry on with another. He has not decided it 
 hastily, but after much thought and prayer. If we love him, we must do as he 
 wishes, asking God's guidance in selecting the man who can be intrusted with 
 such a gift. 
 
SPECIAL MEETING. 45 
 
 Mr. Jacob L. Gossler, in presenting the following 
 Minute and Resolutions, said : — 
 
 Mr. Moderator. — It is not true — the old proverb that " few die and 
 none resign " is not true. There are exceptions to the rule ; and in the letter 
 of resignation just read, there is " no uncertain sound." Resignations are rare 
 because it requires more than common courage to resign. It was a brave, a 
 courageous thing in Dr. Cuyler to write the letter to which we have listened ; 
 it was a braver thing to preach the wonderful sermon he delivered last 
 Sabbath ; and bravest of all was the first and unexpected announcement of 
 his resignation ! And I am sure you will accord to me some measure of 
 courage if 1 succeed, without faltering, in reading what — although hastily 
 prepared, and, therefore, totally inadequate as an expression of your feelings 
 on this occassion — I trust may meet with the unanimous approval of the people 
 here assembled. I beg to submit the following 
 
 MINUTE AND RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 If it is hard for ordinary friends to separate after years of intimacy, it is 
 still more trying to sever the tender ties that have existed for thirty years 
 between a devoted Pastor and a loving People. Dr. Cuyler has stood up 
 before us for that long period, and has faithfully, earnestly and eloquently 
 preached " the word," and nothing else — nothing 
 
 " But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve 
 
 He taught ; but first he followed it himselve — " 
 
 He has gone "in and out among us," and his kindly presence has been 
 welcome in all our homes and hearts ; even the sound of his feet that have 
 trod these streets on so many errands of mercy and love is familiar to our ears ; 
 he has visited us in sickness ; he has comforted us in sorrow ; he has rejoiced 
 in our rejoicings. He has baptized our children, and joined in wedlock our 
 sons and daughters ; and, more than that, he has been instrumental in bringing 
 into the Church thousands who shall " rise up and call him blessed." 
 
46 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 We believe there is no modern instance on record of a more untiring 
 ministry — a more successful church. Commencing with less than two hundred 
 members, this church has expanded into a congregation of more than two 
 thousand souls. The little tree, planted by him, in a sparsely settled portion 
 of the city a generation ago, has broadened into a mighty oak, whose roots and 
 branches penetrate and extend far beyond the " Hill.'" Other congregations 
 have grown out of it, and the voices of its members have been heard afar off — 
 not only in distant localities within our own country, but in foreign lands and 
 in the " islands of the sea." But his work does not end here ; while entirely 
 faithful and devoted to his own people, his facile pen has ever been active and 
 efficient in the service of the Master, and his writings, like the golden leaves of 
 Autumn, have fluttered sunshine and gladness over all the world. 
 
 And n'ow, in the fulness of his powers, " his eye undimmed and his natural 
 force unabated," surrounded by a loving people and an admiring community, 
 he decides to descend from the pulpit he has so long adorned and withdraw 
 from a congregation he has so faithfully served ! Can we blame — can we 
 condemn him for seeking rest after a continuous service of more than forty 
 years ! It would be selfish in us to do so. Rather let us " accept the inevit- 
 able," and strive to yield, if not a cheerful, at least a graceful acquiesence in 
 his request. 
 
 It is a comfort to think that, although our Pastor resigns from the pulpit, 
 he cannot tear himself out of our hearts. It is still more consoling to know 
 that he, with his sweet, brave wife — beloved by all our people — will remain in 
 Brooklyn, and near to what will always be Jiis " Church on the Hill." May 
 they live long in sight of its tapering spire, and recline for many years under 
 the shade of the well-known and wide-spreading " Catalpa Tree ; " and, while 
 he continues to scatter its healing leaves through the Press to the world, may 
 he, as of old, still give comfort and sweet counsel to his hosts of friends. 
 
 The above expression of our sincere love is only 
 more formally and briefly expressed in the following 
 resolutions : 
 
SPECIAL MEETING. 47 
 
 Resolved, That after the previous utterances of Dr. Cuyler, and the 
 epistle just read, this Congregation receives with regret and accepts with 
 sorrow, the resignation of our dear, devoted — our always beloved and never-to- 
 be-forgotten Pastor. 
 
 Resolved, That we are profoundly grateful for the kind offer of 
 Dr. Cuyler to " Supply our Pulpit and perform Pastoral services," as suggested 
 in his loving letter, and that the matter be referred to the Session with 
 full power. 
 
 Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be entered on the 
 Records of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church and that a copy of the 
 same, "writ large," by his old and dear friend, the Clerk of the Session, 
 " Elder" White, be forwarded to Dr. Cuyler. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Mumford, in a few pertinent and impres- 
 sive remarks, advocated the adoption of the Minute and 
 Resolutions — after which there was a prolonged pause, 
 broken at last by the voice of the Moderator requesting 
 those of the Congregation who favored their passage to 
 signify their assent by raising the right hand. The hands 
 went falteringly up, as if to show their sorrow ; but 
 unanimously, as if to manifest their sincere desire to 
 comply with this the latest and the only hard requirement 
 of their spiritual leader. 
 
 And so Dr. Cuyler ceased to be the Pastor of 
 the Lafayette Avenue Church ! But never, during the 
 prolonged ministry, did he reign more supremely and 
 
48 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 securely in the hearts of his people than in the hour of 
 his retirement! 
 
 The following resolution was then offered and, upon 
 motion, adopted: 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of three Elders be appointed to appear 
 before the Presbytery with Dr. Cuyler, and request that the pastoral relations 
 between this church and Dr. Cuyler be dissolved. 
 
 The chair appointed Elders Wickes, Patterson and 
 Morse as such Committee. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 But the " Farewell Sermon " was not a farewell; nor was 
 the subsequent action on and acceptance of Dr. Cuyler's res- 
 ignation by the Congregation a final good-bye. Like the 
 actors in the play — if such a comparison is permissable — the 
 principal performers were, in response to the hearty solicita- 
 tions and imperative demands of the Congregation, obliged 
 to come again to the front. And when the curtain rose, on 
 Wednesday evening, April 16, a beautiful and animated 
 scene was presented. The entire first floor of Lafayette 
 Avenue Church — auditorium, lecture-room and parlors — 
 was thrown open to the invited guests. The rooms were 
 profusely decorated; there were banks of flowers and 
 pyramids of palms ; the music of mandolins, and brilliant 
 lights, and wonderful combinations of Japanese fans and 
 oriental hangings, and a multitude of fair women and 
 brave men. There was all the paraphenalia of a party, 
 and yet, in that respect, there was something lacking. 
 There was, to be sure, a certain kind of joyousness, a 
 Presbyterian hilarity — a subdued gayety, as if occasioned 
 by the recollection of a past affliction or the premonition 
 
50 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 of some coming calamity. The "halls" were not deserted 
 nor had the "lights fled," but there prevailed an air of 
 desolateness until Dr. Cuyler, with his cheery voice, and 
 Mrs. Cuyler, with her sweet smile, made their appearance, 
 and were conducted by two of the Church Elders to a 
 central position, where, standing beneath a bower of plants 
 and flo\\'ers and fantastic fans, they recei\'ed, for more than 
 an hour, the devoted friends who filed past them in 
 procession — the present members of the Church, parish- 
 ioners who had long been absent or had elsewhere found 
 new homes, old men and women who had long listened 
 to his voice, young people recently brought into the 
 Church, and little children — for all of whom the Doctor 
 had a word of kindness and his wife a smile of love. 
 
 But all too short was the allotted time, for when the 
 hour arrived for assembling in the Church, the procession, 
 still, apparently, unending, was broken, and many failed to 
 secure the much coveted hand-shake, as also a position 
 of any kind in the auditorium, already crowded to 
 excess. The organ, under the skillful fingers of Mr. John 
 Hyatt Brewer, thundered its welcome, as Dr. Cuyler 
 ascended the platform, which, densely encompassed with 
 shrubbery and entirely concealing his beloved old pulpit, 
 was scarcely sufficient to accommodate the distinguished 
 personages who were to participate in the ceremonies of 
 
THE RECEPTION. 51 
 
 the evening;. If there was any previous lack of enthusiasm, 
 the pent-up feeUngs of the people found vent now, for the 
 audience rose en masse, and the shouting was only slightly 
 restrained by the sanctity of the place ; hats were waved, 
 and handkerchiefs, some of them wet with tears, fluttered 
 from every pew ! It was such an ovation as would have 
 moved colder hearts than that of Dr. Cuyler, who could 
 not conceal and did not care to hide his emotion. Such 
 scenes scarcely occur more than once in a life time; 
 not to many is such sweet incense offered ; and this, so far 
 as public demonstrations are concerned, must have been to 
 him the supreme moment in his life ! It must to him have 
 been a little glimpse — a slight foretaste — of the Heaven 
 to which the good God will certainly, sooner or later, take 
 him. Let it, we pray, be later — not now, we trust ; nor 
 do we think that he himself, however well he may be 
 prepared for it, desires to be immediately translated 
 thither 1 On the contrary, we are inclined to believe that 
 he is in that respect like the late and good Father Taylor, 
 of Boston, who once, when very sick, and about, as it was 
 thought, to take his departure, was visited by one of his 
 most solemn Elders, who said : " Father Taylor, don't 
 worry — don't fear ; you will soon be among the Angels in 
 Heaven!" To which Father Taylor, with some asperity, 
 it is said, replied : " I don't want to be among the Angels ; 
 
52 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 I'd rather stay here among folks ! " It is one of our 
 consolations to think that our old friend and pastor may 
 prefer to remain — as long as he can — "among folks," 
 among the unfledged angels, the saints, and even the 
 " sweet sinners " * of Brooklyn. All of these classes were 
 doubtless included in the intelligent audience — to which 
 Dr. Cuyler bowed low — as well as a plentiful sprinkling 
 of distinguished public men and noted clergymen of both 
 cities — assembled to honor our late Pastor and to listen 
 to the addresses of the evening, from which we have too 
 long detained the reader. 
 
 After the sound of the organ had ceased, Miss Van 
 and Miss Wilkinson, members of the Church Choir, sang 
 a beautiful duet; and then Rev. Thomas B. McLeod, D.D., 
 Pastor of the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church, in 
 impressive tones, offered the following prayer. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Let us unite in Prayer : Almighty and everlasting God, Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost : Thou art our Dwelling place in all generations : In Thee we live, 
 and move, and have our being : From Thee cometh every good and perfect 
 gift. Thou hast made us, and not we ourselves. We are the sheep of Thy 
 pasture, and the work of Thine hand. We adore Thee for Thine exce'lencies ; 
 we praise Thee for Thy works of power, wisdom, and grace. We thank Thee 
 that Thou hast made Thyself known to the children of men. Thou who didst 
 
 *" Is your intended son-in-law a Christian ? " asked one of his flock of Father Taylor 
 ' ' No ! " was the reply ; "but he is a very sweet sinner ! " 
 
THE RECEPTION. 53 
 
 in time past speak unto the Father's people by the prophets, hast in these last 
 days spoken to us by Thy Son whom Thou hast appointed heir to all things, and 
 who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the very image of his person. 
 We bless Thee, O Lord, that Thou didst give Thine only begotten and 
 well-beloved Son to suffer and die that we might live ; that He came into our 
 world and linked himself with our humanity and took up into his own very 
 heart and life the woe and weariness of sinful men ; and that at length he died, 
 the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. We thank Thee that 
 when he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, Thou didst highly 
 exalt him, and didst give him a name which is above every name ; that at the 
 name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
 and the things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and didst set him at Thy 
 hand far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named, and 
 didst make him head over all things to the church. 
 
 We bless Thee that when our Redeemer ascended it was not that he 
 might vanish but that he might pervade ; that when he went up into his glory 
 it was not that he might go away, but that he might be more and more present 
 with his people. We bless Thee, Oh our Divine Redeemer, that Thou art here 
 present with Thy people in the earth, dwelling among them, living in them, 
 thinking in them, working through them, glorifying Thyself in their suffering 
 and their service. We thank Thee for Thy church. Oh God. Thou hast 
 preserved a people in the earth to praise Thee, and to witness concerning Thee 
 to a lost world. We thank Thee that thy church through all affliction, and 
 suffering, and persecution has been preserved by Thy grace, and that it has 
 been made, by Thy divine spirit, mighty to the pulling down of the strongholds 
 of sin and of Satan. The things that were despised, the things that were not 
 in the eyes of the world have brought to nought things that are, that no flesh 
 might glory in Thy presence. To Thee, Oh God, be all the greatness, and the 
 power, and the victory, and the majesty ; for everything that is in Heaven or 
 in earth is Thine. 
 
54 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Now we have gathered here to-night, a portion of Thy spiritual kingdom, 
 to rejoice before Thee and to give thanks unto Thee for Thy manifold mercies 
 and loving kindness unto this people. Thou hast led this flock by a way that 
 they knew not ; sometimes it seemed to them a circuitous way ; a way of 
 perplexity ; a way beset with difficulties ; but the Lord has gone before them, 
 and the God of Israel has been their rearward. Thou hast been unto them a 
 pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day. Not one word of all that 
 Thou didst promise has failed. Thou has multiplied the flock and given it 
 increase of joy ; so that it has rejoiced before Thee according to the joy of 
 harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. We thank Thee for 
 all that this people has been enabled to accomplish in the name and to the 
 glory of Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church. We thank Thee for the 
 harmony that has prevailed among them ; instead of bitterness, envy, emu- 
 lation, strife, and evil speaking, they have been kindly affectioned one to 
 another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another, so that their peace 
 has been as a river, and their righteousness like the waves of the sea. 
 
 We thank Thee for the multitudes that have come up here to the 
 sanctuary during these long years and have heard and learned and received the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of them are scattered over the land ; some of 
 them are in distant parts of the earth ; some of them have joined the general 
 assembly of the first-born in glory. But they look back to this place and say 
 "we were born there." We thank Thee for all that this people have been 
 enabled to do in spreading the knowledge of the grace and glory of God 
 throughout the earth. We thank Thee for the loving ministry of him who has 
 long and laboriously, but joyously and bravely, upheld the cause of Christ in 
 this place. We thank Thee for his fidelity to truth ; for his earnest proclama- 
 tion of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its simplicity ; for his unwavering 
 adherence to the thing that was right and true ; for his untiring zeal, for his 
 patience, for his prayers and his generous sympathy. We thank Thee for all 
 that he has been to this people ; for all that he has been to this community, for 
 all that he has been to the Christian world. We pray now. Oh Lord, that 
 Thou wilt follow him during the remainder of his life with Thy rich blessing, 
 
THE RECEPTION. 55 
 
 and, as he retires into quietude, do Thou be with him, strengthen his heart and 
 comfort him in all the days to come. Be with this people, we beseech Thee ; 
 bring to them a pastor who under the great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, shall go in 
 and out and feed this flock, breaking to them the bread of life. 
 
 May the services of this evening be for our profit, and for the honor and 
 glory of God ; we ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 The Hon. W. W. Goodrich, Chairman of the Board 
 of Trustees, who presided and happily introduced the 
 several speakers, delivered the opening address. 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. GOODRICH. 
 
 We meet to-night with saddened hearts to express our regard for the 
 beloved pastor, who, for the space of a human generation, has been the spiritual 
 leader of this church, its founder, fosterer and friend. 
 
 Our hearts are burdened with the sorrow of these breaking ties ; our eyes 
 are heavy with tears as we recall the faithful years of labor in his study, in his 
 pulpit, in our homes, in his joy with our joys, in his sorrow with our sorrows. 
 We remember that he has baptised our children, united our lovers in marriage, 
 buried our dead, that many of us have never known another as pastor ; we 
 wonderingly ask ourselves whether any other man will ever fill the place 
 which he leaves vacant, until we remember that this church is engraven on the 
 hands of The Lord and precious in His sight ; and that while to-night our 
 sun may set in clouds, it will rise on the morrow in renewed beauty and 
 strength. 
 
 Yet our sadness is tempered with the thought that where the pastoral 
 relation ends, the fraternal begins ; that the leader who now modestly takes 
 his place in the ranks, in the communion and fellowship of the Church will be 
 still our brother and friend. 
 
 Dr. Cuyler surrenders his charge while in the full possession of his 
 intellectual powers, with his natural forces unabated ; he resigns because he 
 
56 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 loves this church more than he loves himself ; he becomes to us a regret, 
 not a burden. 
 
 In St. Paul's Cathedral a tablet is erected to the memory of Sir Chris- 
 topher Wren, its architect, with the inscription : " If you would see his 
 monument, look about you." That edifice was the aim and end of Wren's 
 ambition. Its marble walls and columns, its splendid dome swinging in the 
 upper air, a dream of beauty, appeal simply to the aesthetic and intellectual 
 side of our nature. We, too, shall some day erect upon the walls of this 
 church our memorial to the memory of Dr. Cuyler as its pastor ; we shall 
 record the fact that it was built by his labor, but we shall not stop with that ; 
 we shall add that this edifice was to him simply the means to the end ; that it 
 was but a trifling part of his real work ; that from study and pulpit as from a 
 pure fountain head, there flowed continuous and broadening streams of moral 
 and religious influence which not only shed their beneficent forces upon his 
 city and his country, but also fertilized and fructified the remotest lands. 
 
 Who shall tell the silent power of such a church and such a life upon the 
 world ? It is like some great beacon light which, in its steady shining, safely 
 guides many a ship that sails past it, unseen by its keeper. 
 
 When Dr. Cuyler was delivering his farewell sermon to this congregation, 
 he said, as I thought, with dramatic effect, that when he walked down from the 
 pulpit at the end of the service on that memorable Sunday, he should lay down 
 forever his public duties as our pastor. As the Congregation was dispersing, 
 he stood for an instant sadly regarding the pulpit which should be his no more ; 
 and then tenderly, as a mother kisses the dead infant which she lays out of her 
 bosom, he stooped and kissed the pulpit ; paused for an instant, while the lips 
 quivered, the eyes filled with tears ; the strong face weakened ; then, turning 
 away, Dr. Cuyler slowly and sadly left the place which should know him as 
 Pastor no more forever. 
 
 It is the duty of others to review Dr. Cuyler's life-work. It only remains 
 for me as one of his people to welcome our friends and the members of this 
 Congregation, who have gathered here to express their profound admiration 
 and regard for the faithful pastor whose loving care and influence are 
 
THE RECEPTION. 57 
 
 epitomized in the history of this Church. It is not necessary for me to tell 
 you that there has not been a ripple of discord in his flock in all these thirty 
 years, or to speak of his shining christian character with no smirch or taint 
 upon it ; or to tell him that as long as life and memory last we shall never 
 forget his tender ministration in our homes, his faithful admonitions in this 
 pulpit, his steady and tireless labor for the good of this church. 
 
 " It is fitting," continued Mr. Goodrich, "that at the inception of these 
 ceremonies Princeton College, which was the cradle of Dr. Cuyler's theology, 
 should be represented. Therefore, the Committee have desired me to intro- 
 duce to you Rev. Dr. William M. Paxton, Professor in Princeton Seminary." 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. WM. M. PAXTON, D.D. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Christian Friends : I have accepted this invitation with 
 great pleasure ; but I now realize how difficult it is to speak upon an occasion 
 which is fraught with so much interest, and yet with so much delicacy. It 
 should be a cheerful and happy occasion ; and yet not a time of congratulation. 
 We could scarcely be expected to congratulate our brother Cuyler upon being 
 relieved from his congregation, for that would be very much like congratulating 
 a man who had just been divorced from his wife. Nor, upon the other hand, 
 is this to be a time of sadness, because Dr. Cuyler yet lives, with a spirit as 
 fresh and vigorous and buoyant as that of many of his younger brethren. He 
 is still capable, and he certainly will be expected to send out his messages of 
 love and wisdom yet, from under the shade of his vine and fig tree. No, no, 
 this is not Dr. Cuyler's funeral ; we do not intend to anticipate the fine things 
 we shall say of him when the Master shall have called him to the reward which 
 is above all human praise. But while it is not a time either for congratulation 
 or for sadness, it is, as I understand it, a testimonial occasion. It is designed 
 to testify the warm love and unabated devotion of this people to the Pastor 
 whose effective and untiring exertions have built up this great church of Christ to 
 its present stalwart proportions ; whose fervent eloquence has constantly drawn 
 to this place admiring audiences, and whose earnest evangelism has been the 
 means of leading so many souls to Christ ; whose tender and sympathetic 
 
58 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 pastorate has ministered to the sick and the dying, comforted the mourning, 
 and secured for him a warm place in the affections of so many hearts ; whose 
 tender love for children has opened to him the homes of the people, and 
 gathered around him such a throng of young people who now cleave to him 
 with fond affection even to the borders of old age. 
 
 This occasion is a testimonial from all this congregation of every class 
 and of every age ; a testimonial to memories that can never be forgotten, and 
 to a love that will never grow cold. But this occasion in its meaning extends 
 far beyond the limits of this single congregation ; it is a testimony on the part of 
 his brothers in the ministry, many of whom are here to-night, and of others who 
 are not able to be here ; a testimony of their admiring regard for one who has 
 been so cordial, so generous in every office of kindness towards his Christian 
 brethren ; whose marvellous powers of conversation have enlivened and ijispired 
 so many ministerial circles ; whose letters and communications in the public 
 press have been the means of giving hope and strong courage to so many of 
 his brethren, far and wide over the whole land. This occasion is also a 
 testimonial from this whole community, of their appreciation of the man who 
 has walked in their midst for thirty years without spot and blameless ; and 
 whose spirit, voice, and action have been an inspiration in every religious, 
 benevolent and philanthropic movement. In one word, this occasion is the 
 utterance at the end of a long ministry, from those who have known him well, 
 of the commendation, so far as the voice of man can utter it, the utterance of 
 the commendation "Well done, good and faithful servant." 
 
 But I have been asked to speak especially for Princeton. I take great 
 pleasure in bringing to this congregation the salutation of the old mother 
 institution, who gave development — I might almost say who gave birth to the 
 genius of your pastor — and who gave also that education and culture and 
 preparation which equipped him for his whole life-work. I bring also, with 
 great pleasure to Dr. Cuyler, the assurance from his Alma Mater of the 
 warmest remembrances ; assurances from the Alma Mater in which he was 
 born again, under the religious and spiritual influence of which he has grown 
 to be a man of God, and has the useful fruitage which you see around you. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 59 
 
 It is a well-known fact that Dr. Cuyler has been a favorite son of Princeton ; 
 and I believe that it is equally true that no son ever reciprocated with greater 
 warmth the affection of a mother. He came to Princeton when he was a mere 
 lad ; he grew up there under the shadow of the college. His obvious precocity 
 attracted the attention of the professors, introduced him to their acquaintance 
 and to their friendship. He early formed a very strong and devoted attach- 
 ment to Professor Henry, great in Philosophy ; to Professor Dod, the 
 remarkable mathematician and splendid orator ; to Dr. Addison Alexander, 
 the unrivalled linguist ; to Dr. Hodge, the great theologian and simple childlike 
 christian. It was under their friendship and their influence that he grew up ; 
 and this, together with the influence of the two institutions with which he was 
 connected, the religious, scientific, literary and theological influences by which 
 he was there surrounded, it was these influences that formed the mold in which 
 his life's character was finally cast. 
 
 Dr. Cuyler and I were fellow students of the theological school ; he 
 finished his college course two years before me ; he graduated from the 
 seminary two years in advance of me ; and now he retires from public life at 
 a time when it has never entered my head to begin to think about being an old 
 man. It has troubled me somewhat to find an anecdote or a joke which I 
 could tell at this time at Dr. Cuyler's expense. I applied to one of our 
 professors who was a classmate of his in former years ; but he could recollect 
 nothing. He tried to think of something, but he finally said, "AVell, 
 Dr. Cuyler's record has been too good and too clean to have any joke left 
 about it." That greatly disappointed me, because I wanted to punish 
 Dr. Cuyler ; I wanted to punish him for the way in which he recently turned 
 the laugh on me, when he was making a temperance speech in Princeton. The 
 house was crowded with students of the seminary and students of the college ; 
 he was saying that it was not necessary to sell liquor in order to support the 
 existence of a first-class hotel. He quoted the hotel that Brother Smiley kept 
 at Lake Mohonk, which he said was one of the very best hotels in the United 
 States, and yet not one drop of liquor was sold there. "No one there," he 
 said, " for love or money could get anything to drink, as Brother Paxton can 
 
6o A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 ij" You can imagine the shout and roar that went up from those 
 students, that they had such a joke at my expense. So you understand my 
 disappointment on the present occasion, in not being able to find some 
 anecdote to tell at his expense. 
 
 Speaking of Dr. Cuyler's visit to Princeton reminds me of the cordiality 
 with which he has always been received there. He is known by every person ; 
 the students know him, the people know him and love him ; no man who ever 
 comes to Princeton to speak at that town can gather so many people to hear 
 him, no matter on what subject he attempts to speak. It is this that impresses 
 me with the multifariousness of the man. He can do many things and do 
 them well. He is not a large man, but he is what you might call a, multum in 
 parvo, man. When he was scarcely out of his teens he left Princeton on a visit 
 to London, and formed the acquaintance of Mr. Carlyle, Mr. Dickens, and 
 Mr. Wordsworth, and appeared on the London platform upon the subject of 
 temperance ; and before he left he established for himself a fine European 
 reputation as the young American orator. He is an orator ; but that is not all. 
 Dr. Cuyler has been a General, a Major General in the great temperance army, 
 and his name has received honorable mention upon many a battle field. Yet, 
 notwithstanding his reputation for temperance, it is very well known that 
 Dr. Cuyler is a hard drinker — of Saratoga water. He takes his drink in 
 sprees ; summer sprees ; he gets to Saratoga, and then he goes it strong ! 
 
 The Doctor is also a statesman ; he goes over to London as a private 
 citizen, holds conferences with his friend Mr. Gladstone, and there they settle 
 the policy of English and American politics. I have sometimes suspected that 
 he was something of a Pope ; but his Elders can speak on that subject better 
 than I can. I do not believe that he is Irishman enough to utter papal bulls ; 
 but we all know that he can talk ex cathedra. But to speak seriously. 
 Dr. Cuyler was born to be a leader ; for this he has the highest qualifications ; 
 he has an enthusiasm and buoyancy that never know discouragement. A 
 discouraged pastor is simply a useless pastor. The time comes in the 
 experience of every minister, when that temptation comes to him ; and it all 
 depends on the way he meets it. If he yields he becomes a weakling ; if he 
 
THE RECEPTION. 6i 
 
 rises above it he becomes a man of power. Now it has seemed to me that 
 Dr. Cuyler never knew what that temptation was, for he has the buoyancy and 
 hopefulness and enthusiasm and energy which carry him above such a tempta- 
 tion, and inspire with enthusiasm all those who are around him. There was, 
 perhaps, something significant in the fact that when the Israelites were jour- 
 neying through the wilderness, Moses led the van ; and it has always been so 
 in the history of the church, that happy, joyous, buoyant men have always led 
 the advance of the church's progress. 
 
 In conclusion, let me say that there is an aspect of this subject which 
 requires congratulation. Princeton, the old mother of us all, Princeton, the 
 mother of ministers, congratulates you, my dear brother, because you have 
 done your work so well ; and we who are here congratulate you because your 
 Alma Mater loves you and because she is proud of your character and your 
 record. We congratulate you that you have lived through such a long 
 ministry in an age of so much worldliness and temptation, without a blot upon 
 your name and without a blur upon your record. We congratulate you that 
 it has been your privilege to work so long to win souls to Jesus Christ. When 
 Dr. Lyman Beecher had reached his old age and was near his end, some one 
 asked him what was the greatest work in this world. And he said that he was 
 not mistaken about that point ; " the greatest work is not to rule a kingdom ; 
 it is not political power ; it is not philosophy, nor science, nor even theology ; 
 the greatest work," said he, " that a man is ever called upon to do upon this 
 earth is to lead a soul to Jesus Christ." We congratulate you, my dear brother, 
 that that has been your work, and that God has given you success in it ; and 
 that you may now look forward to the fulfilment of the promise : '' They that 
 turn many to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and 
 as the stars forever and ever." 
 
 The Solo, "Be thou Faithful unto Death," was then 
 sung by Mr. William R. Williams. 
 
62 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Introducing Dr. John Hall, of New York, the Chair- 
 man said : 
 
 Americans generally know what they want ; they want the best. They 
 are getting a good deal of Ireland in America ; they manage our politics, 
 they manage our prisons^ and, rumor says, they fill them. And when America 
 is in need of a good pastor and is seeking for that which is to satisfy her, no 
 small western continent confines us ; in this case we looked to Ireland, and 
 there we found a man whose voice is always heard with pleasure ; you all know 
 Dr. John Hall. 
 
 ADDRESS OF DR. JOHN HALL. 
 
 My dear christian friends : I have listened with very great interest to 
 the address that has been given us by my friend Dr. Paxton ; and I should 
 like to endorse every word of it. It will not, therefore, be necessary for me to 
 travel over the ground along which he has conducted you ; I agree with all 
 the statements that he has made regarding the versatility, the consecration, 
 the signal virtue, the varied usefulness that God has given our brother, in 
 connection with whose retirement from the active duties of the ministry we are 
 here gathered together. I hope that you do not expect me to make what is 
 called a speech on this occasion. It is not my forte to make speeches. I can 
 truly and sincerely say that I am a mere preacher ; and it is especially upon 
 the side of Dr. Cuyler's life in which preaching is prominent, that my mind 
 rests upon this occasion. The impression is sometimes given out that the 
 pulpit has lost its power in the community. In one of the most respectable 
 papers of the city from which I come, some weeks ago there was a very 
 unusual article (it was in the type in which editorials are commonly printed, 
 so I presume it was an editorial) upon the decline of the pulpit as a power in 
 the community. Among the interesting statements it contained was this one ; 
 that when the time for the sermon had been reached in a church, if the 
 minister should stand up and say " Brethren, I regret that I have forgotten my 
 
THE RECEPTION. 63 
 
 manuscript, so there will be no sermon ; but the services will conclude with 
 the doxology and benediction," there would be a smile of pleasure and 
 satisfaction upon the faces of all of the congregation. I do not know upon 
 whose ministry the writer of that article attends, therefore I can make no guess 
 as to the personal grounds upon which the statement rests. But I wished a 
 few days after, that the editor had been along with me. I was with a very 
 cultured, intelligent gentleman, whose opinion upon that matter I wished to 
 obtain. " Did you see the article, editorial apparently, in such and such a 
 paper, on the subject of the pulpit ? " I asked him. " No," said he, " I never 
 read editorials in the newspapers." So I could not get the information from 
 him upon the matter. 
 
 I had the pleasure some time ago of attending a meeting like this in 
 some respects, in Richmond, where a minister whose name is known to many of 
 you, Rev. Dr. Hoge, was, with his people, celebrating the forty-fifth anniver- 
 sary of his settlement among them as their pastor. Every Protestant 
 denomination was represented on the platform. I have never been present 
 myself at a meeting which was so representative ; even the Jewish Rabbi had a 
 place beside us. But there was one thing which struck me very much ; a 
 gentleman representing the Baptist denomination who, I presume, was a 
 layman, as he was introduced as "Honorable" by the presiding officer, made 
 this very natural statement : " Isn't it strange that we should be told that the 
 pulpit is going down ; that it has lost its power ? Where is there any other 
 class of teachers in the community that could hold the attention of a people 
 five and forty years as has been done in this particular case, and as is being 
 done in so many other ministries ? Where is the power of literature, where is 
 the power of aesthetics, where is the man who is backed by any of these who 
 would be able to retain the attention and affection of a people for so many 
 years as has been done in this instance ? " It did seem to me that that fact is 
 one of a class that we should take into account in future, by which we are 
 constrained to say that through the blessing of God the pulpit has not gone 
 down and retrograded, but still retains its power as a benediction to the 
 community. 
 
64 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 The work of the preacher is peculiar to Christianity. There are a great 
 many systems of false religion, like Mohammedanism, Hindooism, and the like. 
 They have their priests, their teachers, their leaders, their institutions ; but it 
 is Christianity that is distinguished by the preacher ; and it is to Christianity 
 that this distinction belongs, that men stand up and in the name of Christ 
 interpret God's word to the people, and so constitute the power by which the 
 truth is to find lodgment in the understanding, and the conscience, and dwell 
 in the lives of the people. So the Christian pulpit has been God's instrument 
 for producing a people, that for intelligent capacity are without a rival in the 
 population of the globe that we inhabit. No one who thinks a moment on the 
 matter will say that the preacher develops any but the highest faculties ; he 
 makes his appeal to the understanding ; he addresses the affections, he directs 
 the will, he speaks the grandest truths that man can hear and comprehend ; 
 he brings them into contact, week after week, with the minds of his people ; 
 he does this in seriousness, in intense earnestness, with the highest purposes 
 before his mind. How can it but be that the intelligence of his people will 
 be fostered and promoted by the faithful and earnest preaching of the truth ? 
 What is the result ? A hundred years ago in many places, aye, fifty years ago 
 in some places, you could find large populations which had few of the oppor- 
 tunities and advantages enjoyed to-day ; for example, in the greatest cities in 
 our time. They had very little opportunity, perhaps no opportunities for 
 travel, very few educational advantages, very little contact with their fellow 
 men ; and yet the steady, regular study and preaching of the gospel which 
 appealed to them from week to week with messages from God's word, made 
 them intelligent and prepared them to be forces for good among their fellow 
 men. That is one of the distinctions of a ministry like that of Dr. Cuyler ; 
 that it develops the mental powers and intelligence of the people to whom it is 
 addressed. The same thing is true in relation to the conscience. Who does 
 not know what a powerful factor in life the conscience is ? It is that thing 
 which detects the difference between right and wrong. But men will make 
 mistakes in relation to conscience ; they are often speaking of it as if it were 
 God's vicegerent ; as if in following it you were following an infallible 
 
THE RECEPTION. 65 
 
 representative of God's spirit. It does represent His spirit in some things ; 
 but it is not infallible ; it has need to be instructed aright ; it needs the 
 faithful preaching of God's word for its guidance, and thus it prepares men for 
 being clearer, inore discriminating and faithful, as they go about the duties of 
 their daily and ordinaiy life. 
 
 Now, Dr. Cuyler has done this throughout all his ministry ; in his 
 preaching from his pulpit, in his preaching through the press, a preaching that 
 has made its appeal to multitudes not only over this continent, but over 
 English-speaking Europe. He has been doing this noble, blessed work, 
 training and educating the conscience, teaching men to set the highest ideals 
 before them, and to serve God Almighty. So it comes to pass that the pulpit 
 does a great deal to shape pubhc opinion. There are matters which affect 
 human life very intimately, with which the press has to do ; but there are other 
 matters which are peculiarly for the pulpit to deal with and shape and form 
 public opinion regarding them. I need not dwell upon matters like tem- 
 perance, upon matters like personal purity, upon matters like the sacredness 
 of the married life and the home life, and others of that kind. It is the 
 distinction of the pulpit that it makes a sound and healthy public opinion. 
 And not the least of the services that my brother has rendered has been on this 
 line ; the line of public spirit, the line of benevolence, the line of truth 
 enlightening the community, the line along which only christian men who have 
 energy and zeal prove a blessing to their generation to the glory of Christ 
 our Lord. 
 
 But these are only what might be called incidental elements that come 
 from the pulpit. When he was seeking the salvation of the drunkard he was 
 incidentally doing good to the community ; in the degree in which he succeeds 
 he saves the community expense and he saves the family wretchedness and 
 misery ; but the main thing that he has gained is the rescue of the soul of the 
 poor drunkard. So it is that while brethren like Dr. Cuyler are following 
 these duties — God bless them ! — they are incidentally doing great good on the 
 line that I have indicated to you. But the main thing, the highest thing that 
 we have to do is to bring the living Christ to dead souls, that receiving Him 
 
66 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 and believing in Him, they may have everlasting life. It will be in itself the 
 glory of the history of my brother that during these thirty years he has been 
 lifting up Christ and seeking to draw people to an intelligent faith in him. 
 Men are starving — we are to bring them the bread of life ; men are thirsting — 
 we are to bring them the water of life ; men are naked — we are to bring them 
 robes of righteousness ; men are wandering — we are to set their feet in the 
 right way ; men are transgressing — we are to bring them to a sense of their 
 condition and persuade them to go with penitence to their Father. My brother 
 has been doing this. I am speaking to men and women here who could say 
 " yes, God used him to lead me to Christ ; yes, God used him to awaken me 
 to my real condition and show me where safety was to be found. I shall bless 
 his memory so long as I live, and I shall think of the joy and felicity of 
 meeting him again when he and I, in God's time, are gathered together in the 
 congregation of the redeemed." This is the distinctive kind of work of my 
 brother. I rejoice in the blessing that God has given him on these lines ; and 
 I congratulate you, his hearers, his beloved people, his fellow-worshippers — 
 for we ministers are just fellow-worshippers with you while obeying the Divine 
 Teacher in preaching the word. I congratulate you upon the harmony, the 
 unity, the brotherly kindness, the appreciative gratitude, shall I say the mag- 
 nanimity, with which you say to him " if it is your will to go down from this 
 pulpit, you will go down carrying with you our gratitude and our affectionate 
 appreciation ; you will go down, but you will not go down in our love, in our 
 confidence, in our tenderness, in our regard ; we shall love you and cherish 
 you as long as it pleases you to live among us ; and when you go hence, we 
 shall bless our Father for the memory that you leave behind you " 
 
 There is one other thing of which I shall speak. It is the distinctive 
 privilege of the minister to feed the living, to cheer, to comfort and strengthen 
 them. I am speaking to-night to men and women, gray haired men and aged 
 women, who I know could say " Yes, many a time I went to our church cast 
 down and discouraged, and I came away cheered and gladdened ; yes, many a 
 time I went not knowing just what I should do about this or that, and the 
 light flashed into my mind ; many a time I went with the cares of life pressing 
 
THE RECEPTION. 67 
 
 upon my spirit, and I learned there to cast my cares upon the Lord. So I have 
 run without weariness, I have walked without fainting." You love him now, 
 dear friends, and you will love him as long as he is here, and you will bless 
 God for sending you such a pastor. You will do this further ; you will make 
 your earnest prayer that his successor may be like unto him, and when the 
 responsibility is laid upon you of choosing the one who is to take this place, 
 you will look for a man like him who steps down from this pulpit ; who may 
 be described as a man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, through whom God 
 will add much people to the multitude of the saved ; may God give you such 
 a pastor ! 
 
 At the close of Dr. Hall's address the congregation 
 arose and sang the 329th Hymn : " All hail the power of 
 Jesus' name." After which the Chairman said : 
 
 There is one gentleman on this platform who during the remarks of 
 Dr. Paxton, in his speaking of Princeton as the great mother of ministers, 
 was very uneasy. That I suppose was because he graduated at another 
 Theological Seminary, Andover ; it is very fit and pleasant that the next 
 address should be delivered by a brother and neighbor of Dr. Cuyler, repre- 
 senting as he does a church which, several years ago, went out from this 
 church. I have pleasure in introducing Dr. Chamberlain. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. L. T. CHAMBERLAIN, D.D. 
 
 As I have listened to the friendly, glowing, felicitous words which have 
 already been spoken, I have half wondered why any statement from me should 
 be deemed either needful or desirable. Yet I still count myself happy in the 
 part which is mine. For, as both fellow-citizen and fellow-pastor, I am 
 privileged to refer to what has not yet been fully set forth. 
 
 The close of one form of a life-time's honorable service, gives fit occasion 
 for a review, in outline, of what the total service has thus far been. From this 
 height of observation, we are permitted to look back to-night upon both 
 
68 A THIR TY YEARS' PASTOR A TE. 
 
 rewards and struggles, harvest-fields and battle-fields alike ; as they tell us, 
 that on the old post-road over the Jura, there is the point where, at a single 
 sweeping glance, the eye may see the sweet vineyards of Burgundian France, 
 and the eternal snow-clad peaks of Switzerland's Alps. 
 
 Yet I own my sorrow that this hour has come. No doubt I speak the 
 feeling of each one in this vast assembly, and the feeling of an incomparably 
 greater number in the world without and beyond, when I say that could my 
 fond wish have been fulfilled, the dispensation of ancient days should have 
 been renewed. Not only should the dial's hand have gone backward, but 
 there should have been the assurance that even when six-score years had been 
 lived, neither should the eye be dimmed or the natural force be abated ! I 
 am touched with reverent sadness as this scene moves forward, never to be 
 renewed. 
 
 My very sadness, however, is akin to exultation, as when sunbeams cause 
 the misty vapors to yield prismatic glories, or tearful eyes behold the rainbow 
 round about the throne. Let us chant no merely lamenting strains to-night. 
 As Milton writes : 
 
 " Nothing is here for tears ; nothing to wail 
 Or knock the breast ; no weakness, no contempt, 
 Dispraise or blame ; nothing but well and fair." 
 
 The King of Israel was wholly right when he said to the vaunting Syrian, 
 " Let not him that girdeth on his armor, boast himself as he that putteth it off." 
 
 It is true that neither now nor ever may mortals refuse to acknowledge 
 their imperfections, their mistakes. Neither here nor elsewhere may they omit 
 to invoke God's pitying compassion, in view of their short-comings and sins. 
 Yet, in truth, what a life — to God's own praise be it said, — has been that life in 
 whose path we now set up this " stone of remembrance ! " The life of a 
 faithful minister, one of Christ's true under-shepherds for more than forty 
 years ! Accumulating, garnering the rich accretions of a single pastorate of 
 nearly a third of a century ! Surely, though that were all, it were more than 
 enough to engage to the full this hour's grateful thought, and to inspire this 
 occasion's grateful tribute. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 69 
 
 But, in fact, the life-work we celebrate, has moved in still other of the 
 ''correspondencies of greatness." By its steadfast, devoted, powerful support 
 of Christian missions both far and near, it has touched directly, beneficently, 
 the very ends of the earth. In its attracting the love and admiration of noble 
 hearts on both sides the ocean, it has been part of the international bond. In 
 the sending forth, through book and newspaper press, of thousands of articles 
 whose winged words have gone every whither bearing light and love, it has 
 made millions of homes its debtors. In the waging of many a contest against 
 specific, monstrous evils, it has earned the thanks of every well-wisher of either 
 our land or our race. Indeed, with reference to the strenuous, contending side, 
 I am reminded of the inscription to ^schylus, at Gela : 
 
 '* How brave in battle was Euphorion's son, 
 The long-haired Mede can tell, who fell at Marathon." 
 
 Suppose it were possible to gather hitherward to-night, in even incorporeal 
 state, the representatives of the wrong-doers assailed, and the outraged, suffering 
 ones to whom, at last, release was brought ! Even as in the battle-scene of one 
 great painter, the hosts of evil and good are beheld at strife in the upper 
 realms, or, in the worship- scene of another almost matchless artist, the very air 
 of the room is thronged by a suggested presence, transparent clouds, drifts, of 
 spirit faces and spirit forms. 
 
 Call to mind, then, the great anti-slavery struggle which was beginning to 
 grow fierce, when this pastorate, now closed, first took its place among the 
 important verities. Consider that those were times when allegiance to the 
 dictates of humanity and the teachings of Christ, might not be kept, save by 
 paying the costly price. Yet, all the while, this pulpit was fearlessly, fervently, 
 on the side of the oppressed. No friend of the slave trod martyrdom's crimson 
 path ; the lips of no advocate of inalienable rights, were silenced in the prison's 
 dungeon ; the feet of no fugitive from bondage, went, torn and bleeding, toward 
 the free land over which the pole-star seemed to rest ; no sigh, no tear, fell 
 from the heart or eye of one of God's degraded, dusky children, but this friend 
 of humanity and servant of Christ, was moved to quick, sympathetic response. 
 He spoke the martyr's praise. A double portion of the advocate's spirit seemed 
 
JO A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 to fall on him. The poor fugitive's woes were as his own. The bondman's 
 sigh, the bondman's tear, was as if from the bitter anguish of his gentle, daunt- 
 less soul. Let us not forget the heroic past. Let us pay deserved honor to 
 him who ceased not to warn and plead, to toil and pray, until he saw the slave 
 set free, four millions of bondmen invested with citizenship and armed with the 
 franchise, and the Constitution itself made, on this soil, the pledge and palladium 
 of equal, universal rights ! 
 
 Take, again, the life-long battle against intoxicating drink and the saloon. 
 To the inspiring recollections of this hour, belong the deeds of pioneer and 
 perilous times in that great crusade as well. The now retired pastor of this 
 church helped to make the history of those early days. Recurring to those 
 momentous events, he may say, in humble truth, " Of which I was distinctive 
 part." Are we sometimes half dismayed and altogether sorrowful, as we see 
 what evil results intemperance still works ? Do we set in array the other gravest 
 woes : — the disregard of human life, with its crowding assaults and suicides and 
 murders ; the corruption of political parties, with its consequent defamation 
 and falsehood ; licentiousness, with its foul besom sweeping on us like the fire 
 upon the cities of the plain ; commercial dishonesty, violating sacred trusts, 
 and robbing the widow and orphan ; — do we summon to view all that imminent, 
 cumulative jeopardy, and then find ourselves forced to admit that intemperance 
 out-tops each of them, and well nigh outweighs them all ? Do we still set down 
 to the account of strong drink, homes blasted, minds maddened, demented, 
 hearts polluted, the moral sense depraved, the inmost being given over to sin 
 and despair, — a desolation, both present and to come, compared with which the 
 poet's " City dolent and the eternal dole " is only a sign, a symbol ? Yet it is 
 ours to remember, as well, that had it not been for the early and unremitted 
 labors of such men as our loved friend, the picture would have become still more 
 ghastly, the woe would have grown to be still more appalling. As it now is, 
 these are manifest tokens of promise. The evil that so comes in like a flood, 
 is finding that there are barriers firmly set. There are blessed counter-tides. 
 The watchword, "God and Home and Native Land," signals the ultimate union 
 of temperance forces, and their onward march to a predestined, God-given 
 
THE RECEPTION. 71 
 
 triumph ! The forecast, therefore, no less than the retrospect, bears witness to 
 what our comrade and leader has helped to accomplish. We may assure him 
 that when the longed-for consummation has been attained ; when the radiance 
 of universal sobriety has kissed the hills aud illumined the valleys, lying "like a 
 shaft of light across the land "; then also shall his influence be felt and his good 
 work be crowned. 
 
 And in the war for the preservation of the Union, for the maintenance of 
 the one flag and the one domain ! Where, in those years, was there a more 
 patriotic citizen than he who preached the Gospel from the pulpit of this 
 church ? Was there a certain magnanimity in even his contending ? Did he 
 clearly recognize the sincerity, the valor, of many who fought for separation ? 
 Did he delight in having the ministries of relief cover all the battle-field, without 
 distinction of friend or foe ? That also was like him ! It was an earnest 
 of the conciliatory attitude which he since has taken. It foretold his later 
 efforts to make mutual respect and love the bond of the restored and indis- 
 soluble union. He has been constantly right and consistent in his patriotic 
 course. Well may we follow his example. The national chord which he now 
 seeks to touch, possesses healing, harmonizing power. As when, in the spring 
 of 1863, Federal and Confederate armies confronted each other on the Rappa- 
 hannock, while the bands played at eventide. On the one side, it was "The 
 Star Spangled Banner," on the other side, "Dixie." On the one side, it was 
 " Columbia," on the other side, " The Bonnie Blue Flag." Presently one of the 
 bands struck up "Home, Sweet Home." The other joined, and, at the close, 
 there ascended a united shout, in which not even the listening angels could 
 tell whether the acclaim was from those who wore the blue or the gray ! 
 
 Indeed, it is but characteristic of the man who, for the major part of half 
 a century, has thus lived and wrought, that he should still enroll himself on the 
 side of each current and righteous reform ; that he should favor true " civil 
 service"; put personal conviction above "machine" dictation ; seek the com- 
 plete divorce of national politics from municipal administration ; and stand 
 shoulder to shoulder with those who desire the success of a political party only 
 so far as that party deserves to succeed. 
 
72 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 And have I thus sought, think you, to magnify these extra-ministerial 
 services, to the implied disparagement of the distinctive life of preacher and 
 pastor ? No ! not for a moment ! Indeed, I have recounted all these virtues, I 
 have named all these valors, that I might gain meaning and momentum for my 
 assertion of the pre-eminent worth of the long and faithful Gospel ministry. 
 That ministry has been the vantage ground for the accomplishing of all the 
 other good. It has been, in itself, tlie absolute blessing, the absolute delight. 
 The rest might fade, and there be the clear shining still. All else might 
 disappear, and the utmost value still remain. The intrinsic, ever augmenting, 
 power of such a continuous pastorate, has already and fittingly been set forth. 
 I have spoken in conscious, most cordial assent to all that has been declared. 
 There can be no dispute. To have been, for a lifetime, the direct, accredited 
 ambassador of heaven ; to have impressed human thought and choice with the 
 very truths of God ; to have comforted the afflicted and healed the broken in 
 spirit ; to have given help to the perplexed and groping ; to have lightened the 
 burdens of those heavy-laden in both body and mind ; to have laid the gentle, 
 baptizing hand on tender childhood's head ; to have sealed in sacred marriage- 
 bonds, the covenant of truly loving hearts; and, above all, to have won multitudes 
 of the impenitent to contrition, and of the spiritually dying to a new life in 
 Christ, — thus building up this noble church, and planting other churches on the 
 right hand and the left, which will continue the holy work for generations yet to 
 come, — that is the labor, the result, to which all else before us to-night pays 
 willing tribute, even as the sheaves of Joseph's brethren paid obeisance to the 
 sheaf of Joseph. The chief gladness among the angels of God has been over 
 such achievements. The deepest, holiest, gratitude of souls here below has 
 been, and ever will be, in view of such unselfish, spiritual, Christ-like ministra- 
 tions. Of a truth, the supreme power and pathos of this memorial scene, centres 
 not in the man, tjie reformer, the patriot, the friend, but in thai, higher relation 
 which, having rightfully claimed all other splendors, makes offering of its own 
 self at the feet of the once dying, but now risen. Redeemer. 
 
 My prayer of prayers is that on the brethren in the ministry, on the 
 churches in their membership, on the communities in their perils, on the world 
 
THE RECEPTION. n 
 
 in its sore need, there may come more and more of that divine Spirit which has 
 inspired the faithful pastorate now laid down. 
 
 Nor in all this have I, for an instant, forgotten the dual nature of that 
 ministry which has been so richly blest. I recall that in the prophet's symbolic 
 act, he took to himself two staves, and one was Beauty while the other was Bands. 
 In the kingdom of grace, as in the kingdom of nature, loveliness is ever the fit 
 complement of strength. Accordingly, to her who has been the enthroned one 
 in the heart, the light-giver in the home, the beloved of the church, we wish 
 most fervent good wishes. For her also we lift on high our thankful, tender 
 intercession. To each, to both, we give the renewed assurance of our abiding 
 affection. May the laying aside of certain toils, admit the entrance of even new 
 delights. God grant that life's shadows may lengthen gently, slowly. Seri in 
 caelum redeatis ; diuque laeti intersitis nobis ! Late may you ascend to heaven ; 
 long and happily may you abide with us ! 
 
 When Dr. Chamberlain touched upon the work ac- 
 compHshed by the venerable pastor in the upbuilding of 
 the church, tears sprang to Dr. Cuyler's eyes and rolled 
 down his cheeks. He covered his face with his handker- 
 chief and silently wept for a few moments, while several 
 in the congregation who witnessed his emotion, were 
 similarly affected. Then, when the speaker referred to the 
 dual character of Dr. Cuyler's ministry and paid a tribute 
 to Mrs. Cuyler, the pastor was again overcome. Mastering 
 his emotion, however, he impulsively jumped to his feet 
 and, seizing Dr. Chamberlain's hand, said, "I thank you 
 for that." The assembly's applause revealed its heartfelt 
 sympathy. 
 
74 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Miss Van and Miss Wilkinson then sang a duet — 
 "Then Thou Art Nearest" — and the Chairman called the 
 Superintendent of the Lafayette Avenue Sunday School 
 to his feet. "No family circle," he said, "is complete with 
 out the children; let us hear from them through our 
 brother McWilliams." 
 
 ADDRESS OF Mr. D. W. McWILLIAMS. 
 
 Dr. Cuyler — Our dear Pastor : On the last day of last July, one of the 
 most precious men, and one of the busiest, in dear old Scotland, passed into the 
 skies — Dr. Horatius Bonar. In describing his work, one said, " He was always 
 writing"; another said, " he was always preaching"; and a third said, "he was 
 always praying"; and a fourth said, "he was always visiting." 
 
 We know such a man as that. We recognize his portrait in that delinea- 
 tion. He has lived among us thirty years, until now he lives in us. 
 
 And in all your writing and preaching and praying and visiting the 
 children were included ; they were always in view in every ministry of love. It 
 is not enough to say that they were recognized or reached in a merely professional 
 point of view — they were of the family ; all that interested them interested you. 
 We often marvelled at your rare gift of remembering names and locating 
 individuals. You often astonished the officers in the school by the information 
 you gave us concerning the individual children in this large flock. You would 
 tell us their names, where they lived, and oftentimes in whose class in the school 
 they were. 
 
 Jean Paul Richter said, " I love God and little children "; but our Pastor 
 says, " I love God and every little child." Every child in this church knows 
 that you love God and him or her, too. They were not patronized as by a 
 superior — the individual child felt, instinctively, that you were one with him or 
 her. There was a pleasant, familiar approach ; some apt word which revealed 
 knowledge of the person or of the family, and which revealed interest also. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 75 
 
 On first coming to this church, twenty-four years ago, and taking a class in the 
 chapel. I was impressed the first time I heard you speak to that school. You 
 said that the children at the church school were your own children, and that the 
 children at the chapel were your grand-children. How pleased they were ! It 
 was evident that your great heart took them all in ! 
 
 You won their hearts by first giving your own heart. When the child first 
 came under your observation, whether at home or in the school, the process 
 began : "First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear," You 
 first taught the children what Christian /azV/^ was, and then what Christian life 
 was, and then what Christian work was and how to do it, and then what a grand, 
 uplifting, comprehensive thing the Christian hope was, and then what a blessed 
 destiny a Christian's destiny was ; and many of these children, as they grew, 
 became impressed that the greatest thing in the world was to save souls. 
 
 Your passion for souls has been contagious There are business men who 
 have grown up in this school, practical men of affairs, who would abandon their 
 secularities and spend their lives in Christian work, if they were convinced that 
 such was their Master's will. A number have already done so. They have 
 breathed the fragrance of the life of their dear Pastor. 
 
 A large number of the teachers in the church school and at Olivet and 
 Cuyler Chapels, and many other teachers in other schools were led to Christ 
 under your pleading. We may say that of the present one hundred and ninety 
 teachers and officers of the three schools for which the church is responsible, a 
 majority are the fruits of this unexcelled pastorate. For several years your 
 missionary and benevolent spirit for the poor and those destitute of the Gospel, 
 has increasingly pervaded the school, and mission bands have grown in number 
 and increased in spirit and in results. Last Sabbath, notices were given in the 
 Sabbath School of meetings to be held this week of three of these mission 
 bands. 
 
 The notice given so often from the Sabbath School desk, that our dear 
 Pastor would be in his study on the next Friday afternoon, between four and 
 six o'clock and that he would be glad to see any of the school who wanted to 
 talk with him about their souls, was never a forbidding or repellant thought 
 
76 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 to them, but rather the drawing, winning invitation of a loving friend. During 
 these years hundreds have gone there in acceptance of that loving invitation, 
 who will be grateful to God and to their Pastor through all eternity. They 
 were met in a spirit of love and helpfulness. They were won, not frightened 
 away. 
 
 How glad every one in the school always was to see you enter the door, 
 ascend the steps of the platform, and take your place to give your stimulating 
 love-message ! What expectation there was (never disappointed) that you had 
 something to say which must not be missed, on the lesson or on personal 
 religion and daily duty. You never put the food here or there, too high for 
 the Iambs to reach up to, and it was cut small enough for their mental and 
 spiriiual assimilation. You always seemed to have the children in view. 
 
 A Pastor who comes to our homes, and calls even grandfathers and 
 grandmothi rs by their first names, just as they were called in childhood, cannot 
 overlook childrens' simplicity, nor be lightly esteemed by children. 
 
 Having been absent from the desk since May, 1874, but one year, (during 
 which the school was so ably conducted by our dear brother Van Cleve) we 
 have been brought into very close fellowship in the work. Many have the 
 Sabbaths been that it was my privilege, when the session was over, to tell you 
 that this one or that one was seeking the pearl of great price, or had already 
 made the great decision. And it was a very energetic, wide-awake teacher 
 who outran you in having an interview with that scholar ! Your celerity in 
 doing the Father's business was in blessed imitation of the Master when in 
 human form He was here among men. 
 
 Our dear Pastor, is it all to end now ? Ah ! no ; it can never end. 
 Many children and youth whom you have led to Jesus are grown now and 
 scattered abroad, or are here at home. Some are pastors, missionaries, teachers. 
 Godly parents. Others, who are younger, are already won, and their eyes are 
 on the cross of the crucified Jesus. A host will come along all down through 
 the ages, because you loved God and every child among us. Were they, and 
 are they, "inexpressibly dear" to you, as you said in your Easter sermon, so 
 you are inexpressibly dear to them. 
 
THE RECEPTION. J7 
 
 Mr. McWilliams here produced a package of about 
 one hundred and fifty letters, and thus continued: 
 
 And now my dear Pastor I have received these letters from members of 
 the Sunday School, giving texts, from which you have preached sermons which 
 have been blessed to the writers, and in which they speak of the good you have 
 done them ; half of these letters came in one mail the day after you preached 
 your farewell sermon. Shall I tell you what some of them say ? 
 
 A young lady writes : " His whole life has been one beautiful lesson. He 
 is inexpressibly dear to me. I have known no other pastor. I would specially 
 mention the following sermons : Gal. vi. 7, ' For whatsoever a man sowtth, that 
 shall he also reap ' The Sermon preached on the Sabbath I united with our 
 church : Mark vi 37, ' How many loaves have ye ?' and Malachi iii. 17, ' And 
 they shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels.' How many happy 
 remembrances come to me ; his loving sympathy, bright disposition, ever ready 
 words of encouragement." 
 
 A gentleman writes : " Thirty-three years ago I heard Dr. Cuyler preach 
 a sermon in Portland, Maine : the most glorious sermon, the most inspiring, 
 energetic sermon to young men that I ever listened to. It was like the lightning 
 flashes in the heaven. It stands out in my memory like a column in the clear 
 sky. The head light of his words to me are those often quoted by him and 
 lived by him all the time. Luke vi. 38, ' Give and it shall be given unto you, 
 good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men 
 give into your bosom ; for the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be 
 measured to you again.' " 
 
 Another gentleman writes : " He has made me dissatisfied with self. The 
 result has been a new impulse to my work for the Master an"d a desire to extend 
 it to the full extent of my ability." 
 
 A lady writes : " Language fails to express to express my gratitude that 
 I have been permitted to be one of the fold fed by Dr. Cuyler. My faith has 
 
78 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 been strengthened, my hopes brightened, and my anxious, sad heart made glad 
 by his kindly teachings. His prayers have spoken peace to my soul so many 
 times when lonely and sad." 
 
 A gentleman writes : " I feel very grateful for the faithful advice 
 Dr. Cuyler gave me a short time ago. It will be a great help to me all through 
 life." 
 
 Another gentlemen writes : " My pastor's life has taught me how true it 
 is that 'the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day.' " 
 
 This is what a young lady writes : " Seven years ago Dr. Cuyler said in 
 one of the meetings, ' Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye 
 cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.' That text and thought convinced me I 
 was not too young to be converted, although some people thought I was. I 
 united with the church, and it comforted my mother, who soon afterward 
 passed away." 
 
 From another young lady : " He has made heaven and things pertaining 
 to heaven seem very near. Four years ago he used the expression in a meeting, 
 ' When we get home to Father's house,' and it seemed to make heaven very 
 near." 
 
 And still another writes : " About a year ago, seeing no fruit in my class, 
 and thinking a change of teachers might be for their good, I determined to give 
 up my class, and was just on the point of doing so, when Dr. Cuyler preached 
 a sermon in which he said ' God never disgraces effort with failure.' That 
 settled the question. I decided to remain, and five have since united with the 
 church." 
 
 A teacher writes : " I had often felt the power of his loving tender words 
 both at home and from the pulpit, but the words spoken to me when in great 
 affliction, ' I have prayed that this cup might pass from you,' sank deep into my 
 heart and stands out to-day as the most Christ-like act of all. How could I 
 but drop my burden at His feet and bear a song away !" 
 
THE RECEPTION. 79 
 
 A young lady writes this : " I shall never forget the sermon Dr. Cuyler 
 preached with the three texts about bearing burdens. It was most helpful to me." 
 
 Another scholar writes : " Dr. Cuyler convinced me that there is nothing 
 that can make us good and true but the religion of Jesus Christ, and that the 
 only man worthy our imitation, is the Man who died on the Cross." 
 
 This is what a boy writes : " I will always remember what Dr. Cuyler told 
 me the other day in the hall of the church : Always to obey my parents." 
 
 This was written by a young lady : " One deep impression made by 
 Dr. Cuyler upon me has been his exhortation to be a cheerful Christian, to let 
 God's love shine forth in the heart and life." 
 
 A gentleman writes : '' His text, ' Jesus only,' and the sermon impressed 
 me greatly. My life has been made better and purer by seeing how Dr. Cuyler 
 has faithfully preached for ' Jesus only.' " 
 
 Another gentleman writes : " Of all the many things which Dr. Cuyler 
 has impressed upon my heart and mind none is stronger than this : ' The Bible 
 is true.' " 
 
 And another gentleman writes : " Dr. Cuyler led me to the Cross of 
 Jesus. Through his influence I have been kept in the shadow of that cross 
 ever since, and now my only desire is to live for and preach Jesus." 
 
 And still another writes : " Before I joined the church, I went 10 
 Dr. Cuyler to have the Creed explained. He said : ' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and thou shalt be saved.' That settled all my doubts and fears." 
 
 This was written by a young lady : "When I do wrong I think of what 
 Dr. Cuyler said to me a few weeks after I became a Christian, ' Try and keep 
 from sin,' and it helps me greatly." 
 
 Another young lady wrote this : " I wrote out nearly a whole sermon of 
 his one Sabbath on how to read the Bible. It made a great impression on me 
 because while reading philosophy and other things I was trying to read my 
 
8o A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Bible in that way and I became discouraged. I wrote one sentence in my 
 Bible from his sermon preached Easter Sabbath, 1885. I cannot thank him 
 enough for that one sentence : ' The brightest evidence of Christianity is a 
 Christian.' " 
 
 A teacher writes : "The only pastor I have ever known. Words cannot 
 express the depth of love I have for him. The full power of his life and 
 sermons will not be realized this side of heaven." 
 
 Another teacher writes : "When listening to his ringing calls to duty it 
 seems I could do and endure anything to help others to Jesus. The one 
 sentence that has helped me most in home life is : ' Don't let your light smoke at 
 home.' When in trouble, how comforting were his gentle words of love and 
 sympathy. I wish I could express the gratitude I feel for all he has done for 
 me — a 'chimney corner for him in my heart.' I shall always love him with my 
 whole heart." 
 
 Written by a young woman : " Many things in Dr. Cuyler's ministry have 
 inspired me. One deeply affected me. It was the sincere, pathetic prayer he 
 offered up by the side of the death bed of my beloved mother, four years ago, 
 when he asked God to stay and comfort those who were left. I did not then 
 think of such a thing as an answer to that prayer, for I felt no visible friend 
 could console me, much less an invisible being ; but a still, small voice came to 
 me. That loving prayer was answered. God did help us to become reconciled. 
 More than that, he spared her precious life long enough to see us three children 
 united to Christ and the Lafayette Avenue Church." 
 
 Another writes : " I cannot recall a sermon that was not a real help 
 toward a higher life. Two or three sermons were especially helpful — Joel ii. 
 13, ' Rend your hearts and not your garments.' Matthew xvii. ' The Transfigura- 
 tion of Christ'; the sermon pointed chiefly to the mountain top experience of 
 life. Song of Solomon, ii. 15, 'Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil 
 the vines ; for our vines have tender grapes.' " 
 
THE RECEPTION. 8i 
 
 Another member of the school writes : " I was hesitating about uniting 
 with the church, and could not make up my mind to do so, knowing how weak 
 .1 was. My dear pastor called on me and said : "You know when Christ called 
 Phillip and Andrew, He just told them to follow Him. They did not question 
 about it ; they left all and followed Him. He strengthened and sustained them, 
 which He will do for you, if you will only let him.' Those words decided the 
 question for me." 
 
 From Mr. Ira D. Sankey, a teacher in the school : " I wish to express 
 the gratitude I feel toward Dr. Cuyler for all the helpful words and sermons I 
 have heard since I came to live in Brooklyn. I have always felt the stronger 
 after hearing him. The predominant thought has been, after listening to him, 
 loyalty, splendid loyalty to Jesus Christ and to His word. Thank God for such 
 a man ! He has been a tower of strength and a shelter in the time of storm. 
 He will ever have a snug corner in our hearts." 
 
 From a member : " I love Dr. Cuyler, because he taught me how to love 
 Jesus and how to live for Jesus. 
 
 Written by another member : " He taught me to love my Bible and 
 prayer." 
 
 A teacher writes this : " He led me to Jesus, and, encouraged by him to 
 go to work, I took a class in Sabbath School and the entire class has been 
 converted." 
 
 The following was written by a young lady : '' Fourteen years ago our 
 dear pastor preached a sermon : 'Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God,' 
 which settled the question for me. I had been waiting to become a Christian a 
 long time. My brother, who is now with his risen Lord, united with the church 
 at the same time I did. His last words were ' God is above me, beneath me, 
 about me.' " 
 
 Another young woman writes : " I don't think I ever heard Dr. Cuyler 
 close a sermon until he had given to the unconverted a special invitation to 
 come to Christ." 
 
82 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 A little girl writes : " Dr. Cuyler's punctuality has taught me always to 
 be on time. I have been in his church since I was four years old. I am always 
 trying to remember what he said several times to me, ' Set a good example to 
 those around you.' " 
 
 A young woman writes : " My conscience had been telling me again and 
 again that I should confess Christ, when I heard his sermon, about a year ago, 
 about the woman who touched the hem of His garment, and immediately con- 
 fessed Him before men." 
 
 Another young lady writes : " One address of Dr. Cuyler's has been 
 specially helpful to me, it was this : ' Be careful of nothing, be prayerful for 
 everything, be thankful for anything.' " 
 
 A gentleman wrote this : " The great spirit of love which has always 
 pervaded his teachings and life have kept alive in me a strong desire to follow 
 his example and bless my fellow men." 
 
 Another young man writes : "He has been my only pastor. I owe all 
 my spiritual blessings to him. I am deeply grateful for his kindness to my 
 mother in time of sickness and that he took such an interest in me as to secure 
 for me a business position." 
 
 Still another writes : " He is a steam engine in shoes. He tells the story 
 of a Scotch lad who had not learned his catechism, and being asked, 'What is 
 the chief end of man ?' replied, ' Well, master, I may be wrong, but I'm thinking 
 It should be his head.' Of course, the boy was wrong, for do we not all 
 know that in Lafayette Avenue Church the heart is the chief end ? Certainly 
 our dear pastor fires our hearts and keeps us constantly ' on the go ' in some 
 good or benevolent mission ; and are we not aware that the proverbial leanness 
 of the officers of our beloved church is attributable to his frequent and peremp- 
 tory command to 'step lively'? I am greatly the debtor of Dr. Cuyler, for I 
 was not only brought into the church under his ministry, but immediately set to 
 
THE RECEPTION. "^i 
 
 work. The day after I was admitted to the church he called upon me and said : 
 ' Now, you must go to work. You must do something. You must go into the 
 Sabbath School.' He was irresistible and so I went into the Sabbath School, 
 more than twenty years ago, and, thanks to his importunity, have been there ever 
 since. I bless him and thank him. As long as I live I shall remember his 
 services and keep his memory green." 
 
 Written by a scholar : " A sermon preached years ago will help me all 
 through life : Luke vi. 37, 38 ; 'Judge not and ye shall not be judged.' ' Give 
 and it shall be given unto you.' " 
 
 A young lady writes this : " Three years ago Dr. Cuyler had this text : 
 ' The summer is ended, the harvest is past, and my soul is not saved.' It 
 touched my heart, and when I thought how happy those were who loved Christ 
 I decided to enter his army ; and his sermon on 'Therefore choose life,' helped 
 me to become a better Christian." 
 
 Written by a young woman : " The following texts will always be asso- 
 ciated in my mind with Dr. Cuyler ; I Peter i. 8; 'Whom having not seen ye 
 love.' Acts XX. 24; 'But none of these things move me.' Ruth ii. 19; 
 ' Where hast thou gleaned to-day ? ' " 
 
 Another young woman wrote : " For fourteen years he has given me 
 food for new life. With tenderness I open my dear mother's Bible and find 
 passages marked here and there, and many of them with Dr Cuyler's name and 
 a little note in the margin telling us that the marked promises came to her in 
 special times of need. My sorrowing heart has been comforted through his 
 words of love and sympathy ; my heart has been touched and my lips loosed 
 through his oft-repeated plea for witness-bearing for our dear Redeemer." 
 
 A gentleman writes as follows : " I first heard him preach to the Princeton 
 students on the day of prayer for colleges in 1869 or 1870. He recited a poem 
 in a masterly manner, ' An ivy in a dungeon grew,' telling the story of the plant 
 creeping toward a sunbeam that had reached that gloomy place, then grew and 
 
84 .-i THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 climbed until it got into the light and air of the outside world. He applied the 
 thought to our lives." 
 
 Another gentleman writes : " I was skeptical — no sermon of any descrip- 
 tion would make an impression on me. But one thing moved me as I listened 
 to his preaching, and this was his great sincerity. As I saw more of his life, 
 and realized the depth of his hearty love for the uplifting of others, an indelible 
 mark was made on my life. We can never duplicate Dr. Cuyler." 
 
 (The reading of other letters was omitted from lack 
 of time.) 
 
 Mr. McWilhams was followed by the President of the 
 Young Peoples' Association, in introducing whom the 
 Chairman said : 
 
 With the associate organizations of our church, Olivet, Cumberland Street 
 Church, the Cuyler Chapel, and a dozen others, this mother church is very much 
 in the position of the old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children 
 she didn't know what to do. Unfortunately, we have omitted one feature from 
 our programme to-night, but which I will introduce here. Where are the Young 
 people ? 
 
 REMARKS OF Mr. J. T. UNDERWOOD. 
 
 On behalf of our Young People's Association, I would say, our members, 
 one and all, sincerely regret the fact that you are retiring as Pastor from our 
 midst ; we fully appreciate how hearty has been your support and how deep the 
 interest you have taken in our Asssociation and its work during all the years of 
 its existence. As a testimonial of our feeling, I beg to present to you this 
 bound volume, containing an engrossed and illuminated copy of the Preamble 
 and Resolutions unanimously adopted at the Annual Meeting of our Association, 
 held March sth, 1890. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 85 
 
 Whereas, our beloved pastor, Rev. Dr. Theo. L. Cuyler, has signified 
 his intention to relinquish the charge to which he has ministered so faithfully 
 and successfully for Thirty Years, and 
 
 Whereas, this Association has always been near to his heart, and the 
 success of which has been largely due to his inspiration, sympathy and counsel, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, that the Association recognizes that the change of relation 
 which is of deep interest to the whole Church, will in no department be more 
 universally regretted than among the members of this organization. 
 
 Resolved, that from the infancy of the Association, when such methods 
 of Christian effort were comparatively little known, through every season of 
 perplexity and during all its years of growth and prosperity, it has been im- 
 measureably indebted to him for his presentation of its claims upon the 
 Church, for his interest and co-operation in its various lines of work, and his 
 wise judgment concerning the administration of its affairs ; while his warm 
 heart and his peculiar power in personal, friendly intercourse among the 
 members, have endeared him to all. 
 
 Resolved, that we extend to our retiring pastor our grateful acknowl- 
 edgement of his unflagging sympathy and cheering helpfulness, assuring him of 
 our continued affection, and trusting that he will retain a loving interest in our 
 welfare during the long period that, we pray, he may be spared, to bless the 
 world by tongue and pen, until called up higher to his eternal reward. 
 
 Rosolved, that an engrossed copy of these preambles and resolutions be 
 presented to Dr. Cuyler. 
 
 Alex. G. Van Cleve, "] 
 
 Frank W. Hill, I Committee. 
 
 Clinton L. Rossiter. J 
 
 Sylvester E. Bergen, President. Francis S. Way, Secretary. 
 
86 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 The president of the evening here made way for 
 Mr. John N. Beach, who had in charge the fund raised 
 in view of this occasion, and now to be presented to 
 Dr. Cuyler. This part of the affair, he would have it 
 understood, was but an episode. He did not believe that 
 the thought of mere money had entered into the mind of 
 any one present. 
 
 It was very fitting that Mr. Beach, the near neighbor 
 and close friend of Dr. Cuyler, should have been selected 
 to perform this service — a service most eloquently dis- 
 charged. 
 
 ADDRESS OF Mr. J. N. BEACH. 
 
 Since the morning of Sunday, February 2, we as a church and congrega- 
 tion — pastor and people^have been living very, very largely in the past. 
 You, sir, our dearly beloved and revered pastor, have been recounting the 
 experiences of these eventful years now gone. Yoa have found yourself 
 thoughtfully repeating the words " 1860-1890 — thirty years." You say how 
 quickly have they sped, yet what volumes of history have they recorded in 
 your personal experience and in that of this church. When, on Easter 
 morning, i860, you in the full vigor and buoyancy of your early manhood, 
 assumed the pastorate of this church, it was but a feeble band. You were not 
 then permitted a prophetic glance of even its possible future, but its founda- 
 tions were well laid, founded upon a rock. Under your faithful and efficient 
 pastorate, which had for its keynote, "I determined to know nothing among 
 you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," this church has grown into one of 
 the largest and most prominent of its denomination and is known throughout 
 the world. A London journalist has been pleased to say of us : " It is the best 
 Presbyterian Church in America." We believe him, and heartily commend his 
 
THE RECEPTION. 87 
 
 sound judgment. How could it have been otherwise with the very best pastor 
 God has ever given to any people ? During this pastorate, comprising an 
 average lifetime, a generation of people have come and gone. How many 
 there are among us who have never known any other pastor, and what a 
 marvelous formative, molding influence has it been your privilege to exert. 
 There are heads of families before you here to-night, fathers and mothers 
 whom in infancy you held in your arms and invoked blessings upon them in 
 baptism. As they grew in stature it was your delight to see them develop into 
 men and women in Christ Jesus. Assembled as we are in this family gathering, 
 how many and varied are the remembrances which at this hour come rushing 
 in upon us. Day by day, month after month, year after year, during all this 
 time, you have mingled with this people, sharing their joys and their sorrows. 
 I cannot so well express this as by quoting your own words addressed to us on 
 a former occasion, when you said, " Into your dwellings you have welcomed 
 me when the wedding torch was lighted and often when the candle was gone 
 out and the atmosphere was shadowed by the death angel's wing ; when the 
 cradle had given place to the coffin, or the arm-chair of dear old father or 
 mother became vacant. Then we went into the cloud together and saw no 
 man, save Jesus only." Such a pastorate as this has been, continuous, untiring, 
 ever faithful, tender and loving, has cemented a bond of union between pastor 
 and people which will outlast all time and reach into eternity. Is it at all 
 strange, then, that the severance of this relation is to us like taking from us 
 our very life's blood, and that our eyes are too full of tears to clearly discern 
 the blessings which yet remain ? Are we to be too harshly censured if we at 
 times find ourselves experiencing a sort of jealous shrinking from seeing 
 another occupy this sacred desk ? Yet we would have but poorly learned 
 the lessons which you have so faithfully taught us if we did not rise above this 
 and render devout thanks for the blessings which we have so richly enjoyed, 
 and then ever bear in mind that we honor you most when we accord to him, 
 who, in the good providence of God, may in due time be called to succeed 
 you, all the love and cordial support which you have already so earnestly 
 bespoken him. Your precepts and example will abide and be a precious legacy 
 
A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 to us and to our children. Although you have asked for a formal dissolution 
 of the pastoral relation existing between yourself and this people, we find 
 great comfort in the thought that we are not to be separated from you. This 
 is in no sense a farewell reception, else we would have no heart to engage in it. 
 We rejoice that we shall continue to be cheered by your genial presence in our 
 midst, in our public gatherings, in our homes and upon our streets. Brooklyn 
 would no longer seem like home to us were you to take up your residence 
 elsewhere. If we must submit to the inevitable in the matter of your resigna- 
 'tion, we will not let you go out from us. " Whither thou goest we will go ; 
 where thou abidest there will we abide." While we have been constrained to 
 speak to you these simple words of honest commendation, and however 
 imperfectly and feebly expressed they may have been, we all realize how richly 
 merited on your part they are. We now deem it to be eminently fitting that 
 we should present to you some more tangible expression of our appreciation 
 and love. We, therefore, tender you this purse, not as a charity, else you 
 might justly fling it down and trample it beneath your feet ; neither do we beg 
 your acceptance of this merely for its literal, intrinsic value as computed in 
 paltry shillings and pence ; we would present you this as a token, a very slight 
 token though it be, of the lasting obligations we bear toward you and yours, 
 and of the warm-hearted love we bestow upon you. If, perchance, this may 
 in any measure prove to be the means of relieving you of care and anxiety, if 
 it may afford additional comfort to those whom you love, and secure to you 
 better opportunities to gratify your tastes for literary pursuits, than your very, 
 very busy life has hitherto rendered possible, then will we be thankful indeed 
 that it was within our power to be of some little service to you in recognition 
 of all you have done for us. I take great pleasure in referring to the cordiality 
 and entire unanimity with which this testimonial fund has been placed in my 
 hands to present to you. It is our free-will offering ; it is a heart tribute we 
 would pay you and will you now accept it, sir, bearing with it, as I do, the 
 sincere love and well wishes of its many grateful donors. 
 
THE RECEPTION. 89 
 
 The book handed by Mr. Beach, at the close of his 
 address, to Dr. Cuyler, contained a check for $30,000, 
 "being," as the Chairman, in reply to an inquiry from 
 some one in the audience, said, " $1,000 for each year of 
 his pastorate." Gratifying as this evidence of the loyalty 
 and love of his people must have been to Dr. Cuyler, it 
 must also have given him additional pleasure to know 
 that the offering was entirely voluntary on the part of the 
 Congregation. " Fine as the financial testimonial was," 
 gracefully and truthfully writes the editor of the Brooklyn 
 Eagle, " the manner of getting it was even finer. No one 
 was taxed, assesssed or assailed for it. It came as freely 
 and spontaneously as the sunshine. The smallest contri- 
 bution to it was as significant as the largest. The repre- 
 sentative character of every dollar was as charming as the 
 delicacy of the proceeding of obtaining and giving the 
 whole. The gracefulness of the act was as distinct as the 
 gratefulness of it. The incident was an education in 
 manners as well as a sermon in money. The method was 
 as exquisite as the act itself was exemplary." 
 
 Dr. Cuyler needed no introduction to that audience ; 
 a great wave of applause, repeated again and again, 
 greeted him as he rose to reply, and it was with visible 
 effort that he recovered his voice and composure enough 
 
90 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 to proceed with this the closing speech of a grand and 
 ever memorable occasion. 
 
 DR. CUYLER'S RESPONSE. 
 
 Beloved friends, neighbors, and fellow-Chrisiians of all denominations ! 
 My words to-night must be few. In the first place, there is a big lump in my 
 throat that makes articulation difficult. And then the hour is so late, that I 
 must not weary the courtesy of our many guests. I need not review to-night 
 the story of my long and supremely happy pastorate of this glorious church ; 
 that simple story I told you on Easter Sabbath morning, and I put windows 
 enough in my heart to let you see that its throbbings of love to this people were 
 as strong as a Cunarder's engine. 
 
 This evening fresh fuel has been added to the fiame by this princely and 
 munificent gift, which has just been handed me by my dear neighbor and 
 brother Beach. God bless him ! With all my heart I thank you for it, not 
 only as a sweet testimonial of affection, but as a relief during the remainder of 
 my life from the corrosions of pecuniary care. I gratefully accept my share of 
 this generous gift, but a large part of it belongs to my better part — to yonder 
 noble, unselfish, and beloved wife (great applause), who is the joy and crown of 
 my heart and home (renewed applause;. The Great Apostle wrote to his 
 Philippian brethren from Rome, " I rejoice in the Lord that now at the last 
 your care of me has blossomed out afresh." So I translate that verse literally, 
 and to-night Lafayette-avenue Church stands like a peach-orchard in the beauti- 
 ful full bloom of a loving bounty. 
 
 But what am I that I should be loaded with such kindness ? When I 
 think of many a hard-toiling and self-denying missionary on the frontier or in 
 foreign fields, who has received no ovations of applause, and no such provision 
 for his declining years ; when I think of Him who bore the sins and sorrows of 
 the world, and yet had to work a miracle in order to pay a paltry tax to Cffisar, 
 
THE RECEPTION. 91 
 
 and had not where to lay His holy head — then I feel humbled to the dust ! 
 Truly may I adopt the language of Wordsworth, and say 
 " I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds 
 With coldness still returning ; 
 Alas, the gratitude of men 
 
 Has oftener left me mourning ! " 
 
 Among all the kind messages sent me, none have touched me more than 
 the letters from my venerated and beloved friends, John G. Whittier and 
 Mr. A. A. Low : for while we differ in some points of our written creed, they 
 prove that Christian love lays principles deeper down than sectarianism lays 
 parchments. 
 
 Two things more I must say before I bid you "good-night." The first is 
 that I do not intend to stop preaching. Many years ago I was in the Adiron- 
 dacks — before they had been profaned by Brussels carpets, or lace curtains, or 
 electric lights. I was staying at a rustic inn on the shore of Lake Placid. One 
 day I saw an old deer-hound lying on the porch asleep — with one eye open. 
 The inn-keeper took down his rifle from the ceiling of the porch, and as soon 
 as the hound saw it, he leaped to his feet, and bounded off towards the woods. 
 The hunter put back the rifle, and said " It's too bad to fool the old dog ; he 
 thought he was going for the game." So on every Sabbath morning I shall feel 
 like the old Adirondack hound : I shall want to be after the game. That 
 pulpit is no longer mine ; it is now yours. But when your Supply Committee 
 said to me "will you preach for us next Sunday morning?" I most cheerfully 
 consented. On Easter Sunday morning I went down those pulpit steps with a 
 tear ; next Sunday I shall ascend them with a smile. 
 
 We need not bid each other farewell to-night. I expect — God willing — 
 to live still among you in yonder house which I own, as the tax-collector's 
 receipts can testify. The latch-string of that house will always hang out for 
 you, and for all our old friends, rich or poor, old or young, black or white. 
 Come and let us make love together, as in days gone by. My fervent prayer 
 for you all is, that this beloved and sacred sanctuary may be a spiritual home 
 for you and for your children's children ! May He who shed the brightness of 
 
92 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 His presence over the household of Bethany, ever fill yours with the light of 
 His countenance and the joys of His grace ! And may we all so live, that after 
 we have listened to the sunset-guns, the next sound may be the morning- trum- 
 pets of Heaven's hallelujahs ! Good-night ! Good-night ! God bless you all ! 
 
 At the close of his address and during its delivery 
 Dr. Cuyler was deeply affected, as, indeed, was the entire 
 congregation ; and after the Benediction, pronounced by 
 the Rev. C. L. Thompson, moderator of the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, many lingered, 
 while the organ sounded out a " Triumphal March," to 
 again salute and shake by the hand the retiring — the self- 
 retired Pastor of Lafayette Avenue Church. 
 
 During the evening, the Chairman announced that 
 numerous letters had been evoked by the announcement 
 of Dr. Cuyler's resignation, many more in commendation 
 of his Farewell Sermon, and a great number in reply to 
 invitations to attend the Reception to Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler. 
 Letters had been received from a great many fellow minis- 
 ters and other friends of Dr. Cuyler, among them being 
 the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs, Abbott E. Kittredge of 
 New York; G. T. Shedd, of New York; William M. 
 Taylor, of New York; A. S. Hunt, J. M. Hopkins, of 
 Auburn ; Edward Kempshall, George L. Prentiss, of Union 
 Theological Seminary ; Postmaster General John Wana- 
 maker, Peter Carter, the publisher; William H. Seward, 
 
THE RECEPTION. 93 
 
 of Auburn ; A. A. Low, John Greenleaf Whittier, Bishop 
 H. C. Potter, the Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, of New York; 
 the Rev. Dr. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago, and many 
 others. 
 
 One or two of these were read after Prof Paxton's 
 address, but the Committee have deemed it advisable to 
 insert them, with a few more from the vast number re- 
 ceived, in this place, and according to their dates : 
 
 From Hon. JOHN WANAMAKER, Post Master General, U. S. A. 
 
 Washington D. C. Feb. 3, 1890. 
 Beloved Brother : 
 
 To the left of me Dr. Scott — ninety years old ! To the front of me Mrs. 
 Wanamaker — still young. To the front of Mrs. W., Brother John ! We are 
 all talking about the little man who stood up yesterday in his pulpit and bravely 
 and wisely said — let your old minister help to organize the dear old Church 
 that it may go on as well with a new pastor as with the old one ; and even go 
 the better because of the counsels and guiding hand of the man who for thirty 
 years has loved and served the flock. I feel sure that it is no mistake. The 
 example to others is also good to step out, and adjust the church wheels to run 
 on smoothly and safely under new circumstances. 
 
 Much love from us all, and a welcome both in Philadelphia and 
 
 Washington ! 
 
 Yours, long and strong, 
 
 JOHN WANAMAKER. 
 
 From Hon. WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS, U. S. Minister to Germany. 
 
 Legation of the LTnited States of America. 
 Dear Dr. Cuyler : Berlin, Feb. 18, 1890 
 
 What is the meaning of this startling news that I read in mv Tribune 2 
 Do you mean that you would, in cold blood, thus disappoint the thousands who 
 
94 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 belong to you in your church, and the tens of thousands of your friends, who 
 like myself outside of it, rejoice to think that they can imagine you there every 
 Sunday, busy, hopeful, helpful, eloquent, and happy ? 
 
 Why, Dr. Cuyler, from the time that I listened to you when you spoke at 
 the opening of our Crystal Palace, down through all the summers at Saratoga 
 and in all the columns of the Evangelist, you have been one of the notes in the 
 great harmony of my life ; and that you should propose voluntarily to take it 
 out of my life and the lives of thousands of others just because of a whim and 
 because you used to think the number of years, which you now carry, made an 
 old man — is absurd and cruel. I insist that you shall not selfishly follow this 
 whim ; and that you shall, for twelve years yet to come, as I have always ex- 
 pected, preach to me Sundays at Saratoga, preach and lecture and write in 
 
 winters. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS. 
 
 From Dr. S. S. STRONG. 
 The Sanitarium, Saratoga Springs, Feb. 24, 1890. 
 My dear Doctor : 
 
 The announcement of your resignation was a great surprise to us as well 
 as to your church and other friends. The wisdom of your purpose to provide 
 for a larger future usefulness by the preservation of your vital forces is ap- 
 parent. None but a constitution of unusual vigor — surcharged with vitality, 
 wisely cared for and providentially preserved — could have endured the strain 
 of such long service. The success of your labors has been such that the lovers 
 of Christ exclaim, as did John Wesley, "What hath God wrought!" The 
 voice of the press and the pulsations of Christian love beating against you at 
 every turn, will be a grateful balm to your heart — as it must be profoundly 
 stirred in surrendering to another the care of your spiritual children, and of 
 a church made large and glorious by your ministry of thirty years. 
 
 All along your pathway, in future, you will be greeted by those who will 
 bless you for your labors of love through the press, on the platform, in the 
 
THE RECEPTION. 95 
 
 pulpit and in the house of sorrow. Thousands will pray that your life may be 
 
 spared many years to send forth from your unique pen " leaves for the healing 
 
 of the nations." Amen and Amen ! 
 
 My family join with me in fullness of love to you and Mrs. Cuyler. 
 
 Ever yours in Christ, 
 
 S. S. STRONG. 
 
 From Poet JOHN G. WHITTIER. 
 
 From the poet Whittier came the subjoined letter, of 
 which, Mr. Goodrich said, Dr. Cuyler was prouder than of 
 anything he had received : 
 
 Amesbury, Mass., Fourth Month, 12th, iSgo. 
 To the Officers of Lafayette Avenue Church : 
 
 It would give me very great pleasure to accept the invitation to the 
 reception of my dear friend, Theodore L. Cuyler, did not age and illness 
 confine me at home. I know of no one whose life-work as a Christian minister, 
 and as an advocate of everything calculated to promote the welfare of suffering 
 humanity, has been more faithfully and successfully done than Dr. Cuyler's. 
 He has well earned a season of rest, and if he retires from the pastorate, I am 
 sure that his facile pen will not be idle. That God may grant him many more 
 useful and happy years, is the prayer of his old friend, 
 
 JOHN G. WHITTIER. 
 
 From Rev. HOWARD CROSBY, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 To the Session and Members of Lafayette Avemte Presbyterian Church : 
 Dear Brethren : 
 
 It is a source of great regret to me that I cannot accept your kind invita- 
 tion to attend the reception tendered by you to the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler. 
 My own weekly lecture will prevent my coming. But permit me to take this 
 opportunity of expressing my love and esteem for your faithful and devoted 
 
96 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 pastor. In a friendship of nearly forty years, he has been to me at the same 
 time an affectionate brother and a magnanimous opponent. We have differed 
 widely on matters of public interest, and have resolutely maintained our 
 positions against one another, but in it all we have only cemented our Christian 
 fellowship. My love for Dr. Cuyler has grown constantly with our advancing 
 years, and my heart is with him in this touching event of his history. Your 
 church loses one of the most exemplary pastors and brilliant preachers of our 
 day, and it will be a difficult task to find a worthy successor. May you be 
 guided by the Spirit of God in your choice, and may dear Dr. Cuyler long 
 remain in the Church on earth, if not in the pulpit, to give wise counsel and 
 wield his gifted pen for the good of the Church and the welfare of men's souls. 
 Please present to Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler my respectful and affectionate 
 regards. I am. 
 
 Yours in the Gospel, 
 
 HOWARD CROSBY. 
 New York, April 12, 1890. 
 
 From Rev. HERRICK JOHNSON, D.D. 
 
 1070 N. Halsted St., Chicago, April 13, 1890. 
 My dear Dr. Cuyler : 
 
 A great occasion, a great career, and a great man ! From my inmost 
 soul I thank God for your life of love and toil. Full of years and full of 
 honor, dear, brave old heart, you have come to the close of your official life. 
 I cannot let the occasion quite pass out of sight in these swift-crowding days, 
 without telling you how deeply I sympathize with the host of loving hearts that 
 think of you with tenderness and tears. 
 
 Our palms have touched often, our hearts have been knit together. Your 
 well-known plume could always be seen on the battle-fields where truth was 
 fought for. Your clarion notes have been an inspiration to multitudes. Your 
 keen blade has cut through many a sham. But chief of all, dear brother 
 
THE RECEPTION. 97 
 
 Cuyler, you have loved souls and won them. And I think of you with affec- 
 tionate and reverent admiration, for this sign and seal of God upon you. Who 
 shall hazard a guess of what God will bring out of His infinite stores for you, 
 for having turned so many unto righteousness ! Is it selfish for us to pray that 
 these mellow, golden days of your life may be lengthened, and that it will be 
 some time yet before the dear Lord lets you know what it is to be transferred 
 from the trust of "ten pounds" to "ten cities"? " K. H. J." and I unite in 
 congratulations and thanksgivings, and in invocations of God's blessings on 
 your heart and home and kindred and people. 
 In the old bonds, 
 
 HERRICK JOHNSON. 
 
 From A. A. LOW, Esq. 
 
 Brooklyn, April 14, 1890. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 As one of the many admirers of Dr. Cuyler out of his parish, I ask to be 
 permitted to contribute the enclosed to the fund which is being raised as a 
 testimonial to the worth and beauty of his Christian life. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 A. A. LOW. 
 To Elder W. W. Wickes. 
 [The amount inclosed was $500.] 
 
 From Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
 Auburn, N. Y., April 14, 1890. 
 Dear Sirs : 
 
 I acknowledge with pleasure the invitation to be present at the reception 
 and services to be given in honor of the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler on the 
 i6th inst. But circumstances beyond my control will, I regret, prevent its 
 acceptance. 
 
98 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 The event marks a period in Dr. Cuyler's brilliant career, which may well 
 be the occasion of honoring him and recognizing his good services to mankind. 
 Allow me to join with Dr. Cuyler's many friends in admiration for his 
 past work, and the hope for a long continuation of his useful life. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
 To the Officers of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn. 
 
 From Dr. RICHARD S. STORRS, 80 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn. 
 
 April 15, 1890. 
 My Dear Dr. Cuyler : 
 
 I am very sorry to be unable to be with you and your people to-morrow 
 evening, but you know, for I have already told you, how heartily and unre- 
 servedly I rejoice in that thirty years of faithful and noble service in Brooklyn 
 which is to you, and to us all, henceforth, " a possession forever ; " and you 
 know, too, how glad I am that you are still to remain with us, to help forward 
 as heretofore every good cause, and to be heard in our always welcoming 
 pulpits. You have not yet " finished your course ; '' it will, I trust, be many 
 years before you do so — but you " have fought a good fight, and have kept the 
 faith ; " and I affectionately congratulate you on the happy and bright retro- 
 spect which is yours, now and henceforth. I congratulate you, too, on having 
 reached that opportunity of leisure, and of self-regulated liberty in work, which 
 always haunts, and always eludes the anticipation of a Pastor in active service. 
 To an indolent man such an opportunity might be the final catastrophe of his 
 intellectual life. But to one as active and indefatigable as you are, in every 
 fibre of your nature, I can think of nothing pleasanter than to be still sur- 
 rounded by the love of those to whom he long has ministered while able to 
 work or rest as he likes, to walk, talk, think, read, write, or do nothing, at his 
 own immediate and unhindered impulse. Some of us are not good enough 
 to have reached yet that pre-Paradisaic condition, even after more years than 
 
THE RECEPTION. 99 
 
 yours in the same parish. But we look with admiring emulation on your 
 
 earlier attainment of it, and hope that your enjoyment of it under the Catalpa 
 
 "will be long and sweet." 
 
 Ever faithfully, with the affectionate regard of more than thirty years — 
 
 Yours, in work and hope, 
 
 R. S. STORRS. 
 
 From Bishop HENRY C. POTTER. 
 
 Diocesan House, 29 Lafayette Pl., New York, April 15, 1890. 
 
 My Dear Dr. Cuyler : 
 
 In the early Church it was a rule, " Do nothing without the bishop," and 
 
 as you have not consulted me in the matter of your retirement, I am disposed 
 
 simply to write a line expressing my disapproval of it. Doubtless you will say 
 
 with that Presbyterian perverseness, which I fear is inherent in you, that the 
 
 only bishop you have felt called upon to consult, was bishop Theodore L. 
 
 Cuyler, and as this would instantly raise a controversy as to orders, and awaken 
 
 the ghosts of the Potts-Wainwright debate, I shall waive the question for the 
 
 present, having indeed but faint hope that at this late day you will see the error 
 
 of your ways. All the same, I don't quite see why you are retiring ! You are 
 
 as clever as ever you were — and that is saying a good deal — your church is as 
 
 prosperous, your sermons as edifying, your people are as united, your voice is 
 
 as vigorous, and your heart is as young as when in my boyhood I first knew 
 
 you. But you have certainly earned rest — rest with honor — and the troops of 
 
 friends who in both hemispheres know and love you, will wish that you may 
 
 richly enjoy it. I am sorry that I may not present my greetings in person, but 
 
 I pray with all my heart that God may abundantly bless you and yours, and 
 
 give you yet multos annos. 
 
 H. C. POTTER. 
 
 From Mrs. E. THROOP MARTIN. 
 
 Willowbrook, Auburn, N. Y., April 15th, 1890. 
 Dear Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler : 
 
 It gratifies me more than I can tell you to be included with the privileged 
 friends invited to the reception on Wednesday evening. 
 
lOO A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 In my heart I honor the occasion and earnestly unite with all who pay 
 their tribute of affection to their and our beloved friends. 
 
 It all seems to me a foretaste of that blessed moment when the soul will 
 be thrilled with the " Well done, good and faithful servant ! " It is a great 
 regret to me that I cannot in person, offer my meed of praise on an occasion 
 when I am sure language will fail to express the feelings which will swell the 
 hearts of those who meet to take their beloved Pastor and his no less beloved 
 wife, once more by the hand, ere their present relation shall be severed- 
 Blessed be God that Pastor and People are among those who ''live forever" — 
 whose names are written in the Book of Life ! 
 
 With warmest wishes that your onward path may be "as the shining Hght, 
 
 which shineth more and more unto the perfect day " — believe me always your 
 
 attached friend and sister, 
 
 CORNELIA W. MARTIN. 
 
 From Rev. CHARLES J. YOUNG. 
 
 Elberon, April i6, 1890. 
 Dear Dr. Cuyler : 
 
 Showers are made up of drops. Amid the showers of benediction falling 
 upon you now from unnumbered lips throughout Christendom, may I add my 
 little drop in fervent prayer for the richest blessing of the Master to crown all 
 your future as he has the blessed past. It is a great grief to me that circum- 
 stances prevent my being present to-night to mingle with the " many thousands 
 of Israel " in taking your hand once more in that dear old Church. But I 
 shall forever bless God that I was once a member of it and that from it I 
 entered the ministry. 
 
 The inspirations from your tongue and pen and work have thrilled me as 
 nothing else. What I owe to them I can never tell. 
 
 .May the good Lord long, long permit your Bow to abide in strength that 
 
 the whole Church Militant may still listen to the clarion ring of the same 
 
 glorious Gospel. 
 
 Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 CHAS. J. YOUNG. 
 
THE RECEPTION. loi 
 
 From Rev. Dr. LEONARD, Bishop of Ohio. 
 
 655 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, O., April 25th, 1890. 
 Dear old Friend : 
 
 No one has a better right than I, to send you a loving greeting at this 
 golden hour in your life experience. From my earliest childhood with the 
 recollections and associations of many members of my family and home in 
 Southport, Conn., along through the years of my Brooklyn and Washington 
 ministry, and now in my work in this more distant field of service, you have 
 been to me an object of affectionate regard, and I have ever realized your 
 paternal friendship. So I come to lay a simple tribute of veneration and 
 esteem at your feet, and to thank you for all the good you have done, and the 
 many wise and righteous sayings you have uttered, and the rich treasure of 
 help and advice you have put into strong and forceful writing. 
 
 Accept my gratitude and my evidence of appreciation — and also accept 
 assurance of my earnest prayer and desire that your life may be prolonged 
 through mellowing years of love and tenderness — and that God will crown you 
 with the continued manifestations of His Divine approval, I am, dear 
 l)r. Cuyler, your attached friend, 
 
 WILLIAM A. LEONARD, 
 
 Bishop of Ohio. 
 
 From Rev. Dr. WILLIAM C. ROBERTS, President of Lake Forest 
 University, and Moderator of the General Assembly. 
 
 President's Study, Lake Forest, III., April 27, 1890. 
 My dear Brother Cuyler : 
 
 I was busily engaged about University matters away from home, when the 
 cards of invitation to your farewell reception came. It makes me sad to think 
 of your resignation. I have been in the habit of looking upon you and the 
 Lafayette Avenue Church as "one flesh" — one and inseparable. Under God's 
 blessing you have made it the grand church it is ; and no man in America has 
 a better monument. Your monuments are everywhere at home and abroad — 
 in educational matters, in the Temperance Reform, in revival work, and among 
 
102 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 the homes of thousands. To most men God has been sparing of his gifts, but 
 to you He has given them unsparingly. Most of us are thankful for one or 
 two strong points ; you are permitted to rejoice in fifty. He has made you a 
 master in many directions, and you have used your noble powers for the glory 
 of God and the welfare of souls ; you have strengthened thousands in the 
 conflict of life, have comforted many in their dying hours, and have led them 
 to the gates of the Celestial City. 
 
 May God bless you with many, many years of usefulness yet ; by your 
 personal influence and your facile pen you may still bless your country and the 
 world. You are one of the brightest jewels of Princeton, and one of the 
 foremost preachers of our Presbyterian Church. You belong, indeed, to no 
 one institution and no one church, but to the world and the church of Jesus 
 Christ at large. You are cosmopolitan. My wife and daughter unite with me 
 in sending congratulations, not only to you, but to your beloved wife of many 
 years. 
 
 Ever yours fraternally, 
 
 WiM. C. ROBERTS. 
 
 From Rev. Dr. ARTHUR T. PIERSON. 
 
 39 Gordon Si^uare, London, W. C, May 3d, 1890. 
 
 My dearest Dr. Cuyler : 
 
 Just returning from the " Eternal City," I learn of your resignation, and 
 the beautiful fashion in which your congregation have acknowledged the 
 faithful service of so many years. 
 
 You have done many wise things ; I am not sure that your wisdom has 
 ever been more conspicuous than in this step. You give up the pastoral staff 
 while as yet the flock has felt no lack of your ability and capacity to be their 
 shepherd, and you leave the flock and fold, in my opinion, in the best condition 
 of any it is my privilege to know. I think the Lafayette .\ venue Church is the 
 best church, on the whole, in my acquaintance, for every genuine element of 
 real power. 
 
THE RECEPTION. J03 
 
 You know I am not a man of soft speeches, but I think I may properly 
 tell you of a tribute that must gratify you. My dear old friend, Dr. J. C. 
 Atterbury, now in heaven, told me that after hearing repeatedly every minister 
 of note in New York and Brooklyn, he had come to the conclusion that in all 
 that goes to make up the best and most uniform gospel preaching, the pastor of 
 the Lafayette Avenue Church had no superior. I have watched your career 
 closely, and I unhesitatingly subscribe to that same sentiment. 
 
 Whom your congregation will find to succeed, or ty en follow you, I know 
 not ; I have been cut off for a month from all letters and papers : but you are 
 not an easy man to follow, and especially to succeed. Your pastoral gifts are 
 simply transcendent. Your faculty of remembering faces and even of recalling 
 names, reminds one of Themistocles. I fear you have spoiled your people for 
 any other man. But I do pray that, in the choice, they may be guided to one 
 who in spirit and gifts and graces may at least worthily walk in the evangelical 
 and evangelistic career you have made illustrious. 
 
 There are times when sincere tributes are not to be withheld — and this is 
 one of them. Your days of service are by no means over — I hope they may 
 be more abundant than ever. Especially do I hope you may be led to give to 
 the world a volume of " Personalia " as to the men you have met and the 
 events of your life. 
 
 Give my love to Mrs. Cuyler. I hope to sail May 31, in the Servia. I 
 have spoken over 200 times in England and Scotland since November 16, and 
 after one more month in Scotland and Ireland, hope to see America and you. 
 Faithfully thine, 
 
 ARTHUR T. PIERSON. 
 
 From Rev. Dr. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, Manchester, England 
 
 Manchester Eng. May 16, 1890 
 My Dear Dr. Cuvler : 
 
 I ought long since to have joined the chorus of congratulation — or condo- 
 lence ? — which has been sounding round you. I feel something like Ralph 
 Erskine when his brother Ebenezer died. His remark was — " Ah Eben, Eben, 
 
104 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 you've won to heaven afore me, but I'll na be lang ahint ye, lad ! " So say I, 
 thinking of you as set free from the pressure of the pastorate, whilst I grind on 
 in the grim and grimy spot where it has pleased God to set me. 
 
 I have read, with keen appreciation, your sermon and the report of the 
 meeting which you were so kind as to send me ; and would gladly have had a 
 say among your friends to tell them how many there are over here who have 
 received messages from your pen and lips — for which they thank God and you. 
 Long may you be spared to work for Him ! Your leisure will, I trust, be not 
 less fruitful than your long day of toil has been. 
 
 I am working away here, as usual. I am thankful to say that, at last, I 
 have found an assistant ; his coming will lighten my load and I hope that he 
 may prove. the right man for a successor. I expect — please God — to go to the 
 Highlands in August, and rest my tongue at any rate, if not my heart. With 
 best wishes and hearty friendship, dear Dr. Cuyler, 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 ALEX. MACLAREN. 
 
 From Rev. NEWMAN HALL, L.L.B., 
 
 Christ Church, Lonj^on, June 2d, 1890. 
 Beloved Brother : 
 
 Although some outsiders may regret the step you have taken — of which 
 you must be the best judge — yet all must contemplate with admiration and 
 gratitude a Pastorate of such long continuance, so laborious, and so honored 
 of God with abundant usefulness. It is closed in the height of its prosperity ! 
 You have been a " wonder unto many " — combining three lives in one, Preacher, 
 Pastor and Writer ; attracting crowds to listen, binding hearts by pastoral sym- 
 pathy and controling untold multitudes in both hemispheres by your pithy, 
 pointed, practical papers issued through the press. I know with what 
 joy you will welcome a successor — if such can be found — under whom the 
 Church may be as prosperous as ever. Your evangelistic work will be more 
 extensive than ever ; by the pen your usefulness will be world-wide ; 
 and many prayers will ascend that your life may be spared for many 
 
THE RECEPTION. 105 
 
 years to proclaim the old and ever new Gospel of Salvation by the Atoning 
 Christ and Sanctifying Spirit. Our spheres of service are wide apart, but we 
 serve the same Master, and hope ere long to meet where we shall serve Him 
 perfectly, and join in the song of Heaven, which was the theme of our Ministry 
 on earth, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us ! " Believe me, ever with 
 admiring affection, thankfulness and prayer. 
 
 Your brother of thirty years, 
 
 NEWMAN HALL. 
 
 Besides the letters, the ReHgious and Secular Press 
 teemed with kind and complimentary notices. If collected 
 they would form a large and interesting volume ; we 
 should like to include many of them in this little publica- 
 tion, but are obliged, for want of room, to be content with 
 a few. We select one from the veteran editor of the 
 N. Y. Evangelist, another from the Christian Ad\o- 
 CATE (the organ of the Methodist Denomination), the 
 editor of which. Dr. James M. Buckley, "was a schoolboy 
 not yet in his teens in Trenton, when Dr. Cuyler settled 
 there in his early ministry; the acquaintance begun then 
 has continued without interruption ever since." A third 
 article is taken from the venerable Presbyterian, of 
 Philadelphia, and a fourth, and a very appreciative one 
 from the Brooklyn Eagle: 
 
io6 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 From the NEW YORK EVANGELIST. 
 
 It is hard to adjust ourselves to the idea that Dr. Cuyler, the beloved 
 pastor of one of the largest churches in the United States — a church gathered 
 and built up to such proportions by his indefatigable labors — has withdrawn 
 from that position of influence and of power. We could not be reconciled to 
 it were it not for our hope and confidence that he has still before him many years 
 of activity, and perhaps of widened usefulness, since he will be more free in his 
 movements when he has no longer to carry on his shoulders the double burden 
 of pastor and preacher, with all their cares and responsibilities. The an- 
 nouncement gave us at first a keen pang, as it did to his own people ; but as we 
 look upon it a second time, with the reasons which he states so frankly, we 
 yield to his better judgment, and think he has acted wisely. He has ministered 
 in that church thirty years — the lifetime of a generation ; and how he has 
 ministered, Brooklyn and New York well know. It is no disparagement to 
 others to say that in these two cities there has not been one whose labors have 
 been more abundant, or have yielded richer fruit. The seasons have come 
 round as regularly as seed-time and harvest, in which he has sown the seed and 
 gathered in the ripened sheaves. 
 
 Indeed, so remarkable has been this constant labor and this uniform 
 result, that it may be profitable to those who are younger in the ministry to 
 note some of the elements of usefulness in one of the most successful ministers 
 of our time. 
 
 First of all, he has been from the beginning devoted to his work. He 
 has never wrought in a half-hearted way, with a sidelong glance at some other 
 position which he might prefer. He has counted it the greatest honor to preach 
 the Gospel, and he has preached it with a fidelity, and at the same time with a 
 tenderness, that could not but prick the consciences and touch the hearts of 
 those who listened to him. 
 
 But he has not been content to preach eloquent sermons in the pulpit. 
 His success has been almost equally due to the unwearied regularity with which 
 
THE RECEPTION. 107 
 
 he has followed up the services of the Sabbath in the pastoral labor of the 
 week. The Sabbath-school has been as perfectly organized as the best school 
 in Brooklyn ; and the weekly meeting has been as large as the congregation to 
 which most ]3astors preach ; and has been conducted with such skill as to call 
 out the gifts of the brethren, so that the hearts of all have been knit together 
 by the word of mutual exhortation and fervent prayer. Thus the machinery of 
 the church has been kept in perfect "running order." 
 
 To keep all these instrumentalities going, has of course required marvel- 
 lous activity. But Dr. Cuyler has never known an idle day. He has been a 
 miracle of industry. Indeed he has worked with such intensity in season and 
 out of season, that we, as well as all intimate with him, have often been in fear 
 of his breaking down, from which he has been saved only by his Summer 
 vacations at Saratoga or Mohunk, or his tours abroad, from which he has 
 always come back refreshed, with renewed vigor, to plunge anew into the work 
 which he so much loved. 
 
 Another peculiar gift of the Brooklyn pastor is that of a popular writer — 
 a gift which does not always go with eloquence in the pulpit. Some famous 
 preachers are positively disqualified for this by what may be called their pulpit 
 style, which is too rhetorical for the newspaper. Dr. Cuyler is master of a 
 simple, direct style, using plain, Saxon words ; while the thought is lighted up 
 with a variety of illustration which contributes both to the interest of what is 
 written and to the understanding of the truth. 
 
 It is nearly thirty years since Dr. Cuyler began to write regularly for The 
 Evangelist. During all these years he has seldom failed of his weekly contri- 
 bution, so that our readers are accustomed to look for them as a fixed feature 
 of the paper. The late Robert Carter, during his months of illness, always 
 welcomed the day of the week that brought The Evangelist, out of which he de- 
 sired some one at his bedside to read immediately " the article from Dr. Cuyler." 
 These articles have had an extraordinary popularity both at home and abroad. 
 They have been copied in other religious papers, not only in this country, but 
 in England, in Canada, and in Australia. By this means he has addressed, not 
 only the thousands from the pulpit, but tens and hundreds of thousands all 
 
io8 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 over the world. What a joy it must be to him to think into how many homes 
 his words have gone ; how they have quickened those who were negligent ; 
 relieved the doubts of the perplexed ; comforted the sorrowing ; and guided 
 the wanderer into the way of peace ! 
 
 Of course, in this constant intercourse of thirty years, he has become 
 very dear to us. Not once in all these years has there been a word of difference 
 or disagreement. The confidence and the affection have been mutual and 
 perfect. We do not like to think that one with whom we have been in such 
 close intimacy, is getting along towards the end of his journey. But if we have 
 been ' keeping step " with him, we too have journeyed on as fast and as far. 
 May this dear brother be spared to us and to the Church for many years to 
 come, so that at the last, if it be God's will, we may together pass through the 
 gates into the city ! 
 
 From the CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE— (Methodist). 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, who announced some weeks ago that he 
 had determined to resign his pastorate at the expiration of his thirtieth year in 
 the ministry of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, of the city of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., carried that resignation into effect on Easter Sunday, and 
 signalized it by the delivery of a sermon probably unsurpassed by himself in 
 the course of his ministry, or by any one else upon such an occasion. It is so 
 rare as to be almost unknown for a man in good health, with a church packed 
 to the doors, and every pew rented, beloved by his people, and without any 
 ulterior object, to resign his position, influenced solely by the determination not 
 to survive himself, and to be able to transfer to his successor an enterprise 
 thoroughly organized at its zenith and not in its decline. 
 
 The discourse is biographical, historical, prophetic, practical, spiritual, 
 logical, poetical, pathetic, clear, deep, and strong. If there be in it the spirit 
 of self-complacency, it is more than sustained by the facts, and purified, as 
 
THE RECEPTION. 109 
 
 David's was, by the humble ascription of glory to God and by the paternal love 
 displayed for the church. 
 
 Why should a man capable of such a sermon resign his pulpit ? One of 
 the English papers, speaking of it when it was first cabled across the Atlantic, 
 said : " If there is nothing behind this, it is unparalleled ; " and the next week 
 announced : " It appears there is nothing behind it." Dr. Cuyler's health is 
 perfect, nor has he any infirmity except a deafness which has for some years 
 embarrassed rather than impeded him. His nervous energy is astonishing. At 
 all times and in all places he seems a battery of life, and in an ordinary con- 
 versation evolves force and vivacity enough to give interest to any public 
 address. 
 
 The sermon, which we do our readers the great service of publishing in 
 full, relieves us of the necessity of sketching his career. Here we need say 
 but this : that having been familiar with the church for twenty-four years, we 
 have known no such church of any Denomination which for the same period 
 of time on this side of the Atlantic has more completely filled the ideal 
 Christian church. It has never been a concourse gathered about an orator, 
 with no sympathy with the church as such ; but an organized body of Christian 
 workers, ready equally with spiritual and temporal gifts to promote the cause 
 of Christ. The pastor from the beginning has been first in every good word 
 and work ; an opponent of slavery when it was unpopular to be such ; an 
 advocate of total abstinence when it had not yet become fashionable in the 
 Presbyterian Church ; a vigorous advocate of Prohibition ; an enthusiastic 
 supporter of Missions, home and foreign ; a defender of the free schools ; but 
 ever subordinating all these to the faithful work of the Christian pastor. 
 
 Accustomed to vast crowds in various periods of his ministry, admitted 
 to the society of the great on both sides of the Atlantic, a frequent traveler in 
 many countries, he was as ready to climb to the top floor of a tenement-house 
 to comfort a laundress as to sit down with the merchant prince at his sumptu- 
 ous table. 
 
 Having without an assistant built up and crowded the Lafayette Avenue 
 Church until from two hundred it has increased to two thousand three hundred 
 
no A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 members, he now sees that, according to the course of nature, in a few years he 
 must decline, and that he may, if he perpetuates the strain, break suddenly. 
 He is also aware that his power of determining when to resign might impercep- 
 tibly diminish, until at last, when it became necessary to remove him, he might 
 go out with a broken heart, leaving the church divided into factions. Therefore 
 he resigns, not to spend his remaining days in idleness, which would be a con- 
 tradiction to his whole life ; but with that pen which has already furnished a 
 larger amount of wholesome religious reading for the press than any of his 
 contemporaries still at his command, with his voice still sonorous, his own 
 pulpit and every other open to him for special occasions, he will work, if not 
 "till Jesus comes," until he shall hear His voice saying to him, "Friend, come 
 up higher." 
 
 We agree with the Brooklyn Eagle that " if a purpose to show that his 
 intellect was at his ripest estate at the time when he lays aside the harness as a 
 formally enlisted man had entered into the sermon, it could not have been more 
 signally indicated and vindicated as a fact than it is by this discourse." 
 
 May it be many years before we shall cease to hear those hearty saluta- 
 tions with which the Editor of this paper has been familiar since his childhood, 
 or those stirring addresses, or to read those burning appeals to the better nature 
 which every religious paper in the land counts it both an honor and a religious 
 service to its readers to publish ! 
 
 From "THE PRESBYTERIAN," Philadelphia. 
 
 Short pastorates may have some advantages, but long ones make undying 
 histories for those who have been successful. The honored men while livmg, 
 and those who are mourned for when dead, are those whose names are asso- 
 ciated with the cities and churches in which their good work has been wrought. 
 There is a class who ought to move ; it is better for the church ; they are those 
 who can bring their whole influence to a focus quickly, and so soon have all 
 
THE RECEPTION. 1 1 1 
 
 that they can reach in hand. But there are men, like the illustrious retiring 
 pastor in Brooklyn, who are as fertile in all their efforts at good as the great 
 Delta of the Nile, which will bear five crops a year. Such men are happily 
 adjusted in disposition to their fellows, and usually change readily from the 
 serious to the mirthful, or conversely, without any loss of sanctity in their mirth, 
 or tenderness in sorrow. 
 
 Dr. Cuyler is all of this in disposition, and more. God's grace has made 
 him a master worker in his vineyard. He is the best balanced pastor, and 
 attractive on more sides of his intellectual and moral character than any living 
 man of whom we know anything. He works well anywhere. He has never 
 yet halted for lack of either ability or facility. He can always take an honor- 
 able part in any movement for the help of his fellow-men. He is never caught 
 unable to make a respectable presentation of any subject. He is master over 
 the wills and passions of men, and can lead them up-hill ; anybody could lead 
 them down. But that which will make his pastoral life unending in its in- 
 fluences is his constant adherence to the apostle's words : — " God forbid that I 
 should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 His convictions, his attainments and the passion of life were for the 
 ministry. This was the hopper into which all the fruit of his endeavors ran, 
 and the end of his pastoral career shows the sincerity of his devotion and his 
 wisdom, and his reward is in the honor in which he is held by his brethren, the 
 Church and the world. He lays aside his pastorate in its broadest disk of 
 usefulness and success, and like a glorious sunsetting it is brightest in its last 
 hour. We love to think of such a pastoral sunsetting, to be inspired by it, and 
 reconciled to the thought of laying our armor down, if only it could be done 
 as his has been. 
 
 His pastoral work was not limited to Brooklyn, though its fullest outflow 
 has been there. He is remembered, blest and loved by those surviving in 
 Burlington and Trenton, and by many who have heard him only occasionally. 
 It does the soul of an honest man good to put garlands on the faithful as they 
 retire from the fiercer conflicts of the battles with sin and misery. His 
 ministry included wonderful preaching powers with success as a pastor, so 
 
112 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 seldom united, pathos in the tender themes of the gospel in the pulpit and out 
 of it, fiery indignation expressed in red hot invective when there was an 
 occasion for it, and obliviousness to personalities, forgiveness and forgetfulness 
 of wrongs ; a cheerful way of meeting men and women which won them and 
 disarmed them, and won them to Christ as well. 
 
 He is most attractive to the young, and charming is his tender adaptations 
 to the aged, not forgetting the names or faces of those he knew, even in the 
 frosts of years, which made him everybody's friend. He is a model for those 
 coming after him, and happy are they who can reproduce his good qualities 
 rather than imitate his manner. His retirement from the pastorate does not 
 mean from the theatre of the active duties of life, for he was never fresher or 
 more attraciive to the reader ; only his partial loss of hearing and failing voice 
 impel him to leave the pulpit in which he has been a power and honor as a 
 pastor so long. He leaves his church second in numbers and influence in the 
 denomination. We think it will be lifted by its average Christian work and 
 contributions to the highest plane. 
 
 From the BROOKLYN EAGLE. 
 
 The Eagle's announcement of the intended resignation by the Rev. 
 Dr. Cuyler of the pastorate of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church 
 will notify the public of the nearing rupture of a long and tender tie between a 
 representative organization and a representative man of American Christianity. 
 The cause of the severance is the desire of the gentleman to stop his active 
 labor at a period when his strength of body and faculty are unimpaired, and 
 when rest can conserve them, while too long sustained work might render their 
 continuance hazardous. 
 
 A preacher for over forty years, the pastor of one church, which he 
 founded, for three decades, Theodore Ledyard Cuyler has been potent as a 
 pulpiteer, effective on the platform, indefatigable in the social duties of his 
 
THE RE CEP TION. 1 1 3 
 
 office, a constant contributor to the literature and journalism of evangelical 
 religion, a stanch upholder of moral and political reforms, a lover of humanity, 
 an apostle of temperance and freedom, an advocate of the Union, a man 
 devoted to the honor of the State, and a citizen alive to the needs, rights, 
 welfare, and good fame of Brooklyn. No Presbyterian clergyman ranks higher 
 as an organizer and a pastor. Very many fail to equal his reputation as a 
 pungent and picturesque preacher of righteousness. His life has attested the 
 reality and sincerity of his faith. His consistency of conduct and of view has 
 been admirable. The power of his parish as a centre of influence has been 
 felt in Brooklyn and as far beyond it as the remotest Home and Foreign 
 Mission field in the world. 
 
 He has magnified rare personal qualities, and as a presbyter should, he 
 has been given to hospitality. His policy has been evangelical and not 
 sectarian. Every servant of the Cross has been his colleague. Every believer 
 in the Nazarene has been his brother. The culture of study has been joined 
 in him with the higher culture of prayer. Travel to Bible and other lands has 
 made his sympathies as broad as his observation. He has been a remarkable 
 man in a century, remarkable for liberty, progress, and the brotherhood of 
 nations and of men. Of his labors and special gifts and special achievements 
 much might be written, but shall not now, for he is only intending to rest, not 
 to go, and in the youth of age he will doubtless make enduring in authorship 
 what would have been transient in discourse. 
 
 From the homes and love of the people of the great congregation he has 
 served he will never be separated. As long as he is spared the children of his 
 ministry here will revere him as a father and a friend. When he goes hence, 
 thousands who have preceded him will welcome him up the way which he 
 pointed out to them. The stars in his crown in either world are neither few 
 nor wanting in splendor. He has been a good man, and in history, as now in 
 the affection of Christianity, he will be regarded in many respects as a great 
 man. A preacher of Christ, a pleader for temperance, the friend of the slave, 
 the inspirer of better thoughts in human lives, a power in the pulpit, a prince 
 of the pen, a solace and heart strengthener in the homes of poor and rich. 
 
114 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Theodore L. Cuyler throughout his magnificent service in Burlington, Trenton, 
 New York, and Brooklyn, has won a claim on the generation in which he has 
 lived to be honored for his fidelity, admired for his force, and everywhere 
 respected for his faith as a minister of the everlasting Gospel which is the hope 
 of the world. 
 
DR. AND MRS. CUYLER "AT HOME." 115 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Other letters, " thick as Autumnal leaves in Vallom- 
 brosa," letters and tokens of a more private, but not less 
 flattering character came fluttering in at the open doors and 
 windows of the home of Dr. and Mrs. Cuyler, in South 
 Oxford Street, the fragrance of which will, for years, emit 
 a pleasant perfume, and more than compensate for the 
 occasional and inevitable annoyances incident to the ex- 
 istence of public characters. Publicity — not always agree- 
 able to modest people — is one of the penalties paid to 
 popularity. Famous personages must, necessarily, live in 
 glass houses ; and in this house the windows are very trans- 
 parent and the " doors swing on golden hinges." Theirs 
 is a pleasant, a charming abode. The large, double-house 
 stands well back from the street, and is approached by 
 terraced steps. A broad veranda — filled with hospitable 
 seats — extends along the entire front ; creeping vines twine 
 round the supporting columns, and over it projects the 
 crooked branches and broad leaves of the now famous and 
 befriending " Catalpa tree." The lot in the rear — much 
 more extensive than those vouchsafed to most city-folk — 
 
ii6 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 is just now green with velvety grass, on which an occasional 
 robin, in red or russet vest, struts proudly, while other 
 and more modest birds sing in the branches of the few 
 apple or cherry trees. Grape vines cling to the fences, and 
 sundry beds of flowers afford a pleasant contrast to the 
 greener grass. Sometimes, the buds and blossoms, the 
 fruits and flowers, furnish the Doctor a simile for a sermon ; 
 but other than that they do not greatly benefit the occu- 
 pants, for the neighboring boys, " the little foxes," " spoil 
 the vines," the bees (and there are " busy bees " outside as 
 well as within the home), suck the sweets from the flowers, 
 and the birds fly away with the cherries ! But Mrs. Cuyler 
 " careth for none of these things" ; they do not disturb her 
 equanimity, for she perceiveth that " her husband is known 
 in the gates when he sitteth among the Elders of the land." 
 Besides, "strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall 
 rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with 
 wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She 
 looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not 
 the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her 
 blessed ; her husband also, and he praiseth her." And even 
 if the good man desired to do otherwise, he would not dare, 
 for "all the people" love her, as was abundantly manifested, 
 on the evening of the Reception, when Dr. Chamberlain, 
 with knightly courtesy and classic diction, so eloquently 
 
DR. AND MRS. CUYLER ''A T HOME!' 1 1 7 
 
 alluded to the " dual nature of that ministry which had 
 been so richly blessed," and added (we make no apology 
 for repeating the passage) "I recall that in the prophet's 
 symbolic act he took to himself two staves, and one was 
 Beauty, while the other was Bands. In the kingdom of 
 grace, as in the kingdom of nature, loveliness is ever the fit 
 complement of strength. Accordingly, to her who has been 
 the enthroned one in the heart, the light-giver in the home, 
 the beloved of the church, we wish most fervent good 
 wishes. For her also we lift on high our thankful, tender 
 intercession. To each, to both, we give the renewed assur- 
 ance of our abiding affection." 
 
 Not only did Dr. Cuyler hear that sentence, but the 
 entire audience recognized its beautiful appropriateness and 
 responded with a shout and an Amen ! 
 
 Nor were they content with this manifestation of their 
 high regard, for at the May meeting of the Ladies' Benev- 
 olent Association, one of the most useful of the church 
 organizations, an unusual number attended, and the young 
 ladies of the Cuyler Mission Band (may its members, as 
 the years glide by, be prepared to take their places in the 
 senior society) were invited to participate. If the men were 
 dominant at the Reception, there was a " redundancy of 
 women " on this interesting occasion. Indeed, there was 
 
ii8 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 but one man — Dr. Cuyler — present, and of him the ladies 
 had exclusive and delightful possession. 
 
 A lunch is customary at these festivals : but more than 
 customary care and time was given to the preparation of 
 this feast. It was an orthodox lunch ! The table (we learn 
 from one of the ladies present) was decorated in true, 
 Presbyterian blue, and the guests were greeted by Mrs. 
 L. C. Hill, the poet laureate of the Association, in the 
 following fashion : 
 
 Good friends, we welcome all to join our festal board, 
 
 With social cheer and creature comforts stored ; 
 
 Not "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue," 
 
 But orthodox, in Heaven's azure hue ; 
 
 When golden sunshine shimmers softly through, 
 
 We'll eat and drink, and " have a word to say," 
 
 Then part to meet again another day. 
 
 But while the lunch was appreciated, those assembled 
 were eager to listen to the poem — the " word to say " — 
 promised in the welcoming lines. The poem was appro- 
 priately bound and charmingly decorated with the blue of 
 forget-me-nots ; and the lines, so refined, affectionate and 
 beautiful, and, withal, so characteristic of the authoress, 
 Mrs. L. C. Hill, were rendered additionally delightful 
 by their touching recital by Mrs. H. 
 
DR. AND MRS. CUYLER ^^ AT HOME:' 119 
 
 POEM BY MRS. L. C. HILL. 
 
 Greetings we give to these young friends to-day, 
 
 Greetings and welcome, sucli as a mother may 
 
 When children homeward come to love's embrace. 
 
 And joyfully she looks in each dear face, 
 
 And notes how strong, how beautiful have grown 
 
 The children she delights to call her own. 
 
 So with full heart, and eager clasping hand, 
 
 We welcome here, to-day, dear " Cuyler Band" ; 
 
 Our daughters, sisters, friends — co-workers too. 
 
 With Him who has for each some work to do: 
 
 We need your presence to renew our youth. 
 
 We need your help to battle for the truth. 
 
 We need your hope, your brightness, and your cheer. 
 
 Your strength to lift the burdens of the year. 
 
 Your ear is keen to cry of sore distress, 
 
 Your eye is quick to seek the comfortless. 
 
 With helpful sympathy your heart o'erflows, 
 
 And generous aid your ready hand bestows. 
 
 We glory in your virtues, yet we claim 
 
 A share in all your labors, " in His name ; " 
 
 For one in purpose, one in faith and love. 
 
 May we abide on earth, and heaven above. 
 
 We welcome you, dear daughters, sisters, friends, 
 
 Your presence, beauty, joy and brightness lends. 
 
 And our beloved Pastor, Teacher, Friend, 
 
 Our Guide and Shepherd, — sacred memories blend 
 
 With heart-felt greetings which we bring to thee. 
 
 Thy faithful service, loving, tender, free ; 
 
 Thy words of counsel, comfort, words of grace, 
 
 Thy prayers, thy purpose, consecrate this place; 
 
 And evermore their incense shall arise 
 
 To bring down blessings from the waiting skies. 
 
I20 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 Thy silver speech, thy golden deeds are crowned, 
 And ripening liarvests many-fold abound ; 
 To ' ' help these women " was thy kind intent. 
 And to that end were time and labor spent 
 So cheerfully, it seemed thou didst regard 
 A noble action as its own reward. 
 But unto us, to "grow in grace of giving," 
 Thou preachedst a sermon by thy daily living. 
 In boxes, barrels, letters bearing cheer 
 To needy, worthy neighbors, far and near. 
 So strength goes out to comfort and to bless ; 
 Thy sympathy responds to each distress. 
 Throughout our own, and e'en in foreign lands, 
 Thy name a synonym for goodness stands. 
 We greet thee, honored Pastor, as we bring 
 To thee and thine, sincerest offering. 
 
 And gentle Shepherdess, as good, as true. 
 
 Our hearts' best love to thee is also due. 
 
 A faithful helper at our Pastor's side, 
 
 A noble woman, e'er his joy and pride, 
 
 The "complement which roundeth out his life," 
 
 His fair ideal, realized in wife. 
 
 And yet to us, a sister, tender, kind, 
 
 Constant and loving, virtues all combined. 
 
 What art to us ? Words have no power to tell ; 
 
 Thy gracious presence holds us in its spell. 
 
 But oh, dear friends, how changed becomes this place, 
 
 Should any evil day remove a face. 
 
 But in our memory locked you both shall be 
 
 Forever safe, since " you shall keep the key ; " 
 
 And sitting by the fireside of our hearth 
 
 As honored guests who never shall depart, 
 
 We'll cheer the passing years, recounting o'er 
 
 By memory's light, the golden days of yore ; 
 
DR. AND MRS. CUYLER ''AT HOME." 121 
 
 And better learn, how blest the tie that binds 
 
 In christian love, our fellowship of minds. 
 
 As precious souvenir of happy hours 
 
 We've plucked for you, a little bunch of flowers, 
 
 Which fragrant grew, in these dear hallowed spots, 
 
 A little bunch of blue forget-me-nots. 
 
 They have a speech which to your hearts shall say 
 
 What words can never half so well convey. 
 
 Each petal hath a voice for listening ears. 
 
 Each calyx, as in urn, holds joys and tears ; 
 
 And songs and gladness every flower receives. 
 
 And sacred memories hide beneath the leaves. 
 
 And, if you closely look, there shall be found 
 
 A heart of love with them securely bound. 
 
 Dr. Cuyler, never so happy in speech as in an 
 emergency, responded with much feeling and eloquence ; 
 and after the bountiful luncheon, he and Mrs. Cuyler de- 
 parted — she with the poem and a royal bunch of forget- 
 me-nots, he, as we learn from a lady reporter, " adorned 
 with a smaller one, suitable to the limited field a man 
 offers for ornamentation," — departed to their own "sweet 
 home," where, notwithstanding the disclaimer contained 
 in his farewell sermon, we dare to hope that he and she 
 may often " sit on the veranda and watch the sun of 
 life whirl downward in the west." 
 
 It is, however, quite absurd to think of our irrepressible 
 Doctor Cuyler as reclining for any length of time, on the 
 
122 A THIRTY YEARS' PASTORATE. 
 
 veranda. He has lived such a busy, active life that con- 
 tinued quietude would quickly kill him. " He will be," as 
 was said of the late Dr. Horatius Bonner, of Scotland, and 
 most felicitously applied to Doctor Cuyler by one of the 
 speakers on the evening of the Reception, " always writing, 
 or always preaching, or always praying, or always visiting." 
 It would be a great misfortune if he should entirely cease 
 from any or all of these pursuits. We should miss his 
 pointed and crisp sentences in the Evangelist and Inde- 
 pendent, and the sparkling and characteristic epistles to 
 his friends; we should be more than sorry not to listen, 
 from time to time, to his voice from the old pulpit; we 
 should despond and despair if we were never more to hear 
 him pleading in prayer; and we should be sad indeed if 
 we failed to hear his peremptory ring at our door-bells and 
 be deprived of his words of comfort and of cheer. 
 
 But whatever they do, wherever they go, may the 
 blessing of God and the benison of good people ever and 
 always attend and follow them. 
 
 And The Church — The Church on the Hill ? 
 ESTO PERPETUA! 
 
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