■« • * PRINCETON, N. J. *% SCB .SV^// Division Section Number f/r J. 1 - v1 m - ■ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://archive.org/details/historicaOOfowl For INDEX, see page 748. Historical Sketch OF PRESBYTERIAN ISM WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE SYNOD OF CENTRAL NKW YORK. Prepared and Published at the Request of the Synod. By P. H. FOWLER, 1). I). THE PRESBYTERIAN ELEMENT IN OUB NATIONAL LIFE AND HISTORY. . I // Address Delivered before the Synod of Central Xew York at Wateriown, October 187//, is TO. \\\ Prok. J. W. MKARS, I). I). I TIC A, N. Y. CUBTI88 & CHILDS, Pi lU.lsiiKiis and Priktebs, Hii Qenesi i Si 1877 HISTORICAL SKETCH OK PRESBYTERIANISM WITHIN THE IJOUXIX OF THK SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW fORK. Prepared and Published at the Request of the Synod. By P. H. FoWLEK, I). I). INTRODUCTORY. The following pages were begun with nothing more in contemplation than a single discourse. It was soon learned that nothing satisfactory could be compressed within so small a compass, and the freedom of space which a narra- tive allows was assumed. But the original intention some- what influenced the arrangement and treatment of subjects and the style of writing, and may explain passages that will seem peculiar in an historical sketch. As it is the account of facts that was designed, and not the discussion of a theme, no hesitation has been felt in taking them wherever they might be found, and to avoid an encumbering of the sheets, the naming of sources of in- formation has been omitted, and even language sometimes quoted without an acknowledgment, or a liberty taken with it that did not change its sense. The space devoted to Revivals will be observed. It is not disproportionate to the relative importance of the sub- ject, and if any was given to it, it would have been difficult to limit it to less. As it is, but a tithe is occupied of what could have been easily filled, and numerous regrets, if not complaints, at omissions are likely to be heard. Being M all the workings of one and the self-same Spirit.'* there must be a similarity in the descriptions of them, and truth- fulness of statement has been deemed of more consequence than variety. Mistake and oversight are unavoidable in a compilation of chronicles. Time and pains have been taken to shun them in the present case, but in the absence largely of ssible data, and for other reasons, they must have VI. INTRODUCTORY. frequently occurred, and the charitable consideration is in- voked that bears human fallibility in mind. Too much is due to the courtesy and patience of Stated Clerks to be passed in entire silence, and the wish has often been felt that as favorable an opportunity could be widely enjoyed to appreciate the value of the services they per- form and the onerousness of the tax they bear. The importance of ecclesiastical records has also come to view, and the duty of having them properly kept, and the occasion might be used to bring this to the notice of Presby- teries and Synods. Let it be suggested that these bodies should often and carefully inspect their books, and not merely listen to the minutes of " last" meetings, and that legibility, orderliness and neatness in them should be insisted <>n. All statistical reports and narratives of religion ought to be fully transcribed, and for facility in examining the books, they should be paged, and every page dated, and the titles of subjects entered on the margin, and every volume should contain an index. They are not faithful records if papers passed upon are left out. The " file"' saves labor at the expense of history. The narratives are pre- sumed to be annual accounts of the state of religion in the several churches, and should describe it in detail and not in general. A stated annalist would be an appropriate officer for every Synod and Presbytery. The Stated Clerk ought to be modeled after him of our General Assembly. The rue gifts requisite to his place and the amount of work involved in it, merit a liberal salary. Scarcely less is needful in the drafting of minutes, and permanent Record- ing Clerks are desirable in our lower Judicatories as well as in the highest. The list of those from whom information has been receiv- ed is too long for publication, but Rev. Albert F. Lyle has INTRODUCTORY. vil. so much lightened the task of copying, that it is both a duty and a pleasure to mention him. An expression of gratitude may be allowed for the kind- ness of Providence in appointing the preparation of this sketch for a season when it served somewhat to divert the mind of the writer from a great sorrow, and he thanks his brethren of the Synod of Central New York for setting him to note the remarkable and even wonderful dealings of the Spirit for seventy years with the churches of his chosen and loved denomination, and on a field with which preaching and prayer have associated him for twenty-six years and in which he feels the warmest and profoundest interest. May the mantle of the fathers fall upon the children, and in these later times may '-'the light of the sun be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Utica, January, 1877. THE SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOKE Was constituted by the General Assembly at its session in Philadelphia, 187<>. under the general reconstruction of the Judicatories of the Church after the reunion of its two branches. It was called at first " The Synod of Otica," but by the unanimous request of its members in 1872. it received its present name. The boundaries were defined as — East, the western lines of Gr< Schoharie, Montgomery, Hamilton and Franklin coun- ties; West, the western lines of Tioga, Cortland, Onon- daga and Oswego counties; South, the south lines Tioga, Broome and Delaware counties; and North, the State line. In 1872, the church <>f Waverly was con- veyed to the Synod of Geneva SYNODS, OCCUPYING THE KIEL]), WITH II I II I : SEVERAL DATES AND BOUNDS. The Synod of New York " New Side," formed in 1741. first covered the field, and more than nominally too, for in L765, one of its Presbyteries, "the Dutc county," received Cherry Valley, one of our churches, under its care. To thia succeeded the Synod of New York and N«'\\ Jersey, formed in 17s-», at the reor- ganization of the church on the Reunion of the "Old and New Sides." 6 ntESBYTEIUANISM IN THE The Synod of Albany followed in 1803, and assumed a busy superintendence. The Synod of Geneva, formed in 1812, included Delaware, Chenango, Tioga, Broome, Cortland and On- ondaga counties, now lying within the Synod of Cen- tral New York. In 1840, Delaware county was con- veyed back to the Synod of Albany. The Synod of Utica, formed in 1829, included the remaining counties within the Synod of Albany west of Greene, Delaware, Schoharie, Fulton, Hamilton and Franklin. In 1853, Delaware, Otsego and Chenango counties, were taken from the Synods of Albany, Utica, and Ge- neva, and committed to the new Synod of Susquehan- nah. In 1855, the remaining counties within the Synod of Geneva and the county of Cayuga were made the ter- ritory of the new Synod of Onondaga. After the " disruption"' in 1837, the O. S. Synod of Albany was extended to the limits of the original Synod of Albany, and in 18-13 it gave up "Western New York" to the new Svnod of Buffalo. PRESBYTERIES WITHIN THE FIELD AT DIFFERENT DATES, AND THETR BOUNDS. The ''Presbytery of Dutchess county," formed in 17(33, was probably the first Presbytery on the field, though possibly, as the members cf the church of Cher- ry Valley came originally in a body from New Hamp- shire in 1741, they may have been connected with the Presbytery of Londonderry, founded in that year. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. I The Presbytery of Albany, 1791, followed, and suc- ceeding this, in 1803, was the Presbytery of Oneida, to which was assigned the entire State west of the east lines of Otsego and Herkimer counties. The Presby- tery of Geneva in 1805, took the portion of this terri- tory west of Oswego and Oneida and south of Madison and Otsego counties, comprehending Onondaga, Cort- land, Tioga, Broome, Chenango and Delaware counties, * of the territory of this Synod. In 1810, a joint petition from the Presbytery of Gene- va and the "Middle Association " was presented to the Synod of Albany, praying that those two bodies might be organized into three Presbyteries, with a view to their constituting the Synod of Geneva, and the Pres- bytery of Onondaga was then erected, with the counties of Onondaga, Cortland, Tioga, Broome, Chenango and Delaware as its territory. In 1810, the Presbytery of St, Lawrence was formed for the counties of Lewis and Jefferson, and the part of St Lawrence county not within the bounds of tin- Presbytery of Chaniplain. The name of this Pres- byter} was changed toWatertown in L828. In L 81 9, the Presbytery of Oneida was divided at its own request, and the portion of its field " lying in and south of the great Western Turnpike running through Springfield," consisting of Otsego county and a part of Madison, was se1 off for the new Presbytery of Otsego. In L821, the portion of St. Lawrence county before occupied by the Presbytery of Champlain and apart from that occupied by the Presbytery ^^ St. Lawrence, was made the territory of the new Presbyterj ofOg- densburg. The name of this Presbyter) was changed in I 830 i<» Si. Lawrence. 8 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE In 1823, the Presbytery of Oswego was formed for Oswego county and for the portion of Oneida county west of the west branch of Fish Creek. In 1825, the Presbytery of Cortland was established for Cortland county and for the southern portions of Onondaga and Madison counties. In 1825 the General Assembly constituted the Pres- "bytery of Chenango, in Chenango and Delaware coun- ties and a part of Broome, the General Assembly per- forming the act because the ministers and churches be- longed to three different Synods. In 1829, the counties of Broome and Tioga and the southern part of Tompkins county were taken from the Presbytery of Geneva and committed to the new Pres- bytery of Tioga. In 1831, the greater part of Delaware county was taken from the Presbytery of Chenango for the field of the new Presbytery of Delaware. At the disruption of 1838, the O. S. ministers and churches of the Presbytery of St. Lawrence were organ- ized into the Presbytery of Ogdensburg, occupying the same field with the Presbytery from which they sepa- rated, and at the same time the 0. S. Presbytery of Al- bany extended its territory to the western boundary of the State. In January, 1843, the Presbytery of Oneida was di- vided, the western part of Oneida county being reserved for that Presbytery, and the eastern part being assigned to the new Presbytery of Utica, and in October of the same year, the ministers and churches of the Presby- tery of Oneida were attached to the Presbytery of Utica and the territory of the former conveyed to the latter. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 9 The venerable name of Oneida was thus almost sacri- ligiously erased from the roll of Presbyteries. In 1850, the Presbytery of Mohawk, 0 S., was or- ganized, having as its eastern boundary a north and south line running immediately east of Little Falls. At the reconstruction of the Judicatories of the Church in 1870, the General Assembly directed that the Presbyteries should be defined " by geographical lines, or by convenient lines of travel," and that they should " be enlarged and the formation of small ones be discouraged." The Synod of Central New York then constituted the following five Presbyteries : 1. Watertown, embracing the counties of St. Law rence and Jefferson. The name of this Presbyters' was soon changed to St. Lawrence, and this was declared to be the successor of the Presbyteries of St, Lawrence, Ogdensburg and Watertown, and their records were ordered to be delivered to it. 2. Syracuse, embracing the counties of Oswego, On- ondaga and Madison, with the exceptions of the towns of Oneida and DeRuyter, in Madison county, and the town of Williatnstown in Oswego county, and subse- quently the town of Redfield, in Oswego county, and it was declared to be the successor of the Presbyteries of Onondaga, Oswego and Mohawk, and their hooks were ordered to be delivered to it. 3. Binghamton, embracing the counties of Cortland, Tiogaand Broome, the towns of Smithville, Coventry and Bainbridge, in Chenango county, and the towns ^\ Tompkins and Masonville, in Delaware county, and the town of DeRuyter in Madison county, and " was de- 1 0 PRESB TTERIANI8M IN THE elared the successor to Tioga and Cortland Presbyteries, to which their books were to be delivered. "Afton " was subsequently introduced after " Coventry " in the bounds of this Presbytery, and Waverly was removed to the Presbytery of Chemung. 4. Otsego, embracing Otsego, Delaware and Chenan- go counties, exclusive of the towns of Tompkins and Mnsonville, in Delaware county, and the towns of Smith- ville, Greene, Coventry, Afton and Bainbridge, in Che- nango county, and it was declared the successor of the Presbyteries of Otsego, Delaware and Chenango, to which their books were to be delivered. 5. Utica, embracing the counties of Oneida, Herki- mer and Lewis, and also Oneida, in Madison county, and Williamstown, in Oswego county, and subsequent- ly Redfield, in Oswego county, and it was declared the successor of the Presbytery of Utica. CONGREGATIONAL BODIES ON THE FIELD OF THE SYNOD. The work of Presbyterianism and Congregationalism was so largely cooperative for most of the history of Presbyterianism in Central New York, that a frequent reference to Congregational Associations must occur in the recital of it, and reported circumstances may be more intelligible if the seat and name of these bodies, on the territory of the Synod, is given here. The St. Lawrence Consociation and the Black River Association, established in 1810, occupied Northern New York. The Oneida Association, established in 1800, occu- pied the eastern and central part of the territory of the Synod, extending down originally to its southern part* SYNOt) OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 11 The Union Association, taken in 1808 from the Oneida, occupied Chenango county and considerable portions of Madison, Broome and Otsego counties, and the Association of Susquehannah, established in 1803, occupied the southern pa4*t of the territory of the Synod. The Union Association* was dissolved by its own vote in 1822, and its ministers and churches largely composed the Presbytery of Chenango. The Middle Association on the "Military Tract and its vicinity," established in 1804, occupied the western part of the territory of the Synod. This Association, as already stated, in 1810 united with the Presbytery of Geneva in asking the Synod of Albany to organize them into three Presbyteries, and thenceforward was substantially merged in the Presbytery of Onondaga, The Association of Oneida suspended its existence in 1822, most of its ministers and churches uniting with the Presbytery of Oneida. It was revived in 1825, and has since maintained a vigorous life. The Associations now on the field consist of the Black River and Oneida, already named ; the Welsh, estab- lished in 1834 for the whole State; the Central, 1868, in which were merged the Delaware, established 1^58, and the Oswego, established L868, and covering Dela- ware, Oswego, Jefferson, Onondaga, Cortland and Tompkins counties; and the Chenango, 18(W, covering Chenango county, and merged in the Oneida, 1871. * Although tho Union Association dissolved Itself bya formal vote in 1822, some of its membera attempted to keep it iip, bat their numbers dwindling, they loft it to expire. 1 2 / '/.' K8B YTERlA NISM IK THE 11 ASSOCIATED PRESBYTERIES." Mention is also frequently made in the history of Missions on this field of the "Associated Presbyteries." They were Presbyterian in form, but Congregational in tone. They discarded authority in ecclesiastical action. They would not "direct," but "suggest and advise." They originated with Eev. Jacob Green, father of Dr. Ashbel Green. A native of Maiden, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard, he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hanover, K J., from 1746 to 1790. ' After spending thirty years in our ministry, he withdrew, from dissatisfaction, not with his brethren or their doc- trines, but with the mandatory style of their proceed- ings— "appointing ministers to different services," "ordering" collections from the people, while the Westminster Confession was "enjoined" upon all min- isters, "without any liberty for explanation in any article." He retained kind feeling throughout, which was also reciprocated. Three other ministers withdrew with him. In twenty years they had following enough to constitute four Presbyteries, three of them in this State, the Northern Associated Presbytery, with its seat in Columbia county and northward of it, furnish- ing most of the missionaries from the body. Among these was David Harrower, a popular Scotch preacher in his prime, and commissioned for Broome, Chenango and Delaware counties, but borne everywhere by his activities. 8 ) \ oh of (KM i;al new rank'. 18 THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE FTELD. The field of the Synod is notable for its beauty, its fertility, its facilities for manufactures and commerce, its geological formation and evolutions, its topography, its relative position, and its history. It is an immense picture made up of every variety of scenery — the solitudes of the northeast, the magnifi- cence of the St. Lawrence, the mountainous and twisted, but cultivated and beautiful hills and romantic ravines and waterfalls of the north, the gracefully rolling ridges of the center and the west, the charming valleys of the Mohawk, the Delaware and the Susquehanna!) and their tributaries at the east and southeast, with count- creeks, like veins of silver, branching through the whole, and lakes and lakelets gemming it. And as we look on our fields and see their fruits and crops, and luxuriate upon them, does it not seem as if the Lord had said. "Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of earth." And these numerous streams, what motors of machinery they are! and these rivers and inland - what channels of trade they are! The little Sauquoit has been reputed to turn more wheels than any other water, U>v the same distance, in the country, and it has a reserve power for as many more. The Delaware, the Susquehanna!) and the St Lawrence head in this dia triet. and the Budson near by, and flowing through a large section of the Union and emptying into the Atlantic at OUT easl and southeast ami at the north, they give us water communication with our three great commercial emporiums and Canada, and with the large Intervening region and the numerous intervening cities 1 4 PliESB YTERIA NISM IN THE and towns. In early days, rafts and flat-boats served for navigation in them, and their banks are the canal beds and the railway tracks for later days. The Apa- lachian barrier separating the East from the West, makes an opening at the Highlands on the Hudson, and proceeding up that river to Lakes George and Champ] ain, the passage enters the chain of lakes which leads to the West, and at the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson a second passage runs west, piercing the mountains again at Little Falls, so narrowing down to the territory of this Synod the only two natural highways of our international transport and travel, and forming one of the only two gateways to Canada.* *Long prior to the construction of the Erie Canal, a project was much agitated and a company formed to cut a navigable channel by Wood Creek, which empties into Lake Oneida, and Fish Creek, wrfyfk,-fipy$p44**\ Lake Ontario, to the Mohawk at Rome, and to make the Mohawk navigable to the Hudson. Gen. Washington was originally an engineer, and impressed with the importance to the whole country of such a connection, he visited our part of the State at the close of the Revolution, and made a personal inspection of the ground. He wrote to the Marquis of Chastellax, "I have lately made a tour through the LakesUeorge and Champlain as far as Crown Point. Then returning to Sche- nectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler, (this name, previously belonging to the fort at Utica, had then been given to the fort at Rome,) crossed over to Wood Creek, which empties into Oneida Lake, and affords the water communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the eastern bank of the Susquehaunah, and viewed the Lake Otsego and the port- age between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not he!}) taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navi- gation of the United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the goodness SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 15 Beds of iron, the most useful of metals, and beds of tin abound in the northern and central parts of the field, while the salt wells of Onondaga county are from L50 to 350 feet deep, and a bushel of salt is the residuum on the evaporation of from 35 to 45 gallons of their water, while it takes 350 gallons of sea water to yield as much, and *" Geology tells us," to use the language of General Viele, speaking of this and the contiguous region of the State, " that of all the land now in existence, the first that rose above the waste of waters in the earliest periods of creation lies within these borders ; that long ere the crags of Jura, the heights of Chimborazo, or the lofty Cordilleras were created, the sun shone here upon tlic shores of a vast ocean whose limits were the globe itself; that while yet the sites of Babylon and of Tyre, of Carthage and of Rome, were hidden beneath the sea, created Life moved along the old Silurian beach, whose tidal lines across the State are as distinctly marked to- day as they were when the waves of the primitive ocean l»eat upon the shore. The successive geological evolutions which nave been wroughl out during the long ages that since thru have come and gone, are In- scribed upon these mountains, hills and valleys as upon the pages of a hook, where science reads the history of the material world. On no other contmenl and in no of that Providence who has dealt his favors t<> us with so profuse a band. Would to God we bave wisdom enough to Improve them. I'll.' Father of hie Country " was a good judge of land and very provident, and what be suv during this tour so capti- vated him that, jointly with Governor George Clinton, in- bought several plots of land in Oneida county. * Address before New York Historical Society, 16 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE other spot are the records of the past so clearly defined, or so easily read." "Formed in the ocean-bed from the ruins of a wasted continent and of a succession of deposits during alternate periods of elevation and sub- sidence, the whole series of stratified rock that under- lies this portion of the State, from the magnesian base of the lower Silurian to the time-worn cliffs of red sandstone that crown the highest peaks of the Catskill mountains, tell, in unspeakable language, the history of the material world through unnumbered ages of time. These several formations have a general geological designation as the lower and upper Silurian and De- vonian systems, while the more detailed divisions, em- bracing many successive and distinct epochs of creation, have received a nomenclature in accordance with the localities where they are most clearly shown. There are twelve of these divisions, having an entire thick- ness in the State of 13,000 feet." "In consequence of the deep erosion of the river- valleys, all of the geologi cal formations are exhibited to view in one place or another." ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS OF THE FIELD. A remarkable confederacy of Indians held possession of the territory when it was first entered by the whites. They were called by the English the Five Nations, the Six Nations, the Confederates ; by the French, the Iro- quois; by the Dutch, the Maquas, or Mahakuasse ; by the southern Indians, the Massawomacs ; by themselves, the Mingos, or Mingoians, and sometimes the Aganus- chim, or United People ; and their confederacy they SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 1 7 styled the Kenunctioni. They consisted at first of Five Nations: the Mohawks, with their center at the junc- tion of the Schoharie Creek with the Mohawk; the Oneidas, with their center at Oneida Lake ; the Onon- < 1 1 1 gj is, with tl icir center at Onondaga Lake ; the Cay ugas, with their center near Cayuga Lake, and the Senecas, with their center on Genesee River. In 1712, they adopted the Tuscaroras, and settled them between the Oneidas and the Cay ugas. The Mohawks were pre- eminently the fighting tribe, and so took the precedence. They kept the eastern gate of the territory, and being nearest to the whites, were best known to them, and these often gave their name to the whole confederacy. The Oneidas were distinguished for their wisdom and eloquence, and the Onondagas had the seat, or capital, where the general congress was held. These people were born to command, and carried their conquests into Canada, and, as one writer affirms, down to the Isthmus of Darien, and Cotton Mather charges them with the slaughter of not less than 2,000,000 of their fellow savages. They were intelligent and shrewd, as well as martial, and their military operations especially were deliberately and skillfully planned. They were crafty, too, ever preferring ambuscades and surprises to fair and open battle. "Their councils," says Governor De Witt Clinton, "were distinguished for order, deco- rum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of profound policy, they surpac any assembly of feudal barons, and perhaps were not inferior to the greal A.mphyctionic Council of Greece." Sir William Johnson, who lived among them bo long and knew them BO well. 3! 1 8 PRESB YTERIA NISM IX THE conducted with extraordinary regularity and decorum. They never interrupt oue who is speaking, nor use harsh language, whatever may be the provocation." And Governor Seymour has said, "I have heard from the chiefs of the Five Nations as clear, strong and dig- nified addresses as any I have listened to in legislative halls or at the bar of our judicial tribunals." Red Jacket indeed is worthy of a place with Demosthenes and Cicero, and Skenandoa's speeches keep up their echoes like Webster's. Though the men disdained labor, so well did the women perform their part in the held, as well as their own at home, that Colonel Ganse- vort, who was sent on an expedition against the Mo- hawks during the Revolution, describes them as "living much better than their neighbors, the white farmers, their houses being well filled with all necessary house- hold utensils, and they owning great plenty of grain, horses, cows and wagons." Though worthy of being called "the Romans of this western world," they were not superior in character to other Indians, much as they might have surpassed them in ability. Governor Clinton summarily describes them as having "the cunning of the fox, the ferocity of the tiger, and the power of the lion." Their num- bers were probably exaggerated, though there is so much inconsistency in authoritative estimates of them, that Lt is impossible to be sure of the right count The Missionary Kirkland, on whom it might be supposed we could rely, reckoned them at 6,332 in 1790. An United Stales census taken in 1794, for the purpose of distributing an annuity among them, returned only 3,298 here and 760 in Canada. Sir William Johnson SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 19 puts them at only 2.000, and other competent judges as high at their highest as 15,000, and the most recent census of Canada and the United States sets them at 13,000. But 439 remain on this field, and what a con- trast they present to their proud, daring, domineering and all-conquering fathers, and how crest-fallen and abject they appear, and as we occasionally meet some of them in mean dress and with spiritL peddling petty wares, how all fear of them is Lost in pity, and how retributive or inscrutable seem the dealings Providence with them, and how trying to faith is the work of their Christianization and civilization, or even of their rescue from extinction. Bat neither humanity nor religion permits us to intermit our labor for them. We will do our utmost, and leave it to God to deter- mine the result. In 1760 remnants of several tribes, called collectively the Brothertown Indians, from New Jersey and Long Island, were settled in what is now the town of Mar- shall, in Oneida county, and in 1783, 1735 and L788 three successive panics of the Stockbridge or Bousa- tonic Indian-, among whom John Sergeant, Sr., and Jonathan Edwards, Sr., served as missionaries, removed from Berkshire county, Mass., and settled al UN< Stockbridge," on lands assigned to them bytheOneidas before the Revolution, and John Sergeant, Jr.. came ;l> b missionary to them in their new home. MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIANS. Missions among the Indians on this field vie with the Crusades in heroism, Prosecuted in an unnoticed land. 2 1 > PR ESB YTER1A NISM IN THE and in the depths of the wilderness, at the sacrifice of every comfort common to civilization, and at every des- cription of expense to sensibility and taste, and in per- petual peril of life, no motive remained to the Mission- ary but the evangelization he sought ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. The Roman Catholics performed a large part of this work. The names of twenty-four Jesuits and of two Sul- pitians frequently occur in the history of the region for a space of more than an hundred years, commencing with 1625. They adopted the dress and habits of liv- ing of the Indians and accompanied them in hunting and fishing and in martial expeditions, and attached themselves to every Nation of the Confederacy, and es- tablished missions in them. Some of them were Fran- cis Xaviers in their ability and zeal. The Due de Vanta- dour retired from court and took sacred orders. In 1623, he obtained the Viceroyship of " New France," not from ambition or patriotism, but to convert the In- dians. The Albe Picquet, who founded Fort Presen- tation at Ogdensburg in 1748, compares well with the ablest of statesmen, but subordinated everything to his vocation as a Sulpitian and manifested talent, energy, devotedness and singleness and disinterestedness of pur- pose which entitle him to the highest rank among re- ligious Apostles. PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Though Protestant Missions among the Six Nations did not reach anything like the scale of the Roman 8YN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 21 Catholics and were not begun as early nor conducted with anything of their system and persistency, they were by no means neglected, and some of the Mission- aries won a character and performed a part which makes them conspicuous in the records of evangelization. In 1700, the Earl of Belemont, then Governor of New York, memorialized the Home Government to send 'some Ministers of the Church of England to instruct the Five Nations of Indians and to prevent their being practiced upon by the French Priests and Jesuits." The petition was approved and the Archbishop of Canter- bury was instructed to provide for sending out two Mis- sionaries. The then reigning sovereign, Queen Anne, became much interested in the undertaking and pro- posed to build a church for each of the confederate tribes. The one lor the Mohawks alone, however, was actually put up, and that stood at Fort Hunter until L820, when it was torn down to make way for the Erie canal A glebe of 300 acres was attached to the church, and the parsonage, an antiquated building, two stories high with square roof, still stands, about half a mile be- Low Schoharie The Dutch attempted little or nothing in the conduct of missions. One writer says, "Theclergy at the Man- hatans succeeded in teaching one young savage the prayers, so that he could repeat the responses In church and also read and write well. He was then furnished with a bible and Ben1 to evangelize the heathen, but la- pawned the book for brandy, became a thorough beasl and did more harm than good." The New Fork State Government did no more than pay a salan forsome time to the clergymen at Albany 22 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE and Schenectady to officiate for the Indians, as their duties at home and their inclinations permitted. The arrangement effected little more than to put a small sum into the purses of these clergymen. The Kev. Mr. Freeman, of Schenectady, translated portions of the Scriptures and prayer book into the Mohawk tongue. The Eev. Mr. Andrews, in 1710, sent out by the En- glish " Society for Propagating the Gospel," was pro- vided with every facility for his work, but after six years of toil and disappointment, he begged a recall, saying, " There is no hope of making them better. Heathen they are and Heathen they still must be." The Moravians are a Missionary body, every com- municant, as well as every Minister, being committed to carry the Gospel wherever the Brotherhood may send him. We find them, of course, among the Indians. In 1751, two of their number settled among the Onon da- gas, but after preparing primary school books and juven- ile devotional books and a grammar and dictionary, in a few years their enterprise was abandoned. The com- piler of the dictionary remarks that few languages con- tain one of its size, and that if this is filled with genuine Iroquois, we cannot charge its vocabulary with pov- erty." Sir William Johnson was greatly interested in the spiritual welfare of the people, whom he kindly treated as his wards, and made it the theme of a frequent and protracted correspondence with the British Government and with the dignitaries and ministers of the British church, and though decidedly an Episcopalian, he was cordial in welcoming Congregational and Presbyterian cooperation. This latter began in 1748, when Messrs. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 23 Spencer, Chamberlain and Hawlev, visited successively the tribes on the Mohawk and Susquehannah. A quo- tation from Mr. Gideon Ilawley's journal of his jour- neying from the Mohawk to Broome county in 1753, gives us some idea of what these Missionaries encoun- tered. " We pursued our way, one after another, through bushes and sloughs, water and mire. At dusk we arrived at the nearest houses between Fort Hunter and Schoharry, but did not put up until we came to what was accounted a public house, but very unfit for the entertainment of gentlemen strangers. It had only one room. In that room was what is called a slaw-bunk, with a straw bed, on which we lodged. This, however, was not the worst of it, for we had been content with coarse fare and ill accommodations, in ease we <'Ould have had quiet rest, but the unhappiness of our was that it was the end of the week and to spend their wages, three or l<>ur old countrymen came in and gamed and drank through the night within a foot or two of our bed. We remonstrated and complained, but in vain." Holding sen ice on Sunday at the Mohawk vil- lage, Mr. Hawley and bis party spenl Monday, as he says, 'in collecting supplies and accessaries for our journey, designing the next day to plunge into that im- mense wilderness thai lies to the southward and . ward of as and inhabited only by savages. Tuesday, M.-i\ 29th, L753, we ascend u Bteep mountain, directing our course almost west It was generally obstructed by fallen trees, old Logs, miry places, pointed rocks and en- tangling roota We were alternatel) on the ridge of a lofty mountain and in the depths of a valley. At best our path was obscure, and we nee. led guides to go be 24 PRESli YTERTA NISM IN THE fore us. Night approaches. We halt by a stream. A fire is kindled. The kettles are filled, and we refresh ourselves. Adoring the Divine Providence, giving thanks for the salvation of the day, and committing our- selves to God for the night, with the starry heavens above me and the earth for my bed, I roll myself in a blanket, and without a dream to disturb my repose, never awake until the eyelids of the morning are opened and the penetrating rays of the sun look through the surrounding foliage, when we arise, and again address- ing Him whose constant visitation supports, cheers and refreshes us, we invoke His protection, direction and blessing. This is our practice through the journey. Our enterprise naturally inspired us with devotion and the august and stupendous works of creation inspired us with awe. We read God's name in capitals. "It may not be impertinent to observe that in this wilderness we neither hear nor see any birds of music. These frequent only the abodes of man. There is one wood bird occasionally heard, but in his note no melody sounds." "At one of the halts," says Mr. Hawley, "our young Indians came in looking as terrible and ugly as they could, having their faces bedaubed with vermillion, lamp-black, white lead, &c. A young Indian always carries with him his looking-glass and paint, and does not consider himself dressed until he has adjusted his coun- tenance with their help. 11 1 visited from house to house, and found a child but just alive. I prayed with it, and was desired to baptize it, but excused myself by the plea that I wasn't or- dained. The Mohawks are fond of christening their SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 25 children, and all of these on the Mohawk Eiver have received it. Indians are fond of rites and ceremonies. " We were awaked at night by howlings over the death of the child. The whole village was agitated. TTe an ee early in the morning and saw the women and their children skulking in the bushes for fear of the intoxi- cated men, who were drinking deeper, and secreting guns, hatchets and whatever other dangerous weapon might be seized to murder or harm. •• We got off in two bands, one by water and the other by land, stealing away with our effects, but the drunken Indians pursued both, and one came near enough up to strike at as with his club and one of the horses was hit. "June 4th, in the afternoon, we saw the place of our destination (Windsor, 14 miles east from Bingham- bon,) and wet and fatigued, we reached it near night. The Indians flocked around us and made us welcome, but our lodgings were bad. being both dirty and hard and our clothes wet" Near L750, "Moore's Indian Charity School." was established a1 Lebanon, Ct, by Rev. Dr. Eleazer Whee- lock, for twenty -five years the pastor of the Second ( gregational Church there and subsequently the first Pres- ident of Dartmouth College. It enlisted wide-spread Bympathy in this country and abroad, and gathered a large number of pupils. Dr. Wheelock gave early and Bpecial attention to the Six Nations. Indeed. in L767 v. he proposed to remove his institution to this region, but Q ernor Wentworth offering "atracl of land in the western part of the province of New Bampshire," which he was then settling, Dr. Wheelock went there, and B 2 6 PRESS YTERIANIbM IN THE tlience Dartmouth College originated. He commenced an active correspondence about these Indians with Sir William Johnson as far back as 1760, and educated many of their youth, among them Brant, Occum, Sam- son, Joseph Wooly and David Fowler. Messrs. Gid- eon Hawley, Spencer, Chamberlain, Smith, Kirkland and others were sent by him on missions and tours, and Samuel Kirkland, on his first coming here, was intro- duced by him to Sir William Johnson. He wrote to him in 1764, " The bearers, Mr. Kirkland and Joseph Wooly, (a Delaware,) come to submit themselves to your Honor's direction and conduct, with desire to learn the Seneca and Mohawk languages, and while they are doing that, to teach school among them also." Sir Wil- liam replied, " Kirkland's intention of learning the Mo- hawk language I much approve of, as after acquiring it, he could (when qualified) be of much service to them as a clergyman, which they much want and are very desirous of having." Dr. Wheelock again wrote, "I thank your Excellency most heartily for all your con- decension and repeated favors shown to me, and partic- ularly for your love for and your kindness to my dear Mr. Kirkland. I have been concerned lest through the zeal and vigor of his youth, the natural sprightliness of his genius and his unacquaintedness with the business he was sent upon, he would be surprised into some inde- cent and improvident sallies. But my principal confi- dence, under God; has been in that paternal care for such, which I take to be a native in your Excellency's breast I pray your Excellency to continue your pa- ternal kindness to him, and whatever supplies he shall stand in need of, please to provide him with the same and charge to my account." SYXOI) OP (I-'STIIAL XK\Y YORK. 27 In this same letter Dr. Wheelock enclosed a touching address to the Six Nations, extracts from which evince the spirit of the man : " My Brethren and Friends : I have had you upon my heart ever since I was a hoy. I have pitied you on account of your worldly poverty, but much more on account of the perishing case your immortal souls are in without a knowledge of the torus God and Savior of sinners T have prayed for you daily for more than thirty years, that a way might be opened to send the gospel to you and you made willing to receive it, and I hope that God is now answering the prayers that have been long made for you and that the time of His mercy to your perishing Nation is at hand. Some years ago I educated Mr. Oc- cum, who has been a little while with some of you, with hopes that God would make him an instrument of great good to my poor brethren, the Indians He labored a number of years at Montauk and was a means of much good to that tribe and also ro some in New England, and I hope has done good in the short time he has been with you. After I had educated Mr. Occuni and saw no other way to help the perishing Indians, there being no door open to send Missionaries among them. I determined on setting up an Indian school to teach their children, that when they got learning they might return home and in their own language teach their brothers and sisters and friends the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. I firsl took two boys of the Delawares, but one of them died when he was almosl lit for College, and the Other went to College, but when almost through was overcome bj Btrong drink and so grieved my very heart. I am now sending you eight of your sons whom I have taught to read and write well. Two of them have been examined by the Ministers who have joined with me to help forward the great design of christianizing the Indians, and are recommended, with Joseph Wooly, to be Schoolmasters. Two Ministers are coming to you from my school, and thej are men of learning and have had a liberal education and are able to teach you the waj of Balvation by Christ. And thej i"\.- you. They do not come tO get monej 00r to get away your land, nor to cheat or wrong you in anything, but to do you good, And jrou may depend upon it, I will never send One willingly to preach the gospel tO you who has any Other view iban to >a\e \ sleep in the grave by liim, and the two were laid side by side, and proverbially ungrateful as Republics are. if not recompensed, his patriotic serv- ices wciv recognized by large and repeated grants of pub- lic land. Intent on tlie children of his dusky children. be appropriated a large portion of this land to the found- ing in Oneida county of a counterpart of " Moore's In- dian Charitv School."' and this came into form as the Hamilton (Oneida) Academy in 1793, and in L810 it expanded into I [amilton < '"1!' We need qo1 and will not measure and weigh Samuel Kirkland with other Missionaries ^^i the Gross, bul a living presence throughout ( lentral New York and deep and distiiid in the impression he has made, bow like a being of flesh and blood be is still in all our churches, in all our homes, in all our hearts. W'lieelock and Kirkland have consecrated the field of our activities, h oughl to be holy ground tons, and inspired with the spirit these old saints breathed 30 PRESBYTEltlANISM IN THE over it, shall it not be our great employment to save the perishing. Self has no place here, but ex- pelling it, whether in the form of interest, or ambition, or employment, let us live in the congregations and communities we serve. Missions among the Six Nations were as discourag- ing* as they usually have been among Indian tribes. * In a sort of summary of the results of his educational efforts for the Indians, Dr. Wheelock exhibits the sublime patience and devotedness of the man, and almost as clearly, it must be con- fessed, the discouragement of his work. "Among those whom I have educated, there have been near forty who were good readers and writers and were instructed in the principles of the Christian religion as their age and time would admit and were sufficiently masters of English grammar and arithmetic, and a number consid- erably advanced in a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and one of them carried through college and was a good scholar, and others carried through a course of learning with not less expense for each of them than would have been necessary to support an En- glish youth through a collegiate course and they have generally behaved well while they were with me and left my school with fair and unblemished characters and under the influence of every motive I could set before them, to a good improvement of the dis- tinguishing talents which God had committed to them, and many of them have gone immediately from my school into good aud re- spectable business and such business as they were equal to, and generally to serve as schoolmasters, but some as interpreters, &c, and nothing has prevented their being employed usefully and reputably in various capacities till this day, but their want of fortitude to resist the power of those fashionable vices which were rampant among all their tribes. Of all before mentioned, 1 didn't hear of more than half who have preserved their charac- ters unstained either by a coarse oi intemperance or uncleanness, or both, and some who, on account of their parts and learning bid the fairest for usefulness, are sunk down into as low, savage and brutish a manner of living as they were in before any endeavors were made to raise them up, and there are some of whom I did SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 31 There were individual converts, and some of them, all things considered, of a marked character ; but as a mass, they withstood Christian influence and effort, and though compelled to give up a vagrant life, but few have settled down to industrious occupations. There seems to be a curse upon them. 'We dare not affirm this, and must not presume to neglect them. If but one here and there may be saved, it will compensate for any outlay, and occupying their lands, we can afford to labor and spend for their souls. FRENCH A XI) ENGLISH WARS. The French and English wars, extending from the entrance of the whites into the country down to the conquest of the French by the English in 1760, made tins a field of diplomacy and stratagem and blood, and of thrilling and romantic incidenl and adventure. Sel- dom have the art and artifice of the statesman and the skill and courage of the soldier surpassed those then exhibited here. It was the key of the country, and and still do entertain hope that they really were the subjects of God'e grace, who have not wholly kept their garments unspotted amongst the pots, and six of those who did preserve s Lr«><»d char- acter are sow dead." N. Y. Doe. Hie I, 818-14. Per contra— in a letter to Arthur Lee, Doe, Hie, I 278, Sir Wil- liam Johnson says, "Their repugnance to civilization is aot owing to any viciousnesS Of their nature, or want of capacity, SB they bave a strong genius for arts and uncommon patience. The chil- dren are senl back too soon from school to their people, whose political maxim, Spartan like, is to discourage all pursuits hut war, holding all other knowledge unworthy the dignity of man. The Influence of such subsequent associations can bardli in- with- stood by an early school education." 82 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE the nation that held it, opened or closed the way to every part of the country, and the negotiations and conflicts upon it, therefore, treated and battled for the possession of the country. Strong forts were built at such commanding points as Oswego, Cape Vincent, Ogdensburgh and Eome, and forts for the defense of the inhabitants at Schoharie and Herkimer, and posts for the French particularly were established wherever per- mission for them could be procured from the Iroquois. It was of the utmost moment to make sure of the friendship and alliance of the aborigines. The English acquired this by transmission from the Dutch, whom they succeeded in the colony of New York, and who, for the most part, had kept on good terms with the aborigines ; and the French sought to buy it by pres- ents and promises," and to compel it by arms. The French invasions of them, and the French and English conflicts, with savages as allies on one side and as foes of the other, combined valor and ferocity beyond pre- cedent in battling and carnage, while the dense forests and vast wilderness gave tcrribleness to the armies and their encounters. Individual feats and escapes, daring and hairbreadth, and of constant occurrence, surpass everything fiction relates, and the most stolid are stirred in reading of them. This portion of our country's his- tory should be more familial- to its people, and particu- larly to the people of this region, and should be better published to the world. North America was the spoils for which the warfare was waged, and the theo two great nations of Europe, for long ages battling there, fiercely fought here, enlisting in their ranks the tribes of savages who were the terror of all other sav- 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 33 ages, and largely their conquerors. More than the possession of North America hung on the wars. The character of its civilization, and especially the descrip- tion of its Christianity, were at slake. This home of ours — the seat of this Synod — was the great battle-field where victory made our nation Anglo Saxon and our religion Protestant. It is the Armageddon of our Land THE REVOLUTIONARY AVAIL Incidents and scenes in these parts during the Revo- lutionary war are much better known. The Six Na- tions, in undiminished numbers and with untamed sav- agery, roamed the wilds, and with the exception of the greater pari of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, held to us by the Missionary Kirkland. whom the government had commissioned for this service, all adhered to Great Britain, and desperately fought for it. One of the de- cisive battles of the war was foughl at Oriskany, and one of the decisive sieges in it was carried on at Fort, Stanwix, while the horrible massacre al Cherry Valley is one of the two greal atrocities perpetrated in it. True bo itself, to its principles, its doctrines, its line- age, its antecedents, Presbyterianisra was devoted to the cause of civil liberty in the Revolutionary struggle Its pulpit gave no uncertain sound, and its ministers joined and led in obeying the summons the\ published to patriotic arms. TheSynod of New York and Phila- delphia, then our bighesl ecclesiastical body, met in 177o. and echoed the guns fired four weeks before at Lexington, and encouraged and helped to embolden the Declaration <>\ Independence the year following, 3 4 PRE SB TTERIA NISM IN THE while the Scotch-Irish at Mecklenberg, 1ST. C, antici- pated, if they did not furnish, the words of that im- mortal document. Our historian, Hildreth, tells us "The Episcopal clergy leaned, with very few exceptions, to the side of the crown, and in the Middle and Northern Provinces their flocks were chiefly of the same way of thinking." Another writer describes some of them as "bitter and relentless in their Toryism; their violence helped to bring discredit on their cause, and their religious intol- erance led them to their ruin."* Those in this field consisted largely of this class. The pensioners of the British government and the retainers of Sir William Johnson, while courtly to their patrons, they were arro- gant and sometimes malignant towards so-called " dis- senters'' and "rebels." Their letters occasionally ; ire amusing by their passionateness. The Rev. Dr. Auch- merty wrote to Sir William Johnson, 1770 : " The true principles of a good churchman are a true regard to the laws of his God and a zealous attachment to his lawful sovereign. The opposers of a monarchical gov- ernment (too many of which our nation is cursed with) *A letter written October 31, 1776, by Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis, thru rector of Trinity Church, New York, vividly describes the civil attitude and animus of Prelacy and Presbyterianism in Rev- olutionary times. N. T. Doc. His. 3 : 1051. "Yet many of them distinguished themselves for fidelity to the defense of the Colonies. Of this number were Bishop Madison, and Bracken, Beluiaine, Buchanan, Jarratt, Griffith, Davis and many others, while Muhlenburg. of Virginia, relinquished his rectorate, became colonel in the American army, raised a regi- ment from among his own parishioners, and served through the whole war, retiring at its close as brigadier-general." llurd, in First Century of Republic, 477. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 85 are a direct contrast, which every man's experience, if he has ten grains of sense, or five of honesty, must convince him of. These men are ever assuming a power, have once had it — made a diabolical use of it, and yet have the audaciousness, the wickedness, to attempt to usurp it again under the best of princes. The clergy are much indebted to you. worthy sir, for your strong attachment to the present happy establishment in Church and State, and for your animated letters to the ministry, setting forth the necessity of an American Episcopacy and a proper notice and regard lor the American churches, which at present are left destitute of countenance and support, subject to the vile ravages of Goths and Vandals — or, what is worse, inveterate malice from those that dare to style themselves Chris- tians. May God reform them. I forgive them, but forget them 1 never shall." The proposal to set up an American Episcopate in our Land aroused the fears of evevy aon-prelatisl in it. It was to be an extension here, they thought, of the oppressiveness and odiousness of the British Church and State system. The people took tire at it. and this was largely the kindling of the Revolutionary flame The lear was w<-ll grounded, too. The tory clergy did aim at an ecclesiastical establishment in the United States corresponding t<> the one in Greal Britain. Dr. A uchmerl \ . in the letter just quoted from, says, "I, therefore, as the President of the Convention /'/•" i> m- pore, return you our most sincere and grateful thanks for the exertion of yourinteresl in favor of the Church of England in America, and for the man} favors we have received from you as clergymen, We bave still 36 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE to beg that the discouragements you have met with may not slacken your generous ardor or provoke you to cease your application at home in our favor, i. e.,the preservation of the present happy establishment in Church and State, which ought to be as firmly settled here as in Great Britain." Doc. His. 4 : 266. Rev. Jacob W. Johnson, one of our missionaries to the Indians, wrote from Fort Stanwix in 1768 to Sir William in quite a different strain, and with consider- able quiet humor. The letter sufficiently explains the occasion of it: "Inasmuch as I am a minister of Christ, and my work principally to preach the gospel to the lower rank of people, I have not used myself much to the company and converse of gentlemen of the civil and military order, especially in the pleasure and prac- tice of drinking healths, loyal toasts, &c.; wherefore, I may easily offend in this respect with no ill meaning ; and inasmuch as in drinking the king's health yester- day, I used such terms as to offend Colonel Johnson, the Chief Justice, and it may be some others, in saying, 'I drink the king of New England health: the health of the king that hears our prayers,' &c., I do hereby honestly and before Ilim that knoweth all things pro- test I had no other meaning, then or now, but what Is expressed or implied in these words, I drink the health of King George I II. of Greal Britain, &c., comprehend- ing New England and all the British colonies and pro- vinces in North America, And 1 mean to drink such a health to his British Majesty when occasion serves so long as his Royal Majesty shall govern his American and British subjects according to Magna Charta, or the greal charter of English liberties, and hears the prayers S I YOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 37 of his American Bubjects when properly laid before him. But in case his British Majesty (which God in great mercy prevent) should supersede and proceed contrary to charter rights and privileges, and govern ns with a rod of iron and the month of cannon, and make his little ringer thicker than his father's loins, and utterly refuse to hear or consider our humble prayers, then and in that case I should think it my indispensa- ble duty to seek a retreat elsewhere, or join with my countrymen in forming a new empire in America, dis- tiiK-i from and independent of the British empire, agreeable to a projected and predicted plan in a late . which in substance agrees with my rnind in those things, and. if I am oot mistaken, with every true son of Liberty." Doc His. 4 : i>47. The Scotch-Irish of our church and the Lutherans. as really Presbyterian as ourseh the front of the immigration into the territory of the Synod at that period, the Scotch-Irish settling on the most easterly portion of it in Otsego and Delaware counties and the nans on the Mohawk River up t<> Herkimer. They were patriotic and intrepid, too. It cost somethii avow themselves in the days of discussion and contro- versy, prior to tin- clangor of arms. The community was divided in sentiment, and feeling arose to fever- heat Prope/ty and social rank and civil position sen- sitively and vividly upheld the king, and it was at the sacrifice of everything bestowed by them or derived or hoped for from them that the people were sustained Ami when the war broke <>ut. to side with the people was to brave the worst that could he inflicted ly the fury < >f the opulent and powerful supporters of the king. 38 PRESBTTER1AN1SM IN THE his trained armies and their large auxiliaries. The bit- terness of partizanship, inquisitive and unsparing and unrelenting, the inroads and assaults of a reckless for- eign soldiery, reinforced by brutal volunteers, and the surprisings and scalpings and burnings and massacres of fiendish Indians, were the stern ventures accepted by the brave patriots here. Think of the Palatinates. - on the Mohawk. A few hundred were scattered, or gathered in small groups along the river valley, beyond the possibility of succor, and within easy striking dis- tance of the fierce Iroquois. Think of the Scotch-Iris]], the outskirts of white population to the south of the Mohawk and as exposed as their German brethren, and dauntless in their patriotism, how dreadfully they suf- fered for it. The name of Cherry Valley is written in blood and lighted up by flame. The world is familiar with it and shudders at the horors enacted at it. What a holocaust was there on the altar of freedom ! The year preceding the Cherry Valley massacre, the British entered on an expedition which they had long and carefully deliberated and for which they had prod- igally prepared. They proposed to thrust themselves in between New England and the rest of the States, and l>v this division of them to conquer them. Gen. Bur- goyne was sent with a large, well trained army by Lake Champlain, one of the only two passages, from Canada to New York, and fighting his way to Saratoga, was obliged to capitulate there, St. Leger was sent with another army of English troops, seconded by a horde of *The Germans on the Mohawk and elsewhere in the country were called Palatinates because they emigrated from the Palatines of their mother-country. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 39 savages under the terrible and infamous Brant, and a band of rancorous 'tories, by tlie way of Home, with in- structions to halt at Johnstown, and there arrest our fugitive army which Burgoyne was expected to put to flight, or be a reserve to Burgoyne, should he meet with any check. Fort Stanwix was the point on which St Leger's part of the expeditiou turned, and for the pos- session of this he concentrated his entire force there and employed all his art and enginery. Nothing saved it but the onrushing to its rescue of the Germans of the Mohawk. The battle of Oriskany was as hard-foughl as any in the war and as decisive as the battle of Sar- atoga, and struck its determining blow in the same cam- paign. Nay, more; it ended England's alliances with sa\ ages. Dispirited by the slaughter of their chieftains, the [ndians never again appeared on the field as their auxiliaries. And were gallantry and enthusiasm for country and freedom ever more signally displayed than in the rallying of those Mohawk farmers at the call of their fellow-German General Herkimer, mid their flying to meel the disciplined mercenaries and the Indian allies of Greal Britain and drive them from before the hold thai kepi a little band of patriot soldiers? and when sur- prised on their rapid march, how desperately they fought, and how triumphantly they served in the end. to repel the invaders from the beseiged and assaulted Eorl and thrust them back to their starting point, and utterly defeal their scheme of conquest \Yh;it a foremost picture in the world's militar Lery is the General, with leg fractured by a musket ball, and horse killed under him. seated OH his saddle whieh he bad directed to be placed on a little billock, To the 40 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE entreaty to retire to a less exposed situation, lie replied, " I will face the enemy," and in the heat of battle, sur- rounded by a few of his intrepid men, he took his tinder box from his j:>ocket, lighted his pipe and calmly smoked, at the same time vigilantly watching circumstances and occurrences, and deliberately issuing his orders. It was the coolness and courage of a Christian soldier. Ten days after the battle he submitted to the amputation of his leg at his home, near Little Falls, where his affec- tionate men had borne him, and there a bungling opera- tion was performed. Bleeding to death, he joined the long list of victims of professional ignorance and botch- ery. He maintained to the last his calmness on the field of action. Aware that dissolution was at hand, he called for the family Bible and gathering his house- hold about him, and shewing his familiarity with the inspired Book by the aptness of his selection, he turned to the 39th Psalm and in a clear, untremulous voice, read — " 0 Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure, for thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore/' TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS AFTER THE REVOLUTION- ARY WAR AND THE KXTINCTION OF THEIR TITLE TO THE LAND. The French and English wars and the war of the Revolution revealed the country to the eyes of civiliza- tion, but its occupation by red men forebade the settle- ment of whites be}Tond Herkimer. There were not 10,000 of these in the whole county of Tryon. At the breaking out of hostilities with the Mother Country. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 41 the Mohawks left for Canada, the Oneidas and Tusca- roras were won to the .side of the patriots, arid the tribes of them were greatly broken and intimidated In- General Sullivan's expedition against them. But not- withstanding this, the pr of Indians in it was a repulsion from the country and their title to the land an obstacle to its possession. .V treaty with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in 1784. established peace and amity between them and the United St. and subsequent purchases from the several tribes by the State of New Fork, and also by the State of Mas- sachusetts, or by parties to whom the Massachusetts preemption right was sold, extinguished the Indian title to all lands in the State save several small reserva- tion.-. Massachusetts became a party to these trans- actions, through a settlement of boundaries between it and New York, according to which it relinquished its claim to ,-t part of the territory of New York in consid- eration of its receiving a preemption right to what was subsequently called "The Massachusetts Teu Town- ships," lying between the Owego and Chenango rivers, and six millions of acres west of a line running through Seneca Lake. LAND PURCHAS New York set apart the portion of her lands, or of the lands to which she laid a preemption right in On- ondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Cortland counties, and the Larger part of Tompkins and a small part of i i ami Wayne counties for military bounties t<> soldi* tin- State that had served !'■)!■ a certain space in tin- war of the Revolution, and they were known as "The Mili- b2 42 PRESBYTERIAN1SM TX THE t;ir\ Tract," a name that frequently occurs in the his- tory of CeDtral and Western New York. Ob the sale of their lands the Indians removed to Canada and the West, not more perhaps than 500 re- maining behind Opened to immigration the region received it with a rush. " Whitestown," which township at first extend- ed over Central and Western New York, and later, " the Genesee conntiy," were names for El Dorados, and fas- cinated crowds pressed into it. In the winter of 1795, twelve hundred sleighs loaded -with furniture and with men. women and children, passed through Albany in three days, and Jive hundred were counted between sun- rise and sun-set of February 28th, in that year. It is difficult to conceive the straits of the first settlers amid the present prodigal production of the region and its lightning railway trains. It took from ten days to two weeks to goto Albany for goods and to return. For two years the nearest mill to Whitestown was at Palatine, forty miles distant, and could be reached only by an Indian path, which defied wheels and hardly allowed passage for a horse, thick forests of massive timberwere to 1"' levelled and the land cleared up, and wild beasts and roving Indians and chills and fevers encountered. IMMIGRATION. The mass of immigrants were men n their services, but they scrupled not to desecrate holy time, and it often became a season of public sport and general revelry. The General Assembly year after year uttered its voice in warning and entreaty, and its tones waxed in earnestness until 1798, when the evil culminated, and the church was called to the observance of a day for fasting, humiliation and prayer, in view of the prevail- ing irreligion and vice. The next year the "great re- vival," as it was called, began and a new order and as- pect of things appeared. RELIGION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY. American Presbyterianism not long before had been sent to s.li. ml. and in the "Old and Xew Sides ' con- troversy, and under the Whitfield revival, received an education which eminently and specially titled it for the exigences of the day. It became grounded in all the elements of true pietj and in the conditions of a legiti- mate church membership and in the qualifications for a ministerial commission, while it caught a holy fireand gol a holy quickening from the presence of the Spirit. The conservatism of theOld Sides was learned together with the aggressiveness and enterprise of tin1 Xew Sides, the needfulness iA' knowledge exacted by the first, and ^\' the zeal of the last, both intelligence and regenera- tion, orthodoxy and christian experience, as the terms of admission to sealing ordinances, and ^\' learning and holiness and activity and earnestness, as the requi- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 45 site gifts and graces for the sacred office, and interfused through all, warming and vitalizing it, was the influ- ence of the Holy Ghost. What an amalgam was that when, at Philadelphia, in 1758, Old Sides and New Sides came together, and what a church was formed for the coming exigencies of religion in the land. SYMPATHY AM) COOPERATION OF PRESBYTEBIANISM AND CONGREGATIONALISM. The liberality of both Presbyterianism and Congre- gationalism, their affinity in creed and disposition, and their long and close association happily fitted them for the first settlement of this field. In L766, a Convention, which met at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, formed a plan for Union, approved by tin4 Synod of New York and Philadelphia, then our high- esl Judicatory, between our church and Congregational churchea [ts expressed design was "to gain informa- tion of their united cause and interest, to colleet ac- counts relating thereto, to unite their endeavors for spreading the gospel and preserving the religious liberties of the churches, (then threatened l>\ the establishment of Episcopacy in the land as a State institution.) to dif- fuse barmony and to keep up a correspondence between this united body and with friends abroad, and to vindi- cate the loyalty and reputation n\' the churches thus represented," this being aspersed at the time inthebusy iv] I, >ris of prelacy t<> t li<- Home Government The Con- vention alternated its sessions between New England and New Jersey, and mel annually until 177»». when the war inten ened. 4P> PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE There was a renewed call for a combination of the two denominations al the settling of this field. The re- ligious portion of the people consisted largely of Pres- byterians and Congregationalists, with a considerable preponderence of the last, and these were intermingled in most of the several communities. Neither class by itself was generally able to maintain a church organiza- tion, and in competition must have broken each other down. The spiritual destitution of the region, its prospects of rapidly increasing population and material growth appealed to christian benevolence for help. Quick in their sympathies and true to their responsibilities, the Genera] Assembly and the Congregational Associations of New England inaugurated missions and too intent i m evangelization to think of denomination, they clasped hands and confederated in the work. In 1790, the General Assembly "invited the minis- ters of the Congregational churches of New England to renew their annual Convention with the clergy of the Presbyterian Church," and in 1792 a plan of correspond- ence with the Association of Connecticut was adopted. according to which representatives from the two bodies were to sit in each others meetings and take part in their councils, and in L794, al the suggestion of the General Assembly and on the motion of Dr. John Rodgers, these representatives were entitled to vote. This amendment, bowever, was obviously unconstitu- tional and jeoparded the legal validity of the proceed- ings of both bodies, and in L827 . and with the General Association of Massachusetts in 1811. EARLY MISSIONARY APPOINTMENTS. The Association of Connecticut and the General As- sembly almost simultaneously despatched missionaries to this region, and the other New England Associations followed in their train. Most of the first missionaries were appointed for the term of a few months, or wi many of them being pastors at the East and only mak- ing tours for preaching and exploration, while others remained on the field and itinerated more or less widely over it*. Tin- salaries fixed for Presby- terians was 140 :i month. Under appointment by the Genera] Assembly in 17'.,,». Rev. M- ssrs. Nathan Kerr andJoshua Hurt visited Cherry Valley, Cooperstown, Whitestown, Home. Clinton, Chenango, Tioga and Broome counties, and other places in this region, as well as the Indian tribes. Rev. Messrs James Boyd and Aaron Condict followed the next year on the same route. In L793,+ Rev. Messrs. Benjamin Judd and * The fir.-t Home Missionary grant recorded in the annals of the American Presbyterian Church was made in 171!) to the First Presbyterian Church of the city of New York. The return that church has math' is indicated by th<- fact that in Is?."). it contrib- uted $12,849 to Some Missions, $20,616 to Foreign Missions, $84,- 660 to church erection, s:{4,414 to miscellaneous objects <>f benev- olence, 16,812 to ministerial education, $8 Publication Board, si r,->u to ministerial relief, $5,193 t<> Freedmen, $5,665 to the sustentation scheme,— being $208,095 to benevolenl objects during a single year, [tspeni besides for its own u f Oquago, (now Windsor,) in Br no county, was the seal colony of Oneidas, and in 1799 the Re* Messi Fndd and Buck formed ■ Congregational Church there, the first ehurch organised in that region. 48 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE Daniel Buckmore were sent out, and between 1795 and 17(.»(.», Messrs. Porter, Thatcher, Semple, McLain, John OL >se, Asa Dunham, John Stevens, John Patterson, David Barclay, Robert Logan, John Lindsley, James Force, Mathusaleh Baldwin, Jonathan Freeman and Robert H. Chapman. Jedediah Chapman was commissioned in 1799, and for successive years down to 1813, as a sort of superintendent, exploring the field, calling in missionaries and designating their districts and having the general charge of the work. In 1800, Dr. Perine, then a Licentiate, and well known as one of the first corps of Professors at Auburn Theological Semi- nary, and in 1801, Dr. Asa Hillyer, of wide reputation as a New Jersey pastor, spent some months in preach- ing here. Cotemporary with these missionaries and their asso- ciates from the General Assembly, was a larger number from New England. As early as 1788 or 9, Rev. Sam- uel Eells, under a commission from the Association of Connecticut, traveled as far wesl as Rome. In 1793— 1, Rev. Moses C. Welsh and Rev. Mr. Campbell; in 1795, Rev. Messrs. Joshua Knapp, David Huntington, Ammi Robbins, Lemuel Taylor and Levi Hart ; in 1796, Rev. Messrs Nott, Lyman, Ely, Kinne and Benedict; in L798, Rev. Messrs Beriah Hotchkiss and Joshua Badger,* in 1799 Walter King, and many others in these * Missionaries in the Susquehannah Valley traveled on foot for long distances, guided through the forests by "blazed" trees. Mr. Badger's circuit extended thirty-five miles, from Great Bend, Pa., to Sidney, N. Y. Having an appointment at Jericho, (now Bain- bridge,) his brother at Oquago, (now Windsor,) persuaded him to take his horse, but after riding half way, he left the horse, as he was in haste to reach Jericho, seven miles further on. i SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 49 different years, down to the close of the last century, went in various directions under the same commission and to numerous places. In 1799, and again in 1805, accompanied the latter time by Jeremiah Day, who succeeded him in his office at Yale College, and was then a tutor there, President Dwight made tours through the country and published an account of them in 'his book of " Travels,'1 and in 1803 Rev. William Allen, subse- quently the distinguished President of Bowdoin Col- lege, rode " a solitary horseman,1' from Massachusetts to Niagara Falls, preaching and taking notes, and on his return, published a " Plea" for the people. Especially conspicuous in that period and long sub- sequently, were the name and labors of Jedediah Bush- nell and Seth Williston, both of whom came from Con- necticut. They were good men and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, unspari 1 ig and forgetful of themselves, actively traversing <'ur broad region and by them "much people was added unto the Lord" They were identified with the origin and progress of "the greal revival" in 1799, and with its continuance or repetition in the immediately following years, and conspicuous on widely separate theatres of it. With Jedediah Chap- man, of New Jersey, they form a trio of missionaries unsurpassed in tin' histories of new countries, and to whom Central and Western New Fork owe a debl of gratitude and bonor that, especially in these memorial days, should be distinctly recognized Born at Chat* bam, Ot, in 17 1 1. graduated a1 Yale in L792,apastor at Orangedale, N. J., Mr. Chapman made Geneva in 1800 the centre for bis missionary supervision, which c 50 PRESBYTEMANmi IN THE he kept up until his death in 1813, having charge of the church at Geneva in the meanwhile, aided in this for the last year of his life by Kev. Henry Axtell, a colleague with him in the pastorship. His journal de- scribes»how unsparingly he prosecuted his toilsome and trying itineracy. December 23, 1803, he writes, " I rode, to Ovid, about twenty-four miles, in a dreadful storm of hail and rain. My course was in the face of the wind and before I had gone two miles my cloak was stiff enough with ice to stand up." Converts under his ministry were gathered with others into churches by him and these were nursed with all a parent's assiduity and affection. Of marked urbanity and sensible and intelligent, he was greatly esteemed by his brethren, by whom he was chosen in 1803 the first Moderator of the Synod of Albany and in 1787 Moderator of the Synod of New York and New Jersey, then the supreme Judi- catory of our church. Mr. Bushnell was spared to see the wilderness which he entered as a pioneer and which he took so promi- nent a lead in subduing, turned into a fruitful field and flowery garden, and with the retrospect of a long and useful life and the good hope of a blessed immor- tality, he passed, at Cornwall, Vt, August 20, 1846, to hear the plaudit of his Lord, "Well done, good and faithful servant" Dr. Williston.was born at Suffield, Ct., in 1770, and graduated a1 Dartmouth in 1791, taking high rank for scholarship and intellect. After teaching for throe years, he commenced the study of theology under Dr. Backus, of Somers, and on being licensed preached in sey- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 51 era) places in Connecticut and Vermont He then visited the "Chenango country" and prosecuted there and in "the Mili tary Tract " and elsewhere in this region, the mission- ary work by which he was so much distinguished. He settled at Lisle for ten years and at Durham, Greene county, for eighteen years, and retiring from the pastoral charge in 1828 he revisited the scene of his missionary labors and quite actively engaged in them, particularly in Delaware county and that vicinity. He was a ready writer and published books, pamphlets and tracts, on a great variety of subjects, but always those that belonged to the discussions and circumstances of the day. A decided Ilopkinsian in his theology and devoted to its inculcation, he still kept his eye open to the signs of the times and incessantly strove to stir up God's people to improve seasons and opportunities to advance his kingdom and do his work, and himself intent on the salvation of sinners, he never intermitted his own activ- ity for it. His earnestness may have too uniformly given seriousness and solemnity to bis appearance, and be may have dealt disproportionately with the law at the expense of the gospel, but it was the error of a tender conscience and nol "1" a harsh heart I met him at the decline of his life, at the house of his brother. ;i distinguished law yer and Judge of Athens, Pa. Tall, slender and dignified, with the manners of a patriarch and the spiril of a saint, he made the deepest Impres of venerableness upon me I ever received The northern division of the held of the Synod was not settle.! until L800. The established missionaries mbsl active in the formation of the firs! churches th< re were Messrs Nathaniel Dutton, John Taylor and Mr. 52 PfitisSTTERlAXlSM lit TBM Phelps, from the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Mis- sionary Societies, and Tra Hart and Lathrop Thompson, from the Connecticut Missionary Society. Among the transient missionaries was Rev. Bennett Tyler, afterwards President of Dartmouth College and then of East Wind- sor Seminary, and still better known as the principal opponent of Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor in New England polemics. The Presbytery of Oneida, within whose bounds it lay, earnestly sought to provide for it, appeal- ing to the General Assembly to send help to it, and appointing its members, such as Messrs. Dodd and Wet- more, to visit it, and others, such as Messrs, Dixon and Snowden, to labor in it. MISSIONARY BOARDS AND SOCIETIES OPERATING FOR THE FIELD. At the close of the last and the beginning of the pres- ent century, largely through the published accounts of revivals by Messrs. Bushnell and Williston, missions assumed such proportions that neither the General As- sembly nor the New England Associations were adequate to them during the few days of their annual sessions. Pennanenl Committees for their management were there- fore the resort of the first, and voluntary Associa- tions the resort of the second. In 1802 the Assembly mused "the Standing Committee of Missions,'' called after 1816, " The Board of Missions." As early as 1787, " The Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others," was organized at Boston, under an Act of the Massachusetts Legisla- ture. It aimed primarily and principally at the evang- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 53 elization of the Aborigines of the country, but also em- ployed missionaries for immigrants to it In 1798, the General Association of Connecticut formed a society to " Christianize the Heathen in North America and promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements within the United States," the constitution providing that the Association should be the Society. Its great work was carried on in the white communities of this region, and we are more indebted to it than to any other one body of Christians for introducing religion among them. From four to six of its missionaries were sent here every year. The Congregational Missionary Society organized in the counties of Berkshire. Mass.. and Columbia, N. Y., M to propagate the gospel in the new settlements and among the heathen," began in 1798, and was active and liberal in furnishing means and men for our field, annu- ally issuing one or two commissions for it. In 1798 the "Massachusetts Missionary Society " was aized at Boston, but Bent comparatively few mis- sionaries here, and never after 1M1. "The N'-.v Hampshire Missionary Society," founded in 18<>1, and "The Hampshire Missionary Society," founded in 1N"^. with its scat at Northampton, Mass., likewise took part in the work. ••Tin' New York Missionary Society," with different denominations represented in it. was tin- first of the voluntary societies, and a few months later the "North- em Missionary Society," followed it. embracing the region in Northern New York east of this Synod, ami little or none within it. 54 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE In 1809 the " Young Men's Missionary Society of New York " was established as an auxiliary to the New York Missionary Society, becoming independent of it in 1816. There is reason to believe that both of these societies took part in missions here, but no specific information of it is had. SYMPATHY IN THE MISSIONARY WORK ON THE FIELD BETWEEN CONGREGATIONALISTS AND PRESBY- TERIANS, AND THEIR CO-OPERATION IN IT. The General Assembly and the New England Asso- ciations joined cordially in the missionary work. Con- necticut was foremost of the Associations, and no Presbytery or Synod could have more unreservedly cooperated with the Assembly. Indeed, Congrega- tionalism in those days widely affected Presbyterian- ism and drew towards it. The missionaries here almost universally sympathized and cooperated with each other. They scarcely knew Presbyterianism and Con- gregationalism, or thought of each other as Presbyte- rians and Congregational ists. They wrought together for a common cause, and if a distinctive work of either was to be performed, one did it for the other as freely as for himself. Presbyterian missionaries organized Congregational Churches wherever circumstances called for them, and Congregational missionaries organized Presbyterian Churches. Presbyteries constantly di- rected Congregational missionaries to their places and districts of labor, and often ordained pastors for Con- gregational ( Miuivlies. Laymen generally, perhaps, were more denominational than ministers, and mixed SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 55 as they were in the different communities with neither Presbyterians nor Congregationalists able to support churches by themselves, it is not strange that, with the affinity between Congregational and Presbyterian bodies, something should be attempted to bring them together. PLAN OF UNION OF 1801. Soon after the inauguration in 1795 of John Blair Smith as the first President of Union College, Eliphalet Nott, who succeeded him in that office, passed through Schenectady on his way from Connecticut to the "new settlements." The President was a distinguished Pres- byterian, and the young missionary a somewhat ardent Congregationalist. Both intensely sought the evan- gelization of the parts beyond, and conferring about it, they both appreciated the need of harmony in it be- tween their respective denominations, and finally con- eluded how that might be effected. "The Plan of Union," so familial- to as, was substantially devised by them, and perfected by observation and reflection and counselling, it was adopted in 1801 by the Genera] As- sociation of Connecticut and our General Assembly, Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green preparing the draft of it, and the younger Edwards submitting the motion for it in the Assembly. As we well know, while urging "mu- tual forbearance and accommodation/1 it allowed a Congregational Church to settles Presbyterian minis- ter, according him the righl of appeal to his Presbyten or to a Mutual Council consisting equally of Congre gational and Presbyterian members, and a Presbyterian 56 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE Church to settle a Congregational minister, allowing him an appeal to his Association or to a Mutual Coun- cil taken equally from the two denominations ; and it allowed communicants to appeal to a Mutual Council or a Presbytery ; and it allowed delegates from Congre- gational Churches to sit in Presbyteries as ruling elders. For convenient reference, the whole text follows : Regulations adopted by the General Assembly in America and by the General Association of the State of Connecticut, with a view to prevent alienation and promote union and harmony in those new settlements which are composed of inhabitants from those two bodies. 1. It is strictly enjoined on all their missionaries to the new settlements to endeavor, by all proper means, to promote mutual forbearance and accommodation between those inhabitants of the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian and those who hold the Congregational form of church government. 2. If, in the new settlements, any church of the Congregational order shall settle a minister of the Presbyterian order, that church may, if they choose, still conduct their discipline according to Congregational principles, settling their differences among them- selves, or by a council mutually agreed upon for that purpose; but if any difficulty shall exist between the minister and the church, or any member of it, it shall be referred to the Pesby- tery to which the minister shall belong, provided both parties agree to it; if not, to a council consisting of an equal number of Congregationalists, agreed upon by both parties. 3. If a Presbyterian Church shall settle a minister of Congre- gational principles, that church may still conduct its discipline according to Presbyterian principles, excepting that if a difficulty arise between him and his church, or any member of it, the cause shall be tried by the Association to which the said minister shall belong, provided both parties agree to it; otherwise by a council, one-half Congregationalists and the other half Presbyterians, mu- tually agreed on by the parties. 4. If any congregation consist partly of those who hold the Congregational form of discipline and partly of those who hold the Presbyterian form, we recommend to both parties that this be SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 57 no obstruction to their meeting in one church and settling a min- ister; and that in this case the church choose a standing commit- tee from the communicants of said church, whose business it shall be to account every member of the church who shall con- duct himself inconsistently with the laws of Christianity, and to give judgment on such conduct; and if the person condemned by their judgment be a Presbyterian, he shall have liberty to appeal to the Presbytery; if a Congregationalist, he shall have liberty to appeal to the body of the communicants of the church; in the former case, the determination of the Presbytery shall be final, unless the church consent to a further appeal to the Synod or to the CJeneral Assembly; and in the latter case, if the party con- demned shall with for a trial by a Mutual Council, the cause shall be referred to such a council; and providtd the said standing committee shall depute one of themselves to attend the Presby- tery, he may have the same right to sit and act in the Presbytery as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church. This '"Plan of Union'1 deserved the encomium upon it by the General Assembly that abrogated it. It was indeed "projected and brought into operation by some of the wisest and best men the Presbyterian Church has ever known." A cJtef d 'oeuvre of Christian liberality and benevolence, most eminently was it such on the part of Congregational ists. They had greatly the ad- vantage of us, for they outnumbered us on the field, and far surpassed US in the resources subject to drafts for it. The Oneida Association, coterminous with the Oneida Presbytery, preceded it three years; and Beven ministers and eight delegates from churches signed the articles al its organization, while the Presbytery opened its first session with five ministers and three elders. The Presbytery of Geneva was taken from the Presby- tery of Oneida in L805, and up to that time the Pres- byterj added none to its ministers and bul one to its churches In the meanwhile, the Association inert 58 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE its ministers only by one, but twenty delegates from churches attended its meetings. The greater part of the churches first formed within the bounds of the Synod were Congregational, and had there been a strife between the denominations, comparatively few could have been Presbyterians. We were the minority in most of the settlements, and our immigrants as a class were poorer and less thrifty, and New England, then as now, the seat of Congregationalism, surpassed the Middle States, then the seat of Presbyterianism, in both the means and the disposition to propagate the church. As it was, the sentiments of Congregationalists, and preeminently of Connecticut Congregationalists, to- wards Presbyterianism, and the prevalent thought of their missionaries that it was better adapted to a new country, or to this country when new,* and their har- mony and constant and free association and combina- *The late Rev. John B. Hoyt, for 29 years pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Coventry, and a member of the Pres- bytery of Chenango from its beginning, describes himself as "of strictly Puritan descent, educated at Yale, licensed by the North- ern Associated Presbytery, ordained by the Union Association, my feelings and prepossessions were in favor of Congregational government." His explanation in part of the turning to Presby- terianism on his part of the field, is: " Some of the members of the Association (Union) were vexed at its want of established rules. When any new case came up, we had no rules to meet it. But the most potential cause was the trial of the Rev. Joshua Knight, of West Sherburne, now Smyrna. During this trial the brethren were as heretofore tried by the want of rules, and at its close fell the need of a judicatory beyond the local excitement and prejudice to which a difficult case like that before us might be appealed or referred. Prom that trial Presbytery was deter- mined on." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 59 tion with our missionaries, and the "Plan of Union," and other and local plans of union, acted powerfully in our favor, and virtually gave us the field. " The Middle Association," as already stated, in 1810, sub- mitted itself to the plastic hands of the Albany Synod and came forth Presbyterian. About the same time the Susquehannah Association affiliated with the Mid- dle Association in the Onondaga Presbytery, or the portion who joined the Luzerne Association were after- wards transferred with it to the Susquehannah Presby- tery. In 1812 the Ontario Association "Kesolved, first, That it is very desirable that this Association become united with the Presbytery of Geneva ;" and second, "That as a means of forming this union, it is expedient that this Association be dissolved, and the Moderator is hereby directed to declare it dissolved at the close of the session." The Union Association was incorporated with the Chenango Presbytery in 1822, and in the same year the Oneida Association suspended its existence, the ministers and churches uniting with the Presbytery of Oneida. The Black River always maintained its being in form, but its ministers and churches once joined the St Lawn-nee Presbytery. Admirable as was the spirit of the Plan oi Union of L801, and happy as was its influence and promotive, in a genera] way, of its proposed objects, its direel opera- tion was exceeding^ circumscribed Very lew churches were organized under it, and next to Done organized by it existed at the time of its abrogation. The work for which it was devised was actually performed \>\ other plans of union, and preeminently by what is known as ^ The Accommodation Plan," The features of thai plan 60 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE and the circumstances of its formation, are described in the annexed extracts from the minutes of the Middle Association : Commissioners were appointed by the Association, June 2, 1807, to attend the meeting of the Synod at Cooperstown the October following, and prepare the way for such relations as might be mutually useful. This overture was answered by the following letter from that Synod to the Association: "Reverend Brethren: We received your communication by Rev. Mr. Leonard with great pleasure, and were highly satisfied with the object of his mission, which has occupied our serious deliberations. Situated as our judicatories are in a new country, rapidly increasing in its population, blended as our people are in the same sentiments, and holding the same doctrines, it is cer- tainly an object of interesting importance that we should be cemented together by some intimate bond of union and corre- spondence. Such a union would make us better acquainted, and increase our attachment to one another as servants of our com- mon Lord. It would facilitate the establishment of the gospel in many of the destitute settlements of our country, by uniting our people in one common cause, and it would enable us to com- bine our exertions more effectually in suppressing error, licen- tiousness and vice, and in promoting the great interests of pure morality and undefiled religion. Prompted by these considera- tions, and animated with a desire to do all in our power to ad- vance the general interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom, the Synod of Albany stand ready, with the approbation of the General Assembly, to form as intimate a connectien with your Association as the constitution of our church will admit. We most cordially invite you to become a constituent branch of our body by assum- ing tlic characteristic and scriptural name of Presbytery, to adopt our standards of doctrine and government, and to sit and vote with ns on all the great and interesting concerns of the church. Deeming the name, however, far less interesting than the thing, although of consequence to uniformity in the same body, yet should you be solicitous to retain yours, it will not be considered on our part a bar to such a union. Nor do we confine our invita tion to you as ministers, but we extend it to delegates from your • liinrhts, whom we are willing to receive as substantially the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 61 same with our ruling elders, to assist us in our public delibera- tions and decisions. Knowing the influence of education and habit, should the churches under your care prefer transacting their internal concerns in their present mode of Congregational government, we assure them of our utmost cheerfulness in leav- ing them undisturbed in the administration of that government, unless they shall choose to alter it themselves. " Should you accede to this plan of union and correspondence, and our General Assembly permit us to form it, which we are disposed to believe they readily will, we anticipate the auspicious period as just at hand, when all the Congregational and Presby- terian Churches in this Northern region will form one great pha- lanx against the common enemy, and combine their exertions to advance the mediatorial kingdom of our exalted Lord. " We are, reverend brethren, with sentiments of respect and esteem, yours sincerely. " By order of Synod, Sam'l F. Snow den, Moderator. "Cooperstown, October 9, 1807." At the annual meeting of the Association at Cazenovia, June 7th, 1808, the foregoing letter was received, and it was voted unanimously that this body do accede to the plan of union with the Presbyterian Church in United States on the conditions pro- posed by the Synod of Albany in their letter of October 9th, 1807. At the same meeting of the Association a delegation was appointed to attend the Synod of Albany, at Aurora, in the fol- lowing October, for the purpose of completing the union, which was accordingly done. This union existed with no variation until in Association, at Pompey East Hollow, it was unanimously resolved to request Synod to divide the Association so as, with the Presbytery of Geneva, to make three Presbyteries, and so constitute the Synod of Geneva. Reeordt Onondaga Pretbytefg 1 : 8-11. The expectation of the Synod tlmt the arrangement would be ratified by tin- General Assembly, was fulfilled i»y the prompt and cordial action of that body at its in-xt pCflPJOD. LOCAL PLANS OF UNION. Differenl Presbyteries framed plans of union for the churches in their several territories, and also for the 62 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN TtiE union with them of the churches about them, and also plans with single churches. Thus, for example, one was proposed by the Pres- bytery of Oneida in 1814 to the Oneida Associa- tion, and adopted also by St. Lawrence Presbytery in 1818, conceding the form of Congregational Church government wherever preferred and a representation in Presbytery, but requiring the full keeping of records and their annual submission to Presbytery for exami- nation, and while commending " the right of appeal in its full extent as a valuable privilege," permitting any church that so desired to restrict it to the Presbytery, "and admitting the ministers of the Association'' as constituent members of the Presbytery, and in all re- spects amenable to it ; and in 1821 this was reaffirmed with some slight alterations. In 1826 the Presbytery of Otsego {Records 1 : 328-30) voted : 1st. Every Congregational Church already connected with us, or which wishes to connect itself with us, may settle its own difficul- ties, receive members, enforce all acts of discipline, and manage its own affairs according to laws and usages established in Con- gregational Churches, or by a committee chosen from among themselves, invested with judicial powers. 2d. If an existing difficulty cannot be thus settled, it shall be submitted to Presby- tery, and the decision of Presbytery shall be final, unless either party shall choose to appeal to a higher Judicatory. 3d. If any difficulty arise between a member of this Presbytery and a Con- gregational Church, or members of a Congregational Church of which he is the pastor, said difficulty shall be submitted to the decision <>f the Presbytery, subject, however, to the control of a higher Judicatory. 4th. The records of the church and the church reports shall be annually produced to the Presbytery and sub- jected to examination. 5th. Ministers shall be installed over Congregational Churches in connection with us by the Presby- tery, and the dissolution of the pastoral relation thus formed SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 63 shall be done by the Presbytery. 6th. It is earnestly recom- mended to every Congregational Church connected with us to prepare and exhibit to Presbytery at our next session a written code of laws for our sanction, by which they shall be governed, and which shall be produced to Presbytery in all cases of appeal. In 1828 the Presbytery of Chenango framed a plan of union with it by Congregational Churches, accord- ing to which the decisions of the Presbyteiy were bind- ing on the churches, and they were entitled to repre- sentatives in it, with "all the privileges of ruling elders;" the churches retained the right to manage "their own internal concerns," but were required to keep records of their proceedings and submit them an- nually to the Presbytery for "inspection and revision;" the members of the churches were permitted to appeal to the Presbytery, but not to a higher Judical. .1 v. except with the consent of the churches: and in trying appeals from a Congregational Church, the Presbytery was to be controlled by the rules of that particular church, and every such church on being received by the Presbytery was to furnish it with a copy of its rules ; and in 1832 the Presbytery < Rec 1 : 13) of Dela- ware provided for a connection of Congregational Churches with it on condition thai they were repre- sented in it, and kept full records and submitted them for examination by the Presbytery, while the] were allowed to manage their own business for themselves, conducting it, however, according to standing ruL copy of which was t<> be deposited with the Stated Clerk, ami their decisions were final unless they referred them to the Presbytery for revision, and then the Pres- bytery was n"t to ac1 as an advisory Council, but as an authoritatrs <■ Judicatory, 64 PllESBTTERTANTSM IN THE And so, still further for example, in 1806 the Pres- bytery of Oneida ratified a plan for connecting Trenton, one of its churches, with the " Congregational brethren of Steuben," pronouncing it "nearly similar to that proposed by the General Assembly and the General Association of Connecticut," So too in 1834 the Pres- bytery of Cortland stipulated to receive the church at Lisle on its agreeing to send delegates to the Presby- tery and submitting its records for examination ; to settle and dismiss ministers according to the directory ; to accept the watch and care of the Presbytery, so that it should "not recede from its faith and covenant;" and retaining the right to discipline its own members, except in cases that were specially referred to the Pres- bytery, when the decisions of that body were to be final And so likewise in 1839 the Presbytery of Del- aware admitted the church at Franklin, it being stipu- lated between the two that " annually, and oftener if requested," the church should send its records to the Presbytery for examination, together with statistical reports, and be represented by delegates at its meet- ings : that it should administer its own affairs for itself, and thai its decisions should be conclusive, except when it allowed references to the Presbytery, from whose decisions there should be no appeal ; and a dec- laration of the church was allowed to be incorporated in the compact, that it did lvnot recognize or acknowl- edge any higher Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church than the Presbytery of Delaware." There was a degree of irregularity and assumption in these l<»cal arrangements, but the Presbyteries were SYNOT) OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 65 innocent of known disorder and intentional usurpation, and did not violate the principles of ;'the plan of union'" adopted by the Assembly, and of "the accom- modation plan" ratified by it. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PLANS OF UNION. The interpretations of both the former and the latter from time to time by the Presbyteries, and their deci- sions as to what was allowable or otherwise under them, were judicious and satisfactory. The following message to the First Church in Pom- pey was sent by the Presbytery of Onondaga, at its first session :• "Be assured that there is nothing in our con- stitution, or rules, or votes, nor anything in our inten- tions, which makes the individuals of the churches, in their individual character and capacity, responsible to Presbytery or disciplinable by this body. Presbytery has no hold on the individual, but only on the church us a church, because the church, not the individual, is a member of this body." Onondaga Records 1 :20. And in 1 ^;; 1 the same Presbytery decided that only those Congregational Churches have an ecclesiastical relation to the Presbytery who are connected with it on the accommodation plan, and who have a standing committee; that standing committee-men are entitled in tl »na of the Presbytery t<> all the privi <\rv<, hut an- not eligible to the office of Commis- sioners to the General Assembly; that all regular and orthodox Congregational Churches within its bounds might l>e represented in the Presbytery, but that only committee-men could vote there; that all churches c2 66 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE connected with, the Presbytery on the " accommodation plan" are amenable to the Presbytery in all respects the same as Presbyterian Churches, except that the Pres- bytery has no right to interfere with their internal gov- ernment. Onondaga Records 3 : 311. The practice had grown up on the field to allow ministers to be members of both Associations and Presbyteries, and in 1826 the Presbytery of St. Law rence pronounced against it, and in 1866 the Presbytery of Delaware called one of its members to account for it, and adopted a rule, which that member himself drafted, prohibiting it. In 1829, {Records 5 : 176) the Presbytery of Oneida disavowed jurisdiction over individuals who had not by their own consent and choice placed themselves under its care, and declared that Congregational Churches connected with it could reject the rules of our directory in their proceedings, provided they did not violate the principles of the Congregational form of government and acted upon in the practice of Con- gregational Churches. WORKINGS OF PLANS- OF UNION. These plans of union were human devices, and im- perfect of course, and in some respects and in some cases they worked in felicitously, but they were prompted by a sincere desire to promote evangelical religion of the Calvin is tic type, and were called for by the exigencies of the situation, and contrived by the best minds of Presbyterianisin and Congregationalism, They fulfilled all just expectations of them, and enough SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 67 to excite the profoundcst gratitude. They did not col- lect together the adherents of the two churches in every feeble community, and they did not always keep them harmonious when they were banded. Sectarianism existed then, as ever before and since, and resisted amalgamation, or cropped out from it; but, on the whole, an immense work of assimilation and combina- tion was performed, and a work that was also the im- perious demand of the circumstances and times. Pres- byterians especially have reason to be satisfied with their operation. Without guile in scheming for such a result, without any anticipation of it, by our fathers, their ecclesiastical contribution lias been most dispro- portionately to us. They made Central and Western New York the Lebanon of our church, and turned Congregationalism here into a nursery for Presbyte- rianism. An attempt at numeration, so as to state the facts with the accuracy of precise figures, succeeded indif- ferently, but thus much can be stated quite positively: The rolls of all the Presbyteries in the field of the Synod from the beginning contain the names of nearly or quite 1,000 ministers, and of Dearly or quite ;,',,, I churches. The ministers cannot be traced extensively in their ecclesiastical changes. At the lowest estimate, one-third of the churches were entered through plans of anion, and perhaps more. The estimate is based OD the fact thai nearly all the churches of Onondaga Presbytery in Onondaga county came in originally from the Middle Association, and nearly all of the churches of bhe Susquehannah Association in Broome and Tioga counties followed them; that nearly all the 68 PRE8BYTEMANISM IN THE churches in Chenango Presbytery came in from the Union Association, which was amalgamated with it, and that nearly half of the churches in Madison, Otsego and Delaware counties came first into Presbyteries from this last mentioned Association, while quite certainly one-half of the early churches of Presbyteries in Os- wego, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Herkimer and Oneida counties were Congregational. The proportion is reduced by the churches brought in since, so that it is safe to put the plan-of-union churches at one-third, or one hundred. Now, of the two hundred Presbyterian Churches but three became Congregational.- The records of the Presbyteries report the dismission of 31 churches to Associations, leaving 69 once Congregational Churches in this body; and the rolls of Associations within the Synod's bounds contain the names of but 18 of the 31, showing that 13 of them must have been so feeble that they soon expired. Congregationalism had the start of Presbyterianism in our region, and incomparably better backing ; and yet the latter counts this year 184 ministers and the former 84; 167 churches and the latter 103; the sum of $55,917.30 as benevolent contributions, and the latter $11,047.47. Can we ascribe the disparity to a difference in their general or special adaptation to increase and progress? Rather is it the result of plans of union. ABROGATION OF PLANS OF UNION. It is the distinction between human and divine agencies thai oura soon wear out, while the Lords last. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 69 Eminently Christian and judicious as were the arrange- ments of our fathers and of the New England fathers to bring together their brethren in the new settlements here, and happily and usefully as they long proceeded, they exhausted their virtue, and the time came to dis- pense with them. They ceased to harmonize and com- bine the parties to them, and were often the occasion of discord and alienation; and besides, there was no longer need of them. Each denomination was able to stand by itself in our several communities, or was easily able to provide for its own, and church development was hindered by union, as it impaired responsibility and prevented the freedom every one feels in his own home, with no other family to share it with him. And some disorders were bred and some corruptions, from which separation was the only practicable relief, and against which it was the only adequate security. We may not approve of the method in which it was accom- plished, but all of us are glad that the plan of anion was dissolved. And our Congregational brethren sym- pathize with us. for :M their lirst General Convention, held a1 Albany in L852, and ili«- first of course after the (ieiieral Assembly's action in 1837, they formally announced their concurrence in it. "THE EXCISION ITS IMMEDIATE ANTECEDENTS, For several years prior t<> the dissolution ft' the plan of union, our church throughout the Onited States had been greatly distracted, until at last its Bervio religion hardly preponderated over the evil it occa- sioned, while its numbers considerablj declined, in 70 PRESBYTEMAN1SM IN THE Is:;.", n reported a membership of 283,580, and in L837, 220,587, being a loss in four years of 13,023. There is no need of passing judgment on the parties in confliet, and it would be an impracticable task, for aeither could claim unanimity among its adherents in regard to all the contested points. The most that could be said of the mass of each was, that they agreed more with it and less with the other. These contested points were: 1. The combination of Congregationalists with Presbyterians, provided for in the plan of union and practiced under kindred arrangements. 2. The irregu- larities and extravagancies connected with revivals of religion, and extending to the temperance and anti- slavery enterprises, alleged to prevail particularly in the churches throughout this region, and laxness in Licentnres and ordinations here, and in the reception by Presbyteries of ministers from other bodies. 3. Er- rors in doctrine, charged principally on ministers and churches here, but also on large numbers throughout the land ; and 1. The method of conducting the mis- sionary and other benevolent operations of the church, the question being whether this should be through voluntary societies, composed .of individual members of (litTerent ( Christian denominations, and responsible* alone to those constituents, or through ecclesiastical boards, organized and supervised and controlled by the Gene- ral Assembly. The parties w ere BO evenly balanced that the majority in the General Assembly passed back and forth be- tween them, and was almost always small, and this stimulated both. The post u re of alia irs madethe ''Old Seh«.ol" aggressive tor the most part, and the u New SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 71 School" defensive for the most part. Tt fell to the first to present and press charges, and to the second to repel them, and this proceeded in various ways and on vari- ous occasions up to 1834, when a minority of the Gen- eral Assembly drew up ;t paper styled the "Act and Testimony," rehearsing the accusations that bad been sounding louder and louder for successive years, and suggesting means of correcting alleged evils, and call- ing on Synods. Presbvn —ions, ministers and elders, who approved of the paper to sign it. and call- ing a Convention consisting of delegates from Presby- teries or minorities of Presbyteries to meet at Pitts- burg immediately before the sitting of the General As- sembly there, May. L835. The document and the measures it proposed were criticised in the Princeton Review and disapproved of by the Princeton pro- irs and the many of the same school with them. The Convention was held, however, with ;i representa- tion from forty-one Presbyteries and thirteen minori- ties of Presbyteries, and drew up a list of errors and abuses, and presented it for the consideration of the General Assembly, and this body took action, to some extent, in accordance with it. The Assembly of 1886 was unfavorable to the memorialists, and arrangements were made far a Convention at Philadelphia, pre ing the Assembly of 1887, for which the most vigor- ous public and private preparations were made It consisted of L24 members, appointed l»v '<\ Pn teries, and of eighl minorities of Presbyteries, moei of them being Commissioners elect of the approaching Assembly, and continued in session for an entire wi A "testimony and memorial" wi ented to that 72 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE body, reciting the grievances felt by the Convention, and picturing, in vivid colors, the divided state of the church, and proposing six means of relief: 1. Abro- gating the plan of union. 2. "Discountenancing" the American Home Missionary Society and the American Education Society, and "preventing their operations, as Ear as possible, within our ecclesiastical limits." 3. Bringing immediately into order, or dissolving, or ex- cluding from the Presbyterian Church every Church, Presbytery or Synod, not organized on Presbyterian principles. 4. Requiring an examination in theology and church government, as well as in personal piety and ministerial qualifications, of all applicants from other denominations for admission to Presbyteries, and an explicit adoption by them of our confession of faith and form of government. 5. The immediate dis- ciplining of ministers chargeable with the complained of errors and disorders, and the immediate trial of Pres- byteries and Synods that refused to discipline those of thei r members w ho were charged with them. 6. The announcing to National Societies, other than those pre- viously named, that they were expected to " use great caution in the selection of their agents within the bounds of our church, and that it ought to be regarded as peculiarly unkind in them to give their administration a bias againsl its strictest order and soundest princi- ples.'' The Assembly fully complied with these pro- posals of the memorialists. The plan of union was thus abrogated, and as the asserted consequence, this Synod, together with the Synods of Geneva, Genesee and Western Reserve were "declared to be out of the ecclesiastical oonnectioi] of the Presbyterian Church," SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. j -I and ''not in form or in fact an integral portion of said church," while -'the urgency" for disowning them was stated to have been "greatly increased by the gross dis- orders which are ascertained to have prevailed in these Synods." AUBURN CONTENTION. A great sensation was produced by these, arts, and a Convention met at Auburn, August 17. lso7. to consult about the course to be pursued and the measures to be adopted by the excluded bodies and their sympathsers throughout the land. It consisted of 164 lay and cler- ical delegates, L50 of them appointed by Presbyteries, and the remainder by minorities of Presbyteries, and among them a large number of prominence in the church and of known conservatism. Dr. James Richards Auburn Seminary, was chosen President, and Dr. Joseph Penny, President of Hamilton College, one of the Vice Presidents. And among the members were like pat- terns of orthodoxy and order, such as Luther Balsey, Seth Smith. Levi Parsons and .lames II. Hotchkin,and men of gifts and distinction, such as Lyman Beecher, Samuel Hanson Cox, Thomas Macauly, Dr. Hillyer and Judge William Jessup. The Convention a.— cm- bled with feelings of great anxiety. There was little h<»pe of harmony in counsel and agreement in policy, and in the independence of opinion and frankness expression to which we. in this region, have been trained, the discussions were animated and protracted. The conclusions, however, were unanimous, and the Convention suspended business ami engaged in Bolemn, yet joyous praise, and recommending the observance of 74 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE a day of Easting, humiliation and prayer in view of the dissensions in the church, finally adjourned. That Convention was of incalculable importance to the " New School" branch of the church. The plan of procedure marked out for it, and subsequently pursued, probably saved it from disintegration, and it so put it on record by the papers adopted, that the Christian world could understand its principles and views. The excluded ministers, communicants, Synods, Presbyter- ies and churches were counselled to " retain their pres- ent organization and connection without seeking any other." and the Presbyteries to -'send their Commission- ers to the next General Assembly, as usual," and a committee was appointed to correspond and confer on the general state of the church and to take measures to secure the ends proposed by the Convention." The exigency demanded a general scheme that would be acquiesced in, and a responsible agency to put it into execution, and these were furnished here The papers drafted, and which form the expose, — the description and definition of the " New School," in the matters under controversy, treat of : 1st The exclusion of the Synods from the Presbyterian Church, as the consequence of an abroga- tion of the plan of union of 1801, and upon charges of heterodoxy and disorder, prepared by Judge Jessup. 2d. The rights of ministers and members of the Pres- byterian Church, their guaranty and protection, and the way in which they may be impaired, forfeited or taken away, prepared by Dr. Cox. 3d. "The unhappy cir- cumstances in which a portion of the church was placed by tin' late action of the General Assembly," prepared by Dr. Beecher. 4th. The doctrines "be*- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 75 lieved and maintained lyy that portion of the Church, declared by the late General Assembly not to be a con- stituent part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States," prepared by Dr. Halsey. oth. " Facts in rela- tion to the formation and character of the churches within the exscinded Synods, prepared by Rev. Stephen Peet. The paper on the formation and character of the churches in the exscinded Synods, notices the fact that the great majority of them in this State were strictly Presbyterian, and that the small remainder were orga- nized, not under the plan of union of 1801, but under a special arrangement with the Synod of Albany, rati- fied by the General Assembly, and popularly styled the "Accommodation Plan." and it argues that inas- much as the organization of these churches was due in no sense and to no extent to the plan of union of 1801. its abrogation could have no effect upon their connection with the Presbyterian body in the United Stat<-. The following preamble and resolutions composed the paper on doctrines : Whereas, It is declared in the " Circular Letter" of the late General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church "to all the churches of Jesus Christ, thai very serious and alarming errors and dis- orders" have long prevailed in the bounds of the exscinded Synods and other portions of the church, and as the late General Assembly appears to have been Influenced in deciding on the of these Synods by these alleged errors and disorders, therefore Resolved, 1. That while we bear In mind that with the e\eitc- lneiit of extensive revivals, indiscret ions art- sometimes intermin- gled, and that in the attempt to avoid a ruinous practical Antino- mianism, human obligation is sometimes urged in a manner that favors Arminian errors, vet we are bound to declare that such 76 PRESBYTERIANIaM IN THE errors and irregularities have never been sanctioned by these Synods or Presbyteries. That the prejudice has arisen in a great degree from censorious and exaggerated statements, and from the conduct of persons not in connection with the Presbyterian Church; that all such departures from the sound doctrine and order of the Presbyterian Church we solemnly disapprove, and when known, deem it our duty to correct by every constitutional method. 2 That as the declaration of the religious sentiments of the Syuods and Presbyteries which we represent, we cordially em- brace the confession of faith of the Presbyterian Church, as con- taining the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, as understood by the church ever since the " Adopting Act" of 1729, viz : And in case any minister of this S ;. nod, or any candidate for the ministry shall have any scruple with respect to any article or articles of said confession, he shall in time of making said declar- ation, declare his scruples to the Synod or Presbytery, who shall, notwithstanding, admit him to the exercise of the ministry within our bounds, and to ministerial communion, if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge his scruples not essential or necessary in doctrine, worship or government. 3. That, in accordance with the above declaration, and also to meet the charges contained in the before-mentioned circular and other published documents of the late General Assembly, this Convention cordially disapprove and condemn the list of errors condemned by the late General Assembly, and adopt as the ex- pression of their own sentiments, and as they believe, the preva- lent sentiments of the churches of these Synods on the points in question, the list of true doctrines adopted by the minority of the said Assembly in their "protest" on this subject, as follows : 1. God permitted the introduction of sin, not because he was unable to prevent it consistently with the moral freedom of his creatures, but for wise and benevolent reasons, which he has not revealed. 2. Election to eternal life is not founded on a foresight of faith Mid obedience, but is a sovereign act of God's mercy, whereby, according to the counsels of his own will, he has chosen some to salvation, "yet so as hereby neither is violence done to the will of the creatures, nor Is the liberty or contingency of second causes SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 77 taken away, but rather established," nor does this gracious pur- pose ever take effect independently of faith and a holy life. 3. By a divine constitution Adam was so the head and repre- sentative of his race; that, as a consequence of his transgression, all mankind became morally corrupt and liable to death, temporal and eternal. 4. Adam was created in the image of God, endowed with knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. Infants come into the world not only destitute of these, but with a nature inclined to evil and only evil. 5. Brute animals sustain no such relation io the moral govern- ment of God as does the human family. Infants are a part of the human family, and their sufferings and death are to be accounted for on the ground of their being involved in the general moral ruin of the race induced by the apostacy. 6. Original sin is a natural bias to evil, resulting from the first apostacy, leading invariably and certainly to actual transgression. And all infants, as well as adults, need redemption by the blood of Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Ghost. 7. The sin of Adam is not imputed to his posterity in the sense of a literal transfer of personal qualities, acts and demerits; but by reason of the Bin of Adam in his peculiar relation, the race are treated as if they had Binned. Nor is the righteousness of Christ imputed to his people in the sense of a literal transfer of pen qualities, acts and merits; but by reason of his righteousnef his peculiar relation, they are treated as if they were right 8. The sufferings and death of Christ . mbolical, ernmental and instructive only, but were truly vicarious, i. e., a substitute for the punishment due to ti >rs. And while Bt did not suffer the literal penalty of the law, involving remorse of conscience and the pains of hell, he did offer ■ sacrifice which Infinite justice saw to be a full equivalent, and by virtue of this atonement overtures of mercy are sincerely made to the nor and salvation secured to all who believe. 9. While sinners have all the facultii ary to a perfect moral agency and a just accountability, such is their love of sin and opposition to God and his law, that, Independently of tho renewing influence or almighty energy of the Holy Spirit . they never will comply with the commands of God. 78 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE 10. The intercession of Christ for the elect is previous as well as subsequent to their regeneration, as appears from the following Scripture, viz, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe in me through their word." 11. Saving faith is an intelligent and cordial assent to the testi- mony of God concerning his Son, implying reliance on Christ alone for pardon and eternal life; and in all cases it is an effect of the special operations of the Holy Spirit. 12. Regeneration is a radical change of heart, produced by the special operation of the Holy Spirit, "determining the sinner to that which is good;" and is in all cases instantaneous. 13. While repentance for sin and faith in Christ are indispens- able to salvation, all who are saved are indebted, from first to last, to the grace and spirit of God. And the reason that God does not save all, is, not that he wants the power to do it, but that in his wisdom he does not see fit to exert that power further than he actually does. 14. While the liberty of the will is not impaired, nor the established connection betwixt means and ends broken by any action of God on the mind, he can influence it according to his pleasure, and does effectually determine it to good in all cases of true conversion. 15. All believers are justified, not on the ground of personal merit, but solely on the ground of the obedience and death, or in other words, the righteousness of Christ. And while that right- eousness does not become theirs in the sense of a literal transfer of personal qualities and merit, yet, from respect to it, God can and does treat them as if they were righteous. 1G. While all such as reject the gospel, do it, not by coercion, but freely, and all who embrace it, do it, not by coercion, but freely, the reason why some differ from others is that God has made them to differ. In further illustration of the doctrines prevalent in this section of the church, the Convention declared that the authors whose exposition and defense of the articles <>f our faith were most approved and used in SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 79 these Synods, are President Edwards, Witherepoonj Dwigtt, Smalley and Andrew Fuller, and the com- mentators, Henry, Doddridge and Scott. The Auburn Convention expressed the sentiments of X - ihool" portion of the church at large. The action of the Presbytery of Oneida, February 21. 1838, somewhat more specifically ex; - - prevailing in Central New York. And it is worthy of mention for its moderation and Christian spirit: 1. It is the wish of this Presbytery to continue its connection with the General Assembly, if this can be done consistently with what we hold to be our duties and rights as Christians and Pres- byterians. 2. We prefer a separation from that body to a con- tinuance of a connection with it on any basis that would violate our convictions of what is binding- upon us and due to us, or that would keep up the unhappy contentions that have for so many years distracted the church. 3. That to facilitate our peaceful connection with the Assembly, we declare our honest attachment to the doctrines, government, discipline and worship of the Pres- byterian Church a- Bel forth in the conMitution, and we declare our purpose to maintain the same by all i roper means among the churches committed to our care, and to ex> violations of them, at such times and by such measures as .-hull appear to us most conducive to truth and order. 4. That we have regarded the plan by which churches wholly or in part Congrega- tional were admitted to our ecclesiastical counsels as called for by the circumstances of this country at its early settlement, as helpful to the edification and influence of the church generally, and as accordant with the spirit, if not sanctioned by the l< of our laws; and that while ,t to aim at greater uni- formity in our churches as the occasion for the plan passes away, Bent to an abrupt severance of the relations tbat have been formed under it. 5. Tbat while we regard the Si the Assembly in cutting oil the Pynods of Western Reserve, ! (ieneva and Qenesee ;i- violations of the constitution of the church and of bur rights and of Christian Blindness, we do not approve 80 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE of any means to restore us to our legitimate place save such as shall remove misapprehensions of us and reconcile our brethren to us, and provide for future peace and fellowship and coopera- tion. 6. That if the next General Assembly shall decline to admit us to it, then we desire a friendly conference for effecting an amicable and equitable separation from it; and that failing this, our Commissioners shall return and report to us, without any attempt to commit us to any ulterior measures or organi- zation. June 21, 1838, the Presbytery " approved of the forming of the General Assembly of 1838, which held its sessions in the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, and of the course of its Commis- sioners in acting with it," The excision proved a blessing to the churches in Central New York. There had been alienations among them growing out of differences of judgment about in- cidents to revivals of religion and the abolition of slavery and other reforms, but they rushed together under their common excitement, and firmly clasped then, they have remained in the closest embrace since. And it relieved them, too, of errors and evils that had existed, not so much in them as about them, and led them to a more unanimous recognition of the truth and importance of some controverted and depreciated arti- cles of onr faith, and of the need of care in the selec- tion of measures for revivals and reforms, and to an improvement of their character generally. And very few churches were lost by the exscinded Synods. The Assembly directed those that were •strictly Presbyterian in doctrine and order' to apply for admission to those Presbyteries retained by it near- est and most convenient to them : but none left in t lie SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 81 eastern and western part of our territory, but one in its southern part, three in the northern part, and two or three in the central part. The Congregational Asso- ciation of the State also issued an address to the Con- gregational Churches connected with our Presbyteries, urging them to leave : but with a like unanimity they preferred to remain. REUNION. The organization of two General Assemblies at Phil- adelphia in 1838. belongs to the history of our church at large, and need not be described here. Suffice it to say. that whatever may be true of the mode of dividing the church, the fact was a happy occurrence. It broke up contention and left the parties free for Christian work, and after standing apart for more than thirty years, we came together, each band larger than the two at separating, and in perfect accord. The reunion is one of the great wonders in the religious world — a great wonder in itself, for what obstacles there must always be t-» such an event, and how infrequent it lias been ; how soon after the separation this was brought about, and with what cordiality it was participated in by all who took an active part in the separation and Lived at the reunion; bow marked the providential preparation for it and tin- opi-ration of tin- Spirit in inclining OUT ministers, communicants and elders t<> it: how com- plete it was and is, and how felicitously it has worked. We are more a unit than we could possibly have been without a division, and more prosperous We now number considerably over half a million of communi- 82 PRESBYTERlAmSM IN THE rants, and contribute annually about ten million of dollars. During the past year, ending April, 1876, an average of ten members have been added to each of our churches, and our net gain in the last five years is 400 ministers, 461 churches, 79,832 communicants, 75,530 Sunday-school scholars, and $712,512 contributions. The Presbyteries on this field repeatedly cast unani- mous votes for reunion. Indeed, the first ecclesiastical movement towards it was made here. In 1852, Rev. Dr. L. Merril Miller and Hon. John Fine appeared in the Presbytery of St. Lawrence as a delegation from the Presbytery of Ogdensburgh, proposing an arrange- ment for uniting the two Presbyteries. They were cordially received and their proposal welcomed, and preparation was made for a joint meeting at Ogdens- burgh. Nothing, however, resulted immediately, for only a local reunion was proposed; but it was in the line of the final, great consummation, and tended to it: and in 1862 and 1863 the two Presb}rteries held several joint meetings, and so deepened their interest in the object and stirred up other minds to heed and favor it THE CHURCHES FIRST ORGANIZED OX THE FIELD. Let as retrace our way to the point from which we have taken bo Long a stride. Comparatively few churches existed on the field prior to the erection of the Oneida Presbytery in 1802. Cherry Valley, organized in 1741: the United Society of Whitesboro and Fort Schuyler, (now Utica,) 1794 . Trenton, also called Oldenbarneveldt, 1795; Little SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 83 Falls,* and Coopcrstown, 1800, and Springfield were connected with it at its beginning ; and New Hartford, f August, 1791, previously Congregational, and styled " The First Religious Society in Whitestown," was received at its first session. Two Presbyterian Churches had been formed in Onondaga county — the first at Scipio in 179-1, and the second at Manlius in 1795. The following Congrega- tional Churches had been organized then, or were soon after : Plainfield in Otsego county, Harpersfield in Del- aware county, 1793; Lisle, 1797; and Colesville, 1803, in Broome county, ; Newark Valley in Tioga county, 1793 ; Sherburne, first and second, 1802, Norwich, Oxford, 1799, Bainbridge, 1797, and South Bainbridge, 1803, in Chenango county ; Homer in Cortland county, 1801 ; Hamilton, third town, and Hamilton, fourth town, and Cuzenovia, in Madison county, 1709; Litch- * Little Falls suffered suspended animation for many years, but revived in 1818; or more exactly, perhaps, expired and was fol- lowed by a successor, which was taken under the care of the Presbytery in 1813. f The church at New Hartford may have taken its original name from its first comprehending members of various Christian de- nominations. In 1792 Rev. Pan Bradley was ordained at Bad- dam, Ct., to serve tlic New Hartford church. Three years after he removed to Marcellus, and became Aral Jndge of Onondaga County, and prominent in civil and agricultural affairs, and acquired distinction by his ability, culture and wit. At the set- tlement of Key Joshua Johnson at New Bartford, In 1795,811 "ordination hall" is reported to have been given, an SXerdsC not unknown in Puritan customs on such Occasions; and it is also said that there was some hesitation ahout ordaining Mr. Johnson because be could not affirm that a Christian onght to be trilling to be damned. 84 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE field and Warren in Herkimer » county ; Paris, 1791, Clinton, 1791, Westmoreland, 1792, Sangerfield. 1795. Augusta. 1797, Hanover, 1797, Bridgewater, 1798, Rome, 1800, Vernon 1801, Verona, 1803, and Western in Oneida county : and Pompev Hill, 1794, Elbridge, 1800, Skaneatelas, 1801, and Otisco, 1803, in Onondaga county : and Turin, 1802. Leyden, 1803, and Lowville, 1803, in Lewis county : and Watertown, 1803, in Jef- ferson county : and Redneld, Oswego county. All of these churches, except Plainfleld and Scipio, were sub- sequently connected with Presbytery, and Lisle, Coles- ville, Litchfield, Windsor, Clinton, Vernon, Verona, Western, Rome, Augusta, Elbridge, Manlius, Otisco, Lowville belong to it now ; while Hamilton, Paris, Newark Valley, Sherburne, Norwich, Westmoreland and Harpersville now belong to Associations, and the remainder arc extinct, or in no eccleasiastical body. A union church, composed of Presbyterians and Congre- gationalists, and perhaps adherents of other denomina- tions, was formed in L801 a1 Marcellns, and retained its mixed character for twenty years, when it perfected its organization and became Presbyterian. Its house of worship, built in L803, still stands, and it has the dis- tinction of having enjoyed the pastorship of that man of God, Levi Parsons, for thirty-four years. Paris, Clinton and New Hartford were organized in llbI of the same year by the younger Jonathan Edwards, soon after President of Union College. He had been designed by his father as a missionary to the In- dians, and having previously acquired their language so familiarly thai he thought in it, as a further prepa- ration for his intended work, he accompanied the Rev. 8YE0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 85 Gideon Hawley in L7^3 to Oquago, now Windsor, m Broome county, which was then, and long had been, the home of a colony of the Iroquois. The Lord, how- ever, had a different mission for him. He was ne< for the neld of intellect, and showed himself such a master there, that Dr. Emmons pithily said: ''The father had the most reason, but the son was the best •uer.*' Most prominent among the older ministers of Paris was the Kev. Dr. William R Weeks, whose name is the synonym of superlative Hopkinsiauism. and whose letters en the alleged extravagancies of Mr. Finney and his coadjutors, imitators and followers in the revivals of 1826 on this held. bo greatly embittered the controversy about them, and so Largely i'uri: - the material for Mr. Nettleton's and Dr. Beecher's de- nunciations of them, mid so widely spread the extreme notions of irregularities in our churcl Dr. Seth Williston staid somewhat his broad itiner- ancy and settled for about ten years with the church at Lisle, which he organized, though ever and anon even then taking wing for a considerable -weep. IP ed in that pastorship by Rev. Benry Ford, whom I well knew and profoundly respected. IP had been one of my predecessors in the church at Elmira, and I often met him then-. Far advanced in lift-, a man of disciplined intellect, a gradual Vale under Presidenl Dwight, broughl up in social refinement, an associate and peer <»t the masters of Israel in his prime, he was then bearing the pack on his back and traveling as a colporteur among the rough Lumbermen of Northern Pennsylvania, coming hack at 86 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE intervals to the scene of his early pastorate for supplies of Bibles and books and tracts, and for needful rest. It was beautiful to see the honor paid him by vener- able men and women, his former parishioners, and the tenderness with which they waited upon him as their guest, and it was wonderful to witness the depth of his humility and the passionateness of his zeal. Though a Boanerges, whose bursts of eloquence were the tales of the region about him, he used to say, "When I preach in a school-house crammed to the utmost, if ever I soar, I soar then/' He once preached an hour and forty minutes on the atonement, at a communion season, and the good people who heard him did not suspect that the sermon was more than usually long. Repeatedly did he remark to me that he did not know that he was ever instrumental in the conversion of a soul. How I almost wished him back to earth when, immediately after his death. I read an account of a revival in Pennsylvania — the result of his colportage there.* Marcus Ford, for fort)' years pastor of the church at Newark Valley, was cousin to Henry Ford. The anti- * In his historical address on Broome county, July 4, 1876, Dr. George Burr speaks of Mr. HeDry Ford as '" a man of signal ability and of a strong logical mind. His favorite themes were what are termed the ' doctrines' of the Bible, and in tenacity of belief, and in firmness in enforcing his views, he must have been equal to Calvin himself. More than thirty-five years ago I listened to a discourse from him, directed to a church whose soundness on the doctrines had begun to be distrusted. His text was, ' Whom he will he hardeneth.' Every proposition advanced was sustained by copious quotations from the Scriptures, and at the close of every argument he would remark, 'If you think these are hard sayings, my brethren, I can only reply that they are found in the Bible — the words are not mine.'" SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 87 podes of each other in temperament, they were twins by attachment. Calm, deliberate, studious and thoughful, the soul of honesty and honor, and infallibly consistent with his principles and himself, Marcus would have well filled a theological chair, while underneath his cool exterior a holy fire burned, and such was his ardor for souls and his sense of responsibility, that he was known again and again to faint in his pulpit Heresy, disorder and extravagance found no tolerance or com- promise with him, and his very presence rebuked and restrained them. Caleb Alexander, a man of mark, was traversing Onondaga county at the time the Oneida Presbytery A\as formed, setting up, in company with Setli Willis- ton, most of its early churches. The Theological Semi- nary at Auburn germinated in his brain and in that of his later associate, Rev. Dr. Dirck C. Lansing, their purpose being to plant it at Onondaga, and the minutes of the Presbytery record how busy he was about it. Dr. Lansing's removal tp Auburn took the young shoot from the soil where it started, and set it ou1 in a more fertile spot. Mr. Alexander's mind then teemed with the fchoughl of a college, and conceiving thai it was most practicable as the evolution of an existing insti- tution, in a few months he raised the endowmenl for turning the Missionary Kirkland's Academy at Clinton into Eamilton College, and closely competed with Dr, Backus for its first Presidency. Dr. Lansing's ministry continued until the days of many of the members of this Synod All o\ as knew him personally, or are familiar with his character and career. The scion of an ancient and honorable Dutch Btock, delicately nurtured in an ancestral "patroonahip' 88 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE at Lansingburgh,* graduating at Yale under Dr. Dwight, and in the same class with John C. Calhoun, and hope- fully converted there, he preached the gospel for more than fifty years with inimitable grace of person and speech and magnetic power, performing revival pastor- ates at Onondaga, Auburn, Utica, in the Houston street Church, New York, and the Clinton street Church, Brooklyn, incessantly answering the summons for spe- cial sermons and protracted meetings elsewhere. A child in his naturalness and affectionateness, he was born to command, and led sacramental hosts, f *Tlris lown took its name from his father. f " Dr. Lansing," said Lewis Gay lord Clark, "was the first really live preacher 1 ever heard, and the most electrically eloquent preacher I ever heard, Bascom alone excepted. Every thing spoke. His long, slender figure, the graceful sweep of his arm, the flash of his black eye, the winning tones of his voice, all combined to rivet attention and compel admiration. In gesture he was excelled only by Henry Clay. He read a hymn with more effect than any minister I ever heard. Sometimes in giving one out, he would pause, lay the book on the pulpit cushion, and comment on what he had read. Well I remember his pausing in this way at the verse, ' When I survey the wondrous cross Ou which the Priuce of glory died.' His remarks upon it, though brief, were a sermon, and replete with tenderness and deep feeling." Ami Baid a gentlemaD in Utica: " In reading one of the fervent, devotional psalms of David, his spirit seemed, as Carlyle expresses it. to canli some echo of it through the old, dim centuries, feel- ing far off in bis own heart what it was to other hearts made like his own. 1 remember especially one lovely Sunday morning in spring his reading the hymn, • Was it for crimes that /had done He groaned upou the tree. A-mu-zlDg pity, grace unknown, And I.-o v-c beyond degree.' No words can convey the infinite tenderness with which he pro- nonnced this hymn, looking round upon the congregation, his wimming with tears." Sermon by Rev. Henry Fowler. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 89 Joshua Leonard, who bore the message from the Middle Association to the Synod of Albany, proposing a union with that body, was illustrating Puritan intel- lect and intelligence and principle in the church at Cazenovia, which he founded in 1799, with staunch Holland help from Col. John Lincklaen, the first clerk of the session, and acting as such for seven years, and the first Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Onondaga, acting as such for three years, and a model whom cleri- cal clerks might follow, particularly in the neatness and legibility of their transcripts, wise and liberal and active in the affairs of the parish, and always a member of the important committees of Presbytery, and repeat- edly its representative in the General Assembly. Sel- dom has a church been distinguished by such a line of eminent pastors. In 1813, after Mr. Leonard's resigna- tion, Rev. Dr. John Brown, a native of Connecticut, a graduate in 1809 of Dartmouth College, and in 1812 of Andover Theological Seminary, came to the town on a horseback tour from New England. His line appear- ance and dignified manners struck the people at once, and his able, solemn preaching impressed them, and his quiet humor in society relaxed him enough to he approachable there. Called t<> the pastoral charge, his acceptableness and Influence in it grew lor sixteen vears, when in\ ited to the Pine streel (afterwards Berk- ley street) Church, Boston, he I. -ft an almost heart- broken congregation behind him. The Rev. Charles White, born at Randolph, Mass., L795, and a descend- ant of Peregrine Whin-, born on the Mayflower, suc- ceeded Dr. Brown almost immediately. A foremost scholar at Dartmouth, where he graduated in L821, and 90 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE declining a place in the faculty there, he completed a theological course at Andover, and after only four years' experience and practice of his profession, as col- league to his step-father, Rev. Dr. Asa Burton, at Thet- ford, Vt, he was introduced into the pulpit and parish of a trained veteran, whose powers and graces had pro- duced an almost idolatry of him. Modest in the ex- treme, yet resolute in purpose and trustful in God, he assumed the responsibility and took the risk. The circumstances made the experiment a competition and struggle, in which a tyro contended with a master, a strippling with a giant. A considerate people brought his age into the account in their judgment of the youth, and were discriminating enough to perceive his promise and worth. Going to Owego in 1834, he became as much of a divinity there as his predecessor had been here, and torn from the church and congregation, he was transferred in 1841 to the Presidency of Wabash Col- lege, and in the brilliant incumbency of that office the light of his earthly life went out, October 29, 1861. Dr. Asahel Strong Norton was installed at Clinton in 1793, and remained there for forty years, upheld by grace and the support of an unwavering faithfulness, an unerring judgment, an unspotted character and a blameless life. Bethuel Dodd was placed ^\cv Whitesboro and Utica in L794, the firsl pastor of the " United Society." Presideni Dwighl visited him during his " travels" in 17,.,'.». and -poke of him as "the very worthy and ex- cellenl minister of the place," and said after his death, thai he "loft a name behind him which is as the odor of sweet incense." Born at Bloomfield, X. J., about SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 91 1770, he was graduated at Nassau Hall, and licensed to preach about 1793. Marrying Sarah, daughter of Dr. Pierson, of Orange, 1ST. J., he commenced house- keeping at Whitesboru with Judge and Mrs. Jonas Piatt in a log-cabin. He subsequently built a comfort- able and commodious house, which is still standing. There he died in 1804, and his funeral was held at the church erected by his instrumentality, and dedicated only a few weeks b< 'lore. Judge Roberts, of Rome, who was living with him at the time of his death, scribed him "a man of fine personal appearance and polished manners, and an able preacher.!' Rev. Dr. S. C. Aiken says that he was ••always spoken of as very pious and devoted — not a great preacher, but a vigilant, faithful pastor." A Congregational Church was formed at Rome in 1800 — one of several in which the " half-way covenant" existed, its first members consisting of tw< 3, dis- tinguished as "in full connection" and as uin covenant with thechurches from which they came." Rev. M Gillett, the firsl pastor, held the charge for thirty years, a graduate of Vale College and thoroughly furnished for his work, which he prosecuted with singular intent- of aim. Mr. Finney began the noticeable pari of his career while preaching for him, and on one Sabbath in 1826, 176 recenl converts ived to Christian fellowship by hint: and during Ins whole pastorate ^"7 were added t<> the church, 709 <>f them on a profession of faith. Anion-- the earl] settlers of Trenton were CoL Adam G. Mappa and Francis Adrian Vanderkemp, Id.. 1>., 92 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE emigrants for conscience sake from Holland, and of the <>M(\st and most prominent families there. Dr. Vander- kernp firsl entered the Dutch army, but his fondness for learning took him to the University, and thence to the ministry. A patriot in principle and impatient under the oppressiveness of the government, he joined Col. Mappa in a military organization against it. Though amnestied on the failure of his uprising, he could not remain in his native land, and in company with Col. Mappa he came to this country. His social rank, his eminence in the schools, and his public career secured him the particular attention of our prominent men, and invited to the hospitalities of Mount Vernon, Washington advised him to settle among or near his countrymen in this State, and choosing Trenton, also called Oldenbarneveld, after the Holland patriot and martyr, as his home, in 1794, he maintained religious services from the first, in connection with Col. Mappa, and this explains the early origin of our churches at Trenton and Holland Patent. When six families had collected at Homer in 1793, they commenced Sunday services, which, with a single exception, have been uninterruptedly maintained since- The first sermon was preached there by the Kev. Dr. Eillyer, of New Jersey. Diversity of ecclesiastical views delayed the organization of a church, but in 1801 the suspense was ended by the decision of a Christian woman, and a Congregational Church formed. Speaking of the origin of some of the churches of the Synod, le1 me go forward to 1816 and mention Sackett's Barbor. Officers of the army and navy. , SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 93 without being professors of religion, formed an associa- tion to sustain public worship and preaching, and the result was a church, of which many of them and of the soldiers and sailors became members, and ordered to Green Bay and Sault de St. Marie, they set out two offshoots from it there. rev. john taylor's missionary tour in 1802. At the request of the Hampshire Missionary Society, in 1802, Kev. John Taylor made a "missionary tour through the Mohawk and Black River county," taking copious notes, a publication of which is made in the third volume of the Documentary History of the State. Brief extracts from this may help us to form some idea of the religious condition of a part of the ^territory of the Synod at that time. " Herkimer," he writes, "contains six or seven hundred inhabitants. They have a new meeting-house, but do not improve it." "Called on some of the principal men in Fairfield, and found things respecting religion very discouraging. I offered to tarry and preach the nexl day, bul it was thought th at no people would attend. They are uni- versally in the midst of harvest" 4,A young gentle- man by the name of Johnson has preached in Norway for several Sabbaths, and is hired for three or four Sab- baths to come There is a considerable congregation of Presbyterians." "Utica and Whitesboro, about four miles apart, form but one Presbyterian congregation, of which Mr. Dodd is the minister a pious and valuable man. He preaches in the two parts of the town alter- nately." u The Presbyterians are building a meeting- 94 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN lllh house in Whitesboro. There is none in Utica." lie repeatedly refers. to Mr. Dodd, describing him as "a very intelligent gentleman," "a very sensible, judicious man, and a sound Calvinist" "Mr. Norton has a Con- gregational Church at Clinton containing 240 members, and this people is considered to be most harmonious, regular and pious of any in the northern part of the State of New York. In this town, or rather parish, is an academy, which is in a flourishing state. They have one usher and about sixty scholars. A Mr. Porter, an excellent character and preacher, is preceptor. This institution promises fair to be of great service in this part of the country. Piety is very much encouraged in it, and some young gentlemen have become preach- ers who were educated in it. In the society of Paris, of which Clinton is a part, Mr. Steel is pastor. He is said to be a good and reputable man. He has a re- spectable congregation. In Hanover, a society of Paris, Mr. Bogue is pastor." "North or northwest of Paris is Westmoreland; vacant, congregation considerbly di- vided. Sangerfield lies south ; congregation alist" •• Preached for Mr. Dodd at Whitesboro; about 250 persons present ; communion day ; about 40 members ; appearances good." "In the afternoon preached at Utica : aboul 300 persons present" Most of the mem- bers are at the Borough, Here (Utica) may be found people of ti'it or twelve different nations, and of almost all religions and Beets, bu1 tin1 greatesl part are of no religion. The world is the greal objeel with the body of the people." "Floyd, eleven miles north of Utica, aboul L80 families ami 800 inhabitants. The people very much f deli- cate health. Purchasing land in the neighborhood, he preached to the people at Trenton. The climate, how too rigor- ous for him. Obliged to decline a call to Marcellus in 1804 and another to Holland Patent in lSi).~), he took a dismission in 1^>7 to the Presbytery ol Long Island. 9 6 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE they have obtained to the number of thirty persons, they appoint a class leader from among them, who from this time keeps up regular meetings, and is once in three or four weeks assisted by some who ride the cir- cuit. In the first part of their establishment they say but little about sentiments, but they gain the people first, and then mould them to their will. But I observe that when they have been of considerable standing, they become disorderly, and the steady, good characters leave them and come back to Congregationalism." "At Floyd there is supposed to be an awakening among the Methodists. They have their quarterly meetings, sacraments and love feasts. The last meet- ing was on the 4th of July ; had their sacrament in the woods ; began their meeting on Saturday morning, and continued until Sunday night. There were six minis- ters present. In this meeting six persons fell down, in a manner similar with the falling down in Kentucky ; and after lying twenty or thirty minutes, rose, crying glory to God. Some of them appeared to be senseless ; others in great agitation. These persons appear to the present time to be very pious." " Put up with General Flloyd at Western, who informs me that the Methodists are making great strides, and appear to be doing some good, as well as much harm ; that previous to their meet- ings, the Sabbath was almost wholly disregarded by the great body of the people, and they were but little removed from a heathenish state, but that now, what- ever disorders there may be in their meetings, they appear to have become moral in all their conduct, and to be impressed in their minds with a sense of divine thing SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. !»7 •• Found Mr. Johnson at Redfield. The overseers of the town have given him a tract of land to preach eight years. He receives nothing from the people. He has formed a church of eighteen members— a regular peo- ple— all ( longregationalists." It took some time, of course, for the current of immi- gration to rise and swell to a flood. In L800, the pop- ulation in the territory of the Synod hardly reached 80,000, and four Presbyterian ministers labored in it, and seven Presbyterian churches were organized on it, being one Presbyterian minister to 20,000, people and onechurch tobetween Ll,000and L2,000. In 1810 the population came up to 223,000, and 17 ministers and 'i'l churches, were connected with Oneida and Onondaga Presbyteries, then covering it, being about one Presbyterian minister to 13,000 people, and one Presbyterian Church to between 11,000 and 12,000 people. En L820 the population rose to above 330,000, and the Presbyteries of Oneida, Onondaga, St Law- rence and Otsego, then erected, counted 73 minis and 66 churches, being about one Presbyterian min- ister to t0,000 people, and one Presbyterian Church to 60,000 people In L830, the population exceeded 150,000, and the then Presbyteries of Oneida, Onon- daga, Watertown, St Lawrence, 0 ( I ( 'ortland. Chenango and Tioga, contained 131 ministers and L64 churches, or one Presbyterian minister to about 35,000 people and one church to about 30,000 people, [n 1840, the population rose to above 56 0, and the last named Presbyteries, with the addition of Delaware and Ogdensburgh, 0. >.. numbered 131 min- v 9 8 PRE SB YTERIA XISM IJV THE isters and 163 churches, or one minister and one church to a little less than 40,000 people. In 1850, the popu- lation was 600,000, and the Presbyteries on the field, Old School and New, had 202 ministers and 213 churches, or one minister and one church to 40.000 people. In L860, the Utica, Onondaga and Susquehannah Synods, which, together with the Mohawk and Ogdens- burgh Presbyteries, had 210 ministers and 187 churches. and the territory a population of 660,000, or one Pres- byterian minister to 3< >,000 people, and one Presbyterian church to 34,000 people. Tn 1870, the population was 786,791, and our ministers 197, and our churches 183, or one Presbyterian minister to about 40,000 people, and one Presbyterian Church to a little more than the same number. In 1876, the Synod contains 18-1 minis- ters and 167 churches. The decline in the last six years is only apparent, for some Congregation a I churches and ministers have been transferred to Associations, and the Rolls of Presbyteries have been purged, and though churches and ministers have fallen off, 1,500 have been added to the list of communicants. In L776, the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. had L43 ministers; losing by the Revolution, it had but L30 in L780, and 188 in 1788. At the commence- ment of the present century, it had aboul 200 ministers and 400 churches. In L815 the increase was 529 min- isters, 859 churches and 39,685 communicants. From L815 to L825, 540 were added to the number of minis- ters and over L,000 to the number of churches, and 80,- 000, or 800 per ct to the Dumber of communicants. [mmigration, the incorporation of the Associated Presby- teries, and of a considerable portion of the Associate Re- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 99 formed Churcli, missionary enterjn-i.se, and revivals of religion explain this wonderful growth. During the next decade the rate was reduced by the Old and New School controversy. In 1840, when the two branches had been consolidated, each by itself, the Old School had 1,221 ministers and 1,663 churches and 126,000 communicants, and the New School 1,260 ministers, 1,375 churches and 102,000 communicants — a total of 2,481 ministers, 3,138 churches and 228,000 communi- cants. The New School suffered subsequently from the withdrawal of Congregational elements from it, and of six Synods and 21 Presbyteries in slaveholding States, but notwithstanding this it gained in ten years (1850) 300 ministers and 200 churches and 36,000 communi- cants. The Old School doubled in the same period, outstripping the New fourfold. Its time of bereave- ment, however, came in 1861. when it lost 10 Synods, 45 Presbyteries, 741 ministers. 1,134 churches and 76,000 communicants in the South. By 1869. it made up a considerable pari of the loss, reporting then 2:381 ministers, 2,740 churches and 258,903 com- municants, while the New School counted in that year 1,848 ministers, 1,631 churches and 172,860 com- municants, and in L870 the reunited church contained 4,238 ministers, t,526 churches and 146,561 communi- cants -more by 2,078 ministers, 1,661 churches and 226,004 communicants than a1 the disruption. The net gain since bag been 400 ministers, fc61 churches and 79,882 communicants a total now of 1.711 min- isters, 5,077 churches and 585,210 communicants. In one hundred years our church has thererefore multiplied itself more than sixty times 100 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE All the evangelical churches in the laud in 1776 con- tained but 1,443 ministers and 1,943 churches, and they contain now 58,068 ministers and 91,760 churches, with upwards of 6,000,000 of communicants and 15,000,000 of attendants. In 1776 there was one house of worship for every 1,700 of the population, and there is one for v 529 in 1876 — one minister then for every 2,053 souls, and one now for every 757: one church then for every 1,53$ of the people, and one now for every 535. While the inhabitants of the country have multiplied fourteenfold, the churches have multi- plied nearly rii'tyfold. Presbyterianism in Central New York was horn and nurtured under the happiest auspices. The best of min- isters waited upon it, generally the Alumni of eastern colleges and seminaries, intelligent and disciplined, earn- est and faithful, orthodox and orderly, and they saw to it that their succession was kept up, and candidates for ordination and applicants from foreign bodies were thoroughly examined as to their piety and literary and theological attainments. The example of Onondaga Presbytery will illustrate the practice of all. It adopted the rule at its organiza tion and as fundamental in its Constitution, ■• We believe lhal the influence and utility of the christian min- istry will ordinarily be in proportion to the education, talent? and piety of those who sustain the sacred office, and that not only the order snd office, bn1 Christianity itself arc dishonored, and church and society injured by unlettered and incompetent teachers, and we view ourselves responsible for all the mischief which may aiise from this sour.-.' through our means or inattention, therefore B* i ■'< i d, Thai extraordinary instances excepted, we will neither 1 rage 01 admit to examination before us, any applicant for a YXOD OF CES TEA L NE W Y OR K. LOi license to preach, as a candidate, unless he shall have received a degree at some college, or shall produce evidence of having stud- ied the languages, arts and sciences, under some able teacher or teachers, and unless he be found on examination to possess a good degree of knowledge in the Latin and (ireek languages, English Grammar, Mathematics, Logic, Rhetoric, Geography and Natural Philosophy, and as no one ought to take upon him the work of the gospel ministry unless he possess a competent degree of knowledge in theology, be sound in faith, of good report, and is really friendly to Christ and his cause, we will ever make it a rule not to introduce any one as a preacher of the gospel, or as a pastor of a church, unless our minds be satisfied that be these qualifications." Great stress was laid on doctrinal truth and it entered largely into preaching and conversation as the prime and principal element of christian experience and liv- ing. Diversities existed in the statements of it and in te subordinate details, but with a general agreement in bstance and sum — Calvinism being the system that accepted and exacted And means were employed to enable young men to fulfill what - [uired of them. Academi founded, several under eccle- siastical patronage an4 control, as at Onondaga, Water- town, Whites Union and Franklin, and Oneida Academy, was developed into Bamilton I . and Princeton Seminary alwi I on the dockets of and Synods until Auburn Seminary took the place. And continued study after entering the ministry was assumed to bea large pan of its work and strenuous n was made to furnish facilities for if. In L818 the Albany Synod •Theei *li«- Whiteeboro Seminary wi for tuition, room rent fuel ami conttagenciet for board. 102 PRESBYTERIAN Ii>M IN THE " Resolved, That it be the duty of the Presbyteries under the care of this Synod to take measures for the establishment of Theo- logical Libraries in each of the congregations under their care, for the use of their respective pastors, and that the amount of moneys raised in each congregation for this purpose, the number of vol- umes purchased and the general state of said Libraries be added as a separate article in the annual Presbyterial reports." Frequent action in accordance with this injunction is mentioned in the Oneida Presbytery Minutes. And the ministers did not fear to hold their faithful- ness subject to inspection and account. At the second meeting of the Presbytery of Oneida, (1802.) it was re- solve* 1 "That the Ministers of this Presbytery be annu- ally called upon to answer for their fidelity in the dis- charge of their ministerial functions." and the same was repeated totidem verbisin 1805. The Minutes of Ogdens- burg Presbytery in 1823, record, "Hadan inquiry into ministerial fidelity.*' and this is repeated in the same Minutes for 1825. CARE IN THE FORMATION OF CHURCHES AND WATCH- FULNESS OVER THEM AND DILIGENCE IN TRAINING Til KM. A- might he presumed, churches were formed by ministers with scrupulous care, >nin itantly preserved ami governed; and that be worketh all things according to the counsel of his own srilll II. Do you believe that God has mad.- a r.\ elation of hffl will to mankind, which is contained in the scriptures ol the old ami New Testaments, and which is a perfect, Sufficient and unalter able rule of faith and practical 1 0 J: PRESB YTER1A NISM IN THE III. Do you believe that there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one God — the same in substance, equal in power and glory ? IV. Do you believe that God at first made man in his own image, after his own likeness, and entered into a covenant of life with him upon the condition of perfect obedience; that our first parents broke that covenant, and by their apostacy brought sin and ruin upon themselves and all their posterity? V. Do you believe that God, in mercy, and of his own good pleasure, hath provided a glorious Mediator, the second person in the Trinity, the eternal Son of God; that, by taking human nature into personal union with himself, he became truly man, and has, in our nature, made an atonement for the sins of mankind by enduring the penalty of God's law, and wrought everlasting righteousness by rendering perfect obedience to its precepts ? VI. Do you believe that mankind are totally depraved, and wholly indisposed to embrace the gospel salvation until their hearts are renewed by the sovereign and almighty influence of the Holy Spirit ? VII. Do you believe that all who exercise repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, are immediately par- doned and justified, only through the merits of the Redeemer, and shall be more and more sanctified, and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation? VIII. Do you believe that regeneration is a necessary qualifica- tion for church fellowship '.' IX Do you believe that true Christians are delivered from the condemnation of the law; that their obligations to obey its pre- cepts are not at all removed, but remain with greater force; that Done are sinless until perfectly conformed to the law; and that Done attain perfect ion in this life? X. Do you believe that the promises of the gospel are made only to Bincere believers; that none can have scriptural evidence of their interest in Christ but by the holy exercises of their own hearts, and the fruits of those exercises ; and that these are accessary to give assurance of their own salvation? XI. Do you believe that Jesus Christ has a church in the world; thai the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and of Baptism are holy SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 105 institutions, appointed by Christ for the comfort and edification of his church; and that none but believers have a right to the first, and believers with their offspring to the second ? XII. Do you believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a day of general judgment, in which Christ will judge the whole world; that he will then doom the finally impenitent to endless destruction, and conduct the redeemed to the happiness and glory of his eternal kingdom ? COVENANT. You do now solemnly avouch the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to be your God; and, renouncing all ungodliness and every worldly lust, unreservedly dedicate yourself to Him and to His service forever. You rely on the righteousness and atonement of Christ alone for pardon and acceptance with God. You cordially accept Jesus Christ as your king and your saviour, and the Holy Ghost as your sanctifier and comforter. You receive God's holy word as the only infallible rule of faith and practice; and solemnly engage, by the help of divine grace, to conform to it by living soberly and righteously and godly in the world. You promise diligently to attend on all the institutions of the gospel, especially public worship, and the strict observance of the holy Sabbath. You engage to maintain family and secret prayer; to give up your children to God in baptism; to educate and govern them, and labor to trail] them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You covenant to walk in brotherly love with tins chnrch; to watch over and admonish tin- brethren; to Bobmit to government and discipline as here dispensed; and to live re do res sonable ground of oil'. JTou do publiclj engage to assist, according to your ability, in supporting the Institution! and Interests of the Redeemer*! king- dom in t his society. You do also promise thai yon will endeavor'to recommend oar holy religion to all by faithfully practicing justice, good nose, mercy, temperance, patience and charity. 106 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE All this you covenant and promise in humble dependence on the assistance of divine grace, earnestly praying that God may enable you to be faithful and steadfast in his covenant. In repeated instances creeds presented by churches when applying for connection with Presbyteries, were referred hurl: for amendment, and especially ivere they sure of being remanded, if faulty oi+defective in the doctrines of grace ; and notice was quickly taken of it, if churches altered and impaired their forms of sound doctrines. Thus the Pres- bytery of Utica pronounced the articles of faith of the church of Remsen (1851) "defective in the important doctrines of the Presb}rterian Church, such as Divine Sovereignty, the Perseverance of the Saints and Infant Baptism,'" and they requested the church to revise their articles of faith, making them "more in accordance with the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church before their connection with Presbytery;" and the Presbytery of Onondaga unanimously declared (1834) that a change in the creed of the Jamesville Church creed made it "essentially defective/' inasmuch as it did not formally state the Decrees of God, Election, rhe moral obligation of the Christian Sabbath, and of Infant Baptism," and a committee was appointed to "prevail on the church to readopl their first confession of faith." The last named Presbytery expressed its "regret," in 1833. "to learn the fad thai some of the churches under their care have expunged from their articles «>f faith certain articles in reference to the mode and subjects of bap- tism, with some others in reference to doctrines ; where- upon, //>"7 f a family observe the duty of instructing his household in the great doctrines of our holy religion, of inculcating in their minds the obligations they are under to God, and the covenant relation thej stand in to him, taking for a general text book of Instruction, tlui Catechism of tin- Westminster Assembly of Divines. That such parents, guardians and masters commit their households to tin- in- struction of the church and bring them or cause them to be brought to such place or placet of instruction SB the regular authority of the church may from time to time appoint ; that each church ap- point certain judicious and piOUfl members "f the church as cats OhistB, tO gO from house to house and c mi ier w it h professing chris- HO PRESB TTERIANISM IN TEE tians on the importance of instructing their households in the prin- ciples of religion, and to appoint certain places where the children of a particular neighborhood or section of the congregation may meet at stated times for the purpose of receiving religious instruc- tion from such churches ; that the ministers and elders or other authority of the churches, call a general meeting of all the chil- dren of the church quarter-yearly, for the purpose of furnishing- them such religious and moral instruction as their several circum- stances on examination of their views and feelings shall appear to require.* The first Presbyteries had no doubts about the church membership of baptized children^ but there was at least a diversity in the degree of the conviction that they were liable to church discipline. Oneida (1805,) hesitated in regard to it, and after repeated and protracted discussions, overtured it as a question to the Synod. Onondaga Resolved, (1812,) That every church hold all the children of the church under 12 years old, responsible to the church for their future conduct ; that the church never afterward relinquish their inspection and discipline ; that such children hereafter stand on the same ground, submit to the same salutary correction for their reformation and repentance, or the same sentence of exclusion to which the other members are subject ; and that the names of all such children be added to the catalogue of members now enrolled as constituting the church; it being understood at the same time, that they shall profess their faith in order to a participation of the Lord's Supper. The Synod of Utica recommended it to the ministers belonging to it, to preach in November every year, " on the privileges and obligations of the Abrahamic cove- nant, presenting distinctly the duty of pious parents to dedicate their infant children to God in baptism, their *These catechetical and other religious instructions are sometimes mistaken for the modern system of Sunday Schools and are quoted as early institutions of it. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. Ill responsibilities in connection with their religious train- ing and the precious grounds of expectation and confi- dence that if found faithful, saving blessings" would follow : it was directed that baptized children should be statedly assembled for special instruction and taken un- der the special watch and care of the churches, and they were particularly to be taught the Assembly's Catechism ; and inquiries as to the fulfillment of all this were made a rule for every meeting of Synod ; and at the first meeting of the Synod (1829), its Presbyteries were di- rected to inquire regularly as to the practice of infant baptism in their churches and to require their ministers to preach on the subject, and the minutes of the Synod record the inquiries it made as to the observance of these resolutions, and its narratives relate with joy the attention given to them. In 1853, this Synod published a pastoral address on the subject worthy of being again and again sent forth. It indicates the interest taken in children by the fathers of the ministry on this field, and their estimate of infant baptism, that eighteen pages of the first vol- ume of the records of the church of Lisle are filled with the names of those to whom the seal of the cove- nant was applied by the hands of Seth Williston and Henry Ford. Daring the pastorate of Rev. Henrj Dwight at Utica, from 1818 to 1816, L98were placed on the baptismal roll; 290 were baptized at Oneonta dur- ing the first seventeen years of the church there and upwards of 170 during its first eight years The Westminster Catechism was furnished to the congregations a1 an early day by repeated special efi 112 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE and it would be tedious to quote the earnest recom- mendations of it by all the Presbyteries, from the first until now. Ever and anon each of the number was stirred to warm eulogium upon it and to earnest en- treaty that families and Sunday Schools would faith- fully teach it. Delaware begged " parents and heads of families to gather their households once a week and teach it to them." Tioga instructed its ministers to have ••stated seasons for the public examination of children in the catechism," and afterwards reported that several pastors gave stated lectures on it. Cortland reports that it is taught in the Sunday Schools and that Bibles are given as rewards for commiting it to memory ; that "the duty of instruction in it has been successfully enforced and encouraged, and that some have studied the catechism in connection with proof- texts and illus- trations from the Bible, while others are able to recite the whole with accuracy."* Bible classes were commended from the time of their institution, and the "American Bible Class Society" welcomed at its organization, {Synod Utica 1 : 6, 8,) and * It is tlie fashion somewhat to decry and denounce this inimitable compend of divine truth, as a text book for youth, and particularly to scout the thought of its effectiveness in informing and drilling the mind, and shaping the character and life. But incomprehensi- ble as it may be, it wields a mighty power. Mr. Ticknor, of Bos- ton, the publisher and literateur, wrote to Maria Edgeworth in substance, that the metaphysical turn of New England thinking was due to this little book, and he quotes and endorses a remark which he says was repeatedly made to him by " one of the most practically wise statesmen " of the land, to the effect that we should have never had our Revolution, if the people had not been in t lie habit for a century of discussing the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. H3 scarcely a session of Synod or Presbytery was held after the introduction of Sunday Schools, without some action in reference to them, and in no narrative of religion do they fail prominently to appear. In 1831, the Synod of Utica ''heard with pleasure of the formation of ma- ternal associations in some of its congregations," and resolved that all the pastors and elders be recommended to have them formed in their respective congregations. As both an indication of the intelligence of the churches and a contribution to it, the further facts should be stated, that in 1812 the Oneida Presbytery projected the Western Magazine, afterwards called the Utica CJi ris- tian Magazine, and applied to the Oneida Association for cooperation in it: and for successive years it appointed a committee to " superintend " it, in conjunction with the Oneida Association : and in 1822 it gave its end< ment to the Utica Christian Repository, to which suc- ceeded the Western Recorder, in 1832, while the Sunday School Visitant^ 1829, believed to be the first Sunday School paper published in the country, and the Mother's Magazine, also published at Qtica, addressed themselves to parents, teachers and youth, and in 1846 the Religious Recorder was established by individuals at Syracuse, but with the cordial endorsement of the Presbytery of ( Inondaga While truth in general was thus diligently taught, a vigilant watch was kept up to guard the churches against the errors and evils that threatened or assailed them from time to time. References from them were patiently beard ami adjudicated conscientiously if not always cor- rectly. The church at New Bartford, for example, 114 PRESB YTERIANlbM IN THE asked what should be done with one of its members who denied the divinity of Christ, and it was told to exclude him. The Oneida Presbytery was asked whether it was proper to dismiss church members to Baptist societies, and replied affirmatively, and in 1815, the Presbytery of Onondaga censured one of its min- isters for speaking harshly of Baptists. The Presbytery of Tioga, in its early youth, pronounced against the dismission of church members to Methodist societies, but made amends for this in its maturity, by inviting- Methodist preachers to seats at its meetings. During the war of 1812, the Oneida Presbytery pronounced it a disciplinable offense for a member of the Whitesboro church, who had entered the army, to beat the drum on Sunday; but in 1819, it referred it to the General As- sembly to decide whether a stage proprietor, who carried the mail on Sunday, should be admitted to the church,, and that body pronounced against it. Worldly amuse- ments were frequently considered and opinions expressed about them, and ever and anon pastoral addresses were sent out. In 1825, the Otsego Presbytery declared attendance at dancing parties and balls a disciplinable offense, and if unrepented of, deserving excommuni- cation, and a carefully drawn paper by the Onondaga Presbytery on dancing, and dancing schools and card playing, is worthy of notice. A considerable part of the territory of the Synod is a dairy district, and Sunday cheese making or the fur- nishing of milk on Sunday to cheese factories, were re- peatedly denounced and earnest appeals published to refrain from them. Hop growing also is extensively pursued, and speaking in the midst of it and to people SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 115 who are infatuated by it, and as sensitive as liquor sellers to interference in their business, the Synod of Susque- hannah Resolved, That we have long been convinced that hop growing- is altogether unjustifiable and wrong, and its tendency is to pro- mote immorality and irreligion, the decay of churches and the ruin of souls: and that we now enter our solemn protest against this fruitful source of intemperance, Sabbath breaking, licentiousness and other forms of vice and wickedness, and exhort the members of our congregations, who may be engaged in this business, to abandon it immediately and to have no fellowship with this un- fruitful work of darkness. MINISTERS' SALARIES. While instruction was given to the churches, and also warning, the performance of duty was pressed upon them. From the first, they were urged to a prompt and full payment of the ministers' salaries. Indeed, it was a standing rule with the early Presbyteries to call them to an annual account of this, and their minutes contain records of the returns from each.* Salaries were small, and irregularly and tardily, or but partially paid, and it evinces the devotedness of the pastors that they could subject themselves and their families to the straits necessitated thus. In 1825, the Ogdensburgh book has this affecting entry : " Had an inquiry into ministerial faithfulness and salary accounts. Ministers belonging to this Presbytery have regularly administered the ordinances, unless prevented by ill- * Is it not a pardonable gratification with the writer to state that for the twenty years, from 1805 to lS-J,r), the whole period for which the Oneida Presbytery has a record of the payment of sala- ries, the First Church, Utica, waa never once reported detirient 1 single farthing. 116 PRESB TTER1ANISM IN THE health; have uniformly preached two discourses on each Sabbath, and generally preached one lecture a week, besides making pastoral visits and attending prayer meetings and conference meetings almost every week. Nearly every minister states that his salary is not paid according to agreement, and most congregations are very much in arrears on the small salaries which they have stipulated to pay. Several ministers who are pledged from $300 to $400, have not received half of this sum for three years past, and as a consequence, the ministers of the Presbytery are very much embarassed and perplexed for the want of a comfortable support"* CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE INCULCATED. Both Presbyterial and Synodical records abound with deliverances on Christian benevolence. Standing com- mittees were appointed to devise means for promoting it and to see to it that it was practiced ; elaborate papers were prepared, as by the Presbytery of Watertown in 1852, enforcing the duty and describing the best methods of performing it. At one of its earliest meet- ings, 1825, the Presbytery of Ogdensburg selected cer- tain business men to report on the subject. Several Presbyteries voted themselves auxiliaries to different societies, as the Presbytery of Tioga in 1829 to the Home Missionary Society, the Otsego Presbytery in L827 to the Domestic Missionary Society, and the Che- nango Presbytery in 1829 to the Home Missionary *No strange thing happened to these good brethren. The venerable John Cotton used to complain that nothing was cheap in Nnv England but milk and ministers.— Oridley. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 117 Society, the Western Education Society and the Ameri- can Board, and the Watertown Presbytery in 1829 was organized into a General Benevolent Association, to supply the spiritual wants of its section of the country and to aid in sending the gospel to every creature." holding annual meetings to listen to reports and ad- dresses on Home and Foreign Missions, education for the ministry and the circulation of religious tracts ; and at the same time a constitution was framed under which any church might also become a benevolent association, it being provided that every member of the church should be called upon for annual subscriptions to at least four causes. This was probably the origin of what is known as the "St. Lawrence County Anniver- saries." They are annual gatherings corresponding to those formerly held in the city of New York, but in the interest more especially of the different benevolent societies of the county, and are kept up with great spirit and profit. The St. Lawrence County Bible Society shares the honor with one other County Bible Society, of being the first in the land to supply every family in its bounds with a copy of the Scriptures. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. The labor expended on the churches in this matter was wq\] repaid They learned the benevolence they were taught, and practiced it. Giving became their habil and began with their beginning. The firsi Prea byterial reports recount their contributions, and they aninterruptedly continued these through the various channels that were opened for them, Buch as the ( taneral 118 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE Assembly Boards and the National Voluntary Socie- ties, and they also cut courses of their own leading to them, large and small, and running in every direction, and formed independent organizations of their own. Quite numerous associations had sprung up in the country for Home Missions, and to avoid distraction in the work, and the more efficiently and economically to carry it on, at a convention held in 1822 they combined in the "United Domestic Missionary Society," which made Central and Western New York the special field •of its operations, and in 1826 the "American Home Missionary Society" superseded it, assuming larger dimensions and contemplating the cooperation of kin- dred denominations, Congregational, Presbyterian, As- sociated Presb}4erian and Dutch Reformed, throughout the United States. It started on a large scale, and in the spirit of lofty enterprise, and however implicated in the ecclesiastical controversies that subsequently sprung up, it wrought nobly for the evangelization of the land. The Presbyterian Church is under special obligations for plantings of it in this region, and for propagating it at the West It wonderfully stimulated the Home Missionary enterprise. In its first ten years it furnished 3,273 years of missionary service. In thirty-five years it raised and disbursed 84,000,000, and helped to sustain gospel ordinances in 6,000 com- munities. It spent over £2,000,000 for our congrega- tions, and more every year from 1826 to 1861 than it received from us, and aided 1,285 out of 1,542 of the churches of our General Assembly, or five-sixths of the whole number. Comparatively few missionaries labored in this territory when the society was organ SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. , 119 ized, and only about $640 a year were raised from it for Home Missions, and in thirty years it aided 442 missionaries here and 344 churches, 170 of which (89 of them Presbyterian and 17 Congregational) were self- sustaining at the close of the period. The appropria- tions here during that time were $144,293, and the contributions from here $298,311.04 ; the contributions exceeding the appropriations by $154,018.04.* Local societies, acting on their own responsibility and as auxiliaries, took an active and important part in benevolent work. The " Western Domestic Missionary Society," afterwards called the "Central Agency," formed at Utica in 1826, and with its headquarters there, though nominally in connection with the Ameri- can Home Missionary Society, raised and expended funds and commissioned missionaries, sixty five of whom were engaged in 1829 — five of them in Otsego Presbytery, six in Chenango, five in Cortland, eight in Onondaga, nine in Oswego, eleven in Oneida, ten in St. Lawrence, nine in Ogdensburg, and about $7,000 were appropriated to them. Women were early enlisted in the cause. The Albany Synod Narrative of Religion for 1818 states: "Female Cent Societies and prayer meetings have been formed in most of our congrega- tions, and the assistance they render is very consider* able, [ndeed, the church owes much at the present day to the exertions of pious females." These "Cent Societies" were \rrv genera] far some time, and poured *Our ohurches contributed $7,850.67 1 1 it- past year to the ABsembly'H Board of Home Missions, receiving $2,705.54 for their own field, leaving a surplus of $4,664. L8 for expenditure in other Sections of the land. 120 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE quite a current into the main reservoirs. From 1810 to 1814, sparse and poor as the population was, $800 of the §2,500 that flowed into the Genesee Missionary Society, ran from them. The " Female Missionary Society of the Western District," formed at Utica in 1817, and with its center there, carried on operations for itself until 1827, when it became auxiliary to the Western Domestic Mission- ary Society. For 1822 it reported fifty branches, eleven missionaries, and nearly $2,000 of collections. Mr. Finney began his ministry with a commission from it, and while in its service ushered in the series of revi- vals connected with him. Youth, too, were summoned to labor and give, and responded to the call. " The Young People's Missionary Society'' commenced opera- tions at Utica in 1814 or 1815. The Rev. Miles R Squires, D. D., then a licentiate and since so well known as a pastor, a theologian, an educator and writer, and the founder and first minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, was its first missionary, and it was on his first tour for it that he visited Buffalo and pro- jected his labors there. Rev. Elisha P. Swift, D. D.r still more widely known, perhaps, as a professor in the Theological Seminary at Allegheny and the first Secre- tary of our Foreign Missionary Board, also a licentiate at the time, was one of its missionaries in a southerly course. The Western Education Society of the State of New York was formed at Utica in 1818, and in its first year nearly £30,000 were contributed to it Christian denominations of every evangelical class were originally represented in it, but the subscriptions of Others being soon after refunded to them, Presbyterians 8TWOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 121 and Congregationalists alone appeared in it. Its method of proceeding was quite peculiar. vi Their lead- ing object." in its sixth year, the directors say, "has. been to purchase a few acres of land and to erect a suitable house for boarding the beneficiaries. They have so far succeeded in accomplishing this object that fifteen acres of land have been purchased and a house has been erected of sufficient dimensions to accommo- date fifty young men with board, with all the conven- iences needful for a family in providing for that num- ber. This house, with four acres of land adjoining, is situated about seventy rods north of Hamilton College, and the remaining eleven acres are a quarter of a mile north of the boarding house." Only students in Col- lege were assisted, and only their board in term time was furnished. In 1824 twenty-four young men re- ceived this help. Women labored for the society, the auxiliaries they composed contributing $1,000 to it in a single year. Modifications in its constitution con- formed it afterwards to the Education Societies with which we have been familiar, and it was long promi- nent in its department of benevolent work.* In 1810 the Middle A — Nation and the Pn of Geneva formed themselves into the "Western Re- ligious Tract Society." and a Trad Society established at [Jtica in L816 circulated 7. «><><> tracts during that * The following honorable and gratifying entry is made in the third volume of the Reeordi <>f the Onondaga Presbytery, Sep- tember 6, 1825: " fter. .Marcus Smith, of tin- Presbytery of Albany, requested liberty to present his very grateful ^•-, obligation f<»r th»- kid be received from this body in tin- eotu his classical and theological Studies, to the amount ot about $500." II 122 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE year, and subsequently largely extended its operations7 having auxiliaries all over this part of the State, cir- culating a large number of tracts and books, widely establishing the monthly distribution, and remitting surplus funds to more needy sections of our country and to foreign lands. The Oneida County Bible Society was organized at Utica in 1810, embracing within its bounds the coun- ties of Oneida, (then including Oswego county,) Lewis, Jefferson, St Lawrence, Onondaga, Cortland, Madison, Chenango, Herkimer, Seneca and Ontario counties, and on the organization of the American Bible Society in 1817 it became auxiliary to it, A thousand copies of the Scriptures were distributed by it the first year in Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Jefferson, Madison, Cortland, Herkimer, Cayuga, Onondaga, Chenango and Oneida counties, which it was estimated would carry them to three thousand persons. PASTORS AND FOREIGN MISSIONARIES FURNISHED BY THE CHURCHES. The benevolent contributions of the Presbyterian Churches on this field have run up from $9.43 m 1803, to $55,917.30 in 1876, and it is a reasonable calculation that they have amounted to a million of dollars for the whole space between those years.* And sons and * In 1872 the five leading denominations in the United States raised for their church expenses and for benevolent causes the following sums: The Baptists, $8,891,276; theC'ongregationalists, about $4,000,000; the Episcopalians, $6,304,008; the Methodists, $17,427,184; the Presbyterians, $11,070,325. Add to these the contributions of other Protestant denominations, and the sum would be $50,000,000. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 123 daughters, more precious than silver and gold, have been offered liberally by them. It is impossible to estimate how many ministers in the home service and how many wives of such ministers have been their gifts. Thirty-one members of the First Church, Utica, and thirteen of the church of Rome, and seventeen of the church of Ogdensburg, have been pastors in our land, and this may not exceed the proportion from many others.* Nine male and seven female members of the First Church, Utica, have been devoted to labors in foreign lands, and among them H. Gr. 0. Dwight, D. D., of Constantinople ; Asahel Grant, M. D., of Persia; Henry R Hoisington, of India ; W. Frederic Williams, D. D., of Mozul, and S. Wells Williams, LL. D., of China. Albert Bushnell was dedicated to Africa by the church at Rome; Edwards Ford to Armenia by Ogdensburg church ; Edwin Hall Crane to Persia by Westmoreland church ; Homer Bartlett Morgan to Turkey by the church at Watertown ; Robert W. IT time to India, Henry West, M. D., to Syria, Dr. Judd, Sheldon Dibble and Dwight Baldwin to the Sandwich Islands, and Ed- ward Cope and Isaac Bliss and Loren C. Havenf and * And men like Albert Barnes, Thomas Brainard, and John Barnard, of Lima, from the church at Rome, and Prof, John Mor- gan, of Oberlio Seminary, and Prof. Edward D. Morris, of Lane Seminary, and Henry Steele Clark, of Philadelphia, from the First Church, Utica, and Prest. I. N. Randall, of Lincoln Uni- versity, from the Westminster church, Utica, and Charli Finney from the church in Adams, and lleinan Norton, count almost incalculably In such an enumeration. i Mr. Haven was under appointment for China by the a. B. C. F. M., when, in a moment of mental aberration, he put an end to his life. Those who best anew aim testified must highly to his abilit \ and excellence. 124 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE Edward Gr. Bickford and Charles Little and Jesse Miner to other countries, by different churches under the care of the Synod. In 1815 the Presbytery of Oneida recommended the Monthly Concert of Prayer to its churches, and at its next session relates that it had been observed by all of the number to whom it was made known ; and in its report of religion in 1818 it says : " The Monthly Con- cert in Prayer is universally observed." This was kept up in all the Presbyteries, and is very frequently men- tioned as long as the concert was generally maintained. SUPPLIES BY THE PRESBYTERIES FOR THEIR VACANT CHURCHES AND DESTITUTE FIELDS. The ministers and people did not overlook the desti- tution near them and the feeble churches connected with them. The Presbytery of Oneida has a record of supplies for vacancies in its bounds, every year, without a single exception, for the twenty-three years from 1802 to 1825. The Presbytery of Onondaga in 1826 divided its territory into districts, committing each to the care of certain ministers and elders, and in 1844 it reenacted the arrangement, and directed the commit tecs to visit their respective districts, each min- ister spending at least one Sabbath in his district, and to reporl in full at every meeting of the Presbytery : and in 1827, $1,000 were raised for the needy churches and unoccupied districts in St Lawrence county. In L831 the Oneida Presbytery li'.soived, 1. That the whole Church of God, consisting of but one family, and bound together by the strongest possible tie of SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 125 union, should feel a deep and fraternal interest in all its branches, and be willing to make very great sacrifices, especially for the more feeble. 2. That as a dictate of Christian sympathy, those churches enjoying a stated ministry should cheerfully consent that their pastors be occasionally absent to minister to the neces- sities of the destitute. 3. That each minister of this Presbytery should feel bound to extend his pastoral supervision as far as possible to the neighboring needy churches, and being set apart as the servant of the whole church, should feel it a duty of solemn obligation to take under his special pastoral care, where the cir- cumstances permit it, some one or more of such churches, visit- ing them as frequently as practicable on the Sabbath and at other times, and superintending the general interests of religion among them, until they are provided with a settled ministry. The subject indeed, greatly and constantly exercix-d the brethren, and nothing more put them to their wit's end. Presbyterial and Synodical missionaries were ap- pointed, notices of which appear in .the records of the Synod of Utica and of the Presbyteries of Otsego, Del- aware, Chenango, Tioga, Cortland, Onondaga. Oneida, St. Lawrence, Watertown and Ogdensburgh. No ade- quate provision has yet been made for the case, and the urgency of it is greater than ever. In the opening mon of the first General Assembly of our reunited church, the desirableness of ;t system of superintendence suggested, that would avoid the objectionableness of Episcopacy and Methodism, and secure their effi- ciency in this direction. There is Deed, not of a tran- sient itinerancy, which at wide and irregular intervals, shall secure nasty calls' or brief services from a minis- ter,— enough, perhaps, to start up an expiring church and make it live for awhile, or plant a church in virgin soil and leave it to perish while battling for existence — l nit an habitual attention to them that is never suspended 126 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE as long as it is required. Committees, however zealous and faithful, cannot be spared enough from the parishes of their members to be capable of this, and responsi- bility for it is dispersed by distribution. Every minis- ter and elder is distressed by thoughts of the vacant churches and numerous wastes about* him ; but what can be done ? Nothing but the appointment of a bishop for them, such as was common with Scotch Presbyterian- ism in its early days, with numerous young and feeble churches ; a bishop consecrated to the task of looking after them and procuring supplies for them ; a bishop of a diocese smaller or greater, according to the number of vac- ancies and wastes in it ; and a bishop in character and standing, so as to be looked up to by his charge and be accepted as the peer of the foremost of his fellow Presbvters, and with salary enough to give him dignity in his own esteem and that of the public, and to yield him an ample support, A recent circular of our Home Missionary Secretaries indicates an approval of substan- tially such a policy. But no measures will accomplish the object without the spirit embodied in the Oneida Presbytery resolutions and a recognition of the princi- ples enunciated there and the habitual acting upon them; and it is to be feared that we have degenerated from our fathers here. We look upon ourselves too much as ex ( 'lusively cha rge< I w i t h our several parishes. The iso- lation of Congregationalism largely supplants the combi- nation of Presbyterianism. We regard ourselves as the ministers of Local churches, and scarcely at all as min- isters of the Presbyterian church. We serve our re- spective congregations and feel little responsibility for Others. And so with our people. They call us to the SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW TORE. 127 cure of their souls, and begrudge our attention to others. The oneness of the church, — its unity notwithstanding the diversity of its congregations, — the Watertown, or Syracuse, or Binghamton church as a part of the Pres- byterian church in the IT. S. A., and not an independ- ent organization, is a characteristic and fundamental article of our ecclesiastical constitution, and violating or neglecting it, we are untrue to the Presbyterian minis- try and membership. RELINQUISHMENT OF VOLUNTARY SOCIETIES AND ADOPTION OF CHURCH BOARDS. The National Benevolent Societies had been so uni- versally the almoners of our churches, that there was little or no diversity of sentiment among them during the violent controversy about ecclesiastical boards and voluntary associations. But strong as were their attach- ments to the latter, it is pleasant to notice how grace/'/'//// they resigned them when the new circumstances of later tiw.es manifestly required it, and how cordially they tht n adopted the former. In 1863, the Susquehannali Synod describes its churches as " in a transition state from vol- untary societies to the Boards of the General Assem- bly." In 1861, the Presbytery <>!' Cortland Resolved, That convinced of the necessity of such action, we do now withdraw our connection with tin- Home Missionary Society, and that we put ourselves in connection with the Committee on Home Missions, appointed by our General Assembly. Tn 1800, the Presbytery of Watertown Resolved, That we gratefully acknowledge the eminent value of the work accomplished by the American Home Missionary Society, and the wisdom with which its attain bare been generally admin- 128 PRESB YTER1A* ISM IN THE istered; that while such a anion of Christians of different names in the work of home evangelization, as is provided for by the American Home Missionary Society, was indispensable at the time it was formed, and while this cooperation with our brethren has been most agreeable to our .feelings, as well as prolific in good, our increase in numbers and wealth and in the spirit of benefi- cence enables each of our denominations now to prosecute domestic missions by itself, and by this separate assumption of responsibility more is likely to be effected, and the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace would be better kept. "PERFECTING PRESBYTERIAN ORGANIZATIONS. Ministers of Plan of Union churches came into full fel- lowship with Presbyterianism in the same accommodating spirit, and many of their charges followed them. The Presbytery of Chenango, for example, was substantially the Union Association with a new name and our rules for judicatories. There was scarcely a Presbyterian church under its care, and almost every pastor had been a Congregationalist. This entry appears in its minutes for 1852 : " There is a growing attachment to the doc- trines and polity of the Presbyterian Church. " "A desire is manifest by the pastors and churches to sustain such public institutions as cherish and inculcate the doctrines of our church." And in 1857 : "We record with grat- itude our conviction that there is an increasing sympa- thy and cooperation with our beloved Zion in her attempt to meet her weighty responsibilities; and our fervent desire is that God will endue her plentifully with 1 1 i * * wisdom that is from above." And in 1862: " The Presbytery is in a peculiar position from the working of the old congregational leaven in our churches. Two of them within a year, and they among SYSOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 129 the strongest, have entirely separated from us, and several of the rest seem to hang very lightly to Presby- tery. It is probable that in a year or two the state of things will be changed, and those churches which so strangely sympathise with Congregationalism, will either go out from us, or take ground more in accordance with our order and polity." And in 1865 : " It should not be overlooked in this review that while strenuous efforts have been made during the year to draw off from us the churches connected with us on the Plan of Union, and while one of the number has temporarily with- drawn, still, we believe that there is at least among some of the churches, a disposition to hold on more firmly to our body." The Presbytery of Binghamton, now including the territory of the Presbytery of Chenango within its bounds, replied to an application of the church of Bainbridge to be received by it, that it was ready to do so when that church " perfected its organi- zation," and soon after Bainbridge came in fully Pres- byterian. PROVISION FOR THEMSELVES BY THE CHURCHES. The churches of Central New York provided for themselves, while they cared for others. The act and a<-;td<,'ini<\> founded by them, or placed under their auspices, and Hamilton College, have received in round numbers, $800,000. And it may he stated in this con- nection that the State Bupporta on the field of the Synod 8,842 district school.-, attended the present vear by 1.78,672 scholars ; instructed bj B,169 teachers* (2,1>9 male and 5,980 female) at a oosl of $521,940.56 the 1 30 PRESB TTERIA NISM IN THE present year, with school houses and lots worth $4,273, 581, and libraries containing 321,313 volumes, worth $321,313— while there are academies reporting last year 8,273 scholars, to which were appropriated during that year $54,765 and holding property valued at $1,783,135, and also 164 private schools, with 8,685 pupils, and three colleges numbering last year 417 stu- dents, and costing that year $84,426.24, and holding- property in lands, buildings and funds to the amount of $1,355,863, and 2,105 graduates. Hamilton College reported last year (1875,) 153 students, $31,359.24 ex- penses, $288,968 endowment, and 1,374 graduates. At the organization of the Oneida Presbytery, houses of worship had probably been erected at Cherry Val- ley, Little Falls, Whitesboro and Clinton, and possibly at Cooperstown and Springfield, but they must have been primitive structures like the homes of the congregations, aggregating a cost of perhaps of $2,000 or $3,000, and sittings for a thousand. Ten years ago, according to the last published State census, there were 131 houses of worship belonging to the churches of this Synod assessed at $500,000, and attached to them was prop- erty assessed at $100,000, with 50,000 sittings and an attendance of 22,000 people who paid $75,000 annually for salaries. To this is to be added 18 Reformed (Dutch) churches, valued at $39,140, with property attached valued at $12,300, with sittings for 11,000 peo- ple and an attendance of 2,265, and paying salaries of s8,103, and also 19 Lutheran churches valued at $58,680, with sittings for 5,162, and an attendance of 8,162, ami paying $5,470 for salaries. On the same field are 115 Congregational churches, valued at SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW TO UK. 131 $-110,000, with $53,150 property attached, having 47,218 sittings, and an attendance of 16,010, and paying $69,417 in salaries. The Methodists have 460 church edifices on this field, valued at $934,875, with $164,940 property attached, and 147,915 sittings. The Baptists have on this field 319 church edifices, valued at $721,1 70 with $71,025 property attached and sittings for 871,737. The Episcopalians have 83 church edifices, valued at $624,250, and $107,600 property attached, and sittings for 27,720, and pay $56,355 for salaries. PASTORATES. It is to be wished that a better report could be made of Pastorates. Synods and Presbyteries appreciated them and did their utmost to favor them, but often lamented the neglect and frailty of them. In 1839, the Cortland Presbytery said that only three of its fifteen churches had pastors. The Synod of Susquehannahr and in 1842, the Presbytery of Tioga spoke sorrowfully of the brevity of the relation. The Presbytery of Otsego, in 18'2(> installed a minister at Springfield for two years, and a1 its next session expressed its regret for the act. In 1839, the Presbytery of Cortland Resolved, That our Churches destitute of pastors owe it to them- selves aud to the cause of Christ to procure settled pastors as soon ai practicable, aud that it is the duty of ministers, BO far as it is optional with them, to settle as pastors and to discountenance the practice of preaching as stated supplies in such circumstano will be prejudicial to the effort of sustaining In the communities the pastoral relation, and a committee was appointed to address the churches on tin; benefits of l In- pastorship, and the evils result ing from its neglect, and by \ i .-its to the ohurches and 1>\ OORSI 132 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE pondence with them to set the subject before them, and induce and help them to secure a stable ministry. In 1825, the Onondaga Presbytery Resolved, That if any congregation within our bounds wishes to employ a minister for any term longer than a year, the interests of religion would be promoted by his installation; and that we will not agree to dissolve any pastoral relation until every proper means have been tried to continue it, and that we will follow the rules of the directory in reference to it. The Presbytery of Oneida published an admirable paper on the subject in 1833, which it would be difficult to improve and that would serve well for its purpose now. Tioga Presbytery rejoiced in 1842 over the increased length of the relation in its churches and notices the continuance of it for thirty years, then at Lisle. All the churches in Binghamton Presbytery were supplied with pastors or stated supplies in 1872* It has been found impossible to make a reliable list of pastorates on the field of the Synod. The names of the parties to 570 of them have been obtained, but the actual number must considerably exceed this. Fourteen are pending, of which that of Kev. L. Merrill Miller,, at Ogdensburgh, has lasted thus far (1876,) twenty-five- years ; Rev. N. Crocker's at Coventry, thirteen years, and Rev. William H. Sawtelle's at Nineveh, ten years. The longest pastorate was that of forty years by Rev. Marcus Ford, D. D., at Newark Valley. Rev. Levi Parsons was at Marcellus thirtv-t \v< > years and died there ; Moses Gillette was at Rome, and Israel Brainard at Veronar thirty years ; Rev. John B. Hoyt at Coventry, twenty- nine years and died there; Rev. Orlo Bartholomew at Augusta, twenty -eight years and died there ; Rev. Ezra SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 133 Benedict Fancher, was twenty -seven years at Cortland - ville and died there ; Rev. Isaac Bray t< >n, at Water- town for the same space: Rev. John Tompkins was twenty-five years at Marcellus and died there; Rev. John Watson Adams, D. D., for the same space at Syracuse and also died there; Rev. Philemon Halsted Fowler was in First Church, Utica, Rev. Barnet B. Beckwith at Governeur, and Rev. John Smith at Coop- erstown, twenty-four years : Rev. William Eaton Knox at Rome, and Rev. Thomas A. Weed at Mexicoville, twenty-three years. Noah Coe was at New Hartford twenty-one years, and Rev. John Frost at Whitesboro, and Rev. James Eels at Westmoreland twenty j and Calvin Bushnell at Mt. Vernon, eighteen years. Three were pastors seventeen years: Rev. Samuel C- Aiken, D. D., of First Church, Utica, Rev. A. F. Corliss, at Holland Patent, and Rev. Sherman Canfield, 1>. 1'.. of First Church, Syracuse: six for sixteen years: Rev. Pheneas Robinson at Jefferson, Rev. C. Chapman at Colchester. Rev. J. I). Cornwall at Hancock, Re G S. Boardman at Watertown, Rev. K. II. Payson at New Hartford, and Rev. James G-ardinerat Hammond; four for fifteen year- : Rev John B. Whittelsey at Spring- lield. Rev. U. X. Woodruff at Little Falls and Herkimer, Rev. John A. Savage at Ogdensburg and R than B. Bubbard, at Whitesboro; bus for fourteen \ II. Dyeral Preston, Rev. L James at Guilford, Revi A. Parmaleeal Middleford, Rev. Edwin Lord al Fulton, and Kev. John Waugfc at Sau<[u«)it and afterwards at ( lanton ; three forthirteen yean : !«'• , Truman Baldwin at Pleasanl Valley, Rev George S Boardman, D. D enovia, and Rev. A. Oliver at Springfield; two for i 134 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE twelve years: Kev. H. W. Gilbert at Windsor, and Frank- lin A. Spencer at Westmoreland ; five for eleven years ; S. F. Snowden at New Hartford, John N. Lewis at Lisle, Publius Y. Bogue at Sauquoit, L. C. Keid at Fayette- ville, and Casper R Gregory at Oneida, ; fourteen for ten years: Seth Willeston, D. D., at Lisle, Alpha Miller at Bridgewater, Moses C. Searle at New Hartford, E. Vine Wales at Laurens, Giles M. Smith at Freetown, Ezra Scovill at Mexicoville, W. W. Newell, D. D., at Salina, William Salisbuiy at Jefferson, Phineas Robinson at Hancock, D. Terry, D. D., at Delhi, H. S. Dickson at Westminster, Utica, E. Scoville at Mexico, Joseph N. McGiffert at Sauquoit, and Henry Callahan at Oxford ; thirteen for nine years, eight for eight, thirty for seven, thirty for six, thirty-eight for five, forty-nine for four, seventy- three for three, thirty-nine for two years, twenty - seven for one year, and one for less than a year. No dates are given of the remainder.* In eleven instances death dissolved the relation, and the reason assigned for it in sixty-seven instances was a call elsewhere ; health in thirty seven instances, in- sufficiency of salaiy in sixty-eight, and ditsatisf action of the people in thirty-seven. At least two-thirds of the pastorates were broken up by the restlessness of the people and the consequent *In 1876, 1,074 of our 5,077 churches in the Uuited States are reported as vacant, and 1,799 as served by " stated supplies," and only 1,973, of our 4,744 ministers are installed pastors. During the same year 575 changes were made by the 3,171 priests and deacons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, " at which rate the whole number would change every six years.'' SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 135 failure of the maintenance of the ministers. The rela- tion long since ceased to be regarded as permanent, and it is entered upon by both parties with the feeling that it shall last longer or shorter, according to their likes and dislikes. Nothing can establish it, or make it more than a temporary arrangment, short of the conviction that it is a species of marriage, and almost as indissoluble. Ministers and people must quench their love of change ;* the first ceasing to look out for better situations, and the last ceasing to look out for more agreeable preaching, or for variety in it. Counting on the stability of their rela- tion, they will accommodate themselves to it and achieve usefulness in it, and derive profit from it. But let pastors beware. If secure against dismission or disturbance, they may be tempted to nestling, when they ought to be work- ing. And let subscriptions and pew rents by the people, be contributions towards the ordinances of the gospel, and not payments for the gratification of taste, uniformly kept up for the ministry, and not variable with the sen- timents towards the men who exercise the ministry, f *" From 1752 to 1791 no pastor in Litchfield, Ct., Consociation was dismissed to answer a call affirmatively — come up higher." Parmelee's Centennial Sermon. f Rev. Joseph Bellamy, of Bethlehem, Ct.,was invited to the First Presbyterian Church, New York. Distrusting its sufficiency of itself to decide the question of his going or staying, the Litchfield Consociation called the Eastern Consociation of Fairfield county, to counsel with it. They remained in session for four (lays, and then " after much debate and conference, endeavoring to view the case in every possible light, and solemnly calling apon the Father of Lights and Fountain of wisdom ami discretion," the) canm to the '•determination that it was not for tin- honor of our common Lord and the best interests of our holy religion that Mr. Ballamy be dismissed." Parma 136 PRESBTTERIANIbM IN TUE ORTHODOXY OF MINISTERS AND CHURCHES. While Presbyterianism in Central New York has been intelligent and enterprsing, spiritual and benevo- lent, it has also been orthodox and orderly. Irregulari- ties occurred and errors sprung up about it that were not chargeable upon it, and in the excitment of the hour, individuals and communities identified with it, from time to time, were carried away into abnormal movements and acts ; but as a whole, its constituency has preserved a remarkable propriety of deportment and correctness of doctrine. The fact, in general, is demonstrated by what has already been related — the in- struction and training it so dilligently gave ; the care- fulness with which it organized its churches and the cautiousness with which it received them, and the vig- ilance with which it watched them, and the faithfulness with which it "warned and reproved and directed them; and its constant effort for stability in the pastoral office. Still more clearly does it appear in specific action on current extravagancies and heresies. Hasty licensures, for example, were repeatedly and emphatically denounc- ed. The Watertown Presbytery complained to the Black River Association for committing the offence and the Synod of Utica forbade a recognition of the Black River licentiates and ministers until they had, been examined and approved by the Presbyteries. In 1825 the Presbytery of Onondaga established the rule that it would examine all candidates for installation, leaving it to be decided in each case whether the exam- ination should be particular or general ; and the Pres- 1»\ tery of Delaware resolved that it would not perform SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 137 licensure or ordination without previous notice.* The intrusion of Evangelists was reprobated, and Luther My rick was disciplined for it, and Jedadiah Burehard brought to express repentance for it. -f- Though Evan- gelists were accepted as answering for extraordinary occasions, reliance was counselled on the settled minis- try, and the Presbytery of Watertown required them to receive its permission to labor in its churches, and its minutes record their applications for it. and the same Presbytery pronounced its disapproval of such practices as publicly naming individuals in prayer ; and the Pres- bytery of Oneida adopted the pastoral letter of the General Assembly in 1832, as a substitute for a missive to its churches on the religious excesses common at that day. " Oberlin Perfectionism'' had considerable cur- rency for a time, and Chenango and Cortland and other Presbyteries condemned it, and Onondaga Presbytery published an able refutation of it, "Unionism " made high pretensions to piety and charity, but was bitter towards existing denominations, and fiercely assailed *The Presbytery of Chenango was eminently determined in its exactness of an adequate preparation for preaching, and in the purpose to stay immaturity in it. Rev. Dr. John B. Hoyt relates that his brethren were so intent the night of November 11, 1833, in investigating the charge against one of its candidate! of tilling pulpits before he was licensed, that they did not notice the memor- able phenomenon of falling stars, which occurred then, and knew nothing of it until told by their hosts on going back to their | of entertainment. f The trials of intruding Evangelists reqnin -• and for- titude. Chenango Presbyterj prosecuted Nehemiah Oolbe, ■ mem- ber of Detroit Presbytery, at the tXpenM of un exceedingly tnr bulent agitation from it. 138 PRESBYTERIANISM IN TEE them and sent forth multitudes of extemporized preach- ers to spit venom upon them, and to strike violently at them ; and the Presbyteries stripped it of its disguise and exposed its ugliness and mischievousness. The Kev. C. E. Goodrich was called by the Presbytery of Otsego, in 1833, to answer the charge of holding doctrines con- trary to the standards of the Presbyterian church, the specification being that he believed that infants were born into the world with no moral character. Mr. Good- rich denied the charge, but admitted the specification. The case was referred to the Synod of Utica, and that body sustained the charge after " hearing the defend- ant's interpretation of moral character" as meaning "the result of actual transgression, or a fruit of action," and then " kindly admonished him that "his statement con- Yejs a sentiment which is a departure from the true sense of our confession of faith, and that the use of it is imprudent and of injurious tendency, and ought to be discarded." Yol. 1 : 103. Men like Dr. Richards, could not tolerate heresy and disorder, and would not cloak them, and yet, familiar with what had transpired on the field, they denied the charges of irregularities and disorders as superlative in it and characteristic of it. "An epidemic radicalism," they said, had " swept over the land, but the impression that it has swept exclu- sively or chiefly over one division of the church, or that it has been successfully resisted in one part and toler- ated in the other, can be the result only of great misin- formation." "They were not tolerated" here, "but prayerfully resisted from the pulpit and the press, and in the Presbyteries by arguments, resolutions and ex- postulations." "These Synods, therefore, have been SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 139 exiled from the church as delinquents, while, in fact, they have been occupied in a discreet and successful performance of their duty in circumstances of great delicacy and difficulty. The creeds drawn up by the Presbyteries for their churches, set forth their orthodoxy, and that inimitable paper, drafted by Eev. Dr. Baxter Dickinson, then of Auburn Seminary, and presented as the answer of the minority of the Assembly of 1837, to the charges of heresy among us, and reaffirmed by the Auburn Con- vention, so distinctly and fully, and yet succinctly states error and truth on controverted points, and is so satis- factory, that the Joint Committee on Reunion proposed, at one time, to make it the doctrinal basis on which the two branches of the church should come together. DISCIPLINE. Discipline was likewise kept up. The extent to which it was carried is indicated by the minuteness of the offences it reached, as illustrated by facts already mentioned, and the books of the Presbyteries, particu- larly in their early days, are laden with references and appeals. Ministers were brought to account with even more stringency than communicants. It is a sorrowful and humiliating list they make — one was deposed for heresy, {Onondaga ">:(,'k2,) consisting in a general denial of " the essential articles of the Presbyterian Church ;" two for schism- Onondaga -1:111 and Oneida L845; one for falsehood and schism — Onondaga 5 : 860 ; one for deception and falsehood — Oswego; five for passion- ateness and violence of speeoh, and three in Oneida: 14:0 PRESS TTEEIANIS At IN THE two for violating the Sabbath in secular business — St Lawrence 333 and Onondaga 3 : 355 ; one for imposture and dishonesty — St Lawrence 1 : 817 ; three for intem- perance— Oneida, 1835, and Oneida, 1831, Wateitown 3:344, 1862; four for unchaste advances — Oneida, 1831, St Lawrence, 1845, and Otsego, 1847; five for adultery — St Lawrence 1 : 87, 1818, Watertown 3 : 177T 1853, Oneida, 1836 and 1843, and JJtica, 1849 ; and one for intemperance and adultery — Oneida, 1842. But sorrowful and humiliating as is this list, and well as we may weep and blush at it, the comparison of which it admits vindicates the purity of the minis- try. Only one in a hundred of its incumbents on the held of this Synod, during a period of more than sev- enty years, has proved guilty of vice. CHURCH QUARRELS. Quarrels in churches, and especially between ministers and people, have been far more disastrous and scarcely less wicked than immoralities. Holland Patent and Rev. Oliver Wetmore were involved in two of consid- erable violence ; but it is pleasant to read that the parties to the first acquiesced in the decision of the Presbytery upon it, and "gave each other the right hand of fellowship and Christian charity," and that with the magnanimity characteristic of the noble man, Mr. Wetmore promptly and cordially made the ac- knowledgments of faultiness in the second which the Presbytery required of him and his principal opponent. I wish as much could be said of one of his successors, at the dissolution of whose pastorate, June, 1851, the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 141 Presbytery "expressed their regret at the spirit and language of the pastor in assigning the reasons for his request" and declined to enter them upon its records. In 1840. Joseph W. Paddock, coming from a Methodist Conference, was settled over the church at Oneonta, but soon got into difficulty with it and was dismissed. Disagreeing with the trustees about his claim upon them, he appealed to the courts, and after two or three trials, obtained judgment against them. Coming into n of the church edifice, "he stripped it of all its fixtures, even to the rods and curtains about the gallery, and the communion service. He took the bell from its hangings in the belfry, and dropping down upon a pile of straw drawn to receive it, it was broken in the fall. The frame-work upon which the bell was suspended was thrown to the ground, and one of the timbers in its descent striking a Mr. Shellman, who was a participator in the scene, killed him instantly." The church at Union, Broome county, was Calvinistic and harmonious when Rev. T. Dwight Walker came to it from a Methodist Conference, and an unhappy division originated with him, which lasted for "half a genera. tioii." The First Church in Utica was rent by an in- stallation in 1*42. which took from it no small portion of its culture- and wealth, and inflicted wounds that were long in healing. THE CHRIff] [AN SABBATH. Presbyterianism in Central N< York was outspokeo for the sanctity of the Sabbuth, The patriol inhabitants yon county (extending from a line running north 142 PRESBTTER1AN1SM IN THE and south through the center of Schoharie county to the western limits of the State) formed an association as a temporary government, with a general committee at the head of it, and town committees for conference, correspondence and coopertion with this. A letter from the Cherry Valley town committee, dated June 9th, 1775, indicates their regard for the clay : Sirs: We received yours of yesterday relative to the meeting of the (general) committee on Sunday, which suprised us not a little, inasmuch as it seems not to be on any alarming circum- stance, which if it was we should readily attend. We, therefore, conclude not to join our attendance at this time, unless you ad- journ the committee until Monday; and in that case we will give our attendance as early as you please. We do not allow ourselves to be cut short of attending on the public worship unless the case be so necessitous as to exceed the sacrifice. We conclude with wishing success to the common cause, and subscribe ourselves the free-born song of liberty. As early as 1812 the General Assembly lifted its voice against the transportation and opening of the mails on Sunday, and in 1814 called on. the Presby- teries to summon their churches to protest to Congress against it. The Oneida Presbytery responded at once, and instructed the Sessions to get signatures to such papers, and followed this up at its next meeting by in- structing delinquent Sessions to perform the service immediately. Ten years afterwards the reports of the Postmaster-Genera! alarmed the Christian people of the country and aroused them to renewed efforts to stop and close the mails on Sunday, and secure generally the ob- servance of the day. This section of the State warmly enlisted in the cause, and became its principal battle gn >und. A powerful line of stages held the route from Albany to Buffalo, running seven days a week and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 143 carrying the mails. Largely by the energy and liber- ality of Mr. Josiah Bissell, of Rochester, with Aristar- chus Champion, of that city, as his main supporter,, and aided by many others there and in different places, the " Pioneer Line" was started, lying by on Sunday, and forthwith war was proclaimed. The old line had greatly the advantage, not only in the occupancy of the field and in the sinews of war, but in the heartiness of its agents and employes, and the favor of the class who surround relays, and in the boldness of its friends. Clerks and drivers took places for the Pioneer Line almost altogether for the wages they got, and often slily turned away patronage from it, while only now and then a good, ringing voice sounded forth for it I say nothing now about the wisdom of this particular measure. It certainly was of problematical expedienc}-, and disastrously failed; but in the Sunday war of that day the true blue of Presbyterian ism floated over the battle fields and waved in the thickest of the fights. And never did it stack its arms. Appear in whatc\ er form the enemy might, the bugle blew a bast. Men- tion has already been made of the assault- on Sunday cheese-making, and on furnishing milk for it. More insidious foes were attacked No ecclesiastical boch could be more anti-slavery than the Delaware Presby- tery, but it condemned the \ iolation of the Sabbath by the abolition agitation Sunday funerals were discour- aged, and the ministers Instructed to dissuade their people from them.41 * A demonstration has been recently made on the territory of the Synod, in part, of the practicability of conducting great public enteprises, even in emergencies, consistently with an observance of the Sabbath. The Delaware, Lackawanna ami Western Elavil- 1 44 PRESB YTER1A NISM IN THE TEMPERANCE. The principle of total abstinence from ardent spirits was embraced and commended on its first announcement and the advanced step of total abstinence from all intox- icating drinks, was promptly taken, and scarcely a way, which has always stopped its numerous and large trains on the Sabbath, over the whole length of its long lines, determined to narrow its broad tracks, and the following is the Superintend- ent's report of its accomplishment: " Scranton, Pa., May 30th, 1876. "Samuel Sloan, Esq., President: "Dear Sir — I wrote you yesterday somewhat hurriedly regard- ing the change of gauge. I now give you a more full report of how it was done. On Monday, the 22d inst., we changed one track between Scranton and Junction, and one between Scranton and Binghamton, where we had two tracks. This was done without stopping a train, and from the 22d until the 29th we ran broad gauge trains on one track and narrow gauge trains on the other,, thus keeping up our regular business. On Saturday, the 27th, we commenced at 3 A. m. changing the second track on southern, division, also the single track on northern division, the Syracuse,. Binghamton and Utica divisons, all of which was successfully accomplished, and trains commenced running before dark that day, making more than three hundred miles of track changed in one day. The mine tracks, of which there are seventy-five miles, have been changed from time to time, as best we could, and not interfere with the daily supply of coal. The whole change has been made without any Sunday work of any kind being done, and without an accident of any kind to person or property, and without stoppiny a passenger train, except one between Scranton and Bing- hamton, one on the Syracuse and Binghamten, and one on the Utica division; and the only interruption to the coal shipments was a part of four days north of Scranton, where we had only a single track, and this was only for the purpose of getting the cars all unloaded and off the roads before the change was made. Trusting that this work has been done satisfactorily to you, I am, sir, very respectfully yours, (Signed.) " W. F. Hallstead, Superintendent.*' SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOBK. 145 meeting of Synod or Presbytery passed without a deliv- ance on the subject of temperance, and it was an invari- able topic in the narratives of religion. The zeal felt for it prompted a ready concurrence in promising mod- promoting it and earnest inquiries after new expedients. and though at times it transported good brethren into questionable ordinances respecting it. it is remarkable how judicious as well as faithful their action usually was. In 1S27 the Ogdensbnrg Presbytery Resolved, That this body will hold themselves bound to abstain from the use of ardent spirits, and that we earnestly recommend all our churches to do the same. And the Presbytery of I tl828, expr< 1 its approbation of entire abstinence from ardent spirits except as a beverage, and Watertown Presbytery an- swered an overture asking that total abstinence or the signature of a pledge to that effect should be pronounced a term of church membership, that this was not advisable ble except where churches were agreed upon it. while Cortland Presbytery on its own motion advised it. and the Presbyteries generally endorsed and encouraged the his movements to obtain a legal restraint and pro- hibition of the liquor traffic. PATRIOTISM OF If 1 1: MINISTERS A\l> CHURCHES. The patriotism of such Christians would be a matter The revolution signally manifested it. as ly remarked, and on the breaking out ^i hostilities againsl the Union, the men and women, whose denun- ciation of slavery was so largely the provocation of tin-in. stood by their utterances, and aa soldiers and the K 146 PRESB TTER1ANISM IN THE supporters and succorers of soldiers, fought and gave and worked in the maintenance of them. All of us well recollect the scenes of those days ; the large and enthusiastic public meetings ; the outpouring of money ; the mustering and departure of troops ; the sewing circles, and gathering and shipping of supplies; the ministeries of both sexes on fields and in hospitals. Presbyterianism here prayed and preached, and upheld and encouraged the government by word and deed. Mr. Lincoln acknowledged the service of the church of the country at large and especially the cheer he got from it, and no church in any section of the country sent forth more encouragment and aid than ours. It was no blind and headlong zeal that fired and impelled it but a zeal according to knowledge. The Synod of Utica laid down the following principles of action in the premises. Records 2 : 264. That inasmuch as in this country, the Church, in consequence of her separation from the State, is justly denied a voice in our halls of legislation, and is properly excluded from all direct and authoritative interference with civil affairs, while at the same time there are great principles underlying and interwoven with our civil institutions, in which both religion and morality are vitally interested, it becomes her duty on all fit occasions, to rec- ognize those principles and inculcate them upon the people through the pulpit, the press, and our ecclesiastical assembles. That among these principles affirmed in the Word of God as obligatory upon us, we recognize the institution of civil govern- ment and the duty of a loyal obedience to it, when it answers the ends for which it is appointed of God. That we recognize in our national government the ripe product of the purest civilizations of the past, especially as they have been moulded by the Bible and the influence of Christianity, under which civil and religious liberty have been largely secured, and the richest elements of prosperity brought home to the people, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 147 and the church put in possession of an open field for the ad- vancement of religion without let or hindrance. That we recognize in the system of slavery, as constituted by law in these United States, an influence that from the beginning, has been hostile to religion, demoralizing to social life, and at war with the original spirit and purpose of our noble institutions. At the imminency of the war, no abatement was shown in the intolerance of slavery. The Synod of Susquehannah " recommended " in 1856, " increased watchfulness and activity to promote the speedy limita- tion of its aggressions and the deliverance of those that are held in bondage." At its outbreaking the Judicato- ries summoned the people to enlist freely and manfully in it. In 1861, the Presbytery of Otsego, p 434, Resolved, I, That we, the Otsego Presbytery, do most heartily respond to the recent patriotic resolutions of our General Assem- bly, and do hereby pledge ourselves to obey, in the spirit of those instructions, the voice of conscience and of God, for the preservation and permanence of the integrity of these United States of America. Resolved, II, That while we deplore all fratricidal carnage, and pray most fervently that God will change the purposes of our country's foes, we promise to do all we can by personal labor, self-sacrifice and prayer, to give the iron force of this most right- eous war the sanction and cooperation of the church ; and further- more, Resolved, III, that we recommend our several churches to unite the fearlessness of conscientious seal with the noblest Liberality of outlay until the evils against which we fight arc liv the aid of r<>n. Many good citizens doubted about it and wavered None of our ecclesiastical bodies hestitated to sustain it. but spoke in the language of the Synod of U"tica, 1862: 2 : 265 : That in the present rebellion, we see the lust of power and the spirit of insubordination, in their origin and development inti- mately connected with this system, attempting to destroy the noblest and purest government on which the sun ever shone, and on its ruins erect one whose corner stone is oppression ; whose top stone is the aggrandizement of the few at the expense of the many, whose sole spirit is alike opposed to the best interests of humanity and the clearest teachings of the Word of God. As patriots we abhor it, as Christians we condemn it, and as a church of the Lord Jesus we will not cease to exhibit its opposition to Christianity until it is crushed to the earth. When our rulers and captains were criticised and blamed, words of cheer were sent to them. The Synod of Utica : 2 : 266, Bt soloed, That while we thank God for placing at the head of this nation in this our hour of trial, a man in whose patriotism and ability we have entire confidence, we pledge to him, his associates and that noble army of our brothers and sons who have gone forth to fight this great battle of religious and civil freedom, our sympathies, our prayers, and our most hearty cooperation in all fit ways, even if need be to the sacrifice of life itself, until God in his righteous providence, shall establish the nation on the solid foundations of justice and truth, and with it make our Zion the joy <>t' the whole earth. That not until we, as a nation, shall duly recognize the hand •d in our civil as well as religious affairs, and humbling our- selves mi account of our many offences against his authority and law we shall look to him for wisdom and success, can we expect that this great conflict will issue happily for this nation and the world. The Synod of Susquehannah, 153, /.'■ BOfo&d, That we deeply sympathize with the President of this nation, and all associated in authority with him, in the solemn 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 149 responsibilities committed to them, and would constantly com- mend them to God in our prayers, that they may have wisdom from above to conduct this dreadful war to the accomplishment of God's purposes in it. The recognition of the sovereignity of God, and prayer and submission to him, and repentance and reformation, were diligently taught as the indispensable means and conditions of success, and of comfort and support in distresses and griefs. The Susquehannah Synod expressed itself thus: In view of the present agitated state of our country, the steady aggressions and increased demands of the supporters of slavery, the outrages and crimes that have been committed in our territory and at the seat of government, the threatening aspect of the po- litical horizon, the violence of political and sectional strife, and the danger we are in as a nation and as individuals of forgetting our obligations to and dependence upon that wisdom and power which are from on high, we earnestly recommend to ministers and churches increased prayer to Almighty God that he would not withhold his mercy from us, but that he would avert his judgments to which our sins have exposed us: that he would im- bue our rulers with a spirit of wisdom and of the fear ot that he would guide and protei t our citizens in the approaching election of officers and representatives, defeat the conns* those who would prostrate and destroy our free institutions, and give peace and prosperity to our whole country. The language of the Presbytery of Onondaga corre- sponded to this : We believe it to lie a truth that the church ought most in'. to feel that in the present fearful crisis of our country the safety and preservation of her institutions depends more, undei upon the prayers and efforts Of the church than upon any and all other instrumentalities besides; because it is only [n answ< her prayers that she can hop.- to secure God's favor, and only in answer to such prayers that bis Spirit, which can alone subdue and turn and mould aright the hearts of men, can !>e reasonably expected to be poured out upon the people. We would pi. 150 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE therefore, upon the church as her most solemn duty that she now earnestly and persistently plead with God that he would pour out, his Spirit upon his people, reviving and strengthening their faith, and upon the hearts of the entire people that they may be led suitably to recognize the supremacy of the Most High, and humbly to acknowledge their dependence upon him, until they shall feel, to adopt the language of the prophet: " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and know- eth me, that I am the Lord which exerciseth loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these things do I delight, saith the Lord." Onondaga Synod 179. And these instructions and appeals were heeded and answered. The Susquehannah Synod relates, p. 156 : From the verbal reports given in Synod we learn what is well un- derstood throughout the community, that a strong and deep seated spirit of patriotism animated our congregations, leading them to make great sacrifices for the good of our country in this time of blasphemy and rebuke, when the very life of our government is threatened by armed traitors and rebels. Many of our noble and excellent young men, who were efficient laborers in the Sabbath School and prayer meetings, have gone forth to defend the great principles of freedom and righteousness, and to fight for the supremacy of the laws. They and their fathers and mothers, and the churches with which they are connected, have cheerfully made this sacrifice. We bid them god-speed, and earnestly pray for their success and safe return, when it shall please God, who is making himself known by the judgments which he executeth, to grant us a return of peace. And the Chenango Presbytery, 3 : 172, relates : In reviewing the state of religion in our churches during the year just closed, there is much to instruct, humble and encourage us. It has been a year of peace at home. None of the churches have been disturbed by internal dissensions which deserve notice. But we have palpable evidence that we have a terrible civil war in our land. It has called from their quiet and peaceful homes many of our choicest young brethren in the churches, and many SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 151 more connected with our congregations and Sabbath Schools. Some have fallen in battle; others have died in the hospitals of wasting diseases; others have come back to us maimed and crip- pled for life; others still are standing up nobly for truth and the defence of our good government. As a result, our membership has been reduced, our working talent and energy diminished. Several of our churches have been much enfeebled and discour- aged. Desolation and sorrow have entered many of our house- holds in the stern forms of bereavement, while all hearts have been distressingly anxious and more or less diverted from the immediate concern to be cherished for lost souls. But the con- viction has been almost universal that "the Lord hath need" of our sons and brothers, and that we could not but yield to his claims by cheerfully giving them up to him. In our ministry and in the membership of our churches, with only an occasional exception, there has been, and still is, a spirit of unflinching ad- herence to our government in this time of her trial, and a will- ingness to make any sacrifice yet demanded to make her triumph over rebellion and human despotism complete and final. Loyalty to God includes loyalty to a good and wise government; and patriotism is believed to have a place among the loftiest and purest of Christian virtues. Ninety-one members of the Ogdensburg Church were enlisted and commissioned, fifteen of whom were slain in battle or died from disease. The ministry furnished recruits and chaplains. Rev. William J. Erdman, of Onondaga Presbytery, shoul- dered a musket and entered the ranks. Rev. Edwin Lord, of Oswego Presbytery, suspended bis pastorate and exercised an army chaplaincy. Rev. 0. N. Benton, of Tioga Presbytery, received a mortal wound a1 New- born, N. G, where "with a Belecl few of his regiment he was executing an important but dangerous order.1' The memorial of bim by his Synod (Onondaga) and his Presbytery (Tioga) are a fitting pan of this narrative : 152 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE As a Christian minister Brother Benton magnified his office. He was faithful, judicious and successful. The church of Apa- lachin, Tioga county, of which he was the endeared and honored pastor, grew in numbers, stability and usefulness during his labors upon that field. And but for that causeless and unholy rebellion which has so extensively changed the plans, prospects and positions of our churches, the people of Apalachin and their minister might long have been united and happy in the prosecu- tion of their home work. But such was not their happy lot. The reason was sufficient, and, in obedience to the call of their country, Brother Benton, with many of his people who had thor- oughly imbibed his spirit, passed from the pursuits of parish life to the employments and dangers of the soldier. Some of the incidents in this transition state are well known to Synod, and the impressions made by them upon our minds cannot easily be erased. Few of those who were present at our last meeting will forget his fraternal, modest, sincere, earnest and prayerful leave-taking. "Brethren," said he, "pray for me, that I may stand firm maintaining a consistent ministerial and Christian character. I have some sense of my feebleness, and of the need of more than mortal strength. Pray for the officers and men of my regiment — Shepherd's Rifles. Farewell." And so he left us, went with his charge to the field of battle, and showed to the last a consistent devotion to that cause which demands the consecration of every loyal American heart. At Newbern, while with a select number of his regiment he was executing a dangerous but important and appropriate order, he received the fatal wound which caused him to linger just long enough, in extreme suffering, to enable him to show how a Christian can die, as by his precepts and example he had taught how a Christian should live. The following minute, prepared by Kev. S. F. Bacon, after remarks upon it by several of the brethren, and a prayer by Rev. P. Lock wood, was unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the Presbytery, (Tioga,) and copies ordered to be sent to the widow of the de- ceased brother referred to, and to the church in Apa- lachin. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 15 3 1. Resolved, That in the heroic and Christian death of our beloved brother, Rev. Orlando N. Benton, killed at the battle of Newbern, on the 14th of March, while we recognize the afflictive hand of our Master in his removal, we rejoice that we as a Pres- bytery have been represented in the great struggle which is now going on for the defence and maintenance of our religious as well as civil liberties, that we have laid a noble sacrifice upon the altar of our country. 2. Resolved, That we have great cause of thankfulness that the Lord directed his steps within our bounds, and that he has with so much self-denial spent nearly six years of eminently success- ful labor in one of our infant churches, where the living fruits of his ministry attest his Christian fidelity, and the surrounding community has felt his influence for good, both in his fearless and faithful words of love, and in his unostentatious and Godly example. It is gratifying to record the testimony that the war no disaster to religion on this field. The Synod i »f Utica expressed its "abounding gratitude to God that amid all the excitements of the times our churches have suffered no more, while they have contributed so much to the right direction of the patriotic movements of the -lay." vol. 2 : 252-3, 1861. And the Chenango Presbytery, 3 : 178, says: While so many incidental and necessary evils have prevailed in connection with this terrible civil war, and the faith and piety and peace of more were to be subverted by it, .-till we cannot but believe that, in miuiv and perhaps in a majority of cases, per- sonal piety has been materially improved. A sense of depend- npoo I tod lias been deepened; a spirit of prayex has been quickened; the graces of cheerful submission, resignation, pa- tience and hope have become more perfect. Greal Lesson* of righteousness have heen learned, while these mighty judgments have been abroad in the land. 1 54 PRESB YTERIAN1SM IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION. The Anti- Slavery movement forms a principal chap- ter in the history of Presbyterianism in Central New York. Indeed, there onght to be a volume on it, for the sake of the truth of history and the reputation of our churches ; and it would furnish an illustration of principle and of devotedness to justice, and humanity, and religion, and of patient continuance in well doing, with frequent marrings indeed, that must compel won- der and admiration, and be invaluable in its teaching and inspiration. The abhorrence of slavery was a neces- sity of such a ministry and church as ours here, and they could not avoid the expression of it. They responded at once to the voice that was raised against the system, and joined at once in the effort to abolish it. and they never bated their breath nor spared their strength, until the wickedness and curse disappeared. Feeling intensely as they did on the subject, it would not be strange if they sometimes spoke intemperately, and yet, from our present stand point, few of the reso- lutions and papers of the different Judicatories appear excessive in their tone and exceptionable in their senti- ments. They are valuable contributions to the anti- slavery literature of the times; able expositions of the evil they combattcd and of Christian duty relating to it. and for the most discriminating, as well as fervid. There is great variety in them, suiting the changes in the state of things. They give the opinions of slavery held by the bodies thai prepared them, as by the Pres- bytery of Otsego, vol. 2:263, in 1837, and the Synod of Utiea, vol. 2 : 49, in 1849; arguments against it. as SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 155 by the Presbytery of Onondaga, vol. -4 : 15-16, in 18-13; protests against it, as by the Synod of Onondaga, p. 30, in 1855 ; appeals to the General Assembly to act upon it, as by the Presbytery of Watertown, vol. 2 : 291-5, in 1840, and the Presbytery of Onondaga, vol. 4 : 17, in 1843; and calls to prayer over it, as by the Synod of Utica, vol. 1 : 104, in 1834 : denunciations of the abrogation of the Missouri compromise, of the Kansas outrage, of the fugi- tive slave law, and of the assault on Mr. Charles Sumner; petitions for emancipation in the District of Columbia, and for emancipation throughout the country, and con- gratulations upon them, and tender sympathy is ex- pressed for involuntary slaveholders and withering re- bukes of reckless abolitionists. Two of the papers are samples of the whole. The Committee on Slavery presented a report to the Synod of Onondaga, p. 30, which was adopted, and is as follows : The Committee to bring in a minute on the subject of slavery, beg leave to recommend the adoption of the following preamble and resolutions: — Whereas, it is plain from the principles set forth in the pream- bles and constitution of the United States, that those who adopt- ed that instrument, never intended to sanction or perpetuate Amer- ican slavery; and whereas, that system, as it now exists, is palpa- bly repugnant to the .spirit of the gospel, and ought everywhere to be discountenanced; Now, therefore, though the Presbyterian Church has from the beginning borne her solemn testimony against this evil, y. • ing causes at work which urgently demand a reiteration of OttI sentiments upon this subject, Resolved, Let, That the system of Slavery, as It now exists in this land, has no sanction from the Bible or from common humanity. BtfSfffosd, 2d. Thai it Is more and more apparent that shivery is aggressive in its character, and that its advocates and abettors are designing its unlimited exten- 156 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE sion, as is evident from the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the enactment of the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, the reckless trampling under foot of the rights of the ballot box, as exhibited in Kansas, the mockery of justice, as exhibited in some courts, and other acts equally significant. We do, therefore, most solemnly and earnestly entreat every friend of his country and of his God, to resist with prayerful yet sleepless vigilance, the further encroachments'of an evil so fright- ful and so crushing in its character. If our countrymen shall fail to arrest this evil, we here record our solemn testimony before God and the world, that we did not withhold our anxious and ear- nest warnings against the dire calamities that will come upon us. The report of the Committee on Slavery, being the order of the day, was taken up by the Synod of TJtica, 2 : 6, 1849, and after being discussed and amended, was adopted as -follows : Slavery, as it exists in this country, is so well suited to the sel- fish passions, that it cannot fail of possessing great strength. It ministers to whatever there is of lust, of power, arrogance, short- sighted covetousness, indolence and licentiousness among the wealthy, while it flatters the ignoble pride of an ignorant populace, by furnishing a class of objects upon whom they can look down with contempt, a lower deep than what would otherwise be the lowest depths of society. Thus, where it more immediately pre- vails, this insitution, as it is called, secures the attachment of both rich and poor, high and low. The system, consequently, is se- cured by the political power which is in the hands of the slavehold- ers. The influence which this circumstance gives it in contiguous states, may be appreciated at once. Besides this, slavery has all the advantage of that outward polish and refinement, which leis- ure allows and wealth commands. It is not strange, then, that this system, abhorrent as it is in principle and practice to the re- ligion of Christ, should exercise an extensive, not to say a controll- ing influence in those circles, even where the Spirit of Jlim, who came to preach deliverance to the captives, is understood to preside, for religion readily sympathizes with cultivated intellects and re- fined manners, though both may exist without vital piety. The inducement is strong to treat this crying evil with great tenderness, and even to apologize for it and to defend it, or at SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 157 least those who by its laws hold their fellow-men as property. On the other hand, those who have awakened to its sinfulness, and the guilt of those who participate in it, may not have been sufficiently careful to consider difficulties in the way; and at once excited by a sense of wrong and irritated by the violent opposi- tion which has met their efforts, they have often spoken unad- visedly, and have indulged a spirit and adopted measures injurious to the cause of their Master and that of the enslaved. "Opposition will make a wise man mad." This Synod has had sufficient experience, in times gone by, never to return, we trust, of the reciprocal extravagance of both contending parties, whose strife often originated and was aggravated by mutual misappre- hension. There is much gratifying evidence, in the recent action of various ecclesiastical bodies, and especially in that of our recent General Assembly, that there is an increasing harmony of sentiment on this subject in the church, and that this harmony is coincident with increasing hostility to slavery, and a determi- nation that at no distant period the church shall be clear of it. Some are afraid that the exceptive clauses, in their condemnation of slavery, are so worded, though doubtless unintentionally, that a slaveholder, with a little of that special pleading in favor of self, which poor human nature is so ready to practice, might silence, if not satisfy, his conscience, by denouncing the system while he excuses himself. It is a subject of congratulation, however, that the entrance to the byway of exceptions is somewhat narrowed by the document in question. With regard to the guilt of the slaveholder, some have referred it entirely to selfishness in sustaining and abuse in the practice incident to the relation, others have contended that the simple relation is sin. Sour committee would suggest that there is no ambiguity here in the term relation. This word is used indiffer- ently to describe the title and power (according to certain and shameful laws) to hold nut ti as property and again the exer- Of that title and power so as t<> retain such person H BJ prop- erty or slaves. If, then, to sustain this relation means merely to hold the title, there ia nothing wrong in it. On the cont every true, enlightened I bristian would rejoice in | that title and power that he mighl exercise it by letting the oppr< go free. [f, however, to sustain the relation means to hold and i, 158 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE treat persons as property, it is wrong per se, for so to do is to act contrary to the rights wherewith the Creator hath endowed his rational creatures, and it never can be right to act contrary to right. The sin, then, is not in having the power to do wrong, but in doing it; not in having the power to hold slaves, but in holding them. This distinction is nothing more than what every lawyer and business man recognizes between holding a title and entering on possession of property. This distinction drives the question out of the wilderness of secret motives, where guilt with Jesuitical craft delights to hide, and pursues it into the open plain and clear daylight of palpable fruits, and thus it would bring our discussions on this subject within the range of common sense and ascertained right. In considering the progress of public opinion, it should be noted that there is an increasing dislike in the community at the North to admit slaveholders to the communion-table and the pulpit. Of this fact it were well that our slaveholding brethren were aware, and when aware of it, and consequently feel some trouble of mind and salutary compunctions, it certainly is not the part of Christian charity to talk of such feelings as being the offspring of nothing but bigotry and frantic fanaticism. They are the result of awakened conscience, and of that Spirit which remem- bers them that are bound as being bound with them, and'which prays that God would give to all offenders in Israel repentance for and forgiveness of sins. Meanwhile, let us not make our zeal for liberty a cloak of pharisaic arrogance and uncharitableness. Let us remember our own frailty. Let us remember that under their training and circumstances we might and probably would, in our weakness, do as they do. Let us do to slaveholders and to slaves what we would wish them to do to us. In this connection your committee cannot but advert to the position of the A. B. C. F. Missions. They hope that the time is at hand when that position will shine by its own light, and need no defence or apology. The following resolutions are respectfully recommended to the Synod for their adoption : 1. Resolved, That we truly sympathize with our slaveholding brethren in all their perplexities and difficulties which arise from their anomalous position as Christian professors and American slaveholders. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 159 2. Resolved, That we would exercise towards them all meek- ness, charity and long suffering, while we entreat them to relieve them and us and the cause of Christ from all that reproach which must inevitably attach to any participation in such a system as American slavery. 3. Resolved, That we hail the receat action of the General Assembly as an advance in that course of argument, expostula- tion, entreaty and all Christian means, which we trust shall be urged with untiring love until the Presbyterian Church shall be cleared of the last vestige of this grievous calamity and deplora- ble sin. 4. Resolved, That without entering into the question of the power of the A. B. C. F. Missions over their missionaries, we heartily approve of the sentiments of the Rev. S. B. Treat's letter with regard to the relation of missionaries and mission churches to slavery and slaveholders. Many congregations were divided on the subject. None of their members would acknowledge themselves the abettors of slavery, but there were degrees in the hostility felt, ranging from the intense to the feeble, and the two extremes could not avoid strife. Minis- ters bore a similar classification, and agitated Presby- teries and Synods at times with unseemly debates. And there was a sensitiveness generally in the churches and judicatories, which was quickly awakened into feeling, or that induced cautiousness to shun exciting it. or incurring personal prejudice from it. The ultra- ists, it must be confessed, were violenl and intolerant Tli<'\ permitted uo bounds to hostility to slavery, and no differences from them in opinions about suppres it, and scarcely any sharing of Lnteresl between its abolition and any other good cause, and thej held back from the destruction of uothing that they thought a hindrance to it. The welfare of a church, the p 160 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE perity of" religion, the teaching of the Scriptures, the Bible itself, were made sacrifices to it. And yet I never knew better and more sincerely Christian people than were found among them. It fell to my lot to be the pastor of some of the number in the days of their flaming, and to have to do with others in wider rela- tions, and while I shrunk from their false fire, I was drawn to the holy glow that wrarmed them, and we were more ardent as friends than as controversialists. It also fell to my lot to associate freely with some of them in their later days, when the fuel in them had burned out, and to hold a sort of pastorship of them. They had left their church connections and departed from our formularies of faith ; but there was no doubt- ing the realness and eminence of their piety, while their integrity was a marvel and a charm. I went down with them to the dark valley of the shadow of death, and communed with them by the way, and if heaven is open to saints, they certainly passed its doors and en- tered in. I love to think of men like Job Parker, Ebenezer Sheldon and Deacon Elisha Cadwell. The memory of them is sanctifying and sweet. Oneida county and the vicinity heaved from the agitation. The prime movers of it, Beriah Green, Alvan Stewart, Theodore D. Weld resided there, and Grerrit Smith mar by, and they roused Church and State. The majority of the Oneida Presbytery for a time con- curred with them, and always dealt leniently with them. It was impossible, however, to keep up with their advance, and thinking the Presbytery and the whole Presbyterian Church laggard, Mr. Green and three others withdrew and the Whitcsboro Association SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 161 was formed. The Wliitesboro Church, in the bounds of which Mr. Green lived, was rent assnnder, and the section in sympathy with him, constituted a Congrega- tional Church. The organization of this church was considered a breach of faith, inasmuch as the members of it had been released from their former connection with a view to then forming a Presbyterian Church, and the old Whitesboro church overtured the Presbytery, in quiring whether they should recognize them as a regular church. A heated discussion was kindled by the over- ture, and an affirmative answer being given, the discus- sion was transferred by complaint to the Synod, which pronounced a censure on the Presbytery for advising at the time a recognition of the regular constitution of the church, but in view of the then existing circumstances, the action of the Presbytery was permitted to stand. The Oneida Institute originated with Rev. George W. Gale, a native of North East, Dutchess county. N. Y., 1789, a graduate of Union College and Princeton Seminary, whose health obliged him to retire from a successful pastorate at Adams. He first experi- mented with it al Western, but after carefully maturing bis plans, he opened it at Whitesboro, as a Manual Labor High School, especially for candidates for the ministry, and gathered a huge body of students in it, and achieved a marked success. Leaving for Gales- boro, where be settled a colony and founded Knox College, procuring Lands for it that have proved a rich endowment, he was succeeded 03 Rev. Beriah Green, a native of Vermont, a graduate of Middlebury College in lsi<), and of Andover Seminary Is 1822, and a teacher in Philips A^cademj in L820 21, who had gained 162 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE a high reputation and universal confidence by a ministry in Vermont and Connecticut and Maine and a professor- ship of sacred literature [in Western Reserve College. Young men nocked to him and were fascinated by him, and embarking in abolitionism and going to its utmost length, he took the Institute with him. It became a home of ultraism, and the numerous members of the family went abroad to propagate it. Many of them were made wiser by observation and steadier by respon- sibility, and became eminently useful in the regular ministry. The Institute was worn out by its paroxysms and lost favor by its extravagancies, and ready to perish it passed into the nurture of the Free "Will Baptists, who have largely added to its buildings and filled them to overflowing. Mr. Green was a man of thorough honesty and indomitable will and preeminent logical power, and especially of an unequalled gift for interesting a pop- ular audience in the closest reasoning. Men like Gerrit Smith sat teachably at his feet, while the com- mon people heard him gladly. Mr. Smith named his only surviving son for him, and a small company year after year down to the last of his life, assembled about him in his little chapel at Whitesboro. He was made for a great man and a great leader, and nothing pre- vented this, but his tenacity of purpose, his 'Strength of conviction, his logical consistency, his resolute and unflinching proceedure from premise to conclusion, and the violent surging that broke the hold of supernatural and written revelation upon him and the allegiance of liis mind to its authority, and left him to pass to the extreme of rationalism. Sad enough it was to see him SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 163 in the wreck he made, rustic in appearance, almost sol- itary among men, bereft of influence and position in the community, inactive in the midst of stirring life, and working on a little plot of land as his employment. Theodore D. Weld ran a similar career. A professed convert at Utica under the preaching of Mr. Finney, a communicant of the First Church there, a student in Hamilton College, a licentiate of Oneida Presbytery, a candidate for the ministry at Lane Seminary, he was a prodigy in intellect, in genius and in eloquence, and of regal sway. . Tearing away from his moorings under the anti -slavery excitement, he returned his license to the Presbytery, abandoned the church, discarded the supreme authority of the Bible, silenced his golden- mouthed speech, folded his eagle wing and lived in the solitude and muteness of a grave. Such was the grandeur of Gerrit Smith, so far did he transcend other men in nobility and generosity, that it is difficult to speak of him with moderation, His soul had litting tabernacle in his massive and majestic person, and showed itself in his courtly manners, and in his hand- some, benignant, but intelligent and strong countenance Inheriting a princely estate, lie used it for the race. identifying himself with his kind, ami especially with the bumble and needy and Buffering and wronged Nothing selfish or small contracted him. No risk and qo sacrifice daunted him. With benevolence and jus- tice sovereign with him, odium and contempt and p cution bad no influence with him. Bave to confirm and embolden him. lie was QOl a period man. not always prudenl and wise and conciliatory, and he was too unyielding and impetuous and denunciatory and too 1 64 PRESB TTERIANISM IN THE absolutely a doctrinaire. He left his early christian associates and his early ecclesiastical connections, and adopted the co-called liberals for his intimates, and a pamphlet he published late in life, pained old friends who loved him always, by the sentiments it contains. It was prepared, however, at a time when he manifested a transient abberration of mind, and charity hopes that it did not express his normal thoughts. Certain it is, that he enjoyed prayer, and so familiar was he with Scripture, that at daily family worship, he never took the book into his hands, but quoted long passages from memory, uttering them with exquisite elocution. It is gratifying to be assured by some who were acquainted with the last exercises of his mind, that he died with faith in the Grospel as a scheme of divine grace, and resting on the sacrifice of Christ as the propitiation for sin. Alvan Stewart was a native of South Granville, Washington county, 1ST. Y., 1790. By heroic struggles he carried himself through an Academic course and the curriculum at the University of Vermont, where he graduated with high honors, and the study of law at Cherry Valley and Plattsburg. After an extensive tour at the west, inquiring for an eligible place of prac- tice, he settled at Cherry Valley, quickly rising to note at the bar. On the lapse of sixteen years, his health waned, and in 1833, with a competence at command, he sought retirement at Utica from the engrossing busi- ness of his profession. Making for himself one of the finest homes in that beautiful envy, he enjoyed the lux- ury of general literature, occasionally going back to the field of his previous activities and trying important SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 165 cases in the courts. The spirit of the reformer and philanthropist was in him, and coming fully to possess him, he was borne at last to an unreserved devotement to temperance and emancipation, and showed almost peerless ability and effectiveness in the advocacy of them. With a countenance never relaxed by it, and that showed no signs of the existence or intention of it, and that thus gave great power to it, he was filled with the richest humor, and while convulsing an audience with laughter, his pathos melted it to tears. He is described by a brother lawyer as "a remarkable man, somewhat coarse in texture, but who had a larger fund of quaint and apposite stories than any man I ever knew, and who, though a little ponderous at times, car- ried tremendous power with a jury." He knew by the personal experience from which he was rescued, some- thing of the sin and curse of strong drink which he so zealously labored to remove, and with feeling strong in the control of him. it would not be strange if he was hurried into offences and faults, and probably, it may be by reason of the violence of the times which excited suspicions and prejudices, there were minds that ques- tioned the motives that induced his enlistment in the causes he so zealously espoused He closed his life in 1849 and when only fifty-nine years old. In 18o.r>. an anti-slavery convention was called t<> meet at [Jtica There were scarcely twenty pronounced sympathizers with it in the city, and the people generally had protested againsl its being held among them, and when it assembled, a committee appointed by them requested it to adjourn; and Sailing otherwise to accom- plish their object, they formed a mob and dispersed it. 166 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE The measure was high-handed, and would be inexcus- able, if not impossible, in our better instructed times. Almost any true man might have been drawn by it into the assaulted ranks, and we wonder not that thus it was with Gerrit Smith. He had been previously an ardent colonizationist, and but a little while before, had published the reasons why he could not join the aboli- tionists. But the Utica mob thrust him among them. He invited the convention to Peterboro, and took part in its proceedings there, and soon after and ever after was a leader and untiring laborer and liberal giver in the society it formed. And there was heroism in the convention. There stood its President, Alvan Stewart, a distinguished lawyer, an eloquent orator, massive in form, but enfeebled \>y sickness. Proceeding to open its sessions, protests and entreaties to the contrarj^ not- withstanding, and come what might, he was seized by a stout passenger runner. Kecalling his herculean strength for the instant he lifted him from his feet and tossed him away. Emptying a printing office of its type and press, the mob started for Mr. Stewart's house, but finding it thoroughly barricaded, and hearing of the fift}' muskets pointing from it, they thought it better to hurry away to the rescue of a comrade who had been taken to the police. And there sat its Secretary, the ven- erable Oliver Wetmore, one of our ministry. Though enfeebled by age and exhausting toil among our early churches, the old Puritan of his ancestry and of himself remained in him, and defying the wrath that raged about, he led the convention in prayer, and then calmly proceeded to the duty assigned him, resolutely refusing to deliver up his official papers, and when no longer SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 167 able to hold them, tossing them into the air. There, too, was Spencer Kellogg, an elder of the church and a mayor of the city, known all over the country from his extensive business transactions, — there he was, stalwart in frame and fearless in danger, assaulted and stripped to the back while struggling to protect the convention. Threatened with an attack on himself, he walked the streets as if to invite it, and fortifying his house lie defied any violence to it* REVIVALS OF RELIGION. But revivals of religion are the jewels and crown of Presbyterianism in Central New York. They began with " the great revival " of 1799, and so almost con- tinuously have they kept up since, as to seem like its ceaseless vibrations. A record of them down to 1870, shows that they were interrupted in onfy four or five of the years of that whole space, and more than possibly they occurred in those years. Sadly different was it with "the great revival" of 1740, under Whitfield, Edwards and the Tennents. In an article in the Christian Specta- * Says Mr. J. A.S.: " Hearing of the gathering of the mob at Mr Kellogg's, I put a pistol in my pocket and in company with Col. Wm. Williams, hurried there, tad making oar way to the door, amid whispering! of our names and mutterings, we obtained admission. A largo sheet was spread on1 on the floor, covered with powder and ball and shot and muskets stood ;U t In- windows. the shutters of irhieh were arranged tot firing in every direction, We begged •'. the oldest daughter, to let us conduct the ladies of the family to places of safety, fearing that they must hinder a defence. ' No!' was the reply, ' If we cannot shoot, we can help to load.'" 1 68 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE tor, June, 1833, the Rev. Luther Hart, of Plymouth, writes, " From an examination of all the records which we have been able to command, and from a pretty ex- tensive inquhy of the living, we cannot find more than fifteen places in New England in which there was a special work of grace during the first forty years after the great revival. " Dr. E. D. Griffin states, "Long before the death of Whitfield, in 1770, extensive revivals in America ceased, and except one in Stockbridge and some other parts of Berkshire county, Mass., about 1772, and one in the north quarter of Lyme, Ct, about 1780, and one in several towns of Litchfield county, Ct, about 1783, I know of none till about 1792." 1799-1809. During 1799, the special work of grace was principally manifest in the southern and western portions of the terri- tory of the Synod, and extending beyond in the latter direction, as far as the wave of population had flown. The origin of it has been traced to Broome county, un- der the preaching of Seth Williston, but its power was most felt in Ontario count}', while the whole intervening region and its vicinity was the theatre of it. Dr. Will- iston wrote: " There has been a remarkable attention paid to public instruction, not only on the Sabbath, but also upon week days. It lias been difficult during^the winter to get places large enough t<> accommodate, or even contain the people who have come together to hear something about Jesus and bis salvation. Itseeined as if scarcely anybody was at home who could possibly get to meeting. Once I saw about four hundred people SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 169 assembled at one place. When at the place of worship, there is a very solemn attention paid to the preaching. The countenances of many show how anxious their minds are to know how they may flee from wrath to come. There are some pretty remarkable instances of the sovereignty of grace. The awakening among us is free from noise and wildness. Convictions, in general, are pretty clear, and the supposed conversions are not of the visionary kind. The doctrines which God makes use of to awaken and convince sinners among us, are those which are commonly distinguished as Calvinistic doctrines.'' The only means employed that may be considered special, were " conference meetings," and they had previously become common in New England, and differed from those with which we are now familiar, only so far as a revival of religion would affect them. The exercises had particular reference to inquiring sin- ners, and corresponded for the time to our "inquiry meetings,'1 and served their purpose. No pains were spared in the instructions given. The anxious were very clearly taught the terms of salvation, and young- converts were taught to discriminate between true and false hope. The organization of a considerable Dumber of churches was the immediate result of th< I re- vival," and churches, too, composed of intelligent and d Christians, and that proved Btable and permanent, and from that period dates their rapid multiplication in this region of the country. The tide of infidelity and of irreligion generally, was likewise stayed, and the spiritual destiny and character of the community deter- u 170 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN TEE mined. Prior to this, the prospect was dismal enough. The extensive incursion of reckless worldliness and of fundamental error into the new settlements had forboded a dark future. In 1800, the revival manifested itself eastward. Che- nango, Oneida, and especially Otsego and Delaware counties, felt its power. None of the details of it ap- pear in documents relating to Chenango and Oneida counties, but the reports of Jedediah Bushnell and other missionaries record them quite fully in relation to Ot- sego and Delaware counties. "People on Otsego Creek were exceedingly awakened. The work soon spread over the hills between the Otsego and Susquehannah to Hartwick Settlement, then to Metcalf Hill, and soon after, powerfully to Springfield, and considerably into Worcester. While in progress, people in Delaware county heard of it. As many as forty were hopefully converted in Delhi, and many more were under serious impressions, and some of the neighboring towns were reached. It was wonderful to see the display of divine power in this county. The awakening was very sol- emn and regular — like the still, small voice which made the prophet, Elijah, hide his face in his mantle. The truth of that text never appeared more clear — " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." While the work was increasing at Delhi, it pleased God to send his Holy Spirit into the town of Franklin, seventeen miles west, where David Harrower preaches one half his time. Soon after the awakening in Delhi began, it appeared in Stamford, ten miles north. The religious attention in Otsego county began in the hearts of God's people long before it was noticed by the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 171 public eye. At length, in Union Society, at the head of Otsego Creek, it put on a public appearance, not great at the commencement, but one was awakened here and another there, in almost every direction. It was soon evident that God had set up his kingdom in the hearts of men. Public assemblies and conferences were crowded. People came from a distance of eight, ten and fifteen miles. Missionaries preached to four, five, six and seven hundred hearers. The reading of a text or a single sentence, produced more effect than labored discourses at other times. God held the work in His own hand. Creatures prayed, and some used the fool- ishness of preaching, but God wrought the salvation. Soon after in Metcalf Settlement the work began, and at the same time in Hartwick, seven miles south- west. About the middle of June, Springfield, in the northern part of the county, began to share in it The means at first were singular. A minister was invited to administer the Lord's Supper and deliver the prepara- tory lecture. At the close of the last, he asked the church members to tarry, and he then examined them on experimental and practical religion. They were found so deficient in family prayer, the religious educa- tion of their children and other duties, that the minis- ter told them thai he could not administer the ordinance until they reformed They were deeply moved &£os1 were in tears, and before they Left the house, they con- ed their sins and promised to reform. From that day Zion rose from the dual and put on her beautiful garments, and an awakening immediately followed At Worcester, in the southeast part of the county, a general interest was manifested in July, multitudes 172 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE flocking to hear the gospel. Conviction rose high. Conversions were clear and genuine as anywhere, and fifty-one united with the church. Thirty-three united with the church at Cooperstown, the capital of the county. The society, large and wealthy, was organized last summer and the church formed by Isaac Lewis, since installed." Mr. Bushnell adds: "Took a tour down the Snsque- hannah to Tioga Point : then up the Chenango ; then through Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida counties. There were showers of grace in Milton, Scipio, Homer, and in numerous settlements in Oneida, especially Clinton, Paris and the Academy at Clinton."* *In 1788. Rev. Samuel Eells, of Branford, Ct., during a mis- sionary tour in this region, visited Clinton and organized a "Half- way Covenant" Society there; but several of the most intelligent and religious people of the town declined to unite with it, and some of the seventeen who composed it became dissatisfied with it. On consultation with Rev. Dan Bradley, of New Hartford, Rev . Dr. Jonathan Edwards, Jr., then of White Haven, Ct., and soon after President of Union College, was invited to Clinton, and in 1791 he organized a church there, with thirty members, of the usual Congregational type. The confession of faith and covenant then adopted have been maintained ever since, and the original polity lasted for more than seventy years. Though most of the churches in the Association to which it belouged united with Presbytery on the "accommodation plan," this kept aloof until 1864, when it came in fully Presbyterian. Extending his visit to Paris, Dr. Edwards organized a Congregational Church of five members there. Served by able ministers, it grew into large dimensions aud rose to prominence. In 1818 it became Presbyterian, aud was received to the care of Oneida Presbytery. Dissensions about ecclesiastical polity subsequently arose, and in 1821, on the petition of the church, it was divided into two parts, one Presbyterian and the other Con- gregational, and in 1822 the latter was dismissed to the Oneida Association. In 1823 the two churches at their request were re- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 173 " These awakenings were regular and free from enthu- siasm. Persons at the beginning under deep conviction, were solemn and eager to hear the word. Their coun- tenances were full of meaning, denoting that something of importance lay with great weight on their minds. As their convictions increased, they complained of stubbornness of heart and of their helpless state by nature. They had previously found fault with the divine sovereignty, but bowing to it, they joyfully em- braced it as the- one great source of consolation. Jesus and the Bible were their great themes. Not only did they improve fast in the plain points of divinity, but they made astonishing progress in the great doctrines of the gospel. Not disposed to vaunt, the}' modestly heard rather than dictated. The preaching was plain,, dwelling on experimental religion, and the great doc- trines of sovereign grace, such as repentance, faith, the necessity of the new birth, and other plain and leading doctrines of the gospel, while it also enforced Christian morals as the only visible evidence of a gracious state." The General Assembly in 1802 Bpoke of "the most pleasing intelligence"' as having been brought "from the East, from the West, from the North and the united and admitted to the Oneida Presbytery. In the same yew the refusal of the church CO dismiss a family residing within its bounds to the church in .Ww Hartford, which dismission Wi sired because the family preferred a Presbyterian Church complained of to Presbytery, which at first declined to advise the church to grant the letter, and afterwards rescinded tin- v.'tc and gave the advice, and then repeated it, and finally dismissed the whole subject, and in L820the chinch was again transferred to the Oneida Association. 1 74 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE South," and in 1803 it stated that "there was scarcely a Presbytery under its care from which most pleasing intelligence had not been announced," and that from some of them communications had been made "which illustriously displayed the triumphs of evangelical truth and the power of sovereign grace," and that in most of the eastern and northern Presbyteries revivals had pre- vailed, but free from "bodily agitations or extraordi- nary affections." It is reasonable to presume that this region shared in the wide-spread blessings of those }~ears, but no record of them has been found. The Presbytery of Oneida reported in 1805 that there had "been a considerable outpouring of the Spirit in Sherburne and DeRuyter," and that "in many of its congregations a solemn attendance on the institutions of religion was given, and that small additions were made to its churches." The revival in Sherburne con- tinued for three successive years, under the ministry of the Rev. Roger Adams. In 1806-7 converts began to multiply in the village of Homer, under the ministry of Rev. Nathan B. Dar- row, and in the course of six years ninety-five were added to the church. During the same period "an awakening took place in the eastern part of the town of Pompey, under the preaching of Mr. Rawson, a can- didate for the gospel ministry. There was also some attention in a society about fourteen miles west, in Marcellus Eel, (now probably Otisco,) and about twenty are hopefully the subjects of renewing grace. The reformation began while they had no pastor. In the time of the awakening a Mr. Colton, of West Hartford, Ct, came there and preached a few weeks, and I (Rev. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 175 H. Wallis) preached six sermons at two visits which I made there. These reformations have been attended with no unusual noise or tumult, but with solemnity and decency. Those who have been hopefully regen- erated, have been made sensible of their opposition of heart to God and divine things, and have been gener- ally brought to have clear views of God's character and of their own vileness in sinning against a holy God. They express a disposition to justify him should he cast them off forever." Rev. Dirck C. Lansing says in his semi-centennial dis- course : "I was settled in 1807 over a church which I had myself collected in the autumn of 1806, from what was then an almost entire wilderness in the town of Onondaga and towns adjacent. Never was I happier than when I used to skip like a deer through the wood, from one small farm opening to another, to inquire if there was any one in that bark covered log house who loved the Lord Jesus. Over a territory that would age more than six miles square, I collected thirty- five persons who had been professors of religion, and had them organized into a church of Christ. My ordin- ation day was one of the most solemn of my life. Never was I more profoundly penetrated with a » of the divine presence and the weight of my responsi- bility. I now began to labor with unwonted ear . urging all men. everywhere, to repent. G 3ed to bless my efforts, and Boon the ohuroh became two bands, not through strife, but by mutual, brotherly arrangement for the common good I remained with the easl branch, when ©ted what was then the finest church edifice west of Albany countv I and not !"<■ 176 PRESB TTER1ANISM IN THE ting that literature was the handmaid of religion, I en- gaged in the enterprise of establishing a high school of a superior order, and succeeded in procuring the means for the erection of a substantial stone edifice, costing upwards of $5,000, and $10,000 additional as a perma- nent fund. While these things were being done, the means for building the spiritual house was not neglected. God accompanied the word preached b j the power of the Holy Ghost, and a large proportion of the most prosper- ous and influential families of the place were hopefully converted and made a public profession of their faith in Christ." Twenty members were added to the Onondaga church in that year. There is no known record of a revival within the ter- ritory of the Synod during 1808, save in the then newly organized church at Coventry, Chenango county, which received an accession of twenty -four to its membership, and at Verona, where it is described as having been " deeply interesting," and at Eome, where it added twenty-five to the list of communicants ; but there is reason to believe that other places were graciously refreshed. A special reason for the frequent mention of the or- derliness of the revivals here, during the first ten years of the century, and of the Calvinistic type of the preach- ing, was not so much the 1740 extravagancies in New England, or the Kentucky extravagancies and errors in 1 800, as the extravagancies of Methodism, then common here, reports of which were likely to give repute abroad to the operations of grace in our own churches. Meth- od ism had not then passed out of its early crudities and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 177 excesses, examples of which are noted in the Rev. John Taylor's journal of his missionary tour through this re- gion in 1802. They acted as checks and cautions to Presbyterianism and Congregationalism, and so saved them from the looseness of doctrines and the uncouth - ness of measures to which a new community is liable. and made our early churches and ministers the best of progenitors. 1809-1819. The next decade, after the first year, began its course almost as auspiciously as its immediate predecessor. The General Assembly in 1810 states: " In the western parts of the State of New York, particularly in the newly set- tled regions, the progress of religion has been great That desert buds and blossoms as the rose, and promises under the auspices of grace, to become as the garden of the Lord." Sherburne received another special blessing, and thirty or forty were added to the church, of which Rev. Abner Benedict was then pastor. " Up to this year, the church at Windsor received few additions, and a considerable proportion of these by letter; but in 1810-11, under the faithful and earnest ministrations of Rev. Messrs. Joel T. Benedict and David Harrower, a precious season of refreshing was enjoyed The Spirit of the Lord attended their labors and niaiii t - his converting presence in the hearts of man v. M« for preaching, exhortation and prayerwere frequent forse^ era! months, and it was supposed thai fifty or sixty were brought into the kingdom of Christ11 The narrative of the Presbytery of Oneida in 1812, relate-: "Thedivine g Iness and mercy manifested 178 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE towards the churches and congregations under our care during the last year, afford ground of joy and gratitude to the people of (rod. Though no general outpourings of the Spirit of God have been experienced, yet it is with great satisfaction, Presbytery have observed a special attention to religion in several congregations, particularly in those of Cherry Valley and Cooperstown. In the former, a considerable number appear to have been hojDefully converted and joyfully to have united with the church. Keligious meetings are attended in several parts of the town and are very solemn. In Coop- erstown, an unusual seriousness prevails, especially among the youth. A number of them have forsaken the van- ities of the world and are animated with the love of the Saviour. Considerable addition has been made to the church, and of such as give lively evidence of their zeal and attachment to the gospel." The Presbytery, however, complains of the war with Great Britain as having an " evil effect. People's minds are turned away from the one thing needful." During the same year, copious influences of the Spirit descended on Homer, Preble, Pompey, German, Otisco, Virgil and Skeneatelas — one hundred and sixty new members being received by the church at Homer. In 1813, Coventry, Onondaga, Utica, Vrhitesboro, Litchfield and Homer and Pompey again were eminently blessed. The Presbytery of Oneida in 1814 said: "On some of our congregations God has been shedding down his gracious Spirit during the past year. Especially in the congregations of Utica, Whitesboro and Litchfield have many been brought into the fold of Christ, and there SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 179 are pleasing appearances in other congregations, espe- cially among the youth."' Ninety-eight were gathered at that time into the First Church, Utica, a remarkable number considering the population of the town thenr which was only 1,700, and those distributed among three congregations. Referring to the revival in "Whites- boro and Utica, the Synod of Albany says: :,Xor is it an uninteresting circumstance that among the happy subjects of the work, a considerable number is found belonging to the higher classes of society." The General Assembly of that year spoke of " scenes resem- bling those of Pentecost " as having been enacted in On- ondaga and other Presbyteries, and mentioned Pompey and Homer as " eminently favored with the effusions of mercy." "At Manliufl sixteen were added to the church in a few weeks, and what is remarkable, the work commenced among the most profligate class of people, some of whom now exhibit hopeful evidence of a work of grace in their hearts." It is worthy of note that the membership of our ehurch throughout the United States increased from about 28,000 to 34,624 between 1810 and 1814. being nearly twenty-five per cent. Not only was the northern section of the territory of the Synod later in settlement than the rest, but the war of 1812 was very disastrous to it. "Situated as onr churches were," Bays a manuscript history of the P bytery of Si Lawrence, "on the boundary line betv Canada and the United States, the morals o exposed to the corrupting influence of the and what is v »f dishonesty produced by 180 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE a temptation to illegal commerce with the enemy. The war was unfavorable, too, in its influence upon the pecuniary interests of the country. It brought in a surplus for a season, invited our citizens to speculation and ruined many financially. All this was an evil to religion, which is felt in some degree to the present time." That region also suffered long from the want of means of grace. A minister who visited it in 1816, relates : " To the north as far as the St. Lawrence and east to Champlain, there are probably not six gospel minis- ters,— an extent of country including the quarter of the State of New York, with a population of seventy or eighty thousand souls, sitting comparatively in a state of darkness and death. Western, Lee, Florence, Cam- den, Ellisburg, Eichland, Eotterdam and Oswego, some of them "populous towns," and "all of them able to support the gospel," were wholly destitute of the ordi- nances of the sanctuary. And a little later, a mission- ary writes, "We could not hear of any minister in St. Lawrence county, and there are very few on the Black Eiver." For a population in the whole region of 100,- 000, he estimated but ten or twelve regularly ordained ministers. But that destitute region was not altogether passed by in the work of the Spirit, and in 1815, twenty- three united with the then small church of Lowville. In 1815, the Presbytery of Oneida recorded that more than usual attention had been given to the preach- ing of the Word, — that more than an hundred persons had been added to the communion of the churches, and that the happy effects of the revival in Utica, which had been extensive, were still visible, and that in several other congregations more than ordinary solemn- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 181 ity prevailed." In the same year, also, "the blessing of God rested on his people in Rome in a greatly increased measure. One of the persons included among the fruits of that revival thinks it resembled in no small degree the great revival of 1825-6 ; the beginning of it seems to have been in a prayer meeting established in the autumn of 181-1, at a school house, where much fervent prayer was offered. The religious interest was general, and extended to other congregations ; sixty-six were received on profession, among them some of the most influential men of the place, and not a few who have since been pillars of the church. About forty of the converts were heads of families.'1 1816-17 were notably years of God's power and grace throughout the bounds of the Synod. The re- ports of the General Assembly make mention of the work in Oneida and Onondaga Presbyteries. The Syn< k I of Albany in 1817, states, "The aspect of religious things is encouraging in the new Presby tery of St Law- rence. A great desire to listen to the gospel's joyful sound is manifested New societies have been formed in favorable circumstances. In the town of Champion there has been an extensive revival and multitudes have joined themselves to the people of the Lord." Thirty joined the church in Rutland The Presbytery of Oneida, in 1817, relates thai in Vernon, NVu Hart- ford and Whitesboro considerable additions have been made to the churches,* and within the bouudarii * In thla year ■ midsummer revival occurred at Bauquoit, ot a series oi revivals there during the pastorate <>f ia-v Publius V. Bogus from the dose ol 1814 to the close of i v n 182 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE the congregation of Cooperstown, a work of divine grace has recently commenced and promises a harvest to the kingdom of the Eedeemer." Preston, Truxton, De Kuyter, Fabius, Otisco, Eldridge, Cazenovia, Smith- field, Manlius, Onondaga, Pompey Hill, Sherburne, Smyrna, Columbus, Homer, Norwich, Lisle, Berkshire, Bingbamton and Coventry, were most mercifully visited. The Kev. Dr. John Brown, pastor of the church in Caz- enovia, wrote June, 1816: "About the middle of De- cember last, God was pleased to pour out his Spirit in no inconsiderable degree. The first appearance of an awakening was a few minutes after the close of a prayer meeting and conference. A certain female mentioned to some of her companions the alarming condition in which she viewed herself. A divine influence seemed to seize nearly all who were present. The next evening I preached in that neighborhood, and it was as solemn a season as I ever witnessed. Numbers were soon awakened in different parts of the society, About fifty have been added to the church since the attention com- menced, and some now stand propounded for admission to it, and some more are to be propounded next Sab- bath. Children have been sharers in the work, and seven or eight have been added to our church under the age of fourteen. There are a number of others, and one about seven years of age, entertaining hopes of a saving change, and apparently on good ground. Some are now under awakening influence. " The revival in Sherburne commenced in April and spread with won- derful rapidity into almost every part of the town. More than two hundred joined the two churches there and the church at Smyrna. The institutions of reli- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 183 gion were not established in Norwich until 1814, and the Sabbath was the most worldly and vicious day of the week. " About the middle of December, 1816, the Spirit of God moved on the hearts of the members of the church, and by the close of the year there was scarcely a thoughtless mind in the whole village. More than an hundred professed hope in Christ All classes were subjects of the work, — the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the lawyer, the farmer, the mechanic, all alike bowed to the scepter of Immanuel, and more than sixty united with the church in June." The revival in Homer is described as "powerful," — "a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit" The Synod reported " about one hundred and fifty-rive convert.-." and seventy-five were received to the church in February. The Narrative of religion by the Presbytery of Oneida in ls18, remarks: "The congregations of Verona, Ver- non. Cherry Valley and Norwich have, in a good degree, experienced the outpouring of the Spirit, and dderable additions have been made to thechurcl And the Narrative of religion by the Synod of Albany the same year, remarks: "The increased attention to religion which existed in some of our c 'ions has tlv subsided, but has been followed by none of tip.-.- melancholy consequences which are the effect of spurious and Ealse revivals of religion, The profession which was B0 promptly made in the moment of tender- ness and ardor, has b1 1 the test of time and has eon- tinned to prove its heavenly origin by fruits of holii And in the meanwhile some other congregations have 184 PRESBYTERIANISM IN TEE received proofs of the divine favor, which, if not so bril- liant and imposing, are still worthy of the most grateful recognition. Among the churches most distinguished in this respect are those of Vernon and Verona in the Presbytery of Oneida. The first of those has had more than eighty, and the second more than one hundred members added within the year."* 1819-1829. The third decade of the century includes seasons of the outpouring of the Spirit on the field of the Synod, surpassing all former precedent here. The last half of the period is especially noted for its scenes and actors, and the feelings and dissensions they occasioned. The limit of this sketch does not admit of more than an outline of them. They are the fitting subject of a monograph which lays no limitation of space on the writer. The beginning of the period happily presaged what followed. In 1819, the Synod of Albany says: "The Presbytery of Oneida exhibits at the present a spectacle which has occasioned the public praises of this body. The Great Head of the Church and the Surety of the Covenant has appeared in his power and glory to many of its churches. The Spirit lias been largely poured out in Utica, Whitesboro, Westmoreland, New Hart- ford and Cooperstown. In the first of these places they * " The First Presbyterian Church of Biughanitoii was preceded by the prayers and tears of a few godly people for twenty years. Fifty-five years ago (1818) it commenced its career with a revival." Rev. D. D. Gregory. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 185 number one hundred hopeful conversions ; in the sec- ond, sixty or seventy, and the work increases ; in the third, thirty or forty, and the kingdom of heaven still surfers violence, and many are pressing into it; in the fourth, twenty. The influence yet extends, to the con- fusion of heresy and opposition, and in the last men- tioned place the prospect for several years has not been so favorable as at the present moment. Bridgewater was visited during the last winter in an extraordinary manner by the Holy Spirit. The result was an acces- sion to the people of God of eighty souls. In Yernon and Verona, which were visited with a revival last year, the work has subsided, but the blessed fruits remain as a pledge of the providence and care, as well as grace and goodness of the great Eedeemer and Bishop of souls. The probable addition made to the churches in the Presbytery within a few months amounts to three hundred and forty. " At Ogdensburg and Brown ville commodious build- ings are erected for divine worship, and churches are founded and supplied with pastors. The cry is loud from that quarter — ' The harvest is great, but the labor- ers are few ; pray ye the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth laborers into those fields."' The church at Adams, in Jefferson county, reported an increase of sixty-live on examination during that year. The Oneida Presbytery says, earlier the same pear: "The revival wnioh had commenced in the congregation of Verona, before the last report, has been continued, and more than one hundred have been added to the 186 PRESB YTERIANISH IN THE church. The congregation of Mount Vernon has been favored with a very pleasing revival, and seventy-six have been added to the church, and a number more en- tertain the hope that they have passed from death unto life. Seventeen have been added also to the church in Yernon. A powerful revival began in Bridgewater in October last, and is still in progress. There are en- couraging appearances at Cooperstown. One or two instances of very interesting conversion have recently occured, and attention to the ordinances of the gospel has become much greater than usual." A revival, orig- inating in a district school, kept by a devoted Christian young lady, it should likewise be recorded, was enjoyed by the church in Borne, and twenty-three members are reported as received during the year. The statistical table of the Oneida Presbytery for this year, gives the fol- lowing as the larger additions to its several churches : 65 to Whitesboro, 83 to Bridgewater, 63 to New Hart- ford, 31 to Westmoreland, 23 to Borne, 99 to Utica The Onondaga Presbytery says: "In Smithfield a special work of divine grace has commenced of late. The serious attention has extended into different parts of the congregation, and a considerable number have already given hopeful evidence of conversion. The Presbytery had the pleasure of witnessing the admis- sion of about twenty communicants — the fruits, in part, of the revival thus far." Sherburne, Smyrna and the neighboring towns, Homer, Truxton, Coventry. Newark Valley, Onondaga and Marcellus are also to be named as distinguished by the visits of the Spirit, some of them in a marked measure and manner during this year and extending into the next. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 187 At its first session, October, 1819, the Presbytery of Otsego relates: "In this day of great grace to the churches in this section of the country, this newly formed Presbytery has experienced special tokens of the divine favor. Most of the congregations within our bounds have had the peculiar manifestations of the grace of God. At Cooperstown there has been, during the last autumn and this winter, an unusual religious excitement. Per- sons of all classes and ages have been the subjects of it In many instances, convictions have been pungent. A deep sense of the total depravity of the heart and the need of the grace of Christ to renew the heart have been felt in a greater or less degree. There have been added to the church, during the past year, one hundred and seven persons, most of whom were the subjects of the late work, while others entertain the hope of having passed from death unto life, who have not yet united with the church. Cherry Valley has also been visited with the outpouring of the Spirit, and fifty have been received to the church, and several others indulge hope. (In the annual statistical report of the church, one hundred and seventy-four are stated to have been added to it during the entire pear on examination.) Millford, likewise has been refreshed by droppings from ili«- cloud of mercy, and twelve have been admitted to the communi f the church. In Sherburne a very general awakening and reformation have occurred I V >n\ ictions were Bhorl in many instances, bul sharp and distressing. A deep sense of sin as against holinessand G-od, the baseness and ingratitude of neglecting Christ, the folly of loving the world and of forgetting the soul, have been some of the exercises of the anxious. There 188 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE has been a degree of engagedness on the part of God's people, who have visited much from house to house for conversation and prayer, and a peculiar spirit of prayer and a deep feeling for sinners; ninety-two have united with the church and many more entertain hope." The General Assembly speaks of 1820, as a year of "general revivals," "characterized by deep and solemn stillness, insatiable thirst for social religious excuses, pungent and humbling convictions of sin, a spirit of importunate and persevering prayer, ardent concern for others and a general zeal for the cause of truth and the interests of religion. The blessing has fallen on persons of all ages and conditions. Advocates of error, as well as slaves of vice, have felt its power and demonstrated its effects." " These glorious displays of grace and power had, for the most part, the general impress of Jehovah's work. Their beginnings were small and in- significant. An obscure prayer meeting, thinly attended by some of the humblest and poorest of God's people, or a small country school house, were often chosen as the scene of their first appearance, while in other cases, meetings of parents and baptized children were the oc- casions for pouring out blessings on both. In some churches, days of fasting and prayer for revival have been offered, with many instances of evident answers from on high." The Assembly reports fifty students of Hamilton College " religiously impressed," and names Onondaga, Otsego, and Oneida among the favored Pres- byteries (to which St. Lawrence may be added), and Homer, Truxton, Smithfield, Virgil, Preble, DeEuyter, Lenox, Cazenovia, Skaneateles, Elbridge, Mount Ver- non, Union (Sauquoit), Westmoreland, Verona, Utica, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 189 Holland Patent, Trenton, Litchfield. New Hartford, Cherry Valley, Cooperstown and Spring-field among the favored churches, and to these should be added Lorain, Watertown, Brownsville, Ogdensburg and Sackets Harbor, by the last of which seventy new converts were received, and Rome, to which twenty-three were added, among them Albert Barnes. As the result of the revivals in Onondaga Presbytery, 37 were added to Onondaga second, 20 to first German, 27 to Preble, 26 to Camillus, 25 to Manlius third, 51 to Cazenovia, and smaller numbers to several others ; and in Oneida Pres- bytery, Mount Vernon received 36, "Westmoreland 28, Vernon 15, Utica 25. Holland Patent 37, Trenton 17, Litchfield 29, and New Hartford between 60 and 70. 7,186 were taken into all our churches throughout the land In 1821, the Synod of Albany speaks of "the happy fruits of former revivals remaining in Oneida Presbytery, and of pleasing indications of the Spirit still in several of its congregations, particularly Whitesboro and Hol- land Patent, and in Norwich and Winfield, the last two being on its territory, but not in its connection. Gen- eral meetings of neighboring minister- and congrega- gations for special prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit, have been established in different parts of the Presbytery and attended with good effect" One hun- dred and thirty were said to have been hopefully i verted in Winfield, a rural town, and mention is made of students from Hamilton and Union colleges as active in the work. " The congregations of Cherry Valley and Springfield in Otsego Presbytery/' the Synod of Albany proa 190 PRESBYTER1AMSM IN THE to say, "have been remarkably blessed, one hundred and fifty having been added to the church in Cherry Valley and one hundred to that of Springfield. (The Presbytery reports one hundred and fifty converts in Springfield, and a goodly number asking what they shall do to be saved.) In a part of the congregation of Cooperstown there has been a pleasing revival, attended with some interesting circumstances." In the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, "the congrega- tion of Watertown has enjoyed a special season of re- freshing, (ninety-three were added to the church,) and appearances are encouraging in other congregations."* * Later in the year the Presbytery of St. Lawrence mentions Sackets Harbor, Adams, first and second, Lorraine and Rodman, as " experiencing refreshings from the presence of the Lord," as well as Watertown; and the Utica Christian Repository adds to those, New Haven and Henderson, and states that 52 were received to the church in Rodman, while as many more were indulging hope there; 44 to one of the churches in Adams, and 50 more indulged hope, and that there were 60 or 70 converts in the second society of Adams, and 70 or 80 in Henderson, and that in most of the towns in that part of the State there is unusual attention to reli- gion. There were supposed to be from 800 to 1,000 converts in Jefferson county. Mr. Jedediah Burchard was then a resident of Sackets Harbor, and held lay services in the neighborhood and also at Adams, and Mr. Charles G. Finney, then prosecuting his studies for the ministry under Rev. Geo. W. Gale and Rev. George S. Boardman, D. D., a committee appointed by the Presbytery, actively engaged in the same school-house labors. The first recognized appearance of the general revival was under the preaching of Rev. Thomas McAuley, D.D., then Professor in Union College, during the meeting of the Synod of Albany at Brownville. The open begin- ningof the revival at Watertown occurred a few months after the settlement of the Rev. Dr. George Smith Boardman there, and was continued altogether under the labors of the then young ;^~- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 191 The Presbytery of Onondaga mentions revivals in Otisco where thirty-four were added ro the church and twenty more were hopeful converts, and in Onondaga, pastor. Born in Albany 1796, graduated at Union College in 1816, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1819, and licensed by the Albany Presbytery the same year, Dr. Boardman spent the six months immediately following at Madison, Indiana, under a commission from the Gen. As. Board of Domestic Missions, and six months after that, as stated supply at Westerlo, N. Y. Or- dained by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence and installed as pastor at Watertown in 1821, he maintained the charge with faithful- ness, ability and success for sixteen years, and left, under the con- straint of duty alone, for a field promising greater usefulness as he supposed, and against the remonstrances of his people, and with the reluctant consent of the Presbytery, "after a full and tender discussion, in which the deepest regrets were unanimously expressed at his removal." Going to what is now the "Central Church," Rochester, in 1837, and remaining there until 1842, he served the Second Church, Rome, as stated supply, from 1843 to 1847, and performing a brief pastorate at Cherry Valley, in 1850, he took charge of the church at Cazenovia and continued in it until 1865. Impaired health has since compelled him to decline the responsibilities of a pastorship, but his active labors have been unremitted, and while answering calls for single services in numerous places, he has performed them for several months con- tinuously, at Rome, Ogdensburg and Little Falls, N. Y., and Chat- tanooga, Tenn., and for several weeks in the Island of Bermuda, and in Rome, Naples, Leghorn and Florence, Italy. It is an affecting illustration of the transitoriness of ministerial life, that Drs. Boardman, Brace and James P. Boyd alone survive of the original members of tlic Synod of Utica, 1829, — and only Dr. Boiinlinan, of twenty-five of St, Lawrence Presbytery u iv.'">. — only Drs. Boardman and Boyd of Watertown Presbytery In 1829, — only Drs. Aiken and Brace, of forty-four in Oneida Presby- ter> in 1825,— none of thirteen, <»f Ogdensborg Presbytery In L829> and none of twelve, in Oswego Presbytery. Drs. Boardmaa and Cox are believed to be the only survivors of Qen, As. of L823, and Drs, Boardman, Cos and Bnodgrass, of the Qen. As. of 1829. 192 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE to which seventy-six had been added, while eighteen or twenty more were " propounded," and forty or fifty more indulged hope. And the General Assembly remarks : It is also gratifying to learn that God still blesses with the influences of his Spirit several of our colleges. Hamilton College has about one hundred students, a majority of whom are pious. Union College has about two hundred and forty students, and of these about seventy are hopefully pious. The principal means of promoting these revivals are described by the Assembly as special prayer, days of fasting and prayer, concert in prayer by individuals, sunrise meetings, preaching the Word, expounding the spirituality of the law and the tremendous curse de- nounced on sin, inability to work out righteousness, and immediate repentance and faith. In 1822, the Synod of Albany relates "that four hun- dred had united that year with the churches in Oneida Presbytery, and that in Adams, Ellisburg and Eedfield, in St. Lawrence Presbytery, there have been encour- aging revivals of religion." Sixty-two were admitted to christian fellowship at Adams, twenty at Eutland, and twenty at Brownville. "In the congregation of Madrid, in Ogdensburg Presbytery, eighty have, in the judgment of charity, been made the subjects of renewing grace.'' The Presbytery of Onondaga speaks of Granby, Os- wego, Lysander, Harrison and Virgil as having enjoyed unusual religious interest The Presbytery of Oneida says : " In the congrega- i ions of Uticay Paris and Skenandoah there has been the effusion of the Spirit, the display of divine grace, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 193 and the ingathering of souls into the kingdom of Christ" The Presbytery of Otsego mentions interesting dis- plays of mercy and might in Butternuts and Bowman's Creek, and favorable appearances in Cherry Valley, Madison, Norwich, Exeter and Eaton. The missionaries of the "Female Missionary Society of the Western District.'' in the Sixth Eeport of that Society give interesting details of the work of grace in Northern New York during this and the preceding- year : "You have been informed," Rev. John Alexander writes, "of the remarkable revival in Redfield, — remarkable because few vis- ible means of grace have been employed. Perhaps for two years previously the people had not enjoyed two Sabbaths' preaching by Presbyterian ministers. Prayer meetings had been neglected. Zion was a desolation. A few, however, were pressed in spirit for perishing souls, and with many prayers and tears they wres- tled with the Angel of the Covenant and prevailed. About sixty are rejoicing with trembling. All are constrained to acknowledge the sovereignty of grace. I have spared no pains to enlighten them in the doctrines and duties of Christianity, to distinguish true from false religion, and to feed the tender lambs with the sincere milk of the word." Rev. Adams W. Piatt writ While engaged on the mission, I preached frequently in I ciety in the north part of the town of Adams. This society had been without the preached Word for a considerable time, and re- ligion had eery mnch declined. <>m- or two of the memben of the church became rery much alarmed at the coldness and .stu- pidity about them, and concluded to establish conference and prayer meetings, and it pleased the Lord to bless them The work wa> very powerful in the neighborhood when- it commenced, and extended more «>r lest through the sodetj generally, Per- sons of almost all aget were the subjects of it, but more especially the youth. Though UO particular exertions were made among U 194 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE the children, it was soon discovered that many of them were deeply affected, and twenty or thirty between ten and sixteen years old, give good evidence of a saving change. One of the little girls, eleven years of age, soon after sickened and died. But death had no terrors for her. Her dignified composure of mind and her expressions of joy to the last were truly remarkable. Her conversation with those who visited her, was far beyond her age. This instance of the trial of their faith, stopped the mouths of many who supposed that children were moved by sympathy alone. Some of the children were taken into the church, but most of them were put under its watch and care to be instructed in the principles of Christianity, and will be received after a time. The Kev. Henry Smith, a native of New Hampshire, of the class of 1810 at Bowdoin College, and of the class of 1815 at Andover Seminary, was placed at Cam- den in the only pastorate he held, and retained it from 1817 to 1828, when death removed him, at the early age of thirty-eight years. His gifts and graces formed an admirable and beautiful character. His "praise in the gospel is in all our churches," and his name is still a talisman among the people whom he served most suc- cessfully and by whom he was almost adored. He went to a church of one hundred members, and left it with more than six hundred. One hundred and twenty- six were added to it on the single day of July 19, 1826. Extensive revivals attended his labors in 1818, '21,. '24, '25, '26 and '27. At the time to which we have been referring, Mr. Smith was laboring in Northern New York under a commission from the Female Missionary Society. He writes : In the north part of Florence a religious excitement has com- menced which demonstrates, as in a thousand other cases, the efficacy of prayer. A pious female was pressed in spirit for the salvation of a neighbor. Such was her distress that her health • ' SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 195 was affected. Crowns and empires, she remarked to me, seemed nothing in comparison with the soul. As these exercises were peculiar and she was fearful of delusion, she asked my opinion of them. Perceiving on inquiry that they were accompanied with a deep sense of the evil of sin, with humility, faith, love to God and to souls and much prayer, I did not discourage them, wishing in my heart that thousands of splendid professors who talk well about the difference between right and wrong religious affections had more experience. The subject of her prayers, a man of deistical sentiments and no ordinary talents, was pungently con- victed. Nearly whole nights were spent by him in prayer. He had such a view of the justice of God, that he saw no way in which he could pardon him, or any one else, at the same time resigning himself most serenely to the disposal of this attribute, full of gratitude that he had been brought to believe the divine Revelation and submit to the government of its Author. After some weeks the mysteries of the cross opened to his view, and the problem once so difficult how God " could be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus," was experimentally solved. He has since been instrumental in much good. Seven miles distant attended the funeral of a youth. The reli- gious attention of the neighborhood was arrested by this provi- dence. At one of my stated lectures, the audience was moved to loud weeping. After the service I held an inquiry meeting, and found a general seriousness. Several heads of families met in the evening, and with much feeling confessed their faults to each other, and resolved to devote themselves anew to the Redeemer's service. In consequence of this resolution reading meetings were established on the Sabbath, as also meetings for inquiry and prayer. Several profess a hope in Christ, and a street previously addicted to Sabbath-breaking, profanity and neglect of religion, has now become a place of anxiety for salvation. Northeast <>f this, in the town of Florence, is a little branch of Zion. Here I examined candidates for the church, preached, bap- tized believers and their offspring, and dispensed the Lord's Sup- per. My feelings are alwayi peculiar when 1 visit this spot. It is about three miles square, In the bosom « > f a wide wild. • divided into well cultivated farms, beautifully diversified by hills and valleys, with ■ population of twenty or thirty families. A 196 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE neat little edifice, in the midst of a grove, answers for the place of worship, and the solitude and retirement of the spot, the simplic- ity and devotion of the audience, the sacred song, blended with the notes of the feathered tribes without, in praise to the Uni- versal Parent, awaken pleasing sensations in the visitor. The imagination loves to dwell upon the influence which these early habits will exert in other generations, when these stately foresfce shall yield to the hand of culture, and their place is occupied by a dense and pious population. At present there are praying persons in almost every house. Attended the funeral of a vener- able man, about 96 years old, a relative of the distinguished Dr. Bellamy. His great anxiety had been to see a church organized and to commemorate once more the death of Christ, and having been gratified in both, he could say, with aged Simeon : "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." After an absence of nearly five years, crossed the Oswego river and revisited the Oswego Church, which I assisted in organ- izing at that time. Its members had increased. Having delivered a preparatory lecture on Saturday, passed an interesting Sabbath in preaching and dispensing the Lord's Supper. The house was crowded, and the occasion, I believe, refreshing to members. The hospitality with which I was received showed that time had not abated the affection of the people. A diversity of taste respecting candidates has been the binder- ance to the settlement of a minister here. Most sincerely do I wish that a place so commanding in its position and destined to become the emporium of the adjacent country, might enjoy the services of a liberally educated and evangelical pastor. Several men of wealth in this part would do much towards it. Having received a pressing invitation from Rev. Q. Gale, of Adams, to " come over and help," I ventured to spend a few days in a place so favored of the Lord. Delivered two lectures, attended a numerous meeting of inquiry and a Sabbath School, be- sides spending the Sabbath and visiting families. Perhaps one hun- dred were rejoicing in hope. Many of the first respectability in this pleasant village, including gentlemen of the bar and one from the bench, had been taught to call Christ Lord by the Holy Ghost, and gloried in the Cross. Commencing in this town, this work of grace extended over a large part of Jefferson County. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW TORE. 197 From eight hundred to one thousand may be numbered among its subjects. At Redfield I have made several visits. The triumphs of the Prince of Peace have been glorious here. For years the place had suffered a famine both of the Word and Spirit. The male mem- bers of the church were reduced to four, and only one was active in meetings. Missionaries seemed to forget the isolated place. As 1 approached it, embosomed in the wilderness, I was struck with awe. Neglected as it had been by Christians, it had the wakeful regard of God. A cloud of mercy had gathered over it, and methought "how dreadful is this place. It is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Im- ploring the wisdom and grace so indispensable to a preacher in such a scene, I ventured upon it. After lecturing, visiting and holding meetings of inquiry, I was convinced that God was here in the glory of his sovereignty and the sweetness of his mercy. The work began on the manifesting of his convictions at a Sab- bath meeting, by a lad of sixteen. A prayer meeting was ap- pointed soon after, at which about twenty expressed anxiety for themselves. In a few weeks sixty were hoping in a settlement of forty-five families. Early in 1823, the Oneida Presbytery reports : " In the small congregation at Herkimer there is a revival of religion, and a goodly number are the hopeful sub- jects of divine grace, and at Little Falls there is an in- creased attention t<» the things of religion ;" and, after- wards, referring to the whole year, th*' Presbytery fur- ther reports revivals of religion in Augusta, Skenandoa and Oneida. " In the former place more than one hun- dred, and in tin.' two latter twenty and thirty have given hopeful evidence of having passed from death unto life In some other congregations there have been precious tokens of the divine presence, and .-mall numbers have been gathered into the Kingdom of Christ" Twenty- one were added to the church in Rome and twenty 198 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE conversions were said to have occurred in Hamilton College. The Presbytery of Onondaga reports that "it has pleased the Head of the Church to t visit two of the towns in our territory — Lenox and Sullivan." The Presbytery of St. Lawrence mentions the church in Ellisburg as having enjoyed an "outpouring of the Spirit for the salvation of not a few," and describes "the moral aspect of the community as materially changed." Sacketts Harbor was graciously favored again and welcomed twenty-five to its fellowship, "mostly from the army and the families of the officers. " The great revivals in Central and Western New York, usually dated from 1825, began in St. Lawrence Presbytery in 1824. The narrative of religion by the Presbytery for that year opens in jubilant strains, and then makes a plain recital of facts : It is with heartfelt joy and gratitude to the great Head of the Church that they present to the public the following statement of the goodness and mercy of God to the churches under their care during the past year: Verily " the day-spring from on high hath visited us," and the sun of righteousness has poured upon us the light and glory of his beams. While in the retrospect of other years we find occasion for thanksgiving and praise in view of the visitations of the Holy Spirit, we may say of the past year, that it has been a sealing time, a harvest season, a day of preeminent favors. In places where the prince of darkness has long reigned and over which impervious clouds have cast their gloomy shades, light has sprung up. Where recently were heard the songs of revelry and the profanation of the name of the Lord, we hear the songs of Zion and the voice of adoration and worship. Gratefully acknowledging the droppings of mercy in other places, we mention the following as particularly refreshed: Thirty- Beven have been hopefully converted in Orleans, and between SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 199 twenty and thirty in the neighborhood. Prayer for individuals has been one of the most obvious means of good here. More than thirty indulge hope in Carthage and Wilna. Leyden has been remarkably blessed. For many years it was in a deplorable state. The Word preached was apparently only a " savor of death unto death," and iniquity abounded in its most destructive forms. But about the middle of April a shower of mercy began to fall. But Satan was not easily driven from his stronghold- Many rose up in rebellion and showed the malignity of their hearts. It was the Lord's work, however, and vain was the oppo- sition of man. About two hundred submitted to the Cross, and four times as many attend public worship and preaching as ever before. The condition of Denmark was formerly sad, and several cir- cumstances threatened the ruin of the church; but God came to its help and relief, and thirty were added to it and breaches healed and repaired and dangers averted. Brownville, too, has shared in the outpouring of the Spirit, and about forty testify to his renewing power. Hostility to the work was strong and untiring; but the Lord triumphed and stout hearts bowed — many of them cases of peculiar interest. Martinsburg is now in the midst of a revival numbering already more than fifty subjects. Cape Vincent has shared with sister churches in the divine in- fluences, and under them more than twenty have been brought into happy union with it. Opposition was raised here, too, but served to swell the number of hearers and to lix their attention. A minister was sent in Ma}' to Le Kay by the Female Mission- ary Society of the Western District. He was stoutly withstood at first, but the Lord wrought with him and through him, and soon began to prevail. Party spirit was then aroused for another encounter; but, wher.-ver it appeared, prayer laid it. Christians gathered privately here and there to plead ■gainst it as it showed itself iii such or >uch individuals, and BO kept it down. Nun. noticeable instances of conversion occurred. Infidelity shrank back abashed, and heresy yielded to the truth. At leasl eighty forsook all and followed Christ. The minister wh<»se labors wcr«- so much prospered in Le 1 i : t y- extended them at the saint- time to Antwerp and under them thirty were brought to tin- Saviour. 200 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE In the midst of summer, and during the violence of party strife, the Spirit of God descended on Lowville, and more than two hun- dred experienced his saving power, one hundred of whom united with the Presbyterian Church there, fifty-three of the number being, or having been, members of the Sunday School. The Kev. Charles G. Finney began his ministry this year, being commissioned by the Female Missionary Society to labor in Northern New York. His autobi- ography contains quite full accounts of revivals wholly or partly under him at Evans Mills. Antwerp, Brown- ville, Le Kaysville and Gouverneur. Thus early in his career, that remarkable man was as fully disclosed and his remarkable modes of procedure as fully mapped out, and his remarkable success as fully achieved as at its culmination, and the same conflicting sentiments and surprises agitate us. The church at Evans Mills not being under the care of the Presbytery would not, of course, be mentioned in its narrative, but Gouverneur was, and yet it is not named. Mr. Finney's account of the revival in both is quite minute, and he says of Gouverneur: "It was a large farming town, settled by well-to-do inhabitants. The great majority of them, I am confident, were con- verted to Christ in that revival." The work of grace in all the other churches of the Presbytery would seem to have been conducted under their several pastors, and no measures are known to have been employed to which the most fastidious would except. The statistical reports of the churches, always imperfect, record as added on examination, 95 to Low- ville First; 16 to Lowville Second ; 23 to Martinslmrg; 42 to Leyden First; 20 to Ellisburg; 30 to Denmark; SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 201 30 to Cape Vincent; 35 to Antwerp: 30 to Le Ray : and 15 to Orleans. Prior to any general and public manifestations of it, special religious interest widely pervaded the Presby- tery of Oneida in 1825-6. It was evident in several churches to those that were intimate with them. Pro- fessing Christians became conscious of their backslidings and remissness, a sense of uneasiness was felt by them, a concern for the impenitent was awakened, more earn- est prayer was offered. Increased seriousness, too, appeared in the congregations, and numerous individuals were more or less convicted of sin, and in some places conversions occurred, and special but unobtrusive means of grace were employed. Thus we are told, " The re- vival commenced here (Vernon Centre) in August, 1825." There were some Christians in Rome who had long been looking and praying for a revival, and the preparedness of the impenitent mind is indicated in Mr. Finney's account of the work. [Autobiography, p. 160.] Rev. Mr. Frost says of Whitesboro: On the following Sabbath, the first in January, 182.0, the church rose in the midst of the congregation, and after an address to them, renewed their covenant with God and with each other. A deep solemnity pervaded both the church and the congregation. Sinners were awakened. A revival succeeded, which continued till the early part of Hummer. Rev. Mr. Aiken says of CJtica: Tin- revival OOmmenoed about the lirst of last January. For M-v.-ral weeks previous, however, then- had been a movement upon the minds of the people that could he seen on tin- Sahhath and on other da\ s of the week. To this silent preparation for the Lord's appearance, | new impulse was BOOH giYSD DJ the daily reports of what was doing at Koine. ..> 202 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE " I learned from Mr. Aiken," says Mr. Finney, "that the spirit of prayer was already manifest in his congregation and in the city. One of his principal women had been so exercised about the state of the church, and of the ungodly, that she prayed almost incessantly for two days and nights, and when her own strength was exhaust- ed, she could not endure the burden of her mind unless somebody was engaged in prayer, on whose prayer she could lean." An occasion was needed to bring out the latent feel- ing that quite extensively prevailed and let it develop into a revival of religion. Such an occasion was fur- nished by a visit to Westernville made very unexpect- edly to himself by the Eev. Mr. Finney, the last of September, 1825. Attending a prayer meeting on the afternoon of his arrival, such an impression was made that he consented to remain over Sunday, and the still greater impression on that day, induced him to remain still longer, and for twelve weeks he preached there three times on Sunday, and almost every evening of the week in different parts of the town, and called dur- ing the day from house to house for conversation and prayer, and as the result one hundred and forty were supposed to have been converted. One of Mr. Finney's district meetings was held at Wright's Settlement, and that was the beginning of a revival at Eome, where he commenced services the last of December and kept them up continuously for four weeks. Says Rev. Dr. Wm, E. Knox, subsequently pastor of the church : The manifestation of the Divine Power was immediate and de- cisive. The church which, during the greater part of 1825, had been in a state of more than usual coldness, was quickened to new activity. Unwonted desires for the salvation of God were felt in the hearts of Christians generally, and prayer offered in faith and continued with an importunity that could not be resisted, was SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 203 everywhere heard in the dwellings and assemblies of the righteous. Says an eyewitness: "I never saw such wrestling in prayer for sinners." "It was easy to pray then," says one who shared largely in the blessing, " and self was put away from many hearts. We asked God to save our neighbors and friends. As guilty sinners we prayed not for our worthiness and desert, for we had none, but for Christ's sake. Many an agonizing prayer ascended to him in sleepless nights, and the answer often came quickly. Wherever we went it was full of God. It truly seemed that the air we breathed was God's air, and the earth we walked upon God's earth. Eternity seemed just at hand, and I think that eternity will be short enough to tell the wonders of grace then shown." The whole unconverted population appeared to be suddenly awakened to the concerns of their souls. The place of worship was thronged by an eager multitude. Some of the more deter- mined among the irreligious tried hard to break away from the sacred influences encompassing them, but generally without suc- cess. It was not uncommon to find them immediately after a de- cided refusal to hear the preaching, among the most serious list- eners. Some who shut themselves up in their homes away from the intrusion of praying friends, opened them with an invitation to come in and plead for them. Others who were glad to leave town on the pretext of business, came back with their impressions redoubled and ending in conversion. Several individuals pa- through the town were arrested by the voicesof prayer and praise from numerous houses, and subsequently turned to the Lord. Christians were often engaged in earnest and tearful conversation with the Impenitent At their offices and stores and shops, and in- quirers kneeled with them by the counter and the work-bench.* For a week business generally was laid aside, and not ■ among the first in position and Intelligence, and least likely to yield to a merely animal and superficial excitement, were the most powerfully moved, *Rev. Moses Gillett, pastor of the church at thil time, writes: " Worldly business was t<> ■ great extent ■uspended. Religion was the principal inbjectol conversation in our streets, st and even taverns. Many of the ihopf WOTS olosod at evening that all might attend meeting^1 204 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE As the work " became noised abroad," numbers came in from the neighboring towns, to whom Christian hospitality was freely ex- tended. Parents brought their families with them, and often re- turned home with all the members of them rejoicing in the Lord. Ministers, elders and prominent laymen nocked in from abroad, and bore back the mighty power of God to the communities where they belonged and revivals were wrought there. There was for a time an average of twenty conversions daily, and three or four hundred occurred in the course of eight weeks, and among them every professional man in the town, with one or two exceptions, and eighty of the teachers and scholars in the girls' department of the Sunday School,* and the whole number of conversions was computed at five hundred. Among the converts should be named Rev. Dr. Thomas Brainard. On the 12th of March, 1826, one hundred and seventy-six were received to the Presby- terian Church, and two hundred and eighty-nine by the close of the year. The examinations by the session were careful, and it is the testimony of all competent to judge that the great mass of the converts stood the test of time; and, with scarcely an exception, the deceased among them, died in Christian fellowship and faith. Comparatively little was known in this revival of the extra- ordinary " measures" subsequently introduced by a class of pro- fessed Evangelists. Preeminently was reliance placed on the grace of God, in connection with the faithful preaching of the Word and the united prayers and exertions of the church." * Mr. Gillett writes: " More than one hundred and thirty of the attendants at the Sabbath Schools are hopeful subjects of renew- ing grace. Children from nine to twelve years of age give evi- dence of piety, and their promptness in applying passages of Scripture is truly striking. Four lawyers, four physicians, all the merchants not professing Christians before, and men of the first respectability in the place, and many who had regularly attended public worship for twenty years, and lived through revivals un- moved, are hopeful converts. During the greatest excitement there was little opposition. Scoffers were confounded; Universal- ists trembled. Some renounced their sentiments and were brought to repentance. During the following spring and summer, meetings were held every evening, and for eleven months there has been no day without inquiry by anxious sinners, and but few weeks without instances of conversion. Meetings of inquiry are con- tinued and a spirit of fervent prayer still prevails." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 205 Says Mr. Gillett : There was such wrestling and agony in prayer as we had never witnessed before. Christians seemed to believe both the prom- ises and threatenings of God. They viewed their impenitent friends as standing on the brink of hell, where nothing bat the mercy of God could save them. In little circles intercession was made for individuals by name, and striking answers appeared to be given. Indeed, the great instrument in this glorious work has been prayer. The Word of God has been employed in sermons, short addresses at prayer meetings, and in private conversations. The truths presented are such as have been generally termed the doctrines of grace. The justice, purity and binding nature of the divine law, with its awful penalty, has been set forth with great clearness. The sins of the heart have been shown, not merely in transgressions, but in the rejection of mercy, while Christ has been held up as the only and all-sufficient Saviour. Repentance and faith have been urged as immediate duties, and sinners as exposed, to wrath and without excuse, for failing in them. Convictions, have been more sudden and pungent than we have witnessed in previ- ous revivals. Sinners have trembled through their whole frame under them, though in no instance, to my knowledge, was bodily strength wholly exhausted. And when most agitated by them, they have complained of unfeeling hearts. They needed not to be told that there was an eternal hell, and they were assured that they must repent or perish, that they mast believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or be damned, and that their impenitent groam- tears and prayers could not save them. Kvery false dependence was torn away as BOOO M possible. Often would they Bay, " We cannot change our hearts," and the command was urged: "Mak» you a new heart and a n»w spirit, for irhy will ye die. " No al- lowance was given t<>" wait Qod'fl time." They irere told: " Now is the accepted time, now is tin- day of salvation" — that the longer they continued impenlinent, the greater their guilt and the mOTS the danger of being hardened, and of grieving the Spirit, and of dying without hope. Meetings of inquiry have been a powerful means of i When hundreds have attended, there would he a deathlike still- ness, with great solemnity in sJmOSl e\ erv countcnam e I In \ were conversed with individually, and such instruction prai 1* 206 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE as the several cases needed. Often, at the close of the meetings, there was so strong a desire to remain that it was necessary to urge the attendants away, the direction being pressed upon them to give their hearts to God. In many instances the anxious have been converted while praying, and often, though indulging no hope for themselves, they would pray for others while they were praying for themselves. But light usually soon broke upon them and they found peace. Young converts have been earnest in prayer for others and often active in their conversion. It will be doubtless asked : What are the fruits of this revival ? Three or four instances of backsliding have occurred. One has been sus- pended for intemperance. In general, however, the subjects ap- pear as well as in previous revivals I have witnessed, if not bet- ter. A marked reformation of morals is undeniable. The Sab- bath is more strictly observed. Intemperance and profane swear- ing are checked. More good feeling prevails in families and neighborhoods. The church is blessed with harmony. Chris- tians in truth, love one another. As already mentioned, there were the antecedents of a revival of religion in Utica for several weeks before any open demonstration of it. The daily reports of occurrences at Kome revealed its beginning. Says the Kev. Dr. Samuel Clark Aiken, Pastor of the First Church : Christians who went there returned with various feelings. Some were confounded and knew not what to say; some without hope and in deepdistress for themselves; others weeping over the state of the church at home and anxious that something should be done. I resolved to call on the members of the church, and either by myself or the elders, most of them were visited. It now became a time of heart- searching. Almost daily, persons who had long professed religion and maintained a respectable standing in the church, gave up their hopes. Soon numbers of the impenitent were awakened; but most of them lingered long without peace, and still there was but little prayer in Zion — little of the power of prayer. Christians were looking to arms of flesh instead of confiding in God, and merely hoping for a blessing in- SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 207 stead of expecting it. This state of things continued until about the first of February, when the Rev. Mr. Finney came to Utica; and here, as in other places, his plain, and pungent, and faithful preaching was attended with evident and wonderful success. Christians had been told of their departures from God, their back- slidings in heart, their lukewarmness, their love of the world and conformity to it, and of the necessity of a broken spirit, of deep and thorough repentance, before they could reasonably ex- pect a revival of religion. These solemn truths were pressed again and again, and along with them the indispensableness of the Holy Spirit to arouse them from their slumbers, and they were urged to plead for him as promised by (iod, and as sure to be given to those who sought him in faith. Humble and fervent prayer gradually increased, and as it increased, convictions and conversions took place among the impenitent. The work soon became powerful. Places of worship were thronged, and the stillness of the sepulchre reigned, broken occasionally by the deep sigh of a heart writhing under the condemnation of divine truth. The meetings, instead of being noisy and confused, were solemn — sometimes awfully solemn from the presence of God, which made sinners afraid and made Christians humble and still. The general features of the revival are the same that have marked every genuine revival since the apostolic age. I need not repeat them, but merely remark that, as heretofore, in this place, so now, the Bweet, .saving influence has fallen on the rich and the poor, the ignorant and learned, and moulded into the divine image the proud moralist and the polluted debauchee, and made new creatures of gamblers, and drunkards, and swearers and Sab- bath breakers, and brought the self-righteous Pharisee, the de- luded Deist and rniversalist, to abandon their dreams of happi- ness and heaven without a holy heart, and to flee for cleansing to the blood of the Lamb. The probable number of converts is five hundred — not far from sixty of them penOM who " turned in to tarry but for a night," or ft day Off Week. More than one hundred have united with the First Church, and not less than fifty adults more in the congregation indulge hope, and many children, from WTOO to thirteen years of age, give evidence o! eonyereion, but milt, by the advice of the session, for catechising, and until further trial shall determine the 208 PRESBYTER! ANISM IN THE question of their admission to the church. Nor has the good work ceased. The spirit of prayer continues, though in a less de- gree. Scarcely a week has passed during the summer without conversions, and these number twenty during the last six weeks. It would be strange if some among so many, are not deceived. As yet, however, not a case of defection has come to my knowl- edge, and now, after the lapse of eight months, it may be said that never did the subjects of a revival appear better. The means employed are the same that were employed by Whitfield, Edwards, Brainerd and some still living, whose praise is in all the churches. The grand means, into which all others are resolved, is the Word of God, the doctrines of salvation, the depravity of the heart, consisting not merely in the want of love to God, but in hatred of him; the law of God, its extent, purity, perfection and binding authority; the sovereignty of God, enforc- ed not so much by abstract reasoning, but by matter of fact; the nature and need of regeneration by the Holy Spirit and justifica- tion by faith alone; and those truths have been preached con- stantly, both in the pulpit and out of it. Nor have we failed to urge sinners to repent and submit to Jesus Christ, and that imme- diately, as the only condition of forgiveness, warniug them at the same time, that so long as they refused to comply, all their tears and prayers and efforts were not only vain, but sinful. We have visited from house to house, conversed freely with individuals and fearlessly declared the counsel of God in the street, the grocery, the counting-room and the private dwelling. We have also had various circles for prayer, as well as stated and public prayer meetings, and in the former, females in some cases, though more seldom than we could wish, have taken a part. Sab- bath School instruction has been greatly blessed to teachers and scholars. At the commencement of the revival there was a Bible class of forty-two youth under the sole direction of the elders of the church, and most of them indulge Christian hope. The num- ber has increased to one hundred, and the Lord is still blessing his Word to the salvation of souls. The Bible is a precious book to them, and not to them alone. Never in the same space of time, I am confident, was it so much read in Utica as during the last twelve months. Discipline, meetings of inquiry, days of fasting and prayer and conference meetings for the church have likewise SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 209 been very useful. And never was so large a church more happily- united than in this revival, and so it yet remains. A few have differed from their brethren with regard to the propriety of some measures, but none are blind to the mighty hand of God in bowing down rebel sinners on every side, and none so hardened in unbe- lief as not to rejoice in it and adore the Lord for it, and the con- gregation is evidently strengthened and built up. Among the additions to the First Church made by this revival, was a very large number of those who have been the most conspicuous for piety and useful- ness in its whole history, and who constituted its bone and sinew and soul in their day, and who bequeathed to it much of the strength and life it has since pos- sessed. The Second Church, Utica, was then in its early youth, but the experience of its pastor, Rev. Dr. Sam- uel Williams Brace, gave it the advantage of full ma- turity. Under his labors, and without aid from evan- gelists, the blessing of God descended upon the people and for four months remained with them. Fifty-two were admitted to Christian fellowship, — and a number more were examined for it and approved, or advised to wait for a time, and others united with churches at their homes elsewhere About eighty were reckoned in this company of converts, not one of whom known to have turned hack to the world. Both the then ministers of those two churches ' mam to the present," while nearly all their associates in the labors of that day have " fallen asleep." I pastors have taken pari bo largely "> revival work and ha\ e such a retrospect of iv\ \\ al Of So itch- Irish ancestry, Dr. Aiken was born at Windham. \ t., graduated in L814 at Middleburj College, and m 1M7 210 PRESB TTERIA NISM IN THE at Andover Theological Seminary licensed by the Londonderry Presbytery and ordained by the Oneida Presbytery. Set over the First Presbyterian Church, Utica, February, 1819, he performed an exceedingly prosperous and noteworthy pastorate of seventeen years there. Seven or eight seasons of the special outpouring of the Spirit occurred in the course of it, — the number of communicants was much increased, and among them there were many of prominence and influence in the com- munity, and many subsequently of eminent usefulness andconspicuousness as members of this particular church, and as ministers and missionaries in the church at large. Called to Cleveland, he has been no less blessed and no less a blessing there. Though in delicate health him- self, and with sickness in his family, he maintained his charge successfully until, disabled for further responsi- bility and activity, he accepted an emeritus relation to his people, and now lives among them, embodied in their reverence and gratitude and affection, and with the high and warm esteem of our ministry and our church, and their memory of his protracted and valuable ser- vices, and though with the infirmities of age in his outward man, with his inward man renewed day by day. Dr. Brace was born at Kutland, Vt, in 1790, but re- moved in 1796 with his father's family to Pompey, and a few years after to Lysander, both in Onondaga county. The only opportunity for schooling he enjoyed in early life, was during two winters which he spent with friends at Manlius, but even then he formed the purpose to enter college. In 1809, he walked through the then comparative wilderness from Oswego, where his family SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 211 was at that time residing, to the Oneida Academy at Clinton, one hundred miles distant, and such was his progress in study that be soon rose to the place of as- sistant teacher. Supporting himself by the salary he earned, he entered a Sophomore two years after at Hamilton College, and took his baccalaureate in 1815, with the first class that completed its entire course there. Entering Andover Seminary immediately after, and remaining until his graduation in 1818, he received license to preach, and laboring a few weeks in a revival at what is now the city of Lowell, Mass., and declining an invitation to visit Londonderry, N. II., as a candi- date for its vacant pulpit, he spent seven months con- ducting an extensive revival at Bridgewater, Oneida county,and then negativing an unanimous and urgent call to the pastorate in that place, he supplied the pulpit at Geneva during Dr. Axtell's absence on account of ill health, and a powerful revival followed his labors there, too, and extended to the town of Phelps, where he set- tled in 1819, and remained four years, new members being constantly added to the church In 1824 he wecA to Utica to serve ate. pastor with Dr. Aiken, but was induced instead, to take charge of the new " Bleecker Street" or Second Church there. In a four years ministry two hundred and fifty were ad- mitted to the eoiniiiwiiioii <,f thisehureh. and declining a call to EiMl Hartford. Ot, which was repeated after the lapse of a year, Dr. Brace removed to Skaneateles, and blessed with ei-jht revivals there in a pastoratl sixteen years, hewenl in L848 to the Congregational ('lunch m Bingham ton, and three years after, demitting the responsibilities of a parish, and retiring to a pleasant 212 PRESB YTER1ANISM IN THE home in Utica, he went forth from time to time, and almost continuously, as the supply of numerous congre- gations, in many of which his previous success continued with him, and as an agent, largely at his own chargesT of the Bible and Colonization Societies. Eighteen special revivals of religion have attended his ministry. Notwithstanding his engrossing public labors, Dr. Brace always enjoyed domestic life and has been greatly favored in it. Married in 1819 to Harriet Kilbourn, of New Hartford, the daughter of a valuable elder of the church there, he received in her a gift from the Lord ; and bereaved of her nearly forty years after, it was his happiness in 1 862, to marry Martha B. Fish, of Troy, Ohio, a granddaughter of Eev. Peter B. Fish, the first minister at Holland Patent. His bodily activities have been recently stayed by a slight paralysis, but though hard on towards fourscore years and ten, his thoughts are as busy as in his days of vigorous health, while as he looks upwards, not a fleecy cloud specks the heaven above him. Mr. Finney preached occasionally in a few of the other churches of the Presbytery, but though nearly or quite all of them had "times of refreshing/' they passed on, with few exceptions, under the settled ministry. The Rev. John Barton was at Vernon Centre, where not far from one hundred and sixty-four professed con- version, and one hundred and two united with the Presbyterian Church, twenty-seven of them being heads of families, the ages of the converts ranging from eight to seventy, several of whom had been Uuiversalists and two Roman Catholics, and but one of the whole number SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 213 was known to have backslidden. The opposition here was very violent The minister was threatened with horsewhipping. The active members of the church met with personal abuse and the worst of Billingsgate, some of the assailants being peace officers. Fasting and prayer, the plain preaching of the truth, family visitations and inquiry meetings were the means employed. Care was taken to have the services in well seated and well lighted rooms, and the mode of them was varied from time to time. Occasionally silent prayer for two or three minutes was offered, — but the most important circumstance was an humble reliance on God, undoubt- ing faith in his promises, working with the expectation of his ac- companiment, feeling at the same time, that he alone can change the heart, and giving him all the glory. Born at Saybrook, Ct, 1761, a graduate of Williams College 1809, and a tutor there for the following year, a student of divinity under Dr. David Porter, of Catts- kill. and ceasing to live, (for such was his death,) at eighty-four years of age, Calvin Bushnell, for eighteen years pastor at Mount Vernon,* was an able preacher, an untiring pastor, a thoroughly furnished minister, whose labors contributed to several remarkable revr a Christian of rare consecration t<> the Saviour, an 'lent man of clear and strong convictions, and by his character and life, his conscientiousness and intelli- gence and wisdom an authority in the community and in the church. He relates: '111*- revival commenced among my people about the middle of November, It was gradual, and did not become general till the part of December. The number of hopeful convert! is about one hundred and forty. Fifty-nine have united with the ♦Vernon and Mt. Vernon united in the tall to Mr. Bunnell in 1811. Theee two ohnrchei separated in 1*17, and both struj to retain their pastor. After a long and painful pntpenae, Mr. Bushnell concluded to remain with the Mt. Vernon Choroh. 214 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE Presbyterian Church, thirty with the Baptists, and some with the Methodists. The means are essentially the same as in other revi- vals,— preaching, fasting and prayer, visiting from house to house, inquiry meetiugs and conferences. The revival at its commence- ment was characterized by a remarkable tenderness of spirit among Christians, and a disposition to confess their faults one to another. Many old professors gave up their hopes and as the saying was, obtained new hopes. I never witnessed such heart- searchings, and I never witnessed such ardor and perseverance in prayer, and I must say that the converts give as good evidence of deep and thorough conviction of sin and of real conversion to God as I have ever known, and nothing of an opposite character has as yet appeared. The Eev. Abijah Crain was pastor of the church at Westmoreland. Winning in appearance and manners, beautiful in character and useful in life, never was minister or man loved more ; and at the same time, he commanded respect and wielded influence by his faith- fulness and force. Two hundred were added to the church during his seven years charge of it, and con- strained to leave by the state of his health, he was dis- tinguished by enterprise and efficiency in the District Secretaryship of the American Home Missionary Soci- ety, and with his full equipment for it upon him, he fell in service, saying, " The Lord's time is the best time and lam ready." About the first of November the church engaged in fasting, humiliation and prayer, and the searching influences of the Spirit began to be felt. The good news from Vernon Centre was brought to Westmoreland and some going to see what was told returned with a new spirit. Conferences and prayer meetings soon filled up. The pastor and some of the church members visited from house to house. The distinguishing truths of the gospel were preached with all possible plainness. Numbers were deeply im- pressed and the interest steadily increased through the winter. The instructions of the Sabbath School were greatly blessed. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 215 Eight of the teachers and thirty-four of the scholars indulge hope. The whole number of converts is about eighty and sixty of them have united with the Presbyterian Church. And the work has not ceased. Kev. Israel Brainerd was the pastor at Verona. Of a branch of the family to which David Brainerd be- longed, he shared the spirit of that noted missionary. A graduate of Yale, and first settling in the ministry at Guilford, Ct, at the close of five years spent there, he came to labor in the new settlements here, and after itinerating among them for some time, he entered upon the pastorate which he continued for about thirty years and in which he repeatedly received the marked tokens of the divine favor. He was a man of imposing figure and in his later days of venerable mein, a thorough theologian and superior sermon izer, dwelling much in the divine sovereignty and human ruin, and especially pressing them in seasons of religious interest. He a The first appearance of especial attention to religion among my people, was at an evening meeting in the last week of December. Some unhappy contentions had previously occurred and efforts to compose them had resulted in many confessions. At this meeting there was great solemnity and one person was brought under pungenl conviction of .sin. The work then gradually Increased, conversions occurring every week till the community generally was aroused. At one evening meeting in a private house, ■ number fell and others irere unable to leave until morning. There were fifty conversions in this district dur- ing a single ireek, Professing Christians irere greatly exercised during the revival, many despairing of themselves and then find- ing hope anew, and afterward! laboring and praying with unpre- cedented earnestness. The number of converts In the town is about one hundred, twenty eight of whom have united with my church and twenty more may be expected to follow, a false and scandalous pamphlet published by one who had been exounmuni- cated, and directed against the pastor ami church, diverted the 216 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE attention of the people, and the preaching in the most favored district by one who had spoken against the revival, arrested the work, so that few awakenings and conversions took place after- wards. Noah Coe, for twenty-one years the minister of New Hartford, a native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale College in 1808 and of Andover Seminary in 1811, and first settled at Chester, N. Y., from 1811 to 1813, was a model Presbyter and pastor. Always in his place in an ecclesiastical body and active in its proceedings, concerned for the cause of Christ at large and particu- larly throughout his denomination, he was widely use- ful and influential and commanded general esteem. Vigilant and diligent in his parish, and instructive and faithful in the pulpit, he won the affection and confi- dence of his people and was a prized blessing to them. Laboring subsequently at Woodbridge, Southbury and West Greenwich, Ct., and as City Missionary in New York from 1848 to 1852, and in Williamsburg, N. Y., from 1852 to 1854, he retired to New Haven and there died. Mr. Coe said : About two weeks before the revival commenced here, the pas- tor of the church, with an elder, spent two days at Rome and on their return gave an account of the work of divine grace in that village with good effect. On two occasions meetings of the church were held and men and women were called upon to speak, if they had anything to say, in way of confession for their criminal de- parture from God, and in relation to their present feelings about the salvation of souls. These meetings were highly useful, it is thought. The labors of Mr. Finney and Mr. Nash,* the former *" Father Nash," Dr. Aiken writes, " was more of a layman tliAn a minister. His forte lay in the prayer meeting. Of deep piety, but little education, his language was sometimes too familiar and apparently irreverent and repulsive." Mr. Finney states in his autobiography, that the first time he saw him was in a pulpit SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 217 of whom preached six sermons and attended the same number of inquiry meetings, were greatly blessed, and in these inquiry meetings it was not uncommon for two or three to give their hearts to Christ. Visiting from house to house where there were anxious sinners as often as every other day, was a means of doing good. Prayer meetings were frequent and for a time there weir obvious answers to fervent, importunate, believing prayer. In no former revival have the subjects of it for so long a time possessed so much of the spirit of religion, and never was the Presbyterian congregation on the Sabbath so solemn and interesting. The en- emies of religion (Universalists and those of kindred sentiments) have manifested great opposition, repeatedly stoning the build- ings where services were held, firing guns about the church dur- ing the preaching there, suspending images with papers attached containing denunciations of prominent persons in carrying on the revival, and in one instance a constable was sent to bring before a justice a young man who had been in the place for a few days, under the charge that he was a vagrant, without visible ineann of support; but notwithstanding the opposition, the revival went on. One hundred were supposed to have been regenerated in the course of it, fifty-six of whom have been received into the Pres- byterian Church. Kev. Oliver Wetmore, in 1S24, took charge of the church at Trenton. lie was familiar with the place and with the region, for from L809to 1811, he exercised where 1m- was praying, hut at tin- siinc time with eye- wide op. n. observing every out* who entered and looking over the i tion. ' He was at that time in a very cold and backslidden Btat< 'Afterwards he was taken with inflamed eyes and foi s< \ I PI weeks was shut up in a dark room, and unable to read 01 write, he gave himself up almost entirely to praver. He had a terrible overhauling in his whole religions experience, and as soon i was able to see, with ■ double black veil before bis face he sallied forth to labor for souls. When he came to Evans Mills h< full of the power of prayer, and had a ' praying list/ as he called it, of the names of those whom he made the subjects ol pi every day and sometimes many times a day, and praying with him and hearing him pray in meeting, I found thai his ^ift of pn was wonderful and his faith almost miraculoui Father Nash became a com pan ion of Mr. Finney in his revival -< i \ e - largely relied upon by bim for their effective] R 218 PRESBYTER1AX18M IN THE an active but troubled ministry at Holland Patent, in the immediate vicinity. He was a man of positive character and vigorous intellect and untiring energy, with the thorough training of New England schoolsT and " after the most straitest sect of our religion, he lived a " Puritan. A righteous man, of unbending principle, he knew no fear, and " shunned not to de- clare all the counsel of God." He would not invite an- tagonism, but if truth and duty stirred it up, he did not shrink from encountering it. The Lord was literally and fully supreme with him, but while doing his bid- ding with respect to others, he was as obedient to it with respect to himself, and while faithful he was sub- missive and trustful and happy. His hearing failed him, but for the many years he ceased to preach no murmur escaped him and he kept as eager as ever for the cause of his Lord. He sat regularly in my pulpit at Utica, with ear-trumpet lifted toward me and with bright eyes fixed upon me, and we lived in familiar in- tercourse. I visited him in " the chamber where the good man met his fate," and sat at his bedside " quite on the verge of heaven " and witnessed the raptures with which he met death. Mr. Wetmore said : I found the society in a very low and deranged state. Nothing special occurred until December last. Several professing Chris- tians had then begun to mourn over their stupidity, and to pray for themselves and the church, and two places for special prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit were appointed — one in and the other out of the village. The day appointed by the Synod for fasting and prayer was observed with much solemnity, much pleading for a blessing upon it having been previously made. Deep contrition was manifested. The church members confessed to SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 219 God and to one another. Several abandoned all hope for themselves and were as anxious as convicted sinners. Indeed, great search - ings of heart continued through the winter and the spring Soon after the fast day, cases of inquiry occurred, but there were few conversions until March, when and through April they became frequent, conviction of sin beiug pungent and brief, though oc- casionally kept up for three or four weeks, and, in most instances, those who entered on the Christian life have " run well." The utmost order has been preserved in our meetings, without any- thing like fanaticism or enthusiasm. Occasionally an involuntary sigh or groan has escaped; but no other noise or disturbance oc- curred, save once by a drunken man, and once by a person under conviction, who was excited because prayer was offered for him the previous evening by a visiting brother, and the latter soon after bemoaned the offence and submitted to the Saviour. Prayer and preaching have been the means employed. The truths most insisted on were the holy sovereignty of God, the ex- tent, spirituality and penalty of his law, the character of Christ as God manifest in the flesh, the atonement, the total depravity of the heart, and the duty of immediate repentance and reconcilia- tion to God, and the great guilt of sinners in the excuse that they cannot repent and love God, and that they would if they could. Inquiry meetings were very useful, and prayer was offered at them for individuals, and remarkable answers to such prayer were given. Prayer meetings have been among the most effect- ive means employed, especially those in which brother* <(/<t' day, for anxious sinners could not be prevailed on to leave before the) made their peace with God. Upward of an hundred have been hopefully converted Forty-four have been admitted to the Church and as main more expect to lie received. The opposition to tin1 revival here was tin1 more vio- lent l>\ reason of the hostility of a congregation *>( 220 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE "liberal Christians." A scurrilous pamphlet was circu- lated, the character of which is intimated by its title: "A ''BUNKER HILL CONTEST." A. D.. 1826. Between the " Holy Alliance," for the Establishment of Hierarchy and Eccle- siastical Domination over the Human Mind ON THE ONE SIDE, And the Asserters of Free Inquiry. Eible Religion, Christian Freedom and Civil Liberty ON THE OTHER. The Rev. CHARLES FINNEY, *' Home Missionary" and High Priest of the Alliance in the Interior of New York. Headquarters: County of Oneida.'1'' Eev. John Frost was a native of Vermont, an alum- nus of Middlebury College in 1806, and of Andover Seminary in 1810, of the first class matriculated at that Institution and which contained a notable company of men, among them Adoniram Judson, Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, and Dr. R S. Storrs, of Braintree. The spirit of his classmates animated Mr. Frost, and during 1811 and 1812, he traveled in New England and New York as an Agent of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions. For the twenty years, from 1813 to 1833, he labored in season and out of season as pastor of the church at Whitesboro. The delicacy and honorableness which always distinguished him, came out on his first visit to the place. Learning that Rev. Henrv Dwight had been mentioned and favored as a candidate for the charge of the church, he refused to allow himself to In* named and considered in connec- tion with it. He was soon relieved of embarrassment, however. The boundaries of the church extended to Utica, and it was desirable that the members should be SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 221 separately organized. This was accordingly done, and Mr. Frost was called to Whitesboro and Mr. Dwight to Utica. The two regularly exchanged pulpits half the time, and continued to do so without interruption, and with growing attachment to each other, for nearly live years, when Mr. Dwight's shattered health broke up his pastorate. A man of force and disciplined powers, " This one thing I do" was the motto of Mr. Frost's life, and devoted to the Saviour and his cause, he kept back nothing from them. With his home as his earthly para- dise, and surrounded by an affectionate people, and happy and useful in pastoral work, he thrust himself away at the call of what he thought was duty and trav- ersed the county to procure . funds for the Whites- boro Institute. At liberty to settle again, he went to Elmira, but at the time when congregations were most divided on anti-slavery questions and most sensi- tive to opinions about them. It was not his nature to keep silent and passive at the crisis of a great cause- Profoundly convinced of the wrong and curse of slav- ery, he could not but speak what he thought, and do wh.-it he could in accordance with it. The loss of friends and of friendly offices, the danger and threat of hostile treatment, frowns and sneers, did not - him, and leaving Elmira, he took the temporary over- sighl of the church at Waterville, and died in it. March 1, 1842, aged 59, with "Happy! Perfectly happy! (i<>d is here! It is heaven — it is heaven! God reigns and has always reigned!" as the lasi words that passed his Lips. The separation of the church into two bands left Whitesboro with only ;il""it fifty members, mosl of them females, and with only foul male memhers in the 222 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE village, and no general revival had been known there. During the first four years of Mr. Frost's ministry, eighty -three were brought into the church, and in 1819 and in 1S21, one hundred and eleven. During the three following years scarcely a conversion took place. To quote in substance a statement of Mr. Frost : At the close of 1824, a feeling of contrition pervaded the church — penitent acknowledgments were made— and purposes of amend- ment solemnly vowed. The first Sunday in 1825 the entire membership arose in the midst of the congregation and covenanted anew with each other and with God. On that day, some of the im- penitent were awakened, and by the early part of summer forty united with the church. Most of the converts were young people; but as few cases of discipline occurred as among those who had pre- viously professed religion, and half of all the cases were due to intemperance. The preparatory service at the opening of 1826 was devoted to fasting and prayer and to a renewal of the prom- ises given the previous year. The revival at Rome awakened great interest, and several who went there returned with deep feeling. It had often been lamented that so many heads of fami- lies had been unmoved in previous revivals, and Christians began to make them the burden of prayer. The conversion at Rome of many of this class excited earnestness and encouraged faith. Prayer meetings at different places were frequent, and interces- sion was made for heads of families individually. Several weeka passed before any tokens of gracious answers appeared, but delay created importunity, and, at last, some heads of families were concerned for their souls, and the first fruits among the impeni- tent of a revival were seen in them. In February the feeling began perceptibly to spread, and by March it exceeded anything before known in the place. Opposition then arose. Misrepre- sentations were circulated. A lying spirit seemed to possess per- sons before exempt from it. Some were angry that individuals were indicated in prayer. Some affected to sneer and laugh about the serious and hoping. Some said that the devil had got into the people, and others that ministers and churches were becom- ing crazy. In this state of things, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest then me?" and "wherefore do the wicked contemn God?" were SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 223 the texts of sermons on a Sabbath, and the following week was one of deep interest and solemnity. Some of the most intelli- gent and respectable people of the town were converted. Silence reigned; opposition ceased; Christians trembled. Never was I so sensible of my own nothingness. All I could do was to urge Christians to pray that breath might enter into these slain, while I felt, at the same time, that we were all unworthy to be per- mitted to pray for such a blessing Many interesting conversions now occurred, and they continued, though with less frequency, after the opening of business in the spring diverted the public mind. One hundred and sixteen united with the Presbyterian Church, forty-five of them heads of families, and one hundred and seventy-eight with the Baptists and Methodists, and up to a considerably distant date, but one of the number, who joined the Presbyterian Church, was known to have relapsed. Mr. Frost was aided by several of his neighboring brethren and Mr. Finney lectured occasionally for him in the intervals of his preaching at Utica. The super- intendents of three cotton mills within the bounds of the congregations. and many of the live hundred opera- tives were the subjects of this work. Not only were evening meetings held especially for them, but the mills were stopped for a time, half an hour during the day, while men, women and children assembled in their working dress, many in tears, and were spoken with individually, and then, all kneeling aboul the ma- chinery, "were commended to God in prayer." Every Presbyterian Church in Oneida county, and the Congregational Churches in Clinton and Banover, shared in these copious showers of the Spirit, and the description of them in one place corresponds very much to that of all the rest. Like means and measures were employed and like experiences had. One hun- dred and fifty new members were received l»\ th< sion at Camden, 67 at Boonville, ;:."> at Holland Patent, 224 PRESBTTER1AN1SM IN THE 32 at Russia and West Brunswick, 28 at Frankfort, and smaller numbers elsewhere. Between 3,000 and 4,000 were hopefully converted and more than 1,000* within the bounds of Oneida Presbytery were added to the churches under its care. It was this revival, as is well known, that occasioned a violent controversy, and the representations of which abroad, widely made an exceedingly unfavorable and unfair impression in regard to religion and particularly in regard to Presbyterianism in our section of the coun- try. Further notice will be taken of it later in this sketch. The Narrative of Religion by the Presbytery of Cort- land for 1826 is given in joyful strains. Harrison, Caze- novia, Homer and subsequently Otisco, Fabius and Pre- ble, are particularized as most distinguished in the gene- ral blessing. The smaller portion of the measure meted out to Cazenovia, was given during the winter, when about thirty shared savingly in it. Early in the autumn thirty or forty more were added to the number and this was increasing still. For ten months the blessing had been descending on Homer and had not ceased in Septem- ber, every part of the town receiving it, and nearly rive hundred new converts in the different congregations re- joiced in it. In September, 1826, the Presbyter}' of On- ondaga relates that "five of its twenty churches had expe- rienced the special influences of the Spirit — 1st and 2d Manlius, 1st Pompey, LaFayette and Cicero, and in the judgment of christian charity not far from four hundred have become new creatures in Christ Jesus in these places." Marcellus and Ellbridge should be put onthe * The General Assembly Narrative says 1,300, and also that 20 of its Presbyteries reported revivals. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 225 same list, and of Cortlandville the Presbytery of Geneva, to which it then belonged, says: " The infant church there was made greatly to enlarge the place of her tent. Under, the plain unadorned and unadulterated exhibi- tions of gospel truth, small children in connection with confirmed infidels and bold blasphemers, mingled their cries for mercy," and more than one hundred found it. The Synod of Albany in 1820, remarks. " In the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, four or five congregations have been blessed with special effusions of the Spirit. but by no means as extensively and powerfully as in former years. Many churches arc vacant there and the removal of pastors from want of support is frequent" Describing 1827-8 as so prolific in blessings to the church at large as to " demand the warmest gratitude," the General Assembly mentions among the congrega- tions it specifies, Denmark, Wilna, Watertown, Ellis- burg and Rutland, in St. Lawrence, or Watertown Pres- bytery, Bridgewat 3 [uoit, Rome and Litchfield, in Oneida Presbytery, Salina, Jamesville, Pompey 1st. Lenox 2d. lsl and 2d Manlius, in Onondaga Presbytery, and Berkshire, Newark Valley, Owego and Chenango P<-int. in Ti< ' ytery. In 1827. the Synod of Albany Bpeaks of the eff< of the revival of the preceding year as "mosl inter- esting and important," and says that " very f«'v jtacy " bad taken place, and adds : "A revival is now in pr B irater which was greatly prom by a meeting of the Presbytery of Oneida there. Win- field, a Congregational Church, and Litchfield are now enjoying a season of refreshing. Prom St Lawrence Presbytery we learn thai Smithville and Watertown are blessed with the presence and power of the Spirit 226 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE In the Presbytery of Ogdensburg the showers of divine grace have fallen far and wide, and especially in Parish- ville, Hopkinton, Stockholm, Norfolk, Massena, Mad- rid and Potsdam." In 1828, the Synod reports Copenhagan and Ellisburg, in the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, as " favored with the special Divine presence and power, 30 submitting to the Lord in the latter place. In the Presbytery of Oneida several churches have been made to rejoice and -are now rejoicing in the converting influences of the Holy Ghost : 30 at Herkimer, 40 or 50 at Kome, 20 at Yerona, 80 at Bridge water, have partaken of them. In the Presbytery of Otsego, a particularly noticable work of grace has been experienced in several manu- factories. At Hopeville, within the bounds of Coopers- town, thirt}^ or forty of various ages and of all descrip- tions of character and habits were subjects of it. The vicinity of Fly and Oak Creeks was reached by it and thirty or iovij yielded to it there, and a church of forty was organized." 1829-1839. This period is quite as noticable as the preceding. Not a year in it but was marked by revivals and these were much wider in their range than those of the pre- vious ten years. Speaking of his ministry in Utica, lie v. Dr. Dirck, O. Lansing relates in his Centennial sermon, ''Early in autumn of 1829, there were strong indications of the presence of the spirit of God among us, and by winter there was a general solemnity throughout the city. The two Presbyterian churches united in this work. More than 250 united with mv church (Bleecker Street) SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 227 during this revival, which continued for nearly eighteen months ; about the same number with the First Churchr and many with churches of other denominations." In 1880, the General Assembly felt called upon to " rejoice and give thanks for the intelligence received from every quarter," and names among the places re- ported to it Watertown, Sacketts Harbor, Brownsville, Adams and Lowville, in Watertown Presbytery; Au- gusta, Western, Trenton, Warren, Sauquoit and Rome, in Oneida Presbytery ; Windsor, Franklin, Bainbridge, Harpersfield, West Coventry and the Forks of the Delaware, in Chenango Presbytery ; Liverpool, Salina, Cicero, Pompey, 3d Syracuse, Otisco, in Onondaga Presbytery: Truxton, in Cortland, and Owego, in Tio- ga Presbyteries. The Synod of Utica says : To the praise and glory of God, we record the heart cheering fact that he has graciously appeared to build up Zion among us. Sacketts Harbor, Brownville, Belleville, first and second Low- ville, in the Presbytery of Watertown; Mexico, Parish and Cam- den, in the Presbytery of Oswego; Western, Kemsen, Trenton, Holland Patent, Floyd, Rome, Augusta, Westmoreland, New York Mill* and Utica, in the Presbytery of Oneida; and Hartwick and Morrisville in the Presbytery <>f Otsego, are most to be noted for the divine presence and power, while some revival! previously reported are in progress now and of growing Interest About six hundred h re been gathered Into these churches, and many more are likely to follow. The Presb} m\ of ( hieida sa Revivals of religion have been extending from one congrega- tion to another, until there sre few remaining which have not shared Lnthem. In several they are powerfully in progn this moment, and recent Indications of them appear where they have not been iritnessed before. It has never been our privilege to behold Mich difj) la\ | 1 1 f graCC BXCept in that memorable year — 228 PRESBYTERIAN JSM IN THE 1826. Western was mentioned in last year's Narrative. Always struggling with difficulties and long languishing, with scarcely any hope of living, the things that remained have been greatly strengthened, about 65 uniting with that church; 23 were added to the small church of Warren, and as many to Sauquoit; 16 to the church at Rome, 63 to the churches of Floyd and Holland Patent, between 40 and 50 to the church in Trenton, and between 30 and 40 to the church in Remsen. The church at New York Mills was in the midst of a revival at the time of its forma- tion, and was joined by between 30 and 40 new converts. A revi- val commenced in Westmoreland last summer and continues still, 56 having already been received to that church; and interesting revivals have been prevailing for some months in Whitesboro, Utica and New Hartford, and as the first fruits 41 have united with the church in New Hartford, 50 with the church in Whites- boro, 60 with the Second Church, Utica, and a number with the 1st and 3rd Churches. A revival is in progress at Mount Vernon, and in the First and Second Churches of Verona, to the latter of which 33 have been added. Russia and Boonville have been cheered and strengthened by considerable accessions to them, and Norway, long in a languishing state, has been greatly refresh- ed, and in the midst of animosity, contention and division at Au- gusta, reconciling and converting power from on high was exert- ed, and 18 have been admitted to the church and 18 propounded for it. " Union meetings" and "three days' meetings" have been held with happy results. With few exceptions, there has been little or no opposition. Persons of all ages are the subjects of these revivals, but principally the young and middle aged, who had been religiously trained. Hardened sinners, for whom hope had been abandoned, were melted and subdued, and not a few who had been addicted to strong drink, tasted the cup of the Lord* * The Presbytery of Tioga speaks of "the dispelling of the dark cloud which for years had hung over most of its congrega- tions. About 15 in Caroline, 30 in Lisle, 35 in Union, 50 in Rich- ford, 70 in Owego, are rejoicing in hope, while the joyous work is progressing; 32 have bejm received to the church in Owego, and 106, on a single Sabbath, in Berkshire and Newark, while many more were waiting to do it. The whole number of conversions within tbe bounds of the Presbytery was estimated at between 400 and 500. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 229 The General Assembly described 1831 as a year of "revivals and rejoicing in the church such as was never known before in this land,'' and sa}rs that it could "only give the names of the favored Presbyteries," and among these were Watertown, Oneida, Otsego. Chenan- go, Cortland, Onondaga and Tioga. The Synod of Utica says : The places that have been visited the past year with the special effusions of the Spirit are more numerous, perhaps, in this part of the country than at any previous period. Jn St. Lawrence Pres- bytery, Potsdam and Gouverneur and places in the vicinity; in Watertown Presbytery,* Belleville, Sacketts Harbor, Adams.Brown- ville, Le Roy, Orleans, Watertown, Lowville, Martinsburg, Den- mark, Turin and Leyden; every town in Oswego Presbytery, with one exception, where the gospel is statedly preached, and particu- larly Camden, Florence, Voluey, Oswego, New Haven, Mexico, Richland, Sandy Creek and Hannibal; Westford, Worcester, Fly Creek, Maryland, Cooperstown, Hartwick, Milford, New Lisbon, Butternuts and Bowman's Creek, in Otsego Presbytery; many towns in Oneida county and particularly, Trenton, Floyd, Boon- ville, Rome, Bridgewater, Fairfield, Norway and Vernon, were copiously showered. The Presbytery of St. Lawrence estimated the num- ber of conversions within its bounds at seven hundred, and the Presbytery of Watertown at from two to three thousand. The latter Presbytery ascribes all the work to Almighty power, and acknowledges it all as of di- vine grace, ''and especially,'1 it says, '"do we who min- ister in word and doctrine bumblj confess that all our Sufficiency IS <»!' God." "At tint same lime," it add.s. u we are more than ever convinced 1>\ the year's expe< * The worldly portion of tin- community V7U M iiuirh disturbed by the revivals, that a oonvention <>f the citizens of Jefferson county (so called) met at the court house in Watertown, ami in uddretwH and resolutions denounced them. 230 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE rience, that faithfulness in duty is the condition of blessing." The plain preaching of the law and the gospel, preceded, accompanied and followed by fervent, effectual prayer, has been the chief instrumentality employed, and especially has this been so in meetings frequently protracted for many successive days ; and in connection with this, has been affectionate and urgent conversation with individuals." "A more gen- eral attendance at the sanctuary, a more general interest in religion throughout the community, a better observ- ance of the Sabbath, a more obvious distinction between the righteous and the wicked, are among the results that have followed," and " the circulation of the Scrip- tures, the distribution of religious tracts, the support of Home and Foreign Missionaries, the education of young men for the ministry, instruction in Sunday schools and Bible classes, and the promotion of the temperance reform, engage Christians and many also, who make no profession of religion." The Presbytery of Oneida reports : The church in Augusta, so often blessed, has enjoyed a more extensive revival than at anj former period, 150 being reckoned converts, and 100 being gathered into the church. Through the benevolent solicitude of the late lamented Mrs. William Williams, a Bible Class and Sabbath School were formed at Schuyler, hith- erto a neglected moral waste, and sustained by Christian friends in Utica, and as the result a number have been brought to know the Saviour, and a church organized, and public worship and preaching established, 100 were added to the First Church, Utica, about 170 to the Bleecker Street, Utica, and a number to Fayette Street, Utica, 12 were added to the church in New York Mills and 12 more indulged hope, and a number long in suspense, were brought to a happy decision. A meeting of nine days' continu- ance at New Hartford was greatly blessed, and during the year SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 23 1 between 50 and 60 were admitted to the church. A district school in the parish led 15 of its scholars to know the Saviour. About 40 give evidence of conversion in New Stockbridge, several of them heads of families, and about 20 or 30 in Western. A revi- val at Mount Vernon during the winter brought about 50 into the church, and a fourteen days' meeting there afterwards was blessed savingly to 50 or 60 souls. A protracted meeting in the First Church, Rome, resulted in 20 professed conversions. In the course of the summer a meeting was appointed three miles from the vil- lage, and as no more convenient place could be procured, it was held in a mill. So much interest was excited, that the meeting was continued the next day, and from 15 to 20 rejoiced in the Saviour. About 120 indulged hope for themselves in the congre- gation of the Second Church during the first year of its existence, which closed a month ago. A protracted meeting lasting for fif- teen days was held there during the last month, and it is compu- ted that, in the course of it, 300 were converted in the village and in neighboring towns. 54, of more than 100 converts, have united with the church in Bridgewater, and between 40 and 50 with the church in Vernon Centre. The membership of 40 at Little Falls has been doubled, some of the increase consisting of once violent opposers of religion. Of about 80 converts, principally youth, at Fairfield, 40 or 50 have united with the church. Other churches have shared in the wide spread blessing, though in smaller meas- ures. In Columbia, 15 or 20 hopeful conversions are counted, about as many in Salisbury, 25 or 150 in Warren, 6 or 8 in Sau- quoit, all of whom have made a public profession of religion, 10 or 13 in Russia, 15 or 20 in Trenton, 87 in Holland Patent, 12 or 14 in Whitesboro, 30 in Boonville, and 12 or 14 iii Norway ami West Brunswick. It is gratifying to the Presbytery to state also thai the Congregational church in vVinfleld, not under our care, but in the charge of "in- of our ministers, lias received to its com- munion more than 100, of something like 300 who trusted that they had been received into fellowship by tin Saviour, Tlic Presbytery of Onondaga reports: Most of our congregations have been visited, in a ipecia] de- gree, with the renewing Influences of the spirit, meetings of gov era) days continuance baving been manifestly connected with their beginning or furtherance, There have been added to the church 232 PliESBYTERlANISM IN THE between GO and 70 in Salina, about GO in Otisco, 70 in Manliua Square, between 30 and 40 in Manliua Centre, 43 in Pompey,*37 in Camillas, between 30 and 40 in Syracuse, 14 in Matthews' Mills, 20 in La Fayette, 15 in Jamesville, 30 in Baldwinsville, 15 in On- ondaga Hill, 50 in Onondaga Hollow, 15 in Lysander. The Presbytery of Otsego reports : The Spirit lias been poured out from on high upon Butternuts, Bowman's Creek, Cooperstown, Springfield, Fly Creek, Oak Creek, Maryland, West Hartwick, Millford and Cherry Valley; 94 additions have been made to Butternuts, 86 to Cooperstown, 40 to Bowman's Creek, 36 to Springfield, 32 to Fly Creek and Oak Creek, 32 to Maryland, 20 to Worcester, 12 to West Hartwick, 25 to West ford and 25 to Millford. The Presbytery of Chenango reports : Most of our churches have shared in the reviving influences of the Spirit, and with several of them it has been truly a year of the right hand of the Most High. An unusual number of all ages, from the child to the gray-haired man, and of all characters, from the self righteous moralist to the most profligate and aban- doned, have been hopefully brought into the kingdom of Christ, and in some places large accessions have been made to the visible church, and we deem it worthy of notice that God seems to have owued and signally blessed protracted meetings. In this year, kk the Divine Spirit came with remarka- ble power upon the Presbytery of Tioga. Protracted meetings were introduced and blessed. One hundred joined the Newark Church on a single Sabbath, and seventy-three the church in Cortlandville during the year." The General Assembly in 1832 enumerates " sixty- eight Presbyteries and seven hundred congregations" as blessed with revivals: naming Watertown, Oswego, Oneida, Otsego, Cortland, Chenango, Delaware and Tioga among the Presbyteries. "In many places," it remarks, " the displays of thepowerof the gospel were almosl beyond example." SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 233 The Synod of Utica states : " Two thousand one hun- dred and ninety-seven have been added to the churches under our care on examination, and their whole num- ber of communicants in those which have made re- ports, is twelve thousand four hundred and sixty-one, and the actual number not far from thirteen thousand. Almost all of them have had precious seasons of revi- val, and these, with few exceptions, connected with what are called protracted meetings." "The Synod would notice with a] (probation the holding of these meetings, as by the churches of Rome and Oswego, in the outskirts of congregations, and thereby reaching many who have not felt interest enough in the gospel to go to places where its ordinances are established." The Presbytery of Tioga reported that Bingham - ton, Westville, Union. Nanticoke and Lisle West had been "blessed with revivals of religion—all of them in connection with protracted meetings, and that ninety - three had been added to the church in Binghamton and fifty-four to Nanticoke." The Presbytery of Cortland reported the addition, on a profession of their faith, of nearly one hundred to the church in Eomer, largelj the result of a protracted meeting of nine days, and sixty-three united with the church in ( ortlandville. The Presbytery of Delaware reported : The Lord has added to all our churches of suoh,as we trust, will be remembered among tin- redeemed, the several additions ranging from twenty to one hundred and forty, ami the aggn amounting to eight hundred and twentj The Synod of dtica, in Is-".-"'.. relates : "Fourteen churches In four Presbyteries are reported a* hav- ing enjoyed revivals of religion: eight of them In Watertown 234 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE Presbytery, four in Otsego and two in Oneida, and one thousand and eighty-seven have been added to all the churches on exam- ination. "Several of our churches." says the Presbytery of Delaware, " have enjoyed a refreshing from the pres- ence of the Lord, and about two hundred and ninety have been received to their communion.'' The Presbytery of Otsego says : Many have yielded to the Saviour in Springfield by means of a protracted meeting there. Middlefield and Millford, two of our most feeble churches, have been more than doubled. It is worthy of remark, that though protracted meetings have been previous- ly held in most of our churches, the blessing of God has attended them wherever they were repeated the past year. Says the Kev. H. H. Allen, pastor of the church at Oneonta : In the latter part of the spring of 1833, the Evangelist, Rev. Augustus Littlejohn, came here. For about four weeks in May and June he preached day by day in his peculiar manner, earnest- ly and fearlessly, the doctrines of repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God came down upon the people; the whole community was moved; the inhabitants of the surrounding country, within a radins of several miles, were drawn by an irresistible power to this spot whence the Word of God is- sued so unmistakably, accompanied by the divine energy. Day after day, though in the very midst of the busy season of the year, the house was crowded with anxious listeners and earnest seekers after the way of salvation. Scores were converted and made to rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins, and the posses- sion of a good hope of a blessed immortality. The little band of disciples, who had been struggling to maintain their existence as a church, were gladdened and strengthened by an accession that more than doubled their number — fifty-two having been added to their communion during the months of June and August. Mr. Alien mentions among those then gathered into the Presbyterian Church, Timoth} Sabin, one of its SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 235 pillars ever since, and a ruling elder in the thirty-sec- ond year of his office in 1*76, who ''lives in all our hearts, and will live as long as the things of time and sense have a place in our affections and remembrance ;" and Eliakim R. Ford, who joined the Baptist Churchy and " did noble and generous service there, and whose precious memory, like Mary's ointment, fills all the place.' '* The Presbytery of Watertown says : In many of our congregations God has granted us still further reviving, and among these, first and second Watertown, first and second Lowville, Leyden, Alexandria, Theresa, Antwerp, West Leyden, Belleville, Smithville, Martinsburg and Brantingham. There were mighty barriers to be overcome in some, and it has seemed as if the might and grace of God were put to the test by them. Sixteen of our twenty eight churches report three hundred and thirteen additions. The Presbytery of Tioga says: Binghamton has had an increase of 195. Union 145, First Con- gregational Church, Union, GO, Lisle and Owego a large but un- * Here is one of the inscrutable mysteries of grace, " Stmiliu- Similibu.s' is the established law, bat a Cyrus ie sometimes em- ployed in work for the Lord. Charity cannot think well of Mr. Littlejohn. He was either corrupt or Insane. With a natural aptitude for public speaking, lie was taken from secular life bj tip- Angelica Presbytery, and with no more than a district school preparation put into the ministry. His work as an ECvangelisI was principally confined to the bounds of the body that licensed and ordained him; hut it was carried on her.- ami there in other parts of th<- st;tt.-. He drew large congregations ami produced great excitements, ami some of the excellent of the earth admired his preaching ami approved of his proceedings, and conversions and revivals attended him. 1 1 i r- sermons were pronounced by most of his discriminating bearers, coarse ami violent, and reckless of di- vine truth; and though he escaped discipline for this ami for the dUsordero be produced in numerous congregations, the P that commissioned him also deposed him, convicted as he was ol a long course of gross Immorality. 236 PRESB TTERIANISM IN THE known number, and Owego is to receive forty more at the next communion.* En 1834, Watertown Presbytery reports an accession of one hundred and ninety-one to sixteen of its churches, and among those to which the largest was made were Belleville, Brantingham, West Leyden, Sacketts Harbor, Adams and Orleans, and the Synod of Utica reports: "A few of our churches have en- joyed precious and somewhat extensive effusions of the Spirit, and a greater number gentle refreshings, "f The Presbytery of Cortland reports : There have been revivals in some of our congregations and ad- ditions to most of our churches: 43 to Preble, 20 to Cazenovia, 27 to Smithfield, 15- to Fabius, 16 to Homer and 19 to Scott, and smaller numbers to others. * " In 1833, Jedediah Burchard preached at Binghamton and Union. His trumpet tone?!, his fire of love, his masterly power of description and riches of spiritual love, claiming also the high- est Calvinism, drew multitudes to hear him Hundreds suddenly- embraced Christ — probably half a thousand in six weeks. His fault was not in the preaching and praying, but possibly in taking the converts into the church before they were proved. Ministers and laymen distrusted the soundness of their conversion; the con- verts were in some cases neglected, and thus his faithful labors were brought into disrepute. Twenty years of agitation followed, while the long-suffering Saviour blessed ordinary and extraordi- nary means." — Rev. D. D. Gregory. f Elder Jacob Knapp, the well-known Baptist Evangelist, writes in his autobiography: " I spent the eighteen months following Sep- tember, 1S;J:J, in visiting the churches of Jefferson and Lewis counties, and laboring with them in protracted meetings. God was with me and converts were multiplied. His Spirit was poured out plenteously in nearly every place in which 1 labored. I was not confined to Baptist churches; but in Presbyterian and Methodist I preached repentance and faith. It was thought by some reliable judges that not less than two thousand souls were converted during these eighteen months." Mr. Knapp was also engaged during 1882 in "protracted meetings" at several places in the northern part of our field. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 237 The Presbytery of Delaware reports that "the Lord revived his work in Jefferson, where sixty were hope- fully converted, and afterwards in Harpersfield. where thirty were converted, and then in Franklin, where twenty-eight were received to the church.'' The Pres- bytery of Oneida reported that several of its churches '•were enjoying an unusual amount of divine influ- ence," but that report was not recorded In 1835, the Presbytery states that the divine influ- ence exerted the previou- year resulted in addition of twelve to the church in Sauquoit, thirty to Oneida and Skenandoah. and forty-five to Westmoreland and thirty- three to West Brunswick. The people in the last place had become so discouraged as to be ready to abandon the church, but the corning of a minister sent by the Amer- ican Home Missionary Society was immediately fol- lowed by anxious inquiry and joyful hope. The ]' bytery adds that a revival was then in progress at Ver- ona beginning on Thanksgiving day and greatly ad- vanced on the day of ad prayer forthe conver- sion of the world. The first converts wen- memh the P B P early in 1836, speaks of Whitesboro, Deerfield, Verona first »nd and third, New Fork Mills, Trenton and Holland Patenl as favored t<> some extent and after the year had closed it speaks oi interesting revivals and 6T in Wat'-rville. Stockbridge, V. moreland, New Fork Mills, Bridgewater, Warren and Augusta The Delaware Presbytery referring to L886, Bays, '"It has pleased our glorious L<>nl t«» grant refn ings from his presencee t<> n<> less than eleven 238 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE our churches, and as the result, they have been puri- fied, their divisions healed, backsliders have been re- claimed, the hands that hung down have been lifted and the feeble things have been strengthened, and two hundred and twenty-two communicants added to them :and others expected. The 1st, 2d and 3d Tomp- kins, Hancock, Walton, Delhi, Franklin, Harpersfield, Head of Delaware, Middletown and Hamden are especially to be mentioned in this connection. Pro- tracted meetings and circular conferences of churches, •conducted very much like protracted meetings, are the means that have been used and blessed." The General Assembly in 1837, mentions revivals in Wampsville, Lenox, Peterboro, Fayetteville, Manlius, Syracuse and Lysander, 1st and 2d Utica and Rome, Augusta, Litchfield, Cooperstown, Springfield, Fly Creek, Cherry Valley, Butternuts, Homer, Preble, most of the congregations in Tioga Presbytery and several in Chenango. The Presbytery of Delaware relates that from two hundred to three hundred united with its • I lurches. The Presbytery of Tioga adds Gilbertsville, Westford and Worcester to the list of the General As- sembly, and the Presbytery of Oneida adds New York Mills, Vernon Centre, New Hartford, Litchfield, Water- ville and Little Falls. The Synod of Utica makes Jin nt ion of Fulton and East Oswego, in the Presbytery of Oswego, and Alexandria, Evans Mills. Antwerp, Sack- ■ctts Harbor and Watertown, in the Piesbytery of Wa- tertown. In its Narrative of religion for 1838. the Presbytery of Oneida relates: "The First Church, and the Bleecker St. Church, Utica, New Hartford. Little Falls and >YXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 239* Rome second, have enjoyed special revivals of religion. We are told that Vernon and Augusta are gladdened by them now. and that there is increasing seriousness at Rome. An interesting state of religion has existed in Hamilton College, and several of the students give evidence <>i conversion.'' Forty-two were added to the church in Cortlandville, then in Geneva Presbytery. The religious interest in Utica this year began under the preaching of Elder Jacob Knapp. He gives an ac- count of it in his autobiography : Although there had been much prejudice against me in the city, I was at length invited there and commenced in the Bethel Chapel, West Utica, February, 1S38, and preached night and day for two weeks, and during the time there were some conversions, and many were awakened and Christians aroused to action. The place becoming too small to contain the crowds that thronged to hear the Word, we were invited to the Broad Street Baptist Church and to the first and second Presbytertan churches. After much prayer and deliberation it was resolved to take the second Presby- terian, because of it~ central location and because it was not so large as to make a fair-sized congregation appear small. But the power of (jod came down and the bouse was immediately filled to its utmost capacity. After remaining here for about three weeks, it was found necessary to remove to the First Presbyterian Church. Here I preached twenty-one sermons, besides attending prayer and inquiry meetings, in two weeks, making the period of my stay in L'tica seven weeks. The CSsee of pur., iction were so numerous that we could seldom close our evening servi- ces before 11 o'clock, although as man)- si wished to retire were seasonably dismissed. At the close of the meeting all who hail experienced a hop.- during the revival were seated in a body, making a company of nearl\ eight hundred ; i QOI did this Compose all, for many lived in the .-urnuinding villages 'Among the converti nrere people of all classes, manj of them merchants, doctors, lawyers, jodgSl Snd city officials. Four attorneys por- i conversion in one day." 240 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, widely famed as a lawyer and espe- cially eminent in the annals of the bar as an advocate before a jury, as natural as a child when at the height of his distinction and as generous as a prince, and Gen. John A. Ostrom, of promi- nence likewise in the legal profession, and even more noted for public spirit and enterprise, whose great aspiration it was to serve the community and to do kindnesses to individuals, entered on the religious stage of their lives during this revival. A spectator of the scene has described their appearance, when lost to every object and being but salvation and the Saviour, they stood side by side with a colored woman, in a crowd of anxious sinners, who asked the prayers of those who had access to God and prevailed with him. Five of the converts entered the gospel ministry. 1839-1849. This space was not eminently distinguished by the operations of the Spirit and yet they by no means ceased. " Millerism " quite widely spread over the land about midway in it, and was mischievous, of course, to true religion, and an explanation in part of its decline. The Presbytery of Oneida states that Mt, Vernon and Sauquoit are the only churches in its bounds blessed with revivals in 1839, between fifty and sixty uniting with the former and more than twenty with the latter. The General Assembly describes " the territory of revivals in 1840 as one-half of the ground occupied by its churches, and states that from 12,000 to 15,000 were the subjects of them, the means being special fasting and humiliation, visits to the impenitent and conversa- tions with them, social meetings, inquiry meetings, and continuous exhibition of truth in preaching." It speaks of the " intervals between them as diminishing," and it represents those of this year as " producing less S Y\UI) 0 F CM X Til . I /, NE H YORK. 2 4 L unprofitable and exhausting excitement, and as being conducted more generally by the pastors alone The Synod of Utica relates that the special influences of the Spirit descended on Potsdam, Canton, Parishville. and De Kalb, in St. Lawrence Presbytery, New York Mills, First Congregational. (Jtica; second, Rome ; New Hartford, Whitesboro, Cassville and Waterville, in Oneida Presbytery, and Fly Creek in Otsego Presby- tery,— that the converts were not received immedi- ately to the church, but in some cases arranged into classes, under the instruction of pastors and elders, — that the churches were inquiring for the old paths and endeavoring to walk in them, and that there was less feverish excitement among them and that they have learned by experience that it is only by abounding in the work of the Lord under settled pastors that they could be built up. TheSynod of (Jtica mentions revivals during 1841 2. in first Pome, Vernon and Holland Patent, in Oneida : New Lisbon and Worcester, in Otsego: Phcenix, in Os- wego; Sacketts Harbor, in Watertown, and De Kalb, in St. Lawrence Presbyteries. "In the month of July," Rev. James Gardner writes, " Rev. Mi-. Wick-- began services in Canton and the church was crowded, and though it was having time, the meetings continued with unabated zeal t'oi about five weeks. Mr. Wickes then left and was absent, for a mouthy and returning then, he held services for three weeks more Over one hundred souls are supposed to have turned to the Lord at that time, and in September, thirty-nine persons were added 10 OXL1 communion, t\\» of whom are elders and one a d6A0On; tweiiU B< 242 PRESBYTEB1AN1SM IN THE were received the December following, one of whom was afterwards ordained to the eldership, another is now clerk of our Society, and the third a useful minister in a sister evangelical church." The Presbytery of Oneida speaks of the " distillation of the Spirit like gentle dew, in 1841, on Vernon and New Hartford" and of "showers of divine grace " in Rome, New York Mills, Whitesboro and Holland Patent " In the last named church apparently insur- mountable difficulties vanished away." In 1843, the General Assembly said " There is scarce- ly an exception to the good tidings of great joy which the Presbyteries bring to our cars," and among these it cites Otsego, Oneida, Utica, Tioga, Delaware, Cortland and Onondaga. The Synod of Utica said, " From the Presbytery of Watertown we hear of the outpouring of the Spirit on Watertown, Sacketts Harbor, Adams and Cape Vincent. The Black River Institute shared in the blessing and a number of the pupils have devoted themselves to the gospel ministry. Several of the churches in St. Lawrence and Oswego Presbyteries have likewise been refreshed. At Sauquoit, in Oneida Presbytery, about fifty were awakened into life. In the Presbytery of Utica the same may be said of as many in the feeble church of Oriskany, under the labors of a devoted young pastor, and of about thirty in a school district near Rome, and of a considerable number in one part of the congregation of New York Mills, and of a few in New Hartford, while that church generally was much revived. In Otsego Presbytery " about thirty have have been added to the church in Cooperstown and twenty-three to Middlefleld and twenty-four to New STXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 243 Berlin, and in Cherry Valley an important and interest- ing work of grace has been wrought." The Synod adds: "The revivals reported have been more silent and unobtrusive than some in former years. The labors of evangelists have not been called for to any general extent. The pastors of the several churches, aided by neighboring brethren, have performed the labor in them. The people have shown a new relish for the doctrines of grace and these have been the topics of sermons and it is gratifying to learn that the Assembly's catechism is generally taught." The Oneida Presbytery received Narratives from but three of its churches this year — Vernon, Verona and Oneida Castle, but all these reported an interesting state of religion. A series of lectures on the Confession of Faith, at Verona, designed primarily for the young converts, resulted in visible and happy em Erroneous views of the second coming of Christ pro- duced some unhealthy excitement this year in Utica, Rome and elsewhere The Presbytery of Onondaga reported, "Upon the churches in Syracuse. 1 etteville, Onondaga, La Fay- ette, Lysander, Camillua and De Witt, the Spirit has tended with his converting and reviving influence and additions have been made to nearly all the churches, amounting to two hundred or over." The Presbytery of Chenango reported, "In a ten churches the Lord baa made bare bis arm and glorified his aame through the humbling of his people and the conversion of sinners," and the Presbytery of Tioga re ported, "The Lord has heard the prayers of his Saints 244 ntUSBYTERIANISM IN THE and poured out his spirit extensively on some of our churches." In 1844 the Synod of Utica notices Buel in the Pres- bytery of Otsego, first and second Home, Holland Patent, Western and Salisbury, in the Presbytery of Utica, as " blessed with the refreshing influences of the Holy Spirit," and in 1845 it speaks of Brasher Falls, in St. Lawrence, organized that year and doubled during the course of it, and the second Oswego as the only exceptions to the remark that its territory had been " like GKlboa, upon which neither dew nor rain descended," and its report for 1846 was no more cheering. Union and Windsor alone, so far as is known, escaped a similar dearth in Tioga and Chenango Presbyteries, from 1844 to 1847. The Presbytery of Cortland in 1845 states, " Several of our churches have enjoyed revivals of re- ligion," but no names are given, and in 1846 "there has been a melancholy destitution of the Holy Spirit in most of our churches, and as the consequence, an estrange- ment of feeling among brethren, exciting and distract- ing discussions, a disposition to withdraw confidence from our long tried and Heaven prospered missionary societies and a diversion of sympathy, and prayer and help from the Redeemer's cause, — but while deploring this, we gratefully note that three of our churches, Mc- Grawville, Harford and Pitcher have been greatly refreshed by seasons of merciful visitation." The Pres- bytery of Onondaga states in 1845, "In some of our churches there have been interesting revivals," but no names are given, and in 1846, "No congregation has witnessed a general revival except Lysander. Seasons of refreshing, however, have been granted in Salina, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. k245 Orville, First Syracuse and Amboy, and in less meas- ure in Ridgeville, Fayetteville and Onondaga Hill." Marcellus, then connected with the Presbytery of Ge- neva, may be also mentioned. The Presbytery of Utica relates that in 1847, five or six of its churches, not naming them, but First, Utica, notably, had enjoyed a work of grace, and it observes : ''The following features of it are worthy of remark : It was begun and carried on in nearly every instance by the established means : it was marked by deep solemnity rather than by great excitement, and a large majority of the converts were from families in which the Abra- hamic Covenant had been faithfully regarded.' The Presbytery of Onondaga relates in the same year: "The church in Manlius has enjoyed a precious revival, which resulted in the hopeful conversion of forty souls. The churches of Salina, Fayetteville, Pompey, Pompey Centre, Amboy and others have been more or lesc freshed," and in this year also the Synod of Utica re- lates: "Converts bave been added to the First Church, Utica, at every communion, and an increasing number of late. Fifteen nave professed conversion in Lowville, and among them persons of prominence and influence, and twenty-five h l I >nd, and as many are expected on a subsequent opportunity/' Early in L848, the Presbytery of Watertown urejo that the Holy Spirit was present with not lees than five of its churches, convincing and converting sun,. 11 1 fader the labors of their past i be < mon< Presbytery, "tbreeof our churches report revival! religion, resulting at Otisco in fifty hopeful con 246 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE in Park Church, Syracuse, forty, and in Liverpool twenty. These revivals have been characterized by great stillness and solemnity." "The Lord" is the lan- guage of Tioga Presbytery, "has greatly animated and strengthened the churches of Camden, Conklin, Owego, Berkshire and Binghamton. Probably not less than two hundred have confessed Christ in them. The preaching of the gospel, Sabbath school and Bible class instruction, prayer meetings, inquiry meetings and personal conversation were the means employed." "Most of our churches," says the Chenango Presbytery, "are supplied with pastors, and grow in regard for sound doctrine, order and stability. In several of the largest a work of grace has been experienced. Norwich and Sherburne have been most distinguished in this respect." 1849-1859. The General Assembly in 1849 spoke of " revivals of religion, of greater or less power, in some few churches in every part of the land, and of grateful refreshings within nearly all our Presbyteries." Eight churches, — Gilberts ville, Brownville, Westmoreland, Home, Whites- boro, Oriskany, Camden and Canton, were reported by the Synod of Utica, as "visited by revivals of religion." "Early in the year," the Presbytery of Onondaga re- ports, "the Lord appeared suddenty in one of our churches, and a gracious and powerful revival of reli- gion ensued, and since then he has come in mercy and might to several others." "Cortland ville, Homer and Pitcher, according to the Presbytery of Cortland, "have SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 247 enjoyed revivals, and it seems evident that our churches are becoming more stable in the doctrines of grace." The Presbytery of Onondaga was permitted to record that in 1850 nearly all its churches had accessions to their membership, and that Pompey, Cazenovia, and Park Church, Syracuse, have witnessed the special power of God in the conversion of souls.'1 "Revivals were enjoyed in some few of the congregations" in Utica Presbytery, and the Synod of Utica relates that "some of the Presbyteries report very interesting revi- vals in some of their churches, and gentle refreshings in others, and as the result large additions have been made to a few and considerable addition to many." In his discourse at the semi centennial of the First Church in Oswego, the late Dr. Condit speaks of this year as memorable in its history from the dispensation of the Spirit. The Presbytery of Cortland reported in 1851, "In nearly all our churches there have been marked indi- cations of the divine presence, preeminently Pitcher, and Homer, Marathon, Cortlandville and Summer Hill eminently." The Presbyter} of Oneida refers "with unspeakable gratitude to the conversion of sinners in nearly all its churches during 1852, and of lar{ dons to Hol- land Patent, New Eartford, New York Mills and Ver- non Centre, and of tokens then visible of copious re- freshings elsewhere." Fifty-nine were added this year t<> the church in Ogdensburg. In L853, Volney, Fulton, Laurens, Milford, Bolland Patent, Ne^i Eartford, New York Mills,Vernon Centre and [Jtica are inent ioned by the Synod of I'tiea. as "signally blessed l>\ the work *>i the Il<>lv spirit."' 248 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE The Presbytery of Cortland reported for 1854 to the General Assembly: "Several of our churches have enjoyed abundant outpourings of the Spirit. Homer has received sixty by profession, Cortland twenty, Whitney's Point forty-two, Lisle ten, and Freetown ten. In 1855 the Synod of Susquehannah speaks of "the cheering manifestations of divine grace in Gilbertsville, Coventry, Guilford and Walton," and Cortland ville re- ceived twenty-six more to fellowship. In 1856 the Synod of Onondaga names Baldwins- wille, Fayetteville, Truxton, Lisle, McGraw ville, Bing- ham ton, Union and Conklin as "reporting the special presence of the Divine Spirit," and the Presbytery of Tioga describes it as "characterized" within the bounds of that body, "by unusual permanence." In 1857 the Synod of Utica was "able to report revi- vals in some six or eight churches." 1858 was the memorable year in this decade, — mem- orable in the history of revivals, — memorable for the power and extent and especially for the character of its revivals. Providence made preparation for grace. Com- mercial reverses and embarrassments throughout the country produced general seriousness. Broken up and alarmed, people looked about for a refuge and resource. The comfort and support of religion were sought. Mul- titudes betook themselves to the sanctuary. Yast as- semblages hung on the proclamations of truth, and with throbbing hearts and flooded eyes, bowed in prayer. "What must I do to be saved ?" was the look of an anxious community and the cry of its quivering lips, and widely following this, were the beamings of SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 249 hope and the songs of joy. Considered apart from the divine agency in it, the feeling was spontaneous. Men did nothing to arouse it. And the exercises called for by it were the promptings of the occasion, and no hu- man arrangements. Meetings conducted themselves. Public services were largely informal, and more fre- quently directed by laymen than by clergymen, and con- sisting principally of volunteer addresses and prayers and impromptu singing, and it is wonderful that thus left to themselves, they regulated themselves. No dis- orderliness, no wildness, no unseemliness occurred. The most voluntary of revivals in its origin, it was the most unexceptionable in its methods and the most healthful in its action. The General Assembly spoke of itself as '"meeting in the midst of a great awakening. Members come from revivals to mingle in one at the place of their convening." The Synod of Utica ascribes the origin of this widely extended revival to ''the prayer meeting, and there it grew and spread until it traversed the land. Its great cher has been the Holy Spirit, and the crowded hall of supplicating people his audience room." The Synod of Onondaga pronounced the year "the mosl fraught with blessings of anv in the history of this body, and we thus add our testimony t<» what is given in every part of the land. There is much in this mar- vellous display of divine grace thai cannot he told. We can only speak in genera] term-. We cannot fully portray a single Bcene among the many crowded with thrilling incident. Hut there are several things we may notice; 1. Tlic universality of the work. \\Y 250 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE do not recall one of our churches that has not been affected by it. The only one within the Presbytery of Tioga that seemed to be unmoved, is now wrought upon beyond any precedent since its organization, nearly half a century since. 2. Ordinary means origi- nated and carried forward the work. Each pastor has been the Evangelist, with no desire on his part, or that of his people, for any other, and no new measures or doctrines or attractive eccentricities have been employ- ed. And if the ministry has not been as conspicuous as in past revivals, it is only because the elders and members of the churches have prayed and labored more. 3. The prominence given to prayer, and also the union in it of Christians of different denominations at daily meetings for it. 4. The impulse given to Sab- bath schools, Bible classes, catechetical instruction, family nurture based on the gracious covenant, and kindred agencies. 5. The expectation awakened and cherished that the Lord is about to do still greater things for his people." The Presbytery of Utica was of the opinion that "the state of religion within its bounds never inspired more gratitude and praise. Nearly one- half of its churches have enjoyed precious revivals, and scarcely one of the whole number but has received refreshing showers or the gentle dew. Preeminently among those most dis- tinguished are Vernon Centre, Sauquoit, Utica, Whites- boro, Clayville, New Hartford, Pome, Boonville, New York Mills, Deerfield, Waterville, Newport and Au- gusta. A new and much improved character has been given to the churches, and especially have the obliga- tion and scope and efficacy of lay agency been taught. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 251 Prayer was first and chief among the instrumentalities employed, and particularly, social prayer meetings, which were held daily in many towns, and attended and freely participated in by Christians of every name. Comparatively little addition was made to the ordinary preaching, and in no instance was an Evangelist called in. Hamilton College, situated within our bounds, and so closely connected with our branch of the church universal, has shared in the prevailing blessing, and several of its most promising students have entered the school of Christ. The effect of the revival has been good without qual- ification or admixture. No reaction has set in. As the feelings of Christians were never over-wrought, their tension remains, and no prejudices against them or against religion wTere provoked in the community, and while large accessions have been made to the member- ship of the churches, divisions have been healed, the debts of congregations cancelled, and the scale of be- nevolent contributions kept up, notwithstanding the pressure of the times. The records of Mohawk Presbytery contain do nar- rativeof religion or statistical reports, and it is impos- sible fairly to represent the Btateof its churches. West- minster, Utica, however, is known to have added twen- ty-four, on examination, to its members the present year. "The greal revival," is the language of the Synod of Susquehannah, "has been fell to some extent throughout all the churches ; but most deeplj in Gil* bertsville, New Berlin, Mill ford and Walton. The 25 2 PHESB YTER1A A ISM IN 7 HE healthfulness of the work is apparent from the state of religious feeling left behind. Prayer meetings and the House of Grod retain their attractiveness, and Sabbath schools and Bible classes are endowed with new inter- est. The shorter catechism is establishing itself more rirmly, and more prominently in the religious culture of our children, and the great schemes of benevolence have been sustained at the former standard, notwith- standing the prevailing causes of depression." "We have shared" says the Presbytery of Cort- land, " in the spiritual blessings so generally bestowed. Especially is this true of Homer, Cortland, Cincinna- ti and Pitcher, while most of the other churches report cases of conversion." The Presbytery of Onondaga gives the following among other quotations from the reports of its churches : " Fifteen were added to our church at the last com- munion, and fifteen more will be at the next." Ten of these converts belonged to the household of the delegate who brought up this report. " For fourteen }*ears the Lord had hid his face from us." Fifty were hopefully converted here, and while the church was earnestly praying for two young men in Hamilton College, intel- ligence came that they were heard and answered. Among twelve added to the church was an old man of seventy, who for forty years had been a curse to his family through intemperance. The first fruits were an Englishman and his wife. He said with deep emo- tion : I have said my prayers for more than fifty years, but have only now] begun to pray. Among the hopeful converts are several papists. Said one of them, speaking with emotion that thrilled the meeting : " I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 253 used to fear the priest, but have learned to fear God ; I used to confess to the priest, but confess now to God ; I was a poor, dark miserable sinner, but now I rejoice in Christ Jesus, and no man has done it ; the Lord has done it, praise Him! praise linn ! " " One man ovei fifty years of age, had been South and became a slave- holder and a violent defender of slavery, and was divorced from his wife, and had killed a man in a kind of duel and been tried for his life, and possessed supe- rior abilities. Conviced of sin, he would reply to every suggestion of the Saviour, 'Yes, but not for me, I am infinitely guilty; you know nothing about it; I am not to be forgiven like other sinners.' At the close of a sermon to a crowed house, he came foward to the pulpit and asked if he could say a word ; 'yes, was the answer.' 'I have been an unspeakably great sin- ner, but hope that Jesus has forgiven even me;' and then requesting liberty to pray, he made the most peni- tent confession to God, and east himself on his mercy in Christ.'1 Sixty-one out of one hundred hopeful con- verts joined that church in a single day. A- the Ogdensburg book contains \w> entries of nar- ratives of religion or statistical reports, there is no reliable information to be readily had o( the state of its churches generally, from time to tun.' ; but the manual of the Ogdensburg Church notices L858 as the pear of one of its revivals, and sixty-eight were then admitted to its fellowship Revivals of religion y a striking Providence in the community, but principally from no outward cause. Three of them resulted in conversion by the close of the summer, and the others as the first fruits of the revival which followed. In December, meetii a to ^n■ held in private, which increased in frequency and attendance. The hearts oi church members began to melt, and the impenitent asked an interest iii their prayers. The week of prayer gave a new impulse to the work, and the meetings were removed to the church, ami continued the following week', and then the week after, and s< > were kept up from week to wee yeral months. Slow progress ted i" be made A :••. only at a time were inquir- ing, and the attendants at the meetings were not nu- merous, and some professing Christians were hardly aware of the presence of tin- Spirit. It was even said 2 5 6 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE that no general blessing could be expected because of some existing evils. But some toiled and piuyed from the beginning. At times, "when quite a number found peace in believing, the work seemed to pause, and then anxiety, activity and prayer were aroused, and quickly following were conversions again. Forty-three have been brought into the church, and more will follow." Foilyy-one were received to the Westminster Church at a single communion — the largest number at any one time since the organization of that church. " Three of the four Presbyteries11 of the Synod of Onondaga "reported revivals of religion'1 in 1864. "Some of them extensive and powerful." The same Synod in 1865 records: Onondaga Presbytery reports a revival in Cazenovia, Cortland Presbytery, in Homer, and Tioga Presbytery in three of its churches. In 1866, the Synod of Onondaga says : Seldom, if ever, have the influences of the Spirit been so diffusive in our borders. All the churches in Auburn, both the churches in Syracuse, Baldwinsville, Amboy, Pompey, Biugham- ton and Owego mention large additions. The church of Nichols, hitherto feeble, has been doubled, enabling it to erect a suitable place of worship. The General Assembly describes 1867 as "a year of Ilk' right hand of the Most High," and represents Watertown and Utica as among the Presbyteries where it was displayed. The Synod of Onondaga in 1869, reports "revivals of much power" in several of its churches — sixty-nine being added to the church at Skaneateles, and the Presbyteryof Onondaga reports : ''The Lord has richly displayed his mercy in several of our churches." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 257 The mind of the church was fixed for a considerable portion of this decade on the reunion of the severed parts of its broken organism, and so diverted perhaps from its spiritual condition. But, however the fact may be explained, certain it is that revivals of religion within the bounds of the Synod diminished in number and declined in power and dwindled in extent, CONTROVERSIES OVER THE REVIVALS OF 1826-6, AND THEIR MORE IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. "The Oneida County Revivals'' of 1825-6, and those that followed them for ten years in Central and West- ern New York, were the occasions of violent discus- sions and animosities in the Presbyterian Church throughout the land. While they call for separate and special remark, the brevity to which we are compelled necessitates a very incomplete narrative of the facts. REV. CHARLES Q. FINNEY — HIS LIFE. The Rev. Charles G. Finney was "the bead and front of the offending." "Finneyism," in popular phrase, described the character of the revivals and the system on which tluy were conducted, and to minds at a distance from the scenes of them, and extensively over the country, the term expressed the extreme of heterodoxy, disorder and extravagance A knowl< of the man is therefore essential to an understanding of the subject, and happily thai is fully attainable now. Bis curly life is more summarily related in a private letter than in his A.utobi< igraphy : 258 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE I was born in Warren, Litchfield county, Ct., the 29th of August, 1792. When I was two years old, my parents removed to what was then called Brothertown, Oneida county, New York, subse- quently the home of a tribe of Indians. The white families were obliged to remove, and my father purchased land and removed to the parish of Hanover, now Kirkland, but then a part of the large township of Paris, in the same county. This removal was earlier than my recollection. I remained in Hanover, or Kirkland, and went to school, summer and winter, until about sixteen years of age. I do not remember the exact date. My father then removed to Henderson, Jefferson county, N. Y., where I taught school for a time, but there were no schools in which I could push my edu- cation. Soon after I was twenty years of age, I went East and spent about four years in teaching, and attending high school for a time. I had it in mind to enter Yale College, but yielded to the advice of my instructor who was a graduate of that Institu- tion. He said that at the rate of progress I was making, I could easily pass over the whole curriculum in two years, and that I could not afford to spend four years for a diploma. I believed him, and relinquished the idea of entering college, and arranged to go South and teach in an Academy, with the design of pursuing my studies at the same time. But I was overruled in this, and returned to my parents in Jefferson county. My mother was infirm, and plead so hard for me to remain near her, that I gave up a further literary course, and commenced the study of law in the office of Benjamin Wright (afterwards Benjamin Wright and David Wardwell), at Adams. After remaining there about four years I was converted to Christ, and soon after commenced the study of Theology. I was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence in the spring of 1824,* and soon after went into * Adams, Dec. 30, 1823, is the exact date of Mr. Finney's licen- sure, according to the Minutes of the Presbytery. Mr. Finney was ordained as an Evangelist by the same body in "the Metho- dist meeting house" at Evans Mills, July 1, 1824, Rev. A. W. Piatt presiding, Rev. J. Clinton preaching the sermon, Rev. G. S. Boardman delivering the charge, Rev. S. F. Snowden offering the consecrating prayer, and Rev. E. Bliss and W. B. Stowe leading in the devotions at the opening and closing of the service. Mr. Finney was taken under the care of the Presbytery with a view to the gospel ministry at Adams, June 25, 1823, and "directed to pursue bis studies under the direction of Rev. Messrs. Gale and Boardman." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 259 the northern part of Jefferson and the southern parts of St. Law- rence counties, where I labored in powerful and extensive revivals, until I commenced labors in We^ternville, Oneida county, in the autumn of 1824. MR FINNEY'S character and experience. Mr. Finney was built on a large scale. Towering in form, majestic in mien and imposing in countenance, perfectly natural in his appearance and movem- without the slightest putting on of what did not come upon him and belong to him, and without* any con- sciousness of look and manners, he stood up a Saul among the people. And his body was the fitting home of himself. — large, mighty and dauntless. Xo one ever tioned his royalty. By universal —ion. he 3ted of the highest intellect and the profoui heart. Whatever else may be said of him, his mental and moral exercises were preeminently vigorous and intense. Mr. Finney's nature made him commanding. manifest was his sincerity. He both believed and felt whatever he professed. Thoroughly hoi every part of his creed was the persuasion of his mind, and every expression of his sentiments the utteranc< hi- heart And did ever Christian — Edwards, Brain P son, Paul himself — know deeper stirrings of the soul Bis profound the movement in that, and deep his subsequent experien And who in an LTpassed him in earnest! i and sing'' .d disinterestednesa Be bhrevi his whole S(,'lf into hifl work, — body, mind and heart, with no thought of what might betide him. intent alone .«n what could be accomplished for God and man, and s-> 2 60 PRE SB YTER1AN1SM IN THE he was emboldened to do anything his object required. The choice of his fields of labor from time to time was determined irrespective of their honorableness and agreeableness, and he was as unsparing in the obscurest little congregation as in the largest and most con- spicuous. THE STATE OF THE TIMES. Such was the man, — and what were the times? The divine sovereignty had been the keynote of the pulpit and the parish from their setting up on this field, and so disproportionately and almost exclusively had it controlled them as to impair human responsibility. Preaching and praying were general. The truth was delivered, but with the thought that at some time and in some way it would contribute to its legitimate results. And prayer corresponded to it It was a pre- sentation of petitions to lie before God awaiting his notice, and in time, perhaps, to secure his answer. The public conscience, too, was considerably blinded and hardened. There came to be, not avowedly, but prac- tically, a thought of the divine efficiency in the produc- tion of sin, and a consequent incapability, or a dimin- ished capability, to recognize human criminality for it, or human obligation in reference to it. Conviction of sin was obstructed, and repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. HIS EXAGGERATED VIEWS OF PREVAILING ERRORS AND SYSTEMS. Mr. Finney's keen eye discerned the state of things, though it was very much exaggerated in his view, from his drawing general conclusions from a narrow range of SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 261 observation, and because to his susceptible mind, mi- ssions of facts exceeded their magnitude and extent. His generalizing of individual circumstances, and his broad inferences from narrow premises, are illustrated in his charging on "ministers and professors of religion in that (this) region/' a concurrence "to a great extent" in the Ilopkinsianism of the Eev. Dr. Wm. R Weeks, whereas that divine stood almost entirely alone, with little or no countenance from his surrounding brethren. The same sweeping statements, based on single cases, appear in his charging on Princeton what he heard, or supposed he heard, from his pastor, a graduate of Princeton, and the idea he then got of "old school the- ology," and of the teaching of the Westminster Sym- bols, held possession of him to the last, and so squinted ision that he could not see them aright But as already remarked, there was a substratum of truth in what appeared to Mr. Finney's view. The prevailing sentiment had weakened the pressure of responsibility, and hindered the conviction of sin, and discour; penitence and faith, and led to a "casting of bread on the waters'' us the only style of preaching, and to wait- in- as the only style of praying. Mr. Finney set him- self against these errors,* and held sinners to an >peakiu^ of the revival at Rochester in 1842, -Mr. F. "Siiiii.-r.iwt-r.- 11..! encouraged to expect (he Holy (J host while they were passive, and never told to wait Qod'l time, but were taught unequivocally that their first and Immediate duty m Bttbmit themBelvef to God, to renounce th.-ir own will, their own way and themselves, and instantly to deliver uj. all that they and all that they had to their rightful owner, the Lord JsSUI ( brist; that the only obstacle in the way was tlu-ir own Stubborn will; that God was trying to gain their unqualified consent t.> give ui> their sins and accept the Lord JuSUS Chriflt as their right- eOUSnees and salvation " 262 PRESB YTERIAN1SM IN 1 'HE account for the state of their hearts as well as for the conduct of their lives, and pressed conversion upon them, while he urged Christians to aim at immediate results in their efforts, and immediate answers to their prayers. His very weaknesses were his strength. His defective mental discipline and his defective lore gave freedom to him. He rushed in where discipline and learning would have kept him out, and dealt blows that, better trained and better informed, he would never have struck. His imperfect education* permitted rashness for the destruction inevitable in reforms. mr finney's preaching. Such a man preaching in such a state of the commu- nity, must necessarily make turmoil and arouse oppo- tion. There was magnificence about him in the pulpit to inspire admiration and awe,f with his towering and * Mr. Finney speaks of himself in his autobiography, as having enjoyed no early religious instruction. His parents were not pious, and he heard little or no intelligent preaching until he commenced preparing for the bar, and never even owned a Bible until then. His only study of theology was for a few months with a village pastor, and when licensed to preach, he had never read the Westminster Confession of Faith, and at no time did he learn enough of Greek and Hebrew to search the Scriptures in their original tongues. f " The scene in the crowded church (First Utica) on these occa- sions was solemn beyond description. No unworthy accessories to heighten the interest or deepen the impression were ever employ- ed. Beyond some unaffected, yet striking peculiarities of voice and manner in the speaker, there was nothing to attract curiosity or offend even the most fastidious or carping sense of propriety. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 263 finely proportioned person, and princely, but active movements, and expressive and vigorous, but graceful gestures, his penetrating voice and varied intonations, his glaring eye, and his power of reasoning — but how he searched and exposed the heart,* — to what a vivid consciousness of themselves he brought his hearers, and how irritating it was to many in the church and to more in the world to be thus found out. And the ex- citement could not be confined to the listening congre- gations; the surrounding communities were aroused, and disturbed in their false and relished security, mul- titudes awaked to rage. HIS FAULTS AND MISTAKES. His faults and mistakes could easily be predicted. With strength and earnestness as his especially charac- teristic gifts, and on a presumed mission of reform, there must have been inevitably a tendency to ev It is an inadequate tribute of praise to say of his preaching that whether it was distinguished most for intellectual subtlety.strong denunciation of sin, or fearful portrayal of the wrath to come, it had its reward in uncounted accessions to the Christian ranks and renewed vigor of religious life. As a pulpit orator, his place among the foremost of his time was long ago assured." — Thus. oard, /*>/. * Says Rev. Dr. Cowles: " Few preachers in any age have sur- passed President Finney in clear ami well defined views of con- science, and of man's moral convictions: ff the spiritual Life from experience and from obaervmtion; not many have discriminated the tnu- from the false more cl or have been more skillful in putting their points clearly and pungently." 264 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE in him, and a tone of imperiousness and harshness. He was not calm enough, and scholarly enough for invari- ably considerate and intelligent judgments and for accurate views ; and by his thorough convictions he was almost reckless in his representations and denun- ciations of supposed errors and in his adoption and advocacy of opposing opinions, while his pulpit appeals, with occasional exceptions of touching tenderness, were harsh and often grating. Force was his factor, and " breaking down " his process. There was therefore a show for the accusations against him, and when most sifted, a residuum of truth. He was intolerant of differences of doctrine from him, and denunciatory, and even defamatory of those who held them. He was headlong in his statements of what he believed, when set over against the contrary as believed, he supposed, by others. He was harsh in his sermons, and produced their effects by harrowing more than by dissolving. He was irreverent and coarse, taking liber- ties with God in the language he employed, and need- lessly shocking the tastes and sensibilities of men, and dealing out "hell" and "damnation" with freedom and frequency and seeming relish. And yet his faults had their mitigation. It was the impression he had of the state of the public mind that increased the tendency of his strong nature to compul- sion rather than constraint, and doctrine was as much a matter of conscience with him as principle, and error as much a wrong and as intolerable as sin, and the headway under which feeling kept him, bore him be- yond bounds in his lines of belief, and particularly in his phrasings of it And the severity of his preaching. SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 265 and its legal cast and tenor, and the violence of his lan- guage, came largely from his conceptions of human wickedness, as also from his conceptions of human obligation. mp, finney's doctrines. Mr. Finney adopted extreme New School views of sin. and of native depravity, and of regeneration: and yet, exceptionable as they may appear in his represent- ations of them, they were, for the most part, explana- tions of conceded facts, and not denials of them, and on' the whole, and for substance of doctrine, he preached the Calvinistic scheme. Speaking of one of the earlist re- vivals in which he labored, he sa I insisted upon the voluntary total depravity of the unregene- rate, and the unalterable necessity of a radical change of heart by the Holy Ghost, and by means of the truth; I laid great stress on prayer ; the atonement of Jesus Christ, his divinity, his divine mission, his perfect life, his vicarious death, his resurrection, re- pentance, faith, justification by faith, were discussed as thor- oughly as I was able, and pressed home. And speaking of another revival soon after, he says: I went on to show 1st, what the doctrine of election is not; '2d, what it is; :5d, that it is a doctrine of the Bible: 4th, that it is the doctrine of reason; 5th, that to deny it is to deny the very attri- butes of God; Oth, that it opposes no obstacle to the salvation of the noii fleet : 7th, that all men may be MTed if they will: and last, that it is the only hope that any will 1m- saved. "Dr. Beecher told me/1 he Bays, "that In* had never a man with whose theological views he so entirely accorded "Dr. Wisner" (Secretary of A. B. G 1'. M.) "wrote a reply and justified my views, with the excep- tion <>!' those that I maintained on the persuash w 266 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE moral influence of the Holy Spirit,"* "I conversed with him (Mr. Nettleton, at Albany, 1826,) in regard to his doctrinal views, — especially of the views held by the Dutch and Presbyterian Churches in regard to the nature of moral depravity. I found that he en- tirely agreed with me, so far as I had opportunity to converse with him, on all the points of theology upon which we conversed. Indeed, there had been no com- plaint by Dr. Beecher, or Mr. Nettleton, of our teaching in those revivals. They did not complain at all that we did not teach what they regarded as the true gospel. What they complained of was something that they sup- posed was highly objectionable in the measures that we used." He also mentions the republication in Eng- land of his "Systematic Theology," with a commenda- tory preface by Dr. Bedford, who was pronounced, he says, by Dr. John Campbell, "the greatest Theologian in Europe.1' Mr. Finney's doctrine of the prayer of faith, as that has been reported, would encounter more general objec- tion. Kev. Dr. Gardiner Spring describes it, as present- ed by him from the pulpit of the Brick Church, New- York : It was a well-arranged discourse; and, as far as I can remem- ber, at this distance of time, he dwelt largely upon the fact that there is such a thing as the effectual, fervent prayer of the right- eous; that such prayer is prevalent and avails much; and that it is always answered by the specified blessing prayed for. His last proposition startled me, and I saw that it might lead to the wild- * More than thirty years ago, a venerable clergyman, then near the close of an eminent ministry, remarked to me that he could convert a sinner if only he had the power of the Spirit to hold truth clearly and steadily before him. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 267 est fanaticism. I could not admit his strongly expressed inference that if our prayers for specified blessings are not infallibly an- swered, either God is not true to his word, or we do not pray in faith. Still Dr. Spring speaks from memory, which may not have been altogether trustworthy, and a suspicion is cast upon it by the published declaration of the Oneida Presbytery in 1826 : We are not aware that any views prevail among us to any ex- tent materially different from what are expressed by President Edwards, in his sermon entitled: " The Most High, a prayer-hear- ing God," and by Calvin, particularly in his commentary on the prayer of Paul respecting the u thorn in the flesh." The method- of ^fr. Finney, and of the ministers and churches, in concurrence with him, received severer strictures than his doctrines. Among these, as alleged, were such public manifestations of feeling by individ- uals as rising for prayer, or "going forward" for prayer t« • the front of the pulpit, or taking places on anxious - : also Buch impertinencies as publicly praying for persona by name without their request, or consent, or knowledge, and by people whose relation to then. cased no such liberty: and further, public prayer and speaking by women, and still further, the hasty admis- of converts to the church M<>st of these are now moot points id the councils of church, and the mere reality of them can hardly make one a -inner above all his brethren. The right or wrong, the benefit or harm of an imli cation of anxiety oi mind to a mixed congregation by individual men and women, la still under disCUfi 268 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE and in doubt. Illustrations of signal advantages from it certainly occur, while it is true that the great mass of cases of injury from it are not likely to be known, and people who have been brought to a decision \>j an ex- terior pressure, and not on their own motion in view of the truth, it is natural to fear cannot be held to their decision on the cessation of exterior pressure, and there is, besides, a sacredness of personal and private feeling, and a delicacy of sensibility, and a refinement of taste and sentiment in a community, that ought not to be needlessty invaded and violated and blunted and the value of which ought to be taken into the account, while the whole system of sensible signs for the encour- agement of hope and the stimulation of zeal in Chris- tians is fatal to that faith which is the principle of spir- itual life. But whatever may be said on the subject, it should be observed that Mr. Finney never used the anxious seat in the " Oneida county revivals," and never elsewhere, save once or twice, perhaps, until 1830, at Rochester, "years after the cry of new meas- ures had been raised," as he says, and seldom before did he call on persons to rise in the church. His power was in the pulpit, and on that he laid his stress. His engrossing thought was the exhibition and application of the truth, and private conversation and inquiry meetings and prayer meetings were his accessories to preaching. His views on the general subject, as ex- pressed in private correspondence with a friend, are too moderate to provoke Beverity of censure: I do not ask whether the measure be old or new, expressly commanded or recognized in Scripture. The questions are: Is it consistent with the Bible, i. c, is it not inconsistent with its spirit 8YN0B OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. and letter 1 7s its tendency good or bad ? Is it so liable to abuse that the precedent would be dangerous or not ? Is it a common sense way of bringing the truth in contact with the mind, or is it so strange as greatly to shock the church and lead to vain wrang- ling; or, is it so in accordance with common sense, as to haw the good sense of thinking men in its favor ? Does God own and bless it ? Is it consistent with order and conducive to deep thought and solemnity ''. Such questions as these I would ask, and the answer would settle my mind. As to everything like confusion, or that naturally leads to it, it should, in my judgment, by all means, be avoided. And the reasons he give.- for introducing the anx seat at Rochester were : I had often felt the need of some measure that would bring sin- ners to a stand. I had found that with the higher classes espe- cially, the greatest obstacle to be overcome was the fear of their being known as anxious sinners. I had also found that some- thing was needed to impress it upon them that they were expect- ed at once to give up their hearts — something that would call them to act, and act as publicly before the world as they had in their sins — something that would commit them openly to the service of Christ. THE ATTITUDE OP CENTRAL NEW YORK PRESBYTERI- AN is. \l TOWARDS NEW MEASUB The Presbytery of Watertown condemned the nam- ing of individuals without their desire, in public prayer, and a ■ the sentiment of Pn nism in Central Ne^ Fork, and there is no evi- dencethal Mr. Finney and those who took part with him, fcrai I against it. The Bhare in sei men in t] escribed by Dr. Aiken in his report of CJtic We liHVf also had fftrioOl y some errors and irregularities, which it is readily ad- mitted ought to be deplored and avoided. Those who cherish an aversion to revivals of religion because they are attended by imperfections and liable to abuse, should recollect that there is nothing with which the human powers and passions have to do, whatever be its general excellence, that is not open to the same ob- jection." "There remains in our land, and in our be- loved church, many congregations in which formality and a Laodicean spirit are mournfully prevalent. Lit- tle reason have they to felicitate themselves that they arc free from all the extravagancies which they censure in others, and which it is not denied, do exist in certain places, and to a limited extent. Let them remember rather that a congregation in which many souls are born into the Kingdom of God. although some false pretensions to piety and some censurable practices ap- pear, is on the whole in a state infinitely preferable to a congregation in which hundreds are quietly going down SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 273 to perdition, and in which the wise virgins are slumber- ing and sleeping with the foolish." - mderoiis reports of the revivals were widely circu- lated. Some of them on responsible authority. "The pastoral letter of the Oneida Association" voyaged with them to almost every door in the land. See what it bore about — "calling men hard names:" "reporting great, powerful revivals which afterwards came to little or nothing." "ostentation and noise," "not guarding against false conversions." " injudicious treatment of young converts, such as turning them into exhorters and teachers/' " giving heed to impressions, feelings and supposed revelations," " allowing anybody and everybody to speak and pray in promiscuous meetings of whatever age, sex, or qualification." using means of exciting fears, such as saying to a sinner: "If you don't repent to day. you will be in hell to-morrow." you a reprobate, you are going straight to hell." fami- liar use of the words devil, hell, cursed, damned, and in tone and manner like profane swearing, calling elderly people by youth and boys, "old hypocrites," " old apostates," imprecations in prayer, interference by min- - and others with congregations to which they did not belong, female prayer and exhortation in public, — and a still further list too long to be completed. No wonder that people opened their eyes at what was laid down before them? No wonder that they revolted ai a work of which this is the illustration and specimen. No wonder that they thought of Presbyterianism in 1 Y .'. York with mingled disgust and horror. 274 PRESBYTER1AN1SA1 IN THE And now what shall be said of this paper and its au- thor ? Nothing more than is spoken by the following facts : It was drafted, as it is understood, b}^ the Kev. Dr. William R Weeks, of Paris Hill, a pronounced disci- ple of Dr. Hopkins, and it may be of Dr. Emmons, ag- gressive in the advocacy of his theology, but entirely unsuccessful in imposing it on the Presbytery of which we was long a member, connected at the time with the Oneida Association, then small and feeble, and largel}r controlling it b}' his pow7er of will. Aggrieved by the statements in the paper, the Pres- byteiy of Oneida (February 8, 1828) appointed Eev. Messrs. Frost, Aiken and Gale to inquire of the writer of it " whether he has evidence that any member of this Presbytery used any of the exceptionable expres- sions quoted'' by him, and the committee subsequently reported that " he refused to give them any information" on the subject. In July, 1827, a conference was held at New Leb- anon, Columbia county, on the subject of conducting revivals : Mr. Nettleton, Drs. Beecher, Hawes, Hum- phrey and Justin Edwards, and perhaps others from the East, and Messrs. Finney, Aiken, Frost, Gillett, Coe, Gale, Weeks and Lansing, and perhaps others from the West, were present, and they continued in fra- ternal session for several days. The western brethren sought the avowal or announcement of the authorship of the Oneida Association letter, and the evidence on which its allegations were made ; but Dr. Weeks made no reply by word or sign. Those brethren then contra- dicted the allegations separately and collectively. Mr. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 275 Nettleton, at a later stage of the Conference, read what he called " a historical letter,'' which contained a cata- logue of the evils, credibly, as he supposed, reported to him as prevalent in the revivals, and taken very much from the Oneida Association letter, and the western brethren were as unanimous and emphatic as before in their denial of them, and they voted for a series of res- olutions condeming the alleged evils in detail, insisting, at the same time, that the resolutions should notvbe in- terpreted as affirming the existence of the alleged evils here, but only as cautioning against them: and such the\' were assured were their purport and design. An editorial of the Journal and Telegraph, March 9. 1833, relates : " In the county of Oneida there has pre- vailed, and for aught we know, still prevails, to some extent, the practice of whipping children, to induce them to submit to God.'1 President Davis, of Hamil- ton College, according to the minutes of Oneida Pres- bytery, vol. 6, p. 1, "admits that in conversation with a gentleman in Albany, he was instrumental in the publication of the article," but that he ''made no such charge.'' ;' I trust," lie says, "there is no church among us the majority oj whose members would not decidedly disapprove of such a new measure." While the charge in its full breadth is disavowed, President Davis implies, at the same time, that portions of the members of our several churches might be guilty of it. The Presby- tery proceeded to an Investigation of the charge, and all that thej could ascertain was thai one good mother in her chamber did once whip a child to Induce it to submit t<> God ; but immediately after -he was vinced of her mistake and bitterly bemoaned it. 276 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE We dare not lisp a word of the reflection of these reports on the Holy Spirit ; but we may speak of the aggravation of their injustice to our ministers and churches by reason of the strenuous efforts of our Presbyterianism, already described, to repress and cor- rect, not so much the evils in these revivals, as the evils cotemporary with them and outside of our ecclesiastical connection. THE REVIVALS TESTED BY TIME AND THEIR EFEECTS. " Ye shall know them by their fruits."' The scene of these revivals lies before us, and their effects have had time for development, and. what do we see ? Xo " burnt district," certainly, as in their day, and some- times since, it was called, the occurrence of what it was presumed must be, being mistaken for what is: but a quick and fertile soil, a harvest field, a beautiful gar- den. Eevivals have made it the land for revivals. Susceptibility to the truth has been cultivated, and re- sponsiveness to its appeals ; and, from 1826 to 1876, there has been such a succession of refreshings from the presence of the Lord, occasionally over its whole space in the same years, but generally here now and there then, that the dews of heaven and its copious showers have seemed to fall continuously upon it. And how the institutions of religion and their adjuncts in schools and academies and colleges have struck down their roots and spread their branches, and how the ploughshare has been kept running into vices and wrongs, and what gatherings have been made for the waste places of our own land and for the desolate parts abroad I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 277 Says Dr. Aiken. 1871, "After surveying the result forty years, I am persuaded that it was the work of God." Says Dr. Lansing, 1856 : " I have been familiar with these churches (in Central and Western New York) since 1806. I have seen their birth, their progress, their manhood and maturity, and I deem it no great presumption in me to say that I know their history and character at least as well as any man living. That history is written upon the financial records of our Bible, Tract, Foreign and Home Missionary Societies : upon our academies and colleges and upon all those institu- tions whose object is the elevation of man or the ad- vancement of the Redeemer's kingdom : upon the moral worth, the wealth, the general prosperity of cities, towns and villages in those sections of the State and upon the thousands of intelligent, devoted, active friends of Christ, the fruits of those revivals who continue to this day steadfast in the faith and hope they then embraced." OTHEB EVANGELISTS. Mr. Finney was but one of many Evangelists who appeared at the same time with him of whom busily employed and attracted considerable notice, Mention has already been made of Augustus Little- john and of the long, but Btealthilv practiced wicked- and vileness of which he was guilty. Though a native of Oneida county he never belonged to any of our Presb James Boyle came to the Presbytery of Oneida with clean papers from the Methodist ministry, and after careful examination and a term of study under the di- rection of Rev. Messrs, Aiken, Allen and Frost, be was x 278 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE admitted to our ministry. Soon after, the charge of " Perfectionism " against him was sustained and he was unanimously supended from the sacred office. Luther Myrick was taken under the care of the Pres- bytery of Oneida and examined at intervals on all the prescribed parts of trial and licensed as a candidate for the ministry. Engaged as a stated suppty by the church of Litchfield, he joined with it in a request for ordination sine titulo, which was refused. Subsequently called to the pastorship of the church, he was ordained and installed, but soon dismissed on the plea of an in- adequate support. Subsequently he was charged with lieresy in denying the Saints' Perseverance and incul- cating Perfectionism, with disorganizing churches and encouraging confusion and disorder in religious meet- ings, with defaming the Presbyterian Church and using improper language in preaching and praying, and con- victed of the offences, he was suspended from the min- istry. Subsequently he made humble confession and expressed deep repentance and was restored to his office- He then took a dimission to the Black River Associa- tion. Not being received by that body, he announced to the Presbytery his withdrawal from the Presbyte- rian Church and his name was stricken from the roll, lie was an enthusiast, probably sincere, but wrought up to the point of derangement, and while gathering large assemblies and exciting them, his proper place was the asylum rather than the pulpit. Very different from these Evangelists, and yet very peculiar, was Jedediah Burchard. Born at Norwich, Ct, in 1790, of pious parents and a godly ancestry, and kin to a large circle of the excellent of the earth, he was SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 279 removed at eight years of age, with his parents' family, to Utica, N. Y. Entering the store of Mr. Lynot Bloodgood, he so commended himself to that eminent merchant and business man that he took him to Albany, and there Mr. Burchard, in partnership with another, opened a trade which went down in the general crash after the war of 1812. Proud and ambitious before, he was now brought to the foot of the Cross and began at once to make known the salvation he had found. Soon after he commenced preparation for the ministry, spending two or three years in it at Albany, actively laboring for souls in the meanwhile. He afterwards joined his mother and brothers and sis- ters, then living at Sacketts Harbor, and continued his work and study there, and commenced in small neigh- borhoods the part of an Evangelist to which his subse- quent ministry was largely devoted. Licensed and or- dained by the Black River Association, he joined the Presbytery of Watertown in 1825, and was actively employed in revivals of religion in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties and occasionally elsewhere. In 1828, he organized the Fayette St. Church, Utica, and served it for a time But his mission was that of an Evangelist, and though afterwards a pastor or b1 supply, tor Bhorl periods of the Chatham St. Chapel, New York city, and at Adams, X. V.. his professional lit'.- was mainly spent in Bpecial meetings in Central and Western V ■■•. Fork, in Canada and in New England M;m\ of the must important churches in these district- were opened to bim, and wherever he wenl large con- gregations cam*- nut and -rent interest was awakened He cannot be judged by ordinary rule ( istitutdon- 280 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE ally eccentric, lie was irresistably erratic. A thorough Presbyterian and a rryper-Calvinist, he was of a mercu- rial disposition and a brilliant genius. His power of description has been seldom surpassed, and his fund of anecdote and fountain of humor were so overflowing that he could not seal them. Without culture and oft- en crude and coarse, his picturing was always vivid and occasionally beautiful, and his delivery, though too obviously acting, well befitted it. His preaching would have drawn crowds irrespective of its spiritual impression, but this did not by any means altogether fail in it, though disproportioned to the mere excite- ment it produced and not distinguished by him from that. Among the principal accusations made against him was the indiscriminate zeal with which he pressed admissions to the church. Mrs. Burchard was a ''help meet" for her husband, — a woman of great dignit}' of character and bearing, feminine but unshrinking. She conducted services for women and children, and precluding criticism of them by her management of them, she achieved memorable good.* * Mr. Burchard's devotion to his wife was passionate to the last, with a dash of knightliness and knighterrauty. During a winter's residence by her in one of the sanitary institutions of Utica, where it was deemed important to isolate her, for the time, from her kiudred and friends, he was a familiar visitor at my house, and his accounts as he returned from them, of adventures on the grounds of the institution for the purpose of exchanging signals with his wife, were as romantic and side-splitting as Don Quix- ote's, while the plight in which he was sometimes put by them and in which he appeared, added to the picturesqueness and drol- lery of his tales. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 281 Mr. Burchard's nervous temperament and power of fancy and superabundant facetiousness and temptation to the histrionic were unfavorable to charitable judg- ments of him, but underneath all and predominant over them was a Christian sentiment that came out clearer in private confidences than in public performances. Un- happily for him he was somewhat secularized in his later years by financial affairs, and the interest he took in them; but at his death in Adams, September, 1864. he reposed unwavering confidence in the Redeemer, and with mind calm and clear, was ready to depart. REVIVALS illl-: NECESSITY OF AX [MPERFECT CHURCH. Even good men form conceptions of better ways of promoting religion than by revivals. They would fur- ther it uniformly. Steady movemenl is their ideal and sometimes their demand. But alas! Christian imper- fection breaks up their plans and dissipates their vis- ion- and overmasters their will. Taking that into the account, tli (.' certainty is that religion will advance irreg- ularly, and more or less fcumultuously. It is only at its stalling now, and moving, and Btopping, and falling back, ami no little jarring withal, will be still loi as heretofore, the mode of its progress. Under the full headway of millenial days, il will run continuously and smoothly. Revivals are tli<- uecessity of an imperfect church. i;l.\ [VALfl OF VARIOUS I STES. Though the work of one agent, through tli«' same instrumentality, revivals put on various forms and a-- 282 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE pects, and are distinguished by various characteristics. How noticeable is this in the different periods that have passed under our survey. Williston, Bushnell, and their compeers and successors, for a score of years, preached doctrine and duty like professors of theol- ogy, presenting habitually and prominently the Calvin- istic scheme, and the themes of sermons by the minis- ters were the themes of conversation by the people. The sovereignty of God became the controlling thought. For the succeeding score of years, and longer, and largely under the incitement of Mr. Finney, human re- sponsibility was pressed on congregations and individ- uals, so that the blame of their conduct and disposition and condition was fastened on themselves, and the obli- gation pressed to frame " their doings to turn unto the Lord, and "to cast away from them all their transgres- sions whereby they had transgressed, and make them a new heart and a new spirit," and activity in the work of salvation became the controlling thought* The cross was lifted up in both periods, but not foremost and highest. Sternness and seriousness were the pecu- liarities of the piety of the first two decades, and sever- ity and zeal of the second two. However much the pulpit has since gained rhetorically and aesthetically, for the reason, perhaps, that former days seem better than these, it may be thought that it hardly holds its own intellectually and as the sounding-board of God's * Speaking of the "Great Awakening," 1740, Tracy writes: " The most important practical idea, which then received increased prominence and power, was the idea of the " new birth," as held by the orthodox Congregational ists, of New England, and others who harmonize with them." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 2tf3 Word. There is less substance in its communications and less Scripture — less to fill and exercise the mind, and less of " thus saith the Lord." It is more pleasing; but not so exacting and spiritual. It does not tax tli inking so much, nor consist so much of supernatu- rally revealed truth, nor does it disturb the conscience so much and break up false security. It has apparently yielded to the demand: "Speak unto us smooth things," and adapted itself to public sentiment instead of controlling and training public sentiment and adapt- ing this to itself. Doctrine, especially, is a comparative' stranger to the lips of preachers and to the ears of au- diences. But this much may be claimed for recent preaching, and must be conceded : if it has lost mus- cle and body and edge and force, its mildness and winsomeness are by no means illegitimate. They come, in part, at least, from beholding and exhibiting Jesus. He is put in his right place, on the foreground, and there he is pointed out to produce conviction of sin and the penitence of sinners, as well as a good hope. And the preaching of the day gives character to its re- vivals. With less awe of God, and fewer of the terrors of the law, and with less stir, they abound with Christ Mi". Finney lltteiB a caution in his private correspond- ence which merits notice: "Of late, I fear, that fective instruction Is letting down the tone of revivals, and that there is to be a very disastrous reaction. Min- isters are striving to preach the gospel without the and hence the true significance of the gospel is not derstood." At the same time. Mr. P'i 1 1 1 1« ■ \ s error at this point, is very manifest The prominence be gave to 284 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE mission" and " consecration1' in his instructions to the impenitent, and particularly to the inquiring, depreci- ated faith, and made it subsequent to them in both the order of nature and the order of time. The converts under him were likely to be more servants than be- lievers. They were in danger of separating the two acts and making faith to follow submission and conse- cration, instead of putting them forth as a single com- plex act, the succession in the order of nature being- faith leading to submission and consecration, and not following them. In a word, the tendency of his teach- ing was to induce a legal, more than an evangelical ex- perience. As truths are rotary, presenting their different sides and aspects, so the public mind which they address, is variable in its susceptibilities. Every preacher notices this in his own career. The effective appeals at one stag< - of it lose their force at another, and by a sort of instinct he changes the relative positions and lights in which he puts different truths, and the style and tone in which he delivers them. The kind of preparation for the pulpit is ever in transition. Sermons get out of date. Their repetition becomes anachronistic. The powerful preaching of 1826 is feeble in 1876. The receptivity for it has passed away. Mr. Finney shared the com- mon experience. He himself never waned, but (save in exceptional communities and circumstances,) his pulpit fell off. I was cognizant of an illustration of this at Borne in 1855. As able and earnest then as he was when there in 1826, little or no response to his discourses came back. He ascribed it in his auto- biography very erroneously and unjustly to the pastor: SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 285 but the explanation of it was his passe matter and style. So manifest was this at the time, that his old friends in Utica, where considerable religious interest existed, deemed it unwise to invite him there. MODIFICATIONS OF THE MEANS OF REVIVALa Teaching and prayer constitute the means of genuine revivals, — teaching of the truth which is employed for conversion and indispensable to it, and prayer for the TIolv Spirit, whose special influences alone can give efficiency to it Preaching is ordained by God and so is parental instruction, but the truth may be taught in other ways, and prayer is confined to no methods, forms, circumstances, places or hours, and the same truth has various aspects and sides. The noticeable modes of teaching differ in different revivals, and also the Bides and aspects of truth most distinctly presented, and like- the modes of praying. These diversities arc but incidents to the true means common to all revivals. They do uol so enter into their substance and life i decide their genuine spuriousnesa They were illustrated in the various periods of revival in the his- torj of the Synod and in various revivals in c churches. Thus days of fasting and prayer and con- ference meetings and meetings of parents and baptized children are mentioned as peculiarities in the earl] vivals, and in the later, Sunday school- and Bible 88, the circulation of Bibles and tracts and b the reappearance of Evangelists, protracted meel inquiry meetings, anion meetings, anxio nntary and public confessions of backslidings, offi •vv 286 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE and faults, family visitations, conversations with the impenitent as a business b}^ ministers and private christians, active and conspicuous lay agency, the "tes- timony" of young converts, the service of sacred song, sunrise prayer meetings, noonday meetings, female pra}^er meetings, meetings of mothers and wives, young converts' meetings, young people's meetings, young- men's meetings and associations, social prayer and con- cert in prayer for particular classes and objects and for single individuals, prayer by special request, prayer for persons who had been invited to ask for it, and prayer for those who " rose " or " came forward" to the pulpit to signify their wish for it. REVIVALS IMPERFCT WORKS OF GRACE. Even the excellent of the earth more or less mar the good they are emploj-ed to effect. Kevivals of religion furnish no exceptions to the fact. They are imperfect works of grace. Much occurs in them worthy of cen- sure and the occasion of just regret. They are seasons of excitement with more than the usual exposure to error and irregularity. But if indispensable to the advancement of the church, Christian ministers and peo- ple may not forbid revivals, and should not keep aloof from them. There are fictions of them to be abjured and denounced, and it may be sometimes difficult to discriminate between such and the real, but they ought to be judged with a comprehensiveness that makes large ac- oount of human frailty and of the divine endurance of it. and with a charity born of a consciousness of one's own faultiness and that wonders more that he himself SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 28 j has received a commission for service than that it has been granted to the most unsuitable for it. As indi- vidual conversions are not true or false, according to the character of the men and the description of the circum- stances attending upon them, so multitudes of conver- sions are not true or false according to their accompa- niments. Of his own will God begets us with the word of truth, and truth is often conveyed by uncouth and un- cleanly vehicles and with much foreign admixture and a small grain in a mass of chaff is often the seed of, godliness. All this is no excuse for evils in revivals and no jus- tification for needlessly permitting them. The cause of revivals demands circumspection in them and the cor- rection of what is amiss about them, indifference to the manner of conducting them is a forfeiture of their rep- utation and an allowance of hinderances to their recur- rence. But mere exceptionableness in them is no con- demnation of them, and no warrant for seclusion from them. SYMPATHY WITH THEM AND A PAST IN THEM ESSEN- TIAL TO a .11 DGMENT OF THEM. And revivals resent criticism. They do not admit of it. From the nature of things they cannot be sub- jected t<» it. Mere Lookers on inevitably fail in just views of them. They must he participated in and sympathized with to becorrectlj seen. The only g poinl of observation is in the mi leave them to the unmodified operations of their two essential mean-, under the influences of the Ii .Spirit, and to keep out distracting and corrupt- and influences, and there is needed a com- bined and concentrated and careful observation to dis- tinguish here between the divine and the human, and the helping or hindering action of the human on the divine. Those revivals are most precious that bear recollection and Leave the happiest imj - and create the most craving desires for their repetition. The already long and hotly discussed questions thus come up h>r calm and free conference: 1st h that - of methods which consists in a public manifestation of ihe personal feelings <>f individuals so effective for good and so innocuous as to be imperative, and 2d A i - • modern Evangelists a valid, distinct class of the v 290 PRESB TTER1AN1SM IN THE ministry, and are their functions legitimate and useful? The opposition to both measures into which a prominent portion of American Methodism has been brought, and also as a consequence of them, to revivals of religion, is a significant token of the urgency and importance of the questions. In regard to the public manifestation of feeling by individuals, no express prescription of it is presumed, while a divided sentiment in regard to it exists and distraction arises from it and the objections to it have force in themselves and are urged by many of the wise and good, and they mar, to some extent, at least, the happy impression and remembrance of revivals and impair the desire for their recurrence. There is probably less diversity of opinion in regard to Evangelists.* Their work attests their commission. * At the ordination of Rev. Edward Payson Hammond, Presi- dent Mark Hopkins delivered a sermon treating of Evangelists, which it is greatly to be regretted was lost while in transit for publication from Williamstown to New York. Mr. Hammond was an alumnus of Williams College, exceedingly active as a Christian among the students and in the neighborhood, and very successful, and the President's son, now a pastor at Westfield, Mass., with many others, was largely indebted to him for saving religious impressions. He has since been devoted to the work of an Evangelist in this country and Great Britain, holding literally mass meetings in most of the large towns here and abroad, and contributing to multitudes of conversions.4 He was always ready to prosecute his work under the direction of our Judicatories and of the settled ministry, and at one time an effort was made for an arrangement of this kind. The revivals under his labors have been preeminently of the class that can be correctly observed only from a stand-point in the midst of them. Critically viewed, or viewed by mere spectators, they seldom present an attractive appearance. There will seem to be too much enginery in them ami too much bustle. Four classes of debt are due to Mr. Ham- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 291 There is a place and part for them, and great and un- questioned good has been accomplished by them. But thus far they have been self-appointed and untrained and irresponsible and it is to be considered and deter- mined whether they admit of education and regulation, or whether they are as extraordinary as prophets and comprehend prophetesses. And whatever conclusions may be reached in regard to the office and schooling and appointment and regulation and accountability of Evangelists, it will be accepted as already determined that they have no right of intrusion into congregations, or into communities belonging to congregations, where the established ecclesiastical authorities do not invite them, and that it is usurpation for them to assume the moud by reason — 1st. Of his contribution to the service of song, he being among the first to introduce the descriptions of hymns and the style of music which have proved so effective in these latter days. 2d. His perpetual use of the Scriptures and his habituating congregations to the same. 3d. His exhibition and pressure of faith in Christ as first, midst and last, and in its simplicity, with- out mixture with human feelings, frames, purposes and deeds. 4th. His labors for the children and the currency he has given to the conviction that tin- youngest are old enough to love and truel ami serve the Saviour, and to recognize ami Lament their disobedi- ence to Him; and 5th. His incitement of Christian activity and widening the range of it, while at tin- same time he has carried it to tin- extent of indiscriminately precipitating an entire chnrch on the deli cute ground of counselling inquirers Mr. Hammond never conducted a meeting in Central New Kork,excep1 ai Utica, in and that resulted in numerous converts, principally among the young, and it is gratifying \<> !><• aide to bear witness to the fact that, as a whole, they have well stood the test of time, and that the constancy of the children, shown in dying as well as in living, has been a perpetual rebuke of the unbelief that doubts the reliabil- ity of their conversion. ■•» \c 2 9 2 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE control in the proceedings of revivals and a demission of rights and responsibilities by ministers who allow it, and that the proper use of them is sparing and as the prompting and demand of opportunities and exigencies, and not the expedient for relieving pastors and people from effort and covering over or making up their re- missness, or feeding the lust for excitement. The best revivals, the pleasantest while current and in review, the least faulty, the happiest in their influence on the churches, are those that have been conducted hj pastors and people, and which, though really subject to the terms and unavoidable experiences already de- scribed, have the air and movement of spontaneousness. The }^ear 1858 furnishes an example of the class. Each favored community did the requisite work for itself and no influence was perceptible save that of the Holy Ghost And Evangelists can so perform their parts as to shun unhealthy excitement and painful agitation, and so as to produce solemity and tenderness alone, and at the same time achieve notable success. Geneva and Genesee Synods enjoyed the labors of one of this class during the revivals of 1826-36. Samuel G. Orton was humble, serious, devout and discreet and " clothed with salvation." A work of grace conducted by him was too intense and spiritual in the feeling it produced to permit turbulance at the time or discussion after- wards,and to such an extenl did he unite the favorable judgment of good men upon him, that the Presbytery of Buffalo not only voted their unanimous regard for him and an invitation to labor throughout their bounds, but provided for his support SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 293 Still more conspicuously of this class was Rev. Dr. Asahel Nettleton. The substance of his biographer's representation may be given. Without being intellect- ual or brilliant, he was exceedingly sensible and "un- commonly discerning and skillful in handling the doc- trines of grace" and penetrating in his insight into human nature, and "able better than most to place the naked truth upon the conscience and to demolish with a few heavy strokes all the vain excuses and refuges of lies to which sinners resort" His forte was not in the pulpit, but in the combination of the pulpit, the chapel and private conversation. Wherever he went he began with casting oil the confidence of the people in himself and fastening it on God. He then labored earnestly but affectionately to bring Christians into an adaptedness to the sought for blessing and to a mind for the needful work. When hopeful signs appeared, he discouraged exultation and publication and exaggera- tion, and counselled rejoicing with trembling and a hu- mility and anxiety thai forbade boasting. His preach- ing was plain and simple and perspicuous, without vehe- mence bu1 'piieiK earnest, with familiar and apposite illustrations, and .-<» searching as to seem personal ami so cutting as to cleave down to the Lowest sensibility. The chapel was more his field than the sanctuary, and addressee were more his weapons than sermons. Be came thus into closer quarters with his bearers, better saw the points at which t<> strike, and had greater free- dom lor his blows. And his speaking was always sub- dued, and while profound!} impressive, never excited or exciting. Solemnity was the sentimenl lie produced and tin- air of the congregations he gathered Hi- gift *r 294 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE for putting the truth was preeminently in religious con- versation. He effectively exercised it in all circum- stances and with all classes, showing unsurpassed facil- ity in introducing and dwelling upon it and inimitable tact in adapting himself to individuals. In nothing did he excel more than in counselling inquirers. He did not talk much with them, lest he should distract them and dissipate their impressions, and get them to lean upon him and delay their decision. He only said enough to correct false notions- and to make clear the exact thing to be done. And publicly and privately did he charge the fault for their state on sinners them- selves and exhibit their impotence as their fault, and press responsibility upon them and expose their apolo- gies and the wickedness of their hesitation and delay and urge the duty of immediate repentance and faith. He never called for public manifestations of feeling, but deplored and deprecated them, and he avoided all means of excitement and could not subject men to open tests of human devising and proposing, and which, while occasions for happy decisions with some, might be traps to ruin with others.* The cast of the revivals under Dr. Nettleton was determined by his mode and *Mr. Nettleton's opposition to " New Measures" awakened a hos- tility in him which, it is to be feared, abated his revival spirit, and in connection with his infirm health, stopped his revival work. In his assault upon them he did not appear to so much advantage as Mr. Finney in the defence of himself. The human came out in him. So much the master before on the field of Evangelism, and so much accepted as oracular about it, when a prominent and grow- ing figure appeared there he seemed to find it hard to share au- thority with him, and to submit to the decree, " He must increase, hut I must decrease." i SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 295 means of conducting them. " They did not strive nor cry." There was no '"getting up" of them, no agita- tion about them, no noise in them. They awed and subdued, and looked back upon, the feelings awak- ened by their scenes is " How awe-inspiring they were and how truly the gates of heaven! " MEETINGS OF THE A. B. 0. F. M. AT UTICA. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is enshrined in the affections of our people, and sacred in their esteem. No association ever had such a place in their hearts. It seemed a cruel nee ss- sity that separated them from it, and submission was yielded only because the cause was even more precious than any agency for promoting it. The meetings of the Board in Central New York awakened much inter- est therefore, and this was the deeper because they were the great religious festivals of the land. Both meetings were held at Utica — the first, October 8-10, 1834, convened in the Reformed hutch Church, observed the Lord's Supper in the Bleecker Street Church, and carried on its other proceedings in the First Presbyterian Church It brought together twenty- eight corporate members, but one of whom is now liv- ing, and ninety-one honorary members, but nine of whom are known to he living, and aboul two hundred clergymen, besides elders, deacons and private chris- tians. The President, ex-Governor John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, occupied the chair, assisted by Vice Presidenl Stephen Van Rensselaer. Dr. Gardiner Spring preached the sermon, choosing Matt L0:< ' n ■ 29 6 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE his text, and President Carnahan offered the introduc- tory prayer. Missionaries Abeel and Winslow, and Rev. E. N. Kirk made popular addresses, and Drs. Mil- ler, Proudfit, Palmer, Dewitt and Patton officiated at the ordinance of the Supper. Drs. Samuel MillerT James Richards, Justin Edwards, Leonard Woodsr David Porter, B. M. Palmer, Gardiner Spring, N. S. S. Beman and Secretary Benjamin B. Wisner (the last two among the ablest parliamentary speakers the Church or the State has produced) and Geri'it Smith took a public part in the discussions, and among those in attendance were Rev. Drs. Calvin Chapin, Thomas Dewitt, William Adams, Presidents Joshua Bates, Nathan Lord and Sereno E. Dwight, of Middlebury, Dartmouth and Hamilton Colleges, and Hons. William Reed, Charles Marsh, Nathaniel W. Howell and Samuel T. Arm- strong. " The claims of the children of missionaries'7 and " the place which education ought to hold in the sys- tem of missionary operations," elicited the principal discussions. The first was " settled, it is presumed, to the satisfaction of all present," by the appropriation of sufficient sums for the traveling expenses of children sent to this country, and not exceeding $50 a year for each boy, and not exceeding $40 for each girl, until their eighteenth year of age, and up to the amounts respectively of $300 and $240 — the presumption being that they would be taken into Christian families, where the appropriations would suffice, and which was better than their living as mere boarders, at larger expense. The second discussion closed with the adoption of a resolution, not unanimously however, that "the preach- ing of the gospel by the living voice is regarded by the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 297 Board as as the great business of our missionaries; that the preparation and circulation of the Scriptures and tracts is next in order, and that the establishment and instruction of schools and other labors aimed at the amelioration of society should always be kept subordi- nate to the others" Among the results of the meeting was the purpose of Dr. Grant, then an elder in the First Church, Utica, to embark in foreign missions, and soon after he went to the Nestorians. The summary of the work of the Board for the year was 36 missions, 65 stations, (nine more than the previous .year,) 96 ordained missionaries, seven of whom were also regular physicians, and seven others well enough read for medical service, six printer.-. 33 male assistants, teachers, catechists, farmers and mechanics, and 151 married and unmarried female assistants, making a total of 293 missionaries and as- sistant missionaries from this country, 48 of whom were sent the previous year. There werealsofive native preachers and -"»(.> native assistants, 40 churches, with 2,000 communicants, and 40,000 scholars, seven print- ing establishments, with L3 presses thai issued the pre- vious year 21,735,463 pages in L6 different langua seven of which were reduced to writing by missionaries of the Board The total of receipts was $152,886. L0, to- gether with a balance of $2,616.1 I from the preceding year, and with a debt for L884 of 14,777.87. The second meeting of the Board, at I rtica, was held in the Firsl Presbyterian Church, September 11 1 1. I Chancellor Frelinghuysen being in the chair. Eighty- eighty corporate and three hundred and fifty-seven hon- 298 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE orary members attended, together with " a very large concourse" of ministers and laymen, male and female friends, "a fair estimate" reckoning the number at over 2,200. The spacious auditory, with its unob- structed views and fine acoustics, together with the ac- cessories to the main building, eminently fitted the place for the occasion. The constant scene in it for three days, crowded with an intelligent and cultivated Chris- tian congregation, with e}^es fixed on the platform and person bending towards it, or head bowed in prayer, or standing, and with its multitude of accordant voices, and wrapt countenances pouring out songs of praise, was the acme of grandeur and inspiration. Overflow meetings for missionary addresses filled the Eeformed and Westminster Churches, and though more private, the meetings of returned missionaries and their families, and of women and children, were tender and spiritual enough to seem on the confines of heaven. Kev. Dr. Nehemiah Adams preached the opening sermon, taking Galatians 2 : 20 as his text, and Dr. S. C. Aiken, a former pastor of the church, and Dr. Wilkes, of Montreal, and others, performed the devotional parts of the service. " The commemoration of the Saviour's love, on Thursday afternoon, was a hallowed season. The large edifice was densely filled with the professed followers of Christ, and the Master himself was there. Dr. Beman presided, prayer was offered by Dr. Hawes and Dr. Taylor, and addresses were made by Dr. Thompson and Dr. Palmer. Meetings for prayer and praise were held on Wednesday and Thursday morn- ings, before the business sessions commenced.'" and the proceedings were suspended from time to time by ap- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 2^9 proaches to the mercy seat, and "whenever devotional exercises were introduced by the president, there was a ready response."' The two subjects that particularly engaged the at- tention of the board at its previous meeting in Utica, quite singularly were presented at this. A Select Com- mittee was appointed to " consider the propriety and ex- pediency of making some permanent provision for the support of superannuated and disabled missionaries, and also to inquire into the expediency of revising the present rules"respecting the children of missionaries. " Quite an animated debate sprung up in reference to the part of the annual report which related to the Tamil mission, and this grew out of rumors about the visit of the " Deputation to India," which had occurred during the year, and the report of which largely con- cerned the relation of schools to missions. That report was presented at a special meeting of the Board in Al- bany and referred to a Committee of Thirteen, and the report of this committee, adopted at the annual meeting of the board in Newark. N. J., was tin.' final disposal of the subject The report of Secretary Wood on schools in the Choctaw and Cherokee missions, and the relation of the chuches there to slavery, was a feature of the meeting, both in of the importance and in'1 of the subject and the thoroughness and judicial spirit with which it was treated. The summary of the work for the year was 29 mis- sions, L20 stations and 62 out-stations, L57 ordained mis- sionaries, seven of them being physicians li three . en physiciai lained, 17 male ;i- « 300 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE ants, 203 female assistants, 387 laborers from this coun- try, 63 native preachers, 229 native helpers, whole number of native assistants 292, and whole number of laborers connected with the missions, 679; 11 printing establishments, 25,822,780 pages printed during the year, 115 churches, 26,806 communicants, 11 semina- ries, 19 boarding-schools, 787 free schools, 21,578 pupils, $310,427.77 receipts, and debt of $20,507.90. The comparison of this summary with that of 1834, shows the immense increase in twenty years of the operations of the Board. MEETINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Two sessions of the N. S. General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., have been held in Central New York ; the first at Utica, in 1851. Kev. Albert Barnes presided. Oneida county was the place of his birth and the home of his youth, and here and at Fairheld, in the neighboring county, he passed through that mental struggle which delivered him from scepticism and brought him to the gospel, and thirty years before he first publicly professed his faith in the Saviour, and avowed his consecration to him, at the church of his parents and kindred in Kome. He made his home during the sitting of the Assembly, with Hon. Hiram Denio, whom it is no extravagance to put in the same list of judges with James Kent and Ambrose Spencer. They were playmates and schoolmates at Kome, and room-mates at Fairfield, and the friendship cemented there suffered no fracture in the long interval. Indeed, Mr. Barnes had just before ded- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 3Ui icated his book on the "Atonement" to Judge Denior calling up the tender reminiscences which both fondly cherished. " We began life together," he writes. " We were both in a comparatively humble, but respectable position, and we have both* been directed by an over- ruling hand in paths which we did not at first contem- plate. Both, when we left our homes to seek an educa- tion, designed to pursue the study of the law, but in our professional pursuits and in the general course of our lives, we have been led in different ways. You by talent, by industry, by integrity, have risen to that position deservedly high, which you now occupy, as one of the judges of the highest court of our native State. My thoughts were early turned to a different profession and my steps have been directed in another course. Both of us have been prospered, and now we have reached that period of life in which we cannot but be looking forward to its close. I have a pleasure in referring in this manner to the time when we began life together, and in connecting your name with this book." They were singularly alike. Judge Denio was the superior in intellect and accuracy, but both were I <(r similes of each other in modesty ami integrity and purity, and also in quiet determination and calm cour- age and tireless industry. At the meeting of the As- sembly, Mr. Barnes was full of the recollections which the region called up, and 1 remember being particnlarlj impressed by the naturalness and entire freedom from false pride, with which he described the feelings enter- tained by him in youth towards particular families known to us both, of bigh Bocial position in the com- inanity then and now. Z 302 PRESBTTERIAN1SM IN THE The old First Church, capacious, simple, but tasteful, shooting up a graceful spire high toward the heavens, a wide land-mark, with the most sacred associations clus- tering and crowding upon it, had been tired by one of its children of the covenant and lay in ashes. The Assem- bly opened in a public hall, where the congregation worshiped ; but sister churches opening their doors to it, the Bleecker Street Baptist Church was accepted for all ordinary purposes, and special meetings convened in the Westminster and Reformed Churches. Dr. David H. Kiddle, of Pittsburg, the previous Modera- tor, opened the Assembly with a sermon from Is. 60 : 8 which was requested for publication. Dr. Thornton A. Mills delivered the Home Missionary sermon with great effect, contributing powerfully to the adoption of the denominational policy in conducting the evangelization of the land. An unusually able representation from the Presbyteries appeared, containing in it besides Mr. Barnes and Rev. Drs. Riddle and Mills, Drs. Timothy Woodbridge, Joel Parker, J. W. McLane. D. B. Coer J. B. Condit, H. L. Hitchcock, with Dr. Dirck C. Lansing as a delegate from the New York State Association, Judge Wm. Strong, Dr. J. Marshal Paul, Hon. A. B. Conger, Eurotas P. Hastings, and Elisha Taylor. Those were the days in which Presbyterianism and Congregationalism were brought into competition and occasional unpleasantness arose between them. The Assembly voted to continue correspondence with the New York Association, but deplored the proselytism it had shown. It also received the Presbytery of Mil- waukee, seated Rev. Wm. H. Spencer as a Commis- sioner from it, and so sanctioned and advised the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 303 withdrawal of our churches from the mixed convention of Wisconsin, and their gathering under our own Judi- catories in that State. The Judicial Committee "con- gratulated the General Assembly on the peaceful and happy relations of our ecclesiastical courts, and the manifest disposition to terminate personal difficulties without extended litigation. But a single paper was referred to the Committee, and that allows no action by this General Assembly." The session was signalized by the visit to Uticaof the President of the United States, Gen. Zachary Taylor, and the Assembly was invited by the citizens and Common Council to join them in receiv- ing him, and there seems to have been special life and agreeableness in the entertainment it received. The statistical report for the year was 104 Presbyteries, 1.490 ministers, 1,579 churches, and 140,076 communicants. The second meeting of the N. S. General Assembly in Central New York, was held at Syracuse in 1861, Rev. Dr. Jonathan B. Condit, of Auburn Theological Seminary, being moderator. Occurring in the midst of the war for the Union, numerous incidents conne with that, both in the body and in the community, heightened the interesl of the occasion, and the com- missioners were often called ou1 by the citizens to give expression to public feeling, and also direction and in- tensity. Patriotic resolutions were introduced early in the session and advocated by eloquenl speeches, repro- bating the " unlawful and treasonable acts" then com mitted against the Government affirming "undimin- ished attachment to the great principles of civil and religious freedom"- declaring that "no blood or treas are was too precious to be devoted to the defence and 304 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE perpetuity of the Government in all its constitutional authority" — pronouncing those who were "endeavor- ing to uphold the Constitution and maintain the Gov- ernment of these United States in the exercise of its lawful prerogatives, entitled to the sympathy and sup- port of all Christian and law-abiding citizens — recom- mending instant and fervent prayer for the President, and all in authority under him — mourning "the coun- tenance which many ministers of the gospel and other professing Christians are now giving to treason and re- bellion, and though with nothing to add to former tes- timonials on slavery, calling on the people to pray more fervently than ever for the removal of this evil which lies at the foundation of our present national diffi- culties." This Assembly perfected the arrangements for " con- ducting our own home missionary work1' and inaugu- rated " the Presbyterian Committee of Home Missions ;" and took the steps that led to the establishment of " the Committee for Disabled Ministers" and repealing all former acts on the subject, established the rules for the guidance of the " Permanent Committee on Education for the Ministry" and for applications to it. The sum- mary for the year was 1,558 ministers, 1,478 churches, 134,760 communicants, and $298,025.73 benevolent contributions. PREVISIONS QF THE FUTURE, The past projects itself into the future, and gives augury of it. While, in general, bright scenes, with pass- ing Bhadows, rise to view, something of detail is fore- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 305 cast. There may be fallings away which, if tears are known in heaven, would make our fathers weep, and a decline in some respects already appears. Prevailing piety has lost depth and thoroughness. Religious ex- perience is more superficial and religious living more divided. There is less soul exercise and less separation from the world — less spirituality, less peculiarity, less earnestness, less principle. Godliness may become a light affair, and little distinguishable from worldliness. The type of prevailing conversion is somewhat omin- ous here. It is too easy, so to speak, too gentle, im- pelled by too slight conviction of sin, involving to© slight a turning of the soul, and stopping short of a revolution of being and a reversal of its drift. Some ministerial and Christian practices may be fore- seen. Beginning with the beginning, the religious education of children lies in the vista. One mode of performing the part the church has in it, comes t<» view. Sunday schools have become its agency here, and vet they stay where there original purpose properly placed them — outside of its pale. They are not its institution, but th<; institution of some of its members, who volun- teer to maintain and conduct it. It is not incorpo- rated with the church. It is not brought into its or ganism. It is not controlled by its officers. But if Sunday schools furnish it- best means for the religions education of children, then they must belong to the church, and in common with all its instrumentalities, bhey musl be worked under its management and con- trol The change of position and authority will de- mand caution and skill, l>ut it can he made without sheck to those who bave been engaged in the schools, 8 0 6 PRESB YTER1A NISM IN THE and even without any conscious recognition of it by them, and without restraint on the previous freedom of their service, and without diminution of their interest in them or of their sense of obligation in connection with them. But if removed to within the churches, a new responsibility devolves on ministers and elders. The schools will demand more of their attention and labors. Ministers especially, will as diligently prepare for them as for the pulpit and be as prominent in them. We will not anticipate slackness in Christian benefi- cence. It would be too false to the traditions of the past — too wide from its normal sequent. The training received and the habit formed must make liberality and enterprise and world-wide usefulness the practice of generations to come. And the sense of responsibil- ity in the ministry in connection with the offerings of the churches ought to be sure to spread until " gather- ings" from them shall be generally accepted as really a function to be performed as preaching. A long step towards this has been taken by the dismissal of solicit- ing agents. To stop there would be a depletion of the treasury of the Lord. Diligent collections by pastors and supplies must follow. The work of benevolence among the Freedmen of the South proves only to have begun. Tearing down is light labor compared with building up. Slavery lies in ruins, but the first stone of regulated liberty is to be laid. What confusion abounds. What desolation prevails. The veil has been lately lifted and the scene brought near. How immense the work to be done. How faith and hope falter under the disclosure of it. And states- manship makes confusion worse confounded. It deter* SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 307 riorates into partisanship and its agents prove cormo- rants and its schemes defeat their own objects and return to torment their inventors. Nothing but the gospe! can meet the emergency. Legislation is of little ac- count for good and often aggravates the evil. Education even cannot suffice. By astounding revelations, Prov- idence shuts us up to evangelization. If not retribu- tive for remissness, the divine dispensations of late are instructive and mandatory. Especially do they ad the church. Its meagre contributions to it made work for the Freedmen well nigh contemptible: 1.69*> of our churches gave less than $34,000 last year, and 3,185 of our churches gave nothing, and there has been an un- altered feeling that the cause is small and unimportant, and that farthings would suffice at least to turn off its appeal. The astounding revelation has been made that these utterly demoralized, yet teachable and tractable people hold the balance of power in our nation and they determine the incoming administration of our national affaire. Patriotism combines with humanity and relig- ion in laying them upon us. and their protection and ele- vation in the enjoyment of liberty may cosl more than their deliverance from slavery. The Old Presbyterian principle and practice of direct and specific action on popular and civil rights instead of a genera] influence, must continue the conviction and policy of our ministers and churches. Safety and quiel and COmforl and outward thrift will still l n sulted by an indefinite and intactible application of the ■ •I to them, but the design of that great panacea it the • •"ir.-ei';.. n <>f wrong, and not the good will of 308 PRB8BYTRRIANJSM IN THE doers. Public and private offenders, officials and citizens. individuals and communities and the Government will fed an ecclesiastical pressure and receive ecclesiastical rebuke Intemperance, of course will secure attention and be more intelligently treated. The sons stand on the shoul- ders of the fathers. They have the advantage of the long experience and the many experiments before their day. Thus much has already been learned. Conver- sion is the drunkard's only reliable reformation, and the gospel therefore is the indispensable prescription for him. How best to suppress drunkard-making remains for inquiry and conference, but this has been ascertained : Legal prohibition of itself and alone closes no bare. Its force consists in the self-summoned posse of temper- ance men and women. And while law used is an ac- tive power, made the receptacle of people's duties it is a feeble, motionless affair. Legislation, as a labor-saving operation, is disastrous to reformation. There are evils peculiar to the territory of the Synod thai musl compel notice. Factory cheese making is crying havoc among our churches in daiiw districts. They are dying out from n. and the process is quite intelligible. There cannot but be doubt about the Sabbath delivery of milk for manufacturing uses, and the Christian who practices it must be condemned for it. and he cannot persist in it without sacrificing bis spirituality and separating from dod. and churches largely made up of >nr\\ christians cannot li\ c. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 309 Hop-raising is a like fatal evil. With all their argu- ments for it, church members cannot repress misgivings about it. "He that doubteth is damned." Unless fully believed to be right, hop raising is sin. and no Christian can have that on his conscience and keep up friendship and communion with God, and a church of hop-raisers must decline and finally perish. How to correct these evils is the question, and their spreading destructiveness must give increasing intent- ness to its consideration. There is still another evil peculiar to the- territory of the Synod which it brings blushes to name. Kight at its heart is "the Oneida Community." A herding of men and women, like cattle, exists here, flaunting its beastliness in our faces. How that can be may well excite wonder — but greater, far. the wonder that it is not stench enough to the nostrils and horror enough to the soul to com] >el it to depart Foul as Mormonism is. it is not a promiscuous mingling of the sexes, and Tlluiois. in its uncouth days, could not tolerate even Mormonism, How the "Oneida Community" plague can be removed, ought to exercise the minds of all Christians especially, and of all good citizens and virtuous men. The Synod has already raised the in- quiry and addressed it to the public, and the agitation of the subject must go on and the conclusion finally come, that whal ought to be done Bhall be done. Sad and mortifying it must be and fatal if there is not power lo ejecl it from the body politic, and alas for the church if it does not efficient!} help for such a relief. But what of the work of the Spirit'.' We are nol prophets aor sons of prophets. No foresight of divine 310 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE influences is given to us or inherited by us and they are so absolutely sovereign as to preclude inferences. If, however, the past can be taken as an index of the future, then we may fancy at least a course of brighten- ing grace and glory, and with such a license for the imagination what conceptions we may form of the com- ing operations of the Holy Ghost, and how we should labor and pray to make these conceptions the prefigur- ings of actual events. APPENDIX. A narrative of occurrences at the meeting in Uticar 1835, of the State Anti-Slavery Convention, is in- complete if it leaves out the part performed by Lewis Tappan. A thousand delegates assembled amid hoot- ings and yells and the ringing of alarm bells and the roaring of cannon. Window-shutters, torn from their hinges, were ready for sweeping blows, and tire engines filled from sewers and with acids from drug shops, d up to flood the body. Leaping over the tops of the 3, with fitting dignity and grace of posture and movement, the committee of citizens tame up to the Chair and commanded the Convention to disperse. But the session proceeded, and the constitution for a S Society was adopted, and then Lewis Tappan com- menced reading a ,: declaration of sentiment," and the uproar arose to its highest Mr. Tappan, howei er, went deliberately on to the close -his strong, clear voice ringing out in clarion notes above tin.- hideous noise. The paper was adopted and then the Convention >d- jouriied to Peterboro. Mi-. Tappan visited tin- c afterwards ; and, writing to an anti-slavery journal, archly remarked, that Theodore Weld add packed congregation the nighl before, in the 1". - Street Church, with none to disturb him. 3 1 2 PR BOB YTER1A A ISM IN THE HAMILTON COLLEGE. Several references have been made to Hamilton Col- lege in the course of this sketch, and a description given of its origin. The intent of it in the founder's mind is expressed in a preamble to the title-deed to lands he conveyed for its establishment and care : A serious consideration of the importance of education, and an early improvement and cultivation of the human mind, together with the situation of the frontier settlement of this part of the State, though extensive and flourishing, yet destitute of any well- regulated seminary of learning, has induced and determined me to contribute of the ability wherewith my Heavenly Benefactor hath blessed me towards laying the foundation and support of a school or academy in the town of Whitestown, county of Herki- mer, (Herkimer county, then covering this region,) contiguous to t lie Oneida Nation of Indians, for the mutual benefitof the young and flourishing settlements in said county, and the various tribes of confederated Indians, earnestly wishing the institution may grow and flourish, that the advantages of it may be extensive and lasting, and that under the smiles of the God of wisdom and good- ness, it may prove an eminent means of diffusing useful knowl- edge, enlarging the bounds of human happiness, aiding the reign of virtue and the Kingdom of the Blessed Redeemer. It was designed as a Christian Institution for advanced education. Religion and learning were its proposed purpose, and their promotion its intended work. The fruit it has borne has largely come from pious culture. and largely dropped into the lap of the church. Much of its record is in ecclesiastical history, and especially in the history of our Synod, and it has made no little of the history of our ministers and churchea ITS A.CADEMIC PERIOD; Starting as an academy, it was placed, in 1793, ondei b Board of Trustees, consisting of Alexander Hamil- SYNOU OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 313 ton, the statesman of our country, John Lansing, Chan- cellor of the State. Kgbert Benson, Erastus Clark, Thomas R Gold, distinguished lawyers, Jonas Piatt, a noted judge, the missionary John Sergeant, Jr., a son of his father, and Dan. Bradley, Eli Bristol, Sewal Hop- kins. Michael Myers, Jedediah Sanger, Timothy Tultle and Samuel Wells, prominent clergymen and citizens. The subscription for the building was moderate and largely in materials and labor, only £86.18 out of £168.8 being in cash. Mr. Kirkland headed it with "£10 and 15 days' work ; also 300 acres of land for the use and benefit of the academy, to he loaned, and the product to be applied towards the support of an able instructor."' Among the subscribers were Elias Knur. (£10,) one of three brothers in Albany, whose trade figured largely in the early commerce of Central New York, Oliver Phelps, (£10,) of Canandaigua, one of the firm of Phelps and Gorharn, in the great " Western New York purchase," and Peter Smith, (£10,) father of Gerrit Smith and the architect <>t the Large fortune which his son inherited. The collection of the sub- scription in labor and lumber cosl Mr. Kirkland much summoning and urging n» the woods and toilsome lead- ing in the chopping there ; hut lie allowed no " letting- up" or "letting-off," and July I. L794, the cornerstone was laid by Baron Steuben, attended with all the ceic uioiiv and display, quite primitive to be sure, that the times and circumstances permitted 'The frame veal up too, and was enclosed : hut there the structure stopped, and tor two years it stood a monument tt> passers -bj of the builder's lolly and the inspiration of their jokes. Bui not a whit did M r. K nklaud- res.. In a- 314 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE tion abate. Biding his time, he set operations going again and finished one large and two small rooms and two chimnies. This exhausted him once more, and kept him at rest for several years ; but rising then, enough of the interior was finished for the necessary uses of a school and with teachers installed within, the doors were opened for scholars. ITS SITE. A lofty site was selected, not only with reference to undisturbed study and a removal from temptation, but also perhaps from the sanitary considerations which ex- cluded the first settlers from valleys and perched them on hills. Steep enough and long enough is the ascent to this hall of the muses, but it is the best of gymnasia, furnishing healthful exercise, and the best of towers for the most sweeping of glances and the most magni- ficent of views. Nowhere is the book of nature so spread out to students of the text-books of literature and science. CHANGE OF SCENE AND CONDITION. Mr. Kirkland penetrated a forest, where he went to build. That thick, rude growth has disappeared, and there follows it a tastefully and artistically arranged park in the English style, with graceful roads and foot- paths, and trees and shrubs, deciduous and evergreen, of every desirable description which the climate allows. Bel with a principal view to landscape effect, and plots of shrubs and flowering plants SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 315 Mr. Kirkland's wooden building of nameless archi- tecture, three stories high and ninety feet long and thirty-eight wide, has retired, and three large dormito- ries, each four stories high and ninety-eight feet long and forty-nine wide, and a chapel, three stories high, eighty-one feet long and fifty-one wide, with lecture and recitation rooms, and a hall of natural history and a laboratory and gymnasium, all of stone, an observatory at which twenty-seven asteroids have been discovered, a library and a society hall, some of them finely de- signed, and a president's mansion, costing $25,000, have come in its place, with books and cabin ents and instru- ments and apparatus worth $120,000. The Faculty, that began with one member, has been multiplied to thirteen. Buildings and land, amounting to a few thousand dollars, have risen to $200,000, and nil in productive funds, has swollen to §300,000, (but with the drawback of an $100,000 debt,) together with twelve prize funds, ranging from $500 to $1,500, in Rhetoric, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biblical Scholarship, Natural History, Classics, and for the best essays and orations on Alexander Hamilton and the Duties of Educated Young Men to the State, and for the besl oration best spoken at commencement, and for superiority in extemporaneous debate, $50,000 to aid beneficiaries, and ,^lo,000 for the constanl replenishment of the Library. CHARACTER OK THE [NSTBUCTIOH in THE ACADEMY. The Academy had culture under choice bands, indi- cated i>v the name of one, not Buperior to the restj but i 816 PRESB YTERIA N1SM IN THE more widely known — Professor James Murdock* — sub- sequently of the Chair of Languages in the University of Vermont, and after that of Ecclesiastical History in the A ndover Theological Seminary, with Mosheim as a memento of him with every theological student and every minister of the gospel. * Dr. Murdock wrote: "My connection with the Hamilton Oneida Academy was in the year 1799-1800. Mr. Niles, the first preceptor, entered on his duties in the autumn of 1798. The next spring he visited Connecticut, married a wife and solicited me to take part with him in the Academy. I remained in New Haven long enough to secure the Berkleian stipend for that academic year, and then started for Clinton. When the Board met in Sep- tember, Mr. Niles and myself proposed to take the oversight of the Academy for one year, and receive for compensation the amount of the tuition. The trustees agreed, and we fulfilled the engagement. The building was unfinished, except the large school-room on the second floor, across the south end of the build- ing, and two rooms on the first floor, front side, between the two doors. The school was pretty large, especially the male depart- inent, which contained several men pursuing the higher branches. The female department embraced about twenty young ladies, many of them from neighboring towns. We went on pleasantly, but found the tuition totally inadequate to our support. At the close of the year, the trustees voted to employ Mr. Niles, and 1 retired with a handsome vote of thanks for my services. Mr. Niles remained another year, and then resigned on the ground of declining health I resumed the study of theology under the di- rection of Dr. Norton, was licensed by the Oneida Association, preached my first sermon at Dr Norton's lecture, January, 1801, and afterwards supplied New Hartford for ten Sabbaths, and then returned to New Haven. During my connection with the Acad- emy, there was much religious excitement in it, especially among the females, and also in the parish." Sixty-nine new members were added to the ehurch in Clinton in 1800, and sixtv in 1801. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 317 THE COLLEGE PERIOD. Fairfield, in Herkimer county, with the prestige of a noted academy there, offered for the site of a college which it was determined to establish in these parts, but the principal of that academy was enlisted to raise $50,000 for Clinton, and in 1812 it rejoiced in the char- ter for a college. This sum was as large for its day as the immense sums now raised in the interest of educa- tion for our day. The subscription paper bore well- known names throughout the State. Stephen Van Rensselaer's stood opposite, $1,000, (the largest pledge,) and Governor Daniel D. Tompkins' opposite $50u. PRESIDENT BACKUS. The first President was Dr. Aze\ Backus, a graduate of Yale and pastor for twenty-three years at Bethlem, Ct, as successor of Dr. Bellamy, and whose preparation for the place had been going on in part, in a private school, by which he eked out a support for his family. A happier choice eon Id not have been made Tradi- tion still fills the community with stories of him. Portly and imposing in person, he could easily put on dignity and majesty, while lithe and mobile, he could as easily pu1 forth vigor and action. All the elements of popular eloquence me1 in him — intellect, intelli- gence, sensibility, earnestness, boldness, pathos and humor. It cost him effort to restrain sallies of wit in the pulpit, and often they bore him away, but still oftener tenderness filled his eyes with tears. Hi- abil- ity and attainments commanded respect, his hearti- ness attracted regard, his capital judgment and tact 318 PRESB TTER1ANISM IN THE secured favor. In the little world within college walls he reigned supreme by universal concession, and his appearance in public was the signal for smiles and the call for attention. He was the man for the place and for the time, and dying in 1816, after the short service of four years and at the early age of fifty-one, his re- moval was deemed an irreparable loss. PRESIDENT DAVIS. The antecedents of Eev. Dr. Henry Davis, who was set over the College in 1817, justified his appoint- ment and made his acceptance of it a gratifying sur- prise. His previous life had been wholly that of a scholar and teacher, and at successive steps in it he rose in distinction. Immediately on graduating at Yale, in 1796, he was placed in a tutorship at Williams, and soon after transferred to the same position in his Alma Mater, and so successfully and sat- isfactorily did he acquit himself here, that he was called to the Professorship of Divinity. Constrained by impaired health at the time, to decline the invitation, in 1806 he accepted the Professorship of Languages in Union College, and in 1809 he took the Presidency of Middlebury College. Chosen in 1817, simultaneously to follow Dr. Dwight at Yale and Dr. Backus at Ham- ilton, he gave preference to the latter, and here he re- mained until his resignation in 1833, and nineteen years after, in 1852, he closed his earthly career at the ad- vanced age of eighty -two. A full man and pre- eminently disciplined and of great tenacity and force, President Davis was hardly versatile enough to adapt SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 319 himself to new situations. He felt no friction in New England communities and no difficulties in New Eng- land methods. But brought into Central New Yorkr with society broken, and stirring in its formative pro- cess, and into counsel and action with the conceit and vagaries of tyros in the science of education, he could not bend and must break. His college was his rack. There were quiet and pleasant and prosperous intervals, but wider spaces of agitation and breakage. At one point it looked like a wreck, but repair followed, and Dr. Davis handed over the college to his successors in working order and with growing number-. PRESIDENT DWIGHT. Eev. Dr. Sereno E. Dwight, son of President Timo- thy Dwight, commenced active life at the bar and for several years practiced successfully there, and then, turning his back on distinction and wealth, he passed into the pulpit and remained ten years at Park Street Church, Boston. From 1833 to 1835 he held the Pres- idency of Hamilton College. Its financial condition induced him to address himself to the work of replen- ishing its funds ; and, with the efficienl aid of Profe Avery, he added s 4< i.ihhi i lien. Divining its removal to Utica essential to its prosperity, he labored earnestly to effect the change; and failing in it, he retired from the institution. PRESIDENT PENNY. In 1835 Rev. Dr. Joseph Pennj was called to the Presidency. A native of Ireland, and educated al 320 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE Trinity, Dublin, and at the University of Glasgow, he set sail for this country, and for two years after landing, taught the Academy at Flushing, L. I. In 1821, he took charge of the First Church, Rochester, and in 1832, he relinquished it to take charge of the First Church, Northampton, Mass., and from 1835 to 1839, he held the Presidency of Hamilton College. Manifesting ability and scholarship in it, his foreign birth and training embarrassed him in its administra- tion, and feeling that they were unsuited to each other. he left, greatly to the regret of the trustees however, and against their earnest entreaty. PRESIDENT NORTH. Rev. Dr. Simeon North, previously for ten years of the Department of Languages, was now promoted to the presidency, and remained in it, with unaffected modesty, but more than golden worth, from 1839 to 1857. Only nine students were in attendance when he came to the College, and he left one hundred and thirty-nine. The treasury was low when he took the Presidency, and considerably rilled up when he laid it down. New buildings were erected too, and new Professorships established. PRESIDENT FISHER Rev. Dr. Samuel Ware Fisher then came to the of- fice and continued a brilliant incumbency of it, espe- cially bringing it to the notice of the public and com- mending it to the church and applying it to religion, until 1866, when he returned to more congenial service in the pulpit and parish. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 321 PRESIDENT BROWN. Rev. Dr. Samuel Gillman Brown, son of the distin- guished President Brown, of Dartmouth, and himself for many years a professor there, was inaugurated into the Presidency in 1866, and now tills it with tine scholar- ship and cultured taste. DECEASED PROFESSORS. Prof. Seth Norton was the Principal of the Academy at its translation into a college, and took it over to it, as it were, by filling the Chair of Languages, and he, with Dr. Josiah Noyes, of the Chair of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and President Backus, formed the first Faculty. These Professors were as able in their depart- ments as was Dr. Backus in the Presidency. The star in the list of their successors stands opposite the names of Dr. James Hadley, widely known as a lecuturer in Medical Colleges, and the lather of the late Prof. Had- ley, of Yale, John Monteith. Theodore Strong, after- wardsof Rutgers and never surpassed in the Professor- ship of Mathematics, John H. Lathrop, a man of the highest order of mind and subsequently Chancellor of the Universities <>f Wisconsin and Missouri, Bleazar Storra Barrows, William Kirkland, John Wayland, Marcus Oatlin, ili<- memory of whose talents and learn- and teaching gifts and excellence oi character and genuine piety has never dimmed, John Pinlev Smith, oi ill-' second pastor of Cooperstown, whose genius geniality seem to have l"'«'n transhuman, Samuel Darwin Wilcox, whose bright bud went down while it was day, and lasl and jrel first, Etev, Dr, Eenry Maude- villa 322 PRESBYTERIAN JSM IN THE KEY. DR. MANDEVILLE. In my college days, I occasionally listened to Dr. Mandeville, then pastor of the Reformed. Dutch Church at Geneva, and though forty -five years ago, my recol- lection of his preaching and of particular sermons by him, is far more vivid and fresh than that of any of our older pulpit orators. There was vast scope and eleva- tion and richness of thought in him, striking imagery, strong and rhetorical diction and a manly manner. Installed at Utiea as the successor of the eloquent George Bethune, there was no drooping in the interest felt by the audience, and the conviction was fixed that if there was a loss in personal agreeableness and mag- netism from the change, there was an intellectual gain. Dr. Mandeville subsequently took charge of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Albany, and well sustained it at the point to which it was raised by those masters of sacred oratory, Drs. Edward N. Kirk and Samuel W. Fisher. His last pastorate was in Mobile, and there he completed the great work which God appointed him to do. Dr. Mandeville's part in the College lay in the field of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric, and his preeminence was principally won and his principal usefulness achieved by what lie accomplished in the way of Elocution. As in most institutions, and most in those that most culti- vate scholarship, there had previously been a neglect of this indispensable means of using scholarship in addresses to assemblies. It was reservoired in lawyers and clergymen, but had no fitting outlets to courts and juries and congregations. He constructed a system based on Walker's principle, that the formation of a SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. sentence should determine its delivery, and published a text book upon it, and truly marvellous is the effect he produced and that successors to his post have kept up. r CHARACTER OF THE EDUCATION GIVEN. The system of education in the College has marked characteristics. Discipline is its aim intellectually. It forms the mind rather than informs it. It trains the faculties rather than crams and load.- them, preparing them for vigorous and skillful exercise and large acqui- sitions, rather than storing them with knowledge. But the idea on which it is based and by which it is directed, produces no cast iron structure. Elasticity enough exists for all desirable modification consistent with its dominant principle. Its science of education admits of improvement and amplification in its methods and means and marked change- in its curriculum. New studies and new kinds of instruction have been intro- duced from time to time, and new department* The character of its scholarship is intimated by the fact that twelve of its alumni have filled College 1' denci ity-two have idled College and Theologi- cal Seminary Professorships, the list including Buch in. mi as Edward Robinson, Asahel ('lark Kendrick, Theodore William Dwight and Augustus Wm. Smith, nine Normal School Principals and Pj a Seer* of the Board oi Regents and practically Superin- tendent of the Academies and Colleges of the Stan-, Sam- uelliuel Woolworth. Several are teachers eminent in the philosophy and ait of education, like Benjamin W 324 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE bridge 1) wight, and others have the genius for science, like John Alsop Paine and Isaac Ilollister Hall. The examination papers published in the annual Catalogues and the reports of studies every year to the Regents of the University still further exhibit the description and grade of its scholarship. The prominence given to Rhetoric and Elocution, and the scheme on which they are taught, contribute to the characteristic education of the college. This is universally recognized, and the superiority of its writers and speakers generally conceded. The prizes at the last two inter-collegiate contests, the only ones in which they appeared, were given to its representatives without hesitation or qualification. The practical character of its education is very notice- able. A few of the oldest colleges of the country ad- vance some of their students to a higher grade of schol- arship and prepare them better for life in the schools, — but Hamilton challenges comparison in the proportion of alumni who have attained to eminence in public life. Its catalogue contains the names of five Governors of States, among them Ashbel Parsons Willard, of Indiana, Joseph Roswell Hawley, of Connecticut, and Gilbert Carlton Walker, of Virginia ; twenty members of Con- gress, among them Senators David Jewett Baker and Daniel Darwin Pratt, and Representatives Hugh White, Gerrit Smith, John Gaston Floyd, Asher Tyler, Charles Baldwin Sedgwick, William Johnson Bacon, Thomas Treadwell Davis, George Washington Ray, Morgan Lewis Martin, George Hastings, Oliver Andrew Morse, John Newton Hungerford, Horace Chapin Burcliard, Glenn Wm. Scofield, Theodore Medad Pomeroy, George SYHOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 325 Washington Cowles, Samuel Franklin Miller: fourteen State Senators and eighteen Supreme Court Judges, among them Philo Gridley, Joseph Solace Bosworth, George William Clinton, Fletcher Matthews TIaight. John Curtiss [Jndervvood, William Johnson Bacon, Charles Seaton Henry, Anson Stowe Miller, Milton Harvey Merwin, Samuel Franklin Miller, James Mills Wool worth, and William Wirt Howe; and three hundred and forty-nine lawyers, among them Theodore Sill Gold, Thomas Hunt Flandrau, Charles Pinckney Kirkland, Philip Barton Key. Edmund Wetmore, Samuel Dana Dakin, Othniel Samuel Williams. Roderick Norwood Morrison and David Phelps Wood. Most of all. and best of all, its education is religious. It could hardly be otherwise. Tin1 sainted Kirkland is its presiding genius. The Bible is a text-book in it. and as regularly taught and as much the determination of standing as Homer or Cicero or Hamilton or Whatdy or Loomis. The President must be a minis- ter of the gospel in the Presbyterian Church, and fellow-clergymen and fellow Christians fill the Profee sorships. An unusually large portion of the students have always been communicants of the church, and repeated revivals of religion have occurred, A Pres- byterian Church was organized in it in 1825; but suspending animation when the institution came near extinction, it revived in 1861, the pastor of the col- lege being ex officio pastor of the church, and the elders, six in number, being taken one from each Class and two from the Faculty. N<> wonder that ii has educated five, hundred and eight} one Ministers of the Gospel and twenty Foreign Missionaries, and thai two- 320 PRESBYTERIAN JSM IN THE thirds of the college alumni at Auburn Theological Seminary have been students at Hamilton. And what grade of ministers has it reared ? Albert Barnes, Joel Parker, Charles Hall, whom Dr. Parker describes as 4< so leading his class that no member of it aspired to an approach to him,'1 "alike distinguished in every branch of learning and in every virtue — if music, or elocution, or philosophy, or language, or ait in its manifoldness were presented in any of their forms, he was prepared to appreciate and practice them, and his simple, self-denying piety was no less remarkable than his other qualites,'' and of extraordinary zeal and effi- ciency in the secretaryship of the American Home Missionary Society ; Harrison Gray Otis Dwight, almost as well known as the Turkish Empire, which, with such wonderful devotedness and skill, he sought to evangel- ize, and his companions in missionary labor, faithful Sheldon Dibble and dear John Diel, of the Sandwich Isles, and Edwin Hall Crane, a disciple whom Jesus loved and an apostle to the Nestorians, John Watson Adams, " with a voice like a church organ, full of deep, rich melody, fine reasoning power, a splendid imagina- tion, and a diction of extraordinary and simple beavuVy," William Bradford, " that- great little man," the unri- valled editor of his day, and Henry Steel Clark, repre- sent the clerical company of deceased alumni, while the description of the living is indicated by Henry Ad- dison Nelson, Henry Kendal, Francis Field Ellin wood, Linns Merrill Miller, James Fcls, Samuel Thomas Hastings, William Eaton Knox, Conway Phelps Wing, SYXOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 827 WHO HAVE BEEN ITS TRUSTEES. The Board of Trust is the controlling part in the organism of a college, and that of Hamilton College has "been much more largely composed than is usual, and perhaps to an unparalleled extent, of members of eminence in the Chureh and in the State, anions them Henry Huntington, George Brayton, Morris Scott Miller. Nathan Williams, Joseph Kirkland, James Carnahan. Thomas Ruggles Gold, Jonas Piatt, Dirck Cornelius Lansing, Henry Dwight, Henry Seymour, Henry An- thon, Greene Carrier Bronson. John J. Knox, Andrew Yates, Henry Randolph Storrs, Joshua Austin Spencer. Grerrit Smith, Samuel Beardsley, Hiram Denio, Henry Allen Foster, Fortune Clark White, Horatio Seymour. Philo Gridley, William Carpenter Wisner and many « ithers. The most eminent of them have been the most active of them. Particularly is this true in later days of Mr. Spencer, Judge Denio, Judge Foster and Gov- ernor Seymour, while General Knox presided oxer the Board, at every session, for twenty-nine years. Till-: TREASUBEBS of THE COLLEGE. The immediate custody and management of the funds of a college arc a vital function of its system, and this has been performed in Hamilton by the be treasure!--. ErastUS< 'lark. James I )ean.( )thniel William-. Benjamin W. Dwighl make a truly remarkable roll. while the devotedness to the college <>f Othniel Samuel Williams, his toilsome labor for it. bis skill in its finances, his pecuniar} responsibility on it- behalf, ln- tested accuracy ami integrity, are a marvel in the line of official service .' 1 2 8 PS ESB YTERIA NISM IN TIIE\ A fter holding his office for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury, the trustees yielded to Mr. Williams' request for a special and thorough examination of his accounts from the beginning, and the following is the result : To the Trustees of Hamilton College : Your Committee on "Finance beg leave to report : That under authority given them by a resolution of your Board, passed at the Annual Meeting in July, 1872, to employ an expert in exam- ining the books and accounts of the Treasurer for the period of eight years, from July 1, 1864, at which time an examination, proof and report thereon had been made, they engaged the ser. vice of Mr. Levin us Vanderheyden, of Troy, both because of his eminent reputation for experience and skill in such labors, and because of his special acquaintance, from previous examination of the Treasurer's accounts, with the work to be performed. The work has been by him completed to the entire satisfaction of your committee, and his report, giving tabular statements of receipts and expenditures, is not confined to the period covered by your resolution, but embraces the entire period of the Treasurer- ship of Judge Williams, from the date of his entering upon the duties of his office to July 1, 1872. His report certifies fully to the correctness of the accounts, the books and the balances as set forth therein. A copy of this report, with the schedules belonging to it, are hereto annexed. As may be remembered by your Board, the examination of the Treasurer's vouchers for disbursements and expenditures, and a comparison with the charges therefor on his books, was several years in arrears. These accumulations, for the period of nine years, from July 1, 1803, to July 1, 1872, embracing not only the ordinary expendi- tures of these years, but all the expenditures connected with the building of the President's house and the Perry Smith Library Hall, presented a work so formidable as to convince your com- mittee that with their varied engagements an examination of these vouchers in committee was scarcely practicable. They, therefore, entrusted the work to their Chairman, who has patient- ly, and with entire particularity, gone through with them, and does now report, that lie finds vouchers properly authenticated SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. .S^!» for all the charges appearing on the books of the Treasurer, for the nine years above stated. The Chairman of your Committee also examined all the bonds and mortgages, and the endorsements thereon, and all the other securities held by the Treasurer, on such first day of July, 187*2, and found the aggregate amount accurately to correspond with the balance certified by Mr. Vanderheyden, as being called for by the Treasurer's books. It is proper to state that the greater part of the balance reported as due the Treasurer, is made up of loans to him as Treasurer, from different sources, for the use of the College. Your committee further report, that they have this day, at the office of the Treasurer, made examination of the vouchers for ex- penditures for the current year, and compared the same with the charges therefor on the books of the Treasurer, and find them correct. Your committee further report that they have this day made examination of the securities now held by the Treasurer, and find Bonds and Mortgages on Real Estate, . . $109,508 00 Railroad Stocks, Railroad Bonds and Indi- vidual Notes and Bonds, .... loo, '200 4*< Total, $204,714 48 These stocks, bonds and notes have mainly been panned over t<> the College in payment of subscriptions to its funds, and are considered perfectly good securities for the amounts they rep :--s«-lit. Your committee further report that the books show ■ ba of indebtedness to the Treasurer and others, amounting to the Mini of $79,668.03. Dated June 21, is" P, v. ROGJ . WILLIAM 1). WAl.ciH r CHARLES C KINGSLE1 \ ' Two tablets are placed on the walla of the Reformed Church, [Jtica— one on either side of the | Thai at the right, as yon f;i<-«' them, is a memorial of 330 rRESBYTERIANlSU IN THE Rev. George Bethune, D. D., the first minister of the church. The other bears this inscription : " In Memory of The Reverend Henky Mandeville, D. D., The Second Minister of this Church. Born in Kinderhook, N. Y., March 4, 1804, Died in Mobile, Ala., October 2, 1858. A Learned Divine, An Instructive Preacher, Skillful of Speech, With Strong Natural Powers And Much Fruit of Various Reading. He Adorned the Professor's Chair, But Most Loved the Ministry of Jesus." THE RAISING OP FUNDS. This institution, like all its sisters, began being with the collection of funds. It passed from an Academy into a College by the same agency, conducted by the Rev. Caleb Alexander. * And here, as everywhere * The inevitable concurrence of increased expenditure with in- creased prosperity, demanding increased endowment, is well illus- trated in the experience of Harvard University. Its number of Students has trebled in the last thirty and doubled in the last, twenty years, requiring a number of teachers increased from sixteen to fifty-eight, and demanding salaries increased from $57,912.G7 per annum to $118,124.42 per annum, while the whole yearly expenditure has increased from $111,173.95 to $260,140.10. And this is the law of all enterprises. The expansion of busi- ness compels an enlargement of capital. Investment keeps pace with income. Cost becomes the token and gauge of thrift. Un- ceasing contributions are the necessity and condition of growing andthriving Colleges. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 331 else, inevitable waste and development have demanded new pecuniary supplies. Mention lias been made of Professor Avery's association with President Dwight in the collection of $40,000. This veteran manipulator of chemical simples and compounds proved such an adept in the laboratory of finance that he was urged to enter it again under the administration of President North. His experiments succeeded as before. $60,000 being raised, but unfortunately the once popular plan of neu- tralizing subscriptions by scholarships was adopted. A drain on the treasury was thus formed, which but lately ceased to draw from it. 7 he great accumulation of funds in the history of the college has occurred under the commission ership of Nicholas Westerman Goertner, D. 1).. Pastor of the College. Commencing the work in 1859, the treasury laden with debt, its credit low, its buildings out of repair, and the Professors cramped by salaries of $1 .< N N I each, and prosecuting it since with proverbial intenl and persistence and skill, the ag sum of $600,000 has been realized and springs have been extensively opened, from which there maybe anticipated perennial streams. This large contribution is not wlmllv due t<> Dr. 1 1 rtner, for he has had large help, and all of it is not the result <>f his direct and manifest labors, but it has come into th«- treasury during his commissionership and principally through his agency. The monej has been applied to the endowment <»f the Presidency and the Walcott Professorship of the Evideno Chris- tianity, tin- Litchfield Observator) and Professorship of Astronomy, the completion «»f the Maynard and K 33 2 PRESD YTER1A N1SM IN THE Professorship of Law, the Benjamin and Bates' Profes- sorship of Latin, the Albert Barnes Professorship of Mental and Moral Philosophy, the Edward Robinson Professorship of Greek, the Kingsley Professorship of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution, Perpetual Scholarship Prizes, President's House, Library and Library Fund, the Renovation of South College, Knox Hall of Natu- ral History, Robinson Library, Alumni Fund, Century Testimonial Fund, Gerrit Smith Fund, Noyes Library. Saw telle Herbarium, Ichthyosaurous, repairing of Chapel and Laboratory, Philosophical Apparatus, the Child Professorship of Agricultural and General Chemistry. Child Estate Fund, &c., &e. The various subscription papers throughout the his- tory of the College contain affecting and striking read- ing. They touchingly and forcefully illustrate an ap- preciation of learning and religion. Many a mite is set down which was " all the living'' of the donor, and tells of heroic and saintly benevolence, and ever and anon are the almost startling figures of Christian munificence. The first begins with the handwriting of a Missionary to the Indians, and that pledges enough to found the College. Inspired with Kirkland's spirit, and copying his example, are such names as William Hale Maynard, of Utica, Simon Newton Dexter, of Whitesboro, Simeon Benjamin, of Elmira, Mrs. Bates, of Ithaca, Edwin Clark Litchfield, of Brooklyn, Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro, John C. Baldwin, of New York, Benjamin S. Walcott and William Dexter Walcott, of New York Mills. Charles Clark Kingsley, of Utica, Silas D. Childs and Mrs. Roxana Childs, of Utica, John Newton llungerford. of SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK, Corning, Christopher R. Robert and Hon. William K. Dodge, of New York. Mr.-. Sarah E. Baird, of Fayette- ville, and Samuel H. Jardin. Esq., of Philadelphia. THE PRESENT FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE. The present Faculty of the College consists of: Rev. Samuel Gillman Brown, D. D., LL., D., President. Charles Avery, LL. D., Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. Rev. Nicholas Westermann Goertner, D. D., College Pastor. Oren Root, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics, Mineralogy and Geology. Christian Henry Frederic Peters, Ph. D., Litchfield Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Litchfield Observatory. Ellicott Evans, LL.. D., Maynird and Knox Professor of Law History, Civil Polity and Political Economy. Edward North, L. H. D., Edward-Robinson Professor of the Greek Language and Literature. Rev. John William Mears, D. D., Albert Barnes Professor of In- tellectual and Moral Philosophy. Albert Huntington Chester, A. M., E. M., Childs Professor of Ag- ricultural Chemistry and Professor of General Chemistry. liev. Abel Grosvenor Hopkins, A. M., Benjamin and Bates Profes sor of the Latin Language and Literature. Chester Huntington, A. M., Professor of Natural Philosophy ami Librarian. Henry Allen Frink, A. M., Kingsley Professor of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution. Jermmin Gilderoleere Porter, A. M., Assistant Professor of Ab tronoiny. LAW SCHOOL. During the incumbency <•!' Hon. Theodore \\ . Dwight,the Professorship of Law, History, Civil Polity and Political Economy was extended so as to embrace 384 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE a department for professional study and a Law School established. It proved a great success — too great, per- haps, for the fame of the Professor reached Columbia College and, he was taken away to that venerable institution. Ellicott Evans, Esq., succeeded Judge D wight and brought to his station ability, learning. culture, a love for teaching and a natural gift for it. Lecturers chosen from among eminent judges and prac- titioners assist him, and the school maintains its original course and character of instruction. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Is a permanent body, with the exception of four mem- bers, Alumni of the College, and chosen by their fellow alumni, whose term of service is four years. It con- sists at present of Samuel B. "Woolworth, LL. D., Albany, President. Hon. Henry A. Foster, LL. D , Oswego. Rev. Simeon North, D. D., LL. D., Clinton. Hon. Horatio Seymour, LL. D., L. H. D., Utica. Hon. Othniel S. Williams, LL. D., Clinton. Rev. Samuel H. Gridley, D. D , Waterloo. * Rev. George S. Boardman, D. D., Cazenovia. Rev. Philemon H. Fowler, D. D., Utica. Rev. William C. Wisner, Lockport. Hon. William J. Bacon, LL. D., Utica. William D. Wralcott, Esq., New York Mills. * Rev. A. Delos Gridley, D. D., Clinton. Rev. Samuel G. Brown, D. D., LL. D., Cliuton. Charles C. Kingsley, A. M., Utica. Rev. L. Merrill Miller, D, D., Ogdensburgh. PubliusV. Rogers, A. M., Utica. General S. Stewart Ellsworth, A. M., Penn Yau. Rev. Henry Kendall, D. D., New York. Gilbert Mollison, Esq., Oswego. Hon. John N. Hungerford, A. M., Corning. Hon. Daniel P. Ward, A. M., Syracuse. ii Mann. William < >- rate member of the American Board, and a Trustee of Hamilton College and Auburn Theological Seminary. Ee gave Bamilton College $10,000 towards the endow- ment of the chairof the Latin Language and Literature, and left n a legacy of $10,000. Ee also devised $10,- 000 to Auburn Theological Seminary, $30,000 to the Presbyterian Board of Publication, $2,000 to the Elmi- ra Orphan Asylum, and to be divided between the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign M - siona and the American Tracl Society. The public ject which most engaged aim \\a> the Elmira Female College Bis donation oi $6,000 fixed Its site, and w hen its buildings were erected and it >pened, a debt of $40,000 bad been incurred, more than half of 344 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE which was owed to Mr. Benjamin, and much of the re- mainder to personal friends in New York and Long Island. Mr. Benjamin subsequently gave $25,000 of this debt to the College, on condition that it should be placed under the supervision of the Synod of Geneva. To this he afterwards added $25,000, making a total of $55,000, and in his "Will he provided for the payment of $80,000 more. The death of Mrs. Benjamin and of their son Wil- liam, were afflictions from which he could not recover, and gradually he fell beneath their blows. Death was his relief and release. He calmly watched its approach. Not the slightest fear disturbed him. No doubt trou- bled him. He talked of his decease as he talked of everything else, and in 1868, like an undimmed star, he rose out of sight, Mrs. Sarah Bates, whose donation of $5,000 was added to Mr. Benjamin's 20,000 to complete the endow- ment of the department of the Latin Language and Lit- erature, is still spared at her home in Ithaca, N. Y., to practice her Christian beneficence and set her goodly example. Silas L>. Childs was born at Conway, Mass., 1793. Completing a New England common school education, he entered upon a clerkship in his native town, but left for Utica in 1816. Here he first took a place in the dry goods store of Mr. Stalham Williams, and then went as book-keeper to the office of Jason Parker, widely known as the proprietor of extensive stage lines. Marrying Hannah, the daughter of his employer, he SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 345 was admitted, together with Hon. Theodore S. Fax ton, to a partnership with him in 1820, his business associa- tion with Mr. Faxton lasting for forty years, and their stage business until 1836. Alive to the public wel- fare, he attended to the public interests in such stations as Bank, and Factory and Eailway Directorships, and as a Trustee of the Female Academy and the Orphan Asylum and the Cemetery Association. Upright, faith- ful, honorable, kind and sympathizing, he was always the modest and quiet and dignified gentleman, never suffer- ing taint or the suspicion of it. Dropping instantly dead in a banking room, the whole community felt the shock and shared the bereavement and grief. The opening of his Will disclosed the benevolence of his thoughts. Among the liberal legacies was that of $30,000 for the Chair in Hamilton College which bears his name. Mrs. Childs breathed her husband's spirit, and by the addition of $60,000 to his gift, greatly enlarged his pro- ject, and added to the facilities of Hamilton College for. imparting both a scholarly and practical education ; and not forgetting other objects, she erected at her own expense, as convenient and beautiful a Chapel for the Utica Cemetery as accommodates and adorns any similar place in the land. Charles Clark Kixgsley, Esq., was born at Utica. February 11th, 1830, and passing through the Public Schools and the Academy of his native city, entered Hamilton College in 1849 and graduated in 1852. The extensive business of his father had become burthen- some to him, and the son went filially to his relief. 346 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE Their main establishment at Utica had dependencies and adjuncts at Rome, Auburn, and New Haven, Ct., and the junior partner quickened all. The death of his father in 1869, brought the care of the family estate and the entire charge and management of the manufacturing and commercial business on Mr. Kingsley. The secu- lar affairs pressing upon him did not engross him, how- ever, nor divert him from the cause of education and religion. Uniting with the First Presbyterian Church, Utica, in 1854, he commenced a course of large dona- tions to the enterprises of Christian benevolence, and recognizing learning as the handmaid of religion, and appreciating his indebtedness to his Alma Mater, and expressing his affection for her, by a subscription of $6,000, he completed the endowment of (what was the Utica, but is now) the Kingsley Professorship of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution, and by gifts of $2,200 in the gross, for Prize Funds and other purposes. Mr. Kings- ley is a Trustee of the College and a member of the Executive Committee of the Utica "Home for the Homeless." The following letter from President Fisher to the New York Evangelist, contains no more than a just no- tice of Benjamin Stuakt Walcott: Hamilton College, Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y., Jan. 16, 1862. The funeral solemnities of one of our best and noblest citizens called me to-day to New York Mills. This flourishing manufac- turing town stretches along the Sauquoit, for a mile or more, to a point about half a mile from its confluence with the Mohawk. The town itself is worth a visit. Three groups of factories situ- ated respectively in the southern, central, and northern sections SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 847 of the town, give employment and maintenance to the entire pop- ulation. The neat cottages, interspersed with now and then a stately mansion; the mingled air of quiet and enterprise; the ad- mirably arranged school houses and commodious churches; the absence of all signs of immorality and decay; the shade-trees and shrubbery along the main street and around the dwellings of many of the inhabitants, — all betoken the influence of religion, enterprise, and culture. These factories combine the perfection of machinery with consummate skill and honesty in their man- agement. Their products are known all over the Union; and the imprint of "New York Mills" is a guarantee of unrivaled excel- lence, which your female readers will at once recognize, although they know not the place on the map where they were manufac- tured. I have been thus particular in describing this town because it is intimately associated with the life of a good man, of whom the readers of The Evangelist ought not to be ignorant. The origina- tor and builder of these factories— the man by whose talent and industry they were for many years managed — the father of this whole society — we have this afternoon laid, as to his mortal part, in the grave. An immense concourse of people from this town, with many from the neighboring borough of Whitestown and the city of Utica, honored the burial of Benjamin S. Walcott, From the admirable sermon preached on this occasion by his pastor, Rev. Chester Fitch, I wish to condense a few of the most inter- esting facts illustrative of his life. Born in Cumberland, R. I., Sept. 29th, 178G, he received from his parents a fair common school education, industrious habits, and a thorough training in the doctrines and precepts of evangelical religion. These, com- bined with a naturally vigorous intellect, laid the foundation of his future success. He commenced the business of manufacturing, in this State, in 1809. At that time it was very problematical whether it was possible for this country to compete successfully with Great Britain in this department. Many who embarked in it utterly failed. But Mr. Walcott, with singular foresight, an- ticipated the progress of the nation in this direction, and Bel him- self, with rare sagacity and practical judgment to assist in pro- ducing it. Ho not only Imported the latest improvements in machinery from Great Britain, but improved upon those Improve- ments. In connection with .Mr. Benjamin Marshal], of Troy, he 848 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE commenced the erection of the New York Mills, in 1825. From that time his progress was steady; factory was added to factory, house after house was erected, until the village assumed its pres- ent proportions. His goods were everywhere sought after, because they were the best of their kind. One of the secrets of this suc- cess consisted in the fact that he never would employ an immoral person to do his work. Adhering rigidly to this rule, with honest workmen he was sure of an honest product. He declared that in his life he had fully tested the soundness of the maxim, "Honesty is always the best policy." Not only was his name the synonym of honesty, but his work always illustrated it. He early entered into the spirit of the Temperance reform, and the entire society of the town he built up attests the extent of his influence in this direction. No drunkard is ever seen reeling through its streets; this curse is unknown there. Another principle on which he acted was the recognition of the claims of those he employed to be considered and treated as something more in their relations to him than merely operatives, doing so much work, receiving so much pay. He treated them as friends; the younger, especially as his children. He encouraged merit wherever he saw it; and hundreds of young men attribute their success in life to his fath- erly counsel and material aid. He was the first manufacturer in this country who reduced the working hours of the day from fif- teen to twelve. He was the first who introduced the custom of cash payment, thus allowing those he employed to purchase their supplies where they could do it cheapest and best. In these and other ways he consulted the best interests of those he had gath- ered around him, and won their sympathy. Up to the age of forty he was a strictly moral and honest man. Then therocamea change; he entered upon a new life. Through agonizing conviction of his utter sinfulness, he was brought at length into the light of a Christian hope. The Divine Spirit con- secrated him to a new and higher work. From this period, for thirty-six years, his life has been that of the just, shining brighter until it passed into the perfect day. Now he prosecuted his work as a Christian, to whom talents, time, and wealth were but pos- sessions entrusted to him for the good of others. Early elected an elder in the Presbyterian Church, he contributed largely to its real progress and prosperity. Although, from his natural diffi- dence and his conversion in middle life, he never attained facility SYNOD OF VEX TEAL NEW YORK. in speaking or in public prayer, yet his warm sympathy with the pastor and members of the church, his prompt attendance upon religious exercises, his deep interest in the young, and his clear judgment, gave him great influence both as a member and office- bearer. No one was oftener called upon to act the part of a peace- maker, and his decision in any case was accepted as conclusive. Unostentatious in manners, and having a very low estimate of himself, he shunned praise as earnestly as most men seek for ir. A man of fewivords, he formed his opinions and plans with great deliberation; but, when once formed, he held them with great tenacity, and executed them with marked energy. In his inter- course with others he manifested that which constitutes the high- est style of a truly Christian gentleman, a delicate attention to their wishes and feelings. In respect to property, he felt himself to be God's steward. His benefactions flowed in a steady stream, and embraced a wide circle of objects. With a spirit eminently catholic and unsectarian, he assisted, with a liberal hand, institu- tions and objects outside the pale of his own church. He recog- nized the spirit of Christ in all evangelical denominations, and many who did not worship with him, now rise op and call him blessed. He sought out the poor and the distressed, and in a manner most congenial to their feelings relieved and comforted them. This was his habit even to the close of life. But in addi- tion to these of the unknown deeds of daily beneficence, he con- tributed generously to public institutions. One of the>-ral to the ehorche 352 PRESDYTERIANISM IN THE generous to their pastors and zealous in cooperating with them. In times of revival, he stopped the machinery of the mills for brief seasons of exhortation and prayer. Schools were supplied with able teachers and books, and magazines and newspapers cir- culated. Pleasant homes were built and kept in perfect repair. Some of the necessaries of life were habitually purchased at wholesale and at the lowest prices, and sold at cost, and a part of the charge for board was paid. The sick and afflicted were visited and comforted and the poor relieved, and on stated occasions presents were distributed; and on Thanksgiving days every table was supplied with a turkey. Savings of wages were encouraged, and though after an experiment of it, their custody was de- clined, deposits in banks and safe and lucrative investments were secured. Mr. William D, Walcott was long the confidential counselor and active associate of his father in these schemes, and he and his partner, the Hon. Samuel Campbell, still unremittingly pursue them. Wealth has poured in upon the proprietors. Their fabrics stand unrivalled in the market. Their village of two thousand inhabitants is the picture of thrift. Not a sign of poverty or de- cay anywhere appears. It is the abode of virtue, too. No gam- bling is practiced. The " strange woman" never pollutes the place, and in no known instance has chastity been corrupted. Once or twice the sale of intoxicating drinks was attempted, but for forty years it has been totally suppressed. The alumni of New York Mills are scattered over the country, occupying the most prominent and eligible positions. Hundreds of them are prosperous business men ; at least a hundred are clergymen and lawyers and physicians; many are State and Na- tional officers and legislators, and one is a Chief Justice, and the alumna are happy wives and mothers in different ranks of society, and some of them the heads and leaders of the highest. Numerous letters of thanks from them, full of pleasant remin- iscences of the Mills, are received, and the manifest tokens of the wide-spread and lasting blessings they have conferred, are grate- fully accepted by the proprietors as more than a return for the attentions to their operatives they have shown. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 353 William Dexter Walcott, Esq., is the son of Benjamin Stuart Walcott, Esq. He was born at Whites- town, July 29, 1813, and educated at the best schools for vouth in the country, and instructed in the Sciences for a brief period, at Yale. The state of his health pre- vented his taking a full collegiate course, though he \\ as designed for it and his heart was set upon it. Con- strained to resort to an active life, he joined his father at New York Mills, and entered into a partnership with him and the Honorable Samuel Campbell, and with Mr. Campbell, finally succeeded to the entire business. Quite frail and liable to serious illness, he has borne a weight of care under which the strongest might have sunk, and kept up an activity that might have worn out any brawn. The secular interests committed to him would naturally have engrossed him, but he has always had a heart for religion and time and strength tor its service and promotion. A liberal supporter of the Church, a laborious Trustee of the Society, a faith- ful communicant, a busy elder, he has long superin- tended the Sunday school and taught a Bible class, while he constantly dispenses from his income and pos- sessions to charity and Christian benevolence ; and by unbending principle and blameless dealings in business, and l>\ niod.-si y and affability and intelligence in soci- ety, he commends himself to the wide circle in which he moves. A Trustee of Hamilton College and a mem- ber of it.- Executive Committee, he is thoroughly ac- quainted with its condition and management, and has shown both an appreciation of thai Institution and filial affection, by adding 115,000 to his father's endowmeul of the Presidency and of the Professorship of the Evi- 3 54 PRESB TTERIANISM IN THE dences of Christianity, and $10,000 to the Memorial Fund. Mr. Walcott has likewise been a generous pat- ron of the Whitestown Seminary, and for six years has acted as the President of its Board of Trustees. He came to its help at a period of deep depression, and by the timely gift of $5,000, to which his father added $1,000, lie lifted it up, and started it on a career of prosperity in which it has since made very remarkable progress under the able administration of Principal James S. Gardiner, Ph.D. The Hon. John Newton Hungerfoe]) was born Dec. 31, 1825, in the town of Vernon, Oneida county, within five or six miles of Hamilton College, — the youngest of a family of nine children, and a son of New England parents who came to this town where they settled in 1800. He lost his father when but a year old, and in the eleventh year of his age he went to Westfield, Chautau- que county, to live with his oldest brother, the late Sextus II. Hungerford, Esq. Passing through the Academy there, he entered Hamilton College, Sopho- more year, and graduated in 1846. Two years after- ward he accepted the Cashiership of his brother's Bank ut Westfield, and in 185-i he established a Bank of his own at Corning, N. Y., with which he has principally occupied himself since. Business has not alienated him from knowledge and culture, nor restrained his agency in their general advancement. In 1875 he was called by the Synod of Geneva to the Board of Trus- tees of Elmira Female College, and in 1871 he took his seat among the Trustees of his Alma Mater; and be- sides giving his personal attention to these Institutions, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. :\~)~> he recently expended $10,000 in renovating the old "South College'' at Clinton, and turning it into the convenient and comely "Hungerford Hall. '' Though no partisan in politics, lie has taken his part in civil affairs, and in 1876 was elected to Congress by a ma- jority of 8,116, in a district that for the immediately preceding term gave 2,872 majority to a representative taken from an opposite party. He is a communicant of the Presbyterian Church and a Killing Polder, and for twenty years has acted as a Trustee of the Society. Inheriting no property, he acquired what he holds by industry, economy, energy and skill. The sorest of earthly griefs has befallen him by the death of Mary W. Gansevort, daughter of the late Dr. Ten Eyck Gansevort, to whom he was married in 1859, at Bath, Steuben county. Hon. Peter Buel Porter, son of Judge Augustus Porter and nephew of General Peter B. Porter, was born at Canandaigua, X. Y.. March 17, 1806. Pre- paring for it in the Academy of that town of beauty and refinement, he entered Hamilton College and grad- uated there in L82& Returning to his home, he studied for the Par in the office of Judge Nathaniel \V. Howell and commenced practice in Buffalo. His father was the pioneer citizen of Niagara Falls, and in connection with his uncle, a large land proprietor there. In 1837, Mi'. Porter removed his residence t.> the won- drous scenery of his father's home and remained there until his death, June 16, L871. In L 840, and again in L841, he repn bis district in the Lower Houa the State Legislature, and in the latter year was ch< 35 6 PRESB TTER1A N1SM IN THE Speaker. Of fine gifts, improved by the best of asso- ciations and opportunities, and, with intellectual tastes, he was qualified for professional and civil prominence, but preferred the seclusion of private life, and spent most of his days in the labors and deeds of an useful citizen and Christian, surrounded, not by the display of ambitious and pretentious wealth, but with the objects which intelligence and refinement and the love of learning and literature and art gather in the home of a true gentleman. His social position did not put him out of the circle of general humanity, and his ample resources for worldly enjoyments did not spoil him for spiritual pleasures, and his culture did not refine him beyond masculine exercises. He was not only a church member and a ruling elder, but a true and active and charitable Christian. In the provision he made for the disposal of his estate, when death relieved him of its stewardship, he assigned $5,000 as a permanent fund for the Library of Hamilton College. Though born in the village of Townsend, Vt, town of Westminster, May 27, 1807, Samuel Fletcher Pratt, son of Samuel Pratt, Jr., and grandson of Captain Samuel Pratt, was brought with his father's family to Buffalo during the year of his nativity. From a spirit of enterprise and adventure, Captain Pratt set out in 1S02, with a few of like mind, to explore the far A Vest. Proceeding to Montreal, the necessary outfit was com- pleted, and the most saleable and portable articles for barter procured, and the party sailed up the St. Law- rence and along the south shore of Lake Ontario and up the Niagara to Lewiston, and making the portage SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. around the Falls, they coasted along the north shore of Lake Eric and went as far as Mackinaw, exchanging goods for furs. Tt was a hazardous trip, well illustrat- courage and enterprise. Touring again in 1803. Cap- tain Pratt was left in the wilderness, near what is now Sandusky, under a violent attack of small-pox. with none but a squaw to nurse him. Recovering from this, and journeying homewards, he passed Buffalo, then but a cluster of log-cabins, and now a city of 1*20,000, and the eleventh in size of the cities of the country, and comprehending at once the advantages of its site, the next year, closing np his affairs at Westminster, In; went to settle upon it. He was not a professing Chris- tian, but of religious sentiments and devoted to his wife, an eminently pious woman, and finding it impos- sible both on his own account and hers to live without gospel ordinances, in 1S<»5, he induced the Rev. Mr. Whiting, of Boston, to join him in his new home, and thai clergyman, besides preaching and conducting pub- lic worship, taught a school. Mr-. Pratt's parlors ac- commodated the iirst prayer meetings held in Buf fain, and these were the forerunners of rhe First Pres byterian Church there. Following his father, with his family, in 1807, Samuel Pratt, Jr., entered the same business with him, but in partnership with Captain Benjamin Caryl He left the firm in L810 to a< the sheriffalty of Niagara county, which then included Erie and Niagara counties of tin- present day. At the expiration of bis term of office, he resumed businec company with his brother-in-law, Mi-. Elijah Leech. The burning of Buffalo by the British in the War of 1812, consumed the property of it- citizens and exiled 358 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE them from their homes. Oapt Pratt & Son, with their families, shared the universal experience, and the father died from it. The younger Mr. Pratt made his way back on the return of peace, but for several years was ■crippled in his circumstances, with no promise of relief. By one of those marked providences from which real life so often surpasses fiction, in 1815, he was put in charge of the business concerns in Canada of an early friend of his wife, and about a year after, his son, Samuel Fletcher Pratt, joined him there. The father's health so far failed that in eighteen months he was obliged to resign his post and return to his home in the States. The son remained until 1S22, in which year his father died, and then he came back to Buffalo, and at the age of fifteen took a clerkship in the hardware store of Or. k T. Weed. His employers were not slow to discern his worth, and increased his salary every year until 1826, when, though but twenty years old, he was admitted to the firm, and ten years after, he became sole proprietor. He took his brother, Mr. Pascal P. Pratt into partnership with him in 1842, and in 18-16, they associated Mr. Edward P. Beals with them, and were widely known, for the extent of their commercial transactions and the magnitude and variety of their manufactures, and established the new house of Pratt & Letch worth for another class of the hard- ware trade. He owed much to what cost him much, — the disci- pline of early poverty. And yet that would not have availed him but for the spirit with which he bore it. and the use he made of it. Says an intimate friend : "In reviewing the lone intercourse between Samuel V. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 359 Pratt and myself, I cannot recall in all the discussions growing out of the perplexities of business, one unkind word, or even harsh tone."' "He was always looking on the bright side." "If he discerned anxiety upon the countenance of another, he was likely to lead the conversation, after a little, into a humorous strain, and eventually bring it to the climax of a laugh so hearty and generous as to dispel every shadow." ,;I never came into his presence and looked upon his frank, open face, but I felt my own heart lighter, and when I had left him, I was inspired as if I had been breathing the fresh mountain air." While buoyant, he was attentive to others, waiting on customers with the respectfnlness due to competence and rank, and with the interest sym- pathy awakened for the diffident, the humble, and the poor, and just and honorable alike with employers and purchasers. Nothing seemed a task or a tax to him that served the concern for which he engaged, and instead of wastinghis sparehours and his little earnings in amusements and vicious indulgences, he diligently sought improvement, and handed six of the eighl dol- lars he received a month, to his widowed and needy mother. As a matter of course, principle was unbend- ing with him, and combined with it. was the most deli- cate sense of bonor, and while incapable of meanness and wrong, he wrought rigorously and boldly in what lie ondertook, and D£ver tired or halted until his goals were reached and his objects secured. Quick in sj and prompt in ; i < - 1 i < > 1 1 in commercial allairs. he perpetra- ted no rudeness, and iii every sphere he maintained, with his uprightness and kindness ami affability, a dig- nity that inspired deference and a civility approaching 3 60 PS BSB YTEIilA NISM IN THE punctiliousness. Bred in a store and living in a count- ing room, lie was strikingly a gentleman, and appeared more like a courtier than a merchant He seldom ar- gued, and never disputed or retorted, or lost his temper. Though so averse to public office that he repeatedly refused a candidacy for the Mayoralty when his nomi- nation would have been equivalent to his election, he did serve once as Alderman, and with conscientious assiduity, too. lie held the Presidency of the City (las Company from its organization until his death, and the first Presidency of the Female Academy, and a place in its Board of Trustees from 1851, when it was consti- tuted, and eyery public institution in the city numbers him among its benefactors, and every benevolent asso- ciation received his constant, but unostentatious aid.'5 (irace set the crown on his character, and endowed his life with its chief worth. Uniting with the First Presbyterian Church in 1826, when but nineteen years old, he remained in it until he joined the compaii}T of the redeemed in heaven, — modest here, as in the com- munit}', and unobtrusive, but consistent with the rela- tion into which he entered, and faithful in the fulfill- ment of its duties. Shut out from his habitual associ- ations and pursuits by the confinement which sickness produced, and tortured by pain, unrestrained submis- sion tempered his soul and allowed little sense of his prison and his rack. "Closing his eyes and lifting his feeble hands to heaven, he was ever heard to say, 'I thank my Heavenly Father for all his favor and kind- ness to me through my whole life, and most of all that he has given me a well grounded hope and an under- standing faith in my Saviour. That is all lean say SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 361 Is not that enough?' Again he was heard whispering, 'My anchor! my anchor!' and soon after, 'Sure and steadfast ! Sure and steadfast !' " When the line ' There's a light in the window for thee,' was repeated to him, he immediately added, ' Yes, and the window is standing open!' A lover of music, he delighted in sacred song, and from the age of sixteen or seventeen until near his death, he held a place in the choir of his church. On a Sabbath morning just before the familiar strains broke forth he had so long helped to raise in his loved Sanc- tuary on earth, he passed into the temple on high, and began there the sweet, yet rapturous notes of the great multitude which no man can number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, saying, 'Salva- tion to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.' ": Mr. Pratt's Will spoke his heart. It bequeathed $65,000 to public institutions— $30,000 of this amount being designed for Hamilton College. I lun. FREDERICK STARR was born in Warren, ( Jt, May 1, 1779. lie came to Rochester, N. Y., in 1822, when it was a village of 2,500 inhabitants, and lived to see it contain 90,000. 1I«' began business as a cabinet- maker, but spent the Last twenty wars of liis life as a piano manufacturer. Nature richly favored him with tine powers of mind, an active temperament, great reso- lution and boldness and persistence and fine gifts of speech. 11<' was made for a public man, and felt him- self in his elemenl in public enterprises and on public Occasions. In National and State and M unieipal atlairs. he habitually took a prominent party and, in times of 362 PRESBYTEMANISM IN THE excitement, he alwxrys appeared as an actor in the scenes, and when plans were proposed for the advance- ment of the city, he passed a decided and independent judgment upon them, and vigorously opposed or pro- moted them. He represented the city in the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1839, and would have been sent there the next year had he not insisted on the election of Judge Sampson. His whole self was given to the Saviour, and he labored in his cause with characteristic courage and energy. He joined the First Church immediately after reaching the city, and, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, he was called to the Session, and continued a member and elder there for nearly thirty years. A pronounced "New School man/' he gave up both positions, when the church declined to connect itself with the New School body, and, uniting with the Central Church, he was immedi- ately appointed an elder in it, and so continued until his death. Incessantly busy in the parish, always in his place as a communicant and an officer, and perform- ing his part, there was nothing, however difficult and trying and humble he did not cheerfully undertake and patiently prosecute. He regarded himself as belong- ing to the church at large, and labored as earnestly for great interests abroad as for great interests at home. The Associations and Boards of Christian benevolence found him among their best supporters, and in Presby- teries and Synods and General Assemblies, he deliber- ated and wrought for the progress of his denomination and of the Universal Church. He freely lent himself to the Auburn Theological Seminary, in the service of which his son, Kev. Frederick Starr, Jr., was so highly SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 363 distinguished, and for many years he filled a Trustee- ship of that Institution, and, for his last years, the Presidency of the Board. Public movements for reli- gious reform never failed of his advocacy and aid. He entered with all his heart and might into a grand scheme of his friend and townsman, Josiah Bissell, for the general distribution of the Scriptures, and when that gentleman started Sunday-keeping passenger boats on the Erie Canal, and the "Pioneer Line" on the stage route from Albany to Buffalo, he struck hands with him and with his main coadjutor — Aristarchus Champion. The curse and sin of intemperance and liquor-selling pressed upon him, and he could not keep silent and passive in regard to them, and on no theme was he more ready and eloquent in speech, and in no work was he more vigorous. The connection of learn- ing and religion was clear to his sharp and sweeping- vision, and acting on what he perceived, he paid tribute to learning as the handmaid of religion. While living, he established a $L,000 scholarship in Hamilton Col- lege, and while anticipating death, he set apart for it the further sum of $3,000. General John ,I.\y Knox eminently belongs to the list of benefactors of Hamilton College. Given in frequent instalments during u protracted period, and never withheld for any considerable interval, tin- sum of his contributions in money is a large amount. But better than this is the devotion to the College, with winch, even more in adversity than in prosperity, he clung to it and served it. A Trustee from L828 to L876, and for thirty years Chairman of the Board, he 364 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE missed but two of its ninety-eight meetings during that space. There was remarkable vivacity and earnestness in his interest in tlie College, giving a youthful air to his manifestations of it. Nothing about it ever de- pressed him, and almost everything elated him, and the enthusiasm he felt he widely communicated. He thoroughly believed in the College — in its superior character and standing — in the high grade and value of the education it gave — in the happy influence on its students it exerted. No less than four of his sons and five of his grandsons were committed to it and gradu- ated from it, Gen. Knox was born at Canajoharie, N. Y., March 18, 1791, and brought up there. In 1811 he removed to Augusta, Oneida county, where he entered into ex- tensive business. In 1813, he married Sarah Ann Curtis, and remained in the residence where they set u [) housekeeping until his death, Jan. 31, 1876. It was but a hamlet to which he went, founded principally by New England immigrants twenty years before, and grown only to six or eight dwellings, one store, and a blacksmith shop. Bringing a small capital with him, he rapidly enlarged it by prudent yet enterprising mer- chandise, principally on the system of barter, sending the grain and potash for which he exchanged his goods to Albany in sleighs, and drawing back replenishments of his stock. The thrift he showed imparted itself to his neighbors, and still more, his honesty and honor. Every good cause found him a supporter in the com- munity, particularly the Temperance reform, and he was brought into prominence in this latter in its opera- lions throughout the State. A pillar in the church at SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOIiK. 365 his home, he gave constantly as the Lord prospered him to the schemes of the church at large, and never, until death removed him, was he absent from the Chair of the Oneida County Bible Society, over which he was chosen to preside, by annual elections, for forty years. Buoyant and energetic and shrewd, he was simple as a child, and as innocent and pure, attracting universal respect and confidence and regard by his spotless char- acter and unblemished life, and by his cordiality of manner and kindness of heart. His religion pervaded him, and while kept by it unspotted from the world, it took him always to his place, and prepared him for his part at social exercises, made him a devout priest at his family altar and a Christian head of his household, — bringing up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, all of whom it was his privilege and ji welcome to a membership of the church, — bathed his soul in secret communion with God, and fitted him to depart in peace and abundantly to enter the kingdom of heaven. Mr. SAMUEL JAKDIN, a retired merchant of Philadel- phia, appropriated $4,000 to the (.'"liege to be set apart as a fund, the income of which shall be applied to indi- gent students lor the ministry. M rs. Sarab Baibd, stteville, waa called to the great trial of losing a son, a mosl \\ « >rt h v and promising south, by the accidental dischai gun. As a memorial of him, and for the aid of needy students, Bhe established a fund in the I >■" 0. 366 riiESB YTEIUA NISM IN THE Edwin Clark Litchfield was born in the imme- diate vicinity of Cazenovia. His father's family re- moved soon after to that village, and he spent his child- hood and early youth there. Graduating at Hamilton College in 1832, he prepared for the bar, and in part- nership with Charles Tracey, Esq., now a leading law- yer in New York, secured a large and conspicuous practice. Circumstances however, diverted him from his profession to Eailway transactions, and besides be- coming largely interested in different roads, he was active in several Directorships, and held important Presidencies. This business induced his removal to New York, and afterwards crossing to Brooklyn, he made his residence there, and added large real estate purchases and improvements to his previous operations. His affairs and the state of his health have carried him often, with his family, to Europe and kept him for long spaces there and familiarized him with German and French and with Trans- Atlantic people, countries and governments. Exacting as his business has been, he never gave up reading and study and aesthetic cul- ture and enjoyment, nor felt weaned from humanity. Too genuinely benevolent to make a show of it, he lias privately practiced a kindly and generous chanty, while he presented the munificent gift to his Alma Mater of $30,000, for the Litchfield Observatory and the Litch- field Professorship of Astronomy. Mi:. John ( \ BALDWIN was born in Vermont, but spenl his business life in New York city, and on retir- ing from trade. BOUghl a quirt home in Orange, X. J. For more than thirty years In1 seemed doomed to death SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. o67 by consumption, but by a wise and patient regimen ool only escaped for that long space, but managed large commercial operations with, signal success. His dona- tions began with his profits, and kept pace with them, and reached an immense sum. Casually listening to an appeal for the endowment of the Presidency of Wa- bash College, he at once subscribed towards it what amounted in the end to $8,250, and in a few week* added enough to make it $10,000, and a year after he gave 110,000 more. In 1807 he contributed $10,000 to Hamilton College, and after specific legacies of over $300,000 in his Will, he directed that "the remainder of his estate, of every kind and nature, be divided into four equal parts, one of which shall be given to Middle; bury College, a second to Williams College, a third to Hamilton College, and a fourth to Wabash Coll. the share of each being over $30,000. It appearing aftQr Mr. Baldwin's death that he had promised $15,000to Mary ville College, Tenn., intending to presenl it as a gift, that sum was paid by the other coll. leaving their several portions $27,960. lb' directed that the money should be securely invested, and its "income applied towards the support and education of indigent students, members of some Christian church, holding the doctrine of the divinit \ of Christ as held bj the Presbyterian Church in the United States of A.merica, preference being given to those who stand highest, in the grade of scholarship, and scholarship be- ing equal, preference to be again given t<» those who purpose to devote their lives to the gospel ministry." It bas been understood that Mr. Baldwin disbursed more in benevolence during his life, than he bequeathed 368 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE to it at his death ; and he kept up his giving while "the last enemy" was assailing him, and fell with offerings to loved friends and prized objects in his hands. He was a man of intense earnestness, but of quiet and dig- nified manners, and it was touching to listen to the gentleness and sweetness with which, in his last sick- ness, he referred to his wife, who enfeebled like him- self, was gradually but surely dropping with him upon their couch in the grave. Christopher R Robert, Esq., is a native of Brook- haven, L. I, born March 23, 1802, and received an Aca- demic education at Jamaica, L. I. Sixty years ago, 1817, he began a mercantile clerkship in the city of New York, and five years after became a principal in business, car- rying it on chiefly in New Orleans. In 1830, he estab- lished himself in New York as head of the firm of Robert & Williams, selling cotton, sugar and tobacco received from New Orleans and Cuba. The concern passed successfully through the panics of 1837, 1847r 1857 and 1801, and broke up in 1862, Mr. Robert retiring from it at that time, and in 1863, from the Presidency of a large Railway and Coal Company, which he had filled, and thus closed his business career. Mr. Robert made his first public profession of reli- gion, January, 1828, in the Laight St, Presbyterian Church, New York, then under the care of Rev. Dr. S. II. Cox. He served as a ruling elder from 1834 to 1862, associated for the first six months with Harlan Page, and for nearly thirty years he was Superintendent of one of the largest Sunday schools in the city. The property put in his possession has been held in trust 5 7N0D OF C EXTRA L NEW YORK. 369 for the Lord. Hamilton College has shared in its dis- tribution, $4,400 having been sent there to aid bene- ficiary candidates for the ministry. The college at Constantinople, bearing his name, (with his reluctantly yielded consent.) has been the principal recipient of his broadcast funds, — about $114,000 having fallen to it from him. No hall of literature and science in the world stands on so magnificent a site. ''It occupies those heights near the old European fortress where the Bosphorus bends towards the north, so that to all as- cending or descending those straits, the college build- ings attract every eye. The commerce and travel of large portions of Asia Minor, Persia, South Russia and all the countries along the Danube sweep by it. Thirty thousand sailing vessels and countless steamers pass it every year, and the stars and stripes waving from its tower are often saluted by the flags of various nations. Darius with his seven hundred thousand, crossed here. Kenophon with his immortal ten thousand, encamped in the valleys opposite. The Crusaders crossed at this spot, and Mahomet 2d erected this fortress to command the Bosphorus, preliminary to his victorious Biega" It was long before the government would consent to the jite for the college, but allowed at last, a structure has been put up substantial enough to defy assault or corrosion, handsome as a piece of architect- ure, and convenienl for its purposes. And the college . I rooted, — drawing nourishment from its imme- diate soil, and self-8UStaining. [tfl capacity is alp short of its requirements. With the need of accommo- dating five hundred Btudents, it has r<><>in for only two hundred and fifty, and the appeal is earnestly addn 370 PRESBYTERIANISU IN THE to all wide-minded and large-hearted philanthropists and Christians to furnish the means for enlarging the buildings and inereasing the corps of instructors. The Faculty of Yale College join in the declaration— "The founding and success of Robert College at Constantino- ple, cannot but be reckoned among the most remarka- ble events of the century. An American merchant, with princely and far-seeing munificence, has enabled an American Missionary to establish at that ancient metropolis, so central to the commerce of the Old World and so sure to be, under whatever dynasty, the scat of Empire, an American College for liberal educa- cation. The experienced sagacity of Dr. Hamlin, his organizing and executive ability, his literary and scien- tific attainments and his religious earnestness, have placed on the heights that look over the Bosphorus into A -in. an institution, which, with its building, its appa- ratus of instruction, its learned and laborious Professors, and its resort of students representing all the national i- ties, languages and religions of the Turkish Empire, has already become one of the most important and conspic- uous of the forces that are introducing a new era in the history of the historic countries which are under the Mohammedan power." Mr. Carlton T. Lewis, of the New York Evening Post. said in the course of an address to the Alumni of Bow- doin College, "Here is the vast Ottoman Empire, an aggregation <>f many races, severed from one another by ages of social prejudice, of reciprocal hatred, of con- tending religions, and bound together only by the pres- sure <>f an intolerable tyranny. Now the essential idea of Roberl College is human brotherhood. It will have SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 371 no class that is not open to every race, nationality and creed. It will confer no honors save in the English tongue, which is now known throughout the world as the language of freemen. While it will force no creed upon any man, its own creed is Apostolic, missionary, universal Christianity, in which is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Tt is the theory and habit of Turkish life that every man comes into the world with his religion, his social position, his work, associations, enjoyments and destiny fixed for him by his birth, — hereditary bonds from which there is no escape. The feud of race and beliefs are gulfs which divide society into fragments, — barriers against all pro- gress, obstacles to the existence of a community of men and hindrances to tin.' growth of the individual soul. 1 know nothing more impressive than the establishment of this Institution of union in that Empire of disinte- gration,— tin- setting np in instruction and in practice, among all those hereditary isolations, of the law of hu- man brotherhood, — the proclamation that the measure of a man musl be, not his narrow birthright of belief or prejudice, but the power and value of his manhood." Mr. Robert's zeal for the advancement of Christian education has hen a holy and enlightened passion. Besides the $4,400 given to Hamilton O rid a larger sum given i<> Auburn Theological Seminary and th<> foundation of Robert College, Mi'. Robert boughl the G-overnmen1 property on Lookout Mountain. Tenn., and devoted it to academic and collegiate instruction lor that Bection of the country, and provided funds from time to time for current expenses, but the situa- tion, or tin- circumstances, or the times, have not been : J 7 2 PRESB YTEIilANISM IN THE favorable to the enterprise, and skill and energy and liberality have not overbalanced them. GrERRlT Smith, son of Peter Smith, was born in Utica, March 6, 1797, and died in New York, during a visit there, December 2, 1874, and was buried at his home in Peterboro, where he resided the greater part of his life. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1818, and his first wife was the daughter of the President. Dr. Backus. His second wife, who survived him but a few months, was the daughter of William Fitzhugb, Esq., of Geneseo, where he had removed from Mary- land. Mrs. Charles Miller and Mr. Green Smith are their only children living. The records of the First Presbyterian Sunday school, Utica, July 14th. 183G, has the entry. " Listened to an interesting narra- tive drawn up by Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Smith, of the life and death of their beloved son, our late scholar. Fitzhugh Smith.'' The estate Mr. Smith inherited was one of the largest that had been left in the country, and consisted chiefly of land, lying in almost every County of New York, and in almost every State of the Union. But, though charged with the management of this, philanthropy was his life work, and nothing di- verted hi in from it. He was admitted to the Bar, but not until 1858, when he was ~>6 years old, and cannot be said to have practiced at it, though he took part in several important trials, lie was elected to Congress, but served out only half his term. A free composer and a fluent speaker, the press almost constantly showered his writings on the land, and his speeches were as con- stantly sounding in it. Every variety of religious and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 373 moral theme enlisted him, but chiefly intemperance and slavery. Besides any number of pamphlets, and mag- azine and newspaper articles, he published volumes en- titled " Speeches in Congress," " Sermons and Speech- es," "The Religion of Reason," "Speeches and Let- ters," "The Theologies,"' "Nature the Base of a Free Theology," and " Correspondence with Albert Barnes." Most especially was he engaged for the negroes of the Union. In 1825 he espoused the colonization scheme. After the Utica mob, he abandoned it and joined the Abolitionists, and became one of their most zealous speakers and writers, and their most munificent contrib- utor. A ceaseless stream of charitable and benevolent gifts flowed from him. Responding liberally to appli- cations to him, he never waited for these, but on his own motion and as soon as he heard of them, sent help to promising enterprises for usefulness and relief to suffering and need. He gave away, from time to time, large quantities of land, and in 1848 distributed 200,000 acres, in parcels averaging fifty acres. He spent lav- ishly to make Kansas a free State, and the interest thus inspired in John Brown, led him to furnish largely the Binews of war for the old hero's attack on Harper's Ferry and his invasion of Virginia The tragical fail- ure of this last almost Qllixotical adventure was a ter- rible blow to Mr. Smith, and for a time his reason top pled under it. But the shock ultimately calmed him, and sobered his views. Nothing was too hard or too much for bim In defence of the Union when fiercely and formidably assailed. Pen and tongue tools no res pite, and treaSUP laid out for any amount of drafts upon them. The rebellion subdued, patriotism 3 74: PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE left Mr. Smith free for humanity, and manifesting thus that his outlay in war did not exhaust his pacific senti ments, with Horace Greely, he signed the bail bond that delivered Mr. Jefferson Davis from a felon's cell. A like soothing of unnatural excitement in religion is said to have been felt by Mr. Smith, so that the ex- travagant views to which he had given publicity were toned down to a close approach to an evangelical creed, if not to a substantial accordance with it. A man of fine literary tastes and gifts, highly cultivated, as well as a man of benevolence, he could not fail to put a just estimate on the diffusion of knowledge and facilities for education, and this he manifested by the establishment of a Public Library in Oswego, where he was a large property-holder, and by gifts aggregat- ing $11,000 to Hamilton College, of which institution he was a distinguished son. Hon. William Earl Dotkje was born in Hartford, Ct, September 4th, 1805. His father, David L. Dodge, was long an eminent merchant in the city of New York, and also widely known as a writer on theological and other subjects, and as an advocate of the cause of peace, and as the first President of the National Society for its promotion. His mother was the daughter of Kev. Aaron Cleveland, distinguished as a poet and wit, as well as a divine The father spoke of his son as a good boy, full of filial affection, a loving brother and amiable towards all, very conscientious and of great nobility of nature. Having received a good English education, Mr. Dodge was employed as youngest clerk in the dry goods estab- lishment of Mi-. John Merrit, a Quaker merchant in SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 37o Pearl street, New York. At that early age and at that beginning of his active life, he showed the qualities that have been so conspicuous throughout his career. A little circumstance indicated what he was and illus- trates what he has always been. The keys of the store were committed to him, and it was his ambition to open the doors and prepare everything within for business before there was any stir in the neighborhood At the end of the first year of his engagement, he was presented with a gold watch, in token of the satisfaction he gave. By the time he reached his majority he had accumulated savings enough for capital in a dry goods trade, in which he embarked with a partner. He now attracted the at- tion of Anson Gr. Phelps, Esq., senior member of the metal firm of Phelps & Peck, and the result was an in- vitation to a partnership with them, which he accepted. Such was the impulse he gave to affairs, that Mr. Phelps remarked that he was worth more than any amount of capital that could be named. The stjde of the firm was soon changed to Phelps, Dodge & Co., and its transactions from that time have exceeded those of any other house in the same line in the country. Mr. Dodge has not con- fined bis business activity to the concern with which he is immediately connected He is well known as a busi- ness man generally, taking part in the construction and directorship of extensive railways, in mining, in manu- facturing, in various commercial enterprises and opera- tions, and is probably the largesl owner of lumber land in the country. For many years he presided over the New Fork Chamber «•!' Commerce, and is always fore- most in projects and movements for the interest ira Hie and industry. And Al r. Dodge has not been con- 371 > PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE lined to financial spheres. His public spirit enlisted him in civil affairs. He served as a member of the House of Representatives in the 39th Congress, his talents and commercial experience fitting him for prominence and influence and usefulness there. Of broad views and patriotic sentiments, lie could never play the poli- tician and partisan, but has always acted like a trae statesman, and again and again has come to the front in the country's emergencies. lie united with the church when only twelve years old, and from that early age continuously on has acted consistently with the sacred relation into which he en- tered He has exercised the ruling eldership in the Brick Church, the 2nd Avenue Church, the Madison Square Church, and the Church of the Covenant, all of New York. For fifty years he served in Sunday schools, and the various benevolent and religions asso- ciations designed for the metropolis have always com- manded his efficient help. He has also traversed the wider field of his Christian denomination and of the ( 'hurch universal ; holding important places and fulfill- ing important offices in ecclesiastical bodies, and in evan- gelizing societies and boards, and ever ready for any part to which extraordinaiy occasions called him. For years lie has tilled the Vice Presidency of the Ameri- can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and is among the most earnest in the proceedings at its an- nual meetings. He is President of the National Tem- perance Society and zealous in the promotion of its ob- jects. He has been active in the Evangelical Alliance, and his spirit is always stirred and his lips opened by special movements and gatherings for the general wel- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 377 fare and for the extension of the church. Prompt and persevering and liberal in procuring the agency of others for the public good, he never holds back from effort he himself may put forth, and when circumstances require it, as in the frontier settlements to which his business often takes him, he shows himself as ready for lay preaching and for leading social and public worship, as for secular transactions. His name is synonymous with munificent giving, and yet the gifts that are seen, there is reason to believe, are small, compared with what are concealed. It would be difficult to mention a good ob- ject to which he has not largely contributed Hamil- ton College is known to him from report alone, but that has been enough to prompt a donatio]! from him of $6,000. In the 23d year of his age and immediately after entering the firm of Phelps & Peck. Mr. Dodge joined in marriage to Melissa, daughter of .'•..- . <<. Phelps, and seven of eleven children, all of the living being sons, are spared to them. "The question before our profession to-day," said President Anderson, of Rochester University, "is this: 'Shall the young men of the future be trained in sci- entific methods, .-"called, which assume a godless uni- . and denythe reality of all distinction between mind and matter, or in a method w bich finds an Infinite Mind as the bottom thought of all science and m<>ral law, incarnated in all history, in all jurisprudence, and in every form <>f social order?' 1 am aware of the per- Bistenl ridicule, qoI to say misrepresentation, which has 378 PRESB YTEMANISM IN TUB been expended upon what are called ' sectarian colleges.7 It is forgotten that there may be a sectarianism of scep- ticism and irreligion, as positive and bitter as any that exists within the limits of religions denominations. As a general rule, it is not true that the colleges of our country have been used as instruments for propagating the tenets of religious sects among their students. Such a charge, indiscriminately made against those who con- trol the American colleges that have derived their main endowments from religious denominations, may be justly designated as slanderous. No man acquainted with the broad-minded, liberal and learned men who have the control of these so-called 'sectarian' institutions can either intelligently or honestly charge them with using their positions for sectarian purposes, in any legit- imate sense of the term. No thoughtful man can ignore the work which such 'sectarian' colleges as Harvard. Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia and Brown have done for the country. They have all been pre- dominantly controlled by some denomination of Chris- tians, and they represent to-day the highest type of our intellectual growth. They have saved our country from educational barbarism. They have adopted into their curriculum every new science which has established any just claim to recognition. They have been nurseries of I >ubl ic morality and of an exalted patriotism. They have given tone and elevation to our literature. They have furnished an education distinctively American, — abetter preparation for American public life, whether political, professional, or mercantile, than can be furnished by any institutions in the Old World, however broad and comprehensive their courses of instruction maybe.'' SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOIiK. 379 Superintendent Ruffner, of Virginia, remarks: "I am persuaded, after careful examination, that the use- fulness and popularity of a college are not necessarily diminished because it is controlled by a particular de- nominational influence. If properly managed, this simply secures an earnest and peaceful religious influ- ence over young men under circumstances in which it is specially important that they should have it. Whilst on the one hand the home teaching and influence may be sufficient for children whilst going to school at or near home, and whilst on the other hand, the mature young man who goes to the University may be trusted to keep himself under wholesome influences, the imma- ture youth who goes from home before his habits have become firmly established, needs to be placed under guaranteed influence of the most healthful sort, and there is nothing better than the homogeDeous habits and spirit of a denominational college.'' The College is the child of the Church. The old Universities of England were begotten by it, and also Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and most of the younger of our land. And born of the Church, Colli are its filial servants. They educate its Ministry- i fourth of their graduates passing into it. They swell Its membership — a larger proportion of their students becoming hopefully pious than of the members of anj other community. Revivals In them are frequent and sweeping. Twenty of these occurred at Yale during tic century after the "great revival" ^i L740, and one every two years In the quarter of a century following, and fifty thousand conversions are estimated to have resulted from a single revival under President Dwight 380 MESBYTERIANISM IN THE Hamilton College is the child of the Church, and has been nourished by it. It has also returned far beyond what it has received. Like sister institutions, and from the nature of all such institutions, it can never pass out of the stage of dependence and need, while its indis- pensableness to the church must ever continue, and its offices for it will multiply and enlarge. The following is the census of the colleges of the country under religious influence and control : Congregationalists 2L Presbyterians, . . ..... 31 Baptists 38 Episcopalians, 18 Methodists, 53 United Brethren, 5 Lutherans, .16 Reformed Dutch and German, .... (» Friends 4 Evangelical Association 1 Moravians, . . . . . . . 1 Total 194 Number of Professors in 162 Colleges, . . 1,444 Number of Students in 157 " ... 15,208 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. Congregationalists, 8 Presbyterians, 19 ■ Baptists 22 Methodists 13 Episcopalians, 12 Lutheran and German Reformed, . . . .21 Moravian, 1 United Brethren, .1 Total 97 Professors in 82, . . . . . 304 Students in 73 2,825 Graduates from 45. ...... 19,531 SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 881 STATISTICS OF BENEVOLENCE IN THE LAND. FOKEIGN MISSIONS. Societies and Boards, . . . . . 18 Foreign Missions. ..... 83 Foreign Stations and Sub-Stations, . . . 2/2?:! Foreign Missionaries— males, . . . 48o " " — females, . . . .514 Total laborers on foreign stations, . . . 8,908 Native converts enrolled, ..... 00,03'.) Scholars in schools (incomplete), . . . 00,4Gb* Woman's Missionary Boards, . . . . 10 Auxiliaries, ...... 3,625 Foreign Missionaries supported, .... 205 Assistants, ...... 293 Schools, . . . . . . .195 HOME MISSIONS. Boards, including Freedman's and American S. S. Union, 88 Laborers, ...... 8,781 Localities supplied, ..... 9,129 Conversions and additions in a single year, . 20,918 Sunday Schools organized in a single year, . . 4,021 RELIGIOUS I'KESS. About nineteen-twentieths of the religious Periodical literature is furnished by the Evangelical Churches. Number of Periodicals, .... 40*3 Regular circulation, .... L.764,358 Copies issued in a single year, . . . 125, 1)50, 49(5 There ar.- Dot less than twenty religious Publication Boards sustained by the Evangelical Churches in the United Statts. The annual receipts from sales and donations of sixteen of tie lsT2, were $4,165,870— of which $725,158 72 vn re contribution! to fourteen of t lie Boards. The American Bible Society Issued in 57 years, 80 891 ,82 1 Bibles and Testaments; American Tract Society, in |s j .ais. 2 885 108,095 . American Tract Society in Boston, in 11 years, 02,9€ pages; Methodist Hook Concern in New Fork, in 12 jean, 68,844 382 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE 800 pages; The Presbyterian Board of Publication in 33 years, issued 18,009,056 volumes and tracts; The Baptist Publication Board in 49 years, 40,232,017 volumes and tracts, equal to 2,182," 634.947 pages, 18mo. BENEVOLENT CONTRIBUTIONS IN 1872. Foreign Missions, .... $2,150,000 00 Home Missions, ..... 2,600,000 00 Church Erection, .... 500,000 00 Ministerial Education, .... 450,000 00 Religious Publication, . . . 725,000 00 Total, ..... $6,425,000 00 Total Receipts from their organization down to 1872, by Publication Boards, .... $73,000,000 00 Foreign Missions, .... 37,000,000 00 Home Missions, ..... 33,000,000 00 Education, ..... 11,000,000 00 Total, ..... $154,000,000 00 Says Wm. F. Warren, D.D., of the Boston Univer- sity : * Going back to the colonial period of our country's history, we are struck at the outset by the remarkable fact that the first effective preparation of the original British American colonists for social and political unity was due to a great religious awaken- ing, the revival which commenced in 1740. Down to that time, the spirit of intercolonial jealousy, isolation, and repellency had prevailed over every centripetal and nationalizing influence. Till that time there had been neither ethnological, political, social, nor religious unity. On the contrary, the numberless international, civil, social, and religious antagonisms of all Europe seemed con- centrated upon a narrow strip of this Atlantic coast, Shut in be- i ween the territories of Frauce upon the north and west, and Spanish Florida on the south, bisected near the middle by large SYXOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. Dutch and Swedish populations in New York and Delaware, over- dotted with settlements of every European nationality, the little British colonies of two hundred years ago presented in most re- spects the least hopeful aspect of all the European dependencies in the New World. No two existed under a common charter, scarce two had a like religion. Here a Romanist colony was nearest neighbor to settlements of fugitive Huguenots, there the plain and quietistic Quaker was separated only by a boundary line from the formal and rite loving Anglican. Noblemen and peas- ants, Papists and Protestants, Roundheads and Cavaliers, Royal- ists and haters of royalty, believers and unbelievers, all found themselves standing on a common platform — all faithful to their Old World affinities. Out of elements so utterly heterogeneous, whence could unity and order come'.' It could come only from that Author of Peace and (iiver of concord who delights to recon- cile all antagonisms and unify all that sin has dissevered. Toward the middle of the last century came the fullness of God's time for generating a new Christian nationality. First a soul was needed to organize the rich though motley elements into one living national body. That soul was communicated, as by a divine afflatus, in the great Whitefieldian Revival. In its mighty heat the old intellectual and spiritual partition walls, by which the colonies had been so long isolated, fused and let one tide of gracious influence roll through the whole domain. For the time in their history, the British colonies were agitated 1 thought, swayed by one mind, moved by one impulse. Again and again through all these colonies, from New Hampshire I this most famous evangelist of history moved in triumph. Puri- tan New Englanders forgot that he was a gowned priest of the very Church from whose oppression they had fled to the wilds new world. Dutch New York and German Pennsylvania almost unlearned their degenerating vernaculars as they listened to hi- tial eloquence. The Quaker was delighted with simplicity, the Covenanter and Huguenot with his "d< grace." The Episcopalians were his by rightful church fellow- ship, and thus it came to pass that when, sft< eighteen times in his flying ministry, he lay down in death at Newbury port, he was unconsciously, but in reality, the spiritual lather of a great Christian nation. The fact bai i i duly acknowledged by the historian, but • fact 11 384 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE Dr. Warren also describes the state of religion in the country at the breaking out of the Kevolutionary War : How now stood the Evangelical and anti-Evangelical forces in the commencement of its political independence ? Ecclesiastically considered, by no means unfavorably. Almost the entire popula- tion belonged to Evangelical churches, and what was still more favorable, to Evangelical churches with which they were identi- fied by all the ties of education and long-standing tradition. In New England, Puritan independency, or Congregationalism, was not only the religion established by law, but the real faith of almost the entire community. In the Middle and Southern States, with the exception of Pennsylvania, the Church of England had been the established Church, though in many sections the Re- formed Church, including its three great branches, the Scotch, Dutch, and German, equaled or surpassed in numbers and influ- ence the communion established and favored by law. Though the disruption of the new nation from the mother country left all communicants of the Church of England disorganized and church- less, they remained so for a very brief period only. In 1784 and 1789 they organized themselves into two new Episcopal Churches, the Methodist Episcopal and the Protestant Episcopal, each retain- ing, with slight modifications, the Articles of Religion, the Litur- gy, and many of the traditions of the Anglican mother. Luther- anism at this time was not strong. Even including the ten or twelve Moravian societies, the whole strength of the American Lutheran Church did not exceed some seventy five parishes. Still it was not greatly disproportioned to the German population. To sum up, with a population of about three millions, there was very nearly an Evangelical minister to every two thousand souls. There were healthful traditions of the godly character and Chris- tian heroism of the original settlers; there were living recollec- tions of the mighty revivals of the last generation. Such were the hopeful elements in the new national life, religiously consid- ered. Notwithstanding this favorable religious aspect and prospect, however, the cause of Evangelical religion has probably never seen darker days in America than precisely at this period. The French infidelity of the era of Voltaire was a formidable antagonist. The soil of the American mind was peculiarly fitted SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 385 for the reception of this form of false doctrine. Almost half a century had passed since the great awakening of 1740-44. Nearly all of this period the country had been the theatre of exciting warfare. The demoralizing influences of camp life had been experienced to the full. The Revolution through which the peo- ple had passed had broken the prestige of ancient institutions. The intoxication of success had drowned serious thoughts of eternal things. The French allies had brought along with their friendship and aid the frivolity and unbelief which characterized the French mind at that period. The religious life of the people was at so low an ebb that they were ready to contract any and every contagion of error. French deism, witty, sentimental, bril- liant, revolutionary, chanced to be the ruling epidemic of the Christian world, and America did not escape. Three men stand out in history as the hierophants of this new gospel in America. Two of them were of English birth and edu- cation, one only of American. Singularly enough they all had the same Christian name, and that the name of the skeptical apos- tle. The three men were Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Cooper, and Thomas Paine. These three doubting Thomases were born dem- ocrats and social revolutionists. Their opposition to the Church was largely a result of their iconoclastic natures. The first was the political, the second the scientific, the third the social repre- sentative of the contemporary antichristian movement. The first was influential by virtue of his political station as President of the Republic, the second by reason of his office as educator, the third in consequence of his early and ardent advocacy of the cause of American Independence. On one occasion, Jefferson sent a government vessel to France to convey .Mr. Paine to this country as the nation's guest, Favored with bucIi an historical prepara- tion, so related to the national sentiments, so adapted to the na- tional aspirations, so sanctioned and advocated by popular favor- ites, it is little wonder that the gospel of the "Age of Res became a greal popular power among the American people daring the last two decades of the closing century. Its powerful was lirst but effectually broken by the wide spread and sweeping revivals of 1S01 to 1S(i:5. 386 PRESBYTERIANISJJ IN THE The variety in intelligent estimates of the numbers of the Iroquois exists at the present day. Governor Seymour has taken a deep interest in the people, and is probably as well informed about them as any person in the country; and, in private conversation, he ex- presses the opinion that at least from three to four thousand of them must be living in Central and West- ern New York, and furthermore that they have not diminished, but rather increased since the Revolution. Another authority fixes their present number at pre- cisely 5,03i, and their increase last year at seventy-nine. In his introduction to an edition of President Davies7 Sermons, Mr. Barnes remarks: "The times demand of the ministry a close, and patient, and honest investiga- tion of the Bible." ''The truths which the ministry is to present are to be derived from the Word of God. They are not the truths of mental philosophy ; they are not the theories furnished by a fertile imagination ; they are not the opinions held by men ; they are not systems embodied merely in creeds and symbols; they are the ever fresh and everlasting truths of the Bible." " It seems to me that as yet we know comparatively little of the power of preaching the truths of the Bi- ble. That man has gained much as a preacher who is willing to investigate, by honest rules, the meaning of the Bible, and then to suffer' the truth of God to speak out, no matter where if leads, and no matter on what man, or customs, or systems it impinges." -'There is a power yet to be seen in preaching the Bible which the world has not yet fully understood, and he dees an SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 387 incalculable service to his own times and to the world who derives the truths which he preaches directly from the Book of Life." The conviction and prediction of Mr. Barnes are now having a remarkable confirmation and fulfillment. An unlearned layman has been raised up to verify them, and to furnish an example to learned ministers of the spirit and matter of effective preaching. Undistractedly intent on the salvation and sanctihcation of his hearers, Mr. Moody studies and delivers nothing but Holy Writ, and the result is seen in the throngs that go out to hear him and in the multitudes who are converted and im- proved under him. The real intent of a preacher is as really concerned in its result as its matter. If his mind is set on the preparation of a "good'' sermon and its "fine" deliv- ery, he may satisfy himself and win the admiration of his hearers, — but as little spiritual impression is sought, but little is likely to be made. Not a few come down from the pulpit to hear how well they have done, and not what good they have done. They substitute the credil they may getfor the benefit they may confer. Or if vanity be not the actuating motive, the sermon is prepared and delivered like a popular lecture, to enter- tain a congregation and exert a happy iniluence upon it. li is not meant and expected to be the impulse to any immediate act It is an essay or oration, rather than a plea While the righl belongs to each Session to determine what, applicants shall be admitted to the Church, and it must be left to exercise it freely, there is a solemn re- sponsibility resting upon it. Its prerogative must be 3S8 PliESIiYTEBIANJSM IN THE exercised under the general precept and rule that it is its part to receive those alone who on examination ex- hibit " knowledge and piety." The Lord's Supper is a sealing ordinance and a means of grace to penitent be- lievers, but not a converting ordinance even to the thoughtful and inquiring. Its only fitness is to those who have already turned to the Saviour. Kemiss- ness and laxness in receiving to it, make an accession to the church its burthening and hampering and weak- ening. The larger its roll the less its strength. Spir- ituality is the only real addition to it. Urging into the church, or even advising a connec- tion with it, is a perilous liberty. Every individual must take the responsibility of deciding this on his own motion, the only legitimate help in it being the giving of information in regard to the general princi- ples that ought to determine it. How sad is the expe- rience of the many who were pressed into the church, and afterwards bitterly repent it. HISTORIES OF EARLY CHURCHES. A collection of the histories of the several churches •of the Synod would be a pleasant task, though it could not but swell to a very large bulk. It is forbidden by the narrow limits of this sketch. The most that can be noticed are those that were connected with the Oneida Presbytery at its formation in 1802, together with a few cotemporaneous with them that subsequently united with the Presbytery. The original churches of the Presbytery were YVhitesboro and Utica, New Hartford, Trenton, Cherry Valley, Cooperstown, and Springfield. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 389 Some of these, Whitesboro and Utica, New Hartford and Trenton, together with Clinton, Paris, Eome, Cazeno- via, Marcellus, Pompey and Redfield, have already been sufficiently described. It may be noted here, however, that Utica (then Fort Schuyler) and Whites- boro formed the one Church of Whitestown. The Church in Utica is not derived from the Church in Whitesboro, but is, with it, the transmission of the original church. The stream forked, and ran in two branches, and each, equally with the other, traces back its starting to August 21, 179-1. When they separated, it was from a division of the one body they had formed, and both are continuations of it, and neither merely a derivation from it. So the language of the Presbytery declares when it put them apart : " Feb. 3, 1813. — A request was laid before Presbytery that the church of Whitestown and Utica be divided and constituted two churches, and that of the present session, David Thurston and Joseph Blake be Ruling Elders of the Church at Whitesboro, and Ebenezer Dodd, David Dixon, William Williams and Nathanael Butler be Ruling Elders of the Church at Utica. Being satisfied with the reasons on which the request was founded, and having sulficient evidence that it was the desire of the Church, Resolved, That the request be granted, and that David Thurs- ton and Joseph Blake, Elders, with the members belonging to the Church at Whitesboro, be constituted a Church, and that Ebeneser Dodd, David Dixon, Nuthunacl Butler and William Williams, Elders, with the members of the Church belonging to the societj at I'tica, be constituted a Church." The act was not the formation of a new Church out of the old Church, for in thai case the Session of the old Church would have granted letters of dismis- sion for tin' formation of a aewchurch; bul it was the makinsc of two churches out of one, and 1 »* »t li of tho 390 riiESBYTEMANISM IN THE two churches are equally the continuation of the one Church. Though Cherry Valley can be called the parent of our churches only by a figure of speech, born in 1741, it antedates the oldest of them nearly half a cen- tury. Its only progeny settled immediately about it and were of Scotch-Irish blood, while the great mass of our churches sprang forth independently of it and were of American extraction. Indeed, for nearl}r forty years there was but little multiplication of the English speaking inhabitants of this region, and wThenit began, skipping over the interval, it started in our southern borders, and as far west as Whitesboro. While Cherry Valley is the first of our churches, its history is the most remarkable. It has found a fit annalist in its present pastor, Rev. II. N. Swinnerton, and I draw freely from his " Historical Account," and from "The Annals of Tryon Count}'," by Judge 'William W. Campbell, one of its members. In 1738, George Clark, Lieut, Governor of the province of New York, granted a patent of 8,000 acres of land, covering the site of the town, to four proprietors, one of whom, John Lindesay, a Scotch gentleman, bought out his associates and went to settle upon it. While in New York, preparing for the removal of his family, he formed a friendship with Rev. Samuel Dunlap, a young Presbyterian cler- gyman of Irish birth, but educated at Edinburgh, who had traveled over the South, and was arranging for a tour through the North. He persuaded him to join in colonizing the land, and while he went with his family SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 391 to make their home upon it, Mr. Dunlap went to Lon- donclery, N. H., to persuade some of the Scotch-Irish, who in 1718 had immigrated there, to accompany him to it. Meanwhile, Mr. Lindesay and his family nar- rowly escaped starvation. No white inhabitants lived nearer to them than the Schoharie Creek, where some Germans made an abode in 1713. Ignorant of our winters, Mr. Lindesay brought on scanty supplies, and at the point of their exhaustion he found himself and his family in impassable snow. Just then a friendly Indian came along, and by repeated visits on snow shoes to the Mohawk, he kept them in stores until the opening spring raised their blockade. In due time, Mr. Dunlap and his party arrived, and distributing' themselves about on the farms they selected, they became the fathers of the place, Mr. Lindesay retreating from the rigors of the climate and the roughnesses of pioneer life. A house of worship was a necessity with such people, and one of logs, used also as a school roomr was immediately put up, the first, it may be remarked, of a series of five, the second being used likewise as a fort, and the third an erection of the returned fugitives from the world-wide known " massacre," and like them- selves stripped of furniture and totally bare, and the fourth a frame building, sufficiently pretty for a model. and actually performing the graceful and valuable pan of spreading a tasteful ecclesiastical architecture. The fifth, now Standing, and solid enough for all coming generations, lias three varieties of stone in the com] tion i>{ its walls, and an interior finish of solid walnut, and while plain and substantial, i- of both a cheerful and dignified air. Its distinction, however, Is tin- fact 392 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE that it is a gift to the congregation by a female commu- nicant, in recognition of " the connection of her family with the town from its early settlement and with the church for four generations, and as a memorial to her beloved parents and dear sister." Composed of eight families in 1752, by 1765 the colony consisted of forty. The French and Indian wars kept them perpetually exposed to inroads and slaughter, and at the same time trained them to arms. Then followed the Revolutionary struggle. No pro- phetic ken was needed to foreknow the side the Scotch- Irish of Cherry Valley would take. Presbyterian te- nacity of principle and devotion to liberty, combined with ancestral memories, committed and held them to the cause of the people. They were the sons of those Scotchmen who, at the earnest entreaty of the Stuarts. and with the most solemn promises of religious and civil prerogatives and privileges, went over to the north of Ireland to bring into bearing that then fertile waste, and who, when the tillage was done and rich harvests waved, were so restrained and robbed that many of them fled to this countiy, preferring the wilds of America, with freedom of conscience and civil liberty, to the culture of the beautiful Green Isle. The tyr- anny of the British king, so graphically described in our Declaration of Independence, awakened in Cherry Valley the spirit of beseiged Londonderry and of the battle of the Boyne, and the signal from Lexington and Concord called every inhabitant to arms. Its church was the place of meeting of a county committee of the patriots, May, 1775, which declared " our fixed attach- ment and entire approbation cf the proceedings of the 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 393 grand Continental Congress held at Philadelphia last fall, and that we will strictly adhere to and repose our confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the present Continental Congress, and that we will support the same to the extent of our power, and that we will re- ligiously and inviolably observe the regulations of that august body." They obeyed the call of Gen. Herki- mer to fly to the relief of Fort Stanwix. but being at the eastern extremity of the country, their company could not reach Oriskany in time for the battle. Two of their number, however, a Major and Lieutenant Colonel, participated in it, the latter of whom led off the field the regiment of Col. Cox, who was killed The leading men of the place were engaged in various parts of the land. " No less than thirty-three have turned out for immediate service and the good of their country," the whole population being less than three hundred, was the statement in a petition to the Provincial Congress, asking needful protection. One of the In- dian paths from Windsor, Broome county, to the Mo- hawk, passed through Cherry Valley, and so kept the inhabitants in apprehension of incursions from them. Early in the Bummer of L776, signs appeared of their coming, and a company of rangers was ordered to the place. Those of the people who had held military commissions, or had passed the age formilitary service-. formed themselves into a military corps, and as scalping parti* prowling about, the farmers went to the fields in squads, some Btanding guard while others en* •I in work. The house of CoL Samuel Camp- bell, the largesl in the place, and situated on elevated nd, was turned into a fortification, and the p 394 PRESDYTEEIAN1SM IN THE gathered in it, bringing with them the most valuable of their goods, and there they remained during the most of the summer, and then returned to their homes. A regular fort was subsequently built by the order of Gen. La Fayette, and manned by a Continental regi- ment, made up of eastern soldiers, but little trained in Indian warfare. After the massacre at Wyoming, in July, 1778, warning was given of a contemplated de scent on Cherry Valley, but the inexperienced, yet brave commander, failed to give suitable heed to it, and refused the request of the people to be permitted to take shelter in the fort, or to deposit their valuables there, and he himself quartered outside at the house of M r. Kobert Wells. On the morning of November 11th, the savages swooped down from a hill top, in the ever- greens of which they had lain concealed, and struck their talons into the ill-fated community. They con- sisted largely of the Senecas, then the most ferocious of the Iroquois, and were attended by still more brutal tories. One party rushed into the house of Mr. Wells and murdered every inmate, — Mr. Wells, his mother, wife, four children, brother, sister and three servants, and but one of the family escaped, — John Wells, a youth at the time, who had been left the previous sum- mer with an aunt at Schenectady to attend a grammar school there, and who subsequently became one of the most eminent lawyers of the land. A tory boasted that he killed Mr. Wells while at prayer. Pursuing his sister Jane to a wood pile, where she fled for safety, and in spite of her supplications in his language which she understood, and in spite of the entreaties of an in- terceding tory, a savage, with a single blow of his torn* SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOIiK. 395 ahawk, smote her to death. The commander started for the fort, and refusing to surrender, and snapping a wet pistol at his pursuer, a tomahawk aimed at his head fatally struck it, and the scalping knife followed. Similar scenes were enacted at other houses, and indi- vidual barbarities perpetrated, the thought of which horrifies and sickens the soul. Thirty-two, principally women and children, were slain with all the horn irs that demons could enact, and the terribleness of the scene was intensified by the fierce flames that burnt up every house and outhouse. A few escaped to the Mi >- hawk, but between thirty and forty of the others who survived were carried away prisoners. Divided into small companies, they were placed in charge of differ- ent parties, and so commenced their journey for what parts they knew not and could not surmise. The first day Mrs. Cannon, an aged and infirm matron, gave out and was killed at the side of her daughter, wdio was driven along with the bloody hatchet bathed in her mother's blood, and to whom three children clung, and in whose arms a fourth, eighteen months old, lay. On the second day, the rest of the women and children were sent back, but Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Moore and their children were taken between two and three hun- dred miles t" near the site of the present village Geneva, and here their children were torn from them and given to different Indians, and scattered through Canada. When recovered years after, they had forgot- ten their mothers, and their mothers1 tongue, and learned the language, habits and tastes of their Bavage keepers. The venerable pastor of the church with one of his daughters, was permitted to live through the interposi- 396 PHESB YTER1AMSM IX THE tion of a Mohawk, bat his wife was murdered, and her mangled arm, torn from her body, was tossed into an apple tree, which stood long after as the monument of the fiendish deed. His house was razed to the ground and his library scattered and himself carried away as a prisoner. Eeleased in a few days, he made his way to New York, and about a year after sank under his suf- ferings and laid down in the grave. One of his parishioners having gone into the fields, saw a party of Indians and tories approaching his house, but did not dare to go back. Secreting himself in the woods until they left, he returned to his house which had been plundered and set on fire, and there he beheld the corpses of his wife and four children. One of his children, a little girl of ten or twelve years of age, showed signs of life, and while lifting her up, he saw another party approach, and had barely time to hide himself behind a log fence, when they entered in, and he saw an infamous tory lift his hatchet and butcher the child. A reinforcement came the day after the massacre, but instead of defending the living, it only remained to them to bury the dead. The inhabitants were exter- minated and their homes burned up. The little church in the fort survived the otherwise universal ruin for two or three years, and then a party of marauders gave it, too, to the flames. ' For seven years the place remained a desolation, and without a human denizen. In 1784-5 the old inhabit- ants began to return, and soon after a meeting was called to reorganize the society But no Mr. Dunlop came back. It took until 1790 to erect another house SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. of worship, and that stood in the barest plight, and only now and then, as some passing preacher stopped, did it echo a ministers voice. Mr. Solomon Spaulding, who amused himself by the writing of a fiction which, with no thought of the kind on his part, was adopted as the Mormon bible, occasionally filled the pulpit, but no regular services were held until Rev. Eliphalet Nott, afterwards the distinguished President of Union Col- lege, established them in 1795. In 1798, he was called to Albany, and the church was again left to casual supplies until 1802, when they were statedly enjoyed for a year, and also again in 1800, and still again in 1810, and then Rev. Eli F. Cooley entered on the charge and remained in it for ten years; and up to 1876, twenty-two pastors and stated supplies have served the church. The previous pages of this sketch record the frequent showers of the Spirit that have fallen upon Cherry Yalley, some of them of great copiousness, and that made it a "well watered garden.'' In 1702, five families took uplands at Springfield. They Bhared the previous experience of their near neighbors at Cherry Valley, and also the massacre and burning of 177^. They senl soldiers from their hand- ful of men t<> the ranks of the gallant Herkimer and to the field of Oriskany. The news of the fall there of I 'apt Thomas Davy, one of the number, was annou io his bereaved wife by the whinneying, as he galloped riderless home, <-f the noble white charger he rode. Slain or captured or driven away by the same part;. savages and tories that soon after fell upon Cherry Val- ley, their h«>nies were fired and their hamlet made a 398 PRESB Y TERIANISM IN THE solitude and ruin. In 1785, the exiles came back and reconstructed their homes, and, included with the in- habitants of Cherry Valley as citizens of that named town, they cooperated with them in the reorganization of the broken up church at that centre. The Baptists, in 1787, and within three years of the rehabilitation of the people in Springfield, formed the first religious society there. In 1796, our church came feebly into being, and passed its infancy and early childhood with- out a pastor's nursing and care. Mention has been made of the revival there in 1801.* under the labors of Rev. Jedediah Bushnell and the minutes of Oneida Presbytery, Sept, 7, 1802, recount : " The Presbyte- rian congregation at Springfield requested liberty to make out a call for the Rev. Jedediah Bushnell, a missionary from Connecticut, and that Mr. Lewis (then of Cooperstown) moderate the call. The Presbytery grarited their request.'' Mr. Bushnell, however, felt constrained to decline. It had previously, in 1797, sought to divide Mr. Xott's labors with Cherry Yalley, but the people there could not spare the young minister for any portion of his time. In 1804, a call was pre- sented to Rev. Daniel Crane, of Cranetown, Newark, * The blessing a revival is, may often be learned from the sub- sequent godliness and usefuluess of some individuals among its subjects, So it is in this instance. Elder John M. Killip was converted then, " a pillar in the church," holding it up in its days of feebleness and adversity, and a support on which it leaned in prosperity; and who, when the infirmities of age shattered him, still kept his place and fulfilled his part. lie was active in the organization of the church, and for well-nigh forty years was its mainstay. The community likewise depended upon him, and for twenty years in succession held on to him as a Supervisor. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 399 N. J., but refused. In 1806, Rev. Andrew Oliver, the first pastor, was installed, and remained for nearly thir- teen years. A remonstrance against, his call was pre- sented to the Presbytery and dismissed, it appearing that seventeen of the signers had contributed nothing to the support of the church, and that Mr. Oliver was chargeable " with no errors in practice or faith,'' and that " the remonstrance was founded on a misunder- standing which has unhappily taken place between Mr Oliver and a part of the societ}^.'' A remonstrance against Mr. Oliver's installation was likewise presented, and the Presbytery unanimously concluded not to place him in the charge just then, '; as it appears that there is ground to doubt the validity of the corporation of the society, and Presbytery believes that this circumstance, if true, would render null and void the obligation given to the trustees, contained in the subscription for the support of Mr. Oliver.'' Nine months after, the call was renewed and Mr. Oliver installed ; but a secession followed which organized a Congregational Church of twenty-four members. It began to build, but was not able to finish a bouse of worship, and never had but <>ne set- tled minister, and was finally dissolved in 1813. Dur- ing its first days an unhappy controversy was kept up with the Presbyterian Church, and the offices <>f the Presbytery were invoked t<> determine where the fault lay, and if possible t<> correcl it ; but a child of dissen- sion, tli>' church refused conciliatory proposals, and would not submit to a mutual Council which was pro- posed, and finally the matter was referred for adjudica- tion n» the Northern Associated Presbytery. After the retirement of Mi'. Oliver, in L819, our church ap- 400 rRESB YTERIANISM IN THE plied to the church of Cherry Valley to be permitted to divide with it the services and the support of its pastor, Rev. Eli K Coolej- ; but denied this, they were favored by the coming of Rev. Aaron Putnam, under whom " the great revival of 1821," began, and under the preaching of casual visitors was brought to its large proportions. It continued for a year, one hundred and sixteen being added to the church at three successive communion seasons, and sixty-two at one of these ; and the influence of it on the spiritual interests of the church and the morals of the community has never died out. Four ruling elders were among its subjects, and one minister of the gospel. Successors to it were graciously sent in 1S3 1-2, 1833, 1852, 1866, and es- pecially in 1S75. Twelve pastors and stated supplies have "spoken the Gospel of God'' to the church, the Rev. P. F. Sanborne, the present incumbent, having been set over it in 1869. The Presbyterian Society of Cooperstowx was or- ganized on the 29th of December, 1798, and the Church ( >n the 16th of June, 1 800. Religious services must have been of irregular occurrence for several of the first years of the settlement of the place, but no record of them remains save a mention of the preaching of a Thanksgiving sermon, November 26, 1795, by Rev. Elisha Mosely. In L799, Rev. John Frederic Ernst, a Lutheran clergy- man and a native of Germany, w as engaged to officiate. the hope being indulged that the village would thus realize the benefit of a bequest for educational objects by Rev. Mr. Hartwick. This hope was disappointed. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 401 however, and Mr. Ernst remained "but two or three years. Oct. 1. 1800, the Rev. Isaac Lewis was installed pastor of the church, in which he remained until 1S08. and then removed to take charge oi the church at ten, Orange county, X. Y. Mr. Lewis" pulpit for the five years of his pastorate was in the Academy, where Mr. Ernst also had preached. ] Rev. William Neill followed Mr. Lewis, and left for Albany in 1809. February 7, 1811, the Rev. John Smith invited to the care of the church, and held it until L833. The dismission of Mr. Smith occasioned the forming of a second Presbyterian congregation, which was dissolved and its members returned to their former connection on the installation, in 183*;, of Rev. A. E. i ipbell. The first church edifice was built in l£ and thirty years after it was remodeled and enla: and converted into a commodious and handsoi tuary." * Former days were not better than these. The minutes of the _■> Presbytery contain no entry like the following in themin- • :' the Oneida Presbytery, Feb " Whereas, there appear to be very great deficiencies in salary due from the congregation! of Springfield an 1 Middlefield, the Presbytery expressed their regret at finding so greal omission of duty in affording a support to the gospel among them, and did earnestly call on these congregations to attend strictly to this im- portant concern, and endeavor immediately to make ap urn bj in salary, which if not speedily discharged must eventually sion an insupportable burden t<> tb< ation and issue in a deprivation <>f the rich and inestimable privileges of a regular and full administration of the ordinances of tl lered, that a Copy <>f the above minute : Springfield and Middlefield.1 402 PRESBYTEPdAXISM IN THE Little Falls was one of the original churches of the Presbytery of Oneida, and probably feeble. Fre- quent appointments were made to supply it, but the nursing failed to keep it alive, for the minutes of the Presbytery, Feb. 2, 1813, relate: "Mr. Samuel Taleott, (this gentleman left a legacy to the society) a commis- sioner from the church of Little Falls, appeared and ap- plied, on behalf of the same, that it be taken under the care of the Presbytery ; and sufficient evidence being exhibited that the Presbyterian congregation formerly existing at the above place had become extinct, and that a new congregation had been formed which had adopted the Confession of Faith and Form of Govern- ment of the Presbyterian Church : therefore, resolved, that the above application be granted, and that Mr Taleott take his seat in Presbytery/' At the same meeting of the Presbytery, Eev. James Joice was ad- mitted to its membership, and, although no record of it appears, must have been put in charge of the church,, for February, 1814, he applied for a release, which was refused at that time, but granted the following June. February 29, 1817, Eev. Hezekiah K Woodruff was received to the Presbytery of Oneida from the Presby- tery of Geneva, and immediately after, "Mr. Daniel Morse, a commissioner from the congregation of Her- kimer, and Mr. Thomas Smith, a commissioner from the congregation of Little Falls, laid before Presbytery a call for the ministerial labors of Rev. Hezekiah N. Woodruff, to preach one-half the time in the village of Berkimer and the other half in the village of Little Falls, on each Sabbath alternately, which was read, and being found in order, was put into the hands of Mr. SYXOD OF CENTRAL HEW YORK. Woodruff.*' That gentleman declared bis acceptance < >f it. and on the same day he was set over the church. — Rev. Calvin Bushncll offering the introductory prayer' the Rev. Noah Cue preaching the sermon and deliver- ing the charge to the people, and Rev. John Frost giv- ing the charge to the bishop and offering the conclud- ing prayer. June 29, 1820, ;' a request from the Union Society in Herkimer for a dissolution of the pastoral relation between them and the Rev. Hezekiah N. Woodruff, being laid before the Presbytery, by their commissioner. Mr. Norman Seymour, and the grounds of the request and the circumstances of the pastor and congregation being inquired into, Presbytery resolved that the pastoral relations be continued for the present, for the following reasons: 1. Because the pastoral re- lation was constituted in connection with the Concord Society at Little Falls by a joint call, from which Soci- ety we have received no communication. 2. To g th<- Trustees of Union Society an opportunity t«» provide for the arrearages of salary due their pas 3. That the pastor may continue to afford such aid - iid church in their weak condition as his cir- cumstances will admit, under consideration that he relinquishes his claim to the salary stipulated by said Society at the time of his installation." February, L822 : "A communication was read from Et .. B< • kiah X. W 1 I'M If. in which, on account of the extent of his labors and the want of support, he requested a dis- solution of the pastoral connection between him and the united congregations of Berkimer and Little Falls, and in which he also requested dismission to join the P I'vtcry of Onondaga Mr. James Kennedy, ruling 404 PRESBYTEHIAX1SM IN THE older and commissioner from the congregation of Little Falls, stated that that congregation had unanimously, for the reasons assigned by him, agreed to unite with Mr. Woodruff in the request, A similar request from the congregation of Herkimer, made to Presbytery at their session in Home, was also read. "Whereupon it was resolved that Mr. Woodruff's pastoral relation to those comrres-ations be dissolved, and that he be dis- missed to join the Presbytery of Onondaga," Feb. 6r 1824: a The committee to whom was referred a com- munication from the churcli of Herkimer, requesting the interference of Presbytery under their existing dif- ficulties, reported, recommending that Messrs. Bogue, Aiken and Southworth, ministers, and Moses Williams and George Huntington, elders, be a committee to meet the Classis of Montgomery at their session in Herki- mer, Wednesday next, for the purpose of relieving the church at Herkimer from their present embarrassments." While the first church, organization at Little Falls was reported to have expired, and a second presented itself to the Presbytery in 1813, the new one may be accepted as rising from the ashes of the old one, and thus, in substance, a transmission of it. The society, bearing the good name of Concord, extends further back than the formation of the Oneida Presbytery, for the old octagon church edifice, so long a conspicuous figure in the surrounding scenery, was probably built by it as early as 1790. Rev. John Taylor describes it, in 1802, as " a new and beautiful meeting house, standing about forty rods back on the hill, built in the form of an oc- tagon." " The parish." he says, " contains six or seven hundred inhabitants. They have a new meetinghouse, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 405 but do not improve it. In this place may be found men of various religious sects.'' Holland Patent,* " then called Trenton," accord- ing to the Index of that body, " was one of the original congregations1' of the Oneida Presbytery, and a session of the Presbytery was held there in 1806. The trus- tees of the society were probably the persons spoken of in the minutes, Feb. 29. 1804, as representing the " United Protestant Religious Society in Trenton." They addressed a letter to the Presbyter v, request- ing it to " grant them supplies," and Mr. Snow- den was appointed to preach for them " the third Sabbath in March, Mr. Fisk the second in May, and Mr. Dodd the third in June." This is the society which Rev. Peter Fisk served for a time, but a call to which, September, 1805, he declined. Its polity was Presby- terian up to September, 1806, when " a communication from the eldership of the Church at Holland Patent was received by the Presbytery, in which request was made that a committee be appointed to advise and as- sist the church at that place in forming a plan of union *This name suggests an illustration of the fact that it is an old habit with public functionaries to make large perquisites out of their offices, which they cover out of sight and conduct to themselves by invisible channels. In 1768, Sir Henry Moore, Governor of the Province of New York, granted a patent to a Peter Lewis and twenty-four associates, for 23,000 acres of land. This, however, was only a circuitous route to Sir William John- son. Lewis and his associates conveying the patent, as soon as obtained, to that servant of the Crown. It descended to his son, Sir John Johnson, by whom it was sold to the " Holland Land Company." 406 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE with the church of Christ in Steuben, and also with the Congregational brethren in Holland Patent. Presbytery appointed Mr. Snowden for the purpose above men- tioned, and directed him to request the assistance of Rev. John H. Eastman, of the Association of Oneida, in this business." October, 1806: "A plan of union agreed on between the Presbyterian church at Holland Patent and the Congregational brethren of Steuben, was laid before Presbytery, and their advice requested on the subject. Presbytery conceiving that the plan above mentioned is nearly similar to that proposed by the General Assembly and the General Association of Connecticut, and that it may promote the interests of Zion in those places, advised the Presbyterian church of Holland Patent to adopt the same." Feb. 4, 1812, Rev. John Taylor, in the account of his missionary tour in 1802, sa}*s : "In this town (Steuben) there is a church of about thirty members, formed by Mr. (Caleb) Alexander in 1801. They keep up regular meetings on the Sabbath, and are a religious people." The com- bination of different denominational elements did not prove an amalgamation. The parts maintained their polities at heart, and so much discord resulted that the offices of the Presbytery were invoked to compose it. The Presbytery concluded, February, 1812, that noth- ing would answer but a recalling of the liberty granted to the church, of so constructing itself as " to em- brace a number of persons attached to Congregational principles," for the experiment of a mixed government "appeared to have entirely failed." The following .Tune, "the elder from the church of Holland Patent (the church, as it thus appears, had returned to Presbv- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 407 terianism then) laid before Presbytery the following extract from the minutes of the session of the church : "Resolved, That our delegate to the next meeting of the Pres- bytery be directed to inform that body that several of the mem- bers of the late united Presbyterian and Congregational Churches have declined adopting the order of Presbytery for the reinstat- ing of Presbyterian government, and that they have been organ- ized into a distinct church by Rev. Elijah Norton, and that we request Presbytery to give their opinion respecting the standing of these brethren Eli Hyde, Moderator of the meeting of the Church Session." The Presbytery advised that when the Congregational brethren should be organized under the direction of any regular Association, they should be recognized as a church. August 26, 1807, liev. Oliver Wetmore was "ordain- ed to the pastoral care of the United Church and Con- ation of the First Presbyterian Society in Holland Patent," Rev. Dr. Nathan Perkins, of Hartford, Ct, preaching the sermon and addressing the pastor. The pe< -pie "promised and obliged themselves to pay $400, ;i house to live in. and the expense of moving one load Is from Connecticut" October, 1809, Israel Spen- cer, Esq., tabled charges against Mr. Wetmore, growing out of a case of discipline by the Session. The Presby- tery acquitted the accused of "all gross or immoral conduct," and concluded him guilty of " nothing more than such acts of infirmity as may Ik- easily amended; thai be seema in some cases to have erred in judgment with regard to the most prudent measures to be pur- -ued; that in others be has expressed himself rashly, and that lie lias n - • I all that forbearance whieh 408 mESBYTERIAXISM IN THE the difficult duties of a minister of the Gospel require. At the same time, he has been led into indiscretion by serious provocation, and it is not surprising that he erred, considering the very peculiar and trying circum- stances in which he was placed.1' All parties were ex- horted to " forgive one another, to avoid recrimination for the future, and to think of the past only to escape in time to come similar dissension." Prosecutor and defendant expressed their acquiescence in the finding and the advice, and gave to each other the right hand of fellowship and Christian charity, and the Moderator addressed an exhortation to them, and the whole was closed by prayer. February, 1811, Mr. Joshua Storrs laid charges also against Mr. Wetmore, growing out of the proceedings of a church meeting, and though acquitted of the most of them, he was convicted of passionateness ;iiid required to make acknowledgments in open Pres- bytery, and a personal confession to the person whom he had injured. He consented to this, and his pro- secutor was censured for rashness in the charges that were negatived, and required to acknowledge his fault in the presence of the congregation. Mr. Wetmore then asked a release from his pastorate, which was allowed at a subsequent meeting of the Presby- tery, where Mr. Bezaliel Fisk appeared as a Commis- sioner of the congregation, and expressed its concur- rence with Mr. Wetmore in his request From 1811 to 1814, nothing more than occasional supplies were en- joyed, generally appointed by the Presbytery. In 1814 Rev. David Harrower was employed for three- fourths of his time, the remaining fourth being spent at SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 40^ Steuben, and lie remained for nearly seven years, giving Holland Patent but half of his time after the third year, and the remainder to Trenton and Steuben. His first settlement was at Walton, Delaware county, and he died at the home of his son in Tioga county, Pa. Rev. William Good ell was installed in 1822, and re- signed in 1829. There have followed him Rev. Ste- phen Burritt, 1829-1835; Rev. George W. Finney, 1836-1838; Rev. Chauncey E. Goodrich, 1839-1840; T. C. Hill, 1840-1842 ; Rev. JohnF. Scoville, 1843- 1849: Rev. J. W. Phillips, 1850-1851; Rev. Charles Jones, 1851-1852; Rev. Richard F. Cleaveland, 1853, in which year he suddenly died, and only two weeks after his settlement; Rev. A. EL Corliss, 1854-1871; Rev. Henry K Millard, 1871-1873; Rev. Julius S. Patten- gill, lb73-18~.">. and Rev. John Brayton 1876, and pastor now. Repeated revivals of religion have refreshed the church, particularly in 1826, under the special labors of Rev. Berman Norton, when forty were received t<> its communion, and in 1832, when fifty were added to it : and also during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Corliss. A venerable citizen writes: '"In memory I go back IB, t<> tin- old double school-house then situ- ated <»n the 'Public Square.1 A partition was run through the centre, folded to accommodate the district school, and unfolded lor the church-going people. We traveled on horseback,— my father on one horse, with myself before in his anus and my elder sister behind on a pillion, and my mother and two Bisters on another horse. Thus we passed through the woods and swamps to the Square, and after a tedious stay there. 08 I then 410 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE thought, through two very long sermons, we returned to our cabin home." February, IS 16. "Duncan Blue, elder from the church of Oldenbarneveld, presented a petition from this church to be taken under the care of the Presby- tery (Oneida). Their request was granted, and their name ordered to be enrolled among the congregations belonging to the Presbytery." This is the church in Trenton village, originally called Oldenbarneveld, and on the change of the name of the village, at the desire of the church, it wTas " Resolved, February, 1S20, that it be henceforth known by the name of the^Presbyterian Church in Trenton." The frequent religious services there conducted by Judge Vanderkemp and Col. Map- pa, or under their auspices, have been spoken of as the origin of the church. Their doctrinal views were by no means thoroughly evangelical, but they were sin- cerely religious and liberal, and anxious for public worship and preaching, irrespective of their particular type. The Unitarian church here is not due to these gentlemen, though they may have more fully accorded with it than with any of strict orthodoxy, but in 1805 or 1806, to Rev. John Sherman, grandson of Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, one of the most distinguished of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Rev. David Harrower frequently and | >erhaps quite regularly officiated lor the Presbyterian Church during his seven years connect ion with Holland Patent. .V line stone church was built for the congregation in L82I, but the attendance declined, and it is seldom opened now. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 411 The church at AUGUSTA was organized in 1797 by Rev. Dr. Norton, of Clinton, and Rev. Joel Bradley, of Westmoreland. For seven years its only ministers were occasional supplies, but the people met regularly in private dwellings, school-houses, barns, and also in the open air. In 1804, Rev. John Spencer commenced services for them. lie was a native of Connecticut, and obtained all his literary education in its Common Schools. He eidisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and when peace was declared he made a home at Worcester, Otsego county. The spiritual destitution of the country excited his sympathy, and in 1800 he sought and obtained license to preach. He spent the first two years of his ministry in Greene county, and then came to Oneida county, and had been living at Vernon Center immediately before settling at Augusta. He left this place in 1807, bearing away the affection of the people, and in 1809 removed to Chautauqua county. ;iu almost unbroken wilderness at the time. Bere he died, and now lies in the burying ground at Sheridan, wifh a monument over his grave bearing the inscription: "This stone is consecrated to the memory of Rev. John Spencer, many years a missionary of the Connecticut Missionary Society. He was the firsl pd minister who traversed the wilderness then called the Holland Purchase, and was the instrument, under God, in forming most of the Congregational and Pres- byterian Churches which existed in this region when he rested from his labors, 1 626, aged 68. The Association of Western New York, grateful to his memory, have erected this monument hoping that it may prompt the beholder to imitate his self-denying lab< >rs." It proved 412 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE a sore bereavement to the church at Augusta when Mr. Spencer left. It suffered a vacancy for two years, and a disastrous agitation. In 1810, Rev. David Kendall came to it from Hubbarton, Mass., and remained with it until 1814. The Rev. Oliver Aver soon followed him, and spent four years with it, and those among the most prosperous in its history. Then there succeeded : Rev. Eli Burchard, from 1818 until 1822; Rev. Benja- min J. Lane, from 1822 to 1826; the Rev. Leverett Hull, from 1826 to 1830; and Rev. John Waters for the single year of 1831 ; the Rev. A. P. Clark in 1833, after two years previously of listening to candidates, until his early death in 1835; and in 1836, Rev. Orlo Bartholomew, who remained for twenty-eight years, and until death took him away. The church suffered often and much in its early days from dissensions, and was reduced at times to great weakness, and yet it enjoyed frequently the special influences of the Spirit. During Mr. Ayer's two years labors it had an addition of 160 to its previous membership of 48 ; during Mr. Bur- chard's nearly three years, 58 ; during Mr. Lane's four years, 79 ; and during Mr. Hall's four years, about 100, the first protracted meeting there being held then, and accompanied by measures that were pronounced extrav- agant ; and during Mr. Waters' one year, 53, and the el lurch at that time numbered 400. Mr. Bartholomew won general confidence and regard, and reaped bounti- fully while he sowed plentifully, and harmonized and consolidated the church. It occupied the town house for its services from 1805 to lbl6, and then erected its presenl sanctuary, which it remodelled and rededicated in L844, and quite recently rearranged extensively and ' SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 413 exceedingly beautified. It sent a colony to Knoxboro within a few years, but keeps up its numbers and in- come, and is one of tlie most inviting and flourishing of our rural congregations. In the minutes of the Presbytery of Oneida. Feb. 29, 1804, it is recorded : " Rev. Joshua Knight appeared before Presbytery and presented an attested copy of the proceedings of an Ecclesiastical Council convened at SHERBURNE, for his ordination and installment (over second church, formed in 1802) at said place, which was read, and is as follows: ' At an Ecclesiastical Council convened at Sher- burne for the purpose of ordaining to the work of the Gospel Ministry Mr. Joshua Knight, a licentiate under the careof Oneida Presbytery, and installing him pastor of the Calvinistic Conr tional Church and congregation in Sherburne : Present, Rev. Messrs. Asahel S. Norton, Bethuel Dodd, Samuel F. Snowden and Isaac Lewis, ministers, and Messrs. David Thurstin, John Wil- liams, Jr., Thomas (i ay lord, Elisha Lamphear and .hired .). Hooker, delegates. Mi'. Norton was chosen Moderator and Mr. Dodd Scribe. Constituted by prayer. Rev. .John Spencer, of Vernon, being present, was invited to sit as a corresponding member. Mr. Knight presented his credentials, which were received as am- pie and satisfactory. The call which had been presented to Mr. Knight by the above church and congregation was read, and ap- peared to he in order, and he having declared his acceptance of the same, the Council proceeded to a further trial of Mr. Knight preparatory to ordination. They examined him as to his Tiewi in entering the ministry, and his sentiments in Divinity and Church Government, in all of which he was approved. There- fore, voted unanimously, to proceed to-morrew morning, at 11 o'clock, to ordain Mr. Knight and in-tall him pastor <>' church and ( gregation. Voted, that Rev. J. Spencer, make the introductory pray, i Ri I iac Lewie preach the sermon, Etai S. P. Snowden make the conse* rating prayer, ttei Bethuel Dodd give a charge to the minister, the Moderator presidi give the righl hand of fellowship, an. I l;. \ Isaac Lewis make the concluding prayer.' ' At the hour appointed, the) pr 414 PRESB TTER1ANISM IN THE to the meeting house and ordained Mr. Joshua Knight to the work of the Gospel Ministry, and installed him pastor of the church and congregation of Sherburne. The parts assigned to members of the Council were performed according to appoint- ment.' " Mr. Knight remained until 1823, when lie was de- posed from the ministry. Sherburne was settled in 1793, by a colony from Kent, Ct, many of the number having been soldiers and officers in the Kevolutionary army. They first stopped at Duanesburg, Schenectady county, and organized into a church under Rev. Blackleach Burritt. but a defective title to the land induced them soon to leave. They then formed a company and purchased a quarter of the present town of Sherburne, one of twenty townships then recently purchased of the Oneida Indians. They immediately established religious services and main- tained them themselves, with occasional help from min- isters, deacon Nathanael Gray taking the lead of them, until 1804. On the 6th of July, 1794, a Congregational Church was constituted, consisting of seven male and eight female members. Rev. Nathan B. Darrow held the charge of it about a }7ear. Be v. Roger Adams suc- ceeded to it in 1806, and retired from it in 1800, on ac- count of tlte failure of his health and in the midst of greal usefulness and while warmly loved by the people. Rev. Aimer Benedict followed in L811, and left in 1813. 1 Jew John Truaircamein L815and remained until 1820. The succession thence onwards was Rev. J. N. Sprague fn.m L625 to L834, Rev Geo. E. Delevan from 1838 to L839, Rev Amos C. Tattle from L845 to 1853; SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 41o Rev. Archibald McDougall from 1854 to 1860, Rev. ]•:. ( Jurtis from 1860 to 1867, and Rev. Samuel Miller, whose labors began in 1867 and are still in prog At an early day a commodious school house, built in •• the Quarter," a short distance from the village, was used for teaching during the week, and for worship and ching on the Sabbath, a moveable pulpit being brought forward for the church and set back for the schooL In 1803, a church edifice was raised at Rob- inson's I till, but too far off for the convenience of the congregation In 1810, it was started for a removal to the village, but on reaching the Quarter, such an oppo- sition was presented to its going on, that it stood oil rollers from spring to fall, when a compromise placet it midway between the two sites. There it stood for nearly half a century, consecrated by the effusions of nn,- Spirit from time to time upon its assemblies, and justly endeared to the people The growing claims of the village finally allowed no longer resistance, and relinquished to Roman Catholics, its congr< tion now meet at the centre, and within walls and under a roof of which architecture better appn The- first families were of the Puritan stamp. The ath, commencing with Saturday evening, was membered by them, the evening being devoted to the Westminster Catechism, the father putting the ques- tions and the mother and children answering. And at set times, particularly it's day, a public meei held, religious conversation was had with the youth by the fathers and officers of the church, and they examined in the Catechism, — and this exen kept up for twenty years and until 1815, when it 416 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE superseded by Sunday school instruction. Before the settlement of a pastor, the " Monthly Conference," on the last Friday afternoon of each month, was inaugu- rated, designed for mutual improvement in a spiritual life and for the general promotion of religion. The ex- ercises were informal, and the intercourse between the attendants very familiar. The soul, its joys and sor- rows, its hopes and fears, its embarrassments and tri- umphs, its hindrances and helps, were the topics of re- mark and the subjects of prayer ; and bringing their children with them, parents sought their happy impres- sion, and joined in intercession for them. Here it wasr too, anxious and inquiring sinners made their way, and here new born souls told their regeneracy, and asked sympathy and counsel and help and prayer. More than once was the unsealing of a convert's lips there the open- ing to the congregation and community of the fountain of grace The " Saturday night prayer meeting" was long prized and relished, falling in at the beginning with the observance of Saturday evening as the opening of the Sab- bath. It was held at three or four different places each evening, children generally accompanying their fathers and mothers, and most of them finally passing into the church. Revivals have been a frequent experience of thepeople Thefirst,in 1807, under Rev. Roger Adams, « originated in the " monthly conference." Thirty joined the church in 1811-1818, during the ministry of Rev. Abner Benedict An unexpected revelation of his feel- ings by Mr. L. W. Elmore, at the March monthly confer- ence, L816, quickened the whole church, during the min- istry of Rev. John Truair, 1815-1820, and two hundred were added to it During Rev. J. N. Sprague's con- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 417 nection with it, 1825-1834, about one hundred joined it, and fifteen or twenty during the one year Rev. George E. Delevan staid with it, and about eighty in two revivals under Rev. Amos C. Tuttle, 1845-1853, and about twenty-five as the result of a protracted meeting conducted by the evangelist Rev. C. Parker, during the ministry of Rev. Archibald McDougall, 1854-1860, and about forty under Rev. E. Curtis, 1860- 1807, and a considerable number under Rev. Samuel Miller, whose ministiy began 1867, and still continues. The church has sent out twenty professional men, some of them of great distinction, and eleven of them preachers of the gospel. It has regularly and largely contributed to benevolent objects, while "Thy kingdom conle,,' has been its earnest and constant prayer. At the height of the anti-slavery excitement, 1845, forty-seven of it- members withdrew from the church, but it grew beneath the pressure thus put upon it and flourished all the more. The church wa^ originally connected with the Union Association, but on the dissolution of thai body it united with Presbytery on the "accommodation plan," and there remained, happy and prosperous, until a few years since, when, much t«» the regrel of Presby- tery, it parted with it to reenter a Congregational As- sociation. Eighl hundred and seventy-five members have belonged to it. two hundred of whom bave died, four hundred been dismissed, twenty excommunicated, six suspended, thirty-four stricken from the roll, and forty-seven have Beceded, leaving one hundred and sixty-two in its presenl communis >n. The town of OXFORD was settled by emigrants priii cipally from New England, in 1791. They enjoyed a! 4 1 8 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE first the preaching of Rev. Uri Tracy, principal of an academy they established, and of the Congregational find Presbyterian missionaries who traversed the region. For seven or eight years, Kev. John Camp officiated alternately for them and the people of Norwich, and in 1799 they were constituted a Congregational Church. In 1808, Kev. Eli Hyde was chosen their pastor, and as no room in the town could hold the assembly, the services were performed in the open air. In 1812. Mr. Hyde demitted the pastorate. Up to this time there was no other religious society in town. The church then suffered a protracted vacancy and greatly declined, though the people themselves sustained religious exer- cises and were visited occasionally by ministers, — wor- shipping "now in the old academy and now in a private dwelling, assembling in a tavern for prayers with chris- tians of various denominations, but statedly meeting duringthe latter partof theirperiodof depression, in the upper chamber of a cabinet shop, where they enjoyed a baptism of the Holy Ghost."' In 1813, Mr. Burt, a li- centiate from Connecticut, labored among them a few months, and in 1818, Rev. William M. Adams supplied them and the people of Norwich for six months. Rev. John Truair also preached for them from time to time. and also Kev. John F. Schermerhorn and Rev. Charles Thorp, under the ministrations of the latter of whom, in l>k21. unusual seriousness prevailed. The Rev. Marcus Earrison then labored among them for a time. and the religious interest in the community made the upper chamber i"«» strait for the attendance, and in a single week of notable cold, in L823, a room thirty-six by twenty-five feel was arched, plastered and seated, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 4191 and on the Sunday of the following week, and on the seventh day after beginning, the congregation assembled in it The Rev. Joseph D. Wickham, a licentiate of the New Haven West Association, was instituted pastor in 1823, simultaneously with the dedication of a new and commodious and beautiful sanctuary. Leaving in 1825, he was succeed by Rev. Elijah D. Wells, 1826- 1828, Rev. James Abell 1830-1836, and by Rev. Arthur Burtis, 1839-1846,— the Rev. Joel Chapin, Rev. Mr. Gil- bert, and Rev. Octavius Fitch in 1 829 and 1837 and 1838. In 1812, the church united with the Union Association,, and in 1822 with the Presbytery of Chenango, fou+* \^uu^t^>^^^ (fciftsti c*rri V^H^, Revivals have marked different periods of its history, particularly during their wide prevalence in Central and Western Ww York, and during the ministry of Mr. Abell, 1830-6. Education was promoted hand in hand with religion. An academy was incorporated and set in operation in 1791, and the first frame build- ing in the village was put up for its accommodation, and for several years was occupied as a church edifice on Sunday. The church of Soutb Bainbridge, (now Afton) of which the church of Ninevah was bora in 1831, entered life in L802, but expired after 1840, Leaving a '.. house of public worship, the doors of which are closed excepl for occasional uses, The church a1 Bainbridge (originally Jericho) was established in 17:»'J !•::. bj Rev. William Stone, of the Vermonl Missionary Society. He remained two years 4:20 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE and Rev. Joel Chapin was then installed pastor. Ke- freshings of the Spirit have revived it at different times, most effectively perhaps in 1833 and 1843. In 1802 South Jericho church was formed out of it, and Sidney Plains in 1808. The church at Lisle dates back to 1797 or 1799, and consisted at first of sixteen members, eleven of whom were the subjects of a then recent revival. In 1801, Dr. Seth Williston consented to stay his work of general evangelism and serve it statedly, and in 1803 he commenced its first pastorate and held it until 1809. During this relation he made missionary tours, mostly in the immediate vicinity. Rev. Henry Ford followed him in 1813, and left in 1820, and to him succeeded Rev. Azariah G. Orton, Rev. John B. Hoyt, Rev. J. M. Babbitt, Rev. John N. Lewis, and others. The preaching of Dr. Williston survived him in its pulpit, and the church has been uninterrupt- edly orthodox and active, and blessed with numerous seasons of outpourings of the Spirit, but it has kept comparatively small, principally by dividing the acces- sions to it with new churches taken out of it — the Pres- byterian Church of Baker and the Congregational Churches of Triangle and Yorkshire, or Lisle West, proceeding from it. Its offshoots destroyed its site as a centre, and another place of worship was pro- vided for interchangeable services, at Whitney's Point. It put itself first under the care of the Susquehannah Association, Northern Pennsylvania, and on its dis- solution in 1818, united with the Cayuga Presbytery. which it left in 1820 for the Union Association, and on SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 421 the dissolution of this in 1822, was attached to the Cortland Presbytery ; and though the name of Lisle nowhere now appears as in connection with an ecclesi- astical body, that of Whitney's Point is entered on the roll of Binghamton Presbytery. Homer was settled in 1791, and in 1793, when but six families had gathered there, public worship was set up. The first sermon in the town was preached by Rev. Asa Ilillyer. a pastor of New Jersey, but com- missioned for a missionary tour by the General Assem- bly. Messrs. Lindsley and Logan, sent by the General Assembly, and Messrs. Bushnell and Williston, sent by the Connecticut Missionary Society, afterwards visited the place and labored in it, — a special blessing attend- ing Mr. Williston's coming and work, which resulted, in 1798, in the conversion of fifteen of the few impeni- tent inhabitants in the small population. Though a "society" was incorporated in 1799, the organization of a church was delayed for two years by the different ecclesiastical preferences of the people, — one portion approving and liking Presbyterianism and the other Congregationalism. This difference of choice breddis- loii. but no quarrel, and yet was necessarily harm- ful In the fall of 1801, Mrs. Dorothy Hoar said to her husband, " 1 bave lain awake all night praying for direction as to tin- method of forming a church. God has heard me, and this is the uav: Do you go and collect the naim > of all who arc Willing to take part in organizing a Congregational Church here, and ii vite all others who choose t<» unite with it." The suggestion was immediately followed, and Oct. 12, L£0I, Rev, 'a 422 PRESBYTERIANISS1 IN THE Hugh Wallis, of Solon, presided at the formation of the church. Mr. Nathan B. Darrow was elected the first pastor in 1803, and resigned in 1808. Elnathan Walker followed, 1809-1820, and John Keep 1821- 1833. This church was one of the original number in the Middle Association, and passed with it, in 1810, into the Onondaga Presbytery, and subsequently, on the erection of that body, it was placed in the Cortland Presbytery, from which it withdrew in 1868, and joined the Central Association. In 1799, a building was put up for the joint use of the church and a school, a swing partition when closed adapting the building to a school, and thrown back to a church. This school became a distinguished academy, and remains eminent to this day. It has been the grammar school of fifty ministers of the gospel. Mr. Lindsley, of the Presbytery of Oneida and pastor at Ovid, officiated at the dedication, and Dr. Williston speaks of this as " almost the only build- ing in all this western country which has been erected with a principal reference to accommodate the worship of God." In 1S05, it was relinquished, and possession taken of a new sanctuary, fifty by seventy-two feetT with a plot of six acres, including the present village green. It was commodious and handsome, and its ex- pcnsiveness at that day and in that community, shows how amiable to the people were the tabernacles of the I a >rd. Within a few years this latter was supplanted by anot her still more capacious, convenient and beautiful. The church is noted for the displays of grace made in it. Preparation was made for its establishment by SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 423 one of these, and they have been repeated at short in- tervals through its whole history. Ninety-three were added to its list of communicants daring Mr. Darrow's ministry of five years. Thrice were the windows of heaven opened upon it during the eleven years of Mr. Walker's ministry, so that counting but ninety-nine members when he came to it, it had a list of four hun- dred and twenty-seven when death removed him from it; and one hundred and eighty-eight of these were brought in during the single year of 1812-13. The work that resulted in this large accession to it began in a little female prayer meeting, started by a devoted Christian woman at the house of Deacon Jacob Hoar. People were impelled to attend by the force of the Spirit, and soon a neighboring school house was opened for the needed accommodation. Thence the influence spread until every part of the town was reached. Fif- teen married couples were subjected to it, and stood up, husband and wrife side by side, publicly to profess their hope in Christ and their submission and conse- cration to him, and the large proportion of the addi- tions then made were adult converts. 1816 was also signalized by the divine mercy and might, so that one hundred and thirty-six were taken into Christian fel- lowship. A revival in ls-?<» bad a remarkable origin. Three or four of the church members had become alienated from their pastor and spoke so abusively of him, that the church was compelled to take notice of it. A council convened t<> adjudicate the case, hut on coming together it was perceived thai any proceed by such a body would \i<>late the relations of the Church to the Presbvterv with which it was connected. 424 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE Dr. Dirck C. Lansing was invited to sit as a member of the council, and headed by him, the whole company applied themselves to a private reconciliation of the offending and aggrieved parties, " and mutual confes- sion and forgiveness commenced, and after a most tender and melting season for two daj^s," " all difficul- ties were amicably settled. The church all took the pastor by the hand in token of their mutual forgive- ness and love.1' "The Spirit was poured down, and sinners began to inquire what they must do to be saved and implored the prayers and labors of the saints of God." Minister and people vied with each other in saving those who were ready to perish, and the entire community was aroused. The minister fell a victim to his zeal, and at the early age of forty was called to his final rest. Another revival, in 1826, added fifty-seven to the church. Trie first " protracted meeting" was held in the place during 1831, and during that year and the two following years, it was repeated six times. In 1883, Mr. Finney was expected, but could not come, and Rev. Mr. Burchard took his place. 1830-31-32- 33 were harvest seasons, but the sentiment of the church was so much divided in regard to the measures for ingathering, that the pastor was induced to presenl his resignation. Two hundred and eighty-six were re- ceived to the church during the pastorate of Kev. Den- nis Piatt, 1833-38, eighty-two ^\' them the fruit of a revival in L838; two hundred and seventy-six during the pastorate, 1842-1853, of Rev. Thomas R Fessenden, and sixty-four as the fruit of a revival at its outset A revival was enjoyed in 1855, the beginning of a pastor- ate by Rev. J. A. Priest, and in 1858, the year of its SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 425 close; sixty-five were received to the church during the pastorate of liev. Albert Bigelow, 1858-1863, and the present large, substantial and elegant church edifice built. Two hundred and seventy- three were received to the church daring the pastorate, 18G-J— 70, of Rev. Dr. John C. llolbrook, one hundred and forty-eight of them as the fruit of a revival in 1868. In 1871, Rev. Wm. A. Robinson, the present pastor, entered on his charge, and up to 1876, received seventy-eight to the communion of the church. The entire admissions are 2,287, and the number on a thoroughly purged roll in 1876, is three hundred and eighty-two. Ten of the members, rttale and female, have engaged in Home and Foreign Mission work, and twenty have entered the ministry, and nearly $50,000 were contributed to benevolent objects from 1840 to 1876, and as is estimated, $10,000 previously. And rarely has a church so impressed a community. A* one now resident at a distance from it has remarked: It illustrated more fully than anything I have Been, the moral power of the church. There was not much in tin; way of influ- ence <«f any sort exerted but had its origin in it, or that was not largely shaped by it. There were a few of the baser sort, — rep- robates, drunkards, and the like, --but how separate they were, — how distinctly ami sharply was their place assigned to tbem, while the vast multitude drew their guidance and received their opinions from the church. With the great mass of the popula- tion, this church constituted tin- larger part of life, [n thehouse< hold in which 1 WW reared, after the immediate business of the day, t li« re Were t wo unfailing themes of thought and conversation — the church and the academy, and tln-y weiv not separated In regard and affection. * * I can see through memory's vision, the long lines of carriages thai converged on Sunday mornings from the valley north, from the Sett road, from East Kiv.r. from the south, each containing an entire household, save perhaps one mem 426 rRESB YTEItlANISM IN THE ber left to guard the home, bringing up in the long row of sheds*, which, unsightly as they were, had a beauty in the eyes of a lover of God's church, such as no "fretted roof or long-drawn aisle" could afford. The wettest day in Spring or Autumn, and the coldest day in Winter lessened but little this long. procession of Sabbath worshipers. The Sunday school was a grand institution in my opinion. It certainly made a very important part of my life. I recall as if it were yesterday, the rapid and clear comments of Mr. Wool worth upon the lesson, which my revered father had studied with his children the night previous, — his quick and energetic movements through the school, — the bearing of a man born to command, as many of us realized full well during the week. Rev. Wm. A. Robinson, present pastor of the church r " names four prominent sources of its prosperity and usefulness : 1. The faithful and constant maintenance of the sanctuary, its offices and ordinances. But two or three Sabbaths have been recorded, except when the church edifice has been under repairs, or other provi- dential causes have prevented, but that public worship was maintained. 2. The thorough, systematic and con- tinued instruction and training of the young. As early as 1S03, there was adopted a very interesting "plan for the improvement of youth and children in religion." This contemplated the gathering of them, with their parents, from time to time, for catechetical instruction by the pastor, who every week- met the children of some one of the districts in the town for this purpose, and to whom was given at such times, "the care and direc- tion of the children with respect to religious literature and behavior." And mention is continually made of methods for the better eulture of the young. A com- mittee was appointed to cooperate with the pastor in this part of the work, and s<>on after, they wereappoint- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 427 ed to visit the district schools and endeavor to give greater effectiveness to them; and year after year, cate- echists were chosen, who annually presented reports of their observations and doings, and in 1819 a Sunday school was established. 3. Prayer and conference meetings. Sixteen days after the organization of the church in 1801, they were established for the last Wednesday of every month, and in 1804 the day was changed to the Thursday after the first Sabbath, and weekly meetings were set up, held successively in dif- ferent parts of the town, and in the revival of 1806 they were merged into a Thursday meeting every week, which has proved so extraordinary as seldom or never to be surpassed by any of its kind. 4. Labor for revi- vals, with the expectation of enjoying them, thirteen of these of great power, having been experienced, and the church owing itself to the first of the number. A Reformed (Dutch) Church was formed by the Rev. Mr. Manly, a mile from Binghamton (then Chem Point) on the east Bide of the Chenango. The upper room of the minister's house was the place of assem- bling, and was so well fitted up, that it answered its purpose for several years. Thechurch shared the min- es with the church al Union. An interim occurred between Mr. Manly's retirement and the com- ing of Rev. Mr. Palmer, but this gentleman's presence quickened thechurch, which bad fallen into a decline. When he left, it maintained a merely nominal existence, and was perpetuated in a C tional Church, formed in 1817 1 3 Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury and Rev. Joseph W'.hhI. and consisting of twenty members, seventeen of 428 PRESBYTERIANISM IN TEE whom were women. Rev. Hezekiali May preached to the people in 1815. Rev. Benjamin Niles, then a licentiate, took his place in 1816, and in 1818 was in- stalled pastor, and remained nntil his death July, 1828. The church first united with the Luzerne Association, but in 1821 this body was merged into the Presbytery of Susquehannah, and the church at Bingham ton was thus brought into it, putting on itself the Presbyterian form. On the 18th of August, 1793, a church of seven members was organized at Oquago, now Windsor, by Rev. Benjamin Jucld, a missionary of the General As- sembly, assisted by Rev. Daniel Buck. For some time they enjoyed but occasional preaching, and principally by such missionaries as Seth Williston, David narrow- er, Joel T. Benedict, Joseph Badger, Joshua Johnson, Samuel Sargent and James Jewell. Rev. Wm. Stone also frequently labored there, between 179 L and 1795. Rev. Seth Sage removed to the place in 1800, and fre- quently officiated there and in the vicinity up to 1807. .Rev. Joel Chapin likewise served the people at times. In 1800 the church was reorganized and connected with the Morris County Associated Presbytery, and adopted the confession of Faith and Discipline of that body, and took the new name of "The Eastern Presby- terian Church in Chenango.'' The members were scat- tered over the territory of the towns of Windsor and Colesville, and worshiped in a frame building erected for an Academy at "Windsor, and in a log school-house in Oolesville. Rev. Joseph Wood, its only pastor, was installed in L816, but was compelled to leave by failing SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 429 health in 1819. In 1818, a house of worship was raised at Cole's hill, which though vacated by the expiring of the church, in 1836 or 1837, still stands, and is opened when needed and desired, for other denominations. In 1826, it placed itself under the care of the Chenango Presbytery, and was known by the name of Colesville. It never flourished, — its largest membership amounting to only forty-five. Death and removals sapped it, and aggravated cases of discipline made breaches upon it. The present church of Windsor was an offshoot, in 1812, of the one just mentioned, originally Congrega- gational and connected with the Luzerne Association, in 1813, but borne with that body into the Presbytery of Susquehannah. In 1827, it was transferred, together with the Colesville church, to the Presbytery of Che- nango, and assumed the Presbyterian form of govern- ment Few additions were made to the mother church on this field from 17(.»." to 1810. A precious revival then occurred. Rev. Messrs. Benedict and Harrower preach- ing and laboring during the progress of it. Another followed in 1 B23, Rev. Samuel Manning being the minister then, and the special work <>f grace was re- peated in L830 ls-'il and in L84 1. At the "disrup- tion" iii L 837, twenty-eight orthirty of the members ceded and were constituted a church by the Presbytery «.f Susquehannah. The two parties combined in ls~>*_'. and united with the Presbyterj of Albany, 0 S the < >. S. pari having been previously connected with the < laledonia Presbytery . New Jersey emigrants, with a few from Nen Eng land, settled Union about L790. A Reformed (Dutch) 430 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE Church was formed at an early day, and a house of worship erected in 1796. This latter Dr. Williston describes as a "small building," "but it had none of the external appearances of a sanctuary.*' " I believe it was the only house devoted to the worship of God west of Kortright, in Delaware county.'' Mr. Manly was the first minister, preaching at Binghamton on alternate Sundays, and Mr. Palmer followed him, continuing to serve Binghamton likewise. When Mr. Palmer left, the church declined, many of the mem- bers removing to other places. In 1822, it adopted Presbyterianism, or a Presbyterian Church was con- structed from its relics. Stated supplies served it until 1824, when Eev. John W. Ward undertook a pas- torate, and sustained it until 1831. Eev. Ira Smith intervened as a stated supply between him and the in- stallation of the Rev. Jonathan Rowland, in 1834. Eev. II. J. Gaylord succeeded Mr. Rowland in 1842, and remained until 1847. The menbership was 104 in 1830, 206 in 1833, 220 in Ml, and 123 in 1875. Ee- peated revivals blessed it, — one of unusual power at the beginning of Mr. Ward's connection with it, and frequently in less degree until its close, so that scarcely a communion season passed during his stay without the reception of recent converts. One hundred and sixteen were added to it in 1832, Mr. Smith being pastor then, as the result of a protracted meeting conducted by Jedediah Burchard, bul in many of the cases it was subsequently regarded by the session as a hasty act. Two or three droppings of grace promoted its growth during Mr. [lowland's term, and in 1843, while Mr. Gaylord was pastor, aboul thirty were brought in by a special visitation of the Spirit. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOUK. ^481 New a ijk Valley (originally "Brown's Settlement") was colonized in 1791, by emigrants from Stockbridge, Mass., a church-going people, who immediately began church services, and came to them from their seattered abodes, in the newly thinned woods, in ox-carts, on horseback and afoot. A Congregational organization was formed in 1803, and placed, in 1811, under the name then of Western, in the care of the Presbytery of Cayuga. Soon after it was called Berkshire, and in the division of the town of Berkshire, it was called Newark. Rev. Jeremiah Osborne was its first pastor, beginning in 1806, and closing in 1819. Rev. Marcus Ford succeeded him in 1820, and remained until death called him away forty years after. The church has been a vine of the Lord's own planting and tending, kept in constant fruitage and with frequent seasons of remarkable prolificness ; 1830-31 most distinguished it in this respect, one hundred and seven being its pro- duct It has multiplied itself fourfold, Richford, Berk- shire and Newark 'id proceeding from it. A few familiescame to M.\i:< i.i.u - in 17'.'.'i or 17(.M. In 1795, Dan Bradley, previously pastor of the church in New Eartford, but who exchanged the ministry Cor agriculture and civil life, and became conspic- uous as a farmer and Berved as County Judge, removed bo the t<.\vn. and also Deacon Samuel Rice Public worship was thereupon established, and in l^nl a I gregational Church. For some time the only ministers who served H were missionaries out on their tours. Among them was Dr. Williston, and during his tran- sient labors a revival occurred. In IS06, it combined 432 PRESB 7 TERIA NISM EV T11E with Skaneateles for the support of a minister. Rev. Levi Parsons, a licentiate from Massachusetts, casualty visited the place in 1806, and in 1S07 was settled there, and remained for twenty-five years. The church formed no ecclesiastical connection until 181 1, when it joined the Presbytery of Cayuga. Kev. John Tompkins followed Mr. Parsons, after an interval of two years, which Be v. Levi Griswold spent with it. Mr. Tompkins' pastorate had reached the term of his predecessor's to a dayr when death brough it to a close. Several revivals of religion have marked its career, particularly in 1820r 1826, 1831 and 1844. A church of sixteen members was formed at Skan- eateles in 1801, by Kev. Aaron Bascom, missionary of the Hampshire Society, Mass. It was first known as the M Marcellus First Church," Skaneateles lying originally in the town of Marcellus. In common witli its sister churches in that region, it joined the Middle Associa- tion at its organization, and was a member of it when that body was converted into the Cayuga and Onondaga Presbyteries, and retained the form of Congregational- ism until 1818, when it changed to Presbyterian ism. It was supplied at first by traveling missionaries, and by Rev. Messrs. Thomas Bobbins, Benjamin Bell, An- drew Ransom and Ira M. Olds. Rev. Nathanael Swift was the first pastor, installed in 1811, but he remained only a single year, and was soon after deposed and ex- communicated. Rev. Benjamin Rice entered on the charge in 1S13, and left it in 1817. He was followed by Rev. .Messrs. Benjamin B. Stockton, 1S18-1822, Alex- ander M. Cowan, 1822-1828, Samuel W. Brace, 1830- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. [:',:) 1848. A house of worship, quite elegant for the day, was erected a little east of the village, in 1807, and a more commodious one in 1830, on a central site. The village is one of the most charming in the country, and was always distinguished by the social position of its inhabi- tants, and by the prominence of manjr of them in the surrounding region and in the State. The church has been made conspicuous by the displays of the Spirit, particularly in Mr. Brace's day, during which several special effusions baptized it and a continuous influence was exerted upon it. ELLBRIDGE is a part of the old military tow;. Cam ill us. A church of .-oxen members was organ- ized there by Dr. Williston, in 1800, known for many pears as the Congregational Church of Camillus, First connected with the Middle Association, it passed with the part of that body that constituted the Cayuga Presbytery into that ecclesiastical connection. It wa- its day of small things for ten year-, no permanent minister laboring with it for that Long space. R v. Benjamin Bell acted as stated supply in 1810—1 1. Re> . Jabes Chadwick followed him. and Rev. Stephen I' was engaged, part of the time as pastor, from IS24 to 1S27. Rev. Timothy Stow had charge from 1828 lv;;.">? and then gave way to Rev. Medad Pomeroy,who held it until 1-1". The Holy Spirit attended these different laborers, and in an especially notable manner in lsl7 and lsL;."». but mosl eminently in 1831. Ogdensbi rg occupies the natural site of an import- ant town. This the observant eyeofthe Abbe 434 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE perceived, and in 1748 he built Fort Presentation there. and made it the centre of operations in this region, and soon gathered a colony of three thousand souls. The British took possession of it at the conquest of the French in 1760. After the achievement of our Na- tional Independence, and on the settlement of bounda- ries between our country and Great Britain under Jay's treaty in 1795, it was delivered to the United States. The modern settlement was begun in 1796, under Judge Nathan Ford, agent of Samuel Ogden, proprietor of the land, and from whom the place took its name, but it was hindered for a couple of years by the inter- ference of Canadian claimants of the title. Mr. Ogden married the sister of Gouverneur Morris, and was father of David B. Ogden, the distinguished lawyer of New York. He lived at Trenton, N. J., for a time, but moved to Newark, N. J., where he died in 1818. The portions of the village plot unsold in 1808 were bought by David Parish, and measures were immedi- ately taken to make it the peer, if not the superior, of any town on the lake. The war of 1812 \vas disas- trous to it, but recovering from that, it attained to the dignity of an incorporation in 1817, and despite two large fires rose higher still, and is now a city of ten thousand inhabitants. The church was formed in 1805, under the name of the First Church and Congregation of Christ in the Town of Oswegatchie, and a subscrip- tion drawn up engaging $393 a year, payable semi-an- nually, to any minister who might be employed. In 1806, Rev. John Younglove was called, and the church taken into the Presbytery of Oneida, — but Mr. Young- love was never installed, though lie preached to the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 435 people for a time, much to their satisfaction. liev. Mr. Smart, of Brookvale, afterwards served them occasion- ally, but so seldom were they favored with preaching, down to 1811, that a resident for eleven months in 1807, says he never heard but two sermons during that period, and both of them on one Sunday. Rev. Com- fort Williams labored among them in 1811, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Oneida with a view to his being installed. The war of 1812 prevented this, however, and though much esteemed, Mr. Williams was compelled to leave. Rev. Mr. Gerry, of Denmark, was afterwards heard for several Sabbaths, and then in- vited to the pastorate ; nut the Presbytery did not deem it proper to release him from the charge he held. The vacancy in the pulpit continued until 1819, a clergy- man seldom occupying it. On Judge John Fine's re- moving to the village in 1817, a* vigorous correspond- ence was carried on to secure a minister, but short visits from one and another were all that could be obtained. Lay services, however, were regularly conducted, — Judge Fine reading the sermons, and Mr. Nathanael Smith Leading the devotions. Judge Fine made a thor- ough census of the members of the church with the view to perfecting its organization, which had been left incomplete, but only thirty professing Christians, of all denominations, could be discovered in the town. In Is!!1, when the population was a thousand, Rev. Bar nabaa Bruin, a Tutor in Union College, came to the village ou the recommendation of President Nott, and was oordiallj greeted. The first church edifice was then built at a »•< >.-t of $600, and the church organization reconstructed and made thoroughly Presbyterian, and • 1 .' 1 1 1 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE put under the rare of the Presbytery of St. Lawrence. Soon after Mr. Bruin's health failed, and he went to Connecticut, where he died. Kev. Isaac Clinton fol- lowed him, but remained only a single year. In 1821 Rev. James McAuley took charge of the church and was followed by Key. James B. Ambler as stated sup- ply for three years, and by Rev. Elizur G-. Smith as pastor for nearly three years, beginning February, 1829, and by Rev. J. A. Savage, D. D., as stated supply and pastor from January. 1832, to September, 1850, — nearly nineteen years. The present pastor, Be v. L. Merrill Miller, D. D., began service in Ma}', 1851. In 1825 a division of the church occurred, one portion of it remaining in the house of worship previously occu- pied and retaining the minister, and the other resorting to the court house and calling in ministers from Sunday to Sunday as they could be procured. The offices of the Synod were invoked to heal the breach, and with the happiest result. The tabernacle of 1819 wras super- seded in 1825 by a substantial sanctuary, and that was afterwards enlarged. More room still was soon required, and a new congregation was proposed in 1857, and a site for a second house of worship purchased, and some progress made towards obtaining funds for the building. l)Ht only a few families were willing to leave for an- other church, and the scheme was necessarily relin- quished In ls<'»7. a virtually new sanctuary, of blue limestone from tin1 base to the spire, which rises 190 ft. was built It is 78 ft by 108 ft with 1200 sittings, solid, spacious and symmetrical, and of the pointed Gothic style of architecture. A Sundayschool room, 'a chapel, and a pastor's study, all of the same material. SYyOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 437 are attached to it, the whole costing $60,000, and all paid up. The manifest seal of the Spirit has been re- peatedly affixed to the church: 59 were added to it in 1852; 61 in 1808; 58 in 1860; U in 1674, and in other years 27, 30, 36, 38, and 42, and 114 during Mr. McAuley's ministry of nearly six years. Much account has been madeof Sunday schools, — the first in the region having been instituted here in 1820. Six of them have been connected with the church, and three remain to the present day. The spirit of benevolence has been cherished, and the exercise of it practiced. In 1S17 a few ladies formed an association to distribute Bibles throughout the t wn. and in the town of Lisbon. Female Missionary Society was also organized at an early day, and the systematic circulation of tracts un- dertaken; while the Dorcas Society is an established institution of ever active usefulness. The total of col- lections for foreign objects during the last twenty-four years, have been nearly $32,000, and nearly $138 have been spent for the congregation; 1*1 from the congregation enlisl »ldiers and were commissioned •fficers in the army of the Union when battling the Union, and l'1 from the church, as ministers and missionaries, are leadersof the sacramenta] host-. The i for 1 v7*"» i- : 111 sermons, 235 leel and addr - communion Bervices, 37 baptismal dresses, 40 marrii I funerals, and an annual aver- ■ if Too visits. Watkktou \ derives its name from Its waterpower, which compares well with that of any other town in the State, and to this air due its early settlement and rapid 438 PUKHBYTER1AN18M IN T11K growth and large business and wealth, while at the - time, its great beauty, natural and artificial, is a strong attraction to the place. The Oneida tribe held the Indian title to the lands in this section of the country. That \va> extinguished by the treaty with the Six >.- tions al Fort Stanwix, in 1784, and the site of Water- town was included in the u Macomb Purchase," which was afterwards subdivided into smaller and smaller parcels, until finally large proprietorships ceased, and the .land was held by the owners of farms and The firsl settlers, mostly from Oneida county, came in L 800, and without capital from abroad and^iltogether by earnings on the spot, it has become a city of over L0,000 inhabitants, with an amounl of wealth largely in excess of the ordinary proportion thai exists else- where, and as superior in the way in which it is laid out and built, and in the extent of its business and th( amounl of its thrift Missionaries, principally from NTew England, visited it from time to time, beginning with its settlement In the spring of 1803, a Coi gational Church was formed by Rev. Eleazer LaSalh in the barn of Caleb Burnham at Burnville, composed of fifteen members, and during the ensuing summer, services were held at the bouse of John Blevin. Mis- sionaries and visiting clergymen wen- the only preachers beard until 1815, when Rev. David Bank was installed \\c\^' in connection with Rutland, and remained until 1821. The church adopted Presbyterianism then and called Rev. Q-eorge S. Boardman, who left in 1837, and was immediately succeeded by Rev. Isaac Brayton, who remained until 1^'il. The Presbytery of Watertown records February 23d, 1837: -The' requesl of Mr. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 439 lJoardman for dismission from his pastoral charge, was taken up. The following persons appeared as commis- sioners from the church and congregation : John Clark, Albert I*. Brayton, Adriel Ely, Jeremiah Boll and Job Sawyer. They presented their credentials and instruc- tions to use their influence and exertions to induce the Presbytery to refuse the application. Mi-. Boardman then presented his reasons for the request, after which the commissioners stated their reasons in opposition to it After some discussion, it was resolved thai this question lie deferred until the next meeting of Presbytery, and that tlie clerk notify the churches of this delay, and thai it was owing to tin,' small uumber present" March 8, 1837, the Presbytery record : " The application of Mr. Boardman lor a dismission was taken up. In his ab- sence, a letter from him to Mr. Hunt was read, exp] ing a strong conviction thai it was his duty t«» to Rochester, and the hope that the church and the Pres- bytery would see it to he their duty to acquiesce in this conviction. The Commissioners present, Messrs. Holt. Brayton and Ely, were heard in opposition to the appli- cation. A motion was made thai Mr. Boardman's requesl ranted. After a full and tender discussion, in whi< 1 the deepesl regrets were unanimouslj expressed at th< idea of this brother's removal, the motion was carried, and Mr. Boyd appointed to declare the pulpit vacant" January L2, L864, the Presbytery record : " Rev. [saa< Brayton requested a dissolution of the pastoral rela- tion between him and the First Church of Waterto on account of his own health and the health of his wife. Solon Massey, Robert Lan John Clark B, rpham, E. Elager, and Eli Farewell appeared as a FMBSBYTKR1A318M IS THE imittee on the part of the congregation, who state! :he congregation were very reluctantly constrained to unite with their pastor in this reqn - it w a - Ived that the request of Mr. Brayton be granted. On motion, resolv I I the papers pre- the conimi- _ _ - hmch be entered in full on the - : the Presbj They ar- - - a meeting of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, on Monday, December S clock P. m , John Clsirk was called to the chair, and G. R. Hanford appointed Secretary. J. B. Syler introduced a resolution, as follovr- Whereaa, The Rev. Isaac Brayton, D. D.. has officiated as p of this church during the past twenty-sis years with distinguished fidelity, and with the profound respect and love of his congregation — circumstances beyond the control of either minister or people, render it necessary that the tie, thus sanctioned and blessed, and which otherwise might have continued till death had sealed his -tv, should be dissolved. In the Providence of God, this -hepherd. We must not, can not part with him withoat making this record of our appreciation of his char- and services. He has administed the duties of his office iu the fear of God, and with the earnestness of an Apostle of Jesas Christ. Had we been as faithful to ourselves as he has been to - - _ . a, though separated now, would all be united to him hereaf: :-plore our loss, and the circumstances rendering it necessary : the declining health cf both the pastor and his devoted wife, who during a large part cf his ministry, has rejoiced with him when he rejoiced, and wept with him when he wept, and has so faithfully joined with him in its duties, bearing with examplary patience and fortitude the ..g malady from which she has almost continually suffered for many years. They will carry with them our gratitude and on, and our prayers for their restoration to health, and that the choicest of God's blessings may rest upon them ; and tbs may meet them again where " sickness and sorrow, pain and : Therefore, TRAL FEW YORK. '.■■■' T'.-i: ~-r i:r :■■! = ::■:■ :iri ■: -i." -.- ^77 : : ; i-: : : .:. Lir :-,---■ ■ ■"_■? P:r-":. j'.-rrj 7: i :. = >: 7-7 i :.7_t :i-::-i J.-' 7- •; 7"_:.: r? '. l M---J 7. 7±:r~r'. ;.:.-:; 7i.i-:_- C. D. Morgan. John Clark, S. B. Upham and EL Hagar, be Com missioners to represent this church and congregation aft the next :_tt-.: j : 7:r7 -■:-:- < _•: -; JOffi RK. (i. R. Hjlstord, 7..- _:7-:-.ji-: LiT7_r 7-ttL ::"ji; :■ .i-.ri i : : - ~. .-.:~t :; :7 xi^vj;.:. _ -■- :7_ ; :: ii 7_7 7: _— : : _:..:r — .:'_ ; _: 7T tared Pastor, the Rev. Isaac Brayton, D. D., in asking Pre* : : I --■ ■>: 7.t ;. 1-: r7_ :7.i: i «•: 7 i j ii i -: 7j.; ; 7j -7:- .»: _ between him and the people are represent , take this occasion to far , -7.i: "■'.,,■: ■-■: '..-■ :i J. j 7- ..,•- 7„ - ; _:~ i: 7 :'_:•::.:: ~_"7. Lin. rVri : :7 77 j i.«-:._ j 7_.f 7 •';■' : ::n; '.. - --•_ .--: ; -: — - most be permitted to say, for ourselres and for the entire body • i 7.7. = 7_-::7 iii .::::r:-.:/:. i:.i — r i — -r -._.« -- i .■ ul7:-: :• : :7i: : :« : l> il i s: ~:7 -i".";- 7-~::i_sr ^:7-:-. -' . - ?■--. :' r:7:j'...L^'..7.i :.::::r7v;7.- ■- 1 7^...: j 7-^77 i.i '. :7 frrL::: :.v_---.:j . r 7'.? :•.-•._ •.:.• 17-; rri/: :. : i ■_ :- .:::-:.:^ :..:_.;.:- 7...-.: ~ ,- . _.; 7:.vr ;■-:.«- i-.ri :: :•::_;;• 7...? \> i'.r.-.'Z. 7rf :r v- ;...->. Wr 7<7 iiirri ::--:r. 7_~: 7_.r :r7*.: l :i : l~: : t: : ; - ; 7 ;> .-. 7..- • \ -*.-7 r. ^ f : 7.::. -: ats. had man j more years to run before the infir- :_•.:. r- f ;._••- ■■• .7: ..•■• - ii_ ..«'_-: L.z. : — : 7 - 7 _-■. order: and we hoped that he might go in and oat before this peo- : 7 -.:.:- ,.?; .._: ..- 7.r '. ;-.■ ..: f 77 . : i 7 — :-*. 7: .■ .:..-.- to adTanced age. Ton will not deem it necessary for as to -..;•--.•.:::.-:• •.; ;. :- :'.rr^ u- i:. : _: 7 ?•• . --... l: ■': .-.-.•-• has been of the most intimate and endearing kind: •'..&: wn uerer ceased to lore him and confide in him from the day that he came here a young man, fresh from the schools, to assume the and responsibilities of this large church and congregation. r can we beli b and our children single day. ceased to be the objects of his lore, his unremitting care, and fa the assurance of our best wishes for his future welfare, and our prayers for the complete restoration to health of himself and 442 PRESBYTER1ASISM IX THE family, while we shall hope, that wherever God in his Providence may assign them their residence and their sphere of usefulness, we may continue to share in their fraternal and christian sym- pathies. It only remains for us to ask that our consent hereby given with the accompanying statement of our reasons for so •doing, may appear together on the minutes of your body. Singed, JOHN CLARK, E. HAG AH, ROBERT LANSING, SOLON MAS8EY S. B. UPHAM, ELI FARWELL. Rev. J. Jermain Porter, I). 1)., entered on the pastor- ship of tlie church in 1868, and is still prosperously prosecuting it. The brick academy, erected in 1811 on the site of the present house of worship, in connection wit! i the Court House, accommodated the congregation until 1820, when a stone edifice was erected on the site of the present elegant edifice, which was erected 1851. at an expense of $20,000. The communicants of the church now number nearly four hundred. Mention ought to have been made of the " BREWER Fund," in connection with what was said of the provi- sion for feeble churches and destitute fields. In 1857. Mr. William Brewer, of Litchfield, Herkimer county. after certain special bequests, devised the residue of his estate, amounting to about $6,000, to the Presbytery of Utica, directing that it should be invested in bonds and mortgages, and the interest applied to the maintenance of Christian ordinances in the church at Litchfield as long as that church remained in connection with the Presbytery and employed a minister acceptable to it ; and on the failure of either, the Presbytery is authorized to apply the interest to any feeble church or vacant field SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 443 under its care or in connection with the General As- sembly. It has proved a very useful investment, the proceeds securing the church at Litchfield all the sup- ply it has since received, and likewise furnishing a con- siderable sum for distribution among places that needed help. Church funds are of at least doubtful expediency where the people are able to support the ministry, but an eligible opportunity for legacies and gifts is offered by permanent endowments for particular dependent congregations, and for a particular class of dependent congregations. The N. Y. Observer, having a statement of the prin- ciples and faith of the Oneida (N. Y.) and Walling- ford (Ct.) communists before it, thus sets them forth, so tar as decency will permit, followed by reprehensive comment : 1. God is dual, male and female, and creation is an act of (Jod's faith. 2. The institution of marriage, which assigns one man to one woman, does not exist in the community of perfect people which they call the kingdom of heaven. Complex marriage takes the place of simple, and all helievers are members one of another. 3. A community of goods is essential to the oneness of believers, and then- is no distinction between community in person and in property. This unity abolishes all separateness into families, and makes fredom tin- great principle of social relations I. Shame was the COnseqaence of the fall, and is irrational and factitious ; therefore it is unknown where the -• see, having be- come holy, enjoy perfect freedom. These principles ftre explained, and texts of Scripture taken out of their connection in a manner hardly less than blasphemous, are quoted t<» prove thai Christ and bis Apostles held these doc* nines I They are further supported 1>\ t lie sent inient of many WllO have not adopted the ' Community of goods," but are led to the -±41 PRESBYTERIANISMJN THE belief that when the whole being is sanctified, it is impossible for the being to sin ; all the desires being holy, the acts carrying out those desires must also be right. Licentiousness is the immedi- ate, legitimate, natural result of this doctrine. And many of the modern disciples of this school find proof in the analogies of the marriage relation, so often employed in the Bible to represent the intimate relation of Christ and the believer, which they think justifies and encourages them to be thus related to each other. The location of the Community is in Madison county, four miles south of the pretty and flourishing village of Oneida, — or rather the dwellings and principal farm buildings are here, and the farm and shops in the town of Verona, near by. It numbers between two hundred and three hundred, distributed between its headquar- ters and Willow Place, a mile and a quarter distant, and at Wallingford, Ct. It was founded by John EL Noyes, a graduate of Dartmouth and once a Congrega- tional minister, who first fell off into ordinary perfec- tionism and then dropped into this form and sequent of it. He is a man of superior parts and acquirements, and an ingenious sophist. For a time, it was likely to collapse and suffer financial wreck, but passing the crisis, it has gone on in remarkable thrift. It started with a capital of $100,000, and now has half a million, and this increases constantly and fast. Great skill is shown in the manufacture of small articles. Trap-making es- pecially has been a great success, employing one hun- dred operatives. Fruit raising and canning have also been exceedingly prosperous and profitable. Sewing- silk and ribbons are likewise made in great quantities and perfection, one hundred persons being engaged in it. principally women and girls living in the vicinity. Still further, hags of every variety, satchels, sacks — trav- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 445 cling, lunch, &C., &c, are largely manufactured, and disposed of at a fine profit There are a machine shop, a foundry, a saw mill, and a carpenter and joiner's shop on the premises. " Besides supporting the members of the Community, in 1870, $300,000 worth of manufac- tures were sold,"' two hundred persons from outside be- ing employed in them. The property is considered as belonging to the whole membership, but the title to the real estate is held by the leaders, and there is an univer- sal community of goods existing, no portion of any- thing belonging to any individual, and every one put- ting in the whole of his possessions. All specialties of relationship are discarded, no man being more the hus- band of a particular woman than of every other, and no woman being more the wife of a particular man than of any other. The connections of the men and women are assigned bysome kind of authoritative arrangement and constantly change. The outside business of the Com m uni- ty is transacted by appointee from within itself, and always with thestrictest integrity, and no class commands bet- ter credit and is more sought for in trade The mem- bers of the Community are readily recognized. The men have an open countenance and free behavior, and show good tare. The dress of the women is i>\ no means <>f the latest fashion and in the Parisian style. They slouch about the streets with ill-fitting garments of Common material and dull color, their figures bent and ungainly, and their eyes downcast and furtive. A cor- respondent of a neighboring newspaper, possibly with subscriptions and advertisements and job printing af- fecting his vision, saw hot h sexes at their home, and the latter looked to him to better ad \ antage : ••The women 44(> PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE were dressed neatly and in something of the Bloomer costume, but in different colored goods and material. They all looked clean, neat and modest, though lacking that elasticity and vivacity one finds in an equal number of women in ordinary homes. The men were elad as men generally are, in that variety of style suit- ing them best, and on the whole were a good-looking, elean-faced, intellectual set of people, without vicious- ness or traces of dissipation. At the Oneida Commu- nity there is no profanity, no coarse or vulgar language, no use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, no use of tobacco in any form, no words of unkindness. Each one seems to respect not only himself or herself, but others. Some of the family were old, some middle- aged, a few were young. The women take turns in house-work. Those who wait on the table this week, do something else next, that labor may not be a monoto- nous drudgery. In the evening, the family, old and young, meet in a small room resembling a theatre. Here we found a stage, private boxes, sofas, chairs, lit- tle tables, &c,, as cosy as you jjlease. Here all meet at night to chat and sing, for piano and other instrumental music, for tableaux and theatrical exhibitions, and also for kindly criticism of each other s character, disposi- tion, conduct, speech and acts, and for mutual amend- ment and improvement" Wealthy, only daughter of President Backus, of Hamilton College, and Qrstwife of Hon. GrERRlT Smith. lived, but seven months after their marriage. His sec- ond wife, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, was horn at llagars- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 447 town, Md., January 11, 1805, and married when only seventeen years old. Her father, Col. William Fitz- hugh, in company with Charles Carroll and Nathanael Rochester, made large purchases of land in Western New York, and removed there in 1812. She survived her husband but a few weeks, her poor health having been the occasion of their visit to New York, when he suddenly died there. Her final sickness, however, was of an inflammatory character induced by inclement weather, but previous invalidism and bereavement disabled her for effective resistance, lion. William Fitzhugh, Canal Commissioner, and Dr. Fitzhugh of Gencsco, were her brothers, and Mrs. Swift, of Geneva, and Mrs. Tallman and Mrs. Birney, wife of James G. Birney, of Kentucky, candidate of the "Liberty"* party for the Presidency of 1 840-44, Avere her sisters. She was the mother of seven children, but two of whom survive her. Mrs. Smith fully harmonized with her husband in character, disposition and culture, shared in his hospi- tality and enjoyment of society and large benevolence, and encouraged and quickened him in his labors of love. When elected to Congress in L852, Mr. Smith de- lined what he denominated the " peculiarities" of his political creed : 1. Neither the Federal nor State Con- stitution recognizes any law for slavery. 2. The right bo the soil is as natural, absolute and equal as the righl to the lighl and air. '>'>. Political rights are nol conven- tional, bul natural, Inhering in all persons, the black as well as the white, the female as well a- the male. I "Free trade" is the necessary outgrowth of the. trine of human brotherhood 5. National wars areas brutal, barbarous and annecessarv, as individual vio 448 PRESBTTER1ANISM IN THE lence and bloodshed. 6. The sole part of government is to protect persons and property. Railroads, canals schools, churches, lie out of its province and belong to private and voluntary spheres — but in its duty of pro- tection, the dram-shop manufacture of paupers and madmen should be suppressed. 7. Every civil officer, from the highest to the lowest, so far as practicable, should be elected by the people. The profuseness with, which Mr. Smith showered his gifts, it might have been presumed, must exhaust his resources, yet $2,000,000 were reserved for his two heirs. The great mass of Mr. Smith's best friends deeply regret that the preparation of his biography should have been committed to one whose pronounced notions, ab- solutely irreligious according to the judgment of the religious, can hardly fail to disfigure and discolor the noble and excellent man. A sketch is likely to be drawn that will sadden and shock evangelical chris- tians and give satisfaction only to the laxest of lawless liberals, and the subject of it, so philanthropic and use- ful, though also erratic and even reckless in life, will be inhuman in the results to which he is perverted after death. NOTICES OP DECEASED MINISTERS WHO HAVE LIVED AND LABORED IN CENTRAL NEW YOKE. It has been impracticable to obtain, thus far, any particular information of the great mass of the Fathers and Brethren who toiled in this field and have depart- ed to their rest Many of them were well and widely SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 449 known, and are remembered in a general way, hut no details can be procured of them. Time for further in- quiry would disclose much of most of them, which it would be a pleasure to relate. And what is said of those who are mentioned, the imperiousness of a small volume requires should be summary and brief. The Rev. Samuel Dunlop is the Abraham of our Canaan, — the Patriarch of Presbyterianism in this lect region, and whatever order of mention may be adopted, he must be spoken of first A native of Ire- land and a graduate of Trinity, Dublin, on being ad- mitted to the ministry, he embarked for a tour in this country, lie had traveled through the Southern and Middle Colonies, and in 1740 reached New York <>n his way to New England. There he met Mr. John Lindesay, who the year before had bought the patent for eight thousand acres of land, embracing a part of what is now the village and town of Cherry Valley, and brought to it his family, consisting of his wife and father-in-law, Mr. Congreve, a Lieutenant in the British army, and a few servants. This gentleman was a Scotchman of some fortune and position, having held several offices under the British government The Eace of the country resembled his native hind, and thus pleased him. and he anticipated much enjoyment in his frontier home lie offered Mr. Dunlop a trad of seve- ral hundred acres on condition that he would settle up- on it and endeavoi t<> induce others i<> accompany him. The proposal was accepted, and Mi-. Dunlop started forthwith for Londonderry, New Hampshire, hoping to persuade some of his countrymen who had emigrated 450 PRESBYTERIANISM W THE there, to colonize with him. He prevailed with David Ramsay, William Gallt, James Campbell, William Dickson,'* and one or two others, and they and their families, about thirty persons in all, bought farms and occupied them. The place had been called LindesayV Bush, but ignorant of this, or the name not having been definitely determined upon, Mr. Dunlop inquired of Mr. Lindesay from what he should date a letter he was writing. The name of some Scotch town was giv- en, but pointing to some wild cherry trees, Mr. Dunlop proposed "Cherry Valley, " and the suggestion was adopt- ed. The young clergyman had left Ireland to explore the new world for a home fitting a young woman to whom he had offered his hand. The acceptance of it was sub- jected to the condition that not more than seven years should elapse before marriage took place. The interval was nearly passed before Mr. Dunlop could properly arrange to turn affiance to wedlock, and when he set sail and nearly reached the home of his anticipated bride, a storm drove his vessel from the coast, and still longer delayed his coming. Despairing of him, the lady engaged herself to another, and Mr. Dunlop ar- rived only the day before the appointed wedding, but in time to defeat it, and lie returned to his western home, a happy bridegroom. The house, built of logs, \\;is a novel structure to the young bride, but affection was better than architecture, and the site en the decliv- ity of a hill, was surrounded by seenery more beautiful than a palace. The salary, ten shillings on every hun- dred acres in the settlement, paid for no luxuries; but, * Mr. Dickson was an ancestor of Kev. Dr. Dickson, one of the Secretaries of our Home Mission Board. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 451 supplemented from the produce of neighboring farms, and from the husband's industry, it sufficed for the nec- essaries of life and for many of its comforts. Mr. Dun- lop cultivated his land and reaped crops from it. He also taught a school, receiving scholars from the Mo- hawk settlements, and from Schenectady and Albany, and adopting a new style of peripatetic instruction and an improvement on Aristotle, — he often taught the pu- pils while they followed him about the fields, where he was prosecuting his farming. The character of the colonists made a meetingdiouse and school-house indispensable at once, and the two were combined in a log building on the slope of a hill where Mr. Lindesay's dwelling stood. This gentleman had little knowledge of business af- fairs and less of agriculture, and his education and hab- its unfitted him for pioneer life longer than its novelty lasted. After sinking considerable capital in the enter- prise, with the prospect of losing il all. he parted with his purchase, and receiving his father-in-law's lieuten- antcyin the company of "Independent Greena/'he was ordered to Oswego, then threatened, together with the vicinity, by the French and Indiana The wars with these enemies committed every citizen t<> public affairs, ;iiid made soldiers of all the men ami boys, Mr. Dun- lop took- a busy and influential part in civil proceed- serving on committees, drafting papers and assist- ing at conventions and meetings He wrote a letter. June ;;, 1 7 7 • '► . i" the Tryon Country Commitl in the name of the inhabitants of Cherry Valley, that a military company, reported t<» be ordered away, should i»e k was licensed by the Oneida Presbytery, and ordained in 1817 by the Buffalo Presbytery. Mr. Bacon manifested zeal in the divine service from the moment of his conversion, and was active in it during his preparation for college and while a si n< lent there. On entering the ministry, he aspired to a missionary field, and made Willink, in Erie county, N. Y.. the centre of his operations. He was after- wards invited to Waterloo, Seneca county, and organized the church there, and leavingatthe dose of two or three fears, he spenl some time at Seneca Palls and Cayuga, and was much engaged in revivals. In L825, he went to Cortlandville and formed the church in that village, and then very successfully labored a1 Saratoga Springs, — Chancellor Walworth and his wife being among the additions to thechurch while he supplied it. He after- ward preached and Labored in succession at Moreau, in Saratoga county, as city missionary in Albany, as Bethel missionarj in Troy, N. Y. and as city mission- ary in Philadelphia Severe illness from overwork now prostrated bim, and broke his health for the mainder of bia life. He could not, however, endure passivity, and exerted his impaired powers to the ut- 456 rRESBYTEIUANISM IN THE most at Hickman and other places on the Mississippi river, and for three winters in New Orleans, and for some time at Troy, Missouri, and as an agent of the American Sunday School Union. When disabled for the pulpit, which he had statedly filled in twelve dif- ferent places, he wrote for the Press, publishing numer- ous newspaper, magazine and review articles, tracts. pamphlets, and six volumes of books. Though long an invalid, death found him busy at work, his mind teeming with thoughts and his heart with feelings and his lips and hands in motion to express and diffuse them. He was naturally amiable and cheerful as well as stirring, and the necessities of his early circumstances made him self-helpful and self-reliant, and trained him to enterprise and energy and perseverance. His tempera- ment unfitted him for scholarship, but his sprightliness and natural rhetoric and oratory and great earnestness qualified him for popular preaching, and especially for occasions when the Spirit was poured out from on high. Miss Abby Price, the first wife of Mr. Bacon, died in 1849, leaving four of eight children born to them, — two in the ministry, one an Episcopalian at the South, and another a Presbyterian in Kentucky. Mrs. Elizabeth (Kilbourn) Parsons, of Auburn, was a second wife of Mr. Bacon, and survived him only a few years, — his own death from a gradual decay, hastened by a dropsical affection, occurring April 2, 1863. Rev. Tkc.max Baldwin, son of Amos and Marga- ret Baldwin, was born at East Granville, Mass., Sept. 27, 1780. lie fitted for college in his native town with Timothy M. Cooly, D. P., and graduated at New Ha- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 457 ven in 1802. In his senior year he was hopefully eon- verted, and forthwith determined to preach the gospel, and after commencement he took up theology for one year under the direction of Eev. Dr. Backus, at Somers, Ct., and for two years under the direction of Rev. Dr. Emmons. The Hampshire South Association licensed him in 1804, and, full of the missionary spirit, he went. to a vacant field in Vermont, and then, 1SU7, undertook a pastorate at Charlotte, in that State. I lis seven years settlement there was highly prosperous, the spirit of the Lord descending with power upon the people. Falling into the procession of emigrants to this State, he reached the u Military Tract," and accepted the invitation, in 1815, of the recently organized church at Pompey Bast Hollow, and for thirteen years went in and out there, two revivals of religion adding largely to the church membership. His brethren selected him for a new or- ganization at Cicero, nine miles north of Syracuse, and he took charge of it in 1829. During his residence in both of these places, he missionated in that neighbor- hood, and established several churches, and fitted four candidates for the ministry to enter college. Thehouse of worship at Pompey East Hollow was unfinished when he went to it, and he led the wa\ to its comple- tion, and his work in the town and al Cicero was I stantly progressive and confirmatory, Hie climate, at that period, proved unfavorable to him, and for a time suspended his activity, and he sought improvement and resumed labor at East Aurora Cor one year, and at Da« lien Centre for another \ ear, and then accepted a call to Somerset, Niagara county. Here he found a feeble but faithful church, and in less than a year a horn 468 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE worship was raised, and soon consecrated by the mani- fest presence of the Lord. The four years spent here wrere the happiest of his life, and probably the most useful. With little to greet him at his coming, a sanctu- ary, a Sunday school, a strong session, and a self-sus- taining society bade him farewell at his leaving. Una- ble to continue the pastoral work, he opened a classical school in connection with two of his daughters, at Middleport, Niagara county, and while giving the boon of education to the community, he promoted religion in it, so that a flourishing Presbyterian Church sprang up where error had been rank before. Exertion of every kind finally overtaxed him, and he spent twenty years, beginning with 1845, in enforced repose at Cicero, the scene of his former activities ; and here, July 27, 1835, he lay down in the grave by the side of his wife. who "fell on sleep" precisely three years before. Rev. D wight Baldwin, M. D., was born at Dur- ham, 1ST. Y., Sept, 29, 1798, and graduated from Yale in 1821, and from Auburn, 1829. Ordained at Utica, by the Presbytery of Oneida, Oct. 6, 1830, he em barked for the Sandwich Islands, and was stationed at Waimea, in Ilawai, from 1831 to 1836, and then trans- ferred to Lahaina. A medical education materially aided his missionary work and added to its results. lie corresponded to his associates who have made so enviable a record for themselves, and who, besides what they have done for the people for whom they im- mediately labored, have so effectively vindicated the cause of evangelizing the most hopeless of the heathen. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEYV YORK. 459 Born, January 18, 1790, in Mansfield, Ct., Kev. Eleazer Storrs Barrows was taken with his father's family, October, 1797, to Middlebuiy, Vt, where he was prepared for college, and October, 1811, graduated. He spent 1811-12 in Castleton, Vt, and 1812-15 in the Carolinas, and studied divinity at Princeton, 1815-16, acting a portion of 1815 as tutor in Middlebury Col- lege. He preached in Middletown, N. Y., 1816-17, and at the close of 1817 accepted a tutorship in Hamil- ton College, and for the three years succeeding Septem- ber, 1818, filled the Professorship of Latin in that insti- tution. June 29, 1819, he was received by the Presby- tery of Oneida as a licentiate of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and June 25, 1822, was dismissed to the care of the Presbytery of Onondaga, by which body he was ordained and installed over the Congregational Church at Pompey Hill. Here he remained until 1828, combining the charge of the academy a part of the time, with that of the church. He edited the Utica Christian Magazine from 1828 to 1833; also supplying the pulpit at Waterville for a portion of thai space On leaving the editorial chair, he resumed the stated work of the ministry, and was settled at Cazenovia until 1842. He then returned to Utica with broken health, preaching here and there according to his ability, and died July 28, L847, in the f>7th war of his age His wife, Catharine C, daughter «»f Dr, Thomas Fuller, of CooperstOWn, to whom he was married Max 7, 1822, Burvivea him in agrees old age, cheered and cherished by bur of seven children born t<> them, two of them sons and two daughters Mr. Barrows1 preach- ing bore the stanip of his nature and of his life in the 480 riiESBYTEElANISM IN THE schools. It addressed the understanding more imme- diately than the sensibilities, and aimed at effect by knowledge and reflection, and comparatively little by emotion. His views on subjects and methods were conservative, and he expressed them freely and main- tained them tenaciously. In days of reformatory movement and theological discussion and ecclesiastical
  • rtunity when it offered, and by diligence and prudence and excellence and sustained earnestness, with- out tin1 aid of genius and commanding intellect, he maintained himself in his parish and pulpit for the long term he held them. He had penned his eleven hundred and twenty-eighth discourse, fully written out. when death palsied his hand. Though he never ut- tered a woid of eloquence, la- spoke the simple truth with so much sincerity, and in sentences so redolent of t In- Spirit, that with his loving and confiding congn tion his preaching passed well as endued with it. He kept close watchof his flock, habitually eyeing them 462 PRESBYTEMANISM IN THE and walking among them. No wandering or suffering escaped his eye, and he flew for it the instant he saw it Regard for him and harmony among the people were the natural result, but the magnitude of this work and the amount it cost are indicated by the fact that division and turbulence had previously seemed the chronic condition of the people. And he did not deal in balm alone. He used the knife, and cut heroically. The wicked often cringed under him and he wounded to heal. Simple and artless, the most humble and timid felt at ease with him, while his principle and purity secured him respect and reverence from the reckless and pro ad. His life gave power to his teach- ing, illustrating and confirming and commending it. The eminence of his piety explains the perseverance and success of his ministry. A painful disease (dia- betes) kept him in torture for weeks and months, but did not wear out his patience or impair his resignation. The more he suffered, the more he enjoyed. Inspired truth, fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, closeness to the Saviour, glorifying God by enduring his will, were more precious and delight- ful than ever before. He spent much time in search- ing the Scriptures and in prayer, pleading for the uncon- verted in his congregation with great earnestness. The biography of the missionary Stoddard greatly interested him towards the last, and especially the record of his death-bed experience. "Bead that book," he said, "and you will understand how I feel." Ps. 91:4 : "He shall •over thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler," was the text of the last sermon be wrote: and when the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 463 seventeenth chapter of John's gospel was read to him. he noted the words, " that they may behold my glory,'" and exclaimed, " Oh, that glory ! how I long to see it!'" A large concourse of people gathered at his funeral and a large company of ministers, all of them mourn- ing friends. Rev. Juiix BARTON was born in Massachusetts, ana graduated from Hamilton College in 1819, and in- structed in theology at Andover, in the class of 1822. to which Rev. Mr. A bell belonged and others named in the notice of him. He was admitted to the ministry in 1S22, and traveled as a home missionary in Hanover and Goochland counties, Va., and in the State of New York in 1823. He acted as stated supply at Vernon Centre, 1823-1826, Orville, 1826, Geneva, 1827, Elmira, 1828, Camden, 1828-1826, Corning, 1832-1835, Camden a second time, 183&-1845, Clinton, 1846-1849, and then suspended his active ministry and resided at Clinton His health has been feeble and his spirits 3ed, and he is modest and shrinking — but an excel- lent preacher and a genuine man, he has made friends w herever he Lived, and ex revivals have foll< his labors, particularly in Vernon Centre and Camden. Rev. Bari i ii B. Beckwitb w;i> born at Lyme, I in lv<>"». and graduated from Williams College in l - and from A iburn Seminary in 1830, and spent a fourth year of theological Btudy at New Haven, Ct Il<- first exercised the ministry at Athol, M. . 1881 34, and then bine, Maine, ls-;7 12, and last at Gouver- neur, N. Y., 1846 80, and died in ls7". Bis mind 464 PRESUl'TERIASISM JN THE was constantly busy, and concentrated itself on the parishes he served and on the denomination to which lie belonged, and on the promotion of virtue and reli- gion. So intent was he on what might advance the church and benefit the community, the country and the world, that he took no note of himself, — of his ap- pearance, his manners and movements, his advantage or gratification. He was eminently useful at Gouver- neur, and very active for the good of the surrounding region, and prominent and influential in the proceed- ings of his Presbytery and Synod. No one could fail to esteem him highly for his work's sake, while he had spared no pains in preparing himself for it, and com- manded respect and deference by his native sense and vigorous and stirring mind. Life was service with him. and completing his appointed term for it on earth. 1 s7' I ho went up higher at the bidding of his Lord. Rev. Joel A. Benedict was the son of a clergyman in Connecticut, and practiced law for a time in that State. His conversion turned him to the ministry, whiclrhe first exercised at Franklin, Delaware county, a ix I afterwards at Chatham, Columbia county, and then at two different periods as a missionary in Che- nango county, under a commission from the Connecti- cut Missionary Society ; and in the last mentioned ser- vice, he organized the church at Norwich, N. Y. He was an indefatigable and useful worker, and a godly man. Rev. PUBLIUS VlRGlLlUB BOGUE was born at Farm- ington, Ct,, March 30, 1764, the son of the first settled SYNOD OF CENTRAL t/gW YOB A'. 4')") minister in that town. He graduated from Yale Col- lege, 1787, at a liigh standing in his class, and no semi- naries of sacred learning being in existence then, he studied theology with his brother, Rev. Aaron Jordan Bogue, at Granville, Mass. He married a daughter of Col. Timothy Robinson, who had distinguished himself as a gallant and Christian officer in the Revolutionary army. He began his ministry in Winchester, Ct, and exercised it there most prosperously and acceptably for several years, and then accepted a call to Hanover, (now Kirkland,) Oneida county, where he was equally successful for a number of years, and after that took charge of the church in Vernon Centre. Here his health gave wray, and as a means of restoring it, he changed climate, and recovering it after a short resi- dence in northern Vermont, he resumed pastoral ser- at Georgia, in that State, and prosecuted it there f«>r twelve or fourteen years. The attachment he form- al to Central New York drew him to Sauquoit, where the firs! settled pastor, and where he led his flock to green pastures and beside still waters. It- proved ;i fertile field under his tillage, and in 1817, par- ticularly, a large harvest was gathered The infirmities of age now began to disable Mr. Bogue, and he re moved to Clinton, and there his change came, An 22, 1836, in the 72d year of his age. Rev. Hora in s Pi ni.ii a Bogus was the boo I', v. Bogue, born at Winchester, Ct, Decembei 22, L796. He passed through Hamilton College, 1820 in the same class with Albert Barnes and Prof< Avery, and through Andover Seminary, 1828 II 466 PRESBYTERIAXISM IN THE settled successively at Butternuts, Otsego county, 1823-29, Norwich, Chenango county, 1829-33, (where a revival of remarkable powrer attended his ministry,) Vernon village, Oneida county, 1833-40, and Seneca Falls, Seneca county, and as stated supply in Preble, Chenango county, 1862-64, and East Hamburg, N. Y., 1S64-66. The failure of his health in the last charge disqualified him for the stated cure of souls, and for sev- eral years he filled agencies for the Colonization and Jews' Societies, making his headquarters at Syracuse. Ilis strength finally proved inadequate for regular labor of any kind, and he removed to Buffalo, occasionally exercising the ministry, as his condition allowed, and habitually encouraging and aiding every good work within his reach, and while thus engaged, death sud- denly arrested him, January 23, 1873, in the seventy- sixth year of his age. Mr. Bogue's person was striking and imposing, and his manners studied, but demonstrative and elegant. While deliberate in utterance, he was vivacious and free, and always earnest, and he made private conversation and social intercourse the opportunity and means of convey- ing important sentiments he held and advocating im- portant causes he embraced. His convictions were positive and frankly expressed, and favored conserva- tism, and opposed radicalism both in religion and reform. He led, in activity certainly, the opposition in this region to abolitionism and new measures, and not only dared to resist them, but delighted to assail them. The activity of his temperament and his engagedness in public affairs precluded confinement to the study. His sermons commanded attention, but more from his SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOHK. 467 natural force than from investigation and reflection. He preached from the impulse of the moment, and as a busy man, and not as a profound scholar and elabo- rate orator ; but divine testimony was often given to the words of grace he spake. After the notice of Rev. George >. Boakdman, D. D., on page 190, had passed through the printer's hands, his death was announced, occuring atCazenovia, February 7, 1877, in the eightieth year of his age, and preceded by only a six days sickness, so slightly alarm- ing, that at the time he was wearing his ordinary dress for the day. The career of one of the most useful laborers on this field thus closed, and that of one of its most excellent ministers. His whole life made the im- pression of godliness on all who were brought into intercourse with him, and though broken up in differ- ent settlements by prostrating bereavements, and finally enfeebled by natural decay, he preserved a youthful ap- ance and spirit to the last, and kept up his activity. Not a great man, a- measured by the ordinary standard of intellectuality, he was a great man, judged by the individuality and effectiveness of his methods of work. [ndependent in his opinions, tenacious of his n labor, and yet bold and enterprising enough to adopt the good in what . and as earnest in private in- terviews as in public performance, from his convei to Christ to his translation by him, he was a continuous sing to t;. he served and the com- munities to which he belonged. Conscientiously and devotedly a I' ian, .still more was he a Christian, and other denominations divided with his own the hifirh 468 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE respect and warm regard entertained for him, and when good men bore liim to his burial, the whole town paused in its business, closed its shops, and put its homes in mourning. Among Dr. Boardman's classmates at Princeton were Rev. Norris Bull, Drs. William Chester, John Goldsmith, Moses Hunter, William Nevins, Wil- liam B. Sprague, Absalom Peters, Prof. Charles Hodge and Bishop John Johns. Rev. William H. Bradford was a native of Coop- erstown, August 5, 1814, the youngest of ten children of Esek and Huldah (Skinner) Bradford, and of the sixth generation from William Bradford, second Gov- ernor of Plymouth Colony. He prepared for college at the Cortland Academy, Homer, and graduated from Hamilton in 1833, with Rev. Julius Foster, Rev. S. P. M. Hastings, Rev. Dr. David Malin and Prof. Oren Root among his classmates. He then studied law for two years, designing, perhaps, to make that his profession ; but he had publicly professed the Saviour in the church at Homer, while attending the academy there, and his vows to the Lord turned him to the ministry. Finish- ing the curriculum at xiuburn Theological Seminary, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Cayuga, and in 1838 was ordained by the Presbytery of Tioga, and installed in Berkshire, N. Y., the only parish in which he ever settled. In 1840, he entered the office of the New York Evangelist and spent seventeen years there as assistant and principal editor. The main work of his life was performed in this situation and performed with consummate grace and ability. The most unas- suming and gentle of men, he wielded a ready and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. \\\\) powerful pen, guided by faultless taste and supplied by large and varied knowledge, escaping the irritations which editors so almost universally produce, and yet free and frank and positive in what lie wrote. His fondness for the occupation and his zeal in it drew and impelled him to excessive exertion, and release from it became imperious, lie was connected for a time with the publishing h< >use i >f 1 vcrson, Phinney licensed by Cayuga Presbytery in 1833. lie first set- tled in a Keformed (Dutch) Chnrch at Fort Plain, and was ordained and installed there by the Classis of Montgomery, in 1835. Here he spent a year, and was then persuaded to go to the Presbyterian Church at Little Falls, where a bronchial affection soon unfitted him for the pulpit and he sought recovery in silence at Cherry Valley. Getting restless, he commenced trying his voice in a voluntary agency, andat his own charges, for the American Tract Society, and then spent a year in a newly formed church at Binghamton. From there he went to Oxford, where he spent seven years of much usefulness and enjoyment. Afterwards he supplied Vernon for a year : and after the death of Dr. Hopkins, its pastor, he supplied the First Church, Buffalo, for nine months, and then took charge of the South Church- on Washington street of that city, and at the end of three years, went to the Tabernacle Church on South street, and remained then- for four years. The two following years he spent as agent of the American and Foreign Christian Union, and after that, addres himself to the preparation of young men for College. In L866, he was invited to teach Greek in Miami Uni- versity, with the view to his filling the Greek Pn ship; and elected to this place, and also to the care ol the church in the town (Oxford), be was making ar rangements for a home there, and for the removal of Ins Tamils to it, when a chronic disease of the bowels was stimulated int<> violence, and lie died March 23, L867. Professor Stoddard <>f the University wrote: " 1I<- began t<» tail about two \. \i.. ami I was called on at four a. \i. Ilr was conscious, and could answer 476 riiESB YTE1UANISM IN THE questions correctly. I asked if lie wished to make any communications in reference to his family. Ho once or twice said, 'I will, soon.' I asked, "Are your sons Christians?' He shook his head. ' Do you re- quest them to meet von in heaven?' 'Oh, yes!' This question was repeated in different forms and in reference to all his family, and his replies were always distinct and earnest, either by word or sign. -Do yon send your blessing to your family ?' ' Yes!" he said. with a most affectionate look. 'Do yon feel willing' to commit them to God's care, and are yon assured that he will take care of them?" 'Yes!' Almost his last intelligent expression, when asked if he left any word for his wife, was. 'Farewell!' It was uttered with an earnest and almost anxious look, but full of tenderness. 1 asked, ' Are you ready to go?' ' f trust I am,' was the reply. 'Is Christ precious?' "Oh, yes!' 'Can you commit your soul to him?" 'Yes!' About twenty minutes before dying, he became insen- sible to external things, his breathing was quiet, and his face assumed a very calm and peaceful expression, and he breathed out his life as gently as an infant sink- ing to rest." Rev. Iv. H. Bishop, also professor in the University, wrote: "I met him often in public and private, and my esteem and reverence grew as 1 be- came more intimately acquainted with him. There was but one opinion in Oxford. . All esteemed and loved him. he was so genial, so social, so kind, so polite so thoughtful of the happiness <^ others,so entertaining and instructive in his conversation, and so good." Re\ . Dr, A. T. Chester, of Buffalo, wrote: - Dr. Burtis was a gentleman of the old school, exhibiting a gentleness SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. -± , i and grace sometimes in sharp contrast with the rougher dements of our western life. In scholarship and learn- ing he ever showed the effects of the early solid foun- dation that had been laid, built upon, as it had been, in hi- college life, in the careful study of two professions, and in the constant culture of his whole career. In his religious character he was consistent, decided and earnest ; as a preacher, seeking the solid and true rather than the showy and fanciful, and making it ever mani- fest that he was striving rather to honor his Master than himself." Grace E. Phillips, daughter of Judge Morse, of Cherry Valley, was the wife of Dr. Burtis. and sur- vived him with three daughters and three sons. Rev. Samuel W. Bush was a native of Virginia, but brought up in Albany, in a religions circle, and in the First Church, largely under the ministry of the Bainted Dr. Henry H. Weed, and with the fine advantages <>f the academy of which Dr. T. Romeyn Beck was the princi- pal and Rev. Dr. Peter Bullions the classical prof< e On reaching his majority, he read law at Lenox, M and edited :t newspaper, bur some time after his admifl sion to the Bar In- returned to the Ministry and he pur- sued theological Btudy at Auburn Seminary, passing through the full course, L836 9. Ee exercised his min- istry at Ska: Norwich, Cooperstown and Bing- hamton, and filled the chaplaincy of the Binghamton Inebriate Asylum for ten years ami until his death, in tin- 7<>th year of his age, March 21, 1877, M< and retiring, he <1M not "mind high things," and yel bis appearance and manners ;i- a gentleman, I understanding and intelligence, In- manifest sincerity 478 PBESB YTER[ANISM LY THE and his unflinching and unfailing devotion to his call- ing, introduced him into cultured congregations and made him acceptable and useful to them. Particularly was he adapted to the last post he held. His sympathy and gentleness and patience and Christian benevolence, his assiduity and judgment, made him the best of counsellors and succorers for the victims of vice whom he sought to reclaim, and among them, perhaps, he per- formed the most valuable labor of his life. In 1840, he married Betsey Weed, sister of Waring S. Weed, Binghamton. Chares F. Butler, son of John I), and Anna (Easton) Butler, was born in New Hartford, Ct, Janu- ary 21, 1790, and early made a profession of religion. He graduated with honor in 1816, with the last class under President D wight, at Yale College. He com- menced theological study with Rev. Ebenezer Grant, having charge of an Academy in Bedford, N. Y., at the same time. Licensed by the Association of the East- ern District of Fairfield county, Ct, he delivered his first sermon at Bedford, where nearly fifty years after- wards his funeral sermon was delivered. He supplied a congregation in Connecticut for a short time, and was then settled at South Salem, Westchester county, N. Y., for seven years, when failing health compelled him to resign and rest. His labors were very prosperous here, as well as assiduous, seventy new communicants sitting down at the Lord's table on a single Sabbath. Recruited somewhat, he undertook the care of the church in Greenwich, Ot, and kept it for ten years, when a repeated failure of health demanded another change, and he removed to the interior of tins State SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 479 and accepted a call to Stockbridge, Madison county, and returning it after two years, he went to Yerona Church, his last pastorate, and remained ten years. Though physically disqualified for any stated charge, he continued to preach from Sunday to Sunday, mak- ing it his home with his children at Bedford, X. V.. until his death, August 14, 1866, of asthma, with many infirmities. His wife, — Amanda Bundle, — was taken from him in 1841, and buried in the cemetery at Verona, and at his own desire he was laid at her side. Of eight children, seven attained to adult age. Mr. Butler was in high repute for his piety, his learn- ing and his pulpit gifts. Particularly was he read In the Scriptures. He made them his daily and special stud}-, and stored his mind with their truths and his memory with their words. Shortly before his death, he repeated the 119th Psalm. He lived, too, incon- stant communion with God, retiring for the undivided and undistracted enjoyment of it morning, noon and night. ftev. Phinehas Camp graduated a1 Union College in 1811 and Bpenl two years at Princeton Theological Senv inary in the second class thai was taught in that institu- tion, and, among the eighteen members, of which were John Barnard, thirty-seven years pastor at Lima, N.Y., Dr. John T. Edgar, of Nashville, Tenn., Dr. Eliphalet W. Gilbert, of Wilmington, DeL,.and Dr. Elisha Pope Swift, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions and Professor in Allegheny Theological Semi- nary. Mr. Camp Bpenl four years at Lowville, Lewi- county, and labored in various places in the northern part of the State and in Oneida county, and died in 480 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE Illinois in 1868. Natural and without pretension, he generally served our less favored congregations and de- voted to them his best energies and resources. His tastes somewhat affected the muses, and he took pleas- ure in poetic compositions. But this was only his by-play. Preaching and the pastoral work were the business of his life, and this he pursued with conscien- tious fidelity and supreme delight. The genuineness of his piety admitted of no doubt, and the indisputableness and tokens of it appeared wherever he was and in what- ever ensraged. *e""o% Kev. Alfred E. Campbell, D. D., born in 1802T was the oldest son of James S. Campbell, Esq., of Cherry Valley, and a descendant in the fourth genera- tion of Mr. James Campbell, one of the party of Scotch - Irish from Londonderry, N. H., who, in 1741, accom- panied Kev. Samuel Dunlap in the colonization of Cherry Valley. He graduated from Union College in 1820, with Governor Seward, Kev. Dr. Laurens Hick ok and Dr. Taylor Lewis among his classmates. Immedi- ately after, he took charge of the academy in his native town and studied law while he taught school. He soon turned from the bar to the ministry, and in 1822 began to prepare to preach at the Princeton Theological Seminary. His first settlement was at Worcester,. ( )tsego county, in the twenty-second year of his ager and his subsequent settlements were in Newark and Palmyra, both in Wayne county, and in Ithaca, where he followed Kev. Dr. William AVisner. The church at Cooperstown had been parted asunder, and neither di- vision could well bear the burthen of its own support. A reunion was proposed, provided Dr. Campbell would SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 4^] take the pastoral charge, and it was not in his heart to decline. He remained for twelve years, in favor with God and man, when a sense of duty left him no altern- ative, and he went to the Spring Street Church, New York. Twelve years after, the church of Cherry Valley, the home of his forefathers, and the place of his birth, earnestly besought him to come to its care and spend the remainder of his life in its service. The temptation to go was very strong, but he was acting at the time as temporary Secretary of the American and Foreign Christian Union, and having thus become acquainted with its operations, he felt constrained to accept an in- vitation permanently to conduct them. Jle was thus occupied for twenty years and the remainder of his active life. Enfeebled by toil and years, he yielded to the entreaties of his brother, Samuel B. Campbell, Esq., and made a home near him atCastleton, on the Hudson. lie did not, however, long enjoy the repose and the lovely scenery and the pleasant society about him. His life closed soon after his work, December 28, 1874, and three years beyond his three score years and ten. \)\\ Campbell was a man of action, impelled to it b\ forces within himself and led to the best movements and measures by intention and instinct. A respectable scholar while at school, and by no means neglectful af- terwards of boohs and thought, his gift was for affairs rather than for reading and reflection. His pulpit prep- arations were generally popular, but more from the free Outflow of his heart than from the laborious exercise of his mind. A line person helped him in his delivery, and a fine manner contributed to the effect A gentle- man in himself and broughl up as ;i jjent leiiian. he 482 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE graced and gratified the social circle, and his genuine kindness and sympathy and love of souls endeared him to a parish and made him a blessing to it. He recog- nized the claims upon him of his denomination and of the church at large, and of the public in general, and actively participated in ecclesiastical proceedings and in movements for moral reform and the common welfare. His benevolence was expansive, and suiting his actions to his prayers, he sought the doing of God's will on earth as in heaven. Sherman Bond Oanfield, D.D., was born in the village of Hampden, Geauga county, Ohio, his parents, who removed from Massachusetts, being among the first settlers of the "Western Reserve." He fitted for college at Burton Academy and graduated from Yale in the class of 1883. At the age of twenty-seven, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Cleveland and in- stalled at Bainbridge, Ohio, where he remained two years, and then spent i\\v years as pastor at West Cleveland, (then Ohio city.) In 1841, he took charge of a colony of fifty-eight from the First Church, Cleve- land, just organized as the Second Church. The period of his pastorate of nine years there, was one of excite- ment, discussion and distraction, and Dr. Can field stood as a bulwark against heresy and disorder, while he was the counsellor of moderation and a peace-maker. Ober- lin was then rising to power and sending out its early novelties. Particularly was Prof. Mahan busy with his perfectionism, and the young proselytes to it were Indefatigable in proselyting others. The Presbytery of Cleveland could not, in justice to its churches, keep SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. L83 silent ou the subject, and its refutation of the doctrine and its warning against it, penned by Dr. Canfield, was the ablest paper published on the subject and the most effective. The times were unfavorable to spiritual influences, and yet three hundred and forty-nine were added to the sixty-five with whom Dr. Canfield com- menced his ministry at Cleveland, only forty-nine of them, however, on a profession of faith, and only two hundred and seventy-two remaining after deducting deaths and removals. Three other churches were fori tied in the city while he labored there, and somewhat checked the growth of his own, the Westminster, the Euclid Street and the "Free Presbyterian.*' (now the Plymouth Congregational) — the latter taking its name from its as- sumed superior abstinence from all complicity in slavery In the spring of 1854, lie went to the charge of the First Church, Syracuse, and continued in it for nearh seventeen years, and until vanquished by disease, with which he had heroically struggled for many years. He followed Dr. Adams, whose standing with the people scarcely permitted a successor, and Rev. Charles K. b&& Barg, whose youth and persona] attractiveness and pul- pit gifts were rapidly gathering about him, daring his brief pastorship, an esteem which, while it drew noth- ing from Dr. Adams, insinuated itself into an associa- tion with what was borne him. 1m-. Canfield had scarcely a single quality in common with those who preceded him, save devotednese to his people and his profession. Intensity of application gave a sel expres- sion i" In- countenance and allowed bim little practice in the ornamentation and captivating manners and methods of life: and while eminently kind and genial, 484 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE there was a stiffness, and even something of an un- gainliness about him, which, while it was not repellant, was not winning. His solid worth counterbalanced his disadvantages. Of a strong and clear mind, he set no limits to studio usness this side of exhaustion, and per- sistently kept it up while his strength lasted. His in- vestigations extended to every department of theology and its connected literature and science. He was well informed in polite letters, in the classics, in natural science, in mental and moral philosophy, in the original languages of the Scriptures, in Biblical literature and interpretation, and in doctrinal and polemic divinity. Especially was he learned in history, both ecclesiastical and secular. One of his publications, a lecture on Oli- ver Cromwell, is an admirable delineation of the Pro- tector and of his age, and exhibits the writer's faculty and acquirements. Thorough in whatever he did, his hearers confided in his exhaustiveness and precision, and never feared to receive what he communicated. Of comparatively little imagination and spontaneous- oess, or bodily presence or gracefulness, the power of his preaching was in its matter, and this was so elaborate and important that it could not fail to fix the attention. The study and the pulpit did not imprison Dr. Canfield. He was too conscientious to be immured there, and too cognizant of the means of a minister's success. Dili- genl and systematic in his studies and pulpit, he was quite as diligent and systematic in his parish, making his visits with clock-like uniformity and regularity. And he attended t<> the business of the society, coope- rating and counselling with the trustees, and inspiring and inciting them. When he reached Syracuse, the SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. | - ; church edifice was built, but under his impulse and lead the fine organ up, the chapel was com- pleted and furnished, the grounds were laid out and enclosed and the walks laid, the ex; - . ching at 110,000. The diffidence and invalidism of Dr. Adams had precluded the training of The people in imatic and liberal benevolence, and I)r. Canfield addressed himself to the making up of this lack of service, and the contributions on the roll of the Gen- eral Assembly became more just and complimentary to the church, lb' was alwa - i 3ent at the meetings i tli.- ecclesiastical bodies to which he belonged, and ab - noticeable in them. Zealous for the " Reunion,'1 the paper of the Onondaga P - rtery, written by him, e of the best of the large number published <>n it. He appeared prominently Beveral times in the sessions of the General Assembly, and quite frequently in the Board of Commissioners of Auburn Seminary. Puri- tan blood coursed bis veins, and he could not hut warm upon all questions of public principle. The assault on the Union in the interest of Blavery fairly fired him, and, few pulpits in the land poured out hotter denun- ciations and appeals. For years Dr. Canfield kept up a hand to hand fight with death. It is wonderful with what courage and obstinacy be held his own, and t<» what defences and weapon- he resorted Hi- borne, ai ially hi< Btudy, was a field of battle, where every description of armor appeared, and where every Bpecies of conflict went on. In the much that was noticeable that 1 >aw in him, and in the much that triking that 1 •• ceived, my liveliest recollection is of what I witn< 486 PliESBYTEMAMSM IN THE and listened to here. Submissive to the divine will, ready to give up when the Lord signified this as his wish, with a sense of obligation to preserve his life as long as it was meeted out to him, Dr. Canfield fought as in desperation, and his descriptions of the conflicts and of his accoutrements and plans, are among the most fresh and affecting of my recollections of him. After demitting the care of the church in Syracuse, Dr. Canfield lived in great debility, but with unim- paired resolution. He made excursions in the hope of improvement, and whenever possible, he supplied pul- pits. In the early spring of 1871, he traveled as far as St. Louis, and on the morning of Sunday, March 5th, he preached for the Eev. Mr. Nott, and a few hours afterwards suddenly passed where death has no more dominion over him, and can never so much as approach him. The people of his parish at Syracuse met to condole with each other, and to testify to their regard for him, and adopted the resolution : ,k That by Dr. Canfield's untiring labors as our pastor for nearly seventeen years, by his sympathy with us, his vigilant watchfulness over us, the depth and clearness of his instructions, his talents, his learning, his devotedness to the Master and love of souls, and his exemplary walk and conversation, he has produced in our hearts the strongest and warmest feelings of respect, kindness and love, and that our sweetest memories will ever clu£ Rev. Frederick Edwards Cannon, D. D., was a native of Massachusetts, and of the class of 1822 in Union College, and of the class of 1824 in Andove SYNOD OF CENTRAL SEW YORK. 4^7 Seminary. Ordained October 12, 1825, he was settled at Ludlow, Vt., from 1826 to 1831, and at Potsdam from 1881 to 1836. Much beloved and prospered in the pastoral charge, his impaired health compelled him to leave it, and entering the District Secretaryship of the American Board in 1836, he remained in it, per- forming its duties with diligence and ability, until 1868, when a stroke of paralysis shattered his limbs and staid his activity. He had lived in a pleasant home at Ge- neva during the period of his Secretaryship, and there- he remained in enforced rest, submissive* to the com- parative confinement and helplessness, and making the most of his opportunities for usefulness and spirituality, until death opened his passage to heaven and dismissed him there. Dr. Cannon won the regard of his parish- ioners by his excellence and faithfulness and greatly blessed them. Traversing the western part of the - be in the interest of Foreign Missions, he was uni- »ily known to the churches and ministers and ac- ceptable to them, and the large sum he gathered for in- great cause, very imperfectly denotes the amount in- accomplished for it. The Rev. James Carnahan, D. U. LL. D., was born near Carlisle, Pa., Nov. L5, 1775, the son of M. Carnahan, of the Revolutionary army. Bis ancestors came t<> this country from the north of Ireland and settled in Cumberland county, Pa., about 1T"J<». In 1780 his father removed to Westmoreland county and the neighborhood <»f Pittsburg, and was drowned in L788, while attempting to cross the Alleghanj river For five years after, the son labored on the farm in 488 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE summer and attended school in winter. In 1793, he began the study of Latin at Canonsburg, and in 1707 took the charge of the Classical Department in the Academy there jointly with Joseph Stockton, and the following year studied mathematics under Prof. Miller, subsequently of Jefferson College. In 1798 he entered the junior class at the College of New Jersey, Prince- ton, and took his first degree in the arts in September. 1800. In 1795, he made a public profession of his faith in Christ at Chartiers, under the ministry of Dr. John McMillan, and after graduating at Princeton, com- menced the study of theology at his home and under his pastor. In the fall of 1801, he accepted a tutorship in his Alma Mater and kept it until 1803, pursuing at the same time his preparation for the ministry. In De- cember of that year he married Mary, daughter of Matthew and Lydia Vandyke, of Mapleton, near Kings- ton, N. J., and the following spring was licensed To preach \>y the Presb}rtery of New Brunswick, at the same time with Rev. Dr. John McDowell. By the ap- pointment of Presbytery for five or six weeks, he sup- plied vacant congregations at Hacketstown, Oxford and Knowlton, N. J., and Lower and L^pper Mount Bethel. Pa. He preached for two or three Sundays in the fol- lowing June, for the Reformed (Dutch) in Albany, and without knowing that any congregations m that part of the country were unsupplied, he extended his trip to Central New York, and not spending more than a week there, he filled the unoccupied pulpit of the church of Whitesboro and Utiea. A call to both the Dutch Church in Albany and the LTnited Church of Whites- town and Utica soon readied him, the former offering SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 489 a salary of $1,500, and the latter a salary of $900. lie accepted the one to Whitesboro and Utica, and in Jan- nary 5, 1805, was settled over that church. In the fall of 1811, he was seized with an acute disease of the throat and kept his room for more than three months, and early in the spring he resigned * and spent nearly a year at his father-in-law's home, unable to preach. Though still deprived of his voice, he took charge of the Academy in Princeton and taught the classics there, and in February, 1814, he established a High School in Georgetown, 1). C, and kept it up for nine years. For live years he did not once open his lips in the pulpit, but recovering his voice in part, he held neighborhood meetings and a weekly prayer meeting in his school- room. In May, 1823, he was chosen President of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, and after much doubting, was inaugurated the following August. Retiring and diffident, his ability and scholarship and assiduity justified his election, and the success of his administration was ample enough to satisfy even himself that it was no mistake to undertake it. His term of office exceeded that of any of his predecessors, and the college prospered more than during any previous pe- riod. The east and west colleges, a new refectory, ;i new chapel and the elegant halls of llie literary societies were built and dwellings erected or purchased for *Rev. Henry Dwight, his immediate successor in Utica, says of Dr. Carnahan's ministry in Utica and Whitesboro: " The members added to the church during his seven years' labor for it were not numerous, still the seed of divine truth was scattered with a libe- ral hand. The minds of this congregation were enlightened, their morals were improved, and a preparation whs gradually made for a great enlargement of the church." 490 PRESBYTERIANISU IN THE three professors, 1680, were graduated between 1748 and 1S23 and 1713, in the thirty years of Dr. Carna- han's presidency. At his resignation, in 1854, he re- tained quite vigorous health apparently, and the full possession of his faculties. Not long after, exposure at the funeral of a clerical friend brought on illness, quite slight apparently, at first, but gradually increasing. In the autumn of l£58, he removed, with the hope of benefit from the change, to the home in Newark, N. J., of his son-in-law, William R McDonald, Esq. He was disappointed, however, in the effect, and continued to fail until March, 1859, when his exhausted nature gave out, and he was laid in the grave yard at Prince- ton in the midst of his distinguished predecessors, Aaron Burr, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies, John Witherspoon, Samuel Stanhope Smith and Ashbel Green. Dr. Carnahan's sole pastoral charge was that of Whitesboro and Utica, and he was the second minister installed there. The excellence of his character, the faultlessness of his conduct, the dignity of his person the soundness of his judgment, his conscientiousness his strength of intellect, his attainments, his industry his faithfulness, the finish and richness of his sermons gave him a high standing and a firm footing in the congregation and in the community, and regard for him lasted while a parishioner or fellow townsman sur vi\ ed. Several of the number, aged people then, and now long departed this life, often spoke to me of him more than ;i quarter of a century since, and their feel- ings towards him were as fresh as when he served them. < hire it was my privilege and pleasure to welcome him S TNOD OF LEX TEA L NE W YORK. -\\)\ to the place where lie began and completed his active ministry, and to renew an acquaintance I had formed with him during my theological course at Princeton. He never lost interest in his parish, and some of his last thoughts respected it. Among his legacies was the large and finely executed portrait of himself be- queathed to the First Church, I'tiea. and now hanging on the walls of its parlor. He could not be called a popular preacher, and comparatively few were per- suaded by him to embrace the Saviour, — but his hearers listened to clear proclamations of truth and felt the general influence these could not fail to exert Xo brilliance Lighted Dr. Carnahan up. and he shrunk from and repelled everything that would have given notoriety to him. He sought seclusion and lied con spicuousnos. So unassuming was he, that, as has I said of him: "He ran the apostolic injunction not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, beyond the letter of the text, and probably beyond its spirit '• But he had Btrong faculties, which he highly cultured, and line scholarship < i . ». ►« i sense distin- guished him, and a knowledge of the common affaire of life and great skill in disposing of the little matters which make up the larger part of life, lie was inde- pendent in his opinions and tenacious of them, while always ..pen to information that might modify them. and he was as liberal in according others their rights in this regard as be was exacting of In.- own. And though unpretentious and unobtrusive, he was resolute and courageous, aever evading a responsibility, nor cowing before danger and intimidation Bewashon- est in In- sentiments and teachings, as well as in his 4^2 PRESBYTKR1ANISM IN THE dealings, artless and simple, exempt from jealousy and suspicion, and of an evenness of temper that no provo- cation and no suffering and no situation could disturb. He was, above all, a genuine Christian, — not demon- strative, but rather reticent, and yet naturally and un- consciously exhibiting the spirituality of his disposi- tion. His religion irresistibly came out at his death. The composure so noticeable in his life was undisturbed then. He expressed no wish to live, — no fear to die. When asked if all was peace, he replied with some em- phasis : " Yes, yes, yes !" And when prayer was pro- posed and he was asked if there was any petition he particularly desired to have offered, he replied, " Xot to live, or do not pray that I may live ;" and his last words were, " Oh ! the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!"' "On the 15th of August, 1854, a few- weeks after my connection with the college ceased,'7 he- wrote in a private manuscript. July 21, 1856, " Mary, who had been the partner of my joys and sorrows more than half a century, departed this life. Shortly after this sad event, I removed to my farm, and here I am, in my 81st year, waiting for the day, which cannot be far distant, when the Lord shall call me hence, to give an account of my stewardship. Inspecting the manner in which I have performed the various duties of my life, I sa\ nothing. Men will think and say what they please respecting this matter. In the sight of God, I know and feel that: I have been an unprofitable servant And my only hope of acceptance at that holy tribunal where 1 must shortly stand, is the sovereign mercy of God, through the merits and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 493 Rev. Oren Catlin was Lorn in this State, and grad- uated from Hamilton College in ISIS, and from Ando- ver Seminary in 1822. Ordained as a missionary to Illinois, September 26, 1822, he fulfilled his commis- sion until 1829, when he was invited to Warren, Mass., and remained there until 1832. Jle then went as stated supply to Cincinnatus, and left in 1834 for Oastleton. In 183S he took the pastorship at Horseheads, and in 18-12 at Newfield, and in 1844 at Collins, and August 11, 1850, he died at Evans, aged 55. A good man, of solid abilities and attainments and of commendable in- dustry, neither his appearance in private nor his pulpit exercises secured him general popularity, and it was his lot to "travel the circuit" The good he did was distributed through numerous congregations, and per- haps aggregated as much as that of his brethren in sin- gle congregations. As worthy of usefulness as most who manifestly achieve it and in concentrated forms, it cannot be supposed that he fell far short of them in it. Humble in mein, and occupying humble situations, and rapidly passing from one to another, it may be that a large company of the redeemed will be presented in beaven as his wages for scattered labors on earth. Rev. Joel Chapin, R . Dr. Williston, " was m\ classmate in Dartmouth College. Be graduated in 1791, at the ageof 30 years. Be had served in the army in the war of the Revolution. Be had entered the sen ice of ( '1 risl before Q< .111 health retarded his entrance into the ministerial work. It also short- ened the time of bis active labors In preaching the gospel. Bui I believe be did good as long as be lived. 494 PltESB TTER1ANISM IN THE I think lie died in 1845." He was ordained at Jericho (now North Bainbridge), — this being the first ecclesias- tical-act of the kind performed in the territory of the Synod, — and proved worthy of the office to which he was set apart. A man of equable temper, he was par- ticularly well adapted to the part which a minister is called to take in easing the friction and subduing the effervesence of the formative periods of societj*. He was disqualified for service for many years by deafness and other infirmities, but lived to an advanced age. One who knew him well describes him as " eminently useful in transacting ecclesiastical business and in re- conciling difference among brethren." Augustus Lyman Chapin was born in Massachu- setts, graduated from Yale College, 1817. and spent two years at Princeton Seminary, in the class with, among others, lh-<. Robert Baird, Charles C. Beatty, John Breckenridge, William Patten, George Potts, and Artemas Bishop, missionary to the Sandwich Islands. Ordained as an evangelist, September 30, 1829, he be- gan his ministry as stated supply at Oxford, and served in the same capacity successively at Sangerfield, Walton, Lexington Heights, Galway, Constableville andLeyden, Clarkson, Norwich Corners, Madison, Hadlev Kails, Mass., and Andover, Ct,, and then resided at Galesburg, Illinois. Kev. David Chassels, D. D., was born in Glasgow, Scotland, April 30, L787, and died at Holland Patent. January L0, L870,— living nearly 83 years. When eighl years old he was brought, with his father's family. OD OF 'EST UAL XEW YORK. 495 to this country, and settled at Barnet, Vt. He gradu- ated from Dartmouth College in 1810, and entered im- mediately on the charge of the Caledonia County Aca- demy, Peacham, Vt In 1815, lie went to Cambridge, Washington county, in this State, as principal of the academy there, and was thus placed in a community sly composed of his fellow countrymen, and in the tv of Revs. Drs. Alexander and Peter Bullions. While in college, he had chosen the law as his p: sion, hut now he resolved on the ministry, and began theological study, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Troy in 1810. and ordained l^'_y<>. Teaching, how- ever, was indicated as his vocation, and in 1821 he re- moved to Fairfield, Herkimer county, to pursue it in the academy at that place. In 1S4<>. lie made it his home in Newport, Herkimer county, but soon after I as principal of the academy in Herkimer for two 3, and then returned for two years more to the Fairfield Academy. During all this period of teaching after his licensure and ordination, he was in the habit of preaching, often as a stated supply, bur generally here and there as opportunity offered For five egularly filled the pulpits at Fairfield and Salisbury. and at that time a revival of unusual power and bless- edness was experienced at Fairfield His last sermon delivered at the funeral of the Hon. Abijah Maun. Decided apoplectic symptoms interdicted his further teaching and preaching, and he spent tin- remainde his days on alarm he purchased at Holland Patent. His pupil-, a large company, are scattered o\ er the land and i nan v<.i' themoocupy plaa • prominence and usefulness in the State and in the Church. He bad tbecrifl 49(5 PItKiSIiYTERIAmSM IN THE of instruction in a preeminent degree. His scholarship was thorough and profound. Accuracy was its special trait, and to this he trained those under his tuition. He was busy and vigorous and untiring too, faithfully performing his professional work. He was so truly a man, and so much of a man, his talents and acquire- ments were so superior, his teaching so earnest and skillful, and his character so upright and Christian, his whole self and his whole life were so worthy of respect, that no scholar failed in deference and attachment to him, and he is now looked back upon with the deepest reverence and the warmest affection. His preaching was like his teaching and like himself, instructive, thoughtful, intellectual, thorough and sincere, and soundly Calvinistic. Congregations looked up to him as a master in Israel, and though never entertained or greatly moved by him, they were impressed and profited. His brethren in the ministry paid him much respect. His school confined him, but always, when free, he at- tended their meetings, and took interest in the proceed- ings, and by his intelligence and excellent judgment and admirable spirit, always had a hearing when he spoke, and exerted a decided influence. He proved as good a farmer as lie had been a teacher and preacher. His fields showed his scientific, skillful and industrious culture, and furnished a model for imitation. His ex- ample was followed and his ideas were carried out by his neighbors, not a little to the improvement and fa- vorable appearance <>f their land and buildings, and to the increase of their crops and stock. He showed prin- ciple in fanning, as everywhere else. He lived in a dairy district, where cheese factories presented an al- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 407 mosl universally irresistible temptation to violate the Sabbath. Not a whit did they stir him, but by his own experiment he demonstrated how Sunday's milk could be kept at home without damage or loss, Of large size and deliberate movement, his head was mas- sive and his face rugged in repose, but lighted up by peculiarly pleasant smiles. His manners were digni- fied and gentlemanly, and he invariably showed the politeness to others which he commanded towards him- self. Rev. Caleb Clark was horn in New Salem. Mass., L790, and graduated from Middlebury College in 1814, and studied theology with Dr. Theophilus Packard. Ih' came to Truxtonearly in 1820, and. in March of that year, was called to the first pastorate of the church, and before its house of worship was built, but was not installed until two years after. Dismissed April 15, 1S30, he returned in two years, and acted as stated sup- plyforsix years. At the close of thai period be ceased the stated exercise of tin- ministry, but continuing to live in Truxton, la- filled the pulpit when not otherwise supplied, and died, having never married, of canc< the stomach, October 24, lN<'»-';. He was a man of de- cided ability, well versed in science and literature, and in theologj and Biblical interpretation, forming his opinions with studv and thought, and tenaciously hold- ing them and fearlessly proclaiming them, and perhaps arbitrary in enforcing them. 1I<- exerted influence in ecclesiastical bodies, though much hindered in at- tending them, and for the first five years of the exist- ence of the Cortland Presbytery, 1826 L880, he offi- 498 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE ciated as stated clerk. He spent his lateryears in com- parative seclusion, with no one at home with him, pre- paring his own meals and performing all the workwith- in-doors, — but always in the sanctuary, when opened, if his health allowed it. The habit of saving grew with him into miserliness, and he accumulated, from a small salary and income, $20,000, of which $18,000 were be- queated to the American Home Missionary Society, the American Bible Societ}^ the American Tract Society, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Rev. Daniel A. Clark. D. D., was a native of New Jersey, and an alumnus of the College of Xew Jersey, at Princeton, in the class of 1S08, and a student at Andover Seminary during 1810 and 1811. Jan. 1, 1812, he was set apart to the ministry, and placed over the church at Weymouth Landing, Mass., where he remained two years. In 1816, he went to Southbury. Ct., and left in 1819. From 1820 to 1824, he was pas- tor of the first Church, Amherst, Mass.. and from lb26 to 1830 of the church at Bennington, Vt lie was a temporary supply at Utica, 1881-1882. and at Adams. 1832-1833, and lived without charge at New Haven, Ct, from 1833 to 183$; and removing to New York in 1838. he died there, March .'!. i840, in the 61st year of his age. He was noted as a good man and an able sermonizer, and the posthumous volumes of his dis- courses have been widely circulated and very highly appreciated. Rev. Daniel Clark graduated from Dartmouth Col- lege in 1840. and from Auburn Seminary in 1842. He 8YN0D OF CESTRAL SEW YORK. 4'.,(.> preached as pastor, or stated supply, at Galena. 111., Plainfield, 111., Lyons. Iowa, and Galesburg, 111., and also fulfilled an exceedingly busy and prosperous benevo- lent agency. His great energy and zeal and his popu- lar address made him effective in sermons, and still more in addresses, and his unsparing and untiring ex- ertions, and his alertness and tact and ready improve- ment of incidents and circumstances, made him - d in his enterprises and operations. Tall and well proportioned, he bore himself with dignity, and was imposing in his appearance, and at the same time his earnest countenance, yet mobile features, and his firm tread and quick movement-, showed how supple and vigorous he was. Life - fast with him for a long race, and at an age when most men have an ex- tended course before them, he fell exhausted, at Plain- field, where oneof his circuits had been previously rum Rev. Tebtii - S. Clark, born m Massachusetts, 1798 graduated from Vale College, L823, and studied at Auburn Theological Seminary from 1824 to \^^>'<. Be served the church at Franklin, Delaware county, and had been previously a prominent pastor in New Eng- land II id impaired health while in this r< . allowed only a partial estimate of his powers, and in comparative infirmity, he retained great mental \ and showed himself a workman that needed not to be ashamed Bis form was in keeping with his under- standing, bul its massivenese did n<>t hide his gracious- . and bis affability, combined with his intellec- tuality, made him a preacher of power and an agi ble pastor and companion. Be always filled his place 500 PRESBYTERIANISil IN THE in ecclesiastical bodies, and showed interest in their proceedings and took part in them, but a stranger to most of his brethren and of short connection with our denominaton, his modesty kept him from activity and leadership. Kev\ Isaac Clixtox, cousin of Gov. DeWitt Clin- ton, was born at West Milford, near Bridgeport, Ct., January 21, 1759. He graduated from Yale College in 1786, with distinguished honor both in the classics and mathematics. He studied divinity with Rev. Dr. Joseph Bellamy, of Bethlem, Ct,, and was ordained and installed at Southwick, Mass., where he remained for twenty years. In 1818 he returned to Low vi lie, and combined the care of the church and of the academy there, and continued in them for ten years. He pub- lished a work on Infant Baptism before leaving South- wick. a second edition of which appeared. In the eightieth year of his age he prepared and published a work on a kindred subject, or perhaps revised his ear- lier work, and it was highly approved and widely cir- culated. He owned and cultivated a farm of two hun- dred acres at Lowville, and was especially interested in raising fruit, and Lewis county is indebted to him for the introduction of its best varieties of apples. He was a gentleman of the old school, and to the last dressed in the old style, wearing a low-crowned and broad- brimmed beaver hat, black broadcloth coat with wide and long skirls, velvet breeches and silver knee buckles, high lop boots, or shoes and silk stocking-. He was married in 1787, to Charity Wells, of New Stratford, (now Buntington,) Ct.. and had six children, live of SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 501 whom died in a single week, at Southwick, from an epidemic, and three lay dead in his house at the same time. Two sons, subsequently born, died at Lowvillc, and there his own decease was accomplished, March 18, 1840, in the 82d year of his age. Kev. Robert "W. Coxdit, D. 1).. was bom at Still- water, N. Y., Sept. 17, 1795, and graduated from the College of New Jersey, Princeton. Licensed in 1818, he spent a year in horseback travel through Virginia and other parts of the South, preaching as opportunity offered. Returning North, he was settled at Montgom- ery, Orange county, X. Y., from Dec. 13, 1820 to April, 1830. He then spent a year principally in recuperating his strength, and very much invigorated, in April, 1831, he undertook the care of the First Presbyterian Church, Oswego, and kept it for nearly forty years, and until his death, February 11, 1871, — thus very nearly ap- proaching the longest pastorate on this field. Bis excellence was his power. Of 6ne presence and digni- fied manners and serious mien, ho was likely to be no- ticed on any street or in any assembly or company, and with such propriety did lie always deporl himself, as to deepen the firsl impressions he made Courteous and kind, devoted to the Saviour and his cause, si ncereh anxious for the welfare of his people, a good counsellor and manager, he Btood before the public in tin- fronl ranks <>f the ministry, and was highly esteemed l\ his congregation. Eschewing display and sensationalism in the pulpit, never dazzling by genius, or strikh straining by intellect, or imposing l>v learning, he wtts so devout and sedate, and deall so uniformly in tin- 5 02 PRESB YTERIA NI8M IN THE marrow of the gospel, that his preaching was weighty and profitable, and disarmed criticism and opposition. He conscientiously discharged his duties in ecclesiastical bodies, long sat in the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College and Auburn Theological Seminary, and was a Corporate Member of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions. His conservative temper ament disinclined him to novelties and violence, but positive in his convictions and actions, though neve:; controversial and aggressive, he helped to form a bul- wark against new doctrines in theology and new meas- ures in religion and against destructiveness in re- form. If not fitted for pulling down evil and d liv- ing on in a course for good, he was fitted to protect what was well planned and built, and to hold ground already gained. His death makes a vacancy in the ministry and still more in his parish, and most of all in his household. We cannot but sigh and sorrow at the public loss, while we sympathize in the domestic bereavement. Rev. Eli Field Cooley, D. D., was the son of Ren- nah and Lucy (Field) Cooley, and born at Sunderland, Mass., Oct. 15, 1781. He was carefully brought up by his parents, who removed to Hartford, Ct, and gave him the advantages of the academy there. In 1803 he entered the College of New Jersey, Princeton, where he graduated in 1806. He took his theological course under President Samuel Stanhope Smith, and was Licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Called to Cherry Valley in 1811, he was ordained and installed in February, by the Presbytery of Oneida. In 1819, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 503 he removed to take charge of the church at Middletowrr Point, X. J., and three years after he was settled over the Ewing Church, X. J., then styled the Trenton First Church. He preached his farewell sermon as pastor here July 19, L857, after which his health declined, while his faculties were unimpaired ; but his death, in the 80th year of his age, Sunday, April 22, I860, which proved to result from disease of the heart, was very sudden at the time. He was thrice married, — first to Miss Scudder,from near Princeton, then to Miss Henderson, of Monmouth, and last to Miss Reading, of the Ewing Parish. His character was upright and pure, his common sense quite unusual, his pulpit and pastoral work old style, but useful, and his piety undoubted. Rutgers College conferred the Doctorate of Divinity upon him, and he was an active Trustee of both the College and the Seminary at Princeton, and a pains- taking Manager of the State Lunatic Asylum, at Tren- ton. Rev. EDWARD COPE was educated at Centre Coll- in the class. .t" 1833, and at Auburn Seminary in the class of 1836, and finishing his Btudies, he embarked as a missionary to India. The giving out of his health compelled bis return home, and recovering enough for the ministry bere, he faithfully exercised it in the western and southern and eastern portions of the Synod, and closed it. with his life, at Gilberteville, in L872. S.\M l EL WoODWORTti I lOZZ] NS, I >. D., Was a native of Massachusetts, and a graduate from Middlebun 504 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE College in 1828, and from Andover Seminary in 1831. Ordained August 8, 1832, he was pastor in Marble- head, Mass., from that time to 1837, and of the First Church, Milton, Mass., from 1837 to 18-19, and stated supply of the Second Church in that place from 18-49 to 1851. He spent 1852 with the church in Kings- boro, N. Y., and served the church in Mount Vernon from 1853 to 1859. His tastes and habits were formed in New England, and returning there, he was stated supply at Weybridge, Vt, from 1859 to 1868, and of South Plymouth, Mass., from 1868 to his death. He was universally esteemed for his integrity, amiableness, good judgment and intelligence. An acceptable and profitable preacher, he was an agreeable and useful pastor, and an association with him was a privilege and pleasure to his fellow ministers. A good savor of him remains in Vernon Centre, and in the Presbytery and Synod of CJtica to which he belonged. Rev. RALPH CuSHMAN, a native of Massachusetts and an alumnus of Williams College, was a classmate, at Andover, of the missionary, Isaac Bird, Dr. Willard Child, Dr. Asa Gummings, the missionary Dr. William Good ell, Rev. Peter Lockwood, and the missionary David Temple, graduating with them in 1820. Or- dained November 16, 1821, he traveled as a home mis- sionary in Kentucky from that time to 1824, and then settled at Pittsford, N. Y. ; and removing from there in 1826, he spenl four years, and until 1830, in Manlius, when he acted for a year as an agent in this State for the American Borne Missionary Society; and remov- ing to Ohio in 1880, he died at Wooster, August 27, 1831 . only 39 years old. SYNOD OF CENTRAL hEW YOIiK. Rev. Nathan Darrow is not known to have been connected with our ecclesiastical body, but he is men- tioned as a ••candidate preacher1' at Homer. November, L802, and January 2, L803, he was ordained and set- tled there by a council consisting principally of our ministers and of representatives of our churches. So important was this event considered at the time, " that to gladden the hearts of Christian brethren by a view of the religious prosperity in this part of the country, liev. David Higgins was appointed to make out and forward to the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine a -Miit of the installations here and at Au- relius and Pompey. The church consisted of about twenty members at Mr. Darrow's coming, and ni three were added to it during his stay, more than half of them convert- in a revival, 1806. I! iribed a man of medium size, with brown hair, bright hazel eye, endowed with goo.] natural talent, but with- out extensive cultur< ere in his manners, but full of energy and decision, and faithful in the dis- charge of his duties." II • went to Cleveland, on leav- ing Bomer, 1 808, and afterwards to Vienna, Ohio, \\ here he resided until his death many \ i The ancestors of Rev. Henry Davis, D. I1.. parishioners of Richard Baxter at Kidderminster, land, and also, it is Bupposod, communicants in lus church. Two of the number emigrated to this country, a married and an unmarried brother, sto] brief I periods at Lynn, and then Haven, Ct, hut finallv settling in Bast rlam] toi I. I. The fat! Dr. Davis was twice married, and had e\e\ 506 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE all of \vliom lived beyond three score and ten. Dr. Davis was born in East Hampton, September 15, 1771. He was taken, in infancy, with his father's family, to Stonington, Ct, and carried back to East Hampton in 1784. It was proposed to him to prepare for Princeton College in the academy at his home, but this he de- clined, intending to study for medicine, which, it was thought, did not demand a collegiate course. He attended the academy, occasionally leaving to teach school for a few months at a time, and at last spent nearly two }-ears in this occupation at Brooklyn, N. Y. October, 1793, he joined the Sophomores at Yale. — the first class taught by Prest. D wight, and with Jeremiah Day, Dr. Dwight's successor, as his classmate, and sub- sequently, his fellow-tutor, both at their Alma Mater and at Williamstown. "As an undergraduate," Presi- dent Day states, "he was among the most distinguished for scholarship and elevated character.'' Immediately after taking his first degree, 1796, he accepted a tutor- ship in Williams College, and held it until January, 1798, when he went to Somers, Ct, to study theology with Bev. Dr. Charles Backus, who preceded him in the Presidency of Hamilton College. The following July he began a tutorship in Yale, and continued in it until 1803. In 1801 he was elected Professor of Di- vinity, with permission, if he desired it, to remain tutor until he felt himself qualified for the post. His health, however, failed, so that he could not preach, and he was obliged to decline the offered Professorship. He made several journeys to recruit himself, and spent one season on the coast of Labrador. In September, 1806, he ac- cepted the Professorship of Greek in Union College. SYNOD OF C EX TEAL NEW YORK. and in December, 1809. lie entered on the Presidency of Middlebury College, and was ordained a minister. In 1814 lie was recalled to the Professorship he had held in Union, but declined to take it. In January. 1817. he was chosen President of Hamilton College, to succeed his theological instructor, Dr. Backus, and a month after, and before he had concluded on an answer, he was also chosen President of Yale College, to succeed Dr. Dwight lie felt obliged to refuse both elections. the situation of Middlebury at the time having claims which he did not feel at liberty to neglect. The neigh- borhood of this college to the University of Vermont seemed to necessitate the dwarfing of both, and Dr. Davis anxiously sought their union. There proved to be no apparent possibility of this just then, and Hamilton College was given to understand that a renewal of its call would meet with an affirmative response. By tin- time it was again made out, however, the relations of Middlebury and the University at Burlington had be- come so favorable to Dr. Davis' project for them, that he would have been glad to remain to carry it out, Indeed, he sought a release from Hamilton Colli but this was so withstood that he felt bound in honor connect himself with it.. Here he remained from L817 to L833, largely increasing the number of stud< for most of the time, and advancing the college g<'n«'- rallv. Aii unhappy controversy Bprung up bet.' him and the Trustees, and some disastrous occurrences took place, and the college was threatened with the d< - sertion of all its students. Dr. Davis clung to his place, and gradually filling up the classes and imp; inc the condition of the college, he surrendered the O08 PRE8B VTE HI A NISM IN TUB Presidency to a successor under pleasing auguries for the future. He never remitted his interest in the col- lege, lie acted until lb47 as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and he resided at Clinton, the seat of the college, until his death, March 8, 1852. President Day, his class- mate at Yale and his fellow-tutor at both Yale and Wil- liams, says, "His powers, his inclinations and his habits were eminently of a practical character, especially adapted to the instruction and government of youth, and to this he devoted his time and strength in live different col- leges. His unvarying firmness of moral and religious principle led him to employ his talents and attainments exclusively in the discharge of his duty. His literary and scientific investigations were conducted, not with a view to display, or to obtain credit for originality, but to qualify him for the instruction which he was provi- dential lv called to impart. His natural temperament, though ardent, was well balanced by strength of intel- lect and sound judgment. He had a rare energy and firmness of purpose, a native intrepidity, which fitted him to maintain a steady collegiate government, and to encounter difficulties and obstacles, an ample share of which was allotted to him. He evidently aimed to be faithful in the trust committed to him. His application to business and study was so intense that his constitu- tion, originally vigorous, early received a shock from which it never recovered. His slender and debilitated frame ever after impeded the execution of his ardent and widely-reaching purposes. Bis preaching and lit- erary and religious character were in such estimation, thai in early life lie was elected to the Professorship of Divinity in Vale College. Eis disposition was open, SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. frank and affectionate; his manners simple and grave, dignified and kind : his friendship ardent and lasting." Judge Samuel Nelson, of the U. S. Supreme Court, and a student under him at Middlebury, said: iLIn son Dr. Davis was tall, over six feet, slender, erect, and of noble and manly appearance: a face strongly marked, indicating the true character of his mind, strength and vigor, but polished and graceful from va- ried and extensive acquirements, and association with men of his class and position in society. He v gentleman of the old school in the truest sense of that term, without the characteristic costume His disp si- tion was cheerful, even playful, kind and generous, deeply sympathising with all his friends and acquaint- ances, and especially with all in any way under his care or subject to ids advice or direction, lie had a warm heart, directed by a strong sense of right, and what was due to virtue and religion and the decencies and proprieties of life, a true and reliable judgment, and hence firm and steady in his principles and con- it in his conduct The impression he made on the students was that he possessed high qualities and en- dowments for the head of a college. Ee was uot dis- i t<> take severe notice of trifling irregularity the thoughtlessness of youth, hut was generous and forbearing, and if noticed at all. it was with the affec- tion and admonition of a friend. But iii a caseof trans- ion indicating a perverse mind, or had heart, he was -tern and inflexible.'1 " In his intercourse with the Btudents he invariably treated them as gentlemen, in- spiring and ele\ ating their self-respect, seeking through that el- menl of character and the wholesome influ 510 PRESB Y TERIANISM IN T11E consequent thereon, to regulate their conduct It is hi i necessary to add that he was universally beloved.'' Unfortunately for Dr. Davis, he never held a pastoral charge, and had no experience of the influence of its responsibilities and associations in modifying theoretical judgments. His views of what was transpiring in the churches were wholly speculative, gotten from what he looked upon as a spectator, and with something of the e}'e of a critic. And hence was his mistake at a mo- mentous period in the history of Presbyterianism in Central New York. He misjudged some of the most genuine and powerful of its revivals because he took no part in them. Kev. Eichard Davis graduated from Union Col- lege in 1828, and from Auburn Seminary in 1830T and in 1835 took charge of the church in Springfield. He remained here for five years and was much pros- pered in his ministry, — fifty-five having been added to the church and forty of them on examination. lie af- terwards preached at Bridgewater, Oneida county, where he died of consumption, June 13, 1842, at the early age of forty-one. His heart turned in the hour of his dissolution to the church he first loved and called his- own, and lie begged to be carried for burial to its grave yard, lb1 was of strong and original mind, independ- ent in the formation of his opinions and free in the expression of them. Passages in his sermons were often peculiar, and even odd, and he sometimes gave offence by his frankness and abruptness. Put he w; s natural in this, and of unquestioned piety, and his preaching was impressive and effective. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 511 Rev. George E. Delavax. son of David and Mercy Delavan, was born at Dover. N. Y.. April 16, 1K)4. — graduated from Yale College in 1827, — prepared for the ministry at Andover and Auburn Seminaries, — licensed in 1831, by the Presbytery of New York, and ordained by the New Haven 'West Association. lie exercised his ministry at Fayetteville, N.Y., Wilson, N.Y., Maquoketa, Iowa, and Wyoming, Iowa, and died, a victim of consump- tion, March 18, 1S61. He is described by a co-Presby- ter as " a good man. of more than average abilities and attainments, and much devoted to his work and the church." Rev. Sheldon Dibble was born at Skaneateles in 1 8< »'». and graduated from Hamilton College in 1 827, and completed the course of theological study at Auburn. in 1830, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Caj _ and ordained in connection with his fellow missionary to the Sandwich Islands, Dwight Baldwin, by the Oneida Presbytery, in special session at Utica, October G, 1830, Rev. Noah < Joe presiding, Rev. Dr. Dirck C. Lan- sing preaching the sermon, Rev. Mr. Garrison delivering the charge, and the Moderator and Rev. Mr. Nash ducting the devotional The Presbytery made much of the occasion, and "resolved, that we feel oun died upon to express our gratitude to the great Bead of the church for the distinguished fa- vor of setting aparl to the ministry men destined for the Foreign Mission Work, by contributing of our sub- stance to this. prospered mission; thai notice beg to the congregations of the Presbyter) of the contem- plated ordination, and au invitation to attend it: and 5 1 2 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE that they be directed to take up collections for the mis- sion the next Lord's day." Mr. Dibble was stationed at Hilo from 1830 to 1836, and then transferred to the Seminary at Lahainalula, where he remained until his death, January 22, 1845, at the early age of 36. He distinguished himself both in preaching and teaching, and greatly endeared himself to the natives and to his associates, and his death was a sore bereavement to the mission and to the missionary cause, and greatly lamented. Kev. John DlELL, born at Cherry Valley, August 24, 1808, graduated from Hamilton College, 1826, en- gaged in theological study at Princeton, 1830 and 1831, and at Anclover, 1332, and was ordained September 19, 1832. He acted as agent of the American Seaman's Friend Society in the intervals of his seminary course, 1831 and 1632, and sailed as chaplain at Honolulu, 1S32, taking a portable chapel with him. and remained there about ten years, visiting this country once during that period, and dying at sea of consumption, only 32 years old, January 18, 18-11. He wished to lie in the soil of his native land, where dear kindred and friends were buried, but consecrated to the sea for his life's work, a more lifting place was appointed for him in the bosom of the Pacific. He was a bright, beauti- ful and buoyant boy. and in youth and manhood lost none of his vivacity, geniality and attractiveness of appearance and manner. Never vicious or criminal, he was very playful, and heedlessly joined with a party of his fellow students in mounting a cannon to an upper hall of the college and discharging it loaded to the 8YN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 513 muzzle. Jt burst and flew in fragments through the ceilings and partitions, and just escaped killing an ob- noxious professor. The fright at his deed shocked him into thoughtfulness, and finally brought him to peni- tence and faith. His Christian life was its stirring as his natural life had been, and he lost none of the charms of his earlier appearance and spirit and bear- All who saw him were drawn to him, and his public addresses and discourses were the sweete.-t of music to his hearers. It seemed an offence against the fitness of things to send such a man to the Sandwich Islands, and to give him up to the service of sailors, but he best chose the lot for himself and followed the divine designation. lb.' was the idol of his congi tions and their benediction, and ;is we look on his hold of the reckless men to whom he applied himself, and the influence he exerted upon them, we not onlv endorse the commission he fulfilled, but thank God for enabling him to recognize it. Rev. Babrison Gbay Otis Dwight, 1). D., son of Seth and Bannah Strong Dwight. was born in Conway, Mass and brought up from early child- hood in Bere be passed bis school and aca- demic course, and received his religious education, and began his religious experience and life, and united with the Firsi Church. Be entered the Hamiltoi C a, and graduated, among others, with Judgi G \ William Clinton, of Buffalo, WiHiam K Sill. Esq. of Geneva, Bon. Darius Peck, of Hudson, President Augustas William Smith, of the Wesleyan University and of the United States Naval Aeademv. 514 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE Annapolis. Says Rev. Dr. Joel Parker : "I remember him from the time when he came here, a boy from the village (then) of Utica, and entered college with the intention of preparing himself for the sacred office, lie bore with him an air of manly Christian dignity that was altogether extraordinary. Without any ap- pearance of sanctimoniousness, one could not but see that he wras conscious of being wholly devoted to his Heavenly Master. More than respectable as a scholar, he was chiefly conspicuous as a Christian." From Clinton he passed to Andover, and graduated with the class of 1828, among the members of which were Har- rison Allen, a missionary to the Choctaws, Dr. Addi- son Kingsbury, of Putnam, Ohio, Dr. John Spaulding, Secretary of the American Seamen's Friend Society. Prof. Calvin Ellis Stowe, Jeremiah Porter and Dr. Hub- bard Winslow. He acted for a time as agent of the American Board, and ordained at Great Barrington, Mass.. July 15, 1S29, he was commissioned as a mis sionary, and January, 1830, sailed for Malta, During this year he set out in company with Rev. Dr. Eli Smith, on an exploring tour through Asia Minor, Per- sia, Armenia and Georgia, and was employed in it for fifteen months. In Juty, 1831, he began his work for the Armenians, with Constantinople as his headquar- ters. His association here with Dr. Goodell was very intimate and affectionate, though they were very differ- ently constituted, — he being the most deliberate as well as the "most enterprising and vigorous of men, and his Eriend and associate being as mercurial and enthusias- tic. They complemented each other, and formed a perfecl combination for the part they took. He was SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOItK. 515 made for a Christian statesman, and as minister at home, or ambassador, would Lave been known world-wide. There was no artfulness in him, and he practiced no artifice, but lie was so penetrating and far-seeing, so practical, so skillful in the administration of affairs, that without aiming at it, or wishing it, he came to give "sentence," James-like, in delicate and difficult ques- tions concerning the missionary work, and to manage its cause with the community and with the Govern- ment, and with Foreign Powers when complicated with them. He was the first Frank that gained a residence within Stamboul (the old city), and as well established there as a Turk, he prosecuted the ordinary work < if a missionary, and his special work as the counsellor and manager for his brethren of every name, and for socie- ties of every denomination, and as the correspondent not only of his own Board, but of other Boards, and of the friends of missions throughout the world. Be found time, besides, for authorship, composing tracts and volumes for the people to whom he was sent, and translating portions of the Scriptures for them, and publishing in this country and in Great Britain. "The Researches of Smith and Dwighl in Armenia," "Me- moirs of Mrs. Elizabeth B. Dwight," " Christianity Re- vived in the Bast," and a •• Complete Catalogue of Lit- erature in Armenia." A mass of manuscripts, besides Bermons, was also found among hie papers. Il«' cr< the Atlantic six times. and tra\ eled extensi\ ely through the United States, Europe and Western Asia, prose- cuting the work laid upon him, In L859 60, after a thirty years residence in Constantinople, he repeated the tour he made with Dr, Eli Smith, and extended it 51G PRESBYTERIAN ISM IX THE through Palestine and Syria, but without any compan- ion and in the 60th year of his age, riding on horse- back thousands of miles, and through the wildest of regions. He then revisited his native land, to commu- nicate to the churches intelligence of the vast held un- der his observation and within his sphere, and to stir them up to new diligence in its cultivation. He also needed the free sympathy of kindred and friends as healing balm for heart-strings torn again by bereave- ment, and to visit two sons at the front battling for the Union. I had become acquainted with him at Wash- ington, where he was attending to business with the Government, and making a visit to a lady friend of mine, who became the second Mrs. D wight. His hear- tiness quickly bred friendship, and it was the greatest of pleasures to me to welcome him to his old home in Utica, and to mingle with him in the circle of his kin- dred, all of whom were my personal friends, and most of whom were my parishioners. Never was he more hale and buoyant. His appearance showed the fresh- ness of youth, and the spirit of boyhood seemed to re- turn to him in the scenes of his boyhood. He made arrangements to address a missionary convention soon to be held in Koine, and to take part in the then ap- proaching semi-centennial of his alma mater at Clinton; and addressed to the Stated Clerk an application to the ihvsbytery of Utica to be received to its membership at its annual meeting Dear at hand, in Holland Patent. Setting out for some anniversaries in Canada, a sudden gust of wind struck the railway train between Troy and Bennington, Vt.. and blew the car in which he was seated down a Steep bank. 30 feet high, and instantly SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 517 killed him. No braise could be discovered on him, and no feature was distorted Violent as was his death, he looked as if put quietly asleep; and so perfectly was the expression of his countenance preserved that, as he lay unrecognized at first, the official who discov- ered him remarked : " Whoever it may be, he must have been one of the best men that ever lived. " Bui one other life was sacrificed by the catastrophe — that of another servant of the Lord, who was called by the same rude message to the presence of the Lord. His body, all it ever was, and unaltered save in the extinc- tion of its vital element, w as brought to Ltiea for in- terment, and it was n y melancholy satisfaction to offi- ciate on the sorrowful occasion. Dr. Dwight was Qrst married at Andover, Mass., January 27, 1806, to Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua and Ruth Barker. She died of the plague at St. Stefano, January 27, 1806, attended for ten days by her hus- band and an old man alone. Buried on a hillside, the little wall surrounding her grave was visible for years Erom the ships .-ailing by. She was the mother of four . two of whom died in childhood and one of them from the plague,and another was the lamented Rev. James EarrisoE Dwight Rev. James Buck Dwight, the only survivor, and married to Eliza Bowe, daughter of the distinguished missionary Dr. Schreider, is a prominent and successful teacher, now engaged in the Connecticut State Normal Scho< -1. Mary, daughter of Rev. Otia and Elizabeth Paine Lane, of Sturbrid 3., was the second wife of Dr, Dwight Tii'-\ were married April in, L 839, and she died at Constantinople, of cancel- in the Btomach, Nov, 518 PRESB YTER I A N1SM IN THE 16, 1860. She was the mother of five children, three daughters and two sons. Two of the daughters died at an early age, and Sarah Hinsdale Dwight married Rev. Edward Riggs, son of the well known missionary and scholar, Rev. Dr. Elias Riggs. The only son, Henry Otis Dwight, was pursuing his education at the Ohio Wesley an University when the war for the Union broke out, and he entered the army as a private, par- ticipating in the battles under Gens. Grant and Sher- man at Fort Donaldson, Shiloh, Corinth, Raymond. Vicksburgh, Meridian, Atlanta, &c. At the expiration of the period of his enlistment, he renewed it and joined in Sherman's march. lie was promoted to suc- cessive ranks and was offered a captaincy, but preferred staff duty, to which he was appointed under Major General Ford. He served throughout the war, and then marrying Mary A., daughter of Rev. Dr. Edwin Elisha Bliss, of the Western Turkey Mission, he settled at Constantinople "as Financial Agent of the Turkish Mission. Rev. Henry Dwight, born a Springfield, Mass., June 25, 1783, was the youngest of eight children, five- sons and three daughters, of Jonathan and Margaret (Ashley) Dwight, His father, a native of Boston, Juno 16, 1743, was sent, when only ten years old, to an uncle in Springfield, who brought him up affectionately in his family and in his store, and he became a merchant himself, of extensive business and large wealth. Eis s<-n describes him as "active and industrious, prudent and economical, judicious and persevering." The Rev- olutionary war proved disastrous to his interests and 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 519 for a time destroyed his solvency. Embarkingin trade again, lie greatly prospered, and accumulated a large property, commanding universal respect by his probity and honorableness, and winning universal esteem by his kindness and liberality and habitual politeness. He harbored no miserly sentiment. When released from business, be distributed a large portion of his property among his children, taking obligations from them for it, thus giving them the use of it while he held the control of it. He built, at his own expense, the church edifice of the second congregation, Spring- field, and presented it to the people, making it of the dimensions and style they directed, and exacting the single condition that they should raise an ample fund for the Bupport of the minister. His spacious mansion of simple architecture, but with all the look of comfort and wealth, stood in the centre of the town, surrounded I by stately elms; and there he lived for more than sixty years, and there he died in the 88th year of his age, the head of what has been termed "the great family of Springfield, seventy years ago." Graduating at Yale I lollege in L801, Mr. Henry Dwighl was admitted to a mercantile firm in bis Dative place, of winch his oldest brother was the head, and spent a year on its business in England. Returning home, he relinquished a trade which promised him almosl any amount of profit, and -<•] "Mi for the ministry, with its meagre compensation. Beginning theological study with President Dwight, at New Haven, Ct, and completing it at Princeton, N.J. •Mr. Dwight's Dame does Dot Appear on the catalogue of the Princeton Beminaiy. The Brat class th< formed in lsl?. with Dr. Alexander ns sole Professor. t<> wIhmu Dr. Millei 520 PRESBYTERIAMSM IN THE f He visited the chureli at Utiea, riding there on horse- back, either for the enjoyment of it, or for health-sake, or because no public conveyance coursed the direct line he. wished to take. Here he was ordained and installed Feb. 3, 1813, in about the 30th }-ear of his age, having been previously licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Up to this time the people of tltica and Whitcsboro had constituted one church, organized in 1794. Now they wrere divided, and at the same time that Mr. D wight was settled in Utica, Rev. John Frost was settled in Whitesboro. The people of Utica were able to pay a higher salary than the people in "Whites- boro, but the young Utica pastor insisted on equal ly dividing the difference with the young Whitesboro pas- tor, and the two regularly exchanged pulpits every Sun- day until October 1, 1817, when the utter failure of his voice silenced Mr. D wight's preaching and termi- nated his pulpit work. This experiment of four years and a half demonstrated his inimitable qualifications for pastoral responsibilities and opportunities. It was throughout a labor of love With abundant means added in 1813. President Samuel Stanhope Smith, of the College, who died in 1812, had been largely resorted to by divinity stu- dents, and possibly Mr. D wight spent a short time with him im- mediately before his death, or with his successor, Dr. Aehbel dreen, or as an attendant on Dr. Alexander's lectures and recita- tions, without being matriculated at the Seminary. f Mr. Dwight, in his farewell sermon at Utica, intimates the circumstances that directed him there: "How often have I re- flected on the hand which guided the apparently minute occur- rences which led me to an acquaintance with your former pastor, .•mil on the effect of hia persuasions in overcoming my prejudices and changing my formed resolutions." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. £21 for a life of ease and earthly enjoyment, lie cheerfully bore the confinement and trials and toils of a study and a parish that he might besl serve his Saviour and his race. Such a spirit ensured him success, llisdevot- edness to the people attached them to him. and opened their minds and hearts to his teachings. Without ora- torical gifts, without personal beauty or gracefulness < r impressiveness, of slight figure and homely face and rigid joints, and utterly unskilled in the arts of the sycophant, he won regard by the ean and persistency of his evolence, his Belf-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, his infallible judgment and superior wisdom : and the con- gregation therefore so listened to him as to learn all that eloquence could impart and to f»-<-l all that eloquence could arouse and produce. Be diligently searched the Scriptures, and his preaching was largely a repetition <>r exposition of them; and in his week evening lec- tures, when he felt at liberty to dispell.-- with the for nudity of sermonizing and to descant at pleasure on his book, he BO illuminated it and so opened u that the hich crowded the school house w-cd chapel, bung on his lips, and drew Instruction and in- spiration from his <1 - Ever} wakeful moment bad its designated assignment, and ad to study and visiting. No shepherd so vigilantly tended his flock. He watched old and young, and walked among them, and fed and watered them. No presciei eed- tul to forecasl tin- result His farewell sermon del in part, whal necessarily took place: "Until the con elusion of L812, tins < gregation had not enjoyed in this place the regulai preaching of the gospel, ex upon ever} second Sal. Lath." u At the time when it 522 PBE8BTTEBIANI8M IN THE was separated from "Whitesboro, the church consisted of fifty-seven members. Since that period no com- munion lias passed which lias not, as we trust, witnessed some trophy of divine grace. Though some have been summoned from the saints on earth to mingle, as we be- lieve, with the just made perfect, and some have with- drawn to unite with other disciples on earth, still at this time two hundred and twenty-two profess obedience to the Saviour of men." In 1814 ninety -eight were ad- mitted to the Lord's table. The village then numbered only seventeen hundred inhabitants, and as other de- nominations had their churches too, the Presbyterian congregation must have been much smaller than it after- wards grew to be. The proportion of it therefore, then brought under the saving power of divine truth probably exceeded that of any subsequent year in the history of the church. But Mr. Dwight claimed no part of the efficient cause. All this he cordially and gratefully acknowledged was divine. " God's hand," he sa}*s, "is visible in the effect which has attended the dispensation of the gospel. In very few instances has the convic- tion or conversion of sinners been traced to any partic- ular discourse and instructions. By an invisible in- fluence he has awakened solemn impressions in the minds of a few. He has made their serious views ol the importance of religion an instrument to excite others, or he has given a general effect to the preach- ing of his truth, or made efficacious the events of his Providence. He has strikingly taught us the truth thai neither he that planteth is anything, neither he that watereth, but G-od who giveth the increase. Un- der his Bacred influence the accession to this church has been constant." SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 523 Mr. Dwight likewise recognized the agency of his people in whatever was accomplished. He says : " My confidence in commending you to God arises likewise from the respect and kindness with which you have treated his ministers. It would be arrogance, extreme vanity, the robbing you of the honor which is your due, to suppose that the regard you have shown your >rs has arisen from their personal merits alone. It lias come from the honor which you have given to the most noble office which can be sustained by man — from affection for and deference to the servants and embassadors of Christ, as well as from attachment to them as men. Be assured that as far as your feelings in this respect have been pure, they have not been un- noticed. It is the declaration of your Judge: i;He that receiveth you receiveth me," and " whosoever shall you a cup of cold water in my name because ye ag to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not his reward." Busy and prosperous and happy in his pastorate, in favor with God and man, having con-taut tokei the divine approbation, and with the warmesl affec- tion of his people and their invariable deference to him and their highest appreciation of him, it was a bitter disappointment to be laid aside from the ministry. But how submissive he was! "By whom are my hopes blasted?" he exclaims, "the hopes of Instructing you in the path of life, of consoling you in, the hours. .. bereavement, sickness and death, of attend- ing you to the place appointed for all the living, and, at of iiiiii-ling my dust with yours, until the \<> the Archangel shall wake the dead ?" And Ihenadds: 524 rilESB YTEllIA NISM IN THE " The office of a minister of Christ is worthy the am- bition of an angel. While my purposes are broken oft. it is consoling to reflect that this is the decision of un- erring goodness. To God's Government let us bow in silent submission. It is the Lord — let Him do as it seemeth to Him good. His ways are mysterious. His judgments are a great deep. It is not possible for us fully to understand the reasons on account of which he has removed from you in the short period of fourteen years, three pastors, (Mr. Dodd, Dr. Carnahan and him- self,) in the meridian of life, in the midst of their use- fulness, and in whom you have been so well united. Perhaps it is to exhibit his independence, — to show that he can dispense with any of his servants and still fulfil all his purposes. Perhaps it is to teach us that our reliance must be placed, not on man, but on the eternal God alone. Perhajjs it is to deeply impress our hearts with the mutability and vanity of all earthly things. These are important truths and best learned in the school of bitter experience. Yet since, amidst the dark clouds which veil his providence, the hand of God is visible, with the Apostle, in the moment of sep- aration, I point to Him." Nay, more than submissive, he felt the deepest sense of unworthiness and was too much distressed by his conviction of sin to complain of severity or offer resistance. His frame was penitential and not murmuring and rebellious. He needed forgive- ness, he fejt, and so henious did he adjudge his guilt that he despaired of furnishing a propitiation for it, His language was: "On the review of my ministry, my heart looks to the sacrifice for sin bleeding upon the Cross, and exclaims: My hope is in Christ alone !" SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 525 So totally did Mr. Dwight's voice fail that he could not speak a farewell to his people. Penning it, lie secured the offices of another for the reading of it. How affecting every word in it. Notice the langu- age in which he expresses his appreciation of the kind- of his people and his feelings towards them. •' It would be unworthy dissimulation to suppress the gratitude which swells my heart at the recollection of the respect and affection which have been extended to me through the whole course of my ministerial life. To its last pulsation, my heart will not, I trust, forget your kindness, and no sun rise or set which does not witness my prayer for your best interests. Nor is the delicacy with which you have avoided everything cal- culated to wound my feelings, unheeded. Nor is there any want of sincerity in the declaration that I leave this congregation with a heart free from enmity towards ■>f its members, for nothing has occurred t<> excite it.'" Notice, too, his language in reference to his en- forced retirement : " My work in the gospel ministry is now closed probably forever. The account of my stewardship is sealed in heaven, to be unfolded at the judgment The \Lc%\ High has dismissed me from this noble office, which was. and -till is. the deliberate choice of my heart, and to which. I trn>t. 1 have earn- estly consecrated my strength. Be casts me asideas ;> el in which he has no pleasure. My strength forthe ministry and almost my hope have perished. Bui wherefore Bhould ;i living man complain, a man for the punishmenl <»f his sins. His chastening hand is upon mc. and before him I would acknowledge, it is than my iniquities deserve In his presence my only pica is, God 1"' merciful to mc, a sinner.*' ,526 PRESB YTER1A MSM IN THE Removing from Uticaand closing his active ministry, Mr. Dwight. in 1817, made a home in the charming village of Geneva, N". Y., and opened a bank there, himself and his brothers furnishing most of the capital. lie proved an able and successful financier. His integ- rity and fairness established him in the confidence of the community, and brought him a large business. No similar institution in the country bore a better name. From the granting of the charter in 1817 to its expira- tion in 1853, the old bank never failed to declare an annual dividend of ten per cent, besides distributing- several large amounts of surplus gains. The bank propagated itself at the West, — two of its kind and generation there pursuing the career and bearing the character of the Geneva institution. No better use could have been made of money for the temporal neces- sities, development and welfare of the new country. A helping hand was stretched out to the great mass of settlers, who almost penniless, or with moderate means, were putting up the industrial structure and machinery of the community, and opening the channels and estab- lishing the marts of its traffic, and clearing up forests and taming soil for agriculture. But Mr. Dwight's heart remained in the ministry, and he kept its tools about him and continued such, of its work as consisted with feeble speech. Though but a youth then, he is clearly before me, as I occasionally looked in upon him in an upper room of his banking house. There it was he gave answers and directions to the cashier and sub- ordinate officers, and heard the applications and tales of borrowers and creditors, and passed decisions and judg- ments upon them. Bui relieved <>f visitors, the place SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 52 ] bore all the appearance of a study. Opened books lay on the tables, and examining them, they proved to be bibles and commentaries, and judging the occupant by the appliances he was using, here was the pastor of a church and not the president of a bank. Quite as dis- tinctly do I remember the scene in the chapel on Bible - evenings. For the first half of the session, per- haps, groups were closely gathered in the seats, with a head for each, and amid the hum of voices, bible in- structions and discus-ions were recognized, and Mr. Dwight was passing here or there, or making some arrangements, or busy with work. For the last half of the session, the assembly sat as at an ordinary meeting, tilling the entire space. Mr. Dwight stood in the desk, an opened Bible before him, and with low and husky voice expounding and applying the pas rer which the classes had just gone, using lew, and those gentle gestures, raising and lowering hi.- spectacles, and with intensity of interest, manifest m the exercise, despite his moderation. Not an eve wandered. Not a limbmoved. Transfixed, as it were, every person present was intent upon him. Still more reason have 1 to remember Mr. Dwight's lively concern ^>\- the spiritual welfare of in- dividuals Harlan Page like, he watched [or the signs of impression, and sought those ou1 who manifested them. My age w< uld naturally have left me out <>f his notice, and my church connections and associations were n<>t of his denomination, at the time. lb-. I know not, he ascertained the buddings of Christian hope in me and in an intimate friend, now likewise in our ministry, and quicklj and with the utmost delicacy and tenderness he sel himself to the unfolding of \i 528 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE within us. lie also made the best of parishioners. lit- was always his minister's friend and right-hand man. screening him from wrong, sustaining him in the parish, encouraging his heart and strengthening his hands, and the last to lose hold of him when he went away, lie habitually and vigorously enlisted in the promotion of the Bedeemers kingdom and in the recovery and relief of lost and suffering humanity. From 1814 to 1829. he held a seat in the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College, and from 1827 to 1855 in the Board of Trus- tees of Auburn Theological Seminary. "Previous t< the organization of the American Home Missionary Society, he had a leading agency in the formation and management of a Domestic Missionary Society in his immediate vicinity, which gave encouragement and strength to many of the feeble churches. The idea of a National Society on substantially the same basis glad- dened his heart; and by his intelligence, his sagacity. his experience and his faith in the promises of God, he rendered important service in developing it and com- mending it to the Christian community, and in found- ing the American Home Missionary Society. Of this Society he was constituted a director at its organization, and in 1837 was elected its President, and continued such for twenty years; and for twenty-seven years he acted as chairman of the Western New York Agency of this Society. He zealously espoused the temper- ance reform, and largely contributed to it : and by dint of persistent urgency, he persuaded Edward C. Delavan to take the part in it by which he was so much distin- guished, and stood by him in his after struggles. His mind was long exercised in the care of the insane, ami 8YN0D 01 CENTRAL NEW YORK. 529 employing agents to traverse the State in investigations about them, he published and widely circulated the - that were ascertained, and embodied them in pe- titions to the New York Legislature, and these he con- tinued to have presented and pressed, until the Asylum at Utiea was established, the buildings costing over ad surrounded by a plot of 130 acres, cul- tivated for ornament and for crops, and with a capacity, always filled, lor 600 patients. Mr. Dwight was early on the list of munificent donors to public objects for which later years have been distinguished, the magni- tude of his gift- t«» Home M specially, ere surprise, and stirring up men of wraith to do likewise. Ee adopted the principle to contribute what should be expended at once, and not laid up with permanent funds. Jn the final disposal of his estate, amounl vend hundred thousand dollars, after providing amply for his family, he bequeathed thirty per cent, of the residue to the American Eome Missionary Society, and fifteen per cent c;irh to the American 1 iety, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign sions, the American Tract Society, and the Ann Sunday School Union, and ten per cent, to various other boards and es; and directed thai al th< • of his widow, her portion should be distributed at the same rate to the Bame institutiona Mr. D was married Ma\ 17. 1Mb t-. M. n .Miles Sill, widow of Elisha Eaton Sill. Esq., merchant, of I and daughtei of Samuel Hopkins, Esq., of Goshen, Ct, and Mary Miles, of Salem. Ct, and his children are Edmund and Henry Dwight, Esqa, of New York and Mary Elliot Dwight, wife of llciiiw 1.. I 530 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE Esq., of Poughkeepsie. No happier union could have been formed by liim. Mrs. D wight was a woman of elegance, spirit and affectionateness, of bright and ready wit and rich humor, exceedingly agreeable and entertaining in society, a complete housewife and cordial hostess, lighting up home by her sunny and cheerful disposition, and mistress of the whole house- hold by a sway too good natured to be resisted. A strong man, and of great force of will, and inclined to imperiousness, Mr. Dwight himself was subdued to parity at least, if not to submission, and so acquired just the yielding and softening which he naturally needed. Principle was his characteristic trait and con- trolling power, and so far did he practice and cultivate it as to make the general impression of hardness and severity, and so far did he carry principle that it some- times wrought harshness. He always aimed to do just right, and doing just right, he occasionally inflicted wrong. He exercised conscience disproportionately t<> the indulgence of the heart. Mercy suffered from jus- tice. And yet beneath cold and stern principle was overruled feeling as tender as a maiden's, and almost as burning as a seraph's. He had the quickest of sym- pathies, the most delicate of sensibilities, the kindest of affections, the most ardent of sentiments, the strongest of attachments. He separated from his father and brothers and sisters, in passing from Unitarianism to orthodoxy, but he was never the most slightly alienated from them, nor they from him, and their life-long rela- tions were those of the nearest kindred and most inti- mate friends. His interest in the church of his first and only pastoral love seemed never to abate. Brought SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 531 by marriage into a family connection with him, it was my privilege and pleasure at times to welcome him to my home, and the keenness of his curiosity about what had befallen the parish, and the eagerness with which he scanned old buildings and spots, showed that the feelings of his early manhood continued fresh in his advanced age. When the present house of wor- ship was dedicated to its sacred uses, he came on to en- joy the occasion, and none present more fully entered into it. A few of his parishioners then lingered among us, and their meeting was indescribably loving and Touching. I had witnessed similar scenes on visits to the city by President Carnahan, and the impression and the pleasure of the impression received from the ap- pearance here of these long-ago pastors of the church, and of their welcome by the few who remained of the congregation they had served, can never pass from my memory and my heart. By a few strokes of a graphic pen, William D wight, Esq., of Boston, well sketched his ancle, Henry Dwight: "His record is made up, and 1 know nothing that I would alter in it if I could. 1 defects of temperament be may have had in the ej i - >me — defects of character I nevei saw in him Life was to him a serious >erur of action and duty, and I always admired the serene cheerfulness with which he ained bis part in it. It would have been easier for some to have loved him bad he been less strict in bis ideas of duty, and of more gaiety of heart. bu1 it was dif- ficult to resist loving bim when yon knew how kindly his nature was, how strong were bis affections, and how child-like was his i soientiousness, and with what simplicity he led his daily life in conformity with bis 532 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE ideas of duty. With strong passions, a strong will and great energy of character, he had subdued his nature into the quietness of a lake, which reflected the scenery of this world and of another in forms that filled his heart with love and praise. He was interested in all knowledge, and was one of the pleasantest and most instructive of companions." The Board of Trustees of the congregation of which he had been so long a mem- ber, gave testimony to his exalted worth and extensive usefulness, and expressed their sense of the loss which the society had sustained. The Board of Trustees of Auburn Theological Seminary put on their records 11 their grateful recollections of the many excellencies of his character and their appreciation of the loss, from his death, sustained by the seminary, the church and the world." The Executive Committee of the Ameri- can Home Missionary Society " recognized in this dis- pensation, so afflictive to the church of God and to all Christian and philanthropic enterprises, a peculiarly severe bereavement to that institution, — the loss of one of its earliest most constant and distinguished patrons and friends," and they recorded their "sense of his em- inent ability and exalted worth, his broad and compre- hensive views of the divine government and of human responsibility, the simplicity of his Christian character, the strength of his faith, his stern regard for principle and duty, his inflexible integrity, his large-hearted be- nevolence, his careful observance of all the proprieties and courtesies of life, his entire devotedness to the will of God, and his meetness, when the summons came, lor the joy of the Lord." It is not inappropriate to mention that Mr. Dwight's brother Edmund, a graduate of Yale College and pre- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. pared for the Bar, founded a mercantile house in Bos- ton which built up the manufacturing villages of Chic- opee Vails, Cabotville and Holyoke, and he was the first to propose Normal schools in Massachusetts, pledg- ing $10,000, in 1838, for their establishment, provided the Legislature would appropriate an equa] sum to this purpose, which was done • Kev. James Barrison Dwight, son of Rev. Dr. Harrison Gray Otis Dwight. was horn, October 9, 1 v •";<>. at Malta, the Melita of our version of the New Testa- ment and memorable with all Christians in connection with the Apostle Paul's escape from shipwreck. Grad- uating from Vale College in 1852, and from New York Union Theological Seminary in 1855, be took two courses of lectures at the New York College of Physi- cians. His purpose was to follow his father in the pur- suit of Foreign Missions, and his heart was particularly 8e1 on the establishment of a college in Turkey. The failure of this Bcheme was a crushing disappointment to him and broke up all his previous plans, lie sup- plied the Cherry Valley Church in lv"»7 8, finding much satisfaction ami meeting with much favor in the charge, and "an enthusiast in literature and science, he loved to explore the exceedingl) interesting geological formation of the region, w here e\ erv Btone contains \\> Eossilg and w here the \«r\ foundation rock has been ground ami polished bj the vast primeval glacier." lie organized the Church at Englewood, \. J., ami settled as its pastor from .lime L860, to May, lv,'»7. From lM'dto L871 he was occupied with writing for the press, and for part of the time edited the Christian 534 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE Union. In 1871 he accepted the Secretaryship of the " Palestine Exploring Society," and died at Englewood. December 2, 1872. Highly gifted and of varied cul- ture and of a genial disposition, he failed to make full proof of his talents and opportunities by reason of fickleness and fitfulness, constitutional with him, on the shattering effect of the disappointment before men- tioned, or the result of broken health. He married twice — first in 1855, the daughter of Rev. Dr. Benjamin Schneider, of Turkey, and second, in 1865, the daugh- ter of S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., the distinguished merchant, philanthropist and Christian, of New York city. Rev. James Eells was born at Glastenbury, Ct.. May, 1778, and graduated from Yale College in 1799. He studied divinity with Dr. Backus, and after his licensure, he preached in various places in New Eng- land. In 1808, he took charge of the "Westmoreland. N. Y., Church. Here he remained for seventeen years, prosecuting a faithful, successful and acceptable minis- try ; and February 22, 1825, he requested the Presby- tery to release him " on the ground that the state of his health, for some time past, had been such as to prevent him from performing all the ministerial duties which the interests of religion in that extensive soeiety re- quired, and because the congregation were more united in another person and were ready to lay before Pres- bytery a call for his ministerial services, and because he I iii 1 1 self had been appointed agent of the Western Edu- cation Society, and also of the United Domestic Mis- sionary Society." In 1831 he removed to Wortbing- i«in. Franklin county, Ohio, and thence to the Western 8TN0L OF CENTRAL NSW YORK. Reserve in 1834, preaehing most of the time under a commission from the American Home Missionary So- ciety. His active and useful career was suddenly closed May, 1856, by a violent death on the track of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railway. He came of a clerical stock, having been the sixth in a direct line of Presbyterian or Congregational ministers, while a large number in a collateral line filled the sacred office. Two of his sons also were clergymen — one the Rev. Hi". James Eells, of Oakland, California, and the eldest, James Henry, an alumnus of Hamilton College, of the class of 1827, and of Princeton Seminary, of the class of 1829, and pastor at Elyria, Ohia 1833, who. in the 27th year of his age, December, 1886, was drowned in the Maumee river, near Perrysburgh. Mr. Hells commanded universal respect by his charactei and abilities, and was looked up to and leaned upon by his ministerial brethren. The propriety of his life and the faithfulness of his labors established him in the confidence and regard of his people. His preaching was earnesl and practical, and seldom or never <-«>ntro- rial, — "tk us gospel ot tin- blessed God' being his relished theme. He was a true philanthropist and reformer too— n<>t hasty in giving in his adherence t<> principles and projects, bu1 open t<> just convictions and ready for wise movements and enterprises, He left behind him a a\<>r in his parish at \\ moreland and the most honorable and agreeable memo- ries in his Presbj tery and Synod Rev. Ezra Benedict] Fan* her was born in Patter son. N. v.. \'.,' . 9, 1810, and educated at Richfield 536 PRESDYTERIANISM IN THE and Cherry Valley Academies and Union College (class of 1835,) and Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1841 he accepted a call to McGrawville, the only pastorate he ever held, and continued there for twenty-seven years and until his removal by death. He was loved as widely as he was known. His gentleness and mod- esty, and at the same time his dignity and manliness, his good sense and activity and industry, his blameless* ness and faithfulness and tact, all set off by his intelli- gent and benignant face and attractive mein, endeared him especially to his people, and growing with increas- ing years in the esteem of his fellow Presbyters, and familiar with ecclesiastical proceedings and skillful in conducting them, he was looked up to as an adviser and leader in the Judicatories to which he belonged, and became a revered and guiding patriarch to his min- isterial brethren. His fatal sickness was short, but distressing, and he bore it without resistance or com- plaint, and when death brought its summons, he went cheerfully ever to be with the Lord. Asked if the Saviour was precious as ever? " Oh, yes," he replied, "the same as ever. •Glory be to God in the highest!" He died on Sunday morning just as his congregation were assembling where he had so often met them, and where they were expecting to hear him again. The Cortland Presbytery, of which he was a member, put on record a full and affecting expression of their feelings at his death, describing him as so constant in attending its sessions, and so conversant with PresbyteriaJ rules and usages, as to contribute greatly to the correctness and despatch of business, "while his holy unction" was a sweel and Bacred anointing in devotional meetings and spiritual exercises. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 537 Samuel Ware Fisher, D. D. LL. D., son of Samuel Fisher, D. D., was born in Morristown, X. J., April 5, 1814. His father at the time was pastor of the church in that town — one of the largest and most important in the State, and after having the care of it for many years, took charge of the church in Patterson, X. J., and held it for twenty years. He was an eminently good man and of good parts, and always firmly estab- lished in the confidence and favor of the people whom he served : he stood high in the estimation of trie church at large. At the "disruption," in 1S38, he was chosen moderator of the New School General Assem- bly and showed greal courage and firmness and pru- dence in the delicate and difficult position. When too Ear advanced in life for a pastorate, he almost constantly kepi up preaching where vacancies existed, and ever held watch of feeble congregations. Particularly did lie wait on the people of Greenbush, Rensselaer county. X. V., at a patriarchal age, while his son was pastor of the Fourth Church, Albany, directly across the Hud- son, and no youthful minister could have won more hearts Completing his academic education, Dr. S. \V. Fisher entered Y&\e College and graduated from it in L835. II-' then spent a year in Middletown, Ct, and after thai Btudied divinity ;it Princeton for two years and at Union Seminary, New 5Tork, for one year. 11«' held ;i high rank both aa :i collegian and a seminarist, standing well us a scholar and asserting himself In the affairs of his class and the whole bod} <>f Btudenta His theological career carried him through the period controversy in the church, and he took a leading pari in the New School side of questions, which can- 538 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE didates for the ministry discussed as earnestly as their fathers, and elder brethren. He was called from the Seminary, in 1839, to AVest Bloomfield, N. J., now Montelair, as the first pastor there, and remained three and a half years, manifesting as the session testify, " the fervent zeal and the unremitting labor which have ever made his life so full of usefulness and honor." The church records contain the following memoranda in his own handwriting. " In the early part of the year 1840, this church enjoyed a season of refreshing from on high. A sermon by the pastor from Jer. 28 : 16, was followed by an immediate interest. The places of meet- ing were too small to hold the people, and the church was opened. Divine service was held once a day, and a great part of the time, twice a day, for more than two months. The church was very much revived and blessed. Between twenty and thirty have made a pro- fession of religion here and elsewhere as the fruits of that revival. In the fall of 1842 there were signs of an increased interest in religion. Some of the male members of the church were unusually aroused to labor and prayer. In the early part of February, 1843, the revival seemed to have really commenced with power. The interest was chiefly among the young men. Our meetings were not half as numerous as in the first revival, nor was there the same anxiety in the communit}^. Yet the conviction of sinners were deeper and the cases of conviction more numerous. About fifty, we trust, have passed from death unto life. Some of these have left the place. About thirty joined at the last communion and a number yet remain to make .a profession." SYNOD OF CENTRAL SEW YORK. 539 r In 184^5, Dr. Fisher removed tg Albany and was in- stalled over the Fourth Church, October 13. The place- presented formidable difficulties to any minister, and dally to one of his sentiments and age. It was or- ganized in 1828 by a colony from the Second Church, disaffected because of a failure to call Rev. Edward Nbrris Kirk, ]). ]).. to the pastorate there, and because of the more conservative views of the majority of their brethren. Dr. Kirk was then at the intensest point of his youthful ardor, burning with zeal for the salvation of souls, and ;ill on fire with the desire to inflame and se what he considered the generally sluggish and lukewarm church. He intended nothing like censori- ousness and presumption and arrogance, but intent on- his object and engrossed with it. he could not be scru- pulous in guarding against the appearance of them, and careful about the means t<» be employed in stimulating Christians and converting sinners, lb- was an exceed- ingly popular and successful preacheT in revivals of religion and widely traversed the countryto iill its pul- pitson Buch - Utica still ha.- the mosl vivid and grateful recollection <»f him in tie* memories of the Burvivingfew who Listened t<> him and the talis of his sermons and :' frequent repetition and likely to descend t«> distant generations. 1I<- learned wisdom and moderation of judgment from experience, and could hardly be recognized in ti q pastor he became. The original composition and constitution of the Albany Fourth Church can be readily imagined. Dr. Kirk's nine years ministry consolidated and multi- plied it. but did not essentially change it. Rev, Ed- ward D. Allen, of tli. >11owini 540 PRESBYTER1AMSM IN THE succeeded Dr. Kirk., Though not otherwise distin- guished at the Seminary, lie was known as among the most godly there and well reputed for ability and scholarship. His appearance denoted invariable seri- ousness and earnestness, and while never thrusting himself forward, he was quickly recognized as tena- cious and resolute and irreversibly set on his duties. He admitted of no comparison with Dr. Kirk, in the pulpit or in society, had none of his culture and fasci- nation and magnetism and eloquence ; but his plainness did not offend his people, and his goodness and undi- vided and undistracted devotedness interested them in him and attached them to him, and ordinary as his preaching would be adjudged by an intellectual and aesthetic standard, it was endowed with power and fol- lowed up by the most indefatigable of pastorships, and he enlarged the bulk of the church considerably beyond Dr. Kirk. The seeds of fatal disease were planted early in him, and frequently sprung up, and, at a com- paratively youthful age, their harvest was reaped. Dr. Fisher took charge of the church with a membership of nine hundred — exceeding that of any other of its denomination at the time. There might have seemed t<> have been little in common between the minister and the people save their consecration to the Lord, but that so far identified them that they were indivisibly one in the process of remodeling through which he carried them, and the result is sufficiently indicated by the Eact that Rev. Dr. Mandeville, of the Reformed (Dutch) Church followed him. and that no stauncher church DOW exists in the land. In 184,6, Dr. Fisher accepted a call to the Second Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. The step he thus SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 541 look was even more venturesome than when he went to Albany, though for the greatest extent on account of directly opposite reasons. The church was homogen- eous and compact, of established standing and of su- perior rank. None in the land surpassed it in cul- ture, social position and wealth. The elite of the city and magnates in professional and civil circles combined with others of ability and intelligence and means in its membership and congregation, and it was a risk for any young man, just past his thirtieth year, to take the pul- pit of such a people and the part of their spiritual guardian and counsellor. The difficulty was aggra- vated by the succession into which he was brought. Lyman Beecher immediately preceded him and had passed there I he palmiest days of his peerless eloquence and power. "What could a man do who came after the king.1' The result demonstrated that there was no rashness in the case. Asking nothing from charity by virtue of inexperience and immaturity, but challenging judgmenl on the basis o[ his own merits, Dr. Fisher commanded acceptance and won favor, and though widely different from Dr. Beecher and not equal to him in intellect, nor approaching him in genius, there was no drooping in the interesl awakened and sustained, and no diminution in the amount achieved. During his eleven years pastorate in Cincinnati, one hundred and scvent) eight were added to the church on examin- ation and two hundred and forty-eight by letter, while its benevolenl activitj was greatlj quickened, He originated various organizations, prominent among then] a Youiil' Men's Home Missionary Society <■! great usefulness, and stimulated general liberality. i ., 542 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE The prominence to which lie had attained brought him to the notice of the Trustees of Hamilton College when the resignation of Dr. North made a vacancy in its Presidency, and he was invited to till it. His first response was in the negative, but subsequent reflection and a personal examination of the institution induced him to accept, and he was inducted into office in the fall of 1S58. The considerations that determined him were the affinity between learning and religion, and their joint operation, and especially the connection between the college and the church and the importance of the former to the latter and the magnitude and worth of its use to it, and an anxiety to closen the relation of the two and render the college still more tributary to the ehurch. He found an institution when he came t<> Clinton, stamped by God as his own — bearing the tokens of his proprietorship in the habitual influence of' his spirit and its frequent special outpouring, and showing its recognition of Him as its owner, by constant and large service in replenishing the ministry and the ehurch, and one thousand six hundred alumni distrib- uted over the land and the world, and in every profes- sion and pursuit, were its letters of commendation and its aetive advocates and agents. Nearly half a century of trial had established its scholarship and training in the confidence of the learned and of the community at large. A line <>f able and industrious instructors had filled its Professorships, and ;i superior Faculty wel- comed the new President to his post. The college had made up a history of development and grown to large dimensions and multiplied its appliances and resources. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. Q 1:3 A numerous body of students idled its elasses and diligently pursued their education and the grandest of opportunities were furnished to one of holy ambition and aspirations. Like all prosperous institutions and enterprises, the college was proceeding towards perfec- tion, but had not attained to it, and it needed the requi- site facilities for progress and expansion. New depart- ments, additional instructors, enlargement of the library and apparatus and other endowments were indispensa- ble to its keeping pace with the times and advancing in its course. Dr. Fisher's inaugural and other addresses, exhibited his acquaintance with the theories of education under current discussion, and pronounced his views as conser- vative-progressive. He held to the principle of disci- pline as chief and controlling, but favored a widening range of study. Most of all and first of all, and most earnestly of all, he advocated the introduction of the religious element, and its universal pervasiveness, lie would have the college characteristically Christian and its agency predominantly spiritual, and the hope of contributing to this was the main motive with him for consenting to stand at its head. His presidency was notable, and in certain directions very successful. lie began with an active agitation of religion, and maintained it to the last Remade him- self an administrator of the gospel even more conspic tiously than of Literature and science, exalting his pul- pit above his Chair, and his first measure was the adop tion of the Bible as a text book throughout the course, and constituting attainments in it as determinate standing in a class as those in ;m\ other stud v. Hi- 544 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE most effective work was among the churches. He car- ried the college to them, bringing it into their pulpits and assemblies, and into the homes of their congrega- tions, and making it known b}' his preaching and social intercourse. Particularly did he hold alliance with the ministers, keeping himself one of them and continuing to act with them. Never was he missed from Presby- tery or Synod, and no one wTas more prominent and busy in the general affairs of his denomination. His gifts did not qualify him for permanency in a college, and his tastes did not affect it, and finishing the work given him to do there, he glady returned to the pastorate, and November 15, 1867, resumed it in the Westminster Church, Utica. He was like a bird escaped from its cage. He got back to the range for which he was born, and flew about on joyous wing. Never was he happier and never busier. It seemed as if he would make up for the time spent at the college, and make up for the pleasure he had forgone there. He could not study and write and preach and visit too much, and every word he uttered in public and private was clothed with power. His congregation increased, his meetings filled up, and accessions were made to the church, nearly fifty being added to it on an examina- tion ;it a single administration of the Lord's Supper, in I860. Ilf actively seconded a mission originated by the liberality of Mrs. Harriet C. Wood, and followed bv the munificence of Mrs. E. M. Gilbert and her fam- ily, ;n id greatly furthered under the ministry of the Westminster Chnreh, by Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Campbell. To this enterprise lie surrendered fifty-one of his com- municants when it was organized into the Bethany SYNOD OF CENTS AL NEW YORK. 0 lo Church, about three hundred and sixty-five remaining with him. Three Sunday schools were carried on. numbering nearly six hundred scholars, a fine parson- age was purchased, and the beautiful chapel previously erected at the expense of EL M. Gilbert, Esq., was 1 to the Society. During the night of May 11. Is7<>, he was suddenly paralyzed, not the faintest symptom of it giving the slightest forewarning. Indeed he was unusually active and buoyant immediately before. His son came to my e early in the morning to announce the event, and any present recurrence t<> it renews the shock of that moment There was a difference of but two months in our ages, and we had been acquaintances from the ining of our ministries, and frequenl associates in siastical bodies and transactions. 1 had .- ig : him for the Presidency of Hamilton College, and con- ducted the correspondence with him about it. and co- operated witli him while filling it. and we acted to- getherin the Board of Trustees, and as members of the Executive Committee. His removal to Utica brought as into still closer relations. Particularly were we iated in the work of "reunion," and most particu- larly at tin.- time iii conference and labor - >\ er the work of " reconstruction" following reunion, and in prepar- >ome business foi the approaching General Assem- bly. He had also been conferring with meaboul a pa- per he was appointed to present. to the Evangelical A.1 liance, and the unfinished manuscript of which was his last writing, and left on hi> study table when he retired for rest on the night of his calamitous illness. His parish ion ere and friend- could not but hope, in their 546 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE anxiety for it, that he might recover enough for at least ordinary service in his pastorate, and inspired with something of the same sentiment, or deferring to it, he consented to take time for the experiment A painful disappointment, however, befel him and them, and Jan- uary 13, 1871, he dictated the following letter : To the Session and Members of the Westminster Church, Utica : The afflictive Providence of God has laid me aside from the duties of my profession, and consequently, for the present, dehars me from fulfilling my obligations to you as a preacher and pastor. Leaving the future, with all its uncertainties, in his hands, while thanking God for the blessed privilege of ministering for him in your pulpit, and expressing my gratitude to you for the affection always shown to me in the relation of pastor and people, I am constrained to ask for a dissolution of this pastorate, and request you to unite with me in this petition before Presbytery. Consent was reluctantly given by the people, who continued his salary to the first of May ensuing, mak- ing a year during which sickness had deprived them of his services, and including this and $3,000 from out- side friends, presented him with $10,000. They also declared that his connection with them had been one of " great prosperity,1' and bore " witness to the eminent ability, Christian gentleness, untiring fidelity and abso- lute consecration of every power of mind and body to the upbuilding not only of our particular church, but also of the church of Christ at large, and the spread of his kingdom in the world.'' Released from his pastorate at Utica, Dr. Fisher re- moved, with his family, to College Hill, near Cincinnati, and there spent three years in undiminished disability, but in all the comfort and enjoyment compatible with this condition. But there was little in life to him SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 54 i without active labor, and with no prospect of resuming this on earth, his summons to the busy scenes of heaven was a gladsome call to him. Yet he felt no impatience. Zealously doing God's will in health, he submissively bore it in sickness. A visit to him was afflictive, bv the contrast he was to what he had been, and yet it was delightful from the sweetness of his resignation. ]t saddening to look on his person, before so well knit and buoyant, but now so loose and dragging, and to hear thick and labored utterances from his lips whence liquid language had been wont so freely to flow; but i his was only the first feeling. The spirit within him came forth and the charm of this overflowed the _ from his .-battered body. It was appointed that e should especially be on the day of his unexpected death. Difficulty of speech had not intermitted his part as priest at the family altar, and he performed it then as on preceding days, lie selected the hymn, as had been his wont, and gave out "Jewett" as the tune, and joined in the singing as besl he could and with more than his ordinary emotion. The lines exp the Bubmissivenesa of his soul: Thy way, not mine, 0 Lord, However dark it be, Lead me by thine own hand. Choose <>nt the path for in.-. I dar«- not chooee my lot, I would not if I might : ( !hooae thou tor me, my < lod, Bo .-hall I walk aright. 'l'h»- kingdom that I Ih thine ; bo let tin- way That leads t«> it be thine, Else 1 most surely stn Take thoa my cop, and it With joy or sorrow till a- best to thee maj seem Choose thoa my good "nd ill 548 PRESBTTER1ANISM IN THE Dr. Fishers traits were pronounced. No study was needed to understand them. They stood out so as to compel recognition. He was honorably ambitious and aspiring, and enjoyed authority as well as eminence, and he was self-asserting, not offensively, bnt not dif- fidently presenting himself for notice and claiming and exercising power. There was a spice of vanity in him too, but he was so ingenuous in it as to be almost inno- cent, and the expression of it was amusing rather than disagreeable. He was the incarnation of activity and energy, every faculty and organ and limb in perpetual motion, and his whole machinery working with con- stant ai id well nigh tremendous power. Motion was rest and play with him, and quiet, fretting and exhaust- ing. Too intense to be always wise, he was by no means reckless, and if sometimes destructive and harm- ful, and oftener unsuccessful, what he shattered and failed in, bore no proportion to what he accomplished. Principle preponderated with him over hurry and force. Conscience was his master faculty, and incapable of trickery, he coidd not perpetrate wrong. The date of his conversion cannot be precisely given, but it was probably in very early youth, and possibly in child- hood. He bore no marks of past viciousncss and per- versity, but made the impression of having passed into manhood from untainted purity and undeflected virtue. His heart was aglow with zeal for the welfare of his race, and he sympathized with it, though in increasing intercourse with men, this seemed to be in- duced by what may be called his business with them, — his calling as their benefactor, — much like intercourse in trade, — and not by the enjoyment of it in itself con- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 549 Bidered, and society was little more than one of the spheres in which his work was carried on. Though overflowing with feeling in public exercises, he was ret- icent in private conversation of what was passing within him about matters of personal concernment, and rarely spoke particularly of his innermost religious experi- ences, and of events and circumstances that touched his nicest sensibilities, and especially his pride. Few knew his anxieties and sufferings on occasions that greatly tried him, and it was this keeping there the fiery floods that tossed in his soul, that secretly consumed him. His convictions were positive and unyielding and open- ly expressed He grasped nothing slightly and feebly, and least of all his opinions, and these he deemed so m< »- mentous that he could not hold them in silence or put them in abeyance. As already remarked, he embraced and advocated New School views, and he could not leave 'In- New School Church. It was not partizanship on his part, but conscience, and when invited to the W minster Church, then in the Old School body, he was obliged to ask its translation to the New School body as the condition of an acceptance; and it COSI the church ;i sacrifice of neither obligation nor taste to con- nen1 t<> this He was mad-' for a popular preacher. His appearance favored him. The pulpit concealed his rather under-height, and ;i figure well tilled out and rounded gave the impression to a congregation ^i :i person <)f perfeel health and spirits, he was vi- vacity and vigor in Bpeaking. Considerably denuded «>f hair, his forehead was presented t«» the eye even be- yond its real and ample dimensions, and unembarra* by any presence or by a sense of iinequalness to i")f)0 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE occasion, lie spoke confidently, and as one having au- thority, and with intense earnestness. A physical in- firmity,— of the character of a catarrhal affection, inva- riably displayed itself, and ever and anon with great effect. Tears came to his eyes, and when deeply mov- ed, flooded them and overflowed them.* His style of composition was admirably adapted to popular discourse, — free and affluent and intense. His matter was not weighted with learning, and yet considering its pur- pose, sufficiently supplied with it. Neither was it largely set off by imagery, and illustrated by analogies. And it was not drawn from profound depths and eleva- ted heights and wide expanses. It was generally nigh preacher and hearer, by no means familiar, but not es- pecially novel. Its effectiveness was in its warmth, and this often at a white heat, and spoken in words that burned. The themes in which he most delighted were those that most partook of the gospel. Not only did he disdain the novel and entertaining and secular and sensational, but he revolted at them. When in- quired of about him by the people of Cincinnati, who were contemplating his call from Albany, Dr. D. Howe Allen, of Lane Seminary, replied: "He is a man of God, who will preach from conviction, the simple gos- pel of Christ.'1 * Dr. Backus, the first President of Hamilton College and a dis- tinguished popular orator, was like Dr. Fisher in this respect. He wept when he preached. Interrupting himself once, he said: " Brethren, I beg pardon for these tears. There is no religion in them, but I could not help them." , But when drawn by religion, they are the showers that water its seed-truths and soften the .soil to receive them. \ ( SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 551 And it was a spiritual effect at which lie aimed. He >nged for souls as the seals of his ministry. To cou- rt sinners was his passion in preaching.4 His gift for preaching was put infrequent requisition for spe- cial sermons, as at ordinations, installations, church dedications, and anniversary occasions, and at the semi- centennial of the American Board, he delivered oner which, though hastily written by him as a substitute. commanded especial admiration. It might have been presumed that Dr. Fisher would -it enthroned in his pulpit, and seldom step out of it. So it ordinarily is with men of like gifts. They are peerless preachers, but insignificant pastors. Not so with him. Seen in the parish it would have been thought that his place and part were there, lie lived among his people and vigilantly watched them, and no keener -cent ever took minister to the new comers who settled in town. Improvements in the church build- were his inspiration and oversight, and Sunday schools and city missions and charitable and missionary iations lor the congregation and for young people, and contributions to the( Ihurcb Boards, had his encour- agement and incitement and management No parish was wide enough for his range. Se trav- ersed the community, regarding himself as belong ■ The whole truth here i.-- not told without the Additional - iiit-nt that Dr. Fieher'i lei do! particularlj fruitful in the salvation <>f men. No la sis attended them, ami though iderable ao i tads t<> tin- ehnrehet under hli care, they do nut compare irith the numbers received b? men <>f none of hi.- eloquent ^ i >«•»•« li , ami here i* another of tin- myaterlei that mil in in !li<- dispensations <>f divine §rn 552 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE to it, and as charged equally with others composing it, to attend to its interests and concerns. lie took inter- est in its institutions, educational and charitable, and participated in movements for the general welfare. And extending beyond this, ho performed a busy part on the theatre of his denomination, always present at Presbytery and Synod and active in their proceedings, and repeatedly a Commissioner to the General Assem- bly, and the Moderator in 1857, of one of its momentous sessions, — the complete separation of our church from slavery being then effected by deliverances which in- duced the withdrawal from us of all in complicity with it. The •' Reunion " enlisted him heart and soul. He had no official part in preparing for it, not belonging to the Joint Committee by whom it was arranged, — but lie stood on the Committee of Conference by whom it was secured, at New York, in .May. 1869, and at the formal and final consummation at Pittsburg, November of the same year, he offered the resolution, under the instruction of the committee, to present a thank-offer- ing of $1,000,000, — increased by a vote of the Assem- bly to $5,000,000, — all of which was raised and appro- priated to various religious objects. Many of Dr. Fisher's sermons and addresses were put to the Press. In 1852 he published a volume entitled, "The ThreeGreal Temptations," and in \S('^^ ;i volume of "Occasional Sermons and Addresses," and a. course of Sermons at Qtica on tin- " Life ^i Christ," is soon to appear in print. George \Yr. Gale, 1>. D., son of Josiah and Rachel dale, of Armenia, Dutchess county, was born at South- 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 553 East, iii the .same county, December 8, 1789. Gradu- ating from Union College in 181-i, he spent a year at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Hudson in 1816. October 29, 1819, be was ordained by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, and set over the church in Adams, — the only pastorate he held. Failing health compelled him to resign this charge, and taking a farm in Western, he engaged in cultivating it, aided by students, whose tuition was the pay for their labor. Encouraged by his success in this. he conceived the idea of a Manual Labor Institution, and established one at Whitesboro. Some hundreds of ministers and laymen were educated there, and the prosperity attending the enterprise, led to quite numer- ous repetitions of it. in different sections of thecountry. Almost universally these failed, and after Dr. Gale's retirement from it, the Whitesboro Academy declined to near the point of extinction, when the manual-labor element was eliminated from it, and. reconstructed on the ordinary basis and taken into the hands of the Krcc- Will Baptists, il revived, and now enjoys a vigorous lie-. A-fter leaving Whitesboro, Dr. Gale started a scheme for colonizing a religious community in Illinois and rearing a college there. It cosl herculean effort t<> raise the requisite funds and to gather the settlers. A town of teli thousand inhabitants under moral and christian regulations and influences, and a college with nearly $300,000 endowment and an able and evangeli- cal Faculty and quite large classes, indicate the com- pleteness of the achievement Be occupied a Pn Orship for a tune, and a place in the Hoard of Trust until his d. alii, in 1 V| 554 rRESBYTEMANISM IN THE While bold in his ventures and invincible in his purposes, he was orderly and conservative. Zealous for revivals and for reforms, he opposed extravagances in both, and amid the surgings of error, he held fast to the great doctrines of grace and to the form of sound words that enunciates them. Especially did he adhere to the Presbyterian polity his experiences in times that tried it and laxer systems confirming his attachment to it. He early advocated a denominational policy in the benevolent work of the church, and contributed largely to its cordial adoption. His personal appearance was a commendation of him, — somewhat under size, but of a figure and bearing that commanded respect. His countenance was serious, — too much so, perhaps, or too uniformly, — and the intensity with which he ap- plied himself to his plans and to his work, traced itself on his face and very visibly drew its lines there. He was married thrice, — first to Harriet, daughter of Charles Selden, of Troy, then to Esther, daughter of Daniel Williams, of Galesburg, 111., and last to Lucy, daughter of James Merriman, of New Haven, Ct, — the last of whom survived him. He left six children, — all, it is believed, by his first marriage. Rev. Chaunoey Enocb Goodrich was born Sep- tember 19, 1801, in an eastern suburb of Troy. The youngest son and one of the youngest of nine children of Dr. Enoch and Kebecca Gale Goodrich, he was a descendant of William Goodrich, who emigrated from Kngland to this country and settled at Wetherslield, Ct., about U)47. Benjamin, grandson of William, and the second of seventeen children of David, son of 8TN0L OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. QOO William, married Hannah Olmstead, of the same family with Professor Olmstead. of Yale College. Five of the sons of David Goodrich battled for inde- pendence in the army of the Revolution, and Enoch. the youngest of these soldiers, and the twelfth son and fourteenth child of his parents, born in 1764. studied medicine in Stanford, Duchess county, where he found and married his wife. Admitted to practice, he began it in the eastern neighborhood of Troy, but moved to Elbridge. Onondaga county, then a part of Camillus. in 1806. The country was new and sickly, and while the whole family suffered from prevailing diseases, the mother died the first year and the father the second after they went there, Chauncey, not quite six years old. was taken into the family of his uncle (by marriage) Colonel Nathan Beck with, of Rhinebeck. Dut county, and remained there until his fourteenth year. Poisoned by the malaria to which he had been exp he received considerate and kind treatment in his < quent weakness, k was concluded that he could never perform the hard work on a farm, and the profession of medicine was chosen for him. At thirteen, the pros- pect of being able t<» prepare for this was blasted by the death of his oldesl brother, Henry, who t<>.»k his father's office, near Troy, and had educated hi: almost alone, and become 8 PEESB YTER1AMSM IN THE tude was for science, and had he made this his profes- sion, few could have surpassed him. A casual incident in the Bay of New York, wThere he was sailing on his first passage towards Princeton, led him to the inven- tion of a lens, which he used for thirty-six years to help his vision. In his different pastoral charges, he lectured on chemistry and other sciences, and experi- mented in the culture of the soil ; and when he gave up the care of a parish, he betook himself, at Utica, to trial methods of vegetable and fruit raising, and at- tempted to acclimate the growths and products of milder regions. When the potato disease first threat- ened that priceless crop," he addressed himself to its cure ; and first getting acquainted, as he supposed, with its pathology, he sought, and as he thought discovered, the efficacious remedy. Procuring a few potatoes from Chili, he commenced experiments for a renewal of the vegetable from the seed, and also sought renewal of the seed from South American tubers. Year after year, for sixteen years, he patiently pursued his experiments, no- ting on the field the minutest particulars of each plant, and all the circumstances of soil, cultivation and wea- ther that could affect it, and he spent his winters in transferring his field notes into essays and articles. His communications to agricultural journals and soeieties and to scientific magazines and institutions, exceed one hundred and thirty, while he gathered a large amount of material on vegetable physiology and path- ology which he had not strength to put into form and * It is a curious fact that with all his zeal for the potato, Mr. f him. On the land, be • oked, tippled and swaggered; bnt on the ice be waatl of the company, through his cowardice and terror. qnent B in true keeping with this exhibition Of it i !!)>*• I f I 570 PRESBYTEMAN1SM IN THE Though born to every worldly advantage, and bred to college and the law, yet he attained to no respectability of life, and at last disappeared altogether from sight. The last that my informant saw or heard of him, was his coming into his office to obtain a small loan. The money never returned. " So," said he, " as Shakespeare says, ' By lending my friend my purse, I lost my purse and my friend too/ " Mrs. Grant shared all her husband's enthusiasm for the Nestorians, and was scarcely less useful to them and as much beloved by them. When she died, the Bishops begged leave to bear her to her burial. Rev. David Downs Gregory left among his papers the following notes of his life and ministry : Born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer Co., N. YM Aug. 27, 1802. Left my father's house in Sand Lake to live with (his brother) Henry M. Gregory (merchant) as clerk, in September, 1 8 1 1> . In 1821, found peace in God through Christ Jesus, and made profession of religion in the Presbyterian Church of Deposit, Elisha Wise, pas- tor. In 1822 commenced preparation for college in Oxford Acad- emy, and finished at Greeneville Academy, Greene Co., X. Y. Entered Williams College, Mass., under the presidency of Dr. Griffin, in 1823. Graduated in 1827. Spoke on the character of Gordon Hall, at Commencement. Entered Auburn Theological Seminary, fall of 1827. In the winter of 1829 went to Andover, on account of the illness of Dr. Richards, and from a long cher- ished desire to enjoy the advantages of Andover, where were Ebenezer Porter, M. Stuart, L. Woods, R. Emerson, and C. E. Stowe. Licensed to preach at Boston, May, 1830, by the North Suffolk Association of Congregational Ministers (Drs. Pond, Fay, Wisner, Adams). Preached my first sermon at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Pleasant St. Church, June, 1830, where I preached during summer vacation of one month. Commenced preaching in Ripley, Chautauqua Co., New York, October, 1830. Was mar- ried to Sarah Salome Rhoades, daughter of Joseph Rhoades, of Skaneateles, N. Y.. Nov, 29th, 1830. Preached in Ripley six months, during which time there were one hundred hopeful con- versions,— sixty-seven added to the church in one day. In May, SYXOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 571 1831, commenced preaching in Fredonia; remained there two year?, and received ninety-six persons to the church. Was or- dained to preach, by Buffalo Presbytery, at Fredonia, in 1831; Sylvester Eaton preached the sermon. Received a call to take charge of the West field Presbyterian Church, Chautauqua Co., 1833, and was installed over that church same year. Sylvester Eaton preached the installation sermon. Remained in Westfield till September, 1S38, during which time three revivals of religion prevailed. The church consisted of a hundred members when I was installed, and three hundred and forty-four, when I left it. Seventy six persons were added on a single Sabbath. While residing at Westfield, my wife commenced coughing, which was soon ascertained to be pulmonary and fatal. On her account, we left the lake shore, and in September, 1838, I took the pastoral charge of the Presbyterian Church of Binghamton, Uroome Co., N. Y., where I was installed pastor; Rev. Jonathan Rowland preached the sermon. Remained there nine years and one month, during which time two revivals prevailed. At one time seventy three were added to the church, and two hundred and fifty-one persons during my pastorate. In 1817, at the solicit- ation of my brother Edgar M. Gregory, and with a desire to pro- long the life of my wife, who was now thought to be in the last stages of consumption, I removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and took charge of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church; Dr. Lyman Beech- er preached the installation sermon, and J. C. White and Samuel Fisher gave the charges. With this people I preached the . five years; no revival of a general character, yet one hundred and twenty-nine wen- added to the church, and a debt of nearly en thousand dollars was nearly liquidated. My wife Sarah, died Jan. 11, 1851. Henry M. Gregory died also, the year previous, In my house. Jan. 89, 1853, I married Elisabeth, daughter of Rev. Richard Bury, Snd in October, 1852, left Cincinnati, and the Tabernacle Church, because the climate was uncongenial to my health, and because I felt myself unadspted to building up s church so new and feeble. Oct. 15, 1852, took charge of the North-Fast Church, Peni vania. In two and a quarter y< risited with a revival. The church built for me a parsonage, and increased in numbers and efficiency. 572 rRESBYTERlANISM IN THE In March, 1858, by invitation of tlie Tabernacle Church, Cincin- nati, resumed the pastoral charge of the church, on the ground of encouragement from Dr. Fisher, that the Second Church of Cin- cinnati would aid the Tabernacle Church in liquidating a ten thousand dollar debt. They failed, and at my advice the Taber- nacle Church edifice was sold to the Fifth Presbyterian Church, and the church was merged in the Fifth Church and other church- es of the city. Oct. 2G, 1859, was installed pastor of Prattsburgh Congregational Church, by the Presbytery of Bath. Kev. George Spaulding preached, Jeremiah Woodruff charged the pastor, and Stephen Vorhis the people. Mr. Gregory remained at Prattsburgh seven years: and then retired to Binghamton to rest; "but continued the work of his choice and delight in places in this vicin- ity almost uninterruptedly, and for some time immedi- ately before his death, he statedly supplied Appalachiu. The following extracts from a sermon delivered at Mr. Gregory's funeral (Sept. 19, 1874) by Rev. J. P. Gulliver, D. 1)., First Church, Binghamton, portray his ministry and his character : * * * * * * * Our brother was not a man who had blunted his susceptibilities, or blinded his vision, by any skepticisms concerning the retribu- tions of eternity. He believed in his inmost soul, that at God's bar, every work of man shall be brought into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. He expected no exemption from that scrutiny, except as he was covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness. But that protection he had. ******* He expressed regret that he had not been more laborious. Faithful as his ministry had been, he was full of regret that he could not have been the means of bringing more sons home to glory. But this regret was for the sake of others, not for his own Bake. It was benevolence, not anxiety that found expression in his last words, as he looked back from the portals of eternity, to throw one final glance over the past. For the present, he only SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 578 wished we should pray that he might be delivered from agonizing pain. " Is that wrong," said he, " when I am suffering so much ?" When reminded in reply, of our Saviour's prayer, " If it be possi- ble, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt;" he said "Yes, surely I may offer His prayer." But beyond the immediate present, all was peace. It is with a real satisfaction—a satisfaction we very seldom can feel when speaking of the dead, — that I turn to the history of the grace of God in the character of our departed friend and father. For seventy-two years he has walked before his fellow men, much of that period as a professed Christian, and for nearly half a cen- tury as a minister of Christ. If we were looking into the history of a Christian merchant, our first inquiry would be concerning his integrity and truthfulness and uprightness; for in the pursuit of wealth, these are the virtues which are most severely taxed, and which oftenest fail to respond to the test of Christian discipleship. But the temptation to which the clergy are exposed, is to set far too high a value upon reputation and influence; and with some — an inferior order of minds, — upon mere popularity. The most decisive tests of a genuine Christian character, as applied to a clergyman, would be the inquiries, Will he brave odium and ob- loquy? Is he faithful to his Master, and the truth, whether men will hear or forbear? With this faithfulness, is he kind and courteous and loving,— in meekness instructing th< Be that oppose themselves? This is the test of B true Christian hero. ft * * TV * * * There is another test which most will endure; and yet all who have had much experience, Among ministers, know that many fail of a satisfactory response. It is the test which detects jealousy of a superior in talents, or reputation, or position;— a jealousy which often betrays itself in acts and words which are not noble, and even sometimes Mich as arc dishonorable and untruthful. * *■ * •:;• * -x- With what a | rrfect satisfaction, with what a glow of soul can we turn with these tests in our hands, to the record of ourde* parted brother! He was so genuine, so true, so frank, so free from all envy and malice, so anxious for th< perfectly truthful ' Whal word of malice, or of guile, I ver broke from those lipsv what thought of mi. blackened the 574 PRESBYTERIANISM W THE currents of that great heart ? * * * * Dear honored father, the veteran of our hosts, — the chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof, — we thank God not for thy devoutness alone, and thy humble piety; but we thank him for a manliness that never stooped; for a calm, strong courage that never flinched when duty called; for a love which could never discern in a brother, a rival. For forty-fcur years Mr.Gregory has been a preacher of the gospel ; clear, strong, convincing, impressive, in all his public ministrations. For ten years he was the pastor of this church. By the unani- mous testimony of all who have known his ministry, he watched for souls, as one that must give account. No man has ever sur- passed him, in the intense anxiety which he manifested down to the very day of his death, to warn every one, night and day, with tears. As wisely as he could, and as skillfully, he labored contin- ually to bring men personally to Christ. The success which attended his efforts was very unusual. Both here, and during his two pastorates in Cincinnati, and in all his various fields of labor. the number who look to him as their spiritual father, is very large. A recent sermon which he preached in Buffalo, in commemora- tion of the life and work of Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Orton, is full of this one theme— success in saving men. It was his ruling passion, and God abundantly blessed him. Mr. Gregory not only enjoyed preaching, but had a passion for it, kindled and burning, not from anything in it considered merely as an exercise and a pleasure, but from an intense anxiety for souls. "Oh ! I want to preach!'' he exclaimed, lifting up his hands, a few days before he died. Speaking of one of the revivals under him at Binghamton, he once remarked to a friend that he " blew the gospel trumpet," to use his own words, every night for three consecutive months. J lis earnest feeling most distinguished his sermons. They were full of matter, but it was their spirit that signalized them, and this sent forth the truth they contained burning hot and with resistless force. A SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 575 show of labor in the delivery of them added to their effect, and his obvious solicitude for his hearers, cover- ed over a little ungracefulness of manner and homeli- liness of face. You could notice nothing in him while listening to him but the intensenes.^ with which he aimed at instructing and impressing and moving those whom he addressed. The result was natural, it might be said. Conversions followed, as the record already recited denotes, — the whole number during his ministry approaching a thousand. Quite as successful was he in the no less important part of building up saints. One who probably heard him oftener than any one else, remarks: '"I never list- ened to sermons more conducive to Christian edifica- tion." A fellow clergyman, who well understood what good preaching was, once remarked to him, "I wish .1 could sit under your sermons and receive the gospel from your lips." In the parish, he surpassed himself in the pulpit. 1 si derate and delicate, while he gave no offence and created no prejudice, he was always about hia M business. While hedid not drag in the subject of reli- gion ••ln-ad and shoulders," he faithfully brought it in, and often displayed great tact in this. " II<- bad I ting me," said a brother clergyman, " during a peri- od of religious interest On our way home one even- ing we dropped in I . the church, and to our surprise found ourselves in a party of gay young people. Mr. Gregory engaged them at once in entertaini ersation, and in a few minutes had them about him singing " Et • A -." and at the close be said in a manner thai drew all hearts to 5 7 () PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE him, "Now let us have a word of prayer, and then we will go home." He was skillful, likewise, in reconciling alienated members of a church or congregation, and often among others, as well as among his own people, he composed animosities and healed divisions. His business gift and training also kept in play and he ad- mirably managed the temporalities of a parish, and sometimes lent a hand to neighboring societies. Conk- lin and Union are considerably indebted to him for their fine church edifices, and he was counsellor and helper in founding the West Church, Binghamton. His final illness produced excruciating pain, which was borne with unbroken patience. Just before he died, he repeated several times, "I am oppressed with an extraordinary grief." What it was he did not ex- plain, but when asked if he had doubts of his accept- ance by God, he quickly replied, "No, I never had any." He then added, "Lord Jesus, I give myself and all I have, every tiring, every thing, up to thee! I keep back nothing !" Mr. Gregory sprang from a good stock. His brother, Gen. Gregory, is known for his gallantry, and also for his religion in the late civil war. He was quite as devoted to the spiritual welfare of the army, as to its military discipline and exploiting, and after the restora- tion of peace, he was prominent, as a ruling elder, in the Judicatories of the church, and active in its enterprises. Amos DELOS Gridlkv, 1). D., son of Deacon Orrin (Iridley and brother of Rev. Wayne Gridley, was born at Clinton, and graduated at Hamilton College in 1840, and from Auburn Seminary in 1848. He prosecuted SYNOJ) OF CENTRAL NEW TORE. 577 further theological study and ministerial preparation at Andover, and was ordained June 11, 1846, and in 1847 settled at Waterville, N. Y. His health proved too frail for a pastorate, and resigning his charge in 1850, he retired to Clinton, and spent the remainder of his life in miscellaneous but valuable services. The fol- lowing article, recently published, happily describes his character and narrates his history : Beginning life with great advantages of family and culture, his sky seemed at one time to be suddenly darkened by the alarming development of constitutional disease. In the discouraging cir- cumstances which then multiplied around him he felt himself re- quired first to decline an inviting professorship at Amherst Col lege, and then to lay down the active duties of the ministry among a people who loved him as he loved them. Cut off from his chosen field, for success in which he had already displayed unmistakable qualifications, he resigned himself cheerfully to the new paths, and by courageous seeking and patient self-disci- pline found a way to create around him a new sphere of light and influence, in which he passed a dignified and honored life, in the character of a Christian gentleman of leisure, systematically and usefully at work. Bis open home stood brighl and beautiful, like a thing of bless- ing for his family and friends, and for the pretty town in which it lay. He found time to set on foot among his neighbors and carry out more than one project of public and private utility, lie was an efficienl and enthusiastic member of the Heard ofTrui of Bamil ton College, his alma mater. He made himself useful in promoting the general and local Interests of the Presbyterian Church, to which he was attached with a devotion which, though warm, wasnol narrow. Be wrote well, and with extreme gi as those already know who have read the contributions of \ D. («." to the periodicals and journals, and to the columns of The Independent, f«»r which he wrote occasionally, and of which ho had been a regular reader since the establishment of the journal, His most considerable literary work Is tin- history of the town of Kirkland, with which his family had been connected from it Z. 578 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE tlement, and whose quiet annals are invested in his pages with a great and sometimes poetic interest. Fundamentally, both in character and conviction, a Puritan, he possessed, at the same time, the elements of a genuine art-nature; and while it was the former which sent him to the ministry and taught him to love it, it was the latter which came into promi- nence and active use in the life into which he was drawn. He delighted in all works of art, with which, according to his strength and opportunities, he formed a critical acquaintance. He was himself an amateur painter of no mean skill. He de- lighted in the culture of trees and plants, — a taste which showed itself not only in the rare beauty of his home, but accrued to the advantage of the college campus and of the village of Clinton. One of the first of our living botanists once remarked to the writer of these lines that he had nowhere seen such a collection of the various kinds of elms from all parts of the earth as around this home. When he spoke in public, which he did rarely, it was with a ripe force and neatness of expression peculiarly his own. He was affable and courteous; but there was also in his bearing, and in his tall, handsome figure a certain impression of taciturnity and reserve, which showed that he knew his rights and had in control a naturally fiery disposition. His house was the center of a free and simple hospitality, to which the best in the land resorted, and where he was himself as happy among his friends as he wished them to be with him. The domestics employed in the house and on the place held him in loving reverence, and the writer of these lines has more than once seen the work people of the neighborhood cross the street for no other purpose than to salute their honored friend. While his relatives and intimate associates will each have his own grief in his death, the community in which he lived mourn in his de- cease what is in all lands and in all times the heaviest of losses — the loss of an active Christian gentleman. Rev. Wayne Gkiuley, oldest son of Deaeon Orrin Gridley, long a Trustee of Hamilton College, and bro- ther of Dr. A. D. Gridley, was born in Clinton, No- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 579 vember 12, 1811, and graduated from Hamilton Col- lege, with the valedictory, in 1886, and from Andover Seminary in 1839. He was ordained as a foreign mis- sionary, but disappointed in his purpose to live and labor abroad, he accepted an invitation to the church in his native- place and continued with it for five years, and until 181-5, when failing health compelled him to retire. His pastorate here, — the only one he under- took,— was eminently prosperous, one hundred and two were added to the church, and universally beloved, he united the people through attachment to himself. A year spent in foreign travel recuperated him somewhat, but returning to Clinton, he died there November 23, 1846, after a year's further struggle with pulmonary disease. II is wife was the daughter of Dr. Seth Has- tings, of Clinton, and one daughter was their only child. Kev. David Narrower has been already spoken of as a strong-minded, clear-heade I Scotchman or Scotch- Irishman, of vigorous health and active temperament, a popular preacher and a wide itinerant He contin- ued m connection with the Northern Associate Presby- tery, by which body he was ordained, until his later ministry, and took commissions from the Columbia and Berkshire and the Connecticut M issionarj Societies, and successfully and acceptably filled them. His first la- bors were in Delaware county, and he was prominent and active iii the re\ ivals throughout that region al the beginning of the century. But scarcely any limits bounded the field be traversed. He appeared every- where in Eastern, Southern, Western and Central New 580 PRESB YTFAtlA NIS.M IN THE York. Occasionally lie made short settlements, as at Franklin, beginning with 1800, and at Holland Patent from 1814 to 1821. The last twenty years of his life, which was spared to a good old age, he spent with a son in Steuben county, preaching here and there in the region about. T met him occasionally during that period. Fire enough burned in him for the fervor of youth, and he was as set in his opinions and as open in their expression as from birth-right he could have been expected to be. Just then old school theology was his hobby and the old school church his idol, though as a son of Associate Presbyterianism, hardly in the line of his ecclesiastical parentage. My most distinct remem- brance of him, I confess, is as a polemic, but the sin- cerity of his piety and his devotedness to the gospel were too conspicuous during his active ministry to be ever questioned. Rev. Seth Parsons Meravin Hastings was born in Clinton, April 13, 1813, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1833, and from Auburn Seminary in 1837. He married Elizabeth B. Buttrick, of his native town, October 1, 1838, and was settled at Vernon Centre from 1839 to 1841,— at Moravia from 1S42 to 1845 — at Summer Hill from 1845 to 1848, — at Pompey Hill from 1848 to 1855, — and in the Reformed (Dutch) Churches of Ohittenango from 1855 to 1859, Coxsackie from I860 to 1870, and Accord, Ulster county, from 1870 to his death, February 24, 1876. "Mr. Hastings belonged to a family of good and true men — men of the choicest New England stock — men who believed in the blessedness of large families, whose children were SYNOD OF CENTRAL NKW YORK. 581 as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, and whose happiness was in proportion as they had the quiver full of them. His father was one of six brave brothers from Connecticut, of whom Gerrit Smitli once said, " Three of them were albinos, and all of them were honest." One of them composed Sabbath hymns that have done more to prepare sinners for heaven than a dozen most eloquent preachers. The most strik ine- qualities of Rev. Seth P. M. Hastings were modest v. common sense, cheerfulness, fidelity. He was always content wherever the Lord of the harvest gave him work to do. And he did his work with joyous confi- dence in the fruitf illness of the truth faithfully preached. He never sought the chief seat, bill once placed there. he filled it with dignity and tact. He was remarkably large-hearted, wide-minded, free from cant and censori- ousness, with a habit of seeing the best side of men and things. Bis perceptions were clear, his tastes re- lined, his judgment trustworthy. Bis fixed aversion from attempting brilliant things saved him from saving or doing foolish thin Rev. Gideon Bawley was born in what is now Bridgeport, Ct, Novembers, 1727. Graduating from Yale in 1749, he opened a school for Indians at Stock- brige, Mass., and educated a number of the Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroraa In May, L753, he traveled through the unbroken wilderness to Windsor, and with Timoth\ Woodbridge, planted a mission there. The French broke this up, and after his return to Boston, ho went to Crown Poinl as army Chaplain. April 10, 1758, he was settled at Marsh pee, and remained there until his death, ( tatober 8, l V(,V. 582 PRESBTTERIANISii IN THE Phillip Courtlandt Hay, D. D., was a son of Major Samuel Hay, a gallant and noted officer in our army of the Kevolution, and of Jane (Price) Hay, born at Newark, N. J., July 25, 1793. He took his first degree in the arts with honor, at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, and at once began the study of law in the office of Elias Yan Arsdale, Esq., of New- ark. Hopefully converted when nearly ready for ad- mission to the Bar, he turned towards the gospel minis- istry, and prepared for it under the instructions of his pastor, Rev. Dr. James Richards. He was licensed to preach at Patterson, by the Presbytery of Jersey, October, 1820, and soon after ordained and set over the church at Mendham. The Second Church of his na- tive city being vacated by the removal of Rev. Dr. Griffin to the Presidency of Williams College, he was called to fill it, and continued eleven years in it, and until broken health separated him from it. A short respite from responsibility and exertion induced him to think that it was safe to resume them, and he accepted an invitation to Geneva, N. Y. His health again gave way under a laborious and prosperous ministry of sev- eral years, and Dr. Hay sought recovery and useful- ness at the head of a family school. His qualifications for the pastorate were too eminent to prevent his being left out of it, and appealed to by the church of Oswego, to " come over and help" it, he went there. But he could not sustain the charge, and in 1855 returned to the home of his childhood and youth, and to the field of his early ministry, and resting from all effort for a time, he undertook the management of a classical school, and while thus employed, disease of the heart SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 583 suddenly ended his labors on earth, December 27, 1860, and opened his way to the " rest which remaineth to the people of God.'' While strictly attentive to the local churches com- mitted to his charge, Dr. Hay's activity of tempera- ment and concern for the Bedeemer's kingdom engaged him in constant service for the church at large. Every good enterprise for the public commanded his support, and habitually in his place in ecclesiastical bodies, he was always fulfilling some stated or occasional part in them, and in 1849 filled the Moderator's chair in the General Assembly. Dr. Hay conld not be pronounced eminently intellec- tual or scholarly, and yet he was highly respectable in both regards, and by an exceedingly genial disposition and agreeable manners, he won universal esteem. The Lord did not leave him without witness in his sacred vocation. Continuous results followed it, and fre- quently large ingatherings. He was'particulary happy in his domestic relations. Losing Mary W. Poe, his first wife, he obtained another in Elizabeth Condit, both of New Jersey. I was favored so much as to have an acquaintance; with the latter, and speak the feeling of all who knew her when I say that she seemed almost more than human in the loveliness <>f her disposition, appearance anil bearing, and well nigh perfect in the conduct of her life Rev. Asa Theodore Hopkins, D. D., son of Aaa and Abigail (Burnbam) Hopkins, was bornal Bartford, Ct, July 25, 1 605. IK- lost bis father when but six months old, and in 1810 was taken by his mother t<> Wethers 584 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE field, where and at Hartford and Amherst, he prepared for Yale College, and graduated from it in 1826, dis- tinguished for brilliance of genius and gifts for oratory, rather than for studiousness and scholarship. He then went to Ithaca, and for more than two years was a mem- ber of Dr. Wm. Wisner's family, teaching and conducting a weekly newspaper part of his time, but giving most of it to theological study. June 19, 1628, he was licensed by the Cayuga Presb}rtery, and in February following was married to a daughter of Asa Wisner, of Elmira, and neice of his host and theological instructor. He preached a few Sundays at Deep Cut, near St. Cathar- ines, Canada, and in Hartford, Ct., and some of 'the neighboring towns, and supplied the pulpit of the Sec- ond Church, Albany, while the Pastor, Dr. John Ches- ter, was in Philadelphia suffering his last sickness* After Dr. Chester's death, January, 1829, he was chosen his successor, but shrunk from the responsibility and declined to assume it. He then accepted a call to Paw- tucket, R I., and was ordained and installed there August 5, 1829. At the close of two or three years he relinquished the charge, and supplied the pulpit of Essex St, Church, Boston, while Dr. Green, the pastor, was absent in Europe. Leaving Boston, he entered on the charge of the Bleecker St. Church, Utica, July, 1883, and remained until July, 1835, when he went to Brooklyn to preach to the First Presbyterian Church there, Dr. Carroll, the pastor, being kept out of the pul- pit by fatal illness. February 17, 1836, he took the charge of the first Church, Buffalo, and kept it until his death, November 27, 1847. Dr. Hopkin's ministry in Buffalo was much broken by illness, but this did not SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 585 interrupt his success, nor weaken the attachment of his people. Twelve hundred were added to the church during his twelve years connection with it, and its in- terests of every description were greatly promoted. It was his great misfortune to be laid aside from his work so much, and perhaps his greater misfortune to perform it with facility when well, and to be able to avail him- self of other men's labors. Whatever his infirmities, there was a singular fascination about him — a child- like character that invited charity of judgment, con- stancy of help and tender affection. There was noth- ing of the soldier in him, and yet he fought hard when cornered, and it so happened that for a time he could not shun conflict. In May, 1846, he sailed for Europe, accompanied by his wife, who was an invalid also. He attended the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, and as a delegate, took part in its proceedings; and then the travels of the two were extended over Great Britain and the Con- tinent. Mrs. Hopkins' rapid decline constrained them to hasten their passage home, but a few days before they reached port she < lied, November Is. 1846. A year after 1km- funeral to a day, November ~~i, 1847, her husband was called to follow in the 43d yearof his age and the eighteenth of his ministry, the immediate messenger being apoplexy. Rev. James C. Bow, the fourth in the succession of pastors of tin- Springfield Church, was ordained and installed by the Otsego Presbytery, October 18, L826. His pastorate lasted between four and five years, and was peaceful, hut not particularly prosperous, Kew 586 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE were added to the church, and death and removals took many away. Dismissed from Springfield with the re- spect of the people and the Presbytery, he went to St. Georges, Del, and became well known in connection with that region, and many years since finished his labors and passed to bis rest and reward. Rev. James B. Hoyt was born in Walton. January 31, 1794, — the son" of Thaddeus and Jemima Hoyt. He passed through Yale College and studied divinity with Dr. Seth Williston. The Northern Congregational As- sociation gave him license, and the Union Congrega- tional Association ordained him. He began his minis- try at Lisle, and continued it at Green, and then was installed over the second church, Coventry, where he remained for thirty years, and until his death, July 4, 1862, from a dropsical affection. Of clear mind and excellent judgment and uniform engagedness in the work- given him to do, he was more and more esteemed the longer he was known. A good preacher and an indus- trious pastor, his acceptableness and usefulness to his people were perpetuated as long as he lived, and while of a retiring disposition, his personal excellence and his capital sense made him an authority with his clerical brethren and in ecclesiastical councils. Several of his sermons were given singly to the Press, and a volume of them also, entitled "A Pastor's Tribute." He mar- ried twice: first, Emeline C. Fenn, and then Eliza A. Phillips, and five of seven children survived him. Ova Phelps Hoyt, 1). 1)., son of Ezra and Jerusha (Phelps) Hoyt, was born in New Haven, Vt., May 26, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 587 1800. Graduating from Middlebury College in 1821, and from Andover Seminary in 1.824, he accepted a call to Potsdam in lv_!.\ and was greatly blessed in his labors there. Sixty additions a year were made to the church during the five years of his charge of it. He likewise took an active part throughout the county in the great revivals which pervaded it during that period. In 1830, he accented the Central N. V. Agency of the American Home Missionary Society, having his oflice and home in Utica, and while there, he also edited the Western Recorder for a year and a half. He then went to Old Cambridge, Washington county, and remained in charge of the church there until 1838, when he took the Cleveland Agency of -the A. H. M. Society, and served tor a time as stated supply of the First Church m that city, a revival of religion attending his labors. In 1840 he became pastor of the church in Kalamazoo, and in 1849 left it. strong and flourishing, to act as District Secretary of the American Board for Michigan and Northern Indiana. He continued in this office for ten rs, and longing for ti.e pastoral work, he resumed it for a (■■■'■ years in Elkhart, la. Toil and activity now m to tell upon him. and be turned to his native New England. But he had become a western man, and was identified with western interests, and iii 1863 he found himself hack in Kalamazoo, and there he died from disease of the heart, February 1 1. 1866. Dr. Boyl was admirably adapted to the laying foundations, and the opening of n.-w countries and new field.-. Stirring, energetic and enterprising, he could run to and fro, and l»ns\ himself here and there and lay hold of n<-w comers and new communities. With 588 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE a mind trained in the schools and furnished with the knowledge communicated in them, he could be spared from the study to mingle with men and to traverse the country. Holding comparatively short pastorates, he was eminently successful in them, and traveling about to address congregations on great causes and to enlist them in them, he always accomplished the objects for which he set out. He was a public man by his constitution, and so, besides attending to his parishes and his agencies, he was busy in the affairs of his de- nomination and in ecclesiastical bodies. He was absent from his Synod and Presbytery but once in twenty- five years, and then sickness kept him away. He is described as of a "genial temperament, free from guile, and remarkably inoffensive in his conduct. His con- versation was enlivened with sallies of wit and pleas- antry, yet he was never wanting in dignity. He was gentle and courteous to all. His home was the abode of Christian hospitality." "As a Christian, his piety was not characterized by raptures, so much as by uni- formity, stability and firm assurance." When the time to die came, he said, "I am ready to depart and be with Christ," and though not impatient to leave, he said to his brethren, "Do not pray that I may be continued very long." Dr. Hoyt was married twice: first, in 1825, to Mary Clark, of Orwell, Vt, who died in 1855; and second, to Mrs. Kebecca W. Sears, widow of Eev. R L. Sears. The latter and four children of his first wife, survived, him. Rev. John Humphrey, born in Fairfield, Ct., March 17, 1816, was the son of Heman Humphrey, D. D.,LL. D., SYXOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOIiK. 589 When two years old be was removed to Pittsfield, Mass., his father being called to the First Church there, and six years after that, in the autumn of 1823, to Amherst, \)v. Humphrey taking the presidency of the college there. Here he spent his childhood and early youth in school and academic studies, at the same time enjoying athletic sports, of which he was fond and in which he excelled. He also completed his collegiate course there, graduating, in 1835, with an enviable name for scholar- ship and deportment. The next year he was principal of the academy at Prattsburg, N. Y., and acquitted himself so well that the trustees and patrons found it hard to release him. In 1836 lie entered Andover Seminary, but in consequence of Prof. Stuart's sickness and consequent inability to conduct his classes, Mr. Humphrey spent 1686-37 at East Windsor Seminary. lie then accepted a tutorship in his alma mater, and kept it until the latter part of 1831), when he again went to Andover Seminary. Graduating from there. he followed William Bradford Homer in the pastorship, South Berwick, Me., made vacant by the lamented death of this remarkable young minister. He remained, bowever, but a few months, and then supplied a pulpit for some time in Springfield, Mass. October, 1S42, he succeeded Rev. Daniel Crosby in the Winthrop Church, ( lharlestown, Mass. Forthreeor I >ur years he preached here with greal acceptance, and went in and out among the people; but his constitution was Impaired, and he BOUghl escape from the Btrain upon it in repose at Pitts- field. So much refreshed did he feel, that early in L848 he ventured on the care *>f the First Church, Binghamton, l»ut overcome by it he v 590 PRESB YTEIUA NJSJ1 JN '1 HE a dismission, March, 1854. He then consented to serve as Professor of Rhetoric in Hamilton College and as pastor of the students ; but before entering upon the duties of the place he went to Europe, hoping by travel there, and by the voyage, so to invigorate his health as to be fully equal to them. But worse sj^mptoms ap- peared, and he hastened home. Beaching Pittsfield in June, it was very obvious that he was rapidly failing, and December 22d his decline was consummated by death. July 2, 1845, Mr. Humphrey joined in marriage with Lucy V., daughter of William Henderson, of Thomas- ton, Me. Three children were born to them, one of whom died before the father. Says Prof. Harris, formerly of the Second Church, Pittsfield, and afterwards of Bangor and New Haven Seminaries : I remember Mr. Humphrey, in both our earlier and later inter- course, as remarkable for amenity of manners, gentleness and af- tectionateness, sweetness of temper, refinement and delicacy of feeling, scholarly culture, and a beautiful harmony of mental de- velopment and moral character. He was a man who drew every- body's love. He occasionally preached in my pulpit. His ser- mons always left the impression of great completeness and fin- ish. There was nothing one wished to alter, erase or add, and they were always purifying and elevating in their general influ- ence and breathing with spiritual life. The latter months of his long illness were spent at his father's house, in my parish! The nature of his disease made him inca- pable of much conversation or mental effort. He sat most of the time leaning his head on a pillow on the back of a chair be- fore him, and in this posture, which made his sufferings more tolerable, he wore away the painful hours, always with a hopeful serenity and a patient and loving submissiveness, which revealed in new lustre the beauty of his character. Two or three days 1 SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 591 before his death, iu reply to a remark respecting Christ, he said to me with emphasis, " I do trust him." " You have preached Christ ?" I said. " Yes !" he replied, " would that I had preached him more, more!" And added, "The doctrines which I have preached give me comfort and strength. I wish I had preached them more faithfully." He afterwards said, thoughtfully: "I have no raptures. I have peace. I trust I shall enter heaven." And so this "beloved disciple," for thus he was often called, passed away to his rest. Says Rev. Dr. Wm. Ives Buddington : Mr. Humphrey's religious character appears to have been a silent and steady growth from infancy up, and it is the more en- couraging and instructive to the church of (Jod that a character beginning thus in the household baptism of a Christian minister, should have ripened into such beautiful proportionateness, and borne the choicest fruits of Christian discipleship. He could never tell the time of his conversion. As a preacher he was both attractive and impressive, — his style blending, iu happy proportions, strength with beauty, precision of diction and logical sequence of thought with the graces of a Mowing rhetoric. His manner in the pulpit was grave, yet ani- mated ; unaffectedly simple, but indicative of a controlled enthu- siasm, and often awakening a like emotion in the hearer. His delivery was rendered more effective by the beaming light and sweetness of his countenance. It was a face expressive of high and clear intelligence, and always radiant with kindly and cheer- ful feeling ; but when his mind glowed with the sacred themes of the pulpit, his face became luminous as with the light of the spirit within. His death was thoroughly natural, in keeping with his chaiac ter and life. Loving life, and even longing for it, he frankh thai if be were left to bis choice In- should choose to live loi but his supreme choice was to havr (iod's will done ; and with cheerful hope he awaited the hist, having full confidence that all God's ordering!} concerning him would prove infinitely wise and good. It was the departure <>f the beloved disciple, love settling down into the consciousness of eternal peace. He was likened. and h\ no forced comparison, to the apostle John ; it WSJ applied to him frequently during his life, hut in Ins last sickness tii-- re semblance came out so strongly as to force itself upon ei erj heart. 592 PRESB YTERIA N1SM IN THE Rev. George Hunter Hulin, born in Malta, Sara- toga county, December 23d, 1804, graduated, with dis- tinction, from Union College, 182G, and spent two years, 1828 and 1829, at Princeton Seminary. Ordain- ed in tlie Congregational Church of North Fairfield, Ct., April 24, 1S33, he took charge of the church at Cov- ington, Me., in 1837, and in 1839 supplied the church in South Orange, N. J. In 1841 he was settled in On- ondaga Valley, and served Usefully and happily there until 1846, when he took the editorship of the Religious Recorder, Syracuse, and when that paper was merged in the K Y. Evangelist, he filled a place in the editorial department until 1856. From that time he was dis- abled for stated labors, and lived an invalid at Bloom- ficld, N. J., until December 21, 1872, when he died, in the 68th year of his age. Never rugged, he was inca- pable of accomplishing the much of which his mind was capable, and very modest and retiring, and enfee- bled and depressed, he could not make his way to posi- tions which he would have well filled, nor assert him- self when withstood or displaced. His associates in the ministry highly appreciated his abilities and his excel- lencies. No complaint, or disappointment, or discour- agement was expressed by him, and in the excitement of conversation, his face lighted up and beamed with smiles, — but ordinarily he wore a downcast, or pained look, and showed negligence of his appearance. Both his intellect and his heart fitted him for large achieve- ments, as well as for universal favor, and what he did, c-pccially with his pen, was well done. His two years Irving illness immediately before death, was borne with exemplary resignation and Christian hope. The grave SY-XOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. o9o was a refuge for him, and heaven his aspiration and destiny. Rev. IjEVEBETT II I'll was born in Bethlehem, Ct, in 1796, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1823, with Drs. Charles Hall, Asa Mahan and Joel Parker, among his classmates, and from Auburn Seminary in 1S2G. He preached at Augusta, Deposit, Guilford, Watertown, Angelica, Deansville (all of N. Y.), and at Sandusky, Ohio, and served as agent of the A. B. C. R M. and of the Seamen's Friends Society. He died of cholera at Sandusky. September 3, 1S52. Of strong mind and ardent temperament, he made himself felt, more however, in the way of propulsion than of attrac- tion. Early in his ministerial career, he took an active part in revivals of religion, and favored the stimulating and arousing methods then in vogue, and classed him- self among new measure men and radical reformers. le .. I M:i;x HYDE, a native of Massachusets and an alumnus of Middlebury Coll--''. 1812, and of Princeton Seminary, was stated supply in Sullivan, and then in Sauquoit, and again in Springfield, and finally in Fair- held. He afterwards became a teacher in Fayetteville. He was fifth in the succession of ministers al 5] held, "more <>f a scholar than preacher, eminent in his know ! the Hebr« \ language His ministry was brief, being only "lie year. I83L It was the memorable period in o ir American /ion when a very general in- terest in religion obtained through all the country — the d of ' four days n and pr< tracn d effort the salvation of souls, I' called for the aid of 594 PRESBYTEEIAKISM IN THE Evangelists and neighboring ministers to assist them in the preaching of the Word. Among them, Mr. Hyde in- vited Kev. Lumand Wilcox, who became his successor/' Eev. Lewis D. Howell was a native of Ohio, born in 1803, and a graduate from Cincinnati College in 1823, and from Auburn Seminary in 1826. He preach- ed in Derby, Ct,, from 1830 to J 836, and was compelled by ill health to break up a pastorate in Binghamton, after only ten months continuance of it. He was one of the best of men and of Christians, and, denied the privilege of settling in a parish, he made Western New York his circuit of travel as a District Secretary of the vYmerican Education Society, receiving a welcome in every manse and in every church, and while gathering the offerings of the people for indigent candidates for the ministry, breathing into them a gentle, loving spirit. Eev. George Kerr, LL. D., son of Robert and Mary (Buchanan) Kerr, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, Dec. 18, 1814, and came to this country with his pa- rents, who settled in Greene Co., N. Y. The son was brought up on a farm, and labored in its cultivation from childhood to manhood. Becoming hopefully a Christian, his love of knowledge and his desire for an education were stimulated to such a passion, that he set. out in study with nothing but strong arms and a strong will to carry him on. Overcoming poverty by a pro- tracted and heroic struggle, he graduated in 1839 with the first honors of his class, at Williams College, and completed a theological course at I Jnion Seminary, N. Y. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 595 The Columbia Presbytery licensed him to preach and set him apart to the ministry, at West Durham. X. V.. in 1844 His only pastorate was the Keformed (Dutch) Church at Conesville, Schoharie Co., N. Y., and lasted but two years. Providence so distinctly pointed him there, that he went to the Principalship of the academy at Franklin, Delaware county, and there began what proved to be, his main life-work, and here, too, he ac- complished the chief part of this. For nearly sixteen years he lived and labored in Franklin and its vicinity. supplementing his teaching by almost constant preach- ing. He then filled for a year and a half, a professor- ship in the State Agricultural College at Ovid, X. V.. and left this for the charge of the Literary and Religious Institute at Watertown, N. Y., which he retained for three years, and then went toC >wn, X. Y.. where he had been head of the academy for two years, when lie died of inflammation of the lungs, March 26, lVi'7. leaving a widow, — Lucia M., daughter of Hon. Henry Hamilton, of Schoharie county, and eight children. It cost him a severe struggle to relinquish the pulpit for the school room. Be greatly preferred to preach, and go in and out among the people of a pastoral eh. but he had too much conscience and too genuine a zeal for religion to decline teaching, in which he could clearly achieve a greater usefulness. Rev. Charles K. McHarg, of ( looperstown, writ Dr. Kerr n of remmi kably vigorous and active intellect, of indomitable p« rsistence snd of unceasing industry . A passion for work iii all that he undertook, er constraining him. Ho therefore becami competent and successful teacher. Ho was a \ liberties eoiild be taken with him and no imposition or tyranny practiced upon him. Of tlemanly Instincts and manners, intelligent and studi ons. filling the pulpit well anoT diligent in the parish. he not onlj met the requirements of his congregations, hut suited their tastes and won their affections. Bven 598 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE sermon was carefully prepared and earnestly delivered, and familiarizing himself with people of every class and condition and age, lie rightly divided the word of truth in public and in private. Conversions and revi- vals followed his preaching and visiting, and large numbers were added to the churches. At the height of I lis usefulness, symptoms of serious disease appeared, and its inroads proceeded until no alternative was left, and Mr. Kirk sought recovery in quiet at Adams, and in occasional journeying. But no expedients and rem- edies availed for his cure, or to stay his disease, and November 15, 1862, in the city of New York, he yielded to the power of the destroyer. Mr. Kirk married Mary, daughter of William Dox- tater, of Adams, who. and a son and daughter, are now living. " The Rev. Isaac Lewis, IX 1)., was bom in Wilton, Conn., Janury 1, 1773. He was the son of the vener- able pastor, of the same name, who died in Greenwich, Conn., at the age of 9-4, and was a twin brother of the late Zechariah Lewis, Esq., of Brooklyn. Graduating at Yale College in 1794, and ordained in 179S, in 1800 he was installed first pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Cooperstown, IS". Y.. where his Labors were greatly blessed for about six years, as they were afterwards in Goshen, N". Y., where he was installed in 1806. From 1813 to 1818 he supplied the churches at New Rochellc and West Farms, Westchester county. In December, L818, he was settled in the Congregational Church. Greenwich, Conn., as successor to his revered father, where under his ministry one hundred and ten souls SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 599 were added to the church, eighty-three of them as the fruits of a blessed revival of religion in 1822 and 1823. In November, 1828, he was settled in Bristol. E. I, where his labors for a time, in 1812, had been richly blessed. A discourse he preached here is the tract, " The Fullness of Christ," published by the American Tract Society. In one year, 1S30, seventy-eight were added to the church as the fruits of a wonderful out- pouring of the Holy Spirit under his ministry. Eis labors during the progress of this work were most abundant and self-sacrificing, the sermons he preached for three months averaging one each week day, in ad- dition to three on the Sabbath. In these labors his voice failed, causing him, in the autumn of 1831, to resign the pastoral charge, though he was able to preach occasionally till within a few weeks of his death, which occurred at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Smith. in the city of New York, September 23, 1854 Dr. Lewis was a man of deep Christian experience. The Bible was his constant companion ; his convictions of sin were thorough and abiding, accompanied by an unshaken faith in the atonemenl of Christ as the only ground of a sinner's bope, which grew stronger and deeper until faith was losl in sight. and hope in full fruition, [t was a delightful privilege to be with him in his last hours. Being asked if his view- <>f redemp tion were clear, be said, 'Yes, I thinktheyare. Chrisl is an all-sufficienl Saviour.' Again, when asked if ln- felt the fullness of the atonement as applied to himself, ' Yes,' he said. ' I can t rust in Christ, and in him onl\ : L think I can feel that la- is to me my prophet, priest and king.' A short time before his death, as his mind 600 PRESDYTERIANISM IN THE was evidently dwelling on his individual interest in Christ, he looked up* and said, with great emphasis, ' He in me and I in him.' After a short pause, he ex- claimed, ' I am ready, and only waiting ;' and in this frame of mind he passed from this world to be with the Saviour whom he loved and delighted to serve." Dr. Lewis was one of the original members of the Presbytery of Oneida, and its first stated clerk. He was as active in ecclesiastical affairs generally as in those of his parish, and labored as zealously to extend and establish the church throughout this then new country as in his own town. The neatness with which he kept the records is worthy of remark, and may be particularly commended to the notice of brethren now transcribing the minutes of our different Judicatories. Rev. Henry (j. Ludlow, born in Kinderhook, Feb. 11, 1797, was the second son of Daniel and Phoebe Ludlow, parents of eminently Christian character, — the father a pioneer in the temperance cause, adopting and advocating its principles before any general and organ- ized effort for them. .V maternal uncle, — Samuel Baldwin, one of the most accomplished scholars of his day, took Henry when eight years old, and made him a proficient in the languages and mathematics at an age when most boys are but beginning them. When only twelve, he was fit for college in the classics, and read almost any Latin or Greek author with facility. The education of the day did not train him in natural sci- ence, but his sharp observation measurably supplied this lack. He graduated from Columbia College, and was admitted mansions in the skies. Mr. Ludlow impersonate late- s, earnestness and motion. His look was sunny and enlivening. Hie heart was tender, sympathetic loving. His spirit was active, and hi. body and menv tant play. Too stirrii make a philosopher, Or a scholar, and too amiable ami kind to make a leader, he charmed men to the right ainl good by hi.- attractiveness, and disqualifying them for resistance to himself, he incited and drew them t i virtue and religion. Few men of hi.- day. and few men of any day, had so much of a mind [or the • \ the 6 04 PliESB YTERIANISM IN THE Lord, or prosecuted it so zealously aud successfully. And his good temper and pleasant disposition and ways were no less remarkable. "Mention has already been made of the entire absence of irritability or spitefulness when he was refused ordination by the Presbytery of Albany. His transfer from the Presbytery of St. Lawrence to an Association, quite as distinctly discloses his good feeling and his pleasant deportment. The following is the record of it: "Rev. H. G. Ludlow stated that steps had been taken to organize a Congregational Association in this county ; that the church of which he is pastor is a Congregational Church, and would join the Association. Though lie regretted exceedingly to leave the Presby- tery, for he dearly loved the brethren, he thought it best for the church and himself to belong to the same ecclesiastical body. LTpon the organization of the As- sociation, he would like a letter of dismission and rec- ommendation to it." What frankness and sweetness are displayed here ! The case is the more noticeable from its contrast to the passage of another minister from this Presbytery to the Presbytery of another ecclesias- tical bod}'. Ebenezer Davenpoet Maltbie was a descendant, on his mother's side, from Dr. John Davenport, the first minister and one of the principle founders of New Ha- ven, Ct, He was a son of David Maltbie, a leading- citizen of Stamford, Ct,, and where he was born Jan. 20, 1799. He removed with his father's family to the city of New York, and performed a mercantile ap- prenticeship there. In March, 1817, he united with the Brick Church, under the care of Rev. Dr. Gardner SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 605 Spring, and at twenty-one years of age he commenced preparing for college under his uncle, Rev. Ebenezer Davenport, at his school in Stamford. lie entered Hamilton in 1821, and graduated in 1824, and spent two years in theological studies at Andover, when he left to till a tutorship in his alma mater. In Sep- tember, 1831, he married Mary A., daughter of Pres. Davis, and in 1832 was licensed and ordained by the Oneida Association, and set over the church in Hamil- ton, N. Y. His health gave way under the pressure of a pastorate, and uniting with the Presbytery of Troy in 1841, he took charge of the Hudson River Acade- my, and two years after of a Literary Institute at Lan- singburg, which he retained until the end of eight year.-, when his health again gave out. He afterwards made it his home, first in Clinton and then in Syracuse, where he died, lamented by the church and the city. The sketch of HENBY MANDEVILLE, I). I)., given in eonneetion with the account of Hamilton Col! may be supplemented by some items not found there. He was of Huguenot descent, and the son of Ge and Elizabeth Mandeville, and made a profession of re- ligion in the 16th year <>{' his age. lie graduated from Union College in lb^<'>, and studied theology at the seminary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in New Brunswick, X. J. He was licensed to preach by the Classis of Orange, and first installed as pastor of the Reformed (Dutch) Church at Shawangunk, N, Y.. whence he was in\ ited to ( iciaw a, and organized the R formed (Dutch) Church there, ami was called from there to I'liea. lie left this last pastoral charge for a profes 606 PRESB YTER1A XJSJI EV THE sorship in Hamilton College; and while filling it, lie prepared a work on the Epistle to the Romans, the Primary Reader, the Second, Third and Fourth Reader, and a volume on Reading and Oratory. While attend- ing to the publication of his books in Albany, he was called to the Fourth Church there, and was blessed with a precious revival, and took an active and promi- nent part in the temperance reform, and served as cor- responding secretary of the State society. He spent the winter of 1852-3, at Mobile and supplied the pul- pit of the Government Street Church there, and after- wards accepting pastorship of it, he labored with fidel- ity and success, cheered by several revivals, until Oct. 2, 1858, when the yellow fever bore him away. The affliction to his family and congregation was felt by the community, and the whole city seemed to participate in the obsequies. Rev. Albert Mandell was a native of Aurora, and a graduate from Auburn Seminary in 1854. He first settled at Westernville, and then successively at Skan- eateles, Newark, N". J., and Madison, 1ST. J., remaining at the latter place from 1864 to 1866. He afterwards lived for a time at New Bedford, Mass., disabled by dis- ease, and died in his native town in 1870. He spent a few years at Albany as a reporter of the proceedings of the Legislature, before turning towards the ministry, but while acquainting himself thus with men and things, and learning much of value to him in his sacred profession, he did not seem to have received any taint or perversion. Indeed, lie made the impression of one who eminently had passed into the ministry from the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 607 purity and simplicity of early youth. Tall and fine looking, his disposition was peculiarly amiable and his manner gentle and agreeable, and with much literary taste, his sermons were popular. A fatal malady was obviously at work within him from the beginning of his ministry and, without giving him the appearance of great lassitude, must have enfeebled him, and kept him changing from place to place to escape from its hold. Kev. Henry Norton Millerd was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga county, X. Y., Aug. 5, 1830, and graduated from Hamilton College in lfc50, and from Auburn The- ological Seminary in 1863. He was ordained and instal- led pastor at Aurelius in 1855, and remained there for three years. He then had charge of the church in Trux- ton for six years and a half, and after that <>(' the church at Williamstown, X. Y., for five year.-, lie then became pastor of the church at Holland Patent, but declining health compelled him to resign after about a year, and he led at Utica until September 13, 1873, when he died at the home of his mother in Auburn. His wife, Eliz- abeth J. Storrs, <»f Baton, X. Y.. survives him, with two daughters. The Lord Betasealto his ministry, revivals of religion occurring in all the places where it- was exercised. Be was modest and retiring, quiel and amiable, conscientious and faithful, and gained the re speel and affection and confidence of all the congn tions he served. He was t"<> unsparing of his strength and thus exhausted it. S . devoted was he t<» the con- jations over which he was set. that he never left them for a vacation, and he always took his place and performed hia part in the ecclesiastical bodies to which 608 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE he belonged, and so punctually was lie present and so expert in the proceedings, that both the Presbyteries of Cryuga and Cortland chose him stated clerk. His last days on earth, enfeebled as he was, were his best days, the daj's of the liveliest of his spiritual exercises and of his greatest nearness to heaven. Just before his death, and after he had gone to Auburn where he died, he remarked to a friend that he felt as never before, and that it seemed as if he had come back to his mother's home to die. Rev. Homer Bartlett Morgan, son of Chauncey D. and Almira (Bartlett) Morgan, was born at Water- town, May 31, 1S27, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1847, and from Auburn Seminary in 1850. The Presbytery of Cayuga licensed him to preach, and the Presbytery of St. Lawrence ordained him for the ministry, and he always remained a member of the lat- ter body. In 1851, he went out under the American Board, and first labored at Salonica, Greece, and after- wards at Antioch, Syria, and nearly completed fourteen years of foreign service. It was then determined that he should bring his family to this country and leave them for a year or two here, while he went back to his mission field. Hoping to arrive in time for the annual meeting of the Board at Chicago, October, 1865, he made hasty preparation for leaving, and just ready to start, a lovely son, two years old, sickened and died. The care of the lad, and his strenuous exertions to complete the preparations for his departure, brought on an attack of typhoid fever, which destroyed his life, August 25, 1865. He had proceeded as far as Smyrna, SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 609 when unable to go further, lie was taken to the house of his fellow missionary, Eev. D. Ladd, and there re- ceived the best of medical skill, missing, however, the many friends whom his own residence in the city had previously made, but who had been driven away, at ,that time, by the scourge of cholera. Their places were supplied by Prussian deaconnesses and by Captain Hamilton and the crew of the Boston barque Armenia. The Captain watched with Mr. Morgan the last night of his life, and six of the sailors bore the remains to the English cemetery, near the Dutch Hos- pital. Dr. Pratt, of the same mission with him, was at Constantinople during Mr. Morgan's last illness, and hurried to Smyrna and accompanied the widow and her three fatherless children to the United States, and they made it their home at Watertown with Mr. Mor- gan's parents. Mr. Morgan married the widow of Rev. Joseph M. Sutphen, of the Turkey mission, who died at Marsovan in 1852, and daughter of Rev. H. II. Kellogg, long of Clinton, N. Y., but now of Chicago. Rev. J. W. Parsons, of Nicomedias, writ' Brother Morgan was greatly endeared to us. His love was the stay of our hearts during many dark days in Balonica. Great as we feel his loaf personally, it is greater to the missions in Tu i hi ^ . The wisdom in council and the good jadgmi nt which he always exhibited, rendered him of Incomparable value t.> all. Rev. Dr. Hamlin, of Constantinople, writes: Be was a ooble missionary, a man «»f righl judgment, of execn tive power, of self-denying devotion to hie work. I!.- has finished it early, hut done it well, and Qi w r.'sts from his labors in th.« en joymenl of an eternal reward. 610 PliESBYTERIANISM IN THE Kev. Samuel Mosely was an alumnus of Yale Col- lege, of the class of 1836, and of the New Haven Sem- inary of the class of lb39, and the eighth in the line of pastors at Cherry Valley. He came to this charge im- mediately after completing his theological course and, consumptive and feeble, continued in it but a few months. He wTas studious and faithful, and showed abilities and attainments and habits that would have qualified him for a valuable ministry. After leaving Cherry Valley, he preached for a few months at St. Vincent, but within a year, sought the bosom of his family in New Haven, and in 1845, breathed his last there. Eev. James Muhdock was born in Saybrook, Ct., February 10, 1755, — son of John Murdock and Frances Conkling, and grandson of Peter Murdock, who emi- grated from Liverpool early in the last century and set- tled in Saybrook, Ct, Graduating from Yale College in 1774, he engaged as tutor of Judge James Kent, and subsequently preparing for the ministry, he went to. Sandgate, Vt., about 1780, and was the first pastor in- stalled there. March, 1805, he moved to Lewis county, N. Y, and preached some time in Turin and Constable- ville, and for seven years from February, 1812, in Mar- tinsburg, and then for a few years in Gouverncur, and after that in Ilouseville. In 1831 he retired from sta- led service and made it his home in Crown Point, with his son, Mr. Charles Murdock, and there he died, Jan. 14, 1841, aged 86 years, and in the sixty-fifth year of his ministry, For fifty years he did not once fail in his Sunday services. Of a strong constitution and an SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 611 equable temperament, lie bore up under the responsi- bilities laid upon him, and suffered no ill effect. lie was a godly man and a faithful and successful preacher. Particularly was he prospered in Sandgate, a large num- ber being admitted to the church while under his care. MY. Murdock was married Sept. 30, 1779, to Anna, daughter of Joseph Buckingham and Sarah Tully. Kev. Joseph Myers, son of Joseph and Abigail My- ers, was a native of Herkimer, X. Y., January, 1795. He was religiously trained, and united with the church in the eighteenth year of his age. Graduating from Union College in 1821, he passed through the full course of study at Princeton Theological Seminary. The Pres- bytery of Troy in 1824 licensed him to preach, and the Presbytery of Genesee ordained him the following year, installing him at the same time pastor of the church in Leroy. lie subsequently had charge successively of the churches in Brockport, Lockport, Orville, Water- \ ill*-, Salina and Liverpool, and acted as agent of differ- ent benevolent societies. He was a courteous gentle- man and sincere Christian, and if not a pulpit orator, he was an Instructive and earnest preacher, and a sympa- thetic and diligent pastor. Though of robust appear- ance, he suffered from organic derangement, and died ;it Liverpool February il 1 860. Rev. Wu.u.wi Neill, 1). D.. was a son of William and Jane (Snodgrass) Neill, and born on his father's farm, a feu miles from Pittsburgh, Pa., April 25, 1 His parents were killed 1»\ [ndians during his child- hood, ami their place with him was taken bv the Kind 6 1 'J PRESB YTERIA NISM IN TH& est of friends. In early youth he went into a store at Oanonsburg, Pa., and enjoyed the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. John McMillan, of the church of Chartiers, Pa. His hopeful conversion led to his preparation for the ministry. His academic course was passed in what afterwards became Jefferson College, and in 1800 he entered the College of New Jersey, Princeton, Dr. S. Stanhope Smith being then its President; and graduating in 1803, he accepted a tutorship. Soon after leaving it, and for the two years he spent in it, he studi- ed theology under Dr. Henry Kollock, pastor of the village church, whose study was quite a popular theo- logical seminary. He was licensed to preach by the New Brunswick Presbytery, October, 1805, and in September, 180G, ordained by the Presbytery of Oneida, and settled over the church in Cooperstown. In Sep- tember. 1809, he left for the pastorate of the First Church, Albany. N. Y., as successor to Dr. Nott, and in 1810, went to the charga of the Sixth Church, Phil- adelphia, and in the Autumn of 182-1 accepted an in- vitation to the Presidency of Dickinson College, Car- lisle, Pa. Chronic difficulties in the college constrained him t«. resign after five years of wise and vigorous management, and by tin1 action of the trustees, that in- stitution, founded by Presbyterians and sacred to them, passed under the control of the Methodist denomina- tion. Dr. Neill then held the secretaryship and general agency of the General Assembly's Board of Education for two years. He writes : I was their factotum, had the office in my dwelling, kept the records, wrote the letters, traveled, preached, collected funds and prepared the reports, without even a hoy to goof errands. But SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 613 harder than all, I had to contend with the American Education Society, and the prejudices of the people against all denomina- tional boards. My work was that of a pioneer, toilsome and rough, and often forgotten when success crowned the enterprise. We made progress by the hardest labor. A few hundred dollars were collected. A few beneficiaries were registered, and the peo- ple gradually began to come slowly under the shadow of their new standard. Finding the work too hard for me, and incompati- ble with my duty to my large family, I resigned, retired to Ger- mantown, now in the city of Philadelphia, and there betook my- self to my favorite employment, the duties of the pulpit. The church was in a deplorable condition, broken down, peeled, scat- tered, with but few symptons of vitality. Tndeed. it had been a sort of hot house plant, a few individuals seceding from the Ger- man Reformed Church because the Germans would not allow the public services to be performed a part of the time in the English language. A little band of Presbyterians, led on by two men of more zeal than practical wisdom procured a fine lot, built a large house and placed in it an expensive organ, borrowing money and contracting a debt which sat as a night-mare upon them for many years. Thus an injury was inflicted on Presbyterianism in the town from which it has hardly recovered to this day. Their min- ister had died: there were no session records; the pulpit was. p. □ to any quack, male or female, that might happen to be on hand, and wished to hold forth themselves and their crude notions. In this state of all'airs, and under the auspices of our Hoard of Do inestic Missions, and at the request of my gene ro US friend, John S. Henry, Esq., I turned in to see what could he done, and there I labored and watched unto prayer eleven years, hoping against hope for better days. Nor was the labor in vain in the Lord. But the population of the town was sparse and fluctuating. Pi. byterian families were few and far between, an. I D01 having be. n installed pastor, 1 felt at libert) to give place to a successor and determined to leave. Perhaps 1 < rred. If so. (iod overruled it for good. Had 1 b.en under inaugural engagements, 1 should probably have remained at (iermantown to tins day, and I take lea\ e here to record my protest against the whole By Stem of stated supplies. It is incompatible with our plan as Presbyterians, and works badly in many wa_\ s. It makes t he minis! ry t 00 in 111 b of 0. 614 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE a jobbing business, diminishes the feeling of responsibility, pro- motes fastidiousness and tempts both minister and people to be on the look out for changes and novelties, rather than growth in grace and godly edifying. In 1842, Dr. Neill removed from Germantown to Philadelphia, and preached frequently and always ac- ceptably, to numerous congregations which from time to time he addressed. Some years after, his bodily powers began to wane and gradually decayed until August 8, 1860, when they entirely failed and he sunk in death. Dr. Neill was a public man, feeling that he belonged to the whole church, and more especially to his denom- ination, and not merely to the local church or institution over which he was placed. He took an active and re- sponsible part in ecclesiastical affairs, filled a place in the directorship of Princeton Theological Seminary. beginning with the first appointments in 1812. acted as stated clerk of the General Assembly from 1817 to 1825, and presided over it as Moderator in 1815. His first marriage was, October, 1805, with Elizabeth Van Dyke, of Mapleton, N. J. ; his second with Fran- ces, daughter of Gen. King, Eidgefield, Ct, ; and his third with Sarah Elmer, of Bridgeton, N. J. His attachment to the place of his early pastoral charge and the residence there of family connections, often drew Dr. Neill to Albany, and I occasionally saw linn in that city, bu1 only in my childhood. My recol- lection of his appearance, however, is quite distinct, my attention having been fixed upon him by the warm esteem expressed lor him and the notice paid him by my parents, who had been his parishioners. He was rather tall and spare and of a sallow complexion, and I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 615 wore spectacles, and his air was serious and his manners were sedate. The positions he held indicate the esti- mate put upon him. With nothing of the orator, and with no vein of the entertaining and never striking, his intelligence and scholarship and literary finish, his clear delivery of gospel truth, his tenderness and persuasive- ness and earnestness, drew large congregations about him and firmly held them, while the burthen of souls kept him looking after them in abundant visitation and religious conversation, and in the catechising of the young. He often employed the press, too, as a means of usefulness, and besides articles, discourses and pam- phlets, lie published commentaries on the Kpistles to the Corinthians and Bphesians, and other volumes. Rev. Benjamin NiLESwas an alumnusof Dartmouth College of the class of 1811, and settled at Binghamton in 1815, — the first pastor installed there. Here he re- mained for ten years and until his death, July, l^_'v. The year previous to the. Rev. Peter Lockwood was siated in the pastorate with him, by reason of his feeble health. During the closing year of his sole char--' of the church and the year of the joint chai it by him and Mr. Lockwood. there was a larg sion to its numbers, some tares, however, being gath- ered with the wheat, and causing subsequenl trouble Short as Mr. Xiles' ministry was, it made a deep and lasting impression. Distinct traces of it remain to the present, and the good Bavorof the minister is still sweet and precious among his people. Rev. Hki:\i\\ Norton was hopefully converted at Auburn in L817, under the preaching of the Rev. Dr. 616 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE Lansing and during a revival of religion. His gifts and piety and zeal led his pastor and other Christian friends to suggest the ministry to him, and with their aid to carry him on, he set out in preparation for it, leaving a clerkship he had held in a store. Graduating from Hamilton College in 1823, and from Auburn Sem- inary three years after, he was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of Oneida, and for four years labored as an evangelist in revivals of religion, principally in this region, but also in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania and Delaware. Called to the Saviour, he felt from the first that he was called to work, and Dr. Lansing re- marked at his funeral that more were brought by him to the Saviour during his preparatory course, than by most men during an entire ministry. His first pastorate was in a now disbanded church at the corner of Prince and Crosby Sts., New York, 1830. He remained in it five years, doubling its membership, and then took charge of a church in Cincinnati, 1836, where he was equally prospered. His health, however, failed, and at the end of two years he was compelled to return to the East Recovering in a measure, he resumed labor, sometimes as a stated supply, but principally as an evangelist. In L843 he was elected Secretary of the "American Prot- estanl Society," and when that was combined with the "Christian Alliance" and the "Foreign Evangelical So- eietv" in t!;«' "American and Foreign Christian Union," he was elected one of the Corresponding Secretaries. He spent the last eight years of his life in these posi- tions, and his spirit admirably adapted him to them. No little violence had been introduced into the discus- sion <>f Romanism, and however excited Protestants SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YOltK. 617 may have become against it, Romanists were not less aroused for it. Faithful to the truth, Mr. Norton was charitable in the exhibition of it, and precluded hos- tility in his advocacy of it. The society rallied Prot- estants about it that had been repelled from it, and pre- sented itself as a friend, and not a foe, to Romanists. New revenues were opened for it and new fields of labor. Agents and missionaries multiplied in its ser- vice, and in several of our cities large secessions from the Papacy were effected by it. Only a few days ill- ness,— congestion of the lungs, preceded his death, 1850, at the age of fifty, but it was attended with much Buffering, and when warned of what was immediately at hand, he said twice: " 1 do not care how soon 1 My anxiety is not on my own account, but for others." Mr. Norton's preaching dealt with the essential doc- trines of the gospel. Not eloquent, but earnest, his hearers were lost with him in his themes, and large liuin- I ers were persuaded by him to believe As a pastor he was a brother and father, full of fraternal and pater- nal feeling,and Looking after his people as if they were his own family. lb' made home the - and holi- est of spots, giving toil his own cheerfulness and benig- nity and saintlinesa Forgetful of himself, he lived for others. Always crippled in his circumstances by the Bcantiness of his support, he uttered no complaint a lout it. and abated not hi.- diligence because of it. Tl • Collection of him brings lip to all who knew him. a zealous and 1< »\ el \ ( 'hnM ian. w ho made the mo.M of himself and of Ins opportunities to glorify God and bless men. \ 618 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE Eliphalet Nott, D. D., LL. D., was a descendant of John Nott, who came from England in 1641, and set- tled in Wethersfield, Ct. His paternal grandfather was Rev. Abram Nott, born in Wethersfield, and graduated from Yale College in 1720, and settled in Say brook in 1725, where he died at the age of ninety-one. His father was Stephen Nott, a country merchant, who had been in comfortable circumstances, until reduced by fire to poverty just before his son's birth. His mother was Deborah, sister of Col. Selden, of the Revolution- ary war, who died in the slave ship at New York. Dr. Nott was born at Ashford, Windham county, Ct,, June 25, 1773, his parents having betaken themselves to an unproductive farm in an obscure neighborhood there, after the burning up of nearly all their property. Here he spent his early years under the care and instruction of the best of mothers. When only four years old he had read the Bible through, and committed considera- ble portions of it to memory. He helped his father on the farm, and this kind of labor was counted his occu- pation for life. Heavy responsibilities were laid upon him in his earliest childhood. It was his father's cus- tom to tie him on a horse, when only four years old, and send him back and forth to mill ; and through life he bore the sear of the bite of the horse, to whom he was reaching an apple on such an occasion. He felt an insatiable thirst for knowledge, which his intelligent mother sought to supply from every source within her peach. Between his eighth and ninth year hespentthe winter with a sister in New Salem, N. Y., and the win- ter following with another sister, at Hartland. He walked to the latter place, forty-three miles distant, in I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 619 a single clay, carrying a bundle of fourteen pounds weight and reaching his destination at a late hour. The fa- tigue was a serious but not permanent injury to him. He studied arithmetic during his evenings, with the light of pine knots, which he went live miles to gather. He afterwards spent some time with his brother. Rev. Samuel Xott. at Franklin, Ct. The visits of a physi- cian to his mother when sick, inclined him to the study of medicine, but fainting after the removal of a cancer from a patient, his zeal for it expired. At the death of his mother, when he was twelve years old, he returned to his brother, and who. in keeping with the custom of the day, cultivated a farm while he fulfilled his minis- try, and remained with him two or three years, at work in summer and at study in winter. At sixteen, he taught school for two. winters, at Pantapang, Lord's Bridge, and at eighteen took charge of the Plainfield Academy, pursuing the classics and mathematics under Rev. Dr. Benedict, afterwards his father-in-law. At this time, he and a young companion published some newspaper articles reflecting severely on certain barbar- ous practices common among the lower and middle classes of Bociety in that region, and wrote, without printing, a satirical poem, entitled " Woman's Solilo- quy," which was widely circulated and aroused great excitement Be was called to account for this before his brother's church, with which he had united, Roger ■old. afterwards the distinguished Governor of Connecticut, commencing the prosecution, but - abandoning it as unjust The trial lasted for Beveral days, awakening the liveliest interest in Franklin and the neighboring parishes ; but, himself his only defender, 620 PRESBYTERIANJSM IN THE he was fully acquitted. Complimentary as all this was to the youth's skill, it did not commend itself to his subsequent matured judgment. Leaving Plainfield, he entered Brown University and remained only a year, hut was admitted Master of Arts there in 1795. Ee- turning to Franklin, he studied theology for six months with his brother, and was then licensed by the New London Association, at Canterbury, Ct, June 25, 1796. He preached two Sundays at New Salem, and was frightened away by rattlesnakes, — a man having just then been bitten by one. The Association thereupon commissioned him for this region, in the 21st year of his age, and he was among the first to pass over the Great Western Turnpike. After preaching a couple of months at Cherry Valley, heaccepted an invitation to settle there, and opened an academy simultaneously with the com- mencement of his pastorate. Two or three years subse- quently, he was invited through the intervention of Presi- dent John Blair Smith, of Union College, to preach two Sundays as a candidate in the vacant church at Al- bany. Giving satisfaction to all but a Scotch portion of it, a call to the charge was forthwith extended to him and accepted, and soon after, his Scotch parishion- ers joined their brethren in approbation of him. Here he spent rive years of what he considered the most dili- genl labors of his life, and which he thought it would have been impossible for him to survive another year. lie began with only three written sermons, previously using nothing but a "skeleton" in the pulpit. His bearers comprehended a large number of the most dis- tinguished men of the State, among them, Hamilton, Burr, Livingston. Kent and Spencer, and he would not 8TN0D OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 621 address them without elaborate preparation, and the writing out of his discourses in full. On the other hand, the prejudices of the Scotch hearers must be con- sulted, and they could not tolerate the reading of a manuscript. To suit both classes, Dr. Nott penned every word he spoke, and committed the whole to memory and delivered it without a scrap of paper be- fore him. But under pressure his best execution was wrought in brief periods. His sermon on the death of Hamilton still reverberates in the public ear. Perhaps none more effective ever sounded from the American Pulpit, and yet it was composed and memorized after noon of the Wednesday before the Sunday on which it was pronounced. Union College was chartered in 1795, and held its first Commencement in 1797. Dr. Smith being in its Presidency. The younger Jonathan Edwards succeed- ed to this place, but lived only a single year after. Dr. Jonathan Maxey followed him. but retired in 1804, — and then Dr. Not! came in. Fifty years after he re- marked : ••Some forty student.- scattered over the then village of Schenectady, meeting for educational pur- poses in what was then a cabinet-maker's shop, with a single Prohssor. was the whole of Union College," and it may be added, only Bixty-three had graduated from it. Be addressed himself to the raising of the needed, funds and the erection of needed buildings and thi tablishmenl and tilling of new departments, and won- derfully succeeded in this part of his work, while as President he attracted crowds of young men, four thou- sand <»f whom were graduated under him. Though incessantly occupied by his duties to the college, Dr. Notl was much engaged in outside preach 622 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE ing. and considerably in ecclesiastical affairs, and in 1811 was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly. He entered cordially into the temperance reform, and was the constant dependence and counsellor of Mr. Ed- ward C. Delavan in his large and liberal enterprises for this cause. He published occasional addresses and ser- mons, and in 1810 his "Counsel to Young Men," which passed through numerous editions, and in 1847, "Lec- tures on Temperance." In I860, he went for the last time to his lecture room, and presided at Commence- ment for the last time in 1862. Infirmities were gath- ering upon him for many years previously, and his de- cline ended in fatal paralysis, January 29, 1866. "His dying counsel to his nearest friend was, 'Fear God and keep his commandments,' and his last words were, ; Je- sus Christ, my covenant God.' " He was married three times: first to Sally, daughter of Kev. Joel Benedict, of Plainficld, Ct, and then to Gertrude Tibbits. and last to Urania E. Sheldon, of Utica. Says Rev. Dr. Crook, of the Methodist Church : Intellectually, Dr. Nott was a remarkable man, — many-sided, and superior on mostsides. His mechanical genius is well known, and one of the most famous iron manufactories, "the Novelty Works," New York, originated in one of his inventions.* He was a great financier, and enriched himself and Union College by his masterly skill and enterprise. In the higher activities of intellect, he commanded not only the respect, but the admiration of all who knew him. He was notably perspicuous, and his luminous mind never failed to throw at least a new light on whatsoever Subject he treated. He had no small amount of intellectual cour- *I)r Nott took out thirty patents for inventions for heating, — among them the first stove for burning anthracite coal It bore his name and was extensively used, and as a hall stove especially has never been surpassed. I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 623 age, and was not afraid of the " bugbear" imputation of charlatan ism against new opinions and startling theories. But such was the strength of his religious faith, that we never knew him to trench with any recklessness on the mysteries of revealed truth. He was oratorical without being declamatory, and a more fin- ished or perfect oratory was never heard in the American pulpit. We have been disposed to pronounce it faultless. One of his many extraordinary talents was his memory, which through most of his life seemed infallible, and it had much to do with his elo- quence, for it enabled him to go immediately from the composi- tion of his discourse to the desk without the manuscript, and de- liver it without the least apparent effort of recollection. His most striking characteristic as a preacher was his perfect grace of manner, toned by a perfect graciousness, if we may so speak, of religious feeling, strong, serene, dignified, beautiful in language, sometimes to ornateness, clear in thought and argument to trans- parency itself, appropriate in every modulation and gesture, he impressed one as a consummate master of the art of speaking. And what we could not fail to remark was the fact, indisputable, that this perfection of manner was not at all mechanical,— not at all a perfunctory accomplishment, but entirely natural,— an ex- pression of the natural symmetry of his intellectual and moral nature. No man was happier in short, impromptu, or extempora- neous addresses, but he took beaten gold into the pulpit. He pre- pared his sermons studiously and prayerfully, yet delivered them with a facility that may be characterized as altogether felicitous. And the moral impression of his sermons was always profound. Dr. Nbtt's strength became his weakness. His gifts were bis overmastering temptations. His inventive genius betrayed bira int.. large Btove manufactories and iron works, and turned him into the busiest of business men. His financial skill turned him into a large ope- rator, principal!} in tin- interests of bis college, but t<> an extent incompatible with personal spirituality and ministerial usefulness and character. The result, after long waiting, was immense to both Dr. Not! and the college, bu1 not without immense trouble and no little controvei 624 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE The State authorized lottery schemes for the benefit of three of its colleges. They did not succeed under a joint control, and Union College bought out the in- terest of the other two, and with Dr. Nott as the mas- ter spirit, Messrs. Yates and Mclntyre were employed as general agents. The tide then changed, and floods were poured into the treasury of the college; but a legislative investigation into accounts, induced by loud reports of fraud, were requisite to the vindication of Dr. Nott's integrity, and even that did not, in universal esteem, clear up every cloud that had darkened it. A doubt of Dr. Nott's perfect ingenuousness entered the public mind. A suspicion somewhat prevailed that he was a ''schemer" and "manager," carrying his points by tact and diplomacy, and adopting something of the Macchiavellian policy: and exception was taken to his training of students, as bringing them up to ex- pediency rather than to principle, and also to his ar- rangement of study and his requirements of study, as sacrificing scholarship to numbers. Possibly there was a basis for the thought, but much of it was more likely to be a prejudice or a mere impression. There can be no more doubt of the genuineness of Dr. Nott's piety, and of his benevolence and earnest endeavor to do good, and of his great usefulness, than of his abilities I accomplishments. an< Rev. Samson Ocoum, was born at Mohegan, near Norwich, Ct., in 1728. He was the first Indian taken into "More's Charity School," entering there in the nineteenth year of his age. Obtaining a thorough ed- ucation, in 1748, he taught school at New London. He \ SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW TOEK. 625 removed thence to Montauk, L. L, and was a teacher of Indians, greatly beloved by them, for ten or eleven years, and for a part of this time licensed to preach. August 29, 1759, he was ordained by the Suffolk Pres- bytery. He went to England in 1766, to solicit money for his alma mater, and being the first Indian preacher who had visited there, he attracted great attention and drew crowded houses. He preached before George III. and "the noblest chapels in the kingdom were open to him.'1 The king presented him a gold-headed cane, and became a patron of the school, heading a long list of noblemen and men of wealth and distinction. Large sums were contributed and for several years in succes- sion. In 1786, Mr. Oeenm, with one hundred and ninety-two Montanks and Shinecocka from Long Is- land, Mohegans from Connecticut, and Naragansetts from Rhode Island, emigrated to Brotherton, nearOris- kany Creek, and within the town of Marshall, Oneida county, and there he labored with much earnestness for his people, and maintained an exemplary character, and enjoyed the confidence of missionary Kirkland and of Christians generally. Intelligent and cultivated, and much esteemed, be officiated for the white settlers. preaching, s< ilemnizing marriages and attending funerals. The call for his services was frequent, as for some time he was the only minister between the German Flats and Oneida. lie died at New Stockbridge, July. L792, aged 'i'* yeara Rev. David Longwortb Ogdkn was born in Con- necticut, and graduated from Yale College in L814L He spent t \\ < i \ ears at A.nd0V6T Seminary, in the class 626 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE of 1818. He was ordained October 31, 1821, and settled at Southington, Ct. Removing to Whites- boro in 1836, he remained there until 1844. In 1848 he went to Marlboro, Mass., and left for New Haven in 1850, where he lived, without charge, until his death, October 31, 1863, aged 71. Of commanding person, his mind corresponded to his body. Fe,w men bring more vigor to the ministry, and wield a more powerful influence in it. Unhappily for him, he was called to Whitesboro at the time of its agitation from the anti-slavery movement, and he entered the Presby- tery of Oneida in the midst of its throes from it. His temperament forbade silence and quiet, and none de- fended the conservative side and assailed the radical with more fearlessness or ability or effect. He was an excellent and acceptable preacher, and the church at Southington, particularly, greatly flourished under his care. Rev. Andrew Oliver, a native of Scotland, but then more recently from Pelham, Mass., was installed at Springfield, the first pastor there, October 14, 1806. There was some opposition to his settlement and some delay in consequence, and December following, a Con- gregational Church of twenty-four seceding members was formed. He remained in charge for nearly thir- teen years, during which the church grew in numbers, strength and stability. Though no revival of religion occurred, 97 communicants were received, 55 of them on a profession of faith. Mr. Oliver continued his res- idence in Springfield until his death, at the. age of 71 years. March 24, 1833. He was sound in doctrine, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 627 faithful in the pulpit, and a diligent pastor, giving es- pecial attention to the young and instructing them in the shorter catechism. Rev. AZABIAH GILES OKTON was a native of Massa- chusetts and a graduate from Williams College in 18 8, and from Princeton Seminary in 181 < , having among his classmates at the latter institution Drs. David Ma- gee, Francis McFarland, Thomas M. Smith, Bishop McTlvaine and Professor Samuel S. Sch mucker. Li- censed and ordained at Cranberry, N. J., in 1S22, by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he ministered suc- cessively to the churches in Seneca Falls. Lisle. Greene, and Lisle a second time, and for his last several years was disabled for preaching. He died of asthma, at Lisle, December 2$, 1864. He married Minerva Squires, of Lisle, December 18, 1822. His wife, with four of eight sons, survived him. Besides his work for the pulpit and in the parish, he wrote largely for the press, especially on capital punishment. Episcopacy and slavery. Rev. Dr. Arthur Burtis described him as "a man of profound investigation, leaving no stone un- turned in his pursuit of a subject Though always ac- knowledged as of superior erudition, he was always unassuming, keeping in the background until called out." Rev. Jeremiah Osborn labored with \)v. Williston as a missionary in the Southern part of the territory of the Synod Be was afterwards ordained and settled at Newark, and in lsli> removed to Candor, and had charge of the church there f<>r twelve years, "and 628 PRESB TTER1AN1SM IN THE closed a blessed life in an unhappy quarrel with his people about a support." The Presbytery of Cayuga, January 18, 1865, adop- ted the following minute, reported by Prof. Samuel Miles Hopkins, D. D. : It having pleased Divine Providence to remove from us in a ripe and honored old age, Rev. Levi Parsons, for many years the Father of this Presbytery and the last survivor of its original membership, the Presbytery feel called upon to place upon record their sense of the eminent worth and services of this venerable servant of God. A native of Massachusetts, a graduate of Wil- liams College, where he subsequently spent two years as tutor, and trained for the ministry under Dr. Hyde, of Lee, Mass., he removed early into Central and Western New York; and in 1807, at the age of 26 years, became pastor of the church in Marcellus. In this place, with a continuity too rare at the present time, and highly honorable both to himself and his people, he accomplished a ministry of thirty-two years, and here he died, (of congestion of the lungs, Nov. 20, 1864,) crowned with the love and venera- tion of family, friends and the entire church, having reached in the full possession of his faculties, the age of four score and four years. In his character, as a christian and a minister, there was happily blended strict orthodoxy with evangelical charity, eccle- siastical enterprise with great personal modesty, sound wisdom with marked simplicity, and he filled a long life with abundant labors and activities. He was, from its organization in 1811, the exact and conscientious Treasurer of the Presbytery, repeatedly its Moderator, from the first an active promoter and friend of the Theological Seminary (Auburn), and for many years the President of its Board of Trustees. Mr. Parsons was licensed by the Stockbridge Asso- ciation, and ordained by a Congregational Council, Sep- tember 16, 1807. lie came to this region under an appointment by the Berkshire Missionary Society. J I is first term of service at Marcellus was twenty-six I SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 629 years ; lie then supplied Tully for one year and Otisco for another, and then went hack to his former charge in Marcellus and held it six years longer, and spent the remainder of his ministry with the Third Church in Marcellus and at Borodino. Said his successor, Rev. John Tompkins, who held the pastorate for precisely twenty-five years and until his death : u He loved the church to which he long ministered, and was a true fellow -laborer with his successor for twenty-four years.'* He married Alrnira Eice, of Marcellus. The youngest of their eight children is Rev. Levi Parsons. 1). I)., of Mount Morris, Livingston county. Having been associated with him in the Synod of (Jenevaand in the Auburn Seminan Board of Trus- tees, I have a distinct and most agreeable recollection of Mr. Parsons. His appearance is clear to me,— un- der rather than above the common height, but quite well filled out, with a east in one eye, and a little trem- ulous from age, plain hut somewhat professional in dress, and the model in person of an old New England di\ine. Prompt to take any pai ed or belong- ing to him, w hatever he did. he did as a matter of duty, and not in the least from officiousnese or tihe desire of prominence. [ndeed, he was the humblest of men and retiring, hut by temperamenl and mental constitution and practice, among the tnosl efficient in public bodies. 11 affectionateness and strength of attachment were illustrated l.\ the invarial •■. itli which he and the venerable Seth Smith, of Genoa, came together and their inseparablenesfl in ecclesiastical and -other meet- ings. They probably neveT tailed, on such occae to sit down at the Bame table and to lodge in the same 630 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THRx room, and both, men beautifully exemplified Christian sincerity, simplicity, integrity, conscientiousness and loveliness, — the union of seriousness and faithfulness with graciousness, and of strict orthodoxy and sacred regard for divine truth with charity, and of orderliness with activity. Mention has been made of Eev. Joseph Penny, D. D., in connection with Hamilton College. To that may be added the following, from the pen of Charles P. Bash, D. D.: He was a man of superior abilities and fine education, with a special interest in the natural sciences, and exerted a most happy influence on the young and forming community in regard to schools He often visited them, offered prizes for superiority in le; ruing, attended their examination, and cheered the scholars in their studies. We well remember the emulation thus excited in the academy when kept in what is now the Exchange Hotel, by the offer of a gold medal to the student who, after three months of preparation, should pass the best examination in Latin gram- mar and scanning. Some had studied the language more or less, for two or three years, and yet the prize was borne off by Augus- tus Hopkins, a young man from the country, who took his first lesson in Latin only three months before. But he studied day and night, as though his life was at stake. For a good part of the time he almost lived upon the stimulus of tea and coffee, growing thin and pale under the operation, but determined to win at whatever hazard. He had the ambition of a Caesar, and we should have heard more of him, had not an early death cut short his career. Dr. Penny was quite a genius in mechanics also and would have made an inventor of high order, if he had turned his attention in that direction, and he did quite as much to en- courage our young artizans as our young schoolmasters. In 1829 be visited his native land, taking with him publications on the temperance cause, then just inaugurated in this country. He held meetings in Belfast and other places, and organized societies, making, it is supposed, the first efforts in Ireland for this re- form, and preceding Father Matthew by many years. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 631 After leaving Hamilton College, Dr. Penny removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., and from there to Pontiac, Mich., where his health failed, and he returned to Roch- ester and died there, of paralysis, March 20, 1860. Dr. Penny married Isabella Sterling, of New York city, and three sons survived him. ROSWELL PETTIBONE, the son of Dr. Luman Petti- bone, was born in Orwell, Vermont, August 26, 1796. Rev. Baruch B. Beckwith writes of him as follows: When seven years of age the father, with seven other families, moved to St. Lawrence County, N. Y. Most of the country being an unbroken wilderness, he had no facilities for an early educa- tion, but was fond of books, and having access to a good library, read it through. When eighteen years of age he was converted to God by the preaching of one of our eailiest missionaries. His conviction of sin was deep and pungent, but Christ, the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe, was the hope of his sal- vation. He fitted for and entered Middlebury College in 1817, graduated in 1820. taught the academy there in 1821, studied divinity with Dr. Hopkins, and was licensed by the Addison County Association in 1822. lie was immediately called to Brandon, Vermont but arriving at home, found his father feeble, and in duty to him de- clined the invitation. He commenced preaching in Uopkinton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in 1823, and was ordained July 22, 1824, where be labored with great fidelity, acceptability, and success fifty nim persons being added to the church in one revival — till poor health and the ity of the winters induced him to seek a milder climate, and be was dismissed AugUBl 10, 1880 and in September following "flit West and preached at Ann Arbor, Michigan, through the winter, and in the Spring received a unanimous call to take charge <>f the church. He returned for his family, and was prevented from go- ing back by fever contracted in that new country. Through the summer and autumn of 1881 — for be could not, though infirm, be idle in the Master's vineyard- be labored in 632 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE protracted meetings and supplying destitute churches in the country, especially his former church, in Hopkinton. In Novem- ber he was invited to the church in Evans' Mills, Jefferson Co. N. Y.,and served this church with great fidelity and success until in November, 1837, he was called to Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and installed February 14, 1838. Here he labored in season and out of season, until April 1, 1854, when he was dismissed, and entered upon his work as chaplain of Clinton State Prison, where he labored with tact and energy, preaching Christ crucified to the prisoners until his tongue was paralyzed in death. His health had been declining through the summer, though every day attending to the duties of his office. On Sunday morning, August 9, after opening the prison Sabbath school with prayer, he was taken with cholera morbus, which, in connection with his previous weakness, reduced him rapidly. Monday he seemed better, but alluded to the probability of not recovering. When asked if his mind was clear and peaceful, he promptly replied: "Yes, all right. I never thought I should feel as I do about dying. I think it is a very solemn thing to die. the most so of anything that transpires in this world. I cannot treat the subject as some writers do. making it a mere plaything, as it seems to me. It is a solemn thing to die! I have always thought I should be one that would start back, but I don't feel so now. It is all of Christ. Nothing else. If it were not for Christ we should all be gone." His reason remained to the last. On Thursday evening, August 13, as the sun was shedding his last rays, he fell asleep, and on Saturday afternoon following was laid unto his fathers in the beautiful cemetery in Ogdensburg, " having served his generation by the will of Ood" forty-one years in the ministry, and nearly a quarter of a century in St. Lawrence county. This was his cho- sen field of labor, and here his interests centered and here let him sleep among the sepulchres of his kindred until the arch an • ge\% trumpet shall wake the sleepers In spirit and conduct a progressive conservative, and strongly attached to tin Cal vinist ie doctrines of grace, which are progress- ive yrt conservative, he pleached them and exemplified them everywhere, the Lord working with him, and there was add- ed to the church many souls as the seal of his ministry and the crown of his rejoicing. During his ministry at SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 633 Evans' Mills, one hundred and seven were added to the church* fifty five as the fruits of a revival in Hopkinton, and in Canton and elsewhere where he labored, many were turned unto the Lord, who hold him in grateful remembrance. The early records of the different benevolent societies of St. Lawrence county, show that he was engaged in the formation of all (except the Bible So- ciety which was organized before he entered the ministry) that sisterhood of charities which have done and are doing so much to bless our country and save the world. He was active in organiz- ing new churches in this and Jefferson county, and in establishing and building them up in the order and fellowship of the gospel. Ever and everywhere " a good man and full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," much people were added to the Lord by his public and private labors. In all things he was a pattern well worthy of imitation. One who knew him well and intimately all his days, says to me in a letter, closing thus: " In one word I could and will testify that he was preeminent in every relation and in the discharge of every duty, gentle in his speech, meek in his manners, without guile, and with- out hypocrisy; thoughtful and exemplary always, as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, and as a Christian." Associated with Mr. Pettibone for the last twenty years as co-presbyter, and meeting him often and familiarly in all the walks of life, the writer of this tribute to his memory would say "Amen," to the above beautiful portraiture of his life-long friend, ami would bear grateful testimony to his wisdom and faithfulness as a true friend in the many and varied scenes of a pastor's life. Very pleasant hast thou been to me, my brother' Such war- I!' .-well Pettibone, BO he lived; so he labored, so he died. M Soldier of Christ, well done ! Praise be thy new employ ; And while eternal igee ran Beet in thy Baytonr'i Joy." Of Rev. .\\k"\ Pi i\\\l,;i native of 1\ .nifivt, ( Y. and college bred, Rev. W F. Sanborn, says: Well read in law and theology, and ■ man of devout piety, he was installed, Mareh 1 1, 1SJ1, as the BOCOn 1 pastor of Springfield. At the mm- of his coming an unui iial degree <>f religiOui Interest 634 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE existed, which wonderfully increased and resulted in one of the most precious revivals with which the church has been blessed. Its beginnings were manifest before Mr. Putnam came, originat- ing under God in the spiritual preaching of occasional ministers who visited the place. A Rev. Mr. Waters was diligent to incite the church to prayer, by instituting prayer meetings in different neighborhoods, and worthy of mention was the active piety of Mr. John Young, son of Deacon Young, then a student in Union College. Corning home from his studies in a vacation, at a time of revival in college, with a heart fresh and warm with the love of Christ and human souls, he was moved to converse with the young people on matters of the soul's value and its mighty salva- tion, and gather them in school houses and private dwellings for prayer, singing and exhortation. Many were moved by his exam- ple and influence to seriousness and care for the one thing need- ful. This young man afterwards studied for the ministry, intend- ing to become a missionary, but was early cut down in the midst of a most promising prospect of Christian usefulness. He died in Vin- cennes, la., August 15, 1825, deeply lamented. Said Rev. D. D. Gregory : Aaron Putnam was loved in Owego, and won many souls to Christ during his five years labor there. It was said of him that the measures he advocated in Synod were sure to carry. His sun went down while it was yet day, and his people carried him to his burial and made great lamentation over him. Rov. Zenas Rig-gs was pastor for eight years at Candor, and also labored in West Newark and New- field. A man of massive frame, lie was a minister of earnestness and vigor, "always struggling," as Mr. Greg- ory remarked, "for the divine blessing and never satis fied until it came." He was fond of ecclesiastical busi- ness, and unfailing in attendance ori ecclesiastical bodies and active in their proceedings. Familiar with the rules of church government ami discipline, and making much of them, '"lie passed," according to Mr. Gregory, underthe soubriquet of "Zenas the lawyer." I often SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 635 met him in Synod, and remember him well. His giant size gave him prominence in an assembly, and his active movements and frequent remarks presented him still more to notice. He lacked culture, but inspired respect and accomplished good. Rev. Ralph Robinson, son of Eliab and Lucy Rob- inson, and born in Scotland, Windham Co., Ct, March 12, 1780, was a descendant, of the fifth generation, of Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Leyden-Plymouth Church, a portion of whose people came to New Eng- land in the Mayflower. His family removed to Dorset, Vt., where the son labored on his father s farm until his early manhood. Embracing the Saviour and publicly professing him in the twenty-third year of his age, the year after he began study for the ministry under his pastor, Rev. Dr. William Jackson, working for his board and tuition. In 1805 lie was admitted to the Sophomore class in Middlebury, and graduated from that college in 1808. He pursued his divinity course under Rev. Holland Weeks, of Pittsford, Vt., aided by the first Education Society formed by his Preceptor. Licensed to preach by the Rutland Association in Feb- ruary, 1809, he spent two years as a Home Missionary in Malone, N. Y., and two or three town- of Vermont Nov. 7. LS10, he was ordained and made pastor of the two churches, Granville, X. Y.. and New Haven, X. Y.. and here he continued for twelve year.- and a half. In May, L822, he took charge of the Congregational Ohurch in Marshall, Oneida county, and after remaining there for five years, he returned to New Haven, X. Y., for two years, supplying Mexicoville a part of the time. 636 PRESBYTERIANISil IN THE In 1830 he accepted a call to Pulaski, and labored then; for sixteen years. He then went a third time to New Haven, N. Y., and staid for seven years more. For four years after 1864, he was engaged in East Mexico, N. Y., and for the immediately following year in Con- stantia, where he completed his half century of contin- uous ministerial service, during the whole of which he was disabled for not more than one or two Sundays. A number of conversions occurred in a revival of religion during the missionary period of Mr. Robinson's ministry, and during his first pastorate there were revivals at Granville and New Haven in 1814, 1816, and 1821. Another commenced at Marshall, and still another in 1831 at Pulaski, which kept up through the summer, and in 1832-3 there were considerable accessions to the church there, and in 1840 a deep religious interest per- vaded the town. — eighty persons uniting at one time with the church. Mr. Robinson's theology was substantially Ed ward - ean, slightly modified by the unconditional submission of Hopkins and the divine efficiency o( Emmons. The sovereignty of God was the central truth of his system of doctrine, and the glory of God his chief and controll- ing thought. The Bible was the source from which his creed was drawn, and almost the one book which he examined for it. His sermons echoed inspiration, only modifying its utterances by delivering them in system- atic order, and not content with the sounding board of the pulpit for this, he made much use of classes, and habitually taught by them, and when his pastorates closed, he regularly took a seat among learners and did his utmost to aid the minister o( the parish in his instruction <>f them. SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 637 He was a reformer, too, — a pioneer indeed in temper- ance, abolitionism, and the anti-tobacco enterprise, in- troducing, into his section of the country the first tem- perance pledge in 1828-9, and active in banishing liquor from the Association, around which it had passed at every session previously. He was active for the church at large, as well as for his own congregation, invariably attending the meet- ings of ecclesiastical bodies to which he belonged, and participating in their proceedings ; and he also advo- cated among his people, and by pen and speech else- where, the various schemes of christian benevolence, and contributed to them according to his means ; and with a view to their treasury and likewise to interest his children in them, he was in the habit of constitut- ing these honorary members of voluntary societies and and ecclesiastical boards. Several ministers of the gospel made their profession of faith under his pastor- ships. Mr. Robinson did not betake himself to repose when he retired from the pastoral care lie improved every opportunity for doing good, supplying vacant pulpits and destitute congregations and relieving disabled min- isters, filling his place in Presbytery and Synod, attend- ing assemblies and conventions gathered for the con- sideration of public questions and the advancement of public interest.-, seconding tin- settled minister in whose congregation he resided, attending social meetings, teaching Bible classes, visiting families, calling on indi- viduals, and conversing with this <>n< and that one whom he happened to meet For a vear before his death, he distributed tracts every month in a district of B8 638 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE sixty-seven families. His first sermon was delivered February 1, 1809, and his last fifty-four years after, February 8, 1863. He died May 14, 1863, aged 83 years two months and two days. No pain distressed him. He only ceased to breathe. His decline, how ever, was perceptible for several days, and he clearly recognized it, and calmly awaited his expiring. The Sunday before his death, he joined with a few friends in the remembrance of Christ, and when the hymns " Rock of Ages," and " Jesus, lover of my soul," were sung, he exclaimed, " Grace, grace, from the foundation to the topstone !" Being asked if he had a word for the little circle, he broke forth in joyful wonder at the gos- pel salvation, and exhorted all to trust in it and to walk more worthily of it. His zeal for the cause of the Lord would express itself beyond his mortal life, and he directed that his funeral expenses should be kept down to the. lowest possible sum, and what was thus saved should be given to benevolent objects. Particular- ly was he urgent about the cost of his coffin, and this was reduced enough to allow the contribution of $10 to Home Missions. Mr. Robinson was married to Anna Weeks, of Salis bury, Vt.. November 21, 1810. His venerable wife with three sons, two of them ministers of the gospel, survived him. In a minute of the Presbytery of Os- wego, the highest testimony is borne to him as "a pat- tern to all," and as "enforcing by his exemplary life the gospel he so faithfully dispensed,'5 while a sense of greal bereavemenl is expressed a1 the loss of one who 11 had long been revered as a Father in Israel.'" SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 639 Rev. James Rodgers was born at Roxburyshire, in the South of Scotland, 1785, and labored on a farm there until 1819, when he immigrated to this country, and settled in Hammond Township, a section of St. Lawrence county, then covered by a dense forest, A number of Scotch families joined him, and affected by the spiritual destitution of the community, Mr. Rogers opened school-house meetings. Devotional exercises alone^were attempted at first, but soon the reading of printed sermons was introduced, and after that brief addresses and scripture expositions, which gradually superseded the reading of sermons. Half of Saturday for awhile, and then the whole of it, was occupied in preparing for the Sunday service, and the neighbors took turns in doing the lay preacher's work on the farm. These facts becoming known in the vicinity, the friends of religion, and particularly Judge Fine, per- suaded Mr. Rodgers to put himself under the care of the Presbytery of St. Lawrence. He was licensed 1>\ that body at Canton, March 23, 1 823, and ordained June it. 1824 lie continued in Hammond, but ex- tended his labors to the neighboring towns, and organ- ized and built up a flourishing church. He also, sionally served the Second Church, ( tewegatchie, formed L823, and settled there as stated supply in L827, and as pastor. M; i \ 13, L839, and remained untilJune 27, I The hard work in his early life in Scotland, and the toil and exposure of his immigrant life, began now to show themselves in his impaired constitution, and though exerting himself still to the utmost of bis strength, and frequently preaching here and there, and excited almosi to his former activity in the revival of 640 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE 1858, he gradually broke down, often suffering excru- ciating torture, hard even to witness, but patiently borne, and finally gave way, August 20, 1863. in the 78th year of his age. Mr. Rogers was, in many respects, a remarkable mini. His career indicates this. With nothing but a com- mon school education, and pursuing manual labor, and associating with unlettered farmers, he became an ac- ceptable, instructive and useful lay preacher; and after a brief special preparation for it, entered the gospel ministry, and prosecuted it with signal success. Be must have had, and did have, great determination and force, and showed excellent judgment. None of his professional training was in the schools, but in the fam- ily, with the Bible and catechism as text books, and the open field which he was cultivating, for thinking. His pulpit power was the Word of God, which he in- cessantly searched, and whence his sermons were brought forth. This furnished him matter and spirit, supplemented by a Christian experience with which allliction was largely concerned, lie dated his conver- sion from his 14th year, and a consistent life and a p saceful death demonstrated its genuineness. As a loving daughter looked on his last sufferings, she could not repress the word-. "Poor father!'' "Not poor hither," he replied; "when Christ is rich, how can 1 be poor?" To some inquiries he answered, "I do not tear to die, and have no desire to live." He had asked for the reading of the 17th chapter of the gospel of John, and awakening from a slumber into which he fell immediately after, be exclaimed, "Oh, that weight of glory!" Be breathed his last, August 20,1863. SYNOD OF CENTRAL XEW YORK. 641 Mr. Rogers owed much to his wife, Margaret Hill, whom he married in 1805, and who for fifty-five years shared his life and contributed largely to it. She was taken from him by accident in 1860, and he never re- covered from the bereavement and shock. Two sons and three daughters survive him, both sons ruling elders, and two grandsons are preachers of the gospel. Jonathan M. Rowland came from a clerical fam- ily. Bom in Connecticut, graduated from 13owdoin College, he labored for seven years in Union, and then undertook the city mission work in Brooklyn, and died in the midst of his activity and usefulness. >me account of the tnbeof Indians whom he served is requisite to a knowledgeof Rev. John Sargeant, Jr. In 1735, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted a township six miles square, and covering what are now Stockbridge and Wesl Stockbridge, to the Bousatonic Indians, (thereafter called Stockbridge Indians). The object was to gather them together the better to civil- ad Christianize them. A school house and church built, and Rev. Johi sent a- a missionary t<> them, accompanied by Deacon Timothy Woodbridge as schoolmaster, Mr. - neda tutorship li«' was holding in Vale College, and w;i- dained a1 Deerfield, Mi --.. Q >v. Belcher and a com mi t- of both branches <>f tin- Legislature, and a I number of Indians, being present on the occasion. Be projected a manual labor Beminary, winch proved pop- ular with the Indians, and was much favmvd b) tin- people of this country and < I • • Britain. Mr. 642 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE geant was a native of New Jersey, and a graduate from Yale College in 1729, and died July 27, 1749, only 39 years old. He lived to see his wards increase from eight or ten to more than fifty families, living in framed houses, and very good farmers. Eev. Jonathan Ed- wards, Sr., succeeded Mr. Sargeant, but January 4, 1758, left for the Presidency of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and died there the March follow- ing. Eev. Dr. Stephen West then acted as missionary and teacher until 1775. Prior to this, the Oneida In- dians granted the Stockbridge Indians a tract of land six miles square, but the Kevolutionary war hindered its occupancy. These Stockbridge Indians took the American side, and raised a company of "minute men,'' who subsequently acted as rangers in the vicinity of Boston, and a full company fought under Washington at White Plains. The General ordered a feast for this tribe at the close of the war in consideration of their good conduct, and an ox was roasted whole, of which the men partook first and then the women and children. On the resignation of Dr. West, Eev. John Sargeant, Jr., took charge of the mission and the school. He was the son of the first missionary, and bore his name. His education was received in New Jersey, but in his father's family he became familiar, with the Stockbridge Indians and with their language. In 1783 a portion of the tribe removed to New Stockbridge, N Y, and in 1785 another portion, and all the remainder in 1788. In 1785, the members of the church in Old Stockbridge, sixteen in number, formed another church in New Stockbridge, the tribe numbering 420. Mr. Sergeant was installed pastor, and divided his time between his SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 643 parish and his family, which remained in Massachu- setts. In J 796 he made his sole residence next to New Stockbridge, on a plot of land one mile square, granted to him by the State, and here he died, September 8, 1824, aged 77 years. Eev. John Adams Savage, D. D., son of Abraham and Mary (Adams) Savage, was born in Salem, Wash- ington county, N. Y., October 9, lbOO. He graduated from Union College in 1822, and studied theology pri- vately while teaching academies in Delhi and Auburn. In 1825 he was licensed, and in 1827 ordained by the Washington county Associate Reformed Presbytery, and settled at Fort Covington. In 1832 he was called to Ogdensburg, and remained there for twenty years, prosecuting a faithful and successful ministry, and growing to the last in the esteem of the church and of the community. In 1850 he was persuaded to accept the Presidency of Carroll College, Waukesha, AY is. The institution was so infantile when he took charge of it that he may he considered its parent, and bv the most assiduous nurture he brought it up to the stature and vigor of youth. Of unquestioned piety and of great excellence, he never spared himself in his work, and died at Waukesha, December 18, 1864, prema turely worn out. One who knew him well, remarked at his funeral that la- had taken no rest for a quartei of a century; and he was described by another as "a man of great sagacity, integrity and benevolence, a man of deep piety and excellence of character, an able and instruc tive preacher, a good and useful man." Dr. Savage married Eliza Turner, of Salem. N. Y.. who, with several children, survived him. 644 PRESBYTERIAXISM IN THE Rev. Moses Coleman Searle, son of Joseph and Mary Coleman Searle, was born in By field, Mass., September 17, 1797. He completed his literary educa- tion at the college of New Jersey, 1821, and his theo- logical education at Princeton Seminary, 1824. Li- censed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he was ordained, September, 1826, and installed pastor of the church in Grafton, Mass., and removed to Bradford, in the same State, in 1832. Called to New Hartford, N. Y. in l,v35, he remained there until 1845, and was then stated supply at" Dorset, Vt,, and Haverhill, N. H. In lbol he accepted the District Secretaryship of the American and Foreign Christian Union for Central New York, and in 1859 was settled at Boweii's Prairie, Iowa, and in 1865 removed to Bvlield, Mass., where he died of jaundice, December. 10, 1865. He married Mary Ann Smith, of Brooklyn, who, with a daughter and three sons, — one of them, Wm. S. Searle, M. D.. a prominent physician in Troy, — sur- vived him. A more excellent man and a more sincere, humble. devout and earnest Christian, is not enrolled among the ministry of Central New York. He was widely and favorably known as a pastor and as an active participa- tor in the proceedings of our Judicatories, and still more, by the circuit he performed in behalf of the in- teresting and important cause he specially advocated. Precious memories of him are cherished in a multitude of breasts. Of a good mind, well furnished and disci- plined, his power was mainly drawn from a sanctified heaii and his prevalence with God. iSYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 645 Rev. John Jay Slocum was a native of this State and a student at Andover for one year, in the class of 1833. His first settlement, 1834-1839, was in the Presbyterian Church of Manhattan Island. From 1840 to 1844, he was stated supply at Manlius, and then at Boonville, Mo., 1844, and at Salina, N. Y., 1850. He acted as an agent from 1851 to 1855, and lived without charge, at Chicago, in 1856, and then went to New York, where he died in 1 862. A man of talent and activity, and earnestly enlisted in the work of establishing and extending the kingdom of God on earth, the visible results of his labors were not particularly noticeable, and he cannot be. pronoun- ced highly successful. Of fine person and manners, and in perpetual motion, it might have been presumed that much would be accomplished by him. Rev. Elizub Goodrich Smith graduated from Yale College in 1832, — having among his classmates Rev. Drs. Edward Beecher, Borace Nelson Brinsmade, William Croswell, Timothy Stillman, John Todd, Thomaa Ed- ward Vermilye, Jared Bell, and Harvey Prindle Peet, LL. D. February 2, L829, he took charge of the church in Ogdensburg, but ill health and family afflic- tion constrained him to demil it three years after, and be returned to the Mast, whence be came. Be was much esteemed and greatly prospered in bis parish. During the latter pari of his Btay, Drs, {> S. Boardman and John A Savage assisted him in a protracted meet in", and hm\ united with the church,— most of them on examination. I 646 PRESB TTER1A N1SM IN THE Kev. John Smith was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and April 29, 1811, ordained by the Presbytery of Oneida and set over the church in Coop- erstown, being the second pastor there, and the successor of Dr. Isaac Lewis. President Carnahan, then of Utica, delivered the sermon, and Revs. Messrs. Oliver, Snowden, Wetmore and Conkey, took other parts in the installa- tion. Here he remained for twenty-four years, diligent in his parish and active in his wider ecclesiastical rela- tions. He served as stated clerk of the Presbytery of Otsego from its organization in 1819 to his removal from within its bounds in 1S35, — a period of sixteen years, and was always busy in the proceedings of that body. Though not a man of mark, — not particularly intellectual nor greatly gifted in any respect, he was gentlemanly in his instincts and deportment, and blame- less and pure, and so strong was the attachment to him, that a portion of the congregation left the church when he felt constrained to resign his charge of it, and formed a second church in the village. On removing from Cooperstown, Mr. Smith went to Chemung or Steuben countv, and labored as his years and strength allowed, fresh in the interest he felt for the church of (rod as in his early youth. Rev. John Kim.kv Smith, son of Rev. John Smith, the second pastor of Cooperstown, bom in his fathers parish, L815, was graduated from Eamilton College in 1 s;; 4, and from Auburn Seminary in L838. Immedi- ately after leaving Auburn, he was appointed tutor in his alma mater at Clinton, and the year after Professor of Latin and Greek. In this office he died, 1843, only SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 647 twenty-eight years old. President Fisher spoke of him thus: His brief life was that of a bright star, clouded long before it had reached the meridiac Full of talent, original, impulsive, warm in his affections, his soul full of sweet harmonies, and ac- complished, not only in his own department, but in the science of music, he went, ere he had reached the full ripeness of years, to join that sacred throng who know no discords, but whose lives are an unceasing harmony, a glorious psalm of praise to him who loved them and washed them in his own blood. Kev. Samuel Flnley Snow den, son of Isaac Snow- den, was born in Philadelphia, and took the highest honors in his class at the College of New Jersey, — six of his brothers graduating from the same institution, and his father wishing them all to enter the ministy. Mr. Snowden was a licentiate of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and the firsl pastor settled in Princeton, N. J., where he remained for many years. In 1S02 he accepted a call to New Hartford, Oneida county, N. Y., and the arrangements for liis installation were made bv tin; Presbytery of Oneida at the first meeting after its organizatioa Rev. Jedediah Chapman, of Geneva, presided, Rev. John Lindly, of Ovid, preached the >< r- mon, and Rev. [saac Lewis, of Cooperstown, delivered the charge t<> the minister and people When Dr. Lewis was dismissed (1805) to bake charge of thechurch in Goshen, Orange county, Mi-. Snowden succeeded linn as .-iat«d clerk, and remained in office until his own dismission (1816) to take charge of the church at Sachets Barbor. The minutes kept by him are a model of Legibility, neatness and orderliness, and worthy of the attention of all called to Ins functions. lie re- 648 PRESB YTERIANISM IN THE mained at Sackets Harbor about ten years, and then removed to Brownville, where, in the 71st year of his age, he died suddenly, as he had often expressed the wish he might die. The positions he held and the length of time for which he held them sufficiently in- dicate his ability and faithfulness, and his great ele- gance of person and manners were his introduction to circles of refinement, without separating him from the uncultivated and humble. The advantage he thus possessed particularly fitted him for his pastorate at Sackets Harbor, where a considerable military force was then stationed, and where he was highly accepta- ble to both officers and soldiers and very useful among them. One of his daughters was married there to Cap- tain Joseph S. Gallagher,* distinguished for his piety and Christian activity while in the army, and still more for his worth and efficiency in the ministry, which he afterwards entered. Mr. Snowden married Susan Bayard Breese, daugh- ter of Sidney Breese, of Shrewsbury, N. J. She had two sisters, one of whom was the mother of Samuel F. B. Morse, and the other the mother-in-law of President Woolsey, of Yale College. * Just as this passage was indited, a lurid flash telegraphed Mr. Gallagher's death, after a protracted illness, at his home in Bloom- field, N. J. He had blessed the people there by a long pastorate some years ago, and gave it up to go to the rescue of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, then in a critical condition financially. Hie skill and constancy did much to save it, and largely contributed towards procuring the munificent endowment by which it has been enriched. He was a genial, lovable man, as well as an earnest Christian and an efficient minister. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 649 Kev. Peter Snyder, son of Peter P. and Gbistiana Snyder, was borne in Schoharie, N. Y., October 18, 1814. He spent the first part of his collegiate course at Williamstown, bat graduated from Union in 1836. His first year of theological study was spent at Prince- ton, and the last two years at the Union Seminary, New York. Licensed by the New York Third Pres- bytery, in 1839, he was ordained in 1840 by Rockaway Presbytery, and supplied the Whippanj Church, N. J.t nearly two years. For the following two years he was engaged in the church at New Eochelle, and after that in Cairo, Greene county, and closed, by death from con- gestion of the lungs, a ministry of sixteen years, in the Second Church, Watertown, December 13, 1863. His wife, Marcia M. Perfield, and three of five chil- dren survived him. Rev. Dr. Win. E. Knox, of Elmira, one of his pre- decessors in Watertown, and an intimate friend, de- scribes him as " in many respects a remarkable man" : Born nearly blind, a surgical operation in his youth so far re- lieved his visual defect that he was able to read with the aid of powerful lenses magnifying the page bo as to bring a word or two into view at a time. His eyes never served him in the use of the pen, nor could he discern the features of the human countenance. He was nevertheless quick to recognize his acquaintances, and moved about among his congregation with the utmost facility. He was a thorough scholar, with a special aptitude for studies in moral science, and the higher metaphysics. His reading was extensive and his memory retentive. Few men were better versed in the current literature and news, and none more devoted heart and soul to the moral, religions, educational and patriotic movements of the day. Never using his own or another's pen in preparing for the pul- pit, his discourses WON always Systematic, well digested and in structive, thoroughly evangelical, ami animated by the evident F3 650 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE purpose of benefiting his bearers. No occasion that justly claimed his services ever found him unready. He was as much at home on the platform as in the pulpit, and his logical and rhe- torical capabilities did no discredit to any emergency. When a few years ago, during an exciting canvass, Gov. Horatio Seymour, of New York, addressed the citizens of Watertown on the issues of the day, the Maine Law question being the most prominent, Mr. Snyder was one of his most appreciative listeners, and was imme- diately afterwards announced for a reply. His known ability drew as large an audience to the public hall as had greeted his distinguished opponent, and the masterly way in which he dissec- ted the gubernatorial essay, and laid bare its sophisms, more than satisfied his hearers, and is among the things that Jefferson county, New York, temperance men like to tell of to this day. Mr. Snyder was a faithful and successful pastor, and in this particular (where so many of his brethren fail) he was not a whit behind his reputation as a preacher and speaker. So active were his habits that his own congregation could not bound his labors. The whole village, indeed the county, was his parish. He be- came a minister to all who had no other; there was no poor family that did not count him a friend, and far and wide was he sent for to preach funeral sermons, to deliver dedication discourses, to make Sabbath school, temperance and other addresses, his motto bring, "The man and occasion that want me are the ones that I want." He was a regular attendant at ecclesiastical meetings, counting it as marked an inconsistency in ministers to be absent from these gatherings as in church members to be absent from the weekly prayer meeting. He was a frequent delegate from Utica Synod to the Black River Conference, and the writer has often heard the Methodist brethren refer to the interest his ap- pearance and earnest salutations excited, and the demands sure to be made upon him for addresses on missionary topics and speeches to the children. Though a thorough Calvinist, and strongly at- tached to his own church, he carried within his slender frame a .soul of liberality and charity too large to be confined to denomi- national boundaries. His optical infirmity and delicate physical organization doubtless aided his fine intellectual and moral quali- fies iu securing for him so marked a personal interest throughout the community in which he lived and moved. It is presumed he never had an enemy. Though a man of positive and clearly de- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 651 fined views on all subjects, and firm as a rock where principle was concerned, yet such was his guilessness of manner, his transpar- ent goodness and integrity, that it seemed as impossible for him to give as to take offence. He was manifestly the friend of all, and all the community were his friends. His last work, and that which contributed to exhaust his strength, ever overtasked by his self-denying labors, was that of providing a new house of worship for his congregation. It is matter of gratitude that he was spared to see this undertaking put beyond the reach of hazard, as it is doubtful whether, under the circumstances, any other perr-on could have prosecuted it to a successful result. May the church edifice, whose foundations are already laid on Stone street, long stand his fitting memorial. His end was worthy of his life. Conscious to the last moment, he waited the summons to depart with perfect composure and as- surance. He was, he said, "about to enter upon employments for which he hoped he was adapted." When asked if he had any request to make, he replied that ' his entire work was done; he had none to make." Elihu Spencer, D. D., was bora in East Iladdam, Ct., February 12, 1721, and graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1746. In 1748-9 he undertook a mission to the Oneida Indians at Windsor, Broome county, but discouraged, he returned to the East, and was a distin- guished pastoral Elizabethtown, N. .!.. from L750 t<> 1756, and afterwards a1 Si. 1 1 Del., and finally at Trenton, N. J., from L7<>9 until bis death, December 27, 1784. Rev, Theodore Spencer, was a son of Chiel Jusi Ambrose Spencer, born in Eudson, N. Y.. Am;' 24, 1800. lbi studied for a time at Yale College, but was sent from there n» Wesl Point, with a view to Ins entering the army. A brother, a promising young officer, l'»'ll on our frontier during the war ^i 1812, 652 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE and it was desired that lie should take his place. But Mr. Spencer inherited a taste and aptitude for the law, and resigned his cadetship and first read in the office of Hon. Thomas R Gold, of Whitestown, and af- terwards in the office of Hon. Mynclert Vosburgh, of Kinderhook. Admitted to practice, Mr. Spencer began it at Auburn, and rapidly advanced in it, and at an early ago was appointed district attorney of the county. While filling this office he was brought to a knowledge of himself and the Saviour under the preaching of Mr. Finney and Dr. Lansing, and united with the First Church, Auburn, and was soon chosen a ruling elder. The beginning of his Christian life, was the beginning of his Christian activity. He commenced labors for the salvation of others at once. He conversed with them, addressed conference meetings, and went out to neigh- boring districts to speak in school houses and wherever else assemblages could be gathered. But this did not content him. He would not divide his time and strength, and abandoning the Bar, he prepared for the Pulpit Licensed and odained by the Genesee Congre- gational Association, he preached at Geneseo, and was settled in the second church, Rome, and organized and supplied a Congregational Church in Utica, which dis- banded on his leaving it. His loss of voice had pre- cluded public speaking, but he substituted conversation for sermons, and reached a larger number than most preachers. His parlor was turned into a sanctuary, and many of the most intelligent people of the city, and from all denominations, sought instruction from him. He had conceived a theory of conversion, containing some peculiarities, which he applied with great power and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. (J53 effect, and no pastor in Utica or elsewhere more com- pletely swayed their hearers. In accordance with his mental habit, he systematized the exercises of the soul in conversion, and arianged them in one single order of succession and in distinctly separate stages. He got his cue from Hopkinsianism, and especially insisted that a perfect submission and consecration to God should pre- cede everything else, and that faith should follow at an interval. He prepared a brief pamphlet on the subject for distribution among inquirers, and when unable even to converse with companies, he devoted several years to the composition of a volume upon it, but by the time it was published, he obviously lost zeal for its cir- culation. Without his avowing it, he changed his views. He saw the danger to which he exposed him- self and his followers, — the danger of stopping at sup- posed submission and consecration, and not going on to believing, — the danger of legalism at the expense of faith, — the danger of a religion of duty, leaving Christ out. Most certainly the law lost the preeminence in his own experience, and the Saviour was put in its place. Kegaining his strength somewhat, Mr. Spencer a< - cepted the Secretaryship of the Home Missionary Soci- ety forCentral New York, and filled it with distinction. Not satisfied with gathering funds, he was a bishop for the feeble churches, and looked after them with a shep- herd's watchful and tender eye. The draft upr fourteen years he was disqualified for labor, and for the last six months of his life he suffered excruciating pain, -bul 654 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE who can describe his nearness to the Saviour and his enjoyment of him. My previous intercourse with him had been familiar and confidential, and I had before been called to pass with him through the most trying seenes of his life. Freely received to his chamber and held to his deathbed, even with the torture borne there, it seemed the ante-room of heaven, and I could easily think myself communing with a redeemed saint. Mr. Spencer's mental characteristic was an unsurpass- ed keenness, and power of analysis, and the character- istic of his moral constitution was force, and persistence of will. 'He was the son of Ambrose Spencer, and in- herited these traits from him, and the brother of John C. Spencer, he shared them with him. Conversion made him as set on religious objects as he had been on worldly. He was intense as a Christian as he bad been as a man. This gave him a severe aspect to ordinary vision, and to many of his acts an appearance of harshness, — but no warmer or tenderer heart ever beat in a human bosom. Mr. Spencer was twice married: first, October 28, 1823, to Catharine, daughter of Hon. Myndert Vos- burgh, with whom he studied law at Kinderhook, and second, July 9, 1857, to Rebecca Hill, widow of Dr. Ball, of Boosick Falls. His early manhood was cloud- ed by the death of a daughter of Judge Jonas Piatt, of Whitestown, to whom he was affianced, and the shadow of it was never effaced, though it left no gloom upon him. Subtracting nothing from the affection of a full hearl which he gave to his wives, nothing of what he gave her was abated to the last. His death occurred at Utica, July 14, 1870. Three sons are living. — Dr. Ambrose S. Spencer, of Utica. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. ' 655 Myndert Vosburgh Spencer, Dental Surgeon, and Wm. C. Spencer, M. D. Surgeon in the United States Army, with the rank of Major. Bev. William II. Spencer, son of John and Eliza- beth Spencer, was born in Madison, Ct, October 13r 1818, but was brought at an early age, with his parents, to Livingston county, N. Y.. andtgrew up to youth and early manhood in the village of Mt. Morris. His fath- er's circumstances and death made him largely depend- ent on his own exertions; but set on an education, and after his conversion on the gospel ministry, he com- pleted his preparation for college, and graduated with high honor from the University of New York, and 1 the three years of theological study at Auburn Seminary. Before he completed his course in divinity, he was called, 1S44, to the First Presbyterian Church in Utica, one of the most prominent and responsible charges in * the Stan-. Men like President Carnahan, Henry Dwight and Dr. Samuel C. Aiken had held it, and nothing but the urgency of the people and the counsel of good advisors induced him to tread in their steps. The circumstances of the church at the time were also forbidding. It had suffered the calamity of a deposed pastor, and also a la lent on the election and installation of an unacceptable pas- tor, and a division of sentiment had likewise soon en- sued among the remnant wi. by him, and he had just retired Leaving no little distraction behind him. Mr. Spen ith, in part perhaps, awakened inter- est in him, and so created Bympathy inthecongn tion, bringing them together by bringing them about 666 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE him. And he was peculiarly adapted to win favor and affection, — of fine appearance and natural and cordial manners and great personal magnetism, and unstinted devotion to whatever he undertook, while his sermons, carefully prepared and earnestly delivered in the pleas- antest of tones and with the utmost artlessness of ac- tion, had an unobstructed passage to opened hearts. Thinking that he had carried the reparation of the church as far as was practicable for him, and of the enterprising temperament which delights in the forma- tive periods of communities, he looked to the west for a more promising and congenial field, and in 1850, went to the First Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee. Besides the zealous attention he gave to his parish, he took into view his denomination in the State, and dis- cerning the loss and injury it suffered from an arrange- ment that combined it with Congregationalism in what was known as the " Convention of Wisconsin,1' he set himself to the organization of distinctively Presbyte- rian Judicatories, and had the satisfaction of being seated as a Commissioner to the General Assembly which met at Syracuse, and to have bis ecclesiastical policy thus endorsed and adopted by that body. The breadth of his vision generated a taste for wide fields, and appointed Secretary of the Assembly's Committee of Publication, he removed his home to Philadelphia, and vigorously engaged in this office. It was at the in- ception of the enterprise, and the unavoidable difficul- ties encountered then were too exciting and exacting with him, and needing quieter work, he returned to the pastorate, and first settled at Rock Island, 111., and then went to the Westminster Church, Chicago. Matters SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 657 there were coming into a desirable shape, .when gan- grene of the liver was developed in him, and in four months, February 10, 1861, he was consumed by it. The disappointment to him in being withdrawn from the work he was successfully prosecuting, and in which he had put his whole being, was afflicting beyond ex- pression, but no murmur escaped him and no rebel- liousness was felt by him. When the imminence of death was announced, three da}Ts before its occurrence, no alarm for himself was shown. Indeed, he over- looked himself, in regard for his family and his church. Called to notice himself, he spoke with the full assur- ance of faith. He repeatedly requested the singing of favorite hymns, "There is a fountain filled with blood," " How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear," saying, "I shall sing in my home to-morrow." Sometimes he would exclaim, " Meet me in glory." " The Lord is gracious and merciful." " So bright ! all so bright !" Being asked if the Saviour was near to him, sustaining him, he replied, "Veryl \"d and wept Sis consciousness and ►n remained until he expired, and Ins speech in a measure. II- addressed parting • orda to all, and while an elder led the kneeling company in prayer, he often ejaculated a fervenl amen, and the word was pai 658 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE his lips when they were sealed by death. His wife, Almira Hopkins, daughter of Mark Hopkins, and a son and one of two daughters, survive him. Mr. Spencer was endowed with superior powers and attractions. Tall and well filled out, his carriage and tread were lithe and vigorous, and his face pleasing. His heart transcended his intellect, and more character- istically distinguished him. It was as natural and fresh as a child's, and as warm and tender as a woman's. He never thought of guile or disguise, and entered as fully into the feelings of others as into his own. There was nothing he would not give and do for a beneficiary or a friend. He identified himself with any cause he embraced, and would exhaust his strength and means in promoting it, and every church of which he was overseer commanded all he was and all he had, often to the robbing of himself. He delighted to spend and be spent for a congregation, or his denomination, or an enterprise. The wider the expanse over which he spread, the greater his gratification. His fondness for activity in public affairs prevented his close application to study. His sermons were popular and profitable, l)ii 1 more the effusion of hasty reading and thought, than of profound investigation and reflection, and largely the expression of his own experience and emo- tions. Perhaps his earliest were his best, for he was most concentrated upon them, and they indicate the rank in tin' pulpit to which he must have attained had he kept up his close application in preparing them. He was a ready Bpeaker, and effective in his discussions and impromptu addresses, and in remarks at social ser- vic !S and funeral occasions. Seldom is a minister so deeply and extensively lamented. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 659 Kev. Benjamin Beeakly Stockton was connected with a New Jersey family of prominence both in Church and State. He was born in Ilacketstown, Jan. 81, 1790, the son of Dr. Benjamin Brearly and Sarab Howell (Arnett) Stockton, and brought up in the nur- ture and admonition of the Lord. He showed talent in early life, and after a thorough academic education, was admitted to Middlebury College, and graduated from it in 1809. He passed through Andover Semi- nary, and was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of Oneida in 1812. He traveled extensively over the United States as a popular preacher, and settled at Skaneateles, Palmyra, Pompey, Camillas, Le Roy, Montgomery, Brock port, Geneseo, and Phelps. In 1858 he removed to Jersey City, and the year after to Williamsburg, L. L, where he gradually declined until Jan. 10, 1801, when he fell asleep in the arms of his Saviour. Of excellent and cultivated understanding, of high spirit and sensitive feelings, he was courteous, genial and vivacious, and the renewing and sanctifying influence of the Spirit added holiness to his natural gifts and graces, and to bis various acquisitions, lie enjoyed the ministry, and was happy in exercising it, even when his outward man was perisbing day by day. Rev. William Stone wasa Dative of Guilford, Ct lie served as a soldier in the revolutionary war, and then entered Yale College and graduated in 17m;, with Rev. Isaac Clinton, one of the early ministers m the northern part of this field, and Rev. Dr. Asa Billyer, one. of the early missionaries to this region, among his fifty classmates, lie was licensed by the New Haven 660 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE Association, and afterwards receiving ordination, he la- bored at Windsor between 1791 and 1795, and before or after in Otsego county, and later in life removed to Sodas, Wayne county, and died there at an advanced age. There is no record of his ever sustaining the pas- toral relation, and no particulars of his character and ministerial life are preserved. Rev. William L. Strong, son of Adonijah and Ab- igail Strong, was born in Salisbury, Ct,, Oct, 18, 1782. He graduated at Yale College in 1>13, and studied di vinity with President Dwight The New Haven Asso- ciation licensed him to preach, and in 1814 the Tolland Association ordained him, and installed him bishop of the church in Sorners, Ct. He continued in this rela- tion for twenty five years, and then lived and labored for five years at Redding, Fairfield county, Ct, For ten years after, he had charge of the church in Vienna, Ontario county, N. Y., when an affection of the eyes and the infirmities of age constrained him to la)' aside pastoral care. He then made it his home in Fayetteville, N. Y., where, August 31, 1859, an attack of dysentery overcame him, and devout men carried him to his bu- rial. He was a man of large frame and solid mind, — the best of counsellors, of much influence with his breth- ren and a pillar of the eliuivh, — one of the class to whom men turn when perplexed, or alarmed, or in doubt, and on whom they depend and in whom they confide. An utter stranger t<» artifice, and with no ['re- tension or show, he was looked up to widely and leaned upon, and when he died, a genuine prince and a really great man died m Israel. 8YN0B OF CENTRAL SEW YORK. 661 Rev. Charles Stuart was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Oneida, at Utiea, February 1, 1^25, and licensed at Clinton the 11th of May following. He preached as a missionary in the Northern part of the State, but was never installed nor ordained. lb- was a retired half pay captain in the British army, and had seen extensive service, particularly in India He lived in I'tica, and was principal of the academy then- and teacher in the First Church Sunday school, and assist- ant superintendent and the children's friend generally, and a laborer in every good causa Thomas W. Sew- ard, Esq., speaks of him as " the most remarkable man it h;id been his fortune to know*' : To say that lie was eminently pious, actively benevolent, un- surpassedly kind, rigidly austere and wildly eccentric, is to give but a faint idea of what lie really was. He had all the virtues that adorn humanity seemingly in excess. It is not strange, therefore, that he was regarded as a fanatic by most people. His eccentricities were a part of the growth that comes of the highest religious culture. His tender heartedness was that of a woman, and yet no one ever more relentlessly vindicated, when occasion required, the majesty of offended law by prompt and stern pun- ishment. Of course, this man was the children's friend. They felt that he belonged to them. In spirit, he, t« child. How they would flock around him. How they clung to him. They made him the willing partner of their joys and Borrows, and of their sports as well. The hour before the opening of morning school at the Academy was usually one of hilarious mirth, in which then- ffas no sport too boisterous for him to engage in. Often, of a Saturday afternoon, I have known him to marshal the Academy boys in mimic warfare, on the open common which DOW makes Chancellor Square. It was indifferent to him whether he took the part of leader, private or musician. The hardships of his early soldier life in India had doubtless much to do with his asceticism of habit. Hut he made it subservient to the great end always held steadfastly in new. His rooms in the Academy were 662 I'liESBYTERIANISM IN THE as scantily furnished as the cell of an anchorite. His bed was a pallet of straw, but the air was always redolent of the breath of flowers. Mr. Stuart formed a girls' society, the account of which may suggest schemes to other minds. It met weekly at the houses of the members in rotation. Its exercises consisted principally of written answers to questions previously propounded by Mr. Stuart. These were compared with one another, and if not satisfactory , answers of his own were substituted for them, and the accepted or amended answers were transcribed in her book by each girl. One of these books happened to be preserved, and on examination it proved to record about an hundred questions and answers, and proved a tolerably complete compendium of Christian duty. This exercise was followed by something light, espe- cially music, and the whole concluded with simple re- freshments. Immediately before separating, a medal was given to the girl whose answer and deportment won it, and she wore it for the following week. Erastus Clark, Esq., sketches Mr. Stuart's appearance and manner, as he met him at the decline of life : As I stepped down from my desk and went towards him, I thought I had never seen a finer face. There was no lack of force in it, but in combination with the force, and dominating it, was a rare gentleness and love. His manner was very affectionate. He l)le- draft upon him now reduced Mr. Tracy t<> the point of exhaustion, and he thought to recuperate himself by an interval of rest, and October, 1854, he sought leave to retire from his charge. He still lives among the people for whom he last labored, "esteemed very highly in love for his works' sake." Rev. John" Truair of English birth, was "a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord" through his ministry . He labored in Sherburne from 1815 to 1819. and two hundred converts united with the church. October 16, 1819, he was received by the Presbytery of Oneida from the Union Association, and the same day it was resolved to make application to the Synod of Albany to set off ministers Andrew Oliver, John Smith, Eli F. Cooley, John Truair, John R St. John, Jesse Miner and Silas Parsons, and the churches of Springfield. Cooperstown, Cherry Valley, Milford and Eaton, to form the new Presbytery of Otsego. In 1820 he was called to Cherry Valley, and " his pastorate," as the present incumbent of his place remarks, "though of than two years, was a timeof extraordinary growth; forty-six persons were admitted to the church in the fall of the year In* came, and one hundred and twenty the next Traces of his activity are seen in the fre- SYNOD OF CEN1RAL NEW YORK. ()(>f) quency with which he assembled bis efficient session, — thirty-eight sittings being held in the year and three- quarters while be was pastor, and sometimes as many as six in a single month. lie was seized with great zeal to save the godless seamen of New York, and his vehemence is exhibited in the fervent and argent rea- soning of a long letter he recorded, when beseeching permission to withdraw to undertake a work among that unpromising class, to which be had received an earnest summons, and for which his rugged eloquence no doubt eminently fitted him. His request was most reluctantly consented to." "The pastoral relation was dissolved March 24. 1822. and on the following Sunday he celebrated his last communion with the people who prized him so well, eight being then added to the church, making one hundred and seventy-four in all under him, and swelling the whole list to four hun- dred." "He was perhaps the most zeaL >us and certainly the most successful of the ministers the church had en- joyed." " He was educated, talented and full of vim, — of excessive activity, of great and persuasive powers as a speaker, and so successful in bringing souls to Christ as to merit comparison with preachers of the type of Mr. Moody." "He had the restless, untiring spirit of an evangelist and successful harvester of souls, for which the seed had been planted by faithful predeces- sors." Rev. Daniel Van Valkenbergh, son of James and Elizabeth (McCombs) Van Valkenbergh, was born at Manheiui. Eerkimer county, January 3, L805. Befit- ted for College at Bartwick Seminary, and entered 666 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE Union and graduated from it in 1824. He took his theological course at Auburn, completing it in 1827, and was licensed bv Cayuga Presbytery and ordained by Oneida. His ministry of thirty-six years was exer- cised at Evans Mills, Richfield Springs. Mexico, Taberg, Exeter, and closed in Springfield, where he was set lied April, 17 ', and where he died of inflammation of the bowels, November 24, 1864. He was twice married. — first, to Mary Weber, of Richfield, and second, to Julia F. Tracey, of Norwich, Ct,, who, with six children, survived him. Rev. P. F. Sanborne, the present pastor of Spring- field, speaks of him as "esteemed there and beloved until his death,'' and says : Mr. Van Valkenbergh is remembed as a man of more than ordi- nary intellectual ability, whose sermons commanded the attention of the thoughtful, and who never dismissed a congregation unfed. He delighted to discuss the knotty points in theology, and make clear abstruse and difficult subjects. His was a logical mind, un- imaginative, and rarely dealing in figures and illustrations. The common hearer would call him dry and dull, while the dryness and dullness were a part of themselves. In conversation he was reticent, unless in company with his peers, but with them he was more than ordinarily genial and communicative Few were con- verted during his ministry, while all were enlightened and built up in truth and righteousm se Another has said : As a theologian, he was thoroughly read, systematic and able, strictly Calvlnistic, rigidly orthodox, and yet sufficiently bending to accommodate himself to the fraternising spirit of the age, without compromising the truth. As a preacher he was faithful, direct, clear, not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God." His appearance was thai of the student, — spare and stooping in form, and neglectful of style in manner and dress, — denoting a man familiar with hooks, but a SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. gfi « stranger to society. His person did not indicate his in- tellect, and his bearing depreciated it. KobePwT George Vermilye, D. D., was born in the city of New York, March 8, 1813, — the son of Wil- liam W. Vermilye, of Huguenot ancestry, and of Mary Montgomery, of combined Dutch and Irish pa- rentage He graduated from Columbia College in 1831, at a high grade, with Pev. Dr. Haight and Ham- ilton Fish among his classmates. Immediately after, he was appointed a teacher in the grammar school, and in 1837, when only twenty-four years "Id, adjunct to Professor Anthon in the department of Latin and Greek. For much of the period of his teaching in the college, he studied theology under the general direction of his pastor and other clerical friends, and took less in Hebrew from a Jewish Rabbi. In 1838, he was licensed by the Presbytery of New York, and for a winter supplied the pulpit of Dr. : Potts in the Duane St. Church. In L843, he resigned his prof, ship for the4 charge of German Valley Church, \ v. and three years after went to Clinton, the of Hamilton College His eight years of teaching qualified him for usefulness in tin/ Board of Trus of this institution, of which he was chosen a member, and in intercourse with the faculty and students, while in the pulpit and palish he acquitted himself with greal vigor and prudence, and won the confidence and mi of the community, and the warm affection of his congregation lb' declined invitations to Catski 11 and Kinderhook, but was induced, 1857, to take the chair of Theology iii East Windsor Seminary. Herehes|>ent ( ) I ;,S PRESB YTElil A NI8M IN THE the hist, eighteen years of his life, admired and beloved by bis classes, and in full sympathy and cooperation with his associates in the Faculty and with the Board of Directors. Neglecting no duty in his study and • •lass-room, but devoted to his work there, he was active abroad, concerting and prosecuting measures for the advantage and advancement of the institution, busy with the interests of the church generally and of reli- gion, and, with scarcely the intermission of a Sunday, filling pulpits near and remote. About two years be- fore his death, an affection of the heart developed it- self, producing severe pain at times, with difficulty of breathing and great weakness, but amidst all, he strove to keep up his part in the Seminary. He spent a win- ter in Florida, but proposed on his return to give the omitted recitations and lectures. The progress of his disease was hastened by domestic afflictions. A dear sister, who had taken the place of their deceased mother to his three children, sickened and died : and then his daughter Anna followed her aunt, borne suddenly away by a paroxysm of the same disease from which he was suffering. Broken down beyond the hope of recovery, he said, k' If it were the Lord's will, I should like to die as Anna died, and soon." His wish was gratified Only a month intervened between his daughter's de- parture and his own. and he passed away as suddenly as she. Saturday, duly 3, 1875, he rode out Sunday the 4th, he was more comfortable than usual, though wry weak. A call from him at midnighl brought his daughters and a clerical friend, who had been his pupil, to his bedside, and there he lay in excruciating torture, but iii perfect consciousness. He turned his eye to his SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 669 daughters, and called them by name, — the utmost ex- pression of feeling he could make at the time. Awak- ening from a slight slumber into which he afterwards fell, he asked his friend to pray, and when the prayer was concluded, he said, " And now, oh m}- Saviour, keep me in life or death. I commit myself to thee.'1 Soon after he asked to be raised up, and as he was raised up, his eyes closed and his breathing ceased. Before his family were fully settled in their new home in German Valley, Dr. Yermilye was bereaved of his wife, — Anna Maria, daughter of Gen. McCartj, of New York — and never married again. His sister Mar- garet took the charge of his household, and was the tenderest and wisest of foster mothers to his three daughters. It was a sweet scene his home presented, delightful to witness for the affectionateness and order- liness displayed. I count it my happiness to have been on terms of particular friendship with Dr. Yermilye, from the time of his settlement in Clinton to his removal from earth. I put restraints on myself in speaking of him, that my words may not transcend the narrowest limits truth can lav down. He was a gentleman by natureand by edu- cation. The best of associations had re lined and culti- vated him; and in appearance and manners and senti ments and intelligence, lie fitted and adorned the high- est circle. There was a propriety in him thai never offended the most delicate taste, and an integrity and honorablenesa and good sense thai made one safe and at ease with him. He was of t he ordi n:ir\ size, of ;i neat figure, well dressed, with a comelj face of fresh color, and an animated look. Modest, but unembar f)70 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE rassed, he was a free and agreeable conversationist in private and in general society; not witty, or humorous, or brilliant, but vivacious, and most apt to talk on min- isterial themes and social and public events and affairs. Eis mode of conducting worship was unexceptionable, and his sermons were*instructive rather than hortatory, well reasoned but not much illustrated, and delivered with spirit. Addressing the understanding more than the conscience and the heart, he convinced his hearers, but did not so much impress and convict and stir them, lie prepared the way for conversion better than he ef- fected it. His sense of propriety was particularly keen in the sanctuary, and he could tolerate nothing in the services there that partook of coarseness, or eccentricity, <>r disorderliness. His doctrinal views were after the straitest sect of Calvinists, though his preaching was not eminently doctrinal. He was constitutionally more a -live than studious, and enjoyed a part in religious bodies and an attendance on public occasions, and wras apt and skillful in their proceeding. Tt was a pleasant surprise to hear of him as near my winter home in Florida, but a painful surprise to see him. 1 visited him from time to time, and occasion- ally had him among my hearers in a village church, but his doom was too manifest for concealment Never was our intercourse more delightful. Illness had spir- itualised as well as thinned and paled and enfeebled him; and while still hopeful of living, and anxious to return to his classes, the doubtfulness of this projected him much into the world beyond, and imparted to him something of its halo, ami he breathed something of its atmosphere. We took the steamer together when he SYXOD OF CENTRAL XEW YOBK. () , { left Palatka, where he had been staying-, and T waited on him with his daughter, his only companion on his long- journey from and to the North ; and as we parted on the St. Johns at Tocoi, he for a short visit at St. Augustine, and I to proceed to Jacksonville, the assur- ance that I was never to see him again, produced the sadness felt on returning from the burial of a friend. Rev. John William Ward was born m this State, and graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1821, and studied two years in Princeton Seminary. Ib- spent seven years as pastor with the church in Union, and for the remainder of his ministry was with the Re- formed Church in New Prospect, and with the Re- formed Church in Red Ilook. Rev. D. D. Gregory de- scribes his preaching as "remarkable for its awakening and converting power. There were constant ingather- ings under his labors. Many aged people have long been accustomed to speak' of him as their spiritual father." Rev. Klxatii.w Walker was born in Taunton, Mass., and graduated from Brown University, lb' be- gan to preach in Homer at the close of Imis, and was called to the pastorate July 26, Is'",). and ordained and installed the following October, by the Middle Associa- tion. He was "a man <»f fine presence and dignified bearing, tall and erect, easy and graceful in his move rnents and gestures, of fair complexion and light hair, with clear grey eyes, looking through spectacles, which he constantly wore, and dressed, when he firel went to Homer, in the old style, with short breeches, long 672 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE stockings and knee buckles." His death occurred June 4, 1820, greatly to the sorrow of the congregation and the town, and his funeral drew an assemblage of two thousand people, as was estimated, and eleven ministers officiated at it. His pastorate was eminently prosper- ous, though not wholly exempt from the usual trials, the church increasing its membership from 99 to 427. He baptized 108 adults and 508 infants. Precious re- vivals were granted, one in 1812-13, (adding 188 to the list of communicants, and among them fifteen couples of husbands and wives, and most of the entire number adults) ; another in 1816, increasing the mem- bership by 136; and still another, of quite remarkable origin, in 1820, and in the midst of which he was stricken down by excessive care and labor, and soon died. An obituary notice, prepared, it is supposed, by Dr. Lansing, states: Mr. Walker possessed an assemblage of amiable qualities. He was a man of real politeness and good breeding, frank, mild and hospitable. As a Christian, he was diligent and exemplary. He was of a remarkably pacific disposition, and excelled in meekness, forbearance and good will to war Is those who differed from him. As a minister, he set an example of prudence, patience and fidelity. He firmly advocated the doctrines of grace, and preached them plainly, and cheerfully and decidedly bore testimony to them on his death bed. Rev. Daniel Waterbury was a native of this State, and graduated from Onion College, in 1 SIS, and from Princeton Seminary three years after, lie settled in Franklin, Delhi, Batavia and Warsaw, and died in 1838. Of fine abilities, well educated, industrious, conscientious, and of an excellent disposition and SU- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 673 perior judgment and Christian earnestness and consist- ency, he not only met the requirements of the congre- gations he served, and secured their strong attachment, but also commanded the high respect and full confi- dence of the community, and was the trusted counsellor and instructor of his ministerial brethren. Some record is made of William Raymond Weeks, D D., on a preceding page. Further particulars may be added to it. He was the son of Ebenezer and Eu- nice (Griswold) Weeks, and born at Brooklyn, Ct, August 6, 1783. His father was a farmer, and in 1791 removed to Steuben, Oneida county, where the son la- bored in clearing and tilling land. Apprenticed after- wards to the printer's trade, he worked at it in Whites- boro and Lansingbtirg. Experiencing religion in a re- vival under the preaching of Rev. Jonas Coe, of Troy, his heart was turned toward the ministry : and preparing for college under his cousin, Rev. Holland Weeks, of Pittsford, Vt, he entered Nassau Hall, and graduated from it in 1809, ami spenl the following six months as tut of there. lie studied theology with his cousin, at Pittsford, and also for one year ;it Andover. Licensed l>\ a Wniiont Association, he preached in Eebron, N. Y.. 1811, and in 1812 was ordained by the Presbytery of Albany and placed over the church in Plattsburg. Resigning in lsl4, he spenl a pear in Albany look- ing for a charge. In L815, he went to Litchfield, (South Farms) Ct., where the pc.ple wished him to be their pastor, hut the Association declined to install him on aceount of his differing somewhat from their doc- trinal creed. Hi- remained in the place, teaching, and 674 PREtiBYTERIANISM IN THE often preaching, for a time, until in 1818, when he re- moved to Clinton, Oneida county, and opened a school. November, 1820, he was invited to Paris Hill, and con- tinued there without installation (the congregation be- ing divided and distracted) until 1831, teaching as well as preaching during the last two years. He then re- moved to Utica, and taught school there, and supplied the Fayette St. Church. In 1832, he accepted a call to the Fourth Church, Newark, N. J., and continued teaching and the pastorate there until the autumn of 1846, when his overwrought powers gave way, and he ceased stated labor both in the church and in the school. He died from nothing apparently but exhaustion, while on a visit to Oneida, June 2<, 1848. Dr. Weeks joined in marriage with Hannah, daugh- ter of John Kandel, Albany, January 15, 1812. He was somewhat above the ordinary height and size, and his appearance denoted health and vigor. His counte- nance was placid and yet cheerful, and his manner was somewhat cool and reserved. His mind was perpetu- ally busy and well trained, and enriched with classical and theological lore. He formed his own opinions and tenaciously held and earnestly advocated them. Hop- kinsianism was his doctrinal scheme, and he adopted it without reservation or Qinching, and labored as an apostle for it. His pen moved freely and rapidly, and tie had no hesitation to print whatever he wrote. The list even of his numerous publications is too long to be recited. His sermons were argumentative, but however convincing, seldom persuasive, or impressive, or mov- ing, or melting. His style was clear and correct, but oever sparkling or otherwise pleasing. His preaching SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 675 was not helped, but hindered, by his carriage in the pulpit and his gesticulation and voice. His religion was principle almost to the exclusion of sentiment, and acted on his conscience much more than on his heart Like many other men of his class, his will approached willfulness, and in abiding by and acting out his views and choosing his measures and carrying his points, his consistency with truth and right and his fealty to jus- tice and generosity, — as notably in the " New and Old Measure'' controversy. — were not always plain. Rev. Hezekiah North Woodruff, a graduate of Yale College, in the class of 1 784. was received from the Presbytery of Cayuga by the Presbytery of Oneida, April 29, 1817, and installed over the congregations of Herkimer and Little Falls, and February 3. 1822, the relation was dissolved, and Mr. Woodruff dismissed to the Presbytery of Onondaga. Honor seems to have been put upon him by his brethren, as shown by repeated elections to the Moderator's chair, and ap- pointments to deliver special sermons, and his choice as Commissioner to the General Assemblies of 1819 and 1820, and he must have had piety and ability and prudence, as shown by his maintaining a five year's pastorate in circumstances thai would have considera- bly abreviated it with most ministers. This Mr, Woodruff must be distinguished from Eezekiah WoodruiV. a native of our State, and a graduate from I'nion College, in 1810. Be was ordained February 16, LS16, and Bettled at Elmira from 1816 to L820, and subsequently practiced law for many years at Erie. 6 7 < > tR & id yy i ' / >; « / A NISM IN THE Rev. George S. WILSON was thrown on his own resources while a very young boy, in consequence of the death of his father. Taken as an apprentice into the printing office of Seward & Williams, Utica, his previous education was altogether rudimentary, but he (Mn ployed his leisure to the best possible advantage, and soon surpassed most youth in knowledge The exertion, however, overcame him, and he was compelled to take a respite from it. Recuperated somewhat, he returned to his types and books, but he never recovered his full strength. Always thoughtful, he was deeply convicted of sin in the sixteenth year of his age, and found peace in believing. Forthwith he set out on the remarkable course of usefulness which he pursued to the last. Uniting with the First Church, Utica, he went into the Sunday school, and at once developed extraor- dinary gifts for teaching. His numerous scholars de- votedly loved him while under his tuition, and. appar- ently, none the less afterwards. Their account of his influence over them and of his moulding of them. seems almost fabulous. Says James M. Iloyt. Esq., of Cleveland: — "The fragrance ^\ prayers, affectionate counsels, readings in our meetings of books selected by him, and a magical but indescribable personal influence which attached us to him, still envelope my heart. It has been to me as the dew and the sunlight through many years of labor." Rev. Dr. Edward Bright, of the 'r.i(iuiiihr and Chronicle^ New York, declares that hedoes"no1 know the man to whom he is so much indebted as G-eorge S. Wilson." "The impressions he made," John II. Edmonds, Esq., of CJtica, says, "may be pronounced ineffaceable. They exist at the present SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 677 day. Forty years Lave passed away, — more than a quarter of a century his happy spirit has been in glory — some of his scholars have joined him there, many yet remain, gray-haired men, and to these, even now, his influence is all-powerful. Fresh and impressive as ever are his teachings. He is still and always will be our teacher and loving friend/' There was no mystery about Mr. Wilson's power. It lay in a manifest love for his scholars and his full sympathy with them. He let them into his heart and entered into their's. They were companions, and con- fidants, and fellow beings. Religion was presented in him in its most attractive form, beautiful, enjoyable, ennobling and " profitable unto all things." And his aim was not confined to the spiritual well-being of his scholars. He sought that chiefly, but with it, he also sought their good in every respect He cultivated the graces of an upright honorable, high-toned character, and the virtues of an exemplary life. Be trained them for the best style of men and the best style of Chris- tians. And besides the education he gave them, he- helped them in their emergencies and needs. Thepoor and friendless had the warmest place in his heart, and he made it his busiest business to procure situations for them. No wonder that his classes constantly overflow- ed, and to provide in part for the surplus, lie organized the " Juvenile Society for Learning and Doing Good." II'' was the .-"ul of every meeting, and gave it such life, and joy, and advantage, thai the room was too strait for the attendance. " 1I<' bad no office in th< ciety," T. \V. Seward, of Utica, remarks, 4t bul after framing a suitable code of laws, he lefl the manage- 678 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE Bient in the hands of the boys. But no meeting could !)c held without his presence. No fraternity of human contrivance, whether it make itself coeval with Jeru- salem's Temple, or tortures the Greek alphabet into a cabilistic name, was ever more ardently loved by its members. What pride they took in it. How eagerly they repaired on the appointed night to the old school- room. With what grave decorum was the routine of parliamentary forms gone through. Business dispatch- ed, what tine variety of amusement and instruction fol- lowed— ' From grave to gay, from lively to severe.' Bear in mind that I am not describing a society of young men. We were only boys — not one of us more than 15 years old. But much as we loved our society and each other, we all felt that its soul, as well as its brain, was incorporate in its beloved founder. He was indeed a rare man. That generation may call itself fortunate that produces his equal Mr. Wilson's great success with boys lay in the fact that he always treated them as his equals. He never claimed a superiority over the humblest. And yet he was a man of the greatest dignity. With what beautiful deference would he listen to their suggestions and speculations, no matter how crude Eimself a man of but limited acquirements at that lime l>ut blessed with a vigorous intellect, he sought and obtained knowledge from even- source." "Mi-. Wilson's class." says Rev. Dr. Edward Bright, of New York, "was one with which any might feci proud to be connected, and no words can overdraw the admiration and Love in which every member ^i it held his teacher. The glance of his eye and the pressure SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. ft, \) of his hand were but the expression of his love, — of love so generous and deep that no amount of care was t« m » great for him to give that group of boys. He was not only one of the most intelligent and loving of teachers with his class, but tasked every resource to make them happier and better. He formed them, with some other boys of the school, into an unique society, officered by themselves, but of which he was the actual head, for the double purpose of personal improvement and im- proving the condition of others. Reading and conver- sation were the staples of the meetings, and from what was there read and said, combined with what was heard in the Sabbath School, many a boy received the influ- ence that determined the course of his life.'1 Says another scholar, "out of eight boys in his class at one time, seven became ministers, missionaries, or ruling elders, and the eighth was a leader in the Texan army that achieved the independence of the State." Mr. Wilson's appetite for doing good sharpened with indulgence. His taste of the Sunday School gave him a craving for the pulpit Formidable barriers blocked up th«- way to his gratification. He had passed his youth, and enjoyed but little of the discipline of the schools, and had qo means tor a subsistence while pursuing his studies. Hut experience taughl him resolution and trust iii Providence, and he went forward and reached licensure and ordination. He first exercised his Minis- try in Vermont, and then settled at Sacketa Harbor, where his feeble powers gave «.ut. Relinquishing his charge, he ceased In- activity, and lingered long in en- forced repose until the 39th pear of his age, when he slept in death. 680 PRESB YTER1AN1SM IN THE Rev. Samuel Corylus Wilcox was born at Sand- isfield in 1809, and graduated from Williams College in 1835, and from Auburn Seminary in 1840. He preached first at Berkshire, and was then settled in Owego from 1841 to 1840, and afterwards in Williams- burg. Mass., from 1846 to 1849, and finally in the Con- gregational Church, Oswego, from 1849 until his death, March 26, 1854. Hev. D. D. Gregory described him as "a man of brilliant pulpit powers. He said Ameri- can lawyers can always speak without notes, while American divines are tied to them. I intend to do my share in wiping off this shame. He preached without notes. His people (Owego) in a year sent him a re- quest to write his sermons, — he refused, and they dis- missed him. lie was frail in body, vigorous in intel- lect and lovely in heart, and died young." Rev. COMFORT Williams was a native of Connecti- cut, and graduated from Yale College in 1808. He was ordained at Utica, February, 18 18, at the same time with Rev. Henry D wight, expecting to settle at Ogdensburgh ; but the war with Great Britain very much disorganized the congregation, and he returned the call it had given him and addressed himself for three years to the missionary service in Oneida county, Western New York and Pennsylvania. lie had charge of a church in Rochester from L816 to L821, and con- tinued to reside in thai city until his death. Augusl 25, L826, aged forty two. William Frederick Williams, D. D., was born in rtica..J;iu. 7. L818, the son of Col. William Williams. b YA re, and threatened to prove immediately fatal. They were checked, however, from time to time, and then so far arrested that the hope of recovery was excited, and the project formed of visiting this country to render it complete and suiv. But dysentery supervened and soon exhausted the little of life that had been spared. Be died at Mardin, February 14, 1876. The Bufferer's passion for his work" never cooled. When he began to rail \ his strength after his bleedings, he said, " 1 do not believe that I need go to America SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 688 after all." He even deprecated a visit to his native land, which he would have enjoyed so much in itself, because it would break him off from the service in which he most delighted. His wife once said to him, in rather a pleading tone, when he had been expressing the conviction that he must die soon, and his acquies- cence in this, " Do you not wish to get well ?" " Of course I do," was his reply. " Nothing would I like so well. There never was a time when I so much wished to live. It seems to me that we have reached a point where we can do something. But the will of the Lord be done. He knows what is best." His piety was full of Jesus ; full of the blood of Je- sus; full of Jesus as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world; full of Jesus as expiating our guilt by his sufferings and death. He depended on him for salvation, — son the atoning sacrifice he had made, and on nothing else, and to the utter discarding and exclusion of everything else. One of his favorite hymns was : Just as I am, without ore plea, But that thy blood was shed for me. Says she who ministered bo watchfully and anxiously at his bedside: "His trust in the Saviour of sinners seemed perfect and unshaken to the end. 1 wish I could give you an idea of the lasl j -raver 1 heard him offer, so sweetly clinging to Jesus, asking him to con- tinue with him and sustain him when he went down into the dark valley. 'And when 1 go up on the other side, be there,' he said, 'to welcome me with a forgiving smile." ' 6^4 PRESBYTERIAXISM IN THE Dr. Seth WlLLISTON, repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing pages, and sketched somewhat at length, and to whom the church on the territory of the Synod is probably more indebted than to any other one man, once related the circumstances that directed him here : There was a meeting of ministers at Hartford. I was a young man out of employment, and went in as a spectator, not having any business there that I knew of. Something was said about the destitution of the gospel in the new settlements at the West, and the "Chenang" country was spoken of. As they were com ing out of the meeting, one of the ministers said : " Mr. Willis- ton, you are just the man to go." It struck me favorably, and I concluded to go. I was directed to call on some one in Stock - bridge, Mass.. for information about the country and the route, as no one at the meeting could give it. Arrived at Stockbridge. the man on whom I called was preparing to make the trip himself, and we traveled together. Mr. Williston reached Patterson's Settlement, now Lisle, in July, 1796, and commenced preaching there, and ;i revival ensued. Returning to Connecticut for ordination, he came back to Lisle; but, as he wrote, UI extended my ministry through all the parts of the then town of Union, which comprised most of the pre- sent counties of Broome and Tioga. I went to I Tomer, Locke, Scipio and Milton (as Grenoa was then called).'' He received a commission from the Connecticut Mis- sionary Society, in 1798, the year of its organization. Rev. CALVIN Yale is still spared, in a green old age, to the ministry and the Church. " Serus in caelum re- elects." lie is a uative of Massachusetts, and a brother of Rev, Dr. Elisha Vale, of ever fresh and fragrant memory. Be graduated from Union College in 1812, and preached at Lynn, Mass., as a licentiate, 1816-17. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 685 Ordained October 7, 1817, he was settled from that time until 1832 in Charlotte, Vt. He then took charge of the academy in his brother's parish, at Kingsboro, N. Y., and retained it, preaching in vacant pulpits dur- ing that period, until 1836, when he went to Martins- burg, and remained there as stated supply and pastor until 1840, teaching as well as preaching from 1836 to 1838. He acted as stated supply in Brown ville from 1841 to 1843, conducting a school at Watertown dur- ing the same period; and from 1843 to 1853 he served as stated supply in Lewis county, and since then has lived, without charge, at Martinsburg, but as deeply interested as ever in the cause of God and man, and active in ecclesiastical and public proceedings, and help- ing feeble congregations. Tt will not offend his mod- esty nor violate delicacy to speak of him as command- ing universal regard and confidence by reason of both his character and his parts, and as inspiring gratitude for his protracted and varied services, and as illustrat- ing Christian serenity and enjoyment, as well as activ- ity and vigor, in advanced years. Rev. James Abell was a native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale College in 1819, a student at Ando- ver in the class of L812, which included such well known members as Secretary Rufus Anderson, D. D., LI, I)., Ansel Doan Eddy, D. I>.. Secretarj William Allen Eallock, 1>. !>.. President Marsh, of the Univer- sity of Vermont, Rev. William Richards, missionary to the Sandwich Island.- and Ambassador from these to Grea1 Britain, and Minister of Public Instruction, and i. PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE Counsellor of State, and Chaplain to the King, Beriah Green, and President Hale of Hobart College. Or- dained in 1825, Mr. Abell was settled at Oswego, 1825 -1830, Oxford, 1830-1837, Reformed (Dutch), Chitte- nango, 1838-1857. He spent 1857 at Oshkosh, Wis., and died at Oswego, May 7, 1868, aged 75. Of ex- ceedingly amiable disposition, and an acceptable preach- er and pastor, he attached his people to himself, and faithfully served them. Rev. David A. Abbey, son of David and Nancy (Varnham) Abbey, was born at Olive, Ulster county, April 6, 1813, where he spent the first seventeen years of his life laboring on a farm, with the exception of one winter at the academy in Kingston, and part of a year in the store of General James S. Smith. In 1830 he was hopefully converted during a revival of religion, and united with the Reformed (Dutch) Church in his native town. The following year he removed, with his father's family, to Reading, Schuyler county, where his attention was turned to the ministry, and preparing for it at Geneva Lyceum, he entered the sophomore class in Vale College, and graduated in 183S. Imme- diately after, lie went to Auburn, and completed the course in the theological seminary there. Licensed bj the Presbytery of Cayuga, he supplied the pulpit in Laurenceville, Pa., for a time, and afterwards was or- dained and settled at St. Catharines, Canada, and then preached at Montery. In 1851, he was a stated supply at Mead's Creek; in 1853, at Rondout; in 1854, at Wes1 Dresden; and afterwards at New Millford, Pa.; and finally at Apalachin, where he died of typhoid SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 687 fever, December 6, 1865. He married Blandiua M., daughter of Conrad Broadhead, Esq., of Olive, who, with one daughter, survived him. Mr. Abbey's countenance denoted his godliness, — not gloomy, or sad, or severe, and by no means beauti- ful, but mild and benignant and pure, generally seri- ous, but often relaxing into smiles. The tones of his voice were low and soft, and his words and movements deliberate. Always feeble, and with the appearance of an invalid, he was incapable of great efforts, but quiet, careful, steady work, animated by a truly pious spirit, made him the agent of accomplishing much. Rev. Barnabas Bruin, a tutor in Union College, came to Ogdensburg early in 1819, on the recommen- dation of President Nott, and was cordially received. The church organization previously existing was dis- solved, and the name of First Church and congregation of Christ in the town of Oswegatchie discarded, and a new church formed, December 8, 1819, with a mem- bership of nine males and nine females. On the 15th of the same month George Bell and John Fine were chosen elders, and ordained on the 19th, and the first meeting of the session was held on the 29th. Soon after Mr. Bruin's coming, the first house of worship occupied by the church, and popularly styled the "Gospel Barn," was built, costing $600. i|js health failed soon after, and leaving for its recovery, he never returned to remain, and died in Connecticut Be was a young man of superior talents, ardent piety, and prudent zeal. 688 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE Rev. Hercules R Dunham was a native of the State of New York, a graduate from Union College in 1838, and from the New Haven Seminary in 1841. He was ordained January 11, 1843, and installed over the Cortlandville church, where he continued until 1856, and died at Gralena, Illinois, in 1857, his remains being brought to the beautiful cemetery of the town where he exercised his only pastorate. Almost uncouth in appearance, his person indicated a giant's strength. The outward man well figured the inner. Of strong mind, Mr. Dunham exercised it with great power, and his force and transparent sincerity soon hid his exterior, and nothing was noticed and felt but the truths he ex- hibited'and the appeals he presented. Rev. Robert F alley Cleveland was born at Norwich, Ct., in 1808, and spent his boyhood and youth there. He was graduated from Yale College in 1824, and studied one year at Princeton Seminary. He first settled at Windham, Ct., and remained there three years. He then went to Portsmouth, Va., and at the expiration of two years, took the charge of the church at Caldwell, N. J., and retained it for nine years, when he accepted a call to Fayetteville. Here he lived and labored for eight years, and then entered upon a Dis- trict Secretaryship -of the American Home Missionary Society, making it his home at Clinton. Three years were passed in this office, when Mr. Cleveland returned to ;i pastorate, and removing to Holland Patent, he had preached but twice there, when death terminated his ministry, October 1, 1853. In 1826 Mr. Cleveland was married to Ann, daughter of A.bner Veal, of Baltimore, Iowa. Seven of their SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 689 eight children are living. The oldest was the wife of Kev. E. P. Hastings, missionary for twenty-five years in Ceylon. The second is the Rev. Win. Cleveland, of Eaton. The youngest is with her mother in Holland Patent. The remainder, with' the exception of one daughter in Toledo, reside in this State. Mr. Cleveland showed his good breeding in all the intercourse of life and in his appearance and manners. Not punctilious or dressy, he was always polite and wore a gentleman's garb. His look was generally se- rious, but never gloomy or morose. He was busy with- out being bustling, and earnest without being violent. No one could be with him without respecting and es- teeming him. The suddenness of his death produced widely the pang of a painful surprise, and the grief that followed flooded many eyv*. The notice of Rev. Benjamin Xiu:s. mi, a preced- ing page, was prepared from very inqx-rfect informa- tion. Since it passed through the press, the following much more satisfactory sketch has been procured: Mr. Niles was born in the town of West Fairlee, Vermont, in August, 1787. His father, Sands Niles, was a Vermont farmer, but both his grandfather ami great grandfather were Congrega- tional clergymen, of Braintree, .Mass Hon. Nathaniel Niles, of Vermont, who attained to some celebrity as lawyer, j udge, farmer and clergyman, was his ancle. .Mr. Niles graduated at Dartmouth College, in the class of lsi 1, which numbered, amoug other emi- nent men Rev. Daniel Poor, I) D., missionary al Ceylon, Hon. Amos Kendall, LL. D., Postmaster General, and Hon. Joel Parker, LL. D., Chief Justice of New Jersey, Mr. Niles received the honorary degree of Master of arts from Yale College, In 1815. In March, 1816, be came, as a licentiate of the gospel ministry, to Blnghamton, then known bj the name of Chenango Point, while 690 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE as yet the church was unorganized. Rev. Dr. Board in an, in his historical sermon at the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Binghamton Church, states that Mr. Niles " preached with an effect upon the hearts of the people not known before. God blessed his labors; the Holy Spirit made use of the truths he pro- claimed. Some of his sermons are still remembered as powerful for their simple and touching truthfulness. Oue from the text, 1 Are not Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?' is to this day spoken of with tears of grat- tude. Mr. Niles was hesitant about settling as a pastor. * * * After preaching for a time, he went from the place, uncertain whether he should return. Some of those whom he had led to Christ remonstrated with him, and at his departure assured him that they should 'pray him back.' In his absence, he received a call to settle as pastor over a church in the town of Ovid, X. Y., but was finally induced to return to Binghamton, and was there Jan. 1, 1817, and at the formation of the church a little more than ten months later." March 2d, 1818, "the church agreed to give the Rev. Benjamin Niles a call to settle." This call was repeated in the following May, and in October, 1818, he was ordained and installed its first pastor. June 20th, 1821, Mr. Niles was united in marriage to Miss Ma- hal ah Duuning, daughter of Captain Michael Dunning, of Ulyssis, Tompkins county, N. Y. , by whom he had three children, one son (now Rev. W. A. Niles, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Hornellsville, N. Y.), and two daughters, both of whom died in their infancy. The period of Mr. Niles' ministry in Binghamton was one of struggle. The church went by the soubriquet, " Mr. Niles and his women," but before his death, he was permitted to see a glo- rious revival, and sixty persons in one year, some of them men of Btrength and influence, were added to the church. Mr. Niles was an earnest Christian pastor, was greatly beloved by his people, and was universally respected in the community. The historical sermon above referred to states, " It is understood that the salary aimed at in Mr. Niles' day was three hundred dollars. But he never received that amount in any year during his stay." He Buffered from a bronchial difficulty that prevented him from preaching for nearly or quite a year before his death, which oc- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 691 curred July 18, 1828, at the age of forty years and eleven months. He laid for the Binghamton Church a glorious foundation, and children's children lovingly cherish his memory. The following very acceptable sketch has been obli- gingly furnished for this place: Rev. WASHINGTON THACHEB, A M. (Hamilton College. 1828), was born in Attleboro', Mass., Feb. 23, 1794, and died in Utica, N. Y., June 29, 1850. He was of a God-fearing and ministerial stock. It is a tradition of the family, that seven successive cler- gymen of the name of Thacher, all bearing the apostolic praeno- men of Peter, had ministered to the Anglican Church in Old Sa- rum, England, before 1630; and of the nine generations in this country, beginning with Rev. Peter Thacher, D. D., first pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, no one of them all has wanted a man to stand before the altar of God, though not all of them have borne the apostolic name. When Washington Thacher wa3 less than two years of age, his father removed with his family to Harford, Susquehannah Co., Pennsylvania, where he, in company with eight other young men from Attleboro', had undertaken, five years before, to build up homes for themselves, in the wilderness. The young settlement, founded by New England men, had already its little church and school house, and in Mr. Thacher's early boyhood. Rev. Lyman Richardson, D. D., established there a select school, which ere long grew into the Harford Academy, and finally into the shortlived Susquehannah University. Mr. Thacher was a favorite pupil of Dr. Richardson, and applied himself to study so assiduously that at the sventeen, he was an excellent English, and a good classical scholar. From 1811 to 181G, he taught every winter either in Sasquehannah Co., Pa., or Broome Co N \ We have not the exact date of his conversion, but in 1818 he had com- • d a course of theological study. Rev. .John Truair, of cher- ry Valley, then in the zenith of his fame as an able and eloquent revival preacher, being his instructor for more than two y< In 1831 he was licensed by the Oteej o Presbytery. He wras married in 1833, to Miss Maria M . Johnson, of Little Falls, and the became the stated supply of the Presbyterian Church at Morrisville, Madison Co., where he remained for four years. In L820 he waa 692 PliESBYTERIANISM IN THE called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Onondaga, where he remained for seven years, his ministry proving very successful, and his labors being crowned by precious revivals. In July, 1827, his lovely and accomplished wife died very suddenly, leaving him with three little children. In December, 1828, he was married a second time, to Miss Sarah E. Morrill, of New York. In January, 1833, he received an urgent call from the First Pres- byterian Church in Jordan, to become its pastor. The call was accepted, and ratified by Presbytery Jan. 10, 1833. His pastorate in Jordan extended over a period of nearly ten years, and was fruitful in the spiritual growth and activity of the church. There were several seasons of revival, and the accessions to the membership were large, though the population was a fluc- tuating one. Before his pastorate at Jordan, he was more than once invited to the charge of the First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, and to other important posts, but declined*. He was one of the trustees of the Auburn Theological Seminary, during most of his residence in Jordan, and until the close of his life. His health at length became so seriously impaired that in 1842, he resigned his pastoral charge, and after his partial recovery was for a year or more Principal of the Academy at Jordan. In the autumn of 1843 he removed to Eaton, Madison Co., and was for ihree years stated supply of the church there. In the autumn of 1846 he returned to Jordan, and in the spring of 1847 accepted an appointment as Secretary of the Central New York Agency of the American Home Missionary Society, and removed to Utica to enter upon his labors. The duties of the position, at that time, were very laborious and difficult; the territory covered by the agency being extensive, the collections and expenditures large; and the causes which, some years later, led to the separation of the Pres- byterians and Congregationalists in their Home Mission work had just commenced to affect the churches. Mr. Thacher was indefat- igable in his labors, and sought to promote the peace of Zion, but at the end of three years, during which he had suffered from Bevere domestic affliction, his excessive toil, and exposure to the inclement winter climate of the northern counties, completely broke down his health, and after a protracted illness, he passed away peacefully and joyfully, June 29, I860. Mr. Thacher was a man of extensive general culture, thoroughly at home in English literature, and a good classical and Biblical scholar. His style as SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 693 a writer and preacher was chaste, simple, and perspicuous; every thought was clearly, concisely, and appropriately expressed; and there was no attempt at display or excessive adornment. He was sound in doctrine, and exemplary in the practice of all the Chris- tian virtures; and as a pastor, faithful, sympathizing, and genial in his intercourse with his people. He was eminently "a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," and through his abun- dant labors, " much people were added unto the Lord." [The following belongstosketch.es of prominent bene factors of Hamilton College, but the material for it. could not be procured in time for that place :] Hon. Perry Hiram Smith, of Chicago, was born in Augusta, Oneida County, where he lived until his ad- mission to Hamilton College, from which he graduated with the class of 1846. Admitted to the Bar, he open- ed an office, in partnership with another, at Appleton, Wis., while the settlers there were felling the trees on the site of their embryo city. The lawyers of the place, in common with the rest of the inhabitants, were compelled to versatility in their pursuits, and all the circumstances of .Mr. Smith's life had trained him for this, while he had a natural aptitude for it. He engaged in whatever promised remuneration and profit, and was quite sure to take part in public enterprises and opera- tions, until finally, be was withdrawn from the active practice of bis profession and from every other pursuit, and betook himself t<> the management and extension of Railways and to transactions in them, and became a king in this domain in the Wes1 and Northwest The intensity of his devotion to business did nol absorb his interest in literature and science, nor engulf his memory ^i the friends of his childhood and vouth, and of the College 694 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE to which he was largely indebted. Expressing his gratitude to the latter and his affection for it, and his appreciation of books, he laid the foundation of- the Li- brary Hall that bears his name, and liberally contribu- ted to the superstructure. His friend and fellow colle- gian, Judge Caton, of Illinois, speaks of Mr. Smith in a Commencement Address, "After he had received the lessons and honors of this Institution, he studied the profession of the law, in which he gave bright promise of success, when he joined the teeming throng whose face was turned towards the West, and settled in the wilderness of Wisconsin. Its shades could not hide his great executive talent, and the first railroad that point- ed towards his new home claimed him for its own. For twelve years he has been one of the great railroad spirits of the West, and with the aid of other great minds in unison with his own, he has raised his com- pany to the exalted position of owning more miles of road than any other company in the United States. In the midst of his toils and triumphs, he has not for- gotten where the foundation was laid, but he has. with a noble generosity, contributed one-half of the cost of this building." The many laymen on this field noticeable for their excellence and usefulness, merit a sketch, but it would he loo voluminous for these pages. Mention can be made of only a. very few, and most of them of the num- ber known t<> the churches generally, as well as to the congregations of which they were members, or whose works eximded largely beyond their own immediate communities. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 695 Reference has already been made to Johx LlNKLAEN, a permanent officer of one of our Presbyteries, as well as an invaluable member and elder of the Cazenovia Church, and of distinguished repute throughout this part of the State. In speaking of him, I quote freely,, but not always literally, from Mrs. L. M. Hammond'.- History of Madison county : Jan Von Lincklaen was born in Amsterdam, Holland, December 24, 1768. His boyhood was principally passed in Switzerland, where he was educated by a private tutor. At the age of 14 he- entered the Dutch Navy, remaining in the service for some years, and obtaining promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. He visited, in his cruises, the most important places in Europe and Asia, and passed considerable time in Smyrna and Ceylon. In 1790 he came to this country under the patronage of Mr. Stadnitski, of Amster- dam, principal director of the Holland Land Company's affairs in America. In 1792, he penetrated the wilderness of Central New York, and surveyed the land subsequently purchased by this Company, and early in 1793 he was entrusted with the agency of the tract, and commenced the settlement of Cazenovia, naming it after his friend Mr. Cazenove, an Italian. He laid out roads, built bridges, erected mills and warehouses, and soon found him- self in a prosperous community. Thus he labored for nearly thirty years, winning a reputation for integrity and accuracy, and proving a good neighbor and a friend to the poor. He was also connected with the Holland Land Company's purchase in Genesee county. Non-residents were disqualified for holding real estate, and this property was deeded to three individuals, one of them Mr. Lincklaen, who held and sold it for the Company. Hifl sonal acquaintances comprehended many learned and distin- guished men, and his reading included English. Dutch and French books Grace fal in person, always elegant in dress and manner. and with a general air •>f refinement, he was marked as of na ture's superior types of men. His culture separated him from the mass, but against his will, and made him awkward in attempt ting to mingle with them. Dr. Vanderkemp and Col. Mappawere two of his most intimate friends, and both being Unitarians, for a time Influenced his religious views. Hut a revival of religion 696 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE under the ministry of Dr. Brown recovered him for orthodoxy; and made a subject of renewing ijrace, he united with the Caze- novia Church, and became a pillar for support and a power for achievement, not only there, but also and almost equally in the Presbytery. Thomas Hastings, one of the eleven children of Dr. Seth Hastings, physician and farmer, was born in Washington, Litchfield county, Ct., October 15, 1784. The family, with a company of neighbors, moved to Clinton, Oneida county, in 1796. making the journey in winter on ox sleighs and ox sleds. The country to which they came was an almost perfect wilderness. " The first time I passed through Utica," Mr. Hastings once wrote, " the primitive forest had been recently re- moved and the stumps of the trees were thickly shrouded with snow. The place, bating one or two shanties, was an unbroken solitude." His summers were spent on his father's farm and his winters at school, and for two seasons he walked six miles daily to the academy in Clinton, braving storms and cold, and plunging through snow, slush and mud. He early began the study oi music, a six penny gamut of four pages being his firsl text-book. This he mastered, and then learned the tunes in an old Psalm book. Such was the repute lie thus gained, that the village church chose him third chorister, and soon he became virtually the first The success he achieved inspired him with the thought that his vocation was diselosed. Very defective vision had made it a problem to what he was called, and cost him anxiety and discouragement. An older brother, about this time, presented him with an elaborate treatise <>n music, bought at auction, and SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. 697 though profoundly scientific, Mr. Hastings patiently studied it until he thoroughly understood it. In 1805 he visited several of the neighboring parishes with a view to the opening of singing schools, but the people distrusted his ability to conduct them, because of his very poor eye-sight. This quite disheartened him, but in 1806 he was invited to Bridgewater, Oneida county, and to Brookfield, Herkimer county, and there began the teaching which he afterwards pursued as his pro- fession. He encountered difficulties and embarrass- ments in the outset, before which he might well have quailed. His excessive near-sightedness, and the habit of the times to make singing schools young people's places of amusement, might reasonably have appeared insuperable hindrances to him. The labor of preparing the lessons in manuscript, from the want of suitable note-books, was also imposed upon him — musical taste was to be created and reformed, and jealous rivals were to be withstood. This work and struggle he kepi up for three Beasons, and achieved success and came oif in triumph. Ee then spenl a year in busi- ness, and afterwards four years in managing his father's farm, but iii Lbl6, resumed the leaching of music, and his engagements soon carried him over Central and Western New York. In 1818 he was invited to spend the winter in Troy, where he conducted a large school and organized an emcienl choir for one of the churches. lie then went to Albany as chorister in the Second Church. He took his stand immediately in front of the pulpit, where, with tin- fine tenor of the pastor, (Dr. John Chester, predecessor of Dr, Win. B. Sprague,)and an effective alto, and a strong bass, and a full toned so- 698 PRESBYTERIAN ISM IN THE prano in the front pew, he led the singing of the con gregation. In the autumn of 1823 he accepted the editorial chair of the Recorder, a new religious news- paper published in Utica, and filled it until the issue of the ninth volume. He spent a winter in Albany and Troy, where he was invited to labor for "the improvement of Psalmody in the churches," and in 1832 he was called to New York by twelve churches, to try an experiment in reforming their music, and here was the centre of his activities, until he laid down to his final rest. Mr. Hastings was no routine teacher of sacred music, neither did he practice his profession merely from a love of music, or as a means of support, and less still for the sake of distinction and gain. He was a re- former in it, and had a distinct idea of what sacred music was, and of the mode in which it should be con- ducted, and he sought to have it employed for its proper and invaluable purposes. He said : Keligion has substantially the same claim in song as in speech. Praise and prayer, therefore, though circumstantially different, are the same in spirituality. Neither the one or the other admits of representative worship. Personated devotion is appropriate only in the drama. Even there, as in concerts and in musical conventions, it is continually exposed to abuse. Religious music, properly so called, has fundamental principles which are invaria- ble, and the leading elements of style must be equally so. These should never be subject to those fluctuations of manner, which, like fashion in dress, are chiefly remarkable for novelty." " Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord," was a motto with him. He insisted on it that all could learn to sing, and that it was tin4 duty of all to join in the service of praise Bis procedure in New York, as described by himself, illustrates his thoughts: SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 699 I attended, at various times, the churches'among which I was called to labor. Some of these had choirs, others preferred the congregational style, while all were desirous of improvement on a right general basis. The nature of this was sufficiently plain. Music, as an art, might be pursued in the parlor, as it had been, but music which was to set forth with energy and pathos the sol- emn utterances of praise, required specific Christian training. This determination was fundamental with us. If Christians sought the gratification of taste merely, they had ready access to the concert and the oratorio ; but applying music to the language of their devotion was an entirely different matter, requiring per- sonal exertions and sacrifices. Psalmody, therefore, was to be placed on the same common basis with other religious enterprises. Existing volunteer choirs were to be thoroughly drilled, new ones constituted, while the congregations at large were to receive in- struction. Two or three churches were combined in each even- ing's labors. Afternoons, at one central place, were devoted to instruction in the rudiments of notation. These were open to all the city, and thousands of the population attended. These gained sufficient skill to unite in the evening classes, and these gave place to others equally destitute of information, so that the whole course necessarily consisted of repetitions of the simplest initia tory exercises upon the floating masses which attended. The plan seemed successful. The meetings, afternoon and evenings, were well attended. The people had a mind to work, and there was very little to hinder them. Mr. Hastings became a prolific writer for the pi particularly in the advocacy of his professional views. setting them forth in the editorials of the "Recorder," and for a long succession of years in frequenl per articles, and in occasional pamphlets Be encoun- tered criticism and opposition and hostility, and was driven into controversy, bu1 though adherence to his principles cost him the loss of popularity at times, and the foregoing i >f em< tlumenl he c< >uld easily and lai j have made, he never abandoned them for favor, or money, or repose. Persisting in the maintenance and fur- 700 PRESB YTER1A N1SM IN THE fcheranceofwhat he intelligently and deliberately and cod- scientiously embraced, amid trials and discouragements that few could have withstood, and that again and again almost disheartened him, and submitting to sacrifices that few could bear, it must have gratified him in the end to know something of what he achieved. The Chatham St. Chapel and the Broadway Church music, and the performances of the choir under his lead on anniver- sary occasions for several years, the reverberations of which linger in many ears, if not reward enough for what he had suffered and done, were indications of what he had achieved on the broad field of his labors. " Whatever true reforms were made in the spirit of praise during the first half of the present century, were largely accomplished by and through him. During that forming period of the church, — that time of great revivals, — he successfully trained thousands in the church, the school and the home. Many of these are no longer dwellers on the earth, but they did not die until they themselves had trained many others, and put his principles in practice in all parts of the land, and in islands and countries beyond the sea. Foryears his name was a household word, and his music familiar strains in Christian dwellings of every name and class; and even to-dav his form and face rise before a multi- tude of those who knew and loved him, and who retain the outline and expression with a vividness that neither pencil nor pen could portray.* His early labors as * Dr. Moses M. Hsiirp, of Htica, in the course of a letter penned on the occasion of the semi centennial <>f the First Church, Ttica, Sunday school, writes: "I can still see Mr Hastings, with his venerable-looking head bowed down in astonishing proximity to hifl notes, or vragging rigorously in unison with his ivory-headed SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. fOl editor and compiler of musical works were invaluable to the church at large, and his publications but the heralds of scores that have since followed, many of which would never have had an existence but for him." i Oneida county Musical Society, with President Backus at the head of it. was formed in 1816. and here the origin of the various music books which Dr. Hastings published. There were none of these at hand for the use of the members. Mr. Hastings, in connec- tion with Prof. Norton, of Hamilton College, compiled two pamplets. which grew to a volume. — the famous •• Musica Sacra." This was subsequently united with tin- "Springfield Collection." edited by Col. Warriner, which passed through many editions. "The Manhat- tan Collection*' followed i U), - The - cred Lyre," — in 1&4T, "The Psalmodist." prepared by him in connection with W. B. Bradbury, — the " Cho- ralist,'' in 1847. — the Mendelssohn Collection, in I —the "Psalmista," in L851,— and "Selah," in :- which he regarded as the best he hud prepared. " In 1858, in connection with his son, Rev. Dr. Thon Hastings, he brought out "Church Melodies," a work which, with the exception of the Ply mouth Collection. was the first of the kind, in the breadth of it.- plan, de- signed to pi tional Binging. He had iously edited for the Methodist Church, the "In- dian Melodies," for the American Tract Societ] cane, to mark the time for his lagging class. It was thai same white head which confront. -.1 qi every Sabbath in (he old brick church, whenever w< r eyei from the pulpit to the organ loft, and which seemed aa essential to the ministrations of the sanctuary as any minister whoever filled its pulpit." 702 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE editions of " Sacred Songs" and one of " Songs of Zion," and the "Presbyterian Psalmodist" and "Juvenile Psalmodist," for the Presbyterian Church. His earliest work was " Spiritual Songs," famous in its day. He also published " Nursery Songs," a collection of hymns for Mothers' Meetings, a volume of original hymns, one of Sacred Praise, and " Essays on Prayer." His contributions to the newspaper and periodical press through all these years were almost without intermis- sion, and among his papers was found an unfinished article for the N. Y. Evangelist, upon which he was en- gaged a few days before his death/' " The current hymnology was in many respects un- satisfactory. A large portion of it could not be effect- ively sung, and still another portion of it was almost useless, because of the palpable defects and blemishesr while there was a want of hymns adapted to the new and beautiful metres. In addition, the readings were exceedingly various, not only in England, but in this country. These facts led him to prepare the " Chris- tian Psalmist," which he published in 1836. Though much criticised, the book found friends and gained a wide circulation. The exigences of musical adaptation had also led him for several years to task his own pow- ers in amending some impracticable passages in the language of a hymn, and in adding an occasional stanza, which seemed to be much needed. lie was sometimes led, wlicn he failed t<> find what he deemed just the needed words for a particular tune, to write an entire hymn. Many of these hymns, at first published anony- mously, have obtained a wide currency at home and abroad.'' He composed 600, many of them pub- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 70S lished, and not a few well known and prized, such as "Why that Look of Sadness," "Gently, Lord, O Gently Lead Us," k% How Calm and Beautiful the Mom," "Child of Sin and Sorrow," "Why Lament the Chris- tian Dying," " Pilgrims in this Yale of Sorrow,** * "While such tunes as Chester, Zoar, Zadoc, Rock of Ages. Westley, Ortonville and others, continued to circulate widely, even through rival publications, and were ex- tensively employed by the people of God in the hal- lowed aspirations of praise." "As widely as he was known and beloved in his public labors, those only knew him well who were ac- customed to meet him in social life. He had a mar- vellous kindness of heart, a serenity of temper and a gentleness of manner rarely found in men. During his youth and -up to the period of his early manhood, he had long and bitter spiritual struggles. Few of the many who afterwards came within the play of his sunny, cheerful, oftentimes buoyant religious life, little dreamed that he had known what it was to dwell long in the shadowy region of doubt and fear. The disci- pline of life, its sorrows, its cares and its anxieties, had only served to make more symmetric his Christian character. He was a diligent student oi the Scriptures. was in himself a concordance, and his own copies of the Word of God form quite a little library. Be on the Divine Word, and his knowledge of it combined * In a letter to the writer, he BE] - " Another little Item maj not be destitute «>f interest, The hymn, 'Now be the (Jospel Banner,' which had so wide B circulation In this country ami in England, was com posed expressly for use at the CJtica Anniver- saries." 704 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE with his own ripe Christian character, and his long and close observation made him a wise and suc- cessful teacher of others in religious things. Yet childlike as he was in spirit, there was, neverthe- less, in and about him, a personal force, a depth of feeling, a clearness of conviction, a rigidity of purpose, a manly piety, and all so united, so tempered and re- fined, that few could resist his influence. No one un- familiar with his manner of life, could form a concep- tion of his industry and steady application. With his imperfect eyesight, it seems a marvel that he accom- plished so much with eye and hand." One has happily described him in a single short sentence : " He was as full of poetry as David and of love as John, and de- lighted in the J03' of the Lord." " To the last he retained the free use of his faculties, his habits of study and of work, and a lively interest in the public affairs of the church and of the world. A few days illness, in which he suffered little bodily pain, closed his long and well spent life, May 15, 1872, in the 88th year of his age. ' He was not, for God took him.* " Mr. Hastings was married at Buffalo, September 15, 1822, to Mary Seymour, who survived him. "Of our three children,' ' he said in a letter to the writer, Octo- ber, 1866, " two are in the paradise above, and one re- mains as pastor of the people with whom we worship. He was baptized into your church by Rev. Dr. Aiken, nearly forty years ago. They all became pious in ju- venile years, and received their earliest training in [Jtica, This we can never forget." Of these three children, one married Rev. \V. \Y. Scudder, of India, SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 705 where she died in 1849. Another married Rev. Dr. George W. Wood, of the Constantinople Mission, and a Secretary of the American Board, and died in 1862. The third is Rev. Dr. Thomas S. Hastings, of the West Presbyterian Church, New York. Colonel William Williams was born at New Hartford, Oneida county, October 12, 1787, and died at Utica, June 10, 1850. He was widely known as one of the two principals of a firm doing the largest print- ing and publishing business west of Albany, and as a prominent citizen and newspaper proprietor, and he was familiarly known to our ministers and churches as particularly their printer and publisher, and as an active, useful, and exemplary Christian and ruling elder. He entered the office of his relative, William McClean, the pioneer printer of Utica, and well schooled there, lie formed a partnership, long maintained with his brother- in-law, Asahel Seward, a kindred spirit, — a man of pro- verbial purity, integrity and benevolence — one of the few who combine energy, positiveness, and firmness with amiability, and kindness, and extensive business trans actions with unquestionable liberality and fairn< The firm commenced the publication of the Utica /'>> trol\\\ 1816, and continued it, under different names, until 1825. They supplied the infant community throughout the territory of the Synod with school books and reading matter generally; and when the Western Magazine, afterwards called the [Jtica Christian * Mr. Seward died Feb. 1, 18:55, aged 58 years,— " triumphing in faith," is the minute in the First Church. Utica, Sunday school records, " and long a valuable resident of the city." 706 PRESB YTERIA NISM IN THE Magazine, established with much effort by the Presbv- tery of Oneida and the Association of Oneida, in 1812, and kept in being by no less effort, and highly valued for its usefulness, was ready to expire, or had already died, Col. Williams appeared in Presbytery and offered to carry it on, or revive it, with the Presbytery's en- dorsement; and from 1822 to 1^26, he printed and published it under the name of the Utica Christian Re- pository. The war of 1812 was his summons to arms, and he took a place on the staff of Gen. Collins. His tastes and aptitudes well fitted him for military life, and he exercised and indulged them in times of peace, and was prominent and active in the militia of the State. But the dress of a soldier did not hide his religion, nor hinder its duties. A mutual friend mentioned to me, many years since, an incident that illustrates this, While engaged with his regiment at Rome, the weekly prayer meeting of the church occurred, and Col. Wil- liams entered in full regimentals, and no one being present to conduct the exercises, he promptly took the chair to which he was invited. Says John H. Edmunds, Esq., of Utica : It always seemed to me that Mr. William Williams was the ruling spirit of the school (First Utica), in its early days, of which he was long a teacher and superintendent. He was older than most of the teachers, although then in the prime of life. His re- ligious, social and business position was high. Of great energy enterprise and liberality, he filled most acceptably, at an early age, high stations in the church, in municipal and military affairs and as an enlightened, earnest and devoted Christian was very conspicuous. I can never forget the impression he made upon me in the school, an impression which was felt by all the schol- ars. His personal appearance was very prepossessing. Of noble presence and great dignity and suavity of manners, we respected SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. , ( . ," and loved him. He was the very pattern of a Christian gentle man. And his influence was felt long aft^r his multifarious pur suits, and especially his engagements with the Bible class in the church, obliged him to yield the personal management of the school to younger men. His interest in it never abated. Many of the teachers were his apprentices and clerks, whom he care- fully trained, not only in their trade and in business, but most of all in religion. He was for many years at the head of the largest printing house in Western New York, and had a large number of young men in his employ, most of whom became decided Chris- tians under his influence. It would be an interesting inquiry, how many devoted religious young men went forth from his es- tablishment and became conspicuous in after life in walks of use- fulness, as ministers, missionaries and Sunday school teachers. The number was surprisingly large." Says William Tracy, Esq., formerly of TJtica, lmt now of New York : William Williams has been alluded to as prominent in political and military affairs. That, however, was but an insignificant part of his history. It was in the church, as one of its earliest and most honored office-bearers, and in the community as one of the most benevolent, self-sacrificing and active promoters of every enterprise to increase the happiness and alleviate the sufferings of humanity, that all who knew him best remember him. They who survive of the inhabitants of Utica during the first visits tion of the cholera in L832, will sever forget his services to the sick and dying, as well as to those who, from poverty, were una- ble to fly from the pestilence, and whose daily earnings were cut off by the suspension of business. It was not only from morn to night, bat from early morn to early morn that he was seen driving from house to house, prescribing for. comforting and en- couraging the sick and smothing the pillow of the dying, and dis- tributing to the needy, until he himself was stricken down bj the disease, from which he was slow to recover. His fao-, always beaming with benevolence, cheered everj sick room, and to many a sufferer operated as a restorative of life when hop.- was almost gone." Says Frederick S. Winston, Esq., the well known President of the Mutual [nsurance Company, N. Y. 708 PRESBYTERIAN JSM li\ THE While a youth of seventeen, a clerk in the mercantile house of Doolittle and Gold, I lodged in the store, as the custom then was in your city. One Sunday morning, as I passed into Genesee street, I was met by Mr. William Williams, who took me by the arm, inviting me to go with him, and saying that he had some- thing for me to do. He was then in the vigor of his manhood, an officer in the church, at the head of the military organization of the city, and often called upon to direct the fire department, and in other emergencies requiring unusual self-possession, energy and intelligence. Such was the magnetism and attractiveness of his manner and my veneration for his character, that I cheerfully gave myself up to his guidance and direction. He led me to the Sunday school, then, in 1823, held in the public school room near the canal, of which he was superintendent, and Mr. Truman Par- melee the assistant. They immediately collected for me a class of little boys, whose bright and intelligent countenances and nervous susceptibilities are as freshly pictured upon my memory as if the scene was of yesterday. That they interested me far more than I could interest them, you will readily believe, when I tell you that among them were Alexander S Johnson (U. S. District Judge), John H. Edmonds, Alexander Seward and Erastus Clark, Esqs , (lawyers in Utica), James M. Hoyt, Esq., (lawyer in Cleve- land), Rev. Dr. Edward Bright, (the editor of the New York Ex- aminer and Chronicle), Henry S. Lansing, Esq., and W. Frederick Williams, (the missionary). Business reverses overtook Col. Williams, but they never shook the universal confidence in him nor weak- ened his faith in Grod, and for the last nine years of his life he suffered sadly from an injury to his brain produced by the overturning of a stagecoach. He was married twice, -first to Sophia Wells, four of whose fourteen children live : and second to Catharine, daugh- ter of Hon. Henry Huntington, of Home, whose two sons preceded her in death. S. Wells Williams, LL. D., until recently <>f China, Henry Dwight Williams, Esq., of New York. Robert S. Williams, Esq., cashier of the Oneida National Bank and a ruling elder of the SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. f09 First Church, Utica, and Mrs. J. V. P. Gardiner, of Utica, are the children of Col. Williams, now living, and W. Frederick Williams. D. D., of Mosul and Mar- din, was his son. The name of John Fine is as familiar to the Synod as that of any minister who has lived within its bounds. Indeed, his life work was not less relig- ions and ecclesiastical than secular. Distinguished in civil affairs, he was quite as busy and conspicuous in spiritual affairs. Usefulness was his occupation, and law his profession. Born in the city of New York, August 26, 1794. he was educated there, graduating from Columbia College in the fifteenth year of his age, and next to the head of his class, in 1809. Hestudied law four years with Peter \V. Radcliff, and one year with (i. W. Strong, and attended a year's course of lectures in Judges Reeve & Gould's celebrated law school, at Litch- field, Ct. In lb 15 he opened an office in St. Lawrence county, in connection with Louis Hasbrouck, Esq., and the partnership continued until Mr. Hasbrouck's death m 1834 In 1>24 he was appointed first judge of the county, and reappointed at the expiration of succ< - terms of office until la; retired on his election to Con- gress, in 1888, where be served during the latter of Ins two years on the Committee of Foreign Affairs. In 1844 he was again | »1 ; i« « *< I on the bench, and sat there until tin- reorganization <»f the court- in ls47. under the new Constitution of the State, and it ought to be noticed thai but three of liis decisions forover eighteen years were reversed. In L848 be was chosen a State Senator, and most happily impressed himself "ii the 710 PRESBYTERIAX18U IN THE legislation during his period of service. He introduced the laws to punish seduction criminally and to protect the property of married women, the latter materially modify- ing common law, and raising woman from a menial and dependent condition in regard to property, and putting her, in this respect, on a par with man. The princi- ple is sanctioned by Christianity and advanced civiliza- tion, and can never be eliminated from our code. In 1847, and again in 1849, he was nominated for a judge- ship in the Supreme Court, but on both occasions he was defeated by that great lawyer and judge and peerless man, Daniel Cady, of Johnstown. From 1821 to 1833 he acted as County Treasurer, and on resigning, the Board of Supervisors bore unqualified testimony to the ability, accuracy and integrity with which he had discharged his trust, and consented to release him only because the duties of the place were incompatible with his other business. In 1852 he published a volume of lectures on law, prepared for his sons, of which Judge Cady said: "I do not believe there is another work in the English language which contains so much legal information in so few words. All I read and hear of the lectures, strengthens my conviction that they should be in the hands of every student who wishes to acquire, in the shortest time, a knowledge of the laws of his country. Judge Fine, as already observed, was quite as much identified with religion as with statesmanship and law. Indeed, the latter was subordinated to the former. On removing to St. Lawrence county, he was substantially a superintendent of the missionary field about him, and looked after the waste places and feeble churches, and SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 711 was constantly consulted about them. The church at Ogdensburg was weak and even dilapidated when he joined it, and he looked out for its supplies and pastors, and himself took charge of it and served it. He was not less active in the benevolent societies of the county, almost, if not quite invariably placed among their offi- cers, and never declining or failing to fulfill their as- signments of labor, however onerous or humble, — ai d in every movement for the public welfare — for educa- tion or reform, or aught else of good, he was sure to take a leading part. And he suffered no nearsighted- ness, but saw the state of his entire denomination, and was a frequent and nearly a constant member of the Presbytery and Synod, and often and prominently a Commissioner to the'General Assembly, and active in planning and executing its schemes. Notice has been taken of the part he took in initiating and consummating the ': Re-union." Such a measure suited his large and liberal heart, and he gave to it all his treasures of thought, and feeling, and energy. And it was no1 the externals of religion and of the Church alone bo which be was devoted He sympa- thized with their spiritualities, and was chiefly engj for them. He soughl the salvation of souls, and quickly responded to whatever promised conversions and revivals. Orthodox and conservative Prom taste and conviction and culture, be allied himself to the "Old School " when there were parties in the church, and when " Old School and New School " constituted separate bodies, but do man Old School or N< -a sur passed him in the fervor <>f his pietj and the activity of his benevolence. And names had little influence in 712 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE determining what lie approved and employed. He cared little who used it, or what it was called in decid- ing aboul the expediency and efficiency of a method of doing good, and neither favoritism nor prejudice was permitted by him to endorse or repudiate air agent for doing good! -I udge Fine's name is the proper filling up of the ellipses, in the following extract from Mr. Finney's autobiography : While laboring at De Kalb, I first became acquainted with Mr- F., of Ogdensburg. He heard of the revival at De Kalb, and came from Ogdensburg, some sixteen miles, to see it. He was wealthy and very benevolent. He proposed to employ me as a missionary to work in the towns throughout that county, and he would pay me a salary. However, I declined to pledge myself to preach in any particular place, or to confine my labors within any given lines. Mr. F. spent several days with me in visiting from house to house, and in attending our meetings. He had been educated in Phila- delphia, [a mistake] an Old School Presbyterian, and was himself an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ogdensburg. On going away, he left a letter for me, containing three $10 bills. A few days later he came up again, and spent two or three days, and at- tended our meetings, and became every much interested in the work. When he went away he left another letter, containing, as before, three $10 bills. Thus I found myself possessed of $00, with which I Immediately purchased a buggy. Before this time, though I had a horse, I had no carriage, and my young wife and myself used to go a deal on foot to meeting. This was early in Mr. Finney's career. He devel- oped somewhat afterwards, and quite possibly, Judge Fine would have hesitated about encouraging him. Bu1 the incident discloses the spirituality and liberality of his sentiments. " He sometimes revealed his heart to me," Rev. Dr. L. Merrill Miller remarks: '• his hope of heaven and trusl in Christ were child-like, full and implicit, accounting the righteousness of Christ all sufficient, and his faithfulness for ever sure." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. t 13 Judge Fine died in 1867, when 73 years old. For 66 years he served as ruling elder in the church at Ogdensburg, and was one of the first two chosen for the office there. The churches within the bounds of the Synod, contain- ed large numbers of elders and private members, and out of the category of public men, and whose names were n< >t familiarly known abroad, but whose saintliness and beneficence would be interesting and profitable studies were it possible to record them, or to procure the mate- rials for sketching them. Mention may be made of representatives of the class. Those chosen are taken from the parish of the writer only because they were best known to him. Soon after my settlement in Utica, 1 was called upon by a venerable gentleman of rather small size, but trim figure, and whose appearance and manner at once indicated thought and culture. His coun- tenance was serious, and I can hardly recall it now. as relaxed and brightened with smiles. He had in his hands a Copy of the Septuagint, and this is the token of the work he accomplished. M\ visitor was Walter Kim.. Esq. He was born at Norwich, Ct, January (>, L786, — the sou of a Congregational minister long settled there, and afterwards in Williamstown, Mass. Be graduated at Yale College in 1805, a class- mate of President Heman Buraphrej and Thomas II. Gallaudet. Completing his law studies with Erastus Clark, Esq., of Utica, he entered into a partnership with him, which lasted until that gentleman's death in 1825, Pie continued practice at the bar, pari of the time in 7 14 PRESS YTER1A N1SM IN THE connection with Judge Dean, until the failure of his health in 1832, compelled him to retire, and he sought resl and recovery on a small farm in Marcy, across the Mohawk, on which he remained for twenty years. His deatli took place very suddenly, July 26, 1852. He was a ruling elder in the First Church, Utica, for many years, and when he moved to Marcy lie found himself in the midst of a community without a religious organ- ization and without a place for preaching and worship. Every variety of creed was represented in it, and the adherents of no one of them were able to build a church and sustain public ordinances. Mainly through Mr. King's instrumentality an association was formed con- sisting of Christians of several evangelical denomina- tions, and a chapel was erected and services statedly held in it. The Bible class was chosen by Mr. King as his par- ticular field of labor, and not satisfied with the stores of knowledge that he bibught into it, he diligently search- ed the Scriptures, and not satisfied with studying these in King James's version, or with the help of popular com- mentators, he took them up in their original languages and supplied himself with as large a critical apparatus as many professors of biblical interpretation possess. He also prepared and published "The Gospel Harmony," based substantially on Newcombe's arrangement It is divided into lessons, each of which is accompanied by questions. The book had quite an extensive circulation and passed through several editions. Win. Tracy, Esq., of New York, says: After a successful career as a lawyer. Mr. King: removed to a farm some three miles from Utica, where he spent the evening of SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. j 15 his days. He was a man of varied learning, with all his talents and attainments sanctified to the mission of leading soult* to Christ. With most genial feelings and a purely catholic spirit, he united a singular humility. I have known no one so well fitted for the duties of a Bible class teacher, or more successful in hi,< effort-. Says T. W. Seward, Esq., of Utica: The year that I passed under the instructions of this most ex- cellent gentleman and profound biblical scholar, was one of great profit. Mr. King's knowledge of sacred literature was varied and exact. No man whom I have ever known had so ready a way of disposing of troublesome questions and doubts. In warfare with infidelity he was a gladiator. Everything weut down before him. He was in the habit of giving much of his time with his clas:- to the besetting mistake of young men,— unbelief, and he did wisely. More than all, he was not squeamish. He would handle the weapons of infidelity as the magician does his swords, or the In- dian juggler his serpents, and he bade us do likewise It was a high compliment he paid his class, — and in complimenting them lie honored himself, — when he bade us explore, if we so chose, " the dark mountains of unbelief," and pluck, but not eat, every poisoned herb that grew there. Trimax Parmelee was apprenticed, at the age of 14, to Merrell cV Hastings, who were conducting the business of printing and publication in Utica. When aboul 17 ^ears of age In- was attacked with typhus fe- v«t. and just escaped with his lit'-'. When \w hai far recovered as to be exposed t<> no danger, Mr. An- drew Merrell, in whose family he was living and one of the firm with whom he was learning his trade, read the tract "Eternity" in his bearing; and that, with the conversation which followed, resulted in his happy con- version. He united with the First Church, then under the care of Rev. Henry Dwight, and entered the Sab- bath school, recently established, and after sen ing as ;i teacher there, he acted as superintendent for ten or 716 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE twelve years. His scholars can best portray him, and describe his methods of teaching, and the sources of his power. Says one of the large number: My recollections of ray old teacher and friend are of the most delightful character. It was my good fortune to be placed under his charge at a very early age, and I can never forget the deep and tender interest he ever manifested in his class, and in every- thing that pertained to them I am as averse as any one can be to extravagant panegyric, and doubtless if I had known my friend as an equal in years and mixing with the world. I should have seen in him, as well as in all others, the bad and the good combined. But he went from us before I could thus judge him. and I knew him only within the walls of the Sunday school, and there he ever appeared to me as nearly perfect. To us, his pupils, he was all gentleness and goodness. He ruled literally by the law of love. No harsh word ever fell from his lips; and so singular was his self-command and his exceeding amiability, that during the many years 1 was under his care, I never knew him to give way to the least anger or even petulance. He bore with our follies, our inattention and our disobedience with wonderful patience. He en- tered into our childish feelings so thoroughly, and sympathized so deeply with us, that he seemed like one of us, and yet still so greatly our superior. His iufluence over us was unbounded, so frank and generous and confiding was he, and so entirely devoted to our interests, that he made his character felt by us. and we that he was our best friend. He was unceasing in his ef- forts to render the Sunday school the best and pleasantest place we could find. " He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter world?, and led the way." ^nd it was evident that to himself it was the happiest spot, for never did he seem so much to enjoy himself as with his class about him. In this, doubtless, was the secret of his success. We felt that to him teaching was not a task, but a delight. It was a great honor to belong to his class, and so esteemed by the And not only in the Sunday school and in religious matters was he earnest in our behalf, but be sought opportunities to ad- vance us in life, and be accomplished much good in this way. In abort, bis whole heart was engaged with us and so entirely did be seem occupied with us that, in my simplicity, I supposed SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. "17 he had nothing to do but to care for us. He had all the gentle- ness and tenderness of a woman, with the firmness and energy of a man. Mr. Parmelee, it should be remarked, was not all heart. He had a fine mind and a strong character. He was a man among men, commanding respect in business circles and in general society, and everywhere accepted as a peer. He started in life with small and humble beginnings, but schooled himself into superior intelligence and disciplined powers, and raised himself to the highest grade in the community, where his cheer mess and quick wit and almost frolicsomeness. with his sterling qualities and attainments, made him the best and most agreeable of company. The accom- plished daughter of Judge Jonas Piatt accepted his hand, — her father long distinguished on the bench of the Supreme Court, a leader in politics and statesman- ship, of the Federal School, and an incumbent of and a candidate for the highest offices in the State, an hon- ored and honorable gentleman, and one of the old ar- istocracy of the country. Mr. Parmelee manifested more than good feeling in his school. While he addressed tin- heart, he in- formed the mind. The habit had been, as elsewhere, to spend the sessions in repeating verses ^( Scripture committed to memory, with little or no explanation or application. An old scholar states that when only nine years of age he memorized and recited a hundred es a week. Mi-. Par melee's discrimination detected the mistake thus committed, and in violation of p' dent and prejudice, and l>v great exertion, he intro- duced the system Bince pursued, and was one of three authors who simultaneously prepared the first question 718 PlihSHYlERiANlSM IN 1HK books and harmonies. A memorial discourse at the semi-centennial anniversary of the New York Sunday School Union, Feb. 25, 1866, states : It is worthy of notice that this improvement appearei at three points, entirely independent of each other, in 1824 : First, in the Association of Superintendents and Teachers of the N. Y. S. S. Union; second, by Mr. Truman Parmelee, of Utica, N. Y., of the Oneida County S. S. Union; and third, the next packet from England brought intelligence of a similar plan introduced there. On leaving Utica, Mr. Parmelee spent a short time in the city of New York. He v. Dr. Joel Parker de- scribes him there, and in New Orleans, where he sub- sequently settled : I served the Oneida county S. S. Union in 1826. Truman Par- melee made all the arrangements for employing me at $1 a day# He purchased the horse, saddle and bridle, and furnished money for my expenses. I sallied forth from Utica late in May or early in June, and Parmelee and Wilson, and a few other kindred spir- its, stood, all grinning, on Main street, to see their mission- ary go forth on his hard-trotting Rosinante. I organized five Tounty Unions, in Onondaga, Tompkins, Cortland, Chenango and Otsego counties, and after three months returned and reported my missionary work. I commonly made an address each day in a school house or court house, and three addresses on Sunday in churches. I commended Mr. Parmelee'^ school everywhere as a model, with the same lesson for all the classes and the superin- tendent questioning all the scholars My intercourse with him led to his joining my Dey St. Church in New York, where he be- came an elder, (and it may be added, a teacher). It also resulted in my going to New Orleans. He became an elder there, and built the church on the square, where Dr. Palmer has since preached secession, lie built it. It could not have been done without him, and so decided had been his influence in carrying the enterprise through, that when Joseph May bin, one of the elders, insisted on giving him a service of plate, the feeling to do so was so strong that nothing prevented it but Mr. Parmelee's refusing to accept it." SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. j 19 He was as liberal with his money as with his work. " The sums he gave to the Presbyterian cause in the capital of the Southwest, in the establishment of a re ligious press, in the erection of the First Presbyterian Church or La Fayette Square, were very large gifts." Erastus Clark, Esq., remarks, "rated by even the stan- dard of to-day."' Nearly all his active life was spent in mercantile pursuits, and in entering upon them, he made a solemn covenant to devote one-tenth of his in- come to benevolent and religious objects, and this he more than fulfilled during all his subsequent days. Such a record, it might be presumed, covers a pro- tracted space, but strange to tell, Mr. Parmelee died at the age of only 49. Ministers almost invariably find WOMEN their princi- pal helpers, and no account of Presbyterianism in Cen- tral New York sketches its history, that leaves them out. Complaint is made of the restrictions laid upon them, and of the narrow sphere allowed them, and lar- ger prerogatives and a wider field are claimed on their behalf. Bui even in timeswhen they did not speak in meetings and stand on platforms and in pulpits, they compared well, to say the least, with men. The mod esty of tlic sex kepi them retired from the public and ear, but they achieved Done the less from laboring in private. Every congregation has its record and i1 membrance of more or l< i for their usefulness and excellence No effort is Deeded to bring up exam pies <>f the class to any mind We may Dot be able to recall many beyond the bounds of our Beveral parishes, but those living in each of these illustrate all the 720 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE I can speak of a considerable company whom I have known in my pastorates, or whose names have been household words there. Let me mention some of the number, not because they excelled their sisters else- where, but because they were like them, and because I happened to know them, or of them, and because some memoranda of their characters and lives lie near at hand. Mrs. Sarah K. Clarke, of Utica, was early widowed, and left to provide for herself and her family. She opened a school and acquired such repute as a teacher, that when the First Church Sunday school first filled the office of female superintendent, she reluctantly con- sented to take the place. Dr. M. M. Bagg describes her as "so masculine in her understanding and so fem- inine in her instincts and loveliness, as to be the truest, best picture of a 'strong-minded woman.'" "I have no more distinct recollection of my mother," Hovey K. Clarke, Esq., of Detroit, remarks, "than that of her stand- ing at the side of the desk in the session room and con- ducting the closing exercises of the school. She con- tinued in this service as long as she lived. My last recol- lection of her in health, is in consultation with Mr. Par- melee, a few days before' the fourth of July, 1827, about the approaching celebration of that day by the Sabbath schools of the village." Iler spirit in the work she per- formed, is indicated by the following paper, written has- tily, on the occasion of the last Concert of Prayer for Sunday schools, as it so happened, thai she attended: UTICA, June 4th, 1827. This evening attended the Sabbath School Monthly Concert, — heard much Interesting intelligence, and much to call forth the SYNOD OF VENTRAL NEW YORK. j 2 1 sympathies and prayers of every feeling heart, on beholding the moral desolation, the vice and ignorance which pervade a great portion of our country. Now, 0, my Saviour, let the subject of Sabbath schools rest with deep weight on my heart. By the grace of God assisting me, during the present month, I will endeavor, 1st, to make Sabbath schools more a subject of special prayer. 2d, to enlist my friends and acquaintances more in the cause; and 3d, to be more faithful in my duties in the school, and try to make the exercises more interesting and profitable, both to schol- ars and visitors. And now, O Lord, Thou who dost witness these my resolutions, grant me grace to put them into practice, and Thou shalt have all the glory. She died in the midst of her work, 1827, and "great lamentation was made over" her. As her last labors were given to the school, so her last words were ad- dressed to it: "Give my love to the teachers. I hope they will feel their responsibility, and he faithful" The message printed on ;i card, with a mourning bor- der, was suspended on the walls of the school room, and a copy, with appropriate Scriptures annexed, was given to every teacher and scholar. Mrs. Thomas B. Clark was well known in her day \<<\- Christian benevolence and enterprise. Few women surpassed her in the earnestness of her zeal, and the activity and toilsomeness and constancy of her useful- With eye perpetually glancing aboul for objects of charity and religion, she was in perpetual motion pursuing them. With a free entree from her position and culture Into general society, .-he was too busy with labors of love for much pari in it. The Sunday school, enterprises for the relief of the Buffering and [><"»r. and the reclamation of the vicious ami criminal, and the benefit and improvemenl of all classes, occupied her outside of the family, where she was as faithful as if y . 722 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE she did nothing abroad. So well was she understood, that whenever driving out, it was presumed that of course she was on some mission of pity or piety. I am so much indebted to Mary E. Walker Os- trom, daughter of William Walker, Esq., and wife of Gen. John H. Ostrom, for help in my pastorship at Utica, and so highly esteemed her, that I scarcely dare to trust myself in any language about her, but repeat for the most part, the substance of what the congregation and the community spoke of her. She was one of five young girls, between fourteen and six- teen years of age, who, October 16, 1816, established a Sunday school in Utica. The children of the church had been statedly gathered before for " catechising" by the pastors, and Dominie Marshall had inaugurated some- thing like a Sunday school at DeerfieM. immediately across the Mohawk, in 1804, — but the modern institution was introduced here by Catharine Bloodgood, Catharine W. Breese, Sarah A. Malcolm, Alida M. Van Rensselaer and Mary E. Walker. Different instigators of these movers in the enterprise are named. One of the num- ber, Mrs. Ball, as Miss Malcolm became, relates: "In September, 1816, two daughters of Mrs. Divie Bethune were on a tour westward, and stopped for a visit to the family of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Esq. They warmly advocated the then novel scheme of Sunday school teaching, and proposed to the daughters of their host to enlist their young friends with them in attempting it here. Five of us set out in it with unity of purpose and determination o[ will. L have no recollection <^ a fear crossing our minds as to the result," It is the more common tradition, and from the lips, too, of oth- SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 723 ers who took part in starting the school, that it was the offspring of a revival in Troy, committed at birth to the care of converts in a revival at Utica, under the ministry of Rev. Henry D wight, which added qne hundred to his church. A daughter of Rev. Dr. Coe, a distinguished minister in his day, and pastor of the church at Troy, came to Utica fresh from a work of grace, of which she was a subject, in her father's par- ish, and told her young friends, who had just experi- enced the same blessing with her, of the Sunday school then recently established in the city where she lived, and suggested it to them to set up one like it. That lady is still living, the wife of James Brown, Esq., senior member of the firm of Brown, Brothers & Co. The idea was enough, and the five already mentioned forthwith proceeded to act upon it. " To work we went," says Mrs. Ball (then Miss Malcolm), "calling on individuals for small contributions in money, and on the stores for clothing that the children might be de- cently clad, and this gave rise to a Dorcas Society. Then we left no part of the village unvisited in search of children, some of whom gladly promised to attend, and others were brought to consent to this by some consideration for it presented to them. We numbered, I should say, thirty scholars on opening and five teach- ers." The young misses got little encouragemenl from most of their older friends. Their minister, M r. Dwight, was in doubl about the scheme, and so was the session. and it therefore received no church endorsement Oth- ers decidedly opposed it as desecrating the Sabbath. lint the prerogative of the sex was exercised. The young misses had their way Says Mrs, Ostrom : It was a "motley group of from t unit \ live Lo thirty buys and girls who assembled <>n that memorable Sabbath morning, in that 72 1 PRESBYTER1AN1SM IN THE humble school room. The fortnight previous had been spent by the teachers in visiting the streets where the lowest dregs of so- ciety found their wretched homes With some clothing provided, the children were induced to promise attendance. They were made comparatively decent in appearance, although even then The school would find its counterpart in the ragged mission schools of our day. In a class of large, ungoverned boys, one of their num- ber appended a profane oath to a rude remark he made to his fe- male teacher. The only materials which had been secured for teaching were a few Testaments and catechisms and a set of Lan casterian cards, which had been pasted upon large boards, so that one would answer to teach a large class. In a short time another school for colored children and adults, a large proportion of the latter class, was held on Sabbath evening in the same place, and taught by .the same teachers. In this school a simple-hearted disciple of Christ, over sixty years of age, succeeded in learning first the alphabet, and finally to read the New Testament. When the teach- er turned to another scholar, poor Judy would exclaim, "Oh, let me read a little longer, it goes so good." The hours for commencing the school, both winter and summer, were eight o'clock in the morning, immediately after divine service in the afternoon and in the evening. In the winter, the days being short, the teachers sel- dom went home in the afternoon, but spent the intermission be- tween the exercises in the church and the evening session in the school room. Mrs. Ostrom remained a teacher in this school with one or two brief intervals, for forty-two years, and un- til her death. September 5, 1859. It was always diffi- cult to obtain a place in her class, and to keep down lifi- class to a manageable size None thai beheld it could ever forgel the beautiful sight of her scholars circled about her in successive rows, seme on benches, Borne on chairs and others on stools, literally Bitting at feet, and ranging in years from the youth just 1 1 lt into womanhood, to the matron of advanced years, each with attentive car and animated and often il >oded eyes. And of the long series who passed un- der her instruction, very few were taught for any con- SYS 01) OF CENTRAL SEW YORK. j 25 siderable space without forming a saving acquaintance with Christ. No data exists for estimating the number rCrted in her class- el SI . 3erved none She 1 even mentioned the subject, and probably did not allow herself to think of it. Nothing more than a 3S can be made, and the counting of that might be by hundreds. And the Sunday school was but one of her departments of usefulness. Doing good was her incessant occupation, and she labored for it wherever it could be accomplished For the whole period oi tematic tract distribution, she had a district, and not only made the monthly rounds, but visited often the families and persona who needed sympathy or help, or 3e spiritual interest required vigilant attention : and rare was the evening when she missed the monthly tings of the visitors, with whom she counselled, and whom she cheered and stimulated, and whose as- signments of pails to her she never hesitated to per- form. She was virtually a deacom ring her church as if fulfilling an office in it. She was virtu- ally a volunteer city missionary too, seeking out the objects of charity, and dispensing gifts to them : call- ing on the sick and Buffering and afflicted, and adminis- tering consolatioo and encouragement and relief to them ; while iii official positions, such for example as a mai of the Orphan Asylum, she faithfully discharged herre- sponsibilities. There was no summons oi bem to which she did not respond, and no appropriate and 3sible sphere of beneficence in which she did not Berve. She had a vigorous and active mind,* an ar> •There vraaa ran* finish io in*> chirographj, and it was an appropriate setting for her thoughts, sin- made much use of the pen, and that, too, not only in Letter- writing, where 726 PRESB YTERIANISM IN TEE dent temperament, a kind and affectionate disposition and a resolute will. Her fine advantages at home, at school and in society, were well improved, and her in- telligence and vivacity and conversational powers and refined manners and tastes, fitted her to enjoy and charm and adorn the most cultivated circles, to which by birth and culture she belonged. Though constitu- tionally ardent, no person could live more by rule and under the sway of religious principle. Her own gratifi- cation and her own advantage had no influence with her, and apparently did not occur to her, and duty as- (•< rtained, nothing could keep her from it. And thus controlled, she made sacrifices, particularly of social interests and enjoyments, which were martyr-like, while they were voluntary. Though on terms of inti- macy with the first of the community, she kept aloof from large and gay companies, debarred from them by their pastimes and extravagance, and she followed no fashion or custom, and partook of no diversions, of which her enlightened conscience did not fully approve. From the beginning to the close of her discipleship, she complied with the terms : " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me," and fulfilled the requirement to she was preeminent even among her sex for the grace she dis- played, but also in more elaborate composition. When Rev. Dr. Todd was preparing his book on Sunday schools, he sent a circu- lar to a distinguished jurist of Utica soliciting information. This gentleman, though actively engaged iu Christian beneficence and long a teacher and superintendent, placed the circular in Mrs. Ostrom'a hands. The whole of the part she composed in answer to the question, "Ought unconverted persons to be em- ployed as teachers in Sunday schools V was published in the hook, as needing no modification, and as the best of many received from all parts of the land. SYSOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 727 come out from the world and keep separate from it. Combined with her conscientiousness were great genial- ity and affection ateness. She was full of lively and •able conversation, a warm and abiding friend, and the tenderest of relatives. •■aking, in her last sickness, of Rev. Dr. John"- re- mark, in his great agony before death, " It is all sunny the other side of Jordan.*, she said, "If not sunny, it is peaceful with me. I feel that Jesus is my Saviour, and God my reconciled and loving Father, and it is all peace. — but it is dark between." She often repeated the stanza beginning — When I tread the verge of Jordan. Relieved of the acute pain she suffered at the first of her last sickness, she was subjected to the tedium of a long confinement and once remarked: •• -"Weari- some days are appointed onto me." I never appreciated that before, — they are appointed unto me. What a com- forting thought!" Referring to the remark she had made that the passage out of life was dark, she said to her whom it was addressed : " God has helped me to-day. Yon understand. Grod has helped me to- day." As long as her strength could bear it. a pass read to her every morning from "Daily Food," and on the27th of August the jurred : " Thanks i Grod who giveth as the victory through our Lord - Christ" She asked to have it read over to her again, and then exclaimed, "Thanks! thanks! What a glorious victory! What a wonderful Saviour! Al- mighty! Almighty!" And in the night she turned to her aeice, and said: ■• Repeal that verse to me again. — thanks be to God who giveth us the victory." She asked a physician who was feeling her pulse, M Bo? near 728 PRESBYTER1ANISM IN THE am I to heaven?'" and when, afterwards, a cordial was administered to her, she said, "Why not let the lamp go out?" and recovering from fainting somewhat later, she whispered, in tones of disappointment, "Back again where I was!" and when more than a single word became difficult with her, she would ejaculate, '•Praise! praise I1' and when it was supposed, during her last Sunday on earth, tfrat she was expiring, she said: "Eejoice when I am gone. Sing aloud!" and this she sent as her dying message to her Sunday school. Near her ceasing to breathe, she exclaimed, in broken language : " Don't be afraid — fight Satan — stand up for Christ — don't be afraid." Just before death, she called her attending friends to her bedside, and begged them to pray for certain impenitent persons, and being told that they would do so when she passed away, she re plied: "No; pray for them now." "Yes," she was told, "and we hope they will embrace the Saviour." • N«». no," she said, "notfope — must, must — now, now" and after a moment's pause, she added : " They must not wait a day, they may be gone! — not an hour, they may be gone !" Drawing large circles by the motion of 'her finger, she shook her head, meaning that they must take no circuitous route to Christ, and drawing a straight line she cried out, "Nbw,now/ They down in tin- dusl — we up here, and rising to heaven — we must draw them up with us." And referring to one for whom she was especially anxious, she said, "Satan must not have him:" and turning her eyes to heaven, she said. " My Saviour shall !" Never nave I known Christian consistency and use- fulness more the aspiration of the soul and the busi- of lih'. and never have I known high social sta. OD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. f29 tion and wealth and culture more fully subordinated to the claims of God and the welfare of man. Catharine Huntington Williams, daughtei Hon. Henry Huntington, an extensive merchant of Borne, and prominent in the affairs of the State, second wife of Col. William Williams, of Utica, was brought to believe in the Saviour about the year 1815, under the preaching of Rev. Dr. Spring, while on a visit to York, and publicly professed her faith on return- ing to her home in Rome. With abundant means for worldly enjoyment, she devoted herself wholly to Him to whom she had entrusted herself. It was Christ for her to live. Especially did she give herself up to doing good, and nu aally to the salvation of souls. Of shrinking modesty, she identified herself with the work of the gospel, and counted nothing too dear by which she might promote it. She stinted herself to money for its various enterprises, and was habitually employed in active and strenuous exertions to cany it to individuals. A revival of religion deeply stirred her. She caught the first signs of it, and enlisted her whole soul in it. and was sensitive t<> whatever ail' it. Mr. Finney's Autobiography and Dr. Spring - 1. I and Letters bring this <>ut. Speaking of the revival that occurred under him at Westernville, Mr. Finney writes: "Rev. M 3es Gillett, of R what the Lord was doing, in company with a M - II , t »rk that was going on The} satly inn I could see that the Spirit of God was stirring them t<» their I foundations days Mr. Gillett and Miss 11 came up M 38 11 was a \< ry devout and earnest 730 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE ■Christian girl" The blanks in this passage are to be filled with Mrs. Williams' maiden name. Dr. Spring publishes, at full length, a letter to him from Mrs. Williams, then Catharine Huntington. It was written. as Dr. Spring remarks, to obtain his countenance and cooperation for Mr. Finney, who was proposing a course of preaching in New York. But solicitude for souls did not occasionally jet up in her. It was a perennial fountain. There might have been less flowing from it at certain times than at others, but it was always run- ning. And its streams were poured out at home and abroad. They flowed to kindred and strangers, to townsmen and countrymen and foreigners. No one was more engaged for the heathen, and yet she was as much engaged for her neighborhood and her land, and was devoted to the particular congregation to which she belonged. She did what she could, and denied herself to give for religion in the community and in the coun- try and in the world, but most sought the spiritual wel- fare of her kindred ; and language cannot express her longings and efforts for the conversion of her only Living son; and though when he died in early man- hood, it seemed worse than death to herself, his gain to Christ was reckoned by her more than a compensation for the loss to her. Let not the impression be received that Mrs. Wil- liams was violent or obtrusive by reason ^{ the intensi- ty of her zeal. She was the mildest and most diilident and most feminine of women, — not self -asserting in the Least, — so humble and gentle thai no one. merely meet- ing her, would suspect the tire and the energy hidden in her. And she never conceived who she was nor what she accomplished, but rated herself the least of Baints and nol worthy to be called a saint. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 731 Sophia Wells Williams, first wife of Col. Wil- liam Williams, of Utica, was kindred to her husband in spirit and like him in usefulness. Acute in intel- lect, sound in judgment, active in temperament, she used her all in the cause of her loved master. A de- voted wife and. mother, she neglected nothing in the household, but at the intervals between duties there,, she hurried out on missions of charity and religion, and fulfilled them with remarkable vigor and expert- ness. Judge Wm. J. Bacon mentions some incidents illustrative of this : Through her influence, I was induced to become a Sunday school teacher at the early age of eighteen, while still uncon- verted, and there were several young men in the school who oc- cupied a similar position to myself. It was under a faithful ap- peal to this class of persons by Mr. Parmelee that I received my first serious impressions. He showed, in one of his addresses, how necessary it was to be taught of the Holy Spirit — to have an experimental knowledge of the truths of the gospel, in order rightly to teach others. I felt the force of the argument and tho incongruity of my position — it was that of the blind leading the blind, and there was danger of both falling into the ditch. I communicated my feelings to Mrs. Williams, and my determina- tion to relinquish my class. Most earnestly did she plead with me to change my purpose, and urged nit- to obtain at once the Deedful fitness. Every one <>f those young men to whom I have alluded, as well a^ myself, became professors of religion while teachers in the Sunday school. <>n mj knees by the Bide oi thai godly woman, agonizing in prayer for me, 1 gave my heart to God and found peace. Mr-. Williams put ou1 one of ber children to nurse in Deerfield, across the river from CJtica, and in her frequent visits there, became deeply interested in th^ spiritual condition of the people. They lived without a sanctuary or the Sabbath. She sel aboul the estab lishmenl of a Sunday school, firsl securing the co operation of the distrid Bchool teacher and three or 7: 1 2 PRESBYTKRIAN1SM IN THE four young women, none of whom were professing Christians, and then thoroughly visiting the neighbor- hood for scholars. Says Judge Bacon : Well do I remember the cold winter day when, in an open sleigh, Mrs. Williams, accompanied by three young men, rode to the place. Things looked forbidding and cheerless. But there was no such word as fail in the vocabulary of this Christian wo- man, when God's glory and the good of souls were at stake. The school became a success, and was soon sustained without for- eign aid. A revival of religion followed, and then a church organization, and after that a church edifice. R B. Shepard, cf Brooklyn, writes : It was late in the fall, the snows of winter already beginning to whiten the ground. Death had entered our circle, and she, so good, so kind, so gentle, so loving and so loved, was laid low by his ruth- less hand. We had gathered to take a last look of all that was mortal in Mrs. Williams, and to bear it to its resting place. Among the stricken mourners were the members of her Sunday school class, sorrowing most of all that they should see her face no more ; and there was a more lowly, if not a sadder band, standing aloof, and yet, as if by stealth, drawing nigh to show their regard for one who had been a Dorcas to them while living. They were God's poor, whom she had clothed and fed and visited in their penury and sickness and affliction. I said to myself, as I looked at their sad faces, " Wrhen 1 die, let the grief of the poor and of liim that is ready to perish be the mourning for me, and Ie1 me hear the words of the Master : ' Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto me.' " Very imperfed as are these notices of persons, and few of our ministers and church members as they sketch, wonder cannot but be felt at the number and em- inence of the excellent of the earth, who have blessed our denomination and the community in this region of the country. We may speak <^ it without boasting, and m a spirit of humble gratitude and praise Hath the Lord dealt so with anv other people? SYSOD OF CENTRAL SEW YORK. 733 LIST OF MINISTERS Who have been connected with Presbyteries on the Field of the Synod. Abbev, David A. Abbott. P. I. Abell, James Adair, Alexander Adams, Carson W. Adams, C. S. Adams, Edward P. Adams. Erastus H. Adams, Isaac F. Adams, John W. AdamB, R< . Addy, William Aiken, Samuel C. Alden, Qustavus K. Alexander. Caleb Alexander, John Allen, Aaron Allen. Edward Allen, Horace \V. Allen, Jason Allison, Rob't ('. Ambler, James B. Andrews Edward Avery, Cha Awry, Royal A. Avery, John II. Aver, Oliver Babbitt, J no M. Bachman, Rob't L. Bacon, John S. Bacon, s P. Bacon, Wm. Bailey, Jeremiah Baker, Alvin Baker, Geo. I>. Baker, J. l». Baldwin, Dwight Baldwin, Johnson Baldwin, Truman Baldwin, Wm. Ball, E. T. Ballis, Chas. Banks, Daniel Banks, Daniel C. Barber, Philander Barber. Jno. Barnard. Lucius C. Barnes, Brastn Barnes, Edwin Barnes, Stephen V. Barr, Absolom K. Barrows, Bleaa Barteau, Sidney H. Bartholomew, Orlo Bartlett. John Barton. John tt, Archibald Bates, Eliot Bates, Talcot Bates, Wm. H. Bates, Wm. Bayless, Geo. Beach, Edwards A. Beach. E C. Beardsley, Evans Albert w, Albert Bigelow, Dana SV. a r, David Biree, Caleb Bla&eman, Phi Blakeslee, J ami Bliss, Isaac Blodgett, G. If. Blodgett, Luther P. Boardman George X. Boardman, Geo. S, Bogue, H. P. Bogue, P. V. Bonney, Elijah H. Bosworth, Nathan Boutillier, Geo. Le Bovce, Wm. C. Boyd, Hugh M. Boyle, James Boynton, Henry Bowles. Charles Bruce, S. W. Bradford, Wm. H. Bradford, Wm. J. Bradley, Joel Bradnock, J. II. Brainard, Israel Brayton, Isaac Brewster, E Brewster, Lor': Brisbin, L-. Bronson, Asahel Bronson, Edwin Bronson, Oliver Brown. E. W. Brown. Q< Brown. John Brown. John II Brown, Bamuel Brown, Samuel R. I !l, T. J. Brundage, [sra< 1 Bruin. Ban. Buck, Elijah Buck, Josiah J. Burbank, ' 'aleb Bnrb. . Burchard, ESli Burchard, Jedediah 734 PRESBTTERIANISM IN THE Burge, Caleb Burnap, Bliss Burnop B. Burr, Absolom K. Burritt, Stephen W. Burt, Seth Burtis, Arthur Bushnell, Calvin Bush, Samuel W. Butler, Chas. F. Butts. Dan'l B. Caldwell, Abel Callahan, Henry Camp, Phineas Campbell, Alfred E. Campbell, Benj. H. Campbell, John Campbell, Nathan Campbell, S. M. Canfield, J. A. Can field, Sherman B. Cannon, Fred. E. Cargan, Wm. Carle, John H. Carlisle, H. Carnahan, James Caruth, J. H. Cass, Moses Castleton, Thos. Chadwick, Jabez Chafie, Solomon Chapin, Augustus L. Chapman, Chas. Chapman, E. F. Chapman, E. J. Chapman, Ezekiel Chapman, Henry Chapman. Jedediah Chase, Moses Chassell, David Child, Elias Chittenden, Wm. Chrieler, Jeremiah M ( luirchill, Jesse Chirk, Abner P. Clark, Clinton Clark, Caleb Clark Daniel A. Clark, Daniel Clark, David Clark, Gardner K. Clark, Lemuel Clark, Luther Clark, Sam'l F. Clark, Tertius S. Clark, Wm. Clary, Dexter Clayton, Joshua A. Clelland, James Cleveland, Rich'd F. Clinton, Isaac Clute, N. Marcellus Cobb, Nehemiah Cobb, Solon Cochrane, Andrew Coe, Noah Coit, Chas. P. Collins, Levi Collins, W. W. Conant, Rob't S. Condict, Walter Condit, Rob't W. Cone, R. J. Conkey, Alex'r Conkling, Luther Coukling, N. J. Conkling, Oliver P. Cook, E. P. Cooley, Eli F. Cooper, Wm. H. Cope, Edward Corless, Albert H. Cornell, Howard Corning, Alex. B. Corning, Rich'd S. Cornwell, J. D. Cowan, Alex. M. Cozzens, Sam'l W. Crandall, Abel L. Crane, Abijah Crawford John Crocker, Amos Curtis, E. Curtis, Wm. S. Cushman, Marcus K. Cnshman, Ralph Dady, Lemuel Darrow, Nathan W. Davenport, John Davis, Edwin R. Davis, Henry Davis, Rich'd M. Day, Alvah Day, Warren Delevan, Geo. E. Delong, Chas. H. Deniorest Jno. K. Demming, Rufus K. Dewing, Chas. S. Dewitt, Kirke Diament, Jeremiah H. Dibble, Sheldon Dickson, Hugh S. Dixon, David R. Doane, Julius Dodd, Bethuel Dodd, Henry M. Dodge, Jno. K. Donaldson, Asa Doolittle, Justus Doubleday, Wm. S. Douglas, James Down, Valentine Downs, Cyrus Dox, H. L. Duncan, Thos. W. Dunham, Moses E. Dunham, H. R. Dunlop, Samuel Dunn, R. C. Dutton, Matthew Dutton, Nathaniel Dwight, Benj. W. Dwight, Henry Dyer, Hiram Eastman, Henry E. Eastmau, John Edgar, Robert, Edwards, Joseph Eels, James Eggleston, Ambrose Elliot, Geo. W. Ellis, Stephen Emens, Peter W. Erdman, Albert Erdman, Wm. J. Evans, Evan SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 735 Evans, Wm. Everest, G. T. Everett, R. M. Fahnestock, Alfred H, Faircliild, Edward Fancher, E. B. Farns worth, Marsh. L, Fenn, Stephen Fessenden, Thos. K. Fillmore, I. 0. Finney, Chas. G. Fish, John B. Fish, Peter Fisher, Edward W. Fisher, James B. Fisher, Sam'l W. Fisher, William Flagler, Isaac Foltz, Benjamin Foot, Geo. Foot.. J. J. Foote, Lucius Force, Chas. H. Ford, Edwards Ford, Henry Ford, Marcus Fowler, John W. Fowler, Phil'n H. Francisco, Chauncey Franklin, Wm. S. Frazer, Horace Frazer, William Freeman, George Frost, John Fullerton, A. H. Furbish, Ed. B. G Gale Geo. W. Gamage, Smith P. Gardner, E P. Gardner. James Garvin, Rev .Mr. Gasler, Say res Gaston. Albert H. Gaylord, Munson ( '. Gerry, Walter 11. Gibbs, Daniel Gilbert, Hiram \V. Gillett, Moses Gillett, N. Gillette, C. Gilmer, David C. Gleason, Anson Goertner, Nicholas W. Goodale, Wm. Goodman, S. S. Goodrich, Chauncey E. Goodrich, Wm. H. Gould, Nahum Graves, Frederick W. Graves, Joshua B. Graves, Nathaniel D. Gray, Albert A. Gray, John Green, Beriah Greenods, Wm. Gregory, Caspar R. Gregory, David D. Gregory, T. B. Gridley, A. Delos Grid ley, John Gridley, Wayne Griffin, N. H. Griffin, Philander Griffith. Sam'l B. Griswold, Levi Grummon, Dan'l L. Gulliver, John P. H Halbert, Wm. R. Hall, Geo. Hall, Joshua B. Hall, John G. Hall, Lemuel Hall, Sam'l H. llalsey, C. P. Hamilton, Thos. A. Hamilton, Gavin 1*. Hamner, T, Garland Hand, Rich'd C. Hanna, John S. Harmon, Silas S. Harrington, Moody F Harrington, Moody Harris, Hiram Harrison, Man ln-u liaison, .John 1'. Hart, Ichabod A. Hastings, Parson C. Hastings, Seth P. M. Hastings, Eurotas P. Haven, Lorin C. Hawley, Chester W. Hay, Philip C. Haynes, Selden Hazen, Harvey C. Headley, Isaac Headley, P. C. Hearts, J. A. Hebard, Frederick Heminvvay,J. Gaylord Hempstead, Thomas Herrick, Amasa Herrick, Henry Hibbard, F. Hickok, Henry Higby, Jedothan Hill, Hiram Hill, Oliver Hill, P. C. Hill, M. L. P. Hilton, J. V. Holbrook, David A. Hollister, Amos D. Holmes, Sylvester Hopkins, A. G. Hopkins, D. C. Horton, Geo. D. Hotchkin, B. B. Howe, Jas. C. Howe, Samuel Howe, Samuel Storrs Howell, Lewis D. IloVt, J. J. Hovt, J no. B. IloVt, Wm. M. Hough, J.J. Hough, J. T. Hubbard, Wm. G. Hubbard, J no. N. 11 udson, ( '\ ma Iluiin. Geo. H. Humphrey, John Hunn, David S. Hunn, K W. Huntington, A. Hurlburl , James Kurd, Reuben llntchins, Charles 1. 736 Hyde, Orin Hyde, Geo. C. Ingalls, Moses Ingersol, J. F. Irwin, Jno. W. Ivison, Jno. Jackson, Fred I. Janes, Francis Janes, Justus L. Jennings, Chaa P. Jerome, Charles Jervis, Timothy B. Jewell, Fred. S. Jewell, Joel S. Jewell, Moses Johnson, Hiram S. Johnson, Jos R. Johnson, Joshua Johnson, Leonard Johnston, Andrew Johnston, Charles Joice, James Jones, Charles Jones, John D. Jones, Henry Jones, John S. Jones, Joseph Judson, Aaron K Kaercher, Geo. I. Keeler, S. X. Keep, Jno. Kdlogg, Ephraim W Kellogg, Erastua M. Kellogg, Hiram Kellogg, Lewis Keiser, J. R. Kendall, David Kendall, Henry Kendall, Jno. F. Kendall, J. Ludlow Kenner, Thos. Kent, Bloomer Kerr, George Ketchum, II. K< yea, R. G. Kimball, David PRESBYTEMANISM IN THE Kimball, Reuel, King, Geo. J. Kingbley, D. H. Kinne, Peleg R. Kirk, Richard R. Kirtland, Orlando M. Kitchell, Jonathan Knight, Joshua Knight, Richard Knox, Wm. E. Lacey, Edward S. Ladd. Beufort Lamb, James Lane, Benj P. Lane, Joshua Lands, Clement Lansing, Dirck C. Larcom, Thomas Lathrop, Eleazer Lathrop, A. C. Lawton, Jno. W. Lay cock, S. Leavitt, Oliver Leavenworth, Eben'r Leggett, O. M. Lee, C. J. Lee, Hiram W. Leighton, Nathaniel Leonard, Jouah Leonard, Sam. \V. Lewis, Clement Lewis, Isaac Lewis, Jno. N. Lewis, John P. Life, Geo. M. Lillie, Alvah Lilly, Foster Little, Charles Lindsley, Jno. Livingston. Chaa -M. Lockwood, Benj. Lock wood, Lewis R. Lockwood, V. LeRoy Lockwood, Peter Lockwood, Wm. H. Lockhead, Wm. Long. Jno E. Long, Walter R. Lord, Edward Lord, John Lord, Jos. S. Loss, Lewis H. Lowe, Jno. G. Luce, Eleazur Ludlow, Henry G. Lumbard, Horatio J. Lumner, Nathaniel Lusk, Wm. Lyle, Albert F. Lyle, John Lyman, Huntington Lyman, Orange Lyn, Luke Macauley, James Mackie, Charles Mackie, Geo. W. Macumber, Wm. M. Mandell. Albert Mandeville, Sumner Manley, Elizur X. Man ley. Ira Manning, Samuel Marsh, Davis Marsh, Edwards Marshall, James Martin, Job K. Marvin, Chas. S. Marvin, Jno. L. Mason, Elihu Malthie, E. D. Mayo, Warren McClunly, James McCormick, Rob't W. McDougall, Alexander McGregor, Jno. M. McGiffert, Jos. X. McGiffert, Wrm. H. McGilJ, A. McHarg. Chas. J. McHarg, Win. X. Mcllvaine, Joshua H. McKinney, Sabine M. McKinney, Silas McLawry, John F. McLeish, John McMasters, Ariel McMillan, G. B. McNeil, Benj. F. McNitt, Jas. SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 737 McVey, John Mears, Jno. W. Merrill, Minor Merrill, Sam'l L. Meserean, Lawrence Millar, Geo. L. Millard, Henry N. Millard, Nelson Miller, Alpha Miller, Jas. H. Miller, L. Merrill Mills, Abram Mills, Cyrus T. Mills, Samuel T. Miner, Jesse Mitchell, Jacob D. Monroe, James Montague, Philetas Montgomery, Andrew Monteitb, John Moore, Sol. H. Moore, N. 8. Morgan, Henry H. Morgan, Homer B. Morris, H. W. Morse, D. S. Morse, James C. Morse, Jonathan B. Morss, Austin (i. Morton, James Murdock, James Myers, Joseph Myrick, Luther N Nash, Daniel Nash, J. A. Neill, William Nellis, Jno. V. ('. Nelson, Bam'l W. Newell, Daniel Newell, Win. W Nichols, Erastus X. Nichols, James Nightingale, Jas. ( '. North, Alfred North, Linius Northrop, [srae] II. Norton, Herman Nott, Eliphalet Ogden, David L. Olds, Ira M. Oliver, Andrew Ordway, Moses Orton, Azariah J. Orton, Sam'l C. Osborn, Jeremiah Ostrom, Jas. J. Otis, Ashbel P Paddock, Jos. W. Palmer, Wm. W. Parker, Sam'l Parmelee, Alvan Parmlee, Moses Parmelee, W. B. Parsons, Eben B. Pattengill, H. Pattengill, J. S. Payson, Elliott II. Peck, John Penny, Joseph Pepper, John P. Perkins, E. Perry, Cyrus M. Perry, David J. Petrie, Jeremiah Pettibone, Ira Pettibone, Roswell Phelps, Ceo. 0. Phillips, Andrew Phillips, Jas. W. Pickarns, Jos. 1). Piatt, Adam \\ . Piatt, Dennis Plumb, Elijah W. Pomeroy, Medad Pomeroy, Sam'l S. Pomeroy, Thaddeus Pond, Bilious Porter, Ambrose Porter, < 'has. S. Porter, J Jermain Porter, Beth I. Post , Jacob Powell, A. V. 11. Powell, (' S. Powell, Lewellen \i. Powell, Martin Powers, Wm. R. Pratt, Daniel Pratt, Elizur H. Pratt, Ethan Pratt, Rufus Pratt, Sam'l W. Prentiss, John H. Preston, J. B. Preston, Marcus N. Priest, J. A. Pritchett, Edward C Putnam, Aaron Putnam, Franklin Putnam, William Quick Ah ram J. K Rand, Asa Randel, Win. Rankin, Dan'l M. Ransom, Elnathan Ray, Edward ('. Raymond, Albert H. Raymond, S. W. Redfield, Henry S. Redfield, T. Reddington, J. H. Reeve, T. S. Reid John Reid, Lewis R. Rendall, 1. N. Rex ford, Lyman S. Rice, J. II." Rice, w m W. Richards, Leonard E2 Richards, Win. R. Richards, Willard Harmon 3, Zenas Riley, Benj. (*. Ripley, David B. Robb, Edwin l\ Robert8, Evans Robertson, Jan. Robertson, Sam'l Robinson, -las. II. Robinson, Phin< Robinson, Wm M Robinson, Win. N. 738 PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE Robinson, Ralph Robinson, S. N. Rogers, James Roof, Garret L. Root, Jas. S. Roosa, Egbert Rosenkrans, Joseph Rosseel, Jas. A. Rosseter, Edward W. Rowland, Jonathan M. Rovel, Lorain Russell, James Salisbury, William Salmon, Thomas Sanborn, Pliny F. San ford, James Savage, Amos Savage, Jno. A. Sawtelle, Wm. H. Sawyer, Leicester A. Schofield, Abishai Scott, Robert Scott, Samuel Scovil, Dwight Scovil Ezra Scovil, John F. Searle, Moses C. Searles, Richard Seeley, Amos N. Seeley, Frank H-. Seeley, Joab Sessions, John Seward, Fred. D. Seymour, O. H. Shaffer, Samuel Shaw, Augustus C. Shaw, A. M. Shaw, John B. Sheppard, Fayette Sheppard, John Sheppard, L. M. Shearer, John Sherwood, E. B. Slocum, John .1. Smith, Alexander Smith, Azariah Smith, ( larloa Smith, David U. Smith, Kli/.ur z c = o c mo #101 135 178 1012 si if x 5 £*• s H O WO $1500 12U0 1982 2445 83 il H H. Allen, S. S... Onernta, . Alex. Adair, P Israel N. Terry, P Ox Bow New Hartford N. Y. Mills 90 73 C. B Austin, S S. . . *S. W. Bush Binqhamton Apalachin 30 170 265 Geo. Bavless, P. E W. H. Bates, P McGrawville Waverley East Worcester 197 196 62 100 1500 2000 "'750 1600 20 100 A. G. Beebe Hamden 62 275 19? F. A. M. Brown, P Delhi, Second G B Barnes, P. E. 213 155 2250 900/ E. G. Bickford... Marash, Turkey D. W. Bi^elow . P.. L. Bachman, P Fayetteville 186 591 1940 110 S. W. Brace. D. D Utica Henry Boynton P. Barbour Clinton Chaumont •. . . T. J. Brown, P Westminster Verona 476 107 81 193 220 85 23 'iia 174 972 182 53 '242 95 141 8584 1038 850 "i200 2213 1250 836 D. I. Biggar, P A. H. Beebe, P 30 Clayville, 50 I. 0. Best Clinton 96 N. M. Clute, P. E Deposit 12 R. A. Clark, P. E Edward Cope, S. S Henry Callahan Smithville Flats Guilford and Norwich Franklin Oxford Sidney Plains 10 "ig 31 ' '3066 1300 H. P. Collin, S. S E. G. Cheeseman, S. S. .. 213 175 R. T. Conant Ogdensburgh J. A. Canfield Sing Sing N. J. Conklin. P Gouverneur 284 74 49 82 54 192 143 130 170 S3 68 587 60 31 54 50 496 98 42 51 45 95 1876 800 595 1069 1300 2630 8350 3800 1300 1270 738 385 J. M. Chrysler. P Col lamer 19 J. E. Close, P Jordan Andrew Cochran, S. S. Oneida Castle 50 A. H. Corliss, P. E Samuel Dunham, P C. S. Dewing, P Waterville Binghamton West Union .• 120 145 175 W. A. Dunning. S. S Thos. Dobbin, P. E Franklin ft H. M.Dodd, P. .. 10 Justus Doolittle B. W. Dwiarht, d.d Valentine Down Alder Creek and Forestport. . Syracuse 28 1 P. W. Emens 7U PRESBYTERIAN1SM IN THE MINISTERS. CHURCHES. a o 60 229 180 126 46 B — 3 ?£ l§ MO 40 131 221 "68 a g "S * II wo 3 a § s Chauncey Francisco, S. S. . E. B. Furbish, P. Middlefield Centre $ 425 3250 1089 188 500 Potsdam 1918 D. A. Ferguson. F Hammond 146 A. H. Fahnestock, P W. S. Franklin, S. S Syracuse. First Ward 106 50 Chester Fitch Bockford, III H. W.Gilbert J. P. Gulliver, d.d. ll.d., P. Binghamton Binghamton, First 546 ' 99 196 1933 "7266 1055 S R.Griffith Bloomington, 111 D. N. Grummon, P Philander Griffith Jas. Gardner, P Wm. Graves Bainbridge Otego Canton Watertown 1C4 '185 1600 ' iooo 60 'l40 N. W. Goertner. d.d. P Thomas Hempstead G. D. Horton, S. S Hamilton College Fairbury, III Coventry. First 104 "90 71 40 '"59 189 195 .... '"'600 10C6 1250 25C0 2424 '566 1125 800 850 1100 2120 1650 2083 1451 111) 1051 1873 7251 8300 820 1363 2500 95 "76 Henry Hickok. S. S Frederick Henard, S. S Sacketts Harbor Woodville 30 H. C. Hazen, S. S Liverpool 74 13 Selden Haines, d.d E. P. Hastings T. B Hudson, d.d., P Borne Ceylon, India Clinton 448 1092 857 A. G. Hopkins Clinton Binghamton Oneida. . 273 "ifl iio 578 "is 35 R98 J. D. Jones E, W. Kellogg. S. S G. J. Kaercher J. L. Kehoe, S. S R. G. Keyes English Settlement, Iowa . ... Truxton "84 Preston Worcester Watertown Binghamton H. Lyman J. E. Long, S. S J. Lafferty.S. S '/'/ iangle Preble Niclu Is 56 102 35 270 43 '405 50 29?, II W Lee, S. S Laurens 30 C. M. Livingston, P S. W. Leonard Watertown, Stone St. 30 J. R. Lewis. P Boonville 184 188 165 58 158 866 167 44 93 142 James Lamb, P Albert F Lyle, P. E s .Mandeville, S. S i; W. McCormick, P Utica. Bethany West Utica Masonville Waddington 1437 73 Sabin McKinney Ariel MeMaster C. K McHarg, S. S S M unlock Binghamton .)/- nomonee. Wis Cooperated n J I? Mor-e 662 Hl'.ll S II. Moon, S S Gllbertevllle 214 503 10 L M Miller, P. 871 8 1 Merrill Syracuse, First. . . 152 21 L200 2 794 (;. A. Miller. S. S W N Miliar- Oneida Valley .1. W. Mears, d.d K. N. Manle-, . P Clinton ..... Camden i29 iii "87 M Yey, I' Binghamton, North 162 96 120 SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 45 MINISTERS. CHURCHES. S i 3 o BO fi ■s 1 B £ g M — = S § S-3 — .-5 ^0 "631 1900 li240 1072 4217 1525 IOOO 2182 1000 585 1000 1500 3357 950 1500 2500 948 1762 8182 1419 1250 1800 1300 i56 2800 1289 •J 1284 'sio 11878 Shavertown N. F. Nickeison S W Nelson .. Le Roy Cleveland, N. Y Utica Dundee, N. Y Windsor 78 'lio "87 18 T. H. Northrop AshbelOtis, S. S J. S. Pattengill, S. S W. W. Palmer 50 J J Porter, d.d., P. . 390 85 335 224 128 70 95 871 152 75 302 65 130 1 582 E. H. Pratt, S. S 79 E. B. Parsons, P M. N. Preston, P J. Petrie, S. S J. B. Preston, S. S H. N. Payne, P. W. Putnam Baldwinsville Skaneateles Pompey Manlius 131 37 15 Herkirner W. B. Parmelee Arthur Potts, P Little Falls 200 85 137 240 201 157 28 119 82 1 751 E. H. Payson, P. E Vernon E. C. Pritchett, S. S L. R. Richards, P Oriekany 31 J. H. Robinson, P Delhi, First ro A. B. Robinson W. M. Robinson, P Ileuvelton 64 54 53 25 J. S. Root, P Jas. Robertson Oneida Lake S. W. Raymond "'86 19 170 178 11a 152 G. L. Roof, P Lowville 200 101 95 79 372 212 100 D. M. Rankin, S. S 30 W. A. Rice, V 819 E. F. Robb, P 35 Thos. Street, d.d., P W. II. Sawtelle, P A. iSnashall Cortland Nineveh /;; nf/Jtarnton 257 344 P. F. Banborne, 8. 8 H. U. Swinnerton, P F. H. Seeley, S. S Springfield Cherry Valley Richfield Springs Albany . . Neiv Haven, N, Y. ( tawego, Grace 135 150 84 'isi 215 128 90 891 821 58 "278 519 529 241 184 43 109 10 F. B. Savage E. Scovell i;,i Ji II. Stebbine A. C. Shaw. I' Fult >n I). Bcovel, P. E ■l. P. Stratton, P Marcellue Mexico i-,» F. D. Seward, P Hannibal 10 F. A. Spencer. s. p. Bprecher, 1' A. E. Smith, S. S Utica, First \ Brnoil Centre. . 007 117 ' '20 180 240 1 195 656 1008 80 S. J Tracy F. w. Townsend, S. S. ... E. G. Townsend David Torry, d.d., P E. G. Thnrber. P David Tully, P Springfield, -\. 1'. Exeter Centre /'/»// Idenee Forge, Va ( lazenovia Syracuse, P'k Cen ■o. First in 198 Allan Travcr, S. S Thomas Thomas Wampeville Trenton, .v. }'.... D. C. Tyler, S. S iWest Camden 1- 7-1 8 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE MINISTERS. CHURCHES. E ii t- -S >■■) 15 22 "ii .... — 793 80 84 37 30 78 8CT "27 150 100 UDadilla New Berlin Fly Creek 50 15 50 5 ViKil 6 18 Cleveland '349- Elbridge Holland Patent, Otisco 20 "26 300 Whitesboro Qtica, Elizabeth Street South Trenton S20 170 10 555 DeRuyter Lysander Freetown Willet 18 M 115 60 26 130 22 19 48 30 29 50 "43 41 6 4 81 Otego Ainhoy .... Pom pey Centre Oneida Lake .... Deerfield Westfbrd. Redfleld Uobart SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 74:7 MINISTERS. CHURCHES. « a O 39 43 39 18 28 39 16 26 10 18 10 2 24 — o = ~ > i. II "23 si "2 * S.ff wo 00 | 5 Martinsburgh East Guilford '475 '205 ::•::! Williamstown Durhamville Plessis West Turin DeKalb Ohio Ellsworth Grant Wilna , Norwich Corners INDEX A Abell, James 685 Abbey, David A 686 Adams, J. W 453 Aiken, S. C 209 Alexander, Caleb 87 American Board Meetings at Utica 295 Anti-Slavery Agitation 154 " " Convention at Utica 165,311 Associations Congregational Black River 10 Middle 11 Oneida 10 St. Lawrence 11 Union 11 Auburn Convention 73 Augusta 411 B Backus, President Azel 317 Bacon, Wm 454 Badger, Joshua 48 Bainbridge. ... 419 Baldwin, Dwight 458 Baldwin, John C 366 Baldwin, Methusaleh 48 Baldwin, Truman 456 Baird, Mrs. Sarah 365 Barclay, David 48 Barrows, E. S 459 Barton, John 212 Bartholomew, 0 461 Bates, Mrs. Sarah 344 Beckwith, B. B 463 Benedict, Rev 48 Benedict, Joel A 464 Benevolent Societies 117 Benevolence, Presbyterian, in Central X. Y 116 Benjamin, Simeon 341 Binghamton 427 Boardman, G. S. . . , Bogue, H. P JBogue, P. V ! Boyd, James Bo vie, James Brace, S. W Bradford, Wm. H... Bradford, Wm. J . . Bradley, Dan j Brainard, Israel . . Brewer Fund , Bronson, Oliver. . . , Bruin, B Buckmore, David. . , Burchard, Eli Burchard, Jedediah Burt is, Arthur. . . . Bush, S. F Bushnell, Jedediah Butler, Charles F. Camden Camp, P s . Campbell, A. E Campbell, Rev j Canfield, S. B Cannon, F. E Carnahan, Pres. James Catlin.M Catlin, O Chapin, A. L Chapin, Joel Chapman, Jedediah Chassels, D Cherry Valley Childs, S. D Childs, Mrs Churches first organized in Central New York Churches — Provision for themselves Church Quarrels 467 465 464 47 277 210 468 469 83 215 442 470 687 48 471 278 474 477 50 478 95 479 480 48 482 486 487 321 493 494 493 49 494 390 344 345 82 129 140 SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. '49 Churches1— List of Churches that have been connected with Presbyteries on field of Cent. N. Y. Synod Churches — List of Churches now connected with the Synod of Cent. N. Y Clark, Caleb Clark, D. A Clark, Daniel Clark, T. S Clark, Mrs. Thos. E Clarke, Mrs. Sarah K Cleveland, B. F Clinton 94, Clinton, Isaac John Coe Xoah College, Hamilton Colleges, Denominational. . ( (mini unity, Oneida Condict, Aaron Condit, R. W Congregationalism— Affinity with Presbyte- rianism Sympathy deration Convention, Auburn Convention, Anti-Slavery, Utica Cooler, Eli F Cope, Edward ( Sooperstown Cozzens, B. W. . Crain, Abijah Coshman Ralph D Darrow, N Davis Pres. II 818, Davis, B Day, Prea m, G. E Dbg i i i i now — Supplies for, bv church- I Senl N. ST, ... Behemefl to provide for. D 8. E .... Dibble, Sheldon /40 743 497 498 498 400 721 720 688 172 500 48 •21(5 312 377 44:i 47 501 45 54 54 73 165 502 503 400 503 211 505 510 49 511 12 1 L25 511 Diell, John 512 Discipline of church mem- bers 139 Discipline, Ministers 139 Dodd, Bethuel 00 Dodge, Wm. E . . 374 Dunham, Asa 48 Dunham, H 688 Dunlop, Samuel 440 Dwight, Henry 518 Dwight, H. (j.* 0 513 Dwight, J. H 533 Dwight, Pres. S. E 319 Dwight, Pres. Timothy 49 E Edwards, Pres. Jonathan, Jr. 84 Eels, James 534 ^'amuel 48 Ellbridge 433 Ely. Rev 48 Evangelists 277 " Excision, The" 69 F Fancher, E. B 535 Fine, John 709 Finney, C. G Piaher, Pres. S. W ... 320, 53 7 Floyd 04 Force, James 4S Ford, Henry 85 Ford, Bfarcne v,'» Freeman -l 48 French and English V\ Frost, John Q Uale, G. W i.lv iii Svra- cuse al Assembly in ' Qillett, Moses. . .' 91 Goodrich, C. E. ; Goodrich, Win. 11 Grant, Asahel Grant, Mrs. a < trees Beriah 161 hl> Gridley, A I> Gridlei W 750 PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE H Hadley, Prof. J 321 I Harrower, D 12, 579 | Hamilton College — History of 312 Character of the instruc- tion at 323 Deceased officers of 31? Donors, large 335 Funds raised for 330 Law school of 333 Present Faculty 333 Treasurer Trustees 327 Hart J 47 Hart, Levi 48 Hastings, S. P. M 580 Hastings, Thomas 696 Hawley, Gideon 581 Hay, P. C 582 Herkimer 93 Hillyer. Asa 48 Holland Patent 405 Homer 421 Hopkins, A. T 5-3 Hotchkiss, B 48 How, J.C 585 Howell, L. D 594 Hoyt, J. H 586 Hoyt, O. B 586 Humph rev, John 588 Hungerford, J.N .. 354 Huntington, D 48 I Immigration 42 Indian* — Character of .. 17 Missions among 19 Treaties with 40 Tribes of 17 J JardinS 365 Johnson, Rev 97 Johnson, Joshua 83 Judd, B 47 K Kellogg, S 167 Kerr, George 594 Kerr, N 47 King, Walter, Esq 713 King, Walter, Rev 48 Kimball, D 596 Kimball, R 597 Kinne, Rev 48 Kingsley, C. C 345 Kirk.R. R 597 Kirkland, Samuel 28, 313 Kirkland, Win 321 Knapp, J 48 Knox, James 336 Knox, John J 363 L Land Purchases 41 Lansing, D. (' 87 Lathrop, J. H 321 Leonard, J 89 Lewis, Isaac 598 Lindsley, J 48 Linklaen, J 695 Lisle 420 Litchfield, E. C 366 Little Falls 83 Logan, R 49 Ludlow, H. G 600 Lyman, Rev 48 mi Maltbie, E. D 604 Mandell, A 606 Mandeville, H 322, 330, 605 Mappa, Col. Adam 48 Marcellus 431 Mavnard, Win. H 335 McLain, Rev 48 Ministers connected with Presbvteries on field of Synod Cent. X. Y 733 Ministers of Synod Cent. N. Y. in 1876..*. 748 Millard, II. X 606 Ministers from membership Cent, X. Y. churches, 123 Missions 47 Boards and Societies. . . 59 Missionaries, early 47 Missionaries, foreign, furnished bv church- es Cent. X. Y 123 Monteith , J 321 SYNOD OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 751 Morgan, H. B 608 Moselv, S 610 Murdock, J 610 M vers, J 611 Myrick, L 278 N Neill, \\m 611 Newark Vallev 431 New Hartford 83 " New Measures," 267 Niles, B 615, 689 North, Pres. S 320 Norton, Asahel 90 Norton, Herman 615 Norton, Prof. S 321 Nott. Eliphalet 618 Noyes, Prof. J 321 O Occura, Samson 624 Ogden, D. L 625 Ogdensburgh 433 Olden barnveldt, or Trenton. 410 Oliver, A 626 Oneida Community 443 Oquago, now Windsor 428 Orton, A. G 627 Osborn J 627 Ostrom, Mrs. Mary W. E. . . 722 Oxford 417 P Paris 94, 172 Paine I.-, T Parsons, L 628 Pastorates 131 Patterson, J 48 Patriotism of ministers and churches in < int. .V V. . . 1 15 Pres •) 819, 830 Pettibone, B 631 Perine, Rev Dr 48 Plan of I Dion, the 55 Plans of Dnion, local 61 Popo lation, growth !)7 Porter, Rev -is Porter, P. B 855 Pratt, S. F 856 Presbytery of — Albany 7 Bingharnton 9 Chenango 8 Cortland 8 Delaware 8 Dutchess county 6 Geneva 7 Mohawk 9 Ogdensburg 8 Oneida 7 Oswego 8 Otsego 10 St. Lawrence 8 Syracuse 9 Ctica 8, 10 Watertown 9 Presbyteries now existing. . 9 Presbyterianism — Character of its religion at the first settlement of Cent. N. Y 44 Affinity to Congrega- tionalism 45 and sympathy with it . . 15 and cooperation with it 4"> 5 1 PRE8BYTERIANT8M IN CENTRAL New York — Its benevolence. . . .116, 124 Its derivation 100 [te growth Vi Its intelligence 113 Its orderliness and or thodoxy 100 [te patriotism 14"> Perfecting its organiza- tion 128 [•- provision for itself. 129 Its provision for destitu- tions about it 124 Its reformatory spiril 155,1 15 Its revivals. 167 Its Sabbath zeal Ill Putnam, Aaron f the transformation. 4 THE PRESBYTERIAN ELEMENT IN OUR The subject presents itself naturally under two as- pects, the historical and philosophical, or more fully and in the form of questions : I. What facts have occurred in our national history in which the influence of Presbyterian men and Pres- byterian institutions, as such, has been manifest in moulding our national institutions and directing the national policy? and II. What are the tendencies inherent to Presbyteri- an ism which, by the nature of the case, adapt it to exert a plastic influence upon the destinies of a free people ? It is past doubt that the very existence of our country is due to forces set in motion and brought to play in history by the Reformation under Calvin. The Puri- tans in New England, including Roger Williams and the earlv Baptists, the Dutch in New York State, the Covenanters in the Cumberland Valley, the Quakers in eastern Pennsylvania and the Huguenots of the Caro- Iinas and New York all performed parts of the first im- portance in the original colonization of our country, and all drew their inspiration more or less directly from the great Reformer of Geneva. ♦ As to the Puritans, I cannot do better than to quote from one of the most illustrious of their descendants, words uttered at one of those anniversaries which New Englanders observe with a pride which would be sec- tional, if New England did not belong in a peculiar sense to the whole country. "In the reign of Mary,'* says Mr. Choate, " a thousand learned Englishmen fled from the stake at home to the happier seats of Conti- nental Protestantism. Of them great numbers, I know not how many, onme to Geneva. There they awaited NATIONAL LIFE AND HISTORY. 5 the death of the Queen, and then sooner or later, but in the time of Elizabeth, went back to England. / a- to that five years in Geneva, an influence that has changed tlit history of the world. I seem to myself to trace to it . . the opening of another era of time and of liberty . . a portion at least of the objects of the great civil war in England, the Republican constitution framed in the cabin of the Mayflower, the divinity of Jonathan Edwards, the battle of Bunker Hill and the Independence of America. In that brief season. English Puritanism was changed fundamentally and forever . . On the banks of a lake lovelier than a dream of fairy land, in a valley which might have been hollowed out to enclose the last home of liberty, there smiled an inde- pendent, peaceful, law-abiding and prosperous common- wealth. There was a people governed by laws of their own making. I confess myself to be of the opinion of those who trace to that spot and to that time the Re- publicanism of the Puritans. " There was a State without king or nobles ; there was a church without a bishop. I do not suppose that learned men needed to go to Geneva to acquire the idea of a commonwealth. But there they saw the problem solved. Popular government was possible. This ex- perience they never forgot" It is not necessary to multiply authorities or to look further for the genesis of Puritan principles in their bearing upon the life and character of the nation. As Presbyterians, we are willing to concede to New Eng- land all the eminence she claims in the early history of the nation, if her most gifted and loyal sons agree to trace thai eminence to the influence of the Gem I i THE PRESB YTEMAN ELEMENT IN 0 1 R Reformer upon the characters and beliefs of the Pilgrim Fathers. As for the Huguenots, their settlements in America antedated all others nearly half a century, but Spanish bigotry and cruelty trampled them out in blood, antici- pating by seven years the horrors of St. Bartholomew by the massacre of the nine hundred settlers of St. Au- gustine. Scarcely enough of them escaped to tell the story. More than a hundred years passed, during which the Huguenots of France were learning by the hard drill of Popish persecution, the incalculable value of religious and political liberty ; and when, by the re- vocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, they were scattered by hundreds of thousands over the Protestant world, those who came to America brought the very material which was needed in the structure of our lib- erties— a something which can be likened to the spring and the fibre of finely tempered steel. The first child bora in New York State was of Huguenot parents; and such names as John Jay, Henry Laurens, Elias Boudinot, the first President of the American Bible Society, John Bayard and Francis Marion illustrate the prominence of this element in the early struggles in war, diplomacy and Christian beneficence of our coun- trymen. It was the son of a Huguenot that gave his name to Faneuil Hall and offered it for those purposes of consultation and eloquent appeal, which have cured for it the title of " Cradle of Liberty." The Covenanters are represented by the Scotch-Irish, who did not leave their country before striking heavy blows for the truths of the Reformation at home. The of iln- men who, on the 7th of December, 168S, shut XA TIONAL LIFE A ND HIS TORY. 7 the gates of Deny, and starved rather than surrender to the Popish troops of James, were trained to endure the hardships of frontier life, and had nerves which did not flinch or quiver, however great the foe before them, because there was a conscience behind them. They were fit material to enter into the structure of the new Commonwealth. They came late, and yet, twenty-six years before the Declaration of Indepen- dence, a quarter of a million of Ulster county Presby- terians had landed upon our shores. From what great struggles and preparatory experi- ences came the Presbyterians of the low countries, I need not detain you to tell. History has no task more honorable than that of recording the contest between the Beggars of Holland and the Grandees of Spain. The conflict for liberty only partially successful there, had to be transferred to the soil of America in order to attain a complete and enduring triumph. The first set- tlers in New Netherlands were thirty families, chiefly Protestant refugees from the Belgian provinces. They came in the spring of 1628. The settlement of Man- hattan, says Bancroft, grew directly out of the great Continental struggles of Protestantism. The beneficent influence of the Quakers upon the opening scenes of our Colonial history cannot easily be overrated. George Fox, the founder of the sect, may fairly be regarded as an outgrowth of English Puritan- ism. William* Pen n received part of his college train- ing at Saunuir, where there was a Calvinistic institu- tion under the guidance of Amyrault The religion and the philosophy of the Huguenots had their influ- ence with the founder of the Keystone State. It <-«>uld 8 THE PRESB YTERIAN ELEMENT IN 0 U/i scarcely have been Quakerism which reserved in the Colonial law the first day of the week as a day of rest. We, as a Synod, have a share in the closing on the Lord's "Day of the doors of the Centennial Exhibition in the great city founded by William Penn, but I sus- pect it would have been a more difficult task but for that Presbyterian element which the Quaker legislator imbibed into his own nature, and infused into the laws and customs of his famous Colony. If we except the settlers of Virginia, and that small but dominant part of the colonists of Maryland who were Catholics, and the Lutherans and Moravians who came to Georgia under Oglethorpe, we shall find America at the revolution little else than a community of Calvinists of different degrees of strenuousness in (1< tctrine and practice, but showing the same general fea- tures of that system. All other constituent elements of the population might be omitted without vitiating a general estimate of its character ; but what would the United Colonies, on the eve of the revolution, have been, if suddenly the entire element due to the Calvin- istic Reformation had been withdrawn from the coun- try ? Conceive, if you please, the loss in mere num- bers made good by an equally sudden multiplication of either of the other elements then to be found in small numbers in Virginia, Maryland and Georgia, and it is impossible to believe that under such auspices a great free nation could have grown up on this continent. In fact, the second supposition is itself impossible, for it was only the so-called Reformed element of the world's population that was then in sufficient numbers under the colonizing impulse: under the propelling force of NA TIONAL LIFE AND IIISTOIi Y. 9 an outraged conscience, which gladly preferred exile to the sacrifice of principle ; which had been made ready by the special training of Providence for the very work of establishing in a new world a new age and a new order of things. Without them, without the men and the sons of the men who had gone through the experiences of St. Bartholomew's Day, of Leyden and Harlem and Deny and Smithfield, we may be very sure the independence of America would never have been attempted or achieved. As we approach the critical period of the national history, the beginning of the century which we are now celebrating, the lines are drawn more closely, and the relations of the Reformed element to the struggle of the revolution assume a positive unmistakable attitude. Presbyterianism, through the length and breadth of the country, allies itself, identifies itself with the cause of free government. Of the Scotch-Irish race in America it is said that it was perhaps the only race of all that settled in the western world that never produced one tory. The nearest case to it ever known was that of a man who was brought before a church session inCham- bersburg, and tried upon the charge that he was not sincere in his professions of his attachment to the cause of the revolution. It is claimed that General Washington, when making a long and disheartening retreat was asked where he expected t<» pause. He re- plied, that it' lie were obliged t<> cross everv river and mountain to the limits of civilization, be would make his last stand with the Scotchdrisliiucn of the frontiers, there plant his banner ami still 6ghl for freedom. The first public voice in America, .-ays Bancroft, for dissolving all connection with Great Britain, came not 10 THE PRESBYTERIAN ELEUES'1 7JV OUR from the Puritans of New England, the Dutch of New- York, nor the planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch- Irish Presbyterians. He refers to the celebrated Dec- laration of the county of Mecklenberg, 1ST. C, which preceded the Declaration of Independence more than a year, and which not only* anticipated the spirit but to a most remarkable degree the very language of that memorable document. Here was a secluded people, not carried away by the infection of a general excite- ment, but led by the sheer force of conviction and con- sistency with principle alone, to declare themselves absolved from former ties of allegiance, and to organize an independent government, nearly fourteen months before they were followed and supported by the united voice of the country. It is not ludicrous, this arrayal of a single county against a great and proud empire. The document itself shows that a grand spirit, a broad humanity, dictated the movement. The Presbyterian Elder. Ephraim Brevard, who signed it, sealed his fidelity by the sacrifice of his life in the national cause. The document, printed in Chariest* >n. was spread through the South, and was forwarded In- a messenger to the Continental Congress. Its direct influence upon the phraseology of the greater Declaration which followed it. lias been denied : so be it; it only follows that the Presbyterian as well as the Jeffersonian document flowed from the same deep fountain of popular love of liberty and preparedness for self-government, which the Presbyterians were the quickest to recognize and the lirst to put into articulate speech. It wras the great State of Virginia, Jefferson's State. which more than a year after the Mecklenburgh declar- XA TIONA L LIFE A XD HIS TOR Y. 1 1 ation, and a few weeks before the 4tli of July, 1776, passed the first Bill of Rights involving the principle of self government and independence, and although the act of the State was practically unanimous, yet it would scarcely have been the work of a people wholly de- scended from the cavaliers and adventurers who formed the early colonists of Virginia. " The population," says Bancroft, "had been recruited by successive in- fusions of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Huguenots and the descendants of Huguenots, men who had been so attached to Cromwell or the Republic that they prefer- red to emigrate on the return of Charles IT.," and other elements. Among the Scotch-Irish members of the Virginia Assembly, who adopted the Bill of Rights, was Patrick Henry. Another member was James Mad- ison, afterwards President of the United States. Ee was of English descent, but had pursued his studies in Princeton, under Witherspoon. His name appears in the Triennial of that College, in the class of 1771. Doubtless the young man of scarcely twenty-five brought the influences of his college training into the debate upon the proposed Bill of Rights, when he objected to the word •• toleration" in the Bill, because it implied ;in es- tablished religion, which endured dissent only as a condescension, while he contended that all men are equally entitled to the :ercise "t"' religion, accord- ing to the dictates of conscience. The President <>f Princeton College at that tune the famous John Witherspoon; patriot, divine, legisla- tor, educator in one ; a true leader of men. A native of Scotland and a minister in the National Church, he had already risen to eminence there, when he was called, 1 2 THE PliESB YTERIA N ELEMENT IN 0 UR in 1768, to the Presidency of Princeton College. He had scarcely arrived on his new field, when he threw himself, with characteristic ardor, into the canse of the Colonies, and became the recognized leader of the pa- triots of his adopted State." Powerful in pulpit oratory, he improved the general fast appointed by Congress for May 17, 1776, by preach- ing a sermon whose very title is a rhetorical triumph : " The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men." In this discourse, founded on Ps. 76, 10 : " Sure- ly the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remain- der of wrath shalt thou restrain," he says : Yoa are all my witnesses that this is the first time of my intro- ducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season, how- ever, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty and of human nature." "There are fixed bounds to every human thing. When the ^ranches of a tree grow very large and weighty, they fall off from the trunk. And there is a certain distance from the seat of government where an attempt to rule will either provoke tyranny and helpless subjec- tion, or provoke resistance and effect a separation." * Ten years before he left Scotland he had shown his profound religious sympathy with the American Colonists by the following language : " The violent persecutions which many eminent Christians met with in England, from their brethren who called themselves Pro- testants, drove them in great numbers to a distant part of the world, where the light of the Gospel and true religion were un- known. Some of the American settlements, particularly those in New England, were chiefly made by them, and as they carried the knowledge of Christ to the dark places of the earth, so they con- tinue, themselves, in as great a degree of purity of faith, and strictness of practice, or rather a greater, than is to be found in any Protestant church now in the world." — Works Edinb., 1804, 5, pp. 194, 105. XA TIONA L LIFE AND HIS TOR Y. 1 3 Having spoken of the success of the Colonists thus far, he adds : " Remember the vicissitude of human things and the usual course of Providence. How often has a just cause been reduced to the lowest ebb, and yet when firmly adhered to, has become finally triumphant. I speak this now, when the affairs of the Colonies are in so prosperous a state, lest this prosperity itself should render you less able to bear unexpected misfortunes." " Nothing is more certain," he says again, "than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for de- struction. A good form of government may hold the rotten ma- terials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue. Whoever is an avowed enemy to God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country." This remarkable sermon was published by request, and was accompanied by an "address to the natives of Scotland residing in America," in which the royalist tendencies of his countrymen, just at that time pecu- liarly excited by occurrences in the mother country, wen- earnestly combatted. The American Declaration of [independence, which had taken place between the delivery and the publication of the Sermon, was de- fended on the following grounds : 1. That it was neces- sary. 2. That it will be honorable and profitable. 3. That in all probability it will be no injury, but a real advantage to the island of Greal Britain. A lew days after the fast, Witherspoon took his s< i as a member of the Provincial Assembly of New Jer sey. The royalisl Governor of the State, being cited before the bodj to answer for his conduct, entered the hall escorted b\ the military, and denounced the assem- bly as illegal and the members as low-bred, ignoranl men, wholly incompetent for legislation, and deserving 1 -± THE riiESB YTEltlAN ELEMENT IN 0 VR to be hung as rebels. What the other members thoughtr Witherspoon did not wait to hear, but at the moment the Governor ceased, he sprang to his feet and poured out a torrent of invective and irony, for which the il- legitimate birth, the scanty education and well known coarseness of the royal Governor gave fair opportunity. " On the whole," concluded Witherspoon, " I think Gov. Franklin has made us a speech every way worthy of his exalted birth and refined education." The Con- vention voted to depose the Governor, and the next day sent Witherspoon, with five others, to represent New Jersey at the Continental Congress. Witherspoon was the only clergyman who sat in that body. They arrived in the midst of the deliberations preceding the last great step towards Independence. Witherspoon at once took a bold position. The gravity and solemnity of the occasion, in his view, were such as to demand promptitude, and not at all to justify delay. " Mr. President," he said, " that noble instrument on your table, which insures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in the House. He who will not respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy the name of freeman. Although these gray hairs must descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hand of the executioner, than desert, at this crisis, the sacred cause of my country." He held his place in Congress for six years, served on various important committees, drew up, as is be- lieved, the report on the cruel treatment of prisoners by the British in New York, and was deputed to visit ^V.l TIOXA L L IFE A XD HIS TORY. 1 5 the headquarters of the army to improve the lamenta- ble condition of the troops. He wrote important State papers ; opposed extravagant issues of paper money : pled with Congress for the maintenance of the public cred- it ; resisted the proposed appointment of the notorious but popular Thomas Paine to an important secretaryship ; labored to build up a strong central government ; main- tained unwavering faith in the national cause, in the most trying times, and contributed the full strength of a grand and unblemished character to sustain the repu- tation of the Continental Congress, when torn with dis- orders and turbulence on account of the refusal of the States to confer upon it the necessary authority. Thus he not only aided in meeting the military difficulties of the Revolution, but also those in many respects more trying, which arose from the political and financial em- barrassments of the struggle. His counsels on these latter questions, although not followed at the time, have been fully justified by their subsequent adoption. He was a hard money man, and believed in the necessity of a strong central government. It is honorable to the Presbyteriaif Church of Amer- ica that it remembers so gratefully the incalculable services of this, by all odds, the most heroic figure in her early history, and is marking this centennial year by a suitable monument to his memory. I might mention, and put in contrast with Presbyte- nanisin, the attitude ol another prominent body of pro fessing Christians, which, at the close of the Revolu- tion, found Itself nearly annihilated as the result of its tor? sympathies. I mighl contrast the behavior of two distinguished clergymen <>f the city of Philadelphia, ltf THE PRESBYTERIAN ELEMENT IN OUR one of whom, indeed, at the beginning of the war. seemed overflowing with patriotic zeal, but who, when the inevitable dark days came, wrote to Gen. Washing- ton, urging him to abandon the cause of America as hopeless, and suggesting to him to dictate a peace at the head of his army — after which traitorous advice he fled the country. The other was a Presbyterian minis- ter, the pastor of the Third Church in Philadelphia, who bore the illustrious name of Dufheld. This de- scendant of the Huguenots was called from his charge in Carlisle to the position in Philadelphia, early in the sessions of the Continental Congress, and while the rep- resentatives of England still exercised authority in the affairs of the city and the State. But Mr. Duffield did not hesitate. He threw the whole weight of his position and influence on the side of Congress. Seized and brought before the magistrate for seditious conduct in persisting in preaching a patriotic sermon, he declined to give bail, and the case was postponed. Meanwhile the whole city and State was aroused, and a band of patri- ots, known as "the Paxton boys." living near Harris- burg, met and resolved that if the King's government dared to imprison Mr. Duffield, they would march to Philadelphia and liberate him at the point of the bay- onet The members of the Continental Congress were fre- quently in attendance on his ministrations. Four months before the Declaration of Independence he preached before an assembly of Pennsylvania militia and members of Congress, a famous discourse, in which. with irresistable eloquence, he urged the necessity of that measure. He declared thai heaven designed this XA TI OX A L L IFE A XI) HIS TORY. 17 western world as the asylum of liberty, and that to raise its banner here their forefathers had surrendered the dearest ties of home, friends, and native land, and braved the tempests of the ocean and the terrors of the wilderness. ';Can it be supposed,'' he asks, "that the Lord has so far forgotten to be gracious and shut up his ten- der mercies in his wrath, and so favored the arms of oppression, as to deliver up their asylum to slavery and bondage 1 As soon shall he subvert creation, and for- bid his sun to shine. He preserved to the Jews their cities of refuge, and whilst sun and moon endure, Amer- ica shall remain a city of refuge for the whole earth, until she herself shall play the tyrant, forget her desti- ny, disgrace her freedom, and provoke her God." Among the proofs of the effectiveness of this discourse was an offer of fifty pounds by the British for the cap- ture of the preacher. Four days after the Declaration of Independence, lie received a commission as chaplain in the Pennsylvania militia. In this position he mag- nified his office, faithfully sharing the perils of the campaign, preaching to his regiment on Staten Island, while the enemy's missiles from the Jersey shore rattled ovt-r their heads, and risking his life in the disastrous New Jersey. With the return of peace be resumed his place as pastor of the Third Church, and I can testify that the stamp of his patriotic zeal remains, ina marked degree, upon the Third Church, better known in Philadelphia as Old Pine St Church, to this day. By the side of the tablet in the vestry, which bears the name of Duffield, may be seen another of still tenderer interest, bearing the name- of eighteen youth- ful members of the same congregation, ••martyrs." as 1 8 TUB PliESB YTER1AN ELEAIEW T IN 0 UJi they are called in the inscription, " from Old Pine St Church/' young men who laid down their lives in the struggle of 1861-65. And that the pulpit of Old Pine St. in those later days, held by one who bore the fa- mous name of Brainerd, was equally faithful, I can testify with equal emphasis. " God forbid," said Dr. Brainerd, to his people, on the Fast Day of April, 1863, " God forbid that I should entrust our young men to the perils of the field, and not bless them daily, in the name of the Lord. We have a great cause, but a greater God. We bring the interests of a continent, with the welfare of its future hundreds of millions : we bring the safety of our civil government; we bring the great cause of humanity at large : all the freedom that earth has gained in six thousand years ; we bring the interests of Christianity itself, which alone in this free land has found impartial liberty of conscience and worship ; we bring all these to the altar, and say, O God, have mercy upon us, and vindicate our cause from those who have risen up against us. We live in an hour on which the destiny of ages is turning. We are touching springs which will vibrate on the weal or woe of far distant generations. Let us meet it on the field, if need be, with courage; in our closets with prayer to the God of nations and armies." Thomas Brainerd would have uttered substantially the same sentiments anywhere, but standing in the pul- pit of the Third Church, they seem to gather force from the century — old echoes that might be imagined to haunt the aisles and pillars of that memorable building.* -Albert Barnes, in his tract on Presbyterian Affinities, says : " Some other denominations are, and ever must be, reluctant ever to refer to the history of their clergymen and many of their people* NA TIOXA L L IFE A XD HIS TOR Y. 19* It is almost superfluous to attempt to explain to this audience what it is in Presbyterianism and in the Re- :< trmed Churches generally, which necessarily led them to assume the position of avowed and active adherence to the revolutionary cause. Nowhere else in the world is a more ardent love of liberty joined to a more decided attachment for system and order. Liberty in law is the watchword of Presbyterianism. The Beform- ation itself was a direct appeal to God, a personal union of the human heart to its Creator in opposition I • •rushing weight and an impenetrable barrier of priestly mediators. It gave to every man personal worth.. Every individual could and must for himself realize- the priceless benefits and dignities of redemption. It arose at once both against the ecclesiastical tyranny of the times and the political machinery by which that tyranny was sustained. In proportion as the religions reaction of the reformation was more radical was its relation to civil life more manifest. Wherever the hierarchical element ' >t clean away, there, natu- rally enough, appeared the idea of a popular govern- The church without a bishop carried with it the state without a king. John Calvin was "the former who pierced to the roots." His faith was dreaded witli <>n<- consent and witli instinctive judg rnent by all the monarchs of the world as the creed <>f republicanism the time of the American Involution , our denomination II willing that all that OCCOTred — all that was done by 01 flfl a Di flOinil >uld be . . read by nil mankind. The pafll ifl fixed, and fixed as we would desire it to i.e. . . There is not a lii that subject which we would desire to expongfl OT chai 2 ' ' THE PRESB TTER1AN EL EMEX T JX 0 1 R King James L, bom and reared a Scot, spoke what he knew when he said: "A Scots Presbytery agrees with monarchy as well as God and the devil." Lord Bacon says : " Discipline by bishops is fittest for mon- archy of all others.'' James II. said : ''If there is no despotic power in the Church there can be no despotic power in the State ; or, if there be liberty in the Church, there will be liberty in the State.*' Charles the 2nd pronounced Calvinism a religion not fit for a gen- tleman. It found its borne and historic center and politi- cal expression in the republic of Geneva. But limited to that narrow city^, it mnst have perished for lack of development. It must get rid of old world restrictions or die. It must realize on a broader field, its God-given impulse and tendency to become in some true sense, a kingdom of God on earth. Buffeted, trampled upon, disfranchised, outlawed at home, its future seemed dark indeed when the new world which Popish enthusiasm had discovered and claimed, arose upon the horizon. Rome, claimed it. Commercial and scientific interest sighted its frontier and outlined its shape. But it waited for a century and a quarter, substantially unoccupied, uiitilthe hour for the Calvinist migration had come. Cal- vinism was destined to live. Its ecclesiastical and po- litical characteristics were too fundamentally important t«» be allowed to disappear. Therefore the New World was opened and reserved for them. America was theirs. America was for the Oalvinists, as truly as in divine Providence the Calvinists were Ua- America. The adherents of this system could not come to Amer- ica without bringing along their intense convictions. X. 1 TIONA L LIFE A XD II 16 TORY. 21 ingrained into their souls by a century of persecution. If Great Britain would not yield tliem a practical inde- pendence, of necessity they would grasp it. If armed resistance was requisite to realize their ideal here in these remote parts of the earth, they unhesitatingly would offer it. There was dignity in their coining. Not as a mere mob or frightened herd of fugitives did \\\ey come. In place of the cast-off yokes of medievalism, they brought grand conceptions of a moral order and a divine gov- ernment, drawn from an intelligent study of Scripture models, and from the previous experience of an inward self-restraint. Those in whom a genuine Christian manhood had taken the place of slavish dependence upon confessionals and priestly absolution, were pre- pared to frame just laws, to found a righteous govern- ment, and in their conduct to illustrate as well as by their blood, if necessary, to maintain and defend them. The Constitution of Plymouth Colony was written upon the cover of a Bible in the cabin of the May Flower and signed and sealed upon the ocean by the company of Pilgrims. The revolt of these men from arbitrary human government was for no selfish end what - ever, but in the name and for the glory of God. There- fore, in his name, they were quick u> re-establish and zealous to maintain it. In fact, the Presbyterianism of these colonists was the very form and mold of a five government, the safest and best in its main outlines that could be found. As the Presbyterians of North Carolina anticipated the fact and form of the Declaration of Independence, bo the Presbyterians of Geneva and Scotland in working 2 2 THE PRESB YTERIA N ELEMENT IN 0 L'R out the plan of a free, but orderly church, had antici- pated in all its main features, the political fabric by which that independence was consolidated into a grand national and historic reality. In this church all power proceeds from the people, but Presbytery is not de- mocracy, it is not a weak confederation. It is a com- pact representative government, with a written consti- tution. The largest autonomy is allowed to the ele- mentary parts, which is consistent with the unity and organic life of the whole. Every member has rights which the whole body is bound to protect. The clergy is not a whit better off in this respect than the laity, and no clergyman better off than his brother clergy- man. This principle of parity is essentially republi- can. At the same time Presbytery is a government. It is not merely advisory ; it is authoritative. " It is de- signed to settle and determine things. It implies as its correlative, obedience. The submission which it de- mands is not the mere submission which the mind ren- ders to good advice. * * * It is the submission due to those who are appointed to rule and who are entrusted with authority." — Albert Barnes Presb. — its Affinities — p. 9-10. The analogy between our republican form of gov- ernmenl and that of the Presbyterian Church is so striking that the subjectHias become too trite to need extensive statement here. When we consider the great preponderance of the Presbyterian element in the early history of the country, when we reflect that the men who framed our Constitution wereJargely trained under one or the other forms of church government allied to Presbyterianism, we cannot permit ourselves to doubt NA TIONAL LIFE A ND IIJSTOIi Y. 23 that the blended strength and elasticity, the variety and the symmetry, the liberty and the order, in fact the sound republicanism of our government were contribu- tions of Presbyterianism to our national life. I do not deem it necessary to argue for the perfec- tion of our national system, nor even for that of the Presbyterian polity. Both have their enemies. Grave complications and even catastrophes have occurred under both. If any other form of government could have prevented the war of secession on the one hand, or the excluding acts on the other, without permanently sacrificing still greater interests, I have yet to see that form of government described and its superiority dem- onstrated. Such as it is, our national government un- doubtedly is the outgrowth of modes of thought largely controlled by the influence of Presbyterianism. But polity is only an outward form, only valuable as the result of inward forces. And it is these inward forces of Presbyterianism which we must qow consider, and in which are the real hidings of its power. These inward forces are comprehensively described under the single term Calvinism. Calvinism has been regarded as in fact a doctrine of government, a method and form in which the divine power is put forth in the gov- ernment of the universe. " It is based on the idea that God rules, that he has a plan ; that the plan is Qxed and certain: that it does not depend on the fluctua- tions of the human will, on the caprice of the human heart, or on contingencies and uncertain and undeter- mined events in human affairs. It supposes that God is supreme; that be has authority, thai be has a right to exercise dominion ; that, for the good of the universe, 24 THE riiESJiYTEIilAN ELEMENT jy OUR that right should be exercised, and that infinite power put forth only in accordance with apian." — Mr. Iktrnes. The habit of thought and the style of character growing out of this view of the universe have gone deeply into the life of America. They have been as pillars of adamant, as an anchorage among rocks dur- ing the formation and growth <>f its political order. This is by no means an exhaustive statement of the vital elements of Calvinism. Joined with them is the sense of direct personal responsibility to God. and of the moral equality of all men before him : of the emptiness of all earthly distinctions compared with those conferred by his grace and spirit, and of the moral unity of the race in Adam. The prevalence of these ideas broke down all the foundations of t yr- anny, while those saved the liberty from becoming the license of liberated slaves, and gave it the checks and balances of right reason and of subordination to the higher law of God. Presbyterian ism is a system of clear and strong con- victions rather than a matter of feeling and of form. It takes hold of the man through his intellect and his con- science. Tts grasp upon the will, therefore, is clear. strong and regulative. It will do nothing without a sound reason. Its moving forces are applied to the deepest principles. It is not like the tempest which stirs great waves for a time and upon the surface, but like the tides and the silent and deep currents which day and night, and year after year, keep on their steady course around the globe. Strength of character, stability and endurance, are the social and natural outcome of such a system. It may NATIONAL LIFE AND HISTORY. 25 be said that these points belong constitutionally to the Anglo-Saxon race. But take away from them their monarchical old-world associations and aristocratic re- pressions, and give them independence — let them stand alone—the race will then need an inward self-regula- tive principle. Never was it called to stand alone as in America. It would not have attempted thus to stand alone, if it had not been conscious of possessing a backbone such as Calvinism has given it. Calvinism gives toughness and fibre, and an anvil- like power of resistance, which wears out hammers rather than yields ; Calvinism reads the word discipline in the word disaster. Calvinism gets victory by the rough road of defeat; Calvinism teaches and practices a perseverance which springs from faith in a supreme and righteous GroJ it may not be exactly jusl to the ©sthetic side of our natures, it is not great in art The reformers were not particularly known as ad- mirers of nature. These deep-souled men were un- moved by the sentimental raptures of a Rousseau, and Indeed, could scarcely enter into the deep feeling for nature of the 0. T. writers. Luther thought the Levi- athan and Behemoth of the Book of Job, were alleg icil representations of the devil. But in thai enter- prise which crosses vast nntraveled seas, which pene- trates the unexplored depths of new continents and founds commonwealths while keeping savage foes at bay on the one band, and wresting libert} from civil ized foes on the other, it is without a rival in the his tory of mankind The doctrine which Is common to Calvinism and to Protestantism generally that each individual mind ma\ 2 6 THE PEE SB YTE1UA N ELEMENT IN 0 Uli be in direct communication with its Creator, that he has revealed his will by the written word to all, must tend to the universal diffusion of learning; on the other hand, the doctrine that God is a God of order and plan must tend to encourage that higher learning which seeks to discover the order and system of the universe. Hence Calvinism has been the source not only of the common school system as it exists in our own country, but of almost every one of our earlier colleges and universities. Notably Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Union, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Dickinson, "Washington and Jefferson, Middlebury, Hampden Sidney, Amherst, Lafayette and Hamilton, not to mention more recent enterprises. For generations nearly the entire culti- vated mind of the country was under its training and stamped with its peculiar impress. Thus it is no mere sullen, stubborn, blind power of endurance and of resistance which Calvinism lias con- tributed t«> the country. Calvinism is not a cold stoi- cism : nor. on the other hand, is it a daring fanaticism which can give no account of itself or of its actions. It is nol a sort of baptized [slamism as some have believed it to be. It is not fatalism, the doctrine of bigots and of oriental dreamers. This indeed has conquered q name and created ;i despotism, but it lias never marked its course with free schools and colleges. It is the in- telligent, philosophical and Scriptural dogma oi predes- tination, not fatalism, thai is i<> be associated with Cal- vinism. It is the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, infinitely-wise Ruler of the universe, who acts with in- finite forethought, and whose purposes are the best, the holiest, the most beneficenl that can possibly be. It XA TIOXA L LIFE . 1 XI) BI9 TOR Y. 21 is such a doctrine that in every age has found its place in the minds of resolute, well-poised, thinking men, and that has ever tended to form, train and devel- op an order of things, and a class of minds of exalted character in sympathy with itself. This was the chief historic factor in our country's life, when it started on its career a hundred years ago. Many other elements have been introduced in the intervening century; not a few of them readily har- monizing and blending naturally with the preexisting- status; some of them little else than old world out- growths and developments of the Calvinistic move- ment; some of them developments in directions over- looked by Calvinism, and necessary to give greater elasticity to American manhood : some contributing the much-needed aesthetic element: some conspicuously hostile to Calvinism and perilous to the republic itself. Calvinism itself has had its vicissitudes, it-- severe ex- periences; it has undergone modifications, it has learned something from the new world of which it was in some true sense the author. The great increase of the par- tially educated or the ignorant classes in our oountrj has gone beyond her power of supply through her solid and somewhal cumbrous machinery* Nor have these masses taken kindly to 1km- systematic, thoughtful and humbling doctrines. A needless rigidity and pertinac itv among American Oalvinists in insisting on absolute Uniformity of doctrine has led to dissensions, divisions and temporary weakness, and increased the prejudices of the outside world, and made them ready to hear and -well the crv against lis a- m oarrow-minded, quarrel- some and hairsplitting sect More than thirty veai 28 THE PRESBYTERIAN ELEMENT IS OUR separation — one-third of the previous century — has been spent in the school of a severe, self-imposed discipline, and have taught us a lesson of forbearance, generosity and comprehensiveness which it will take us at least a century to forget. At the close of the Revolution, President Stiles preached an election sermon before the Legislature of Connecticut. His inspiring theme was "the Future Glory of the United States.'' Among other prophetic outgivings he declared that " when we look forward and see this country increased to forty or fifty millions, while we shall see all the religious sects increased into respectable bodies, we shall doubtless find the united body of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches making an equal figure with any two of them." The period contemplated by the seer of New Haven has arrived. The population has passed its limit of forty millions. At the opening of the Revolution, Com gregationalism stood at the head of the American Church in wealth and numbers. Presbyterianism stood fourth. That branch of the Congregationalists which grew out of the schism of Roger Williams, held the second place, and the Church of England the third. The standing of these denominations to-day is stated about as follows : Baptists second, Presbyterians third, Congregationalists seventh, and Episcopalians eighth ; the Presbyterians strictly so-called, being the only one of the four which has made any relative advance. The Baptists have held their own, the Roman Catholics have pressed forward to the place vacated by the Pres- byterians, while a denomination scarcely known even by name to Dr. Stiles, and barely dshered into exist V. I TIONA L LIFE A ND 11 1ST OR Y. 2 ! > ence at the revolutionary era. by giant strides has placed itself numerically in the front rank of all — the Metho- dists. The anticipations of the preacher have, therefore, not been realized. By statistics, it by no means ap- pears that the combined forces of Presbyterians and Congregational ists hold to-day the dominant position with which they ushered in the century. Yet it is noticeable that Presbyterians as such have no reason to be discouraged by the showing of these statistics. It would seem as if to them would be committed the chief guardianship of the interests originally shared between themselves and the Congregationalists. In spite of our internal difficulties, we have made a decided advance relatively to all the other religious bodies, with one or two exceptions. Let us not be misunderstood. Far be it from us at this Centennial celebration to utter the word Presbyterian or to press a claim for Presbyteri- auism as such to the disparagement of the profoundly Valuable services of other Evangelical denominations in strengthening the supports <»1 civic virtue, and in furnishing those Christian elements which alone can give stability to a republican form of government It is a great work to which all of God's people in this nation without distinction of sect are called. To main- tain and to diffuse throughout the body of the Ameri- can people that strength and purity '^ Christian senti- ment which will qualify thcni for the responsibilities oi self-government, on ao grand a scale as it has now reached, and is likelj to reach in the second century ^>( its existence ; t<» successfully combat and counterwork the undermining influences »>f unbelief both in its •!" ; ', 0 THE FliESB YTEUIA N ELEMENT IN 0 1 11 mestie and irs imported manifestations; to maintain tbe predominance of those educational institutions in which religion and science go hand in hand as com- rades and co-workers to the glory of God ; and which are now confronted with largely endowed and vigorous institutions to whose s}'stem of instruction Evangelical religion and the inspired Word of God are outside matters, concerns of no moment, put upon a par with the oracles of Zoroaster or the dreams of Mohammed : to purify the turbid atmosphere of political strife, and to put a meaning and a power into the cry for reform : to uplift once more the old commercial virtues of prob- ity, of contentment with legitimate gain, in place of the wild frenzies of the Stock Exchange and the specula- tive mania that taints our regular business transactions with the very air of the gambling saloon ; to see that our conquests for freedom to men of every race and color, gained by unparalleled cost of blood and treas- ure, shall not be rendered void by intimidation and by partisan trickery ; and that every man in this broad Union, be he black or white, from Maine to Texas, and from Florida to Alaska, shall be protected in the exer- cise of the rights of citizenship ; to beware of the designs of Eome upon our free schools, with their unsectarian Bible, and upon the whole civil and religious fabric of our Republic, through the Jesuitical manipulation of our political machinery; in short, to bear the interests of this great nation deep in our Christian sympathies and prayers and to contend manfully against its cue- in irs upon the right hand and the left is no exclusive prerogative of any denomination in the church of America ; it demands the united energies of us all NA T/OXA L LIFE A ND HIS TOR Y. 8 1 But if to any one of us the privilege of the post of danger, of standard bearer is to be given, our own de- nomination, may, without presumption, expect to hold that position. With its unrivalled patriotic and his- toric memories, with its inherent and demonstrated af- finities for a Republican form of government, with its reunited ranks find wings stretching broadly over the laud, emerging with an enlarged and catholic spirit, from its recent divisions, and yet cleaving unalterably to the great pillars of doctrinal truth which are based upon the Bock of Ages, and which reach with the divine faithfulness to the clouds, we, my brethren, with the wealth and culture and enterprise and energy and solidity of character which still belong to our body, with our various well-organized schemes of beneficence and Christian work, and our thousand missionaries in our great cities and along our border, may. by the -ingof God, nay, ought to and must, unless shame- fully derelict, achieve a work for our country as dis- tinguished as memorable, and as essentia] to the benefi- cent effects of American civilization in the century to '•"inc. as was the work of our honored fathers in the century past •ft m ■ V (■'Si/",' ■ • ■->f«. |'-tRV?..-«-*Vi ■iVi,ifV>i'iiitwM>i»[l|,|iliiTfcl m\vuum± ... . ; -, »•■ ■ ■ . -^, ; ':;--:-:v