g?'iSi»l^??gpiPii|pl^ 
 
 '■ ■:^>:^ 
 
BX 8949 .H56 1888 
 Hinsdale, Horace Graham, 
 
 1831-1917. 
 Historical discourse 
 
 commemoratina the centenar 
 
AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 
 
 COMMEMORATING THE 
 
 Centenary of the Completed Organization 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Fii[stPi[esbyterijinChoi[ch, 
 
 PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 
 PREACHED DECEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH 1886, 
 
 HORACE G. HINSDALE, 
 
 Pastor of the Church, 
 
 1888 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 This Sermon is published in compliance with the request kindly conveyed 
 in the following letter : 
 
 Princeton, New Jersey, February 23, 1887. 
 Rev. H. G. Hinsdale : — 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your admirable historical discourse delivered upon the com- 
 pletion of the first century after the full organization of the First Presbyterian 
 Church in this place deeply interested the whole congregation. The universal 
 feeling is that a narrative so instructive, so carefully prepared, and the fruit of 
 so much research, should be published in order to its permanent preservation. 
 Accordingly at a meeting of the Congregation the undersigned were appointed 
 a committee to solicit a copy for publication. 
 
 Earnestly hoping that you will comply with this request, we are 
 Very respectfully yours 
 
 W. Henry Green, 
 James H. Wikoff, 
 Henry E. Hale. 
 
No one can more deeply regret than the writer of the Sermon the delays 
 which have occurred in preparing it for publication. It was written in haste, 
 amidst the pressure of daily duties, and in such scraps of time as could be 
 found in the intervals of regular occupations. Portions of it were little more 
 than notes. For reasons which it is not necessary to mention the work of 
 revision was unavoidably slow. 
 
 Free use has been made of all accessible sources of information. 
 Among the authorities consulted have been the manuscript records of the 
 Session and Trustees ; the historical notes appended to the Sermons of Dr. 
 Ashbel Green (kindly placed in my hands by the Rev. Dr. Cameron) ; the 
 Historical Discourse preached by the Rev. W. E. Schenck, D.D., in 1850; 
 Dr. Macdonald's pamphlets entitled, respectively. Some Reminiscences of a 
 Twenty Years' Ministiy in Princeton, and, A Century in the History of the 
 First Presbyterian Church, Princeton, with Special Reference to its Houses of 
 Worship ;[^_Hageman's History of Pi^inceton and its InstitutionsjJ Hodge's 
 Constitutional Histoiy of the Presbyterian Church ; The Log College, by Dr. 
 A. Alexander; Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit; Corwin's Manual 
 of the Reformed Dutch Church ; the Biographies of Drs. Archibald and Joseph 
 Addison Alexander, and of Dr. Miller ; and the Familiar Letters of Dr. James 
 W. Alexander. 
 
 The writer cannot forbear speaking of the sadness felt at the time of the 
 delivery of the Sermon on account of the death, then recent, of the Rev. 
 Archibald Alexander Hodge, D.D., a devoted son of the church, without 
 whose counsel and encouragement the task of its preparation would have been 
 less willingly undertaken . 
 
 It is hoped that the members of this ancient church will find in its history 
 some incentives to a fuller recognition of the love of a covenant-keeping God, 
 a more zealous engagement in the service of Christ, and a more confident 
 expectation of the ultimate triumph of His Kingdom. 
 
 Princeton, February 27th, 1888. 
 
Psalm cxlv: 4. 
 
 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare 
 thy mighty acts. 
 
 The wi'iter of a discourse like the present girds himself for a 
 task of no small difficulty. He aims to bring again to view a 
 vanished and almost forgotten past ; to retouch and freshen 
 pictui-es that have well-nigh faded from the tablets of memory ; 
 to wave an enchanter's wand over the graves of by-gone genera- 
 tions and evoke from lips long silent counsel and instruction for 
 the living present. For the accomplishment of such a work the 
 means are not abundant. Early records, if not wholly wanting, 
 are often scanty and unsatisfactory. Sources of information, 
 once available, are now sealed up forever. Stores of personal 
 biography and reminiscence, and of family and social history, 
 which would have greatly enriched the narrative and given it a 
 completeness not otherwise attainable, have sunk into the gulf of 
 oblivion. Even when precise statements of fact are at hand it 
 is not easy to read between their lines the story of the hoj^es and 
 fears, the struggles, disappointments, and triumphs, which make 
 up not the least important chapters in the annals of a Christian 
 congregation. After the best has been done we have but the 
 colorless picture of distant scenes over which the shadows of 
 twilight are gathering. 
 
 Yet it is meet and right to make the attempt, however dif- 
 ficult ; not indeed for the mere sake of the entertainment to be 
 derived from a story of by-gone days, nor for the purpose of 
 
8 SEBMON. 
 
 gratifying an antiquarian taste ; but rather that wholesome and 
 cheering lessons concerning the persistence of spiritual force, the 
 stability of the divine covenant, the goodness and mercy of the 
 Redeemer in all His dealings with His Church, and the assured 
 progress toward ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God, may 
 be profoundly impressed upon our minds. As a grain of sand or 
 a dew-drop may illustrate universal laws no less than a blazing 
 sun, so even the story of a village parish may show forth the 
 love and mercy and faithfulness of Grod as clearly as the widest 
 inductions of the history of the Universal Church. In the most 
 limited as well as in the largest sphere of reminiscence and 
 experience, one generation ever has cause to praise His works 
 to another, and to declare His mighty acts. 
 
 In the prosecution of my present design, I shall first sketch 
 the history of our church prior to its completed organization in 
 1786, and afterwards follow the order of the successive pastorates. 
 An entry in the family register of Nathaniel Fitz-E,andolph, 
 [who was born in this place in 1703, tells us that Princeton was 
 first so called in 1724. The earlier designation of the district 
 I was Stony Brook. The origin of the name is uncertain. Some 
 I have seen in it a tribute of respect to the Prince of the house of 
 Orange-Nassau, in honor of whom the first building erected by 
 the College was styled Nassau Hall. More probably its prox- 
 imity to the older settlement of Kingston suggested as highly 
 appropriate for this locality the name of Princetown or 
 Princeton. 
 
 The name does not mark the date of settlement. We cannot 
 indeed boast of as ancient an origin as many other towns in the 
 State. Lying near the border Hne between the provinces of East 
 and West Jersey, this region was to both provinces virtually a 
 
SERMON. 9 
 
 frontier, and was less easily reached by the tides of emigration 
 than the immediate vicinity of the Delaware and the Raritan. 
 Yet before the close of the seventeenth century the pioneers of the 
 coming population arrived. According to an ancient map now 
 in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society, one Dr. 
 Greenland was in 1685 the owner of a plantation just without 
 the limits of the present borough on the east. This was subse- 
 quently known as the Castle Howard or Beatty Farm, and more 
 recently was the property successively of Captain Thomas 
 Lavender, and of the Rev. Dr. Blodgett. Not far from this 
 time the axes of other settlers were ringing against the thick 
 trees of the surrounding forest. Btit of greater consequences in 
 its bearing ujion the future life and character of Princeton was 
 the advent in 1696 of a little colony composed of members of 
 the Society of Friends, drawn hither through the influence of 
 William Penn. Their principal object appears to have been to 
 find a place where without molestation they might cherish and 
 practice their religious beliefs. These excellent men, to whom 
 Princeton owes a lasting debt of gratitude, were Benjamin 
 Clarke, William Olden, Joseph Worth, Richard Stockton, and 
 John Hornor.^ They established themselves in the neigborhood 
 of the stream known to the Indians as Wopomog, but familiar 
 to us as Stony Brook. They were men of family, and large land- 
 holders. In 1709 they erected a meeting-house of wood, which 
 was replaced in 1760 by the stone edifice still standing. 
 
 To the names above mentioned should be added those of 
 Benjamin Fitz-Randolph and Thomas Leonard, as prominent 
 among the early inhabitants of our town. 
 
 1. It is an interesting and suggestive fact that there ai'e in the 
 membership of our church at the present time descendants of all but 
 one of these men. 
 
10 SERMON. 
 
 It is impossible to understand the history of our own or of 
 any of the older communities in our northern and middle states, 
 without adverting to the religious persecutions and political 
 disturbances which prevailed in the old world in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, and which furnished the providential 
 occasion for the coming to this country of large numbers of 
 brave, energetic, and devoted men whose severe ti'aining in the 
 school of adversity had j)repared them to establish and maintain 
 not only their personal liberties but also those institutions of 
 good government, sound learning, and pure religion which they 
 believed essential to a genuine and lasting freedom. With the 
 causes which drove the English Puritans to New England we 
 are all familiar. From New England many came to Long Island 
 and New Jersey, and about 1665 settled Elizabethtown, Wood- 
 bridge, Middletown, and Shrewsbury. Three years later a 
 colony of thirty families from Branford, Connecticut, founded 
 the city of Newark. About 1690, Fairfield in West Jersey was 
 settled by a colony from the town of the same name in Con- 
 necticut. Cape May, also, was a Puritan settlement. 
 
 Emigration from Holland began in the seventeenth century. 
 So distressing was the condition of that country until the peace 
 of Niemeguen was wrested from France in 1678 by the stubborn 
 valor of the Prince of Orange, that the desperate inhabitants 
 seriously contemplated an emigration en masse to some foreign 
 shore. Many Hollanders found a home ij, New Jersey and 
 furnished a valuable and influential element in its popu- 
 lation. They established themselves in Bergen, in the vicin- 
 ity of Newark, on the banks of the Raritan, and in other 
 places. In our own neighborhood they planted a Reformed 
 Dutch Church at Three Mile Eun in 1700, at New Brunswick 
 
SEBMON. 11 
 
 and at Six Mile Run in 1717, and at Harlingen, then known as 
 Sourland and Millstone, in ] 727. 
 
 The persecution of the French Huguenots during the reign 
 of Louis XIV, culminating in the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes in 1685, drove to this country many thousands of thrifty, 
 virtuous and godly people, some of whom sought an abode in 
 New Jersey and left an enduring impress upon its history and 
 institutions. 
 
 So far. however, as the history of religion in Princeton 
 is concerned — and the same is probably true of the entire 
 State — the most important emigration was that of the per- 
 secuted Presbyterian, of Scotland and the North of Ireland, 
 Hallam, a writer whom no one will suspect of extreme views, 
 observes in the seventeenth chapter of his Constitutional History 
 of England, concerning the government of Charles II.: "No 
 part, I believe, of modem history for so long a period can be 
 compared for the wickedness of government to the Scots admin- 
 istration of this reign. * * * The enormities of this detest- 
 able government are far too numerous, even in species, to be 
 enumerated in this slight sketch." Many of the sufferers crossed 
 the ocean to find an asylum here. A little book written by 
 George Scot, at the instance, it is believed, of the Proprietors of 
 East Jersey, and widely circulated in Scotland, affirmed "that it 
 is judged the interest of the government to suppress Presby- 
 terian principles altogether. * * * A retreat, where by law 
 a toleration is allowed, doth at present offer itself in America, 
 and is nowhere else to be found in his Majesty's dominions." ^ 
 " This is the era, says Bancroft, " at which East New Jersey, 
 
 1. See Dr. Schenck's Historical Discourse, p. 11. 
 
12 SERMON. 
 
 till now cliiefly colonized from New England, became the asylum 
 of Scottish Presbyterians * * * Is it strange that many 
 Scottish Presbyterians of virtue, education, and courage, blend- 
 ing a love of popular liberty with religious enthusiasm, came to 
 East New Jersey in such numbers as to give to the rising com- 
 monwealth a character which a century and a half has not 
 effaced ? " ^ Emigrants from Scotland founded the Presbyterian 
 Church of Freehold in 1692. Under its influence Presbyterian- 
 ism became firmly rooted in the region round about. " At vari- 
 ous times since," says Dr. W. E. Schenck, " many families which 
 had imbibed in that church a knowledge and a love of G-ospel 
 truth, have removed from Monmouth County to this vicinity and 
 added much to the strength of this church and congregation." ^ 
 
 The persecution in Ireland also sent great numbers of the 
 Presbyterians of Ulster to this country. Six thousand arrived 
 in 1729, and before the middle of the century not less than 
 twelve thousand annually, for several successive years, sought 
 our shores. Of this emigration the larger part came to Pennsyl- 
 vania, but New Jersey was not without a share in its benefits.' 
 
 Thus did Divine Providence sift the society of the old world 
 to prepare an elect people who should lay the foundations of all 
 that was destined to be good and great in the coming Republic 
 of the West. Later years have witnessed the landing at our 
 principal sea-ports of vast and promiscuous crowds of foreigners, 
 some of them endowed with the highest qualities of citizenship, 
 and bringing, in their learning and virtue, generous contribu- 
 
 1. See Dr. Charles Hodge's Constitutional History of the Presbj'terian 
 Church. Part I, p. 64. 
 
 2. Historical Discourse, p. 12. 
 
 3. Hodge's Constitutional History. Part I, p. 65. 
 
SERMON. 18 
 
 tions to the prosperity of our commonwealth ; but many of them 
 ignorant, corrupt, and vicious, enemies of religion and social 
 order, sowers of the seed of pestilent errors, breeders of incalcu- 
 lable mischief. This is one of the gravest evils of the day, and 
 gives rise to questions than which no others are more perplexing 
 whether to the statesman or the Christian. 
 
 It was not so, however, at the time of which we speak. 
 Facilities of travel were not so abundant as now ; nor were the 
 resources of the country so far developed as to open avenues to 
 the ready acquisition of wealth. The persecuted might find 
 here freedom to worship God according to their views <)f the 
 teaching of Holy Writ ; and men of resolute and adventurous 
 spirit and untiring industry might hew their way to fortune, 
 despite the hardships that environed them ; but for the effemin- 
 ate, the idle, the parasites of society, who, as wealth accumulates 
 and civilization advances, contrive to live at the general expense, 
 there were few attractions. Had not a majority of our early 
 settlers belonged to the former class, the Republic of the United 
 States could never have been established and maintained. 
 
 Princeton, as it slowly grew with the movement of popula- 
 tion from the Raritan on the one hand and the Delaware on the 
 other, must, as its subsequent history appears to indicate, have 
 shared in the advantages providentially due to the settlement of 
 New Jersey by emigrants whose characteristics were thrift, 
 industry, enterprise, and godliness. " There are," said Dr. 
 Schenck, in the Discourse from which we have already quoted, 
 " many names still among you which bear constant testimony 
 that those who own them are descended from Huguenots, 
 Covenanters, Hollanders, and Puritans ; an ancestry than which 
 earth can exhibit none nobler." 
 
14 SERMON. 
 
 . That in the tide of population moving toward Princeton in 
 the early part of the eighteenth century, the Presbyterian 
 element predominated, is an obvious inference from the estab- 
 lishment of a cordon of Presbyterian churches within a few 
 miles of the place. The Ewing church, originally known as the 
 First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, was founded in 1709. 
 The church at Lawrenceville, or Maidenhead, as it was then 
 called, must have been planted somewhat earlier as it was at 
 that date looting for a pastor. At Pennington, then known 
 as Hopewell, a house of worship Vas erected in 1724 or 
 1725. Before this, however, there had been stated preaching in 
 a school-house. At Kingston a church was organized in 1732 ; 
 and at Cranbury in 1739. It was therefore to have been 
 expected that the first church planted in Princeton should be 
 Presbyterian. As early as 1751, as the records of the Presbytery 
 of New Brunswick show, the church-going inhabitants had 
 grown weary of the Sabbath day's journey to Kingston on the 
 one hand or to Maidenhead or Pennington on the other, and 
 made application to the Presbytery, in session at Woodbiiry, to 
 send preachers to Princeton and grant leave for the erection of 
 a church edifice. Kingston church being then vacant, in con- 
 sequence of the recent death of the Reverend Eleazar Wales, a 
 motion was made that "the supplies should be equally divided 
 between Kingstown and Princetown." This motion did not 
 prevail. " The Presbytery taking into consideration the case of 
 Kingstown and Princetown, do judge it not expedient that there 
 be two places of meeting upon the Sabbath, but do recommend 
 it to those who supply them that they preach a lecture at 
 Princetown if they can." In 1752 the people of Princeton 
 renewed their request and were told that the Presbytery 
 
SERMON. 15 
 
 " cannot see any reason to alter its determination at present." 
 Three years later, however, in 1755, the Presbytery, sitting at 
 Lawrenceville, responded more favorably to a renewed appli- 
 cation : "The affair of Princeton being considered, the Presby- 
 tery do grant leave to the people of said town to build a meeting 
 house, and also conclude to allow them supplies." The Reverend 
 Messrs. James Davenport, Israel Read, and Samuel Kennedy 
 were the first supplies appointed. In what building public 
 worship was held there is now no possibility of ascertaining. 
 We are warranted, however, in dating the existence of a Presby- 
 terian congregation in this place from May twenty-seventh, 1755, 
 when the above mentioned action of the Presbytery was adopted. 
 The successive attempts between the years 1751 and 1755 
 to secure the establishment of a church in Princeton have been 
 thought to indicate, in the words of Dr. Schenck, "that previous 
 to the location of the College here there must have been a con- 
 siderable number of Presbyterians in the place, and that they 
 had fully determined, before there was any likelihood of the 
 College being here located, on having a church edifice and 
 regular divine service in the town." But is it not equally prob- 
 able that the energetic men who were laboring for the removal 
 of the College to Princeton believed that the absence of a church 
 might prove a serious hindrance to their plans, and that they 
 therefore were zealous promoters of the application repeatedly 
 urged upon the Presbytery ? As early as 1747 Governor 
 Belcher not only named Princeton as the proper site of the 
 College, but also affirmed that he had successfully used his 
 influence with leading men of East and West Jersey in favor of 
 Princeton as a central location. This was four years before the 
 first movement was made for the planting of a church. 
 
16 SERMON. 
 
 For the coming hither of the College our town was indebted 
 to the public spirit and liberality of Nathaniel Fitz-Eandolph, 
 Thomas Leonard, John Stockton, and John Homor. This insti- 
 tution, chartered by Governor Hamilton in 1746, and re-chartered 
 by Governor Belcher in 1748, had its first abode in Elizabeth- 
 town under the presidency of the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, 
 pastor of the Presbyterian church in that place, a physician also 
 of high repute, an experienced teacher, a distinguished author, 
 and a clergyman of extensive influence. By his contemporaries 
 he was ranked with the illustrious Edwards as a writer on 
 divinity ; and it has been said of him in more recent times that 
 with the exception of Edwards, Calvinism has never found an, 
 abler champion. The bright hopes to which his intellectual 
 ability and practical wisdom gave rise were doomed to sudden 
 disappointment in his decease which occurred October seventh, 
 1747. 
 
 , /■ The successor of Mr. Dickinson was the Rev. Aaron Burr, 
 pastor of the church and teacher of a classical school at Newark, 
 to which place the College was removed. 
 
 The founders of the College appear from the first to have 
 desired a location central to the whole State. On any other 
 supposition it is difiicult to understand why the citizens neither 
 of Elizabethtown nor of Newark endeavored to secure its per- 
 manent establishment among themselves. Both have become 
 flourishing and populous cities, but neither has won the fame 
 which the College of New Jersey has given to the otherwise 
 inconsiderable village of Princeton. 
 
 The minds of the trustees appear to have been divided 
 between New Brunswick and Princeton, for they voted Septem- 
 ber twenty-sixth, 1750: " That a proposal be made to the towns 
 
SERMON. 17 
 
 of Brunswick and Princeton to try what sum of money they can 
 raise for building of the College, by the next meeting, that the 
 trustees may be better able to judge in which of these places to 
 fix the place of the College." In the following year a definite 
 proposition was made to New Brunswick, the terms of which 
 were not complied with. Many of the citizens of that place were 
 adherents of the Reformed Dutch Church, and probably were 
 not sufficiently enthusiastic in behalf of an institution under 
 Presbyterian control to contribute the requisite lands and 
 moneys. Possibly they had some happy prevision of the events 
 which made New Brunswick the educational centre of their own 
 denomination. However this may have been, the terms which 
 were deemed too difficult by New Brunswick were promptly 
 complied with by little Princeton, under the energetic leadership 
 of the citizens whose names have been already given, and, 
 Nassau Hall having been erected — the largest building at that 
 tiuie in the country — President Burr came hither with seventy 
 students in the autumn of 1756.' 
 
 The effect upon the interests of religion in the village was 
 great and immediate. The Hall or Chapel in the College build- 
 ing afforded a suitable place for public worship. It was described 
 by President Finley as " an elegant hall of genteel workmanship, 
 being a square of near forty feet, with a neatly finished front 
 gallery. Here is a small though exceedingly good organ which 
 was obtained by a voluntary subscription, opposite to which and 
 of the same height is erected a stage for the use of the students 
 in then* public exhibitions. It is also ornamented on one side 
 with a poi-trait of his late Majesty at full length, and on the 
 other with a like picture of his Excellency Governor Belcher."' 
 
 1. Note to Dr. Ashbel Green's Sermons', p. 304. 
 
18 SERMON. 
 
 Here until the year 1768 the families of the town and the stu- 
 dents worshipped together, the former paying pew-rents to the 
 trustees of the College. Here were enjoyed the ministrations of 
 a succession of learned, eloquent and holy men, the brightest 
 ornaments of the American Church. The Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper was administered from time to time, under the 
 direction of the Presbytery. 
 
 The useful and abundant labors of President Burr were 
 brought to a close by his death on the twenty-fourth of Septem- 
 ber, 1757. During his brief stay in Princeton his preaching was 
 attended by a religious awakening of remarkable power, concern - 
 ing which the Rev. William Tennent, Jr., wrote to Dr. (after- 
 wards President) Finley : "I went to College last Monday . . . 
 and saw as astonishing a display of G-od's power and grace as I 
 ever saw or heard of, in the conviction of sinners. . . . Nor was 
 it confined to the students only. . . The President never shone 
 in my eyes as he does now. His good judgment, and humility, 
 his zeal and integrity greatly endear him to me." ^ 
 
 The successor of President Burr was his father-in-law, the 
 V elder Jonathan Edwards. The fame of President Edwards as a 
 philosopher, theologian and preacher, has passed into history. 
 No man since his day has so influenced and shaped the religious 
 thought of Great Britain and America. Possessing an intellect 
 both acute and profound, a tender sensibility, a poetic imagina- 
 tion, and a piety that blended a childlike humility and trustful- 
 ness with the rapt ardor of a seraph, he was at once " a scholastic 
 and a mystic ; a scholastic in the subtlety of his analysis and the 
 sustained rigor of his reasonings, and a mystic in the sensitive 
 delicacy of his emotive tenderness and the idealistic elevation of 
 
 1. The " Log College," by A. Alexander, D,D., pp. 368, 369. 
 
SERMON. 19 
 
 his imaginative creations which at times almost transfigured his 
 Christian faith into the beatific vision." 
 
 At this time he had been subjected to the mortification of a^ 
 forced dismission from his pastoral charge at Northampton,. 
 Massachusetts, on account of disaffection caused bj his rebukes 
 of immorality and his opposition to views then largely prevalent 
 concerning the proper qualification for admission to the Lord's 
 Table ; and was living at Stockbridge, where he served in the 
 double capacity of pastor of a small Congregational church and 
 missionary to the Housatonic Indians. Having given a modest 
 and reluctant assent to the call of the trustees of the College, he 
 came to Princeton in January, 1 758. His stay was destined to 
 be brief. He preached a few times in the College hall to the 
 great delight and profit of his hearers. Concerning one sermon 
 in particular, on the Unchangeableness of Christ, the tradition 
 is that the audience listened more than two hours with such 
 absorbed interest as to be almost wholly unconscious of the flight 
 of time. As president he did Uttle more than give some questions 
 in divinity to the Senior class. His death occurred nine weeks 
 after his arrival in Princeton and five weeks after his inaugura- 
 tion as president, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. Labors, 
 trials, sorrows, anxieties, privations, had so enfeebled his frame 
 that he fell before a slight stroke of disease. What possibilities 
 of blessing to the college and to the church in Princeton were 
 buried in his grave, we may not attempt to say. 
 
 His successor, after a brief interval, during which the col- 
 V lege pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Jacob G-reen, father of the 
 late President Ashbel Grreen, was Samuel Davies, " the Apostle 
 of Virginia." He entered upon his duties September twenty- 
 sixth, 1759. Mr. Davies was a man of eminent piety and 
 
20 8EBM0N. 
 
 renowned for the power and splendor of his pulpit oi'atory. His 
 sermons of which several editions have been printed, are to this 
 day worthy of the attention as well of the theological student 
 and preacher, as of the private Christian. As was the case with 
 his immediate predecessors, his brilliant career came to a speedy 
 end. He died on the fourth of February, 1761, in the thirty- 
 seventh year of his age, having held his important position but 
 eighteen moiiths. 
 
 y The Rev. Samuel Finley was installed in the presidency on 
 the thirtieth of September, 1761. He was a native of Ireland, 
 but received his training for the ministry at the school known 
 as the " Log College," established by the elder William Tennent 
 at Neshaminy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. An historical 
 interest attaches to this school as the first literary institu- 
 tion of a high grade within the bounds of the Presbyterian 
 Church in America.^ Dr. Finley — he was the first American 
 Presbyterian on whom the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity was conferred — while active and zealous in ministerial 
 labors, was also a distinguished classical scholar and teacher, 
 having established an academy at Nottingham, Maryland, in 
 which many young men who afterwards rose to eminence in 
 church and state received their education. 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Finley in Princeton was blessed with a 
 revival of religion which was felt, according to the testimony of 
 the Rev. John Woodhull of Freehold, then a student in the 
 College, not only throughout the town but also in the adjacent 
 country. "It began," he wrote, "in 1762, in the Freshman 
 class to which I then belonged . . . Every class became a 
 praying society. . . . Societies were also held by the students 
 
 1. The Log College, by A. Alexander, D.I)., p. 11. 
 
SERMON. 21 
 
 in the town and in the country." ^ In 1763, possibly while this 
 awakening was still in progress, George Whitetield, the evan- 
 gelist whose apostolic zeal had stirred the slumbering churches 
 of England and America, and wrought a work the fruits of 
 which remain to this day, visited Princeton as the guest of Dr. 
 Finley, and preached several times. This visit is referred to by 
 a biographer of Whitefield as attended with " approbation and 
 success," but no particulars are given. 
 
 The erection of a house of worship was an event of great 
 interest and importance. Permission to build had been given 
 by the Presbytery in 1755, but seven years were allowed to pass 
 before a beginning was made, and such were the difficulties that 
 beset the undertaking that four years more elapsed befoi'e the 
 building was finished. One effect of the revival, doubtless, was 
 an increased attendance on public worship, and a consequent 
 need of larger accommodations than the College Hall afforded. 
 For the college commencements, also, more room must have been 
 required. Accordingly negotiations, numerous and of long con- 
 tinuance, were entered upon between the congregation and the 
 corporation of the college. At a meeting of the trustees of the 
 college, held September twenty-ninth, 1762, it was voted " that 
 the determination of the ten trustees expressed in a paper signed 
 by them and dated April, 1762, respecting the gift of a lot of land 
 for the erecting of the church now in building be confirmed." 
 At a subsequent meeting, held September twenty-eighth, 1763, it 
 was ordered " that Mr. William P. Smith, Mr. Woodruff, Doctor 
 Redman, Mr. Treat, and Mr. Brainerd be a committee to settle with 
 the Congregation respecting the lot of land which this board here- 
 tofore has ordered to be conveved to them for the erection of a 
 
 1. Notes to President Gveen'a Sermons, p. 377. 
 
-22 SERMON. 
 
 church and for a burying ground, and that the committee have 
 full power to offer the congregation such terms as they think 
 proper in consideration of their releasing their claim to the lot 
 of land ; and to make such other agreement with the congrega- 
 tion touching the premises as the committee shall judge proper." 
 "It appears from this minute," says Dr. Ashbel Green, "that the 
 lot of land granted by the trustees to the congregation of Prince- 
 ton for the erection of a church and for a burial ground was at 
 this time expected to revert to the College. This, however, did 
 not take place. ... A church was built on the lot originally 
 given by the college ; the trustees of the college lent about £700^ 
 to the congregation to aid in building the church ; . . the money 
 loaned to the congregation was eventually repaid. . . . The 
 college has by contract an exclusive right to the church on the 
 day of commencement, on the evening that precedes it, and at 
 such other times as the faculty shall state in writing that it is 
 needed for the public exercises of the institution, and also a 
 claim to one-half the gallery for the use of the students on the 
 Sabbath." ■'^ No conveyance of the land was made to the church 
 at that time. This did not take place until 1816, "when Doctor 
 Green as president of the college executed the deed with its 
 reservations and conditions." ^ The church stood on the lot 
 which we now occupy, but was built with its side towai'd the 
 street. It was a brick structure containing fifty-seven pews, 
 and galleries on three sides, A plan of the pews with the names 
 of pew-holders and subscribers may be seen in Mr. Hageman's 
 
 1. This was in the currency known as "proclamation money," and was 
 •equal to about $1700. 
 
 2. Notes to Dr. Ashbel Gi'een's Discourses, pp. 358, 360. 
 -3. Hageman's History of Princeton, pp. 81, 82. 
 
SERMON. 23 
 
 History of Princeton. Among the principal members of the 
 congregation at this time appear to have been Richard Stockton, 
 Ezekiel Forman, Dr. Wiggins, Jonathan Baldwin, Job Stockton, 
 Jonathan Sergeant, Derrick Longstreet, Isaac Van Dike, John 
 Schenck, Richard Paterson, Jacob Scudder of the Mills, and 
 Abraham Cniser of Mapleton. 
 
 The decease of Dr. Finley occurred July sixteenth, 1766, in 
 the fifty-first year of his age. His connection with the college 
 had proved greatly to its advantage. His plans for its improve- 
 ment and his correspondence with learned men in Great Britain 
 extended its reputation. His pulpit ministrations which were 
 of a high order of excellence had been a source of blessing to the 
 entire community. The depth and spirituality of his religious 
 experience were wonderfully manifested in the triumphant joys 
 and holy ecstasies of his dying hours. These have been impres- 
 sively described in a tract entitled "The Death of Hume and of 
 Finley compared," by the late Rev. John M. Mason, D.D., of 
 New York. 
 
 The pulpit of the church was now supplied for a time by 
 the Rev. William Tennent, and by the Rev. John Blair, vice- 
 president of the college, and professor of theology. 
 
 On the seventeenth of August, 1768, the Rev. Dr. John 
 ^ Witherspoon was inducted into the presidency of the college. 
 He had come from a pastoral charge in Paisley, Scotland, and 
 was highly esteemed for scholarship, efficiency, and wisdom. 
 "On the mother's side he traced an unbroken line of ministerial 
 ancestry through a period of more than two hundred years, to 
 the great Reformer John Knox."^ Characterized by large views, 
 great public spirit, and unusual capacity for affairs, he was 
 
 1. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. 3, p. ! 
 
24 SEBMON. ' 
 
 destined to render important service, not only to the institution 
 which had foi'tunately secured him as its head, but also to the 
 country at large, at a critical juncture in its history. He broad- 
 ened the college curriculum, added to the library and scientific 
 apparatus, and augmented the funds. He was an earnest and 
 able preacher, carefully preparing his sermons and delivering 
 them from memory; and his labors promoted the growth of the 
 church. 1*he first few years of his administration were thus an 
 era of j^rosperity and progress in all directions. But the out- 
 break of the war of the Revolution brought about serious, and, 
 for a time, calamitous, changes. Princeton, owing to its central 
 position, and the conspicuous j^atriotism of many of its leading 
 citizens, held throughout the struggle an important and honor- 
 able place. The names of John Witherspoon and Richard Stock- 
 ton, both of whom were signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence ; of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, and of other patriotic 
 Princeton Presbyterians, are written in letters of gold in the 
 annals of the Republic which their wisdom and valor helped to 
 create. President Witherspoon was an influential member of 
 the Continental Congress, and when yoimger men were whisper- 
 ing doubts, and hesitating as to the adoption of the Declaration, 
 his enthusiasm for liberty found vent in burning words. "To 
 hesitate," he exclaimed, " is to consent to our slavery. 
 Although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, 
 I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand 
 of the executioner, than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of 
 my country." 
 
 The Provincial Congress of New Jersey having on the 
 second of July, 1776, adopted a State Constitution, the first 
 legislature under this instrument assembled at Prmceton in the 
 
SERMON. 25 
 
 College Library, on the twenty-seventh day of the following 
 month. On the third of January, 1777, the battle of Princeton 
 was fought ; a battle of the utmost importance, when its moral 
 effects are considered, since it was fought at a time when the 
 affairs of the infant nation were in a gloomy condition, and 
 demonstrated the skill of Washington as a strategist, and the 
 ability of the Continental armies to cope successfully with their 
 thoroughly equipped and highly disciplined antagonists. 
 
 Serious disturbance and disaster resulted from the war. 
 Lord Cornwallis, pursuing the array of Washington, reached 
 Princeton early in December, 1776. His troops immediately 
 seized the college and the church for barracks. The church was 
 stripped of its furniture, aud a fii-e-place built in it. The neigh- 
 boring farms were robbed of cattle and provisions. Morven and 
 Tusculum, the homes, respectively, of Richard Stockton and Dr. 
 Witherspoon, were plundered. The large house of Mr. Sergeant, 
 standing near the present junction of Mercer and Nassau streets, 
 was burned. Looking upon the inhabitants as "rebels," the 
 invaders were not disjjosed to respect their feelings and their 
 rights, but ravaged the entire vicinage. After the expulsion of 
 the British troops, the church and the college were occupied by 
 American soldiers until 1781. 
 
 It thus appears that during the war of the Revolution the 
 public services of religion in Princeton must have been infrequent 
 if they did not wholly cease. Dr. Witherspoon' s duties in Con- 
 gress demanded his presence there, and there is reason to believe 
 that for three years there was no resident clergyman in the vil- 
 lage. In fact there could have been no suitable place for public 
 worship. The memoirs of Dr. Ashbel Green inform us that the 
 church was not even temporarily refitted until the autumn of 
 
26 SERMON. 
 
 1783, after the conclusion of a treaty of peace with G-reat 
 Britain. At that time the college held commencement exercises, 
 and, as Congress was then in session in Princeton, many distin- 
 guished men were present, among whom were General Washing- 
 ton and the ministers of Trance and Holland. 
 
 Prom this point the historian of our church is greatly 
 aided by the manuscript records, first, of certain proceedings of 
 the Congregation prior to the appointment of Trustees, and sub- 
 sequently, of the Board of Trustees. From these records we 
 learn that a meeting of the "Congregation of Princeton" was 
 held on the eighth of March, 1784, when it was "Agreed that it 
 was necessary immediately to open a subscription for repairing the 
 Church in this Town and for defraying in part the principal debt 
 upon it for which a Committee of this Congregation stand bound 
 to the Trustees of the College in the sum of about seven hundred 
 Pounds." Mr. Enos Kelsey " was chosen Treasurer for the Pur- 
 pose," Messrs. Robert Stockton, James Hamilton and John Lit- 
 tle " were chosen Managers to purchase materials and employ 
 Workmen and supei'intend the whole of the Repairs." It was 
 also decided that the pews should be rented at the discretion of 
 the above-mentioned committee. These minutes were signed by 
 Enos Kelsey, William Scudder, Elias Woodruff, James Moore, 
 Isaac Anderson, Robert Stockton, Aaron Longstreet, James 
 Hamilton, Andrew McMakin, Jonathan Deare, Thomas Stockton, 
 John Little, A. Mattison. A subscription paper was drawn up 
 under date of March eleventh, 1784, and received the signatures 
 of fifty-four persons whose contributions amounted to d£375. 
 At a " meeting held at Mr. Beekman's Long Room," September 
 first, 1785, Mr. Mattison was appointed to collect unpaid pew- 
 rents and subscriptions, receiving as compensation a commission 
 
SERMON. 27 
 
 of two and one-half per cent, on the sums collected. That the 
 congrep^ation was of respectable size at this time may be inferred 
 from the fact that the pews, numbering fifty-seven exclusive 
 of gallery seats, were rented, with scarcely an exception, imme- 
 diately after the reopening of the church. 
 
 Owing to the losses of property suffered during the war 
 there seems to have been no little difiiculty in providing adequate 
 means for the maintenance of public worship. It was probably 
 on this account that at a meeting of the congregation " held at 
 Mr. Reading's Long Room " January fifth, 1786, it was " Agreed 
 that Mr. Richard Longstreet, Mr. Mattison, Mr. Lane, Dr. Wig- 
 gins, Colonel Scudder and Dr. Beatty be a committee to confer 
 with the committee of the congregation at Kingston on the Sub- 
 ject of uniting the two Congregations in the Support of a Gospel 
 Minister ; and also of applying to the Legislature at their next 
 sitting for an act of Incorporation." Dr. Beatty was at the 
 same time chosen clerk of the congregation. 
 
 The negotiation with the church at Kingston came to nothing 
 in consequence of a disagreement as to the division of the pastor's 
 services. Princeton feeling its importance as a college town, 
 claimed the larger share, offering, however, to pay a correspond- 
 ing share of his salary ; an arrangement which did not find 
 favor with the older church. 
 
 On the thirteenth of April, 1786, the committee appointed 
 to apply to the Legislature for an act of incorporation were 
 instructed to prepare a draft of such a law. It was further 
 " Agreed that seven persons, members of this congregation, be 
 chosen at the next meeting, to be incorporated in the law as the 
 first trustees," and that at the next meeting four elders be chosen 
 by ballot who shall continue in office during the pleasure of the 
 
28 SERMON. 
 
 congregation." On the twenty-first of February, 1786, Richard 
 Longstreet, James Hamilton, Thomas Blackwell, and John 
 Johnstone were elected to the ofiice of Ruling Elder. At the 
 same time the thanks of the congregation were presented to the 
 Rev. Dr. Witherspoon " for his long and important services," 
 and he was requested " to continue his public labors and exercise 
 a pastoral cajce" over the church. Suitable compensation for 
 his services was pledged. Messrs. Richard Longstreet, Robert 
 Stockton, John Little, Enos Kelsey, James Moore, Isaac Ander- 
 son, and William Scudder, were chosen Trustees. The same 
 gentlemen were re-elected May twenty-fifth, 1786, the legislature 
 of New Jersey having on the sixteenth of March passed a general 
 law entitled " An Act to incorporate certain Persons as Trustees 
 in every religioiis Society or Congregation in this state, for trans- 
 acting the Temporal Concerns thereof." Under the authority of 
 this Act, the trustees some years later adopted a corporate seal 
 of appropriate design, significant of the passing away of the 
 clouds so long overhanging the church and bearing the motto, 
 Speremus Meliora. 
 
 Thus did the church struggle through many and sore diffi- 
 culties to complete organization. Its temporal concerns were 
 now under the management of legally appointed trustees. Its 
 spiritual oversight was committed to a properly constituted Ses- 
 sion. It is to be j^resumed that Doctor Witherspoon returned a 
 favorable reply to the request of the congregation that he would 
 " take upon him the pastoral charge and care of them," to the 
 extent of becoming what would now be termed the Stated Sup- 
 plv or Acting Pastor of the church. He was never formally 
 installed in the pastoral office by the Presbytery. Hitherto the 
 presidents of the College had acted as pastors without the assist- 
 
SEBMON. 29 
 
 ance of ruling elders, and it is a cause for deep and lasting regret 
 that no record of their proceedings is in existence. The Rev. 
 Dr. Woodhull of Freehold said that he was admitted to church 
 membership by Dr. Finley. In the sermon preached in 1781 by 
 Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith at the funeral of the Honorable 
 Richard Stockton, it was stated that Mr. Stockton was " for 
 many years a member of this church." Dr. Ashbel Green relates 
 that he was admitted to membership by Dr. Witherspoon in 
 1783. 
 
 The ministrations of Dr. Witherspoon were continued with 
 some interruptions occasioned by infirm health, until the year 
 before his decease, which took place November fifteenth, 1794. 
 During the last year of his term of service he was blind, but, 
 being led into the pulpit, preached with unabated fervor and 
 solemnity. In his character learning, wisdom, and piety were 
 happily combined, and never was his real greatness more con- 
 spicuous than when he was engaged in declaring and enforcing 
 the doctrines of the Word of Grod. " Take his pulpit addresses 
 as a whole, there was in them not only the recommendation of 
 good sense and powerful reasoning, but a gracefulness, an 
 earnestness, a warmth of affection and a solemnity of manner, 
 especially toward and at their close, such as were calculated to 
 produce the very best effects of sacred oratory. Accordingly his 
 popularity as a preacher was great." ^ Dr. Archibald Alexander, 
 who saw him at the General Assembly in 1791, says : " He im- 
 mediately participated in the business, and evinced such an 
 intuitive clearness of apprehension and correctness of judgment, 
 that his pointed remarks commonly put an end to the discussion. 
 . . . Dr. Witherspoon was as plain an old man as ever I saw. 
 
 1. Sprague'.s Annals, Vol. III., p. 299. 
 
30 SERMON. 
 
 and as free from any assumption of dignity. All lie said and 
 everything about him bore the marks of importance and author- 
 ity."^ That the apparent fruits of his ministry here were no 
 greater will hardly occasion surprise when the distracted condi- 
 tion of society growing out of the war is considered. Throughout 
 the country religious apathy on the one hand, and infidelity on 
 the other, were largely prevalent. I)r, Ashbel Green, who was 
 graduated from the college in 1783, tells us that he was the only 
 professor of religion in a class of fourteen, and that many of his 
 fellow students were grossly irreligious. No register of church 
 members was made until 1792, when fifty-three names were 
 enrolled. There was no addition to the roll until June seventh, 
 1795, when one member was received. For several years the 
 additions were few. 
 
 On the first of September, 1793, the church was declared 
 vacant by the Presbytery, and on the following day the Session 
 resolved to recommend to the congregation the issuing of a call 
 for the pastoral services of Mr. John Abeel, a graduate of the 
 college in the class of 1787, and a licentiate of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church. This attempt to secure a pastor proved unavail- 
 ing, and the church remained vacant until the installation of the 
 Rev. Samuel Finley Snowden, November twenty-fifth, 1795. 
 
 This was an event of great interest and importance to the 
 congregation. Hitherto under the preaching of the presidents 
 of the college they had enjoyed a privilege that can seldom fall 
 to the lot of a country church, but they had lacked pastoral 
 oversight, and greatly needed such attention to their spiritual 
 interests as could be expected only from one under obligation to 
 devote himself wholly to them. 
 
 1. Life of Archibald Alexander, D.D., pp.! 
 
SERMON. 31 
 
 Mr. Snowden was at this time twentv-eight years The First 
 of age. He was a graduate of the College of New Pastor. 
 Jersey in the class of 1786. His father, Isaac Snowden of Phila- 
 delphia, was a man of benevolence and piety, and was deeply 
 interested in the missionary labors of David Brainerd among 
 the Indians of New Jersey, collecting money for the prosecution 
 of this work, and otherwise rendering it important assistance. 
 Samuel, on leaving college, devoted himself to the study of law, 
 but changed his purpose after his conversion, and pursued theo- 
 logical studies under Drs. Witherspoon and Smith. He remained 
 in Princeton but five and a half years, impaired health inducing 
 him to relinquish his pastoral charge in the Spring of 1801. 
 He was subsequently settled at Whitesborough, at New Hart- 
 ford, and at Sackett's Harbor, in the State of New York, where 
 his labors were greatly blessed. He died in 1845, at the age of 
 seventy-eight. 
 
 Mr. Snowden's residence was on the farm now owned by 
 Mr. Leavitt Howe. The ruling elders associated \vith him in 
 the session were Eichai-d Longstreet, a farmer, who died in 1797; 
 James Hamilton, a native of Scotland, by trade a chair maker 
 and painter ; Thomas Blaokwell, who lived at Mapleton ; 
 John Johnson, the owner of a large tract of land near Stony 
 Brook, whose homestead is now occupied by the family of his 
 grandson, the late Henry D. Johnson ; Isaac Snowden, the father 
 of the pastor, who removed from Philadelphia to Princeton, dur- 
 ing the revolutionary war ; Daniel Agnew, who emigrated from 
 Ireland in 1764, was for a time the steward of the college, and 
 was the father of James Agnew, a prominent physician of Pitts- 
 burg, Pennsylvania, and the grand-father of Chief Justice Daniel 
 Agnew of Pennsylvania; Dr. Thomas Wiggins, a graduate of 
 
32 SERMON. 
 
 Yale Colleo;e. a practicing physician and public-spirited citizen, 
 who bequeathed to the church for a parsonage his brick house 
 on the east side of Witherspoon Street, with twenty acres of 
 land ; and James Finley, a Scotchman, an intimate friend of 
 Dr. Witherspoon' s, and the father of Dr. Robert Finley, pastor 
 at Baskingridge and the founder of the American Colonization 
 Society. Only Messrs. Johnson, Wiggins, Finley and Hamilton 
 are mentioned as taking part in sessional proceedings during 
 the pastorate of Mr. Snowden. 
 
 During the succeeding three years the Rev. Samuel Stan- 
 hope Smith, the son-in-law of Dr. Witherspoon. and his succes- 
 sor in the presidency of the College, filled the pulpit of the 
 church. Dr. Smith was a cultivated scholar, a polished gentle- 
 man, and a preacher of remarkable eloquence. According to 
 Dr. Sprague he "acquired a reputation as a pulpit orator which 
 rendered it an object for many, even from the remote parts of 
 the country, to listen to his preaching. His Baccalaureate Dis- 
 courses, particularly, which were addressed to the Senior class 
 on the Sabbath immediately preceding their graduation, were 
 always of the highest order, and it was not uncommon for per- 
 sons to go even from New York and Philadelphia, to listen to 
 them."^ His administration of the aifairs of the College were 
 successful in the extreme. Nassau Hall, which was destroyed 
 by fire in the spring of 1802, was rebuilt. Liberal gifts of money 
 rewarded his solicitations. New buildings were erected. Four 
 professors were added to the faculty, one of whom, a young 
 Scotch physician, John Maclean, the father of the late venerated 
 President Maclean, brought to this country the New Chemistry 
 
 1. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. Ill, p. 339. 
 
SEBMON. 33 
 
 taught by Lavoisier, and excited a wholesome enthusiasm in the 
 study of natural science both within and without the College.^ 
 
 Of the state of the church at this time we have but scanty 
 information. Between the years 1798 and 1805 no additions to 
 the membership are recorded ; and if any meetings of the session 
 were held from November, 1798, to May, 1804, no minutes were 
 kept. It is to be much deplored that the session, though consti- 
 tuted in 1786, made no record of their proceedings until 1792, 
 and that there should have been later such an omission as that 
 now mentioned. The present stringent regulation as to the 
 annual scrutiny of session books by the Presbytery could not 
 have been in force. In fact our books contain no marks of 
 Presbyterial oversight earlier than 1807. 
 
 In the summer of 1800 the Rev. Archibald Alexander, in 
 the course of a journey from Virginia to New England, stopped 
 in Princeton. " In those days," he wrote, " the talk in Prince- 
 ton was about Godwin's Political Justice, a book which has lost 
 its interest, and about a young man, lately a tutor in the Col- 
 lege, whose eloquence was awakening attention."' This brilliant 
 young preacher was Henry KoUoek. President Carnahan, his 
 intimate friend, said of him that " the first discourse which he 
 delivered in Princeton surprised his friends, and far surpassed 
 the expectations of those who had formed the highest estimate 
 of his talents. It could hardly be hoped that the same interest 
 could be maintained from Sabbath to Sabbath ; yet the fact was 
 that during the five months to Avhich I now i-efer, the interest 
 
 1. The el del- Professor Silliman of Yale Collefj;e said: — " I regard him (L>r, 
 Maclean) as my earliest master in Chemistry, and Princeton as as my start" 
 ing point in that ))nrsuit." 
 
 2. Life of Archibiild Alexander. D.I)., p. il4. 
 
34 SERMON. 
 
 was increased rather than diminished . . . and strangers not 
 infrequently spent the Sabbath in Princeton in order to hear the 
 illustrious young preacher."^ In January, 1804, Mr. Kollock, 
 then pastor of the church in Elizabethtown, was invited to the 
 pastoral care of this church. He was also at this time appointed 
 to the professorship of Theology in the College. The objects of 
 this arrangement were to secure to the students the benefit of 
 his preaching, to provide instruction for young men seeking the 
 ministry, and to aid the church in giving him an adequate stipend. 
 Declining offers in some respects more attractive. The Second 
 Mr. Kollock accepted both of these positions, and was Pastor, 
 installed as pastor June twelfth, 1804. The salary promised by 
 the congregation was five hundred dollars. 
 
 Mr. Kollock remained in Princeton less than three years. 
 In 1806 he entered upon a pastoral charge in Savannah, G-eorgia, 
 which he held until his death in 1819. His popularity as a 
 preacher never abated, and the affection cherished for him by 
 people of all classes and creeds was extraordinary. Crowds sur- 
 rounded his house during his last sickness. The Mayor of 
 Savannah issued a proclamation requesting the suspension of all 
 business on the day of his funeral, and the vessels in the harbor 
 placed their flags at half-mast. 
 
 Although but forty-one years of age at the time of his 
 decease, Mr. Kollock had become one of the foremost preachers 
 of his day. Of Huguenot ancestry, and familiar with the French 
 language, he possessed many of the characteristic qualities of the 
 great pulpit orators of France. His published sermons were in 
 their time highly prized. " More than once," remarks Dr. 
 Schenck, " have I met with plain Christians who have hoarded 
 
 1. Spi-ague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. IV, p. 265. 
 
SERMON. 35 
 
 up a copy of Kollock's Sermons as, next to the Bible, their 
 choicest literary treasure." 
 
 Fifteen persons were admitted to the church during Mr. 
 Kollock's pastorate. The ruling elders in service were Dr. Wig- 
 gins, James Hamilton, Daniel Agnew. — who have been already 
 mentioned, — -John Van Cleve, M.D., William Thompson, and 
 Peter Updike. 
 
 Dr. Van Cleve, a noted physician, was a ruling elder from 
 1805 to 1826. He was a trustee of the College from 1810 to 
 1826, and at one time temporarily filled the chair of Chemistry. 
 His house stood on the site now occupied by University Hall. 
 
 William Thompson was Professor of Languages in the Col- 
 lege. He was elected to the eldership in 1805 and remained in 
 office until his death in 1813. 
 
 Of Peter Updike I have been unable to learn anything save 
 that he was an elder from 1805 to 1818. 
 
 On the fourteenth of November, 1804, Dr. Thomas Wiggins, 
 a ruling elder since 1792, deceased, bequeathing to the church, 
 for the use of its pastors, his dwelling house and upwards of 
 twenty acres of land. Certain legal difficulties in the way of 
 taking possession of this property, which unexpectedly presented 
 themselves, were removed by an equitable settlement with the 
 heirs of the testator. The house, at present owned by the 
 Princeton G-as Light Company, was occupied by the pastors of 
 the church until 1847, when it was sold. A portion of this land 
 was added to the old Princeton Cemetery, and the remainder 
 was disposed of in parcels, reilizing finally about thirty-five 
 hundred dollars for investment in a new parsonage. The 
 trustees of the church caused a stone, suitably inscribed, to be 
 placed over Dr. Wiggins' grave. 
 
36 SERMON. 
 
 The minutes of the session under date of October fourth, 
 1806, contain the following entry: "William Schenck, son of 
 Joseph Schenck, applied for admittance to the ordinance of the 
 Lord's Supper, and after giving the greatest satisfaction to 
 session he was admitted." On the opposite page is this record : 
 " October 6th — Wm. Schenck was baptized." On that, to him, 
 eventful Sabbath, this young man wrote in his diary : " On this 
 day I was baptized by the Rev. Henry Kollock and admitted to 
 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. . . Glrant, Almighty 
 Father, that I, admitted to so glorious a privilege, may study 
 with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength, to grow 
 more and more unto the perfect day. May it be my greatest 
 pleasure, my meat and my drink, to know, to love, and to serve 
 thee." ^ He little thought that he was destined to emjiloy the 
 powers thus consecrated to the service of his Redeemer, in a 
 brief but useful ministry as pastor of the church into whose 
 fellowship he was that day received. 
 
 William C. Schenck was bom in the immediate The Third 
 vicinity of Princeton in the year 1788. He was a Pastor, 
 descendant of Grarret Schenck, who, in company with John 
 Covenhoven of Monmouth County, purchased of William Penn 
 in 1737 sixty-five hundred acres of land on the south side of 
 Stony Brook, a portion of which still bears the name of Penn's 
 Neck. His parents were noted for exemplary piety. Brought 
 under the shadow of a great sorrow by the death of his mother 
 while he was a student in the college, he found comfort and 
 peace in committing himself to the atoning mercy of God in 
 Jeaus Christ. Upon making profession of his faith he devoted 
 himself to the ministry, and pursued theological studies under 
 
 1. See Ur. VV. K. Schenck's Historical Discourse, p. .51. 
 
SERMON. 37 
 
 the direction of Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith. He was licensed 
 to preach by the Presbytei'v of New Brunswick in 1808, and for 
 a time occupied the pulpit of a vacant church at Cooperstown, 
 New York. In the Spring of 1809 he returned to Princeton, 
 and for some months ministered to this church with such accept- 
 ance that he was invited to become its pastor. On the sixth of 
 June 1810, when but twenty-two years of age, he was formally 
 ordained and installed. 
 
 The church numbered at this time more than a hundred 
 members, The elders in active service were James Hamilton, 
 Peter Updike, John Davidson, Samuel Bayard, James Moore, 
 Zebulon Morford, Francis D. Janvier, and John Van Cleve, M. D. 
 Thomas Blaekwell, Daniel Agnew, and Professor William Thomp- 
 son were still living, but they no longer attended the meetings 
 of the session. 
 
 James Moore, an elder from 1807 to 1832, and a trustee 
 from 1786 to 1831, was a tanner and currier. He was a captain 
 of militia during the Revolution, and was highly respected for 
 bravery and patriotism. Moore Street perpetuates his name. 
 
 Zebulon Morford belonged to a respectable English family. 
 He owned at one time the Castle Howard farm, the oldest farm 
 in the immediate vicinity of Princeton. Socially he was less 
 conspicuous than his brother. Major Stephen Morford. His term 
 of service in the session continued from 1807 to 1841. 
 
 Francis DeHaes Janvier, a son-in-law of Professor Thomp- 
 son, was of French and Dutch lineage, and, though content to 
 follow the modest occupation of a coach painter, was a truly 
 remarkable character. Dr. James W. Alexander wrote concern- 
 ing him that " he was a devourer of books. . . There was 
 nothing in the wide circle of English literature so far as it is 
 
38 SERMON. 
 
 traversed by most professed scholars with which he was not 
 familiar. He had made himself master of the French language, 
 and perused its chief treasures. He was fully suited to mingle 
 with any group of literary or scientific men."^ Mr. Janvier's 
 home was in Mercer Street, in the house now occupied by Miss 
 Hageman. Chosen to the Eldership in 1807, he held the office 
 until his decease in 1824. 
 
 Samuel Bayard was prominent in the group of excellent 
 men who then adorned the society of Princeton. Of distin- 
 guished Huguenot ancestry, highly educated, versed in public 
 affairs, and a consistent and earnest Christian, he left behind 
 him a name which abides in honor. To every demand of private 
 and social duty he was assiduously faithful. He was Mayor of 
 the borough, and frequently a member of the Council. He was 
 an active trustee a,s well as treasurer of the college, and a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Trustees of the Theological Seminary from 
 1824 to 1840. He was one of the founders of the New York 
 Historical Society. From 1807 to 1838 he was a trustee of the 
 cluu-ch, and a ruling elder from 1807 to 1840. Bayard Avenue 
 was named in his honor. He lived in the house built by Dr. 
 Bainbridge, now the residence of Mr. F. S. Conover. 
 
 Mr. Bayard was the author of several works relating to the 
 profession of the law, and of a useful religious book, entitled 
 " Letters on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper." He also con- 
 ducted an extensive correspondence with eminent men in Great 
 Britain. Dr. J. W. Alexander in one of his " Familiar Letters," 
 says : " I spent an hour this morning with good old Mr. Bayard. 
 He showed me letters from William Pitt, Lord Erskine, Lord 
 
 1. Life of J. Addison Alexander, D.D., pp. 70, 71. 
 
SEBMON. 39 
 
 Lansdowne, and Sir John Sinclair. . . Also several letters 
 frora Wilberforoe."^ 
 
 A session made up of such men as I have described might 
 be expected to maintain a watchful care over the interests com- 
 mitted to their charge. Two instances are worthy of mention. 
 At a meeting held November twenty-fourth, 1807, the Session 
 resolved "that a committee of public instruction be at this time 
 appointed whose business it should be to attend to the public 
 religious instrvaction of the children. Samuel Bayard, Zebulon 
 Morford, and John Van Cleve were accordingly appointed to 
 that office." The minutes of a later meeting (September twenty- 
 ninth, 1809) state that " Mr. , a young gentleman, who came 
 
 to this place with the intention of studying divinity, applied for 
 admission to the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. The session 
 examined him strictly and finally I'ecommended him to withdraw 
 his application until he should by study and self-examination 
 acquire more precise and correct ideas ou the leading points in 
 divinity." It is pleasing to be able to add that this young 
 gentleman renewed his application several months afterwards 
 and was admitted. 
 
 The trustees of the church at the time of Mr. Schenck's 
 entrance on pastoral duty were James Moore, James Hamilton, 
 John Harrison, Colonel Erkuries Beatty, Richard Stockton, 
 LL.D., Ebenezer Stockton, M.D., and Samuel Bayard. 
 
 There was no Board of Deacons, but in 1807 ruling elders 
 James Moore, Zebulon Morford, and Francis D. Janvier were 
 appointed a committee " to attend to the ordinary business of 
 deacons." 
 
 1. Vol. 1, p. 273. 
 
40 SEBMON. 
 
 In February, 1813, the house of worship erected in colonial 
 times, and repaired at much expense after the war of the Revo- 
 lution, was entirely destroyed by fire. This was no small 
 calamity for a congregation which had much difficulty in meet- 
 ing its ordinary liabilities. The use of a college recitation room 
 for public services was kindly offered. This did not furnish 
 adequate accommodation for both studoits and townspeople, 
 and, in consequence, a separate service on the Sabbath was insti- 
 tuted by the college, which continued after the rebuilding of the 
 church, and exists to this day. 
 
 With much difficulty funds were secured for the new build- 
 ing. Some gifts came from friends in other jdaees. Drs. Grreen, 
 Alexander, and others, were requested to solicit contributions 
 outside of Princeton. A trustee who had gone to Philadelphia 
 for medical assistance was formally asked to " use his influence 
 among his friends and other persons charitably disposed," for the 
 purpose of obtaining money. Apian was formed, which, how- 
 ever, was not carried out, of publishing a volume containing 
 sermons by the eminent preachers of Princeton, to be sold for 
 the benefit of the church. Five hundred dollars were given by 
 the corporation of the college, who also promised to give a "good 
 and sufficient title" to the land on which the chui'ch stood. 
 Certain conditions were stipulated which were essentially the 
 same with the original agreement made in 1762. The Honorable 
 Elias Boudinot kindly aided in furnishing the new church by 
 the gift of a chandeli(,'r. 
 
 The building was finished in July, 1814. It was a brick 
 structure, placed with its side toward the street. The entrances 
 were at the west end. There were two aisles and seventy- 
 six pews on the ground floor. The use of the gallery on 
 
SERMON. 41 
 
 the south side was granted to the college. A portion of the 
 north gallery was set apart for colored people. The cost of 
 rebuilding was about ninety-five hundred dollars. An indebted- 
 ness remained of fifty-four hundred dollars. To cover this 
 amount the pews were offered for sale at prices ranging from 
 twenty-five to one hundred and fifty dollars, according to size 
 and location. On these valuations a yearly tax of twelve per 
 cent, was laid for the purpose of raising the pastor's salary. 
 This method was adopted by the advice of Dr. Ashbel Green, 
 who had in 1812 succeeded Dr. Smith in the presidency of the 
 college, in lieu of an annual subscription which appears to have 
 been a source of constant trouble to the trustees. 
 
 Until 1821 the church was lighted in the eveaing with 
 candles. Thirty were considered a liberal allowance for two 
 evenings. The sexton was forbidden to light the chandelier 
 without " particular orders from the pastor." 
 
 The singing at this time was led by a precentor, Mr. 
 Cornelius Terhune of Rocky Hill. 
 
 An event of great importance occurring during the pastor- 
 ate of Mr. Sehenck was the establishment in Princeton of the 
 Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church. The act of 
 the Greneral Assembly was passed in 1810 ; the Plan of the 
 Seminary was ratified in 1811 ; and the institution was opened 
 for students on the twelfth of August, 1812. Its first Professor 
 was the Rev. Ai-chibald Alexander, D.D., then in the full pos- 
 session of his matchless powers as a preacher and teacher. The 
 first students were three in number. Dr. Alexander's first 
 residence was the house in Mercer Street already spoken of as at 
 one time the home of Mr. Janvier ; and there the little group of 
 students found at once library, chapel and lecture room. " The 
 
42 SERMON. 
 
 handful of young men gathered around their preceptor almost 
 as members of his family, going freely in and out, sitting at his 
 board, joining in the domestic worship, and, in a sense, not 
 merely learning of him, but living with him."^ The establish- 
 ment of this institution has been of inestimable value to Prince- 
 ton. The residence among us of its able and learned faculty, 
 their interest in our churches and their occasional preaching, and 
 the engagement of its students in many lines of evangelistic 
 effort throughout the village and surrounding country, afford 
 advantages which few rural towns can enjoy. 
 
 The period of Mr, Schenck's ministry was signalized also by 
 a memorable work of the Holy Spirit, which, though its fruits 
 were visible chiefly in the college, brought a rich blessing to the 
 town. In 1814 about thirty persons were added to the church. 
 In 1815 the preaching of Drs. G-reen, Alexander, and Miller, 
 in the Chapel of the college, and the faithful labors of six or 
 eight students who agreed to visit the different rooms and press 
 upon the attention of their fellows the claims of religion, were 
 followed by an awakening the results of which eternity alone can 
 disclose. Thet'e were one hundred and five students in the 
 college of whom not more than twelve were professors of religion. 
 Not less than forty were converted at the time, and others 
 received impressions which were doubtless in many cases abid- 
 ing. " For a time," wrote Dr. G-reen, " it seemed as if the 
 whole of our charge was pressing into the Kingdom of God ; so 
 that at length the inquiry in regard to them was not who was 
 engaged about religion, but who was not.'"'^ Dr. Grreen also 
 relates that the example of two students who made a public 
 
 1. Life of A. Alexander, D.D., p. 373. 
 
 2. Dr. Sclienck's Historical Discourse, p. 61. 
 
SERMON. 43 
 
 profession of religion wrought powerfully upon the minds of 
 their companions. It is interesting to remember that these 
 youths were Charles Hodge and his friend Kensey Johns Van 
 Dyke. Other subjects of this revival were the Eev. John Johns, 
 D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia ; 
 the Eev. James V. Henry ; the Rev. Symmes C. Henry of Cran- 
 bury ; the Rev. Ravaiid K. Rodgers of Bound Brook ; the Rev. 
 John Goldsmith of Long Island; the Rev. William J. Arm- 
 strong, D.D., distinguished for zealous labors as a Secretary of 
 the American Board of Foreign Missions ; the Rev. William 
 James of Albany ; the Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine, D.D., Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, great in intelle(;t, and greater 
 still in the Christian love which refused to be cramped within 
 the limits of a sect; the Rev. John Maclean, D.D., the beauty 
 or whose character and life we all have known ; the Rev. David 
 Magie, D.D., of Elizabeth, a "model pastor" for forty-five years 
 in his native town ; and the Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D.D., a son 
 of Princeton, who not only toiled unweariedly in the ministry of 
 the Gospel, but also devoted great sums of money to the educa- 
 tional interests of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Upwards of twenty of the townspeople were converted dur- 
 ing this revival. 
 
 In October, 1818, the successful labors of Mr. Schenckwere 
 interrupted by an attack of typhus fever which caused his death 
 on the seventeenth day of that month in the thirty-first year of 
 his age. " He was," said the pastor of a neighboring church, 
 " growing in the love and confidence of his flock, and seemed 
 destined to make them a compact, well cemented company, pros- 
 pering in the things that make for holiness and heaven."^ At 
 
 1. The Rev. Isaac V. Brown of Lawrenceville. See Dr. Scheiick's Dis- 
 course, p. 55. 
 
44 . SERMON. 
 
 the time of his conversion he had expressed an eager desire to 
 be holy and useful, and his desire had been granted. The 
 funeral discourse was preached by the Rev. Dr. Miller. The 
 trustees of the congregation made kindly provision for the com- 
 fort of the widow of the deceased pastor, granting the use of the 
 parsonage and the continuance of her husband's salary until the 
 following Spring. The Session caused a marble monument to be 
 J erected over his grave. 
 
 One hundred and fifty-five persons were admitted to mem- 
 bership in the church during Mr. Schenck's ministry, the 
 majority of them on profession of their faith. A considerable 
 number of those received on profession subsequently studied for 
 the ministry, viz., Lewis Bayard, Thomas H. Skinner, Nicholas 
 Gr. Patterson,' Benjamin b"". Stanton, Robert Steele, Jeremiah 
 Chamberlain, Charles Hodge, William James, Charles S. Stewart, 
 John Johns, Ravaud K. Rodgers, Samiiel F. Darrach, Ezra 
 Youngs, Grilbert Morgan, William D. Snodgrass, William Moder- 
 well, Henry A. Boardman, Aaron D. Lane, John Maclean, John 
 Breckinridge. Charles C. Beatty, Thomas C. Kennedy. 
 
 An interval of more than a year and a half elapsed before 
 the settlement of Mr. Schenck's successor. Meanwhile the 
 elders made such provision as they could for the pastoral care 
 of the congregation. It was resolved (October twenty -fifth, 
 1818) " that Session will henceforward take charge of the relig- 
 ious instruction of the youth and children of this congregation 
 so long as the same shall be destitute of a pastor." Mr. Janvier 
 was appointed (December fifth, 1818) " a committee to wait on 
 such students as he might think proper, and to request them in 
 behalf of Session to attend to the instruction of the Bible classes, 
 and to the celebration of divine worship in those religious 
 
SERMON. 45 
 
 societies, that have been formed in the vicinity of Princeton, and 
 are connected with this congregation ; " and he was likewise to 
 hear the recitations in the Catechism of the children of the con- 
 gregation who were to be assembled for that purpose. On the 
 twenty-first of January, 1819, they voted unanimously in favor 
 of calling the Rev. Archibald Alexander, D.D., to the vacant 
 pastorate, and requested the trustees to unite with them in 
 bringing this recommendation before the congregation. As no 
 further notice of this movement is on record, we may conclude 
 that it was quietly suppressed by Dr. Alexander. On the 
 twelfth of October in the same year, the Session passed a resolu- 
 tion in which they declared it expedient to invite " the Rev. Mr. 
 William Allen, of Hanover, late president of the University of 
 Dartmouth in the State of New Hampshire, to become their 
 pastor." A call was accordingly extended to Mr. Allen by the 
 congregation, but declined by him. On the twenty-eighth of 
 February, 1820, the congregation again met and elected as their 
 pastor the Rev. George SpafEord WoodhuU, of Cranbury, New 
 Jersey. It was at the same time resolved " that six hundred 
 and fifty dollars in cash and the use of the parsonage and glebe 
 be voted as the salary of the Rev. Mr. Woodhull annually." 
 He was installed on the fifth of July, 1820. 
 
 Mr. Woodhull was at this time forty-seven years The Fourth 
 of age. He was a son of the Rev. John Woodhull, Pastor. 
 D.D., of Freehold, and a graduate of the College of New Jersey 
 in the class of 1790. In 1798 he became the pastor of the church 
 at Cranbury. The attention of the Princeton congregation had 
 l)een drawn to him after the the resignation of Dr. Kollock, but 
 the Presbytery had advised against his removal. His ministry 
 of twentv-two vears at Cranburv was eminentlv useful. He 
 
46 SERMON. 
 
 was a public spirited man, in full sympathy with the philan- 
 thropic and religious movements of the time. From 1807 to 
 1834 he was an efl&cient trustee of the College. In 1811 he was 
 one of a number of gentlemen who met in Princeton for the 
 organization of the New Jersey Bible Society. Four years later 
 he originated a scheme of Bible class instruction which was 
 approved by the Presbytery and Synod and recommended to the 
 churches by the G-eneral Assembly.^ He was also a pioneer in 
 the temperance reform, having caused a temperance pledge to 
 be circulated among the members of his congregation as early 
 as the year 1815, and having in 1818 secured the passage by 
 the Presbytery of an overture to the General Assembly which 
 drew from that body a stringent admonition against the use of 
 ardent spirits by church officers and members.^ 
 
 Without possessing remarkable gifts as a pulpit orator, Mr. 
 Woodhull was useful, consistent, and dignified in all his rela- 
 tion to the church. Two hundred and ninety-four persons were 
 admitted to membership during his residence here of twelve 
 years, more than four-fifths of whom made profession of their 
 faith. Among these were Albert B. Dod, James W. Alexander, 
 Edward D. Smith, Edward Norris Kirk, and Joseph Addison 
 Alexander. At this time also there was an outbreak of philan- 
 thropic and missionary zeal throughout the American Church 
 which made itself felt in Princeton, and found expression in the 
 organization of societies for benevolent work. In 1815 a Sab- 
 bath School Association had been formed by a number of students 
 among whom were Charles P. Mellvaine, John S. Newbold and 
 Eliphalet W. Gilbert. In 1816 the Female Benevolent Society 
 
 1. Minutes of General Assembly 1816, pp. 627, 628. 
 
 2. Minutes of General Assembly 1818, p. 684. 
 
SERMON. 47 
 
 of Princeton had its origin. Its object was to aid the poor not 
 only by charitable gifts, but also by educating their children. It 
 established a school in 1825, for which, in 1830, a building was 
 erected in Witherspoon Street on laud belonging to the church. 
 In addition to the ordinary branches of knowledge, the Bible and 
 the Westminster Catechism were thoroughly taught. This 
 school, at first under the care of Miss Harriet Nicholson, was, from 
 the year 1840 until its recent discontinuance, conducted by Miss 
 Mary R. Lockard who died July seventeen, 1885, at an advanced 
 age, leaving behind her the savor of a good name and the memory 
 of an unpretending but most useful life. Throughout its con- 
 tinuance, nearly sixty years, it enjoyed the care of many of the 
 first ladies of Princeton, and was a source of no little benefit to 
 the community.^ In 1822 was organized "The Princeton Female 
 Society for the Support of a Female School in India." In 1824 
 a public meeting was held in the church in the intei'est of African 
 Colonization. Addi-esses were made by Captain Robert F. 
 Stockton of the Navy, Dr. Samuel Miller, and others, and the 
 New Jersey Colonization Society was formed. Its annual meet- 
 ings were held in Princeton for several years, and commanded 
 the services of many of the prominent men of the state. The 
 Princeton Tract Society which still prosecutes its admirable 
 work of monthly house to house visitation and tract distribution 
 throughout the town, was founded in 1825 ; and the Princeton 
 Bible Society in 1826. 
 
 About this time the educational and religious destitutions 
 of certain portions of the State began to awaken deep anxiety, 
 and a public meeting of the inhabitants of Princeton was held 
 
 1. The lineal descendant of the Benevolent Society is the Ladies' Aid 
 Society ; an efficient and nseliil organization. 
 
48 SERMON. 
 
 oa the thirteenth of Deceraber, 1827, when it was resolved to 
 endeavor, with the co-operation of other friends of morals and 
 religion, to raise within two years the sum of forty thousand 
 dollars " for the support of missionaries and the establishment 
 of schools in the destitute parts of the State "; and to place the 
 funds so raised " under the control of the Domestic Missionary 
 Society of N^w Jersey." The entire sum desired was not raised, 
 but Princeton contributed a larger proportion than any other 
 locality, and upon Princeton men and women devolved much of 
 the labor and responsibility connected with the enterprise. Of 
 all the agents employed the most efficient was the Rev. Eobert 
 Baird, in later years the distinguished Secretary of the American 
 and Foreign Christian Union. He had been gi'aduated from the 
 Princeton Theological Seminary in 1822, and for five 3^ears 
 thereafter was the principal of an academy in the village. His 
 chosen plan of life, on the execution of which he was now about 
 to enter, was "the extension of Protestantism and the evangeli- 
 zation of the world, in connection with the great religious and 
 benevolent societies." By indefatigable labor in" holding meet- 
 ings in every county of the State, and by a series of essays on 
 the subject, he succeeded in arousing a public sentiment in favor 
 of common schools, which at once led to the passage of a legisla- 
 tive act appropriating twenty thousand dollars annually for this 
 purpose. Dr. John Maclean has left on record his opinion that " to 
 no one uian was the State of New Jersey so m uch indebted as to Dr. 
 Baird for the establishment of its system of common schools."^ At 
 the fifteenth annual meeting of the Nassau Hall Bible Society, held 
 July thirty-first, 1827, it was determined to seek the cooperation 
 of other societies in supplying with the Bible every destitute 
 
 1. See Hagenian's History of Princeton, Vol. 1., p. 259. 
 
SERMON. 49 
 
 family in New Jersey, within one year. This project was fully 
 carried into effect, the Rev. Mr. Baird taking a leading part. Seven 
 thousand families were found entirely destitute of the Sacred 
 Scriptures. An appalling amount of illiteracy, also, was brought 
 to light, and a strong impulse given to all movements in the 
 behalf of intellectual and moral enlightenment. 
 
 With all these movements our church was closely connected, 
 and its interest and sympathy were practically shown by personal 
 effort and liberal gifts of money on the part of its members. 
 
 Nor was the church wanting in attention to the more ordin- 
 ary methods of Christian beneficence. The minutes of the Ses- 
 sion indicate that contributions were made in behalf of the poor, 
 and " toward the Bible, Missionary, Education, Sabbath School, 
 and Benevolent Societies." Recently a considerable sum had 
 been given in aid of the Theological Seminary. One hundred 
 dollars were paid annually " towards the support of a student 
 in the Seminary ; " and there was also " a public collection in 
 the church for the use of the Seminary once every year." 
 
 In order to complete our survey of Mr. WoodhuH's ministry 
 we should notice the supply, in part at least, of the want long 
 sorely felt of a room in which to hold the social services of the 
 church. More than once had the session and trustees united in 
 urging upon the congregation the importance of erecting a 
 " Sessional Hall" or chapel. But nothing was done until 1830 
 when an arrangement was made with the Female Benevolent 
 Society by which on a lot on Witherspoon Street belonging to 
 the " ministerial property " left by Dr. Wiggins, a building (still 
 standing) was erected at the joint expense of the Society and the 
 Session, the lower story of which was the school room of the 
 Society and the upper story the lecture room of the church. On 
 
50 SEBMON. 
 
 the twenty-third of June 1830, the Session formally invited the 
 Sabbath School to meet in this place. 
 
 Ruling Elders Thomas Blackwell, John Van Cleve, M.D., 
 Captain James Moore, and Francis D. Janvier died during Mr. 
 Woodhull's term of service ; and John S. Wilson, Ralph Lane, 
 Professor Robert B. Patton, John C. Schenck, John Lowrey, 
 and Jacob Lane were elected to the eldership. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was a merchant doing business at the corner of 
 Nassau and Washington Streets. He was held in high esteem 
 and frequently called to public office. He was an elder in the 
 church fifteen years and a trustee five years. One of his daugh- 
 ters was married to the Rev. E. D. Gr. Prime, the present senior 
 editor of the New York Ohserver. 
 
 John C. Schenck was a merchant at Queenston. Deeply 
 interested in the religious work done in that neighborhood by 
 students from the Theological Seminary, he conveyed in 1832 a 
 lot of land to five trustees, all of whom were members of this 
 church, " to erect thereon a suitable building for the purpose of 
 religious worship, and for the use of the Queenston Society and 
 Sabbath School." Through th'e liberality of the church means 
 were at once provided for the erection of a chapel. This prop- 
 erty is now held by our Board of Trustees. 
 
 Colonel John Lowrey seems to have been a popular charac- 
 ter, possessing the confidence of the entire community, and 
 almost constantly holding official place. He lived where Mercer 
 Hall now stands. He was a trustee for one year and an elder 
 from 1826 to 1845. His son, the Rev. John Lowrey, is at this 
 time the pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hackettstown, 
 New Jersey. 
 
SERMON. 51 
 
 Jacob Lane was known to many of us. He was a member 
 of the session, with the exception of a brief interval of residence 
 elsewhere, for fifty-two years, dying in 1878, at the age of ninety- 
 one. 
 
 Of Robert B. Pattou much might be said did time permit. 
 He was elected to the professorship of Languages in the College 
 in 1825, and resigned in 1829 to become the founder and princi- 
 pal of the Edgehill High School, which admitted only boys 
 under twelve years of age, and anticipated in thoroughness of 
 instruction the methods of the best modern preparatory schools. 
 Joseph Addison Alexander, then a youth of nineteen, was 
 employed by him as an assistant teacher, and was thus brought 
 under an influence which gave direction to his remarkable career. 
 " No man," says the biographer of Dr. J. A.. Alexander, " with 
 one exception, had more influence than Mr. Patton in moulding 
 his intellectual character." ^ In a letter to his brother James, 
 dated May 5th, 1859, Dr. J. A. Alexander writes : " I need not 
 remind you of my early and almost unnatural proclivity to Orien- 
 tal studies .... it was my cherished wish for several 
 years to settle in the East . . . and so far from having any 
 missionary zeal, I was really afraid the Moslems would be Chris- 
 tianized before I could get at them. . . . My Oriental studies 
 were continued after my College course. . . . It is never- 
 theless true that I had already begun to be weaned from Ana- 
 tolic to Hellenic studies. The exciting cause of this change was 
 the influence of Patton — first as a teacher, chiefly by his making 
 ine acquainted with the G-erman form of classical philology ; 
 then by means of his Society [the Philological] and library ; 
 
 1. Life of J. A. Alexander, D.D., p. 213. 
 
52 ' SERMON. 
 
 and lastly by association with liim at Edgehill."' This was a 
 noble tribute to Professor Patton's intellectual power and to the 
 indelible impress which it left upon one who was destined to 
 become eminent among the scholars and teachers of the American 
 Church. Mr. Patton removed from Princeton in 1835, having 
 served the church as a ruling elder for nine years. 
 
 Crowned.as was the ministry of Mr. Woodhull with abund- 
 ant tokens of divine favor, it was not allowed to pursue a wholly 
 untroubled course. Difficulties arose, which at length made 
 themselves so seriously felt that he deemed it wise to seek the 
 severance of the tie which had long bound him to the church. 
 Two causes may be assigned. In the first place, some in the 
 congregation, forgetting that the church had always flourished 
 far more under the care of ministers of even moderate abilities, 
 wholly devoted to its iiiterests, than under brilliant preaching 
 unaccompanied by pastoral oversight, were desirous of effecting 
 an arrangement by which the professors of the Theological Sem- 
 inary should frequently and regularly occupy the pulpit. This 
 had been manifested in the wish to call Dr. Archibald Alexan- 
 der, burdened as he was with the duties of his theological chair, 
 to the pastorate, and in the decline of revenue from pews which 
 had followed the discontinuance in 1825 of the " Sabbath even- 
 ing lectures," which had for some time been given in the church 
 by the professors of the Seminary. This state of things was not 
 surprising. A village church standing between a college on the 
 one hand and a school of theology on the other holds an anomalous 
 position. It is a curious blending of the city with the country 
 church. Without the wealth and the push oi the city church, 
 it naturally acquires tastes and ambitions much beyond those of 
 
 1. Life of J. A. Alexander, D.D., pp. 217-219. 
 
SERMON. 53 
 
 the ordinary country congregation. Unable to obtain the ser- 
 vices of a pulpit celebrity, it yet believes itself to be capable of 
 enjoying the productions of the great masters of homiletical 
 art. Hence arises a chronic difl&culty more fully met, perhaps, 
 in our own day than in the time of which we are speaking, by a 
 certain " freedom of worship " too familiar to need description. 
 A second and more potent cause of uneasiness may prob- 
 ably be found in the spirit of the age, which was waking tenden- 
 cies some of which yielded wholesome fruit, while others were 
 pregnant with mischief. Philanthropic agitations which, guided 
 by a zeal not according to knowledge, sometimes arrayed them- 
 selves against the Bible and the Church ; efforts for religious 
 revival, which in many localities were hasty and fanatical, and 
 brought into play methods not accordant with the highest 
 Christian wisdom ; heated disputes as to the respective merits 
 of voluntary societies and ecclesiastical boards ; doctrinal con- 
 troversies which separated Congregationalism and Presbyterian- 
 ism into Old School and New School, and at length rent the 
 Presbyterian Church in twain ; all these were in the air, and 
 could not but be felt even in Princeton. So staid a body as the 
 Session of this church, thinking perhaps that they must keep 
 abreast of the age, adopted, evidently without the consent of 
 the pastor, a measure that drew upon them the rebuke of the 
 Presbytery as violating Presbyterian order. A significant move- 
 ment was the petition of twenty-three persons in 1832 for the 
 organization of a Second Presbyterian Church. The minutes 
 of Session, under date of August fourth, 1832, give at length 
 the reply of that body to the petition. It was written by Mr. 
 Bayard and was a temperate and dignified paper breathing 
 throughout the spirit of Christian kindness. It is too long to 
 
64 SERMON. 
 
 be given here in full. The petitioners were reminded that similar 
 "undertakings in small towns had been followed by " disastrous 
 and unhappy consequences ; " that the officers of the Church 
 could scarcely be expected to initiate a division ; and that in 
 any case the Presbytery, and not the Session, was the body from 
 which counsel should be sought. The Session could hardly have 
 done otherwii^e in the light which they had ; but to one who 
 looks at the matter from the point of view of the present, it 
 seems not unlikely that the establishment at that time, rather 
 than later, of the Second Presbyterian Church, might have been 
 the wiser course. 
 
 On the eleventh of August, 1882, Mr. Woodhull, hoping to 
 prevent by his withdrawal from the pastorate the division of the 
 church, announced his intention of taking the necessary steps to 
 that end. He received a call from the church at Middletown 
 Point, New Jersey, and spent in that place the last two years of 
 his life, dying there on the tweuty-fifth of December, 1834, in 
 the sixty-second year of his age. It is pleasing to recall, as 
 showing the esteem in which he was held by his Princeton con- 
 gregation, that the Rev. Dr. Miller at their request preached a 
 memorial sermon. "One fact," said Dr. Miller in this discourse, 
 "is unquestionably certain, that during the twelve years of his 
 pastoral service, this church received a greater number of mem- 
 bers to her communion than in any preceding period of twelve 
 years since the commencement of her existence. . . It has 
 been my lot within the last foi'ty years of my life to be 
 acquainted with many hundred ministers of the Gospel of 
 various denominations, and with not a few of them to be on 
 what might be called intimate terms ; and although I have 
 known a number of more profound attainments and of more 
 
SERMON. 55 
 
 impressive eloquence than your late pastor, yet in the great moral 
 qualities which go to form the good man, the exemplary Chris- 
 tian, the diligent and untiring pastor, the benevolent neighbor 
 and citizen, and the dignified, polished, and perfect gentleman, 
 I have seldom known his equal, and I think never, on the whole, 
 his superior. . . . He never made ambitious claims ; never 
 put himself forward ; seldom asserted what was his due ; and 
 in a word, in meekness, in modesty, in retiring, unassuming 
 gentleness, and in a prudence which seemed never to sleep, he 
 set before his professional brethren and his fellow Christians a 
 noble example."^ 
 
 We now approach a period within the recollection of the 
 older members of the congregation. On the fourteenth of 
 January, 1833, the Rev. John McDowell, D.D., was elected to 
 the vacant j^astorate. Dr. McDowell declined the call, and on 
 the twentieth of the following May, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin 
 Holt Rice was chosen. 
 
 Dr. Rice was about fifty years of age. He had The Fifth 
 married the sister of Dr. Archibald Alexander. His Pastor, 
 first pastoral charge was in Petersburg, Virginia. For a short 
 time previous to his coming to Princeton, he was the pastor of 
 the Pearl Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. 
 Infei'ioi in learning and ability to his more distinguished brother, 
 John Holt Rice, he was, in the language of a kinsman, "in his 
 best days and in his happiest moments, one of the most effective 
 of extemporaneous preachers. . . . He was greatly beloved 
 and exceedingly useful as a pastor ; and his piety was made up 
 of the qualities of a manly vigor and a delighful, almost 
 womanly, delicacy and tenderness."^ 
 
 1. Hageman's History of Princeton, Vol. II., p. 132. 
 
 2. Life of J. A. Alexander, D.D., p. 776. 
 
56 SERMON. 
 
 Dr. Rice was installed ou the fifteenth of August, 1833. 
 
 Princeton was now in a flourishing condition. Large classes 
 were va attendance at the Theological Seminary; and the College, 
 under the administration of Dr. Carnahan, had placed in its 
 chairs of instruction some professors of distinguished ability, 
 and was growing in popularity and influence. Many families 
 of intelligence and respectability had sought a residence here, 
 and there seemed to be progress in all directions. In these cir- 
 cumstances it was not to be expected that the Presbyterian 
 Church should longer be allowed to remain as hitherto, with the 
 exception of the Friends' Meeting, the only religious society in 
 the town. Other denominations now began to establish them- 
 selves in the village. In 1833, a few months prior to the instal- 
 lation of Dr. Rice, a Protestant Episcopal Church was organ- 
 ized. This was done with entire good feeling on the part of the 
 Presbyterians, who, as Dr. Macdonald states, offered to Bishop 
 Doane the use of their house of worship for the meeting at 
 which the organization was effected.^ Dr. Samuel Miller, who 
 had strenuously controverted in his writings the claims of prelacy 
 was a donor to the building fund. In a letter given at length 
 in the Life of Dr. Miller,^ Judge Field says : " When it was for 
 the first time proposed to build an Episcopal church at Prince- 
 ton, instead of discouraging or throwing obstacles in the way 
 of it, he contributed toward the fund for its erection ; and I 
 remember the great gratification which this act of liberality 
 upon his part gave to those who were engaged in the enter- 
 prise." 
 
 1. "A Century in the History of the First Presbyterian Church, Prince- 
 ton," p. 23. 
 
 2. Vol. 2., p. 383. 
 
SERMON. 57 
 
 The Methodists were next on the ground, organizing? a 
 " class " in 1842, and erecting a church edifice in 1847. 
 
 The colored people oi'ganized a Methodist church in 1836, l^ 
 and a Presbyterian church in 1846. 
 
 The Second Presbyterian Church was organized on the ^y 
 twenty-third of December, 1847, shortly after the resignation 
 of Dr. Kice, and before the election of his successor. 
 
 On the sixth of Jul}^ 1835, the calamity of 1813 was 
 repeated, and the congregation again saw its place of worship 
 destroyed by fire. The fire was caused by the explosion of a 
 sky-rocket on the roof. The use of the chapel of the Theolog- 
 ical Seminary for the public services of the church was offered 
 and accepted.^ Arrangements were promptly made for the erec- 
 tion of a new edifice. A question having arisen as to the valid- 
 ity of the title-deed held by the congregation, owing to some 
 informality, another deed was executed bearing the signature of 
 the president of the College and sealed with the College seal. 
 The new church was ready for occupancy in November, 1836, 
 and was completely furnished in the summer of 1837. The 
 jilau of the gallery and pulpit was drawn by Professor Albert 
 B. Dod. The cost of the building was sixteen thousand dollars. 
 It has since been lengthened and its interior has been improved, 
 but the general appearance of its exterior is the same now as 
 then. In 1848 a lecture room was built at the south end, at a 
 cost of about sixteen hundred dollars, three hundred dollars of 
 which were given by the Rev. E. N. Kii-k, D.D., of Boston, for- 
 merlv a member of the church. 
 
 1. It should be mentioned here that the Vestry of the Episcopiil church 
 kindly offered the use of their house of worship when not needed for their 
 own services. 
 
58 SERMON. 
 
 Dr. Rice's administration of affairs evinced a watchful care 
 over all the interests of the church. The observance of the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which until 1820 had taken 
 place alternately at Princeton and at Kingston, and which upon 
 the conclusion of that arrangement had been celebrated here at 
 intervals of three mouths, was now directed to be observed six 
 times in the -fear. Church members guilty of immoral conduct 
 were faithfully dealt with by the Session. An elders' prayer 
 meeting was held every Sabbath morning. Action was taken in 
 favor of temiDprance, as follows : " Resolved, That the Session 
 of this Churcii do most earnestly recommend to all the mem- 
 bers of this Congregation to abstain from the use of ardent 
 spirits, except as a medicine, and that they discourage the use of 
 it as a drink even in a moderate degree in their several families, 
 and in all cases to vise their utmost influence to check this most 
 destructive evil."^ Special attention was paid to the people of 
 color belonging to the congregation. A Board of Deacons was 
 constituted in 1845, of which William R. Murphy and Daniel 
 B. Wagner were the first members. 
 
 During Dr. Rice's pastorate two hundred and forty-eight 
 persons were admitted to membership from other churches, and 
 two hundred and seventy-one upon profession of their faith. 
 Among the latter number were James C. Moffat, now a pro- 
 fessor in the Theological Seminary ; Levi Janvier, a devoted mis- 
 sionary in India ; William E. Schenck, afterwards the pastor of 
 the church; George M. Maclean, M.D., for many years an efii- 
 cient ruling elder ; John M. Rogers, chaplain of the New Jersey 
 state-prison at Trenton ; Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, the distin- 
 guished Brooklyn pastor ; Archibald Alexander Hodge, the 
 
 1. Minutes of Session, December 16th, 1835. 
 
SERMON. 59 
 
 brilliant preacher and theologian, the shadow of whose recent 
 death still rests upon us ; Oliver R. Willis, a successful teacher ; 
 John A. Annin, long an active missionary in the far west ; Samuel 
 Davies Alexander, now a pastor in the city of New York ; and 
 Joseph Henry, a professor in the College and subsequently the 
 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, a man not less illustrious 
 for his pi6ty than for his scientiHc attainments. 
 
 During this period ruling elders Zebulon Morford, Samuel 
 Bayard, John S. Wilson, John Lowrey, Robert Voorhees, and 
 John C. Schenck were removed by death. Professor Patton, 
 John V. Talmage, and John Davison withdrew from the session 
 on account of a change of residence. The elders elected were 
 Daniel Bowne in 1835, Professor Stephen Alexander and John 
 V. Talmage in 1840, Isaac Baker and Joseph H. Davis in 1845. 
 The trustees were John Van Doren, John Lowrey, Alfred A. 
 Woodhull, M.D., William R. Murphy, George M. Maclean, M.D., 
 James Van Deventer, Professor Albert B. Dod, E. C. Wines, 
 Samuel A. Lawrence, David N. Bogart, Alexander M. Gumming, 
 R. R. Ross, John Bogart, George T. Olmsted, A. J. Dumont, 
 John Davison, Philip Hendrickson, Peter I. Voorhees, Captain 
 Thomas Crabbe, U. S. N., Prof essor Joseph Henry, J. S. Schanck, 
 M.D., Joseph H. Davis, William Gulick, John T. Robinson, N. 
 S. Berrien, Peter V. DeOraw, John F. Hageman, A. Van Duyn. 
 All are dead save Messrs. Van Deventer and Hageman, who have 
 ceased to be members of the board, and Dr. Schanck, the present 
 president of the board, who has served this congregation as a 
 trustee more than forty years. ^ 
 
 I. Before this discourse was printed Dr. Schanck's long and faithful 
 service in this capacity was terminated by his i-esignation tendered to the 
 congregation at its annual meeting, February eleventh, 1888. The liev. 
 William Henry Green, D.D., was chosen a trustee in his room. James H. 
 Wikofl', M.D., is now the president of the board. 
 
60 SERMON. 
 
 Dr. Eiice resigned the pastorate on the twenty-sixth of April, 
 1847, by reason of old age and increasing infirmity. "I cannot," 
 he said, "do the work of this place with satisfaction to myself, 
 or with profit to you. The burden has become so heavy that I 
 feel it to be due to you and to myself to seek relief from it." 
 
 The resignation was accepted with regret. It was ordered 
 that Dr. Eice's salary should be paid to the first of July, and 
 the use of the parsonage was granted to him until it should be 
 needed by his successor. The Presbytery ratified the action of 
 the congregation, and the pulpit was formally declared vacant 
 on the second of May. 
 
 Certain financial diificulties which had occasioned much 
 perplexity and uneasiness previous to the resignation of Dr. Rice, 
 were now again brought to the attention of the congregation. 
 The parsonage needed expensive repairs, and there were pro- 
 tracted and fruitless discussions as to the question whether its 
 owners or its occupants should he held responsible for them. 
 Without entering into the merits of the question, it will suffice 
 to say that the trouble was ended by ordering the sale of all the 
 property left to the church by Dr. Wiggins, with the exception 
 of the old session house lot, and of three acres reserved for the 
 cemetery. The sum thus realized was placed at interest for the 
 benefit of the pastor, according to the intent of the bequest. 
 
 Finding it impossible to come to a speedy agreement as to 
 the choice of a pastor the congregation on the eighteenth of 
 September, 1847, requested the session "to invite W.Henry 
 Grreen, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and 
 Mr. Abraham Gosman, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Albany, 
 to officiate as stated supplies for the space of six months." This 
 
SERMON. 61 
 
 arrangement was carried into effect, and, as may be supposed, 
 gave general satisfaction. 
 
 At a meeting held January thirty-first, 1848, the The Sixth 
 Kev. William Edward Schenck, pastor of the Ham- Pastor, 
 mond Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York, was 
 chosen to fill the vacant place. On the seventh of May he was 
 installed by a committee of the Presbytery, consisting of the Rev, 
 Symmes C. Henry, of Cranbury, and the Rev. Drs. Camahan 
 and Miller, of Princeton. 
 
 Dr. Schenck is the only survivor of the former pastors of 
 the church. His faithful and efficient service for more than 
 thirty -two years as Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Publica- 
 tion has won for him an honorable name. His relinquishment 
 of this position on account of failing health was announced to 
 the General Assembly of 1886. He is now enjoying a well- 
 earned season of rest, in the healing climate of Southern Cali- 
 fornia.' 
 
 Boru and educated in Princeton, the new pastor found him- 
 self in the midst of famiUar scenes. He was in the vigor of 
 young manhood and not without experience of the labors and 
 cares of ministerial life. The old First Church was now 
 one of a group of churches, each of which was gathering adher- 
 ents and seeking its share of favor and support from the little 
 community. The Protestant Episcopal, the Methodist, the 
 Second Presbyterian, and the colored Methodist and Presbyte- 
 rian Churches were fairly established. To these were added the 
 Roman Catholic Church in 1850 and the Baptist Church in 
 1852. It is literally true that Protestantism seldom does any- 
 
 1. Since this was written Dr. Scheuck has returned to his home in Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
62 SEBMON. 
 
 thing by halves. It is wont to indulge in minuter fractions, and 
 by providing a steeple for each class of religious opinions and 
 sometimes for the subdivisions thereof, to put itself in peril of 
 dissipating energy vrhich if concentrated would yield grander 
 results. 
 
 In some respects the situation was propitious. The long 
 struggle with perplexing questions touching the parsonage 
 jjroperty had come to an end. A debt which in 1845 had 
 amounted to $2500, had been reduced to the manageable sum of 
 $300. Encouraged by these and other favoring circumstances 
 the pastor girded himself for his work. Each elder was assigned 
 to duty in a specified district. A Parochial School was estab- 
 lished by the session, and for a time received aid from the School 
 Fund of the State, and from the Presbyterian Board of Educa- 
 tion. The school of Miss Lockard also was taken under the 
 care of the session, and aided in the same way. These appro- 
 priations of public money were subsequently withdrawn as 
 illegal. The Parochial School was supplanted by the Public 
 School, and the school of Miss Lockard was maintained as at 
 first by the Female Benevolent Society. As has been mentioned 
 a lecture room was built in 1848, and to it were transferred the 
 weekly lectures and prayer meetings and the exercises of the 
 Sabbath School. At a meeting of the congregation held Decem- 
 ber fifteenth, 1851, it was announced that an iron fence had 
 been erected in front of the church and that improvements had 
 been made in the building and grounds at a total expense of $787, 
 which had been fully provided for. It was stated also that by 
 the kindness of Mr. Paul Tulane a small balance of indebted- 
 ness had been paid, and that the church was for the first time 
 
SERMON. 63 
 
 in eighty-nine years free from debt.' Arrangements were soon 
 after made for introducing illuminating gas into the church and 
 lecture room ; and thus the dim light of the oil lamps which had 
 followed the more primitive era when the sexton was rigidly 
 forbidden to use more than thirty candles in two evenings, but 
 which in its turn had been made by the professors of the Semin- 
 ary the ground of declining to conduct Sabbath evening services, 
 gave place to a satisfactory substitute. 
 
 Better than all, the church was blessed with a gracious 
 visitation of the Holy Spirit. The seventh of February, 1850, 
 was observed as a day of fasting and prayer, in view of the 
 spiritual needs of the congi-egation. The religious awakening 
 that followed was extensive and profound. The pastor in a 
 statement published at the time said : " As the fruits of this 
 blessed season of revival it is hoped that in the neighborhood of 
 one hundred persons have been made subjects of converting and 
 sanctifying grace in the congregation of the First Presbyterian 
 Church. Of these seventy-four have been recently welcomed to 
 the communion table, while between twenty and thirty more are 
 expected to apply for the privilege of coming to it at the next 
 opportunity. In the College it is hoped that between thirty and 
 forty of the students have experienced conversion." 
 
 I was a student in the College at the time and I well remem- 
 ber this work of grace in its connection with that institution. 
 On the evening of November twentieth, 1849, while the inaug- 
 uration of the E-ev. James W. Alexander, D.D., as Professor of 
 Church History in the Theological Seminary was taking place, a 
 
 J. At the time of the delivery of the present discoui'se the Church was 
 in debt to the amount bf $72 J. An appeal to the Congregation was gener- 
 ously responded to and the whole auin was soon raised, Mr. Tulane contrib- 
 uting $125. 
 
64 SERMON. 
 
 " barring out " of North College was effected, accompanied with 
 other disturbances. The measures adopted by the faculty for 
 restoring order created intense excitement, and for a time the 
 prevalent tendencies to insubordination and evil-doing were a 
 source of no little anxiety. At length the solicitude of the 
 religious students was aroused ; fervent prayers were offered ; 
 and in the following February, beginning with the Day of Prayer 
 for Colleges, which was then observed in that month, the Holy Spirit 
 manifested His power in the conviction and conversion of many 
 souls. Christians went from room to room urging upon their fellow 
 students the instant obligation of repentance and faith. The 
 public services were followed by " entry meetings " for prayer 
 and conference. Scarcely a young man could be found in the 
 institution who did not invite or expect religious conversation. 
 " The best scholars," wi-ote Dr. James W. Alexander, under date 
 of March ninth, 1850, " and the very ring-leaders in vice, have 
 been prostrated Two of the managers of the commencement 
 ball (for next June) have proposed to do away the ball ; a 
 nuisance which the trustees have feared to abate, and which for 
 twenty years has drawn in even several of our less spiritual pro- 
 fessing Christians or their children. The whole College may be 
 said to be temporarily seeking God." 
 
 In March, 1852, Mr. Schenck, to the surprise and grief of 
 his people, informed them of his determination to remove from 
 Princeton, and accept the position of Superintendent of Church 
 Extension in the bounds of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. 
 "This contemplated change," he said, "arises from no coolness 
 of affection. Our gracious Grod knows with what pain I have 
 thought upon a separation. So far as I know my own heart, I 
 believe my conclusions have grown out of a desire to do what 
 
SERMON. 65 
 
 will most effectually promote the cause and kingdom of Jesus 
 Christ by the salvation of men. And whatever may be the 
 direction of God in this matter, my right hand will forsake her 
 cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before 
 I can cease to love and pray for the prosperity of this church in 
 which I was born and baptized and educated in the Christian 
 faith, and with which for now just four years the Lord has given 
 me so delightful a connection as its pastor." 
 
 The pastoral relation was dissolved on the thirtieth of 
 March, 1852. During the term of Mr. Schenck's ministry one 
 hundred and eleven members were added to the church on pro- 
 fession of their faith, and eighty-eight by certificate. The whole 
 number of communicants at the time of his resignation was three 
 hundred and fifty-three. 
 
 The ruling elders elected during Mr. Schenck's pastorate 
 were John F. Hageman, Ralph Grulick, and Peter V. De Graw. 
 The trustees elected were George T. Olmsted who had served in 
 this capacity some years before, and Isaac Baker. David D. 
 Cawley, Isaac Stryker, Peter I. Voorhees, John H. Clarke, Michael 
 Hendrickson, and Isaac Van Dyke were ordained to the diaconate 
 in 1851. 
 
 One of the admirable services rendered by Mr. Schenck to 
 this congregation was the preparation, with great labor and 
 research, of a discourse entitled "An Historical Account of the 
 First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, N. J." It was preached 
 on Thanksgiving Day, December twelfth, 1850, and was printed 
 at the request of the congregation. It is to be deeply regretted 
 that he has never found it possible to fiilfil his original intention 
 of revising and extending his interesting narrative. As it is, 
 however, it possesses a permanent value, and must always be the 
 
66 SEBMON. 
 
 authoritative history of our church for the period to which it 
 relates. " When I prepared my discourse," he remarked in a 
 letter recently received, " the path was an entirely untrodden 
 one, no effort having ever before been made, so far as I have 
 learned, to trace the history of the church of which I was then 
 pastor. Imperfect as the results may have been, my search for 
 the facts was long and arduoxis, extending not only to records 
 published and unpublished, but to the private letters and the 
 memories of the oldest citizens of Princeton and its vicinity 
 then living." ^ 
 
 On the twenty-sixth of July, 1852, the Eev. "William B. 
 Weed, pastor of the Congregational Church in Stratford, Con- 
 necticut, an eccentric but brilliant and popular preacher, was 
 called to the pastorate of this church. Mr. Weed held the call 
 under consideration several months but finally declined it. The 
 choice of the congregation next fell upon the Rev. The seventh 
 James Madison Macdonald, pastor of the Fifteenth Pastor. 
 Street Presbyterian Church in the city of New York. The 
 election took place on the twenty-fifth of April, 1853. After 
 much hesitation he announced a favorable decision, and was 
 
 1. The letter from which this paragraph was taken was written from 
 South Pasadena, California, in reply to a communication informing Dr. 
 Schenck of our Intention to observe the centenary of the completed organ- 
 ization of our church. Dr. Schenck further says, "The history of that 
 noble and venerable church should never be permitted to be forgotten. I 
 rejoice in every effort put forth to keep it alive in the memoi'ies and hearts 
 not only of the people of Princeton, but of the Presbyterian Church at 
 
 large But there is one thing you will find it impossible to trace 
 
 or even to fully estimate ; the immense influence the Fir-t Church has had 
 on the whole land through those who have gone out from Princeton and her 
 institutions. Within the last thirty-flve years 1 have travelled widely over 
 the United States, and have also had a most extensive correspondence with 
 every part of our country, and from everj' quarter I have received testi- 
 monies, both oral and written, going to show the wideness and the perma- 
 nence of that blessed influence." 
 
SERMON. 67 
 
 installed on the first of November. The services of that occasion 
 were conducted by the Rev. Drs. Hodge, of Princeton; Davidson, 
 of New Brunswick; Watson, of Kingston, and Henry, of Cran- 
 bury. 
 
 Dr. Macdonald was born in the year 1812 in Limerick, 
 Maine, and came of Scotch ancestry. He was a graduate of Union 
 College, Schenectady, New Yoi k, and of the Theological School 
 of Yale College After a ministry of five and a half years in 
 New England, he became the pastor of the ancient Presbyterian 
 Church of Jamaica, Long Island, of which he wrote the history. 
 Nine years later he removed to New York, whence, after a stay 
 of three years, he came to Princeton. 
 
 Of Dr. Macdonald' s life and work in this place it is not 
 necessary that I should attempt to give a detailed account, 
 partly because many of you knew hira well, and partly because 
 you doubtless have in your possession his autobiographical sketch, 
 published in 1873, of " A Twenty Yeai's' Ministry in Princeton," 
 as well as the Memorial Discourse, preached after his decease 
 by the Rev. Dr. Atwater. 
 
 Although I was a student in the Theological Seminary at 
 the opening of Dr. Macdonald's ministry here, I had not the 
 honor of making his acquaintance, and my engagements on the 
 Sabbath were such as to deprive me of the privilege of listen- 
 ing to his preaching save upon rare occasions. I have had 
 frequent opportunities, however, during the last nine years, of 
 learning that he won the gratitude and love of many hearts, and 
 that his memory is cherished with tender affection. 
 
 His ministry was the longest in the history of the Church, 
 extending from November first, 1853, to March nineteenth, 1876. 
 It was eminently useful and fruitful. " There have been added 
 
68 SEBMON. 
 
 to this church," he observes in his Reminiscences, "during the 
 twenty years of my ministry, six hundred and sixty-one per- 
 sons, two hundred and eighty-eight on profession of their 
 faith, and three hundred and seventy-three by certificate." 
 About one hundred more were received before the close of his 
 life. " Of those received in profession of their faith," he adds, 
 ■" fifteen have been licensed to preach the Grospel." Among 
 i;hose were E. S. Fairchild, Samuel B. Dod, Francis B. Hodge, 
 .John Lowrey, Stirling Gait, Hugh Smythe, David J. Atwater, 
 .John Carrington. Mr. Carrington, now a pastor in San Fran- 
 cisco, was for some time a missionary in Siam. 
 
 There were seven ruling elders at the commencement of Dr. 
 Macdonald's pastorate. Of these, Messrs. Stephen Alexander, 
 John F. Hageman, and Jacob Lane survived him. Mr. Ralph 
 Lane died in 1854 at the age of ninety-two; Mr. Ralph Gulick 
 also in 1854 ; Mr. Isaac Baker in 1870. Mr. Daniel Bowne 
 removed to Trenton. Mr. David Comfort, who became an elder 
 in 1860, removed to Virginia in 1865. Mr. Joseph B. Wright 
 was elected in 1863, but afterwards resigned his office on account 
 of a change of residence. Dr. Greorge M. Maclean was elected 
 in 1867, and Messrs. John B. VanDoren, John V. Terhune, and 
 Henry E. Hale in 1869. 
 
 The trustees appointed during Dr. Macdonald's pastorate 
 Tvere Dr. J. H. Wikoff, and Messrs. Emley Olden, John B. Van- 
 Doren, Leavitt Howe and Edwai'd Howe. 
 
 With respect to the deacons Dr. Macdonald says in his 
 Reminiscences : " The late Mr. John H. Clark of Hamilton 
 Square, and Mr. Isaac Striker, now of Newark, were the dea- 
 cons in the earlier years of my ministry here. The present board 
 (1873) consists of Mr. George T. Olmsted, elected December 
 
SERMON. 69 
 
 twelfth. 1863, and Messrs. Philip Hendrickson, David A. Hud- 
 nut, and A. Bo^art Stryker, elected November eighteenth, 1869." 
 
 The Sabbath School of the church deserves a more detailed 
 account than can be given in this discourse. Its history, could 
 all the facts be recovered, would present many features of no 
 little interest. Dr. Charles Hodge, when a student in College, 
 was one of its teachers. Professor Albert B. Dod was at one 
 time its superintendent. At the opening of Dr. Macdonald's 
 ministry, it was under the charge of Mr. J. Aspinwall Hodge, 
 now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, Con- 
 necticut. Of those who subsequently presided over it four became 
 distinguished as foreign missionaries, viz. Messrs. Charles H. 
 Lloyd, Theodore Wynkoop, Jasper Mcllvaine, and Gerald Dale.' 
 It should not be forgotten, moreover, that many of the families 
 of our congregation, living outside of the village, are con- 
 nected with Sabbath Schools which were long since established 
 in the vicinity of their homes, and which owe much of their 
 great usefulness to the earnest labors of young men belonging to 
 our literary institutions. 
 
 The shock of the Civil War which from 1861 to 1865 con- 
 vulsed the nation, bringing about the abolition of slavery, and 
 issuing finally in the firmer establishment of the Union for the 
 creation of which Witherspoon and the other patriots of Prince- 
 ton were willing to sacrifice property and life, was not unfelt in 
 Princeton, although the horrors of battle were not known here 
 as in the days of the Revolution. Several of the young men of 
 the congregation entered the ranks of the defenders of the 
 
 1. Since Dr. Macdonald's decease the superintendents have heen, suc- 
 cessively, Messrs. Edward Howe, Harris R. Scheuck, Melancthon W. Jacobus, 
 William M. Paden, Richard D. Harlan , John G. Hibben, Heniy E. Cobb and 
 Hugh L. Hodge. 
 
70 SERMON. 
 
 Nation. John Warner and Henry Stryker died in consequence 
 of the exposures of active service. Captain Charles Hodge Dod, 
 who died at City Point, Virginia, in 1864, is described by one 
 who knew him from childhood as "highly gifted with mental 
 accomplishments and physical attractions, amiable in disposition, 
 pure in morals, an example to his associates." It was his pur- 
 pose to devote himself to the work of the ministry. Surgeon 
 George M. McG-ill, the oldest son of the Eev. Dr. McGill, sur- 
 vived hard and noble service in the War to fall a victim, in cir- 
 cumstances of peculiar sorrow, to Asiatic cholera, on the plains 
 of Colorado. The Army and Navy Register said of him : "A 
 hard student, an accomplished and skillful physician, a gallant 
 officer, and a brave and warm-hearted gentleman — his loss to 
 his corps and the army is irreparable ; and none who have 
 served with him will fail to remember him with pride, or to 
 mourn him with sincerity." The patriotic women of Princeton 
 contributed liberally to the comfoi't of the Union soldiers by 
 gifts of clothing and other useful articles to the Sanitary and 
 Christian Commissions and to the the army hospitals. Miss 
 Margaret Breckinridge, a member of this church, gave her 
 personal service and at length her life. She was a lady of 
 the highest cultivation and I'efinement, and her soul glowed 
 with fervent loyalty to the Union which some of her kindred 
 were striving to destroy. Inspired at once with an ardent 
 patriotism, and with a Christian philanthropy that caused her 
 to be likened to Florence Nightingale, she carried the loveliness 
 of her gracious womanhood into camp and hospital, and so 
 uuweariedly ministered to sick and wounded and dying soldiers 
 as to win their reverent gratitude. Incessant labors wasted her 
 
SERMON. 71 
 
 strength and an attack of "the fatal typhoid peculiar to camps" 
 terminated her life in July, 1864. 
 
 Three years after the close of the war a new era of 
 enlargement arid prosperity dawned upon the College. The 
 prayers and self-denying labors of its founders, its long and 
 patient struggle with poverty, and the arduous and often unap- 
 preciated toil of the noble men who had from time to time com- 
 posed its faculty, were at last i)roved to have been the seeds of 
 a rich harvest. The number of students which had been dimin- 
 ished in consequence of the war began to increase. Wealthy 
 friends saw that the time was now ripe for reyjlenishing its 
 treasury. And in 1868, one hundred years after the coming of 
 Witherspoon, Scotland gave to its presidential chair another of 
 her sons, a distinguished scholar and author, of the results of 
 whose administration I surely need not speak in this presence.^ 
 
 In 1869 the re-union of the New School and Old School 
 divisions of the Presbyterian Church was happily effected after a 
 separation of thirty-two years. 
 
 These important events, occurring as they did during the 
 term of Dr. Macdonald's ministry, and necessarily affecting the 
 society and the institutions of the place, form an essential part 
 of the history of the time, and exhibit the conditions and sur- 
 roundings amidst which his labors were performed. 
 
 In 1861, a dwelling in Steadman Street (Library Place) 
 was purchased of Mr. Jacob Lane for a parsonage. 'The house 
 was doubled in size and otherwise improved at a total cost, 
 including the purchase money, of nearly six thousand dollars. 
 
 1. Since this was written Dr. McCosli has resigned the presidency, and 
 will retire from office at the close of the present College year in June, 1888. 
 Early in the present month (February, 1888) the Trustees of the College 
 unanimously elected the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Patton as his successor. 
 
72 SERMON. 
 
 The avails of the Wiggins bequest together with a gift of one 
 thousand dollars from Mr. Paul Tulane made possible this desir- 
 able addition to the church property. And thus the generosity of 
 the worthy old elder has become a perennial source of blessing 
 to the church and its successive pastors. In 1864 an organ was 
 placed in the church. This had been strenuously opposed in 
 former years and was accomplished now only after much discus- 
 sion. In the Spring of 1875, the question of decorating the 
 interior of the church edifice was agitated, but was soon merged 
 in the larger project of increasing its size. Cogent reasons for 
 enlargement were urged, and the costly undertaking was begun. 
 The main building was extended in the rear over the space occu- 
 pied by the lecture room, which was removed. The interior was 
 refurnished and decorated, and the windows were filled with 
 stained glass. A new chapel was erected adjoining the church 
 on its west side. The total expense of these improvements 
 slightly exceeded twelve thousand dollars, four thousand dollars 
 of which it was found necessary to borrow. This debt, however, 
 was entirely liquidated a few months later by the munificence of 
 one who has already been mentioned as a steadfast friend of our 
 church, Mr. Paul Tulane.^ 
 
 While the work of enlargement was proceeding, this con- 
 gregation united with that of the Second Presbyterian Church, 
 by their kind invitation, in the public services of the Lord's 
 
 1. Mr. Tulane died on the twenty-seventh of March, 1887, at the age of 
 eighty-five. A native of Princeton, he went in early life to New Orleans 
 where he amassed a fortune in trade. His later years were spent in Prince- 
 ton. Although he never made a profession of religion his gifts to benevo- 
 lent and religious objects were frequent and liberal. He established the 
 Tulane University in New Orleans, and gave to it an endowment of one and 
 ahalf million of dollars. For a fuller account of his life and his gifts to the 
 church, see Hageman's History of Princeton, Vol. I., pp. 203, 204, and V^ol.II,, 
 pp. 181, 182. 
 
SERMON. 73 
 
 Day, the two pastors, Drs. McCorkle and Macdonald, preaching 
 alternately. This union brought a blessing to both churches. 
 In the winter of that year (1876) they were graciously revived 
 by the Holy Spirit, who quickened the faith and love of Chris- 
 tians, and guided to the Redeemer many who had hitherto been 
 the captives of sin. The effect upon Dr. Macdonald was 
 remarked by his friends. His heart and life seemed to be touched 
 with heavenly fire. His glowing words spoken at the united 
 communion service of the two churches left an impression not 
 soon effaced. 
 
 He was ripening for heaven. A sudden stroke of disease 
 prostrated him, and on the nineteenth of April, while the good 
 fruits of his ministry were multiplying, and the hearts of his 
 people were drawn to lum as never before, and other years of 
 blessing appeared to be opening before him, he ascended from 
 the scenes of earthly labor to the eternal rest and joy of heaven. 
 At his funeral, addresses were delivered by Drs. Charles Hodge 
 and Joseph T. Dui-yea. On the fourteenth of the following 
 month, by request of the Session, the Eev. Dr. Atwater preached 
 a memorial sermon which was subsequently published. The 
 congregation caused a stately monument to be erected over his 
 grave. He was in the sixty-fifth year of his age when he died, 
 and in the twenty-third year of his ministry in this place. 
 
 Dr. Macdonald may be said to have been fortunate in the 
 time and circumstances of his residence here. The condition of 
 the church had never been so prosperous and so full of promise 
 as on the day of Dr. Schenck's retirement, and, with the excep- 
 tion of the period of Ihe war, his pastorate covered an era of 
 greater prosperity and advancement than Princeton had ever 
 
74 SERMON. 
 
 before known ; greater also in many respects than it has since 
 known. 
 
 The present pastor, Dr. Macdonald's successor, The Eigbtii 
 was elected July seventeenth, 1877, and installed on Pastor, 
 the evening of November second. ,By appointment of the Pres- 
 bytery the Rev. George Sheldon, D.D., presided, the Rev. A. A. 
 Hodge, D.D.^ preached the sermon, the Rev. Lyman H. Atwater, 
 D.D., gave the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. Abraham 
 Grosman, D.D., the charge to the people. Of these excellent and 
 honored men Dr. Gosman is now the sole survivor. 
 
 My task as a histoi'ian draws to a close. It remains only 
 to note the changes which have taken place among the official 
 members of the congregation during the past nine years, and to 
 remind you of the losses which we have suffered in the death of 
 some who have gone from us to join those who jDreceded them 
 in the service of God here in the higher ministries of heaven. 
 
 Messrs. J. F. Hagemau, Jr., and William Libbey, Jr., have 
 been added to the Board of Trustees, of which the other members 
 are Dr. J. S. Schanck, Dr. J. H. Wikoff, J. B. VanDoren, Leavitt 
 Howe, and Edward Howe.^ 
 
 The present Board of Deacons consists of David A. Hudnut, 
 A. Bogart Stryker, Charles G. Rockwood, Jr., Edward Howe, 
 Richard Rowland, Ernest Sandoz, and William C. Stout. Mr. 
 Olmsted died before my coming to Princeton ; Mr. Philip Hen- 
 drickson in March. 1885 ; Messrs. Rockwood and Conover were 
 ordained and installed Aj)ril twenty-fifth, 1880. Mr. Conover 
 was afterwards transferred to the eldership. Messrs. Howe, 
 
 1. Ill a previous note we have mentioned the recent retirement of Dr. 
 Schanck, and the election of the Rev. Dr. Green as his successor. 
 
SERMON. 75 
 
 Kowland, Sandoz and Stout were ordained and installed May 
 thirtieth, 1886. 
 
 Of the ruling elders, three have died, Jacob W. Lane, May 
 eighth, 1878 ; Professor Stephen Alexander, June twenty-fifth, 
 1883 ; and George M. Maclean, M.D., March eighth, 1886. Mr. 
 Lane held this office nearly fifty-two years, Professor Alexander 
 forty-three years, and Dr. Maclean nineteen years. Messrs. 
 John C. Conover, Alexander Johnston and Frederick N. Willson, 
 having been duly elected, were ordained and installed May 
 thirtieth, 1886. Our present bench of elders consists of seven 
 members : Messrs. J. F. Hageman, Sr., John V. Terhune, John 
 B. VanDoren, Henry E. Hale, John C. Conover, Alexander John- 
 ston and Frederick N. Willson.' 
 
 As I look over the roll of the dead I know not whether 
 most to mourn the loss which we have sustained in their depart- 
 ure, or to rejoice that God so long enriched our church with 
 their devoted and useful lives. Few churches have such men to 
 lose as Charles Hodge, Lyman H. Atwater, George Sheldon, 
 Arnold Guyot, William Harris, and Archibald Alexander Hodge. 
 Nor is it unfitting to name in this connection John Maclean ; for 
 though long identified with our sister church, he was a son of 
 this church, here making the profession of his faith in Christ, 
 here beginning the career in which he illustrated every Christian 
 virtue. 
 
 Of devout women, too, not a few have passed from us to 
 the " sweet societies " of the City of God. We bless God for 
 their pure and precious memory ; we thank Him for the holy 
 influences which yet breathe from their lives ; and we take up 
 
 1. The numbei" added to the church from the date of Dr. Macdonald's 
 decease to the present time (February, 1888) is three hundred and twenty -two. 
 
76 SERMON. 
 
 with hopeful hearts the work which they have laid down, fol- 
 lowing them in the path of consecration in which they followed 
 Christ, until we, too, shall stand in that Divine Presence where 
 alone can be found the fulness of life and of bliss. 
 
 " We know not, O, we know not, 
 What social joys are there ! 
 What radiancy of glory, 
 
 What light beyond compare ! " 
 
6 
 
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