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 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
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WITHERSPOOX. 
 
 PUOCEEDLNGS AND ADDRESSES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE 
 
 AND AT THE 
 
 UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF 
 
 JOHN' WITHERSPOON, 
 
 IN FAIKMOUXT PARK, l>lIILAUELPIirA. 
 
 COMPILED BY THE 
 
 Rev. WM. P. BREED, D.D. 
 
 /? 77 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 PRESBYTERrAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION^ 
 
 13:34 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
WITHERSPOON. 
 
 Friday, the 20th of October, 1876, was a 
 memorable day in the annals of the Presbyterian 
 Church. On that day a colossal statue of a colossal 
 Presbyterian statesman, patriot and divine was un- 
 veiled in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 
 
 The event acquires additional importance from 
 the fact that this statue is, so far as known to us, 
 the first statue of a Christian man, as such, yet 
 erected in our Republic. Abroad the tourist sees at 
 Oxford the statues of Cranmer, Ridley and Lati- 
 mer standing on the spot where their martyr-ashes 
 smoked to heaven. At Kidderminster the statue 
 of Baxter points childhood and old age, the passer- 
 by and the musing traveller, to the "Saint's Ever- 
 lasting Rest.'' At Bedford the form of Bunyan 
 reminds the spectator of those twelve years in Bed- 
 ford jail, and that poor blind child standing by the 
 great dreamer's side. In Edinburgh one sees the 
 form of Andrew Melvill, who, in a memorable 
 crisis, caught King James by his robes, and said, 
 " Thou God's silly vassal ! There be two kings 
 and two kingdoms in Scotland, King James and 
 Christ Jesus, whose subject James is." At Glasgow 
 
4 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 the form of Knox looks down upon the city — the 
 man who never feared the face of man. But in 
 wandering through our parks and public places the 
 stranger looks in vain for the solitary form of a 
 strictly Christian hero. Forms of statesmen, war- 
 riors, poets, artists and others there are, but not 
 one to vindicate our national character from the sus- 
 picion that we are a people wholly given to secu- 
 larism, not one to indicate that we are a Christian 
 people — that at our evangelical communion-tables 
 more than six millions of souls sit down. 
 
 It has been the j^i'ivilege of Presbyterians to re- 
 move this reproach from the Christianity of our 
 land, and to set up the form of one noble repre- 
 sentative Christian man before the eyes of millions. 
 
 The question has been asked, Cui bonof What 
 benefit is likely to flow from the erection of such 
 monuments as this? Would not the money ex- 
 pended upon this bronze and granite have been 
 better expended upon the poor, upon the payment 
 of church debts, or in supplementing the exhausted 
 funds of our mission-boards ? 
 
 In reply it might be asked whether, if unusual 
 restraint in pecuniary outlay is needful in order 
 that the calls of charity may be answered, it is cer- 
 tain that such restraint should begin just here. 
 
 In some instances this suggestion has been made 
 in parlors on the walls of which paintings have 
 hung, and in which marbles have stood, the cost of 
 which would have gone a long way toward paying 
 
WITHERSPOON. 6 
 
 for our statue. Since we began this movement 
 Presbyterian church members have expended upon 
 works of art with which to decorate their homes 
 more than woukl be needed to erect a large number 
 of such monuments. If now home indulgence in 
 the refining luxuries of art is not to cease while 
 financial pressure is distressing the land, church 
 debts are clamoring for payment and charities are 
 calling for aid ; if month by month tens of thou- 
 sands of dollars are laid out upon the productions 
 of the pencil and the chisel for private and domes- 
 tic gratification, — the effort can hardly be thought 
 unwarrantable to divert some small portion of this 
 outlay from a private to a public use. If the fur- 
 nishing of our art-galleries is to wait until all the hun- 
 gry are fed, it will have to wait a long, long time. 
 
 Monumental structures for the commemoration 
 of events that mark important eras in a nation's 
 history are not without example in the M^ord of 
 God. When, after forty years of wandering and 
 trial, the Israelites had now passed into the long- 
 promised land through a chasm miraculously opened 
 in the waters of the Jordan, they were commanded 
 to go no farther till they had set up a monument 
 of stone to keep before the eyes, and thus in the 
 memory, of the generations following the wonders 
 and glories of that memorable passage : 
 
 " And it came to pass, when all the people were 
 clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto 
 Joshua, saying. 
 
6 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 " Take you twelve men out of the people, out of 
 every tribe a man. And command ye them, say- 
 ing, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, 
 out of the place where the priests^ feet stood firm, 
 twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with 
 you, and leave them in the lodging-place, where ye 
 shall lodge this night. 
 
 " Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he 
 had prepared of the children of Israel, out of 
 every tribe a man: and Joshua said unto them. 
 Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God 
 into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every 
 man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according 
 unto the number of the tribes of the children of 
 Israel ; 
 
 " That this may be a sign among you, that when 
 your children ask their fathers in time to come, say- 
 ing, What mean ye by these stones ? then ye shall 
 answer them. That the waters of Jordan were cut 
 off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; 
 when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan 
 w^ere cut off: and these stones shall be for a 
 memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 
 
 "And the children of Israel did so as Joshua 
 commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the 
 midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, 
 according to the number of the tribes of the chil- 
 dren of Israel, and carried them over with them 
 unto the place where they lodged, and laid them 
 down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in 
 
WITIIERSPOOK 1 
 
 the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of 
 the priests which bare the ark of the covenant 
 stood : and they arc there unto tliis day." Josh, 
 iv. 1-9. 
 
 Few boons to a country or to mankind are 
 fraught with a richer preciousness than that of 
 great men — men of commanding abilities allied to 
 commanding virtues. A nation's life is wrapped 
 up in its character^ and the example of a great and 
 pure character is a potent force among the forces 
 that mould new characters for public and private 
 life. The influence in any nation of a character 
 like that of Aristides must be " like rain upon the 
 mown grass and showers that water the earth.'' 
 
 When it falls to the lot of such a man to live in 
 an age of memorable events, and to take part in 
 scenes and acts that tell for generations upon the 
 weal of the w-orld, it must be worth whatever it 
 may cost in after times to revive the memories of i 
 those virtues and those deeds, and to keep them// 
 fresh before the minds of men. \ 
 
 AVitherspoon w'as such a character — a character 
 not only pure and lofty in a mere secular point of 
 view, but beautified and made sublime by a true, 
 ripe, Christian piety. In the Congress of sages 
 that sat in Independence Hall in 1776 we dare to 
 say that there was not one other more worthy to be 
 a model for the youth of our country. And no one 
 -will say that something is not gained in setting up 
 the form of such a man before the gaze of men. 
 
f WITHERSPOON. 
 
 Other, and to Presbyterians not unwelcome, facts 
 also are challenged to recollection by that colossal 
 figure on that pedestal. 
 
 Where is he who shall unfold to us all the salu- 
 / tary influences that have gone into the world's life 
 from that Declaration of Independence? It has 
 taught mankind to revise their doctrines as to the 
 rights of men on the one hand and the preroga- 
 tives of kings on the other. Its influence, reacting 
 through our own people upon other peoples, has 
 modified and more or less popularized nearly all 
 governments in the world. By this statue we re- 
 mind the nation that Presbyterianism, acting in 
 and through the personal influence, the zeal and the 
 eloquence of Dr. Witherspoon, had no small part 
 in the passage of that immortal instrument, and 
 thus in the creation of that wide-working and salu- 
 tary force. 
 
 Further still, in the long, anxious and arduous 
 struggle to secure the consent of the people to the 
 formation of a permanent union of the now inde- 
 pendent States — a union without which all the 
 fruits of the war of independence would have 
 \ been worse than lost — Dr. Witherspoon was a con- 
 spicuous and able champion. By this statue we 
 call to mind the claim of Presbyterian ism to no 
 inconsiderable share in the nation\s gratitude for its 
 effective part in laying the foundation and placing 
 the keystone in the arch of the republic. Nor 
 can we admit that the bronze forms of such men 
 
WITHERSPOON. 9 
 
 are without influence over the many tens of thou- 
 sands of spectators, old and young, that day by 
 day pass and gaze upon them. The sttitue of an 
 Aristides in the Agora at Athens would be, if a 
 mute, yet an eloquent and ever-speaking, rebuke to 
 injustice and exhortation to virtue. Such a citizen 
 as the one who voted for the ostracism of Aristides 
 because he was tired of hearing him called Aris- 
 tides the Just, might find his evil tendencies put, in 
 some degree at least, under restraint by the presence 
 of the marble statue of the just man. If the 
 laurels of Miltiades took sleep from the eyelids of 
 Themistocles, must not the statues of those heroes, 
 in later and more deo:enerate davs, recalling]: the 
 glories of Marathon and Salamis, beget a spirit of 
 patriotism here and there, and help in some degree 
 to stay the rapidity of national decline ? 
 
 Is it not certain that the Roman youth who 
 accompanied his father through the Forum Ro- 
 manum, gazing on the statues that stood by scores 
 around, felt his patriotic impulses stimulated by the 
 sight? When, in reply to his many questions, his 
 father recited the stories of Cincinnatus, of Regu- 
 lus, of Fabius Maximus and the Scipios, what 
 more natural than that the youth as he left the 
 Forum should clench his hand and knit his brow 
 and vow to the gods that he too would be a Roman 
 worthy of the name? 
 
 In Philadelphia's beautiful Park stands that 
 colossal form, challenging scrutiny into every act 
 
10 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 of his pure life, challenging the world's attention 
 to the services rendered, through him, by Presby- 
 terianisra in the work of founding a nation, and 
 exhorting all American youth to a life alike of 
 patriotism and piety. 
 
 THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE. 
 
 The foundation of the pedestal having been 
 completed, the committee resolved to lay the corner- 
 stone of the monument on Tuesday, the 16th day 
 of November, 1875. Invitations were accordingly 
 issued to the Presbyterian public, and it was hoped 
 that the day might witness a numerous and im- 
 posing demonstration. But while man proposes, 
 God disposes. The day was ushered in with a cold 
 November rain, which increased in violence as the 
 hour appointed for the exercises drew on, and at 
 eleven o'clock, the time for assembling at the 
 Presbyterian Rooms, 1334 Chestnut street, the icy 
 rain came down in torrents. 
 
 Still, a considerable number of ministers, ruling 
 elders and laymen had assembled, and with them 
 a deputation from the St. Andrew's Society of 
 Philadelphia. Now the question of postponement 
 came up for discussion, and some were decidedly 
 of the opinion that the proposed ceremony should 
 be deferred. While opinion was yet divided upon 
 the subject the commanding voice of Dr. Mus- 
 grave was heard as follows : 
 
 " Brethren, I hear that some of you shrink from 
 
WITHERSPOON. 11 
 
 the exposure of a visit to the Park to-day. "Well, 
 let me say that 1 for one, and otlier oi us younger 
 brethren, are going through with our enterprise. 
 You older and feebler ones who are afraid of a lit- 
 tle rain had better go to Machinery Hall, where 
 the address is to be delivered, and remain under 
 shelter till we have laid the corner-stone, when we 
 will join you there." 
 
 This speech was received with applause, and set- 
 tled the question against postponement. Accord- 
 ingly, the procession made its Avay through the rain 
 to the cars, and tlius toward the site of the monu- 
 ment. 
 
 This site is on Ijansdowne Drive, just east of 
 "Memorial Hall.'^ It is at a remove of some two 
 hundred feet from the drive, which sweeps round it 
 in a curve of more than half a circle. The view 
 from the monument is one of the most beautiful in 
 the Park. The site was selected by the artist, Mr. 
 J. A. Bailly, and with great courtesy granted to the 
 committee by the ^'Committee on Plans and Im- 
 provements,'' of which the late lamented Theodore 
 Cuyler, Esq., was then chairman, acting under 
 authority given them by the commissioners of 
 Fairmount Park. 
 
 Arriving at the east end of the "Main Building," 
 at that time in course of completion, the people 
 made their way as best they could to the site of the 
 monument. The grounds, freshly prepared for the 
 sod, but with the sod not yet laitl, had become uu- 
 
/ 
 
 12 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 der the rain a bed of soft, deep mud. But remem- 
 bering that our forefathers marched into battle over 
 worse grounds than these, encountering as they went 
 torrents, not of rain, but of musket and cannon 
 balls, our friends plunged through mud and rain, 
 and gathered at the site. 
 
 At the appointed time the Rev. Geo. W. Mus- 
 grave, D. D., LL.D., accompanied by the Rev. W. 
 W. Barr, D. D., of the United Presbyterian Church, 
 ascended the foundation, and the exercises began. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Barr led in prayer. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Musgrave then spoke as follows : 
 
 " I lay this corner-stone in the name of the cov- 
 enant God of our fathers, the triune Jehovah, 
 Father, Son and Holy Ghost. On this site, kindly 
 granted for the purpose by the commissioners of 
 the Park, is to be erected a monument in commem- 
 oration of the patriotic services of the Rev. Dr. 
 John Witherspoon, a distinguished Presbyterian 
 divine, and one of the signers of the Declaration 
 of American Independence, and, we may add, the 
 only clergyman who signed that immortal docu- 
 ment. 
 
 ^' The design is also to remind the thousands — yea, 
 millions — who in the course of time will observ^e 
 the statue of that representative man, of the patri- 
 otic services of our Presbyterian fathers during the 
 Revolutionary war, and the influence they exerted 
 on the formation of our national government after 
 the model of our most excellent Presbyterian form 
 
WITHERSPOON. 13 
 
 of church government, which is both scriptural 
 and republican. 
 
 " Let us sacredly cherish the spirit of our patri- 
 otic ancestors, and preserve inviolate their princi- 
 ples of civil and religious freedom. Let us remem- 
 ber that ^ the price of liberty is eternal vigilance/ 
 and for its maintenance let us renewedly pledge 
 'our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.'" 
 
 The corner-stone having been duly laid, a pro- 
 cession was formed, and proceeded to Machinery 
 Hall, of the Centennial buildings. The Rev. Wm. 
 P. Breed, D. D., occupied the chair. After the 
 singing of the hymn, 
 
 "All hail the power of Jesus' name," 
 
 the following address was delivered by the Rev. 
 William Adams, D. D., LL.D., of New York. 
 
 THE ADDRESS. 
 
 "Not for a vain show, but for a great public 
 utility, we have laid this day the foundation of a 
 monument in honor of one of the fathers of the 
 republic. The name thus to be commemorated in 
 popular apprehension may have less familiarity and 
 brilliancy than many others in our earlier and later 
 history, but it is associated with a certain well- 
 defined influence which, in the judgment of a large 
 number of our fellow-citizens, deserves to be held 
 in everlasting remembrance. 
 
 " John \Yitherspoon, president of the College of 
 New Jersey, emigrated to this country from his 
 
14 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 native Scotland more than a century ago. He was 
 an accomplished scholar, a sound theologian, a 
 brave patriot and a zealous friend of true liberty. 
 In particular excellencies he had, probably, many 
 equals — perhaps superiors ; but in that rare combi- 
 nation of qualities which fitted him for the special 
 service which he rendered to his adopted country he 
 stands unrivaled. It was his high fortune as a del- 
 egate from the State of New Jersey to subscribe his 
 name to the Declaration of American Independence 
 and to the Articles of the National Confederation. 
 It was not, however, any one quality of his charac- 
 ter or any one signal achievement of his life which 
 has prompted so many throughout the land to rear 
 a monument bearing his name, so much as the con- 
 viction that he represents a certain element of our 
 nationality which deserves a distinct and grateful 
 recognition. 
 
 " For a believer in the unity of historic develop- 
 ment under the superintendence of one mind — the 
 only philosophic conception of history — nothing 
 can be more profitable than the study of events in 
 their continuity and interdependence. None have 
 greater need of a thorough knowledge and sober 
 judgment of their obligations to the past than the 
 people of these United States. Elated by immediate 
 success and dazzled by visions of future growth in 
 territory, population and wealth, above all nations 
 we need the balance and ballast which come from 
 a wise and rational remembrance of * the days of 
 
WITHERSPOON. 16 
 
 old, and the years of ancient times/ National 
 pride may be fanned to a flame by the high- 
 wrought descriptions of ephemeral politicians, to a 
 total oblivion of those great moral causes which 
 give to our affairs all their importance and to our 
 history all its glory. From the style of inflated 
 self-complacency with which, unfortunately, we are 
 too familiar, descriptive of the enlightened century 
 through which we are passing and the prodigious 
 country in which we live, one might suppose that 
 our American nationality was a new and sudden 
 creation, bursting upon the world like a certain 
 divinity in Grecian mythology, hatched from the 
 Ggg of Night and spreading its radiant wings on 
 universal gloom and barbarism. In fact, it was no 
 improvised achievement. It was the logical result 
 of pre-existent events. It was the growth and 
 fruitage of historic roots in ancestral lands beyond 
 the sea. We have a well-authenticated pedigree at 
 which no man can blush. We trace our national life 
 back to reforms, protests, revolutions and martyr- 
 doms which have made and marked the progress 
 of the Old World through many generations. 
 Whatever truth there may be in the words of Car- 
 lyle, expressed in his usual mannerism, ^ The best 
 thing England ever did was Oliver Cromwell,' it 
 is certain that this work was not finished when 
 Cromwell was buried in Westminster Abbey more 
 than two hundred years ago, nor when his weak 
 and incapable son afterward abdicated the Pro- 
 
16 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 tectorship. Forms may change, names may rise 
 and fade, events may advance and recede as the 
 waves of the incoming tide swing forward and 
 backward, but the English Commonwealth is work- 
 ing now as a vital force in the heart of the world ; 
 and the great men of those remote times are to-day 
 living, speaking, toiling, with greater vigor than 
 ever in advocacy of human rights on both sides of 
 the sea. 
 
 "That our American colonial life sprung from 
 religious forces is a fact too familiar to need repe- 
 tition. But these religious elements were by no 
 means homogeneous. The Puritan of England, 
 the Covenanter of Scotland, the Huguenot of 
 France, the Waldensian of Italy, the refugee from 
 Switzerland and the Netherlands, the Lutheran from 
 Germany and Sweden, trained by different pro- 
 cesses and impregnated with the qualities of the 
 different soils from Avhich they came, — each con- 
 tributed his specific part to the composition of our 
 new nationality, just as numerous metals were com- 
 bined to form the famous brass of ancient Corinth. 
 
 " The purpose for which w^e are now met suggests 
 a few thoughts concerning Scotch Presbyterianism, 
 one of those constituent elements entitled to a grate- 
 ful commemoration, as represented by the name 
 and character of John Witherspoon. Surely no 
 one will suspect me of designing to pervert this oc- 
 casion by protruding ecclesiastical preference or ap- 
 pealing to ecclesiastical prejudices. Palsied be my 
 
WITHERSPOON. 17 
 
 tongue if, at a time when it should be the aim of 
 every good citizen to fuse all minor distinctions into 
 one sentiment of American citizenship, catholic and 
 magnanimous, I should say anything by way of 
 ibstering what is sectarian and sectional ! We are 
 here as American citizens, and not exclusively as 
 Presbyterian ecclesiastics. But we cannot be blind 
 to the lessons of history. No intelligent man, what- 
 ever his convictions and preferences may be as to 
 church order and worship, would think it invidious 
 to refer to the different circumstances in which Prot- 
 estantism assumed form in Northern and Southern 
 Britain. 
 
 " Protestantism, as first organized in England, was 
 largely a political measure. It was an exchange of 
 popes with rival claims. Henry VIII. was no less 
 a pope because he bore the name of king. Never 
 was pontifical supremacy asserted in a more absolute 
 form, both in Church and State, than by this burly 
 and passionate monarch. In part a political measure, 
 and in part a religious conviction, English Protest- 
 antism took the form of a compromise, and like all 
 compromises where great interests are involved, 
 this entailed discontent, restlessness and antagonism. 
 Two parties, like Esau and Jacob, bound together 
 from their twin conception, have been struggling 
 and wrestling for the ascendency in all successive 
 stages of English history. Controversies are to-day 
 agitating courts, convocations and parliaments con- 
 cerning forms and dresses which would not have 
 2 
 
18 WITHEBSPOON. 
 
 importance enough in themselves to redeem them 
 from the category of puerilities, trifles such as were 
 described by Milton, . 
 
 * Gewgaws fetched from Aaron's old wardrobe or the flamen's 
 
 vestrj,' 
 
 if they were not understood by all parties to be the 
 symbols and badges of the old ancestral antag- 
 onism. 
 
 "Protestantism in Scotland had a different birth, 
 and so has had a different type and development. 
 It was no political expedient, born of a monarch's 
 lust, avarice and ambition. It was a rational, 
 religious conviction, and not a mere change of des- 
 potisms. The great Reformer of Scotland, John 
 Knox, educated for the Romish Church, so soon as 
 he discovered that he could not be fettered by anti- 
 quated authority, whether priestly or scholastic, by 
 one bound sprung to the ultimate principle, the 
 paramount authority of the Bible and the suprem- 
 acy of Christ above all the pretensions and assump- 
 tions of men. The sharp and irreconcilable distinc- 
 tion between these two opposite systems was caught 
 by the Scotch Reformers as by intuition. Those 
 words, ^Christ's Crown,' which Scotch Protestant- 
 ism early inscribed upon that flag which afterward 
 was borne so bravely through storm and battle, the 
 pride of lowly cottage and lordly castle, were no 
 unmeaning device. The 'lords of the congrega- 
 tion/ as the noble leaders of the movement were 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 19 
 
 significantly styled, in their first covenant bound 
 one another before the majesty of God to set 
 forth, maintain and honor the most blessed word of 
 God, in opposition to all tyranny, superstition and 
 idolatry. Here we have the key to Scottish history \ 
 for the last three hundred years — a history having ) 
 as distinct a type as Scotland's lakes and highlands. ( 
 When the crowns of England and Scotland were 
 united, many but fruitless were the attempts of the 
 English monarchy and prelacy to force their own 
 Church system upon Scotland. In the Antiquarian 
 Hall in Edinburgh there is still preserved the small ' 
 oaken stool which Jenny Geddes hurled at the head \ 
 of the dean of Edinburgh when, in obedience to [ 
 a command of his royal master, he attempted to \ 
 force the English service upon the reluctant ears of 
 an indignant people — a singular projectile, but the 
 signal shot of a great revolution, the reverberations 
 of which have not yet died out of the world. No 
 portion of modern history furnishes more interesting 
 material than Scotland in her successive struggles 
 for religious liberty. Greatly is it to be regretted 
 that the genius of Walter Scott was not in closer 
 sympathy with the Presbyterian ism of his native 
 land; but how graphically has he portrayed the 
 atrocities of Claverhouse when dragooning the 
 Covenanters! and the honesty and simplicity of 
 religious faith have been immortalized by him in 
 the character of Jeanie Deans, the one insect of a 
 swarm embalmed in a drop of amber. 
 
20 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 " We have not hazarded the assertion that even in 
 Scotland the exact and well-balanced truth as to the 
 relations of Church and State was reached at once. 
 Many of Scotland's noblest men have always main- 
 tained the obligations of the State to aid and uphold 
 the institutions of religion; but the one principle 
 running through all the divisions of her Presby- 
 terian population has been that the Church is in no 
 sense the creature of the State or dependent on its 
 power. No nation can boast of a nobler army of 
 martyrs than Scotland in defence of that principle, 
 from the days of Patrick Hamilton to the men of 
 our own times whom you and I have known and 
 admired, who with bravery and martyrdom w^orthy 
 of their ancestry gave up their churches and manses, 
 and went forth in the face of poverty and suffering, 
 rather than lower the old standard, ^ Christ's 
 Crown,' to the dictation of the civil power, thus 
 verifying the memorable words of the duke of 
 Wellington: *The battle of establishments is to be 
 fought in Scotland.' 
 
 *'Such was the land and Church from which 
 came that element of our nationality which is re- 
 called by the name of Witherspoon. It spread 
 itself Avidely, and planted itself deeply, on this 
 continent. It made a home for itself on the granite 
 hills of New England. It was strong and potent 
 in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. 
 It uttered its clarion voice in the Mecklenburg 
 Declaration. It inscribed its testimony by more 
 
WITHERSPOON. 21 
 
 tlian one hand on the Declaration of National 
 Independence. In all times of trial, in all times of 
 danger and darkness, it has proved itself a hrave 
 and trusty power. . 
 
 " Scotch granite forms a firm foundation, even if it ) 
 does not admit of so fine a polish as Italian marble. 
 Scotch Presbyterian ism has often been charged with 
 stiffness, sourness and rigidity. It must be admit- 
 ted that it is wont to hold its opinions with some- 
 what of that manner which one of its own repre- 
 sentatives has designated a ^gracious pertinacity.' 
 Sometimes it would seem as if determined to sing 
 a solo strain in the general anthem. But who ex- 
 pects the ^gnarled and unwedgeable oak' to be as 
 flexible as the osier ? Some metals do not fuse and 
 assimilate so readily as others. But the national 
 element which I describe has in it sturdy strength. 
 It is no lay-figure. It is no sham. It is not driven 
 to and fro by every wind of doctrine. It is cha- 
 racterized by downright honesty. AVe need more 
 of this Petrine quality, which is as a rock for firm- 
 ness and endurance. Should questions ever arise 
 in this country affecting its honesty and integrity, 
 whether as to the administration of government, or 
 the import and value of the national currency^ or 
 the disposal of the national debt, there will be no 
 doubt which side this portion of our popuWion 
 will espouse. Strange as it may seem, aft^r the 
 experience of ages the question of the relations of 
 Church and State is not yet settled in the Old 
 
22 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 World. On this subject Protestantism as well as 
 Vaticanism enacts its mistakes. Signs are not 
 wanting in our horizon that the question of the 
 relation of Cliurch and State will demand a new 
 discussion in this country. ^ Render unto Caesar 
 the things that are Csesar^s, and to God the things 
 that are God's.' Should the time ever come when 
 Cfesar should attempt to stretch his arm across 
 this wide distinction ; should civil government, 
 national, State or municipal, presume to lend 
 itself to what is sectarian, fumbling about our 
 schools and churches, those foundations of our 
 republic ; should the old, old question of religious 
 liberty be revived in any form by reason of the dic- 
 tation of any hierarchy, foreign or domestic, — then 
 shall we see the use and value of that particular 
 element in our nationality which we this day com- 
 memorate — a quality disciplined and toughened by 
 the sufferings of ages ; then you may be sure the 
 old blue flag of Scotch Presbyterianism — a flag 
 that was never trailed in the dust before tyranny 
 or superstition — will be in the very front of the 
 fight. 
 
 " While this occasion has demanded a special 
 reference to one form of Protestantism, with its 
 republican simplicity, the parity of its clergy, its 
 liberal patronage of schools and colleges, its ardent 
 patriotism and its firm faith in the ultimate exten- 
 sion of the Redeemer's kingdom, I do not forget 
 that this is only one part of our common heritage. 
 
WITHERSPOON. 23 
 
 I 
 
 There is no such thing as a monopoly in the fame 
 of our ancestors by any sect. As they, coming 
 from various countries and churches, joined hands 
 and hearts to found the institutions which are our 
 priceless heritage, so may we, oblivious to all un- 
 worthy and narrow distinctions, unite to transmit 
 these institutions, not only uninjured, but refined 
 and perfected, to those who shall come after us. 
 Let us lift the forms of our canonized fothers high 
 on their pedestals and often gaze on their serene 
 and beautiful features. Let us teach our children 
 to recognize their names, rehearse their deeds, to 
 catch inspiration from their great achievements 
 and copy their great examples. So long as granite 
 and bronze and marble shall perpetuate their forms 
 and features let us pledge ourselves to the promo- 
 tion of morality and religion, the life-blood of our 
 republic — to supreme faith in the word of God as 
 the only sure pledge of liberty for the whole earth, 
 and the certain promise of a time when the king- 
 doms of this world shall all acknowledge the crown 
 and supremacy of Jesus Christ'' 
 
 While Dr. Adams was speaking the storm ceased, 
 the heavy mass of clouds rolled up from the west, 
 and the sun shone out in all his glory. 
 
 At the conclusion of the oration a handsome 
 Presbyterian flag was presented by the young 
 ladies of West Spruce Street Presbyterian church 
 of Philadelphia to the Centennial Committee of the 
 
■ 
 
 / 
 
 24 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 General Assembly. It was presented by George 
 Junkin, Esq., and received by Colonel J. Ross 
 Snowden, chairman of the committee. The flag 
 was made of bhie silk, edged with a crimson fringe, 
 these being the old colors of the Scotch Covenanters. 
 On the field is a large star, representing the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, composed of 
 thirty-six small stars, representing the thirty-six 
 synods of the Presbyterian Church. These synods 
 correspond to our State governments, which are 
 represented by the stars on the United States flag, 
 and their union in the General Assembly corre- 
 sponds with the union of States in Congress. 
 
 THE UNVEILING. 
 
 On Thursday evening, the 19th of October, 1876, 
 the Synod of Philadelphia assembled for its eighty- 
 eighth annual meeting, in the Bethany Presbyterian 
 church, in the cit}^ of Philadelphia, a little less 
 than a month before the closing of the memorable 
 Centennial Exhibition. 
 
 This synod was now virtually not eighty-eight, 
 but one hundred and seventy years old, for as 
 early as the year 1706 the organization of the 
 original Presbytery of Philadelphia took place. 
 This body was then presbytery, synod and Gene- 
 ral Assembly all in one. 
 
 For ten years the presbytery grew in numbers, 
 and in the year 1716 it resolved itself into the 
 Synod of Philadelphia, and divided itself by formal 
 
WITHERSPOON. 26 
 
 action into four presbyteries, though, in fact, only- 
 three of the four presbyteries were organized. The 
 synod continued to grow and divide and reunite, 
 with change of name as well as of fortunes, until, 
 in tlie year 1788, it resumed its old name, which it 
 has since retained. 
 
 Out of the original Synod of Philadelphia have 
 grown all our synods, to the number now of thirty- 
 seven. Last year the number of States in our 
 republic was thirty-seven and the number of our 
 synods was thirty-six. This Centennial year the 
 republic has added tiie State of Colorado, and our 
 Church has added the Synod of Columbia. It is 
 by no means disagreeable to us, as Presbyterians, 
 to recognize even such casual analogies as this, 
 among the many much more significant, between 
 our ecclesiastical republic and that of the nation. 
 
 One hundred years ago our ancestral synod sat in 
 the city of Philadelphia, side by side with the ever- 
 memorable Continental Congress. Among the mem- 
 bers of the synod were Dr. George Duffield, who 
 acted as chaplain in the Congress ; Dr. James 
 Sproat, of ripe scholarship and large theological 
 knowledge ; Dr. John Ewing, in 1 779 provost of 
 the University of Pennsylvania, and '^ capable of 
 supplying any professor's place at a moment's 
 warning ;" Dr. Patrick Alison, the Reverend John 
 Craighead, the Reverend John Brainerd, and the 
 Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon, who not long 
 after passed into the Congress of the United States, 
 
26 WITHERSPOOK 
 
 where he contluued six years, one of its ablest, most 
 useful and patriotic members. 
 
 An interesting and very significant incident is 
 recorded of this meeting of the synod. It had 
 adjourned in 1775 to meet in Philadelphia on the 
 third Wednesday, the 15th of May. It did not 
 meet, however, until the fourth Wednesday, May 
 22d. For, as we read in the records, "the Conti- 
 nental Congi'ess having appointed a general fast to 
 be kept on the loth of this instant, several members 
 from different presbyteries applied to the moderator, 
 requesting him to give public notice for the post- 
 poning of the meeting of the synod until the fourth 
 Wednesday of this month, in order that the minis- 
 ters might attend with their congregrations on said 
 fast-day, with which the moderator complied ; and 
 accordingly, the synod have now convened; and, 
 how^ever, the synod judge and declare, that the 
 synodical moderator has not authority, either with 
 or without the concurrence of particular members, 
 to alter the time of meeting to which the synod 
 stands adjourned, yet, in the present extraordinary 
 case, they approve of what the moderator has 
 done." Such being the record of our ancestral 
 synod, it seemed to the committee obviously proper 
 that the Synod of Philadelphia, within whose pres- 
 ent bounds sat the Continental Congress in which 
 Dr. Witherspoon, the great representative Presby- 
 terian patriot and statesman, served his country 
 and won his fame, should take a chief part in the 
 
WITHERSPOON. 27 
 
 crowning ceremonies of this monumental enter- 
 prise. 
 
 With this reason others concurred for fixing upon 
 this time as the latest to which the ceremonies could 
 be postponed. 
 
 In view of all the facts, the committee appointed 
 Friday the 20th of Novepiber as the day for the 
 completion of the enterprise. The needful arrange- 
 ments were accordingly made. Invitations were 
 sent to various synods then in session, to the trustees 
 and faculties of Princeton College and Theological 
 Seminary, and a general invitation to all Presbyte- 
 rians, of every name, to assemble at the Chambers 
 Presbyterian church, Philadelphia, on Friday the 
 20th of October, at eleven o'clock A. M. Invita- 
 tions were also sent to his Honor, the Mayor of 
 Philadelphia, the Common and Select Councils, the 
 Fairmount Park Commission and the United States 
 Centennial Commission to be present on the occasion. 
 
 It was a gratifying fact that the 
 
 SYNOD OF CENTKAL NEW YORK 
 
 took voluntary action in the matter, passing a paper 
 of Christian and fraternal salutation, and sending 
 it to the Synod of Philadelphia by the hand of the 
 Reverend James Gardiner, member of the Presby- 
 tery of St. Lawrence. The action of the synod was 
 as follows : 
 
 '' The Synod of Central New York, now in ses- 
 sion at Watertown, desires to send its cordial Chris- 
 
.28 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 tian greeting to the sister Synod of Philadelphia, 
 about to convene in that city. 
 
 " We make grateful mention of all your services 
 rendered to the cause and kingdom of our beloved 
 Lord in the generations that are past. We congratu- 
 late you on the accomplishment of the undertaking 
 that perpetuates the name and fame of Witherspoon, 
 and unite with you in loyalty to the Presbyterian 
 Church, and to a country and Constitution which 
 bear her image and superscription. 
 
 '' Brethren : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with you all. Amen. 
 
 "Done in .synod, at Watertown, N. Y., this eigh- 
 teenth day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
 six. 
 
 *^ David Tully, Moderator. 
 "E. N. Manley, Stated Clerk:' 
 
 THE SYNOD OF BALTIMORE 
 
 placed the following record upon its minutes: 
 
 " The synod having received an invitation to be 
 present at the unveiling of the statue of Dr. 
 Witherspoon at the Centennial grounds on the 20th 
 of October, the following reply was returned : 
 
 "The Synod of Baltimore gratefully acknow- 
 ledges the kind and cordial invitation of Reverend 
 Dr. Musgrave, chairman of the Witherspoon Com- 
 mittee, to be present at the unveiling of the statue 
 of Dr. Witherspoon, and will be happy to accept 
 the same, if the business of the synod permit." 
 
WITHEESPOON. 29 
 
 THE SYNOD OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 The Rev. J. Addison Heniy, having been ap- 
 pointed by the Centennial Executive Committee of 
 the Presbyterian General Assembly to invite the 
 Synod of New Jersey to attend at the ceremonies 
 at the unveiling of the Witherspoon monument in 
 Fairmount Park, on Friday, 20th Oct., appeared 
 before the synod at Elizabeth, N. J., on Wednes- 
 day morning, and gave, in the name of the com- 
 mittee, a most cordial invitation. Whereupon the 
 venerable Dr. Charles Hodge, of the Princeton 
 Theological Seminary, and Dr. H. C. Cameron, 
 professor in Princeton College, were appointed a 
 committee to introduce a minute expressing the 
 mind of the synod upon the subject. The minute, 
 which was unanimously adopted, is as follows : 
 
 " Whereas, The Centennial Committee of the 
 General Assembly has invited the Synod of New 
 Jersey to be present at the unveiling of the statue 
 of the R-ev. John Witherspoon, D. D., at Philadel- 
 phia, on Friday, the 20th inst. ; and 
 
 " Whereas, Dr. Witherspoon, an active patriot 
 in the Revolution, a member of the Continental 
 Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, was the president of the College of New 
 Jersey, and an eminent and influential minister 
 within the bounds of the Synod of New Jersey ; 
 therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That the thanks of this synod be 
 
30 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 tendered to the committee for their very cordial 
 invitation ; and that when this synod adjourns, it 
 adjourns to meet in the Tabernacle church, in 
 Philadelphia, at 11 A. M., on Friday the 20th inst., 
 to attend the services to which it has been invited. 
 "Chakles Hodge, 
 " Henry C. Cameron." 
 
 the synod of philadelphia. 
 
 The Synod of Philadelphia, at its session in 
 Reading in 1874, passed the follow^ing paper: 
 
 " The Synod of Philadelphia having learned of 
 the project of the General Assembly's Centennial 
 Committee to secure the erection of a statue of the 
 Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., LL.D., member of 
 the Congress that passed the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, an eloquent advocate of the instrument, 
 and the only clergyman who took part in the 
 deliberations of that memorable body, 
 
 " Resolvedy That we cordially approve of this 
 measure as a fitting tribute to the personal worth 
 and efficient services of this eminent man in the 
 cause of American freedom, as an appropriate 
 memorial of the ardent and active patriotism of 
 the Presbyterians of the country throughout our 
 arduous Revolutionary struggle, and as a symbol 
 of the beautiful harmony subsisting between the 
 principles and forms of government in our Church 
 on the one hand and our nation on the other. 
 
 " Resolved, That we earnestly commend this en- 
 
WITHERSPOOK 81 
 
 terprise to the patriotic sympathy and liberality of 
 all the various branches of the Presbyterian Church 
 in our country. 
 
 ^' Resolved J That the stated clerk of the synod 
 be requested to secure the publication of the above 
 resolutions in as many as possible of the religious 
 newspapers of the v^arious bodies of Presbyterians 
 in our land." 
 
 On the evening of Thursday, October 19th, the 
 synod opened its meeting in the Bethany Presby- 
 terian church, Philadelphia, and the E,ev. William 
 P. Breed, D. D., was elected moderator by acclama- 
 tion. A paper was presented to the synod from 
 the General Assembly's Centennial Committee, 
 stating the reasons for fixing upon Friday, the 20th, 
 as the day for the unveiling, and requesting the 
 synod to attend in a body and appoint their mod- 
 erator to preside and conduct the exercises of the 
 day. The synod accordingly adjourned to meet 
 on Friday, the 20th instant, at 9 o'clock A. M., in 
 the Chambers Presbyterian church, on Broad street 
 below Chestnut. 
 
 At the appointed time and place the synod met, 
 and transacted business until half after eleven 
 o'clock. In the mean time the i»ynod of New 
 Jersey assembled in the Tabernacle Presbyterian 
 church, on Broad street above Chestnut. 
 
 At half-past eleven o'clock a very large number 
 of gentlemen formed in line on Broad street. The 
 order of procession was as follows : 
 
32 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 The St. Andrew's Society, 
 
 The General Assembly's Centennial Committee, 
 
 The moderators of the two Synods, 
 
 The Synod of New Jersey, 
 
 The Witherspoon Literary Society, 
 
 The Synod of Philadelj^hia, 
 
 Clergymen, ruling elders and laymen. 
 
 The long line moved up Broad street to the 
 depot of the Philadelphia and Reading Raih'oad, 
 and taking its cars proceeded to the site of the 
 monument. 
 
 AT THE SITE. 
 
 Upon reaching the site of the monument, the 
 Rev. William P. Breed, D. D., moderator of the 
 Synod of Philadelphia, assisted by the Rev. Thomas 
 McCauley, moderator of the Synod of New Jer- 
 sey, took charge of and conducted the exercises. 
 
 The vast assemblage was called to order at one 
 o'clock, and prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. 
 George AY. Musgrave, after which Rev. "W. O. John- 
 stone, D. D., announced the following psalm : 
 
 " All people that on earth do dwell, 
 
 Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. 
 Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell; 
 Come ye before him and rejoice. 
 
 " Know that the Lord is God indeed, 
 Without our aid he did us make ; 
 We are his flock, he doth us feed, 
 And for his sheep he doth us take. 
 
WITHEBSPOON. 33 
 
 " Oh, enter, then, his gates with praise, 
 Approach with joy his courts unto; 
 Praise, laud and bless his name always, 
 For it is seemly so to do. 
 
 " Because the Lord our God is good, 
 His mercy is for ever sure ; 
 His truth at all times firmly stood, 
 And shall from age to age endure." 
 
 The psalm was sung by the entire multitude, 
 after which the Rev. J. B. Dales, D. D., read the 
 following 
 
 SCRIPTURE SELECTIONS. 
 
 " Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all 
 generations. From everlasting to everlasting, thou 
 art God. Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, 
 and thy memorial is throughout all generations. 
 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy 
 name, for thou only art holy ? For all nations shall 
 come and worship thee. 
 
 *' We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers 
 have told us what work thou didst in their days 
 in the times of old ; how thou didst drive out the 
 heathen with thine hand and plantedst them ; how 
 thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. 
 For they got not the land in possession by their 
 own sword, neither did their own arms save them ; 
 but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of 
 thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto 
 them. The Lord hath done great things for us, 
 whereof we are glad. 
 
34 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 "And thou slialt remember all the way which the 
 Lord thy God led thee, and thou shalt keep the 
 commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in 
 his ways and to fear him. For the Lord thy God 
 bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of 
 water, of fountains and depths that spring, and of 
 valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley and 
 vines and fig trees and pomegranates ; a land of oil- 
 olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat 
 bread without scarceness, and thou shalt not lack 
 any thing in it ; a land whose stones are iron, and 
 out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass. When 
 thou hast eaten and art full, then shalt thou bless 
 the Lord thy God for the good land which he giveth 
 thee, and beware that thou forget not the Lord thy 
 God in not keeping his commandments and his 
 judgments and his statutes, and thou say in thine 
 heart. My poicer and my might and mine hand hath 
 gotten me this wealth. But thou slialt remember the 
 Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power 
 to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, 
 which he sware unto thy fathers. Happy art thou, 
 O Israel ! Who is like unto thee, O people, saved 
 by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the 
 sword of thine excellency ? And thine enemies shall 
 be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon 
 their high places. 
 
 " The spirit of the Lord spake by me ; the God of 
 Israel said. He that ruleth over men must be just, 
 ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the 
 
WITIIERSrOON. 35 
 
 Uglit of the morninj]^ when the .sun riscth, even a 
 morning without clouds, as the tender grass spring- 
 eth out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 
 The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 
 His lieart is established ; lie shall not be afraid 
 until he see his desire on his enemies; his horn shall 
 be exalted with honor. Kid me and deliver me 
 from the hand of strange children whose mouth 
 speaketh vanity and their right liand is a right hand 
 of falsehood, and let the righteous be exalted. That 
 our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; 
 that our daughters may be as corner-stones polished 
 after the similitude of a palace; that our garners 
 may be full, affording all manner of store; that our 
 sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands 
 in our streets; that our oxen may be strong to labor; 
 that there be no breaking in nor giving out; that 
 there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is 
 that people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that 
 people wdiose God is the Lord. 
 
 " Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who 
 only doeth wondrous things, and blessed be his 
 glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be 
 filled with his glory. 
 
 *' Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, 
 the only wise God, be honor and glory, for ever and 
 ever. Amen.'' 
 
36 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EFFORT. 
 
 The Rev. Henry C. McCook then gave a history 
 of the effort to erect the monument. As introduc- 
 tory to the narrative of Mr. McCook it is proper 
 that the following statement be made : 
 
 In the summer of 1874 an article from his pen 
 in the Presbyterian suggested the erection of a 
 statue to Dr. Witherspoon. This suggestion was 
 the seed-thought of the enterprise that culminated 
 in the statue on Lansdowne Drive. The paragraph 
 caught the eye and arrested the attention of Dr. 
 Breed, a member of the General Assembly's Centen- 
 nial Committee. Meeting with the Rev. Dr. H. A. 
 Boardman, another member of this committee, at 
 Atlantic City, in July of that year, he repeated to 
 him the suggestion ; and so prompt and earnest was 
 the response that Dr. Breed determined to bring 
 the subject before the Centennial Committee at its 
 first meeting in the fall. But for the cordiality of 
 Dr. Boardman's response to the suggestion, it is 
 probable that no action w^ould have been taken in 
 the matter. 
 
 The narrative of Mr. McCook is as follows : 
 
 " On Monday the 20th of May, 1872, at the morn- 
 ing session of the General Assembly, then meeting 
 in the Fort Street church, Detroit, Michigan, the 
 Hon. J. Ross Snowden, LL.D., ruling elder from 
 the Presbytery of Philadelphia North, introduced 
 certain resolutions with regard to the observance 
 of the centennial anniversary of American inde- 
 
WITHEBSPOON. 37 
 
 pendenec, which were placed upon the docket. 
 This action proved to be the origin of those patri- 
 otic efforts which are crowned and consummated 
 in the celebration of this day. 
 
 " Eight days after, Tuesday afternoon, May 28th, 
 the paper referred to in this minute was taken from 
 the docket and was adopted and read thus : 
 
 " ^ TF/icreas, The Presbyterian Cimrch, wherever 
 it has been established, has been the firm and de- 
 voted friend of civil and religious liberty, and in 
 our land has supported the principles upon which 
 our free institutions have been so happily established 
 and maintained ; and 
 
 ^"]Vhe7'eas, Measures have already been taken, 
 and others are in progress and in contemplation, to 
 celebrate at Philadelphia, Penna., the Centennial 
 Anniversary of the independence of the United 
 States; and 
 
 " ' Whereas, It may be expedient and appropriate 
 that the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
 of America should take some part in celebrating 
 that great national epoch ; therefore, 
 
 '^ ' Besolvedj That a committee of thirteen be ap- 
 pointed to take this subject into consideration, and 
 make a report thereon to the next General Assem- 
 bly for its consideration, and for such action thereon 
 as may then be deemed proper.' 
 
 " Whereupon a committee was appointed consist- 
 ing of the following named gentlemen : James 
 Ross Snowden, AYalter H. Lowrie, George Junkin, 
 
38 WITHEESPOON. 
 
 George W. Musgrave, Alexander Sproull, Henry 
 A. Boardman, \yilliam P. Breed, J. Addison 
 Henry, William E. Schenck, George Hale, Alfred 
 Kevin, Stephen W. Dana and William A. Porter. 
 
 " Thus four years and a half ago, when yonder 
 International Exhibition had scarcely a following 
 outside of Pennsylvania and Xew Jersey, the Pres- 
 byterian Church took her stand side by side with 
 the men whose faith, courage, foresight, zeal and 
 liberality have made the centennial of independ- 
 ence one of the noblest triumphs of the citizen of 
 the American Republic. 
 
 " This committee of thirteen (a fit and suggestive 
 number !) has thus far achieved these things: 
 
 "1. The ingathering of a vast number of dis- 
 courses, giving the local history of churches in our 
 denomination. 
 
 "2. The securing of a fund for the permanent 
 establishment of the American Presbyterian His- 
 torical Society. 
 
 "3. The collection of orations and historical 
 papers prepared by distinguished members of the 
 church at the invitation of the General Assembly, 
 which are soon to be issued in a memorial volume 
 by our Board of Publication.* 
 
 '^ The first meeting of the Centennial Committee 
 following the summer of 1874 was held October 
 5th, at 1 334 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. The min- 
 utes of this meeting contain the following record : 
 ^ Centennial Historical Discourses. Price, $1.50. 
 
WITHEBSPOON. 39 
 
 " Dr. Breed suggested tlie erection of a statue to 
 Dr. Witlierspoon, one of the signers of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence, to be unveiled at the time 
 of the Centennial celebration in 1876. Remarks 
 were made on the subject by Drs. Boardman, Mus- 
 grave and others. 
 
 " On motion, Dr. Breed and the Hon. J. Ross 
 Snowden were appointed a committee to ascertain 
 the cost of such a statue, and to gather any addi- 
 tional information on the subject. 
 
 "At the next meeting, held on October 8th, this 
 committee made a report, which was adopted, a 
 public meeting with reference to the subject was 
 recommended, the enterprise commended to the co- 
 operation and liberality of the churches, and the 
 Rev. H. A. Boardman, D. D., was added to the 
 committee and requested to act as chairman. At a 
 subsequent meeting the Rev. J. Addison Henry 
 was added to the sub-committee, and also the Rev. 
 J. B. Dales, D. D., and Mr. John Alexander, ruling 
 elder in the United Presbyterian church. 
 
 " December the 7th, Strickland Kneass, Esq., 
 and Mr. John McArthur, Jr., were unanimously 
 requested to act with the committee ' on all matters 
 relating to the Witlierspoon monument, that the 
 committee might have the benefit of their counsel 
 and large experience.' 
 
 " To this sub-committee, consisting of Rev. Dr. 
 Boardman, Dr. Breed, the Rev. J. Addison Henry, 
 the Rev. Dr. Dales, the Hon. J. Ross Snowden, 
 
40 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 Mr. John Alexander, Strickland Kneass, Esq , 
 and Mr. John McArthur, Jr., was assigned the 
 duty of carrying out the views of the committee of 
 thirteen, and of securing the erection of the monu- 
 ment. On September 20, 1875, Dr. Boardman 
 resigned his place on the sub-committee, and the 
 Rev. Dr. Musgrave was chosen in his stead. 
 
 " The Rev. George Hale, D. D., was chosen trea- 
 surer of the Witherspoon memorial fund. 
 
 "On Thursday evening, January 14, 1875, a 
 public meeting was held at the Assembly Rooms, 
 1334 Chestnut street. Two hundred invitations 
 were issued, and in response about twenty persons 
 were present. The Hon. W. A. Porter took the 
 chair, and made an excellent address on the charac- 
 ter and services of Dr. Witherspoon. Other address- 
 es were made, and among them a brief one full of 
 enthusiasm by Christian J. Hoffman, Esq., who 
 pledged himself for the sum of $500 for the statue. 
 
 "On Tuesday evening, January 25, 1875, a pub- 
 lic meeting \vas held in the Tenth Presbyterian 
 church, at which the Hon. Isaac Gordon, of the 
 Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, presided. The 
 meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Wm. 
 Blackwood, D. D. On taking the chair. Judge 
 Gordon said : 
 
 "' Only as we appreciate our illustrious spiritual 
 ancestors do we render ourselves worthy of them. 
 "As are our gods, so shall we be.'' Upon this 
 principle, and not alone for mere adoration, the 
 
WITHERSPOON. 41 
 
 Koman kept in his house a shrine for liis household 
 divinity/ Judge Gordon spoke of Witherspoon as, 
 both in his native country and in this of liis adop- 
 tion, a memorable exemplar of the gospel of which 
 he was a minister. He was an advocate, not only of 
 gospel truth, but of civil liberty. It is well to secure 
 for the generations to come some visible memorial of 
 one in whom religion was so united with patriotism. 
 
 ''The Rev. James McCosh, D. D., LL.D., a 
 successor of Withersjioon in the presidency of 
 Princeton College, was then introduced and made 
 an able address, in which (as briefly reported by the 
 daily press) he said : 
 
 " ' The Puritan was willing to undergo any amount 
 of suffering ; the Covenanter, on the contrary, did 
 not choose that it should come upon him. Wither- 
 spoon was the descendant of the great Scotch Re- 
 former, John Knox. Froude has shown that not 
 only was John Knox a brave and courageous man, 
 but a perfect gentleman. In England the whole of 
 the Reformation cause would have been in great 
 danger had it not been for that heroic man. John 
 Welsh was married to a daughter of John Knox. A 
 daughter of this lady married a Mr. Witherspoon, 
 who had a son, a minister, and that son was the 
 heroic Dr. Witherspoon, who became president of 
 the College of New Jersey in 1768, and died near 
 Princeton, September 15, 1794. He communicated 
 a method to the system of tuition and sent forth 
 a large number of distinguished students.' 
 
42 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 " Dr. McCosh thought the hand of John Wither- 
 spoon could be traced in our Constitution. He sat 
 in Princeton while the bullets flew around him, but 
 he evinced no fear whatever. He kept up the hearts 
 of the people even when the days were darkest. 
 The speaker was glad to find that the people of 
 Philadelphia had determined to give this distin- 
 guished man a place in the Centennial Exhibition. 
 He thought the whole country would commend 
 them for this work. 
 
 " Other public meetings were held. Circulars by 
 thousands were distributed ; wood-cuts representing 
 the statue were prepared, and appeared in a very 
 large number of our religious and other newspapers. 
 
 " A historical discourse on ' Presbyterians and the 
 Revolution,' presenting the subject of the monu- 
 ment, was delivered by Dr. Breed in more than 
 seventy pulpits from Roslyn, L. I., on the east, to 
 Steubenville, Ohio, on the west, in Pittsburg, Wilkes- 
 Barre and other intermediate places. The discourse 
 was also delivered before the General Assembly, at 
 its request, during its session in the Tabernacle 
 church in Brooklyn in May, 1876. Dr. Breed pre- 
 sented the cause also in ten synods and presbyteries. 
 Three subscriptions of one thousand dollars each 
 were made, one by the Hon. D. W. Woods of Lewis- 
 town, Pa., a grandson of Dr. Witherspoon, another 
 by James Lennox, Esq., of INTew York, and an- 
 other by the Hon. Thomas A. Scott of Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
WITHEESPOON. 43 
 
 "In January, 1875, the sub-committee addressed 
 a note to Mr. J. A. Bailly, sculptor, stating that while 
 they were unable to make any formal contract, as 
 they had not the pecuniary means in hand yet, if 
 he was willing to go forward with the statue, they 
 would do all in their power to secure the money 
 to remunerate him for his work. Mr. Bailly ex- 
 pressed his willingness, with this understanding, to 
 proceed with the work. 
 
 '' On June 29, 1875, Mr. Bailly announced to the 
 committee that the model was ready for casting. 
 A large number of ministers went together from 
 the Ministerial Association to inspect the model, 
 and gave it their unanimous and cordial approval. 
 The model was then placed in the hands of Messrs. 
 Robert Wood & Sons, of this city ; and after seven 
 months' labor the statue appeared in bronze, and 
 was placed on exhibition on the 1st of February, 
 1876. 
 
 " That the monument has not been standing here 
 complete during the entire period of the Centennial 
 Exhibition is the fault neither of the artist nor the 
 bronze-founder. It was in the hands of the com- 
 mittee in April last. It was the original intention 
 to unveil the statue in the presence of the General 
 Assembly last spring. The committee wisely de- 
 clined to arrange for the ceremony until the cost of 
 the work had been more nearly covered by subscrip- 
 tions to the fund. However, on the 16th IN'ov., 
 1875, the corner-stone was laid with suitable 
 
44 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 rites. The day was inclement; but in spite of 
 stormy wind, rain, mist and mud, the corner-stone 
 was laid by Dr. Musgrave, chairman of the Monu- 
 ment Fund Committee, ^ in the name of the cove- 
 nant God of our fathers, the triune Jehovah, Father, 
 Sou and Holy Ghost.' The company then sought 
 refuge in Machinery Hall, where a masterly oration 
 was delivered by Dr. William Adams of New York. 
 
 " In the mean time, the committee had energetic- 
 ally pressed the collection of money, and early in 
 the summer saw their way clear to arrange for 
 the exercises of this day. 
 
 " The history of this statue has a postscrijyt. Tra- 
 dition accredits the ladies with a happy knack at 
 that sort of appendix, and so the postscript has 
 been written by them. It reads thus : ^ We have 
 been asked to secure three thousand dollars in order 
 to complete the monument fund. Those men — 
 poor fellows ! — while living, w^e have to help them 
 out of all manner of troubles and up to all manner 
 of triumphs, and when they are dead and are to 
 be helped to a pillar of granite, they need us quite 
 as much.' 
 
 " The ladies accordingly assembled at the Assem- 
 bly Room, 1334 Chestnut street, in June, 1876, and 
 organized a ladies' Witherspoon auxiliary commit- 
 tee. Mrs. David Haddock, Jr., was elected presi- 
 dent, Mrs. Mary M. Patterson secretary, and Miss 
 Rachel Wetherill treasurer. As Miss Wetherill 
 left the city in the summer of 1876 for Europe, 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 45 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Ferguson was chosen treasurer in 
 her place. 
 
 " The kulies of the auxiliary set to work with 
 characteristic energy, and this evening, with the co- 
 operation of this goodly company, it is hoped that 
 their postscript to this epistle on the Witherspoon 
 statue will be happily ended at the festival in 
 Bethany Plall in this wise : * Thank you ; the 
 monument fund is complete. Witherspoon stands 
 upon his pedestal " owing no man anything.'' ' 
 
 " As this history has a postscript, so also it has a 
 ^summary.' You remember the famous saying of 
 Louis XIV. of France, ' Uetat, c^est moi^ — the 
 State, it is myself. There is one man upon this 
 platform who might with far greater truth and pro- 
 jiriety say, * The statue-history? it is myself!' 
 His modesty would forbid the shadow of such a 
 thought, just as it has prompted him to write to 
 your speaker that his name must in nowise be 
 mentioned in this connection, or mentioned only in 
 the most cursory manner. Nay, verily! That 
 would be like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left 
 out, or like the story of the Revolution with Wash- 
 ington left out, or like the history of independence 
 with the Presbyterians left out. Others have in- 
 deed had a becoming part in this work, and to them 
 are due the thanks which we gladly give them. 
 But their part has been secondary. If there be 
 anything of credit to our patriotism and our Pres- 
 byterianism in the act of this day — if there be any 
 
46 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 honor to those who have wrought this consummation 
 — that credit has been won by and that honor is due 
 to the admirable patriot, Presbyterian pastor and 
 preacher, William P. Breed. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, we have here commemo- 
 rated the courage, pluck and self-denial of the men 
 of the Eevolution. But if you knew the inner 
 history of the efforts to raise the money for this 
 monument, you would be ready to declare that in 
 genuine grit and perseverance of the saints the 
 ministers of to-day, as represented by our beloved 
 brother and friend, are in no whit behind the chief- 
 est of the fathers. He has been the Atlas of this 
 Witherspoon statue, carrying it upon his slioulders 
 to this date. He will be the happiest and proudest 
 man in Philadelphia if your liberality this day and 
 night shall enable him to lay it aside and sleep in 
 peace." 
 
 The Rev. Stephen W. Dana, secretary of the 
 Centennial Committee, then announced the follow- 
 ing hymn : 
 
 Great God of nations, now to thee 
 
 Our hymn of gratitude we raise ; 
 With liumble heart and bending knee 
 
 "We offer thee our song of praise. 
 
 Tliy name we bless, almighty God ! 
 
 For all the kindness thou hast shown 
 To this fair land the pilgrims trod — 
 
 This land we fondly call our own. 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 4!J 
 
 Here Freedom spreads lier banner wide, 
 And casts her soft and hallowed ray ; 
 
 Here thou our fothers' steps did guide 
 In safety through their dangerous way. 
 
 Great God ! preserve ns in thy fear ; 
 
 In dangers still our guardian be; 
 Oh, spread thy truth's bright precepts here ; 
 
 Let all the people worship thee. 
 
 THE CONTENTS OF THE CORNEE-STONE 
 
 were stated by the Rev. Samuel Irena^us Prime, 
 D. D., one of the earliest and warmest friends of 
 the enterprise, who then added : 
 
 *' Beneath this statue we ])iit these documents, in 
 hope that they will remain undisturbed through all 
 the coming changes of time. But if, in the revo- 
 lutions of succeeding ages, or by some convulsion 
 shaking the solid earth, they should have a resur- 
 rection in some future generation, these silent 
 papers shall wake up to tell those who come after 
 us what the men were of this first Centennial year, 
 when they raised this monument to the man and 
 the men who laid the corner-stone of American 
 independence. God grant that the next and each 
 succeeding Centennial may rejoice in the United 
 States united still, intelligent, righteous and free, 
 our beloved Church stretcliing unbroken, the glory 
 of the Lord upon her, over the North and the 
 South, the East and West, and the knowledge of 
 the Lord filling the whole earth from the rising to 
 
48 WITHEESPOON. 
 
 the setting sun. Then He whose right it is shall 
 reign, and the kingdom and dominion, and the 
 greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, 
 shall be given to the people of saints of the Most 
 High. Even so come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 
 The Rev. Wm. E. Schenck, D. D., of the Cen- 
 tennial Committee, gave the following 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE STATUE. 
 
 "The statue is of colossal size. Its height is 
 about twelve feet six inches. The committee deter- 
 mined upon this size in preference to the heroic or 
 the life size, in order that the statue might be im- 
 pressive and imposing even under the dwarfing ef- 
 fects of nature's surrounding magnitudes, trees, hill 
 and skies. Request was made of the artist, Mr. J. A. 
 Bailly, that in handling the subject he would make 
 the civilian prominent, since it was Dr. Wither- 
 spoon's service as a civilian that chiefly demanded 
 this monumental recognition, and yet that the 
 clergyman should also be distinctly indicated. How 
 happily he has responded to our request you will 
 soon have an opportunity of seeing. He has hab- 
 ited the subject in the picturesque costume of that 
 olden time — the ample coat and vest, the neat cam- 
 bric neckerchief, the short clothes and low shoes, 
 and hung the Geneva gown in exceedingly graceful 
 folds from the shoulder. The committee cannot 
 doubt that you will agree with them that, in accu- 
 racy of portrait, in vivacity of expression^ iri e^y 
 
STATUE OF JOHN WITHERSPOON. 
 
 In Fairviount Park, Philadelphia. 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 49 
 
 gracefulness of position, Mr. Bailly has left us very 
 little to desire. The statue contains about five 
 thousands pounds of bronze. The production of 
 the model cost the artist some six months of thought 
 and toil, and some seven months more were spent in 
 putting it into bronze. 
 
 " On careful inspection of the statue you will, we 
 think, conclude that in this branch of workman- 
 ship, as in so many others, America is asserting her 
 equality with, if not her superiority over, the older 
 nations of the world, and that while the bronze- 
 foundry of Robert Wood & Sons remains in Phila- 
 delphia, to send our models to Munich to be 
 embodied in bronze is a poorly remunerative pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 "The committee would take this occasion to 
 express their high appreciation of Mr. Bailly's 
 uniform politeness in his intercourse with them, his 
 courteousness in complying with their suggestions, 
 and his exceeding patience with them in their tar- 
 diness in meeting their pecuniary obligation to 
 him. 
 
 " The statue stands on a pedestal of granite 
 twelve feet in height, and the total cost was eighteen 
 thousand dollars." 
 
 THE EECITAL OF THE INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 on the monument was then given as follows by the 
 Rev. Wm. M. Paxton, D. D., of Xew York : 
 "On the east side: ^John Witherspoon, D.D., 
 
 4 
 
50 WITHEBSPOON. 
 
 LL.D., a lineal descendant of John Knox, born in 
 Scotland February 5, 1722; ordained minister in the 
 Presbyterian Church, 1745; president of the Col- 
 lege of New Jersey, 1768-1794. The only clergy- 
 man in the Continental Congress ; a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence; died at Princeton, 
 N. J., Iv'ovember 15, 1794.' 
 
 *^ On the west side : ^ This statue is erected under 
 the authority of a committee appointed by the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the 
 United States of America, July 4, 1876.' 
 
 " On the south side : ^ Proclaim liberty through- 
 out all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. 
 Lev. XX. 10.' 
 
 " On the north side : ^ For my own part, of pro- 
 perty I have some, of reputation more ; that repu- 
 tation is staked, that property is pledged, on the 
 issue of this contest. And although these gray 
 hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would 
 infinitely rather that they should descend thither 
 by the hand of the executioner than desert at this 
 crisis the sacred cause of my country. — Dr. Wither- 
 spoon.' " 
 
 Just as Dr. Paxton pronounced the word country 
 the Hon. D. AY. Woods of Lewistown, Pa., a grand- 
 son of Dr. Witherspoon, pulled a cord, and the flag 
 which had enveloped the statue fell, suddenly ex- 
 posing to view the colossal form of Witherspoon. 
 A thrill of surprise and admiration ran through 
 the crowd. The speaker was for the moment for- 
 
WITHERSPOON. 51 
 
 gotten, and shouts of applause rent the air. When 
 quiet was restored, Dr. Paxton proceeded as follows : 
 
 " That monument may })erish, but this sentiment 
 (of Witherspoon's) will live for ever. As the re- 
 ward of that act (his signature to the Declaration 
 of Independence) he expected the executioner's axe, 
 but instead of this he has found the sculptor's 
 chisel. He staked his reputation upon the issue of 
 that crisis, and has won immortality. He staked 
 his property, and he himself has become the prop- 
 erty of his countrymen. 
 
 " We have now lifted the veil to let the old hero 
 look out on the progress of a century. If he could 
 at this moment stand here alive, with what amaze- 
 ment would he gaze upon this scene ! The infant 
 which they cradled in Independence Hall has 
 sprung into a giant. Whilst other nations have 
 reached their maturity by a slow growth of from 
 five to ten centuries, this nation has sprung into its 
 present greatness as by a single bound in the short 
 space of a single century. With what wonder 
 would he look out upon this Centennial scene! 
 Great Britain, standing no longer in hostile array, 
 is vicing with us in the arts of peace ; Egypt, the 
 oldest of nations, is offering her morning salutation 
 to America, youngest of nations ; whilst all the 
 other nations of the earth are sitting at our feet to 
 learn the arts of progress. 
 
 "But there is one other inscription yet to be 
 placed upon this pedestal. It will read thus : ^ This 
 
52 WITEERSPOON. 
 
 pedestal, the gift of the Presbyterian women of 
 Philadelphia and vicinity/ When this inscription 
 is completed, this monument will become an annex 
 of the Women's Department as an exhibition of 
 women's work. God bless the women ! If they 
 are not first in war, they are always first in peace 
 and first in the hearts of their countrymen." 
 
 The Pev. J. Addison Henry, of the Sub-com- 
 mittee, then gave out the following hymn, which 
 was sung with great enthusiasm by the multitude : 
 
 " God bless our native land ! 
 Firm may she ever stand 
 
 Through storm and night ; 
 When the wild tempests rave, 
 Ruler of wind and wave ! 
 Do thou our country save 
 
 By thy great might. 
 
 " For her our prayer shall rise 
 To God above the skies, 
 
 On him we wait ; 
 Thou who art ever nigh, 
 Guardian with watchful eye ! 
 To thee aloud we cry ; 
 
 God save the State. 
 
 " Our fathers' God ! to thee. 
 Author of liberty, 
 To thee we sing ; 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With Freedom's holy light ; 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 Great God, our King." 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 53 
 
 THE ORATION OF GOVERNOR BEDLE. 
 
 In introducing Governor Beclle, Dr. Breed re- 
 marked : "The statue has been unveiled by a 
 grandson of Dr. Witherspoon. And now we are 
 to listen to an oration upon Witherspoon by His 
 Excellency, Joseph D. Bedle, President of the 
 board of Trustees of the College of which With- 
 erspoon was president, and Governor of the State 
 which sent Witherspoon to the Continental Con- 
 gress, and last, though not least, Ruling Elder in 
 the Presbyterian Church." 
 
 Governor Bedle was welcomed with warm ap- 
 plause, and spoke as follows : 
 
 ORATION OF GOVERNOR BEDLE OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 " Eighty-two years, almost, have passed since Dr. 
 John Witherspoon died. This statue is erected, not 
 by personal friends and adherents, but by a posterity 
 W'ho knew him not, and who see standing out in 
 bold relief, at the close of a century of national 
 existence, his virtues and powers, and the great good 
 he wrought for the cause of God and the rights of 
 man. His remains rest in the cemetery at Prince- 
 ton, hard by the college he loved and adorned, 
 while here the representation of his living form is 
 set up to keep alive his memory and to impress its 
 lessons upon the land. No more fitting place than 
 this could be selected for such an object. Plcre, in 
 l*hiladel|)hia, was the centre of early Presbyterian- 
 ism in this country ; here within a few miles stood 
 
 I 
 
/ 
 
 54 ^— — W^THERSPO ON. 
 
 the ^ log college/ the precursor df Princeton, Jand 
 in its day the chief dependence or the Church for 
 the education of its ministry ; here he voted for and 
 signed the Declaration of Independence; here he 
 spent the most of his public life; here, as a member of 
 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, he ren- 
 dered essential service in the formation of a general 
 government for the Presbyterian Church in the 
 United States ; and hei-e he called to order the first 
 General Assembly and preached the opening ser- 
 mon. ^--=-- — — . --- 
 
 " Dr. Witherspoon came to America at the age 
 
 of forty-six years, in the full maturity of manhood, 
 
 ri|)fi.with experience, strong in mental endowments 
 
 and religious faith, and intensely earnest in the 
 
 work and duties of life. He w^as born ^in the 
 
 parish of Yester, in Scotland, February 5, ;1722. 
 
 His father was a minister of distinguished piety, 
 
 and an accurate scholar. His mother was a lineal 
 
 descendant of John Knox, the great Reformer. 
 
 These were worthy parents of a noble son. His 
 
 early education was obtained at a public school in 
 
 Haddington. There he soon developed that habit 
 
 of industry, keenness of observation and soundness 
 
 of judgment which were strong characteristics in 
 
 after-life. He entered the University of Edinburgh- 
 
 \ at the age of fourteen years, and having been 
 
 \ thoroughly educated -and prepared was licensed to 
 
 j preach in the year 1743. He was then invited to 
 
 /become an assistant to his father, but wisely de- 
 
WITHERSPOON. 65 
 
 clined; for with his tendency to independence of 
 thought and action, to rely upon himself was essential 
 to success. In 1745 he became settled over the parish 
 of Beith, in Western Scotland, where he continued 
 until 1757, when he was installed as pastor of the 
 Low Church in the flourishing town of Paisley, 
 where he remained until called to the presidency of 
 the College of New Jersey. For twenty-five years he 
 faithfully served as a Presbyterian minister in his 
 native Scotland, during which time he became illus- 
 trious as a theologian, deeply learned in doctrine and 
 church polity, a most skillful advocate in matters 
 ecclesiastical, and eminent both in the pulpit and in 
 the field of religious literature. He was a rigid ad- 
 herent to the fundamental principles of Christianity, 
 and inexorable in requiring their practice in daily 
 life. He was not a mere theorist, but a man of broad 
 practical sense, filled with earnest piety and zeal. . 
 " His writings within that period evince the most 
 careful thought, and show a boldness and force of 
 expression which excited not only the admiration of 
 his friends, but the respect and dread of his antag- 
 onists. A man with his positive and aggressive 
 mind could not escape antagonisms; and true to his 
 nature, he could not witness what he regarded as 
 abuses in the Church without a combat. In 1753, 
 while at Beith, he published anonymously the Ec- 
 dcsiastical Characteristics , or the Arcana of Church 
 Policy, it being an able satire directed against those 
 known at tliat time in the Church of Scotland as 
 
56 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 the moderate clergy, who, in his judgment, were dis- 
 posed to defer too much to the popular notions of 
 life, and use their sacred offices as a means of 
 patronage and for worldly favor. This book ex- 
 cited a feeling of hostility against him on the part 
 of those his arrows were intended to hit. The 
 authorship was generally attributed to him; and 
 when called to Paisley, he encountered strong 
 opposition for that reason in the presbytery. In a 
 masterly speech (of the kind) before the Synod 
 of Glasgow he not only defended the book, with- 
 out avowing its authorship, but denied the right of 
 the presbytery to make that the test of his settle- 
 ment. He afterwards wrote a paper entitled A 
 Serious Apology for the Characteristics, which dis- 
 tinctly revealed him as the author, and in which 
 he gave the reasons for writing it. It is no part of 
 my purpose to review the condition of the Scottish 
 Church in those days, nor the nature of the contro- 
 versy in which Dr. Witherspoon was the represen- 
 tative on one side and Dr. Robertson, the historian, 
 on the other. The former belonged to what was 
 called the orthodox party, and the blows he dealt 
 proved him to be a leader of superior thought and 
 power. As a controversialist he was logical, vigor- 
 ous and courageous. His Christianity was aggres- 
 sive, and errors in doctrine or vices in practice met 
 his hearty condemnation. 
 
 " He thought clearly and strongly, and had great 
 energy, without being an enthusiast, in the accom- 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 67 
 
 plishmcnt of his purposes. The fame of his ability 
 and publications had preceded him to this Western 
 world, and while in the midst of his success and 
 usefulness at Paisley, and his unconscious prepara- 
 tion for new and untried duties. Providence was 
 providing for him in this distant land another field, 
 in which his varied powers would have greater 
 scope, and for which the training and experience of 
 his life had fitted him. Dr. Finlay, the president 
 of the College of New Jersey, having died, the 
 trustees, in November, 1766, elected him to that 
 office. A copy of the minute of his election was 
 transmitted to Richard Stockton, a member of the 
 Board, who then was in London, w^ith a request 
 that he make personal application to Dr. Wither- 
 spoon and urge his acceptance. Other intercession, 
 personal and by letters, of the most persuasive kind, \ 
 was also sought. Mr. Stockton went to Scotland/ 
 and used his utmost efforts to induce him to accept/ 
 and in a letter from London to Mrs. Stockton, 
 dated March, 1767, Mr. Stockton states that ^it is 
 a matter absolutely certain that if I had not gone 
 in person to Scotland, Dr. Witherspoon would not 
 have had a serious thought of accepting the office, 
 because neither he nor any of his friends with- whom 
 he would have consulted had any tolerable idea of 
 the place to which he was invited, had no adequate 
 notions of the importance of the College of New 
 Jersey, and, more than all, would have been entirely 
 discouraged of thinking of an acceptance, from an 
 
58 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 artful, plausible, yet wickedly contrived letter sent 
 from Philadelphia to a gentleman of Edinburgh.' 
 
 " He further states, * I was so happy as to have 
 entire confidence placed in me by Dr. Witherspoon, 
 and thereby I was enabled to come fairly at him. 
 I certainly have succeeded in removing all the ob- 
 jections which have originated in his own mind. 
 Those of Mrs. AVitherspoon I could not remove, 
 because she would not give me an opportunity of 
 conversing with her, although I went from Edin- 
 burgh to Paisley, fifty miles, on purpose. After I 
 returned from Paisley to Edinburgh letters passed 
 between Dr. Witherspoon and me, whereby I have 
 received some hopes that she may be brought over.' 
 At the close of the letter he says, ' I have taken most 
 effectual measures to make her refusal very trouble- 
 some to her. I have engaged all the eminent clergy- 
 men in Edinburgh and Glasgow to attack her in 
 her entrenchments, and they are determined to take 
 her by storm, if nothing else will do. This has a 
 favorable aspect, and is, at the same time, surprising, 
 because they were upon my first coming so unwilling 
 to part with her husband, but the light in which I 
 have set the affairs of the college has made them 
 perfect proselytes.' This letter is found in Field's 
 Provincial Courts of New Jersey, and I have given 
 the most of it for the reason it exhibits the standing 
 of Dr. Witherspoon amongst his brethren at that 
 day, the want of knowledge abroad of the college, 
 and the peculiar facts and obstacles in relation to 
 
WITHERSPOO-N. 69 
 
 his coming. These efforts were at first unavailing, 
 and he was constrained to decline, the chief cause 
 being the unwillingness of his wife to leave kindred 
 and friends and adopt a new and distant home. To 
 this he deferred, and finally concluded that without 
 her consent he would not accept. But how strangely 
 and w^onderfully human will and action were over- 
 ruled for good ! It seemed as though all hope of 
 having Dr. Witherspoon as president of the college 1 
 liad ended. The trustees, believing the conclusion 
 final, on October 2, 1767, elected the Kev. Samuel 
 Blair, of Boston — a young man of ability, but only 
 about thirty years of age — to the presidency. Pend- 
 ing his consideration of that action, it became 
 known that the difficulties in the mind of Mrs. 
 "Witherspoon had been removed, and that her hus- 
 band would deem it a duty to accept if re-elected. 
 Mr. Blair thereupon, with a magnanimity commend- 
 able and which deeply touched the doctor, declined 
 the appointment, and on December 9, 1767, the 
 board of trustees, with peculiar satisfaction, by a 
 unanimous vote, again elected him as president. 
 He with his family reached our shores in August, 
 1768, and on the 17th of that month took the oath 
 of office ; but his work in behalf of the college 
 had previously commenced. Before coming he 
 visited London and Holland, rendering ^eminent 
 services to the college,' as it is expressed upon the 
 minutes of the Board. Those services consisted in 
 procuring contributions of funds and books. It 
 
 \ 
 
60 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 was a great gratification to Dr. Witherspoon to have 
 the objections of his wife removed. That fact is 
 stated in a letter from a gentleman in Edinburgh 
 to Mr. Stockton, of August 22, 1767. To her 
 honor be it said that she cheerfully acquiesced in 
 his acceptance, and thus did Dr. Witherspoon 
 relinquish home, relatives, friends and the advan- 
 tages and comforts of advanced cultured surround- 
 ings, and come to this new land, where Presby- 
 terianism was yet in its infancy and institutions of 
 learning were struggling for support. He came to 
 accept the presidency of Princeton College and to 
 promote the cause of learning and religion here. 
 
 "Such was his purpose alone, but unconsciously to 
 him the Almighty intended to enlarge the sphere 
 of his usefulness and make him a founder of the 
 republic. 
 
 "In one of the ^ Druid' articles, published in 
 1781, he wrote, ^When I first came into this coun- 
 try, nothing was farther from my expectation than 
 the contest that has now taken place between Great 
 Britain and the colonies.' The Stamp Act had 
 then been passed, been resisted, and was repealed. 
 The dispute between the mother-country and her 
 colonies was then in existence, deep-seated and 
 earnest, yet conflict by arms and independence were 
 not expected. Although the Revolution was the 
 result of a principle insisted upon by the colonies 
 and denied by Great Britain, which naturally and 
 necessarily led to independence, yet the public mind 
 
WITUERSPOON. 61 
 
 was not Jiriposed to forcible resistance and inde- 
 pendence until the same became inevitable. The 
 colonies resisted every measure of Parliament, 
 directly or indirectly, to tax tliem without rej^resen- 
 tation, but they did it, until the crisis came, chiefly 
 by remonstrance, non-importation, non-consump- 
 tion and non-exportation schemes. These were 
 effective for a time in inducing Parliament to recede 
 from much of its odious legislation, although without 
 abandoning the right claimed to tax the colonies; 
 but at length it was attempted to enforce the claim 
 by bayonets and retaliatory laws, and then submis- 
 sion or unity of defence, and then independence, be- 
 came a necessity. The principle involved was so vital 
 to the dearest chartered and natural rights of the 
 people that submission was impossible. The world 
 has never seen a revolution in which there was as 
 little of selfish, restive ambition as the American. 
 
 " The conflict, the Declaration of Independence, 
 the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, 
 in which were gathered up the results of the Revo- 
 lution, were the natural outgrowth and sure con- 
 sequence of the habits and principles of a people 
 who in freedom had reclaimed the wilderness, and 
 by whose industry and sterling worth it had become 
 productive and prosperous. Notwithstanding that 
 there was so much in a common language and 
 blood and customs of life between the old country 
 and the new that the people were slow to resort to 
 independence, Dr. Witherspoon, with his clear 
 
62 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 perception, accurate judgment and strong convic- 
 tions of right, soon comprehended the nature of the 
 dispute and its leadings, and not only ardently 
 espoused the cause of the colonies, but early be- 
 lieved and urged that they should unite for defence 
 and declare for independence. Naturally he found 
 himself an advocate of the rights of the colonies, 
 and the people of his adopted State, seeing in him 
 the qualities necessary for the times, called him to be 
 a leader. 
 
 " Previous, however, to his entrance into political 
 life, he had devoted himself with marked faithful- 
 ness and ability to the interests of the college and 
 the work of his Church. In the presbytery and 
 synod he always took a prominent part. In the 
 synod particularly he had great influence by reason 
 of his experience in the Church of Scotland and 
 his knowledge of ecclesiastical law and doctrine. 
 The records show that he was upon the most import- 
 ant committees. Calvinism produces strong men, 
 and the Presbyterian Church even in thos€ early days 
 had many. Among them — his contemporaries — 
 none were greater than he, and none more ready 
 than they to recognize his worth, abilities and use- 
 fulness. In the latter days of the Synod of New 
 York and Philadelphia he aided largely in the 
 preparation and adoption of the standards of the 
 Church, and in the formation of the General As- 
 sembly and the four synods to which the old synod 
 gave place. The old synod, among its closing acts, 
 
WITIIERSPOOK 08 
 
 ] 
 appointed him to open the first General Assembly j 
 
 with a sermon and to preside until a moderator / 
 
 should be elected. That duty he performed in this ' 
 
 city on third Tuesday of May, 1789, two months 
 
 after the Constitution of the United States virtually 
 
 went into effect. 
 
 " The organization of the General Assembly and I 
 the commencement of proceedings under the Con-/ 
 stitution were about contemporaneous, and the gov-/ 
 ernment of the Church and nation were both repub* 
 lican. Dr. Witherspoon was an important actor 
 in events leading to the establishment of each, , 
 and the honor of like services no other man had. 
 He was the only clergyman in the Continental I 
 Congress, and was there not as a politician merely, 
 but peculiarly for his patriotism and wisdom. 
 
 " His great services to the college are universally 
 conceded. That college was founded in the year 
 1746, and was conducted first at Elizabethtown, in 
 New Jersey, under the presidency of Jonathan 
 Dickinson, then continued at Newark, under the 
 presidency of Aaron Burr. After his death it was \ 
 removed to Princeton, Nassau Hall having been 
 erected in the mean time. Jonathan Edwards suc- 
 ceeded Burr, and Edwards was succeeded by Finley, 
 and Finley by Witherspoon. Previous to \yither- 
 spoon's presidency the college had been conducted 
 by the president and tutors, except as to a profes- 
 sorship of divinity and moral philosophy, to which 
 the Rev. John Blair was appointed Octo])er 2, 
 
 \ 
 
64 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 1767, and in which he continued until April, 1769, 
 when he resigned, owing to the inability of the 
 Board to support a separate professorship, and Dr. 
 Witherspoon then performed its duties. 
 
 "During his presidency, up to the time of the 
 war, Dr. Witherspoon was most assiduous in his 
 efforts to improve the financial condition of the 
 college and to elevate the standared of instruc- 
 tion. In both he was very successful, and I cannot 
 better state the results than in the language of Dr. 
 Ashbel Green: *In the period of less than eight 
 years, which intervened between his arrival in 
 America and his entrance into political life, the 
 number of students in the college was considerably 
 increased, the course of the study was greatly im- 
 proved, the funds of the institution, which had 
 been nearly exhausted, were replenished, and its 
 reputation was widely extended. In a word, Nas- 
 sau Hall had never before risen to an elevation of 
 character such as it then possessed.' In a minute 
 of September 2, 1770, the trustees say that they 
 are fully satisfied of his great abilities in the 
 management of the institution, and with high plea- 
 sure have seen his indefatigable labors and success 
 in raising the reputation of the college. This was 
 a just tribute from a very able Board. His par- 
 ticular services in the elevation and extension of the 
 curriculum of instruction must be left to the pens 
 of others more experienced and more familiar with 
 the history of the college. The whole course was 
 

 WITIIERSPOON. 65 
 
 enlarged and improved, especially in mathematics, 
 mental and moral philoso})hy. His college duties 
 Avere also supplemented with the pastorate of 
 the church in Princeton of which the lamented 
 Dr. McDonald was lately pastor. From all con- 
 temporaneous and subsequent reference we gather 
 but one opinion — that up to the war, through his 
 instrumentality, the college had become prosperous 
 and strong. 
 
 " The State of New Jersey having been overrun 
 by the enemy, the students were scattered, and the 
 college became a barrack, first for the British and 
 then for our own forces ; the library was despoiled 
 and the philosophical apparatus mostly destroyed. 
 The church where he preached was also rifled of 
 its pews for firewood, and his farm was plundered 
 of its stock. It cost something to be a patriot'^! 
 in those days, and Dr. Witherspoon paid for it -J 
 early. 
 
 ** During the dispersion of the college the trustees 
 met once, in May, 1777, at Cooper's Ferry, opposite 
 this city, and authorized Dr. Witherspoon, if the 
 enemy removed out of the State, to call the students 
 together at Princeton and proceed with their educa- 
 tion in the best manner he could, considering the 
 state of public affairs ; and if more students could be 
 collected than he could instruct himself, to obtain 
 such assistance as might be necessary. As soon as 
 circumstances allowed, but gradually, the college- 
 buildings were cleansed and repaired, and by his 
 
 5 
 
6Q WITHERSPOON. 
 
 efforts, with the assistance of Prof. Houston, the 
 institution struggled along with a feeble existence. 
 
 " In the commission of the trustees to Dr. With- 
 erspoon and General Eeed to go to Great Britain 
 for the collection of funds — which commission bears 
 date October 22, 1783— they state that Hhe very 
 existence of this benevolent and useful institution 
 has become doubtful, unless some certain and effect- 
 ive relief can be obtained from the friends of 
 virtue and benevolence who have not been exposed 
 to such dreadful calamity.' The trip was taken, 
 but it was a mistake, for the public mind abroad 
 was not in a proper temper to assist a rebellious col- 
 lege. The college had been rebellious to its very 
 core. The result of that effort was entirely fruit- 
 less, for the net amount received, after deducting 
 expenses, was only five pounds fourteen shillings. 
 This incited to greater efforts at home; appeals 
 were made to the presbyteries, and in that way a 
 nucleus of support was established, and the college 
 was enabled to start off in its advancing career. 
 Under the blessing of Providence it has become a 
 giant among colleges, scattering its influences far 
 and wide, and having its representatives in the 
 highest positions of the State, the Church, the pro- 
 fessions and in literature. 
 
 " Dr. Witherspoon continued in the presidency to 
 his death, and although in the latter part of his 
 life not engaged in its active duties, yet giving the 
 weight of his character and influence to the success 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 67 
 
 of the college. To the Presbyterian Church and 
 the college his services were invaluable, and to our 
 country eijually 30. He was not a politician in 
 any modern sense. lie was called by the people 
 because he had in him the elements of a statesman 
 and could guide in the midst of the storm. Pre- 
 vious to his election as a member of the Provincial 
 Congress of New Jersey, and on May 17, 1776, 
 being a fast-day appointed by the Continental Con- 
 gress, lie delivered a most remarkable discourse on 
 *the dominion of Providence over the passions of 
 men,' in which he affirmed that the cause in which 
 America was then in arms was the cause of justice, 
 of liberty and of human nature; and earnestly 
 exhorted the people to union, firmness and patience, 
 industry and frugality and dependence upon and 
 trust in Almighty God. 
 
 '^ I will not attempt an analysis of that sermon. 
 It must be read to be appreciated ; its truths and 
 lessons were striking evidences of his wisdom and 
 power. That was the first time, he said, that he 
 had introduced any political subject into the pulpit. 
 The occasion was most extraordinary, and he needs 
 no apology. He was elected a delegate to the New 
 Jersey Provincial Congress after this sermon, at 
 the close of the month in which it was delivered. 
 The Congress met in Burlington, June 11, 1776^ 
 and was opened with prayer by Dr. Witherspoon. 
 
 "He continued there only a short time, for he 
 was soon appointed a delegate to the Continental 
 
68 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 Congress, but long enough to aid In completely 
 extinguishing the royal government in the colony 
 and in forming another. He voted that the proc- 
 clamation of Governor Franklin calling a session 
 of the Royal Assembly should be disobeyed, also 
 that he (Franklin) was an enemy to the liberties of 
 the country, and that his person should be secured. 
 Franklin, refusing to sign a parole, was brought 
 before the Provincial Congress. His speech was 
 so denunciatory of the members, and his manner 
 so contemptuous of their authority, that Dr. With- 
 spoon could not withstand the temptation of in- 
 dulging in the most bitter sarcasm — a weapon 
 he could use with great power when necessary. 
 Franklin was ordered to be confined in such place 
 as the Continental Congress should direct. In 
 obedience thereto he was removed to Connecticut ; 
 and thus ended the government of the king in 
 New Jersey. Witherspoon was very earnest in the 
 action. The measure was apparently harsh, but 
 justifiable as an act of revolution. 
 
 "On the day on which Franklin was brought 
 before the Provincial Congress, which was June 
 21, 1776, a resolution w^as adopted — for which 
 Dr. Witherspoon voted — that a government be 
 formed for regulating the internal police of the 
 colony. The next day five persons were elected 
 to represent the colony in the Continental Con- 
 gress — viz., Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, 
 John Hart, Francis Hopkinson and Dr. Wither- 
 
WITHERSPOON. 69 
 
 spoon — who were instructed to join with the dele- 
 gates of tlie other colonies in the most vigorous 
 measures for supporting the just rights and 
 liberties of America, and empowered, if they 
 should judge it necessary and expedient, to join 
 with them in declaring the United Colonies inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain, and to enter into a con- 
 federation for union and common defence. The^ 
 resolution to form a government was followed up 
 by immediate action to accomplish it, and July 2, 
 1776, a constitution was adopted under which the 
 people of New Jersey lived and prospered until 
 1844, when the present constitution took its place. 
 A committee to draft the constitution was appointed 
 June 24th, and they reported the same within two 
 days after. The work could hardly have been done 
 within that time. Some thoughtful minds must 
 have been engaged in its substantial preparation 
 before tlie appointment of the committee. Judge 
 Elmer, whose opportunities for information and 
 accuracy of research are well known, states in 
 his Reminiscences of New Jersey that * it has 
 always been understood that the Rev. Dr. John 
 Witherspoon, President of Princeton College, took 
 an active part in preparing it.' He also states that 
 ^two eminent lawyers, Jona. Dickinson Sergeant 
 and John Cleves Symms, were on the committee, 
 but the instrument bears quite as prominent marks 
 of a clerical as of a legal origin.' Dr. Wither- 
 spoon was probably not put upon the committee 
 
70 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 because of his previous election to the Continental 
 Congress. The constitution of New Jersey was 
 adopted two days before the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence; and although then absent in Philadel- 
 piiia, Dr. Witherspoon was a master-spirit in giving 
 it an impetus and in securing the independence of 
 the colony. 
 
 " Bat a wider and grander field of duty has now 
 opened, in which he is to aid in launching into 
 existence a nation and guiding it through darkness 
 and tempest. The new delegates from New Jersey 
 appeared in the Continental Congress pending the 
 debate upon the question of independence. There 
 had been a doubt as to the power of the delegates 
 who preceded these to vote for independence, but 
 this delegation was fully authorized, though not 
 peremptorily instructed. 
 
 " For that reason the moral courage of a vote for 
 independence was the greater, but no one can fail to 
 see from the course of proceedings in the Provin- 
 cial Congress that that body had a thorough con- 
 viction that independence was near, and that it was 
 expected that the delegates would vote to declare it. 
 Witherspoon, Clark and Hart, being members of 
 the Congress, had already voted to extinguish the 
 government of the Crown and to establish another 
 for the colony. 
 
 *^ Their views were in accord with those of the 
 Congress, as were also those of the other two dele- 
 
WITHERSPOON, 71 
 
 gates, Stockton and Hopkinson, and the action of 
 all in the Continental Congress could only be the 
 sequence of the attitude of the colony they repre- 
 sented. Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, who had 
 been a delegate to Philadelphia, but who returned 
 to New Jersey to take his seat in the Provincial 
 Congress, to which he had been elected, fully appre- 
 ciating the condition of mind of that body, wrote 
 to John Adams, June 16, 1776, before the election 
 of delegates, as follows: ^ Jacta est alea. We are 
 passing the Rubicon, and our delegates in Congress 
 on the first of July will vote plump.^ On that 
 day the famous resolution for independence was up 
 for final consideration, the subject-matter having 
 been frequently discussed before. Final action was 
 postponed until the next day. In the mean time, 
 Witherspoon, Stockton and Hopkinson having ex- 
 pressed a desire to hear a recapitulation of the 
 arguments, John Adams, as he says in his auto- 
 biography, ^summed up the reasons, objections and< 
 answers.' Before the vote AVitherspoon made a 
 speech, in which he insisted that the country was 
 not only ripe for independence, but was in danger 
 of becoming rotten for the want of it. That was 
 not a very classic expression, but it showed his 
 intensity of conviction that the time had fully come 
 for independence. He, with the rest of his delega- 
 tion, voted for the immortal resolve of July 2d that 
 * these united colonies are, and of right ought to 
 be, free and independent States,' and July 4, 1776, 
 
72 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 alike voted for the adoption of the Declaration and 
 afterward signed it. 
 
 " In the Life of Governor Livingston, by Sedg- 
 wick, the author in a note states that the New 
 Jersey delegation, consisting of Witherspoon, 
 Stockton and others, arrived after the Declaration 
 had been signed, but Avere allowed to affix their 
 names to it. The authority given for this is a let- 
 ter from Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 
 dated July 15, 1776, contained in the memoirs of 
 the latter, in which appears this language: ^We 
 were more fortunate than we expected in having 
 twelve of the thirteen colonies in favor of the all- 
 important question. The delegation of New Jersey 
 were not empowered to give their voice on either 
 side. Their convention has since acceded to the 
 Declaration, and published it even before they re- 
 ceived it from Congress.' This is a mistake, and 
 it undoubtedly occurred either in the original letter 
 or the printing of it by inadvertently inserting 
 New Jersey for New York. The statement was 
 substantially true as to New York. In Forces' 
 Araerican Archives the letter is now published with 
 the correction, and I hope that hereafter no question 
 will ever be raised that the New Jersey delegates 
 were fully empowered, and were present hoih. on the 
 second and fourth days of July and gave their voice 
 for independence. Such is the truth of history. 
 
 " The debates of those stirring times — when life, 
 fortune and sacred honor were pledged to the sup- 
 
WITHERSPOON, 78 
 
 port of the Declaration, and when the herculean 
 task was undertaken not only to protect the 
 colonies, but to maintain their freedom from the i 
 British Crown — unfortunately are lost to the world. 
 All of the debates from 1774 to 1783 were in 
 secret, and mostly extemporaneous and not re- 
 ported. Here and there are scattered fragments of 
 wliat was said, giving us some idea of the substance, 
 but the speeches themselves are lost, with only slight 
 exceptions, which, I believe, are one made by Dick- 
 inson, of Pennsylvania, against the Declaration, and 
 some by Dr. Witherspoon on other subjects. John 
 Adams well asks who can write the history of the 
 American Revolution. The questions involved 
 were the most momentous that ever affected human 
 rights and happiness, and to have lost the discus- 
 sions upon them is to have lost much of the fact 
 and soul of our history. Sufficient, however, ap- 
 pears of the efforts of Dr. Witherspoon to show that 
 he ranked with the ablest statesmen of the times. 
 
 " The limits of this address will not permit 
 a review of his special services in Congress. He 
 was a member for six years, leaving in the fall of 
 1782. He was elected six several times; and while 
 there were frequent changes in the delegation, he 
 was continuously retained, except for the year 1780, 
 when, as he says in an unfinished letter of March 
 20, 1780, found amongst his papers and written 
 to a friend in Scotland, he left Congress as ^not 
 being able to support the expense of attending it, 
 
74 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 -with the frequent journeys to Princeton, and being 
 determined to giv^e particular attention to the revival 
 of the college/ 
 
 '' Professor Houston, of the college, was substi- 
 tuted for that year, but in November, 1780, Dr. 
 "Witherspoon was again elected. He also mentions, 
 in this same letter, that at the end of 1778 he gave 
 notice to the legislature that they must either not 
 choose him or leave him at full liberty to attend 
 only when he could conveniently, and that he made 
 a good deal of use of that liberty in 1779. In 
 those days men were sought for office; office was 
 then practically, as in true theory, for the good of 
 the people, and w^ith that view officers were selected. 
 In the instructions of the legislature of New Jer- 
 sey to the delegates of 1777 is an injunction which 
 might well be practiced upon in these times : ' We 
 desire you may be cautious of multiplying offices, 
 or the number of officers, in the several continental 
 departments, and thereby unnecessarily increasing 
 the public expense; especially you will use your 
 utmost influence that the departments be filled with 
 men of probity, principle and discretion, well 
 qualified in point of capacity, and of unsuspected 
 attachment to the liberties of America.' Well 
 would it be if, in the midst of existing extravagance, 
 waste and looseness of principle in public office, 
 we could return to the virtues of the men who laid 
 the foundations of our republic. The stability of a 
 nation is essentially in adhering to the strictest 
 
WITHERSPOON. 75 
 
 honesty and economy. Dr. Witherspoon was a 
 thorough exemplification of the standard of those 
 instructions. Besides being admirably qualified, he 
 was noted for the closest attention and faithfulness 
 to public duty. His firmness in the Revolution was 
 like a rock. In the letter just referred to he says, 
 ^ Were our condition ten times worse than it is, 
 nothing short of the clear independence of this 
 country would be accepted.' In the darkest hours 
 he did not despair of success, but firmly relying 
 upon the justice of the cause he had espoused, and 
 the favor of Heaven, labored with patience, and in 
 the end saw his hopes realized. John Adams men- )> 
 tions him in 1774 as an ^animated Son of Liberty.'/ 
 
 " He was an advocate not only of a confedera- 
 tion for defence, but one of permanency and power. 
 He looked for the establishment of a nation, and 
 was in favor of a stronger union than that secured 
 by the articles of confederation, particularly as to 
 the control of commerce and revenue. He pointed 
 out and lived to see many of the weaknesses of 
 the articles of confederation realized. 
 
 " The confederacy was little more than a league 
 for mutual protection ; and when the Revolu- 
 tion was accomplished, there could be no firm 
 cohesion of the States without an organic law pro- 
 viding for the departments and functions of an 
 independent national government. While the Revo- 
 lution lasted common dangers and self-protection 
 were the chief bonds of union, but when ended and 
 
76 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 successful its results and benefits could only be 
 preserved by a complete general government. 
 Witherspoon understood this with remarkable 
 foresight. He considered himself as laboring for 
 posterity, and saw in the future the rise and growth 
 of a power in this Western w^orld that would secure 
 liberty and happiness to the people, and ultimately 
 be a benefit to Great Britain itself. Posterity to- 
 day gratefully remembers his services. He signed 
 the Articles of Confederation on behalf of his State, 
 November 26, 1778, as authorized by the legisla- 
 ture, and thus helped consummate the second great 
 act which led to and culminated in our present 
 Constitution. The leading events which gave us a 
 permanent national existence were the Declaration 
 of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and 
 the Constitution. In the first two Dr. Witherspoon 
 stood side by side with the ablest and the best, 
 without a superior. 
 
 ^^ His congressional career was always prominent. 
 He was a member of the secret committee, of the 
 board of war, and of committees on foreign af- 
 fairs, finance and for supplies for the army, and 
 frequently was assigned to special duties requiring 
 the most delicate judgment, management and the 
 severest attention. In November, 1776, during the 
 darkest period of the Revolution, when our army 
 had retreated to Jersey, discouraged, poorly sup- 
 plied and enlistments expiring, Dr. Witherspoon 
 was appointed one of a committee of three to re- 
 
WITHERSrOON. 77 
 
 pair to General AYasbington's heaclqnarters for con - 
 Bultation and to render assistance in recruiting the 
 regiments whose terms had expired or were about 
 to expire, and also to * inquire into and redress to 
 the utmost of their power the just grievances of 
 the soldiers/ Soon afterward^ when the country 
 was in its deepest gloom, Washington having re- 
 treated through Jersey, pursued by the enemy, and 
 crossed the Delaware, and Congress being in dan- 
 ger at Philadelphia, Dr. Witherspoon, Richard 
 Henry Lee and Samuel Adams were appointed 
 (December 9, 1776) *to prepare an address to the 
 inhabitants of America and a recommendation to 
 the several States to appoint a day of fasting, hu- 
 miliation and prayer/ These duties were performed 
 the two following days, and on the twelfth Con- 
 gress was adjourned to meet in Baltimore, it having 
 first conferred upon General Washington full power 
 to order and direct all things relative to the depart- 
 ment and to the operations of war. 
 
 '^ Recapitulate those facts — the appeal to the 
 country, resolutions for fasting, humiliation and 
 prayer, full authority in Washington to direct the 
 war, and the flight of Congress, all duties and neces- 
 sities of the crisis, filling up a momentous page in 
 history, and on which, in brightness, this man of 
 God and trusted patriot appears, encouraging the 
 people in the midst of despondency, inciting to 
 further and greater efforts for their rights, and 
 leading them to look on high for succor. 
 
78 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 " Time will not allow me to speak of his services 
 ia behalf of American prisoners in British hands, 
 or in furnishing supplies to the army and correcting 
 abuses therein, or of his other official acts. They 
 are faithfully recorded by the historian, and are 
 familiar to the reader. On finance he was emi- 
 nently clear, and many of his ideas are of value to- 
 day, though not practically appreciated when utter- 
 ed. His official life covers the greater part of the 
 war, and is inseparable from it and its principles. 
 
 ^^ No Christian can fail to see that he was prepared 
 by Providence and led to this land not only to dis- 
 seminate learning and religion, but to maintain and 
 efficiently assist in establishing civil liberty. He 
 lived to see peace declared, independence acknow- 
 ledged, and his country, with a government symmet- 
 rical and strong, take its ^ stand among the nations 
 of the earth. ^ He saw New Jersey, a feeble colony, 
 become a sovereign power. He saw Princeton Col- 
 lege raised to a height unexampled before, and af- 
 ter its dispersion restored. He saw the Presbyte- 
 rian Church organized on a national basis, so to 
 speak, and his own students filling its highest seats. 
 These events were the consequences of labors and 
 influences in which he bore a conspicuous part. 
 Few men have left their mark so indelibly and 
 prominently upon the annals of their times as he. 
 In him were wonderfully combined and developed 
 learning, religion and statesmanship. In person 
 he was tall, dignified and impressive. Dr. Archi- 
 
WITHERSPOON. 79 
 
 bald Alexander said that * everything about him 
 bore the marks of importance and authority/ yet 
 at the same time he was as plain an old man as 
 he ever saw. 
 
 " To do good was the aim of his life, and in 
 every station. His sermons always evinced the 
 closest thought and preparation, and are models for 
 the pulpit. In daily converse he was affable, kind, 
 cheerful, and sometimes used the brightest wit. 
 His religion was a living principle, impelliiig and 
 consecrating his actions. His weaknesses are swal- 
 lowed up in his virtues, and his memory is a blessed 
 treasure for us all. His last days were spent in the 
 retirement of his farm at Princeton, interrupted 
 only by occasional services in the pulpit and for 
 the college, and at length, worn out with the infirm- 
 ities of age, full of years and of honors, was he 
 taken to God. He diecl November 15, 1794, and 
 the lapse of time has proved the worth of his deeds 
 and fame. These the Presbyterian Church justly 
 commemorate, and present the man and his life to 
 the world for an example and guide.'^ 
 
 Loud applause greeted the oration of Governor 
 Bedle. 
 
 THE PRESENTATION OF THE STATUE TO THE 
 FAIRMOUNT PARK COMMISSION. 
 
 This service was rendered by the Hon. J. Ross 
 Snowden, LL.D., Chairman of the General Assem- 
 bly's Centennia] Committee. Dr. Snowden said ; 
 
80 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Park Commission : The 
 duty has been assigned to me of presenting to your 
 Board and the city of Philadelphia the statue of 
 "Witherspoon, which has this day been unveiled to 
 the public view. 
 
 " This bronze statue is the work of Philadeljihia 
 artists, and well represents the noble and dignified 
 form and countenance of the eminent patriot, 
 scholar and divine whose effigy we now present as 
 a permanent adornment of this beautiful and ex- 
 tensive park. 
 
 "Called from Scotland, his native land, to be 
 placed at the head of the College of New Jersey, 
 Dr. Witherspoon advanced the interests of that 
 institution in a signal manner, and until the war of 
 the Revolution closed its doors, when he immedi- 
 ately espoused the cause of his adopted country, 
 and thenceforth stood in the front rank of American 
 patriots and statesmen. 
 
 " The statue of Witherspoon holds an appropriate 
 place in the grand park, now devoted by the cere- 
 monies and exercises of this Centennial year to the 
 freedom and independence of our country, because 
 he is a distinguished representative of that system 
 of doctrine and government which erects the school, 
 the academy, the college, supports the principles of 
 civil and religious liberty, sustains a proper rever- 
 ence for law and organized authority, insists upon 
 the separation of the Church from the State, and 
 advocates a representative system of government, 
 
WITHERSPOON. 81 
 
 in which the power to legislate and rule is derived 
 from the consent of the people. 
 
 " It is not ray province on this occasion to speak 
 at large upon these principles, nor upon the life, 
 cliaracter and services of Dr. "Witherspoon. These 
 duties have been assigned to others. It only re- 
 mains for me now, at the conclusion of the cere- 
 monies, to transfer the statue to the city of Phila- 
 delphia and to the care of your honorable Board 
 of Trustees of this beautiful Park, with its various 
 works of art and industry. 
 
 "It gives us pleasure to contribute this heroic 
 Btatue to the adornment of these grounds, which, 
 under the intelligent and efficient labors of your 
 Board, have become so attractive to the people and 
 so promotive of their education, their health and 
 their happiness.^' 
 
 ACCEPTANCE OF THE STATUE. 
 
 In introducing Mr. John Welsh, the President 
 of the Fairmount Park Commission, Dr. Breed 
 €aid : 
 
 " Dr. Witherspoon was a grandson of John Welsh. 
 That John Welsh is not with us to-day. Another 
 John Welsh, however, of whom Philadelphia is 
 justly proud, is with us, who, as President of the 
 Centennial Board of Finance, has won an enviable 
 name by his indomitable energy and his signal 
 ability. The other John Welsh was a Presbyterian. 
 This John Welsh is a member of the Church to 
 
82 WITHEBSPOON. 
 
 which George "Washington, the Father of his Coun- 
 try, belonged. Mr. Welsh is here to accept a mon- 
 ument at our hands; but if you would see Mr. 
 Welsh's monument, look around you.'' 
 
 Mr. Welsh came forward amidst warm applause, 
 and in reply to the allusion of Dr. Breed to John 
 Welsh, the son-in-law of John Knox, remarked 
 that he, the speaker, might be more nearly related 
 to the grandfather of John Witherspoon than was 
 supposed, since it was the unvarying tradition of 
 his ancestors — though the family records had not 
 been so carefully preserved as was desirable — that 
 his descent was direct from the John Welsh who 
 married the daughter of John Knox. Mr. Welsh 
 then in a brief but graceful and appreciative address 
 accepted the statue on behalf of the Fairmount 
 Park Commission. 
 
 THANKS TO THE PARK COMMISSION 
 
 were then extended, in behalf of the General 
 Assembly's Centennial Committee, by the Rev. 
 George Hale, D. D., treasurer of the committee. 
 In introducing Dr. Hale the chairman said : " We 
 have now set up the form of one of the signers of 
 that immortal instrument the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence ; we trust that the Park Commission will 
 secure the erection of statues to the other fifty-four 
 along this beautiful avenue, and change its name 
 from the Lansdowne Drive to * The Avenue of the 
 Declaration,' 
 
WITHERSPOON. 83 
 
 Dr. Hale then addressed the assembly as follows : 
 
 " Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 
 Park Commission : AVhen we turn our eyes to 
 tills statue, now firmly settled on its base near that 
 permanent structure, Memorial Hall, and having 
 I'or its outlook this picturesque valley of the 
 Schuylkill, and within sight of this beautiful Lans- 
 downe road — along which thousands are passing 
 every week, to be on this ground educated as it 
 were by the patriot, statesman, scholar and Chris- 
 tian — we are deeply sensible of the debt of grati- 
 tude we have incurred. This is the spot, this is the 
 occasion, this the assemblage, for a deserved public 
 acknowledgment to you. 
 
 " When application for a site was first made to 
 your honorable body, it received prompt attention 
 — it was carefully and intelligently considered. 
 With a large liberality worthy of the highest 
 praise, you permitted us to select within this Park 
 any place not already preoccupied ; and when our 
 choice was made and communicated to you, that 
 choice was confirmed by your action. 
 
 " In the name of the Centennial Committee of 
 the General Assembly, in the name of our whole 
 Presbyterian Church, with her five thousand minis- 
 ters and five hundred thousand communicants, in 
 the name of the numerous other branches of the 
 Presbyterian family in this and foreign lands, in 
 the name of every true patriot within this republic 
 and of every friend of civil and religious liberty 
 
84 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 throughout the world, — we tender to you our sincere 
 and most hearty thanks." 
 
 DOXOLOGY. 
 
 In announcing the doxology the Rev. Alfred 
 Kevin, D.D., LL.D., said : 
 
 " That noble statue is itself a doxology. It is a 
 precious and permanent expression of praise to 
 almighty God for the life and services of the dis- 
 tinguished man in whose honor it has been erected. 
 There it w^ill stand through winter's storms, in 
 the balmy breeze of spring, under summer sun- 
 shine and amid the fadings of autumnal foliage 
 and the wailings of autumnal winds, calm, solid 
 and firm, a fitting embodiment of the gratitude 
 from which it sprang. It will teach the millions 
 who shall gaze upon it the great lesson that intel- 
 lectual greatness and moral excellence are at least 
 as worthy of public recognition as military glory. 
 There are few occasions on which the call for dox- 
 ology is more distinct and emphatic. Here, at 
 this Centennial celebration, in this magnificent 
 park, where the wonders of science and art seem 
 now to vie with the grandeur and glory of nature, 
 where so many men distinguished for their learn- 
 ing, patriotism and moral worth are assembled, 
 and so many lovely women grace with their pres- 
 ence the consummation of an enterprise which 
 they aided with their efficient efforts, and last, but 
 not least, where we have eminent representatives 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 85 
 
 from North, South, East and AYost who have 
 favored us with their eloquence and practically 
 indicated how admiration of and devotion to great 
 central and controlling principles harmonize all 
 sectional feelings, — /iere, with all these pleasant 
 surroundings, and the bright prospects which open 
 to our vision, we cannot but unite in singing with 
 a cordiality which Heaven will accept those mem- 
 orable words which have so often been the vehicle 
 of gratitude to the Giver of all : 
 
 'Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; 
 Praise him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise him above, ye heavenly host; 
 Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.' " 
 
 After the singing of the doxology the benedic- 
 tion was pronounced by the Rev. James McCosh, 
 D. D., LL.D., President of the College of New Jer- 
 sey. In 1768, Dr. Witherspoon entered upon his 
 duties as President of this college, and in 1868 Dr. 
 McCosh became his worthy successor. 
 
 After the benediction, and in response to loud 
 calls from the crowd, Dr. McCosh made a brief but 
 animated and eloquent address, which was loudly 
 applauded. 
 
 Dr. Stuart Robinson, of Kentucky, being recog- 
 nized on the platform, was also called out, and made 
 a brief but telling speech, after which the crowd 
 slowly dispersed, looking back often as they went 
 away at the magnificent figure that for many a score 
 
S6 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 of years to come will attract the attention and 
 ev^oke the admiration of the millions who will pass 
 in their carriage and on foot along that beautiful 
 Lansdowne drive. 
 
 DISCOURSE OF DR. PLUMEE, 
 
 The whole enterprise received a most fitting 
 climax in the services of Sabbath evening, the 22d 
 of October, when, in the AYest Spruce Street Pres- 
 byterian church, the Rev. W. S. Plumer, D. D., 
 LL.D., of Columbia, S. C, delivered, by request 
 of the Centennial Committee of the General Assem- 
 bly, in the presence of a large and intelligent con- 
 gregation, the following eloquent discourse upon the 
 life and writings of Dr. Witherspoon. 
 
 JOHX WITHERSPOOX, D. D., LL.D., HIS LIFE, TIMES, 
 W^RITINGS AND SERVICES. 
 
 " Most men live and die unknown beyond a nar- 
 row circle. Their memory soon fades from earth ; 
 but if in this life they walked with God, their rec- 
 ord is on high, and in the best sense they shall be 
 held in everlasting remembrance. 
 
 *^ A smaller portion of mankind are of low and 
 vicious tastes and habits. They are the tenants of 
 the abodes of infamy and wretchedness. They are 
 led on till they fall into the worst vices and crimes. 
 For fame they have infamy. They have notoriety, 
 but it is with disgrace. Their names rot. They 
 are covered with ignominy. -.-.>>. 
 
WITHERSPOON. 87 
 
 "A still smaller part of the human family rise 
 high in personal worth and accomplishments, in 
 usefulness and honor. They are by Providence fa- 
 vored with good opportunities, and they embrace 
 them. Their names are enrolled among the good, 
 the wise and the great. 
 
 " Such men are helpful to each other. Like the 
 stars, they are often seen in constellations. The ex- 
 ample of one draws many. This remark is illus- 
 trated through the eighteenth century. It was ush- 
 ered in by bright lights, though some of them were 
 great blessings, while others were not. Literature 
 then greatly revived. In many places a marvelous 
 S2:>irit prevailed. Both truth and error, both virtue 
 and vice, had giants for their defence. Addison, 
 born 1672, Pope, born 1688, and their friends and 
 contemporaries, mightily stirred the British mind 
 in the early part of the last century. At the same 
 time, Voltaire, born 1694, Rousseau and Diderot, 
 both born 1712, and their allies, were preparing to 
 shake continental Europe. On the other hand, 
 Turgot in France, born 1727, and Necker in Switz- 
 erland, born 1732, gave to the world new and 
 wondrous views and thoughts on finance and the 
 best modes of making a nation great. Still later 
 Mirabeau, born 1749, and Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 born 1769, were rising up to move the world, one 
 "with his eloquence, the other with his military 
 genius. If we return \o England, we see Johnson, 
 born 1709, earl^ giving token that a man of pro* 
 
88 WITHEBSPOON. 
 
 digious powers had come into the world. Lord 
 Chatham, born 1708, Edmund Barke, born 1718, 
 Charles James Fox, born 1749, William Pitt, born 
 1759, and several of their contemporaries, would 
 have made great any age or country. Nor was dis- 
 tinction confined to the Old World. The British 
 colonies shared largely in like honors. In 1706 
 was born Benjamin Franklin ; in 1732, George 
 Washington; in 1735, John Adams; in 1743, 
 Thomas Jefferson; in 1750, James Madison; in 
 1755, John Marshall; in 1757, Alexander Hamil- 
 ton; and in 1758, James. Monroe — ^all of them il- 
 lustrious and some of them peerless. 
 
 " The same century and people were remarkable 
 for many fine specimens of eloquence. George 
 AVhitefield, born in 1714, Samuel Da vies, born 
 1724, James Waddel, born (in Ireland) 1739, Pat- 
 rick Henry, born 1736, and Lord Erskine, born 
 1750, wielded a power that would have been felt 
 in any age. These estimates are not extravagant. 
 When Patrick Henry heard Waddel preach on the 
 creation, he said, *When I was listening to that 
 man, it seemed to me that he could have made a 
 world.' Of Henry's eloquence, Jefferson said it 
 was ' bold, grand and overwhelming. . . . He gave 
 examples of eloquence such as had probably never 
 been excelled.' Of Franklin, Turgot said, 'JE'ri- 
 puit coslo fulnien, sceptrumque tyrannis.' Lord 
 Chatham spoke of Franklin as * one whom all Eu- 
 rope held in high estimation for his knowledge and 
 
WITRERSPOON. 89 
 
 wisdom, and ranked with our Boyles and Ncwtons — 
 who was an honor not only to the English nation, 
 but to human nature.' 
 
 " And what shall be said of Washington ? The 
 strength of his character is found in its symmetry, 
 propriety and high moral principles. He felt ex- 
 quisitely, but his passions never dictated a single 
 measure of his life. Jefferson's testimony is clear 
 and has been accej^ted by mankind. Of Washing- 
 ton he says, ^ His integrity was the most pure, his 
 justice the most inflexible, I have ever known, no 
 motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship 
 or hatred, being able to bias his decision.' Lord 
 Brougham says, 'It will be the duty of the his- 
 torian and the sage, in all ages, to omit no occasion 
 of commemorating this illustrious man, and until 
 time shall be no more \vill a test of the progress 
 which our race has made in wisdom and virtue be 
 derived from the veneration paid to the immortal 
 name of Washington.' 
 
 " In such times, and with such contemporaries, ,' 
 there was born in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, } 
 February 5, 1722, John Witherspoon, the son of \ 
 a pious, faithful, scholarly minister of the gospel, I 
 and a lineal descendant of John Knox of blessed j 
 memory. 
 
 " At an early age he was sent to school at Had- 
 dington. Here his good habits, quick conception 
 and rapid progress gave assurance that one day he 
 should fill a large space in the eye of mankind. 
 
90 WtTHERSPOON. 
 
 From fourteen to twenty-one years of age he at- 
 tended the University of Edinburgh. In each class 
 he was respectable ; in the divinity class he dis- 
 played much soundness of criticism and remark- 
 able precision of thought. 
 
 ^^ Leaving the university, he was invited to be 
 the assistant and successor of his honored father, 
 but he preferred to go to the West of Scotland, and 
 was pleasantly settled in the parish of Beith. Ere 
 long he was called to the town of Paisley. Here 
 both his usefulness and his reputation rapidly in- 
 creased. His fame went abroad, and he was soon 
 invited to Rotterdam in the Low Countries, to Dub- 
 lin in Ireland, and to Dundee in Scotland. All 
 these proposals he declined. He was soon after 
 chosen President of the College of New Jersey, at 
 Princeton. At first he declined, but on a renewal 
 of the invitation he accepted, and reached America 
 in August, 1768, in the forty-seventh year of his 
 age. His predecessors in office were eminent min- 
 isters of the gospel — elonathan Dickinson, Aaron 
 Burr, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies and 
 Samuel Findley, all names that cannot be men- 
 tioned without profound respect. 
 
 ^^In the old country Dr. Witherspoon had es- 
 tablished a high reputation. This followed him 
 to America, and gave him great advantage in his 
 labors for the college, in promotion of whose 
 interests he went South as far as Virginia and 
 North as far as Massachusetts, His scholarship 
 
WITHERSPOON. 91 
 
 was sound and varied. His administrative talents 
 were uncommon. His whole bearing was well 
 suited to inspire confidence and esteem from all 
 classes. 
 
 "But the troublous times of the American Rev- 
 olution were approaching. Conflict with the 
 mother-country was imminent. Soon the world 
 beheld an amazing spectacle — thirteen colonies 
 with a thousand miles of unprotected coast, and 
 containing less than three millions of souls, arrayed 
 in war against the tremendous power of the British 
 empire. For a season the college was closed, and 
 in 1776, Dr. Witherspoon, at the age of fifty-four, 
 took his seat in the Continental Congress, and with 
 his compatriots signed the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. For seven years he held this post. His 
 exact knowledge of parliamentary usages, his native 
 wit, his ready apprehension, his moral heroism and 
 his profound acquaintance with human nature and 
 constitutional law commanded universal respect. 
 His courage was indomitable. No sad reverses or 
 disasters, no timidity or faithlessness in others, could 
 damp his ardor or blench his purpose. As an 
 adviser he had few equals. On public affairs 
 time showed his counsels to be excellent. On ques- 
 tions of the commissariat, finance and the public 
 credit, on the proper conduct of the war and like 
 matters, his judgment was outspoken, unfaltering 
 and very safe. 
 
 *' When the Constitution of the United States was 
 
92 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 framed, Br. Witherspoon's wisdom bore an honor- 
 able part. But at no time did he pretermit the 
 character or duties of a minister of God's word, 
 preaching whenever he had opportunity. 
 
 " The war being closed and the form of govern- 
 ment settled, Dr. Witherspoon bent his energies to 
 the reviving of the college — no easy task in those 
 days of w ant and poverty. The heraldry of col- 
 leges is registered and read only in their Alumni. 
 A few of these — Madison among the number — 
 were coming prominently into notice. But one 
 s^vallow does not make a summer, and a few stu- 
 dents cannot give a college renown. Dr. \yither- 
 spoon was also a laborious preacher of the gospel. 
 For these things he laid aside almost all other 
 pursuits. 
 
 " Having reached the age of seventy, he found 
 his bodily infirmities much increased. More than 
 two years before his death he was blind and other- 
 wise a sufferer. But his patience, fortitude and 
 cheerfulness never forsook him. Pain and weak- 
 ness could not extinguish his ardor. He w^orked 
 on to the very last. It was an affecting sight when 
 this venerable man was led into the pulpit, and 
 there lifted to heaven his sightless eyeballs in 
 fervent addresses to the throne of grace in behalf 
 of sinful men, and poured out his heart in solemn 
 appeals to his dying fellow-men in behalf of the 
 claims of God. Through life he preached from 
 memory. One or two readings of his written dis- 
 
WITIIERSPOON. 93 
 
 courses, even by anotlior person, pnt him in full 
 possession of the contents of his niiuuiscript. He 
 enjoyed the iiill exercise of his mental i)Owers to 
 tlie day of his death. lie departed this life 
 November 15, 1794, in the seventy-third year of 
 liis age. 
 
 " The writings of Dr. Witherspoon are very 
 various, both in sul)ject and in style. 
 
 " 1. His theological writings consist of sermons, 
 essays and lectures. Tliere are forty-seven sermons 
 in which are discussed nearly all the leading or 
 vital truths of Christianity, with many kindred 
 matters. Then we have his essay on justification, 
 covering forty-eight pages, and his practical treatise 
 on regeneration, covering one hundred and sixty- 
 three pages. Then we have his seventeen lectures 
 on divinity. These are quite short, averaging less 
 than seven pages each. Then we have his inquiry 
 into the Scripture-meaning of charity. Of all 
 these writings no one piece is so full and complete 
 as that on regeneration. That on justification is 
 next in order. But if one will allow for their 
 length, several of the sermons are as worthy of 
 attention as any of his works. All his theological 
 writings are remarkable for perspicuity, soundness, 
 earnestness, a just moderation and practicalness. 
 It is risking nothing to say that they have had a 
 very powerful influence in moulding and establish- 
 ing the views of large numbers of theologians in 
 all countries where the English language is spoken. 
 
94 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 This remark is especially true of Ireland, Scotland 
 and Xorth America. It would be a great contribu- 
 tion to our popular theological literature if this 
 land could be well supplied with Witherspoon on 
 regeneration. Will not some one furnish means 
 to do it? 
 
 *^ 2. Dr. Witherspoon's writings on moral matters 
 must not be passed without notice. Of these the 
 most prominent and important are a serious inquiry 
 into the nature and effects of the stage, lectures on 
 moral philosophy and letters on marriage. In all 
 these are found much close thinking, an excellent 
 judgment and sound speech that cannot be con- 
 demnerl. The jiiece on the stage was occasioned by 
 the production of the play called ^Douglas,' writ- 
 ten by a minister of the Church of Scotland. Dr. 
 Witherspoon's views on this subject are both calm 
 and spirited. The essay is easily understood; it 
 shows sufficient learning; it is fair and cogent. 
 The lectures on moral philosophy are the most 
 unfinished of all Dr. Witherspoon's works. He 
 wholly refused to publish them himself, but after 
 his death his students loudly called for them. In 
 them are many good things, but their appearance 
 has not increased their author's reputation. It is 
 very doubtful, as a question of morality, whether 
 it is ever right to give to the world writings whose 
 author was known to be averse to their publication. 
 And every production is the worse for not receiv- 
 ing the final revision of the author for the press. 
 
WITHERSPOON. 95 
 
 "3. Then we have Dr. WItherspoon's views on 
 many matters respecting public affairs and tlie po- 
 litical questions of his times. These are all worthy 
 of perusal. Those who control the financial affairs 
 of this country might be both startled and profited 
 by a careful examination of Dr. Witherspoon's 
 essay on money. He was an independent thinker, 
 and freely gave his views on most of the questions 
 which arrested the attention of Americans during 
 their great struggle for independence. Some of his 
 essays for the periodical press, no less than some of 
 his speeches in Congress, are well adapted to make 
 the thoughtful think. 
 
 " 4. Then we have Dr. Witherspoon's humorous 
 productions. Some of these are still read with 
 avidity. They are so racy and so spirited that one 
 can hardly find anything better suited to sharpen 
 his wits. The most keen, pungent and highly fin- 
 ished of these productions bears the title of Eecle\ 
 siastical Characteristics. The irony is very cutting, 
 the sarcasm is very biting, and the ridicule is over- 
 whelming. In the eighteenth century very few 
 things so stirred Scotland as these caustic produc- 
 tions. The celebrated Bishop Warburton men- 
 tioned them ' with particular approbation, and ex- 
 pressed his Avish that the Church of England had 
 such a corrector.^ The history of a corporation 
 of servants has in it a rich vein of pure wit hardly 
 less amusing and perhaps more instructive than 
 "Gulliver's Travels,^' by Swift. The recantation 
 
96 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 of Benjamin Towne is another production of the 
 same class. 
 
 " Dr. Witherspoon's wit was very uncommon. He 
 was always ready. Whilst crossing the ocean the 
 ship in which he sailed was overtaken by a violent 
 storm. Officers, crew and passengers supposed 
 their end had come. An old sailor, whom Dr. 
 Witherspoon had often and severely reproved for 
 his shocking profaneness, during the storm came to 
 the man of God and began to talk piously. At 
 length he said, * If we never see land, I hope we 
 are all going to the same place.' Instantly Dr. 
 Witherspoon replied, ^ I hope we are not.' 
 
 "On occasion of meeting a celebrated wit, Dr. 
 Witherspoon accidentally struck his head against a 
 tall mantel-piece, when he said, ' My head rings.' 
 'It rings, does it?' said the other. ^Yes,' said 
 Witherspoon. ' That is because it is empty,' said 
 the wit. Dr. Witherspoon said, ' Does not yours 
 ring when it is struck ?' The answer was, ' No.' 
 'That,' said Witherspoon, 'is because it is 
 cracked.' 
 
 "In a foot-note to his essay on justification Dr. 
 Witherspoon has in a few words fully disposed of 
 Hume's theory of virtue. True, that subtle and 
 elegant writer had laid himself very liable to con- 
 tempt by putting wit, genius, health, cleanliness, 
 taper legs and broad shoulders among the virtues. 
 Such men deserve the scorn of serious and good 
 thinkers. 
 
WITHERSPOOK 97 
 
 " Dr. "Witherspoou must have had great power as 
 a teacher over his pupils. His influence, felt once, 
 was felt for life. Perhaps this continent has pro- 
 duced no man more able in debate than the late 
 William B. Giles, once governor of Virginia. He 
 graduated at Princeton in the class of 1781. Forty- 
 six years after this he thus spoke in the legislature 
 of Virginia: 
 
 " ^ It happened to be my fortune in early life to 
 be placed under the care of the late celebrated Dr. 
 Witherspoon, of Princeton College. The doctor, 
 although highly learned, was as much celebrated 
 for the simplicity and elegance of his style and for 
 the brevity of his orations as for the extent and 
 solidity of his erudition. He lectured the class of 
 which I was a member upon eloquence and crit- 
 icism, and I was always delighted with the exer- 
 cises in that branch of science. Amidst all the re- 
 finement of the doctor^s learning he retained much 
 of the provincial brogue of his native town. He I 
 generally approached his class with great famil- ; 
 iarity with, "How do ye do, lads?" To which ; \ 
 the reply was, "Braly, sir; braly." He com- * 
 menced his lecture in the simple style of conver- 
 sation : 
 
 " * " Lads, if it should fall to the lot of any of ye, 
 as it may do, to appear upon the theatre of public 
 life, let me impress upon your minds two rules of 
 oratory that are never to be departed from upon 
 any occasion whatever: Ne'er do ye speak' unless 
 7 .V 
 
98 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 ye ha' something to say; and when ye are done, be 
 sure to leave off/' ' 
 
 " If any pronounce these rules to be insufferably 
 irksome, let him find better. The want of adhe- 
 rence to them is the secret of many failures in our 
 day. 
 
 " Most of Dr. Witherspoon's writings fall under 
 some one of the foregoing classes, but some of them 
 are so peculiar as not to be easily classified. On 
 these time forbids us to dwell. 
 
 "One thing remarkable in most of his writings 
 is their freshness. They never grow stale. One 
 might instance those fine discourses on * The trial 
 of religious truth by its moral influence,' or ^ The 
 charge of sedition and faction against good men, 
 specially faithful ministers, considered and account- 
 ed for,' or on ^ The nature and extent of visible re- 
 ligion.' 
 
 " Of course the services of Dr. Witherspoon were 
 great. As an educator, as a patriot, as a writer, 
 as a safe and profound thinker on topics of public 
 interest, and, above all, as a theologian and preacher, 
 he did great things for the age and the world in 
 which he lived. Perhaps his influence was never 
 greater than at present. Through him many are 
 what they are without knowing that by his means 
 they have been brought to their present line of 
 thought and action. He moulded the minds of 
 those who swayed thousands. It seems highly 
 probable that soon a new and complete edition of 
 
WITHERSPOON. 9f 
 
 his works will be called for, and will be read with 
 profit and avidity. A man of any force of mind, 
 if familiar with Dr. Witherspoon's writings, could 
 easily consign to merited disgrace not a few of the 
 foolish notions now more or less popular with the 
 masses and with the demagogues of the country. 
 
 "Those who revere his memory, therefore, do 
 well and wisely in erecting a public monument 
 which shall tell to the coming generations that if 
 they lack a model to form them to virtue and re- 
 nown they may study the life, examine the writ- 
 ings and copy the example of John Witherspoon. 
 
 *^ In view of the past, the present and the future, 
 we Americans are bound to think of all the way 
 the Lord our God has led us as a people, and learn 
 to trust the Most High in the darkest hour. 
 
 "Savage and barbarous people often speak of 
 their ancestors, but civilized nations are mightily 
 swayed by the memory of their forefathers. When 
 their deeds have been heroic and virtuous, a just 
 regard to them greatly conduces to the public good. 
 When men are both great and good, their power 
 ought to be immense. Men seldom have wise 
 regard to their posterity unless they can look back 
 with admiration on at least some of those from 
 Vihom they claim descent. In the example of many 
 of the contemporaries of Dr. Witherspoon we see 
 much that was wise, patient and valiant. Let us 
 honor by imitating their virtues. They have left 
 us a rich inheritance. They braved great perils, 
 
100 WITHERSPOON. 
 
 they bore great hardships, they practiced severe in- 
 dustry, they subdued the soil to the ploughshare, 
 they reared a lasting monument to their good name 
 in the institutions they left us. Let us, like them, 
 be just to all men, and let us fear none but the 
 Father of nations and of men. 
 
 " Our ancestors were an ingenious people. From 
 their day to the present we have had a race of re- 
 markable inventors. Let us encourage all useful 
 arts and contrivances. 
 
 " Our fathers put a high estimate on mental cul- 
 ture. In the seventeenth century they founded 
 Harvard College, in Massachusetts, and William 
 and Mary College, in Virginia. In the eighteenth 
 century they established about fifty colleges and 
 universities. In the nineteenth century, we have 
 colleges by the hundred, and most of them well 
 deserve the name. Let us largely endow and 
 sacredly guard these noble seats of learning. 
 
 " The growth of our country has been marked. 
 In 1790 the whole population of the United States 
 was but 3,927,214 souls. Now some of our single 
 States have more. If such things engender pride, 
 they will work our ruin. But if they make us 
 thoughful and prudent, they will do us good. 
 
 "Let us not be vain and frivolous, selfish and 
 profane. How Washington reproved profaneness! 
 How Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin 
 pleaded for the worship of God in our national coun- 
 cils ! Let us not foolishly despise such examples. 
 
WITHERSPOON. 101 
 
 " Nor let us forget that our principles and con- 
 duct will mightily affect those who shall come after 
 us. The next hundred years will probably confirm 
 and establish or shake and shatter our best institu- 
 tions. What w^e and our immediate descendants 
 shall do will tell for ages to come. Not a social, 
 civil or moral cause has for centuries past affected 
 any nation whose people now mingle with ours 
 which cause is not this day potential for good or 
 evil in our own land. Such causes do not com- 
 monly work rapidly, but they work surely. Their 
 results are inevitable. 
 
 "When He who made and governs the world 
 has ends to accomplish, he can be at no loss for fit 
 instruments. Divine prescience always provides 
 them. Our fathers were thus fitted for their work. 
 Let us stand in our lot, girt with truth, having 
 faith in God, intrepidly meeting every call of duty, 
 cultivating a sincere good-will toward all men at 
 home and abroad, and piously leaving all issues in 
 the hands of Him who is in fact and of right the 
 Judge of all the earth. 
 
 " Before closing this address permit me to read 
 two short papers. One is from an honored descend- 
 ant of Dr. Witherspoon. It is dated — 
 
 "'Camden, S. C, June 30, 1876. 
 '' ' To Eev. Dr. Plumer, 
 
 "^Rev. and Dear Sir: As the lineal descend- 
 ant of that great and good man Dr. W^itherspoon, 
 
102 WITHEBSPOON, 
 
 I deeply regret that I am unable to attend at the 
 unveiling of his statue. 
 
 " ' His bust that we have I would gladly have 
 taken to Philadelphia. I shall ever feel that I am. 
 an American, and deeply grateful to the great 
 Presbyterian family of America for the great 
 blessing vouchsafed to us through the exertions of 
 my great-grandfather and his coadjutors. Oh that 
 the same spirit that actuated them in the hour of 
 their country's peril may now unite the great Amer- 
 ican family in this Centennial year, knowing no 
 North, no South, no East, no West, but free and 
 happy America ! 
 
 " ' Yours, very truly, 
 
 "'John Knox Witherspoon.' 
 
 " The other is from a source honored by all good 
 men in our land. It has been my happiness to 
 spend the last few days in the company of my old 
 friend, that great and good man, Professor Joseph 
 Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute. He has 
 obligingly handed me the following estimate of 
 Dr. Witherspoon : 
 
 " ' He had a mind of great and general powers, 
 harmoniously developed in various directions, capa- 
 ble of analyzing any subject to which his attention 
 might be directed, and of arriving at a clear con- 
 ception of the fundamental principles on which it 
 was founded. He possessed great facility in de- 
 
WITHERSPOON. 103 
 
 ducing logical inferences from general principles, 
 applicable to the affairs of every-day life. 
 
 " ^ With clear conceptions of truth, he had the 
 moral courage and literary ability to advocate it 
 from the pulpit and the press in forcible language 
 and with apt illustrations. 
 
 "*As an example of these characteristics, I 
 would refer to his essay on the uses and abuses of 
 paper money, which I do not hesitate to say is one 
 of the best expressions of the fundamental princi- 
 ples of the subject to be found in the English lan- 
 guage. It was published at a time of great excite- 
 ment, when the country was suffering under an un- 
 stable currency, and is especially applicable to the 
 condition of our own times.' 
 
 "A century ago Dr. Witherspoon and our fathers 
 were on the busy theatre of life. They are gone 
 now. Where shall we be a hundred years hence? 
 Certainly we shall all be in eternity. But will it 
 be a blessed eternity ? Will the world be the better 
 for our having lived in it ?'' 
 
 The committee feel that it would be unpardon- 
 able to bring this statement to a close without ex- 
 pressing its cordial thanks to the secular press of 
 Philadelphia for its liberality in advertising and 
 its courtesy in noticing our efforts, and also to the 
 Presbyterian Banner , of Pittsburg, the New York 
 Observer and the New York Evangelist, and to the 
 Christian Instructor, of Philadelphia, and especially 
 
104 WITEEESPOON. 
 
 to The PreshyteriaUj of this city, for the large space 
 allowed in its columns for the advocacy of our 
 cause, and for the warm editorial support constantly 
 rendered us. 
 
|'"'[«'jO" ■'■•'W'ogical Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 01045 9503