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 THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1845. 
 
 C. A. DAVIS, 
 
 E. M. BARNUM, 
 
 J. B. ALLEN, 
 
 H. E. RUGGLES, 
 
 W. M. CHAMBERLAIN, 
 
 /- B. D. HARnis; 
 
 .1^ -. ^ ^ vr c ,x J.- \ S. E. COMINGS, 
 
 Committee ot Knbftation, J e. d. frost, 
 
 Dart. Collsgs. 
 
 S. H. WILLEY, 
 J. W. ROLLINS. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/earlyannalsofuniOOhatfrich 
 
THE 
 
 EARLY ANNALS 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIO^ THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 
 
 By Rev. EDWIN F. HATFIELD, D.D. 
 
 NEW-YORK. 
 No. 30 Clintojs^ Place. 
 
 1876. 
 
The following Historical Discoui'se was prepared at the request of 
 the Faculty of Union Theological Seminary, in the city of New- York, 
 and delivered, at the Anniversary of the Seminary, in the Madison 
 Square Presbyterian Church, on the evening of Monday, the 8th of 
 May, 1876. It is now published at the request of the Board of 
 Directors. 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 "These forty years tlie Lord tliy God liath been with tliea; 
 tliou hast lacked nothing." To recall the past, and mark the hand 
 of God in onr varied experience, is both pleasant and profitable. 
 The gracious dealings of the Father Almighty with ns and ours, as 
 seen in the review of life, should stimulate us to renewed zeal and 
 effort, in our endeavors to promote and extend the kingdom of 
 the Divine Eedeemer. He, who, through all their weary pil- 
 grimage of forty years in the Arabian desert, had fed and clothed, 
 guarded and guided his people Israel, would surely be their shield 
 and buckler in the dreaded conflict with the Amorite, and, in due 
 season, put them in secure possession of Canaan, the land of prom- 
 ise. So reasoned Moses, on the borders of Edom. 
 
 We celebrate to-day the Fortieth Anniversary^' of Union Theo- 
 logical Seminary in the city of ]N^ew-York. Forty years of instruc- 
 tion in the science of God and the Gospel of Christ are now brought 
 to a close. It is a fitting occasion for at least a brief review of the 
 history of this favored institution. As in the case of Israel on their 
 way to the j)romised land, that history has been marked by signal 
 and repeated interpositions of Divine Providence, and is singularly 
 illustrative of the special guardianship of the great Head of the 
 Church. , Having, by the good hand of God upon us, attained to a 
 position of influence among the agencies for raising up and sending 
 forth a godly and able ministry, second to none in the land, it will 
 be both entertaining and instructive, to recall the way in which the 
 Lord has led us hitherto, that so we may thank God as we ought, 
 and take courage in the continued prosecution of the work that is 
 given us to do. 
 
 * The first public anniversary was celebrated at the end of the second year of 
 instruction. 
 
4 EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 To determine the patemitj of a great benevolence — whose 
 thought it was that gave it being, or that moulded it into form — is 
 not always practicable. The grand cathedrals of the Old World took 
 shape, mostly, in the brains of their respective architects, before a 
 single stone was laid or plan expressed on paper. Most of the great 
 charities that so happily characterize and adorn the present age, 
 grew out of a perception, on the part of some devout and zealous 
 mind, of a special want, and its appropriate relief. A comparison 
 of views, it may be, in respect to some providential emergency, 
 leads to something like a simultaneous thought, on the part of several 
 j)ersons, as to the requisite agency for the occasion. Such is ordi- 
 narily the case with our noble institutions of learning and benevo- 
 lence. 
 
 The movement that issued in the founding of Union Seminary 
 first took shape in tlie autumn of the year 1835. One of the most 
 active originators of the enterprise, a venerable divine, now in the 
 seventy-eighth year of his age,* says that a fiiendf called on him, 
 one day, to advise with him as to the disposal of some funds, which 
 a bookseller;}: of this city desired to appropriate to some good object. 
 " Let him give the sum towards the founding of a Theological 
 Seminary in Kew-York," was the reply. His friend remonstrated ; 
 raised objections to the project, and said, " It is no place for a 
 Seminary." The matter w^as then argued at considerable length. It 
 was affirmed that a large city was just the place for such an institu- 
 tion, furnishing, as it does, special means of support to the indigent in 
 the way of teaching, singing, and playing the organ in churches, 
 and other remunerative employment ; also of greater usefulness to 
 the young men while pursuing their studies, by withdrawing them 
 from cloistered life, and introducing them, at an early stage of their 
 course, to missionary work among the poor and degraded of a great 
 city, and among ttie children and youth of its many Sunday-schools 
 and Bible-classes ; thus testing, in the outset, their piety and fidelity, 
 as well as their general fitness for the work of the ministry, and 
 training them for it. 
 
 This conference resulted in a consultation, first with the book- 
 seller, and then with a few prominent merchants, whose generous 
 
 * Rev. William Patton,D.D., of New-Haven, Ct. 
 t Rev. Absalom Peters, D.D. 
 
 X Mr. Oliver Halsted, of the firm of Halsted & VoORHis, law-booksellers. 
 The funds were never obtained. 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 5 
 
 benefactions had already given them prominence in the walks of 
 benevolence. The project was received with favor. A meeting of 
 a few ministers and laymen of kindred sympathies was informally 
 called. It was held at the house of Mr. William M. IIalsted, 
 No. 60 Walker street. The more the matter was talked of and 
 thought of, the more it seemed to be of God's ordering. At 
 length a formal meeting was held, Saturday, October 10th, at the 
 house of Mr. Knowles Taylor, 'No. 8 Bond street. In addition 
 to Mr. Taylor, eight other persons were present : Messrs. William 
 M. Halsted, liicHARD T. IIaines, Abu ah Fisher, and Marcus 
 Wilbur ; Rev. Absalom Peters, D.D., Rev. Henry White, Rev. 
 William Patton, and Rev. Erskine Mason. After a full inter- 
 change of views, it was then and there voted unanimously " That 
 it is expedient, depending on the blessing of God, to attempt to es- 
 tablish a Theological Seminary in this city." 
 
 Other meetings followed weekly, at the same place, with a con- 
 tinual enlargement of the circle.* Inquiries were made as to the 
 probable cost of the undertaking, and the means of providing for it. 
 Recent developments had raised considerable opposition to per- 
 manent endowments. It was thought that the establishment of the 
 Seminary would involve " an expense of sixty-five thousand dollars, 
 or thirteen thousand dollars ^^7^ annum for five years ; supporting, 
 during that period, all the Professors, and, at its expiration, leaving 
 a building and a library free from debt." Thenceforward it was 
 hoped that the annual expenditures would be met by voluntary 
 contributions. At their meeting of I^ovember 9th, a subscription was 
 called for, payable in five annual installments : the first on the first 
 day of June, 1836, provided that not less than sixty thousand 
 dollars had been subscribed. The sum of thirty-one thousand dollars 
 was then assumed by those present ; an additional subscription of 
 ten thousand dollars was reported at the next meeting ; and every 
 encouragement was given that the whole sum would shortly be 
 secured. 
 
 * Prominent among tlie additional attendants were tlie Rev. Drs. Thomas 
 McAuLEY and Thomas H. Skinner ; the Rev. Messrs. John C. Brigham, 
 ICHABOD S. Spencer, William Adams, Asa D. Smith, Elijah P. Barrows, 
 Henry A. Rowland, Charles Hall, and Henry G. Ludlow ; and Messrs. 
 Fisher Howe, John Nitchie, Lowell Holbrook, Jame% C. Bliss, M.D., Cor 
 nelius Baker, Anson G. Phelps, Rufus L. Nevins, Charles Butler, Charles 
 Starr, John L. Mason, Norman White, Oliver Wilcox, and Alexis Baker. 
 
C EAELY ANNALS. 
 
 In a brief editorial notice of the movement, the New-Yorh 
 Ohserver, of E'ovember 14:th, said : " The gentlemen connected with 
 this undertaking, we believe, have the confidence of the great mass 
 of the Presbyterian community." How came it to pass, it may well 
 be asked, that these " wealthy citizens connected with the Presby- 
 terian Church," as they were said to be, were induced to identify 
 themselves with this enterprise, to give so freely of their substance 
 for its establishment and support, and, without fee or earthly re- 
 ward, to devote so much of their time, their influence, and their 
 energies to its advancement ? Not less than six other Theological 
 Seminaries had been more or less permanently established within 
 the bounds of the Presbyterian Church : at Princeton, ]^. J. ; at 
 Auburn, N. Y. ; at Allegheny, Pa. ; at Cincinnati, O. ; at Columbia, 
 S. C. ; and at IIam]3den Sidney, Ya. Only eight years before, a 
 ±s"ew-York professorship of twenty thousand dollars had been sub- 
 scribed for Union Seminary in Yirginia, chiefly by these very men. 
 Princeton Seminary, established and sustained by the General As- 
 sembly, some fifty miles only from Is^ew-York, was sadly in need of 
 funds. For twenty-three years " its whole existence had been a 
 constant course of struggle with poverty." At that very date, a 
 special agent, in accordance with the recommendations of the 
 Assembly of 1835, was preparing to canvass the churches for the 
 means to place it on a substantial and adequate basis. Why did 
 these men deem it desirable to attempt a seventh enterprise ? Was 
 there not a noble institution of the kind in full operation at 
 Andover, Mass. ? And one nearer at hand, connected with the ven- 
 erable college at New-Haven, Ct. 1 What need was there of a 
 Seminary in the commercial metropolis ? 
 
 On the occasion of the visit of the Kev. John H. Rice, D.D., of 
 Yirginia, to obtain the funds just alluded to for the Hampden Sidney 
 Seminary, this most excellent and able divine found himself sub- 
 jected to a considerable scrutiny, both as to his doctrinal and eccle- 
 siastical sympathies. Under date of June 5tli, 1827, writing to Mrs. 
 Rice, he says : " While all the brethren appear to regard me with 
 great personal affection, neither of the parties are entirely cordial to 
 me. The Princeton people apprehend that I am approximating to 
 Auburn notions ; and the zealous partisans of New-England divinity 
 think me a tlioroygh-going Princetonian. So it is 1 And, while 
 there is much less of that unseemly bitterness and asperity which 
 brought reproach on the Church in past times, I can see that the 
 
EAELY ANNALS. T 
 
 spirit of party has struck deeper than I had ever supposed. And I 
 do fully expect that there will be either a strong effort to bring 
 Princeton under different management, or to build up a new Semi- 
 nary in the vicinity of ]S^ew-York, to counteract the- influence of 
 Princeton. One or the other of these things will assuredly be done 
 before long, unless the Lord interpose and turn the hearts of the 
 ministers." 
 
 Ten days later (15th) he writes again, and says : " The people 
 here are only waiting for me to get out of the way, to bring forward 
 other enterprises. I should not be sui-prised if, next year, we 
 should hear of a Seminary for the vicinity of ^ew-York. I can not 
 tell you all that I have learned here in a letter, but you shall know 
 when I see you." 
 
 As early, therefore, as 1827, possibly earlier, it was in contempla- 
 tion, and seriously talked of, to undertake the establishment of a 
 Theological Seminary, to be located in the immediate vicinity of 
 iNfew-York, and to be sustained by a portion of the consecrated 
 wealth of the great metropolis. Growing dissatisfaction with ex- 
 isting institutions of the kind, according to the reliable testimony of 
 the judicious Dr. Pice, prompted the incipient thought. Questions 
 theological, ecclesiastical, and partisan had already wrought conten- 
 tions and divisions among the ministers and in the churches of the 
 city. The leaven, that wrought so disastrously some ten years later, 
 was even then at work. 
 
 From an early period of the century, and notably from the com- 
 mencement of the War of 1812, a tide of desirable immigration had 
 been pouring into the city of ]N^ew-York from every part of New- 
 England and the adjacent towns of New- Jersey. Full of enter- 
 prise, many of these new-comers speedily established themselves in 
 lucrative trade and commerce. Many of them were the children of 
 godly parents, had been early indoctrinated in the current theology 
 of the times, and had become intelligent and active Christians. Of 
 course they identified themselves at once with the church and its 
 work in their new home. Congregationalism in the city took form 
 not earlier than 1819, and was of the Unitarian type. Conse- 
 quently the new-comers attached themselves mostly to Presbyterian 
 churches. So large a portion of the members of the old Cedar- 
 street Church (Dr. Pomeyn's) were of this character, as to occasion 
 its being called " The Federal Church " — the prevailing political 
 type of the Eastern States. Most naturally, diversities of views in 
 
8 EAflLY ANNALS. 
 
 doctrine and polity, and consequent jealousies, were early developed, 
 of which the series of essays known as " The Triangle," by the 
 elder Wiielpley, on the one hand, and " The Contrast," by Ezra 
 Stiles Ely, on the other, were the most obvious fruits. The friends 
 of missions and of ministerial education were divided ere long into 
 rival factions. The patrons of ecclesiastical boards were arrayed 
 against the advocates of voluntary societies and co-operative benevo- 
 lence. Such was the immediate occasion of that party spirit the 
 exhibition of which had so sensibly affected Dr. Rice, and led to the 
 ta k about a new Seminary for ^New-York. 
 
 These diversities of views and operations were further promoted 
 by the controversy relative to revival measures, culminating in the 
 ]N^ew-Lebanon Conventidh of July, 1827; by the fierce and bitter 
 agitation of the Anti-slavery and Colonization questions ; by the 
 numerous pamphlets, reviews, and essays, in newspapers, magazines, 
 and other publications, that presently- flooded the Church, iif and out 
 of ISTew-England, pertaining to the controversy about the so-called 
 " JSTew-Haven Theology ;" by the prosecution for heresy, persistently 
 urged, of such useful and godly ministers as George Duffield, 
 Albert Barnes, and Lyman Beeciier ; by the division of churches, 
 presbyteries, and synods into rival and zealous partisans ; and by the 
 unseemly struggles of the Old and Is'ew School parties, year by 
 year, for the control of the General Assembly. 
 
 It is perfectly natural, and by. no means surprising, that, after 
 years of contention and strife, so absorbing and so embittered, 
 measures should have been devised, and means sought, to obtain 
 deliverance from these unhappy agitations, and a peaceful retreat 
 from such unholy disturbances. The founding of a new Seminary, 
 on an independent basis, not subject to the control of accidental 
 majorities in ecclesiastical bodies, not committed to any of the 
 parties in the various conflicts by which the churches of the day 
 were distracted and likely to be convulsed, occupying ground on 
 which good and faithful men, of all classes and parties in the Pres- 
 byterian Church, could meet and act together for the spread of the 
 gospel and the glory of the Divine Redeemer, ruled by no ecclesias- 
 tical clique, and pledged to no faction, met, therefore, with peculiar 
 favor. 
 
 It is further to be borne in mind that, during the previous eight 
 or ten years, particularly in 1831, a large number of young men had 
 connected themselves with the Presbyterian churches of ISTew-York 
 
EARLY ANKALS. 9 
 
 and Brooklyn, many of whom were desirous of entering the ministry, 
 but were destitute of the requisite pecuniary means. A ISTew-York 
 Seminary was just what they needed. It would tend, moreover, to 
 arrest the tendency, growing, in part, out of the agitations in the 
 Presbyterian Church, towards the New-England Seminaries, and 
 save these enterprising youth for the service of our own churches at 
 home and abroad. 
 
 Furthermore, it was believed that an institution of this kind, 
 planted in the city of New-York, would " enlist many young men 
 of talent, piety, and missionary zeal, from these two flourishing 
 cities, in the work of the ministry, who" would thus " have the 
 opportunity of adding to solid learning enlightened experience, by 
 means of the constant pastoral influence finder which they " would 
 "act, and the performance of the important duties of church mem- 
 bers, in Sabbath-schools, Bible-classes, and prayer-meetings, in the 
 several churches with which they " might " be connected, and 
 through their acquaintance with the benevolent efforts of this loca- 
 tion." 
 
 It was with such designs, moved thereto, doubtless, by the Spirit 
 of God, that good men and true, in humble dependence on the 
 great Head of the Church, laid the foundations of " the New- York 
 Theological Seminary," as they proposed to call it. The guiding 
 hand of Ilim who led Israel throuojh the sea and the desert was seen 
 also in timing the enterprise. The financial pressure of 1834 had 
 passed away. The flush of 1835-6 had set in, and new entei-prises 
 were springing up on every hand. Speculation v/as rife. The new 
 lands of the West were coming into the market. Fortunes were 
 easily made in the purchase and sale of town lots in the newly- 
 projected villages and cities everywhere attracting attention. The 
 friends of the new Seminary were full of hope. They subscribed 
 largely — four of them five thousand dollars each— and met with 
 good encouragement from others. Five sixths of the sum required 
 had been subscribed, when, on the memorable night of the sixteenth 
 of December, 1835, a conflagration was kindled, in the providence 
 of God, that, within twenty-four hours, laid the wealthiest section 
 of the city in ashes, consuming more than five hundred buildings 
 and seventeen millions of property. It was a day of consternation 
 — a day of bankruptcy to hundreds, and of sore privations to thou- 
 sands, many of whom were in affluence the day before. It was the 
 beginning of darker days to come. Well was it that the enterprise 
 
10 EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 had been undertaken so early in the autumn. Three months later, 
 it would have been out of the question. 
 
 At a meeting of the subscribers, January 11th, 1836, less than a 
 month after the great catastrophe, it was announced that a subscrip- 
 tion of sixty-one thousand dollars had been obtained, and that the 
 conditional clause had thus been fulfilled. A constitution, pre- 
 viously and carefully prepared, was adopted, a large and highly 
 responsible Board of Directors was chosen, and order taken to pro- 
 cure, from the Legislature of the State, an act of incorporation. 
 The Board met, for the first time, on the evening of Monday, 
 January 18th, 1836, at the house of the American Tract Society, in 
 Nassau street, proceeded to the choice of ofiicers for the year, and 
 so the organization of " the j^ew-Yoek Theological Semixaey " 
 was completed. 
 
 Measures were taken at once to procure a location, and to erect a 
 suitable edifice for the Seminary. A plot of ground, two hundred 
 feet square, between Sixth and Eighth streets, extending from 
 Greene to Wooster streets, four full lots on each street, was selected. 
 It formed a part of the property of " the Sailors' Snug Harbor," 
 which shortly before had been located in the old Kandall mansion, 
 on Broadway, above Ninth street. It was subject to an annual 
 ground rent of eight hundred dollars. The lease was purchased for 
 eight thousand dollars. The locality was well up town — quite on 
 the outskirts of the city. Population had been spreading from what 
 was then familiarly known as " Greenwich Village," along the Hudson 
 Biver, northward ; and, in like manner, along the Third avenue, on 
 the eastern side of the city. A few improvements had been made 
 along the Bloomingdale Eoad from its junction with the Bowery 
 Boad, at Seventeenth street, to the House of Refuge, which stood at 
 the starting-point of the old Boston Road, on the westerly side of 
 the present Madison Square, extending to the present Broadway, 
 and covering the site of the Worth Monument. Union Place, now 
 *' Union Square," had just been opened, at the forks of Broadway 
 and the Bowery, but was still unimproved. Eighth street and a few 
 of the parallel streets above, opened but a few years before, were 
 beginning to exhibit some evidences of substantial improvement. 
 With these exceptions, vacant lots, unpaved streets, primitive roads 
 and lanes, open fields and country-seats, many of them highly culti- 
 vated and of considerable extent, covered the island to the north, as 
 far as the ancient Dutch village of Harlem. The New- York of that 
 
EARLY ANNALS. ^ 11 
 
 day scarcely extended above Tenth street, the original terminn^ of 
 Broadway. Beyond was the open country. 
 
 The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Ej^iscopal 
 Church, some ten years before, had been erected far out of the city, 
 and near it, on Twentieth street, an Episcopal chapel (St. Peter's), 
 of small capacity, had been erected in 1832. Old " St. Mark's " oc- 
 cupied its present site on Tenth street, near the Second avenue. 
 Two or three mission stations, in advance of the population, were 
 struggling for a foothold in the outlying districts. Excepting tliese, 
 not a chtirch edilice of any description was to be found on the 
 island, below the villages of Bloomingdale and Harlem, above Tenth 
 street. A new Presbyterian church had just been erected in 
 Mercer street, near Eighth street, wdiich, for many subsequent 
 years, was the " Up-town Church" of the denomination. The stately 
 structure erected for the University of the City of !New-York, on 
 the block below the new purchase, had just been occupied in part, 
 but was not fully completed. Wooster street had just been extend- 
 ed to Fourteenth street, and the part above the University widened 
 and called " Jackson avenue " — a name shortly after exchanged for 
 " University Place." The location was deemed quite eligible, near 
 enough to the business portion of the city, and sufficiently remote 
 for a quiet literary retreat. 
 
 A permanent corps of Instructors was now to be secured. The 
 first choice of the Directors for the Chair of Theology was the Rev. 
 Justin Edwaeds, D.D., of Andover, Mass. ; and for the. Chair of 
 Biblical Literature, Prof. Joseph Addison Alexander, of Prince- 
 ton, IS^. J. — a happy commingling of the prevalent theological 
 tendencies of the age. Both ajDpointments w^ere declined. Profes- 
 sors Extraordinary* were appointed from among the ministerial 
 members of the Board. On the last day of September, the Rev. 
 Henry White, the pastor of the Allen-street Presbyterian Church 
 of this city, was appointed to, and soon after accepted, the Chair 
 of Theology. The Rev. Thomas McAuley, D.D., the pastor of 
 the Murray-street Presbyterian Church, and the first President of 
 the Board, was chosen Professor of Pastoral Theology and Church 
 Government, with the position of President of the institution. The 
 Rev. Prof. George Howe, of Columbia, S. C, was also chosen to 
 
 * Rev. Drs. Thomas McAuley and Thomas H. Skinner, and Rev. Messrs. 
 ICHABOD A. Spencer, Erskine Mason, and Henry White. 
 
12 earCy annals. 
 
 tlie jCliair of Biblical Literature. Dr. McAuley accepted, but Prof. 
 Howe declined. Tlie services of two regular Professors, and of 
 several Professors Extraordinary, having thus been secured, the 
 Recorder was authorized, iSTovember 24th, 1836, to announce, in the 
 public prints, that the Seminary would be opened on the first Mon- 
 day of December following. 
 
 Promptly, therefore, oh the 5th day of December thirteen young 
 men presented themselves at the house of the President, IS^o. 112 
 Leonard street, and were duly enrolled as theological students. A 
 fortnight later. Prof. Edward Pobinson, D.D., late of Andover, 
 Mass., was chosen to the Chair of Biblical Literature. At the end 
 of a month he accepted, and entered upon his work. Ten additional 
 students were enrolled during the first year. 
 
 The new Seminary had thus far acquired no " local habitation." 
 The plans for the building had not yet been completed. The neces- 
 sities of the case made the institution somewhat " peripatetic." 
 N^ow the young gentlemen are seen wending their way to the house 
 of the President in Leonard street ; the day following they have 
 gathered at the residence of Prof. White, 'No. 80 Eldridge street ; 
 the third day finds them at the rooms of the Presbyterian Educa- 
 tion Society, Ko. 116 ISTassau street, drinking in the erudition of 
 Prof. Robinson ; or, in the absence of the latter, profiting by the 
 genial instructions of the scholarly George Bush, at his study, No. 
 115 I^assau street ; and again they are to be found gathered about 
 the polished and enthusiastic Skinner, in his quiet retreat in the 
 chapel of the Mercer-street Church. No dormitories having yet 
 been provided, the students came from every quarter of the city, as 
 far away as the Deaf and Dumb Institution on Fiftieth street, and 
 some from the other side of the river. 
 
 The plans having at length been completed and approved, con- 
 tracts were made for the erection of a seminary building on Uni- 
 versity Place, and of four Professors' houses in the rear, on Greene 
 street. Early in March, 183T, the work was fairly begun, but with 
 utterly inadequate resources. The original subscription had reached 
 nearly seventy thousand dollars ; but the first installment, payable 
 June 1st, 1836, had yielded scarcely more than ten thousand dollars, 
 four fifths of which had been required for the purchase of the lease ; 
 the ground rent and assessments absorbed nearly three fourths of 
 the small remainder, leaving almost no provision for the payment of 
 the salaries of the three Professors, the purchase of books, and'other 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 13 
 
 current expenses. The great fire had crippled quite a number of 
 the patrons of tlie Seminary, and the prospects for the second install- 
 ment, in June, 1837, were anything but promising. Whence were 
 the funds for building purposes to be derived ? Only from loans. 
 Further subscrij)tions, to any considerable extent, were out of the 
 question. 
 
 The times were now adverse, in the extreme, for new enterprises. 
 Mr. Yan Buren had just succeeded to the Presidency. The exciting 
 era of land speculations had come to an end. The commonwealth 
 of trade and commerce had lost confidence in the policy of the gen- 
 eral government. Credit was destroyed. Trade was prostrate. 
 The great manufactories were suspended. The demand for labor 
 ceased. An era of bankruptcy set in. Merchants and bankers, after 
 a while, yielded to the storm. House after house went down into 
 hopeless ruin. A tremendous panic ensued. The land was con- 
 vulsed. Every bank in the city of ^N^ew-York on the lOtli of May, 
 and immediately after every bank in the land, suspended specie 
 payment. It was no time to borrow — no time to build. It is not 
 strange, therefore, that the Directors of the Seminary resolved, April 
 26th, 1837, " to suspend the erection of the buildings until they shall 
 possess the means which will encourage them to resume the task," 
 
 As if to add to the distractions of the times and the embarrass- 
 ments of the Board, the Presbyterian General Assembly, at its 
 meeting, in May, at Philadelphia, was led into heated and angry dis- 
 cussions, and convulsed with party strife. The excision of a portion 
 of its constituency scattered the brands of discord all over the 
 land, kindling the flames of contention throughout the denomination. 
 The Church was rent in twain, and thenceforth became two bands, 
 with small hope of reconciliation. The friends and founders of the 
 Seminary, greatly to their grief, found themselves unwittingly on 
 opposite sides of the dividing line, yet unwilling to identify them- 
 selves, or the enterprise in which they were embarked, with either 
 of the opposing parties. It was a year of deep discouragement, and 
 passed away with but little relief. The second installment of the 
 subscription had produced less than eight thousand dollars, and the 
 prospects for the following year were even less hopeful. From two 
 of the warm friends of the Seminary, however, at the close of the 
 year, loans amounting to twenty-seven thousand dollars, secured by 
 mortgage on the grounds and pros]Dective buildings, were obtained, 
 and the work of construction resumed. The second vear of in- 
 
14 EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 struction had commenoed, and thirty new students had been en- 
 rolled. 
 
 Thus far very little had been, or could have been, done in the way 
 of securing that indispensable acquisition, a Theological Library. 
 An empty treasury, and heavy indebtedness for stone and mortar, 
 gave small promise for the desired attainment. A kind Providence, 
 long years before, however, had anticipated this very want. One 
 result of the bloody conflicts that desolated the fairest portions of 
 Europe, at the beginning of the present century, and particularly of 
 the Peace of Luneville, February 9th, 1801, was the secularization of 
 the territories of the prelates, and the sequestration of the property 
 of religious houses, in Germany, taking effect early in 1803. Among 
 the sufferers by this spoliation was the Benedictine Monastery of 
 St. Mary, at Paderborn. Anticipating this event, the fraternity 
 appropriated, individually, so much of the common property as 
 could be divided among them. The monastic library had been the 
 growth of centuries. At the time of the Reformation, a collection 
 had been made of the controversial literature of the period, mostly 
 in the original editions. Some six hundred works of this descrip- 
 tion, large and small, had thus found their way into a small apart- 
 ment, the door of which w^as marked with the w^ords " Lihri 
 Prohihiti^^ of which the key was kept by a monk whose family 
 name w^as Leandek Yan Ess. This collection, with other volmnes, 
 fell to the share of this trusted brother, then about thirty years of 
 age. I^ot long afterwards he became the Poman Catholic Professor 
 of Divinity in the ancient University of Marburg. An ardent thirst 
 for learning had characterized him from boyhood. To the study of 
 the original Scriptures he gave himself with intense interest. lie 
 was thereby led, through divine grace, into the liberty of the chil- 
 dren of God. He became a devout and devoted follower of the 
 Lamb of God. Full of his new-found joy, he longed to impart of 
 his spiritual wealth to his countrymen. He set himself, therefore, to 
 make a careful and accurate version of the Bible, particularly of the 
 New Testament, into the vernacular. He gathered Bibles, poly- 
 glots, lexicons, concordances, commentaries, the Latin and Greek 
 Fathers, the decrees of councils and popes, church histories, and 
 other similar literary treasures, including a large collection of 
 Iiicunabitla, the rare issues of the earliest period of the art of 
 printing, — in all, with what he had saved from the wreck at Pader- 
 born (more than 13,000 volumes), about 6000 separate works. He 
 translated the IS^ew Testament into German, published it in 1810, 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 15 
 
 and, by the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society, pnt into 
 circulation, principally among the Eoman Catholics of Grermany, 
 with the happiest spiritual results, 523,000 copies of the I^ew 
 Testament and more than 10,000 Bibles. Grown old and infirm, he 
 retired at length from the University of Marburg to the quiet little 
 town of Alzey, in Hesse-Darmstadt, west of the Rhine, about equi- 
 distant from Mayence and Worms, and offered his great library 
 for sale, for 11,000 florins. 
 
 Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, just returned from Europe, was advised 
 of the fact. In a letter from Lane Seminary to Dr. Bobixson, April 
 3d, 1837, he advised the purchase of this unique collection by the 
 New- York Seminaiy. Terrible as were the times, Dr. Bobinsox, on 
 his departure for Europe and the Holy Land, in July, was mstructed 
 to obtain the refusal of the Collection. After a careful examination 
 of the books by Mr. Philipp Wolff, of Erlangen University (a 
 brother of Mrs. Gordon Buck, of this city), the purchase was 
 effected in April, 1838, for 10,000 florins. It had cost Dr. Yan Ess 
 50,000 florins. Its whole cost to the Seminary, when it arrived in 
 October, all charges paid, was $5070.08. It was received just in 
 time to find its way into the alcoves of the library room of the new 
 building. It has served as an invaluable nucleus around which to 
 cluster the needful volumes of the more modern press. It is a trea- 
 sure, rare and peculiar, whose riches have as yet been but partially 
 explored. If lost, it could not possibly be replaced. 
 
 The second year of instruction had closed with an enrollment of 
 fifty-six students. The first senior class, six in number, had gradu- 
 ated July 11th, 1838, with appropriate exercises in the Allen-street 
 church. The third year had opened with a large accession. The 
 Catalogue, now for the first time printed, presented a total of 
 ninety-two students, thirty-two of them juniors. The new Seminary 
 building was dedicated,with appropriate ceremonies, December 12th, 
 1838. Three years had now elapsed since the incipient movement. 
 A " local habitation" had been secured ; a large and rare library had 
 been provided ; a full and able Faculty inducted ; and a position 
 attained among the first three Seminaries of the land — Andover 
 and Princeton alone ranking it, and the latter by six only in the 
 regular classes. The enterprise had proved a marked success. It 
 was no longer an experiment. 
 
 An Act of Incorporation '^ was obtained, March 27th, 1839, from 
 
 * Appendix A. 
 
16 EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 the Legislature of tlie State, the name " Union" having been given 
 it at Albany, to distinguish it, probably, from the Episcopal Semi- 
 nary on Twentieth street — a name not desired, much less chosen, by 
 the Board, but prophetic of the position that the Institution has 
 ever since maintained. 
 
 It now became evident to the Board that the original projectors 
 of the Seminary had counted w^ithout their host. IS'ot more than 
 fifty thousand dollars of the original subscription had proved avail- 
 able ; and more than this amount had already been expended at the 
 end of the third year of instruction. To obtain the greater part of 
 this sum, the buildings, and even " the Yan Ess Library," had been 
 mortgaged. The last installment of the subscription would scarcely 
 avail to meet the current expenses. Xo provision had been made 
 for the years beyond. 
 
 "What was to be done ? The thought of failure w^as not to be 
 entertained for a moment. The promise of good was too pro- 
 nounced to be at all problematical. The experiment had show^n 
 that ]^ew-York was just the place for a Theological Seminary. 
 Young men of piety, talents, and culture had resorted hither for a 
 ministerial education, not only from . ]^ew-York and Brooklyn, but 
 from every part of the United States. Personal expenses, it had 
 been found, were no greater than elsewhere ; while the means 
 of self-support and usefulness were much superior. To place the 
 enterprise on a finn foundation was worthy of an arduous effort 
 and great sacrifices. It was determined to make an appeal to the 
 churches. A Financial Agent"^ was appointed. Fifty-five new 
 students had entered at the beginning of the fourth year, the most 
 of whom could find no accommodations in the new building, fully 
 occupied as it was by the two previous classes. Lodgings, at the 
 expense of the Board, had to be provided elsewhere. The Catalogue 
 for the new year showed a total of 129 students in attendance. 
 Greatly encouraged, the Directors called together such of the pastors 
 of the city and vicinity as sympathized with the movement. In- 
 vited thus to share the responsibility, these pastors resolved to oj)en 
 their pulpits to the Financial Agent, and to afford him all the aid 
 in their power in his solicitations for funds. 
 
 In the course of the w^inter an attempt was made to raise the 
 
 * Rev. Gideon N. Judd D.D., of Bloomfield, N. J., and subsequently of Cats- 
 kill, N. Y. 
 
EAULY ANNALS. 17 
 
 sum of $50,000, but nothing came of it. In February, 1840, the 
 Treasurer had advanced, o\^er and above the loans, more than 
 $16,000, although one of the four houses had been sold for $8500. 
 Every expedient had been exhausted, and no provision had been 
 made, or apparently could be made, for the payment of the Profes- 
 sors' salaries and other current expenses. The prospects were ex- 
 ceedingly dark. To carry forward the enterprise, in circumstances 
 so adverse, was indeed a " work of faith and labor of love," 
 demanding great " patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." It 
 was determined to make still more strenuous efforts ; and, at the 
 close of the year. May, 1840, the work of solicitation having been 
 more vigorously pressed, it was found that a sufficient sum had been 
 raised by subscription to justify the Board " in continuing the 
 Seminary in operation for the ensuing year." I^one but the Board 
 knew how precarious an existence was at that date accorded to the 
 Seminary, overflowing though it was with students. The salaries of 
 the Professors for two years had been mostly unpaid, apd the incum- 
 bents subjected to severe trials. One of them at least, the Professor 
 of Theology, was compelled to borrow nearly a year's salary, then 
 to convert his home into a boarding-house, to become the stated 
 supply of a pulpit, and, at length, to enter upon a voluntary agency 
 for the solicitation of means to pay his very moderate salary. All 
 honor to the men that endured such tribulations to perpetuate the 
 work so auspiciously begun, in the founding of Union Seminary ! 
 Late in the year a strenuous effort was made to retrieve the original 
 error. A Permanent Fund was imperatively demanded. A large 
 floating debt had been incurred. To meet these demands, a subscrip- 
 tion, payable on the attainment of pledges to the amount of $140,000, 
 was opened. One subscription of $25,000, two of $12,500 each, 
 eleven of $1000 each, and others amounting in all to $90,000, were 
 obtained, but nothing more could be had, and the whole was lost. 
 
 Still they pressed on — those men of faith and prayer. Collections 
 were made in an increasing number of churches annually. Agents 
 were sent through the country, soliciting funds, in gifts of one dollar 
 and upwards, from the people at their homes, in their warehouses 
 and workshops,* on their farms and in their factories, to meet 
 current expenses. Thus the struggle for life was kept up during the 
 next two or three years. The project of sustaining the Seminary by 
 annual contributions was effectually tried, and found to be utterly un- 
 reliable. It now became evident that the entei*prise must be aban- 
 
18 EARLY ANiSALS. 
 
 dohed, unless some permanent provision was made for the support 
 of the Professors. Their services were sought elsewhere, and they 
 seriously thought of resigning their positions. One of them resigned 
 conditionally. A public meeting was called in September, 1843, 
 and an appeal was made for the sum of $25,000, to endow the Pro- 
 fessorship of Theology. The appeal was sustained, and the first 
 Permanent Fund subscribed. To secure the payment of these 
 subscriptions, to pay off a floating debt of nearly $20,000, and to 
 meet current expenses, required diligent and laborious exertions for 
 the next three years. Dr. McAuley had retired from the Faculty 
 in 1840, and the Pev. Joel Parker, D.D., had succeeded him as 
 President, and served as Financial Agent, retiring in 1842. The 
 Pev. Absalom Peters, D.D., had in 1842 been elected Professor of 
 Pastoral Theology, and, without entering on the duties of the pro- 
 fessorship, had served as Financial Agent about one year, when he, 
 too, retired, leaving only Professors White and Pobinson in the 
 Faculty. Partial provision, through the beneficence of a personal 
 friendj^* had been made for the support of the Professor of Biblical 
 Literature. A generous proposal, on the part of several residents of 
 Brooklyn, to contribute ample grounds, and to build thereon a semi- 
 nary edifice and three dwelling-houses for the Professors, made early 
 in the year 1844, had, after mature consideration, been gratefully 
 declined. Such was the condition of affairs at the close of the first 
 ten years of instruction. 
 
 A special providence, at the beginning of the next ten yeai's, 
 contributing materially to the relief of the Seminary, should not be 
 overlooked. A grandson of an eminent citizen,f connected with one of 
 our Presbyterian churches, had been carefully trained for the priest- 
 hood of the Episcopal Church, and duly ordained. Having served in 
 the ministry, first at Harlem, N. Y., and then at Hagerstown, Md., he 
 became so thorough a Pitualist that nothing would content him but 
 the Papacy, which presently he espoused. After a brief novitiate 
 at St. Sulpice, in Paris, he was ordained, in 1842, to the Roman 
 Catholic priesthood by the late Archbishop Hughes, whose secretary 
 he became in 1846. Shortly after this latter date his venerable 
 grandfather died, and it was found that, in consequence of this 
 change of faith, the inheritance, valued at about $30,000, originally 
 
 * Mr. James Boorman, of New- York City. f Mr. James Roosevelt. 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 10 
 
 designed for the grandson, had been devised to ^' Union Theological 
 Seminary, in the city of J^ew-York." This bequest was contested, 
 successfully at first ; but the provisions of the will were finally sus- 
 tained by the Court of Appeals. The contestant is now the Eoman 
 Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore,* and his forfeited patrimony has 
 done excellent service in sustaining this Protestant Seminary. 
 
 The day had now fairly dawned. A gracious Providence had 
 kindly interposed, and rescued the enterprise from impending bank- 
 ruptcy. Early in 1848 the Pev. Thomas H. Skinner, D.D., of 
 precious memory, a devoted friend and patron of the Seminary from 
 the beginning, was chosen, to the newly-created Professorship of 
 Sacred Phetoric, Pastoral Theology, and Church Government, — a 
 position for which he was pre-eminently fitted, — and permanent pro- 
 vision was made, by a few personal friends, for his support. 
 
 The Professorship of Theology was made vacant in August, 1850, 
 by the decease of Professor IIenky White, in the full maturity of 
 his powers — greatly to the grief of the Board and Faculty. The 
 Pev. Henky B. Smith, a Professor in Amherst College, Mass., 
 entered, in December, 1850, upon the duties of the Professorship of 
 Ecclesiastical History, to v/hicli he had been elected in July. To 
 the Chair of Theology the Pev. James P. Wilson, D.D., of Phila- 
 delphia, succeeded in May of the following year. 
 
 The time had now come for enlargement. The annual expenses 
 of the institution were about $12,000. Its annual income, from the 
 legacy of Mr. Poosevelt, from individual subscriptions, and from 
 all other sources, was only about $5000. An annual deficiency of 
 $7000 had to be supplied by voluntary contributions. In February, 
 1852, it was determined to attempt the obtaining of an additional 
 investment of $150,000, subscriptions to be binding on the first 
 of May, 1853, if at that time $100,000 should have been pledged. 
 A few members of the Board, at a meeting in March, 1852, pledged 
 themselves for $42,367 of the sum, the services of the liev. Joseph 
 S. Gallagher, of Bloomfield, ]^. J., were happily obtained for the 
 agency, and the requisite $100,000 secured witliin the specified 
 period. The further prosecution of the endowment effort was prov- 
 identially postponed to a more favorable season. 
 
 From the first it had been evident that the accommodations for 
 students were entirely inadequate. A fourth story and an attic story, 
 
 * Most Rev. James R. Bayley, D,D. 
 
20 EARLY ANNAL?. 
 
 therefore, were added to the original building, in the summer of 
 1852, at an expense of $12,524, for the payment of which, in part, 
 the building was mortgaged for $10,500. Provision was thus made 
 for forty-eight additional students, the new rooms having been gra- 
 tuitously furnished, at an expense of $2000, by that genuine servant 
 of Christ and most devoted friend of the Seminary, the late la- 
 mented Anson G. Phelps, Jr. 
 
 The Chair of Theology was again made vacant by the resignation, 
 in October, 1853, of Prof. James P. Wilson. Prof. SMrni was 
 transferred to the vacant Professorship, in March, 1854. The funds 
 were further enlarged, in 1854, by a legacy, received from the estate 
 of Mary Fassitt, deceased, of Philadelphia, amounting eventually to 
 about $20,000 ; and by a subscription, in 1855, of $25,000, by a lady 
 of this city,'^' to found the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History. 
 The Pev. Poswell D. Hitchcock, a Professor in Bowdoin College, 
 was chosen to the vacant chair in July, 1855, and entered upon its 
 duties at the commencement of the next term. The second period 
 of ten years closed under the happiest auspices. The days of 
 doubt and perplexity had passed. The question of a permanent 
 existence had been solved. Progress had been made, with good 
 promise for the future, towards a complete endowment of the Pro- 
 fessorships. The Seminary had secured a full and able Faculty, and 
 now occupied a position of influence, second to no similar institution 
 of the kind in the whole land. Great as had been the effort, the 
 struggle, and the sacrifices of the founders, they were amply repaid. 
 Much remained to be accomplished, a far greater amount of funds 
 was still needed ; but the past success fully warranted the assurance 
 of better days to come. 
 
 The early story has now been told. A brief glance at the salient 
 points of the later story must suffice. The subscription begun in 
 1852, and suspended the following year because of financial pres- 
 sure resulting in the wide-spread bankruptcy of 185T, was, in 1859, 
 resumed, and increased to $200,000. Hitherto the pecuniary affairs 
 of the institution had necessarily been administered on principles of 
 the most rigid economy, almost approximating to parsimony. The 
 burden of heavy indebtedness, incurred by the erection of buildings, 
 and the meagre provision for current expenses, had kept the corps of 
 
 * Mrs. Jacob Bell. The chair was named for her deceased brother, the Rev. 
 Samuel Washburn, of Baltimore, Md. 
 
EARLY ANNALS. 21 
 
 instruction and the salaries of the Professors inadequately small, with 
 but little prospect of advancement. And now the Civil War of 1861-5 
 still further aggravated the difficulty. Specie was withdrawn- from 
 circulation. The land was flooded with irredeemable paper money. 
 Prices of all commodities were greatly enhanced. The purchasing 
 power of a fixed salary was reduced from fifty to a hundred per 
 cent. The Professorships, originally rated at §25,000, had never 
 yielded enough to pay the salaries of the incumbents. As prices 
 advanced, the income proved but little more than enough to pay the 
 rent of a respectable dwelling-house. 
 
 It became necessary, therefore, to make another appeal, for 
 $150,000, for endowment and scholarships. The Kev. Edwin" F. 
 Hatfield, D.D., was appointed Financial Agent. The churches 
 generously responded to the appeal, and the sum was secured in 
 1865. The inadequacy of the original accommodations for the Semi- 
 nary, and the need of a fire-proof building for the Library, had long 
 been apparent. A whole generation had passed, and a new city, 
 vastly more substantial and elegant, had grown up above Tenth 
 street. The churches had mostly migrated with the advancing 
 population. The old city was fast becoming simply a mart of trade 
 and commerce. It was judged expedient to secure a more eligible 
 site for the Seminary, and to erect thereon more commodious and 
 suitable buildings. The old feuds of the Presbyterian Church had 
 died out, and the dissevered parts were soon to be reunited. The 
 times were favorable — never more so. Early in 18T0 an appeal 
 was, therefore, made, through the same agency, for a subscription 
 of $300,000. The appeal was, in the course of the following year, 
 sustained. Grround was secured, but, owing to the changed aspect 
 of the times, has not yet been occupied. 
 
 The Chair of Biblical Literature, by the lamented decease, in 
 1863, of that eminent scholar, of world-wide fame, Prof. Edward 
 PoBiNsoN, D.D., LL.D., was made vacant. Prof. William Gr. T. 
 Shedd, D.D., then the pastor of the Brick Church of this city, was 
 induced to accept the position. Prof. Philip Schaff, D.D., was 
 added to the Faculty in 1870, and the revered and greatly-beloved 
 Thomas H. Skinner, D.D., LL.D., taken to his rest and reward 
 early in 1871. Subsequently, in 1873, the Rev. William Adams, 
 D.D.,'^ and Pev. George L. Prentiss, D.D., were added to the 
 
 * Tiie office of President of tlie Institution, without an incumbent for thirty- 
 years, was now filled by the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Adams to the responsible 
 post. ^ 
 
22 EARLY ANNALS, 
 
 corps of Professors. The following year, by reason of tlie j)i*o- 
 longed illness of Prof. Smith, Dr. Shedd was transferred to the 
 Chair of Theology ; and Dr. Schaff to the Chair of Sacred Litera- 
 ture. The Rev. Charles A. Briggs was made Provisional Professor 
 of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages. The original corps of instruc- 
 tion was thus extended from three to seven Professors ; and, to 
 crown the w^hole, the most ample provision was made for their 
 support by the princely gift, on the part of Mr. James Brown, of 
 this city, of three liundred thousand dollars^ — the endowment of each 
 of the six regular Professorships being thus extended from $25,000 
 to $80,000. To furnish proper accommodations for the overflow of 
 students, two of the four houses originally owned by the Seminary, and 
 sold, have been repurchased, together with a third house on the comer 
 of Clinton Place. The latter building has been connected with one 
 of the former by an additional edifice, erected last summer. The 
 Seminary building, at the same time, was rendered much more com- 
 modious and attractive by a large addition on its northern side, and 
 by a refurnishing of the chapel and students' rooms ; providing thus 
 much larger space, also, for the Library, which has grown to more 
 than 33,000 volumes. The new building and the repairs of the 
 Seminary have involved an expenditure of about $45,000, seven 
 ninths of which sum have been furnished for the purpose by the 
 munificence of a noble friend* of the Institution. 
 
 The last Catalogue shows a total of students, for the year now 
 ending, of 142, the largest number reported for any one year, save 
 in 1859-60, w^hen, owing to the great revival of the previous year, 
 the number reached 146. In this respect Union Seminaiy now 
 ranks every other in the land. By the grace of God, it has, through 
 much and severe tribulation, attained to a position of influence ex- 
 celled by none other. During the forty years of its operations, it 
 has sent forth 1778 students, of whom 1070 have graduated here. 
 Of the whole number, about 267 have finished their course, and 
 entered the rest prepared for the people of God. With few excep- 
 tions, the remaining 1511 are doing yeoman service in the Master's 
 vineyard. They are found in every section, in nearly every State, 
 of the Unian. They are occupying influential pulpits in our largest 
 towns and cities. In all the newer States, and in the outlying hamlets 
 of the older States, they are laboring, with apostolic zeal, to " build the 
 
 * Mr, Frederick Marquand, of the city of New-York. 
 
EARLY ANN-ALS. 23 
 
 old waste places " and " raise up the foundations of many genera- 
 tions." Thej are found in our academies, colleges, and semi- 
 naries, forming tlie minds and cultivating the hearts of the rising 
 generation. On every continent and ocean group of islands they 
 are toiling to raise the heathen from their degradation and corrup- 
 tion, and train them for God and glory. Union Seminary is a 
 mighty poAver in the world — a grand instrumentality for building up 
 the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ among men. 
 
 It was not in vain that its founders toiled and prayed, and gave, 
 in many instances most liberally, of their substance, to build up an 
 institution that should " connnend itself to all men of moderate 
 views and feelings, who desire to live free from party strife, and to 
 stand aloof from all extremes of doctrine or of practice," in tJie at- 
 tempt to raise up a learned and godly ministry for the Church. All 
 honor to such men as Hichakd T. Haines, for nearly thirty years 
 the efficient and generous President of the Board, and William M. 
 Halsted and Anthony P. IIalsey, the two deceased Treasurers. 
 They are to be held in lasting remembrance for their untiring and 
 unswerving devotion to the work of building up this dearly- 
 cherished institution. Among those w^ho have sei'ved as members 
 of the Board of Directors, and who have iinished their course on 
 earth, grateful mention should be made, also, of Messrs. Caleb O. 
 Halsted, Abijaii Fisiiek, Fisher Howe, Anson G. Phelps (father 
 and son), James Bookman, David Hoadley, and that princely giver, 
 John C. Baldw^in. Their record is on high, and w^e, to-day, are 
 reaping the fruits of their labors. 
 
 The friends and patrons of Union Seminary have been found in 
 the most of the Presbyterian churches of the city ; but it is due to 
 historic justice to recall the fact, that it is owing to the large-hearted 
 sympathies and noble benefactions, chiefly, of the late " Mercer- 
 street Church," and its offspring, the " Church of the Covenant," 
 together wdth the " Madison-square Church," that this beloved 
 Seminary has been sustained these forty years, and elevated to its 
 present commanding position among the agencies of the Church.* 
 To their honor, and to the glory of the Master, be it said, they 
 have never faltered in their love and devotion to this work. Neither 
 they nor their beloved ]3astors ever failed to respond promptly, 
 heartily, and nobly to the numerous appeals of the Board for help in 
 
 * Appendix B. 
 
24 EARLY ANNALS. 
 
 time of need. But for them, tlie enterprise must long since have 
 been abandoned. They may well rejoice, to-day, in what their own 
 hands have wrought. 
 
 In conclusion, before all and above all, we render most hearty 
 and devout thanks to the God of Israel, the God and . Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who, through all these forty years of peril and 
 perplexity, of sowing and reaping, of sadness and joy, has been with 
 us, and made the work of our hands to prosper. " N^ow unto the 
 King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and 
 glory for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 — •— ♦—• 
 
 A. 
 ACT OF INOOEPOEATIOE". 
 
 An Act to incorporate the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New Torh. 
 —Passed March 27th, 1839. 
 
 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, 
 do enact as follows : 
 
 § 1, Thomas McAuley, Henry White, Samuel H. Cox, Thomas H. Skinner, 
 William Patton, Erskinc Mason, Ichabod S. Spencer, Absalom Peters, William 
 Adams, Nathanael E. Johnson, Henry A. Kowland, David Magie, Ansel D. 
 Eddy, Selah B. Treat, Zechariah Lewis, Micah Baldwin, Charles Butler, Leo- 
 nard Corning, Abijah Fisher, William M. Halsted, Caleb O. Halsted, Fisher 
 Howe, Richard T. Haines, Joseph Otis, Anson G. Phelps, Pelatiah Perit, Cor- 
 nelius Baker, and Knowles Taylor, and their associates, who are the present 
 Directors, and their successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate by the 
 name of " The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New- York ;" and 
 by that name shall have succession, and be capable in law of taking and hold- 
 ing by gift, grant and devise, or otherwise, and of purchasing and holding 
 and conveying, both in law and equity, any estate, real or personal; provided 
 that the clear annual value or income of their real estate should not exceed 
 the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ; and their personal estate shall not exceed 
 the sum of fifty thousand dollars,* exclusive of such Professorships as may 
 be from time to time endowed. 
 
 § 2. The government of the Seminary shall at all times be vested in a Board 
 of Directors, which shall consist of twenty-eight members ;t one half of whom 
 shall be clergymen, and the other half laymen. 
 
 * By act of the Legislature, May 11, 1874, increased to " five hundred thousand 
 dollars, exclusive of the Library, and of such Professorships, Scholarships, and 
 Lectureships, or other offices connected with the Educational Department of the 
 Seminary as are now or may hereafter he, from time to time, endowed." 
 
 f By Act of the Legislature, April 1, 1870, this was altered, so as to read— "wo^ 
 less than twenty-eight members." 
 
20 A"PPENDIX. 
 
 § 3. The' Board of Directors already chosen shall be divided into four 
 classes, to be numbered one, two, three and four ; the term of the first class 
 shall expire in one, the second in two, the third in three, and tlie fourth in 
 four years from the eighteenth of January last. The following persons shall 
 be Directors of the first class: Thomas H. Skinner, William Adams, Samuel 
 H. Cox, Selah B. Treat, Abijah Fisher, Joseph Otis, Caleb O. Halsted, and 
 Leonard Corning. Of the second class: William Batton, Ichabod S. Spen- 
 cer, Henry White, David Magie, Pelatiah Perit, Charles Butler, and Micah 
 Baldwin. Of the third class : Henry A. Rowland, Absalom Peters, Nathanael 
 E. Johnson, Fisher Howe, Richard T. Haines, William M. Halsted, and Anson 
 Gr. Phelps. Of the fourth class : Thomas McAuley, Ansel D. Eddy, Erskine 
 Mason, Zechariah Lewis, Knowles Taylor, and Cornelius Baker. Each class 
 of Directors shall hereafter be chosen for, and hold their offices during, four 
 years, and until a new election to supply the places of such class. 
 
 § 4. The members of any class of Directors may be eligible to a re-election ; 
 and each election shall take place at least one week previous to the expiration 
 of the term of office of the class to be supplied. And the said Directors shall 
 have power to fill all vacancies In their own Board, which may happen from 
 year to year ; and the appointment to fill such vacancy shall be valid for the 
 unexpired term of the Director whose office shall be vacant. 
 
 § 5. Equal privileges of admission and instruction, Tvith all the advantages 
 of the Institution, shall be allowed to students of every denomination of 
 Christians. 
 
 § 6. The Legislature may at any time alter or repeal this act. 
 
 B. 
 
 It appears from these Annals, that this Seminary was " founded before the 
 disruption of the Presbyterian Church," that it " belonged exclusively to 
 neither of its branches," and was " administered upon its own independent 
 charter." On the occasion of the union of the two branches of the Church, 
 the Board of Directors memorialized the General Assembly of 1870 "to the 
 following effect — namely : That the General Assembly may be pleased to adopt 
 it as a rule and plan, in the exercise of the proprietorship and control over the 
 several Theological Seminaries, that, so far as the election of Professors is con- 
 cerned, the Assembly wdll commit the same to their respective Boards of Di- 
 rectors, on the following terms and conditions : 
 
 " Firsts That the Board of Directors of each Theological Seminary shall be 
 authorized to appoint all Professors for the same. 
 
 ''Second^ That all such appointments shall be reported to the General As- 
 sembly, and no such appointment of Professor shall be considered as a com- 
 plete election, if disapproved by a majority vote of the Assembly." 
 
APPENDIX. 27 
 
 The Directors further declared, "if the said plan shall be adopted by the 
 General Assembly, that they will agree to conform to the same, the Union 
 Seminary in New- York being, in this respect, on the same ground with other 
 Theological Seminaries of the Presbyterian Church." 
 
 The plan was adopted by the Assembly June 1, 1870, and Union Seminary 
 was thus brought into ecclesiastical connection with the Presbyterian Church, 
 on the same footing as that of the other Seminaries of the Church. 
 
 The utmost care, however, had been taken, from the first, to provide for 
 such instruction, and such only, in the Seminary, as would command the ap- 
 probation and confidence of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
 America. It was made an irrevocable part of the Constitution, that 
 
 " Every Director, on entering upon his ofiSce and also after each re-election, 
 shall make the following declaration in the presence of the Board, namely : 
 
 " 'Approving of the j)lan and Constitution of the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary in the City of New- York, and of the Westminster Confession of Faith, 
 and the Presbyterian Form of Church Government, I do solemnly promise to 
 maintain the same, so long as I shall continue to be a member of the Board 
 of Directors.' " 
 
 The following rules were, also, in like manner, adopted in reference to the 
 Professors : 
 
 "Every member of the Faculty shall, on entering upon his office, and tri- 
 ennially thereafter, or when required by the Board, so long as he remains in 
 office, make and subscribe the following declaration in the presence of the 
 Board — namely : 
 
 " ' I believe the Scriptures of the Old and Kew Testament to be the Word 
 of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice ; and I do now, in the 
 presence of God and the Directors of this Seminary, solemnly and sincerely 
 receive anct adopt the Westminster Confession of Faith, as containing the 
 system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures. I do also, in like manner, 
 approve of the Presbyterian Form of Government ; and I do solemnly pro- 
 mise, that I will not teach or inculcate any thing M'hich shall appear to me to 
 be subversive of the said system of doctrine, or of the principles of said 
 Form of Government, so long as I shall continue to be a Professor in the Sem- 
 inary.' 
 
 " If any Professor shall refuse, at the stated time, or when required by the 
 Board, to repeat the above declaration, he shall forthwith cease to be a Profes- 
 sor in the Institution." 
 
 No amendments can be made to the Constitution that are "inconsistent 
 with the doctrinal basis contained in" these declarations. 
 
iC I 03403 
 
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