Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-21

ceedlngs OF the congregational Meeting oi
the Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, re-
garding the resignation of Rev. DR.. Henry
j. Van Dyke. Commenting upon the re-
! signation which will sunder't the relations of
nineteen years Of service between that gen
tleman and his church, the Brooklyn Eagle
says:
| No Brooklyn man of sensibfity, of any
denomination or of none, can contemplate
the dissolution of such a bond, under the
circumstances of its happening, without a
respect for the causes which impel the sep
aration, and regret as profound as sincere
| that those causes are so insurmountable.
Yet, after all, they are causes working out
of the natural order of events. Net schism,
division, dissatisfaction, estrangement,
waning prosperity, or any material
| inducements have to do with the
reasons. They are the outgrowth of cir
cumstances felieitously written at large in
the letter; circumstances of health, of as
sociation, of chance for larger denial and
larger usefulness, Of the mental and moral.
adaptability of the opening field to the COM
ing man-just such circumstances as many
ministers embrace willingly, but such as
have been long considered and reluctantly
adopted by the clergyman concerned. That
they are accepted almost under protest by
both, emphasizes regret which will be
hardly felt in less measure by any cultivated
portion of this Brooklyn community.
1t is not unbecoming to submit with ref
erence to this change, that it will be in
many senses q real less to the peple of
Brooklyn, alike in their religious and secu-
lar capacity. A public journal may not be
expected to express the direct and personal
regret of the immediate parish. It but
contemplates Rev. Dr.Van Dyke as pub
lie force, an intellectual, moral, culturing
agent among community of which he has
been very active part for nearly the fifth
of a century. While bis personal preach
ing and pastoral work in itself would fill
volumes if detailed, the verdict competent
to be here passed upon its more outward
expressions and results, is that it has been
honest work, profound work. thorough
work, modest work, consistent work, cOur-
ageous work. DR.. Van Dyke has not cho-
sen to live in the eye of the public. He has
been ever unsensatiOnal, and has preferred
to be heard and seen only in the pulpits and
the courts of the church to which he has be-
longed. But at times without advertising
for public notice, he has compelled it by a
NlSOlS AOSlSJ AOfd anu l1blGplOlIN Ndlu-
able in all, and invaluable to public teach
er. That notice was compelled on one or
two national occasions and on many occa-
sioRS of high Presbyterian concern. They
have passed into history, and not the least
solid portion of that history is the record of
this minister's manly, resolute, thoughtful
action in reference to them.
1t will be remembered that at the first of
the twelve years of political lunacy from
which the States are just emerging, Rev.
DR.. Van Dyke assumed and demonstrated
a position in relation to slavery and war
from his standpoint as Christian clergy
man and Bible expounder. That position,
in its scriptual elements, was identical with
the one the church to which he belonged
had officially taken. In its philosophical
political elements it correspOnded with the
views of the highest culture and patriotism
of the land which sectional agitation, civil
war, and other diabolical agencies of un-
reason and anarchy had just then begun to
expel from affairs-a task successfully as-
c0mplished since. DR.. Van Dyke
showed that the principal of life
servitude of the race then subjected to
it was plainly and unequivOcally pTacticed
and sanctioned in Bible times, and by Bible
writers; he further showed that the Presby-
terian Church made opinions on that ques-
tion no bar and no requisite to member
ship, and he protested against war be-
tween the States on issues falsely submit |
ted, by men concerned in keeping the peO- |
pie away from frank understanding, reas-
surance and reconciliation. What the |
Brooklyn pulpit then lacked in patriotism |
it made up in partisanship. What it |
wanted in learning it supplied with more |
or less adequacy in loudness and "loyaity.n
One pacific and mildly charitable preacher
who expressed desire ''to wade knee-deep |
in Southern blood" wherein he never Grim |
soned his stockings, was a type of |
whole class. The unpent fury Of pulpit, |
press, mass-meeting and other mob-f0rms |
of expression was poured on the cool head |
of DR.. Van Dyke, and passed by as the idle |
wind he regarded not. The customary |
cOncourse of loafers and lunatics waited on |
him with directions ''to hoist the flag or |
they would burn down his church." The |
flag ''was not hoisted" under any such die |
tation and no insurance company has ever |
had to pay any risks on the church edifice. |
This incident is but one of many of the |
days when for the crime of loving their |
whole country American citizens moved |
within the impending shadow of bastiles. |
At that period of profound personal |
peril to them both, a Brooklynite |
gentleman asked DIR. Van Dyke what |
was the effect of his views on his church |
and pew holders. The question was really |
the greatest surprise of an era of surprises. |
The answer almost Indignantly made was: |
81 have lost some and gained others. But, |
sir, you should not ask me such question |
as that. If cannot preach according to |
my convictions, l can at least sweep the |
Streets" The fibre of manhood so excel |
lent as that never snapped nor broke, but |
grew tougher as it grew tenser. But he did |
preach according to his convictions and still |
does, and neither moral nor other loss has |
accrued in consequence, nor could have been |
avoided by any other course. The men |
who raved at him then respect him now, |
and love him for a courage Of conviction |
they could not equal.
That test, so hOnorably passed, exhibited |
qualities which are an index to the mans |
whole career and character. Moral cour- |
age of the purest order is as natural to him |
as is his respiration. Every other respect |
in which DR.. Van Dyke has compelled pub |
lie attention has had to do with matters |
strictly relative to the law or facts of bis de-
AS an ecclesiastical lawyer |
and as a deep and decorous debater, he has
always stood foremost in the Brooklyn |
Presbytery and in the General Assembly.
He has differed with many churchmen, but
offended none, and conquered not a few in
battles which infiCt no wounds and
leave no scars. For nineteen
years in Brooklyn he has been
the pastor and counsellor and teacher at a
large congregation of exceptional culture |
and independence. That he has kept |
them in hand and himself at the front ex- |
hibits adaptive qualities of no common or
der. That he has held his own by legiti- |
mate means in the war of meretricious COM