Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-06-06
MISSIONS IN CHINA
Cleric Who Sees
a Generation IN
His Rectorship
Father Miller, Who Came Here
in 1889, Soon to Celebrate
His Anniversary.

1t is said that it is the tragedy Of
old age TO remember. But It seems,
when we look at them. that some of
the aged Of the earth have only pleas
ant memories, that time has touched
them with so tender a hand that
their past Is hallowed and that the
pain of life has never pierced their
hearts.
When We enter the rec-ory of the
House Of Prayer in Broad street the
antique grace of the lady who re-
ceives US takes US back to another
day, when courtesy and high breed
ing were general.
This lady Is the wife OF the rector
Of the church, Father Miller. The
rectory Itself Is an antique relic. We
ask the lady If she remembers that
we had been in her presence before.
She answers in her gentle voice, No,
so many come TO see Father Miller, so
many call No, cannot remember"
Twenty-Five Years Its Shepherd.
And this is the home OF one who. in
a few months. will celebrate the
twenty-flfth anniversary Of his in
cumbency as pastor Of the church.
He IL very, very modest; ne, as his
wife promises. willingly consents that
his portrait shall be published in the
Evening Star. but when he is re-
quested to write some details
which may serve as the foundation
for a brief biography TO accompany
his picture, he declines. He is con-
tent that his care Of his flock for a
lifetime shall speak for itself.
Father Miller gives the impression
OF one who looks out upon life with
a mingling Of faith and humor. the
last the saving grace of mankind that
teaches one TO know the cause Of
every maiadye." Like his wife, he
seems to belong 10 the fast-receding
past. His study faces one of the
busiest sections Of the city, but it
does not appear that 1t disturbs him.
1t is as if he looks forth upon the
crowds in the thoroughfare and
broods upon their griefs and strug-
giles and joys. laying them all before
the altar of their Creator, while he
says, now, oh, Lord, lettest Thou
Thy servant depart in peace, for mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation"
He Is No Ascetic.
Yet, there is nothing of the ascetic
about Father Miller, nothing of that
priestly aloofness which would sep
arate him from the world around him.
His type Is seen sometimes in English
rural parishes and he is like the
good vicar TO whom the laborer is as
free TO come as the greatest lady in
his fold.
The House of Prayer IS. as it were,
q mother church among the ritualists
of America 1t is better known, per-
haps, outside of Newark, even than it
Is here. Ii has been the mecca of
high churchmen for more than a gen.
Grafton. The Cowiey Fathers, when
they established their missions in the
United States, looked upon it with
reverence as their forerunner They
who regarded the Pope as the blessed
successor of st. Peter as the Bishop
of Rome, though not as the vice.
regent Of Christ, priest or layulan
| sought 1t as a temple wherein theil
love of formal ordered worship
| founded upon age--long usage, would
| be satisfied and their souls elevated
This Is the mission of the House OF
| Prayer in Newark and its fame is moi
less widely disseminated than that OF
the churches of the Fond du Lac See,
the great church founded by the
Evangelist Fathers OF st. John, in
Boston, or the West End avenue
sanctuary of Saint Ignatius, in Man
haitian, whose former rector, Father
Richie, was shepherd of fold which
loved him as the grande dame of the
seventeenth century adored her IA
ther confessor. Father Gauter, late
of Grace Church, Newark, is now
the rector of st. Ignatius.
The memories which cluster about
the ancient rectory of the House OF
Prayer, the dramatic story Of one who
lived within it's walls, have been re-
vealed but recently in a great metro
poiitan newspaper, story which in.
Volved long legal delays, heart-rend-
ing anxiety and the triumph, aftel
death, OF this idea which had been
born in the brain of the occupant OF
| the old house.