Arizona republican., 1922-05-08
PHILLIP BROOKS
Preacher and Bishop

(In the series of lectures on the
men eminent in the history of the
Protestant Episcopal church. Bishop
julius w. Atwood dealt with the life
of Phillips Brooks)
First, let US glance briefly at the
external history Of his life. He was
born in December. 1885, in the city of
Boston. His father was a merchant
in easy circumstances, a man of good
mind and common sense, and of an
affectionate disposition. His mother,
woman of remarkable simplicity
and force and strength of character,
was a member of the Phillips family
Of Andover a family identified with
the best life of New England in edu-
cation, philanthropy and reform. Two
of our noblest schools had been
founded by his ancestors. The names
of Stephen c. Phillips and Wendell
Phillips are sufficient to remind us
of the courage, the self devotion, the
love of humanity and the spirit of re-
form which were inherent in the
blood of that family, while we must
not forget that one of his ancestors
John Cotton, was one of the most IL
lustrious of the early ministers of
Boston.
Phillips Brooks was a true son OF
New England. His sympathies with
New England life and traditions and
institutions were so intense that in
spite of his natural breadth of mind
and character, he sometimes seemed
to me narrow and provincial in these
respects. He was educated first at
the Boston Latin school, then at Har-
ward, then came a short and indif-
ferent experience as teacher in one
of the Boston schools, from which
place he went to Alexandria, in Nir-
ginia, to study theology. Here, | have
been told by one OF his classmates,
his powers as a writer and his prom
Use as a preacher were early discoY- :
cred. But Bishop Brooks once told a
different story, and that was this:
When he was preaching his first
seminary sermon, on "The Simplicity
That Is in Christ" a cruel classmates
comment was that the sermon had
no simplicity and no Christ in it. The
criticism. Mr. Brooks added, he was
afraid was a true one. 1t sounds
strange to US, who remember as the
distinguishing traits of all his SER
mons, their noble simplicity and their
persistent presentation of the life, the
spirit and the truth of Jesus Christ.
His first parish was a small church
in Philadelphia, from which he was
soon called to succeed his deeply
loved and former pastor In Boston,
DR.. Alexander Vinton, in the rector
ship of Holy Trinity, perhaps the
largest and most influential parish in
Philadelphia. Here he remained
through the war, and here his repu-
a. a rl1cV. xx-n fiT.cf nl2cn
1t was the time of disruption in our
national life, and Phillips Brooks,
with his strong New. England con-
science and belief, threw himself
heartily into the Union cause, While
he never hesitated in his denunciation
of slavery, which was the real root
and ground of the whole difficulty.
This action on his part required no
little courage, is Philadelphia was al
most a border city and there were
many in his congregation who had
no sympathy with the opinions that
he held. 1t was while he was holding
the rectorship of this church that he
gave the noble eulogy on the life and
character of Abraham Lincoln Is the
body Of the dead president lay in
state in Independence Hal In 1863,
at the age of "a, Phillips Brooks was
called to the rectorship of the old
Trinity church on Summer street in
Boston, and here and in the new
church which succeeded, his great
life work lay, and here he labored
for more than 20 years.
He was pre- eminently a preached.
I remember many years ago urging
him to make an address before one of
the New England colleges, when he
replied: 1T is very kind in them to
. g
don't know how to lecture" He was
a man of wide reading, varied tastes
and great sociability Of nature. But
after all he was a specialist. He was
first and last a preacher. As the
high watermarlS of his preaching
must place the Lenten address of
1891. to the men of Boston. With
the memory of our greatest modern
preachers fresh in my mind, of
Beecher and Chaplin and DR.. Storrs
and Newman Hall. of Spurgeon and
Dean Farrar, of Dean Stanley and
Knox Little, of orators like Wendell
Phillips and George w. Curtis and
Joseph Chamberlain, l must maintain
that / have never heard such con-
vincing eloquence and never seen in
an audience so moved by a speaker S
words. For a comparison one must
go back into history and call up the
traditions Of the old preachers and
reformers---of Chrysostom and Sa-
yonarola Whitfield and John Wesley.
And yet it is difficult to analyZe the
power Of the man. It was physical, it
was mental it was spiritual His very
defects, his rapidity of utterance, his
huskiness. his awkwardness, you
came to like, and although he defied
every law of oratory, he was justly
REGARDED as the most eloquent man oi