Men who have meant much to me, addresses and essays

Front matter

Book .. -C^

Copyright N°_ .

CCBlRIGHT DSK)Sm

Contents

I. Martin Brewer Anderson . . 9

1. Dr. Anderson's Chapel Talks. ... 43

2. Gleanings from Chapel Talks. ... 48

II

TWO reasons may be given for bringing to your attention at this time an appreciative sketch of Dr. Bright. First, he was president of the New York State Missionary Convention for ten years, from 1874 to 1884. He reorganized the Convention and made it an effective missionary agency for fostering and sustaining small and dependent churches, and for bringing the unchurched and indifferent under the power of the gospel. Second, he was editor of The Examiner for thirty-eight years, rendering an incalculable service not only to the Baptists of this Empire State, but to the whole country. President Strong, for so many years the head of Rochester Theological Seminary, has paid Dr. Bright this high tribute : " He unified the Baptists of America. ,, Contemporaneous with William Hayes Ward, of The Independent, Henry M. Field, of The Evangelist, and Samuel Irenaeus l^rime, of The New York Observer, probably no one of that notable group held a more undisputed position than Edward Bright,

My personal acquaintance with Dr. Bright goes back to the autumn of 1876, a few weeks after my enrollment as a student in Union Theological Seminary, in New York. Landing at the foot of Barclay Street early on a September morning and not being expected to report at the Seminary, located then at 9 University Place, before 9 o'clock, it seemed that the best way to while "the silent time away" would be to stroll leisurely up Broadway. No more interesting panorama of New York life could be had than was afforded at that time by a walk up this great thoroughfare.

In the throng of keen, eager faces not one appeared that I had ever seen before, forcing home upon me the truth of the saying : One is not more alone in a wood than in the heart of a great city. Eyeing intently the never-ending stream of men and women hurrying and pushing by, the torturing thought flashed over me: "Here you are alone in New York and you do not know a soul." Hesitating for a moment and then looking eagerly about as if those nearest to me must know of my sudden feeling of strangeness and loneliness, I gathered myself together instantly and quickened my pace uptown.

Nearing the old New York Hotel, a landmark widely known in those days, what was my surprise to see in the never-ending stream of people the familiar face of Henry C. Vedder, whom I had known as a student in Rochester Theological Seminary, when I was in college. On his graduation lie had come to New York to join the editorial staff of The Examiner and Chronicle. Our greeting was like that of long-time friends. He inquired as to my errand to the city; asked me to call on him some evening, and to come down to The Examiner office some afternoon, when he would introduce me to Dr. Bright. With lighter step I hastened on to the Seminary.

Some weeks later after classroom work had settled into a routine, and the sense of strangeness had given place to a home feeling, I set out for a call at the Examiner office. In those days The Examiner and Chronicle was located at 38 Park Row, on the second floor of the Times Building, a central position in what was generally known as "Newspaper Row," commanding a fine view of City Hall Park. After a short chat in a subdued tone with Mr. Vedder, for the presence of a dominating personality, enjoining quiet and close attention to duty pervaded the office, he conducted me into what was known as the " private sanctum' ' and introduced me to Dr. Bright.

I had known from boyhood of Dr. Bright through his paper which had come as a weekly visitor into our home. I had seen him at the University of Rochester on the occasions of the meetings of the Board of Trustees of which he afterwards became President, and had heard him speak at the alumni dinners. He was then well past three score years, and had probably attained the full measure of his power and influence as a journalist. He was at that time unquestionably one of the most conspicuous figures in Baptist denominational life. The impression I had gained, however, somewhat vague, yet shared by many at that time, was that he was unapproachable, austere, autocratic, somewhat brusque and quite taciturn. My feeling in consequence was that of quiet observation and something of perturbation as I stood face to face with him in the sanctity of his own private office.

His greeting was cordial, his manner affable and his interest fraternal. He inquired about the Union Seminary, spoke of his admiration for Henry M. Sanders, a recent graduate, and asked on my turning to leave, if in my visits to churches to hear the different Baptist pastors, I would make a news item of anything that might be of general interest for the paper. More hung on that brief interview than was dreamed of by either of us at the time. As a small stone may change the current of a stream, so looking back over the lapse of years, it is not too much to say that in those few moments were wrapped up the influences that had much to do in shaping the course of my life.

Some weeks later Dr. Bright sent for me. On reaching the office he said: "Dr. William E. Williams, the pastor of the Amity church, New York, is to deliver a course of lectures on Baptist history, and I would like to have you report them for The Examiner, the name he always used in speaking of his paper. The acceptableness of the payment for this first newspaper work to a seminary student can better be imagined than described.

The following spring Dr. Bright asked me to accompany him to Cleveland, Ohio, to make a report for the paper of what was generally spoken of as the "May Meetings." In June he sent me to Hamilton, N. Y., to write up the commencement exercises of Madison, now Colgate University. In October, at his request, I went to Binghamton, N. Y., to report the meetings of the State Missionary Convention, of which he was president, and a year later to Rochester, N. Y., to make a report of the Convention meetings in that city. During this period our relations were marked by great civility and friendliness, but they had in them nothing that could be regarded as of a close and intimate character.

When in the summer of 1879, after my graduation, opportunities came for supplying churches seeking a pastor, he expressed deep interest whenever any serious consideration was given to the question of settlement. Finally when it became necessary to render a decision, without wishing to seem to influence me unduly, he suggested that I wait until something else opened. Seeing my reluctance at following such a course, he said : "If you are free in October, the State Missionary Convention may want you for Corresponding Secretary."

The thought of any position outside a pastorate had never occurred to me. I questioned seriously the wisdom of giving consideration to anything in place of my long-cherished plans, and had grave doubts about the Convention choosing a young, untried man for so responsible a position. In my uncertainty I determined in myself to leave this question, as many former ones, — to the leadings of Providence. When the office of secretary of the New York State Missionary Convention came to me all unsought at the Rochester meeting, my acceptance was largely due to the convincing reasons presented by Dr. Bright, and immediately after the close of the Convention I entered upon my secretarial duties.

Dr. Bright had been president of the State Convention for five years. A part of that time he had also acted as treasurer. He was re-elected in succession for five more years, making a round decade in all. He positively declined thereafter re-election. WTiile president he was in a large sense the Convention. The secretary's desk was in the office of The Examiner, and all the details of the work came under Dr. Bright 's personal inspection and supervision. During the five years of my secretaryship under Dr. Bright 's administration we were brought into close personal relationship. I saw him daily when my duties did not take me out of town. It was my privilege and pleasure to be a frequent guest at his home, both at Yonkers and in the city. I played croquet with him, a game that he greatly enjoyed, accompanied him to college and convention gatherings, was associated with him in church relationship, heard from his own lips the story of many eventful experiences in his remarkable life, and shared in an nnnsual degree his confidence and his friendship. In a burst of fraternal, fatherly feeling he said to me, after an evening spent with him in his parlor, "I have never spoken so frankly to any other young man, nor taken one so fully into my confidence." When he ceased to be president my desk and all the records and books of the Society were removed to 116 Nassau Street. From daily intercourse our meetings thus became less and less frequent, and were more and more of a business character. After the financial crisis in 1884, involving serious differences among leading Baptists in the city, Dr. Bright withdrew from the Calvary church to become a member of the Fifth Avenue church, thereby severing many long established personal and church relations.

Dr. Bright came of pure English stock, of the generation that boasted that England

1 'never did, nor ever will Lie at the proud feet of a conqueror."

He was the son of Edward and Winifred Bright, and probably the eldest of twelve children, five of whom died before reaching maturity. Very little is known of his early life. Dr. Bright never offended by talking about himself, least of all about bis antecedents and childhood. The essential facts of his early life have a special interest in the form stated by himself in his brief autobiography written on October 8, 1885, his seventyseventh birthday:

This is my birthday. I was born on this day of 1808, in my father's farmhouse, near to Kington, a market town of Herefordshire, England. It was at Kington I went to school and Sunday school, my father and mother being members of a little Baptist church at that place. When I was eleven years old my father came to this country with all his family. I have found this a pleasant world to live in and my health is now so good that it seems like a dream that I should have seen so many birthdays. "Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life."

When the father migrated to America in 1819 he found a temporary dwelling place in the old Eichardson homestead at Vernon, Oneida County, New York. Shortly afterward the family settled in Utica, a flourishing town in the Mohawk Valley. They were probably drawn to this region because of its being a Baptist center, as were the Scotch Covenanters to Galway in Saratoga County.

The boy Edward could not have had much schooling before coming to this country, and the only opportunities he had here were limited to the common school and to a short period at the Cortland Academy at Homer. He made up largely for his own lack of early training by wide reading and study. He was a careful student of the Bible, and knew English history and literature. Few had a wider knowledge of denominational affairs than did he. While at Homer he probably was brought under the ministry of " Elder " Alfred Bennett, who founded the Homer church in 1807, and remained pastor until 1832, — a year made notable for Baptists by the organization of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Dr. Bright used to like to speak of the spiritual zeal and piety of this consecrated man of God, whom he esteemed as one of the most potent missionary forces in his time in New York State. No doubt he also formed the acquaintanceship of the sons, Cephas and Dolphus Bennett, with whom he came later in close personal relationship. He also probably became acquainted with Adeline Osborn, daughter of Deacon Osborn, to whom afterward he was joined in marriage on January 25, 1830.

When he had attained the age of sixteen, casting about for something to do, he determined to learn the printer's trade. While serving his apprenticeship in the office of the Utica Gazette he found his ambitions would not be satisfied short of some opening calling for the exercise of the business capacity which he knew he possessed. In the meantime Cephas and Dolphus Bennett had established a publishing house in Utica, having among other contracts that of printing The Baptist Register, of which Alexander M. Beebee was editor. In 1828, when Cephas Bennett felt impelled to give himself to foreign missionary work, and set sail for Bnrma, Edward Bright purchased his publishing interest. The business, enlarged by the addition of a book store, was continued under the name of Bennett & Bright. A Historical Sketch of the Baptist Missionary Convention of the State of New York, issued in 1837, bears the imprint of this publishing house.

Prior to his embarking in the publishing business, Mr. Bright 's thoughts had been seriously turned to religion. After much "exercise of mind" he professed conversion during a powerful religious awakening in Utica in 1825, and was baptized in the Mohawk River on August 7 of that year by " Elder' ' James Clark, then pastor of the Broad Street church. Soon afterward he was promoted from the ranks of a pupil to that of Sunday school teacher, and then to superintendent. His efficiency and ability as superintendent were so generally recognized that his services were always in demand, even outside the bounds of his denomination. When the Broad Street church established in 1837 a mission in West Utica, young Bright was made superintendent of the Sunday school. Out of this mission school came the Bethel church, which was organized in Mr. Bright 's house on March 31st, 1838. Subsequently this church exerted a wide influence under the name of the Bleecker Street church. It is now known as the Park church.

Mr. Bright 's early interest in and love for the

Sunday school, and his deep conviction of the indispensable place the Sunday school held as "the nursery' ' of the church, continued with him to the end. His services were always at the disposal of the schools, as teacher or superintendent, in the churches with which he afterward became associated. When he moved to Yonkers he was active in founding the Nepperhan Avenue Sunday school, of which he was superintendent for many years, and which subsequently grew into one of the flourishing churches of that city.

Shortly after the organization of the Bethel church, Eev. L. 0. Lovell became pastor, holding the position for one year and a half, until January, 1840. Mr. Bright had been superintendent of the Sunday school; he had been one of the prime movers in the organization of the church; he had had considerable experience in conducting meetings and as a lay preacher, and in this emergency the church turned to him for leadership. After much prayerful consideration he felt that he could not disregard this providential indication to give himself to the gospel ministry. Because of the sacrifice involved in the change for his family, he hesitated about speaking to his wife of how deeply this new conviction had taken possession of him. Finally he summoned courage and said, "Adeline, I have something I want to confide in you. ' ' When he told her how the Spirit had been operating upon his mind, and that he felt he must give himself to preaching the gospel, said she, "Edward, I have been waiting for weeks for yon to tell me of this glad decision.' ' With joyous trnst he accepted the call of the Bethel chnrch, extended to him in April, 1840, and was ordained the following June 3, meanwhile retaining his interest in his business to insure the maintenance of his family. Later convinced that he should give his whole time to his church, he sold out his interest in the publishing house to Charles C. Backus, the firm then becoming Bennett, Backus & Hawley.

In the fall of 1841 he accepted the urgent call of the Homer church. There were no reasons why he should have been attracted away from his young church in Utica, after a year and a half of service, except those of the splendid traditions of the Homer church and the field it afforded for a wide and useful ministry. Homer, to be sure, had been the early home of Mrs. Bright, to whom early associations were tender and precious. He must also have had delightful memories of the beautiful New England-like town from his school days at the old academy. It is my suspicion, however, that Elder Bennett had a great deal more to do in bringing the church he had served so long and the young Utica Pastor together than any other influence. The Homer pastorate was entered upon the first Sunday in December, 1841. ' ' Elder' ' Bright was soon recognized as a man of power, and was in demand as a supply of some of the more prominent pulpits and as a speaker at missionary and educational gatherings. With a church, substantial, responsive, spiritually alive and full of missionary zeal, in the midst of the picturesque and peaceful valleys of central New York, he must have felt that he had an almost ideal pastorate.

The middle of the last century was a period of great denominational interest and activity. The news of the baptism of Mr. and Mrs. Adoniram Judson, which reached America in February, 1813, had aroused the Baptists to a new sense of their responsibility for foreign missions. At a meeting held in Philadelphia, May 18, 1814, in order to meet this new situation was organized the General Convention of the Baptist denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions. This Society came to be known as the General Convention, or popularly as the Triennial Convention, its meetings being held once in three years. In the early 40 's serious agitation and division arose in the General Convention over the slavery question, which finally culminated in their organizing at Augusta, May 3, 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention. On the ensuing November 19 a special meeting of the General Convention was held in New York, when a new constitution was adopted and the name was changed to "The American Baptist Missionary Union." The board of managers at a meeting held May 22, 1846, elected Rev. Solomon Peck, D.D., corresponding secretary, and Rev. Edward

Bright assistant corresponding secretary. Again the influence of "Elder" Bennett was probably effective in the selection of the Homer pastor for this highly responsible post, for his word had great weight with the board, because of Ms fourteen years of efficient service as district secretary of the foreign mission society. A year later the work of administration was divided into home and foreign departments, and Dr. Peck was elected foreign secretary, and Rev. Edward Bright home secretary. "Elder" Bright had been pastor at Homer four years and a half when elected to the secretaryship in Boston. The two short pastorates at Utica and Homer completed his active labors in the ministry.

To Secretary Bright was assigned the duty of providing the munitions at home for the maintenance of the men on the firing line abroad. His early business training, his organizing capacity, his recognized qualifications for leadership, coupled with his missionary interest and zeal, were soon so strikingly manifest as to silence all criticism and to awaken enthusiasm among the indifferent. Those were days of change and transition. They were days when the Northern Baptists were awaking to consciousness, days when there was a demand for a broader vision and for a more exalted endeavor. Secretary Bright was not a spectator, but an integral factor in the movement of those stirring days, and to him was given the credit of shaping the missionary policy on the home field. In recognition of his efficient services the University of Rochester in 1851 conferred upon him the degree of D.D.

Two events will always make his secretaryship notable: his earnest plea on behalf of the "Lone Star" mission, closing the debate on the qnestion of abandoning the Telegn field and determining the Union to continne and reinforce the "Lone Star" station, and his persistent defense of the depntation sent ont by the board to inspect the mission fields and make snch changes as they should judge to be for the best interests of the work. Although the authority granted transcended his advocacy in the board of sending the deputation to inquire and report, he defended the policy of his colleague, Dr. Peck, and repelled the attacks made on him by friends at home and missionaries on the field. The controversy waged for some months, and the criticism of the attitude of the home secretary became so caustic that Dr. Bright felt that he could not in justice longer retain the position. He sent his letter of resignation to the board of managers on March 10, 1855. Although the board requested him to reconsider his action, he let it be known that his decision was irrevocable, and he terminated his nine years of labor as secretary with the close of the Society's fiscal year, the May ensuing.

While Dr. Bright was home secretary, in addition to his administrative duties, he was largely responsible for the publications of the Society.

In the publishing of the Missionary Magazine and Macedonian he found that the early knowledge of printing, acquired back in Utica, was of inestimable value, and in his editorial duties he discovered the gifts that led him into religious journalism, his great life work. He also formed a wide acquaintance among the churches and pastors in all parts of the country, and among the missionaries, home and foreign, which proved a valuable asset in after years. Between him and Dr. Adoniram Judson there was a tender, fraternal feeling growing out of their long and intimate relationship. So highly did Dr. Judson esteem Dr. Bright 's business capacity that he made him his executor and probably gave to his youngest son the name of "Edward" as a token of appreciation of the many kindnesses of his long-time friend.

On terminating his secretarial duties in Boston, Dr. Bright came to jNew York, finding a door ready to open almost without his knocking. Some time previously Andrew Ten Brook had purchased The Baptist Register, and removing it from Utica had consolidated it with The New York Recorder, under the name of The Recorder and Register, Dr. Sewell S. Cutting, of the Recorder, continuing as editor. In 1850 Professor Martin B. Anderson came to New York from Waterville, Maine, to take the editorial conduct of the paper. In November of that year the University of Eochester was organized and opened for students in Rochester. Two years later the presidency of the University of Rochester was offered to Dr. Anderson, who after careful consideration accepted it, entering upon his new duties with the opening of the fall term of 1853, and leaving the responsible editorial position again vacant. Dr. Bright purchased an interest in the Recorder and Register and became associate editor and proprietor with Dr. Cutting. The first issue of the paper under the new management appeared in June, 1855, under the name of The Examiner. The next year Dr. Cutting was chosen professor of rhetoric and history at the University of Rochester, and Dr. Bright became editor-in-chief of The Examiner.

Eight years after coming to New York Dr. Bright experienced his first great family sorrow in the death of his estimable wife, who passed to her reward March 26, 1863. Besides the husband she left four children, one son and three daughters, just entering into young manhood and womanhood. When they began thinking of establishing homes of their own, Dr. Bright took unto himself on October 18, 1865, as his second wife, Anna Leslie Reid, of Rochester, N. Y., a sister of the late James D. Reid, widely esteemed in Baptist circles in this country and in Scotland and England. Three children were born of this union, one son and two daughters. Mrs. Bright was a woman of great force of character, alert mind and engaging personality, and well qualified for leadership in social and religious endeavor. After a married life of twenty-f our years she was taken ill at their summer home on Round Island, in the St. Lawrence, where the family had spent many pleasant summers, and the end came on August 26, 1889.

In 1865, the year of his second marriage, Dr. Bright effected a union of The Examiner with The Chronicle, the other Baptist paper published in New York, owned and edited by Dr. Pharcellus Church, and the combined paper thereafter was known as The Examiner and Chronicle. Dr. Bright never liked this name, and in the early 80 's he dropped Chronicle, retaining only The Examiner, the name chosen when he associated himself with Dr. Cutting as editor. Dr. Bright continued as editor and controlling stockholder of The Examiner until failing health in 1893 compelled him to relinquish the editorial management at the end of the long period of thirty-eight years. He passed away peacefully at his home in New York, 170 West Fifty-eighth Street, on May 17, 1894, at the age of close to eighty-six years.

Dr. Bright had been eminently successful as a publisher, as pastor and as secretary, but it was as editor that he attained his highest success and exerted his widest influence. In other spheres as Dr. Eddy was wont to say men outranked him, but in the world of religious journalism he was pre-eminent. He lifted his paper into the very front rank, put it on a firm financial basis, and made it a powerful weapon to strike down opposition and every form of evil. His ability was recognized in the field of secular journalism, and Editor Raymond, of the New York Times, endeavored to induce him to become his associate in the conduct of his great daily. Under Dr. Bright 's strong hand The Examiner attained its largest circulation, and exerted the most potent influence of any Baptist paper. He possessed great versatility, an indomitable will and tireless energy. He threw the whole force of his powerful personality into the paper. Almost never absent from the office on account of sickness, he in reality lived and moved and had his being in The Examiner. He believed that the paper was set for the defense of the distinguishing doctrines of the Baptist faith and the influence the paper had in stimulating Baptist growth — church, educational and missionary — cannot well be computed. In thousands of Baptists homes The Examiner was the main Sunday reading, and was regarded with almost the sacredness and authority of the Bible. Dr. Bright was The Examiner. He had in large measure what is known as "editorial instinct."

He was the head of all the departments. He knew each day as much about the transactions in the business and subscription departments as did the treasurer or the subscription manager. Nothing of an editorial nature ever appeared in the paper that had not passed under his inspection and revision. He had a style peculiarly his own — clear, cogent and compelling. He was forceful rather than fluent, dogmatic rather than descriptive, specific rather than speculative, practical rather than theoretical. He never "juggled" with words. No one ever had any trouble in understanding just what his meaning was. He wielded not only an able, but at times a very sharp pen, and men inside as well as outside the denomination were made to feel its sting. He had no patience with men who were ambitious to tear down " denominational fences," and who had not honesty and courage enough to "walk out" of the Baptist brotherhood when they ceased to believe Baptist tenets. Although firm, almost adamantine in his attitude, those who were nearest to him knew that he always had his reasons for any position he might take, and that he had an open mind if he could be shown a better and wiser way. He was extremely sensitive to criticism, and set a high value upon the good-will of his brethren. Dr. Bright, however, had enough of the Englishman left in him to justify Emerson's phrase: "I find the Englishman to be he of all men who stands firmest in his shoes." It is a question whether at any other time a denominational paper conducted along editorial and business lines pursued by The Examiner could have attained a large success.

Although Dr. Bright 's educational advantages were meager, he set a high value on education, and was actively interested in promoting it. He believed in an educated ministry, and encouraged every effort on the part of young men contemplating the ministry to secure seminary training. In 1867 he became a member of the board of trustees of the University of Rochester. Five years later he was elected vice-president of the board, and in 1885 was chosen president, which office he held until a year before his death. He was a steadfast supporter of President Martin B. Anderson, and believed that his "mark" on a boy was the best possible passport to higher attainments and useful service. In 1872 he was elected a trustee of Vassar College, serving in that capacity for seventeen years.