Gardiner Spring
Gardiner Spring | |
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Manhattan, New York | |
| Resting place | Cemetery of the Evergreens |
| Occupation(s) | Minister, author |
| Known for | Gardiner Spring Resolutions |
| Notable work | The Power of the Pulpit, Fragments from the Study of a Pastor |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Charles A. Spring (brother) |
| Signature | |
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Gardiner Spring (February 24, 1785 – August 18, 1873)[1] was an American minister and author. He served as pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City for 63 years.
Life
Spring was born on February 24, 1785, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the oldest child of the politically well-connected Reverend Samuel Spring. His parents directed him towards the ministry, which he initially resisted.
He attended
Reverend John Mason
, in New Haven, from the text, "To the poor the Gospel is preached". He described the impression the discourse produced as miraculous; he could not restrain from tears, and from that moment he followed the ministry with zeal and piety.
Spring spent one year at
Hamilton colleges, but he did not desire to abandon his first field of labor, and during the sixty-three years of his pastoral care of that church he was regarded as second to no preacher in this city. His congregation moved to Murray Hill in 1851, and in the following year he accepted as his associate Rev. William Greenough Thayer Shedd
.
Spring was appointed to the Board of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1814. In 1848, he wrote a book called "The Power of the Pulpit," comparing the pastorally-trained ministers with those who had been trained in seminaries. The conclusion was that pastoral effectiveness was better when students spent time with the more mature ministers. Spring's beliefs were summarized by John M. Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida, as: "(1) that the seminary faculty maintain close supervision, not only over a student’s academic progress, but also over his social and spiritual development; (2) that the seminary faculty itself consist of men with extensive pastoral experience; (3) that no student be ordained to the ministry until he has spent a time of apprenticeship with an experienced pastor."[2]
His work "Church in the Wilderness" in Fragments from the Study of a Pastor was especially notable.[3]
He was also a trustee of Lafayette College from 1853 to 1861.[4]
He famously moved the controversial
Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America and the schism of the Presbyterian Church along regional lines and that lasted from the American Civil War until 1983.[5]
He died on August 18, 1873.
Selected published works
He was an industrious author, and his works, among others, included:
- Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character. 1822.
- Appeal to the Citizens of New York in Behalf of the Christian Sabbath.. 1823.
- Excellence and Influence of the Female Character. 1825.
- A Dissertation on Native Depravity. 1833.
- The Will of God Performed on Earth. 1835.
- Fragments from the Study of a Pastor. 1838.
- The Danger and Hope of the American People. 1843.
- Dissertation on the Rule of Faith. 1844.
- The Attraction of the Cross. 1846.
- The Obligations of the World to the Bible. 1846.
- The Bible not of Man. 1847.
- The Bethel Flag. 1848.
- The Power of the Pulpit. 1849.
- Memoirs of the Late Hannah L. Murray. 1849.
- Good Hope Through Grace. 1850.
- The Mercy Seat: Thoughts Suggested by the Lord's Prayer. 1852.
- The Glory of Christ. 1852.
- Short Sermons to the People. 1854.
- First Things. 1855.
- The Contrast Between Good and Bad Men. 1855.
- The Old and the New Church. 1858.
- State Thanksgiving During the Rebellion. 1862.
- The Mission of Sorrow. 1863.
- Personal Reminiscences of the Life and Times of Gardiner Spring. 1866. v. 1.
- The Restoration of Israel.
- The Doctrine of Election.
- Pulpit Ministrations.
References
- ^ mssa.library.yale.edu http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1859_1924/1873-74.pdf. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Frame, John M. (23 May 2012). "Proposal for a New Seminary". Frame & Poythress. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
[Article was written in 1972, published in 1978, postscript added in 1979 and 2001, published online 23 May 2012 (as per page source code).]: "Postscript, 1979. I wrote the 'Proposal' in 1972, and it was finally published last year ('Journal of Pastoral Practice' II/1, Winter, 1978, 10-17) after being rejected by about six other Christian periodicals…." "Postscript, 2001. It's hard to believe that nearly thirty years has elapsed since I wrote this paper…."
- ^ The American Biblical Repository 1844-04: Vol 11 Iss 2. Open Court Publishing Co. April 1844.
- ^ Skillman, David Bishop (1932). The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College. Easton, Pennsylvania: Lafayette College.
- ^ "Gardiner Spring Resolutions (1861)".
- This article contains material from the obituary of Gardiner Spring, New York Times (August 20, 1873), a work in the public domain.
Further reading
- Knapp, Shepherd (1909). A History of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. New York: Trustees of the Brick Presbyterian Church.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Gardiner Spring.
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