More than half a century ago there appeared one Sunday morning in the pulpit of this church,* with the pastor, a distinguished looking stranger who took part in the exercises of the day. Perhaps not more than one Individual in the pews knew who the visitor was, or suspected the nature of his errand to Cincinnati. It was President Martin B. Anderson, of Rochester, N. Y., who had come bearing official call of his friend and classmate, Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, then pastor of Ninth Street Church, to a professorship in the newly established Theological Seminary at Rochester.President Anderson strongly urged the matter, and, in spite of vigorous protests of the church, Pastor Robinson resigned, and, in 1853, began his nineteen years' service as teacher of theology in Rochester Seminary.
E. G. Robinson was born in South Attleboro, Mass., about thirty miles southwest of Boston, March 23, 1815, and died in Boston, June 13, 1894, in his eightieth year. His grave is in Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, N. Y., where, before his own death, were buried four daughters. His wife, Mrs. Harriet Parker Robinson, survived him and is now a resident of Philadelphia.
Mr. Robinson graduated at Brown University in 1838, and Newton Theological Seminary in 1842. Successive pastorates were at Norfolk, Va. (where he was ordained in November, 1842, Cambridge, Mass., and Cincinnati. He was professor of Hebrew in the Western Baptist Theological Institute, Covington, Ky., 1846-49; Professor in Rochester Theological Seminary, 1853-1872; President of Brown University, 1872-1889; Lecturer in Divinity School of University of Chicago, 1889-1894. Mr. Robinson came to Cincinnati (or, more properly, to Covington, his first abiding place) in October, 1846, after a tedious journey of sixteen days of constant travel from Boston. His household goods went by sea to New Orleans, thence north, by steamboat, on Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to Cincinnati.
He came west to take the chair of Hebrew in the Seminary in Covington, which was opened in 1845, and at its inception had promise of being the most richly endowed school of theology in the country. Robert Everett Pattison and Ebenezer Dodge had already begun instruction.
The four years' brief career of this institution is a melancholy chapter in Baptist history. Its property (370 acres in what is now the heart of Covington), bought in 1835 for $33,500, is now worth, exclusive of improvements, not far from four million dollars. The institution opened with the fairest prospects, and, but for the Slavery Conflict, this third school of the prophets, established by American Baptists, would have continued its wisely planned and beneficent work and would have changed the whole course of events, as far as Baptists were concerned, in the great Ohio Valley. Cincinnati was, at that period, the literary and commercial center of the region west of the Alleghanies and to the founders of the Seminary there was not a cloud in the sky. But the "Stars in their courses fought against" the new enterprise. Its history was curiously and fatally interwoven with the reorganization of Foreign Mission Work in connection with the first anniversary of the newly formed American Baptist Missionary Union. The course of events and the drift of discussion in the May meetings,
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* Note - Mr. Stevens' address was delivered in the Ninth Street Baptist Church, Cincinnati, September 16, 1908.
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in Cincinnati, in 1847, finally determined the Kentucky trustees to obtain, if possible, entire control of the Seminary in the interests of the South.The commodious Seminary building (now Saint Elizabeth's Hospital) passed into other hands and Covington is now one of the strongest centers of Roman Catholic influence.
The period of Robinson's residence in Cincinnati and Covington covered strenuous years. The political conditions were alarming; the controversy over American Slavery had reached an acute stage; men were anxious and many despaired of the Union.
Secretary John Hay wrote,
"The nation was fast approaching the Valley of Decision. The question which had been debated on thousands of platforms; discussed in countless publications; and which, thundered from innumerable pulpits, had caused in the churches bitter strife and dissension, was everywhere pressing for solution. About every fireside in the land, in the conversation of friends and neighbors, and deeper still in the secret hearts of millions, the battle of opinion was raging."In the later "forties" the barometer was falling and in a few years the awful storm of the Civil War was to break over the land.Cincinnati was a storm center. A large proportion of the population was of Southern birth or sympathies and the city was by many regarded as dominated by pro-slavery views.
The moral conditions were not encouraging. It was a time of general religious declension. In an, address before this Association in 1851, Daniel Shepardson called attention to the baleful influence of Foreignism in Cincinnati, and drew a lurid picture of the growing power of Romanism. Protestantism was relatively declining. One in four of the population were German; one in eight Irish.
Baptists in the city were "marking time." Doctor S. W. Lynd, after fifteen years of a useful and honored pastorate, had gone to St. Louis. This church, which had flourished under his care, for two years had been paralyzed by a quarrel between two leading members, merchants, who had business differences. Dr. Lynd had in vain tried to persuade the church to send forth a colony. After the great revival of 1840-41 he had said, "If you do not divide yourselves, the Devil will come in and do it for you."
In 1849 there were six Baptist churches in Cincinnati with an aggregate membership of 1181, with a total population in the city of 110,000. First had 275 members; Ninth Street, 412; Fifth Street (now Lincoln Park), 114; High Street, 51; Welsh Church, 31; Union (colored) 298.
The Miami Association counted 1727 members in seventeen churches. This same year the Journal & Messenger office was brought back to Cincinnati from Columbus, where it had been since 1842. James L. Batchelder was its editor and proprietor, and, in 1850 he was a delegate from Ninth Street to this Association, meeting that year at Middletown.
This brief sketch must confine itself to Mr. Robinson's relations as pastor and preacher, especially in Cincinnati, touching only incidentally his career as teacher and college president.
When near the end of his course at Newton he was considered for the pulpit of the First Church, Springfield, Mass., and at same time had been invited to pastorate of the Cumberland Street Church, Norfolk, Va. This call he accepted and for three years he was a Virginia pastor. The famous Doctor Jeter preached his ordination sermon. During the Norfolk pastorate he was invited to serve as chaplain, for a year, of the University of Virginia. This experience he always reverted to with pleasure as it brought him into touch with some of the choicest spirits in educational circles of that section. During this year (1844) his marriage occurred.
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A student of the time writes:"We well remember his bringing his bride home and the ovation given by the students. In his response Mr. Robinson, alluding to Paul's celebrated saying that he who 'married did well, but that he who married not, did better said that the chaplain was perfectly satisfied to 'do well'; which sentiment the students vociferously applauded."As a Norfolk pastor he attended the stormy meeting of the old Triennial Convention in 1844; Southern Baptists withdrawing to form, a year later, the Southern Baptist Convention. The Philadelphia meeting witnessed a notable scene, when the presiding officer shouted in vain, "Brother Jeter has the floor," and thirty minutes passed before excitement subsided and Dr. Jeter was able to proceed.In the, autumn of 1845 Mr. Robinson began his brief pastorate at Cambridge, Mass., health considerations inclining him to seek a northern climate. This relation was proceeding most pleasantly when the health of Mrs. Robinson began to give anxiety, and yielding to urgent persuasion he accepted the call to Covington.
Mr. Robinson's next pastorate was with the Walnut Street Church, Cincinnati. In December, 1846, local conditions induced a number of leading Baptist families to form a new church and the short lived Walnut Street came into existence. It was looked on as an adjunct of the Seminary. At the outset Professors Pattison and Robinson were joint pastors, each preaching alternate Sundays.
The church was so closely allied with the Seminary that its down-fall carried the church with it. Disbanding in 1849, nearly' all the members asked for letters to Ninth Street and Mr. Robinson became the third pastor of Ninth Street, following the brilliant but erratic Elias Lyman Magoon.
The Walnut Street Church died young but it showed its faith by its works. It never had over fifty members, but its contribution to general enterprises ran into the thousands.
The Ninth Street Church at this time was one of the most important in the denomination and stood in the front rank of the Protestant churches in Cincinnati. John Stevens, in a letter written in 1847, urging Baron Stow, of Boston, to accept its call as pastor wrote of the church:
"Viewing the church by itself in its present and prospective character, we think that it affords a more eligible field of usefulness for a pastor than any other church this side of the mountains. * * * We know not the Baptist pulpit where the persons coming under the direct influence of its ministrations will be more numerous or more influential."It was a typical family church and developed noble types of Christian character, both men and women. Whole families, children included, would drive miles to be at church, bringing lunches, in many cases, and staying to evening service.With a preacher of Robinson's power at one end of the house and a chorus choir led by the famous Victor Williams at the other end, as was the fashion in those days, the house was nearly always crowded.
Ninth Street Church has sometimes been charged with pursuing a policy of self-aggrandizement, but its earlier history, at least, disproves the allegation. Its contributions in the "fifties" to the general work of the denomination exceeded those of any church west of New York. Several churches grew out of its work and it invariably encouraged every new interest in both city and surrounding country.
The first Missionary Anniversary held west of the mountains was in the Ninth Street Church in May, 1847. It was a memorable gathering and gave a tremendous impetus to missionary interest and contributions in all the surrounding region.
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Mr. Robinson was now thirty-four years of age and beginning to put forth all his energies. Of slender build, tall and straight as an arrow, he was a striking figure in the pulpit. His public work began at a time when the material and intellectual expansion of the Republic was unprecedented. He was in Washington when Henry Clay made his great speech on resigning his seat in the Senate. Clay's marvelous elocution greatly impressed the young preacher and helped mould his own. The whole country was agitated over the questions of tariff protection and territorial expansion. Every young man emerging from college felt the atmosphere electric with new ideas and advancement in philosophy, science and art.Ezekiel Oilman Robinson was one of the greatest extemporaneous preachers of his day. The pulpit was his throne. Respecting one of his lecture courses in Boston, President W. F. Warren said: 'As a specimen of attainable possibilities in the line of extemporaneous exposition I never saw it surpassed.'
Among his most notable pulpit efforts in Cincinnati were a series of Sunday evening sermons on "Modern Skepticism," delivered in the winter of 1852-3, to very large audiences.
In October, 1852, a most impressive memorial discourse was delivered following the death of Daniel Webster. The text was from Isaiah 3: "For behold the Lord doth take away the honorable man, the Counsellor and the eloquent orator."
This anecdote is told of Mr. Robinson:
One Sunday morning his attention was attracted by a stranger of unusually impressive appearance in the congregation. As sometimes happened he felt not well prepared for the morning discourse and feelHig sure that the stranger must be some eminent person, he lumbered through the sermon, experiencing what ministers sometimes call a "pulpit sweat."Robinson was at his best in the pulpit. In the weekly prayer meetings under his leadership there was not much freedom felt by the not large number of attendants. On one occasion after a long pause early in the hour he rose and dismissed the meeting advising those present to "go home and pray."The close attention paid by the stranger did not in the least relieve his anxiety. At the close of the service Mr. Robinson asked one of the deacons - "Do you know the stranger who sat in _____'s pew?"
"Oh! yes," replied the deacon, "that was Jones, our milkman!"
A frequent attendant was a young man of fine presence and a gifted singer, but never speaking. One evening he was startled by being unexpectedly called on by Mr. Robinson to offer prayer. He mustered courage to respond and this was the beginning of the wonderful career in Christian work of H. Thane Miller. George F. Davis also began to exercise his remarkable gifts as a leader and speaker under encouragement from Mr. Robinson.
As pastor he sowed good seed: his successor reaped the harvest. Many mature men were convinced under his preaching, "of sin, of righteousness and of a judgment to come," but who fought their convictions for years, ascribing them, when later uniting with the Church, to Mr. Robinson's pungent preaching.
Doctor Robinson* had his limitations. Faults there were but his aims were high, his motives noble, his heart sincere. He was impulsive, impatient with men of slower mental movement and often seemed intellectually intolerant. Strong natural reserve, by heredity,
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* Note - The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Robinson, by Brown University, in 1853, and later the same body gave him the L.L.D. degree. Harvard University also, at its 250th Anniversary, conferred upon him the Doctorate of Laws (1886).
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austerity of manner, habitual repression of emotion, made him to appear unsympathetic and lessened his direct influence over those with whom he came in contact. His work as pastor was limited by these traits. He said of himself. "My distaste for pastoral duties was unconquerable." In his approaches to men there were no belittling arts or policy; perhaps lack of tact; certainly little of the conciliatory attitude. In mental attitude he was always the challenger.Robinson had great tenderness of heart, buried deep though it was;
A pupil in Newton Seminary says:
"When we were in Newton Dr. Robinson gave a course of lectures on preaching. One day he mentioned experimental sermons, but added, 'you young men can not preach these yet.' And he stopped. As the men looked up from their note books to see why, they saw his eyes filled with tears. His lips quivered, and he went on - 'When you have stood by the open grave of your own loved ones, then you can preach such sermons to the great help of the bereaved.'"He felt deeply, but did not wear his heart upon his sleeve. His asperity of manner was much softened as he neared the end of life, especially after the loss of four children.A. H. Strong wrote of him:
"A passionate bent toward reality was the central characteristic of his intellectual life. Shows and mere forms he had small sympathy with. He hated all pretense and sham. When occasion to speak came he would say nothing - or say the truth - the truth as he at the time saw it; though often severe and biting to those whose views he antagonized. He was proud towards man but humble towards God."William Ashmore, who was a student under Robinson at Covington, said of him:"He was intense in his convictions, intense in his utterances, intense in his loyalty to truth. We were always conscious of his robust manhood, his high intellectuality, and his scathing contempt for shams"Norman Fox said: "His power to stimulate the minds of students, and set them to thinking, was unequalled.""Upon his students he stamped an ineffaceable impress of his tremendous personality as a man, as a teacher, as a preacher."
A writer in the Journal & Messenger, about 1872, said:
"I know that for myself the spell of Dr. Robinson's personality completely captivated me. I was a Robinsonite, when I graduated, in every fibre of my mental life."George W. Northrup said, in an address at a Memorial Service held by the University of Chicago, in 1894:"It is now forty years less one since I first entered the lecture room of Professor Robinson."He was in my judgment the greatest teacher of this generation. He was a man of magnificent personality, of splendid presence and powerful mind.
"He possessed extraordinary acuteness of perception, intense and rapid mental action, largeness of vision, taking in at a glance all aspects and relations of a subject; a high order of analytic and constructive power; openness of mind to new light; a passion for freedom, truth and righteousness; a mastery of the art of effective expression."
"In view of the work which he did, in over fifty years of arduous service; in view of the high influence which he exerted, I regard E. G. Robinson as the foremost man that has appeared in our denominational history in the last half century. Hundreds of men now in, positions of power in the ministry will testify that they owe more to him than to any other man.
"It is our conviction that he did more than any other man of this generation in raising the standard of preaching in the Baptist denomination.
"He was one of the prophets - a seer of the first order."
============ [From Minutes of the Miami Baptist Association, 1908. Document from the Miami Baptist Association Office, Cincinnati. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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