In Memoriam.
T is fitting that when a man of eminence passes away from
earth, a more lasting tribute to his memory, and a more
appreciative estimate of his worth, should be put on record,
than can be given in the usual brief resolutions of condolence.
Among some of the Oriental nations a reverence for the memory
of ancestors was carried to the extreme of worship. We may
properly reverence the worthy and the great among those, who
once cheered and brightened and instructed our lives, and have
left us a heritage of good principles and noble deeds, without
the idolatry. If we have faith in the perfectibility of human
nature, we cannot afford to dispense with the wisdom and
instruction of such examples; they encourage us in our humbler
strivings, they advise us in our more limited knowledge, they
give us strength to battle with difficulties and tell us most
impressively that the earthly reward of every such a career
of consecration and usefulness, is a crown of glory. With
such sentiments we may take up our record of the life and
activity of our late revered President, the Reverend
JOHN GOTTLIEB MORRIS, D. D., L. L. D.
The earthly career of Dr. Morris was almost concurrent
with the 19th century. He was born in York, Pa., on the 14th
of November, 1803, but four years after the death of the
immortal Washington, and lived through all those long years
that have seen our country grow from national infancy to the
proud, position she has reached among the civilized powers that
now rule the world. His father was a native of Wurtemberg,
but emigrated to this country and settled at York. When the
revolutionary war broke out, he was commissioned as a surgeon
in the army in Col. Armaud's First Partisan Legion, unattached
to any regular regiment, but kept in service where most needed.
It was a tradition in the family that he changed his name
from Moritz to the English form, lest, if he should fall into
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the hands of the enemy, he would be treated as a Hessian
deserter. His commission as surgeon, as well as his certificate
of membership in the Order of the Cincinnati, signed by
Washington, are cherished heirlooms in the family. He must have
been a man of force and intelligence, as he secured for his son,
John G., personally or through a guardian the best educational
advantages of that day. His older brothers, Charles and George,
were likewise men of education and lived and died in York,
emiuent in social position and influence.
Dr. Morris received his preparatory education in the Clas-
sical Academy at York, where he was prepared for the Sopho-
more year in Princeton College, N. J., by Rev. Samuel S.
Schmucker, the father of Samuel D. Schmucker, Esq., of this
city, one of the members of our own Society. For some reason,
his guardian transferred him in his Senior year to Dickenson
College, Carlisle, Pa., then under Presbyterian auspices. There
he graduated in 1823, and at his death was her oldest alumnus.
Having determined to enter the ministry of the Lutheran
church, in the absence of any regular Theological Seminary,
he betook himself to New Market, Va., and placed himself
under the instruction, for two years, of his former classical
tutor, Rev. Mr. Schmucker. He spent a third year in special
study of German and Hebrew under the Moravian Bishop
Schultze at Nazareth, Pa., and finally completed his studies
at the recently established Theological Seminary at Gettysburg,
graduating in 1826.
After this unusual preparation, for that period in educa-
tional advancement, he applied for licensure to preach the
Gospel at the meeting of the Synod of Maryland and Virginia
in session at Winchester, Va., in October 1826, and was admitted
to its membership, never changed for sixty-nine years, until
death sundered the tie. He was promptly invited to visit a
small band of English Lutherans in Baltimore, and his pulpit
efforts proving acceptable, he assumed full charge of the little
flock of about thirty families in February 1827, and for thirty-
three years was its pastor, in a sanctuary, several times enlarged
as the congregation increased and located on West Lexington
Street near Howard. He had taken the prize for oratory as a
student at Princeton, and in the pulpit he established a high
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reputation for effective delivery and attracted to his church many
that were not born to the Lutheran faith. During his pastorate,
with his full consent and approbation, colonies went forth and
formed the Second and Third English Lutheran churches.
Since that time he gave his hearty support to every effort to
extend the church of his love. The proud distinction must
be accorded him of having been the Patriarch of the English
Lutheran church in Baltimore.
After his resignation of the First church he accepted the
position of Librarian of the Peabody Institute, and helped to
lay the foundation of the splendid collections, contained in its
halls. He resigned this office after three years of service.
Thereafter he served the Third church, first as temporary
supply, and then as settled pastor for six years. He rendered
a like service to the church at Lutherville from 1879 to 1885.
This ended his regular ministerial career, though he frequently
preached until about a year of his death from pure love for
the vocation be filled with such acceptance and honor.
But such was the activity of Dr. Morris' mind, that he
could not limit his efforts to the pulpit. It was a transition
period in the church of his choice from the language of the
Fatherland to the English. Periodicals had to be established
to meet the new want and as early as 1831 he assumed charge
of the editorship of the "Lutheran Observer." He subsequently
passed it over to Rev. Dr. Benjamin Kurtz. Institutions of
learning were called into existence to educate the young for
the Church and the State, and for many years he gave his
best efforts, both as director and lecturer, to the upbuilding
of the Seminary and College at Gettysburg. He discerned that
if the sons of the church needed a liberal eduction, the same
was due to its daughters, and he may justly be called the
Founder of Lutherville Female Seminary, at one time staking
well nigh his whole fortune upon its success.
Nor did his mental activity limit itself to the promotion
of Christian literature and education; he early in life developed
and seduously cultivated scientific tastes. He made etymology
his special pursuit and attained to considerable eminence in
this department; so much so, that, under the auspices of the
Smithsonian Institute at Washington, he published the results
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of his researches and was brought into correspondence with
eminent German, French and Scandinavian scientists abroad.
Among his papers was found the following memorandum of
the learned scientific, literary and historical societies, with
which he had been connected during his long career. It is
headed: "Offices to which I have been elected."
"This list includes only the most important positions of
this character which I have filled:
President of the Baltimore Lyceum.
President of the Linnean Society of Pennsylvania.
President of the College, Gettysburg.
President of the Young Men's Bible Society, Baltimore.
President of the Maryland Bible Society.
President of the Maryland Academy of Sciences.
President of the Maryland Historical Society.
President of the Society for the History of the Germans
in Maryland.
President of the Historical Society of the Lutheran Church.
President of the Academy of Lutheran Church History
in America.
Vice President for Maryland of the Society of the Sons
of the American Revolution.
Professor in the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.
Professor of Natural History in the University of Maryland.
Lecturer on Zoology in Pennsylvania College.
Lecturer on the Connection between Science and Revelation
and on Pulpit Elocution in the Theological Seminary at
Gettysburg.
Learned Societies of which I am a member:
Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in
Philadelphia.
Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, Boston.
Corresponding member of the Academy of Natural History,
Nürnberg, Germany, with diploma.
Corresponding member of the New York Lyceum.
Corresponding member of the Iowa State Historical Society.
Corresponding member of the Northern Antiquarians,
Stockholm, with diploma.
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Corresponding member of the Royal Historical Society,
London, with diploma.
Member of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
Member of the National Society of Sciences, Washing-
ton, D. C.
Member of the American Philosophical Society, Philadel-
phia, Pa.
Besides these I have been chosen a member of eight or
ten minor and local Scientific Societies."
To have held membership and high official position, in such
a variety of distinguished literary, scientific, philosophical and
religious organizations, is plainly indicative at once of the
Versatility of the Doctors' attainments, as well as of the high
esteem in which he was held by the intelligent and learned on
both sides of the ocean.
But what requires especial notice at our hands is the fact,
that few men had the historic sense, if we call it such, more
largely developed than he. No labor too great, no patient
research too protracted, to get at the true data in the history
of our country or of the church he so ardently loved. We,
as a Society, know well how eager he was to get upon the
trail, as it were, of anything that could add lustre to the
German name and give just credit to any noble deed or praise-
worthy attainment of any of our ancestry or fellow-citizens.
He died the President of four historical societies.
He was untiring in the use of his pen and whilst constantly
availing himself of the press in its daily or weekly issues, he
was the author of a number of volumes and essays on religious
or scientific subjects. As long as he could leave his bed his
one diversion was to write.
As a citizen, he was alive to all questions that pertained
to the good morals and civic advancement of the community.
He took an especial interest in the Male House of Refuge, and
as a member of its governing board, gave it his time and
thought as long as he could travel to its gates.
But the longest and most useful life must obey nature's
stern decree and come to an end on earth. His last illness was
brief and almost painless. His lifeforces simply wore out and
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death asserted its claim. He died at his summer residence at
Lutherville, surrounded by the members of the family, at about
11 o'clock P. M. on the 10th of October, 1895, within about one
month of attaining the extraordinary age of ninety-two years.
If he was honored in his life, so he was in his death. The
funeral services were held in St. Mark's Church and were
largely attended by many of the most distinguished citizens
of the city, as well as by former parishioners and by the
Synod of Maryland in a body. The devotional services were
conducted by Drs. Valentine and Studebaker and addresses
delivered by Dr. B. Sadtler, Dr. Charles S. Albert, Rev. O.
C. Roth and Dr. W. H. Dunbar. The Peabody Institute, Pratt
Library, Maryland Historical Society, Board of the House of
Refuge, Sons of the American Revolution and the Society for
the History of the Germans in Maryland were represented by
honorary pall-bearers. The active pall-bearers were taken from
his church friends. The Synod of Maryland appointed six of
its leading members to accompany his remains to York, Pa.,
were beside his wife and other kindred they were laid to their
rest, in the hope of a glorious resurrection unto eternal life.
Thus has passed from our midst a man of learning, as
a scholar, of eloquence, as a preacher, of incessant activity,
as a writer, and of untiring zeal, as a philanthropist. His
convictions of Christian truth were profound, and his life in
holiest harmony with his convictions. To him moral worth,
whatever was good and pure and noble were held in higher
esteem, than the eminence of rank, of intellectuality or any
attainments that simply expand the mind or cultivate the taste.
To him piety was above culture. In his last illness, he calmly
awaited his summons; the peace of God was in his heart. He
has entered into his reward. Long may we cherish his memory
and imitate his worth!
B. SADTLER, D. D.
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