METHODIST REVIEW.

MAY, 1898.

ART. I.-GEORGE RICHARD CROOKS.

METHODISM has produced few such men as George Richard Crooks. He was born in Philadelphia February 3, 1822. The atmosphere of his birthplace had proved congenial to the doctrines of Methodism, and the times were replete with many of the greatest names in the history of the Church. The heroic days were not yet passed. Asbury had been dead less than six years, and the story of his matchless life was the charm of many a fireside gathering. Soule, Cooper, Hedding, Waugh, George, and Fisk were approaching their prime, and were soon to be leaders in the Church. Hamline was just coming into prominence, while Morris, Durbin, Simpson, and Ames were shortly to make their way to the front. McClintock was a boyhood companion, and Milburn a fellow-townsman. What a time was this for an impressionable soul in Methodism! Early in his career Crooks fell under the charm of some of these majestic personalities, and he bore their impress to the end.

His boyhood days were spent in the city of his birth. When duly fitted he entered Dickinson College, from which he gradnated with the highest honors in 1840. At this point there comes into view a life which for intellectual and moral earnestness has had few equals and no superiors in Methodism. As we trace its masterly influence we shall be led into the wide ramifications of the Church's life and thought.

The first year after his graduation young Crooks traveled a circuit in Illinois, at that time the extreme frontier. But the Church had other work for him to do. In those days Methodism had few men who had received a classical education. The 23-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. XIV.

professors at Dickinson had noted the strong scholarly bent of this young man, and so in 1842 he was called by his alma mater to the position of classical and mathematical instructor in the Collegiate Grammar School. In 1843 he was elected principal of the Grammar School, and in 1846 he was made adjunct professor of Latin and Greek in the college. This position gave him the opportunity to pursue his scholarly tastes, and he laid the foundations broad and deep. These were days of splendid activity, and bore rich fruitage for the Church. In the mind of the young professor the poverty of distinctively Methodist literature was a reflection upon the intellectual life of the Church, and thus early in his career he determined to do his part to remove the stigma. Conjointly with Dr. McClintock he issued a series of Latin and Greek text-books, and a little later he and Professor A. J. Schem published a Latin-English school lexicon still used in our colleges and universities. During these years he also made an analysis of Butler's Analogy, which has been of great value to students of that now historic book.

Shortly after beginning his work at Dickinson he was admitted to the Philadelphia Conference. In 1848, following a conviction of duty, he resigned at Dickinson and entered the work of the pastorate. With marked ability he served several of the most influential churches in his Conference. His fame as a preacher reached New York, and in 1857 he was transferred to the New York East Conference and stationed at Seventeenth Street Church, then one of the strongest in the connection. His services were in demand constantly for great occasions, and his good name was in all the churches. He served until 1870 a number of the leading appointments in the New York East Conference. As a preacher he was a model worthy of careful study by the men of to-day. He was deeply imbued with the spirit of Methodism. He was thoroughly loyal to her doctrines and polity. His loyalty, however, was not of the blindly narrow and bigoted type. He insisted that bigotry was foreign to the very genius of our Church and that, properly understood, Methodism gave room for the truest catholicity. His pulpit style was a combination of thoughtful instruction and fiery eloquence. The scholarly and prophetic

elements were found in noble balance. The one gave content, the other force, to his message. The fire peculiar to early Methodism burned in his heart and flashed in his eye. He was fluent, incisive, impassioned, electric.

His tongue was framed to music,

And his hand was armed with skill;

His face was the mold of beauty,
And his heart the throne of will.

Before turning from the discussion of this period of his life other important facts should be noted. The Philadelphia Conference never did itself greater honor nor served the Church more truly than when it sent Dr. Crooks as one of its delegates to the General Conference of 1856. He was a member of the Committee on Education, and through his instrumentality an action was secured which was most vital to the welfare of the Church. The spirit of the Church at large was unfriendly to the theological training of its preachers. The distinction was sharply drawn between God-made and man-made ministers. "He who calls will qualify," was the faith of most Methodists. As late as 1853 Dr. James Strong printed in the New York Advocate an appeal for a Methodist theological seminary. The proposition was widely and severely criticised. Dr. Thomas E. Bond, the editor, declared himself as unalterably opposed to it. But the General Conference of 1856 was made the occasion of a vigorous agitation of the question. The friends of the higher ministerial qualifications were rallied; public meetings were held; able advocates of the movement were enlisted. Dr. Crooks was its ardent and successful leader. With the cooperation of Dr. Edward Thomson, Dr. John Dempster, and others he secured the adoption of a resolution sanctioning the establishment of theological seminaries in our Church. Thus the sentiment was turned which with the advance of the years has crystallized in a well-nigh universal demand for an educated ministry. This cause lay ever near the heart of Dr. Crooks. He had a high ideal of culture for the ministry, and he could not rest unless something was being done to lead the ministry up to that ideal. In 1866, as a meinber of the Special Centennial Committee on Education, he originated a plan to establish a permanent fund for the educa

tion of the youth of Methodism, which fund should receive the offerings of the children of the Church and be repeated in all coming years. His associates on the committee were John McClintock, Daniel Curry, Oliver Hoyt, James Bishop, and C. C. North. The outcome was Children's Day.

A proper estimate of the lifework of Dr. Crooks must pay special attention to that portion of his career covering the years 1860 to 1875. During these years he was editor of The Methodist, from 1860 to 1869 serving at the same time as pastor of a church. To trace the influences which led to the founding of The Methodist would take us too far afield. We may say, however, that the movement aroused the bitterest opposition. The officialism of the Church, then as always powerful and autocratic, frowned its blackest frown. The plan for an independent paper was denounced as a "crime against the Church," but it was the crystallization of a strong, intelligent sentiment which prevailed widely among both laymen and ministers. Its immediate and phenomenal success was the demonstration of the need of such an organ. Lay representation was to be the chief principle promoted, but other issues were to be introduced and advocated as their importance demanded. Of all men in the Church at that time Dr. Crooks was the logical choice for editor-in-chief. The intense opposition to the movement which would have terrified many only put him on his mettle. Of fear he had none. A radical in temperament and yet with conservative principles, he was just the man for the hour. The intensity of his convictions would render him an ardent advocate, the great versatility of his gifts a powerful opponent; yet he was ever too much the man to lose his head, and too much the gentleman to stoop to mere personalities. These were stormy times in both Church and nation. The fate of both hung in the balance.

As if by magic The Methodist sprang immediately into a position of national influence and importance. The public marveled at the ability with which the new enterprise was conducted. Here was a man taken from the ranks of the Methodist ministry who showed a talent amounting to genius in the conduct of a great weekly newspaper. He brought to his position the instinct of a great editor, and his comprehensive