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TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
Rev. FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D.
NEW YORK.
37 Bible House.
1867.
MEMORIAL VOLUME.
I.
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER
OF
Rev. FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D
BY REV. N. S. RICHARDSON, DD.
REPRINTED FROM THE
American Quarterly Church Review for April, 1867.
II.
AN ADDRESS COMMEMORATIVE
OF
Rev. FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D,
BEFORE THE
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
November 6th, 1866,
BY REV. WILLIAM F. MORGAN, D.D.
III.
RESOLUTIONS, &c.
BY THE
NEW YORK DIOCESAN CONVENTION,— BY THE CLER-
GY,— BY THE VESTRIES OF SEVERAL PARISHES,
AND BY THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL
AND ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETIES.
^
FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D.
In the unwritten history of the American Church, few men
have filled a larger place than he, whose name is at the head of
our pages, and of whose life and character we propose to give
a brief sketch. There have been, and there are now, men who
have made greater attainments in particular departments of
study, — Language, Biblical Criticism, Church History, Patris-
tic learning, Philosophy ; there are men whose position has
brought them more prominently before the public ; but in all
the elements which form a positive character, in that kind of
power which sways the minds of other men, and which moulds
public opinion, few men of the present generation deserve to
rank higher than Francis L. Hawks. The greatness of a
nation is to be estimated by the number of its really good and
great men. It is not mere numbers, it is not physical and
material greatness, which make a nation powerful. Nay, it is
not merely intellectual gifts and culture, which constitute
national strength : these may be, and often are, the sources of
its weakness, and the instruments of its decay and ruin.
10
In forming our estimate of such a man as Dr. Hawks, and
of the rank which he should hold among the Church's distin-
guished men and benefactors, there are some things which
cannot he measured ; and of this kind there was, emphatically,
more in him than in most men. We mean that imperceptible,
yet mighty influence, which certain men exert upon the age in
which they live. It is a magnetic influence, which is resistless,
almost omnipotent ; yet, it is not less potent because it is, in
its workings, silent and unobserved ; we might almost say, it
is not less effective for the Church's weal, because it is exerted
outside of her fold, and not strictly within the line of her
appointed professional sphere. The world estimates social
organizations, by their harmonious working with other forms
of social life. The Family, the Church, the State, though
distinct from each other, yet are they all so blended in their
practical operations and results, that it is difficult to sepa-
rate the influences of the one from the influences which flow
from the other. The world dares not speak disparagingly of the
Church, when it sees one of her avowed, recognized champions,
standing first and foremost in all that concerns the well-being
and true progress of the age.
We do not follow out this line of thought. It is full of mean-
ing. It has its lesson for the Clergy of the present day. The
age of Miracles is past ; and the Church is to win her way,
not by ignoring, but by using, all the recognized influences
which control Society. If Literature, Science, Art, Education,
Philosophy ; in a word, if Modern Civilization is to be Christ-
ian instead of Komish, Eationalistic and Infidel, then the Clergy
11
of the Church have a duty to perform in this direction. How
to know nothing else, save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,
and yet, at the same time, to see to it that the noblest tri-
umphs of Modern Civilization are offered upon His Altar, and
consecrated to His service, this, paradoxical as it may seem, is
a lesson which the Clergy must learn, if they would be true to
themselves, true to the age, and true to Christ and His Church.
If even a Heathen Poet could say, liumani nihil a me alienum
puto, surely, Christianity is not less ennobling and elevating in
its influences.
We are led to these observations in the outset, because they
are necessary, in studying the life of such a man as Dr. Hawks.
Whether he would have been more useful to the Church, if he
had confined his attention to certain pursuits, may well be ques-
tioned. He thought, as we know, that his labors were rendered
comparatively useless by these constant distractions; and he
once wrote to us, as he was at the time annoyed and wearied,
almost beyond endurance, by the pressure of these outside intru-
sions, "When I die," said he, "let my epitaph be, 'Died of the
City of New York.'" And yet, as we look back, now, upon
his career, upon the sphere which he filled, and the influences
which he wielded, so varied and diverse, we are not altogther
certain that that life would have been better spent, had he fol-
lowed out certain chosen paths of his own.
All that we shall now attempt, is a concise statement of the
prominent facts of his life. We shall aim to show, in the
briefest manner possible, what he was, and what he did ; and,
upon one or two features of his history, we shall offer some
12
considerations, which we think are due to his memory. We
remind the reader, however, that it is not a complete and faith-
ful portrait that we can draw, within such limits ; it is the
merest outline. Anything like a fair delineation of his char-
acter, and of his life, would require a volume ; and this, we
hope, will be prepared, for the Church's sake, and for his own.
The materials are rich and abundant.
In seeking to preserve upon our pages a memorial of the
Rev. Dr. Hawks, it is proper to say, that we have sought infor-
mation from every accessible source ; that the freest use has
been giyen us of everything which can throw light upon his
history; and that our only aim is, to pay a just and fitting
tribute to one whom the Church will not willingly forget.
Francis Lister Hawks was born in Newbern, North Caro-
lina, June 10, 1798. He was the second son and child of
Francis and Julia Hawks. By his father, he was of English,
and by his mother, he was of Irish descent. His Grandfather,
John Hawks, came to this country from England, with Gov-
ernor Tryon, so well known in the Colonial History of North
Carolina. They were warm personal friends in the old country,
and they determined to share their fortunes together in the
new. His maternal Grandfather was Richard Stephens, who
was from Ireland. The story, current in some quarters, that
Dr. Hawks was a descendant of Pocahontas, has not a word of
truth in it. There was not a drop of Indian blood in his veins.
The report originated, perhaps, in the fact that he once deliv-
ered a Lecture on Pocahontas, in which he showed that she
was the ancestor of some of the first and most distinguished
13
families in the country. Besides, there was something in Dr.
Hawks, in his dark complexion, in his striking physiognomy,
and still more, at times, in his statuesque attitude, which
reminded one of that nobility of air and demeanor, which
sometimes marks the native sons of the American forests.
Dr. Hawks was one of nine children, two only of whom sur-
vive ; the Bt. Kev. Cicero Stephens Hawks, Bishop of Missouri ;
and Phebe Bice, wife of the Hon. Walker Anderson, of Flor-
ida. Three of the family have died within a year ; John Ste-
phens Hawks, a Lawyer ; and the Bev. William Nassau
Hawks, a Clergyman of the Church, and Hector of Trinity
Church, Columbus, Georgia ; both of whom deceased but a
few months previous to the death of the Bev. Dr. Hawks.
The mother of Dr. Hawks was a remarkable woman. The
children were all baptized in infancy; for the ancestors, on
both sides, were Churchmen, and Mrs. Hawks, with that posi-
tiveness and individuality of character which marked the son,
trained her child to habits of early piety, to reverence Grod and
serve Him, and to walk in the ways of His Holy Church. The
father of Dr. Hawks became a communicant only in the latter
days of his life. Dr. Hawks himself received his first Com-
munion soon after his graduation at the University of North
Carolina, and when he was about seventeen years of age. This
public avowal of himself as the disciple of Christ, was a bold
step in a young man ; for Beligion was then at a low ebb ; a
worldly career of great honor opened before him ; and there
was, in the Parish at Newbern, but one male communicant
besides himself. The child is father to the man ; and there
14
were incidents, even in his early career, which exhibited all the
chivalric independence of conduct that characterized his sub-
sequent history. Thus he was not only an active layman of
the Church, but he became a Lay Eeader of St. Matthew's
Parish, and conducted the Services of God's House, when the
people were too few in number to sustain an ordained Clergy-
man. Nor would he, for the sake of worldly popularity, com-
promise his position as a Christian. He was a Candidate for
the State Legislature, and his breast was fired with all the
enthusiasm of youthful ambition. It was the custom, then,
in that County, in entering upon a political canvass, to throw
open one's house to the hospitalities of all who would accept
them, and solicit support by encouraging scenes of carousal
and dissipation. Francis L. Hawks would have none of this.
With a moral heroism which knew no fear, he dared to respect
his own conscience, and to abide the consequences.
The fruits of maternal piety were, in the instance before us,
manifold. After the death of Mrs. Hawks, two of the younger
sons, as we have already seen, became Clergymen ; and the
future Bishop of Missouri learned his letters, and afterwards
studied Theology, under the fruitful care and instruction of
him whose early life we are now tracing.
Dr. Hawks graduated at the University of North Carolina,
at Chapel Hill, in 1815. His early character, the circum-
stances under which he entered the Ministry, and some inci-
dents in his domestic life and history, are clearly described in
the following Letter, from the Rt. Eev. Bishoj) Green, of Mis-
sissippi. The Bishop says : —
15
"My first acquaintance with the family was in 1818, while on a
visit to Newbern. The father of Dr. Hawks was a man of amiable
disposition, but not of a high order of intellect. The intellectual
qualities of the family must have been derived from the mother, who,
judging from the training of her children, must have been a woman of
a very superior order. I first became acquainted with the Rev. Dr.
Hawks, at Chapel Hill, in 1815 ; while I was in the Freshman, and
he in the Senior Class. He was, even then, as remarkable for his
fine elocution, as at any after period of his life. He took the first
honors of his Class, sharing them with the late Isaac Croom, of Ala-
bama. Immediately after his graduation, he commenced the study of
Law, under the Hon. Judge William Gaston, of Newbern, N. C. He
soon took a high rank at the Bar, and in a very few years was elected
to the Legislature, from the town of Newbern. Whenever it was
known that he was about to speak, lobbies, galleries, &c, were filled
to overflowing, before the appointed hour. His eloquence, at that
time, it should be said, though of the most attractive kind, was not
equally distinguished for that close, logical force of reasoning, which
characterizes the really able debater.
" Not long afterwards, he removed to Hillsboro, Orange Co., throw-
ing himself in the midst of a Bar composed of such men as George
E. Badger, William A. Graham, Willie P. Mangum, the late Chief
Justice Nash, &c. Among these, he soon took a high stand. Busi-
ness flowed in upon him rapidly, and such was the charm of his elo-
quence, that whenever he was to speak, the cry was raised from the
Court-House door, ' that little man is speaking,' and in five minutes
the Court-House would be crowded with eager listeners.
" While connected with the Bar at Hillsboro, he also acted as Re-
porter of the Supreme Court of the State; and as an evidence of the
manner in which he performed that duty, I mention the following.
Two gentlemen, of high legal standing, were conversing on the merits
of the various persons who had filled that office. One of them re-
marked, ' What an excellent Reporter Frank Hawks is.' The other,
though personally not very friendly to him, replied, 'What is it that
he cannot do well V
" It was through his solicitation, chiefly, that I was induced to
leave my first charge, in Williamsboro, and organize a Church in
Hillsboro ; where I soon after settled. In the organization of this
Church, Mr. Hawks was the Senior Warden, and most active lay-
member. His mind had, in early life, strongly inclined to the Min-
36
istry ; but his father, having more worldly and ambitious views, influ-
enced him to engage in the study of the Law. He had often assured
me that his heart was not in his profession, before he determined to
leave it ; and I remember well the day on which he finally determined
to abandon it. I had just finished my breakfast, when he knocked at
my door. On my opening it, he refused to come in, and requested me
to take a walk with him. If I mistake not, the Court was then in
session ; for I remember well my astonishment, when he told me,
that he had entered that Court-House for the last time. I looked in
his face, and asked him what he meant. His reply was, ' I mean what
I say ; I am no longer a Lawyer. I wish to become a Clergyman. I
wish you to receive me as a Candidate, and let me study with you,
and have the use of your books.' I was, of course, rejoiced at the
announcement, and for a few months he continued to read under my
direction. After this, he removed to Newbern, where he completed
his studies, and was subsequently, in 1827, ordained Deacon by Bishop
Ravenscroft. I am not certain that he had any regular Charge in
North Carolina, before he left to remove to Connecticut, where he be-
came Assistant Minister to the Rev. Dr. Harry Croswell, Rector of
Trinity Church. I believe he took Priest's Orders before he left North
Carolina, but am not certain of the date.
" Dr. Hawks' first wife was Miss Emily Kirby, of New Haven, Conn.
Their acquaintance commenced at an evening party in Litchfield,
Conn., but extended then no further than a mere introduction. It
was while he was completing his Law studies, at the celebrated School
of Judge Gould, in that town, and Miss Kirby was a member of the
then celebrated School for young Ladies, under the direction of Miss
Pierce. The father of Miss Kirby, having soon after failed in for-
tune, she thought it her duty to provide for herself; and having en-
joyed the benefit of a superior education, she resolved to become a
teacher. The South, at that time, presenting a better opening for
that employment, and having no aquaintance in all that region but
Mr. Hawks, she ventured, timidly and respectfully, to inquire of him,
whether a suitable situation was within his knowledge. Mr. Hawks
was so pleased with her letter, that he requested the privilege of cor-
responding with her. This led to such mutual esteem, as to bring on
a matrimonial engagement, as soon as their personal acquaintance was
renewed.
" I knew her well during her residence in Hillsboro, where her
two children were born; and a better woman was never numbered
17
among my acquaintance. It would certainly have been very hard to
have found another, equally adapted to the peculiarities of Mr. Hawks'
diposition. Gentle, loving, quiet, firm, she knew the proper moment
and the most effectual manner of quieting down the occasional stormy
outbursts of her husband's temper. Dr. Hawks was, by no means, a
bad-tempered man, but was, nevertheless, quick to take anger ; and
that, while in that state, he gave too free use of his tongue, his best
friends cannot deny.
" The following scene will serve to illustrate the character of both
husband and wife. The Court is in session. The Judge has decided
against Mr. Hawks' client. He leaves the Court in disgust, goes
home, throws his hat in one direction, his green bag in another, paces
the floor rapidly, abusing Judge, Jury, and Counsel. The wife sits
by silently, occasionally heaving a sigh in the pauses of the storm.
After his wrath is pretty well spent, a gentle voice is heard, saying,
' Frank.' No attention is paid to it. Again is heard, ' Come here,
Frank,' 'Come sit by me.' With some reluctance, he complies. An
arm is gently thrown around him ; and in kindest, softest tones, he is
asked, 'Frank, do you know what you have been saying for the last
fifteen minutes?' 'Yes, Emily, why should I not know it?' 'No,
Frank, you don't know what you have been saying. Do you know
that you called Judge R. by such and such names V 'No I didn't,
Emily.' ' Yes, you did, Frank ; and do you know that you spoke of
lawyer W. in the most abusive manner V ' Surely not, Emily.' 'And
do you know that you called the Jury a pack of fools ?' ' Is it pos-
sible, Emily, that I thus gave way to my violent temper ?' He would
then lay his head in her lap, shed tears of sincere repentance, and beg
her to pray for him. Wonderful man ! who, while he could enchain
Courts, Legislatures, and Councils of the Church, by his irresistible
elocution, yet found it hard, at times, to chain down his own fiery spirit !
" I do not feel able, at present, to give any lengthy and connected
sketch of Dr. Hawks' character ; but hope you may be able to form a
pretty correct estimate of what he was, both in temper, disposition,
and as an accomplished speaker, from the little that I have written.
Of his various writings and labors for the Church of Christ, I regard
you as a more competent witness than myself. I hope that what I
have now written will, in a measure, meet your request."
Mrs. Hawks, after a married life at the South of four years,
died at New Haven, July 12, 1827, and was buried by the
18
Eev. Dr. Harry Croswell, by whom also the marriage rite had
been performed. This domestic relation brought Dr. Hawks
into contact and acquaintance with that remarkable man and
successful Pastor, the Eector of Trinity Church, and his first
permanent engagement was as Dr. Croswell's Assistant, to
which he was elected, April 25, 1829. Dr. Hawks was then
thirty years of age, and in the full vigor of his wonderful
powers. The charm of his eloquence had full scope in that
City of Schools, and arrangements were soon made to erect a
Chapel-of-Ease, now St. Paul's Church. The remarkable
growth of the Church in that old Puritan City, where there
are now six Parishes, and two more in the immediate suburbs,
are the legitimate fruit of the fidelity, firmness, and wisdom
of Dr. Croswell, and of the gentlemen whom he selected as his
Assistants ; among whom Dr. Hawks was first, and among the
most distinguished. As an illustration of his reputation at
New Haven, a leading Presbyterian Divine has recently said,
" that he was then a student at Yale, and was attracted to
hear him constantly, not only by his fine elocution, but by his
evangelical doctrines, which he regarded as more correct than
those set forth in the pulpits of his own Church in that
place."
While residing in New Haven, he was united in marriage to
an accomplished and most estimable lady, Mrs. Olivia Hunt,
formerly Miss Trowbridge, of Danbury, Conn. ; who still sur-
vives him, and who was thus spared, with fond affection, to
soothe and comfort him, in his last hours of helplessness, and
to mourn his death. Of the fruits of this marriage, there were
19
six children ; five of whom still live. Of the two children by
the former marriage, one remains.
Dr. Hawks needed a larger field of usefulness than New
Haven, then numbering only about ten thousand inhabitants ;
and in August, 1829, against the earnest remonstrance of Dr.
Croswell, and greatly to the regret of the Churchmen of the
City, he removed to Philadelphia, and became Assistant Min-
ister of St. James' Church, of which the Kt. Kev. Bishop
White was then Rector. In the autumn of 1830, he was elect-
ed Professor of Divinity in Washington, now Trinity College,
Hartford, Conn.; and on the 8th of March, 1831, he was institu-
ted Rector of St. Stephen's Church, in the City of New York.
Dr. Hawks at once gave to that Parish a prominence worthy of
its best days ; for it had numbered, among his predecessors,
such men as the Rt. Rev. Bishop Moore, of Virginia. His Bible
Class, and his Expository Lectures, are still remembered by
Churchmen in that portion of the City ; for, rare as were his gifts
as a preacher, he was almost equally attractive as a didactic
teacher and lecturer. We find Dr. Hawks, also, at this period,
giving his best efforts in behalf of every effort for the cause of
Church Education and Church Extension. The noble stand
of the Church, as a Missionary Church, had not then been
taken, but she had a Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society,
as also a Sunday School Society, and of both these Institu-
tions, Dr. Hawks was a frequent and eloquent advocate. The
Green Bay Mission, especially, that Church effort in behalf of
the Aborigines, whose importance at that period seems now to
be almost forgotten, found in Dr. Hawks one of its most effi-
20
cient friends ; and the Church papers of that period show how
frequent and successful were his appeals in its behalf.
In 1831, he entered upon an engagement, connected with
which were many of the most important events of his life.
St. Thomas' Parish, in New York City, having become vacant
by the removal of the Rev. Dr. Upfold, now Bishop of Indi-
ana, the Rev. Dr. Hawks was unanimously elected to the Rec-
torship, and entered upon its duties, on Sunday, Dec. 17,
1831 . This Church was then in the very heart of the City,
and in the midst of its best population. Here he remained for
twelve years, or until 1843 ; and they were among the most
eventful and laborious years of his life. His popularity as the
Pulpit Orator, has seldom been equalled, certainly never sur-
passed, in the history of the American Church. Crowds flocked
to hear him ; nor was it a merely temporary reputation. Time,
that severest of all tests, which tries charlatans, and strips
them of their borrowed garb and exposes their pretensions,
tried him ; and still he stood forth, year after year, the peer-
less Preacher of the day. Galleries were erected for the ac-
commodation of the crowds of worshippers ; and a large and
nourishing Sunday School was in vigorous prosperity.
We find Dr. Hawks, at this period, occupying various posi-
tions of usefulness. At the General Convention of 1832, he
was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Convention. In
October, 1833, he was appointed Professor of Ecclesiastical
History in the General Theological Seminary, and for a while
he gave instruction to the students in that department of
learning, and also in Pulpit Eloquence. In October, 1834, he
21
was chosen Secretary of the Convention of the Diocese of New
York.
On the 4th of March, 1835, a number of the Clergy and
Laity from the Dioceses of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louis-
iana, convened in Christ Church, New Orleans, pursuant to
previous arrangements, for the purpose of electing a Bishop,
agreeably to the special Canon of 1832. After a vote of the
two Orders, on coming together, the Rev. Pierce Connelly
reported, that the Order of Clergy had unanimously nominated
the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D. ; and F. S. Blount, Esq.,
reported that the Laity had unanimously approved the nomi-
nation. This whole plan of a Missionary Diocese of the South
West, was, in part, one of the fruits of the visit of the late
Rt. Rev. Bishop Brownell, to New Orleans, who spent the
winter of 1834-5 in that City. It is proper to advert to this,
as one proof of the Missionary zeal and activity, and the far-
reaching wisdom of that lamented Prelate. Bishop Brownell
urged the acceptance of the appointment upon Dr. Hawks,
from every consideration of usefulness and duty. He was to
have been Rector of Christ Church, New Orleans, to which he
was called, Dec. 11, 1832, and a prospect of almost boundless
promise lay before him.
At the General Convention in that same year, 1835, at Phil-
adelphia, the House of Bishops, on the last day of the Ses-
sion, informed the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, —
" That they hereby nominate the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., as
a Bishop of this Church, to exercise Episcopal functions in the State
of Louisiana, and in the Territories of Arkansas and Florida ; and
22
the Rev. Jackson Kemper, D.D., as a Bishop, to exercise Episcopal
functions in the States of Missouri and Indiana."
Both, these nominations were unanimously concurred in by
the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies ; and the Eev. Dr.
Hawks, being a member of the House, and present, declared
his readiness to accept the position, " provided provision was
made to his satisfaction for the support of his family." On
the 14th of October, of that year, the Et. Kev. Bishop White,
Presiding Bishop, announced to the public, that Dr. Hawks
had declined the appointment.
It is, of course, impossible to say now what would have been
the result, had Dr. Hawks come to a different conclusion. One
can scarcely repress the wish, that, throwing himself in simple
faith on Grod, and trusting in the fidelity of the Church, he
had entered upon the great work entrusted to him. Tracing
the wonderful labors of that noble pioneer Bishop, the vene-
rable Kemper, in the North West, and the growth of the
Church in that section of the country, since he was nominated
Missionary Bishop of Missouri and Indiana, we may believe
that fruits not less abundant would have been gathered from
the labors of Dr, Hawks, in an equally promising field. He
was admirably adapted to act upon the Southern mind and
heart ; he was capable of conceiving and executing great
things ; and, with G-od's blessing, he would, assuredly, have
covered the South West with Churches and Schools, instead
of its being left to be overrun with Cumberland and other
Presbyterians, and Baptists and Methodists and Eomanists.
We are sure that Dr. Hawks did not decline the position be-
23
cause he was afraid to make ventures for Christ. He saw
opening before him important labors of another kind, for which
he was conscious of ability. But he was still alive to the
Missionary Work of the Church, and in that same Memorable
year, 1835, when the true key note was struck, when the
Church formally and solemnly declared herself a Missionary
Society, and published to the world, that "The Society shall
be considered as comprehending all persons who are members
of this Church," at that great era in the Church's history in
this country, Dr. Hawks' clarion voice was heard, on various
occasions, echoing the notes of the Church's appeal.
At this General Convention, another sphere of labor was
presented to Dr. Hawks, which had an important bearing
upon his subsequent history. He laid before the Convention
a Communication, asking its cooperation in " saving, for those
who are to come after us, all that can be gathered of our Early
Ecclesiastical History." His plan was, the appointment of a
Collector and Conservator of books, pamphlets, documents,
manuscripts, &c, connected with our Early Church History.
The subject of the Communication was acted upon by both
Houses, and the following, among other Resolutions, was
adopted : —
"2. Resolved, That the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, and the Rev. Dr.
Hawks, be respectfully requested to apply, in the name of this Con-
vention, to such persons or Societies in England, alluded to in the
Letter of Dr. Hawks, as possessing similar documents, soliciting the
same, or copies thereof, for the use of the Church in this Country."
Dr. Hawks was also " requested to act as Conservator of the
above mentioned books, &c."
24
In pursuance of the above appointment and request, Dr.
Hawks sailed for England, March 24, 1836. Here he spent
several months. Libraries and public Eecords were freely
opened to him, and he employed a large force of Clerks, in
copying in full everything which could throw light upon the
Early History of the Church in this Country.
As the result of his labors, he returned with eighteen large
folio volumes of MSS., connected with the planting of the
Church in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Caro-
lina, Georgia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, Connecticut, Ehode Island, and Massachusetts. One of
these volumes is devoted to matters pertaining to the general
subject of the Early Church in these Colonies. We cannot
express our estimate of the value of these treasures. They are
rich, beyond measure. They will now pass into the possession
of the Church, and no time or care should be spared, in placing
them beyond the risk of loss. The repeated and pressing calls,
by the American Missionaries and Clergy, upon the Mother
Church for Bishops, the imperative need of such supervision,
the constant opposition and persecution by Puritans and other
Sects, the slanders heaped upon the Missionaries by such men
as Whitfield, the record of self-denying labors by those noble
men who came over to the New World to lay broad and deep
the foundations of Christ's Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church, — all these may be found in these volumes.
In the First Volume of these MSS., we find the following
statement : —
25
" In the summer of 1836 I visited England, as the agent of the
General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Uni-
ted States, for the purpose of obtaining copies of such Documents
as related to the Early History of the American Episcopal Church.
This volume contains a portion of what was thus obtained. The
sources from which its contents were derived, are three, viz : the Ar-
chi-Episcopal Library of MSS. at Lambeth Palace; the Eecords at
Fulham, belonging to the See of London ; and the documents in the
Office of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts ;
and I hereby certify, that the copies herein contained are correctly
made from the originals, with which they have been compared. They
may, therefore, be relied on as authentic documents.
" It is proper to add, that the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed
to me the wish, that in the use which may be made of them, great
care will be taken to avoid giving needless publicity to matters which
concern the character of individuals, lest a wound should be inflicted
on the feelings of their descendants. As I understand this to be the
implied, though not formally expressed condition on which the copies
were granted, I feel it to be a duty thus to perpetuate it, for the infor-
mation of all members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, into whose
hands this book may hereafter fall.
FKANCIS L. HAWKS."
Immediately on his return to New York, Dr. Hawks com-
menced a work for which, now, he had the most abundant
materials ; his "Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of
the United States of America." The volume on the Early
Church in Virginia, was published in 1836, and that on the
Church in Maryland, appeared in 1839. The reception of
these volumes by Churchmen, and their sale, did not equal his
anticipations. They were, of course, freely and boldly criti-
cized, and he, in his disappointment, at once determined to
abandon the undertaking. That conclusion once reached,
nothing could swerve him from his decision. To all Church-
men, such a termination of his historical researches and labors,
D
26
must be a source of profound and lasting regret. His accu-
mulated stores of authorities and details, his thorough famil-
iarity with the whole subject, his facility of composition, and
his clear, vigorous style, all qualified him to do such a labor
for the Church. As for criticism, severe and unsparing, he
should have expected and desired it. So far as his Histories
possessed solid worth, they would have survived unjust cen-
sure, and have taken their place among the choicest treasures
of our Church literature. The materials for writing the His-
tory of the Church in New York, and New Jersey, and Penn-
sylvania, as well as in the New England States, are so rich,
and the subject so important, in every aspect, that the Church
may well deplore the author's change of purpose.
As an illustration of the value of these Histories, in his
volume on the Early Church in Virginia, besides his record of
the labors of those noble pioneers, who not only preceded the
Plymouth- Rock Puritans, but who illustrated the very highest
type of Christian self-sacrifice and Missionary zeal, Dr. Hawks
vindicated, triumphantly, the loyalty of the Churchmen of
Virginia against the aspersions of Mr. Bancroft, and showed,
most clearly, their entire freedom from all sympathy with
Cromwell's Rebellion, and with the designs of the factious
men who instigated it.
Dr. Hawks, however, gave to the public, in other forms, por-
tions of the valuable Documents which he obtained in England.
These appeared in The Church Record, published at Flushing,
1840-42 ; and very valuable selections were also published in
the American Quarterly Church Review, Volumes III. and
27
IV. ; to which, as some of our readers may remember, Dr.
Hawks called special attention at the close of Volume II. He
also furnished, for this Review, some important papers from the
pen of the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, on the early Church in
Pennsylvania ; and also, by the Rev. John Hall, on ihe plant-
ing of the Church in the Diocese of Ohio. The History of the
Church in several of the larger Dioceses, is yet unwritten ; and
is worthy of the very best efforts of the very best writers. To
do such a work successfully, will require years of prepara-
tion, and he should not undertake it at all who cannot do
it well.
In 1837, Dr. Hawks, in connection with the Rev. Dr. C. S.
Henry, established the Neio York Revieiv, a Quarterly,
which at once attracted attention by the boldness and vigor of
its Articles. A political paper on Thomas Jefferson, involving
some important points in our national history, was widely crit-
icized. The Revieiv was established in 1837, and was discon-
tinued in 1843.
It was at this period, that Dr. Hawks entered upon another
enterprise still more important in its results. Education, in its
truest and largest sense, was a subject on which he held positive
views. Its province, its power, its imperative need, especially
under such Institutions as our own ; the superficial, one-sided,
and defective character of the great majority of our Training
Schools and Colleges, all these induced him, though still retain-
ing his Rectorship of St. Thomas' Parish in the city, to engage
in an undertaking, the difficulties of which he did not and could
not then foresee. Indeed, to his sanguine temperament and
28
daring spirit, which knew no such thing as failure, the conception
of an Educational Institution of the highest character, suited
to the needs of American youths, was almost a reality ; and
in August, 1839, he entered upon the work of its establishment.
St. Thomas' Hall, Flushing, L. I., was the Institution to
which now he gave all the energies of his nature and the in-
fluence of his position. It was far enough from the city for
purposes of retirement and seclusion ; it was near enough to
draw from it educational facilities and patronage. With that
wonderful fascination which he possessed, Dr. Hawks drew
around him hosts of friends, and infused into them the sjDirit
of his own glowing conceptions and far-reaching plans. Build-
ings were erected and made attractive by their surroundings
and appointments, at an expenditure of between fifty and sixty
thousand dollars. Teachers were employed and entered upon
their duties ; scholars flocked in numbers to this beautiful
retreat ; and, for a little while, St. Thomas' Hall bade fair to
realize the fondest dreams of its founder. But alas ! as there
is nothing so successful as success, so there is nothing so disas-
trous as disaster. The financial crash, which culminated at
this period, came on just as the experiment had reached its
turning point, and at once, in 1843, the whole enterprise, so
noble in its inception, and promising in its early fruits, fell in
utter irretrievable ruin.
Besides the terrible wreck of all his own cherished hopes,
imputations were cast upon him affecting his reputation. He
was accused, not only of extravagance and recklessness and
visionary schemes, but of false promises, and of want of hon-
29
esty and integrity, in matters involving the interests of others.
That there was a lack of prudence and foresight, such as might
have saved the Institution, and averted such heavy loss on the
part of its numerous friends, is possible ; but that there was
a sacrifice of moral rectitude in the management of St. Thomas'
Hall, or anything which -cannot find explanation in unforeseen
and unavoidable circumstances, we believe will not now for a
moment be maintained.
So serious was this failure in ks consequences, that Dr.
Hawks resigned the Eectorship of St. Thomas' Church, New
York City, and his resignation was accepted by the Wardens
and Vestry of the Parish, Oct. 28, 1843, with every expression
of regret, affection, confidence and respect. We have exam-
ined with care the facts, — the official statements, documents,
&c, &c, bearing upon Dr. Hawks' connection with St. Thomas'
Hall, — and we do not hesitate to say, not that he was faultless
and without mistakes, but that his honesty and integrity
remained untarnished, while his high-mindedness and honor,
as a Christian and a gentleman, were exhibited in a manner
worthy of all commendation. He now removed to Holly
Springs, Mississippi, where his daughter resided, with a view
of retrieving his misfortunes, of paying his indebtedness, and,
meanwhile, of being useful to the Church. He at once estab-
lished a School in Holly Springs, and became Hector of
the Church in that place.
Almost immediately, however, he was elected Bishop of
Mississippi by the Diocesan Convention. This appointment, of
course, came before the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies
30
which met in General Convention at Philadelphia, in 1844.
Strong opposition was there made to the approval of his
election by some members of the Convention, on the ground of
the pecuniary affairs of St. Thomas' Hall. The whole subject
was openly and thoroughly discussed, and the speech of Dr.
Hawks himself, in vindication of his conduct, was universally
acknowledged to have been one of the ablest and most powerful
pleas ever heard in any deliberative assembly. It was the most
trying, painful struggle of his whole life. Every possible as-
pect of the subject was thoroughly examined by him, and with
all that luminous order, and clearness of statement, and strength
of argument, and touching pathos, and felicitous diction, and
impressive elocution, of which he was master. At length the
following Eesolution was adopted :
" Resolved, That, in the opinion of this House, the integrity of the
Rev. Dr. Hawks has been satisfactorily vindicated in his reply and
proofs in relation to the charge brought against him in the Memorial
presented to this House."
This was passed by eighteen of twenty-seven Dioceses, on
the Clerical vote ; and by eighteen of twenty-two Dioceses, on
the vote of the Laity. There were no votes in the negative ;
but some of the representatives were excused from voting on
the subject. It was finally deemed proper to refer the whole
question back to the Diocese of Mississippi ; and this was done
unanimously. That Diocese at once formally expressed its
entire confidence in Dr. Hawks ; but he now declined accepting
the appointment. He felt that he stood before the Church
publicly acquitted of the charges brought against him, and
31
with this he was content. This entire affair, as it was one of
the most remarkable passages in his whole life, so it revealed
all the strong points and peculiarities of this wonderful man.
In 1844, he removed to New Orleans, and became Rector of
Christ Church in that city ; and this position he occupied for
five years. During his residence in New Orleans, the University
of Louisiana was established in that city, and he was elected
its first President. The Institution rose rapidly in influence,
and soon numbered an able corps of Professors and a large body
of students.
But New York City was the place for Dr. Hawks, and to it
he gravitated as readily as the needle to its pole. In 1849, the
Church of the Mediator being vacant, its Rectorship was offered
to him, which he accepted ; and soon after, the Parish being
merged in the Parish of Calvary Church, he became Rector of
Calvary Church, and so continued until the year 1862. This
Parish, at the time he entered upon his duties, was deeply
involved in debt ; the Church was in danger of being sold ; and
there were, besides, certain old pecuniary personal obligations
connected with St. Thomas' Hall, which he had never been able
to cancel. His friends and admirers at once removed both
these difficulties, at an expenditure of about $30,000, and also
settled upon him a salary that relieved him from all worldly
anxiety.
Here, once more at home, and at work, he entered upon a
career of great activity and usefulness. Besides his duties in
the pulpit, for which the listener would suppose he had done
nothing else in the previous week than prepare, his time, and
32
labor, and influence, were freely devoted to the demands which
various public bodies constantly made upon him. The His-
torical, Ethnological, and Geographical Societies found in him
a constant supporter and counsellor ; and not a few of his
noblest efforts were called forth at the meetings of these and
similar Associations. The multitude and the variety of objects
and interests in which his advice was sought, and his assistance
solicited, would seem almost incredible to one who knew
nothing of the man, and nothing of the cosmopolitan character
of the city, the great centre of the New World, not only in its
Commerce and Finance, but in Art, Science, Literature, and
organic Charities.
In 1852, he was elected to the Episcopate of Ehode Island ;
and at the same time he was invited to the Eectorship of Grace
Church, Providence. This double duty seemed to Dr. Hawks
so utterly impracticable, that he was unwilling to assume it,
and he declined the appointment. This was the third time the
Episcopate was formally offered to him ; an Office which he
never sought, certainly not for its own sake. The election at
the present time could not but have been gratifying to Dr.
Hawks, as it was a proof that he stood before the Church, free
from the imputations formerly cast upon him.
In 1859, he was invited to the Chair of Professor of History
in the University of North Carolina, his Alma Mater, and his
acceptance was strongly urged ; but the appointment he chose
to decline. It was from this Institution that he received the
Honorary Degrees, of Doctor in Divinity, and also Doctor
of Laws.
33
Another important epoch in his life was now approaching.
The Civil War of 1861-5 had already been heard in the mutter-
ing notes of its preparation. They have studied the philosophy
of History to little purpose, who have not learned that the pri-
mary causes of such a great struggle are not to be mistaken for,
or confounded with, the special occasion which developes it.
Without denning, much less discussing, Dr. Hawks' private
views on certain great social and political questions then agi-
tating the country, it is enough to say, that he did not believe
that all the responsibility and guilt of that awful convul-
sion are to be charged upon the South. And when the
terrible storm burst upon the country, and it became a Sec-
tional War, the North and the South arrayed in arms against
each other, he did not forget the land of his birth, the grave of
his mother, the kindred and friends, whose happy peaceful
homes were so soon to feel the fury and devastation which
were poured out upon them. He was not a man to contem-
plate such a prospect unmoved. In his Parish Church, and
among his admiring and devoted congregation, were men who
were his peers in solid learning, and who, in their several spheres
of Jurisprudence, and as pleaders at the Bar, have a national
reputation. They had been attracted to his ministrations,
because they knew how to distinguish between noisy bombast
and genuine eloquence, between pulpit demagogism and the
Faith of Christ as addressed to the living men and living ques-
tions of the age. Besides, Dr. Hawks was every inch a man, in
the pulpit, as well as out of it : and they were capable of
appreciating him. But they differed from him utterly, in their
E
34
conceptions of the great struggle which now convulsed the
nation from its centre to its circumference. A time had now
come to draw lines distinctly, and every man, whatever might
be his private opinions upon this point, that, or the other,
was compelled to take his position. We need not lift the cur-
tain further ; nor, indeed, would there he aught else to be dis-
closed. There was no open rupture, no violation of the
courtesy which belongs to Christian gentlemen. Dr. Hawks
voluntarily resigned the Kectorship of Calvary Parish in 1862,
and removed to Baltimore, where he became Eector of Christ
Parish in that city.
He did not, however, remain long in Baltimore. Early in
1865, his friends in New York City invited him to return, and
he accepted the invitatioD. A congregation was at once gath-
ered, which met for Worship in the Chapel of the University,
and the Parish of the Chapel of our Saviour was admitted
into union with the Convention, on the very day that his death
was announced. Preparations had been made for the erection
of a new Church, and the Corner Stone was laid at the site on
Twenty-fifth Street, by Dr. Hawks, on the morning of Sept.
4th, 1866. He was then in a condition of great physical weak-
ness. All were impressed and alarmed by his changed appear-
ance. He knelt to pronounce the solemn words, and as his
countenance, full of meaning, was lifted towards Heaven, and
he uttered the sacred Name of the Triune God, Father, Son,
and Holt Ghost, and invoked His Blessing on the work then
begun, the scene was one of indescribable solemnity and heav-
enly beauty. In a few words, which started tears from every
35
eye, he thanked his Reverend Brethren and his friends for their
presence on this solemn occasion, and said he fervently hoped,
when they should all stand before the Judgment seat, they
would be rewarded many fold for their work that day.
This was the last public official act of Feancis L. Hawks.
Among the important public movements which engaged Dr.
Hawks' attention during the latter months of his life, was the
organization of a Parish in New York City, under the name
of Iglesia de Santiago, and composed of persons speaking
the Spanish language. This Parish was to have been admit-
ted to union with the Convention at its last meeting, but by
some neglect, the papers, though duly prepared, were not pre-
sented. This enterprise was conducted at every step under
the guidance of Dr. Hawks, who occasionally officiated for the
congregation in the Service, being able to speak that language.
As these people are nearly all Romanists by birth, Baptism
and education, but are intensely dissatisfied with the whole
Modern Roman System, whose corruptions and abominations
they thoroughly understand, Dr. Hawks regarded this move-
ment as one of the most promising in its beneficial and far-
reaching influences, of any that he had ever been called to
assist.
His public instructions from the pulpit during the last years
of his Ministry, were specially adapted to the peculiar neces-
sities of the times. His eagle eye saw distinctly, in their every
phase and shape, the drift and tendency of the popular mind.
His course of Lectures during the last Lenten Season, was
devoted to a presentation of the Faith of the Reformed Cath-
36
olio Chnrch, as distinguished from the Corruptions of Modern
Rome ; and every one of these Lectures was worthy of publi-
cation, and should be scattered broad-cast over the land, in
these days of Jesuit cunning and intrigue. And the last Ser-
mon which he preached to his congregation, just before the
Summer vacation, was a defense of God's Revealed Word,
against the attacks of Infidelity, under the guise of Modern
Science, whose shallow arguments, and transparent sophistry,
and miserable delusion, he exposed with a thoroughness and
demonstrative power which were irresistible ; and which
showed that he was a thorough master" of the subject. He
had, also, in course of preparation, a series of Lectures on the
relations of Modern Science to Revelation ; a subject on which
he thought the public mind was in great need of direction.
Such a record of the life of Dr. Hawks, so busied, so dis-
tracted, so harassed with troubles, cares and anxieties, imper-
fect as our delineation is, would seem to have left him no time
for literary and scientific pursuits. Yet the following list of
his works, of which he was either author or editor, will show
that, in this respect also, he was one of the most remarkable
men of his age and times.
" Reports of Cases adjudged in the Supreme Court of North
Carolina, 1820-26," (4 vols., 8vo., Raleigh, 1823-8) ; " Digest
of all the Cases Decided and Reported in North Carolina ;"
" Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United
States," (2 vols., 8vo., embracing Virginia and Maryland : New
York, 1836-39) ; " Commentary on the Constitution and
Canons of the Prot. Epis. Church in the U. States," (1841,
37
Svo.) ; "Egypt and its Monuments," (8vo., ]849) ; "Auricu-
lar Confession in the Protestant Episcopal Church/' (12mo.,
1840). Dr. Hawks translated Rivero and Tschudi's "Anti-
quities of Peru/' (1854), and edited the " Official and other
State Papers of the late Major General Alexander Hamilton,"
(2vo., 1842) ; " The Romance of Biography, illustrated in the
Lives of Historic Personages, edited by F. L. Hawks, in 12
vols. ;" " Narrative of Commodore Perry's Expedition to the
China Seas and Japan, in 1852-54, compiled from Perry's
original Notes and Journal, by F. L. Hawks, 1856, 8vo. and
4to." He edited several volumes of Natural History and Amer-
ican Annals, published in Harper's Boys' and Girls' Library,
entitled " Uncle Philip's Conversations ;" " The Cyclopaedia of
Biography, based upon Griffin's Cyclopaedia of Biography,
American edition, edited by F. L. Hawks, 1856, royal 8vo. ;"
"Physical Geography of the United States," announced in
1859 ; " History of North Carolina, one volume, 1857, Svo. ;"
" Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States of America, containing numerous hitherto
unpublished Documents concerning the Church in Connecticut.
Vols. I and II. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D., and Wil-
liam Stevens Perry, A. M., Editors. New York: 1863-4.
8vo." " Household Prayers, for Four Weeks ; with Additional
Prayers for Special Occasions. To which is appended a Course
of Scripture Reading for every day in the year. By Rev. J.
E. Riddle, M. A. Revised, with additions and slight altera-
tions, by a Presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
New York : 1866. 12mo." " The English Language. Ele-
38
mentary Instruction. Number One. By Francis L. Hawks.
New York : 1866. 12mo."
Dr. Hawks, as stated in the above narrative, edited and
conducted the New York Beview and the Church Record; he
was a frequent contributor to various Periodicals, and his
Addresses before Literary and Scientific Societies, and on pub-
lic occasions, were numerous, and were among his best efforts.
He was also engaged for several years in preparing a work on
the Monuments of Central and Western America, a subject
of great interest and importance, in the evidence there fur-
nished of the high degree of Civilization that had been reached
on this Western Continent, before the period of Spanish dis-
covery and conquest.
This list, and we can do no more than give it, presents, at a
glance, abundant proof both of the untiring industry and the
varied attainments of Dr. Hawks. If it be said, that he
lacked in depth and precision of knowledge in any one of these
various departments, we reply, he studied them sufficiently for
all the ends to which he wished to apply them ; he was no
charlatan, and he was too good a logician not to be sure of the
ground which he had once taken.
Nearly all the points in the character of Dr. Hawks have
been made to appear in what has already been written. We
will, however, distinguish a few particulars.
Dr. Hawks was remarkable as a Conversationalist. Indeed,
he was one of the very best of talkers. Not all great men,
and learned men, and brilliant men, excel in the private circle.
Not a few of them, even of those whose names are luminous
39
on the records of literature and science, whose pens have been
wielded with almost magic power, have yet been silent or
reserved when in society. But Dr. Hawks, by his varied
knowledge, his wide course of reading, his ready wit, his quick-
ness at repartee, his retentive memory, the clearness and dis-
tinctness of feature with which he stamped the creations of
his imagination, his exhaustless flow of language, and the
musical, clear-ringing tones of his voice, — with all these at
his command, was fitted to be one of the most engaging
of companions, and the life of the social circle. None could
have met him, even casually, without being impressed with
his fascinating power in this respect ;' but it was only those
who were familiar with him at hours when the labors and
cares of the day were thrown aside, and when wit, and fancy,
and imagination, and intellect, had full play, who knew the
wonderful charm of his power as a talker. He did not vati-
cinate like Coleridge, nor dogmatize like Dr. Johnson, nor
had he the idiosyncrasies of Charles Lamb or of Sydney Smith ;
but some of the most splendid creations of his genius, and
the profoundest deductions of his reason, touching almost
every possible subject, and especially the topics and questions
of the day and hour, were thrown out at such times. An
attempt was once made to preserve these Noctes Ambrosianas ;
but there is a sparkle in such wit, a magic of tone and man-
ner, which cannot be reproduced, and the effort was abandoned.
As a Churchman, he belonged to that class of men who
have always given a predominant character to the American
Church ; a school which is wide enough, and Catholic enough,
40
to embrace the names of White, and Ravenscroft, and Hobart.
Educated, in part, under Bishop Ravenscroft, that great and
good Prelate, to whom the American Church owes a large
debt, confirmed and ordained by him, he always spoke of him
with filial affection and veneration, and learned his early
Churchmanship under such a master. He abhorred extremes
in each opposite direction ; and had little patience with the
men who seemed to lower the Church to a level with either
Romanism on the one hand, or Sectism on the other. He
believed in the Reformed Church of England, and in our own,
with all the warmth and devotion of his whole nature ; in their
Organization, Ministry, Faith, Worship, and Articles. He
knew, with all the certainty of his acute, well-trained intellect,
that they are Scriptural, Apostolic, and Catholic. He scorned
treachery, and he abominated everything like trifling, either in
thought, word, or deed, with the deep mysteries and blood-
buught treasures of Christ's Mystical Body. Dr. Hawks, on
one occasion, published his own views of what constitutes true
and sound Churchmanship. He said : — " With Low Church-
men, as a party, we have not, and never had, any communi-
cation or sympathy." He then made the following quotation
from Bishop Ravenscroft : —
" On the Doctrines of the Cross, then, lie takes his stand, endeavor-
ing to preach them in the simplicity and sincerity of a heart that feels
them, and with the earnestness of a man who wishes to save his own
soul and the souls of others." What are these doctrines 1 " The en-
tire spiritual death and alienation of man from God, by the entertain-
ment of sin ; the reconciliation of God to the world, by the sufferings
and Death of His only begotten Son ; the Atonement of His Blood ;
41
Justification by Faith ; acceptance through the merits of the Saviour ;
conversion of the heart to God ; holiness of life, the only evidence of
it; and the Grace of God in the renewal of the Holy Ghost, the sole
agent, from first to last, in working out our salvation from sin here,
and from hell hereafter. In fewer words, Salvation by Grace, through
faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.
"But with these vital and heaven-blessed doctrines, other points of
edification recpuire attention ; particularly that of the distinctive char-
acter of the Church. On this, a most lamentable ignorance prevails ;
and to permit this ignorance to continue, undisturbed, is to be false to
Ordination Vows, to acknowledged principles, to the interests of the
Church, and to the souls committed to the Pastor's care."
Dr. Hawks then adds, "This is an outline of the High
Church principles which we avow. We learned them many
years ago, in an unexceptionable school, before some, who would
now dictate and anathematize, knew what the Church
meant. To the maintenance of these principles we have con-
secrated, for more than half our life, all we had ; for these be
the principles, expressed in the words of our good old father,
and teacher, and friend, Bishop Eavenscroft. It was in his
school we learned our Churchmanship, and we think that
the Church, at this day, cannot afford us any wiser or more
honest teacher."
Concerning Bishop Hobart, Dr. Hawks wrote and published :
"He did more than any man of his clay, to make known,
defend, and establish, what we believe to be true views of the
nature, and constitution, of the Christian Ministry. To his
labors, we religiously believe, is it chiefly owing, that, at this
day, Episcopacy is so firmly fixed in the affections of the Clergy
of our Communion."
42
At the time that the influence of what was known as the
Oxford Tract movement began to be felt in this country, and
especially when that movement culminated in Tract Ninety,
Dr. Hawks, in the Church Record, of which he was Editor,
set himself to oppose a course of reasoning, which he believed
to be disingenuous and treacherous ; and, for the time being, he
was ranked with men with whose Ecclesiastical views he had
no sympathy. It was at this time that Dr. Hawks, in com-
mon with Dr. Jarvis, and others of the most learned Divines
of the Church, published his work on Auricular Confession,
and other controversial points of that day ; and he lived to
see the day when most of those who had denounced him as
" no Churchman," were fulfilling his prediction, and were open
apostates from that Faith and that Church which they had
already betrayed ; while some, from whom he had temporarily
differed as to the proper policy on the Oxford Tract movement,
and on some local and personal questions, became, near the
close of his life, among his truest and latest, as they had been
among his earliest friends.
If we were to speak critically of Dr. Hawks, as a teacher
of Christian Theology, we should say, that there was the
same characteristic in him, which belongs to the great mass,
even of the very best and soundest Anglican Divines ; to wit,
a looking to Christ too exclusively as a Saviour, rather than
as also a Life-giver ; and that this view threw its influence
over all his conceptions of the office and work of the Church.
This feature of modern English Theology has its historical
and philosophical explanation. It will be unlearned, as
43
Churchmen catch their type of Churchmanship more directly
from Scriptural and primitive teaching and example. Per-
haps, also, Dr. Hawks appreciated too slightly that power of
adaptation, by which alone the Church, in her modes and
methods of working, can reach, and gain, and save, the vast
multitudes of the people, in any and every age of the world.
It is due to Dr. Hawks to say, that in his later years, he
modified somewhat his views of the true methods of the cul-
ture and growth of the Christian Life. He saw the indisso-
luble connection between Form and Spirit, Body and Soul,
and this, from the very nature of man, and by God's own
appointment. Hence he saw, also, the necessity, and especially
in these our days, of holding and teaching, not" merely Christ
and the Church, but Christ in the Church. His convictions
on this point, in his last sickness, were expressed with an ear-
nestness and an emphasis which will never be forgotten. It is
proper also to record, that he felt and acknowledged the im-
portance of the Weekly Communion, as in the Scriptural and
Primitive Church ; and that he declared his determination to
return to such a practice in the administration of his new Par-
ish of the Chapel of our Saviour.
As a Pastor, it will not be claimed that he was so generally
known, as in other fields of Ministerial labor. We do not
mean, that he undervalued the Pastoral Office, or that he was
incapable of discharging these important specific duties. On
the contrary, he read human nature at a glance, and he was
'quick to discern the sources of doubt and difficulty. And a
warmer, tenderer heart, or a more sympathizing nature, never
44
dwelt in the bosom of imperfect man. In the chamber of the
sick, in comforting the mourning, in guiding the enquiring,
multitudes will remember how gentle and faithful he was in
such ministrations of mercy. But his engrossing public labors
. so occupied his time and care, that he could know little of the
inner life, the secret spiritual wants of the individual mem-
bers of his flock. May we not say, that the practical recogni-
tion of the Pastoral relation is, in these busy days, in great
danger of being lost sight of, on the part of the Clergy ?
As a Preacher and Orator, Dr. Hawks possessed all the
qualifications of great eminence. His perfect self-possession
and commanding presence, and that sort of power in reserve,
which the really great orator always exhibits, inspired, in the
outset, respect and confidence. His legal studies, and long
training at the Bar, had taught him method, and the use of
argument, clearness of arrangement and precision of language.
His vivid imagination, and his wide course of reading, enabled
him to throw the charm of metaphor and beautiful illustration
around the dryest and most abstruse point of doctrine. His
earnestness and directness of appeal, aroused the intellect, and
unsealed the fountains of the heart. And, at times, his out-
burst of genuine feeling, always measured by the greatness of
his theme, and rising with the grandeur of his subject, carried
with him the convictions, and prejudices, and sympathies of
his audience. With all these, the full, deep, rich tones of his
musical voice, with its distinct. articulations and graceful mod-
ulations, possessed a melody and a power beyond that of any
other voice we ever heard. Dr. Hawks was a wonderful orator.
45
On one occasion, in General Convention, composed of men not
easily moved, when he made one of his greatest efforts — it was
a speech in defense of himself — so completely did he sweep
away from before him every charge, every suspicion, and carry
with him the judgments and sympathies of his audience, that
a member rose, and moved an adjournment of the House before
a vote should be taken ; for he said its members were in no con-
dition to vote calmly and deliberately. And yet, with all Dr.
Hawks' transcendent gifts as a Pulpit Orator, there was nothing
of the theatric tricks of a mere declaimer and performer ; there
was no stamping, and startling, and attitudinizing, and screech-
ing ; nothing that was artificial, and which the sharpest critic
could say was done for mere effect. He was too great and
true a man for this. He was thoroughly simple, and perfectly
natural ; and yet he stood deservedly among the very first of
the few really great preachers of the American Church, and he
will hold a high rank among the distinguished Orators of his
age.
There is one gift which has been publicly attributed to Dr.
Hawks, concerning which something should be said. It has
been reported, that, with all his other rare qualities, he was
also a Poet. If by this it is claimed, that he was endowed
with what, in the truest sense, is termed Poetic Genius, we
should hesitate to accord him such a distinction. It is only
at rare intervals, that a brilliant star of this class flashes across
the heavens ; and the age, we fear, is growing too empirical
and materialistic to permit us to look for exhibitions of this
kind. Genius, as distinguished from talent, Dr. Hawks did
46
undoubtedly possess, and in a high degree. The gift of Poetry,
and the gift of Oratory, are, both — Cicero to the contrary
notwithstanding — when seen in their most perfect forms, nat-
ural endowments. The latter quality, as we have already said,
belonged to Dr. Hawks.
But if by a Poet is meant one who has great facility in using
language according to certain rules of measure and rhythm, of
this sort of power Dr. Hawks was, or might have become, an
acknowledged master ; and of this kind of composition he left
specimens enough to show that with his command of words,
and brilliant imagination, and lively fancy, and severe taste, he
might have surpassed in excellence most of those who write
what is called Poetry, and which the public accepts as such.
Those simple Ballads, " The Blind Boy," " The Little Boy
who Prayed," " The Little Sunday School Girl," are each
marked by such felicity of expression, and true touches of
nature, and tenderness of sentiment, that we feel that the
pen capable of inditing them, might have reached almost any
measure of excellence in this sort of composition.
In this connection, there is one passage in his life of such
exquisite beauty, that we cannot pass it by unnoticed. It was
at an early period in his history, or about the time when he
took Holy Orders in the Church, that his attention was arrest-
ed by some of those poetic gems which occasionally dropped
from the pen of Mr. N. P. Willis. Dr. Hawks inscribed and
sent to the Boston bard the following lines, which we now give,
as also Mr. Willis' reply, neither of which has before been pub-
lished. The brief interval between the deaths of these two men.
47
imparts a deep and special interest to the words of both ; and
especially is it a pleasing thought, that Mr. Willis, in the latter
years of his life, though born and educated a Congregationalist,
became a Communicant of the Church, and warmly attached
to her Services, and devoted to her interests.* Surely we may
believe that they, whose acquaintance began under such pecu-
liar circumstances, being redeemed by Christ's Death and
Resurrection, made members of His mystical Body, and washed
in the Fountain of His most Blessed Blood, are both united
now, in tuning their golden harps, and mingling their songs
together, around His Throne,
" Amid the mighty Orchestra of Heaven."
TO N. P. WILLIS, OF BOSTON, MASS.
I know thee not,
And yet I feel, as if I knew thee well : —
The lofty breathings of thy tuneful lyre
Have floated round me ; and its witching notes,
With all thy bright and bold imaginings,
Stealing and winding round my inmost soul,
Have touched with gentlest sweep its trembling chords,
And waked a thrill responsive to thy melody.
Therefore it is, I know thee ; and I fain
Would proudly hail thee Brother, if I dared.
Co- worshippers, indeed, I know we are,
Kneeling in homage at the Muse's shrine ;
But thine is a devotion so surpassing,
And thou hast so imnibed the very soul of Poetry,
Making so sweetly blend and harmonize
*Mr. Willis died at his residence, at Idlewild, on the Hudson, Jan. 20th, at the
age of 60 years. The Burial Services were performed Jan. 24th, in St. Paul's
Church, Boston, Mass.
48
All that is bright, and beautiful, and tender
In thine offerings, that I, methinks, should
Turn away, and on the willows, pensive
Hang my tuneless Harp.
I worship at another Shrine,
The Shrine of Him Who true repentance loves ;
And so, perchance, may'st thou — I cannot tell : —
If so, we too may meet in other worlds,
And there (for naught but harmony is breathed
In Heaven) may mingle strains alike melodious,
And, unlike those which we have mingled here,
Bearing, with kindred soul, our happy part,
Amid the mighty Orchestra of Heaven.
Till then — Farewell, F. L. Hawks.
TO MR. HAWKS.
As men may meet, we have not met ;
We're strangers, save in name alone.
I know no look of thine — but yet,
I could not, if I would, forget
How well I love thy minstrel tone.
And wouldst thou call me Brother 1 Death
Has breathed upon the only one
I ever loved ; his parting breath
Went by, like that which withereth ;
I caught it, but was left alone.
My spirit lingereth round his rest ;
Communion else I have not ; Earth
Is but to me a wave at best.
And Hope the foam upon its crest,
As transient as 'tis little worth.
I thought the only one like me
Was in that grave — yet surely thou
Resemblest him whose wing is free ;
And God hath given back in thee,
The spirit which He claimed but now.
49
I know it will not be our lot
To meet on Earth — 'twere too like Heaven
To love and be divided not —
Earth's ties are broken and forgot,
Their history — " They were — are riven."
" We are co-worshippers." I bow
Like thee to Jesus and His Word.
My lip hath breath'd the sacred vow, —
Baptismal drops have bath'd my brow, —
I've said that I would serve my Lord.
I know I love my lyre well ;
I know thou lovest thine — my knee
Hath bow'd too oft to lyric spell —
Thou know'st it. Farewell, Farewell ;
We meet, where love and Lyre are free.
N. P. Willis.
The death of Dr. Hawks, and to that final event we now
come, was a scene rich in all the associations which ever attend
the dying bed of a Saint. In the Narrative from the pen of
the Rt. Rev. Bishop Green, allusion was made to the hasty,
turbulent temper of Dr. Hawks, in his early life. All this was
now gone. The stormy muttering cloud, which sometimes
hung in the horizon, is dissipated ; and there is felt the soft
breath of calm and tranquil repose, and of perfect peace ; even
as the golden tints, the glow and effulgence of an autumnal
setting day seem to reflect the light and glories of Heaven.
And so, his sun went down ; to fade away, and be swallowed
up in the brightness of an unending day. That " City had
no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the
glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
The Holy Ghost the Sanctifier, and the Providence of God,
G
50
had both done their work in training this manly spirit for
another, brighter, and purer state of being. Humble now as a
little child, submitting without a murmur to his sufferings,
bowing sweetly to God's will in thus suddenly and unexpect-
edly interrupting his prospects, he received with tender and
grateful consideration all those little kindnesses, with which
deep affection ministers to the sick and the dying. Not long
before his death, he partook, with great devotion of manner, of
the Blessed Sacrament. He exhorted his friends to " cling
closely to Christ, and live nearer to Him ;" and he bade them,
as his dying counsel, to adhere with unswerving fidelity to
" the Church of the living God, the Pillar and Ground of the
Truth." And thus at last, peacefully, and as if sinking into a
sweet slumber, he fell asleep in Jesus. He died on Wednes-
day, Sept. 26, 1866.
That scene at the death-bed of Dr. Hawks, so calm and
peaceful, was in itself a sermon more eloquent than he ever
delivered in the meridian splendor of his best powers. His last
sermon, as we have said before, to his congregation, was a refu-
tation of that specious Infidelity of our day, which seeks to
undermine the Revelation of the Gospel of Christ, by the pre-
tended discoveries of Modern Science ; which is trying, in some
way, to get rid of the Unity of the Race, the Fall of Man, and
his recovery by the Gospel of Christ. Compare the closing
hours of such a man as Dr. Hawks, — and Church History is
full of such illustrations, — with the death-bed scene of one of
these Apostles of Modern Infidelity ; such a man, for instance,
as Henry Thomas Buckle, who spent his whole life in endeavor-
51
ing to undermine and write down Christianity. Try the Two
Systems by this test. See which will bear the ordeal of that
honest hour. See which will then meet the wants, and answer
the deep questionings, of the undying spirit. It is a fair test.
Man, at that crisis in his history, sees and feels that he is a
sinner. It is not a dream, or a delusion, but a fact which he
must meet. How an infinitely Holy and Just God can over-
look transgression, and yet vindicate His Government, is a
question which Reason and Philosophy never have solved, and
never can solve. Atheism, or the Cross as presented in Reve-
lation, is at that hour the only alternative. Mr. Buckle, if he
did not die amid the tragic horrors which attended upon the
death-beds of Voltaire and Paine, was yet an object of com-
passion. Finding himself in the immediate presence of that
God Whose Word and authority he had scorned and defied,
with the unseen world and all its realities just before him, ap-
palled at the retrospect of the past, and the prospect of the
future, he exclaimed, ' Oh, I am going mad !' His friend,
who was with him at that hour, writes : '■ His incoherent ut-
terances were most painful to listen to ; in the midst of all, ex-
claiming, ' my book, my book ! I shall never finish my
book !' and after running on quite incoherently, crying, ' I
know I am talking nonsense, but I cannot help it !' and burst
into tears. Four days afterwards he was attacked by typhus
fever, and after a three days' stupor, died." Let the men of
learning and genius in our day, who are scoffing at the Faith
and Church of Christ, and who are proposing New Creeds to
the simple hearted, and who are striving in every way to hold
52
themselves up before the public as the representatives of Mod-
ern Civilization, let them gather around the dying beds of
these two representative men, and there let them learn a lesson
for themselves, and for the times in which we live.
There was one marked feature of Dr. Hawks' character
exhibited in his last sickness, not hitherto alluded to. Again
and again he pointed the weeping and beloved friends, who
gathered about him, to the Cross of Christ. This was his
great theme, in his life and in his death. To that and that
alone, he trusted for acceptance at the Bar of God. His clear
logical mind, and the conscious intuitions of his own heart, had
taught him, that that which was a stumbling block to the
Pharisaic Jew, and foolishness to the Philosophic Greek, was
yet the foundation Stone of all true Christian Theology.
He knew that the world hates the Cross now, as bitterly as it
hated it of old ; and in every way tries to ignore it. And he
knew that Christ, the Prophet, Priest and King, is still the
Power of God and the Wisdom of God. And so, over his life-
less remains, there was sung that beautiful Hymn (the Sixty-
second) which he loved so well, and to which so many of the
greatest Divines of the Church have turned in their last
moments :
" When I survey the wondrous Cross."
In the efficacy of that Cross, he beheld a fountain to wash
away his sins ; in its tragedy, he saw a love and wisdom before
which he bowed with the affectionate confidence of a little
child ; and in its purchased Gifts, he discerned the only hope
for a disordered and suffering Humanity.
53
His Funeral was a fitting tribute to his memory. It was
appointed at Calvary Church, on the afternoon of Saturday,
Sept. 29th. The Rt. Rev. Bishops Potter of New York, Lay
of Arkansas, Talbot of Indiana and Quintard of Tennessee, and
between one and two hundred of the other Clergy of the city
and surrounding country, attended the remains from the house
of the deceased to the Church, where a multitude had gathered
within and without its spacious courts. The simple, solemn,
impressive Services were over, and crowds lingered long at the
porch, to catch one more last look of the noble countenance of
this great Master in Israel.
The Clergy, assembled at his Burial, passed an appropriate
token of respect in the form of Resolutions ; and the Vestry of
the Chapel of the Holy Saviour gave expression to their deep
sense of bereavement in his death, and their affectionate ven-
eration for his memory.
REMAR KS
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM F. MORGAN, D.D.,
IN THE
Hall of the N. Y. Historical Society, Nov. 6th, 1866, after the Preamble
and Resolutions relating to the decease of Dr. Hawks had been read.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
It unexpectedly devolves upon me to break the silence which
follows the announcement of these impressive Resolutions. I
am totally unprepared to speak upon them with effect, or in
anywise to do them justice, being myself only a delinquent
member of this body, and on that account, if no other, unfit to
dwell upon the character of one who will always be cherished,
as one of its most useful and eminent members. But, sir, I do
from the heart accord in the spirit of these Resolutions, and
condole with this Society, in what may be regarded as, almost,
an irreparable loss.
It is true of every great man, that he will be remembered
and admired by his friends from different angles of observation.
Some will recall him under one aspect, and some under an-
other ; — for a truly great man, like a towering field of ice in
11
58
Northern seas, offers many sides to the eye of the observer,
many planes of excellence, many brilliant and dazzling points
of individual superiority. And I think it may be said of the
distinguished man whose memory we would honor in a special
manner this evening, that he was great in more things than one.
In truth, sir, he was great in natural endowments — positive-
ly great, upon various paths of intellectual effort. He was
great in his mould as a man — and great in his culture and
equipment as a man of action, of influence, of power. Sir, we
who knew something of him while he was living, cannot deny,
now that he is dead, his splendid accomplishments.
He was a Scholar of solid and diverse acquisitions ; a Teach-
er inc jmparable in his simple and luminous exposition of truth,
whether recondite or elementary. He was a Lawyer of no
mean quality ; a Theologian far above the average of cotempo-
rary Divines ; a Pulpit Orator almost without a peer ; a Poet
of much sweetness and pathos ; a Canonist of unquestioned au-
thority ; an Ecclesiastical Historian, whose contributions are
among the richest treasures of the Church ; while these Eeso-
lutions testify to the value of his services in this Society, and
his devotion to Secular History. He was, moreover, an Ethnolo-
gist, whose place, as our excellent Secretary informs me, cannot
be easily supplied ; a Philologist whose latest and ripest years
were largely given to the study of Languages ; nay, more, to the
compilation of simple rudimentary Manuals for the young.
Aside from all this, — and, sir, I have by no means mentioned
all the departments of elegant Scholarship, in which he main-
tained an honorable record — aside from all this, he was a
59
magnificent leader of public Assemblies ; as a debater, affluent,
logical, convincing, lending to every topic, and to every doubtful,
intricate question, an accuracy of statement and a splendor of
eloquence which were well nigh irresistible ; while in private
life and intercourse, I do not think he has left behind him one
who could equal him in those special qualities which fascinate
and enthral. He was not fond of what is called general
society, and was seldom seen at public entertainments ; but he
was an admirable Conversationist, and when in the mood, talked
like a man inspired.
Such a man deserves posthumous honors. The moment he
dies and recedes from view, his worth and positive renown
should secure for him the most generous consideration, disarm-
ing prejudice, and modulating the voice of censure. As is well
known to you, sir, Dr. Hawks, in certain respects, passed an
eventful and a trying life. Firm, self-poised, and strong, both
in feeling and purpose, few men of his temperament have been
put to such tests. The times in which he lived were well cal-
culated to bring out his infirmities, as well as his excellencies ;
the glories as well as the defects of his character. But here, to-
night, I trust, sir, we are not disposed to be critical. We are
not searching for motes. We judge him, and we recall him,
and we speak of him tenderly and lovingly, as one just departed
from the Kepublic of Letters ; as one gone from our intellectual
circle and communion ! What he did, or failed to do, in finan-
cial, or political straits, is something we need not consider.
What was he, as a Man, — as a man of culture and mental
power ? What was he, in those rare endowments and qualities
60
which made him illustrious, both as a Scholar and a Divine ?
I do not hesitate to say, sir, that Dr. Hawks is to he ranked
among the foremost men of his generation, if not of his
century. Upon his path, and in his profession, very few
equalled him. I do not say that he was the most erudite or
profound in Scholarship, or the most rich and varied in sacred
studies ; hut whatever he touched, he adorned ; whatever he
attempted, he mastered. He never opened his lips, hut honey
flowed forth. Ah ! sir, of that voice, of that harmonious,
flowing eloquence, it may be said, as Tacitus said of an ad-
mired orator in his day, " cum ipso extinctum est."
Permit me, barely to add, what is not, I trust, out of har-
mony with the associations of this place, that in his vocation
as a Minister of the Gospel, Dr. Hawks knew and preached but
one thing, the Cross of His Master, the Atoning Lamb of God.
All his splendid gifts were made subsidiary to this golden
theme. Many years ago, a friend was complimenting him upon
his growing fame, as a literary man. " Ah ! sir," rejoined the
Doctor, " I should find more joy in the fact that I had been
the means of saving one soul, than in all the reputation this
world could heap upon me."
RESOLUTIONS, &c.
The following Besolutions were adopted, by the bodies herein-
after named, on occasion of the Death of the
REV. FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D.
The Convention of the Diocese of New York, being then
in Session, September 27, 1866,
The Rev. Dr. Higbee, from the Special Committee on pre-
paring a suitable expression of the feelings of this Convention
respecting the death of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, reported the fol-
lowing Resolutions, and recommended their adoption by the
Convention.
Resolved, That this Convention have heard with deep grief of the
death, this morning, of the Rev. Dr. Hawks ; long a member of this
body, and its chosen Deputy to the General Convention; and they
desire to record their affection and respect for his distinguished name
and character.
Resolved, That we will attend the funeral of our deceased brother,
as a mark of grateful reverence for his memory, and of our profound
sorrow for the loss which the Church suffers by his death.
These Resolutions were adopted.
On motion of the Rev. Dr. Eigenbrodt, it was
Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to the family
of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, with the expression of our respectful sym-
pathy with them in their great bereavement.
64
After the Funeral, the Clergy having a&sernbled, — the Et.
Rev. Bishop in the chair, — the following Preamble and Reso-
lutions were unanimously adopted : — "
58 East 22d Street, )
New York, September 20th, 1S66. )
Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, in His wise Providence to
take out of this world the soul of our deceased brother, the Rev.
Dr. Hawks, his Clerical brethren, here assembled to pay then-
last tribute of respect, desire to record their deep sense of the loss
sustained by themselves, the Diocese, and the Church at large :
Resolved, That in Dr. Hawks we recognize the natural and per-
suasive Orator, the eminent Canonist, the logical and soul-stirring
Debater, the generous Opponent, the kind Friend, and the cultivated
Gentleman.
Resolved, That emphatic as was Dr. Hawks' public reputation, it
was, if possible, eclipsed by his winning address as a conversationalist-
weaving around him a magic spell, none within its influence could
ever fail to acknowledge, and which gave to him a marvellous, and
sometimes mysterious influence on those around him.
Resolved, That to these public and private accomplishments, above
all, were added the simplicity and artless fervor of the true Christian,
evinced as in other things, so especially in the manly fortitude and
childlike submission with which he met the heaviest of trials and
afflictions in life, and a painful sickness, closed by a peaceful and tri-
umphant death.
Resolved, That in the death of Dr. Hawks, we, his brethren, find
new incentive to earnestness in prayer, faithfulness in duty, and in-
creased singleness in love and devotion to our blessed Lord and His
Church.
Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to the family
of Dr. Hawks, and the Church papers.
Attest,
ISAAC H. TUTTLE, Sec'i/.
65
New York, September 27, 1866.
At a meeting of the Vestry of the Chapel of the Holy
Saviour, held this clay, the following Preamble and Resolu-
tions were unanimously adopted :
Whereas, It hath pleased Almighty God, in His wise Providence,
to remove from his earthly labors our beloved Pastor, the Rev.
Francis L. Hawks ; therefore,
Resolved, That whilst humbly submitting to the will of Him who
doeth all things well, we shall ever cherish the most affectionate re-
membrance of the exalted talents, the brilliant genius, the fearless
manhood, and the devoted faithfulness of our late beloved pastor and
friend.
Resolved, That in his death the Church has sustained the loss of a
profound scholar and devoted son.
Resolved, That we tender to the bereaved widow and family, our
warmest sympathies in this hour of trial.
Resolved, That these proceedings be entered on the minutes of the
Vestry, and a copy thereof, duly certified by the Wardens and Secre-
tary, be presented to Mrs. Hawks.
WILLIAM NIBLO, Senior Warden.
JOHN ALSTYNE, Junior Warden.
THEO. BAR TOW, Sec'y.
66
New York, Calvary Church, \
September 29, 1866. j
At a Meeting of the Wardens and Vestry of Calvary
Church, the following Resolutions were offered, and unan-
imously passed :
Resolved, That in the loss of the Rev. F. L. Hawks, D. D., so long
the Rector of this Church, we, the Wardens and Vestry, wish to ex-
press our unfeigned sorrow ; and to offer our heart-felt sympathies to
the members of his bereaved household.
Resolved, That we keep in lasting honor the record of the past
years, during which he was identified with the welfare of this Parish;
of the labors to which it owes so much of its early growth and ripest
strength ; and that his memory will be sacred to us as a faithful Min-
ister of Christ, a gifted preacher, an affectionate Pastor and friend.
Resolved, That a copy of this paper be sent to the family of the
Rev. Dr. Hawks.
From the minutes of the Vestry.
(Signed,)
JAMES W. UNDERHILL, Clerk.
67
Baltimore, October 8, 1866.
At a Meeting of the Vestry of Christ Church, held this
day, the following Preamble and Resolutions were unani-
mously adopted :
Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, in His inscrutable wisdom,
to call to a higher and nobler sphere of duty, our late beloved
Rector, Rev. F. L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., and whereas, while we
humbly bow in submission to the will of the Great Head of the
Church, we cannot but deeply sympathize with the family and
friends of the deceased, in the irreparable loss they have sustained :
Resolved, That we will ever remember, with thankfulness, the
acceptable and successful Ministrations of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, as
Rector of Christ Church, and bear testimony to his fidelity and zeal
in the Master's cause.
Resolved, That we have regarded the late Rev. Dr. Hawks, as the
true exponent of the Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
which, in all the walks of life he exemplified with that true Christian
consistency and simplicity of character, that marks the man of God.
Resolved, That in the death of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, we mourn, in
common with the Church and community, the loss of one who will
ever be remembered for his noble Christian life, his earnest pleading
with his people to be reconciled to God, and his determination to know
nothing, but "Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Resolved, That these proceedings be entered upon the Parish Rec-
ord, and a copy of the same be sent to the family of the deceased.
By order of the Vestry.
JAMES HALL, Reg'r. and Treas'r.
68
Copy from the Minutes of the Vestry of Chkist Church,
New Orleans, at their Meeting held October 20th, 1866.
When a brilliant light disappears from the firmament of the Church,
the people mourn. None can more keenly mourn, than this portion of
the flock of Christ, at the recent death of its former Pastor, the Rev.
Dr. Hawks, by whose efforts this Church was erected, and in which
he ministered for seven years with eminent usefulness. So long did
these walls resound with his silver tongue, so easy, ready, and per-
suasive in its eloquence. No fitter eulogy can be pronounced on his
labors, than the words of one of the lately departed members of this
body, (Mr. James Greenleaf,) " He does me good !"
The Church has indeed lost a great light, one of its most lively and
distinguished Ministers ; but how specially darkened must that house-
hold be, that was gladdened by its constant beam. That bereaved
family this Vestry desires to approach with its heartfelt sympathy,
not sorrowing as those without hope, but in full assurance of faith,
believing that his Saviour has received him in the brightness of
His glory.
69
At a stated Meeting of the New York Historical Society,
held in its Hall on Tuesday Evening, November 6, 1866, the
following Minutes and Resolutions, submitted by the Executive
Committee, were read by Mr. Charles P. Kirkland :
The New York Historical Society has learned with deep regret,
the decease, on the 27th day of September last, of its late member,
Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D., at the age of 68 years.
In the dark days of the Society, he was its steadfast friend ; and
lent to it the aid, when that aid was invaluable, of his voice, and his
pen, and of his personal and professional influence. In 1836, the
Society was in adversity. Dr. Hawks stepped forward earnestly
and energetically to relieve and resuscitate it ; and his efforts con-
tributed in an eminent degree to restore it to life and usefulness.
During that and the three succeeding years, he delivered before the
Society, and for its benefit, several of his brilliant Lectures.
In 1849, after his return from a residence of five years in the
Southern States, he became a member of the Executive Committee,
and during a service of ten years in that Committee, he was among
its most attentive, devoted and useful members. He resigned this
position in 1859, in consequence of the pressure of professional en^
gagements, but continued, to the last, a fervent friend of the Society
His last Address before it, was on the occasion of the death of the
lamented Francis.
Dr. Hawks was distinguished by zeal, sincerity, and eloquence in
the pulpit. As a general, as well as a professional Scholar, he held
a high rank ; and his contributions to the Historical Literature of our
country, are numerous and valuable. He was genial in society, and
ardent in his personal friendships. His death is a loss, alike to the
public, and to the profession of which he was a shining ornament, to a
large circle of attached friends, and to this Society.
It is therefore Resolved,
First. — That by the death of Dr. Hawks, this Institution is de-
prived of an early and constant friend, of a most distinguished mem-
ber, and of one to whom its lasting gratitude is due.
70
Second. — That by this event, Society has lost one of its most genial
members, the cause of History a thorough and devoted student, and
the Christian Religion an eloquent advocate.
Third. — That the foregoing Minutes and Resolutions be entered on
the Records of the Society, and a duly authenticated copy be sent to
the family of the deceased.
After hearing the Eev. Wm. F. Morgan, D. D., the Eev.
Wm. Adams, D. D., Mr. John Gr. Lambertson, and the Eev.
Samuel Osgood, D. D., the Minutes and Eesolutions were
adopted by the Society unanimously.
Extract from the Minutes.
ANDREW WARNER,
Recording Secretary.
71
At a Meeting of the American Ethnological Society, in
the City of New York, October 30, 1866, the First Vice Pres-
ident, Thomas Ewbank, Esq., introduced the proceedings of
the evening with a brief Address commemorative of the Eev.
Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D.
The Eev. Dr. J. A. Spencer offered the following Preamble
and Resolutions, relative to the Rev. Dr. Hawks :
Wherkas, On the 27th day of September, 1866, it pleased Almighty
God, in His wise Providence, to remove from all earthly labors the
Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D„ Rector of the Church of
the Holy Saviour, New York, in the sixty-ninth year of his age : —
A\d Whereas, Dr. Hawks was for a number of years Vice Presi-
dent of the American Ethnological Society, and one of its most
active, zealous and useful members ; therefore,
Resolved, That in view of the great loss sustained, as well by Sci-
ence and Literature as by Religion, in the death of the Rev. Dr.
Hawks, the American Ethnological Society hereby gives expression
to its deep sense of the rare and varied powers, and the noble and
manly equalities of head and heart of its former Vice President.
Resolved, That, recognizing in Dr. Hawks one distinguished alike
as a brilliant pulpit orator, a learned and eloquent writer, and a lover
and promoter of Science, this Society joins heartily in its sympathy
with the Church and community at large, in the removal by death of
its late eminent associate.
Resolved, That these Resolutions be entered on the Minutes of the
Society ; and also, that a copy be sent to the family of the deceased.
After affectionate and eulogistic tributes of respect to the
memory of the deceased, from Mr. Evart A. Duyckinck, Hon.
Charles P. Daly, Rev. E. W. Syle, and several others, the
preceding Resolutions were unanimously adopted.
Extract from the Minutes.
HENRY T. DROWN, Secretary pro tern.
7
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HYMN 29. L. M.
Isaiah Hi. 1, 2.
TRIUMPHANT Sion ! lift thy head
J- From dust, and darkness, and the dead,
Though humbled long-, awake at length,
And gird thee with thy Saviour's strength.
2 Put all thy beauteous garments on,
And let thy excellence be known :
Deck'd in the robes of righteousness,
The world thy glories shall confess.
3 No more shall foes unclean invade,
And fill thy hallo w'd walls with dread ;
No more shall hell's insulting host
Their victory and thy sorrows boast.
-1 God from on high has heard thy prayer,
His hand thy ruins shall repair :
Nor will thy watchful Monarch cease
To guard thee in eternal peace. Amen.
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