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Fathers and Brethren

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

David L. Holmes
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Religion, College of William and Mary

Extract

“Prayer was offered by Father A. D. Merrill.…Letters were read from Fathers Tucker, Crandall, and Cox.”

“I assisted Father Craig at a communion there in the spring of 1836.…”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1968

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References

1. Minutes of the Seventy-First Session of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. March 23–30, 1870 (Boston, 1870), 56.Google Scholar

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4. The usage for elderly men was common. For examples. see Pynchon, William, The Diary of William Pynchon of Salem, edited by Oliver, Fitch E. (Boston, 1890), 15, 38Google Scholar; Yeakel, Reuben, History of the Evangelical Association (Cleveland, 1902), I, 204207Google Scholar; and Raybold, G. A., Annals of Methodism (Philadelphia, 1847), 5354.Google Scholar

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6. The parishioners of aged Stephen Bachiler, seventeenth-century New Hampshire pastor, apparently addressed him as “Father.” Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose fiction generally builds on fact, uses the title for an older Puritan minister in The Scarlet Letter. Early in the eighteenth century Cotton Mather significantly notes that church councils should deal with erring pastors “with such Special Terms of Respect (and Repetition of Address) as the relation of a Father may call for.” For the title applied to Bachiler, see Ross, J. A.. Historical Sketch of the Conaregational Church in Hampton. New Hampshire (Haverhill, Mass., 1901), 25Google Scholar. For Hawthorne's “Father Wilson.” see The Scarlet Letter, Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Columbus, O., 1962), I, 150151Google Scholar, cf. 65. Mather's assertion is found in his Ratio Disciplinae Eratrum Nov-Anglorum (Boston. 1726), 164.Google Scholar

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10. For the title applied to Wilson, who succeeded Father Joseph Snow, see Vose, , Commemorative Discourses, 6263Google Scholar; and Wilson, , Paddy Wilson's Meeting-House, 97, 108Google Scholar, and passim. For Fisk, , see Wrentham Jubilee on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ordination of the Rev. Elisha Fisk (Boston, 1850), 4, 37Google Scholar, and passim; and Ide, Jacob, A Discourse Preached in Medway, Massachusetts … on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ordination and Settlement of Jacob Ide, D.D. (Boston, 1864), 52.Google Scholar

11. For the title applied to Sewall, see Locke, John L., Sketches of the History of the Town of Camden, Maine (Hallowell, Me., 1859), 84Google Scholar. For Waldo, see Buck, E. A., An Historical Discourse Delivered at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the Slatersville Congregational Church, September 9, 1866 (Woonsocket, R. I., 1867), 14, 18Google Scholar. For “Father Tom” Beecher, brother of Henry Ward Beecher, see Stowe, Lyman Beecher, Saints, Sinners, and Beechers (Indianapolis, 1934), 376Google Scholar; and Starr, Harris E., “Thomas Kinnicut Beecher,” Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1928–1937), II, 137Google Scholar. For Stebbins, see Bacon, Leonard, Half-Century Sermon, March 9, 1875 (New Haven, 1875), 5Google Scholar. For Starr, see Cross, Barbara, ed., The Autobiography of Lyman Beecher (Cambridge, Mass., 1961), I, 337.Google Scholar For Lyman—also called “Priest Lyman”—and Underwood, see Bowen, Clarence W., Woodstock: An Historical Sketch (New York, 1886), 42Google Scholar; and Cornell, William M., Recollections of “Ye Olden Time” (Boston, 1878), 378Google Scholar. For Mills, see Stowe, Harriet Beecher, “Old Father Morris,” in Stories, Sketches, and Studies (Boston, 1896), 156163Google Scholar; and Goodenough, Arthur, The Clergy of Litchfield County (Litchfield, Conn., 1909), 4548.Google Scholar

12. Ware, Thomas, Sketches of the Life and Travels of Rev. Thomas Ware (New York, 1839), 257Google Scholar, cf. 4.

13. For the title applied to Boehm, see Ridgaway, Henry B., The Life of Edmund S. Janes (New York, 1882), 374Google Scholar; and Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Year 1876 (New York, n.d.), 4344Google Scholar. For Kilburn, see Minutes of the New England Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church…1854 (Boston, 1854), 4, 34Google Scholar. For Newell, see Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Year 1868 (New York, n.d.), 6566.Google Scholar

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15. The title was common for early Disciples ministers. See, for example, Campbell, Alexander, “Notes on a Tour to the North-East,” Millenial Harbinger, VII (07, 1836), 333Google Scholar; Tyler, B. B., ed., Addresses of Henry Russell Pritchard (Cincinnati, 1898); 1898Google Scholar.; Cauble, Commodore W., The Disciples of Christ in Indiana (Indianapolis, 1930), 87, 129, 146, 168Google Scholar; and Hayden, A. S., Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio (Cincinnati, 1875), 245259Google Scholar. For an example of a Disciples minister who refused to be addressed as “Father” see Burnett, J. F., Rev. B. W. Stone: Did He Join the Disciples of Christ? (Dayton, O., 1922), 26.Google Scholar

16. Cassara, Ernest, Hosea Ballou (Boston, 1961), 151Google Scholar. See also Ballou, Maturin M., Hosea Ballou (Boston, 1852), 228Google Scholar, cf. 373. For examples of other Universalist ministers called “Father,” see Eddy, Richard, Universalism in Gloucester, Massachusetts (Gloucester, 1892, 42, 8081Google Scholar; Buck, Levisa, Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Barnes (Portland, Me., 1856), 9, 16, 93Google Scholar, and passim; Thomas, Abel C., Autobiography of Rev. Abel C. Thomas (Boston, 1852), 100Google Scholar; and Clayton, D. B., Forty-Seven Years in the Universalist Ministry (Columbia, S. C., 1889), 8586.Google Scholar

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24. Herbert, George, The Country Parson (Boston, 1842), 319.Google Scholar

25. Carroll, , Past and Present, 4041.Google Scholar

26. 1801 letter of Thomas Haskins, former travelling preacher, to Asbury, Francis, in The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury, edited by Potts, J. Manning, Clark, Elmer T., and Payton, Jacob S. (Nashville, 1958), III, 217Google Scholar. Cf. Ware, , Sketches, 74.Google Scholar

27. 1828 letter of William S. Plumer to Ashbel Green, in Green, Ashbel, Memoirs of the Rev. Joseph Eastburn (Philadelphia, 1828), 110.Google Scholar

28. See Beard, Richard, Brief Biographical Sketches of Some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Second Series (Nashville, 1874), 82.Google Scholar

29. One biographer sees this relationship as the cause of Ballou's title. See Safford, Oscar F., Hosea Ballou (Boston, 1889), 189190Google Scholar, cf. 189–206.

30. Quoted in McTyeire, Holland N., A History of Methodism (Nashville, 1884), 528.Google Scholar

31. Ezekiel, Cooper, Funeral Discourse … on the Death of Francis Asbury, 04 23, 1816 (Philadelphia, 1819), 107, 124125.Google Scholar

32. See, for example, Cross, , Autobiography of Beecher, I, 212n.Google Scholar, 254, 327–328, 332, 334–335; and Edwards, B. B., Memoir of the Rev. Elias Cornelius (Boston, 1833), 41.Google Scholar

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34. Lewis, David, Recollections of a Superannuate, edited by Merrill, S. M. (Cincinnati, 1857), 103Google Scholar. At least two early American bishops—Richard Whatcoat of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Christian Newcomer of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ—were called “Father” by their clergy and churches, doubtless to some extent on the basis of spiritual fatherhood. Sec Boehm, Henry, Reminiscences … of SixtyFour Years in the Ministry (New York, 1866), 140141Google Scholar; Hough, Samuel S., ed., Christian Newcomer (Dayton, O., 1941), 286Google Scholar; and Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 217Google Scholar. Cf. Fry, Benjamin St. James, The Life of Robert R. Roberts (New York, 1856), 103104.Google Scholar

35. Hart baptized Botsford in 1767, assisted in his ordination in 1772, and commonly referred to him as “my son Botsford.” There is no indication that Hart was otherwise called “Father” in the Charleston church. See Mallary, Charles D., Memoirs of Elder Edmund Botsford (Charleston, S. C., 1832), 2838Google Scholar; Tupper, H. A., ed., Two Centuries of the First Baptist Church of South Carolina (Baltimore, 1889), 2732, 102ff., esp. 107–108Google Scholar; and Owens, Loulie L., “Oliver Hart, 1723–1795, a Brief Biography,” Baptist History and Heritage, I (07 1966), 33.Google Scholar

36. Mallary, , Memoirs of Botsford, 7172Google Scholar; cf. 38, 56, 61.3, 74.

37. See, for example, Ibid., 76–78, 80, 99, 100–105, and passim.

38. Ibid., 200–202, 204–205; cf. 96, 137–143, 158–164, 168–171, 187–188.

39. See Tupper, , Two Centuries, 295.Google Scholar

40. Although the American Indians tended to call all white men of substance “Father,” Christian Indians tended to address as “Brother” all Christians except their missionary pastors, whom they addressed as “Father.” See Dick, Everett, Vanguards of the Frontier (New York, 1941), 105, 107, 122Google Scholar; Hall, B. M., Life of Rev. John Clark (New York, 1857), 83, 9394, 100104, 159–60Google Scholar; McDonnold, B. W., History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Nashville, 1888), 137, 328332Google Scholar; and Blodgett, Harold, Samson Occom (Hanover, N. H., 1935), 63, 161162.Google Scholar

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42. For the title applied to Bone, see Gibson, Jesse, Thomas Bone (Toronto, 1908)Google Scholar, passim. For Father Benjamin Taylor, see Edmunds, E., Memoir of Elder Benjamin Taylor (Boston, 1850), 8990, 117, 129Google Scholar. For Eastburn, see Green, , Memoirs of East burn, 76, 111, 121122, 136, 145150Google Scholar. For Mudge, see Ricketson, Daniel, New Bedford of the Past (Boston, 1903), 57Google Scholar; and Pease, Zephaniah W., ed., History of New Bedford (New York, 1918), I, 45Google Scholar. For Stowe, see Cooke, Henry A., Phineas Stowe and Bethel Work (Boston, 1874), 289Google Scholar and passim.

43. For Taylor, see Haven, Gilbert and Russell, Thomas, Incidents and Anecdotes of Rev. Edward T. Taylor (Boston, 1871)Google Scholar, passim; and Collyer, Robert, Father Taylor (Boston, 1907)Google Scholar, passim. The marble cenotaphs and doleful atmosphere of the chapel visited by Ishmael in Mob y-Dick are those of Father Enoch Mudge's Bethel in New Bedford. The biographical description, the physical description, and the preaching style of “the famous Father Mapple” are clearly those of Father Taylor. For a discussion of the sources of Father Mapple, see, among others, Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, edited by Mansfield, Luther S. and Vincent, Howard P. (New York, 1952), 614615Google Scholar; and Anderson, Charles R., Melville in the South Seas (New York, 1939), 2530.Google Scholar

44. John Caivin, Responsio ad Balduini Convitia (1561), quoted in Bonnet, Jules, ed., Letters of John Calvin, trans. by Constable, David (Edinburgh, 1855), I, 320 n.3.Google Scholar Cf. McNeill, John T., The History and Character of Calvinism (New York, 1954), 157.Google Scholar

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48. Elizabeth Ritchie, quoted in Simon, John S., John Wesley: The Last Phase (London, 1934), 342.Google Scholar

49. See Watson, Richard, The Life of the Rev. John Wesley (New York, 1831), 291Google Scholar; and Lelièvre, Matthieu, John Wesley: His Life and Work (London, 1900), 431.Google Scholar The minister was Ralph Richardson.

50. See Duren, William L., Francis Asbury (New York, 1928), 262Google Scholar; and Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 410Google Scholar. For other examples of the title applied to Wesley, see Coke, Campbell Thomas and Moore, Henry, The Life of the Reverend John Wesley (London, 1792), iiiGoogle Scholar; Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 6263, 113, 477, 533Google Scholar; and Raybold, , Annals of Methodism, 53.Google Scholar

51. For the title applied to Albright, see Yeakel, Reuben, Jacob Albright and His Co-Laborers (Cleveland, 1883), 126127, 283Google Scholar, and passim. For Miller, see Bliss, Sylvester, Memoirs of William Miller (Boston, 1853), 141, 181Google Scholar, and passim.; and White, James, Sketches of the Christian Life and Public Labors of William Miller (Battle Creek, Mich., 1875), 115, 183Google Scholar, and passim. For Otterbein and Boehm see, among others, Hough, , Christian Newcomer, 36, 4446, 49, 140Google Scholar, and passim; and Drury, A. W., The Life of Rev. Philip William Otterbein (Dayton, O., 1884), 170, 273, 356Google Scholar. Cf. Francis Asbury's words—“Is Father Otterbein dead!”—quoted in Stevens, Abel, History of the Methodist Episcopal Church (New York, 18651867), I, 221.Google Scholar

52. For examples of this phrasing, see, among others, Beard, Richard, “Historical Sketch,” in Semi-Centennial General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Nashville, 1880), 61Google Scholar; Ewing, R. C., Historical Memoirs (Nashville, 1874), 24, 107Google Scholar; and Cossitt, F. R., The Life and Times of Rev. Finis Ewing (Louisville, 1853)Google Scholar, passim. The last volume is subtitled “One of the Fathers and Founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.”

53. For examples of the title applied to the three founders, see, among others, Cossitt, , Life of Ewing, 283, 293295Google Scholar, and passim; Bird, Milton, The Life of Rev. Alexander Chapman (Nashville, 1872), 230Google Scholar; and Lowry, David, Life and Labors of the Late Rev. Robert Donnell (Alton, Ill., 1867), 126Google Scholar. For examples of the title applied to the first generation of Cumberland ministers, see Bird, , Life of Chapman, 12, 74, 139Google Scholar, and passim; Beard, , Brief Biographical Sketches, Second Series, 7982Google Scholar; and Lowry, , Life of Donnell, 301, 304, 318.Google Scholar

54. See, for example, Burnett, , Rev. B. W. Stone, 29Google Scholar; and West, William G., Barton Warren Stone (Nashville, 1954), 182Google Scholar. Campbell, Alexander refers to “Father Stone” in Millenial Harbinger, V (03, 1841), 119, 121Google Scholar. See also Christian, John T., A History of the Baptists of the United States (Nashville, 1926), 426Google Scholar; and Rogers, James R., The Cane Ridge Meeting House (Cincinnati, 1910), 187, cf. 168.Google Scholar

55. See Campbell, Alexander, “Notes on a Tour to the North-East,” Millenial Harbinger, VII (07, 1836), 333Google Scholar; Campbell, Alexander, ed., Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell (Cincinnati, 1871), 281Google Scholar; Garrison, Winfred E. and DeGroot, Alfred T., The Disciples of Christ: A History (St. Louis, 1948), 191Google Scholar; Stevenson, Dwight E., Walter Scott (St. Louis, 1946), 92, 101Google Scholar, and passim; McAllister, Lester G., Thomas Campbell (St. Louis, 1954), 99, 232, 260263Google Scholar, and passim; and Gates, Errett, The Early Relation and Separation of Baptists and Disciples (Chicago, 1904), 12.Google Scholar

56. In 1828, for example, a Disciples deacon noted in his diary: “Father Thomas Campbell preached in Windham.” See Hayden, , Early History, 145Google Scholar. In 1861, seven years after Thomas Campbell's death, a Disciples elder wrote to The Millenial Harbinger about Alexander Campbell: “It had been with Father Campbell a long cherished desire to pay a more extended and protracted visit to the brethren in this State.…” See Cauble, , Disciples in Indiana, 157Google Scholar, cf. 160.

57. For “The Rev. Father Conrad Beissel,” see Smith, , Handy, , Loetscher, , American Christianity, I, 274Google Scholar; cf. Klein, Walter, Johann Conrad Beissel (Philadelphia, 1942), 115, 124125, 211Google Scholar, and passim. For Rapp, see Lockwood, George B., The New Harmony Movement (New York, 1905)Google Scholar, passim; and Hinds, William A., American Coinmunitses (Oneida, N. Y., 1878), 722Google Scholar. For Noyes, see Parker, Robert A., A Yankee Saint (New York, 1935), 237, 259, 263Google Scholar; and Noyes, John H., Dixon and His Copyists (Wallingford, Conn., 1871), 2426Google Scholar. For Mother Lee, see Andrews, Edward D., The People Called Shakers (New York, 1953)Google Scholar, passim. Elders, Shaker are titled “Father” in Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations and Doctrines of Mother Ann Lee and the Elders.… (Albany, N. Y., 1888), 53, 86, 89, 105, 119Google Scholar, and passim.

58. See, for example, Eads, H. L., Shaker Sermons (Shakers, N. Y., 1879), 8386.Google Scholar

59. See McLean, Archibald, Thomas and Alexander Campbell (Cincinnati, 1909), 15.Google Scholar

60. See “Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery,” in Smith, Handy, Loetscher, American Christianity, I, 577.Google Scholar

61. See Gates, , Early Relation, 43Google Scholar; and Garrison, and DeGroot, , The Disciples, 175177Google Scholar. Typical of Campbell's opinion of clerical titles is his “Third Epistle of Peter,” printed in The Christian Baptist, II (07 4, 1825), 151155Google Scholar. On another occasion, Campbell indicated that he preferred to be called simply by his name: “My name is Alexander Campbell, and by this alone I choose to be known among men. Neither Mr. nor Rev. nor Bishop accord with my feelings, calling, nor the cause which I plead. … It will save ink, paper, labor and time, to designate me by the name by which I expect to be addressed by the angels and by the SAVIOUR and Judge of men. “ See The Millenial Harbinger, I (09, 1830), 428.Google Scholar Despite these words, Campbell not only addressed other Disciples ministers as “Father” but was called “Father” himself.

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63. Strickland, William P., The Pioneers of the West (New York, 1856), 304.Google Scholar

64. A. L. P. Green, quoted in Redford, A. H., The History of Methodism in Kentucky (Nashville, 18681869), I, 416.Google Scholar

65. Quoted in Duren, , Francis Asbury, 256.Google Scholar

66. Snethen, Nicholas, “A Discourse on the Death of the Reverend Francis Asbury,” in Feeman, Harlan L., Francis Asbury's Silver Trumpet (Nashville, 1950), 128139.Google Scholar For examples of the title applied to Asbury see, among others, Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 394, 525n., 575;Google Scholar and Boehm, , Reminiscences, 220, 226, 329330, 441Google Scholar, and passim.

67. Chase, Abner, Recollections of the Past (New York, 1848), 9596.Google Scholar

68. Finley, James B., Autobiography of James B. Finley, ed. by Strickland, W. P. (Cincinnati, 1854), 254.Google Scholar

69. See, for example, Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 108, 215, 332, 354, 356, 400, 505, 517, 532533Google Scholar. Cf. Stevens, Abel, The Life and Times of Nathan Bangs, D.D. (New York, 1863), 187.Google Scholar

70. See Journal and Letters of Asbury, III, 167, 469, 500, 515Google Scholar, and passim. Two of the British “Fathers” were clearly Wesley and Coke; see the closings of Asbury's letters to them in Ibid., III, 34, 93.

71. John B. McFerrin, quoted in Redford, , Methodism in Kentucky, I, 138.Google Scholar

72. (New York, 1855). A similar biography of a Canadian Methodist pioneer is Carroll, John, “Father Corson,” or, The Old Style Canadian Itinerant (Toronto, 1879).Google Scholar

73. For the title applied to Bruce, see Moore, M. H., Pioneers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia (Nashville, 1884), 194Google Scholar. For Wilkerson and Page, see Redford, , Methodism in Kentucky, I, 188202, 133140Google Scholar. For Pennington, a lay preacher, see Stevens, , History of M. E. Church, II, 138Google Scholar. For Collins, see Gaddis, Maxwell P., Foot-Prints of an Itinerant (Cincinnati, 1855), 263Google Scholar; and Johnson, Charles A., The Frontier Camp Meeting (Dallas, 1955), 140, 146, 322Google Scholar. For Walker, see Sprague, , Annals, VII, 384385Google Scholar; and Cartwright, Peter, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, edited by Wallis, Charles L. (New York, 1956), 138Google Scholar. For Cartwright, see Cartwright, Peter, Fifty Years as a Presiding Elder, edited by Hooper, W. S. (Cincinnati, 1871), 197Google Scholar; and Haven, and Russell, , Incidents and Anecdotes, 213.Google Scholar

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77. For German Reformed examples, see Harbaugh, and Heisler, , Fathers, IV, 2630, 4144Google Scholar; VI, 229–231, 378–380; and Classis of North Carolina, Historic Sketch, 182. For a Universalist pioneer who received the title, see Robinson, Elmo A., The Universalist Church in Ohio (Columbus, O., 1923), 49.Google Scholar

78. For the title applied to a missionary to Maine, see Coan, Leander S., Centennial Sermon Delivered in the First Congregational Church, Boothbay, Maine, September 23, 1866 (Boston, 1866), 1214.Google Scholar For Congregational fathers of Congregational and Presbyterian churches under the Plan of Union, see Hotchkln, J. H., A History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York … (New York, 1848), 67, 9293Google Scholar; and Gregory, David D., Historical Sermon Delivered Before the Binghamton Presbytery …, April 22, 1873 (Binghamton, N. Y., 1873), 7Google Scholar. For the “Pilgrim Fathers of Hawaii,” see Damon, Ethel M., Father Bond of Kohala (Honolulu, 1927), vi, 111, 201, 208, 260, 275Google Scholar, and passim. For the “Iowa Patriarchs,” see Douglass, Truman O., The Pilgrims of Iowa (Boston, 1911), viiiGoogle Scholar, and passim.

79. See, for example, Stimson, H. K., From the Stage Coach to the Pulpit (St. Louis, 1874), 10, 324, 359Google Scholar, and passim; and Kendall, Henry, Autobiography of Elder Henry Kendall (Portland, Me., 1853), 182184.Google Scholar

80. See, for example, Jacobs, H. E. and Haas, J. A. W., eds., The Lutheran Cyclopedia (New York, 1899), 222Google Scholar; Bachmann, E. Theodore, They Called Him Father (Philadelphia, 1942) 27, 31, 38Google Scholar, and passim; and Focht, D. H., Churches Between the Mountains. (Baltimore, 1862), 4954, 342362Google Scholar, and passim.

81. Ayres, Anne, The Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg (New York, 1880), 23.Google Scholar

82. Virtually all histories of early American Roman Catholicism include examples of the use. See, for example, Bayley, J. R., A Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York (New York, 1870), 88, 94, 9699Google Scholar, and passim; Pillar, James J., The Catholic Church in Mississippi (New Orleans, 1964), 83, 202Google Scholar; and Sharp, John K., History of the Diocese of Brooklyn, 1853–1953 (New York, 1954, I, 38, 44, 47, 63, 148, 150Google Scholar. Irish priests were often assigned to American parishes where, contrary to Irish custom, they were addressed as “Mister.” Though the distinction is generally ignored by the laity, “Mister” remains the official title for American Roman Catholic deacons.

83. Attwater, Donald, ed., A Catholic Dictionary (New York, 1949), second edition, revised, 190Google Scholar; Addis, William E., Arnold, Thomas et al. , eds., A Catholic Dictionary (London, 1957), sixteenth edition, 343344Google Scholar; Cross, F. L., ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London, 1958), 495.Google Scholar

84. Challoner, Richard, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (Edinburgh, 1878 [1741], I, 272.Google Scholar

85. Bishop John Connolly, quoted in Bayley, , Brief Sketch, 88Google Scholar. See also John Carroll's similar usage in 1784 for a parish priest, quoted in Ellis, John Tracy, Catholics in Colonial America (Baltimore, 1965), 436.Google Scholar

86. Attwater, , Catholic Dictionary, 190Google Scholar; Addis, and Arnold, , Catholic Dictionary, 344Google Scholar; Cross, , Oxford Dictionary of Christian Church, 495Google Scholar. In England the title was imposed upon the secular clergy by Henry Cardinal Manning as part of his program to raise them to the level of the established religious orders. See Purcell, Edmund S., Life of Cardinal Manning (London, 1896), II, 762.Google Scholar

87. See, for example, Read, Newbury F., ed., The Story of St. Mary's (New York, 1931), 18, 25, 105Google Scholar, and passim; and Catir, Norman J. Jr, Saint Stephen's Church in Providence (Providence, R. I., 1964, 92, 107Google Scholar, and passim. Few Episcopalian clergy seem to have been addressed by the title prior to the last decades of the nineteenth century.

88. See, for example, Calling Priests Father, Holy Cross Tract Nr. 6 (West Park, N. Y., 1956)Google Scholar. So emotion-laden was the subject of titles that one Episcopalian magazine, The Episcopal Churchnews, sent priests a questionnaire asking how they wished to be titled if their names appeared in the magazine.

89. The Rev. MrMeans, , in Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ordination of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, 83.Google Scholar

90. See, for example, Luther, Martin, The Large Catechism, trans. by Fischer, Robert H. (Philadelphia, 1959))Google Scholar, Fourth Commandment, paras. 158–164, 31; Calvin, John, Cornsnentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Marie, and Luke, trans. by Pringle, William (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1949), III, 80Google Scholar; and Wesley, John, Explanatory Notes Upon The New Testament (Nashville, n.d.), sixteenth edition, 75.Google Scholar

91. The Rev. Joseph P. Atkinson, quoted in Eddy, , Universalism in Gloucester, 98.Google Scholar

92. For examples of such interpretations, see Phillips, J. A., Roman Catholicism Analyzed (New York, 1915), 5859Google Scholar; and Davidson, Francis, Stibbs, Alan, Kevan, Ernest, eds., The New Bible Commentary (London, 1953), 799Google Scholar; cf. Broadus's, John cautionary words on literalistic interpretations in his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Philadelphia, 1886), 467.Google Scholar

93. From 1636 to 1775, Harvard conferred only four honorary S.T.D.'s on clergymen. Two of the four recipients were Mathers, and another (Samuel Locke) was president of Harvard at the time of the award. From 1701 to 1776, Yale conferred only one D.D. Together, the nine colonial colleges chartered before 1776 apparently conferred a total of only 15 D.D.'s and S.T.D.'s prior to 1776. Even when the honorary doctorates conferred on early American ministers by English and Scottish universities are added to this total, the number remains small. As late as the 1820's, Presbyterian Father David Rice of Kentucky refused a proferred D.D. from the College of New Jersey on the grounds that he had not attained the professional standing which it presupposed. For data on honorary doctorates conferred on colonial American clergy, see Eells, Walter C., Degrees in Higher Education (Washington, D. C., 1963), 5455Google Scholar; Epler, Stephen E., Honorary Degrees: A Survey of Their Use and Abuse (Washington, D. C., 1943), 78Google Scholar. For Rice's refusal, see Bishop, Robert H., An Outline of the History of the Church in the State of Kentucky … (Lexington, Ky., 1824), 9798.Google Scholar

94. The increase began after the American Revolution. From 1776 to 1800, American colleges conferred at least 118 D.D.'s and S.T.D.'s on clergymen. With the increase of denominational colleges in the nineteenth century, the total mounted rapidly. In 1875 alone, 138 honorary D.D.'s were conferred. See Eells, , Degrees, 59, 63Google Scholar. For the open soliciting of the degree, see Epler, , Honorary Degrees, 2331, 41, 5354.Google Scholar

95. Eells, , Father Eells, 296.Google Scholar

96. Personal knowledge of the writer.

97. Schwarz, , Presbyterian Church in Nebraska, 34, 38, 139140.Google Scholar

98. For examples, see Minutes of the New England Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1889 (Boston, 1889), 103104, 105106Google Scholar; Minutes of the New England Conference, 1890 (Boston, 1890), 121122Google Scholar; Minutes of the New England Conference, 1901 (Boston, 1901), 9495Google Scholar; Minutes of the New York Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1878 (New York, 1878), 4142Google Scholar; Minutes of the New York Conference, 1890 (New York, 1890), 9293, 9697, esp. 97Google Scholar; Minutes of the New York Conference, 1894 (New York, 1894), 8990Google Scholar; Minutes of the New York Conference, 1895 (New York, 1895), 9394Google Scholar; Minutes of the New York Conference, 1896 (New York, 1896), 109112, 113114, 123124.Google Scholar

99. See, for example, the obituary of Father William Pentecost in the New England Conference Minutes for 1907, 121–122. At the time of his death in 1907, Pentecost was eighty-eight; his memorialist, James Mudge, had also passed his eightieth year.

100 . Although early American Methodism seems to have had not trouble reconciling Matthew 23:9 with its practice of calling ministers “Father,” it encountered problems with the title Reverend” and with Matthew 23:10 and “Mister.” See Journal and Letters of Asbury, II, 164Google Scholar. Ironically, “Reverend” seems to be a fifteenth-century innovation for clergy. In the King James Version, it is used but once (Psalms 111:9), and there applied to God. See Cross, , Oxford Dictionary of Christian Church, 1162.Google Scholar