Upjohn the architect, is constructed of solid stone quarried at Little Falls beyond Paterson on the Passaic. Each stone is squared upon the surface and pecked by hammering and so laid on its natural bed, which will enable it to resist for a longer time the action of the weather. The master builder was Mr. Robert Vandenburg, the sculptor Mr. James Thom whose "Tam O'Shanter" has immortalized his name. He was succeeded by Mr. James Conwell. Samuel Martin and William S. Youngs were the master carpenters: Robert Belden the carver. The style of architecture is what is called the "perpendicular Gothic," of which the mullions and ornamental panels all run in perpendicular lines. The arches are pointed and are struck from two centres on the line of their base. The "History of the City Churches" published by H. M. Onderdonk & Co., 25 John Street, contains different views of Trinity Church, remarkably well finished, with suitable illustrations, and to this we would refer our readers for a fuller account. X. A SKETCH OF THE REV. MARTIN PHILLIPS PARKS, D.D., ASSISTANT MINISTER 1846-1853, BY THE REV. JOSEPH HOOPER, M.A. Martin Phillips Parks was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, on June 30, 1804. He was educated in the schools of his native county, and well fitted for college. When an appointment to the Military Academy of the United States at West Point was offered to him he accepted it, and entered that training school for the army on July 1, 1822. Among his fellow cadets were Robert Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter, Robert E. Lee, the perfect flower of Southern chivalry, O. M. Mitchell, astronomer and general, Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Army, Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, and Leonidas Polk, afterward the Bishop of Louisiana. Few of the cadets seemed to have any idea of religious obligation. The chapel services had been listless and perfunctory. The young men cared little for the Chaplain as their spiritual teacher and pastor, but paid him due respect as the Professor of Ethics. A great change came when, in 1825, the Rev. Charles Pettit McIlvaine was appointed Chaplain and Professor of Ethics. In a letter written many years after, Bishop McIlvaine says: "There was not one professor of religion among the officers, military or civil. Several of them were friendly to the efforts of the Chaplain, others were decidedly the reverse. "Of the cadets, not one was known to make any profession of religion. Among cadets, officers, and instructors, there was a great deal of avowed infidelity, but my venerable friend, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, then commanding officer, though not a communicant of any church, must be understood to be untouched by these remarks." 1 1 Mr. McIlvaine spent a year of earnest work in endeavoring to arouse in the young men a sense of their duty to God, without any visible results. The first fruits of the Chaplain's efforts was Leonidas Polk, a son of Colonel William Polk of North Carolina, then in the third year of his course. Mr. Polk was a young man of straightforward integrity and a leader among his associates. Mr. Parks was one of those who soon followed him. Mr. Parks maintained a high standing in his class, and was graduated on July 1, 1826, as Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Second Artillery. He was assigned to duty in the garrison at Fortress Monroe, where was located the artillery school for practice. On April 5, 1828, he resigned, with the intention of engaging in evangelistic work. He had become a member of "the Methodist Episcopal Church," and, knowing the great need of workers in Virginia, offered his services, which were gratefully accepted. In 1830 he entered the Methodist ministry, and in 1832 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Randolph-Macon College. A correspondence with Bishop Meade in 1833 led to an intimacy and to an examination of the claims of the American Church upon his conscience. Three years later he resigned his professorship, and was made deacon by Bishop Moore on June 23, 1836, in Richmond. He became Bishop Meade's Assistant in Christ Church, Norfolk. He was ordained priest in Petersburg by Bishop Meade on January 1, 1837. Soon after, Bishop Meade resigned, and Mr. Parks was chosen as Rector. During his incumbency there was very great activity, and the parish largely increased in membership and efficiency. 1 Quoted in Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, by his son, William M. Polk, M.D., LL.D. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1893. Two volumes. teresting account of life at West Point will be found on pp. has for many years been a Vestryman of Trinity Church. An in51-83, vol. i. Dr. Polk One who was at that time a member of the congregation says: “Mr. Parks was a born orator. I have never heard his equal as an impressive, charming public speaker; no, not in any forum. It is impossible to convey an adequate idea of the surpassing charm of his manner." In 1840 he was appointed Chaplain and Professor of Geography, History, and Ethics in the Military Academy at West Point. Induced by the necessity of living in a more bracing atmosphere, he accepted, and entered on his duties in December, 1840. He became at once the friend and counsellor of the cadets, and lived on pleasant intimacy with the officers stationed at the Post. The Post Chapel was altered and improved from plans by Professor Weir, under Mr. Parks's supervision. The text over the chancel arch was chosen by him: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." In 1842 he was elected Bishop of Alabama, but declined. The circumstances under which he was chosen an Assistant Minister in this Parish need not here be detailed. Assigned to St. Paul's Chapel, which, like the Parish Church, felt the effects of the movement uptown, he soon turned his attention to the needs of the poorer people in the neighborhood of the Chapel, and began tentatively a system of relief which, at a later day, became a large part of the work of the clergy in charge of the Chapel. His work in the Parish, the city, and the Diocese was highly esteemed. His death upon his return from Europe on July 21, 1853, on board the steamer Arctic was felt as a serious loss to the Church. A letter of condolence, prepared by Bishop Wainwright and a committee of the clergy present at his funeral, was sent to his widow. That keen observer of men and events, Dr. John Henry Hopkins, says: "And this is the last on earth of one with whom it was scarcely possible to converse half an hour without feeling that he had a spirit so alive to the work to be done in the world and so ardent to do it, that had his physical equalled his mental and moral energy, he would have made his mark, deep and characteristic, upon his generation, and have left a void of which the Church at large, as well as the community in which he lived, would have been sensible. So far as his strength went it testified by deeds to this capacity on his part.' Mr. Parks was honored with the degree of Master of Arts by Augusta College, Kentucky, and with that of Doctor in Divinity by Columbia College, New York, in 1851. 1 Pp. 204, 205, The Church Journal, Thursday, July 28, 1853, vol. i., No. 26. Inscriptions on Shields in St. Cornelius's Chapel 529 XI. INSCRIPTIONS ON THE SHIELDS IN ST. CORNELIUS'S CHAPEL. text. These shields are depicted on the engraving facing page 310 of the The two larger shields were placed in memory of the soldiers who fell during the Mexican War, and bear the inscriptions: and "Thou O Lord hast covered my Head in the day of Battle"; "Thy truth O Lord shall be my Shield and Buckler." The smaller shield above these large ones bears the inscription: "These Shields are set up at the cost of Soldiers returned from Mexico 1848." The shield commemorating the wreck of the San Francisco has on it: "Wreck of the San Francisco Christmas 1853. The Survivors of the 3rd Arty in Sorrow and in Thankfulness hang up this Shield." The four smaller shields bear the following inscriptions: Recruiting Depot. Came 17th March 1842. Inscribed these to the Glory of God. Trinity S. 1849." XII. A SKETCH OF THE REVEREND BENJAMIN I. HAIGHT, ANT RECTOR, 1874-1877, BY THE REV. JOSEPH Benjamin Isaac, a son of Benjamin and Catharine (Holly) Haight, was born in the city of New York, October 16, 1809. He belonged to one of the old Church families of Westchester County, long settled in or near Bedford. His father removed to New York City and became a successful merchant early in the last century. He graduated from Columbia College with honor in 1828, and entered the General Theological Seminary in the fall of that year. While in the Seminary he had, with other students, taken an active part in the Sunday-school which had been gathered for the benefit of the children in the neighborhood of the Seminary, a section of the city then rapidly growing. Upon his graduation he was asked to organize a parish with the Sunday-school as a nucleus. This was done with tact and success. He was made deacon with other members of his class on July 3, 1831, in Grace Church, New York, by Bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk. He was elected Minister in charge of the new parish, which took the name of St. Peter's Church, and entered upon his work with such enthusiasm and zeal that a chapel was soon built and consecrated. He had the satisfaction of seeing it well filled within a few months and the Sunday-school increase to five hundred scholars. He was ordained priest December 3, 1835, in St. Peter's Church. In 1834 the Vestry of St. Paul's Church, Cincinnati, were searching for a young man of sound judgment and robust health to fill the vacancy made by the death of the Rev. Samuel Johnston, one of the pioneer missionaries of Ohio, who had built up a strong parish upon the foundation laid by Bishop Chase. Mr. Haight was urged to go west and take up the work of Mr. Johnston. After some deliberation and consultation with the Bishop and other friends, he accepted and remained in Cincinnati for three years. He made a deep impression upon the city and diocese. His energy and devotion brought the parish to a high state of efficiency. The resignation of the Rev. William Atwater Clark, the founder and first Rector of All Saints' Church, in Scammell Street, recalled Mr. Haight in the spring of 1837 to his native city. The east side then |