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THE FOURTH BISHOP OF NEW YORK.*

THE Rt. Rev. Benjamin Tredwell Onderdonk, D.D., fourth Bishop of New York, was born July 15, 1791, and baptized in Trinity Parish, New York, August 19, 1791. He was the son of Dr. John Onderdonk, a much-respected physician in the city of New York, and was brother to the Rt. Rev. Henry Ustick Onderdonk, D.D., sometime Bishop of Pennsylvania. His wife, who at the writing of this paper still survives him, was Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Henry Moscrop. The children of this marriage were William, Henry M., Benjamin T., Hobart and Elizabeth. He graduated in 1809 from Columbia College, from which, in 1816, he received the degree of M.A., and in 1826 that of S.T.D.; and he served

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as a trustee of that institution from 1824 to 1853. In his twenty-second year he was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart, by whom, also, he was admitted to the priesthood on attaining the canonical age. While yet a deacon he was made an assistant minister of Trinity Church, retaining that position while in priest's orders, and also during the first part of his episcopate until the year 1836, an arrangement resulting from the liberality of Trinity Church, rendered needful by the insufficiency of the Episcopal Fund prior to that date. He was consecrated Bishop of New York on the death of Bishop Hobart in 1830, and until 1838 his jurisdiction extended throughout the State. The Diocese of Western New York being set off at that time, his jurisdiction for the remainder of his episcopate covered the rest of the State, including both that part now known as the Diocese of New York and also those parts now included within the Dioceses of Central New York, Albany, and Long Island. In 1821 and 1822 he was Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the General Theological Seminary, and from 1821 until his death he held, in

* Chiefly an abstract from the discourse delivered at the funeral of Bishop Onderdonk by the Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., rector of the Church of the Annunciation (New York, 1861).

the same institution, the Chair of the Nature, Ministry and Polity of the Church, now that of Ecclesiastical Polity and Law. Out of consideration, however, for the feelings of others, he refrained from exercising the duties of the professorship after the sentence imposed upon him in 1845, although his right to do so was not affected by that sentence, under the law either of the Church or of the Seminary.

Until his consecration opened for him a wider sphere Bishop Onderdonk was distinguished as an able and laborious parish priest. His powers for work, both bodily and mental, and his unremitting diligence in the use of those powers, were alike remarkable. His visitations among those committed to his charge, especially the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, were assiduous. His catechising and preaching were constant and effective. Not so eloquent in popular estimation as those of Bishop Hobart, his discourses were, nevertheless, always acknowledged to be sound, judicious, and instructive. His teaching then and throughout his ministry was based upon the doctrines of the fall of man; of his redemption, by the voluntary humiliation and sacrifice of the Son of God, to the capacity of pardon and eternal life; of the establishment of the Church on earth as the means of preserving the true religion, and of drawing from its Head in heaven, through the ministry and sacraments of His appointment, that spiritual influence which is necessary to open to man an access to the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, on the prescribed conditions of the Gospel covenant. His discourses in the pulpit, and the many papers, expository of the doctrines, usages, canons, and rubrics of the Church, which he constantly contributed to the press, were an expansion and application of these principles. Upon these principles he shaped his course, both as bishop of the diocese and as a member of the House of Bishops and of General Convention; and his patient submission to the discipline of the Church was the legitimate fruit of the same principles.

Unlike that of most others, the life of Bishop Onderdonk was divided into two distinct portions: the one distinguished chiefly by resolute action, the other distinguished exclusively by patient suffering. His active life extended from 1812 to