Bishop Onderdonk himself never acknowledged that he was guilty of the offences imputed to him, but the care- ful and prolonged trial that had been afforded him re- vealed that he must have been frequently guilty of very gross immorality, the testimony depending upon parties whose character was unquestionable in every particular. Largely his improper advances to ladies — and these were the principal charges — were prompted by liquor, for he is known to have been an habitual drinker of intoxicat- ing beverages. It is claimed by his friends that he could never have been guilty of gross immorality in any other than an intoxicated state, and that the ac- cusations, having been brought forward only after he had reformed in his habits, should not have been coun- tenanced by the House of Bishops. Even after the suspension of the bishop his friends zealously continued to labor for the removal of his suspension from the epis- copate. After much delay, the General Convention of 1850 passed a canon allowing a provisional bishop to be chosen. The Convention of New York adopted a peti- tion to the General Convention of 1859 in favor of bishop Onderdonk's restoration, and the lower house supported it by a large vote, but the bishops rejected it, and he died, unrestored to his diocese, April 30, 1861. He published. Sermon before and for the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society (N. Y. 1829, 8vo) : — Sermon at the Funeral of the Right Rev. John //. Ilobart (1830, 8vo), See The Proceedings of the Court convened under the third Canon of 1844 in the City of Neic Yorlc, on Dec. 10, 1844,/(;r \he Trial of the Right Rev. B. T. On- derdonk, D.I).. Bishop of Neio York, etc. (N. Y. 1845, 8vo). (J. H.W.)
Onderdonk, Henry Ustic, M.D., D.D., a brother of the preceding, and also an eminent American divine and bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born in the city of New York in March, 1789. He was educated at Columbia College, class of 1805, and then went abroad to study medicine in London and Ed- inburgh. After his return to this country he practiced in his profession for several years, but finally decided to enter the ministry. He was at that time (1815) editor, with Dr. Valentine Mott. of the X. Y. Medical Journal, but he closely applied himself to the study of divinity, and was soon after ordained deacon. In January, 1816, he went as missionary to Canandaigua, wliicb, under his care, grew into a flourishing parish, and of this he be- came the rector in 1818. In 1820 he removed to Brook- lyn as rector of St. Ann's Church, and there he gained much distinction as preacher and writer. In 1827 he was elected to the episcopacy, and was consecrated as- sistant to the bishop of Pennsylvania Oct. 25 of that year. In 1837, on the death of bishop White, Onder- donk was put in full possession of the diocesan power, and he discharged its duties until 1844, when he felt compelled, by the dissatisfaction which had arisen among the clergy and laity of his diocese, to resign his episcopal functions. Not only was the resignation ac- cepted by the House of Bishops, but they also brought him to trial for intemperance, and suspended him from the office and functions of the priesthood from and after Oct. 21, 1844. In 1856 bishop Onderdonk was restored to the sacred ministry and to his diocese, but he did not resume the privileges of his office, and died only two years later, Dec. 6, 1858, at Philadelphia. He pub- lished. Appeal to the Religious Public, etc., of Canandai- gua (1H18): — Fpiscopacy tested by Scripture (N. Y. 1846 ; first imblishcd as an essay in the Protestant Epis- copalian, November and December, 1830 ; second, in pamphlet form anonymously; third, as a tract by the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society; and then reviewed by the Rev. Albert Barnes in the Christian Spectator, 1834 — this review was reprinted in Barnes's Miscella- neous Fssays and Reviews, 1855, i, 200-251): — Fpisco- pacy Examined and Re-examined (1835) : — Essay on Regeneration (Phila. 1835) : — Family Devotions from the Liturgy (1835) : — Sermons and Episcopal Charges (1851, 2 vols. 8vo). "They show him to be not only a pol-
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ished writer, but a scholar and reasoner of the highest rank" (K.W. Griswold, U.D.). Bishop Onderdoiik also published a number of occasional Ser/nons, Tracts, and Pamplilets, and contributed papers to the American Medical and Philosophical Register, the New York Med- ical Mae/azine, the Church Register, the Churchmaii's Monthly Magazine, the Evergreen, the Protestant Ejns- coiudian, the Banner of the Cross, the Churchman, etc. He has besides substantial claims to the character of a poet; in evidence of which we may instance Hymns Nos. 14, 105, 106, 109, 131, 195, 203, 208, 211, and Psalms 16, 23, and 59, in the Book of Common Prayer of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v. ; Drake, Diet, of Amer, Biog. s. v. ; and tlie article by Prof. Spencer in The A mer. Cyclop, s. v. (J. II. W.)
Oneida Community. See Socialism.