ROMEYN
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ROMEYN
eral Synod of the Reformed Church, and held this of- fice until his death. '' His personal appearance," says one of his pupils of 1812, " was uncommonly imposing — nearly six feet in height, of a full habit, grave, digni- fied, and graceful. His head was finely formed, his vis- age large, with a dark-blue powerful eye, well set under an expanded brow ; his countenance florid; his hair full and white, and usually powdered before entering the pidjnt or associating with gentlemen of tlie old school." As a preacher, he was distinguished by his "deep bass voice, of remarkable smoothness and considerable com- pass;" by an easy, deliberate manner; and bv great ac- curacy of language, precision of thought, and varief\' of treatment. He was described as combining the Dutch style of pulpit method with the English mode of rea- soning and the French vivacity, and picturesque setting of illustration and expression with the most perfect self- command. His theological culture was large and pro- found, and his reputation as a linguist was very high. '• He [ironounced the Hebrew witli the (Jerman accent, with great skill according to the JMasoretic points. His attachment to this language brought him, and kept him for many years, in close intimacy with the Jewish rabbins and other teachers of Hebrew in New York, who often spoke of his high scholarship in this department." His temperament was nervous and somewhat irritable, l)ut his piety was pervasive and controlling. He was gen- erous, witty, impulsive, kind, and vivacious — religion and his pulpit absorbed his whole soul. His death was marked by the most perfect trust in " Christ, the hope of glory," and by patient waiting for his coming.
4. John Bkodhead, D.D., the only son of Theod- oric Romeyn, was born at Marltletown, Ulster Co., N. Y., Nov. 8, 1777. After a preliminarj' education in the Schenectady Academy, he entered the senior class of Columbia College at the age of seventeen, and grad- uated with high rank in 1795. The next year he united with his father's Church in Schenectady, and immedi- ately began his theological studies with Dr. John H. Livingston, but completed them under his father. At twenty-one he was licensed to preach by the Classis of Albany, June 20, 1798. In 1799 he became pastor of the Reformed Church of Rliinebeck, Dutchess Co., N. Y., and labored there with increasing popularity and suc- cess until, in 1803, he took charge of the Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, which had united in a call ujion him after a long period of division. This change ena- bled him to be with his aged father in his last days. After one year of labor, he went to the First Presbyte- rian Church in Albany, and sustained himself with great ability in that important Church at the capital of the state. Four years later (in 1808) he accepted the call of the newly formed Cedar Street Presbyterian Church in New York city, of which he continued the pastor until his death, which occurred Feb. 22, 1825, in the twenty-sixth year of his ministry. Dr. Romeyn inher- ited the nervous sensibility, and the acute, rapid, and decisive characteristics of his family. He was a man of medium size and fine personal appearance; quick in his movements, cultivated in manner, and earnest in his work. He was a great reader, and his fine library was filled with well-used works in almost all departments of literature. His theological attainments were general rather than profound. As a preacher, he was among the foremost of his day. Even when the New York pulpit contained such men as Dr. John M. IMason and l)r. Alexander ^I'Leod, he built up his new Church lui- dor the very shadows of their sanctuaries with complete success. With a congregatif>n composed of the I'/i/c of the cit}', his jiopularity was maintained by discourses which always evinced careful preparation, and by a pas- toral tact which was almost unrivalled. Few men have had such power to attach their people to their ministry as he. The greatest characteristic of his preaching was his magnetic power of attraction and impression. His sermons were not remarkable for analysis or discussion, but in their application, and especially in dealing with
consciences, and in appeals to the emotional nature, he was a prince of preachers. His published volumes of sermons, like those of Wliitefiekl, do not sustain his great reputation as a pulpit orator. Their ])ower over his audiences was doubtless owing to his impressive de- livery, which was generally pleasing, natural, and full of vivacity. "At times every line of his face, even his whole frame, became instinct with passion, and then the eye kindled or became tearful, the very soul speaking through the body, that trembled with emotion or erect- ed itself into an attitude of authority. The torrent of feeling often subdued and carried away his hearers with responding emotion. Dr. Romeyn, and young Spencer, of Liverpool, have always been associated in my mind as having strong points of resemblance" (Dr. Vermilye, in Sprague's Amntls of the Amer. Piilpif, iv, 223). His ministry was exceedingly blessed, and espe- cially among the j'oung, " His catechetical classes were crowded. Of a very large Bible class of young ladies every one became a professor of religion. More young men became ministers from his congregation than from any other," In addition to two volumes of Sermons (published in 181G and reprinted in Scotland), Dr. Ro- meyn printed a number of occasional discourses, deliv- ered upon national and other important occasions— among these was an Oration on the Death of Washing- ton (1800). He was active in the benevolent move- ments of his day — a trustee of Princeton College from 1809; a principal agent in establishing the Theological Seminary in that place, and one of its first directors; moderator of the General Assembly in 1810, when he was but thirty-three years of age ; and one of the found- ers of the American Bible Society in 1816. He was also its first secretary for domestic correspondence. His health was not equal to the constant strain to which his zealous spirit, peculiar trials, and infirmities of mind and body subjected him. A tour in Europe in 1813 and 1814 brought transient relief; but for more than a year prior to his death his strength gave way, and he finished his course with joy, making "earnest interces- sion for his family and his fiock," and supported bj' the most cheering heavenly prospects and triumphant faith in Christ,