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VOL U/1E FIVE
NUXVLR SIXTEEN
Dr, 'Robert Stuart MacArthur Celebrates the Fortieth Annibersary of His Neto York 1' as tor are—Thrilling Life Story of
ORTY years in one pulpit —what a com
pliment to the preacher and the pew!
That is the unusual experience of Dr.
Robert Stuart MacArthur, the stalwart
Scotch-American, who has been the be
loved and honored, the vigorous and
victorious pastor of Calvary Baptist
Church ever since May 15, 1870, coming
there to his first pastorate fresh from
F
Rochester Theological Seminary. The fact that Cal
vary Church has become largely recognized as the
church home for Southerners in New York will
cause the story of this remarkable pastorate —one of
the most notable in all the world —to hold special
interest for the readers of The Golden Age. The
Editor of this paper rested and refreshed his tired,
lonely soul in the warm-hearted fellowship of Cal
vary Church for several months some ten years ago
in that big, “lonesome” town. And Dr. MacArthur
and his golden-hearted associate, Dr. Frank Rogers
Morse (now “gone Home”), often revived flagging
hope and changed the atmosphere of Gotham’s
frigid zone into the warmth and beauty of the
tropics.
At the recent jubilee exercises Dr. MacArthur
preached a great anniversary sermon in the morning
on the words in Deuteronomy: “These forty years
Jehovah, thy God, has been with thee,” and at night
the sermon was preached by Dr. Augustus Strong,
the honored president of the seminary where the
famous Calvary pastor graduated. Our gifted New
York correspondent, Mrs. Ida - Richards Compton,
who was the first secretary of the Editor of this
paper and is now secretary and “study assistant” to
Dr. MacArthur, sends the following stirring story,
which ought to be read by every young man in the
land as an illustration of what God can and will do
for a church and a pastor who are equipped and
“ready for the Master’s use:”
Robert Stuart MacArthur.
To be the pastor of a church for forty years is a
notable record. To be the pastor of one’s first qvid
only church for that period—and that, too, in a great
metropolitan city like New York is a record unique
and deserving of unusual recognition. The call to
the pastorate of the Calvary Baptist Church, New
York, was extended to Robert Stuart MacArthur
while a : Indent in the senior class of Rochester The
ological Seminary, on March 9, 1870, and imme
diately upon his graduation he entered upon his pas
toral duties, May 15, 1870. He therefore completes,
on this anniversary, forty years of service as pastor
of this church. The Calvary Baptist Church, in that
tftae, has grown to be one of the best known, largest
and most influential churches in the country. It was
a daring thing for a young man to think of assuming
the leadership of a church of such varied demands
and such wonderful possibilities, but Dr. MacArthur
has measured up to both. The years have justified
FOR TY YEA US AT CAL VARY
SEE PAGE TWO—ITgIS FOR YOU.
ATLANTA, GA.. JUNE 9. 1910.
Gotham's Grand Old Scotch-American.
his courage, and the vision of the young pastor has
become a large reality. Dr. MacArthur’s pastorate
has been, in the largest and fullest sense, a success.
To understand that success, we must understand the
man, and to understand the man, we must follow his
life from its beginning.
Dr. MacArthur is of Scotch parentage, and was
born July 31, 1841, in Dalesville, Quebec, Canada.
His father and mother were of ancient Highland
stock, and they used in. their conversation their an
cestral Gaelic. The original Lairds of the rocky
shores of Loch Awe were of the Clan MacArthur.
His mother was a Stuart, and some members of the
REV. ROBT. STUART MacARTHUR.
family trace the family fine to Prince Charles Ed
ward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince (f ’ 4 e.” whose name
is conspicuously linked with ttmlar and
romantic Scottish songs.
From this sturdy ancestry Dr. MacArthui
that fine combination of qualities that make up
race equipment of intellectual vigor, untiring physi
cal activity, hearty geniality and high moral cour
age.
He pi epared for college at the Canadian Literary
Institute, at Woodstock, Ontario, and was graduated
from the University of Rochester in 1867, and from
Rochester Theological Seminary, in 1870. As a
scholar he was especially distinguished for oratori
cal power, taking, at the time of graduation from
college, the senior gold medal for superior ability as
a writer and speaker. After declining urgent invita
tions to other pastorates, he accepted the call of the
Calvary Church. Immediately upon his graduation
1 FW v ■
from the seminary lie came to New Yf>rk, and from
that time has labored here without cessation. In all
the forty years of this pastorate be has been ably
and sympath tically sustained by M.s. MacArthur,
to whom he was united in marriage on August 4,
1870, a little more than three months after assuming
his pastorate. Mrs. MacArthur was Mary Elizabeth
Fox, and was born in Ballston Spa, N. Y. Her father
was the Rev. and Hon. Norman Fox. He was a grad
uate of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. For many
years he was active in public affairs as a member of
the New York Legislature and in the general politi
cal life of the State. Her mother was Jane Freeman,
who died in Mrs. MacArthur’s early girlhood.
$71,000 in One P'ate Offering.
Almost immediately after Dr. MacArthur had
assumed the pastorship of Calvary Church there
were signs of improvement and of advancement. Not
only did the and ences increase, but very soon the
finances of the church were increased and systema
tized. The large edifice on Twenty-third street soon
began to be crowded with earnest listeners. Large
offerings were soon made by Calvary Church for
benevolent objects, and later one plate offering for
Home and Foreign Missions amounted to the sum of
$71,000. New life was manifested in every depart
ment of church work. In the early 80’s the question
of removal uptown began to be agitated. The edifice
on Twenty-third street was sold and the present
magnificent structure on Fifty-seventh street, be
tween Sixth and Seventh avenues, was erected in
1882-83, and opened for public worship December 23,
1883. This stately church edifice is one of the most
costly erected by Baptists on either side of the At
lantic.
Dr. MacArthur has been pre-eminently a Gospel
preacher. His sermons are Scriptural and practical.
They are expository and evangelistic. While Dr.
MacArthur hqs often spoken upon the large matters
that are absorbing public attention, he never does so
with sensational motives. The real theme of his
preaching has been “Christ, and Him Crucified.” It
is this genuinely evangelistic note in his preaching
that has brought and held the wide influence which
pastorate has exerted. Dr. MacArthur and the
rhprch believe in a Christianity which reaches out
and blesses all classes in the community and in the
world. He was chosen to fill the place of the late
Charles H. Spurgeon in furnishing sermons to The
Christian Herald.
A justly honored educator says: “His lectures
show as much familiarity with history as do the lec
tures of Dr. John Lord; but, unlike Dr. Lord, Dr.
MacArthur delivers his lectures without notes to give
him facts or dates. In his lower register his voice is
soft, sweet and musical, and in denunciation and ap
peal it rises to a trumpet blast, stirring the emotions
(Continued on Page Five.)
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