Rev. Jesse Halsey Resigns; To Teach At Chicago School; Cincinnati Pastor 28 Years

12 May 1941

Former Paris Pastor Called To Replace Rev. J. D. Halsey

13 November 1941 | Cincinnati Enquirer

Lake Shore Club

"He breaks the ‘Bread of Life’ with clean hands."

from a student of Jesse Halsey's at McCormick

 

FOREWARD

It may be a presumptuous for a student to undertake the task of writing a biography of his professor, but the joy that the writer has gleaned from making new and rich discoveries of insights into the character of his “Ideal” has and will out-weigh any possible misunderstandings relative to gathering and interpreting the facts.

The writer wishes to thank all who have asked him in obtaining information about Dr. Halsey: Dr. John Frederick Lyons for assisting in finding some of the articles that Dr. Halsey wrote and The Reverend L.W. Harvison a personal friend and admirer of Dr. Halsey who gave many interesting facts about him as a pastor in the Seventh Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio.

The “biographer” wishes to beg pardon from Dr. Halsey for the poor attempt at writing his biography. The writer will be very happy to have corrections made where needed.

“My Ideal”

Dr. Jesse Halsey was born in Southampton, Long Island, New York. “Go where you will through these United States, when you find certain names you know their forbears came sometime or other from Southampton—such names as these: Howell, Sayre, HALSEY, Pierson, Cooper, Herrick, Fordham, and Topping.[1]

Along with his big wrists and heavy hands go his covetous ability of doing a thousand-and-one things properly and well. The present writer, observing that these characteristics are generally those of men who have spent many of the formative years on a farm, was not surprised to learn that his “Biographee” was once a farm boy. Could any but a farmer’s heart “see” “farm houses low and sturdy with grey weathered shingles punctuate the flat countryside. Shingles three feet long, rived from red cedar that grew in the swamps, worn thin now where they have defied the east-wind-driven storms of two hundred winters and the bristling heat of as many summers, but with butts still thick enough to cast healthy shadows in endless parallel windows where the long sweeping roofs on the north side slope almost to the ground . . .

“Leaning barns and wood sheds where eel-spears and clam rakes and harpoons prod the latest agricultural machinery. A discarded seine is sometimes seen, used now as a net for tennis or volleyball, but a swift reminder of days when corn was grown with fish for fertilizer—‘two bunkers to a hill.’”[2]

After having done countless chores on the farm and having laid an academic foundation he went to Princeton where he sat at the feet of the famous teacher who conceived the idea for the League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson. A little insight into a teacher-student relationship is suggested by the two swapping dictionaries. After Princeton, Dr. Halsey went to Union Seminary.

Dr. Halsey served with Dr. Wilfred Thomas Grenfell in Labrador, doing countless and diverse duties from fixing plumbing to assisting at the operating table. With Dr. Grenfell, Dr. Halsey shared the rewards of skillful service joyfully rendered. “Dr. Grenfell always had a high regard for him. The same is true of men like Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin and Dr. Robert E. Speer,” writes the Reverend L.W. Harvison.

During the First World War, Dr. Halsey served abroad as chaplain, ministering to our men “whatever, whenever, and wherever.” At the close of the war he “returned from Russia and spoke at the synod of Ohio concerning the fame of Wilson and America in Russia at that time.”[3]

Accepting a pastorate in Cincinnati, Dr. Halsey soon became a “leader of a small growing group of ‘liberal’ ministers at a time when it was dangerous to be known in that Presbytery as a liberal. Largely under his influence, the spirit of that Presbytery was changed from one of belligerent fundamentalism to one of a harmonious fellowship of men of divergent theological beliefs.[4]

While pastor of the Seventh Presbyterian Church there in Cincinnati, Dr. Halsey organized what is now known as the “Presbyterian Ministers’ Breakfast Club.” It meets the first Monday in each month in the dining room of that church. This club grew out of a need for ministers to “get together” in attempting to solve problems and to lay plans. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Dr. Halsey the club was organized and given such a start as to be still a high-light of the month for the ministers.

He is the type of man to whom men instinctively turn for help in time of trouble. He has gone beyond the bounds of organized religion to be friendly to men of other faiths and cults. To other ministers he has been a kind of “pastor’s pastor” or a bishop without Episcopal authority because he has cared nothing for authority over others. “He has unstintedly given of his time to help others and has always been interested in the pastors of the small churches who have been in need.”[5]

Not only is he an outstanding churchman, but a citizen. At Cincinnati he was a positive force for civic righteousness. “There are things to see in Cincinnati—as in any other big city. I am not thinking of them except as they help one to feel the pulse of the municipality and gauge its inner spirit. The Chamber of Commerce will direct you to the sights of the town. I would guide you to its heart.”[6]

“His church was always interested in missions and gave generously. He was interested in improving conditions of church life in the deteriorated West End of Cincinnati. I have known him to drive thirty miles to take food and money to an old man and his wife who were strangers but appealed to him in need. I do not suppose that even he knows how much of his money he has given away to those in need. But these things were never done with an eye to publicity . . . He is a man of humility and utterly devoid of pretension. He has taken criticism humbly where many of us might have been disposed to defend ourselves against it.[7]

Even his best friends do not consider him as a great preacher, yet he is a great preacher from the standpoint that when he preaches it is truth coming out of his big heart and personality. “He is a man who, as much or perhaps more than any other I know, incarnates his gospel.”[8]

He has given many the impression of being blessed with a strong physical constitution, by maintaining a physical pace that is beyond the energy and inclination of most men. He did much of his reading late at night after his family retired and while most of his fellow ministers were asleep.

He breaks the ‘Bread of Life’ with clean hands. “I think he has never said anything ‘off-color’ or smutty.”[9]

“He is a man with a variety of interests: music, art glass, poetry, short stories, cooking, painting, and whatnot . . . He is at much at home in a pair of overalls with a rake or shovel in his hands as in a pulpit robe . . . In Cincinnati, he organized a group of ministers to paint the interior of my church. It would be interesting to know just how many churches he has helped to decorate on the inside and outside.”[10] During the fall and winter of 1945, he was not only instrumental in getting the chapel organ put in, but he did some of the work. During the Christmas holidays he and a few students painted the interior of the chapel.

Dr. Halsey has always been a man of open-mindedness, but he has been unfailing in loyalty to Christ. As a professor of Pastoral Theology he attempts to see (and does see) both sides of the question. He can see with the eyes of the so-called “liberals,” “conservatives,” “radicals,” and whatnot. He sees through the eyes of pupil as well as teacher. He is a friend to everyone.

The “biographer” has made reasonable effort to find and read as much of his writings as possible. Again the old saying, “Great teachers do little writing” is illustrated. The most widely known of his work as a composter and compiler I believe, is his most helpful suggestions for funerals: LIVING HOPE.

The article on the newly revised Book of Common Worship, “A Sense of Direction”[11] gives insight into the Pastor as a lover of good form in worship. (Dr. Halsey served on the revision committee.) The article on “Books of Common Worship” that appeared in the winter number of “Religion in Life” (1933) gives a rather complete list and helpful comments on the various books. Dr. Halsey’s rich, suggestive and helpful prayers, responses, and litanies often have some quotation or paraphrase from works of such great men as Dr. W.E. Orchard and Dr. John Hunter.

Dr. Halsey generously gives much credit to many great men as having exerted influence upon him. It was Dr. Richard S. Campbell, says Dr. Halsey, who influenced him to enter the ministry. About a dozen great men who influenced Dr. Halsey had as their model Maltie Babcock. “Behind him (Dr. Halsey) have been certain persons of Christian influence: his father, his sister, Dr. Grenfell, Dr. Coffin, and others I may not know.”[12]

Dr. Halsey has been shepherding the “budding undershepherds” here at the seminary since 1939. He was not here long before the students found in him a confidential and able counselor. One student remarked, “Dr. Halsey has more ‘horse-sense’ than all of the other professors put together.’”

Dr. Halsey’s office is the most popular office for students seeking sound advice, or coming with sorrows or joys. He gives the student the impression that he has all the time needed to listen to some problem.

It is unfortunate (for the students) that Dr. Halsey’s many duties require his presence off the campus. [Amen is written in the margin by JH.]

In class he is careful to give the student a wholesome combination of the scholarly with the practical. He also sees that every student who takes his courses shall at least know something about weddings and funerals.

The present writer has heard him called or referred to as “Skipper” and “Uncle Jesse.” Perhaps his “nick-names” will suggest a much better biography than a hurried student can possibly write.

[handwritten at bottom] Humbly I say “thank you.” I’ll try to live up to the implications. JH

---

[1] “The East riding of Yorkshire,” Jesse Halsey, The Presby. Tribune, July 1940, p. 12.

[2] IBID, p. 11.

[3] From a personal letter from L.W. Harvison, Harvey, Ill. Oct. 24, ’46.

[4] IBID.

[5] IBID.

[6] “The Spirit of Cincinnati,” Jesse Halsey, The Presbyterian Tribune, May 16, 1935.

[7] From a personal letter from L.W. Harvision.

[8] IBID.

[9] IBID.

[10] IBID

[11] Jesse Halsey, The Presbyterian Tribune, July 1944, p. 17.

[12] From a personal letter from L.W. Harvison.

The Jesse Halsey Manuscript Collection. Special Collections, Princeton Theological Seminary Library.

On Mothers

During one of the periods in which Jesse was in England in WWI, there was an outlook, an observation tower on the army base. Jess climbed the tower one night and found a solitary soldier. Jess asked him, "Why are you up here in the tower rather than down carousing with the other boys?" The soldier replied, “My damn mother.” Jesse later told his seminary students, “One of the things that’s absolutely necessary in life is to have 'damn mothers' who help you understand what you need to be.”

Letter from Robert Worth Frank to Jesse Halsey

May 1952 | McCormick Theological Seminary

Telegram from Sam and Dorothy Warr to Jesse Halsey

April 28, 1942

Sam Higginbottom to Jesse Halsey

July 23, 1941

On Death

MS. For Russell Dicks, 1500-1800 words

By Rev. Jesse Halsey, D.D.

Lane Professor of Pastoral Theology and Liturgics

McCormick Theological Seminary | c1947

The Puritans gave much thought to death; we give very little. But with the passing of a friend or relative, and with increasing years, death comes nearer and reveals to us his fearsome mien. One modern preacher of wide experience avers that “death is not long from the thought of any person.”

Be that as it may, the writer here testifies that only twice in a ministry of forty years has any person come deliberately and asked frankly and fearlessly to talk about death.

The writer of Hebrews says that Christ came “to destroy him that hath the power of death (that is, the devil) and to deliver them who through fear of death were al their life-time subject to bondage.” Even without Luther’s emphasis on the part the devil plays in the picture, we would all gladly confess that the deliverance from this, as form every other devastating fear is in some very real measure related to Christ and our fellowship with  Him.

First then, look at His teaching; then at His experience, though they are so interwoven that, with Chaucer, we rejoice in saying, “first He wrought and afterwards He taught.”

Jesus never argues about God’s existence or being; He calls God “Father,” and teaches his disciples to pray and say “Our Father.” He himself is overhead to pray thus, “Father, I thank Thee . . .” (Luke 10:21) In the hour of death He asks the question we often ask, “My God, why? . . .” thus bringing comfort to many who have come after:  “in all our affliction he was afflicted . . .” He learned obedience by the things that he suffered: “having suffered being tempted he is able to succor them that are tempted.” But in the last article of death He is heard to murmur—or was it in a strong voice to say, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” This is the ultimate faith, His or ours.

Likewise, Jesus never argues about immortality, He takes it for granted. It is an axiom of faith. Stated in argument: “A cosmos cannot have a chaos for its crown” (Latze), it seems reasonable. But that was not Jesus’ approach. In the Upper Room when they were all distressed by his departure, He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled, ye believe in God; believe also in me; in my Father’s house are many rooms: If it were not so I would have told you.” Philip was not the last to ask such questions, nor the last to get an answer: “not what I do believe, but Whom”; “I know whom I have believed (trusted) and am persuaded He is able . . .”

“We do not believe in immortality because we can prove it, but we constantly try to prove it because we believe it,” so says Martineau. Then, as George Herbert Palmer said at the death of his wife, “emotion joins our reason,” and we refuse to longer doubt.

As Christians we walk by faith and in the fellowship of Christ: trusting as He trusted, it is impossible to be afraid. Many, like Mr. Fearing and his daughter, Miss Much-Afraid, when they finally come to the river go over “not much above wet-shod.” The roots of our religion are in Christ’s resurrection and the concomitant belief that as He lives we shall live also. Communion with Him along the way—prayer as we most often call it—is the –is the secret. Willum MacLure, the Highland doctor who all his life from boyhood had knelt down every night and said, “Now I lay me down to sleep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, and this I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen,” like many another found light in the night of death. Prayer; honest confession; bold assurance of faith; humility, confidence, trust; “vocal or unexpressed”; this is the best preparation for death.

An illuminating experience, and encouraging to us because it is rather typical of the experience of many others who have for human reasons changed their point of view with a change of personal circumstances, is that of Sir William Osler, the great physician, who in a lecture on Immortality delivered at Harvard* in 1904 says that as a physician he has seen many persons die and most of them were unconscious or unconcerned. He confesses that he is also a “Laodicean,” i.e., indifferent (Revelation 3:15). Some ten years later his only son, Revere, was killed in the First World War. Sir William’s whole attitude changed. Thereafter he was often heard singing or humming snatches of Abelard’s hymn about heaven: “O what the joy and the glory must be.” His center of gravity had changed.

When the feelings are neutral one can argue for or against immortality in as remote a way as some of the Ingersoll lectures*, but “let one of his own flesh and blood bid him goodbye and pass within the veil and reason surrenders the place to love, and many a man has set his face toward the Eternal City in the hope that he may again see a golden head on which the sun is ever shining.” (Ian Maclaren)

“Aunt” Abby Grey, ninety years old was dying. She had read the Bible through over sixty times and knew great passages by heart. In her youth she had learned an ancient catechism. Her young pastor stood by her bed. Because her children, and her children’s children who stood by were of another form of faith, the minister had read from their Book, with no response from the patient. Then the minister began to repeat, “In my Father’s house . . .” The old lady picked up a verbal inaccuracy and carried on half the chapter, then sank into a coma. Presently, however, her lips moved and the nurse said that she couldn’t make it out, it sounds like “souls of believers.” Fortunately, the young minister had also once learned the Catechism and picked it up: “the souls of believers do immediately pass into Glory and . . .” “Aunt” Abby had “gone home.”

*For the last fifty years Harvard has sponsored the Ingersoll Lectures on Immortality. Clergymen, scientists, and others have given their ideas in a series expressing many points of view, and now totaling nearly thirty different books.

from "Among the Deep Sea Fishers" | July 1940

 

Sir Grenfell, Charles, Jr., Rev. Jesse Halsey

Alumni News

The REV. JESSE HALSEY was host to Sir Wilfred during the latter's visit to Cincinnati in April. Though he did not accept the position, Dr. Halsey was recently offered a Professorship of Practical Theology at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Chicago.

Lane-McCormick Merger

from Christianity Today April 1932

The petition presented to the courts of Ohio for the privilege of merging the work of Lane Theological Seminary with The Presbyterian Theological Seminry, Chicago, has been granted. This petition has been pending subject to the consent of the residuary legatees, two of whom had refused to join with the seminary up to a recent date.

All these having been satisfied and quit claim deeds to all rights and claims to the property of Lane Seminary having been obtained by the institution, the Court granted the petition for the right to effect the merger.

Lane Seminary has had a faculty of four full time professors, Dr. John Vant Stephens, Dr. Frank Granstaff, President R. Ames Montgomery, and Professor John Adam Garber. Dr. Paul E. Davies of the Chicago seminary has been special lecturer in New Testament literature and Dr. George W. Osmun, instructor in Hebrew.

President Montgomery and Professor Garber will continue their work in the Chicago institution which they have already begun in the field of Religious Education and Sociology. Dr. Stephen, who has been professor of History at Lane for twenty-two years and Dr. Granstaff, professor of Homiletics, will retire with pensions provided by Lane.

The decision of the Court in this case is regarded as of great importance, not only as affecting the program of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., for the consolidation of educational institutions, but for other organizations contemplating similar action.

The Lane Seminary property will be held for the use of the merged institutions. The present policy of the Trustees of Lane contemplate a regular summer session at Lane for the instruction of ministers and lay church workers.

See also: May 1931 issue

Lane Seminary Abandonment
Blocked by Court

LANE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,

which has been located in Cincinnati, Ohio,
for more than 100 years, will continue t()
function as a seminary, if an opinion handed
down in Common Pleas Court by Judge
Charles S. Bell on April 21, is not upset by
appeal.

Judge Bell held that as the result of testimony
adduced before him in a hearing, several
months ago, the seminary had not failed'
in its original purpose, and that it had 'not
become extinct, despite contentions to the
contrary. He also ruled that the court had
no jurisdiction to authorize the seminary
trustees to abandon it and endow scholarships
in the Chicago Theological Seminary.

The institution dates back to 1829, when
the Legislature of the State of Ohio created'
the theological institution "for the education'
of pious young men for the gospel ministry ... ·
In December of that year Elnatban Kemper"
James Kemper, Sr., Peter H. Kemper and
David R. Kemper and their wives deeded the'
property to the seminary.

This deed provided that, if the purpose of'
the seminary failed, or if it became extinct,.

the property was to revert to the American
Board Society, the American Tract Company,
the American Colonization Society and the
American Education Society. In the event
that any of these societies) were extinct,
the property then was to revert to any charitable
religious institution selected by the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church.

For many years the seminary flourished,
and men who carried the gospel to the four
corners of the world were its graduates. Of
late years the enrollment has fallen off and
bad times have overtaken the school.
About a year ago the trustees filed a petition
asking for instructions as to what they
were to do. They favored abandonment of
the school and the establishment of scholarships
in the Chicago institution which was
formally known as "McCormick Seminary."
It was claimed on behalf of the American
Colonization Society, that the seminary had
failed in its purpose and that therefore the
property should be turned over to the other
societies mentioned in the deed.
Discussing the matters that were brought
to its attention during the hearing, Judge
Bell wrote: "Since the .establishment of this
institution in 1829, there has been a great
increase in the number of theological institutions
available to students preparing for
the Presbyterian ministry, and there has
been a proportionate decrease in the past
twenty-five or thirty years in the number of
enlistments of young men for such training.
A number of such institutions in the country
have become more efficient for the purposes
for which Lane Seminary was created, and
this has been due largely to the fact that certain
other colleges have received large incomes
and generous gifts, which have been
denied Lane Seminary.

"By reason of curtailed revenue, this institution
has reached a financial status
where there is in the neighborhood of about
$20,000 per annum for its upkeep; and because
thereof the institution has generally
deteriorated until the buildings are out of
repair, the professors are underpaid, and the
student body has decreased greatly. At the
time of the hearing, there were less than 20
in the student body at the seminary. The
future prospects of the institution presents a
dismal picture; the institution probably will
have fewer students and less money than at
the present time.

"Disposing first of the disputed fact in the
case, the court has concluded that Lane
Seminary has not failed or become extinct."
Taking- up the second matter before him,
Judge Bell said: "The trustees propose to
sell the property; create a legal entity to be
known as the Lane Seminary Foundation;
with the funds establish proper endowments,
scholarships and fellowships in the Chicago
Theological Seminary.

"After a careful consideration, the court

has concluded that it has no authority -or
jurisdiction to authorize these trustees to
change the name or abandon the theological
institution in Hamilton County," the opinion
concluded.

Following the receipt of the judgment of
court, it was announced that Lane Seminary
would re·open in the fall as usual.

Lane Theological Seminary

from Wikipedia

Lane Theological Seminary was established in the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829 to educate Presbyterian ministers. It was named in honor of Ebenezer and William Lane, who pledged $4,000 for the new school, which was seen as a forward outpost of the Presbyterian Church in the western territories of the United States. Prominent New England pastor Lyman Beecher moved his family (including daughter Harriet and son Henry) from Boston to Cincinnati to become the first President of the Seminary in 1832. During this time, the family lived in what is now known as the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.^[1]

Lane Seminary is known primarily for the "debates" held there in 1834 that influenced the nation's thinking about slavery. The event resulted in the dismissal of a group of students, a professor and a trustee and was one of the first significant tests of academic freedom in the United States and the right of students to participate in free discussion. Several of those involved went on to play an important role in the abolitionist movement and the buildup to the American Civil War.
 
Following the slavery debates, Lane Seminary continued as a "New School" seminary, cooperating with Congregationalists and others in mission and education efforts and involved in social reform movements like abolition, temperance, and Sabbath legislation. The seminary admitted students from other denominations and pursued educational and evangelistic unity among Protestant churches in the West.

At the end of the 19th century, Lane Seminary was reorganized along more conservative lines. In 1910, it became affiliated with the Presbyterian Seminary of the South, and the Seminary continued as a small but respected school, though financial pressures continued to increase. Following a brief period of growth in the 1920s, it became apparent that Lane could no longer survive as an independent school. In 1932, it became part of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. While a permanent Board of Trustees for Lane Theological Seminary remained in service until the Seminary was legally merged out of existence in 2007,^[3] the faculty, library collections, and students were transferred to Chicago, and the last remnants of the Cincinnati campus were destroyed in 1956.

A “Successful” Church

By Jesse Halsey

The word Church is given nine meanings in Webster. The first is church as a building. That usage does not appear in the New Testament and it is doubtful if a Christian church as building existed anywhere in the first century, though there were numerous “churches” all over the Roman world.

The New Testament Church was a fellowship of believers professing a common faith in one Lord, following His example and teaching, observing ‘the breaking of bread’ as a token of fellowship with HIM and with one another and recognizing baptism as a seal of that faith. Their worship was simple, readings from the ancient Scriptures, the singing of psalms and spiritual songs, prayer, and exhortation. Those Christians were evangelists preaching and living the Gospel. They had their disagreements but they were a brotherhood.

The Church of today with its plant, its budget, its staff, unless with all it has that underlying fraternity and mutual help is not ‘successful’ in the New Testament sense. The Spirit may pervade a wayside chapel or a cathedral housed congregation or it may be absent from either or both. If any church has not the spirit of Christ it is none of His.

Forms change and circumstances, but underlying all change in externals that burden bearing that is called “the law of Christ” is essential to “success.”

Accepting the Apostolic Norm, the modern church has in addition a building (few modern congregations long survive without) in which the Lord’s Table, a symbol of fellowship has a conspicuous place, a pulpit from which The Word is proclaimed, and seats for the congregation. These with a tight roof and adequate heat constitute the essentials, organ, stained glass, and much else can be added. The Church must be kept clean and in repair and it will be as elegant and lovely as the devotion of its worshipers can make it. Like David, its people will be restive if they “live in cedar and the Lord in curtains.”

A successful congregation will be considerate of its youth; its teaching ministry will go on and its recreational concern will extend to its neighborhood.

It will be an evangelistic church, not only in its preaching ministry but in its welcoming.

Jesse Halsey Stained Glass Windows at McCormick

Mr. President:

On behalf of the family of our colleague and friend, Norman E. Richardson*, I have the privilege of presenting to the Seminary a window that has been installed in the West Transom. It completes the series showing characters from Pilgrim’s Progress and manifesting the major points of our insistence here at McCormick: Bible exegesis, the pastoral function, missionary and evangelistic enthusiasm, and in this new window, religious education; in which field Dr. Richardson was a pioneer and master.

In completing his series on “The Teaching Evangelist” on the very day before he left us, Dr. Richardson said to the speaker: “I think we liberals have under-emphasized the powers of evil and ignorance.” In this window, Mr. Greatheart is shown contending with Giant Grim, the embodiment of such evil forces. In the background are thumbnail sketches of Comenius, a contemporary of John Bunyan, who influenced the educational systems of half a dozen countries; of Pestalozzi, who came a century later, and Horace Bushnell, the New England Puritan in the last century who gave the initial impulsion to what he called “Christian Nurture.” These great educators whose ideals Dr. Richardson harmonized and followed, emboy the spirit of the Christ-centered type of religious education that the Seminary seeks to emphasize.

During the five years that I was privileged to know Dr. Richardson, he labored under a severe physical handicap when “every breath was a prayer for the next,” yet in spite of this, his enthusiasms never abated. He was working and planning up to the last, and within an hour of his passing completed his “Teaching Evangelist,” saying, “That is finished. Tomorrow we will tackle something else.”

So, I think of him as going on with all his splendid equipment, uninhibited by the limitations of the flesh, in some Other Room of our Father’s House where Christ’s servants serve Him.

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,

            Never doubted clouds would break,

Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,

            Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,

                        Sleep to wake.

                                                --Robert Browning

Letter from Jesse Halsey to McCormick Seminary President Kenneth Neigh, c1946

“I worked on the staff of McCormick Theological Seminary for three years following graduation, before I was ordained to the ministry in 1981. Every morning as I walked up the stairs to my office, I passed a stained glass window made by Jesse Halsey, who had taught at McCormick a generation earlier. The window depicted Bunyan’s Pilgrim, from Pilgrim’s Progress. Seeing the window every morning as I mounted the staircase became a fleeting act of prayer focused on vocation, a pilgrimage I was conscious of delaying. The isolation of the academic community was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for me. I think there is something in the human spirit that seeks to be put on trial, to be tested, to break away into the insecurity of the unfamiliar.

“The song, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, popularly known as Bread of Heaven here in Wales, is a Welsh favorite. They even sing it at rugby matches. Everyone knows it, loves it, and can sing it by heart, Christian or not. Guide me, a pilgrim through this barren land, it sings. The hymn speaks of life as a pilgrimage, being carried safe to Canaan’s side, singing songs of praise against the ever-present reality of death. Singing it brings me back to those early morning glances at Halsey’s stained glass window, and what that window came to mean for me.”

from "The Year of the Lord’s Favor: Proclaiming Grace in the Year of Luke," by Tom Arthur, 2012

* A Meth­od­ist min­is­ter, Norman E. Ri­chard­son was born on Oc­to­ber 15, 1878, in Beth­a­ny, On­tar­io, Ca­na­da. He was ed­u­cat­ed at Law­rence Col­lege, Bos­ton Un­i­ver­si­ty School of The­ol­o­gy, and Bos­ton Un­i­ver­si­ty. He pas­tored in Wis­consin and Mass­a­chu­setts, taught at Bos­ton Un­i­ver­si­ty School of The­ol­o­gy (1911-19), and was dean of the North­field Sum­mer School of Re­li­gious Ed­u­ca­tion (1919-24). He lat­er served on the fa­cul­ty at North­west­ern Un­i­ver­si­ty and Mc­Cor­mick The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­a­ry. He died on Oc­to­ber 25, 1945, in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

JESSE HALSEY—A LIVING HOPE

“The enclosed was the short memorial given at the alumni chapel service last May. I’ve been meaning to get a copy to you, all this time.” --Helen Halsey Haroutunian to Charles Halsey, Sr., December 12, 1954

It is hard for a man to argue any point on which he is entirely convinced. I think that any one of us would feel that the attempt to pay tribute to Jesse Halsey is doomed to failure. There is about all complete conviction a kind of helplessness. And I think that Jesse Halsey would tell us, “Don’t bother.” But that’s what we would expect from him for he was, indeed, “great in all wise men’s eyes except in his own.”

Yet it is not for his good but for ours that we remember this man of God. You men of the class of 1954 are the last student generation to know what this means. For us, Uncle Jess has become the symbol of serenity in a world where all hell seems to be breaking loose. Yet he is more than a symbol. He is—in that phrase to which he gave new meaning—“a living hope.” When we think of the ideal ministry we think of it in terms of Jesse Halsey, and when we try to describe it we find ourselves using the words of Bunyan or MacLaren, friends whom he taught us to know. So we ask your indulgence, Uncle Jess. It’s good for us to remember you.

Jesse Halsey is a living hope because he knew what was in men. He was not surprised by what he saw. When he looked at our faults he was “unshockable.” When our wrongs were most shameful and we found it hard to face ourselves, we heard from him: “I don’t condemn you; go, and don’t do it again.” For he saw us not only at our worst, but he saw what was best in us. There was one lad who drove to Seminary his first year who for three weeks didn’t unpack his trunk because he wasn’t sure he belonged there. But Uncle Jess discovered that boy before he discovered himself. One of my classmates wrote me last week, “It is enough to say that it was Dr. Halsey who sensed that I needed help and gave me the feeling that I had some possibilities.”

How could anyone help but see himself in a brighter light when this matchless man troubled himself in his behalf? Can you forget him trudging up with a tray to some student sick in bed on the fourth floor of McCormick Hall? Do you remember him driving out with you to your student charge at six o’clock on a Sunday morning to administer communion for you—after he had prepared a pancake breakfast for you both at 5 a.m. in his own kitchen? And if we ever wonder whether that kind of performance is worthwhile in our own ministry and we conclude that it is, we can thank Jesse Halsey for making us know it.

Dr. Halsey is a living hope not only because he knew what was in man but because he knew the heart of God. I suppose that this man knew the intimacies and heartbreaks behind the doors of more Presbyterian manses than most of us will sense in our congregations in a lifetime. Like his Master who suffered for us all, Jesse Halsey was hurt when we were hurt. Nor was his own life immune to heartbreak. God knows. But God also knows that his servant learned by suffering. For Jesse Halsey loved his God, and through him we have loved God more. Did weakness and sin about in us? We know it did, but grace did much more abound.

Jesse Halsey had faith. He had so much faith in God that he possessed what we are apt to think is uncongenial to faith—common sense. I presume it was as plumber to Dr. Grenfell that he began his formal preparation for the Chair here at McCormick that he was later to fill. We who were his students learned that Christian faith was nothing if it was not practical. Because he believed in God’s providence Dr. Halsey didn’t consider that the Almighty needed a mouthpiece to justify His every move. His prophet knew when to keep still. He taught us there are times when you don’t say a prayer.

There is abundant evidence about us to shatter any delusions we have of human goodness. What the world needs, we are being told, is Jesus Christ, the Hope of the world. For me the hope of Christ in mortal form is Jesse Halsey, because he not only saw men and God but he believed they were meant to be together.

Take his love for the beautiful. You know how zealous he was for the beauty of worship—that the service be done decently and in order. You know how he delighted in the beauty of the ancient liturgies; or take his handiwork in this chapel. You remember how bulbs and plantings began to sprout at the doorsteps of Chalmers Place—and not only at No. 846. Are these man’s attempt to worship God, or are these manifestations of the beauty of God in the life of man? Whichever way you take it, for Dr. Halsey God and man were meant for each other.

In the little booklet he prepared for servicemen he put this quotation of Lincoln: “Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

Not only on Chalmers Place, but in each of us he went about finding the signs of God that we couldn’t see for the thistles. And we came to realize that God meant us to live in a garden—not a jungle.

Circumstances permitted some of us to know him intimately during our student days. For others, like myself, he was not truly known until he came into our homes after we had got into the pastorate. When that happened, as it did all too seldom, he became part of our home. My wife and young children responded to the warmth of his presence. The children invariably were at their best! After my own father died, he was to us in the truest sense of the word a father in God to our family.

You will forgive the personal reference. I make it because I think it reproduces what many of you know to be true. It is good for all of us to remember that here was a man who knew men and who knew God and who believed they were meant for communion. That is why for all of us in time of trouble Jesse Halsey is “a living hope.”

By Donald C. Wilson

McCormick ‘45

McCormick Seminary Course Catalogue 1946-47

B. The Department of Pastoral Theology

Professor Halsey**

The purpose of this department is to prepare the pastor practically for the various spheres of usefulness today claiming his service. It deals with personal piety, his family life, his social manners, his intellectual habits, his pulpit presence, his executive and administrative responsibilities, and his relationships to his congregation, to the community, and to society.

*P 101. Common Worship. The principle of worship; theory and practice. Orders of worship; regular and special days. Writing of collects and prayers. The history of Christian worship. A foundation course with much writing and practice. ½ major, Winter quarter, Junior year.

*P 102. Church Policy. A consideration of the principles of the Presbyterian system of government, administrative and judicial, including the sacraments, ½ major, Spring quarter, Middle year.

*P 103. Functions of the Minister. A study of the minister himself; his habits; his education, cultural, and devotional development; essential qualities; fatal errors; duties in the parish; counseling; evangelism; the minister as “friend at large.” Discussion, lectures, and demonstration. ½ major, Autumn quarter, Senior year.

P 103-105. Practicum in Pastoral Theology. For men serving churches as student pastors or assistants. Orientation toward pastoral responsibilities; discussion of problems; supervision of field work in church activities. ¼ major, Each quarter.

P 113. Liturgical Practice. This course continues the study begun in Course P 101. It includes an intensive study of the church year and of special services which the minister must conduct. The minister’s practice is related to basic liturgical theory and history. ½ major.

P 114. Pastor’s Use of the Bible. Lectures, discussion, demonstration in the minister’s use of the English Bible for devotional and liturgical purposes. Bible passages and quotations for sick calling, for evangelistic and other services. Prayer-meeting talks, biographical studies of great Scripture characters, etc. An effort to relate the student’s knowledge of the Bible to pastoral duties. ¼ major, Spring quarter.

P 118. The Larger Parish. The Seminary has part in two larger parish projects. One in Mattoon Presbytery offers closely supervised work to six students who serve pastorates under the direction of Rev. Harry Bicksler, the Pastor-Director. In the Summer quarter these student pastors meet two hours each week in a Seminar Conference supervised by Mr. Bicksler, Dr. Cummins, and Professor Halsey. Representatives of the State Agricultural College, the Farm Bureau, the State Teachers’ College, the Federal Farm Bureau, the Grange and other organizations take part. 1 major.

P 140. Practicum in Church Management. Discussion of problems in the care of property, the development of organizations, the promotion of campaigns, and finances. Open to Middlers and Seniors. (Professor Halsey, Vice-President Neigh, Mr. Potts.) ¼ major.

P 143. Methods and Types of Evangelism. Reading and discussion of the types of evangelism; personal, parish, pastoral, group. (Professor Halsey and Professor Frank, assisted by local pastors.) ½ major.

* Prescribed for Seminary students.

** On leave Winter and Spring quarters, 1946-47. Prescribed courses in Pastoral Theology were given in the Autumn quarter.

Most Used Books

Jesse Halsey

Bible

Authorized Version

Moffatt’s Translation

Strong’s Concordance

Hasting’s Bible Dictionaries

Hasting’s Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics

Marcus Dods, “The Bible, Its Origin and Meaning”

Moffatt, “The Approach to N.T.”

*C.H. Dodd, everything

Vincent, “Word Studies in N.T.”

Expositor’s Greek Testament

Driver’s Introduction

Davidson, “O.T. Theology”

G.A. Smith, “Isaiah” “Minor Prophets”

Marcus Dods, “Genesis and John” (Expositor’s)

On the Psalms: Briggs, Buttenweiser

On the Gospels: Moffat’s Commentaries

Mathew Henry, high spots

Alex Maclaren, some

Inter-Critical, some

Major, Mansen & Wright, “Message and Meaning of the N.T.”

Theology

*W.N. Clarke, Outline

Fairbairn, “The Place of Christ in Modern Theology”

*W.A. Brown, Outline

*James Denney, Studies “Death of Christ”

Bowne, “Theism”

*Streeter, “Reality”

Lyman, “The Meaning of Truth and Religion”

Oman, everything

Baillie, “Invitation to Pilgrimage” “Our Knowledge of God”

Lote

*Martineau

Rauschenbusch, “Theology for Social Gospel”

Cairns, “Reasonableness of Christian Faith” “The Riddle of the World”

Foster, “Life and Sayings”

Sermons

Hubert Simpson

Gossip

*Coffin

Fosdick

Gilkey (James G.)

--

Matheson, “Studies in Portrait of Jesus” “Representative Men of Bible”

*Whyte, “Character Studies in Bible” “Bunyan’s Characters”

Peabody, “Mornings in a College Chapel,” etc.

*Watson, “Inspiration of our Faith”

Devotional

Stalker, “Trial and Death of Jesus Christ”

*Bunyan, “Pilgrim’s Progress”

Wm. Law, “Devout and Serious Call”

Matheson, “Rests by the River”

Baillie, “Diary of Private Prayer”

Orchard, “The Temple”

*Merjikowski, “Jesus Manifest” “Jesus Unknown”

Public Prayer

*Hunter, “Devotional Services”

Common Prayer; Common Worship

Scottish, “Euchalogion”

History and Theory of Worship

Maxwell, “Outline of Christian Worship”

Hyslop, “Our Heritage in Public Worship”

*Coffin, “The Public Worship of God”

Micklem, Ed. “Worship

--

Clarke, “The Ideal of Jesus”

Buttrick, “On the Parables”

Bruce, “The Training of the Twelve”

*Schweitzer, “Quest of Historical Jesus”

Inge, “Faith and Its Psychology”

Pratt’s books on psychology of religion

*Robertson, “Hidden Romance of N.T.”

Eidersheim, “Life of Jesus”

*T. R. Glover, “Jesus of History” (and everything)

Biography

*Reid, “The Great Physician” (Osler)

Whipple, “Lights and Shadows”

Grenfell, “Forty Years for Labrador”

Allen, “Phillips Brooks”

Pupin, “From Immigrant to Inventor”

Boswell, “Johnson”

Pepy’s “Diary”

Parkhurst, “My Forty Years in New York”

Freeman, “Robert E. Lee”

Wm. Lyon Phelps

Clarke, “Forty Years with the Bible”

History

Woodrow Wilson, “American History”

Froude’s Studies

Goldwin Smith

Caldwell, “Short History of the American People”

Josephus

Macauley

Ferrero, “On Rome”

Moulton, “Life in the Middle Ages”  “The River” series

Youth

*Forbush, “Boy’s Life of Christ” “Young People’s Problems” “The Boy Problem”

Johnson, “Problems of Boyhood”

Hoben, “The Minister and the Boy”

Erdman Harris, “Twenty One”

Hunting, “Story of the Bible”

Hodges, “How to Know the Bible”

Webster’s Dictionary (Unabridged)

Thesaurus

Stevenson, “Home Book of Verse” “Home Book of Quotations”

Crabb’s Synonyms

Fernald, “Connective of English Speech” “Grammar”

Poets

Browning

Tennyson

Whittier

Lanier

*Francis Thompson

Vachel Lindsay

E. R. Sill

--

John Livingston Low, “Essays in Literary Appreciation”

Elkstein, “Lives”

Fiction—Modern

“The Case of Sergeant Greisha”

Hamsun, “The Growth of the Soil”

Practical

*Coffin, “What to Preach”

Yale Lectures on Preaching

notably, Watson, “Cure of Souls”

Brooks

Beecher

Dean Brown

*Oman, “Concerning the Ministry”

Dykes, “The Christian Minister”

Most helped by Watson (Ian Maclaren), Coffin, William Newton Clarke, W.A. Brown,

Fosdick, Glover, Marcus Dods, Forbush, Martineau, Peabody, Streeter, L.P. Jacks, William James, and Hocking. I find myself most often quoting these and using (consciously and unconsciously) their ideas.

(No pretentions that this is an “Ideal Book List.” Just those that one run-of-mine pastor found useful years on end.)

*Most used

Rev. Jesse Halsey Resigns; To Teach at Chicago School; Cincinnati Pastor 28 Years

Cincinnati Enquirer | May 12, 1941 | courtesy Cincinnati History Library

"Liturgical Source Book"

By Jesse Halsey

McCormick Speaking | c1950

The Bible is our greatest liturgical source book. “I will go unto the altar of God,” thus begins the Roman Mass, and there follow twenty or more quotations from the Psalms alone. Certainly Protestant non-liturgical worship ought to rely heavily on the Bible.

Many contemporary efforts to “adorn” the service fall miserably short because of inadequate musical facilities, but the use of Holy Scripture for the enrichment of worship never fails to accomplish its purpose. Invitations to worship, introductions to hymns, calls to prayer, use of passages in prayers, responsive readings, versicles, litanies, and benedictions—each and all in Scriptural language—help to lead the worshiper into the presence of God.

Such uses of Holy Scripture help to elevate the language of the petitioner. Phrases from ancient litanies, by sheer contrast, will expose the thinness of thought and relative crudity of expression in the language of the average minister, but the introduction of Holy Scripture never humiliate but rather tends to ennoble the verbiage and to redeem the angularities in the speech of the petitioner. Biblical language, with its main reliance upon strong verbs and nouns, will help to clip the wings of fancy and eliminate extravagant adjectives. Anyone who will live with the glorious language of the King James version for a month, reading aloud, devotionally, and appropriating the great phrases, will unconsciously be developing more meaningful and more beautiful forms of expression for himself.

The leader in public worship seeks, both for himself and for those who follow, to make the soul conscious of God. Words are his instrument, and a carefully chosen phrase of Holy Scripture that expresses some attribute of the Eternal, brought into the opening sentences of a petition, creates an impression, an idea, a thought-channel by which the Eternal God is in some definite way made available to human thought. “In whose hand our breath is and whose are all our ways,” immediately suggests the dependence of the creature upon the Creator. In a short phrase, it glorifies God, and at the same time, expresses a requisite humility on the part of the worshiper.

Relative phrases, linking one definite attribute in the character of the all-sufficient God and Father to a specific human need, tend to keep the thought from wandering and make the petition definite. Each succeeding portion of the pastoral prayer—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication—may well be introduced by such a relative phrase.

The introduction of a hymn of praise might appropriately take some such form as the following: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” (Ps. 95)

Instead of always saying, “Let us pray” (much better in the simple form than its uncertain variations), why not preface prayer with a word of Scripture: e.g., “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; . . . they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31); or, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’”; or, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in Truth” (Ps. 145:18); or, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7). Then add, “Let us pray,” or, “Let us lift up our hearts with our voices unto God.”

The Versicle is a short responsive prayer. It is the most obvious way to give the people some part in the worship. It can be used effectively as a responsive call to prayer. For example:

V. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 124:8).

R. “Underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).

V. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

R. “And renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).

Responsive Readings, now generally included in all hymn books, give the whole congregation an opportunity to participate. Those who cannot sing, thus have an opportunity to take a vocal part in the worship.

Litanies of varying length with Scriptural responses such as “For his mercy endureth forever” (Ps. 136), or, “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Ps. 103:1), or, “Lord, have mercy upon us” (Luke 17:13), (the response fitting the context), are cumulatively rewarding in deepening congregational participation and devotional expression.

No “man-made” exhortation can equal a Scriptural “cento” for emphasizing the obligations of stewardship and for introducing the Offertory: e.g. “Neither will I offer unto the Lord my God of that which cost me nothing . . .”; “Owe no man anything, but to love one another” (II Sam. 24:24, Rom. 13:8); or, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift”; “Freely ye have received, freely give” (II Cor. 9:15, Matt. 10:8).

The note of adoration should always be sounded early in the service. The Scriptures furnish an abundance of material such as: Thou, Lord, “of old hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands . . .”; and “Thou art the same and thy years shall have no end” (Ps. 102: 25-27); “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power . . .” (Rev. 5:13); “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty . . .” (Rev. 15:3). Numerous other passages suggest themselves: I Tim. 1:17; II Thess. 2-16; Eph. 3:20; Rom. 9:33-36. For thanksgiving in Scriptural form there is an abundance of material not only in Psalms like the 103^rd, but in New Testament passages such as II Tim. 1:9-10; Col. 2:14-15; Eph. 2:14-21; Col. 1:12-13; Eph. 1:3-12.

Minor editing, such as changing pronouns to the plural, will make available numerous prayers such as those found in Eph. 1 and 3, Phil 1, Gal. 3, etc. What could be more effective than the confession of national sins in the words of Daniel 9:4-6, 17-19, or of Nehemiah 1!

Scripture lessons should be chosen, not only to emphasize the points of the sermon, but also to introduce the congregation to the broad compass of Holy Writ. Each service of any length should have an Old Testament lesson, as well as one from the New Testament, also some portion of the Psalms. This will require selection and study, and every leader of worship should begin to perfect his own Lectionary, wherein he records appropriate combinations of Scripture under special headings. For example, A Goodly Heritage, Ps. 16; Gen. 28: 10-19; Eph. 3; Fearlessness, Ps 27; Esther 4:10; 5:4; Acts 4:1-13; True Worship, Ps. 42; I Kings 20: 9-12; John 4: 15-26; God’s Presence, Ps 139; Rom. 8:35-39; God Over All, Isa. 40: 12-31; Acts 17:22-31.

Ascriptions, benedictions, and doxologies are numerous in the New Testament and should be introduced to break the monotony of the staid few that are constantly used. The exact use of the Scriptural wording is far superior to the profuse clerical improvisations so often heard! An ascription is an appropriate and impressive and reverential ending for the sermon: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever” (I Tim. 1:17); or, “now unto him that is able to keep you from falling . . .” (Jude 24, 25). Benedictions such as the following are suggested: “Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come . . .” (Rev. 1: 4ff); or, “Now our Lord Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (II Thess. 2:16-17); or, “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ” (II Thess. 3:5); or, “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all” (II Thess. 3:16).

Searching the Scriptures in this manner, one develops increasingly a facility of expression and a devotional appreciation that elevates one’s own language and makes it more definite. A loose-leaf notebook should be kept, and as one reads the Bible for devotional or homiletical purposes, the verses that have liturgical value should be noted (and then used). There is nothing that one would like to say to God or about God, or concerning the deep things of the Spirit, that is not said better somewhere in the Old Book.

To “read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest” the great passages of Holy Writ is the most rewarding exercise for liturgical and devotional purposes in which the minister ever engages.