God holds you responsible for your nature plus your nurture;
for yourself plus your possibilities.
-
Babcock
Maltbie Davenport Babcock was born in Syracuse, New York
in 1858. He attended Syracuse University and Auburn Theological
Seminary. He ranked high as a student and participated in both athletic
and musical activities. Tall, broad shouldered, and muscular, he was president
of the baseball team, an expert pitcher, and a good swimmer. He played several
musical instruments, directed the school orchestra, and played the organ
and composed for it. He was a singer and leader of the glee club. He could
do impersonations, was clever at drawing, and had a knack with tools. He
was also an avid fisherman.
His first pastorate
was at the First Presbyterian Church, Lockport, New York. In 1886, he was
called to Brown Memorial Church, Baltimore, Maryland, where he often
counseled students at Johns Hopkins University. As his reputation spread,
he was asked to preach at colleges all over America. Babcock was not a
great theologian or deep thinker, but had a talent for presenting spiritual
and ethical truths with freshness and effect. In doing this, he was aided
by his agile mind, wide range of knowledge, dramatic ability, speech fluency,
and magnetic personality. After almost 14 years in Baltimore, Babcock
was called to the prestigious pastorate of the Brick Presbyteran Church in
New York City, to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Henry Van
Dyke. Babcock had been there only 18 months when he made a
trip to the Holy Land. While on the trip, in Naples, Italy, he died of brucellosis.
Though Babcock published nothing during his life, his wife Catherine collected
and published many of his writings after his untimely death. (Source: cyberhymnal.org)
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