- John Henry Hobart
John Henry Hobart (
September 14 ,1775 -September 12 ,1830 ), was the third Episcopalbishop of New York (1816-1830)He vigorously promoted the extension of the Episcopal Church in Central and Western New York. He founded the
General Theological Seminary inNew York City and Geneva College, later renamed after him, in Geneva, in theFinger Lakes area of upstate New York.History
He was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , being fifth in direct descent from Edmund Hobart, a founder ofHingham, Massachusetts . [ [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=EFvXl1EtBmoC&dq=%22solomon+lincoln%22+history+of+hingham&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=f-qIxiRnIv&sig=KMWt-0vxRSW6b8JabzLdBlchwXo&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA42,M1 History of the Town of Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Solomon Lincoln, Hingham, 1827] ] He was educated at the Philadelphia Latin School, the College of Philadelphia (now theUniversity of Pennsylvania ), and Princeton, where he graduated in 1793.After studying
theology under Bishop William White at Philadelphia, he was ordained deacon in 1798, and priest two years later. Hobart was called as assistant minister to [http://www.trinitywallstreet.org Trinity Church, New York] , in 1803 [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/240.html] . He was elected assistant bishop of New York, with the right of succession, in 1811, and was acting diocesan from that date because of the ill-health of Bishop Benjamin Moore, whom he formally succeeded on the latter's death in February 1816.He was one of the founders of the
General Theological Seminary , became its professor of Pastoral Theology in 1821, and as bishop was,its governor. In his zeal for the historic episcopacy he published "An Apology for Apostolic Order and its Advocates" in 1807, a series of letters to Rev. John M. Mason, who, in The Christians Magazine, of which he was editor, had attacked the Episcopacy in general and in particular Hobarts Collection of "Essays on the Subject of Episcopacy" (1806).Hobart's
zeal for the General Seminary and the General Convention led him to oppose the plan ofPhilander Chase , Bishop of Ohio, for an Episcopal seminary in that diocese; but theOhio seminary was made directly responsible to the House of Bishops, and Hobart approved the plan. His strong opposition to dissenting churches was nowhere so clearly shown as in a pamphlet published in 1816 to dissuade all Episcopalians from joining theAmerican Bible Society , which he thought the Protestant Episcopal Church had not the numerical or the financial strength to control.In 1818, to counterbalance the influence of the
Bible Society and especially of Scott's "Commentaries", he began to edit with selected notes the "Family Bible" of theSociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge . He delivered episcopal charges to the clergy ofConnecticut and New York entitled "The Churchman" (1819) and "The High Churchman Vindicated" (1826), in which he accepted the name high churchman, and stated and explained his principles in distinction from the corruptions of the Church of Rome and from the Errors of Certain Protestant Sects. He exerted himself greatly in building up his diocese, attempting to make an annual visit to every parish.By 1818, he had also become convinced that an institution of higher education was needed in the western reaches of the state of New York. Though he had visited many areas as a bishop, he selected the small village of Geneva on Seneca Lake for his new outpost of learning. The site for the new Geneva College was selected in 1820, and the first building erected in 1822. Geneva College became Hobart Free College, later
Hobart College , in 1852 in honor of its founder.His failing health led him to visit
Europe from 1823-1825. Upon his return he preached a characteristic sermon entitled "The United States of America compared with some European Countries, particularly England" (published 1826), In which, although there was some praise for the English church, he so boldly criticized the establishment, state patronage, cabinet appointment of bishops, low discipline, and the low requirements of theological education, as to rouse much hostility in England, where he had been highly praised for two volumes of "Sermons on the Principal Events and Truths of Redemption" (1824). He died atAuburn, New York , onSeptember 12 ,1830 . Bishop Hobart is remembered in the calendar of The Episcopal Church on the anniversary of his death [http://www.io.com/~kellywp/LesserFF/Sep/Hobart.html] .He was able, impetuous, frank, perfectly fearless in controversy, a speaker and preacher of much
eloquence , and a supporter of missions to the Oneida Indians in his diocese.Consecrators
* The Most Reverend William White, 1st and 4th
Presiding Bishop , 1stBishop of Pennsylvania
* The Most Reverend Samuel Provoost, 3rdPresiding Bishop , 1stBishop of New York
* The Right Reverend Abraham Jarvis, 2ndBishop of ConnecticutPublications
* "A Clergyman's Companion" (1805)
* "A Companion for the Altar" (1804)
* "A Companion to the Book of Common Prayer" (1805)
* "Festivals and Fasts" (1804)ee also
* List of Bishop Succession in the Episcopal Church
Further reading
* "Memorial of Bishop Hobart", containing a Memoir (New York, 1831)
* John McVickar, "The Early Life and Professional Years of Bishop Hobart" (New York, 1834)
* John McVicar, "The Closing Years of Bishop Hobart" (New York, 1836).
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jhhobart/index.html Works of John Henry Hobart online]References
* "The Episcopal Church Annual". Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005).
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