Bork, Christian

Bork, Christian a clergyman of the Reformed Church in America, was born in Berlin, Prussia, in 1758. His father, a Prussian army officer, died of a wound received in battle before his son's birth. His mother was a pious Lutheran, who trained him with religious care. In his eighteenth year, when about thirty miles from home, he was impressed into the military service, and sent to join the British army in America in 1776. He was in the army of general Burgoyne until its surrender at Saratoga in 1777, and after this event he determined to remain in America. He then taught school near Albany, and in 1781, having left the British service, enlisted in a regiment of New York State levies, from which he was honorably discharged the same year. During his army life, he was converted under a sermon preached in a barn at Livingston Manor by Rev. Dr, Livingston of New York, who was then a voluntary exile from the city on account of the war. While he was yet in the army, Mr, Bork used to gather the soldiers on Sabbaths and read the Bible to them. He continued to teach for about twelve years, studied theology with Dr. Bassett of Albany, and entered the ministry in 1798. His early ministry was spent in the vicinity of Albany (1798-1808), after which he became pastor of the Franklin-street Church, N.Y. (1808), where he remained until his death, in 1823. He was a bold, faithful soldier of the cross. His preaching was remarkable for its scriptural fulness and holy unction, and his memory is still cherished as that of a Christian pastor who was wholly given to his work. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, s.v. (W. J. R. T.)