Cutler
Cutler Benjamin Clarke, D.D., a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born in Poxbury, Mass., Feb. 6, 1798, and died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863. On his mother's side he was descended from the Huguenots. His religious character developed early; it was marked by no epoch of sudden transition, but at the age of eighteen, two years after his confirmation, he became a decided Christian. He immediately began to study for the ministry, and graduated with high honor at Brown University in 1822. He discharged the functions of the ministry seven years in Quincy, Mass.; one year in Leesburg, Va.; two years in New York as a city missionary, and thirty years as rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn. As a preacher he was pre-eminently evangelical, and as a pastor remarkably successful. He was one of the originators and most active promoters of the missionary work of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was a Low-Churchman, and was deeply grieved by the rise of Puseyism, and its introduction into this country. He wrote of it as "the reigning heresy of incipient Romanism." In 1843 he visited England for the sake of his health. On his return the vessel struck a shoal in the harbor of New York, and for twelve hours it labored heavily in a storm. Always after he observed the anniversary of that day as an occasion of special thanksgiving. Dr. Cutler was a chronic invalid. Before he went to college he was thought to be in a decline, and his life was one long battle with disease. His final illness was protracted and very distressing. He would often say, "the under-currents are all peace." He left no published works except a few occasional discourses and a volume of sermons, which are good specimens of direct, fervent Gospel preaching.
