Rose, Stephen

Rose, Stephen, a deacon and ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church, Bridgehampton, Long Island, N.Y., was born there, June 5, 1780. After a period of darkness and doubt, he was converted in 1803 and united with the Church. Renouncing all efforts to obtain wealth, he devoted himself exclusively to the Church, and he emphatically "loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob," and no one was more distinguished for piety and usefulness than elder Rose. He was a pioneer in the cause of the circulation of the Bible, temperance, and Sabbath schools in Suffolk County. To the Church and these institutions he devoted the energies of a powerful and cultured mind. He was a man of large and liberal views, and was ready to labor for the cause of Christ in all denominations, no Church lines interfering with beneficent actions. He did much in winning souls to Christ by personal effort, always seeming to be in a revival; spirit. In his religious experience he knew little of those alternations of hope and despondency which enter into the feelings of many professing Christians. In him there was a harmonious blending of virtues and graces unsullied by any defects. He was wise, yet modest and unassuming; cautious, yet decided and unwavering. His sense of justice was strong and inflexible, but not stern and merciless — following the dictates of his Divine Master in a readiness to forgive even the greatest injuries on the first movement of repentance on the part of the offender. Everywhere, among all classes, he was revered as a man of God, perfect in his day and generation. He was a perfect storehouse of information, not only on all matters pertaining to Church history, but of Bible doctrines. He died "as a shock of corn cometh in its season," at his home on Rose Hill, July 18, 1866. (W.P.S.)