Joseph RUSLING

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  General Notes:

JOSEPH RUSLING, eldest son of James and Mary Fowler Rusling, was born May 12, 1788, at Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and came to America with his parents in 1795. He became a Methodist minister of prominence in his day, and was stationed in Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, etc. I have an engraving of him and also a profile. He had considerable literary ability, and wrote a volume of Miscellaneous Poems, and also another of Sunday-school Hymns (published 1838, Philadelphia, Penna.), that were in use in the Sunday-schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church for a generation or more. We used them at Greene Street (now First) Methodist Episcopal Church, Trenton, New Jersey, in 1845-6, when I was a Sunday-school boy there, and they were then widely in use by the Methodist Episcopal Church at large. Several of his hymns were published in the Methodist Hymnal for two or three editions, but they do not appear in the edition we, use in 1907; they were in the edition of 1848, and comprise hymns 17, 18, 19, 28, 36, and 46 there. His health failed him and he settled in Philadelphia, and started the Methodist Book Room, now 1018 Arch Street, on the sum of $20, and this has developed from that small beginning to its present importance. An office boy or clerk of his at that time was Abel Stevens. He found him a bright and intelligent lad and educated him, and afterwards he became a D.D. and LL.D., editor of the Christian Advocate, and one of the great historians of the Church. Index


50 He is now deceased. When uncle Joseph died (July 4, 1839) he left Dr. Stevens his literary executor, and his widow sent him a box of manuscripts, sermons, etc., to New York by a sailing vessel, which he was to revise and publish for the benefit of the family, but this box never turned up, and the whole mass of his writings was lost, greatly to the regret of his widow and children. He is buried in front of the Fifth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, which he established and where he was greatly beloved. His gravestone was in front of the church, for many years, but is now in its vestibule. His record as a minister appears in the minutes of the Philadelphia Conference, and also in a book published in Philadelphia a few years ago by Mr. Joseph R. Flanigen, then of the Philadelphia Record. His funeral sermon was printed and I have a copy, corroborating much of what Mr. Flanigen says in his tribute subjoined. In the Christian Advocate, New York, August 4, 1898, is an article on Rev. Abel Stevens, by Rev. J. N. Shaffer, of Newburgh, New York, from which the following is an extract: His eminent endowments, his distinguishing gift of eloquence, and the beauty of his character in his early church life had attracted the attention of all who knew him. Among them was a noble man, Joseph Rusling, who kept a bookstore at a place then called Pemberton, a suburb of Philadelphia. He took the boy into his employ. While there he commenced and pursued, as his duties permitted, the reading of such books as suited his taste, and formed that habit of study which developed so marvelously as the years rolled by. It was mainly through Mr. Rusling that friends came to his aid and opened the way for him to go to Wilbraham and also to enter the university at Middletown. The following is from the Philadelphia Record of June 14, 1879, by said Joseph R. (Rusling?) Flanigen, and seems a just tribute to its subject: In front of Fifth Street Methodist Episcopal church lie buried the mortal remains of REV. JOSEPH RUSLING, whom we remember as one of the most pleasing and effective preachers of the olden time. Mr. Rusling was born in Lincolnshire, England, in the year 1788. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1795, landing in New York, and proceeded shortly thereafter to the vicinity of Hackettstown, in Warren county, New Jersey, where they settled. They were people in moderate circumstances, and the elder Rusling commenced at once the business of farming, in which he was assisted by the son as he grew up to manhood. Index

Im050.jpg REV. JOSEPH RUSLING 1788-1839 From an engraving, about 1838.

Index


51 When about twenty years of age the subject of this sketch was, at a camp meeting held in the neighborhood, converted to God and in four years thereafter he began preaching. In the year 1814 he was received in the Philadelphia Conference on trial, and in 1816 admitted into full connection. As we remember Mr. Rusling, he was a gentleman of rather delicate physical organization. He was of medium stature, with a head indicating marked intellectual capacity. He had a clear, dark and penetrating eye, and was altogether a person of decidedly prepossessing appearance. Raised on the farm and to labor in the fields, he had but little opportunity for education. He was, however, a boy of studious and thoughtful nature; and as a man, earnest and energetic in the pursuit of knowledge. He became, after entering upon his ministerial labors, a pupil of Rev. William Mann, under whose tuition he studied and acquired what was wont to be termed "the dead languages." Intellectually Mr. Rusling was above the average of the Methodist preachers of his time. As an author he was prolific. He wrote much and well, and it is to be regretted that, in consequence of what must be stated as the infidelity of one on whom he relied for the compilation and preparation of a very considerable amount of manuscript, the world has but slight opportunity to judge of his productions. He was a constant contributor to such Methodist literary publications as passed through the press during his active life, such as "The Methodist Magazine," "Youth's Instructor," etc. Many of his sermons were published in pamphlet form, but they were never concentrated. Among the works published by him were "Devotional Exercises," a volume of poetry containing some 250 pages, and published in 1836. "Original Hymns for Sunday Schools" was issued in 1837, and "The Christian's Companion," published a year later, was a transposition into verse of a portion of the Psalms of David and other selections from the Holy Scriptures. He also attempted and published for some time a small Sunday-school journal, but lacking the necessary support it was discontinued.

Joseph married Sarah HUNTER on 3 Jan 1822. (Sarah HUNTER was born on 14 Aug 1802 and died on 28 Jul 1875.)