Rev. Frank Rogers Morse
Rev. Frank Rogers Morse (1839-1904) Associate Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, under the Rev. Robert MacArthur. Morse was known for his enthusiastic rants against Christian Science (“a horrible humbug”), Roman Catholics (“secret and bitter enemies to our institutions”), President Teddy Roosevelt (“how I wish the President of the United States would spend Sunday in God’s house”), Democrats (“nearly every saloon keeper and brothel keeper in the land is a member of that party”), and Republicans (“the party for the enrichment of the few to the impoverishment of the many”). He also didn’t care for the press or his hometown (“New York was never viler than it is tonight”). In 1898 the Times also reported how Morse sermonized that bicycling would lead to drinking: “Will not the wheel lead many a young man and young woman into this vicious and destructive habit?”